BAM! Did It.

It was good to start fresh here kitchen-wise because now I only have the spices that I KNOW I use, rather than a bunch of random ones taking up space.

About a month ago, Tycho saw my pin about glowsticks in the bathtub. Since then, he asked almost every day to get glowsticks for Christmas.

This was a great Christmas craft.

THANK YOU, PINTEREST!

These Are The "Good" Ones

So I realized I have a depressingly short supply of pictures with both Tycho and Mara, just Tycho and Mara. If both of them are in the picture, so am I (it's just easier to get them both to sit still if I'm sitting there with them, in the picture). So I decided to sit them down in front of the Christmas tree a couple days ago and see if I could remedy this. I grossly underestimated the difficulty of getting a good picture of these two. But, after a painstakingly long couple minutes, this is what we ended up with:

sure, now she can smile, when it's all over...

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

I've always thought it was "Wakey wakey, eggs and bacey! (as in, we have some eggs and we have some bacey). But the Cat (the one in the hat) said, "Wakey wakey, eggs and bacey" (like he was calling the one kid "eggs" and the other kid "bacey"). Weird. I think it's a sign we watch too much TV if I'm starting to analyze the voice inflections of the Cat in the Hat.

I could go for some bacey.

We set up the Christmas tree! And, thanks to yard sales, the cost of everything (tree + decorations) was about $20! This year Tycho was old enough to help decorate the tree--we had a fun time.

That Love Business

Merlin: You know, lad, that love business is a powerful thing.
Arthur (having just learned about gravity): Greater than gravity?
Merlin: Well yes, boy, in its way... yes, I'd say it's the greatest force on earth.

You just don't realize how great some movies really are when you're a kid (you know, when the most important aspect is that it's a cartoon). The kiddos are watching "Sword in the Stone" right now.

We went SCUBA DIVING again on Friday. Still need to get pictures of us in our gear, but it's hard because the gear weighs a ton and I just wanna jump in the water, not ruffle through my bag to find the camera. But it was awesome. We went to this big reef and explored a sunken ship (really, a boat, but where's the alliteration fun in that?) that had crashed into it. Saw some beautiful colors down there (purples and reds and blues--really really amazing).

The kids got sick sometime during the weekend, so on Sunday they stayed home with Jacob while I went to church. It’s kinda nice being in such a small branch that your kids are mentioned by name in both the invocation and closing prayer. Mara is getting bolder with her walking. And she’s also doing this weird crawl (instead of hands and knees, it’s hands and feet… I wish I were that flexible). Tycho finally started putting on shirts by himself (he's been doing pants and underwear for a long time, but always needs help with shirts, which is understandable--shirts are complicated). And me? Well, I'm just trying to work up the motivation to do the dishes (baby steps).

525,600 Minutes

Tycho: Mom, why does dad have to go to work?
Me: So he can make money so we can live here.
Tycho: Our house costs money?
Me: Yep
Tycho: HOLY GUACAMOLE!

That was the conversation we just had. In other news, Mara's birthday was last Thursday, and WE HAD A PARTY. Snapped a few pictures of cake and presents:

Turns Out I Don't Need To Dress Up Mara For Halloween...

HalloWEEN

Thanks to pinterest and GTMO, we had a pre-halloween par-tay in the Morrill home:

tycho actually took this picture. kid is a natural.

I'M. SO. CRAFTY.

I found that cute, ghost-feet thing on pinterest awhile ago and I've been wanting to do it. Then we went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday and got a FREE PUMPKIN. And Tycho's not much of a carver (ha), so we decided to paint the pumpkin. Pictures from the pumpkin patch outing:

the sun was really bright and in our eyes, so that's why mara's looking down, tycho's closing his eyes and i... just look creepy.

As Promised

goin up the stairs...

play room (but can you really call it that when you don't have toys?)

another little play room

tycho's room

mara's room

master (that's me) bedroom



So, this is the upstairs. The only places not shown are bathrooms (one downstairs, two upstairs), closets, kitchen, garage and front yard. But you get the gist.

