Teaching My Husband to Iron

I have been in the military for almost 12 years and I used to iron my uniforms every other day because I was a poor Airman who couldn't afford sending them to the dry cleaners. As I put on more stripes I marinated in the luxury of the dry cleaners, I drop them off, pick them up 2 days later and have amazingly starched and ironed uniforms that crinkle when I put them on. Even when I was in Kuwait I would send them out to be heavily starched and they were fantastic. Now that I only put on my uniform 24 days out of the year I once again iron them - even though our new uniforms are "wrinkle free" I still enjoy a crisp crease in my stripes. Let me say that I HATE IRONING. I HATE IT. I spent enough years doing it almost daily and it became the most dreaded chore ever.

Now that I am a stay at home mom and wife I do housework every day. I like it because I like things to be clean, organized and in it's place. Of course there are some things I don't like doing, such as emptying the dishwasher, folding fitted sheets, scraping off baked on foods, but I do them because I like them done a certain way. But I do not care to iron. Joel has to wear nice shirts to work every single day and every few weeks he asks me to iron...then he asks a couple days after that...and a couple more days after that. When I finally get around to it, I'll do maybe 3 or 4 shirts and then I need a break...for another few weeks. I know he gets frustrated because really I do know HOW to iron, so there is no reason I shouldn't.

Just this last time, I told Joel that he needs to learn to iron because I can't do it anymore. I will fold underwear, hang up pants, wipe up hair shavings from the sink, but I don't want to iron. So I am going to teach him how to iron...maybe tonight since he has about 10 shirts that need to be done. Who can really tell how this will go? I am not sure it will even work, but I am going to be optimistic going into it. Really I am. True, he as never ironed and true, he only just figured out how to make tacos, and true, he still asks me how long to warm something up in the microwave - but let's still give this a try. We may be down 10 shirts or a marriage by tomorrow morning - but honestly - if it gets me out of ironing ever again, I will take that chance. 

My Goodness It's Been A Long Time

I am blogging again and I am going to try and do this once a week (again) but I'm so terrible at committments that it's kind of silly to make pie crust promises to myself. Things are getting out of control in the Stammen house. Baby #3 will be here in the next 4 weeks(ish) and we couldn't  be more excited! Mya is really looking forward to this baby and is hoping it will be much less annoying than Nora (her words). Nora loves babies, we just hope she loves this baby. Anyone who knows me understands that I organize the crap out of everything I do. Nothing is as easy as 1 - 2 - 3, there is 1a, 1b, and so on. So preparing for this baby I have made 10 frozen meals, stocked up on every single item that is non-perishable, packed the baby bag already, perged all unnecessary items from virtually every single room in the house, and have placed myself and the family on a strict cleaning and project schedule. It's exhausting, but as I keep telling Joel...you will thank me later when you don't have to cook meals or go to the grocery store and get a full cart of food. He makes fun of my -problem- but I know he secretly appreciates it....

This will be the second child I will have with the same doctor. Mya was born in South Carolina. I actually switched doctors during my preganancy with Nora because I had to go in for something and couldn't see my usual doctor. Typically I waited at least 45 minutes after my scheduled appointment to see her, but with this other guy I saw him at my scheduled time and was in and out of the office in 30 minutes total. So I immediately started scheduling with him. He is a very interesting person to me. Joel and I call him Drupey because he sounds like the Dog from the Hanna Barbara cartoons. A very slow drawl even though he is from Wisconsin. He never seems to be trying to be funny, but he cracks me up every time I talk to him.

Last appointment I watched 3 sisters filling out a new OB patient form, well the oldest sister was filling it out for her younger sister, who I think was in high school. It was humorous to me because none of them knew how to spell pre-natal vitamins and the girl had no idea how many days she went between periods (luckily she did know they were every month). I had an unltrasound and then when I came back out to the waiting room to wait for my appointment with my doctor I had my coat off. All 3 of them got big eyed as they watched my 40lb. belly walk in front of them. I actually laughed out loud at the reaction. They then started saying things like "that's so big" "whoa" and my favorite "you won't be that big"....then they commented on every other mother that walked in. Oh, she'll get hers...she will.

GWE, Christmas & NYE 2010

So behind on blogging yet again...I'm going to skip right past November and talk about crazy December.

The "Greatest Weekend Ever (GWE)" crew drove to Buffalo, NY this year for our 5th annual GWE. It was very wet and very cold, snow pants and parkas were the clothing of choice that day. I thought since it was our 5th anniversary I would share pictures from past years. We didn't take a group picture from GWE III: Washington D.C. for some reason, but everything else is here. 

    



GWE 5: Buffalo, NY

GWE 4: Detroit, MI



GWE 2: St. Louis, MO



GWE 1: Atlanta, GA

The girls were thrilled to see Santa this year at the Stammen Christmas. Nora was a bit hesitant of him, but she was really excited to get a gift from him. All the kids got a Washington Nationals t-shirt and hat that they all proudly displayed together. Thank you Craig for thinking of the kids - they loved it!

