So today- on the 14th of February- Kent and I celebrate our 14th Valentine's Day as best friends- and he works a 14 hour shift :)  I sent him with 14 cards/notes to open every hour of his shift so he wouldn't feel  unloved :)

and in honor of valentine's day - I'll continue my tradition of reminding myself why I'm so happy by listing 14 of my loves.

I ♥  Kent. oh so much.  he just gets better and better each and every day.  

I mentioned this yesterday- but I ♥ Target.  What a heavenly heavenly place. I think I'll fill Kent's absence today by visiting target.  It's almost the same thing.

Even though I tend to complain a lot- I really do ♥ my rugrats.  It's amazing how these little creatures (I am referring to my kiddos) can just burrow their way into my heart.

I ♥ my savior, Jesus Christ, and his perfect gospel.  How am I the most blessed person on earth? to have what I have and know what I know is truly the greatest gift.

I ♥ Ohio.  I think that I was born destined to spend part of my existence here. Such a wonderful place with such wonderful people.

And although I may not be saying this when Kent is spending six months on the other side of the world- I ♥ the U.S. Air Force.  So many blessings have come our way as we've been a part of the military.  

This may make me sound so cliche- but I really really ♥ my minivan. Life changing. Have you ever been able to push a button and have your doors open up? or have your bum warmed by your seat? pure delight.

I still really ♥ my YMCA and a great workout.  There is almost nothing better than a hard workout or a good long run or spin.  Definitely my therapy.  

I will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart for m&ms. I ♥ them more than words can express.  Especially the holiday colored ones. Why do they taste so much better when pink in February and red and green in December?!

I ♥ losing myself in a good tv show.  Kent watches project runway with me every week, still. And we laugh uncontrollably through Modern Family.  And when he's working nights I push through seasons of Prison Break.  What a wonderfully terrible time wasting vice :)

I also ♥ getting lost in a good book. or magazine for that matter.   

I ♥ having something to look forward to.  Like holidays and parties and girls nights and Kent coming home from work.  I think life should be celebrated EVERY day so there's always something to look forward to.

I ♥ to eat. food in general.  If I was half as dedicated about my eating as I am at the gym- I'd be super woman. Too bad I love it so much. and too bad it tastes so good!!

and finally- I ♥ my family. my church family. my extended family. my in-law family. my friend family. all of them.  I'm so lucky to be surrounded by such great people.

some pretty bad pictures....

We are trying to make the most of our last few weeks as a family of four!  And this weekend was pure heaven.  Basically our Valentine's celebration.

Kent got off early on Friday and made it to the Valentine's Dance at church- and then had the entire weekend off!  we went to the gym Saturday and had breakfast at the 'Heights cafe' here in Dayton. Their french toast is divine.

Then we spent the afternoon 'glow in the dark bowling' on base!  Zeb didn't love the loud music- but had fun bowling. Ike loved everything about it.

I love this picture of the boys. I have no idea why I took it. I just can't believe that I may be outnumbered 4 to 1 any day now!!   but if it is a boy- we are in SERIOUS need of name suggestions.  It's got to go with Zeb and Ike.  Original and unique but also traditional and/or family name. ????  Please- send them our way!!

  

I loved the little bowling shoes for the rugrats.

and they loved the cool dino ramp.  Zeb even bowled a strike with it.  But I ended up winning. I beat Kent by one point and the wager was dinner. He prepared, served, and cleaned up Sunday dinner entirely by himself.  He made his divine -from scratch- chicken cordon bleu with white wine sauce, swiss mashed potatoes, candied carrots, and green beans. When somebody else makes and cleans up dinner it somehow tastes SOOO much better.

I've also decided to include a picture of me and my pregnant belly.  37 weeks.

Yes- I hate pictures of my pregnant self.  Just because.  No real reason.   Maybe if I actually tried smiling or posing for one- I'd like them better!  But for all you belly picture wanters (M and Kristy!!)- here you go :)  I really am bowling here. It isn't staged.  I took a bowling class in college but seemed to have forgotten everything. I'll just blame the growing parasite inside of me for my bad form and awkwardness!!  just maybe we'll get a better (planned) picture before the rugrat arrives.

This pregnancy has been remarkably smooth and fast. I can't believe that I've been pregant ever since we moved to dayton!!!  I stopped teaching classes at the gym last week- but I'm still going and feel great.  Honestly though- I can't wait to run and workout withOUT a giant belly.

It's pretty crazy that it's almost over.  I can actually say that this time around I'm more excited for the arrival of a new little rugrat than I ever have been.  I think I feel ready for once. Zeb and Ike are well behaved and take care of themselves so well.  They are old enough that I don't feel like I still have another baby to take care of!  Besides the normal 'lack of sleep anxiety'- and the fact that I don't really love babies- I'm totally ready. AS LONG AS I GET THE EPIDURAL :)  so keep me and my drug wishes in your prayers. please.

And since I'm making requests- I thought I'd post some of my others here for Kent (or anyone else) to see:

With valentines day- and the birth- and MY birthday coming up- I thought I'd make it easier and provide a list. I usually like only surprises- but considering Kent is the busiest he's EVER been- I owe it to him to make it a little easier.