As you can see, our home is pretty empty. But I've found that I kind of like it like that. This is my minimalist side coming out. Anywho, MORE PICTURES--this time of cuteness. Hope this keeps you satisfied for awhile.



first Sunday

nap time. DAW!

give a baby an oreo and she'll love you forever. write that down.

at the pool

she is so CUTE

splashin

she crawled out of the pool. it was impressive.

Alrighty-bye-bye

You're Spoiled

Blog posts two days in a row?!?

So I'm, like, so excited because tomorrow we get to pick out new FURNITURE. Heavenly Father pours out blessings and just when I think so many good things are happening, that something bad is bound to happen soon, He just keeps 'em coming. I think He's trying to tell me there's no such thing as karma.

We've been kind of worried because the furniture we have is actually loaner furniture--usually just kept until the shipments of your own furniture from home get in--also most people here are military and can ship stuff for free--ALSO we aren't military and it would cost a lot a lot of money to ship all our junk, so we didn't and prayed things would work out okay. I mean, the company told us we would be provided with the basics, that there would be furniture, but we got here and found out it was on loan. So, we weren't sure how long we're allowed to use it. We even visited the furniture store last Friday to price some items and figure out if we could afford it.

When we got here, there was/is a full bed in the master bedroom (Jacob thinks a queen is too small and for years he's been saying as soon as we can afford it we're buying a king size bed... point is, a full is unacceptable for him... also, this little aside makes me feel guilty thinking about people that don't even have beds). So, I called the housing office to see if we could possibly trade up (for a loaner king size bed), and INSTEAD they're taking us to BUY (Jacob's company is paying for it) ALL NEW FURNITURE. I didn't ask why, I just wanted to get a where and when and hang up the phone and then pinch myself to make sure it was real.

So, pics of what our house looks like now:

living room

i'm standing in the hall taking this picture of where it leads to, in front, the laundry room, and to the left, the kitchen

laundry room. and yes, that's a separate freezer. i'm pretty much in love with it.

dining room

super cute backyard


Wow, so, change of plans. We're just showing the backyard and downstairs (minus the kitchen) in this post because those five pics took forEVER. G'night!

Hold The Phone

Cuba post number one is about the phone.

We're living in 1990. Remember 1990? Remember when you were a kid, how the phone would ring, and everybody would race to get it? Ah, to be the one who got there first. I can't quite remember if I ever enjoyed actually answering the phone, or if it was just winning the race. But now I know. Of COURSE kids like to answer the phone!

So, we don't have cell phones. What we do have is a telephone with a CORD.

To which Tycho races whenever it rings (who is he racing?)

A couple days ago the Geico insurance agent we are in contact with called for some information and Tycho got to the phone first, started talking about stuff we had been doing that day and what we had for lunch. I thought it was Jacob (I even asked if it was Dad and he said it was) so I let him keep talking. I took the phone after a couple of minutes and the Geico guy was chuckling. I think it was sweet that he was just letting Tycho ramble, instead of hanging up and calling back later. Makes me love Geico even more.

p.s. $200 for an entire year of car insurance?!?! The cheap-old-miser part of my brain is begging me to stay here.

I Love Mommy. She Loves Me. We Love Daddy, Yes Sirree. He Loves Us And So You See, We Are A Happy Family!

Andle's in town for to testify in court about being a victim of robbery en la gas station. So gov't flew him to Fort Worth (way to stick it to the man, Andle). So e'er'body (Pa, Ma, Andle, Jarmo) drove down to see me! And possibly to visit Jacob, Tycho, and Mara as well. So Andy met Mara! Pictures to follow.

We are going to the airport Thursday morning. And when I say morning, I mean the flight is at 5:15am. But we are excited to go to Cuba! Although, the 'rents were telling horror stories they heard about child-sized banana rats and how we'll be crazy bored on base. But at least the rats will keep us company. More later when I find out why they're called banana rats?

KISSES!

DAW!

Jason's a card sharp.

And here for your viewing pleasure, very-creepy-open-eyed-sleeping Jessie: