Trick or Treat from Guam

Happy Halloween!!! Our halloween is over now and it is only 7:30 at night. Easton made it until 7 and then he was ready for bed and our candy that we handed out was gone within a half hour. It was amazing how many kids were trick or treating in our neighborhood and all of the neighbors sat outside and decorated and had fun with it as well. We continued our tradition of carving pumpkins this year but only got to carve one. It is the only one that survived well enough to carve. The weather is just so hot the pumpkins rotted quickly. The boys had fun dressing up and Easton loved being in his pumpkin outfit. Next year I think Harley and I will dress up as well and decorate to make it even more fun. I never knew there were so many kids in the neighborhood until tonight. Here is Easton watching daddy and Lee carve a pumpkin.

Pumpkin carving time!!

My little pumpkin.

Too cute!!

I couldn't get enough pictures.

Spider Man and pumpkin baby

brotherly love

Ready to go trick or treating in his wagon

Lee is ready to go!

Busy day

Today was Halloween for Lee at school so he got to go as Spider Man. He didn't like the costume as much as we thought he would. He said that the collar choked him and he also didn't like the mask on over his face so he went without the mask but it was still really cute. All of the classrooms paraded around to the other days with trick or treating baskets they had made on their own. When I picked Lee up later the teachers said that he wouldn't eat and wasn't acting like himself. As soon as I looked at him I could tell he was sick, he was white as a ghost. He told me he didn't want to go to big school and that his head hurt. He had told me that earlier this morning but I didn't think much of it. So, I said he could stay home and asked if he wanted a milkshake. We went through the McDonald's drive up and waited forever to get him a milkshake and he drank some of it on the way home. We get home we walk in the door and poor guy throws up everywhere. He has been sick the rest of the day, I finally got him to take some tylenol to get his head pain down and to get rid of his fever. He got sick again right before I woke Harley up and Harley was nice enough to clean it up. One reason he is the nurse and not me. Lee is finally eating some chicken nuggets now and acting like he feels a little bit better. While I wasn't tending to Lee and all of his needs today I was chasing Easton around making sure he wasn't into anything he wasn't suppsed to be into and making sure he wasn't chewing on a little piece of wood from a basket or a little piece of plastic that I could barely see. He sticks EVERYTHING in his mouth. I have to sweep all the time, I am terrified that he is going to choke on something. Lee choked once when he was about Easton's age on a piece of wooden basket in his bedroom and I remember having to turn him over on his stomach and do backblows just like I learned in CPR and sure enough it worked, thank God. I just pray that it doesn't happen to Easton. After Easton woke up from his afternoon nap today I went in to get him and he was standing up in his crib, and he was smiling so big and just laughing about it because he knew he could do something totally new now. I am very excited about taking the boys trick or treating tomorrow night. I have heard that everyone gets really into it in our neighborhood. We will probably pull Easton in his little wagon and let Lee ride his scooter or walk whichever he is in the mood for. I am also excited to hand out candy to all of the kids that come to our house. I will probably have to bring Easton back early because he goes to bed with the birds and wakes up with the birds. I will be sure to take lots of pictures and post them soon.

Easton's first bubble bath

Didn't know what to think at first but then he loved all of the bubbles

All clean and hair parted to the side like daddy likes it.

Can't leave big brother out, he likes to witness all of the firsts also.

My boys!

Lee playing with a gift from nana.

Lee filling a pez dispenser from Aunt Betsy.

Easton playing with lizards from Aunt Betsy

more pez

Lee helping Harley make chilli

brothers

Easton's first pumpkin

He loves his pumpkin.

Love my boys!!

Just wanted to post a few pictures of my boys!

I should have went to beauty school

My friend Peggy called me yesterday and asked me if I would do her hair today for the Naval Ball and I had no idea why she wanted me to do it. She said she always likes how I do my hair and to do something like that. Well, the truth is I don't do much to my hair. I throw it up into a poofy knot every day and it must look ok. So, anyways I actually did an updo on her hair tonight and she loved it. I loved it too and I enjoyed doing it. It was kind of relaxing for me. I like doing all of the girly things like hair, makeup, toes and nails but do I really want to go to school for it? I don't know, maybe some day. My dream would be to have my own salon someday when we are settled down somewhere. I do love being an x-ray tech and have no regrets at all for going to school for that. Here are the pictures of Peggy's hair, isn't she gorgeous!

