Yes We Can-Can

I'm sad to announce that neither Ronnie nor I will be running in the Seoul Marathon.  Ronnie is on TDY for the next few weeks and I just never quite recovered from being sick back in December.  And when I finally did recover, there was no amount of training that would get me ready in time.  Thus, Ronnie is running his marathon on the same day, but in Thailand (yes, that is where he is TDY - lucky dog) and I had to find something else to get back in shape and burn calories. 

Osan's Officers Spouses Club hosts a fantastic fundraiser, Wild West Night, each year.  The O-Club is turned into a saloon, complete with gambling, auctions, a country store, a jail and dancing.  To pull it off, they have to have lots and lots of volunteers.  So I signed up...   to be a dancer.  And not just any dancer, a Can-Can Dancer at that. 

The Can-Can line seems to be traditionally made up of the Ops Group spouses.  And yes, it's a true Can-Can with shaking and kicklines.  We started practicing a few weeks ago a couple of days a week for a few hours.  I was sore in places I haven't been sore in for a long time.  I bounced and kicked and did handstands and cartwheels.  More importantly, I just had fun getting to know some ladies I haven't had a chance to really talk with a lot.

Finally, our night came.  Wild West Night was held last night and it was as much fun as I had built it up to be.  We danced our hearts out and even had a little surprise for the last dance. 

I'm sure some of the videos will make their way to YouTube, and I'll post a link here when they do.

And as an added bonus, when I brushed out my hair from the ringlets, I had Jane Russell slash Silver Screen bombshell-esque hair...   

Giving Up... Giving Out... Giving In

Something I don't really discuss with others is my faith.  Religion is very personal for me, thus I'm a quiet and private believer.  The reason why I'm blogging about it is because of my "sacrifice" for the Lenten season.  I have given up high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and all of it's lab-created sugar-wanna-be cousins. 

Before I go any further, let me show you something:

Does this look like your pantry?   I found all this in mine.  All of these products have high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in it, even the seemingly healthy applesauce.  CRAZY right???   While I realize my sacrifice may seem wierd, I came to it because it's not necessarily the most "healthy" thing in the world to eat all the processed food I consume. 

My dilemma is that I'm a working mom who needs a certain level of convenience in preparing meals, but I wanted to refocus on eating healthier.  Enter Lent and a reason above all to do something: to better myself for Him.  I'll post a new thought, finding or recipe every week if you want to join me on this journey.  And maybe we can all be just a little healthier in 40 days. 

Whatchya Doin? Part 1

So I teased everyone with a picture of fabric the last post.  I got to work soon after that post and have finished one of my projects.  This fabric is what the squadron's party shirts are made out of

One of the ladies had emailed out a sew along pattern for a cute gored skirt a few months back.  Basically the pattern is a series of straight lines, meaning I had no issues with it.   It took me a few hours to finish everything up.  Here are the results

I think they turned out really cute!   And it was super easy.  In case you are wanting to do something similar (since Spring is coming up and all), here is a link to the pattern I used in case you want to do one yourself.  http://sewingmamas.com/b/downloads.php?do=file&id=96

Oh Happy Day

The season is changing again.  We've had mild weather the last few days with temps in the mid 40s.  Yes, that's mild right now because it has been bitterly cold since November.  If the weather is anything like last year, we're going to have another cold snap or two before we can proclaim that spring is here. 

The first of the pre-spring cold snaps is upon us.  We had a beautiful day and warm evening yesterday, only to wake up this morning to a cold rain and overcast skies.  We need to keep these girls busy and you can only go to the bowling alley so many times in a week. 

And then inspiration struck!  First, I broke out the rain boots and rain coats.  Yes, even I have a pair of boots too.  I had to snap a picture because it was too fun to see how different they all were.

 

We had our fun boots, our umbrellas, and our coats and splashed our way out to the car.  Then it was off to get something to keep us busy today and while Ronnie is TDY.  Oh yeah, Ronnie is going TDY next week for six weeks.  Yes, we need a busy project. 

