And the Bonner's are moving to...

We finally got official word that we are headed to...

The land of the Goonies

Kindergarten Cop

Well, technically, he will be heading to the National Motor Life Boat School in Cape Disappointment, WA to be an instructor, but we will be living somewhere around Astoria, Oregon, which is the land of the Goonies and Kindergarten Cop, but you get the drift. ;) And by all means click this link to Cape Disappointment, Washington (known as the Graveyard of the Pacific) to see an incredible shot of the coast. Gives you a good picture of why it is named such and why it is prime training ground for driving a boat in 20-30 foot seas. ;)

We will be Oregon/Washington bound around April 2013. Yes, we will be having a baby and packing up our house in just 3 short months. Crazy, right? We are very excited, and although, we wanted to head East, this wound up being the best option for our family. Brett will get to train new boat drivers and surfmen, which he is very good at, and he will no longer be standing duty, so no more nights, weekends, holidays. Ah...I can hardly wait, especially after him being on duty a week straight this week. 34/35 weeks pregnant with two toddlers cooped inside with the rain for a whole week without Daddy is really, really, REALLY not fun. Mommy is praying hard he will be home tomorrow. I'm not sure how much longer my sanity can take. 

 

Interestingly, the school from Kindergarten Cop is where Kayleigh would start kindergarten next year if we weren't going to stick with homeschool. Astoria seems absolutely beautiful though, and we already have a list of new gear to live with all that rain. If you know me, you know I'm a pretty big home body, so Brett says I won't need anything other than flannel jammies. Ha. Seriously though. I may be perfectly suited for this area because I do love rainy days and staying home. I can't wait to stock up on some flannel shirts and rain boots. :)

We are very excited to explore that area. I can't wait to visit Portland, Multnomah Falls (which I pinned on pinterest to my must see one day board a year or so ago), Seattle, Orcas Island, Victoria, BC, Whistler. Can you tell we love to travel and explore? Brett is super pumped about the hunting and fishing too. 

 

So if you are up for some exploring, hunting or fishing, COME SEE US!!

 

So much to be THANKFUL for...

Thanksgiving is a time to count our blessings, but to be honest, I am very aware on a daily basis just how blessed I am. I have an amazing life and God has truly blessed me more than I could have ever dreamed of and certainly more than I deserve. Lord knows what we all deserve as sinners who fall way short. But in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'll share a short list of my blessings...

I am so thankful that God has forgiven me. Without Him, my life would lack purpose. Because of Him, I have eternal life to rest my hope in, and through His word, I am renewed and strengthened to handle each new day.

I am so very thankful for my husband. He loves me and our girls, cares for us and works so hard to provide for our family. I honestly could not have asked for a better father for my children. He is amazing, and he completes my world.

On that note, I am beyond thankful for his job. It has provided us the opportunity to live in places I would never have envisioned living and the gift of me being a stay-at-home mom. Today, we were even blessed with him having duty because we got to eat Thanksgiving meal at the station. Now I know why he never wants to take his lunch. :) Their cooks are AMAZING. I felt like I was at a 5 star restaurant. Even better for this pregnant momma was that I didn't have to clean a thing.

I am thankful for our families who love and support us in everything and love our kids as much as we do. Not everyone got as lucky as us in that department, so I am reminded often of just how blessed we are.

Last, but of course not least, I am thankful for my beautiful children. Our girls are our whole world, and we can't wait for Little Man to join us too. They make us laugh...and sometimes cry. They tell me I'm beautiful even when I'm still in my pjs and haven't showered in a day...or two. They hug me and kiss me when I need it the most. They play with my hair and rub my face. They make me appreciate everyday life so much more. The girls are going to be wonderful big sisters, and I know Little Man will be just as awesome as his sisters.

And no we still haven't gotten orders yet. I think maybe the detailer (the guy who assigns us our next unit) wanted us to get in the Thanksgiving spirit before he gave us orders, so we'd all be a little more appreciative. ;) I'll be sure to update when we do.

Snow Day!

The weekend before this, we headed up to Mt. Lassen for a day in the snow. It was beautiful, cold (a chilly 24*) and even snowed while we played. We, and by we I mean everyone but me, sledded, built a snow man and had a blast in the snow. I had fun too, but I, of course, just watched and took pictures. I think I lucked out being able to pull the pregnant card though because I didn't end up with snow up my back. ;) We didn't last too long because the girls got cold. Actual snowboots and thick socks probably would have helped, but sometimes you have to improvise. Kayleigh got really cold and started marching back on her own. Ha. She is so her mommy. When we are over it, we are over it. We asked her if she wanted to go back to the snow the next day and she said, "NO SNOW!" She's even reminded me a few times since that she is not a fan of the snow. Perhaps we better get some snow gear before we go again. :) Campbell was a trooper as always though she was "Fweezing!!!!" They did have fun and Daddy built a great snowman.

  

 

Bumpdate 33 weeks

I'm the worst about keeping track of my pregnancies or taking pictures along the way. Forget keeping up with baby books. Hopefully my kids will forgive me. So...when I do take a picture, I'm a little shocked by my ever expanding belly. When did I get so big??? How am I going to make it another month and some??? How big is this little man?

I'm really looking forward to meeting our little boy, and we are pretty much ready for him. Just a few odds and ends to buy and a hospital bag to pack, and we are ready to go.

