She's How Big?

We've needed to buy pj's for Emmuska for a couple of weeks as her winter ones were too hot and too small. While shopping at the PX it became apparent that she would not be getting anything with a T attached to it, but I couldn't believe how big the final jammies where. At size 10/12 in girls they are a little big but not falling off (probably just about right for growing into over the summer...). Either they are making clothes smaller or making kids (specifically mine...) bigger.

Missouri Kid Kentucky

As promised (albeit a little late...) here are the pictures of Missouri-kid-Kentucky. That is the name that was settled on for this tiny animal. Yes the name is just about as long as the dog. But it's not Boots, Dora or Diego (first choices that were deflected narrowly) so I am okay with that.

Here is Emmuska with her brand new puppy. She has actually taken a lot of responsibility for the little dog - even waking up in the middle of the night to help her (occasionally, I mean it's still Emmuska who can sleep through anything - so waking up for Missouri-kid-Kentucky is pretty amazing.)

While driving home we asked Emmuska what her puppy would be named of course she said Dora which we said no to because we already had a rat named Dora "But she's dead so she won't mind..." Dang! Since when do three year old have that level of reasoning skills. "Yeah but we aren't naming the dog Dora...or Diego...or Boots..." That's when Mycal said we should name it Missouri so we remember where we got her (like I'm going to forget?) I wasn't too keen but Emmuska said "Well (drawing it out like she does) how about Missouri-and-kid-Kentucky" which she still often calls her. The thing with the 'kid' is that she has a hard time just saying Kentucky, stumbling over the beginning. Mycal and I thought 'Okay Missouri Kentucky is better than Dora - it kind of has a AKC feel to it' but it just didn't sound as good as when you throw that little stumble in so the kid stuck. And Emmuska insists on using the whole name. I'm interested to see how the training goes as it takes forever to say her name. Most of the time I just call her little dog or runt or rat or something else along those lines.
For the first few days of her life with us Missouri-kid-Kentucky was barely out of Emmuska's arms. It was okay with the dog and good for Emmuska. Lately they both have been moving on to a more dog mobile lifestyle which has been relieving to see. Still I'm hoping that so much adoration has fostered some good bonding between the two. I really don't want this one to end up being my dog too. I don't want to end up like my mom, constantly acquiring dogs that aren't hers but think they are so I'm trying really hard to keep my distance and encourage Emmuska to feed and take care of her dog (which for a three year old she is doing quite well).

Generally Liberty in pretty enthralled by the little addition to our family but overall she is still happy to let Autumn receive the majority of her attention. She is much more comfortable with Autumn, sometimes not knowing what to make of this little creature and a little nervous when it gets to sniffing her too closely. Still she enjoys when it sits quietly on her lap and she can just pet it. Overall I think the entire family is adjusting well and that in no time our house wouldn't be the same without her.

What we did this weekend...

Mycal had to do some Army stuff on Saturday and I had signed up for a scrapbooking thing at the local craft store so we decided to do something fun Friday night instead. We didn't get out as early as we had hoped to as we had to have the drain fixed (it had stopped completely...so much fun - I'll tell you there are some times I'm so glad I'm a renter and don't have to actually deal with these problems). Mycal being the quick thinker that he is decided to stop by the Pulaski County Visitor Center and see what there is to do in the more immediate area. There he found a pamphlet for a self guided auto tour of Historic Route 66. It was approximately 35 miles to be done in about an hour to hour and a half. It was actually a bit of fun and really great for family time. Emmuska had insisted on grabbing her camera when she saw me grab mine, so she was out every stop snapping away. I think the best was when she directed Mycal, Liberty and I to all stand together so she could take a picture of us. (Apparently I need to help her work on framing her shots as they invariably did not include Mycal's head and often didn't have mine either...) It wasn't super exciting but it was a lot of fun. Here are some pictorial highlights

Route 66 - this is actually the best the road looked while we were on it - there was one part that was completely unpaved and a lot of two lane highway. Still the scenery was quite pretty.

Mycal and Emmuska at one of the lookouts - this would have been right before Emmuska pulled out her camera and started snapping away. On that note Liberty stole Emmuska's camera and tried to take pictures too - I wonder how long I have before I have to get her her own camera...

Libster and I - proof that we were indeed on Route 66. Actually Highway Z (where we live) is part of Route 66 so we are on it everyday - still it was a fun tour.

