Hit those books!

This looks like the stack of books that one might need for a semester of college, right?  No, this is a partial stack (2 of the books were being used when I took the photo) of the material for Dad's upcoming promotional exam. The notebook includes SOP's.  He's been studying, and will be studying non-stop for the next month, as we count down to the highly competitive exam.  Only the top scorers will be eligible for the promotion.  Please join me in praying for his studying efforts and test-taking!

Sarah's First Trip to the Station

We haven't been able to visit the station much in the last year but finally made it there this Sunday afternoon.  The kids were really excited to see Dad at work!

 Yes, it's a pole & they still use it!

 Thermal Imaging Camera

 Here's the pole from the top:

The Roof Patio

  Yes, it was hot!  : )

On the way home I asked the kids what their favorite part was.  David said, "Going out on the roof."  Elizabeth said, "The big balls in the gym!"  Rebekah said, "Fire Trucks!"  Finally!

Wrapping Up & Moving On

I did turn all my jack-o-lanterns around already, but I was not quite ready to leave October until I caught up on the last few weeks. They went by really fast & I wanted to document a few things before I forgot them!

On October 19 we visited Dad at the fire station. He showed them all the tools on the truck and they enjoyed playing with all the exercise equipment.

We are entering week 12 of kindergarten! Here's David making observations during a recent science experiment. One egg sank, one egg floated! (salt in the second water)

Now that Rebekah is supporting herself well, I finally tried a back carry, using the Ergo. She was happy back there and it was very comfortable. I even got some grass mowed with the reel mower with her back there!

One day last week, I harvested 46 jalapenos & 3 small bell peppers. I had no idea I would still be harvesting in October! Several of these made their way to stuffed & bacon-wrapped, but the rest were chopped for the freezer. And there's still more out there...

We sliced our pie pumpkin for a learning experience, too. David had to guess how many seeds would be inside. His first guess was billions! Then he decided upon 10. We counted... and counted. It became an exercise in counting by 10's! The final number? 403! We toasted some of them and saved some for planting.

Later, I went back to the store to get another pumpkin to carve for a jack-o-lantern. None to be found. Quite depressing. We didn't get to carve one this year.

Also made caramel popcorn balls! From scratch! Not even using "caramels"! Nope, the whole thing from scratch! And it was easy! And they tasted wonderful!

Next time, I'll make extra sauce, because that would have totally rocked on an apple...

And finally, we celebrated Aunt Erin's milestone birthday

with a game night at Grana's. Mexican Train. And Rebekah was given her first formula bottle by (great) Aunt Marlene. I think people were starting to worry that she hadn't had a bottle yet, since I'll be leaving in 21 days!!!

OK. Now October is officially over.

Let the thanks giving begin!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Yes, I love this picture. We don't visit the fire station as much here as where we used to live (because he doesn't have a home station and it's just too far up there), so whenever we go I try to remember my camera. This was Rebekah's first fire station visit, and David & Elizabeth both enjoyed themselves.


On the bus at church, a stranger commented to David about Rebekah: Do you have a new baby sister?
David: Yes.
Stranger: Cool.
David: She's not cool, she's gorgeous!

While eating breakfast: Bees make the honey and they put it on these Multi-Grain Cheerios.

While playing: I'm gonna stop having fun to go to the potty!

Another fashion statement by Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, singing her own little song: Tabi and Tort and Fluffy and David and David and Dad! OOOOOOOOHHHHH.... Jingle bells, jingle bells...

Entertaining herself in the car: 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12! YEAH!!! I DID IT!!! SAY YEAH, MAMA!!! (yes, she skips 5 and yes, she was at maximum volume!)

While "playing" with Rebekah on the rug: Two eyes! Blue!
Mom: That's right, she's got blue eyes. What color are your eyes?
Elizabeth, pointing to one eye, then the other: Pink! Purple!
Mom, gasping: You have pink & purple eyes? Wow! What color are Mom's eyes?
Elizabeth: Yellow!

See more Tiny Talk at Mary's.

Survived by three families...

I really feel like I want to say something, but am really not sure what to say. It was a long, tiring, and emotional day. Part of it was being 8 months pregnant. Part of it was seeing family and children left behind. Part of it was realizing that, should I survive my husband, I will be the recipient of the same outpouring.

Engineer Cocke was survived by three families: his family family, his church family, and his fire family. There was obvious outpouring of love and support from all three.

Not everyone will experience what it's like to be a part of a family at work. I think we are fortunate to have that. And it's not just our department family, it's fire family. The church was packed. Extra chairs were brought in. And the walls were lined with men standing. I wondered if we were breaking fire code. There were easily over 200 firemen present, and they were not all from Fort Worth.

