Pile on

Let me interrupt the otherwise relatively quiet This Wood House to show you what's happened here today.

This is a typical moment when Daddy walks in the door. Baby squeals and shakes all over. Chey giggles and launches towards him with hugs. Lola goes absolutely berserk.

Let's pile on Daddy!!!

There's just too much cuteness around here these days. I just had to share. Poor Lola got stuck on the bottom of the pile for a while, but don't be fooled. She loved every minute of it.

Missing our other pea in a pod

These two…

….melt my heart

Oh Daddy we miss you around here.

Two peas...

Even this kid does, even though he did sleep through your farewell. Its how he got through it without falling apart, he just slept through it.

He misses you I swear :)

Three is just not as good as four. 

And yes, this is the best and only picture I have of me with my littles so far.

We love you Daddy Giant.

Newest on-goings

I feel like I should really have more to show for what's been going on here and why I feel like I've been losing my sanity.

The List of excuses of things going on here…

1. First, Cheyanne woke up with a cold two days before her birthday. I thought I had escaped the germs with as much Lysol as I had spraying around this house. Wrong. Three days after her birthday, guess who woke up sick too. I'm still battling this cold a week later.

2. The day before Chey's birthday, her Daddy left for a few months so, you know, things got pretty crazy at that point.

Here she is opening presents with Daddy right before he had to get on the road.

3. The night before her second birthday, I started her on night time prayers. Its not something I've ever been good at doing on a regular basis, but at age 2, I think she's old enough to work it into our nightly routine. She is so cute during prayers. We fold our hands to say a quick prayer first then we go through the list of "God bless"es. "God bless Daddy. God bless Mommy. God bless Nana and Skipper." Etc. The list is long, especially when I think we're done and we say amen, then she folds her hands again and says "More Mom." Who can say no to that? So, we keep going. She doesn't really add names yet, but she repeats everyone that I say and gives a little giggle after each. Baby prayers are so precious, especially when we say "Thank you Jesus" at the end.

4. Before Giant left, we installed chair rails in the front living room. I've been slowly finishing those the last week, filling nail holes, sanding, caulking, and up next priming and painting. Chair railing makes such a difference in a room.

Before: I believe in real before pictures, so you get to see all the junk that was really there during prep.

 After: So far. By the end of this week, the rails will be painted white to match and look fantastic.

5. Potty training has begun. My little girl is a potty going machine… most days… if naked. If not naked, its fair game. I have even introduced her to big girl panties hoping that will help with the idea of clothes on still means we need to pee on the potty. Not much luck yet with any clothes on, but we're working on it. Ah, the dream of no more diapers!

This is how we spent a lot of time on day one. Movies, juice, and pottying.

 Sometimes things got silly and she found other uses for her potty.

6. I finally got around to doing something I've been wanting to do for a while. I painted the inside of our front door. The Giant doesn't even know exactly what I did yet. I love it. It makes the front room look really good! I can't wait until that part of the house is finished. At some point I'll get around to putting up drapes and pictures. One day.

Before: I didn't think to take a complete before picture, so I this is a minute into the project.

After: Love. Soon that blue wall will be repainted to something other than blue- anything other than blue. I loathe that blue.

7. The dog decided to quit listening to me whatsoever the minute that the Giant left the house. She normally is a pretty good pup. The last few weeks have been less than stellar. I'm not sure whats going on besides the fact that she is missing her Pa, but there have been days that between cleaning up from a toddler and chasing around a dog, I thought I might actually lose it. We'll be starting Obedience 101 classes at the end of the month- or someone/something might lose their sanity or life.

She seems to be spending more time in her bed than normal. Here she is not too happy with me, but you know what, that's what you get when you chew on my rug!

AND

8. Cheyanne's picked up a few new winning words that I hear all day. I'll share the most winning ones.
Nope!
Nope Mom!
Uh uh!
Nah!
Uhhhhhh nope!
More M&Ms peeez!
What are you doing Mom?
Oopsy!
and my personal favorites…
No way!
or even better…
No way Mom!

At least its not "No way Molly" this week. Where did she learn this stuff? I cringe every time I hear no way come out of my sweet little angel's mouth. So, yes, things are still on going here.

I've got projects going all the time, but I wish I had more to show you than I do. On the list this week is to start decorating for fall. It may still be in the 80s each day but Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte is a weekly treat of mine which means it must be fall. I look forward to this time of year all year. I've been pinterest'ing all the pumpkin recipes I can find these last few weeks to start prepping for fall. Up this week, I'm thinking some pumpkin banana bread. How good does that sound?