I'm down to two week appointments at the OB, which is so exciting when it is your first but seems less of a milestone in subsequent pregnancies. It is always nice to hear his heartbeat, but I definitely forgot how little they did at these appointments. Though I am very thankful we are both healthy and that they are uneventful visits. Surprisingly the old wives tale about the heartbeat (over 150 for a girl and under for a boy) has held true the entire time for all three of my babies. His has held pretty steady around 135. My blood pressure is low as always and weight is...ummm...well within normal though it remains my least favorite part of the visit.

In the meantime, I'm surviving. I'm so incredibly thankful for this pregnancy and this sweet baby, especially with the miscarriages we had before him, but I can't say I'm not wishing these next few weeks will fly by. As you can see from my picture, not only am I dealing with SPD, I am running out of torso. He has his feet and legs firmly planted in my right ribs. Thankfully, I have an amazing husband who has picked up some of my slack and two incredibly helpful and understanding little girls. Now if I can stretch my shirts to cover this belly for another month or so, we'll be good to go. Or maybe a Target trip is in order...for the sake of those who are graced with my presence...and this belly.

A post with pictures of a visit to the snow coming tomorrow and hopefully official word on our new duty station coming very soon. A baby and a move? Life couldn't be more exciting!

And for the record, that is not the start of an outie in the picture above. I have an abnormally deep belly button that has yet to ever go outie. I think I'd take outie over huge and stretched but you can't have it all. ;)

To Delicious to Not Share

So unfortunatly, we devoured them too soon to take a picture, but I had a few quick, easy recipes that are just too good to not share.

A CG friend shared a recipe for clean pancakes, though we call them banana pancakes. They are really good and beyond easy. We made homemade pancakes a lot around here for breakfast because I prefer homemade versus buying them filled with stuff and the girls love them. This is revolutionary for me though. It is 3 ingredients and takes less than 10 minutes to make. Not that regular pancakes are hard, but it does require digging quite a number of ingredients out of the pantry. Give them a shot. Even my non-banana eater (Kayleigh) ate them. :)

Banana Pancakes

1 banana
2 eggs
2 t vanilla extract 

Mash/mix all the ingredients. Cook like regular pancakes. 

This made 4 medium sized thin pancakes, which was enough for my two girls, but obviously it is pretty simple to double, triple, etc. I cooked them in coconut oil, but cook your usual way and dig in!

Now for dinners around here, I just started using eMeals new paleo plan. So far so good. It has definitely saved me a lot of time/headache in meal planning and grocery shopping. I do a once a month big grocery trip and then pick up fresh produce along the way, so my once a month trip takes forever in planning and shopping. This has freed up a lot of time and, more importantly, saved me from the monthly headache trying to think of/find enough yummy meals to keep everyone well fed and the list under budget. I have had to add in a side dish here and there to make more of a complete meal. If you've seen my husband and know how active he is, you'll know why. But there is ALWAYS plenty of nights where I just lack motivation to spend time in the kitchen preparing any meal, planned or not. This would normally be where we'd get fast food, order a pizza or get Chinese, but I threw together this meal one night, and it is my go-to meal ever since. Give it a shot. It takes practically no time and is as healthy as you can get. Not to mention cleanup is a breeze. Win. Win. Win.

Prepare this salmon recipe from the Pioneer Woman (Isn't she amazing? I have yet to try a bad recipe from her. She has a gift.) Pair that with steamed spinach. I keep salmon in the freezer at all times. I cook it on foil sprayed with olive oil for easy clean-up. It takes just 25 minutes from the time you turn the oven on.

Steamed Spinach

Make a foil packet and spray with olive oil. Toss in as much baby spinach as you'd like (remember to do a lot more than you think you'll need since it will cook down a lot) and toss it in the foil. Spray/drizzle with olive oil. Seal up your packet and toss it in the over on whatever temp your oven is already on (in the case of the salmon, it is on 400). When it is nice and cooked, sprinkle a little sea salt and toasted sesame seeds if you like. 

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

VOTE for ROM!

 

Politics are exhausting to me. I just get frustrated and my blood pressure rises. At some point, we all have to laugh at the ridiculousness of our politicians, but inevitably we must pick someone. Whatever you believe, GO VOTE! I have been shocked at the number of people I know who don't even vote.

Do your part and vote.

A Beautiful Ballerina and Miss Cheer Bear

First, let me start off by saying that Halloween is my least favorite holiday. Ever. But in the never ending attempt to give our kids an amazing childhood, I made an attempt at a festive celebration. I still have around 300 pictures to edit, including more pumpkin patch pictures, but I did manage to get the rest of our Halloween celebration pictures ready for their blog debut.

Without further adieu, I present to you the cutest little ballerina and Care Bear you've ever seen.

 

We had a bit of rain, but we had a blast nonetheless.

Earlier in October Grandma came for a weekend visit. She of course had lots of fun things planned for the girls. They did lots and lots of crafts and made these ghosts pizza. Grandma's are so fun.

   

This is before baking them. The cheese melted, and they were less ghostly but very yummy!

Halloween morning, we did school and then made cookies! They had fun making a mess...I mean decorating cookies. They were delicious, though we are now in sugar overload thanks to trick-or-treating and cookies. :)

Kayleigh's creations

Mommy's cookies

Campbell's creations

And a little Halloweeny Sloppy Joes. By the way, the Pioneer Woman has a delicious Sloppy Joe recipe. Mandarin oranges are a hit around here too. The girls would eat them all day every day if I let them. If you don't have kids, take my word for it and don't feed your niece/nephew/friend's kid/random neighborhood kid or whatever other little kid you might feeding too many oranges. It's not good. Even if you are handing them back to their parents, have mercy on them. ;) But that's beside the point. We have a very festive Halloween and the girls are already asking to do it again. Thankfully, it's a whole year away.