Questions--I need answers!

What do you use to wash your face?  I have combination skin, and sometimes Mary Kay works, but other times it doesn't.  There has to be something out there that is wonderful, so I am hoping someone can help me figure it out.

If you have curly hair, how do you keep it from being frizzy?  It's not as bad in Colorado, but now that it is raining every afternoon, I need a solution and fast.  I've tried all the curly shampoos, conditioners, gels, and mousses.  Maybe I am just doing the wrong combo?  It there something new out there?  I have curls and curls and curls.  Millions.

Potty training--The doctor told us to forget about it for a while.  We are trying, but it is hard.  He totally will not do it at all.  I'm sure it's a power struggle, but what can I do for him to get over it and pee and poop in the potty.  We tried stickers, treats, books, cars, prizes, you name it.  I remember my mom telling me that my Grandmother thought I should spank him every time.  I still won't do that, because I know he won't possibly go to college wearing diapers, but I am not so sure he won't be wearing them to kindergarten.  I am open to any and all suggestions.

I want to move my garden with us.  Gunner thinks this is ridiculous and a waste of time.  I am thinking of all the money I have invested in it, not to mention time!  Tell me I am not crazy.

A gross story--the dog kept going after things that were digging holes in our yard.  We figured he would never catch the moles.  Ummmm....he caught one, it wasn't a mole, and he managed to get the bloody carcass into the house.  I turned around and started screaming.  This lead to the girls screaming and Junior screaming.  Gunner walked over, plucked it out of Sammy's mouth and throw it away, while holding his breakfast in the other hand.  Ewwwwwwww......My solution to prevent it from happening again?  He has to be supervised at all times.  Let's hope the next place doesn't have giant rats.

If you ever see me in a store and I am buying a material possession, please knock me upside the head and escort me out of the store.  I do not need anything.

Gunner told me last night that saying goodbye to Em was really hard.  She kept telling him "don't say anything else or I'll start crying".  Poor kiddo, headed off on a big adventure but in the back of her mind she knows it will be a long time till she sees her dad again.  What does every tween pack for London?  Cute clothes, diary, toiletries, and her daddy doll.  

Silent Night....

Dh ran off with the kids to go do the drive through light show at BLORA. He told me that I need to call him something else besides DH, andwe came up with Gunner since that is what his job is--not very original, but it works. He's a 19K Gunner, and he absolutely loves it. I did see a video once of them at JRTC and who wouldn't love a job like that!!

Anyway, it's quiet here and I get the lucky task of folding laundry, laundry and more laundry. I took a break for a few days so I have enough to clothe a small army waiting on me. Thankfully I will be able to watch Amazing Race while I sort and fold. It's the small things in life.

I have a meeting tomorrow and I put together a gift basket for the silent auction. The girls want me to keep it because they want everything in it. My mom donated some great things to put in it and Gunner spent the afternoon making eggnog bread, zucchini bread and banana bread for the basket, while Em and I went to a friend's son's Baptism and luncheon. I'm meeting my friend for coffee tomorrow and to catch up. When our girls went to the same school we used to have coffee every morning together and it was a huge comfort to me to have someone to talk to while Gunner was deployed, my dad was sick, I was pregnant....yeah I was needy during that time! Now she has a new husband, a new baby and our girls go to different schools so it makes it harder to meet up and find the time to talk.

Abs seems to be doing better as she is talking more and even went to the commissary with me today. While I was out shopping with my mom yesterday--I found a dress for the ball, well actually two dresses--I got Abs a package of 10 dinosaurs at the dollar store. She had them out to play with today and she had the dinos talking and making noises albeit quiet ones. A step in the right direction. She still is refusing to take any pain medication because she doesn't like the taste of it, so I guess she would rather tough it out. She didn't get that trait from me. I was always crying for an epidural during my 6 month of pregnancy!

We have tentative dates for Gunner to deploy so I am hoping that time goes by slowly until then. I know it will come all too soon.

Wednesday already???

Somehow taking 12 days off from parenting has put me behind 6 months.

I'm trying to catch up on everything and with everyone. I'm making lists of lists in order to get everything done, and hopefully I'll be caught up in the next few weeks.

Abs had a great day at school, woohoo! Talked to Em's math teacher and she is doing really well in there. She must be an amazing teacher as Em is loving math for the first time!

I got accepted into graduate school.....again. My sister has two masters degrees, and I couldn't let her be the only one! I'm excited about it although I have a long way to go.

Headed to Houston this weekend for my brother's 40th birthday party. The invitation said there would be a band, bbq, beer and a birthday boy. Sounds good to me!

