Happy 4th of July!

We did nothing today but clean, I studied, kids read, played, watched a movie. We had an all American dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese. Hey, they requested it, how could I deny them?

Not much to blog about...

We went to a rodeo last night.
Em has shaved the outside of her eyebrows off...she denies that she did anything, but I couldn't figure out why they were not very wide and looked funny, so I had to take a closer look.
I spent most of the day with Abs on Thursday. I thought my ears were going to fall off from all the talking she did. She was not quiet more than 20 seconds. She even narrated the movie I let her watch.
I think Junior has another ear infection so we will probably hit the doctor on Sunday if he gets worse. Poor kiddo.
My mom is keeping the girls saturday night. I wish it was all three so I could crank out all my homework!
Talked to Gunner tonight on the computer, and Junior sang him songs. So cute. Junior was mesmerized watching his dad on the screen.
Our backyard is the perfect spot to view the fireworks put on by Fort Hood. The kids loved it, although Abs thought that they should form Greek Gods that were fighting mythical creatures. She also thought that they needed to have the Statue of Liberty up there too with her tablet and she proceeded to give us a history lesson on the Statue of Liberty and American Independence. Emily spent the entire time stating that all the loud fireworks were whiny like her sister. Junior kept singing "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee".

Never a dull moment.

Happy 4th of July!

Free Welcome Home Sign!

Jump on this while it is still available! Buildasign is offering a free banner to welcome home your Soldier. You have to pay for shipping which is almost $7, but that's nothing when you think about how much these signs cost. Hopefully someone will find this link useful!

Plugging Along

I broke down and bought a new laptop and it is wonderful and has cut my workload in half because I don't have to wait on my other computer to think between each keystroke. I wish it would write papers for me too.

Gunner called on Junior's birthday and it looks like R&R might be as early as next month! I'm glad in a way, but that is a long 10 months after he goes back. I told Em that he might come home soon, but he would have 10 months after he left again, and she said "Okay, we'll be fine mommy, we always are." I'm glad she has confidence!

A friend's husband deployed last Thursday to Afghanistan. Saturday she got a ticket and on Monday she was rear ended and her car totaled. She has 4 children too. Makes my life seem pretty sane.

Next week I am done with the first term of summer school. Still unemployed, still worried about it. Apparently my program will let me start working either in December or next school year with minimal penalty. The problem with that is that Gunner will be home and we could PCS to Carson and then I am totally out everything I have spent or we are separated for two years, and that's not going to happen! By the time we could get to Carson if I stayed here, he would surely deploy again and that would make it three years. Yeah, I am a bundle of optimism these days.

The kids are doing fine. Junior is on antibiotics still and still no surgery date yet. They said they would call mid-July for an August date. How's that for speedy service? Em is leaving next week for 3 ½ weeks in England with my mom—I'm very jealous. I need to get her packed and ready to go. Abs has managed to not kiss any little boys lately and so far I haven't received any complaints from daycare. She spent the day at the waterpark so she even fell asleep before 9 tonight! Wish they would wear her out that much every night!

I haven't heard from Gunner since Junior's birthday, but I do think we might be down to 49 trash days this Thursday? I better figure that out so I have something to look forward to.

Homework is screaming my name….

Horse Whisperer

He absolutely loved the horse and cried and cried when he got off. It didn't take long for everyone to guess how old he was.

A natural after a week at horse camp!

She was so serious and quiet!

My friend Melinda took this picture. I don't know what Junior was doing with his mouth.

We had a great time and the 40% chance of rain never materialized. The area was beautiful and they had a really nice ranch house. It was air conditioned so that is where Abs wanted to hang out all the time. They also had a stocked pond, but we didn't try our hand at fishing this time. Maybe next time since he invited us back!