Promoted!

Daddy went to work today a 2nd Lieutenant...

...and after a short speech given by the Squadron Commander (SCO), a velcro patch with his old rank removed and replaced with a velcro patch with his new rank by me...

...and finally a silver bar placed on his garrison cover by the SCO...

...he became 1st Lieutenant Marlow...adored by all the ladies of this household!!! Lucky me, I even got to kiss him!!! Woo-hoo!!! ;)

We are so very proud of him on this his first promotion in the United States Army.

After the promotion ceremony, Cameron had to take his field helmet to get the new rank sewn on, so Alegria and I tagged along. As we waited for Daddy to go get his helmet from his office, I got a picture of the Fox Troop entry door...you can plainly see why:

As the SCO said in his speech, the Army demands/takes a lot, but it also gives a lot in return. So with proud and honored hearts, we take on this burden and "embrace the suck."

At the alterations place, Alegria explored the plant in the corner.

Alegria, I thought you were a geologist! Now you're a botanist?

Alegria: "Mother, I go with the flow...or better yet, what flows green. This is where the money is...at least...money grows on trees, right? I'm trying to find it..."

After dinner, Alegria had a blast throwing herself all over the kitchen floor. Cameron and I just watched her from our chairs at the dining room table as she performed a silly show for us:



Then we headed over to the living room, where Alegria decided she wanted to fit herself inside one of the shelves of the entertainment center:



I wish I knew what goes on in that cute little round head of hers!!!

That's it for today.

Sleep well!!! :)

Day of Rest

After Church, Cameron got into some old clothes and began cutting up the deer meat:

I kept coming to check on Cameron's progress and little by little, he was cutting us up some nice roasts and steaks:

Here's Cameron packaging up what he has so far (there's more to be cut up tomorrow):

Here's a picture of our little Nativity scene:

Cameron had to go home teaching at 6, so here he is, shining up his shoes before heading out:

While Cameron was gone, I got a couple of pictures of the Christmas decor in our living room (this first one is with the flash):

And without the flash:

It's not much, but it's simple and we like it. Once we've made all of the necessary big-ticket item purchases for our home, maybe we'll be able to add to our small home decor collection...maybe at the after-Christmas sales? :)

Alegria walking around with her blanket wrapped around her:



She is SO silly sometimes!!! :)

Cameron got back from home teaching at about 6:40, at which time we got Alegria ready and headed over to the Hawkins' place for dinner. Andrea made a delicious beef stroganoff with a yummy side salad, home-made bread, and a scrumptious peppermint brownie for dessert! We were really spoiled for dinner tonight...YUM!!!

And that was our day.

Good night everyone!!! :)

Meat for the Winter

Cameron woke up this morning at 4:20 to go to a friend's ranch in San Antonio to hunt. He got back at 12:30 with this:

In Montana, the rack of the buck he killed would be said to be a 2x3, but here in Texas, they apparently call it a 7.

In any case, we got a lot of good meat from it to last us all winter:

Alegria was apprehensive about the meat, not knowing what to think of it, just knowing it was new and different...

...and I guess a little scary!



Don't worry, we only did it that once.

Alegria did, however, stay inside the house the whole time Daddy was out getting things prepped in the garage. It was pretty funny since she's always so eager to go to the garage. :)

Here's Cameron getting the freezer plugged in and ready to store the meat (I know, I know...it's supposed to be a Christmas present, but it's also necessary for us to store the meat, so it will have to be opened early! The garage door opener, though, that one we've already got under the tree ready to be opened and installed on Christmas day!):

We had to go back out to Wal-Mart again this evening to pick up some freezer paper to package the meat in, so off we went. Alegria was so cute, playing in the cart:

And that was our day. I can't believe we're already done with three out of four days of Cameron's long weekend off of work! Boy, does time fly when you're having fun!!!

Good night!!! :)

Black Friday Shopping

I put a ponytail in Alegria's hair again today and decided to top it off with a bow. I thought it looked super cute...

