New blog!

Check me out over at #onebighappyfamily!

I just started the new blog, so I don't have everything updated.  If you want to be on my blogroll, follow me on the new blog, so I can add you!

A new blog?

I was talking to a friend tonight, and was considering starting a new blog.  I should blog about our trip--the dead body, our train killing someone, the whole getting hacked fiasco, my 3 facebook pages because I am old and my memory is shot, the museum of prostitution.....the list goes on.  If I had blogged all the facebook stuff, I wouldn't have lost it.

Someone made my blog stuff though, and I don't know how to change it.  Anyone know how to do that?

I have missed blogging.  I have so much to say....so much!

Change the name, or start a new one?

I've been hacked

and it really sucks.

I'll tell you about my trip later, because it was AMAZING, scary, and full of new experiences, but in Poland, my email account was hacked, and my facebook.  Sigh.  It's been miserable.  Add on to that, that I reset my password in a foreign country, when I was tired, stressed out, and upset, and that equals a password that I don't know.  Well an unknown password basically means you can't access anything.  Sigh.

What led up to all of this?  Gunner and I just returned from  whirlwind vacation in Europe.

Two years ago, my mom took Em to a program in Spain, where she taught English to Spaniards (teens), for a week.  Em thought it was an amazing program, and never stopped talking about it.  They began a program in Germany, and so I signed up and was accepted last year.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but I was determined that in 2014 I was going to be there, so I reinitiated my application and was accepted.

The premise of the program is that you buy your ticket to Europe, and they put you up in a nice hotel, provide three meals a day, and you teach people to speak English.  Easy enough, right?  It was an amazing opportunity.  Absolutely amazing.  I learned so much, met amazing people, and honestly feel like I helped people wanting to excel in their lives and occupations.  Most of all, I feel like the people I met in this program made my life better, enriched it, and opened my eyes to so much more of Europe than I could have ever imagined.

Over the next few days, I want to blog.....I've missed it.

I'm a sucker….

Em is constantly correcting everyone's grammar at the ripe age of 16.  I always tell my children and my students, that if they can speak correctly, they will excel in life.

Yes, little Em, is now 16 and half grown!

Junior needed the following shirt:

These kids crack me up!

You can order clothes, shoes, and many other things for cheap, here.

Dear Abs

We've come a long way!!!! If anyone has read my blog, or knows Abs, she has been a firecracker since the day she was born. By the age of two, I could never be more than two feet away from her, or she dyed herself blue to be a smurf, flushed the cat (who survived and lives with Oma and Opa), covered herself with desitin which remained on her for a week. She's flooded the house, zipped herself in a suitcase and was "missing", ran into a car that almost ran over her, had a Code Adam put out on her in Walmart, the list goes on and on and on. For a long time I wondered if I would survive her childhood. Her second grade teacher used to send home hair when Abs "did not" cut her hair in class. The following event happened today, and makes me smile:

We were sitting in the car, we are hot, the ac is on high, and I realize I did not pay parking.
Me: I need to go back in and pay for parking.
Abs: Okay
Me: (hesitating for a second and thinking about making Abbie go with me) Ummmmm.....
Abs: I can stay here.
Me: Well.........the car is on. Can I trust you?
Abs: It's not like I am going to drive a car, that would be illegal.
Me: There was a time where you would have tried.
Abs: Really?
Me: Yes, so I have to think about it. (I start thinking back to all of the events of her life)
Abs: Really, I will be okay.
Me: Okay, my expectations are--the car will remain on, you are not to touch the key, lock the door immediately after I get out, do not open the door for anyone, do not touch the gear shift, do not play with any electrical device.
Abs: No problem.
Me: (I rushed over to pay for parking, and rushed back.)

The car was still there, still in park, still on, nothing touched or ruined.
Abs: Minus the whole cinnamon roll incident this morning, I've really matured.
Me: Abs, you have no idea, no idea at all.

Batman Secret Solved

Junior: I never knew where Batman was from until now.
Gunner: he's from Gotham City
Junior: I know that, but he is actually Chinese.
Me: Chinese?
Gunner: Gotham City is modeled after NYC.
Junior: it's actually in China and Batman is Chinese.
Me: how do you come to that conclusion?
Junior: all my Batman stuff says Made in China, therefore Batman is Chinese.

MIlitary Lockets

Okay, so I have become a lover of Origami Owl, and the story that these lockets tell. They have military charms!  I am in love!!!

