Over the river and thru the wood,
To grandmother’s house we go;
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh,
Thru the white and drifted snow, oh!
Over the river and thru the wood,
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes,
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and thru the wood,
To have a first-rate play;
Oh, hear the bell ring,
“Ting-a-ling-ling!”
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day-ay!
Over the river and thru the wood,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground,
Like a hunting hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and make sure you gain those obligatory 10 pounds. We’ll be back Sunday.

It’s hard to tell sometimes that this a man in his mid-30’s since he seems to have the personality of a strange 13-year-old. I thought it would be fun to show the progression from sweet, little boy to weird 35-year-old “man”. His sisters didn’t warn me about the “true” Mike before I married. Sure, I caught glimpses of it before the official day. I actually found humor in most of these things and thought they were, dare I say, cute.

Here he is during his elementary school years. Mike gives the impression that he was a well-behaved and delightful, young boy. Looks can be deceiving though. After attending his 10-year-high school reunion I quickly discovered that in 2nd grade Mike was allowed 5 minutes at the end of each day to do his stand-up routine for the whole class only if he behaved himself all day. Word on the street is that he only got this chance a couple of times.

As you can see here Mike had no fashion sense during his teen angst years. This should have been a little clue about what was to come later in life.

And the hair. Someone who can feel comfortable with that mop of a mane is someone who really has a boat load of quirks.

This seemed really funny to me when I first saw this picture. Actually there is a video of this event floating around. Little did I know that Mike was just trying on a look that he would indeed want to wear regularly as an adult. He’s even said that when he’s done with the military he wants to grow his hair long again and perm it to look like Mike Brady during his curly-haired days. Please someone help me.

Of course, seeing all these pictures of Mike camping and being outdoorsy didn’t make me realize that I was marrying Mr. NRA Boy Scout.

Then there’s the eye. This really should have tipped me off, but I was too smitten by this point to truly see what I was getting myself into.

Had I truly understood all these things early on would have I married this man? Hmmm. Of course, I would have. I know I complain about Mike’s oddities, but I really do love this man with all my heart. Life is definitely interesting spending it with Mr. Hawley. There isn’t a day that goes by where I’m not laughing. A lot. He makes me very happy, and I hope I do the same for him. Even if I have to be embarrassed to be seen with him in public, he still is the best man whom I could have ever ended up with.

When picking up Mimi from school on Friday I was told by her teacher that we would have a weekend visitor coming home with us. Her name is Rita the Rabbit, and the girls were ecstatic about her presence. Rita has her own daily journal in which I will chronicle our weekend. The girls made sure to make her feel at home and included her in all their activities.

Mimi shows Rita how well she can color with markers.

Annie brought home a game from school which practices the use of number lines called “Monster Squeeze”. Rita and I joined the girls in a few rounds.

Rita’s favorite movie is now “Sleeping Beauty” after watching it with the girls.

On Saturday I had to go to the cannery with a group from church, so Rita and the girls went with Daddy to cut down a tree for a friend from church. They got to go for a ride on the 4-wheeler. Rita said she had the time of her life.

After a day full of activity and no naps Mimi and Rita are beat. Here they are cuddling on the couch together.

As a farewell to Rita, the girls decide to have a tea party with her. They told knock-knock jokes. They discussed the high price of furniture and rugs and fire insurance for bunnies. (A prize for the person who can guess the song reference here).

Of course, Mimi didn’t understand that Rita was only “visiting” us and would have to be returned. She hid Rita under my bed on the morning of Rita’s departure. Mimi was not happy to give her back. The girls still enjoyed what little time they had with Rita and are glad they got the chance to spend the weekend with her.

Also during the weekend Mike went on yet another hunting excursion with a buddy from church. They each came home with one duck and one goose. I asked why he and his friend are each posing with Lucy, and I was informed that Lucy was trying to “get at the birds”.

Concerned Citizen can now get off my back for the blog’s “inactivity” for a whole 5 days. I’m sure it must really seem to everyone that I’ve just let the blog go dormant.