Busy day ahead

It is now 9:50 in the morning on Saturday and the boys have worn me out already. If Easton isn't confined in his jumper he is on the run and I am constantly chasing him. He is such a curious baby. I have definitely overbooked myself today. We have a play date planned for around lunch time which I am very much looking forward to. Before that we have to go shopping to get a birthday present for a birthday party we are going to at 3:00 for a little boy in Lee's class. We can't stay for the entire party because I had a friend ask me to do her hair for the Naval Ball tonight and I said I would do it, I love doing hair and all that girly stuff. After that I have another friend coming over with her two little kids for dinner and to play. She has a girl Lee's age and also a little boy who is 15 months old so hopefully all goes well today. While the boys and I get to do all of this Harley will be sleeping. He worked last night and has to work every night until Tuesday so he has a long weekend ahead of him. A lot of people we know are going to the Naval Ball but Harley is working for someone who was supposed to work but he wanted the weekend off so he could go to the ball. This means Harley is working three weekends in a row. I secretly kind of wanted to go to the ball. I love to get all dressed up and get my hair done and see everyone else, hopefully next year we will get to go. I now have a permanent scentsy website address and it is www.scentsy.com/brandir330 please visit if you have the time. So far it is going really well for me. I have two parties booked and I have two other friends that are going to have parties as well. I will take lots of pictures today and try to post them tonight or tomorrow. Off to shower!

Great Day!!

My friend Amber and I had been planning on going to Ross for a while now and we finally went today. We had heard to go early because this place gets so crazy. We pull in the parking lot at 9a.m. and the store didn't open til 9:30 so we just decided to wait in the car. Let me tell you, peoople were lining up at the door at 9:00. I can even admit that I have never been so excited to shop that I go and wait at the door for a half hour until they open. So we get out at 9:30 and follow the hurd into the store. These women are basically running to get a cart and we walk slowly and get a cart and take our time. We did get some pretty good deals in there. I got a really cute rustic welcome sign, and another little thing that matches everything else in our house. I also got a sign for our bathroom. I only spent $23. I can't even imagine what this store looks like in the afternoon. We also went to Kmart and the the BX down at Anderson Air Force Base. I couldn't find Easton one halloween costume. We then ate lunch and then went to our friend Shelley's house for a while to visit. I am so lucky to have met such wonderful and caring people out here. They live quite away from us but it is worth the drive. When I got home I ended up ordering Easton a costume off of Amazon.com so Granny Janny this will be shipped to your house. Harley had to pick Lee up from school today. He threw up at school, poor guy. He keeps complaining that his whole body hurts. We are going to keep him home from school tomorrow. Harley is on more antibiotics for his ear because it isn't healing yet. Easton is doing well and getting around everywhere. I am off to a good start with my Scentsy business. Check out the website if you can right now the address is www.scentsy.com/49969

Some random pictures

Finally some pictures up!! For you grandparents that keep asking for pictures here they are!! The pictures you see of Harley or I are actually ones Lee has taken. He loves to take pictures. I think he secretly wants to be photographer when he groes up. I can hardly get him to even smile for a picture anymore. He always makes silly faces or I have to catch him off guard to get a good one. Easton on the other hand is a ham when I get the camera out. As soon as he sees the camera he starts cheesing.

Scentsy Site up and running!

Finally!!! My scentsy site is up and running. The address to get to it for now is www.scentsy.com/49969 Though it is still under construction you can still look around and decide if you would like to order this product or not. It will have a new address in a few days which will be www.scentsy.com/brandir330 which is a little easier to remember. I am so excited about this!! If you do decide to order and like what you get please spread the word around. I hope that this will be successful for me and I admit I will need a little help getting started. I can't say enough about scentsy and I hope that you all will love it as much as I do. Thanks for looking!!

Just Easton and I tonight

Easton and I are hanging out all night tonight. Harley took Lee out for dinner and to see Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3d. I really wanted to take him but I think he would have rather have Harley take him anyways. Right now we are watching Diego and then after that Easton will have his dinner, bath, and get ready for bed. He is growing way to fast. He turned 9 monts old yesterday. I have no complaints about him at all!! He is such an easy happy baby. He never really cries unless he doesn't feel good or hurts himself which is hardly ever as of right now. My Scentsy party turned out great!! It turned out better than I had imagined. I had a ton of food left over, I think I over prepared the food. I baked all day and Harley made meatballs and pickle wheels. Overall it was a good time with friends. I am unfortunately still working on trying to get my website going. Scentsy has switched over to a new ordering system so it is slowing other processes down. As soon as it will let me in and finish I promise to post it on the blog. I have a two ladies that are going to have parties and I can't wait. I am so excited!!! Let me know if you want to have a party. There is also a way to do a long distance party, I still need to figure some things out, but this is a great way to earn free and half price items. Well, off to spend some time with my little man for a while. I will take some pictures and post them soon. I will take some fall pictures but they will look like summer pictures and probably be in front of the ocean and palm trees, oh how I miss the changing of the leaves and the cool weather. It has been in the 90's all week! This is so weird wearing capris and tank tops in October. Fall was my absolute favorite in the states wearing jeans and sweatshirts. I have that to look forward to for the next three years!!

