pictures!

I Love My Hubby

awwww...

yep i said it. i love my hubby. as you all know he came home on r&r last month. during that time my computer died. really it did. it wouldn't even turn on. it's pathetic really. so he lovingly hooked up his laptop for my use. and low and behold it is powerful enough to run the new blogger beta so i can get back to updating my demanding public!

so what's new in the house of wahab? well let's see.

this week neilson moved to his new unit 6-9 cav. his address has changed. email me if you want his new address as i won't post it due to security. and i have a new email address as well. all my old accounts are active but when we move i will stick to the new one. email me at one of my old accounts for my new one. how's that for confusing??

anyway, his move was successful and uneventful thank God! he had to convoy from FOB to FOB but he was good and emailed me the second he could. i'm excited to report that his new roommate has internet access in the room so he can email me from the almost privacy of his room. he has also set me up with an official army email address so now we can use instant messager to "talk" in the evenings. it's almost like a phone call everynight so that is awesome!

and DUH!! i totally didn't mention neilson's huge news--- as i'm sure you all heard the department of defense has extended all active duty army deployments to 15 months. that will put neil stateside in january of 08. *pout* i found out this wonderful news online and thinking neilson allready knew, emailed him about my displeasure -- but guess what?? i was the lucky person who told our favorite soldier!! the news was not well received here as you can imagine but we are getting used to the idea.

we have some wonderful news from kansas. gabriel evan mckinley was born april 11, 2007. 8 pounds 4 ounces and 21 inches long. mandi and wade are doing well. little gabriel is partial to his auntie heather and can you blame him?? (ok so maybe i made that up but who's going to argue with me??)

we got gracie's enrollment packet mailed to killeen this week. we chose st. christopher's episcopalian preschool in killeen. it is right next to neilson's old apartments which is a good thing because that means i can find where it is! she will go tuesday, wednesday and thursdays from 900 to 230. and i'm talking to them about possibly working for them in some capacity. prayers are welcome in that area!

and that's about all i know this week.

oh i forgot i wanted to make my political plug for the day:

please!! if you don't like this extension news or the war in the middle east, write your congressmen/women! the burden of the many cannot continue to be carried by the few!!

blessings

heather

What I've Learned...

about the Army in my few short months as a spouse is that if you don't like what the Army is doing, wait 15 minutes.

I got an email from my darling hubby this morning filling me in on all the gossip that he missed while on leave. He is still moving to 6-9 Cav however, he will be on staff either as a planner or as an S-4. His new boss will get to decide when he will take his company command which will either be later during his vacation in Mesopotamia or after they get back. He is okay with this decision as something didn't feel quite right and of course I am tickled as it keeps my love tied to a desk.

So to recap, Neilson will still be doing office work. It will be in a new office. His address will change and I will send it out on email when I get it.

:)

Happy Easter

My oh MY!!

Has it been 2 months??? Yep, I have been a bad blogger. But in my defense, my school hi-speed internet will not let me on blogger and my sloooooooowwww dial up at home does not support the new blogger in beta. I'm hoping that Jamie can explain what "beta" means. Yikes!

So what has happened in the last few months....... hmmmm...

For starters the princess has turned 3. The lucky duck had 3 birthday celebrations too! The first was in Belhaven when we were visiting while Neilson was on leave. A few people came over for pizza on Hello Kitty plates and then followed up with a pink and white birthday cake. The second celebration was on her actual birthday which consisted of the presentation of her new kitchen set built by her daddy and dinner at Panaras (Po-nara) with our friend Diane. The final celebration was a pizza buffet with Mama, Papa, Mommy, Uncle Wade and Aunt Mandi. The girl really knows how to party. My only hope is that she does not expect such extravagance next year!!

As I alluded to before, Neilson came home on leave for a little over 2 weeks! Hurray!!! We had a wonderful if not busy time. We headed out to the Eisenhower presidental library in Abiline, Kansas, a wedding that Grace was in, a wedding celebration for us, a court date, and a trip to Belhaven. We had a wonderful time and I think poor Neilson had to go back to the sandbox to get some rest. We wore him out. Gracie was thrilled to see her daddy and was very mad to see him go. We told her to be mad at Dick Cheney for making her daddy go away again.