One of my favorite pictures of the day - definitely not because it's the most flattering shot of me - still Mycal mentioned that since it was an auto tour we should get a pic inside the car and I thought the result was hilarious. Maybe we are too easily entertained...

The girls are obviously a little incredulous of the amount of mirth that their parents are having but I think they had fun too - especially whenever we got out.

It wasn't in the pamphlet but apparently the end of the tour was marked by some people selling jack russell terriers. For some reason we had to stop and Emmuska was convinced that this one puppy really wanted her and that she needed to go home with us. Between the copious amount of pleading eyes turned on me I buckled and agreed to the purchase of said puppy. The rest of the evening was filled with getting everything together that we needed to accommodate 'Emmuska's new responsibility' but that is another post that I will be getting up either later today or tomorrow.

As predicted Saturday was busy with Mycal's commitment as well as mine and of course our new four legged family member. Church was nice, we actually got a chance to meet many of the members of the ward. It's a nice place to be even if it's only for a few months. Liberty went to nursery for the first time today - having reached the 18 month mark this last week. I went in for a couple minutes but soon she was off exploring and playing on her own and I left. The nursery leader was stunned with how well she did telling us that she played, wandered around and generally had a good time - despite the fact that half the class, which was abnormally large today, was crying. She has really been growing and branching out - what a joy! There you have it - our third weekend in Mo.

Our Neighbors

I've had some requests to tell a little more about our nearest neighbors. I don't really know anybody else who lives in our apartment building but the closest thing to our apartment building (basically the only thing within walking distance) - well words just aren't good enough I had to grab a few pictures to tell you about them. This is essentially our closest neighbor...
That's right Big Louie's.It is actually a pretty big 'adult' entertainment and shopping complex, as can be seen in this picture, starting with a couple of shops I wasn't able to fit in the beginning of the picture, curving all the way around and then behind the last building (the white one on the far right side of the picture). It gives a whole new meaning to the word 'strip mall'. As far as I can tell (not having actually patronized the establishment) they have just about anything you could wish to find including...

Not even sure how that works, but apparently it's a pretty big seller as it's one of the better posters out there. So there you have it - our neighbors. Of course this sort of establishment is so proliferate in at least this area that one can frequently find billboards and signs guiding you to the next 'Quality Adult Superstore' in fact it's so common that my eyes immediately stopped after reading 'Lovall's' assuming it was another adult store - turns out they actually sell RV's - but honestly even knowing that now I still see the billboard and assume "Oh another one..." until I remember it's not. Of course not everybody is thrilled with the over abundance of such businesses. Big Louie's was apparently blocked by many people in the area and a lot of the residents were not happy when it was still built despite their efforts. Even though they didn't win the battle they continue to fight as is seen by the billboard just across the street from the 'strip mall'...

All I can say is kudos to the Pulaski Christian Ministerial Alliance - never give up!

Organizing

This is me getting organized. I bought a household planning template set months ago but haven't really done anything with them since then. Yesterday I decided to make a to do list - and then remembered that I had these templates. I opened it in photoshop, chose some lovely papers for it and viola - a great looking to do list (technically daily task list). It was so much fun and it took me maybe two minutes. Best thing was I actually got a lot of what I wrote down on it done - could just be me but I think that sometimes presentation is the key to follow through. How much more fun is it to add and check things off this list? - not to mention it looks good on the fridge. There's no knowing how far my organizational moment will take me but I think I'm going to go explore more of the templates see what else would be fun to play with.

Touristing

Having only four months in Missouri we decided that we needed to see as much as we could before we left so last Friday night we did some research (hit some hotels and grabbed every brochure there) and found out that the Purina World Headquarters are about an hour and a half from where we live. This was actually a really great attraction. Of course they had the entire history of the Purina pet food company but since it was self paced we pretty much skipped over that. Not only did they have a fun dog show but they also had all sorts of animals that you could get up close too - generally the girls loved that. Apparently during other times of the year they have many other events happening but this weekend it was just quiet which was good for us. We watched some dogs do tricks, learned safe rules for petting dogs (Note to Val's neighbor you always ask and never stick your hand into a fenced yard - kid you not that is what the Purina people said) then headed over to the barn.
There were some animals that Emmuska was very excited about seeing. This cow wasn't really one of them. It was a very vocal bovine - I'm not sure if it was lamenting the rain or welcoming us to the barn but it was loud. Emmuska still talks about how loud the cow was and how much she didn't like that.

