Mountain View, CA.....please identify yourself

We recently had a lurker in Victoria, TX and I found out that the lurker was actually a friend of mine living somewhere else yet always registering as Victoria, TX. So that mystery has been solved. However, we now have someone checking us out in Mountain View, CA. I have checked with our friends that live in the area and it is not them.....so we are just curious as to your identity. Please post it for us. Or, if you know us personally, send me an email. Thanks.

Guess where we were last night

Kevin and I have been trying to get to a Jack Johnson concert since he returned from Iraq. Um, that was three years ago (I can't believe it either!) Last night we finally were able to achieve that dream! Kevin and I really started listening to his music during our extended separation....that would be the deployment years. His music seems to have the same effect on both of us.....it is calming, very relaxing and holds us close together in thought....even when separated. Here we are after the concert.




Sara flew up for the concert to enjoy the night with us. We also went with our friend, Erin Roof. Her husband was going to attend too....but then their time for separation came too soon.
We all had a great time.



I took some video of JJ signing some of my favorite songs. My all-time favorite, Better Together, did not make it in this tour....but you can always listen to it on the blog.

What do they put in that?

What do they put in the Magic Eraser to make this thing so amazing??????!!!!!!! Seriously, this thing rocks. I did not worry too much about the kiddos coloring on the floor and walls at Eglin because we lived in government housing and I was going to have to repaint every room anyway when we moved. But here....well, I am a bit paranoid. We have all white walls and the landlord lives across the street. Paulie is way into coloring and sometimes sitting in his highchair just does not cut it anymore. He wants to color on his little table and the easel...and honestly, when he sees William doing it I can't blame him for wanting to be like his big bro. So this morning as usual, Paulie is crying over near the crayons and markers because he wants to color....and well, a small amount of purple marker makes it on the white walls. But, WA-LA, no problem when Magic Eraser is here to scrub it off...and without much elbow grease. Gotta love it!

Just melts your heart

On Tuesday night Kevin had to work late. I gave the boys an early bath. We had finished dinner and Paulie was already in his crib for the night. A good half hour had gone by and William and I were brushing teeth and getting ready for his bedtime. Daddy came home and walked thru the door saying "Hello, I'm home." And, well the rest happened:

Paulie, from in his room, starts chirping...."Da-di, Da-di, Da-di, Da-di...blah, blah, blah"

William runs out of the bathroom and is so excited and says: "Hi Dad, we are brushing teeth. Do you want to play Mario Cart?"

And I say to Dad, "Well, Paulie was sleeping....but he hears you so...."

I go to get Paulie (thinking...Great, how will the rest of the night go)....and he is standing in his crib, pointing to the door, saying "Da-di, Da-di".

I let Paulie out and he runs like a bullet to the front door and practically tackling Kevin.

The three boys snuggle on the couch and I hear Paulie say to William, "No, my Da-di" as he pushes William out of the way. Um, do you think that they miss their father when he is away?!?!

Paulie went back to bed with no problems and slept all night. So did William. This story just touches my heart and I thought Kevin would explode with the love he felt from his guys. Too cute. Oh, and you can't have a post without cute pics. So here are some from yet another coloring episode in the house.

The Army life....Friends 101, Making new ones

As most military wives, military children and other people that move consistently know, making friends seems to be a life-long skill that one never stops working on. As a kid making friends seemed easier....you became friends with the kids that lived next door or down the way. Or, because your mother signed you up for some dance/swimming/sports/YMCA class and you befriended someone....or they befriended you. Or, like in high school, you joined clubs to meet people or knew people from other grades because you all grew up together and it was just known that you were friends. So why it is that when you get older it seems so much harder to make friends? And I am not talking about when you are in your twenties and partying it up in college or recently graduated and starting your first job with a bunch of others just like you. I'm talking about when you are a more mature and settled person. Maybe your a mother, maybe not. Maybe you are a full-time worker. Whatever the case may be, finding people that you WANT to be friends with is hard. Harder than expected.

The military has a way of making you find out who you are and what you want from of your relationships.....any relationship be it friendship or partnership/marriage. But as you get older and more in-tune with yourself you realize that you don't want to settle....not even when it comes to friends. Most military wives are good at sizing up a situation/person and deciding "Is this worth pursuing as a friendship? Or, should they remain as an acquaintance?" If you asked alot of military wives if they had good friends.....I mean trust with your heart, secrets, pets, children friends (these would really be GREAT friends) at every place they lived or currently live, they would probably say they would be lucky if they made just one of those friends.....the rest seem to be acquaintances. You know, the people they spend time with to 1: get out of the house, 2: get their kids out of the house, 3: put off doing housework and other necessary chores, etc.

One would think that because we move so much that making friends would be just like another item on our unpacking list and oh so easy to do....but it is not. It seems to be a process and the older you get the longer that process takes. After several moves you look back and wonder why did it seem easier when......... you fill in the blank (we were newly married, without children, newly pregnant, the kids were younger, etc). And you begin to have a better appreciation for the friendships you developed that are still with you.....the friends that actually care about you, contact you, want to see you, are happy for you....and you feel all these things for them.

So what do you do in the meantime.....when you are waiting for friendships to develop....the GREAT kind not the acquaintance kind? I guess you keep plugging away at it. Hoping that by staying true to yourself and by not settling you will find that friend....one day. And, you keep nurturing the ones you developed and had to leave behind because you moved. I guess I would be in the limbo phase....waiting.....and wanting....but still plugging away at it.

So my friends, where are you? Am I completely off base with this post? Are my thoughts on friendship really out in left field? Let me know. This post has been gnawing and gnawing and gnawing at me until I finally got tired of the running thought and had to put it out there. I am interested in what you think.

Suggestions....anyone

I am in desperate need of a new book and just can't seem to find something that holds my interest. I know many of you bloggers and friends out there are avid book lovers....like me....so please suggest something I would love. Oh, and include a little description about the book if possible. I read just about anything. It just has to grab me from the beginning. Looking forward to what you suggest.

A momentous rite of passage

Sunday we had a momentous rite of passage.....buying back-to-school supplies and clothes. First time that we have actually had to do this!!!!!!! William was VERY excited. We went to dinner first and then hit Wal-mart. William just could not contain himself with excitement and kept adding items that he felt were necessary for his school supplies.....items that were not on the list but oh so necessary. I caved and bought a few extra things like colored pens, extra crayons and glue sticks. We then picked out a really cool lunch box. The handle on his old one broke....so it was time for a replacement. We thought he would pick a Spiderman or Diego backpack.....but in the end he went with his ole' standby....blue. The best was picking out our back-to-school clothes, particularly the shirts. William loved picking his shirts and when I would return to the cart there were several shirts that I had not chosen in the cart. He then would run and try to show Daddy all of his shirts. Daddy was off somewhere else in the store with Paulie. Again, I caved and let him get a special shirt......a Mario Cart shirt. William had to sleep in it last night. Of course Wal-mart did not have the shirt in his size....so he is actually wearing a dress/shirt. He loved it! I tried to get a picture of the shirt....and this is what I got.

Nope, not allowed to take a photo of the shirt until it is old. Once we got home, we did a quickie fashion show for Daddy so he could see all of our shirts. It was a big night in the Capozzoli house.