If you feel so inclined, please click here and help support me!

Check out some lockets below!

You know you want to order them!!!  I'll even host an online party for you and all your military friends!

Please share!  I promise to post more updates soon about the crazy things my kids have been up to!

Changes!!!!

So when I last posted in January, I was a 4th grade teacher.

After what happened with Andrew, I decided a change was in order.  I applied for a job as a campus tech, and got it!  I know oversee all the technology at an elementary school on Hood.

Yes, that would be the same Hood that has been all over the news lately.

It's been just over a week and everyone appreciates the security that the schools are providing.

I was talking to a young Soldier today, and his platoon sgt was killed last Wednesday.  He thanked us for keeping his daughter safe.  That's hard.

I love being back with military kids.  Love it.  Having spent so long as a military spouse, they hold a special place in my heart!

I hope everyone is safe tonight.  More coming in the near future.  I've got a lot to say!

Trying to be healthy...

Growing up, we had cattle.  I don't remember much about it other than they were in OK, the bull was named Horny (because he had horns), and there was another one named Boomerang ( I vaguely remember he ran away and always came back?).  We had returned from Australia, and my sister named them.

I do have fond memories of the ranch and visiting my grandparents.  One time we went fishing in a pond there, someone caught a fish, and I was having a meltdown (I was little), and the fish jumped back in the pond.  My grandfather said it was because of me.  Oh well.  I remember drinking goat milk, feeding chickens, collecting eggs (my grandmother would tell me I wasn't fast enough, and to quit being scared and grab those eggs!), and a visit to their auction barn (where I once made a fake leather wallet from some kit my mom gave me, and my grandfather taught me how to count money quickly while he was counting money in the snack bar they ran too).  I had an interesting childhood.

Anyway, we used to have tons of beef, wrapped in white paper, and stored in our garage freezer.  Fast forward, and I have been trying to go with organic and grass-fed beef, in order to keep the kids happy, and healthy.  We bought 1/4 of a cow, and our freezer is full of amazing meat, which is tasty.  My out-laws keep us supplied with duck eggs and chicken eggs from their brood.

During this time:

1.  Em decided she was going to be a vegetarian.
2.  Abs declared she only likes ground beef and ribs.
3.  Andrew NEVER eats meat.
4.  Gunner has decided that since we are eating healthier, it is beef that causes him to feel gross.

This leaves me.  I'm eating steaks, fajitas, and more steaks.

These children (and Gunner) are going to be the death of me!

Have we lost our minds???

We were planning to take the kids to Europe this summer.  I will be over there anyway, and so will Emily, so we figured it would be a great family trip.

Then my sister mentioned the road trip that she took last summer with her boys, and Gunner was on a mission.  Junior and Abs were on board, and apparently we are now taking a road trip......

Gunner wants to eat a lobster in Maine.

Abs wants to go to the most Eastern part of the US and see the sun rise.

Junior wants to go to NYC.

Em wants to stick with Europe, but agreed that she wants to visit all the ghost towns, etc.

I want to go to Salem, MA.

We found the website  Roadside America that will let us find all the oddities along the way.  Way back when, we visited Foamhenge.  Did you know there are over 50 different "henges" to see?  I think we need to see a few along the way, or eventually all 50.

To make this trip sound even more asinine amazing, Gunner decided we should CAMP the entire way.  So, we are going to travel halfway across the country, in the car, with three kiddos, while touring the US, and we will be camping.

This trip was made for blogging.  I'm excited, in a worried way.  Either we will make some amazing memories, or we will all hate each other at the end of this.

Em will be leaving for college the summer of 2016.  That's just around the corner.  God help me!  Maybe I will take thousands of pictures and put together four albums, so we can have one and each child.  You know, to remind us of the craziness that I am sure will occur.

We are already planning for this crazy BIG event.  Start praying for us now!

Disney/Universal/Legoland for Spring Break!

Since Em was hurt the last time we went to Disney, and she missed out on Harry Potter world, we are headed back that direction.  It's been a few years, but we have our rooms booked at Shades of Green.  Any other suggestions?  We've been to Legoland several times in CA, but never in FL.  Is it the same?  Different?  Any other must sees while we are in the area?

We are going to road trip it there....that alone could be an adventure.

Are there any new military deals that we need to be aware of?  Favorite places to eat?

I'm already counting down the days till Spring Break, it might be the only thing that will get me through the next few months of school!