I've got more to update you on, but for now that give you an idea of where we've been lately.

Daddy's so much fun

My two loves are such monkeys together. You never know what kind of mischief they are getting into. One thing that Daddy can do that mommy most definitely can't is monkey around like this. Long are the days that I can toss around my little heavy weight champ. That's what Daddy's muscles are for.

We sure do miss our giant when he's gone. The house gets a little less exciting that's for sure. Hopefully he won't be gone for too much longer though. Somehow this 6 day trip seems to have almost tripled in length. But whats new about that? It seems that most of the Giant's missions tend to get extended for whatever reason. I hear that there may even be talk in the squadron of a bad luck curse that apparently my husband seems to hold. Its become a joke that no matter what flight he's on, it gets delayed. I'm not laughing at that joke…! I wish I could just say "Come home!" For some reason though, it doesn't get to work like that. Pout.

Oh well, kisses for Daddy wherever he is.

Fathers Day

I think this year's Fathers Day was the best one for the Giant so far. It's the first one we've all spent  together. We could not have asked for better weather to enjoy the day either. Ah, I love Charleston.

We started the day, as we seem to do on most recent holidays, by heading downtown to eat. Its our excuse to go out and try new talked about restaurants. Sunday, we headed to Hominy Grill, a nationally known but tiny, off-the-beaten path place. There was, of course, a wait to eat, which is pretty much everywhere here on any given special day downtown. Maybe one day we'll actually wake up early like we always say we will and get somewhere before the brunch crowds show up. 

Here's Cheyanne waiting patiently outside the restaurant. Notice the wall they are sitting on. In typical Miss Independent fashion, Chey insisted on sitting on it by herself. So, the Momma I am of course insisted that Daddy stand directly in front of her the entire time so she wouldn't fall.

We waited for about 35 minutes and finally got a table. Hominy is one of those restaurants that changes its whole menu based on whats growing local and fresh, which I love. However, I'm hoping it was just the day we ate there, that I did not "die" for the food. I didn't get too adventurous for whatever reason, I stuck to a cheesy egg biscuit. Normally, I'm more adventurous than that. Cheyanne loved her fresh banana bread though. I may or may not have helped her finish it up.  Next time, and there will be a next time, I'm not backing down from ordering their famous buttermilk pie. I don't care if its 9am in the morning. That pie is mine! It looked so good!

This is Cheyanne and her daddy playing hide and seek with the butter on the table. I'm not sure how to explain the details of this game, but the whole restaurant knew she was having fun by her sweet and very LOUD laughter. 

While walking around downtown, Cheyanne fell asleep right before we stopped for Gelato's. Bad timing on her part. After a few minutes of fussing to be out the stroller, we told her we were heading for ice cream. I thought that had calmed her down when she got quiet. Apparently, instead it put her to sleep. The Giant tried waking her up when we got to the Gelatos shop, but not even chocolate could wake her up. So, here's our family picture from the day.

Happy Father's Day, Giant! Thanks for a great day downtown.

"Foooore!"

Obviously its clear by now that when the Giant is home, little blogging actually gets done. We get so wrapped up in "living" life that I forget to actually sit down and write about it by the time the Little Miss falls asleep. Plus, as exhausted as the Giant's been since he got home from his around the world adventure, bedtime comes much earlier these days. You'd think that after being away from home for so long, Uncle Sam would allow him more than 4 days to catch up on life (and sleep).

Today, after the Giant got home from work and Chey woke up from her much needed nap, we decided it was just too beautiful to sit inside. The Giant has been whining telling me how long it has been since he's gone golfing, so we decided to change that. The base golf course is apparently pretty nice, I say "apparently" because I've been on 3 golf courses in my entire life, all of which back in Virginia, so I have pretty much nothing to compare it to. We threw on our golf best and headed out to entertain Daddy.

Daddy even let Cheyanne drive the cart.

Pay attention to the road, Cheyanne!

Sheesh!

Cheyanne's favorite part was helping Daddy find the lost balls, I mean, the balls that the wind blew off the green. She could not understand why the big stationery balls at the tee wouldn't move. How frustrating.

Who knew that riding in a golf cart could create such a disheveled look by the 9th hole?

She loved being on the golf course. Actually I think we both did. Shocker there!

The Giant let me hit a few balls on some of the holes. It has been so long since I swung a club, I didn't know if I would even get near that tiny ball way down on the ground. Come to find out, I'm not as bad as I was afraid I'd be. Meaning, I didn't COMPLETELY embarrass myself, just a little. I did well enough to inspire me to take up golf (again from a long long time ago).  Who knows. Maybe that's just the fresh air talking, but it felt so good to be out there today. Let me be clear. I'm not good. But I'm not horrendous either. Don't expect to see me on the Mom PGA Tour or anything, but maybe you'll see me on the green again soon.

