Soccer Candids

So this past month our Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday mornings have been filled with soccer. J is on the Golden Knights this year and M is part of the Orange Crush team. The boys have been making some good friends on the team and have also enjoyed themselves out on the field. Hopefully I can catch some better action shots in some upcoming games, but I have enjoyed just watching the boys play without having a camera glued to my face ;)

Scott AFB Open House 2012

I have been slacking on blogging lately, but it isn't for the lack of pictures or stories, once again time just keeps slipping away.

A couple of weekends ago we got to relax and enjoy the Scott AFB Open House, aka an Air Show. If you remember J had a large part in the Travis AFB Open House in 2011 (posts are here, here, and here).We loaded up the stroller and wagon and walked down from our house to the flight line and we had a blast this time with no commitments but to just look at airplanes on display and enjoying the acts. It was a cloudy and overcast day so the pictures don't have that pretty blue background of my Travis pictures, but it was a lot more comfortable temperature wise.

The boys had fun sitting the cockpit of some of the displays, checking out both the insides and the outsides of some of the large jets parked, playing in the kid zone, and also watching the acts.

One Corner at a Time

We have now called this place home for close to two months. Are we settled...big fat no. Between errands, school, soccer, cooking, cleaning there hasn't been enough time, energy or motivation to get this place "cute" and most importantly organized.
It seems that everything ended up being "dumped" (actually it was literally dumped out by the movers) in the wrong room and then spread every which way by the boys, pair that with my indecisiveness of where things are going to find homes and you come to a dead-end pretty fast.
Today I took one corner and organized it into being functional for the boys. Will it stay looking like this? Probably not, but at least I conquered this corner for now.

An Adventure in Canning

When Grandpa and Grandma G came to visit and bring our pup back to us they also brought with them a ton of fresh veggies that were ready in their huge garden. We gave some of it away to my Uncle and Aunt and also to some friends, but there were still a ton of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to get used up. So I decided to try my hand at canning, and now with the help of my mom I now have several jars of salsa and pickles that I can use throughout the year...if they last that long ;)

For the salsa I started off buying some jars, a canning kit, and the ingredients from this recipe. For the pickles I just picked up this packet from Walmart...won't detail that as it really wasn't anything too difficult, and I didn't take pics ;)

The first batch of salsa my mom and I hand chopped all the fresh veggies...the second batch I decided to work smarter and pulled out the Pampered Chef manual processor and let it do most of the chopping. It worked great, it will chop it pretty small if you take the time. I also put on some gloves when working with the jalapenos just so I didn't feel the burn from their oils accidentally. Also on the second batch I left half the seeds in to give it an extra kick.

Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour

While the Grandparents were visiting we did one day of exploring St. Louis. We briefly checked out the  Science Center before heading to the gateway Arch and then topped it off with the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour. We neglected to reserve tickets beforehand, but were able to wait about an hour in the call line and jumped on a free tour. The kids did great, the boys love to watch "How it's Made" shows and so loved walking around the functioning factory.

A Day to Remember

On a day we remember courage, sacrifice, and those that were lost I can't seem to get the lyrics of God Bless The U.S.A out of my head. We have traveled thousands of miles across this great country over the years, taking in the great sights and meeting some amazing people. It's hard to think about how different it could have all been, how different the world would be if this day didn't happen...or if we weren't called into action to find those responsible.

"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his personal safety; is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. "

- John Stuart Mill, English philosopher 

Pre-k Fun Day

So school is in full swing and the boys routine is a nice change to the crazy summer with a ton of change due to the move. On Friday the Pre-k classes of the school district all got together at a local park and had the chance to play with new and old friends. N had a blast exploring and interacting with his classmates and with his teachers.

Visiting the Gateway Arch

It has been a rainy, cloudy, and rumbly kind of weekend (that extended into the week now too) thanks to Hurricane Isaac. On Saturday we ventured over to St. Louis and took a quick run through the Science Center (we will have to head back and spend a full day soon!) and then over to the Gateway Arch with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa decided to firmly keep his feet on the ground and passed on the ride up to the top, but the rest of us headed up. N did throw a tantrum about going up, I think it reminded him of the tower of terror from Disney and he didn't want to go through that again.

First Day of School 2012

The boys are now into their third week of school, but I guess we have been a little busy around here with moving, visitors and soccer that I haven't had time to upload pictures until today. Better late then never, and most kids aren't heading back to the classroom until this week anyway...so that makes it ok, right?