A Decade with Abs!

9 lbs 9 oz. A little turkey. Little did we know what lay in store for us.

She was such a sweet baby.

Her father has spent half of her life deployed. He left the first time when she was two.

Some days I wondered if we would ever reach 10. Thankfully we did, and she will have no surprises tomorrow because I sent her to the car to get a vitamin water, and forgot I had all her presents in the back. She said she didn't look, but come on, it's Abs we are talking about!

Happy Birthday to my favorite 10 year old girl. Here's hoping the next decade is a little bit easier on us both!

(We're just doing something small and waiting for a big dinner out when Gunner gets home.  She was ALL about that plan!)

Great Opportunity for Military Families in Florida!

A  Special Event to Celebrate and Honor Military Families is being sponsored by NASA, on April 18-April 19^th in Orlando, Florida.

NASA has provided an opportunity for military families to participate in a multi-day celebration culminating with the Space Shuttle launch.  We are pleased DoD has reached out to the National Military Family Association to help share this incredible opportunity with military families. 

Considerations for participation:

·         You must be a military family; the opportunity should not be extended to neighbors or friends who are not military families.  Space is limited and ID’s will be required.

·         Military Families will need to provide their own transportation to Orlando and lodging (if applicable).

·         Military Families must take DoD sponsored buses to the Kennedy Space Center and Causeway on Launch Day (no POVs will be authorized)

·         The events planned are focused on school-age children, and at least one activity has an age restriction of 12 years or older.

·         Launch day will be a long, but exciting and engaging day!  The buses are not expected to return to Orlando until 12AM-2AM. The launch is scheduled for 7:48 PM EDT. 

Monday, April 18 --L-1/One Day Before Launch there will be an afternoon of space related hands-on activities and demonstrations at the Orlando Peabody Hotel hosted by NASA education specialists;

Tuesday, April 19 --L-0/Launch Day –a special treat with military astronauts and spouses at the Peabody as they discuss with families ‘TDY to Space’ and then get families moving with ‘Train Like An Astronaut’ fitness challenge. A mission overview on STS-134 shall be given and then families will board DoD sponsored buses for transportation to Kennedy Space Center and its Causeway. Military Families will have the opportunity to participate in a special LEGO: Build the Future event on the Causeway in advance of the launch.   

Further details and an application to register for NASA’s Special Event to Celebrate and Honor Military Families is available at   http://www.militaryk12partners.dodea.edu/nasa.cfm. 

The registration will close on April 1st or until allocated spaces are filled. 


I would do this in a heartbeat! If you do participate, please let me know how it goes!!

The Winner Is...

Eve!  (I don't think she has a blog, because I didn't see one, but she does follow a lot of blogs!)

Congratulations Eve!

General Mills & Hot Wheels Giveaway!

I should have had great pictures to put with this post, but when you take them and forget to include the memory card, you end up with not much.

Anyway, General Mills and My Blog Spark hooked me up with 5 boxes of General Mills Cereal-Lucky Charms, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cookie Crisp, and Reese's Puff Cereal.

(Imagine Junior surrounded by the cereal while sitting on the stairs)

First, my kids were over the moon excited, because I rarely by those types of cereal.  Included in each box of cereal was a hot wheels pullback racer.  Junior was ecstatic with the first one I gave him, and Abs was upset because he put the stickers on wrong.  (I kept the stickers away for the next 4 cars!)

(Imagine Junior and Abs playing fighting over the cars)

Soon my children had polished off all 5 boxes of cereal.  Junior's favorite was Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Abs loved the Reese's Puffs, and Em preferred the Cookie Crisp.  My favorite????  Lucky Charms, hands down!

A couple of things I like about these cereals, is that they aren't tiny pieces so I can put the cereal in a bag and we are off and running.  It's a quick easy breakfast, since we are constantly on the go.

General Mills and My Blog Spark would like to provide you with a cereal prize pack!  All you need to do is comment below and let me know your favorite cereal!  I will draw for the winner tomorrow, so make sure to get your name in right away!

All cereal and prize packs were provided to me by General Mills, via My Blog Spark.  All opinions are my own and only my own.  

Memories

Gunner was home on R&R when Junior was born. He left when he was 13 days old. Sigh....

Homecoming Nesting?

I've been sorting, cleaning, and tossing.  Trying to get done everything I said I was going to do during the deployment, that didn't get done.  (All of the sudden this deployment seems to have flown by, well sort of.....)

No, I am not tackling the garage anymore!  (It's full of the wet furniture that I had to hang on for the insurance company, and now it's too heavy for me to drag to the curb, so it will lie in wait for Gunner to come home)

My friend told me the other day that I must be "homecoming nesting", and I think that pretty much describes it.

I'm looking for a maid to come right before Gunner returns to do a deep cleaning, and before that, I need to make sure I get all the boxes unpacked from the flood, and put everything where it needs to go, or get rid of it.

I have a friend that makes lists of everything to clean, by room, before her husband comes home.  I'm not that organized!

So, are you a homecoming nester, OCD about making the place clean before he comes home, or do you just go with the flow and hope he doesn't notice the piles hidden in the closet?