Breakfast With Grandpa

     This morning (even with the time change!) we got up and headed out to breakfast with Hubby's dad.  We went to Big Brother's favorite restaurant - Cracker Barrel! The food was delicious and it was nice to spend some time out of the house after yesterday's lazy afternoon. The kids had a blast and ate a better breakfast than they normally do.

He stole my orange

Hubby and Big Brother

Froggie got a froggy

The Froggy

    After we were done at breakfast we went to the mall and let Big Brother blow off some steam playing in the play area at the mall while Froggie slept in the stroller. We picked up a few things while we were there, the most exciting of which was a small stash of Girl Scout cookies despite our attempts to not buy cookies this year.
     We wrapped our mall trip up with a stop into Build A Bear. Hubby absolutely hates this store but he wanted to see if Big Brother wanted to make a Spiderman bear. In true Big Brother fashion he decided that he didn't want the Spiderman bear but he wanted a My Little Pony. SO… we left with Rainbow Dash. He wanted the sound clip for her but we decided that it would drive us nuts so we just got the pony.

Making a pony

He was so excited

Rainbow Dash!

Picking a friend

riding on my back!

Friday Lunch Date

     After work I typically head home with the kids so they can nap. Today, however, we decided to go visit with Hubby so he and I could get some lunch while the kids (who had already eaten) had some snacks. So we headed to Hubby's office to pick him up and then went across the street to Panera, which was delicious! The kids had a blast with their fruit cups, Froggie even tried to drink her fruit!

Froggie tried to keep me from going to work with the big kids.

Froggie with her Fruit.

     After we were done eating we returned Hubby to his office to finish working and headed to Target, since it's my favorite store and we were nearby. We didn't really need anything but I picked up a few things for Easter baskets, a care package and some toys for the kids just because. They were pretty well behaved until it was time to go and they started getting cranky. They really liked sitting side by side in the cart!

The kids in the monster cart at Target

Froggie giving her new fish "kisses". 

Shopping Fun

     After nap I decided to pack the kids up and head out to the store since I wanted to get out of the house and was looking for yarn for a project I'm thinking about. Big Brother had still been awake when I drove through Starbucks to pick up some coffee and a sandwich and asked for "ice cream in a cup with a straw" (a frappucino). I had told him maybe later and only if he took his nap since he's to the point of occasionally refusing them. 

     Well he slept well and since I'd been thinking about going to the craft store I figured we would make a pit stop at Target and pick up his vanilla bean frappucino. Froggie had fallen asleep on the way there so this is how we shopped! I had forgotten my Ergo otherwise there wouldn't have been any dilemma as to where Froggie would go. The set up worked surprisingly well, the kids each got a little toy, valentines, and the clearance deals on lunch boxes and accessories were so good I got myself a new lunchbox.

Breakfast Date

     Before my friend headed back to North Carolina after the holidays we had a breakfast date at Starbucks. The kids had a blast and it was nice to be out and about with everyone.

Yummy breakfast!

Check out all those crumbs!

Happy Froggie

My new coffee mug, just because.

Mini Vacation: Day #3 Graduation

     This morning was a bit of an early start since we had to be out of our rooms and at the school house early for Hubby's graduation. In true Navy fashion we had to hurry up and wait this morning; once we got to the school house we were supposed to sit in the petty officer association's room where they were preparing for a Christmas party and had a TON of wrapped gifts all over the room. Let me tell you, there is a sense of panic when asked to sit in a room full of gifts with your toddler when none of them are for him! While we waited Big Brother asked to have some pictures taken and the kids played with some toys and had some snacks.
     I didn't take any pictures during graduation because I was holding Froggie who was being pretty squirmy. Not to mention I couldn't fish out my phone during graduation and knew that Froggie would grab at my actual camera and none of the pictures would turn out anyway. Following graduation Hubby and I purchased some sweatshirts from the "gear locker" and headed back towards our hotel. Before we got settled and changed we took a bunch of pictures. Lately Big Brother has been pretty uncooperative when it comes to taking pictures but we ended up with something to document the event.

Big Brother wanted a picture with Froggie

So proud of Hubby!

Our little family

Hubby and I

     After everyone got changed and a little packing was done we headed out to pick up the new uniform that Hubby had ordered along with some other goodies. This included a very large new duffle bag to get home everything that Hubby had acquired over the course of his time in Florida. After some lunch (and Starbucks) we headed back to our rooms for nap time so that we could go back out for some fun.

Mmmm Starbucks

     Nap time ended up being pretty short lived since we wanted to get across base to see Santa come in on a fire truck. The fire truck pulled in as we were coming across the parking lot. While Hubby and the kids made their way towards Santa and the festivities my mom and I both ended up with burrs in our feet. I had to use my camera strap to get the burrs off my feet and then had to figure out how to get them out of my strap. Man do those little things hurt!
     There were cookies, hot chocolate, coloring, seeing Santa, bounce houses and free trees for military personnel. Big Brother waited rather impatiently to see Santa. He had been pretty shy about Santa and still always has a funky face in pictures (lately with or without Santa) until today! The kids had put out their shoes for Saint Nick and due to his recent visit Big Brother seemed more accepting of the big guy in red. When it was time to get out of the sleigh he didn't want to go until he told Santa thank you for the gift he had left the night before. It was really cute and one of those proud mommy moments. Froggie seems to be hit or miss with Santa and she wasn't thrilled about Santa today.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

Christmas festivities on base.

FIRE ANTS EVERYWHERE!

     After our fun on base we headed out toward to beach to a local restuarant that was having some pre-parade festivities including crafts, a bonfire and Santa. Big Brother loved it and especially had fun with the hammock and the S'mores. Froggie had her first taste of a S'more and got upset that she couldn't be down on her own but otherwise seemed to enjoy it. After awhile to boats that had strung themselves up with lights made their way out from the dock and we drove back towards our rooms and ordered Pizza.

Making a stocking. 

Big Brother and the palm trees

Palm trees and Christmas lights

I could get used to this kind of Christmas

The hammock

Big Brother and Santa

Froggie and Santa

making S'mores

I'll have some of that grandma!

Mmmmm

Watching the boats

Watching the boats

November Challenge: Day 19

     It may sound odd, but today I am really thankful for these things:

     It's not a very clear picture but it's a shopping cart with an infant seat AND a regular seat. With Hubby away it has made shopping SO much more bearable.