Nora hated wearing the hat and Nolan is missing...

Michigan Christmas was a lot of fun as always. It's great to spend time with my sisters b/c we don't see each other very often. We typically get very silly and annoy the guys, but that is what sisters do. Shannon and I couldn't pull it together enough to beat Joel and Brian in euchre, but we really tried to focus as well as we could. (Digress...moving on).

Dad & The Girls

Mya & Scrabble Flash (awesome)



Nora's new laptop - she absolutely can't get enough of this one!



 We celebrated at our house this year a few days early before we left for Michigan. Nora got Mya an Our Generation Doll - Eva and Mya got Nora the Dance Star Mickey. Both were a big hit, but Nora is still kind of afraid to turn him on herself. When we got home from Michigan the girls had a Santa gift too. They were springtime gifts this year, so we can't enjoy them now - hopefully Spring will come early this year. Mya is all ready to practice her goal making skills with a new soccer net, and Nora has a shiny new wagon to go for walks in. They both can also enjoy a new swing set this Spring. Our old one came with our house and it's falling apart - no joke. So Santa decided it was time for a new one - as soon as they go back on sale, he'll be delivering it to the house!

Finally, NYE. We held the 2nd Annual Gameapalooza at our house again. It was everything we wanted it to be and more. The first game of the night was Fact or Crap, I may need to play that again - loved it! The second game was a series of 3 Minute-to-Win-it games. 1) Get 6 ping-pong balls out of a Kleenex box attached to a belt worn around your waist. The amount of moving and shaking going on was quite amazing. I wish we would have gotten out the video camera - but no one thought about that until after the fact.
2) Moving M&Ms from the table to a cup using a straw.

3) Moving a cookie from your forehead to your mouth using nothing but your face. Good times.

The last game was Family Feud done in a crazy tournament/bracket/teams type of way. By the end of the nigh the Stammen's maintained control of the winners' trophy. It's kind of a tradition.

The most amazing part of the night however, was the work the children did. We had a total of 22 people, including 8 children. Those 8 children did something I can't even be angry about. They turned the toy room into a room that could have been part of a tornado disaster. It was incredible. The day before the party Nora and I cleaned the entire room, making sure all small objects were up high and that everything was in its place. We of course had no intention of believing the room would remain in such a state, but it's a nice presentation. The next day we cleaned it again back to it's original state.

As you can see, the kids all worked together and did a great job making this room into what it became.They truly did their best work here. One thing of note - with an entire table and bar full of food - there was zero presence of food, wrappers, plates, napkins, or utensils found; I give credit to the parents on this one.

Girls' Weekend 2010

Girls' Weekend was held in Port Austin this year...kind of nice to go back where it all started. The 5 of us grew up together and graduated in 2000, five years ago we had our first getaway. We spent a lot of time chatting, more time playing games, and of course had our annual photo shoot. Every year one girl is in charge of updating our scrapbook with pictures from the year before - Nicole you did great! It certainly gets harder every year to plan this trip due to our busy schedules, living so spread out from one another, and more of us having children. Jena's flight was delayed so while Nicole and I waited to get her from the airport we went to The Airport Pub in Romulus. It was a great start to the weekend. Nicole won a dollar playing Keno and following Romulus tradition she stuck it to the ceiling - we may have to go back again soon.

I have a huge bruise and skin missing from this jump up here - only 10 seconds to push the button and scale the wall wasn't quite enough...



Trick-or-Treat

Halloween is so much fun! This year the girls went as characters from Alice in Wonderland. Mya already had her Queen of Hearts costume from when we went to Disney World and Nora was the White Rabbit. We made some adjustments to Mya's costume to meet the Ohio/Florida differences and then cut down the legs on Nora's costume to enable her to walk. The three of us met up with Mya's friend Claire to walk around the neighborhood while Dad stayed home to pass out candy. Nora only made it to a couple houses before her "drunk bunny" routine got too difficult. She couldn't see too well because her hat kept falling over her face and she was having difficulty navigating the incline of the driveways. It was a pretty funny thing to watch. Mya went almost the entire 2 hours and came home with a pile of candy.

Mya "Queen of Hearts"

Nora "White Rabbit"

Finally Updating

I have seriously taken too long to update our family blog. There has been an incredible amount of things going on that I just haven't found the time...I'm pie crust promising that I'm going to try harder. So there are a lot of updates. Mya and Nora both had a birthday - I went to Japan - Joel went to Africa - Mya & I went to Disneyworld - and we have gone to an incredible amount of soccer games this year.

Have fun reading all of our updates. There will be more to come with all of the holidays coming up, I can't wait for Christmas this year - we have some really great ideas for the girls and I am so excited to see thier reactions. Of course that's another 2 months away so I'm going to update before then...promise.

I Love Fall!

Fall is my favorite season, it's still warm from the summer, but the leaves are changing and there is a little chill in the air. So perfect! I also love it for the pumpkin patch, baking pies, and especially dressing up for Halloween!