While in Belhaven we took a day trip out to Nags Head. I know, I know, I'm a bad mommy for not posting pictures but they are on my computer at home and I'm blogging from Manhappiness. We also took Gracie out in the canoe. She enjoyed her short little jaunt and managed not to tip us over. Neilson was suprised by the bookshelves that Karen had built in the library or red room and we were busy sanding and staining away. Neilson of course was thrilled to be able do some home improvements.

We had a great time visiting Louisburg and living it up with my family. Neilson and I recieved some beautiful gifts for our kitchen. I can't wait to get to Texas to unpack everything! We also got an edger for my handy hubby and a "rocket" hammer. Neilson enjoyed meeting everyone and he liked getting to fish in the Rand pond.

Probably the biggest news over leave was the "wedding" of Neilson and Grace. The adoption was finalized March 26 in Leavenworth, Kansas. Neil and I both had to take the stand. Yikes!! I didn't know I was going to have to say anything!! We were sworn in and everything. But it is official. Gracie is now Grace Jana McKinley Wahab. In her little mind everyone she loves is now a Wahab so we have Mama Wahab, Papa Wahab, Uncle Wade Wahab etc. I think you see where I'm going with this. Ha ha ha ha.

April 4 had us taking our favorite soldier back to the Kansas City International airport. We said goodbye at the car and headed on to school. Neil's travel was safe and uneventful. I heard from him this morning and he is in-theater safe and sound.

Neil's big news is that towards the end of this month he will be taking a company command. We are excited for him since he gets to play with tanks again and work with soldiers instead of being chained to the desk. That said he will be moving so his address will only be valid for a little while longer. Look for an email with his new address as I won't post it due to OPSEC (operational security). Of course we are very grateful for all your prayers for his safety. We couldn't do it without you.

So that is all I know right now. I promise I will get this whole blogger thing fixed soon. Hello Jamie!! can you help a poor girl out??? And hopefully when that happens I can get back to regular installments of the wackiest Wahabs on the block.

Blessings,
Heather

Oh Blogger!

Why blogger why?? Why did you make me switch to blogger beta? My poor old dial up at home can't support it and it is blocked at school. Why?? *sob* My demanding public wants to know what is happening with our crazy family. I have a responsibility to my people.

Hee Hee! Can you feel my frustration?

Anyway, I have a couple of amusing Gracie stories to tell and a new picture of our favorite soldier.
Story #1
Gracie got some Valentines in the mail with some spending money for her. She was very excited to spend it so I put to singles into her purse and we went to the Dollar Tree. When she got there she was very upset to find the two ones and started wailing, "No mommy! Not the one one! I wanted the one zero!" Yes, she has figured out that a 10 dollar bill is better than two ones. (little stinker)

Story #2
Just this morning I was checking email and darling daughter was in the great room watching cartoons when I heard her chanting, "I want that! I want that! I want that!" So I ventured into the room to see what she wanted and a cake decorating commercial was on t.v. I asked her what she wanted. Her reply, "All the cakes mommy!"

So the princess is getting wiser to the ways of the world. I better watch out!

Photo
As you can see Neilson is well. The photo is for Gracie's Flat Daddy. It is a company that will blow up a picture of you service member and put it on foam core and cut it out. Then daddy can do whatever you are doing. Look for pictures soon of Flat Neilson on the go!

V is for (not for the squemish)

skip this post if you really don't like to read about gross things. :)





















really i mean it!























ok here goes!


























V is for Vomit

You read that right. I narrowly escaped being covered in aforementioned yuck today. I was sitting at my table planning for next week which happens to be V week at school. As I pondered the tiny amount of usable V words for possible projects and activities one of my wee ones came up to talk to me.

Me: Honey, why aren't you finishing your work

Wee One: Burp

Me: Was that a burp or do you need to throw up?