Since he’s a veteran Mike received Veteran’s Day off from work. However, he only got Tuesday off, whereas our friends at other bases got Monday and Tuesday off which gave them a 4-day weekend. Oh well, Mike still enjoyed his day off and went on 2 hunting excursions. The first was an early morning outing for geese. Mike’s luck was with him, and he returned home proudly with 2 geese. Mike decided Lucy needed to get warmed up for her pheasant-hunting trip next week in SD. Together they traveled to Bong Recreation area (yes, that’s the real name) to hunt pheasant. Apparently, the park puts out pheasants each day for hunters. Unfortunately, Mike’s luck was spent on the geese, and he and Lucy returned empty-handed. I’m sure they’ll have success in SD; they always have in the past.

So yesterday Mike calls me to tell me that the base is offering free flu shots to dependents (that would be the girls and me) and to go right then to get them done. However, Annie was in school, and I didn’t want to make 2 trips. Fortunately, Annie’s school lets out an hour and 15 minutes early on Wednesdays. I called up the immunizations clinic and found out that their last injection is given at 3:30 giving us enough time to get there for that last injection. In spite of that, it seemed everything was working against us. I’ll list out the bad luck we had.
1. Annie’s bus arrived home 15 minutes late.
2. The traffic was unusually heavy on the way to base.
4. I arrived to base at 3:05. My base entry stickers were expired, and they guards wouldn’t let me enter until I got new stickers.
4. I went to get new stickers and had to go back and forth to my car 3 times to obtain the proper documentation for new stickers.
5. I got lost finding the hospital. Base is all made up of one-ways, so I had to loop all the way back to the front of base to get back on route to the hospital adding several minutes to my journey.
6. Finally, we arrived to the immunization clinic at 3:27 only to be told we needed to bring our medical records with us, new policy that started this year. However, our medical records are with our civilian doctors back in Kenosha.
7. We had to go to the patient records office to see if they could issue “temporary” records. There was a sign on the door that said, “Be back in 5 minutes.” The records lady arrived but promptly told us that they don’t issue “temporary” records in a scolding tone. Grrr!
8. We went back to the immunizations office to plead our case.
9. They finally gave in and allowed us to get immunized.
10. Mimi freaked out when she thought she was going be getting a shot.
11. She was quickly calmed when she was told she was just getting a squirt in each nostril. She did fine.
12. Annie freaked out when she realized that something was going to be squirted up her nose. We eventually convinced her it would be okay.
13. They made me get a shot:( My arm hurts today.

Mimi hearts Lucy. She asked me to take this picture.

Ok, one more quick story. Mike received his new jumpsuit in the mail on Tuesday. When he pulled it out of the package to show the girls, Annie was giddy with excitement. She exclaimed, “Daddy, you should wear it to your church meeting tonight!” I started laughing so hard that I could hardly breath. Mike couldn’t understand what was so funny. I said that we should’ve recorded that statement from Annie and play it for her again when she’s a teenager to see if she still feels the same about Daddy wearing his jumpsuit.

Annie insisted on taking this picture of her Daddy in his new jumpsuit.

Mike has been saying for months that he wants to start baking bread from scratch again. (When we were first married Mike and I baked a few loaves together but quickly lost interest or time.) Sunday was chosen as the day to start this task. The Pillsbury cookbook that Mike’s mom recently gave to us came in handy as Mike picked out a honey wheat bread recipe from it. He was all geared up and excited about the mission. Mike went through all the proper steps and finally pulled the 2 half loaves out of the oven two hours later. However, we were set to leave for church in a few minutes, so Mike set them out to cool off up on a high spot. High enough for Lucy not to reach, right?

Mike and I needed to drive separately in order for Mike to stay late for a meeting after church. The girls and I arrived home at our usual time. I noticed that there was only 1 loaf of bread resting on the cooling spot. I immediately assumed Mike took one of the loaves to give to a friend at church or something. When Mike got home I asked him if that was the case. Mike got a stunned look on his face and ran to where the loaves were. Apparently, Mike did not take any loaves of bread with him, and Lucy was the culprit for the missing loaf. The question that remains is, “HOW THE HECK DID SHE EAT AN ENTIRE LOAF OF BREAD BY HERSELF?” What a flippin’ pig! I had even fed her dinner before Mike got home, and she ate it as if she had been starving (her usual way).