This, however, she did like. Yes she got to pet piggies. I think that this may be the first time she has actually had the opportunity to put her hands on the animals. She was really excited about it, naming one of the pigs Wilbur before she left (she "couldn't remember the name of the other one"...). The pigs were very friendly happily trotting up to everybody that came close to the edge of their enclosure. That kind of freaked Liberty out a little but as long as they stayed where they belonged she enjoyed looking at them.

More fun for Liberty was petting the bunnies. It took her a second to warm up to the idea but in the end she enjoyed how soft they were.

On our way home from the Purina Farms we decided to stop at Meramec Caverns. It was the perfect day to do a cave as it was very rainy out and later in the year it might be more crowded. While we were waiting for our tour to start we decided to grab some food at the cafe in the cave. Trying to be speedy we couldn't order anything that had to go on the grill like a hamburger or chicken sandwich. The resulting order was the Catfish Special and some fried Okra. So delicious! The catfish came with a few hush puppies that were amazing. I've had hush puppies before and was not particularly impressed but these had onions and some other flavors floating through them that made them so yummy! Anyhow we had a great time in the caves. Emmuska was incredibly curious wondering when she would see more bats (we had one fly out at us) what other animals were down there, what the things from the ceiling were, etc.
Not too shabby for our first real weekend here. Now we have to figure out what we are going to next time we get a chance to go out.

All Clear

Our laundry facilities are down the hall. Emmuska being the independent person that she is insists that she leads the way every time we leave our door, walk the twenty feet down the hall into the laundry room. (Actually she insists on being the leader everywhere we go - but that's another story.) This afternoon I mentioned we needed to go shuffle laundry and was pulling some things together to do so - in which time she could easily (and usually does) dart out the door, run to the laundry room and back to our apartment before I'm actually to the door to leave. This time she darted out into the hall, came back in and shouted "All Clear!" then darted back out. I managed to follow her out and asked ''all clear' what does that even mean?' to which she respond "There's nobody out here, we are clear to go" in that voice that says "gosh mom you're not too on top of modern terminology sometimes, but that's okay because I'm willing to take the time to explain it too you." Between being completely amused, I couldn't help but wonder where in the world she had picked up the phrase (in proper context no less...) as well as how long she was going to be patient enough to explain everything to me.

Irony

Okay I'm not positive that this is a true case of irony (from what I can recall of three weeks in an English class a while back...) but it seemed so to me. At the very least it is quite humorous.

A couple weeks ago we acquired a diesel 1988 Ford F250. It apparently has a history of neglect and probably abuse, so like anything living thing who has had such a background it is a little temperamental. Mycal recently told me that it is his faith truck because he has to pray every time he tries to start it. It takes a lot of cajoling to get going.

Last night Mycal went out to start it (something that needs to be done at least once a day) to make sure it would be ready for 4:30 this morning when he needs to head off to PT. After a few minutes of trying (and praying) he got it going. I breathed a sigh of relief - we had another day of a functioning truck. That was until Mycal came inside. "Well I got it going but I can't turn it off" I thought he was kidding until he held up the keys. Of course I could still hear the behemoth idling out front at which point my disbelief turned to mirth. What were the odds that the truck we could barely get to start would now have a problem turning off. I had always assumed that it preferred to be left alone but now it appears that it just likes to be contrary.

Long story short Mycal did everything he could think of to stop the truck, disconnecting the batteries, pulling all fuses etc. He eventually called a towing company because he figured they would be the only people open at the time. He managed to call somebody the first time who knew about diesels and knew exactly which wire to pull to get the truck to stop, so we happily did not have to wait for all the fuel to be gone for it to stop working (which probably would have done some damage to fellow residents as they aren't exactly in the prime of life...)

I know that it will cost something to get whatever is wrong fixed and today I am without a car but in all it is still funny to me - I'm not sure when I'll stop giggling over this one.

Two Birds

...with one ball and a dog. For those of you who are a little more tender in nature you will not want to read this post - and don't look at the pictures (or at least the third one...)