...but Alegria thought it looked stupid. She pulled it out. :(

When Daddy woke up (we let him sleep in on days when he doesn't have to go to work), we finished getting ready and headed out the door to run a few errands.

First on our list was to go get Cameron's new insignia sewn on his garrison cap (no, people, I don't sew!). For $1.50, he got it sewn on by a professional. :)

Then we went to one of the ranges on Post for Cameron to sight in his weapon. While Alegria and I waited, I took a few pictures of her playing geologist again:

I actually got a good one of me, too! Cameron liked this one so much that he asked me to print off a copy for him. :)

M4 zeroed in and ready to go for tomorrow's hunting expedition!

On our way home, Alegria didn't like the radio station we were listening to and covered her ears. Also, I don't know if you can tell, but the poor baby has got a bad case of dry skin on her face! I'm putting ointment on it as often as possible in hopes that it will go away soon. :(

Also on our way home, we noticed that there were a lot of cattle along the road. Cameron told me that whenever I'm in that area on Post, to make sure I watch out for cattle...they like to wander out in front of traffic:



We got home, had some lunch, and then Alegria had a nap.

When Alegria woke up, we went on a shopping spree. We first hit Sears, where we got a couple of Christmas presents for each other. Cameron got me an automatic garage door opener, and I got Cameron a small deep freeze to store our meat in.

Then we went to Wal-Mart for a Christmas tree, a wreath, and Cameron's hunting license...joy of joys, being military, he got the license free! And it was all-encompassing...hunting, fishing, you name it, he can kill it! :)

Last, but not least, we went to Academy for Cameron to buy a couple of game knives (we actually had to turn back around and go back to Killeen because the Cove Wal-Mart didn't have the hunting knives that Cameron needed). He doesn't know what happened to his bone saw that he had in Montana, so he had to get a new one.

Alegria enjoyed playing with the small shopping basket:

Can you believe she tried to climb in it?!

On our way to the checkout, Alegria decided she wanted to make sure that Daddy was buying things that were necessary:

At the checkout, a few customers and cashiers that were nearby were commenting how cute Alegria was. Alegria kept playing with the basket. Then one of the cashier ladies who had come to comment on her, asked if she could take the basket and began taking a hold of the handles...and Alegria grabbed her hand and began to take it OFF the handles!!! It was SOOO funny! :)

Back home, the first thing we did after unloading our buys was to bring down the Christmas decorations. Alegria wanted to help to bring stuff down from the attic:

Once inside, Alegria helped me hang the wreath on the front door:

Then I set up the Nativity while Cameron set up our new Christmas tree.

I miss having a real tree like we did in Montana. The day after Thanksgiving was always so great...we'd go up to the woods behind Cameron's parents' place and cut down a fresh tree, then back home, the scent of pine would fill the air as we decorated our little apartment. I must admit, though, I won't miss having to water the tree (especially with the potential of Alegria wanting to play with the water), and I won't miss the pine needles falling all month long. Plus, the pre-lit tree we got makes it so much faster to decorate! :)

Once Daddy had the tree set up, Alegria did a great job helping to place the ornaments on the tree:



Then it was time to clean up the mess:

Alegria LOVES the Nativity! As soon as I got out the box to start setting it up, she wanted to play with the figurines...so we let her play with the two lambs for a few minutes. Luckily, Alegria's not too aggressive with toys, so she did fine with the little ceramic lambs.

Once everything was set up and Alegria was in bed, I realized that we didn't really have much in the way of decorations. Or maybe it was that our small apartment back in Bozeman made it look like there was more, I don't know. Luckily, Cameron had to go back to Wal-Mart, so I asked him to please pick up a garland and bows for our entertainment center and also some new Christmas stockings that match...we still didn't have one for Alegria since last year we weren't in our own home and didn't decorate at all.

Last but not least, Cameron set up some Christmas lights around the front windows:

Ah...Christmas time...a most wonderful time of the year!!!