I & I

When I was pregnant with Ian one of my concerns was how Isabel and Ian would get along. I worried that Isabel might try to push Ian away and never bond with him. I feel in awe of my children that they have not only proved me wrong, but proved just how wonderful sibling bonds are. Since day one Isabel has loved Ian, watched over him, and even helps him when he is hurt. Ian will reciprocate with the biggest hugs. Just simply seeing Izzy gets him all happy and excited that he immediately runs over and gives her a great big hug. I just love them so much and I am glad I can just throw away my fears of my two only children not forming a close bond.

Our Snazzy Ride

It's been a few months, I know, but the post is finally here on our new snazzy ride. We had to buy it sooner than we wanted to, but the negligent drive that crashed into Shaun bumped us up earlier on our schedule. We had actually planned on buying a Mini Cooper at the beginning of the summer. We just wanted to save up for it, sell the motorcycle, and pay off a bank loan we have. No such luck. Oh, well. We are however thoroughly enjoying this sweet ride. It, for lack of a better phrase, "drives like a dream". I seriously want to pull on my gloves and helmet and drive this baby in the NASCAR races. If you can't tell in the picture this particular Mini is actually a Mini Cooper CLUBMAN S. Think of the old station wagon. That's pretty much the English version of this car. It has a whole extra foot of space then the original Mini, which is plenty of room for my two kids, the groceries, and another person. We love it.

Our New Dog "Sushi" !

"Thou shalt not get run over". The one rule that Chico broke; ultimately banishing him to canine purgatory. Through much study of the occult and scrutiny of the dark arts, Liz and I found a way to bring Chico back to the land of the living. In hindsight, it would have been better if we left him there, for I nearly lost Liz to insanity during the perilous ordeal. His coat is much darker from all the burning ash and whatnot. Also, he seems to have lost his masculinity and is now a girl dog. "Sushi" is the name for which she shall be known.
For reals though, we agreed that it was best for the kids to get another dog since Isabel still talks about Chico. I could have waited a little longer myself. It is a coincidence that our new dog looks like a darker, more sinister version of our old compadre. We support the "Dog Rescue" cause, rather it supports our stance on not wanting to spend a lot of money on an animal. So far, Sushi is great with the kids. Both Isabel and Ian have enjoyed their new friend.

Our Orange Orbs

Figured if everyone else was doing their pumpkin pictures I might as well. We drove up to Calloway Gardens and checked out their pumpkin patch. It was nice, but still missing a key element, which was the cold weather. If I am going to enjoy some fall festivities I'd like to have a brisk breeze blowing to let me know that summer is over. No luck here in the south. That's not to say that we didn't fully enjoy the nice warm weather though.



Here is us enjoying the warm weather. We sat on the beach after pumpkin looking and enjoyed the sun, water, and sand. Ian couldn't resist the water so he walked right in, clothes and all. Shaun figured since he was already wet he'll just swish him around a bit. Ian certainly loved it. It was a very nice evening.

USA Halloween Teaser

I really liked Brooke's idea of doing a Halloween teaser, because how often can a Mom get away with dressing up their kids in the cutest costumes ever!? I am pro video footage lately. I have been feeling like pictures just don't justify enough how cute I think my kids can be.

Clap if you believe..

If you have seen the preview already then you will already have marked October 28th as the day to get your very own copy of Tinkerbell. Izzy and I are super excited to watch it. We even have our own fairies that we made with a little pixie dust. If you don't have a daughter to share in the excitment, I'm sure the boys can be just as excited (somewhat). Regardless, I AM SO EXCITED!

Combatives

This last week, I was a participant in the Army Combatives Level 1 Course that is required for us Cadre. I delayed entry so that my back and neck could heal from the motorcycle accident that I was in a while back.
Most of the week was focused on learning the moves and then practicing them on fellow Cadre. To certify though, we all had to go through the "Punch Drill".
Rules:
1. They punched me in the face and body as hard as they could while I tried to close the gap and achieve the clinch (head buried in the chest with the arms around the body and hands in an opposing thumbless grip).
2. The instructors wore boxing gloves while we got to wear mouthguards. Fair enough.
3. I had to do it four times to certify.
4. I was not allowed to fight back at all. If I fell down, they could keep punching me while on the ground until I got up.

My first time through the drill, I was hit so hard on the side of my face that pain shot from my neck down to my shoulderblade. I took quite a few more punches everywhere else so that I could even out the pain. Instructors rotated punching so that they would be freshly rested before each round. By the time I got to round three, I was losing the battle to a bad headache and could barely face left or right without grimacing. This time I attempted a different approach; rush in and take one or two punches to achieve the clinch sooner instead of trying any kind of strategy. That didn't work at all. I was punched in the face so hard that both feet left the ground and I landed on my back. Everyone was silent. I could see him coming at me to feed me my teeth, I wasn't hungry. I staggered my way back onto my feet. The ref tried to pull me to the side but I refused and insisted that I continue. Everyone then began to cheer me on as I went in for some more. Punch after punch after punch. I was determined. I closed the gap and grabbed him while taking a couple more jabs to the ribs. CLINCH ! I left the mat to a well entertained crowd. High fives. One more round to go. My last bout was against a very tall guy who outweighed me by at least seventy or eighty pounds. That guy could punch.
Tales of my triumph spread amongst fellow Cadre. Now everyone knows that I took the hardest punch, got up for some more, and went on to victory. I am still sore everywhere, but at least I know that the next time I run into someone in a dark alleyway who is wearing boxing gloves and for some reason I only have a mouthguard, I can achieve the clinch.