And hey, golf clothes are pretty cute. You know having a reason to shop for new cute clothes is always alright.

My birthday Giant

I definitely didn't mean to pass over the Giant's birthday which was just a few days ago, but somehow things have been a little unpredictable around here. I feel like I live my life in blog posts and then forget or run out of time to actually make those blog posts come into fruition. I know I have a TON of things to catch up on here, and I promise I will. So let's backtrack a few days and give a big shout out to my giant. I love you Sweetheart. You're simply the best and all I could ever hope for. Cheyanne and I are blessed to have you.

I wish I could say we had done more for his birthday, but with the most unpredictable career field imaginable (seriously people- planning ahead goes out the window before I can even get it open), we improvise a lot. We had planned to spend the day downtown since he wasn't scheduled to fly that day. Thankfully, the flying part didn't change but he did end up having to go into work for the first half of the day which ruined our downtown plans. Instead, once he was home, we did some much needed wardrobe shopping at the Tanger Outlets. The poor boy hasn't bought new clothes in about three years. It was long overdue. We ended the birthday night with a nice dinner at Sake House which had a spicy tuna roll to.die.for. Trust me. I'm a pro at sushi rolls.

Why I took a picture of random Japanese food instead of our delicious tuna roll, I have no idea. Why I take pictures of food at all, I really don't have a clue. But, I sure do love some yummy Japanese house salad. I swear they put crack in that ginger dressing. Mmm delish.

Somebody just couldn't wait to get into Daddy's birthday cake. My guess is the one with the sticky fingers.

We did finally make it downtown for a special birthday lunch at East Bay Brewery the next day a few hours before he had to leave on his next flight. We've been eyeing this restaurant for months. Maybe I put too much hype into it, but it was not nearly as amahzing as we'd hoped it'd be. The tomato garlic cheese app didn't disappoint but the rest of meal definitely didn't knock our socks off. A slight disappointment. I felt sort of bad sending him off on his flight with less than super food to satisfy. 

Oh well. At least we got to spend his birthday together. That was the main goal of the day and I think we did just that. 

Happy belated birthday my love. 

Somebody's missing her daddy

Hello, Daddy?! Are you there?

Come home soon!

Back to reality

Ugh. Sigh. Complain. Complain. Complain….

My two weeks of "welcome homeness" are over. Booooooooo! Christmas is put away. Laundry has been done. And the house looks like a man lives here again.

The Giant is back to work today and I am home with one sick little girl. I hadn't planned on being so MIA this week, I swear. Do I even have any readers left? I wouldn't blame you if you have deserted me by now. I've not been the best blogger. I had every intention of jumping back on the blogwagon once we returned from vaca last week, but then life just took over. Starting the minute we walked back in the door, our new home to-do list seemed to grow by the minute. It didn't help that we returned with the cold bug which started with the Giant then quickly jumped to Chey Chey. Damn you Mickey Mouse and the gazillion germs you probably carry in your kid infested fur. You got us good. I'm starting to fight a scratchy throat myself, but since we can't afford the Momma to get sick, I'm armed with Zicam, Vitamin C, and a ton of water.

Needless to say, I've had Lysol in one hand and pitiful Peapod in the other. All any little sickly wants is her Momma. Well, that is not completely true. Despite her most pitifulness, her Daddy has had some of the most precious moments with her over the last 48 hours. Who knew that she would get so attached to him so fast? She absolutely adores him even when she's so sick. She loves getting snuggles and attention from both of us like she's never gone a day in her life without it. Despite the brief twinge of instant jealousy that I was not prepared for and am dealing with (just being honest…), it warms my heart to hear her call for him in snotty need or watch her tired eyes light up when he walks in the room. Today even when he was leaving for work and she was heading down for nap time, we told her needed to go bye-bye, she immediately cried and ran to him, wrapping her arms around his leg. Ah! Is this what we've been missing without the Giant home?! Neither of us could help but smile in her instant distress. I may or may not have teared up. I won't say.

(Daddy opening his March Christmas while she stands at parade rest)

Onto other things… I know I have a lot to catch you up on. That is, if you are still out there. If you are, be prepared. I have lots coming. Nights home alone again mean one of two things. Crafts or blogging. There you go. If I'm not here, you'll know what I'm doing. Well that or (hopefully for not much longer) nursing my sickly. Ok there. That's it. No more excuses. One of three things. Promise. The end. I'm back.