On a roll....

The Army has a habit of giving block leave dates and then changing them as they see fit.

Deployment date got moved up, so block leave got cut short.

In the past, they always have changed it a day or two and with no tickets or reservations, you are out of luck.  That gave me the kick in the pants I needed to book our entire vacation this week.  I have a schedule of events, now I just need to find the best deals and make it happen....by Sunday.

I told the kids where we were going and they were excited.  I then told them before that we were going to Texas, and they came unglued.  They don't know why anyone would want to live anywhere else but Texas.

Since I planned the Texas trip, I was able to commit to two triathlons.  One with a friend, and one with my sister!  I can't wait, but I have a lot of training to do before then.

I won four tickets to see The Magic Flute tonight!  Should be a lot of fun, and this will be the first opera that I have seen auf Deutsch.  Em is excited about it, and my friend is coming down to go with us.  I'm still working on convincing Abs that it will be fun.  She loves opera, but it also might be too late of a night for her.

Yesterday was a 4 mile run and an hour advanced step class.  I need to squeeze in a workout today too.

Em is headed off to a tennis clinic at the Academy.

I registered Abs for her first week of camp!  She's excited, and I am terrified.  This is the same girl that got kicked out of VBS.

Gunner hasn't been home a month yet, but he leaves again in less than 5 months.  Time to get busy getting everything together!  More on that later...

I did it...

I registered for my first triathlon in Colorado.  There are two I want to do in Texas before then, but I am working out the logistics on that.

I'm almost ready to take the plunge and register for the half marathon and marathon.

Tuesday was 18 miles on the bike and working my core.  Yesterday was a 1 mile sprint, an hour of an ultra conditioning class that wanted to make me barf, and then another two mile run, followed by weights and core.  I'm back on the bandwagon and finally over that horrible cold that Gunner gave me.  Today I am sore.

Gunner graduated yesterday.  Woohoo!  I'm so proud of him!

I'm apparently too efficient for my volunteer job.  Crazy.  I do enjoy getting off early though!

Abs came home from school, and apparently her marker slipped during art class.

Seriously?  I'm hoping it was washable markers.

Junior drew blood today at daycare.  He had been doing so well, so no idea what really set this off other than "they ruined my ice cream factory".  How do you get them to stop biting?  He had a good day other than that.

Still no door for Em.  She came home smiling this afternoon, and when I asked if it was about a boy, she just started giggling.  Shoot me now.

Tomorrow is a step class and hopefully a run, core, and weights.

I have a present to mail off to a certain blogger who makes me laugh every day.  I just hope they fit her kiddos.  :)

BDU's, DCU's, ACU's, FRCU's, Oh My!

I never thought that they would change the uniforms as much as they have while Gunner has been active duty.

Of course I never thought he would see a war, or that he would deploy as much as he had.  I guess I lived in denial?

First deployment to Iraq.....BDU's.  He was so young!

When Gunner first went to Iraq, they didn't have all the rules they do about getting involved with the animals.  He loved this puppy.

The second deployment it was DCU's. (This picture was from the first deployment when they could wear both uniforms) I still think that they are kind of pink.

Then there was the third deployment to Iraq.  ACU's.  I like them better than the DCU's, but not as much as BDU's.

This picture was from his homecoming from the third deployment.  So much for getting a nice picture of the two of us with crazy kids like this!

In keeping with the Army's tradition of changing the uniform every time Gunner deploys, they have come out with the FRCU's.  As if our house didn't have enough abandoned uniforms littering the basement, we'll be able to add to the collection.  All of Gunner's uniforms and TA50 fit in the front closet of our one bedroom apartment when we got married, not anymore!

Oh, and just for the record Army, I miss my husband shining his boots every morning. Can you go back to the old boots?

Catching Up

Sometimes, okay a lot of times, I let the little things slide.  I bought a picture frame over a year ago, displayed it proudly on my schrank, and finally put some pictures in it.  It took no time at all, so I have no idea why I didn't do it earlier.  I am the queen of procrastination.

I think I want to take a framing class so I can frame all the other stuff that I have.  I took Thai cooking before, but now I want to take another type.  Maybe I am just thinking of all the things that I want to do because deployment is looming and I have no idea how to occupy my time this deployment.  I've always had a ton of stuff going on, but right now I have nothing planned.

Yesterday Em went to a workshop at the AF Academy with Girl Scouts.  It was a sports clinic, and then the families could join them for the basketball game afterwards.

Junior was so excited, he couldn't stop moving and waving his flag.

He loved the falcon.

Abs was Abs.  After it was all over, she loved it, had a great time, and wanted to go again.  Go figure.

Em was over with her troop so we didn't see much of her.

Gunner made cinnamon rolls last night from The Pioneer Woman.  They are unbelievable.  Tomorrow I must run, and run far.

Yesterday we woke up to find that Abs had eaten 1/2 quart of ice cream and 13 candy bars.

We hid the candy bars, but can't hide ice cream.

This morning she polished off the remaining quart of ice cream.

We won't be buying ice cream again.