1. after I have the baby I want a smoothie ( I like the peach and pineapple- and tropical type ones) and sandwich from Tropical smoothie cafe. I HATE hospital food and am not really hungry after having kiddos- but fresh food is the one thing that sounds delicious.

2. I need/want a long black (or any great) necklace.  any ideas on where to get one?!  I've seen a few at target but have no other ideas!!  where do you get your jewelry?

3.  I want a flash scoop. http://www.amazon.com/Professor-Lightscoop-Standard-Universal-American/dp/B0017LNHY2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329154636&sr=8-1
preferrably before the baby arrives.

4. when all else fails- get me a target gift card. Nothing makes me happier than browsing the aisles of target with a giftcard to spend.

one more for the kiddos.

 This warm weather is killing me.  Have I mentioned that yet?!  do you really think it's possible that we are going to skip winter altogether?  seriously, though.  Has anyone seen an entirely skipped winter???  because that's what it's starting to look like to me.

Short sleeve game of frisbee in february in ohio?!  Zeb's screaming 'GOAL' here.  The boys made up their own little game and went at it for ages.

And here's our little athlete chucking the frisbee.  Tonight we turned the super bowl on and he excitedly asked: "football?!  I LOVE football!".  We don't watch many sports in this house- so when they come on- he gets excited.

their crazy 'goal' faces.  creepy little monkeys.

This past week was full of fabulous celebrations.  Ike hit the big 3.  Our rugrat is three years old- but he doesn't believe it.  He wouldn't accept the change to 2 last year either.   Weirdo.  I made him this '3' pendant to wear all day- and he still wouldn't accept it.  whatever.

 He's totally going to be our little attention getting kid.  He loves to be goofy and a little loud and little crazy.  We decorated the kitchen for his birthday and he was really excited to see the streamers and banner.

 I unveiled the cake and took this picture immediately.  I knew this cake was going to be an extreme hit with him.  He LOVES candy and especially chocolate.  I stole the idea from pinterest and just shrunk it to kiddo size. CRAZY easy.

 He had a lot of kit kats and m&ms with very little cake.  Totally has my taste buds.

 I am grateful to pinterest for so many great ideas- but it makes me feel so unoriginal.  I would have stolen some great cake idea from the internet anyway- but nobody would have known that previously.  Now everybody knows exactly where we get our ideas and nobody can pass off being original or creative.  Darn you pinterest.

 I love this picture of Ike.  It just shows how grown up he's become.

 This kid had soooo much fun playing with his new toys with Zeb.  Don't tell him- but this was a Christmas present we decided to hold off on because he got so much already!  goodwill- $1.50 cents.  HOURS of laughing and racing cars.  And don't mind his girly outfit :)  he and Zeb had gone to a friend's birthday  party that day (Ike totally thought it was his birthday party, too!!) and Ike had to borrow some clothes.  They only have girls in the house :)

This picture is such a good depiction of the boys. They really really are best friends.  Zeb says they are 'kind of twins'. They can make each other happier than anything you've ever seen.

Happy birthday little rugrat. Love you to pieces.

I have so much blogging to do and so little motivation :)  There will be more posts this week for sure.

I know it sounds crazy- but I wake up every morning to the sun shining in through our windows and I get all sad inside.  Where or where is my snow?!  where is my winter?!  where are my gloomy days?! I need them. If we skip winter altogether- I may get depressed.

We've gotten a few light dustings- but it is NOT enough. And it all melts immediately.

The kids are pretty disappointed, too.  Zeb has been dying to make a snow angel.  

The boys LOVE the binocs that Kent got me for Christmas. We get to bird and squirrel watch in the back yard every day.

We had preschool at our place last week and we learned all about bodies.  Hearts, lungs, brains, our senses, the digestive system, and more.  We even did all sorts of exercises to match.  Brain exercises were learning and matching games, heart and lung exercises were races and the game 'hullabaloo'- and we even did digestive exercises at snack time :)

Zeb and the other kiddos LOVED doing full body tracings of themselves and then decorating their organ systems!  I did this very same thing when I taught junior high :)

Zeb is going to school next year for reals and I can't believe it.  Full day kindergarten!!  any suggestions on making full day the best experience?!  I'm pretty confident that he'll absolutely love it- but I don't want him to get too tired or burnt out!

Kent is on a rotation at the Air Force hospital so he isn't getting free food everyday- and that means I've been making a lot of food so he can take leftovers for lunch every day.  I've included four great and pretty easy ones here so I can add them to my rotation.

None of the pictures are mine. I've been really lazy with the camera lately!

PF changs lettuce wraps from 'the culinary life'.  The recipe has intense wording (not including it all here!)- but it's actually super easy to make.  They were delish.

 Chicken Florentine by me.  Picture by Paula Deen- but mine looked pretty darn close.  I used a bunch of recipe ideas and then made it all my own.  Kent LOVED it.  I liked it.  It's pretty creamy.

