Christmas List

I really like the idea behind "something you want, something you need, something to wear & something to read" as a guideline for kids gifts.  I know from personal experience how fun it is to shop for a baby, and I even thought it was fun to shop for toddlers.... until I had to start Christmas shopping for Brinleigh this year.  I am honestly still trying to figure out exactly what kind of toys she likes to play with.  I have once again, made "wish lists" for her on amazon.com and target.com, for anyone who needs ideas or for those who have been asking what kinds of things to buy for her.  Kolt and I were so excited to buy her this little Disney princess ATV ride on toy as her "Santa gift" only to be denied at checkout with the whole "we regret to inform you that we cannot ship this item to your shipping address."  Blah, blah, blah.  We found something else, but it's definitely nowhere near as fun as the ATV would have been. 

Clothing size: 18 months & up

Shoe Size: 4 & up

Needs: shoes, socks, pants (not jeans)

Books:  Any board book! (she will tear, rip, & eat regular paper pages out of a book)

Want:  Wish List on Amazon.com & Target.com 

Brinleigh is currently interested in:  small board books, small stuffed animals that she can carry around (even though she has a million already), board books, small bags and purses (what can I say?  She is her mother's daughter), books, Micky Mouse Clubhouse (or any of the other shows on Disney Jr.), and books (the girl loves her books).  Other random items that she is infatuated with include remotes, oven mitts, shoes, and dishes. 

Brinleigh does have a savings account and any money she receives will be deposited into that account.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We started our morning with cinnamon rolls for breakfast, as we do every year.  Since we spend a lot of time cooking on Thanksgiving, we like to keep breakfast simple yet special.  This was Brinleigh's very first cinnamon roll....... and she loved it!

 

We spent the afternoon with some of our close friends here in Sitka.  Kolt cooked a delicious turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  Our friends, Kate and Cooper brought over green bean casserole and a sweet potato casserole along with some rolls, and I baked a pumpkin pie and a cherry pie (Kolt's request).  I also made some cinnamon butter for the first time.  Everything was delicious!

 

 This Thanksgiving, I was excited about three things:

1.  Of course, eating all the delicious food

2.  Brinleigh's new Thanksgiving outfit along with some adorable little boots that I ordered for her.

3.  Brinleigh eating her very first Thanksgiving dinner.

 

Number one did not disappoint.  However, number two and three were a bust.  I have been obsessed with these little toddler moccasin type boots with tassels for Brinleigh. They actually have them in a women's size as well and I REALLY want a pair for myself.  In normal "Lexi fashion", I was planning on ordering both of our boots so we could match on Thanksgiving, however, Momma had to put her boots on hold.  Brinleigh's boots arrived the day before Thanksgiving, which I was very Thankful for, but of course, they didn't fit properly.  I ordered the next size up so she could wear them longer and they are very narrow shoes and we just couldn't get her fat little feet in them, so back to amazon they went.  The biggest disappointment however, was when I happily made Brinleigh her dinner plate, full of all the delicious Thanksgiving food.... and she wanted nothing to do with it.  I mean nothing!  She ate a few bites of the sweet potato casserole but not a bite of anything more.  Not even the rolls!  I was so sad that she didn't enjoy her first Thanksgiving meal.  But she does like pumpkin pie! (OH.... and marshmallows.)

   

Last Thanksgiving we were exhausted from taking care of a four month old baby, we didn't dress up and we looked like scrubs.  Not to mention that the month of November is "Movember" where Kolt takes it upon himself to participate in the "No-shave-November" tradition, so last year he had a stupid mustache on his face.  I was less than impressed with our first Thanksgiving family photo.  So this year I made it a point for us to not look like scrubs, shower and do something with ourselves, and take a decent family photo.  I even got Kolt to shave off his mustache!

  

I finished the evening with some online black Friday shopping and got all of Brinleigh's Christmas gifts taken care of.  This weekend ALL of the Christmas decor is going up, including the tree!

Catching Up

Brinleigh is learning so many new things and with every new talent she acquires, we realize just how big she is getting and how fast she is growing.  She has recently learned how to climb the stairs by herself, which is also funny to watch.  She has figured out how to step over things where before she would drop to her knees and crawl over things.  She can now blow kisses at us and she holds her hands out, palms up, to say "all done".  She is still wearing her 12 month clothes but will probably be moving into her 18 month clothes in the next month or two.  Kolt had to take her into the doctors office for something last week and she weighed 23lbs and is 29in tall.  She is getting a little more hair and it is blonde! AND curly!

She is still infatuated with Gunner, and any other dog she sees.  She even knows how to give him treats now.  He is still so good about laying still while she crawls all over him.  She especially likes to lay on him while watching tv.

She watches more tv these days and actually pays attention to the cartoons.  I prefer to only keep it on the Disney chanel though, which of course means that I now know who Henry Huglemonster is and I can sing all the lyrics to Doc McStuffins.  Yes, I am now one of those Moms.