Wee One: That was a burp. *insert juicy burp sound*

Me: Baby, go over to the trash can or to the bathroom but please don't.....

Wee One : Burp which resulted in puffy cheeks

Me: Go! Go! Let's go to the Bathroom.

I rushed my young friend to the bathroom and put him in the stall and splat. V is for vomit.

Now I have to tell you that of all things yucky that an elementary school teacher must contend with, vomit is not a big deal to me. I will catch it to avoid it hitting my carpet. I can clean it up no problem. So I had the office call his grandpa, put him on the cootie couch and went on to say a prayer of thanksgiving that he didn't erupt all over my V file.

This post is being brought to you by the letter V!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Other Ramblings

If you watched the National news at all last night or this morning you saw we had some excitement in Kansas City yesterday (Feb 7, 2007). A chemical plant had an explosion in the afternoon. I was getting an alphabet video ready for my afternoon kids and saw the live coverage on the news. The smoke cloud looked exactly like a giant tornado. I about had an accident because that's what I thought it was initially.

Thankfully no one was killed and only 2 were injured. The fire burned itself mostly out last night and firefighters sprayed foam on it to finish it off.

On another note it is a balmy 20 degrees here in Kansas City. We have had a month of sub freezing temperatures and I have to say I am sick of it. I am tired of having to warm up the car everymorning. I am tired of fighting Grace into her heavy coat everyday. I am tired of being cold. Remind me of this when I am in Texas and complaining of the heat!

Finally, I had an interesting dream this week. I dreamt that Thomas bought a Viking ship and entered it in a race. My darling husband talked me into rowing to boat with him in the race. Did I mention that this was a Viking ship? Anyway, Neilson decided not to row the boat and left me to do it myself while he laughed at me from shore! Ooooooooo is he in trouble big time. Needless to say I was exhausted when I woke up as I had been rowing a boat all night. The moral of this story is, Thomas may not but a Viking ship and under no circumstances will I agree to enter a boat race with my husband! :)

Brrr Shiver Blessings,

Heather

Catholic Schools Week

This past week was Catholic Schools Week at our school. All week we honored different people (teachers, grandparents, families etc.). Friday was pizza with parents day and Gracie had a special visitor.
Obviously eating pizza with her parent is no big deal--- she eats lunch with Mommy all the time. So Grandma made the trip out from Riley to eat pizza with the poo. Gracie was thrilled that her mama came to her school and the two of them had a wonderful pizza lunch along with all the other families in preschool, kindy, and first grades.
That evening we drove down to Louisburg to see Julie and Emily and have dinner with them. It was nice to catch up with them.
Saturday we did some shopping before going to a bridal shower. We managed to pick up wedding centerpieces for a song at Joanns. I also drug mom to the quilt store in Leavenworth to show her a quilt that I coveted. Plans are in the work for mom and Karen to work together to make the quilt. *hee hee joy!*
All in all we had a great weekend. It was nice to have mom out and to spend time with her.
Oh and I talked to Neilson this morning. He is doing well and it is the same old same old. He had a chance to sleep in and go to the gym this morning.

Blessings

Heather

She Is A Dancing Queen

As you know Grace has started dance classes. They are Saturday morning at our cafeteria with Miss Stacey and Miss Denise. So far Grace is the only girl in the preschool class and she loves going. She got some new dance clothes which of course she looks adorable in. :)

The Promised Snow Pics

Another First

Yes, I realize that Grace is almost 3. Yes, I realize we've lived in Kansas City her whole life. However, we had a first for her today. I let her play outside in the snow. We got 4 inches of snow last night and it was the perfect wet, smooshy kind for snowballs and snowmen. Soooo after a warm lunch of soup I bundled the little one up and we went out to play.

We made a snowman with button eyes and a carrot nose. We tramped all around our yard and up and down the block several times. I took many pictures and plan on posting several tomorrow from school (home of the hi-speed internet).