We headed to a local haunt - Happy Quilt.  This place is a warehouse full of fun fabric.  You can spend hours in there just browsing.  I've found that it's best for me to have a project in mind then go and find the fabrics for them.  I let the girls each pick out a fabric for our project.  Sorry... it's a secret project.  We're going to share them with the cousins and they can't see their presents from Auntie ahead of time.  But I will share the fabrics:

Fun huh?  Now onto getting everything washed, pressed and organized so I can get a move on once Ronnie gets out of dodge.  The only issue is which fabric to pick first.

Heading Downhill

Well, we've gone and done it now.  There are two cute ski bunnies in our house.

This past weekend, some of the Draggin families headed to High 1 Resort.  I haven't skied in 15 years, but way back then I was pretty decent.  Ronnie didn't get to go skiing as much as I did, but he was good as well.  Needless to say, I was a bit worried about my personal abilities added in with trying to get the girls up on skis.  But no matter, we were going to have a good time.  Outdoor Rec put a very nice trip together for us, did all the driving and chose a hotel on the top of the mountain with amazing views.

View from our hotel room

And what a time we had!  We couldn't have asked for better weather or better company.  The girls were gungho the first couple of tries, which faded when it wasn't coming as easily as it looked.  There were tears, hissy fits, and lots of hugs and kisses, but we got the down the bunny hill a few times before we decided they (and we) had enough and called it a day.  Ronnie and I then got a few runs in ourselves before heading for our hotel.  And after a large dinner with all the families, we retired for the night. 

The next day brought beautiful blue skies and mild weather.  Ronnie went skiing with Dan for the morning while the girls and I rode the gondola to the top of another peak to have lunch.  After we headed down to the sledding hill.  The girls ran up and down, sledding with all their friends, and new Korean friends that we met along the way.  Before we knew it, the time had come to pack up, head back to the bus and get on the road to Osan. 

Holly and Sarah at Mountain Top Overlook; Ronnie and the girls sledding

All in all, I guess we did something right.  All the girls could talk about the last two days is how much fun we had and ask when we could go again.  Then again, the promise of being able to go skiing with grandma and grandpa is also enticing.  They know their pockets are lined with candy and money.

Doesn't He Ever Smile?

I'm sure you've noticed by now that Ronnie doesn't smile for pictures.  To hear him talk about it it's because he has a cheesy fake smile.  But I love the pictures where we have his natural grin. 

Ronnie's airmen have noticed that he doesn't smile for pictures and is pretty stonefaced most of the time.  They've asked me about it and we've all had a good laugh at his expense because they all do impressions of him.  It is way too funny because they each have a different take on his personality. 

We had our annual awards banquet last night and one of our airmen, TSgt Walker, won an award.  I was snapping some pictures of everyone and whispered to him that I wanted him to do his impression while taking a picture with Ronnie.  Here is the result:

Ronnie was actually grinning! 

No Boys Allowed Day

It's finally happened.  I have finally had a holiday where I didn't have to go to work work and Ronnie had to.  We are celebrating Seollal (Korean New Year) and had the day off on Friday.  The schools were out too, but the military had to work.  So, the girls and I decided it would be "No Boys Allowed Day" with the caveat that daddies can join us if they want.  We called up some friends to get in on the action and had a fun filled day.

We started out by getting manis/pedis with Skylar.  They were all too cute getting pampered. 

Then we headed over to the bowling alley to meet up with more friends for lunch and playing in the playplace.  Ronnie was able to join us for lunch and the girls played for hours. 

When it was time for our friends naptimes, the girls and I stopped by the BX to pick up a present for a birthday party.  We ran into some more friends who told us the Houston Texans Cheerleaders were on their way for a meet and greet.  It was fun going through the line.  The ladies were really sweet and noticed the girls had their nails painted, and the girls were more than happy to show off their pedicures.  They made sure we knew they were going to have a show later on that night and invited the girls to come.

I was excited because there was a football player on the tour as well, Adam Hayward from the Buccaneers.  He was too fun to talk with.  The girls were trying to get behind the tables to take a picture with some of the cheerleaders and he was blocking the way.  I told Sarah to go ahead and run him over because he can take a hit.  He laughed and said yes he could, but he would move out of the way for the two cuties.  What a nice guy! 

Later on we headed to the show, but not before picking up some friends and Ronnie to go with us.  The show was amazing. Turns out that the Texan Cheerleaders are the reigning dance champs for the NFL, and they showed us all why.  The dancing was amazing and the show was too much fun.