The girls, me and Grandma Kathy headed to Fulton Farms to pick some pumpkins. We had a good time petting the animals, going through the corn maze, and getting some ice cream! Mya was a great big sister, helping Nora get close to the horses without being scared and taking her through the maze. Nora on the other hand, was simply fascinated by the bracelet she had to wear. We ended up getting some pumpkins and carved them that night. Unfortuanetly I didn't take a picture of them.



     

 

Because Mya already had her Queen of Hearts costume from Disney, she wore it again for Halloween, and Nora was the White Rabbit. We added a cape to Mya's costume and she played the part well. Nora's costume was a little too big so we had to cut the feet off to help her walk. The hat kept falling over her eyes which made her even more wobbly when she walked. As she was trying to make it up a steep driveway and failing miserably, she was called over for being a Drunk Bunny by some of our neighbors...eventually she made her way to the door and scored a sucker. After making it only down our street, Nora had enough and decided to stay home with Dad and hand out candy instead. Mya on the other hand came home with a mountain of candy! We stayed out until almost 8 and then came home to play a Yahtzee...Mya was the big winner!

  

     



Soccer

Mya had another great season in soccer this year at the Vandalia Rec Center. Her team, the Red Stars, went undefeated into the tournament. The first round of the tournament was a great game that went into overtime and we ended up winning 1-0. The Championship game was less exciting, but we did win, giving the girls a perfect season! Mya was so excited to bring home two trophies; one for League Champions and another for Tournament Champions. She's already looking forward to next year; we are too; most parents don't say this, but we're hoping Mya gets a loss next year - 3 seasons of soccer and a perfect record. Honestly, she needs to know the feeling of loss in order to appreciate the game entirely.

Mya was also chosen to play in the All-Star Game along with 3 other players from her team. Once again, her team won. It was a lot of fun to watch the best players from all of the teams go at it. We are so proud of her!



Disneyworld

Disenyworld was a great trip. The kids had a great time on the rides and meeting the characters. We only had 4 days but they were jam-packed and fun-filled! The weather was great and the longest we waited for any ride was only 20 minutes. If we ever go back it will be at the same time, you can't beat 5 minutes waits or riding a ride over and over again!

Noah, Chloe, Mya & Miranda

We were able to do a Grand Gathering while we were at Disney because we had 8 peope in our party. It all started with a tour of the Animal Kingdom Safari after closing hours. The Lion was out and all of the kids had a great time naming all of the animals. After our tour we had dinner and danced with Timon and Rafiki. The food was great and the dancing was pretty good. The kids really enjoyed themselves.

Mickey's-Not-So-Scary Halloween party was going on while we were visiting so the kids got dressed up as  the characters from Alice in Wonderland and got to go trick-or-treating around the park. They got to meet all of the Princesses and even the characters they had dressed up as. The Villians Mix-Up show was great and so were all the rides that remained open. The Haunted Mansion was a big hit with the kids and Splash Mountain was the ultimate ending to a great trip - they got to go on it twice.

Wildebeests, and Rhinos, and Warthogs...Oh My Africa!

Joel and my brother-in-law Brian headed to South Africa this September for a little big game hunting. Joel had never been hunting before in his 31 years, so this was a great, big, new adventure for everyone involved. We are the proud new owners of a blue wildebeest head and hide. Should be here by Christmas - a present that just keeps on giving for the whole family! Because it was Joel's first kill he had the blood of the beast rubbed on his face and took a healthy bite out of it's fresh liver. Sounds like he had the best time ever!

I am super jealous though...South Africa sounded amazing.

Joel, Brian, and our wildebeest.



Mya Turns 8...Nora Turns 1!

We are so blessed with our two little girls, but realize they aren't going to stay little forever...

Mya turned 8 this year and started the 3rd grade. Simply not possible.

Nora had her 1st birthday and started to walk and talk. Simply not possible.

Nora got a ball pit for her birthday (which she loves!!) and Mya got a trip to Disneyworld (which was awesome!!). Not sure who liked their gift the most.

Japan

In August I headed to Japan to help out the legal office at Misawa Air Base in Misawa Japan. The 3 weeks went by a lot faster than I thought and I had a great time. There was no A/C in my room which made it slightly uncomfortable (unbearable) but it was worth it. Being able to get some additional experience with a new office and visit such a beautiful country was something I won't forget. Being away from the girls and Joel was hard, but I talked to them often and we were all so busy that the time went by quickly.

 One of the many festivals going on while I was there. They had giant floats that were pushed by young boys. It was so hot I felt so bad for them! At the end of the night they would set the floats out on the ocean for good luck.

This is the shrine we visited where we had to cleanse ourselves before entering. We even got to ring the bells and pray. Our trips were fast and sometimes we didn't get to see everything - but we saw enough to know that our cultures are so different. I enjoyed every moment! My only regret was that I didn't get to go to Tokyo. Perhaps I'll get back someday!



Chabree Grove Photography

The girls got their pictures taken from a wonderful photographer in the Troy area. Chabree Grove did a great job capturing our two girls and we were very pleased with all of our pictures. Below is just a sampling of our almost 300 to choose from.