To tempt you I'll tell you how adorable she looked in her boots (Mommy!! my Dora boots!!), her mittens and her coat. Don't fret grandma's, she had on tights, pants, boots, t'shirt, sweatshirt, coat and mittens and her hood was pulled up!

She hated to come inside but her hands were little icicles after about 20 minutes so we headed in, stripped down and curled up in bed to snuggle, read and nap. Ahhhhhhh! I love winter.

Ice Ice Baby

If you've watched the weather channel at all this week you'll know that KC has been getting slopped on. Albeit not as bad as those poor folks in OKC and Dallas but we are now in our third day with sleet and temps in the 20s! Yuck.

It all started Friday afternoon with sleet. I only had 7 kids in my afternoon class of 14. Parents just didn't want to get out in the mess and that was fine by me. By 2:30, though, I only had 2 kids. Yep, you read that right, 2. Many parents chose to come early and again, I don't blame them.

We still had daycare but most parents even picked up early from there too. However, at 5:30, the official end of day care I still had 3 students from 2 families. One family got there at 5:45 and it had taken mom about an hour to get there from i-35 and 75th (yeah yeah, i know, that info is only helpful to those familiar with KC but I don't know the milage.) She was so sweet and warmed up my car, scraped it and put a seatcover on the driver's seat so it would be warm when I got in later.

And it was nice not to have to scrape my car again when I got in at 7:30 that night. Yeah, we had a miscommunication combined with crappy weather that led to a student being in my care for most of the night. We had a fun time, though. We talked, watched cable (woo hoo cable in my room!) and raided the preschool snacks. I wasn't sure how long I would have to wait and I wsn't to keen on driving him home myself without permission from a family member but I did tell my principal that if he was still there at 7:30 we were going to get pizza and I would take him home. Who I really feel bad for is the kid. He had called his mom's work and she had left at 4:00. He was really worried about her and she doesn't have a cell phone so there was no way to reach her. His dad was working late and thus why we had to wait so late because he too does not have a cell phone.

The moral of this story is, make sure you have accurate emergency contact information for your child at his/her school and maybe every parent should have a cell phone, even if it is a pay as you go phone.

Saturday's dance class was cancelled due to weather but Grace and I did manage to get out to get our hair cut. We both are growing our hair out so we can have pretty updos for part 2. Gracie let Alissa wash her hair in the big girl sink. She wasn't too sure about it but mommy held her hand. As we were leaving the salon the sleet started up again so we hurried home.

Sunday brought more sleet and snow. By the afternoon these girls had a bad case of cabin fever so we ran out to target to pick up a few things. It was nice to get out of the house.

The good news is, there is no precipitation called for tomorrow--- just frigid temps so hopefully the road crews can get caught up. :)

Keep warm!

ONE HUNDRED

Today marks Neilson's 100th day of deployment. Now in most elementary classrooms the 100th day is a big deal. So when I looked at my donut of misery and realized it was day 100 I really felt like I dropped the ball. :P

And now I realize I have some 'splainin' to do. The donut of misery is an excel document that tracks the amont of time done and the amount left. It also has a circle graph as a visual. The graph has a hole in the middle and is thus called the donut. In addition to the visual figured in % (btw we are23% done!) it calculates how many days, months and weeks have passed as well as how many days, weeks, months, minutes, hours and seconds left.

And today is also Karen's birthday. Happy Birthday Karen!! Hope your day was fun and your evening relaxing. :)

Choo Choo!

Gracie and I had a lunch date this week. We went to Fritz's on 18th street for lunch on Friday. Now I know this sounds mundane but let me tell you about Fritz's. It is a train themed hamburger joint. You go in and seat yourself. Even at 12:30 we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table to open up. Each table has a phone by it. You look at the menu and use the phone to call in your order. A waitress brings your drinks but a train brings your food.

That's right, a train! There is a track that runs around the entire restraunt with stops at each table. Back in the kitchen they program the train to stop at your table and the crossing arm drops and your food is there. Viola!