Our Fall was short lived and lasted about two months, maybe less.  The snow capped mountains have informed us that Winter has officially started here in Alaska.  Today we woke up to a sheet of frost covering everything and the temps are in the low 40's during the day and high 30's at night.  We are also losing daylight at a more rapid pace and it's now dark by about 4:45ish.  So needless to say, our outdoor time is going to be limited for the next few months.  

Happy Halloween!

Last weekend we continued to enjoy Halloween festivities and Brinleigh got to wear her costume for the first time.  The Coast Guard had a children's Halloween party where the kids could run around, color, dance, and enjoy some snacks.  We took Brinleigh for a little bit but it seemed like it was more for older kids, not toddlers.  So on to the next one.  We went to one of the daycare's in town that was having a children's party.  That one had some games, face painting, and pictures.  Brinleigh didn't play any games because she is still too young to understand them but she did manage to conveniently walk right into a cake walk just as it was starting.  Surprisingly, she walked in the circle with everyone else while the music played (all by herself, I might add) and when the music stopped, they just so happened to pull the number she was standing on.  BOOM!!!! Chocolate cupcake right off the bat.

We also decorated our pumpkins this past weekend.  Brinleigh painted her mini pumpkin and Kolt and I decorated one of the big pumpkins with our plastic pumpkin parts.  Then Kolt carved the other big pumpkin.  The pumpkin painting didn't last long, five minutes actually.  Brinleigh didn't seem to enjoy it or really want anything to do with it.  She actually cried and I think it was because she doesn't like for her hands to be dirty, but I'm not 100% sure.  

At work we all decided to dress as Disney characters and I chose to be the Queen of Hearts.  Kolt had to work this evening and so I took Brinleigh Trick-or-Treating with my friend, Kate.  Every year, Sitka does a downtown trick-or-treating event where they close off the street and all of the businesses hand out candy.  So we headed downtown for a little bit between rain down pours and then came home for dinner.  The trick-or-treaters started making their way around the neighborhood so we handed out candy.  Then we bundled back up and headed out to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood.  Once we were done, we came back home to hand out more candy.

With Halloween over now, I will officially begin my Christmas shopping and Thanksgiving Feast planning.  Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Happy Fall!

One of my two favorite seasons is FALL!  I love FALL!  More so in states where the leaves change colors and the weather drops to boots and sweatshirt temps.  Here in Alaska, we went from Summer to Fall? Winter? Fall, overnight.  Temps are now in the high 40's and it has been non-stop rain.  On the rare days that it doesn't rain, I try to go running outside with Brinleigh.  But for the most part, we have gotten used to do most everything in the rain.

Friday was Alaska Day and we had the usual parade downtown.  The Coast Guard always marches in the town parades so we always go to watch Kolt.  We got there late and weren't able to get a spot under any covered areas so we stood in the rain for and hour.  I have a rain cover for Brinleigh's stroller and she was all bundled up in a warm cozy fleece blanket sack.  She had her juice and her snacks and all the commotion kept her entertained for the most part.  After the parade, Brinleigh and I went to lunch with my friend, Kate.  The rest of the day was spent inside watching movies since it was cold and rainy out.

On Saturday one of the pre-schools hosted a "Pumpkin Patch" event.  We took Brinleigh for something to do and to get out of the house.  One of the grocery stores supplied pumpkins that you could buy and then each child was given a free mini pumpkin.  They also had some games, a bake sale, and a "hayride".  Of course it rained the entire time, which we expected, but it didn't seem to phase Brinleigh at all.  She just wanted to walk around with her little mini pumpkin.

Sunday was my 30th Birthday!  It was raining all day (shocking, I know!) so we celebrated with a relaxing day inside.  Kolt cooked breakfast and then him and Brinleigh sang "Happy Birthday" to me as they presented me with a Chocolate Cream Pie.  It was absolutely de-lic-ious!  And Yes, I did blow out all 30 of my pink candles.  We finished the evening off with our normal Sunday dinner with our friends, Cooper and Kate, and then watched the new episode of "The Walking Dead".  29 was a great year, but 30 is going to be dedicated to getting healthy and getting in shape.

 

Busy, Busy Foreman's

Since I went back to work, our days have been...... busy!  Brinleigh wakes up right before I leave the house to go to work and when I get home from work, Kolt has to start getting ready to go to work himself almost right away.  I try to wait up for Kolt to get home but sometimes I end up falling asleep on the couch.  Between waking up early, taking care of the baby, keeping up with the housework, and working out... I am exhausted and ready to pass out by 10pm.  I will admit that it is nice being back at work.  I enjoy waking up with a purpose, actually showering and getting dressed in something other than yoga pants and tank tops, getting out of the house on a daily basis, and having adult conversations with other people.  Even if it usually consists of me talking about the baby.  The paychecks will be nice too and we are looking forward to having that extra money.

 

Kolt and I have gotten pretty serious about working out and trying to eat a lot healthier.  We are both working on our own individual goals to lose some weight.  I work out at home when Brinleigh is taking her afternoon nap and Kolt takes a sports lunch and gets to work out during his lunch break.

