August Randoms

These pictures have no other homes...and I didn't want to overload you TOO much, seeing as how it's been a long, long time without photos....so....

We went to this cute little dance store in town for our ballet stuff this year and had a blast trying on different leotards; such a sweet time with my girls. This is the one Bree got - do the short sleeves and little skirt just kill you? I love it. Carly chose a different leotard, even though I was silently wishing she'd choose this one because the back is so cool. The one she chose has an empire waist chiffon skirt thing that opens in the front - she said it made her feel so beautiful, so of course that's the one we got. =) Dance class starts the first week of September and we are all SO excited! They opened a studio in the shopping center right by our house, so skipping the long drive and boring wait in the car is a BIG plus for this mama. =)

The aquarium has shark day every Thursday and they post shark trivia questions throughout the exhibits. If you answer all the questions right, you get a little coupon for a free ice cream! The girls were so excited! We love that our aquarium is so close to us.

This is Paul's office! It is off of a larger room that houses several desks where Marines do administrative stuff for the battery. His office opens onto a large room with a few desks for Marines to do computer stuff and several storage cabinets. They recently 'redecorated' that space, putting sand bags around the desks and camo netting up on the ceiling - I have no idea why they did that, but it's pretty cool. The whole space (with the exception of the sandbags...) it completely functional and smells like sweaty boots and dust. It's kind of gross. The First Sergeant's wife and I have plans to remedy that, but that's a post for another day.

 Carly didn't believe me when I pointed out her dad's building...lucky for me, there's a huge SIGN out front with his name on it. I keep telling her that Mommy is right all the time and despite overwhelming evidence to that effect, she's still not convinced. HOLY CRAP I just noticed they misspelled his name. Wow. Maybe some other guy really IS in charge and Paul just sits in his office.

 Lately Bree has been getting a lot of the awesome cred in our house, based on her sartorial creativity, but Carly is no slouch in the rad department. Take this picture, for example. We just got a book about Greek myths a couple of weeks ago and she was reading it during rest time...she got to the part about Odysseus and the Cyclops and drew THIS. I have lots of favorite parts about this, but the caption has got to be one of the greatest things ever. We're also reading Robin Hood at night, and I'm thinking I may have to cut down on the mixing media, because Carly drew Odysseus' "Merry Men" down there in blue. =) =)

Oh my word - okay, do any of you remember that stupid fad that was going around in the spring? Where people would do...basically this...in random places? It was for people much more fit than I, but it's hilarious because it's kind of a fitness thing and here I am, in a bar...fun times, fun times. This is our favorite Saturday night place - they have a huge patio with live music and everyone was out there, which left prime real estate for acting like idiots. =)

I warned you! This post is TOTALLY RANDOM. =)

And actually really funny that THIS picture follows THAT picture above. This is from the training I did to work with the family readiness office at Paul's work. I am the MODEL of a responsible and serious officer's wife, y'all. Clearly. Anyway, we were given a color and had to make a poster using a verb, our color, and a kind of produce. Our poster won, natch, even with my deformed grape leaves, and I had to post it because those little dancing grapes make me laugh. They're so happy!

And this is Bree, today. She got a bride dressup set - among a few other awesome things - from her Aunt Amanda and Uncle Pete and she insists on wearing this veil at all times when we're at home. She wears a tiara to the pool, but the veil is on, all the time. Even while bike riding. The purple chalk war-paint is another story. =)