Keukenhof Gardens, Holland

Major picture overload here. Everything we saw at Keukenhof Gardens was so amazing I had to put my camera into overdrive (or would have if it had such a feature). The one thing that I really, REALLY wish right now is that as you look at these pictures you could be blasted with the scent of flowers. As we rode our bikes through fields and fields of flowers with the wind blowing in our faces all I could think about was how I felt like I was in a floral shop. That's what the wind smelled like. It was amazing. And so so so so beautiful.


Chase stopping to smell the tulips.

These flowers don't even look real. So pretty.

Hallie found the baby goats at Keukenhof and wished to spend the rest of her day being the mother to these sweet little babies. We had to bribe her with ice cream to get her to leave.

While Hallie nurtured baby animals, Chase tormented chickens.

My kids have become resentful of the camera...you have NO IDEA what it took to get them hold still for one second to take this picture.



Here is the bribery for good behavior, but "good behavior" is all relative, right?

Little Chase story for you, we were walking along the designated walking paths and observing all the signs reminding us to please stay off the grass and away from the flowers. These people treat these flowers like they're the virgin Mary. To be treated with the utmost care and reverence. So we're walking along admiring the flowers when all of a sudden I hear gasps of horror from the people around me, it was like it all went into slow motion after that, I turned to see Chase take off running right through the middle of these purple flowers. I'm talking running through them like they're grass...trampling them under his feet. The look on the faces of the people around me was one of utter horror. He was like a bull in a china shop, destroying everything in his path. Matt took off like a bolt of lightning while my face turned as red as the tulips behind me. People shooks their heads in disgust at this wild, obviously poor parented, child and continued on their way. Whispering to eachother and shooting glances at this rude family as they went. It was mortifying, but we moved on.



Hallie wanted to take a picture, and this what she got of me. Pretty good for a 4 year old.

These are my fav flower shots. I think I'm going to have them printed on canvas and hang them somewhere cute in my house. I love them.



Hallie being pensive.



Oh man, these are good waffles. Come visit us and I'll take you to get some. You'll thank me. Maybe even hug me.

Good looking hubby.



After we went to the gardens we biked through the whole area surrounding them. I loved that even more than the gardens. It was so crazy to see people growing flowers like farmers grow corn. Rows and rows and rows of them. The smell was out of this world.

Yeah, we kiss and take pictures of it. It's how we roll.

So here's a fun fact about Matt. He loves to find short cuts. While driving, walking, biking, whatever we may be doing, he's trying to find a better way to get there. Sometimes these short cuts pay off. Sometimes he ends up with the kids bike trailer nearly falling in a stream and having to back track a half hour to get us out of this mess he's gotten us into.

Don't you just want to get a good book, and blankie, and lay in this field for the day?

I was dying laughing at this picture. She reminds me of a wild nature woman.



Shifty eyes.



The end of another very very good day.

A Festival of Cuteness.

Hallie had her first ballet performance today...and oh she was cute. Our base hosted an International Children's Festival which began with a little show (which Hallie danced in) and continued throughout the day with yummy food and treats, fun jumping contraptions, and of course face painting. This child loves to have her face painted...and always chooses a butterfly. Which is a real pleasure to try to wash off, let me tell you.








Here's the crowd of ballerinas....Hallie is second one in on the left.

Good good day with lots and lots of sunshine. Oh sunshine, how we've missed you!

A helpful resource for my husband.

A few sure signs of PMS:
-I stop wearing makeup because I know I'll look just as ugly if I put it on.
-Whatever time of day you come home....I will probably be in my bathrobe. Maybe pjs. Definently not real clothes.
-Chase will also be in his pjs from last night.
-When I am being unreasonable and you say "Are you PMSing?" (bad bad idea men) I will lose it about how you don't care about my "feelings".
-I generally avoid leaving the house at all costs.
-I will lose it at Jillian Michaels and begin cursing her name when I step on the bathroom scale. (I always gain like 3 lbs during this special time of the month) I will tell her she's a liar and this is NOT the fastest way to get results. I will decide that I'm never exercising again because it's pointless.
-I will spend a record number of hours per day looking at celebrity gossip websites.
-There will most certainly be cookie dough in the fridge...and I will shoot daggers at you with my eyes if you try to sneak a spoonful.
-I will impulsively shop online.
-We will eat frozen pizza.
-I will tell you "I'm fat" fivethousandandfiftytwo times.
-I will try to convince you it's a great idea for a family outing to drive 20 minutes to the nearest McDonalds for a little snackie.
-I will tell you I'm claustraphobic every time you try to cuddle with me. I generally will avoid being touched.
-I will unleash my inner crazy person if you wake my up with your loud boot stomping in the morning.