Another month has passed....

Here we are at the end of day one of October 1st, 2009. I didn't even know it was October until about half way through the day when I was talking to a friend on the phone and she mentioned something about buying her Halloween costume. This year is flying by!! I can't believe we are in month 10 already, I feel like it was just yesterday when we were still in Virginia and I was pregnant with Easton. This means Easton will be 9 months old on the 6th! He had his first big ouchie tonight and I heard that shrill cry that I didn't want to ever hear but I am sure it is the first of many to come. He is all over the place now and getting into everything. He has figured out that he likes to crawl through one of our end tables and tonight he didn't have a safe get through and he made a good faceplant into our tile floor. I was watching him thinking he could do it safely again, only he didn't. Oh my....I instantly picked him up and cuddled him and then once he stopped crying I looked at him to only see that blood was pooring out of his mouth. Poor little guy bit his lip when he thumped on the floor. Luckily it didn't bleed for long and he was at things again in no time. Since I mentioned blood, I might as well stay on the subject of gross things for a minute. One of the grossest things ever happened to me today. I would probably rank this in my all time top 3 of nasty things that has happened to me. I parked to pick Lee up from school this afternoon and was so excited because I actually got a pretty decent spot to park in, then I open the door and I smell something but didn't think before I got out and then I stepped into a HUGE mountain of vomit!! Yuck, I heard it, smelled it, felt it, and then finally saw it!! 4 of the 5 senses used all at once, thank goodness I didn't taste it. Yuck....I was wearing flip flops so if you can only imagine what my foot and leg looked and smelled like after that. I wanted to throw up myself after I did that! I wanted to get right back home and take a shower but I couldn't, I had to go and wait with the other parents holding Easton in the heat smelling like vomit and my foot and ankle covered in vomit! So, enough of that now, I hope you got a good laugh in. I am sooo excited!! I am now officially a Scentsy consultant!! I can now say that I have my own business!! I am still working on the website so I am not going to give the website address out yet but I promise my next blog will have it and you can order anything you would like and it will be shipped in 2 business days and you should have your products within a week!!! Soooo happy about this!! I promise you won't be disappointed with any of the products. You all know how much I love candles, I love these just as much and more. I didn't take Lee to school, so yesterday was a very busy active day at the Ragle home. Lee is enjoying Easton much more now that he is actually active and moving and playing with everything. He is also a protective big brother, I always here "Mom, come get Easton he is trying to get the cords" This baby loves anything that is not a toy. I took him two big cooking spoons the other day because he was getting bored and he played with those spoons for over a half hour. It's amazing what will amuse a child more than their toys. Jenn, to answer your question yes Lee writes EEL from the right to the left. I asked his teachers today if they noticed and they said they did but they are just happy that he can write his own name without tracing it. We have been working with him really hard at home and he does good. Hopefully this won't last too long and hopefully he doesn't end up dislexic. We have officially been in Guam for 3 months and 10 days and I can't believe it. I don't want to rush the next three years but I can't wait to actually live in the United States again. I decorated with all of our fall decorations the other day and it truly didn't seem right. I really miss the fall weather of Illinois and I haven't experienced that now for 5 years. I miss the smell of it, the colors of the leaves on the trees, and the coolness outside and being able to open up the house windows and light some candles and cover up with huge blankets and watching a movie. We will still continue our tradition of pumpkin carving this year and Lee is super excited!! Harley and I have carved pumpkins now every year we have been together and it is great to pass this tradition down to our children. Two very special people are missing this year, Jon and Ashleigh. They were our neighbors in Virginia and they carved pumpkins with us for the last three years and I remember last year Ash and I crying because we knew it was the last year of carving pumpkins together. We would carve them and put candles in them and take them out to our porch and light them all and take tons of pictures, so much fun!! Off now to give Lee a bath and pick up before Harley gets home from work. I will post my website very soon!!! :-)