Headed Home

Dh should be home soon and of course I caught a cold. Hopefully he doesn't get it as the world stops when he gets sick!

Took Junior to get his picture taken today by my frind Molly at Photographics Unlimited. I can't wait to see the proofs! They have a great setting there and can do a lot of outdoor shots which I love. I like variety. We will go back before DH deploys and get some shots of DH with the kiddos. I know I should get in some pictures, but I am not ready for that yet! I got three microdermabrasian sessions for my birthday (what I wanted) and I have an appointment next week. Maybe I will look/feel younger?

Girl Scouts starts tonight and the girls will be in the same troop this year. It's a big group of girls so I am hoping that there are no problems.

.....he's home and we are off and running. When does life ever slow down? I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and having my sweetie home.

Also Abs was on green today and did not get in trouble at all. She saw the doctor yesterday and got her medication adjusted and hopefully we are headed in the right direction. The teacher said she is extremely bright and can do everything asked of her and do it correctly. She does have a referral out for an ENT and we will talk about the tonsils.

One More Week

The summer has flown by eve3n though it has been two weeks longer than last year. I think Em is excited and Abs opinion on going to a regular school is mixed sometimes. I think she will do fine though. I hope.

Abs has been performing her play every day since Thursday. They are doing Aladdin Jr. and it is really cute. I'm glad that she managed to stay out of trouble for these three weeks so she could participate in the production.

Em has been with my mom since her friend was there visiting her Grandma next door. Em has been sewing and designed a purse and is working on a quilt. She makes clothing too, but not anything yet that I will let her wear outside of the house as too much skin is showing!

Junior plugs along and goes with the flow. He has been staying with my MIL and playing with the puppies while I take Abbie to her performances and volunteer backstage.

The puppies are getting huge! It looks like there father was a black lab and the mom is part lab part mutt. I think the puppies will be bigger than their mother. I am sure they will once they are old enough to partake in the leg of lamb dinners with the other two dogs. I wonder if she will start cooking multiple legs just to keep everyone happy?? Crazy I tell you.

I've been missing the cycling classes at the gym due to Ab's schedule at the theatre so I have taken up running again. I love to run, but my knees do not. Once the girls are back in school I am going to have to go back to the doctor and figure out what we can do to make life easier for my knees.

DH is out in the box so I haven't heard anything for the past two days. He absolutely loves to go to the field when they are out there training and not just sitting around. I'm sure he is roasting, poor guy. He'll be home before we know it.....remind me of that next week when all the children are home and we have no concrete plans. I sure hope Hurricane Dean doesn't show up and keep us in the house because of the rain!

Off to NTC

The last time DH went to NTC (2005), we dropped him off and the girls sobbed and sobbed. They begged him not to go and so we usually do not do goodbyes like that anymore because it is so hard on everyone. When he deploys to Iraq again this fall it will hopefully fall on a school day and we will get them off to school and then I will take him and stay with him till it is time to leave. On R&R's we do the same thing. Thank goodness my mom lives close by!

We dropped Chris off at 9:45 this morning and Em and Andrew were with me but they did fine. I was sad to see him go, but at least I know he will be home next month. I can do 30+ days--I think! We have so many things going on till then that I am hoping that the time will fly by. Maybe I can lose 10 lbs before he comes home too??

So DH is sitting in a gym hanging out till they fly. I never understand why they have to be there so early, but considering some of the yahoo's that he works with it is probably to keep them out of trouble!

And babies make 8

My inlaws had one huge dog named Max. I don't really care for Max, but they are devoted dog owners. Then they acquired Tiger that was left in a field. After that they took on our cat Maisy since she would stalk Junior and he has a lot of skin allergies and we needed to get her out of the house so that he would be more comfortable. Their little family was plugging away when they picked up a stray neighborhood dog which they named Schatzi. They had her checked out and were getting ready to have her spayed when they found out she was pregnant (not by their dog). So yesterday afternoon in the span of 2 1/2 hours 6 little puppies were added to the family.

We went to see them today and they are cute. They think that there are 4 boys and two girls. My MIL wants to keep two of them and my FIL wants to find them ALL good homes. I tried to talk to her about adding an additional two dogs to the mix and how that would make it hard to go anywhere and how they couldn't afford to board 4 dogs. She told DH that they would just take the RV (a large van type) and the dogs could sleep on the bed and they (Mil & FIL) would sleep on the floor! I'm sure it would happen too.

They are very responsible pet owners and if I ever come back as an animal I want it to be their dog or cat. The dogs get a leg of lamb each week cooked for them. Tonight while we were eating she got up from dinner and was cooking up some chicken for their dinner. Our cat Maisy is leading the high life over there with special meals, toys, etc. No wonder she never comes out to see us anymore, she doesn't want to leave!

My MIL is sleeping by the dog each night because she wants to make sure that Schatzi takes good care of her puppies and that the runt doesn't get pushed out of the way. She is also supplementing with goat milk the runt's diet.

