Banana pancakes and school

Yesterday I woke up STARVING and SORE as all can be.
I think that my body is trying to revolt or maybe that is just me wishing that it would so that I could just stay in side and not work out, either way I am not going to fall for it. But man I am still sore :/.

When I came down stairs I was really wanting something with bananas, but nothing sounded good nor was there anything simple and quick that came to mind.

So I left the breakfast for later, made my iced coffee and moved on with my day. About an hour later I thought it might be a  good time to eat before I passed out .

After looking around I decided to make a quick breakfast pancake just for uno, ME, using 3 items that I LOVE TO EAT any time of the day, bananas , eggs and PB, YUM!!!!

my ingredients

After I mashed up the banana really good I added the PB and the egg and mixed , then poured the "batter" into a frying pan and cooked just like a regular pancake, over medium heat, till it was done.

my banana pancake batter

it's ready

After it was finished cooking I topped it with another good scoop of PB and fresh strawberries, and dug in!!!!
It was very filling and the taste and texture were pleasing.
(I did notice as I was cooking it that it was not wanting to come together as I thought it should and I could not figure out why, until I posted the pix of the ingredients, my egg was to small. I used a really good size banana , but a regular size egg instead of a L or Jumbo egg. Duh, me :)

After I ate and cleaned up it was time for school work, yes we do school work during the summer off and on, the kids even managed to convince me to let them open and use some new school items that I had already purchased for our upcoming school year, which were a HUGE success.

(  It was funny to see how serious the kids were and so I decided to mess with them and take pictures :)

Gabriel doing his Bible studies with his new crayons

Sasha working on English with her new pencils and thinking putty

The rest of the day was spent running food and drinks to GI Joe, who was on CQ for 24 hours, running errands and cleaning house :).


My workout, which I did when Ian was down for his nap, was Chalean Extreme Lean 2 dvd ( weight lifting) and Extreme abs dvd.

I am already noticing that my appetite is starting to pick up and that I am finding my self hungry about 3-4 hours after I eat and that I am downing water more than I normally would.

Just call me Mrs. Gumby

Merriam-Webster defines flexible as

: characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements <a flexible foreign policy> <a flexible schedule>.

If I had to describe a military wife in one word, that word would be flexible. We might not enter into our marriage being this way, but you can bet the military will "train you up" to be that way in no time at all, whether you want to be or not :)

And this weekend I had the privilege of being flexible on more than one occasion, thanks to the Army :0) 

Yesterday evening G.I.Joe received a call letting him know that he had staff duty on Saturday, starting at 0900 until Sunday at 0900. (Staff duty is a 24hr "gig" where he gets to sit at a desk with 1-2 other soldiers and do what ever staff duty does, but is not allowed to sleep for the 24 hrs nor leave the building. Then he will come home and sleep for about half the day)." So our whole weekend is pretty much shot.", is what I say to him after he gets off the call. "But, at least we have Sunday dinner", is what G.I Joe says back to me. And all I wanted to do was scream "what about our plans?" and to throw a temper tantrum like our 15 month old does. Of course none of this would have done any good, since duty to the job is a BIG part of the military life and any good military wife knows this. So I just grinned and said "yay!!" and went about my not so merry way.

 Nothing like a last minute call from the Army to just throw your whole life upside down, even if it is just for a day.

 I had no idea what I was going to do with the kids today. But, as the good Army wife I am, I knew that it was my job to come up with something to keep them entertained and but, also to keep myself from ending up in the nut house. All while still being available for my soldier to run him things that he just happened to "forget" while he was leaving for work this morning. Or, in this case, to bring him and his colleague lunch :).
  
 This morning I got to spend some time with G.I Joe before he left for work.
It was one of the few times when all 3 of the kids were actually still sleeping, so it was just me, him and my coffee.

my other love

 

G.I.Joe putting on his boots for work

 As soon as he had left I heard the boys playing upstairs in their room so I went to go get Ian from his crib.
Instead I walked in on the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Gabriel had climbed into Ian's crib and they were both just having a grand time hanging out and playing.
I had only cracked the door a little so I was able to run back down and grab my camera and take a picture.
Was to adorable of a shot to miss and who knew when I would get the chance again. ( of course they both saw me with the camera)

Ian and Gabriel , brotherly love :)

 Then I went and checked on Sasha, thinking that maybe she would be awake at 0830. NOPE!!
 So I just HAD TO take one of her. ( I might tell her one day :0)

Sasha

Once I got Ian and Gabriel down stairs and settled with cartoons I decided to be nice and make then regular blueberry muffins, which is a treat around our house, while I also made some GF banana bread from a gluten filled recipe that I love, Love, LOVE, but adapted to be GF for me .

the mix, yes I cheated :P

they smelled so wonderful, but not for me :(

my ingredients for my GF banana bread

even the batter is pretty. look at all the banana pieces

now this, this IS for ME!!