Tueday Ramblings

I worked today and tried to help my mom clean out some stuff. We didn't get very far, and I left her with specific instructions to get rid of an entire drawer of "dickies" and old socks. I should have taken them with me because I am sure I will see her start wearing them now that she "found" them.



I got a bluetooth in the mail--just a cheap version off of newegg.com that got great ratings. Now I won't be driving illegally since you aren't supposed to drive on post without a hands free device.



My husband has to dress up in a 70's costume tomorrow for a PT battalion run. I'll be sure and get pics. He might be my WW if we get our act together.



A week and a half till we are in Hawaii!



Report cards came out today and the girls did great! Em made A's with a few B's, and Abbie made straight A's. So proud of both of them.



The little girl across the street came over and so I asked about her grades and she told me she made an F in math. I asked her why and she told me it wasn't a big deal because now the school had to provide her with tutoring. I would be really upset if my child made an F.



I absolutely hate going to the Killeen walmart any other time than first thing in the morning.

Houses & Ramblings

The house I wanted to buy is under contract. Not that I know where we will be after this next deployment, but I still wanted it. Sigh.....

Junior went over the the outlaws today and I think that will be the last time for quite a while. They need to get rid of some dogs. With the puppies they have 8 dogs right now and it smells like they have a hundred. And I thought potty training children were messy....yikes! If I even had one ounce of desire for a dog (which I don't) it was squashed today by visiting over there. Junior had fun chasing the puppies and playing with them though.

Dh and I went to the gym tonight for a body step class. I absolutely love it, although I think my old class had better classes or I am just out of the loop with the new releases. (BTW the old gym called last week and offered me a good deal and I reminded them that I was happy over there and if they had offerend me the low prices they were offering now I would have stayed! About 3/4 of the way through class they came and got us because Junior threw up. Not sure if he did, or maybe it was his reflux (I have to remember to pick up his prescription tomorrow), or maybe he was sticking his hands down his throat--his latest trick, or he has a cold and if he coughs too much he will throw up. Hopefully it is nothing serious.

I'm not liking Dh's new job because he has to work late every day. I know it will be better once he is in Iraq though. We just want to spend as much time with him as we can before he does go.

I read a report the other day that our car--the Toyota Highlander--was rated one of the top 10 cars to own. It is supposed to last till over 200K. Anything has to be better than our Saturn! Actually I love our highlander though, especially since DH and the kids cleaned it out the other week.

I went to the volunteer orientation at the girls' school this afternoon. There are hundreds of kids at this school. Anyway, out of all these children only 6 parents, including me, have registered to volunteer. Are all schools like that? When the girls went to private school it seemed like almost all the parents were there for every function. This just seems like an awfully low number to me.

Abs got her new homework packet and I am supposed to write down how many minutes it takes her to read her reading assignment each night. So I timed her tonight and it took less than 20 seconds. I know she is a great reader, but the poem was really short. It took her about 10 minutes to choose what colors to use to color her pattern worksheet. Hard decisions you know!

Em is making an island in social studies in the shape of a book. They have to include all these different items in a legend. She gave her island five cities and then didn't want to connect them with roads. I told her she could use a train, but then she would need a station at each town so she went back to the road idea and tried to lower the amount of cities that she was using. I am not raising a city planner.

I need a change of scenery...how many more days till my vacation?

Long Weekend

We didn't do anything too exciting, but the kids and I had fun just hanging out, visiting the inlaws (who even kept them for a few hours on Saturday so I could get some things done!), and even got in some shopping.

A word of advice--never take three children swimsuit shopping even if it is 75% off at Dillard's and they have the handicapped dressing rooms that all of you and the stroller will fit into. I did find some good deals as well as got to hear a lot of comments about what I looked like in the bathing suits. They were nice about it all just told me "yes" or "no way". Em kept trying to get me to try on bikinis, but I am in no way prepared for that!

Dh should be home on Saturday morning! I can't wait! His dad is going to pick him up so that I don't have to go out at 2 am to get him. If he had been gone longer than 4 weeks I would have ventured out, but the thought of dragging three children out in the middle of the night just doesn't appeal to me. Junior doesn't sleep as it is, so I don't need to give him a reason to stay awake!

I am trying out this new menu thing where I select my meals, print the grocery list and then just cook them up. Of course everything I selected can be prepared in less than 15 minutes. So far so good.

I've had three friends that had babies this past week--2 boys and 1 girl! My SIL is due any day now with my new little niece. Babies everywhere! Just glad they aren't coming into our family. We are complete!