Aliviah Grace

Andrew has been talking about getting another tattoo for a while now. He finally found the free time to go so him and a couple of his guys headed out Thursday. It took about 5 hours and he’s not quite finished. Although larger than he first expected, it looks pretty good. Ouch, definitely nothing I could do though!

Last night, we went to one of Andrew’s fellow Sgt’s house for a Mexican Fiesta. Along with good food and good company, there was a pinata. They let the little kids take a whack at it first. Two little pieces of candy flew out. Aliviah ran up and grabbed the candy. Without even a look at me, she went to her little playmate for the night and offered the little girl her extra piece of candy. Yes, our baby shares!

It’s a start I guess.

It will never cease to amaze me how it can be in the high 70’s then we drive an hour to blizzard conditions. A couple weekends ago for Amanda’s birthday we went put-putting. We had a pretty good time, even though I doubt we will be going again anytime soon. I think we stopped keeping score after the 5th hole. Aliviah was better than we were!

Aliviah helping her “other” daddy, Horn.

You throw it in, right?

Last weekend, we drove up to Big Bear, with two other couples, to do a little snowboarding. I wasn’t really expecting there to be a lot of snow. And driving up the mountain seemed to be proving me right. Andrew didn’t even bring a jacket. Aliviah usually gets sick going up the mountain, no matter what the variables. So when we had to stop in a church parking lot to change and clean her up, we were in for a rude surprise. It was FREEZING! There still was only a little sprinkling of snow here and there, but the slopes were running. While walking around some gift shops, we heard the shopkeeper say they were expecting a foot of snow. PPfft! was our response. We woke up to…..

We used that grill the night before. Trust the locals I guess. They literally had to shovel the truck out to get to the slopes. Ah, the snowboarding experience. I wish I could have seen them. They came back bruised and sore and vowing to never do it again! We were a little worried because we had heard that the Highway Patrol was stopping everyone going down the mountain, making sure you had snow chains. But we made it back to our desert without incident. Aliviah slept on the way down (yea! no throw-up to clean!). When we stopped to get food, she woke up to ask, “Uh, where’s the snow?”.

This is just for you guys who have 11 inches of snow…or more. Yes, it is warm enough to eat ice cream outside. If it makes you feel better, we have to put on sweaters at night. Haha.

Aliviah eating an ice cream cone.

But, just to give you an idea of the diversity of weather here, we’re going skiing next weekend. Well, Andrew and our friends are going skiing. I’m making hot chocolate.

I have been looking for canisters like these every since…well, since I’ve been married. Mom has similar ones and I’ve always loved them. Mom’s are Tupperware and more expensive than I would like to spend on canisters. I showed them to my friend Amanda. She said they looked like paint cans. Haha, I still like them! Walmart: $10.

So, being the amazing parent that I am, regularly exposing my child to appropriate things, Aliviah has a new favorite song. In fact, she wants me to play it over and over….and OVER again. I now don’t really care for the song. Okay, I take that back. I still love me some Rihanna, almost as much as Britney. We were driving our hour into town and I was playing “Don’t Stop the Music” by Rihanna. I look back and Aliviah is dancing up a storm! Rocking out in her car seat. She now even sings along. Thankfully the only part she’s picked up is “stop the music music music”. I’ve tried other upbeat (more 2-year old appropiate) songs. Nope. Nothing will do but Rihanna. Ha, she even picked up my mad dance skills. Dance it up, white girl!

Andrew was part of an insurgent attack last night.

Okay, not really. It’s just another day out in the field. He was painted by the makeup artist who works for Burn Notice. (Yep, I said Burn Notice, Dad!) It was pretty freaky looking. He had to come home to take a shower and was worried Aliviah would see him. Thankfully she stayed asleep. After scrubbing with soap and water, the glue and fake blood still wouldn’t come off. He had to shave his stubble to get it all off. Definitely not your 9 to 5 job!

Yuck!

“Aliviah we have to get dressed.”

“NO! I want to play with my POOP!”

*Screamed at the top of her lungs across the house*
“Mommy! MOMMY! My puppy’s not POOPING!”