The best part....my MIL made several different beds for Schatzi to choose from when she was ready to give birth. Instead Schatzi decided that their one year old couch would be a better idea and MIL agreed, so she was allowed to give birth to her puppies on their couch! When I have people guess where they were born they usually choose the bed and I am sure she would have been allowed to if she wanted!

Needless to say I sat on an outdoor chair when we went over there today. While FIL and DH are at NTC I'll help her pick out a new couch so I can recline in their living room again.

NTC

I went to a battalion meeting tonight about NTC and it was pretty informative. It sounds like the training is going to be pretty realistic--they even have hired Iraqis so they can practice the language and culture. They did say no cell phones though, which is a bummer. I can go that long without talking to him, but it never fails when the Soldier deploys something happens or ten somethings. I remember when I sent a letter to Chris after he first deployed to Iraq in 2003. I told him how I quit my job, Abbie ran into a car, one of the kids was sick, I got housing and was moving and a million other things. When he wrote back he said he thought about addressing all the "issues" but figured since it took so long to get the letter that I probably had a whole new set of "issues". He knows me.

Block leave is still scheduled during the time I booked our trip to Hawaii so I am hoping that nothing messes that up. They gave us a two week window for their deployment to Iraq, which I will keep off of here for obvious reasons. They are planning on having a Battalion ball in a few months. The food usually sucks but I love the string of toasts that they give. Almost makes the whole evening worthwhile. They usually honor the fallen Soldiers from the last deployment and that is always an emotional time.

While I was at the NTC meeting DH took Abs and Junior to pick wild mustang grapes that he saw on the side of the fence during PT. Last Tuesday Abs and Em picked some and then my mom and Abs picked a HUGE amount of them. On Sunday my sister taught us how to make jelly so DH is in there picking through the grapes. I didn't pay that close of attention so I am sure it will entail a dozen phone calls along the way. Abs is excited about it though.

Busy Busy

I don't know how some people can think that I have time to do anything when I stay home with my children. I am busy from the time I get up till the time I go to bed and if for some reason I am not, there are a ton of things I should be doing!

Junior had another well baby today because he still needed his immunizations. He got 5 shots the poor little guy and is passed out in his crib right now.

It's almost 11 and no call from the VLA Theatre yet so maybe Abs is behaving? Abs has a friend who is attending the same camp and her mom sent a backpack of things for them to do since they are bored. This is definitely not as well run as the previous acting camp that she went to. I know that they are short handed, but to expect a bunch of little kids to sit in a chair for hours on end is ridiculous.

We are meeting friends at the pool after acting camp and then we have a predeployment briefing for NTC this evening. I have managed to go to the gym three days this week but I will probably have to take tonight off. I wanted to do the endurance ride on Saturday but we are going to go to Sea World and use the free tickets for the military.

Tomorrow we get Em from Operation Purple Camp. I can't wait to hear all about it! I hope she has had a great time and made some new friends.

On a funny note, Junior has learned to say "Mow" for meow. He hauls around this little stuffed kitten that he got from a vet convention in DC. So cute. I'll try to get it on here.

Camp Purple and other things

Abs started her next acting camp today. This one is from 9-12 and they are putting on Aladdin Jr. I think that the short day will help her get through it with minimal problems. She is excited and they are auditioning for parts tomorrow. I hope she is happy with what she gets! It should be a really cute play. They gave us a CD of music to practice so I am sure we will all be singing the songs by the end of the three weeks.

My in laws kept Abs and Junior today and my mom and I took Em to Camp Purple. I was unsure of what to expect, but it all worked out. They were very organized with setup and had different stations that we had to go through--MRE's (where we signed up to eat lunch with them on Friday), TA-50 (where they picked up a disposable camera and an Operation Purple bracelet), Currency Exchange (where we gave them money for the trading post), Canteens (they were given a water bottle), etc. It was cute. They also had a world map where the children put pictures of their Soldiers around the edges. It was really neat to see all the moms and dads pictures and sad at the same time. They are all missing out on so much in their children's lives.

Anyway, we got Em checked into her dorm, she had a swim test and we left her singing a song about a frog that got run over by a car and was licked up by a dog. I am sure it is one that she will drag home and we will all be singing within a few days of her return.

The drive home was quiet and DH was able to get the kids from his mom's house and attend the FRG meeting and I made it to a cycling class. DH cycled from our house to my mom's house on Sunday so he was more than willing to pass on attending class. They also are allowed to miss PT the next day when they attend the FRG meeting.

The kids are all nestled in bed (I am sure Em is still up since I think they had a dance party scheduled till 10:30 tonight, those wild partiers!) and DH is packing for NTC. (NTC is the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA, where they play war and train for Iraq) He will be gone about a month or so, but with summer winding down and school about to start I am hoping that we will remain busy and the time will pass quickly. He will miss my birthday, but he has missed the last 5 I think, so I am starting to get used to it. Who needs cake anyway! Certainly not my hips!