Thankful for my husband.

This is my Thanksgiving post, later than I had planned, but I will attempt to do it justice.

Lets start with our plans for Thanksgiving. The plan was for the Vandament parents and little siblings to visit. Arriving Tuesday and leaving Sunday. Beach Wednesday, food Thursday, shopping Friday, pizza Saturday with naps and football in between. The plan did not happen. The family was halfway here and received a call that a wonderful young woman from church back "home" (Omaha) had passed away. Rightfully so, they had to turn around.

Thank goodness for Skype

With $250 dollars worth of Thanksgiving groceries, we decided the show must go on. I prepared everything that was planned (minus two pies) in smaller portions. We had a feast.

the line for the oven, pre feast.

Best turkey I have ever had

coffee coated cheese

And I don't know what I would have done without my amazing husband who went shopping with me on Black Friday and has cleaned up all of the leftovers.

Thanksgiving turned out to be alright. We relaxed, shopped, ate our brains out, and enjoyed each other.

And no post would be complete without a picture of our baby Belleau.

The tree is up ... say a prayer for all of the ornaments.

More to come from this Lynch family soon.

Happy birthday, Marine Corps.

Another Marine Corps Birthday Ball has come and gone. Cannot believe we've already been living this life for more than a year. Exciting. If you remember anything from last years Ball you remember we sat in the basement and watched the ceremony from a screen. This year had it's pros and cons, as well. The Commandant was the guest of honor (pretty big deal). He is the first Commandant that is an Aviator (again, pretty big deal). The Ball was held at the Aviation museum on base. Great location, but (here comes the first con) they did not have enough seats. I'd say 30% of the people there were standing during the whole ceremony. The other con (which actually turned into a pro) is that there was no dinner served. Just a cocktail hour with snacks and drinks. We decided to do our own thing for dinner and went to a WONDERFUL restaurant called Vic and Ike's. It was Delish (that's a capital D). John had rabbit and I had a juicy steak. So the no dinner at the Ball turned out to be quite alright. I do love the whole getting dressed up and eating a fancy dinner. I can do this once a year for the next how-ever-many years.

We are cheesing so much.

Beautiful Linds.

I'm in love with these.

updates.

Again, it has been weeks. This is what happens when I get a full time job, the blog numbers drop. Funny how that works, now that we actually have excitement, we have no time to share with you all.
Let's play catch up, again.

John has started his next school, API (Aviation Preflight Indoctrination). Which basically means he is doing a lot of studying. His first test is tomorrow (Monday--say a prayer). He is also swimming for this school. In his own words, "we swim everyday, then we get dressed up and go learn about flying." And I will add, he then comes home, eats, and studies for three hours before bed. We thankfully have the same hours right now (leave around 0700, return around 1600). He is so smart.

Belleau. She is really turning into a perfect dog. There are two sides, one ...

CHEWING. Two ...

sleeping. She does more of the latter. I love her, and she knows it. Our neighbor is her nanny during the day. She loves her too. And we love her for loving her.

Now on to me. I am teaching up a storm. One quarter down, three more to go. I cannot believe how fast those first nine weeks went. ALSO, I finish my masters in ONE month! Now that is something to SHOUT about! When I am not at the computer doing homework, or grading student papers, I am using my new Kitchen Aid. Pizza dough has taken on a whole new role in our life. We love our pizza. Anyone have {easy} Kitchen Aid dessert recipes?

That's all from this Lynch family.

I feel so bad.

I cannot believe it has been over a month since my last post! This last month has FLOWN by. I don't even remember September happening. In the last month ...

I have still been teaching and enjoying it (I will blame the job for my lack of blogging). There are many stories I could tell, but this is a public website, so I'll save those for a time when we are face-to-face. It is an absolute blast. This last week was homecoming spirit week. I was a 50s girl Tuesday and a pirate Wednesday. AND I received school pictures. Too fun.

John is still waiting for API to start (start date is 21 October). He is anxious, but loving his current schedule (he works in the photo lab every other day from 0700-1300, not bad). In his free time, he hangs out with Belleau and keeps our house tidy. He's wonderful.

We are, of course, cooking up yummy food as usual. Nutella cookies have been a current fav. (recipe below). And the Hawaiian BBQ chicken did not last long. All this food means we have started running to negate that which we eat. We have found some great trails nearby!

Belleau is growing so fast. She is currently weighing in at 31.2lbs. She loves the outdoors (actually just spent an hour in the beautiful 70 degree weather relaxing in the sun). She tans daily. OH, and we bought her a new toy (yes, she is spoiled) ... a skateboard! We are only in the beginning stages of teaching her how to skateboard, but she is very intriged with it. She also had a little allergic reaction to the new laundry soap, so we had to re-wash her bedding. She HATES when we take her bed from her, so much so that she pulled her bed (without the cover) down from the top of her crate and just sat on it for quite awhile.

 She's a riot.

More currently, John is making tuna salad for lunch and Christmas Cards are in the process of being made! And John is getting an iPhone today. Go BIG RED.

We miss all our family and friends.

Nutella cookies (taken from Tasty Kitchen)
You will need: 

• 1 cup Nutella
• ½ cups Sugar
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1 egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Blend all ingredients together well. Form into 1″ balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Press down firmly with the bottom of a glass. Bake 7-8 minutes. Cool. Enjoy.