We don't live in a particularly fun area, and after the massive amount of rain we have had much of the ground is somewhat swampy. So the discovery of a field a little higher than everything else across the highway we live on has been a joy. It's a good walk for the girls and Autumn each morning. Once we get there I throw the ball for Autumn and the girls run around and a good time is had by all. Early in our discovery of this field we noticed a bird. It was pretty attached to the field and quite vocal and theatrical, often putting on a display of being wounded, but then again not. After the first day I assumed that it probably had a nest somewhere in the area and that was why it wasn't leaving. It wasn't until our second day in this spot, and after a couple throws of the ball, that I decided to investigate that idea a little further. Sure enough in the middle of this field was a nest - four eggs scattered, two broken. Yeah I had thrown the ball right through it followed by the tromping of a 75 pound lab intent on a green ball and nothing else. Upset would be the mild way of putting how I felt. I didn't have the heart to stay there anymore. I throw the ball for Autumn a couple more times but long before she was ready to leave I had her back on her leash walking away. As we left I saw the bird picking up a broken egg, carrying it off and dropping it. By the time I got back there with my camera (of course I had to take pictures) one egg had been corralled back into the nest with the other on it's way. After a little exploration I found one of the broken eggs. When we went back that evening both of the good eggs were back in the nest and the bird was back to guarding it. Emmuska was very good at telling me where to throw to make sure that we didn't hit the nest again. I don't think she understood everything that happened as she said things like 'The mommy bird won't want to fix the eggs again' but she did understand that we had to be careful to stay away from the nest. When I was showing Mycal pictures of the nest and eggs Emmuska was asking to look too. When I came upon the ones of the broken egg I said something like 'you don't want to see those they'll break your tender little heart' to which Emmuska piped up that she wanted to see the pictures 'they wouldn't break (her) tender little heart'. I still didn't show her the pictures.

Congratulations are in Order

My sister-in-law was married last Wednesday. After moving the date around more than...some really good analogy that I can't come up with...she and her fiance looked at each other and said 'Why aren't we getting married tomorrow?" So they did. Having done similarly on my wedding I understand the sentiment and am very excited for her. She made a most beautiful bride. Check out some of the pictures here. http://www.storybook-photos.com/blog/
(I need to start taking classes, I would love to be able to shoot like this lady - she is incredible!)

Small bit of Happiness

Writing an entire post, hitting spell check and having no misspellings. I love that - it makes me feel so smart. (Especially exciting on the long posts...)

Updates

I wanted to let you know how things were going with my brother-in-law. He is doing amazingly well. Yesterday they took him off the ventilator after a week of steady progress. His numbers have been doing fabulously and there haven't been any problems (at least serious enough to make their way my direction) Apparently some of the infections are still alive and well in the fluid they have been draining but they haven't been spreading so the doctors are pleased. He was doing so well that they took him off the medicine that was keeping him asleep. Now with the ventilator gone and his being awake he is able to respond and talk. We are all very excited about his progress and continue to pray for him. I don't know everything that has to be done before he can leave the hospital but he is moving along more rapidly than expected. (I say this because from what I understand they weren't planning on taking him off the sedation or ventilator for a couple more days but he was ready - anybody who knows better please correct me in the comments.) Sounds very much like him to me - when he is ready to do something he does it well and quickly.

Liberty's Bathroom Responsibilites

Liberty being the self appointed organizer that she is has taken on a few responsibilities each time I use the restroom. I'm not sure but I think that she just isn't quite convinced that I will be able to get them done right without her. For the most part I probably wouldn't bother with some of them - on others if I couldn't do them without her I don't know how I got through 24 years without her.
Responsibility #1 - Pull up my pants. I don't know how she can be this fast and still get her toys stolen by her older sister. The second it looks like I'm going to stand up she runs over and starts pulling up my pants for me.
Responsibility #2 - Make sure the toilet lid is down. (If only she'd help the guys out more we would all be saved some trouble ;) )
Responsibility #3 - Turn off the light. I'm thinking I should get a step stool for this as I have to lift her up as it is but who knows what kind of troubles that could bring with it.

Disconcerting Start

So I went to title this post only to find that I have previously used the title I was going to use before. I might be a little too predictable. Thinking about it a little more I can see that I really am. Emmuska pretty much has my responses to her questions or actions down to the correct intonation. I realized this when I was at the grocery store and she was asking me for things non stop. To which I would respond 'We'll see...' because it generally is forgotten and then I don't have to deal with arguing the matter over with a three year old (who is very good at sticking to her point and getting you confused on yours). Well after being asked about ten or fifteen items I stopped answering - at which point she started reminding me what my answer was supposed to be 'Mom, your supposed to say 'we'll see'' Sometimes I think she just asks questions because she doesn't know that you don't have to talk to prove you are still breathing. Then she expects answers for the same reason - to prove that you are still breathing. (At least she care about my welfare too...)