After we had all eaten and Sasha had cleaned up the kitchen, I let them all watch t.v. or play on the computer while I got my Turbo Jam on.

this stuff is so much fun

While I was working out G.I Joe sent me a text asking if I would get him and his friend Boyd ( who just happened to be working staff duty with him , hmmm coincidence?  I wonder :) lunch , since they could not leave. And Boyd's wife had lent her care to another solider for the weekend, so had no way to get them lunch.


I saw the text after I was done with my work out, and by then it was already after 1130, so I had to quickly get the boys washed up and dressed while Sasha got herself showered and dressed. Once she was done I jumped into the shower myself.
Needless to say I have never seen us all move so fast before or the kids be so cooperative. ( maybe there is something to be said about this staff duty after all).

Once we were all "dressed and pressed" as G.I. Joe likes to say, we headed to a local Chinese place in town to pick up lunch for the guys and then it was off to Sonic for drinks. Cause man can not live on water or Rip its alone Dede don't you know this??!!! 

Once I had the food and drinks I then headed back to Polk to deliver the "goods" and spend a few moments with G.I Joe.
By time I left G.I Joe it was already after 2p and the kids and I had not had lunch yet, when I asked them what they wanted , of course, it had to be Chinese and not the one in Leesville , NO Way Mom that would be to easy , it had to be the one in DeRidder which is a good 20 miles from Fort Polk.  
And of course I took them, but only because Ian was asleep and I knew that a longer drive would enable him to get more sleep. 

where the kids and I went

the Sushi plate Sasha and I shared

Sasha

Gabriel working on his second plate

Me ( Sasha said I needed to be in a picture too)

my own personal plate

Ian taking a break from eating

I like going to this particular restaurant the it is always clean and the staff there is friendly and because of their Sushi. It is always fresh and they have a great variety of it. Plus they have a good selection of GF food, which is always a good thing.

As we were leaving G.I Joe sends me a text asking if I could run by the house and bring him a few items. Sure I say as soon as we are done at Walmart I will be there, should be no more than an hour.

 

 After we leave the restaurant I decided to go to the Walmart in Leesville instead of DeRidder, since I am more familiar with the layout there, to pick up a few items that the commissary does not carry. Which means I have to drive 25 miles back to Leesville and go right past Polk. ( I am so smart at times, I kill myself LOL)

 

Well my in and out for a few items turns into a little over an hour . How could I resist the pleading and begging of my adorable hoodlum , aka children, when they ask to go look at the toys or the make-up or the cameras. Please, Please Mom.

By the time we left Walmart , get to our house,  pick up the items that G.I.Joe wanted, take them to him and get home it is already after 8p and we had been gone from the house for 7 hours.

 It was time to rest and chill for the rest of the evening before bed time.

So I let the older two do there thing while I bathed Ian, put him down and work on my blog.

how they like to chill

how I like to chill :))

Over all I think the day went pretty well. We had a good time and enjoyed ourselves, even with out me planning every step of the way.

My 4 hour mini vacation

Our internet issues have FINALLY been fixed, after a week of having no internet tho. I never realized how much our family used the computer everyday, till we were not able to. Kind of a little scary :0)

So I am back..... and hopefully here to stay.


This year Mother's Day was not the greatest of days for me, as far as days go. Not only was I sick, but so were Sasha, Gabriel and Ian, which in my book is a horrible day any time.

Because of that, we really did not celebrate the day in any sort of special way. It was just easier to treat it like any other Sunday, except with sick kids, and then there was not the added stress of trying to make Mom feel "special" while she is wiping runny noses and giving lots of hugs.

And I was VERY on board with this, and no hurt feelings , on my part. But, G.I. Joe was not and did a superb job of NOT telling me.

So imagine my surprise when he came home and presented me with a gift card for a 4 hour mini spa day at the French Quarters Salon and Spa.

Talk about HEAVEN!!!!

For ME!!???? 

on my way to the spa

I'm here!!!! 

the front 

the waiting area

my massage room 

stairs leading up to the second level

my facial room

where I had my mani and pedi

my feet :0)

and me, After my mini vacation

The staff were all so nice and very helpful and understood my need for silence at times and my need to have "adult" conversation too.
I really enjoyed myself and left feeling so relaxed and refreshed and ready to face the world, aka my Army life.

Thank you G.I.Joe, you knew just what I needed and are the best husband in the world.