A few sure signs Matt already KNOWS that I'm PMSing:
-He spends much more time at work than normal.
-Hallie will tell me, that Daddy told her, that I'm being "mean".
-He will humor me with long conversations about all of my "feelings" (I put the word feelings in quotations because us women all know after that fact that they were not real feelings...just hormone induced ones) where I cry with a roll of toilet paper in my hands and he tells me that I AM a good Mom and I AM a good wife and that I AM a good person. Throughout this whole conversation Matt will be fighting off a smile, but he' very careful not to let it break through cause he knows that would open up a whole other can of worms.
-He has all our favorite shows all ready downloaded and ready to watch...so as to avoid having to talk.
-He tip toes a little more quietly in the morning so as to avoid my inner crazy.

Now let me tell you....I have a good husband. I know I do. However, he has his little time of the month as well where I'm doing the tiptoeing. What? I don't want to look like the only beast in this house.

A story about stress.

I don't consider myself to be the stressful type. It takes a lot to get me flustered. Tuesdays and Thursdays are always a little extra crazy around our house because Tuesday and Thursday nights are my hair nights. Due to the fact that the only place I can wash my client's hair is in the upstairs bathroom and my salon is down in the basement, this means Tuesdays and Thursdays the WHOLE stinkin house has to be clean. The entry way bathroom, because hair clients always have to pee. The upstairs bathroom, because if I'm doing a color it's going to require rinsing. The salon, because it can get mighty hairy down there. The living room and kitchen, because inevitably clients always walk in there to take a peek. Then, Matt is on mommy duty Tuesday and Thursday nights so I try to make it as easy on him as possible. Get dinner ready, give him the attention every husband deserves after a long day at work, etc. Sooooo, Tuesday and Thursday=busy days for me.
Today seemed especially crazy. I was scrubbing my house from top to bottom from the time I got out of bed. Chase NEVER stopped whining and complaining in all of that time. Makes me nuts. I was watching my friend Leah's 1 year old while she was at the Dr's office. (Love her little boy. And Hallie LOOOVES to play Mommy to him.) Had to sew elastic onto Hallie's ballet shoes. Had to get Hallie to ballet with two toddlers napping (thank you husband). Had to get in my work out (back on the 30 day shred). Had to take a shower (this seemed impossible today for some reason).
Before I knew 4:30 had rolled around and I had a hair apt arriving in 30 minutes. Then Matt called.
"Hey Sara, I was playing football with the guys from the squadron when we got called off the field and back into work. They told us we're leaving for Trapani (Sicily/Italy) in 2 hours for a few days to help monitor the airspace in Europe. They're getting all kinds of ash from the Volcano that erupted in Iceland. I've got to come home, pack, and get back to the base right away. I'm REALLY sorry about this."
I'm speechless. For a minute. "But Matt, I've got 3 hair appointments tonight." Then I tell him I'll talk to him when he gets home. I hang up and start to feel the stress making my heart rate increase. I don't know how many of you are hair dressers, but trying to do highlights and a bunch of haircuts with a two year old saying "Hold me Mommy! Hold me!" and a four year old telling me how her brother has managed to hurt her (either bodily or mentally) every five mintues is pretty much impossible. I call my friend Leah and she gladly offers to take the kids tonight while I have my appointments.
Matt gets home and it's a mad rush to pack. He can tell I'm on the verge of stress induced tears and keeps stopping what he's doing to hug me and kiss me. It's not his fault. I'm not mad at him. I'm mad at that blasted Volcano in freakin Iceland. I need time to prepare for his trips, this whole 1 hour warning doesn't work for me.
My first hair apt arrives as I'm making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids (for dinner, fancy). She is so nice and chats with the kids while I finish up. She and I head down stairs to get started on her hair and I just hope everything that needs to get done on the floor above me gets done. We chat away happily (trying to bring down my blood pressure) when Matt comes down and plops himself on the couch. I think to myself, "how sweet. He just wants to spend his last few minutes with me before he has to go." We keep chatting and Matt joins in on the conversation.
After 5 or 10 minutes of talking there's a lull in the conversation. Matt pipes up with, "I got a phone call from work, they cancelled the trip. I don't have to go." I think he's kidding, because he's been sitting on the couch chatting for 10 MINUTES and hasn't mentioned this LITTLE tidbit of information. I stop and turn, "are you kidding?" He tells me "Nope, they cancelled it."
My mouth drops open, then the mouth diarrhea starts coming. "You mean to tell me you've know your trip has been cancelled while you've been sitting here chatting for the last TEN MINUTES and you're just NOW telling me?? What is wrong with you??" He laughs (because he's sooooo funny) and I tell him to please go tell poor, 8 months pregnant, Leah that she won't be needing to watch our kids after all. After he walked out my hair client said, "Isn't that just a MAN thing to do?" Psht, amen to that. Seriously, 10 minutes? Good thing he had American Idol ready and waiting for me when my hard nights work was over.

Another Video? Why not.

What I see while I eat my dinner.

Every.Single.Night.
Accompanied with "I don't like it." "I'm not hungry." "Will you help me?" "I'm FULL."(after eating one bite.) BAH!

Can't you see the torment in his little face from being forced to eat my food? Can't help but feel bad for him and all the torture he has to endure.