Gracie loved it! Everytime the train would pass by she'd ask if it was bringing her food. (Even after she had her hamburger!) Needless to say she didn't eat her lunch~~ we took it to-go and she had it later.

So next time you're in KC we'll go check out Fritz's.

Princess Underpants

I give you Gracie, Princess Underpants. In Rosner tradition, Gracie recieved underpants in her stocking this morning. As you can see she was delighted with her Little Mermaid panties, so much so that she put them on her head and danced around the room. Yes, someday she will be mortified that I posted pictures of her and her chones on our blog but when you're that stinking cute you have got to expect it.

Merry Christmas all!

Blessings,

heather

YIKES

I got the cutest gift from one of my students. It was a gingerbread shaped jar full of gingerbread cookie mix. You know, one of those fun mixes that you add a few ingredients to and viola!! homemade cookies.

Well Gracie saw it and took the cookie cutter off the jar and brought it too me with the request to make gingerbread cookies. So we got everything together in the kitchen. Set the camera up to record our adventure and pulled up a chair so the princess could help.

I read the directions... grease a 9x13 pan. Later it said to drop the cookies onto a cookies sheet. huh?? What pan am I supposed to use--ummmm.... I'll go with cookie sheet. Ok, pour the mix into the bowl. OK, I opened the jar, turned it upside down and nothing came out. So with the handy dandy use of a skewer and a knife, a lot of digging and whacking the mix tumbled out into the bowl. I added the butter, the flour, the eggs it needed and finally got to the cloves. 1 1/2 teaspoons. Wow! That seems like a lot but that's what the recipie says.

Can I tell you the cookies were vile. They burned my mouth. Gracie took one bite and said, "Mommy, I don't like these cookies!" And into the trash they all went.

All is not lost, however. Gracie and I had a great time baking today. We made a ginormous mess but giggled and talked. It was a good day. And tonight we mixed up a batch of Grandma Mary's no fail sugar cookie dough so we can cut them out tomorrow. :) We've got to have something ready for Santa!

My Apologies

Yikes!! I've turned into one of "those" people who start up a blog, post with enthusiasm for a few months and then abandon it. So here is my post to update on what's going on in Kansas.

Gracie and I went out to Manhattan for the weekend for a craft fair. She ended up spiking a fever while we were out there so I stayed home on Monday to take her to the doctor. Of course she didn't run a fever all Monday so I looked like a big fat liar. Then when we came to school on Tuesday she proceeds to toss her cookies all over the room--- luckily Michelle, my friend was able to take her home and keep her today.

Monday we got a Christmas card from the Lakatoes with a cool picture of a Michigan snowman! Thanks! I also got the most beautiful, heartfelt card from my dear husband. It was the kind that makes you go sniff sniff a little. I'm a lucky girl.

So we're pretty boring right now. Maybe something funny will happen tonight!

Baby it's Cold Outside!

As I was laying in bed this morning our friendly weatherman said that it was 5 below zero windchill. Brrrrr!! On a related note, it should be 50 degrees on Saturday.

This was sent to my by Karen. It's kind of hard to read what it says underneath but the jist of it is, this soldier is the only one who can comfort this Iraqi little girl being treated at an American hospital. Her family was killed by insurgents and she was shot in the head herself. This wonderful soldier has been sleeping in a chair holding her so she can feel better.

Snow Day Part Deux

As predicted the Kansas City area got a snow storm yesterday afternoon. On Strawberry Hill we got about 2-3 inches. Enough to make it pretty, and to cancel school again. For those of you keeping score here's a rundown of our week:
A 6 day Thanksgiving weekend.
Work on Tuesday when temps were in the 70s!
Work on Wednesday where the ice storm hit and most kids were picked up early.
Snow day Thursday complete with a fresh snow storm.
Snow day on Friday.
And now the weekend!!
Gracie and I spent the day decorating for Christmas. We got the tree up, the 4 Nativity scenes, stockings and other assorted decor scattered around the house and we feel festive if not a little crowded. Maybe we'll make cookies this afternoon. yumm!