Look at how Lucy looks so guilty and remorseful.

The minute she thinks I’m gone she gets this look of victory in her eyes. The nerve.

Here’s the lone loaf. It’s half-eaten because it accompanied dinner last night. So yummy with our apple jelly.

My wonderful husband informed me last night that he purchased himself an early birthday present. By the twinkle in his eye I knew I was not going to be pleased. At last, he confessed that he’ll be adding to his jumpsuit collection and will now be the proud owner of not one but two jumpsuits.

By his description, I’m guessing this is the one he’ll be sporting soon while NOT in my presence.

In case you’ve forgotten this is his first jumpsuit (I was hoping it was his last).

To further torment me, Mike sent me this today:
A “Monk-e-mail”

Why couldn’t his sisters have warned me that this was my future with their dear brother?

I cannot recall how I came across the wonderful Leslie Hall and her fabulous gem sweater museum, but I have not been the same ever since. When I moved to Minnesota I noticed a phenomenon occur, mostly around the holidays, that I just couldn’t place my finger on until I discovered Leslie Hall. It was the gem sweaters, and it seemed that countless Minnesotan females, usually above the age of 40, sported these unique sweaters come fall. I didn’t really notice this occurrence until I moved to Minnesota, but it happened quite abundantly, in my opinion. Now I’m not saying this phenomenon doesn’t occur anywhere else; it just stood out to me more there. I’ll not go on about this as I feel Leslie really nails all the possibilities in her museum, but I will will leave you with this video also created and performed by Leslie. Mike and I get such a kick out of her robot skills in the deli. Please make sure you watch the very end, as well.

HAPPY belated by one day HALLOWEEN!

Our ward had their annual trunk-or-treat event last night which I actually had to help coordinate since I’m on the activities committee. For those of you who don’t know what trunk-or-treating is: it’s where the adults decorate their car/van/truck trunks with Halloween decorations, and then the kids the kids go trick-or-treating from trunk to trunk. We had a baked potato bar and various salads prior to the trunking.

One lady made this delicious, homemade root beer in a cauldron and dry ice. So cool and yummy!

Of course, there were also some costume contests, too, which none of my family won. Well, Mike and I didn’t exactly dress up; I wore a spidery tiara, and Mike wore a witch hat that we had in our Halloween stash from previous years. Annie dressed up as Sleeping Beauty; she had been asking since last Halloween and never forgot, so I had to follow through with my promise. Fortunately, I found both girls costumes at Aldi for way cheap and the wig at Target for a 30% discount. Mimi picked out her own costume and was dressed up as Abby Cadabby (a fairy character from Sesame Street).

Here are the girls “modeling”. Mimi is in to this pose of trying to look all cute and sweet, whereas Annie does this silly thing with her eyes that makes her look like she’s half-way blinking. They have so much to learn.

The missionaries were the Ghost Busters. They looked authentic.

Here’s our decorated trunk. It wasn’t nearly as good as Aunty Sara’s, but we made an effort. I have some better ideas for next year and will hopefully have more than 20 minutes to prepare.

This is without the flash. We had a black light but it was ineffective since the parking lot lights were so bright. I even made those little, paper towel ghosts on the way to the church using our car’s paper towel stash in hopes of attracting the black light. I think Mike was handing out the ghosts to children as treats because I saw a bunch of kids walking around with ghosts that looked strangely familiar to my handmade ghosts.

The family at the end of the night. We really enjoyed ourselves and managed to get the kids to bed without too much of a fight and no vomit. Yay!

Speaking of vomit, Mimi did have a little stomach bug on Wednesday morning forcing her to say home that day. Then on Thursday I got sick, too, but my illness was more like the flu with a fever and achy-ness all over. Fortunately, for both of us the illness only lasted 24-hours, and so far Mike and Annie are in the clear.