Three things for Thursday - the swimwear edition

It's that time of year again...the dreaded season where we all dust off last year's swimwear and hope to God it still fits.  You would think that after nearly 10 years of wearing tight Lycra outfits for figure skating, wearing a bathing suit would be no sweat for someone like me.  Not so fast.  Even then, when I was strapping on a tiny little leotard and tights on a daily basis to wear to the rink, I still hated swimwear.  Something about the fact that I feel like I'm wearing a fancier version of underwear.  I don't even like to look at myself in underwear - why would anyone else want to see that?


When I was a little girl my mother insisted on one piece swimsuits.  There was no negotiating.  She'd find me a sporty Speedo or Jantzen one piece at TJMaxx and that would be it.  End of story.  I bought my first two piece in high school, when I had a part time job and a little money.  I can't remember the brand, but it was black and the bottoms were boy shorts.  Even then I was overly self conscious about my hips and thighs.  Now that I'm over 30 and a mom, there is no way in the world that I would wear anything but boy shorts, and certainly never a bikini (unless I looked like this, or this, or this.  In any of these cases, I'd probably just live in a bikini.).


So here are my three things this Thursday - three one piece swim suits I consider highly mom friendly.  Longer legs to cover any trouble spots, full coverage to hide any jiggle, and ruching to slim and shape.

Three things for Thursday by nataliecpeterson featuring a one piece bikini

One-Piece Halter Control Swimsuit Dress by Shape fx at...
$59 - newport-news.com

One piece bikini
$148 - anthropologie.com

Women's Swimwear at Macy's - Stylish Women's Swimwear, Women's...
macys.com

Another year...how did that happen?

Exactly three weeks after we moved to Nevada Pilot Pete celebrated his birthday.  Well, here it is, three years later, and he's celebrating another birthday.  Shocking, I know.  These things do come along once a year.  What is shocking, at least to me, is that we've now known each other for 18 birthdays.  We haven't always been together on this day, but it's a day I never did, and never could, forget.  It is a great day, to be treasured and celebrated.

Happy Birthday to an extraordinary person - a great father, husband, and man.  My life is better because of you.

We sure have come a long way!

Over the weekend

Happy Monday friends!  Hard to believe the halfway point of April is upon us, isn't it?  I swear, the one thing (and pretty much the only thing) that people seem to forget to mention when you're expecting a baby is how much faster time will seem to move once you actually have the baby.  Seriously, I really didn't need the gory details of the birthing process, or being endlessly told how tired I'd be.  What I really needed was someone to tell me how fast it would go.  I guess it wouldn't really have mattered if someone had told me.  It's not like I can do anything about it.  But still.  A little warning would have been nice.  (Disclaimer - someone probably did warn me, but I was too busy being grossed out by all the TMI birthing stories to remember).  (Disclaimer #2 - No babies on the way here - I'm just referencing my pregnancy with Little Dude).


Our weekend was a quiet one, as weekends out here generally seem to be.  We took it easy on Saturday.  I should amend that.  I took it easy on Saturday.  Pilot Pete and I have this lovely arrangement where he gets up with Little Dude and lets me sleep in.  Not that we get up particularly early during the week.  But my night owl/vampire tendencies require a normal bedtime of about 3 AM, so getting to sleep an extra few hours on the weekend is heavenly.  For dinner on Saturday I roasted some chicken, mashed some potatoes, and cooked some green beans.  This is particularly noteworthy, because I detest cooking chicken (don't mind eating it though), so home cooked chicken is definitely a rarity around here.


Sunday found us, as it usually does, in the big city.  I needed to hit up the Ann Taylor to make an exchange, so we bribed Little Dude into being good by taking him to the National Automobile Museum, which is one of his favorite stops.  We spent a good long while talking cars, engines, and rumble seats.  I definitely built up enough capital to spend a decent amount of time in the Ann Taylor changing room.  The fact that they have a water fountain didn't hurt either.  You have to love the ability kids have to entertain themselves with the most ordinary things.  We capped off the day at one of our favorite restaurants, where Little Dude informed us as we sat down that he wanted ice cream.  Damn illustrated kids menus!


I hope you had a fun and restful weekend.  Enough some scenes from ours:

One can only guess what they're discussing, but I'll bet it's about cars

Just cruising

Taking a break while waiting for a table for dinner

Flashback Foto Friday

It's been quite a week out here.  We're coming off of a glorious 10 days with Pilot Pete home on vacation.  He headed back to work Monday, and things are slowly starting to return to normal.  Wednesday marked the first day of the last class he'll teach as an instructor out here.  Looking back at our pictures from the last three years, it's definitely bittersweet.  A lot of things have happened and changed, but we're excited to be embarking on a new phase of our lives in two months.


On a sad and sobering note, our Naval Aviation community lost two of its members in a tragic crash on Wednesday.  This is the very worst part of this life, and you never get used to it.  Please, take a moment today to remember these two outstanding officers whose loss is felt by many.  My wish is that their family and friends will find comfort in this most difficult time, and remember that their loss will never be forgotten, and will be honored always.


Here's our flashback foto - three years ago Wednesday, Pilot Pete set off for his first day of "class" at TOPGUN.  We had just moved into our rental (incidentally, we no longer live there) and Little Dude had just started rice cereal a few days earlier:

Look at my boys...time flies.

Foto Friday

Sorry, no April Fools pictures from us, just a little boy "reading the instructions" for his "frozen meal".