Anyhow the point of this post was to try and catch you up with the comings and goings of late. We are now safely settled in Mo. It will never cease to amaze me how much of a new culture one has to learn and understand in the same country. Things here are so different from any other place we have lived. To better illustrate that point maybe someday I will tell you about our 'neighbors'.

Our drive out here was punctuated by only a few mishaps. At the beginning of the venture my mom (she and Thom drove out with us to help drive so we could make it as straight though as possible) talking about how amazing it is that we could drive to Mo. in such a short time. It took the pioneers months to get from one place to the other and we complain if it takes more than twenty hours. I am blaming her for everything that happened after that point as she tempted fate with the statement. After driving all night we were somewhere between Rawlins and Laramie Wy. It was there that the truck decided to make the trip more fun by deciding not to switch between gas tanks - so it ran out of gas, while still having a full tank of gas. Mom and I were already ahead so we kept on going and picked up a couple of cans of gas then took it back to the truck. However apparently when a diesel runs of out gas it makes you jump through hopes to get going again. We did eventually get it started and headed again on our merry way after a delay of two and a half - three hours.

Well things were going well as we entered Nebraska. We decided to take a nice long lunch so that the girls could run around and relax and we could rearrange the seating and packing arrangements. After about an hour and half we got back on the road but stopped shortly (very shortly) because the truck had a cut in the radiator hose (or something like that) so Mycal and I drove until we could turn around, went back to the city we had just left picked up the supplies and went back to fix the truck. Once again we got it working just fine but it took us over two hours to take care of the problem. After another night on the road - including a couple hours of sleep, we finally pulled into our new place. Overall we were very blessed to have everything work out as well as it did. We managed to stay ahead of a huge storm almost the entire only catching a little rain in the last hour. We had time to get everything unpacked just before it started to really pour. However the drive took over 37 hours. After a couple days of rest we are feeling much better.

Mom and Thom headed back on Saturday catching a flight out of St. Louis. We really appreciate everything they were able to do to help. Now we are just trying to figure out the area. The base is much larger than either of the others we have lived near - (not including Hill AFB - I never really explored that one I only went on occasionally for appointments). Of course I have already found the craft store. I haven't had a chance to actually visit yet but plan on checking it out as soon as I can. More to follow on the area as soon as I'm able to get out more.

Where Ere the Wind Blows

Maybe not the most applicable to my current life situation but it was the best way to put how things have been going lately. I was going to be moving last Saturday but with everything that has been happening to the Brown family Mycal ended up flying out here instead. When things looked like they would be okay we thought we would leave yesterday but there ended up being issues with our car as well as additional need for us to be here. So now we are just taking it one day at a time. We are hoping to leave tonight but I'm not sure how realistic that is as anything can happen (and usually does...). We still have to wait for the car to finish getting fixed, get it weighed, loaded, weighed again and then we can leave. I'm just not sure we will be able to get it all done before the way station closes. I'd rather not leave tomorrow as Mycal has to be back before Thursday and that would make for an awful long day of driving... But we will do what we have to do and it will all be okay.

This Week

My brother in law has been in the hospital all week. He was admitted with severe pneumonia, however shortly after being transferred to a different hospital they realized that was not the only problem and began testing and working to understand what was wrong. It has been a crazy week with lots of downs and a few ups. The situation was so bad that SuZan (my mother in law) had to contact the Red Cross to process the paperwork for Mycal to get emergency leave to come home and help out. Thankfully Mycal was able to come home Thursday morning (hooray for Delta and their great rates for military members). Of course I'm really glad to have him home and the girls are ecstatic, they have been all over him every chance they get. Most importantly I think he was able to really help his family. I keep wishing I could do more and feel badly because I want to help in anyway I can but there is nothing I can do so I feel useless. Still Mycal was able to give his brother a blessing yesterday and already things are improving. His vitals are stable now and he is becoming more responsive to what is happening around him. Of course the whole family is always in my prayers.