 

With our new plans to stay in Sitka for Christmas, I am entertaining myself with ideas and plans to make the Holiday season special for our little family.  I'm not sure if it's because we have a baby now or the fact that living in Sitka can be extremely boring.... especially in the winter time.... but I have developed an exciting urge to celebrate and decorate for every holiday possible.  Holidays are just so much more fun when you have kids to celebrate with and you get to start your own little family traditions.  

I have already ordered and received Brinleigh's Halloween Costume and I can not wait to see it on her.  There will be trick-or-treating downtown at all the local businesses, along with trick-or-treating within the community as well.  The Coast Guard Cutter Maple crew will be setting up a haunted house on the boat that will be open for one night to walk though and I'm still waiting to hear if the Air Station will be putting together a Haunted House inside the hangar like they did last year.  Kolt of course, has to work Halloween night.... AGAIN!  Ugh!  They have a plane down for heavy maintenance for the whole month of October so nobody can take leave.

We also have Alaska Day coming up in a couple weeks which includes a parade that the Coast Guard will march in.  These have become more fun now that Brinleigh watches and seems somewhat entertained by all the commotion.  So Brinleigh and I, along with our parade partner, Kate, will go watch the boys march downtown.

Thanksgiving will be celebrated as it has been for the previous two years that we have been in Sitka.  We will go all out, cooking our traditional Thanksgiving dinner and our friends Kate and Cooper will come over to eat and hang out.

I am planning a bake day with a couple of my close girl friends here in Sitka.  A few weeks before Christmas we are going to spend the day baking yummy Holiday treats while the husbands hang out and watch the babies for us.  We are also planning a Christmas dinner and gift exchange with our close friends.  Of course, I have already started making Brinleigh's Christmas Wish List on Amazon.com.

 

Changes in the Foreman House

I feel like it's been forever since I posted last.

Brinleigh is now 13 1/2 months old and she has the sass to prove it!  She is officially wearing her 12 month size clothes and talking A LOT more these days.  Her vocabulary still only consists of the same few words, which almost sound just alike.  She does say "yes" now, but only if repeating it after me and it's really just the "sssss" sound that she makes.  She mostly just wanders around the house babbling to herself and sometimes throwing out a high pitched screech here and there.  She is a pro at walking now and is getting faster and faster every day.  She is such an animated little thing with such a big personality and we are having so much fun helping her learn grow.

I have decided...... to go back to work.  Part Time Only.  The bank has a few open positions and Kolt and I talked about it and decided that the extra income would be nice to have.  We are coming down to less than a year left in Sitka before we PCS and we would really love to have all of our credit card debt paid and a nice cushion in the savings accounts.  We never know exactly how Kolt's paychecks are going to look when we get to a new place and since I won't be working again at the next duty station, we are going to take advantage of our opportunities here.  Kolt works the night shift (3pm-12am) and so that makes it much easier for me to go back to work.  I will be working from 10am-2pm five days a week so Kolt will be able to stay home with Brinleigh and then once I am home from work he will then go to work.  We won't have as much time together on the days we both work, but again, the situation is temporary.  AND this is also, of course, if it suits our family.  If it ends up not working well with us and our schedules, then I will quit again.  But as of right now, we don't see why it will be a problem.  Brinleigh will be taking her morning nap while I am at work so even though I will be gone four hours a day, it will only be two hours out of her day.  I am hoping that this also helps keep the wintertime blues at bay for myself.  Since we will have much less daylight and it will be colder we won't be able to get out of the house as much, so hopefully working will give me a little break so that I can keep my sanity.

With that being said, here is the bad news........

We probably will NOT be coming home to Arizona for Christmas this year.

The plan has been to come home, however, Kolt and I both think that it would just be much more relaxing and a lot easier to stay in Sitka this year.  This might be our last chance for a real white wintery Christmas since we move next summer.  Brinleigh will be old enough to open gifts and have fun with it and we have a nice little "Sitka Family" here now so that we can have a nice Christmas dinner and it not be so lonely.  Even though I would love to come home and see the family and our friends and enjoy all of our Christmas traditions, I think it will just be easier on us as a family to stay here. And, a lot cheaper!  However, we will be coming to Tucson when we move next summer.  The plan is to leave Sitka, pass through San Diego stopping for a couple days (maybe) to take Brinleigh to the San Diego Zoo, and then come to Tucson for a week (maybe two).  We will then be going to Texas for a few days so Kolt can hunt a little and then continuing on to our next duty station.  Which will hopefully be somewhere between Alabama and North Carolina.

Kolt puts in his "picks" next month for where he would like to go for his next duty station.  I think as of right now the list is:  Clearwater, Florida - Mobile, Alabama - Elizabeth City, North Carolina - Cape Cod, Massachusetts - San Diego, California - Astoria, Oregon.  This is all subject to change of course and this is only his 60 picks.  He can list other locations if he wants to try to switch to C130's or H-65's.  We should find out where we are going for sure in the beginning of January, hopefully.