There were trucks and firemen from Azle, Saginaw, San Antonio, Arlington, Sansom Park, River Oaks, Reno (TX), North Richland Hills, Lake Worth, Benbrook, Denton, and perhaps others. The Fort Worth Mayor, Fire Chief, Deputy Chiefs, several Bat Chiefs, were also there as well as MedStar, FWPD Mounted Honor Guard, and the Texas Department of Parks & Wildlife represented as well. Fort Worth's own Quint 23 with ladder extended, Engine 23, Engine 21, Quint 24, and Bat 3 were there, and Engine 11 carried the casket to the burial.

I know it's not a pleasant thing to think about, but I couldn't help it... thinking that it could be me some day. We talked on the way home about how we'd tailor the service for us. What music, what ladder he'd like extended, what departments might come.

It's comforting to know that I have three families also. And I know I can count on all three. Please remember the Cocke family in your prayers, the three children who lost their dad (a son with special needs & 2 daughters) and the brothers left behind at Station 23 also.

Making Christmas, Part 1

So after all our comments about Lauren & her faces... I have to admit, I tried to take a serious slightly-irritated-professional-chef-looking photo and I couldn't stop laughing. So it's a lot harder than you might think to take a goofy picture of yourself. : ) I also have to add, WOW! On Lauren's last post she had some photos where she was not making faces & what a beautiful young lady she's turned into!

I've been a busy beaver, but I can't show pictures yet! Someone might see! Aunt Sissy couldn't believe I still have the apron Grandmama brought us from one of her trips long ago, so there I am, not looking serious in my chicken apron with my beloved Mix 'N Scraper, that I just realized is now cracked! Since we've moved in, I've gone through almost 15 pounds of flour! (whole wheat & white combined) So here's some food I've been making:


Brownies from a box with M&M's added. Mysteriously they're almost gone. I don't know what happened to them... but Dad says he's been sharing with Elizabeth...

My most exciting new recipe of the year: Christmas Mint Cookies! Oh. My. These little gems are delicious! They taste exactly like Girl Scouts Thin Mints. You must try this recipe! I used the Andes Mints version of the recipe mentioned in the recipe reviews. Wow! I made Dad take them to the fire station today so I wouldn't eat them all... of course I have ingredients to make more, though. : )

I can't tell you what these are. David made them. They have sprinkles. Act surprised if you see them again.

On an impulse, I saw a bag of Key Limes at the store the other day & bought them. Then I had to make a pie. It's very tart, but very tasty! I used the recipe that was on the bag. I didn't find one that was the same online, so I may add it to RecipeZaar later. That way I won't loose it.

Dad specifically requested that I get Grana's recipe for Gingerbread. Turns out she has the recipe written out in her grandmother's own handwriting! That makes it Dad's great-great-grandmother's recipe! I added "Grandmother's Gingerbread" to my cookbook so I wouldn't loose it, too. It's also printed in the first edition of the Sew-N-Sews Cookbook. Dad took the whole pan, minus this piece to the fire station today.

Then he requested I made a Pumpkin Roll! WHAT?!?! I have never done this before & it seemed like one of those fancy, hard-to-do type desserts. Turns out, it was much easier than I thought... so I may have to do it again. Doesn't that look pretty?

No fancy presentation, though. I wrapped it in foil, froze it & when I got up this morning, it was gone. I did taste the ends that I'd cut off (it was uneven, I had to trim it up!) and it was delish! Of course, I found the wonderful recipe for the Pumpkin Roll online and it came from a B&B in New Braunfels!

So if you happen to be in Fort Worth and notice that the firefighters appear a bit heavy, it may be from mint cookies and gingerbread and pumpkin rolls... just to name a few things.

Dad's view from the office...

Dad took my camera to work with him Saturday because he knew he was going to Station 14, and that Saturday is clean-up & equipment maintenance day. Which means the 135' aerial ladder (one of the tallest ladders made) gets checked out, too. That's our car you can see in the parking lot.

He also got a video while he was up there...

It's been a while, huh?

OK, I know. It's been a week and I missed Tiny Talk Tuesday this week. The house is just about ready. It's been pretty thoroughly cleaned by me, I installed the closet shelving, cleaned the windows (with some help from Aunt Wee) and the painter has been doing touch-up work this week. The electrician was supposed to finish this week, but in his absence, Dad pretty much fired him by doing the work himself. Too bad Dad can't dig & install a septic system... That's about all we've got left.

Waiting...

We missed the last 3 weeks of Cubbies for various reasons, but made it this week. I was so proud of David! Not only was he well behaved the whole time, but he was able to recite all 4 Bible verses, catching up on all the ones he'd missed! He got his Hopper patch (which he actually earned the last week we were there, but the teacher was out of patches) and 2 of his path patches.

Saturday was a big day as we spent 5 hours birthday partying. And we didn't even make it to both parties we were invited to! We joined family & a bunch of 8- & 9-year old boys to celebrate D&E's cousin Alex's 9th birthday. There was a bounce house with an obstacle course & slide...

And David picked out Alex's birthday present - a set of "light savers." David could hardly wait for Alex to open them. Alex was very sweet to oblige his young cousin by engaging him in combat.

Then while getting ready for church today, I discovered that while I've been busy this week, my tummy has been growing! So here's a belly shot at 15 weeks with baby #3.