Mix:
 1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 c milk
2 large crockpotted/shredded chicken breasts
1-2 cups mozarella cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 container (4 oz) italian herb cream cheese creamy stuff.  You could do reg cream cheese or sour cream with italian seasoning.
1 bag of fresh spinach chopped and sauteed with an onion
10-14 oz al dente bowtie pasta


350 degrees. 30 minutes.


Mexican Lasagna.  From Sugar and Spice.  Super easy recipe and super tasty. I even used 1 can cooked chicken to make it faster and easier!  I topped it with chopped lettuce, guac, salsa, and sour cream.

Crockpot cavatappi and broccoli Mac n cheese.  I read a zillion recipes and came up with my own.  It was CRAZY easy and pretty tasty.

picture from Blake's All Natural

8-10 oz half cooked cavatappi pasta
1 can evap milk
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mixed asiago/parm/romano cheese
2 eggs
1/4 c milk
Mix it all together and throw it in the crockpot for 2 hrs high or 4 hrs low.  I added the broccoli at the end already cooked.  And added some bread crumbs on top for the last hour.

the dark side

We've been so lucky with health the past few weeks. I feel like everybody around us is sick and we've managed to stay clear of the germs. Although Kent caught some nasty bug that left him with a sore throat for ten days- but I steered clear of him for that long and I seemed to have escaped whatever he had.  It's pretty easy to avoid him when he's never home anyway!   I really don't want to get sick in this last homestretch.  I feel like if I get sick now I won't be able to recover until post baby.  Less than six weeks now. I can't figure out how eight months flew by. I'm terrified for this baby to show up. We are in such a good happy place right now. My kids are so self sufficient. They sleep in. They feed themselves. They dress themselves.  They entertain each other all day.  I can shower and eat and even read without being bombarded by needs.  Two adults, two kids.  Life is too easy.  WHAT ARE WE THINKING?!

Post Christmas life has been pretty normal.  Preschool, gym, meijer, the library, and home.  That's what we do around here.

 Here's Ike and his ritual of a pb and syrup multigrain waffle for breakfast.  While watching cartoons of some sort.  I loved watching cartoons while eating breakfast growing up. I hope that's a not a terrible tradition to pass on to my kiddos.

Also- in the past three weeks I have amassed more Star Wars knowledge than I have in my previous thirty years of life.

Since we got married Kent has been saving his collection of old Star Wars figurines to give to our kiddos.  Last Christmas the boys got light sabers but were only mildly interested in them so Kent didn't get out his old toys.  This year Kent prepped Zeb by showing him youtube snippets of Star Wars movies for a few months- and now all the boys are hooked.  Zeb asks NONstop questions about characters I've never heard of. We scour library shelves for books about Star Wars.  He asks me at least seven times a day why Darth Vader wants people to join the dark side.  I don't have any of the answers to his questions.  He does however regularly inform me that right before Darth Vader dies- he decides to choose the right.  I honestly had no idea until he told me.

And we FINALLY have enjoyed a little snow!  I want winter!  good cold snowy winter. Maybe we'll have to put in for Alaska on our next air force assignment.  These boys are getting to wear their angry birds hats around and they love them! thanks again, gma Pat!

last of the visitors!

 For the remaining days that the whole Oswald fam was in town we partied. Kent had five straight days off and that made it even better!! We got babystitters two nights and went out kidless to great Thai food and barbecue, went to the children's museum, saw the 'Muffets' movie, swam at Nannie Annie and Gramps' pool, and spent hours at the air force museum, and played with new toys.

We love the children's museum here! although I seem to lose a kid every time we go.  The crazy slides connect all three levels and it's really easy to lose children when they zip down a slide and you can't see at all where they've gone.

Zeb thinks the best part of my parents visiting is definitely the hotel pool benefit.  Everybody had a blast at the hotel!!

We went and saw the muppets movie.  The three rugrat boys (and clair) partied it up in our new swagger wagon.

and I've got a gazillion pictures from the air force museum. I can't believe that this place is free. It's a little boys dream come true- and keeps visitors entertained for a day!!

Have I mentioned how funny this Milly girl is? Plus she has GREAT clothes that will be hand me downs if we have a girl.

Daysa the astronaut.

And Zeb, too.  You know- this is a real space suit.

 Ike is obsessed with Clair.  After they left- Ike got sick and kept asking if Clair could hold him!!

Here's the turkey pushing clair around in his stroller.

The whole fam dam got to ride in the simulator. Except for me.  The man wouldn't let me on because of my 'condition'.  Seriously.  I went skydiving pregnant - I think I could have handled the simulator.

As much as I miss my family being close- living far away sure does make it exciting when they come and visit!!

family pictures.

The day after Christmas we all got together for a big family photo session!  It's not often that we are all together in the same place- so we had to take advantage of the opportunity.  I wasn't uber excited about it all considering I really don't like to see myself pregnant (call me vain if you'd like- I just don't like my pregnant belly!)- but I survived! I am surprised how smoothly it all went.  We seriously spent less than thirty minutes and got some decent shots!   I have a beautiful family!

 My dad appears to be a floating head in this one- but everybody else looks good :)

 Best sisters ever.