It's about time

I started writing this a week ago...
Oh my, I don't even know where to start. Let's go back to LAST Wednesday ... after a not so typical Wednesday (John had to take me to work), John picked me up from work and we RUSHED home to grab Belleau and head to the car shop before it closed (our dear Volvo was making some not-so-good noises). We thankfully made it in time, only to hear that they would highly recommend us leaving it there and not driving it anymore until the noise is fixed. Being as we only have a motorcycle as a "second vehicle" this plan was less than ideal. So we called and set up a rental ... and then left to pick up the rental. We received our stubby little Suzuki and headed BACK to the car shop. Just as they were closing their garage doors we slide the Volvo in and left in a rush to get Bell to school on time. School went surprisingly well. She did everything she was asked. Not sure where the new behavior came from, but we said many prayers that it stays. We left school and headed back home. As we pulling into the driveway and discussing what we should heat up for dinner ... "uh babe, we don't have the garage door opener OR key" ... and there we were. In our own driveway locked out. Car shop closed, leasing office closed. We were hungry, Belleau was starving. We started making calls after the initial shock left us. John had a light bulb moment and realized he had the maintenance man's phone number. Mike came to the rescue ... well actually, we drove to his house to get the key. We have officially decided we need to make key copies. AND our car has since been in the shop two more times. The engine light came on and then the air stopped working. Everything at once.

John is still waiting for his next school to start and in the meantime he is thee best stay-at-home-dog-dad ever! He has done laundry, cooked dinner, vacuumed, ah ... it's been nice. He is working at the "photo lab" on base but is still home early. He takes pictures of Marines for profiles and of special events.

And I am working ... and working. It has been exhausting for sure, but I absolutely love it. The classroom is where I belong. My students are wonderful (after two weeks) and I couldn't ask for better co-workers. With that said ... I need to plan, and plan, and plan, and plan. I am teaching four sections of Sophomore English and one block of Junior English. The block is difficult ... 90 whole minutes and just the one block. I am happy to say I have my own classroom and it is slowly starting to look like an actual classroom. It is too early to give a clear picture of my first year of teaching. But as of right now, I still enjoy the profession and look forward to going to work. The days FLY by. I will post pictures of my classroom one of these days! :)

Belleau is a level I graduate of obedience school. We are so proud. She is also becoming more and more spoiled as the days go on. Ops.

my interview.

Wednesday I had an interview, and felt very good about it as I was standing up to leave. Then as I was saying 'thank you' and 'goodbye' one of the interviewers asked, "what brought you to Florida?" [at this point my mind went crazy! do I say military? which would imply I won't be in Pensacola for very long. do I tell a little fib, and say the "beaches, of course"], "my husbands work" was my answer. I felt good. Honest, but not telling too much. THEN he asked, "what's your husband do?" OF COURSE he asked that. Why wouldn't he. And as I slowly answered with a "he's going through flight school" honest reply, I felt a bullet go through my foot. Who would want to hire a teacher who can't commit to more than one year? I got in my car and felt utterly defeated.

Wednesday went on. We took Belleau to school and she decided to forget how to sit. The one thing she has been doing since she was 7 weeks old. She does what she wants. So as we are trying to get her little bottom on the ground to show her teachers, my phone starts vibrating. I look, planning to ignore it, and it's a Pensacola number. I sprint out. Answer the phone. And can't stop smiling. The Principal would love for me to come work with him as a Language Arts teacher. He loved my excitement and believes I could be the "shining star" of the school. I accepted. Which means I HAVE A JOB.

I have a job! In my career field! I am a working woman (again)! I'm a teacher! I am beyond thrilled! The Principal is beyond great! I went in and chatted with him for awhile Thursday. He was very encouraging and strongly believes I'm the "breath of fresh air" that this school needs. God has answered prayers. And I am now a Gator.

So let the planning begin. And the shopping (teacher clothes here I come)!

I passed, he passed.

So. It was an exciting weekend for us. I finished two more classes for my Master's degree (both A's!) and John completed IFS. He had his check flight Saturday then had his solo on Sunday. Solo = fly completely alone!! Can you believe it? He did great! And is one step closer to finishing flight school. Next is API which John should start in October. API (Aviation Pre-flight Indoctrination) is lots more studying. It consists of lost of classroom learning (meteorology, aerodynamics, aircraft engine and systems, navigation, flight rules, etc.). Once all that is learned, he will have swimming tests (still in API). As summed up on the website, "The syllabus consists of 177.5 hours of academic and survival instruction condensed into 31 days of training, challenging students both physically and mentally." Should be a fun six weeks! In the meantime, he will "belt up" aka become a brown belt and be home a lot :-). Next for me is another interview. Start your prayer engines! It's tomorrow (Wednesday) and in God's hands.

Of course, we've still been eatin' like royalty. I really am in love with cooking. Lately: stuffed bell peppers {sausage, rice, cheese, black beans, corn, onions, etc.}, chicken lasagna {this is John's FAVORITE meal I make. First made it for his birthday before we were married. It's time consuming, but worth every second. Maybe I'll dedicate a blog post to it one day}, crock pot tacos with homemade salsa and queso

stuffed bell peppers {with cheese on top}

chicken lasagna {i love that he buys me flowers}

and tonight ... we are picking up fresh seafood from the fish market and grilling! I'm hungry just thinking about dinner! I still have not taken the plunge into desserts. They scare me. I am not too great about measuring, and well, you can't bake without precision. Any easy dessert recipes out there?

Belleau has been keeping us busy as usual. She is now attending school (have I mentioned this yet?). She is quite the smarty. Or maybe she just does anything for some cheese. Either way, she impresses us weekly (even her teachers have been in disbelief). A current activity of hers is to use her back legs to wedge herself under the couch. She loved playing under there when she wasn't so big. And now, she can only fit if she pushes against the wall with her legs. This has been happening almost daily. She goes over to the corner, pushes, pushes, finally gets under, then cries and barks and cries some more because she can't get back out. Today I left her under there for 15 minutes.

Hoping it helped her learn. Then I had to go to the rescue and LIFT the couch up so she could get out. She's something else. We'd be bored without her.