Aunt Sissy and Uncle Bubba have been bragging on their tomato crops. (Please, check out their links!) I thought I'd chip in with a tomato brag, too.

My husband is a bit of a chef (when he wants to). Apparently, a fire station he was at recently was staffed with a bunch of firefighting gourmets and one of them mentioned a recipe that sparked his interest. I had recently read about it myself: Insalata Caprese. And yes, it was tasty!

Sorry for the fuzzy picture. After the fact, I discovered a tiny little fingerprint on my camera lens! With a little twist, this would be the perfect treat for the adult table at your Halloween party!

Diary of a Firefighter

Notes from Dad regarding last shift:

Yep... Another one. 6 working fires in 7 months. And I'm behind some of the other guys. This one was really good! I traveled from the coveted hot spot of Station 14 (like SAFD #5) to the much slower, no-fire Station 1 (like SAFD #2). We had the usual EMS runs.

Then....Tone hit about 04:45. It was us, Quint 9, and Engine 19 going to automatic aid with Haltom City (a suburb to the northeast). Quint 9 got on and reported back to us FW unit an apartment fully involved. It sure was. We got closer and saw flames - not smoke, not a glow, just flames. It was "lickin' the moon." Reminded me of Twohig. We parked and walked up to command. All of Haltom City FD, and units from Bedford and North Richland Hills were already on fighting. They had master streams going, Q9 was raising the ladder. There was fire shooting off the roof (like Honey Creek), out all the 3rd floor windows. That whole 3 story building was on fire.

Command tells us to get a ground ladder, ladder the 3rd floor balcony of a unit further down from the involved portion, and get a primary search. We threw up a 35' extension ladder - never thought I'd ever use a ground ladder that big - and went up. We had an all clear but fire was in the attic above us. Go down, get a line, go back up, wait for water. And wait. And wait.

Meanwhile the ceiling caves in, the trusses are sagging, fires rolling through the whole attic. Debris falling in catching the contents on fire and no water yet.

We finally got water. They let me have the nozzle and to war we went. Once we got the room and overhead knocked down we put a ladder up into the attic (which at this point was a rooftop deck) and sprayed more until we ran low on air. It was hot enough to melt reflectors on my helmet, and a reflector on my jacket. We stopped it before it jumped a firewall.

From there we climbed down, rehabbed, then went up and overhauled. While we were fighting the FWFD Batt Chief on scene called a 2nd alarm on it since it was now 2 buildings burning. We kept going until 06:15. They did dispatch other units near shift change to relieve us - mostly Battalion 6 stations full of retirees (37, 31, 41, etc.).

Found out later today there was a body found on a 3rd floor unit.

Here's the article on startelegram.com. I'm just glad he's safe.

David's Birthday Outing

I realized at the end of the day that I hadn't gotten pictures of everything, but such is to be expected when Dad's on duty & Mom is going solo. We started the day with a very special breakfast for our 4-year-old birthday boy. David got to pick his own sprinkle donut and chocolate milk!

Not knowing what time we were going to be able to go to "the surprise," we went to the big library first. We returned our books & as soon as we got into the bathroom at the library, we got the call, so we quickly found some new books about sharks, worms, the space shuttle, and all things interesting to a little boy. Amazingly, we made it out without stopping at Story Time or in the play area, but we did have to stop at the fish tank.

Next we drove over to the surprise. When I parked the car, David said, "Are we at the park?" No... "Are we at Getzendaner Park?" Guess he was wanting to play. Or maybe he remembers that we went to Getzendaner Park for his birthday two years ago?

I told Dad to stay back until I got David out of the car. When he saw Dad, his face lit up & he said, "Is Dad a fireman?" which he always says when he sees Dad in uniform.

Dad took us up the fire escape-like stairs on the outside of the building up to the roof of the fire station. They had patio furniture & grills up there! Then Dad gave us a tour of the station. This was our first time to visit this station.

David was interested in seeing the poles. So many of the children's books show firemen sliding down the pole, but he's never seen one in person before. We took the safer route down to the engine bay.

Then Dad demonstrated the pole for David:

That sure was a lot faster than going down the stairs!

When we left the station, I let David pick where we went for lunch. He picked "Old McDonald's" and asked if they had Speed Racer (he must have seen a commercial for a Happy Meal or something, because I didn't know they had Speed Racer toys!) and if he could play.

After lunch, Elizabeth was very tired, so I figured we'd better head home. We traveled in a pretty bad thunderstorm, through construction, but had a nice ride home.

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This evening we joined Grandma & Grandpa for half price burger night at Sonic and after Elizabeth went to bed, we played Hi Ho Cherry-O and read some of our library books. David asked me to snuggle in bed with him, so we snuggled for a while and thanked God for a fun birthday. Then suddenly, David remembered, "We didn't have any candles!" I told him we'd have those at his birthday party.

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How long do you think it feels to a 4-year-old to wait until Saturday for his birthday party?