Happy Easter Morning!

Abs managed to hold off till everyone was up to break into the baskets this morning.  We tend to steer clear of a lot of candy, and Em got a basketball with sports stuff, Abs got some outdoor items, and Junior got a book, puzzle, and stuffed animal that coordinated.  (It's the teacher in me I guess!)

We had an egg hunt outdoors, and they were running like the wind!  (Junior needs a haircut, and had severe bed head)

Abs saw this picture and wondered what was up with her hair.  She was flying around the house.

Counting all the eggs to make sure one wasn't missed.  I'm a firm believer in hiding the eggs the day of and using plastic ones.

Gunner and I took off on the bikes to check out the route for the triathlon that we are doing.  Let's just say that the "hill" is ENORMOUS and TOUGH.  On the bright side we both made it up, so we just need to increase our speed.  Not sure how he is doing that from LA, but it'll be okay, he assures me.  I'll be hitting that "hill" every day in the hopes that I can increase my speed.

On another note, it's been 4 years, and I'm thinking of my dad today.  I miss him every day.

Exercise, Easter, Experiments

I read an article about how it is beneficial to you to work out in the morning.  I read it after I dragged Gunner to a spinning class at 7 am.  It was a wonderful class.  I loved it.  I don't think Gunner shared the same excitement.

We raced to Walmart and purchased baskets, eggs, rubber cement, and all that good Easter stuff.  It was a whirlwind race through the store.  

Sneaking everything in the house proved to be a little bit harder, but I got it all in and hidden.

I am the queen of the 5 minute showers, and shortly afterwards, we were cleaned up and the 5 of us headed over to the parade field for the egg hunt.

It was insanely windy today.  

Even the eggs were blowing away.

Junior started out collecting eggs until he saw the candy.

He ended up with more candy than he got for Halloween.

It was insane.  The girls age group were flying around the field and it was over within minutes.  There was supposed to be a carnival, but I think it was canceled because of the insane wind.

Em went to a chemistry event at the Academy with her troop and had a great time, and learned a lot.  We cleaned, baked, played, and built our garden.  With all of our free bricks, we have a HUGE area for a vegetable garden, and a nice sized area for a flowerbed out front.  Now we just need to get a ton of dirt, and the seeds are on order.  I gave the kids and area to grow their own veggies, and Abs went to a hole and started collecting dirt.  She took Junior with her and they dug and dug and dug, returning with a bag of dirt.  Unfortunately it didn't even make a dent in what we need, so that's on the agenda this week.

We dyed easter eggs using rubber cement.  Junior made a mess of it, but had a great time.

Em and Abs did a few, but were more interested in the dying portion.

The end results were.....

All in all, it was a great day with the family, but a long day.  Tomorrow I am sleeping in, and then Gunner and I are going to try the HUGE hill that is part of the triathlon in just weeks.  Wish us luck!

Oh JRTC, how I don't like you

The timing of JRTC though, couldn't have come at a worse time.  


Gunner and I signed up for a triathlon and it will be less than 12 hours  the day after he gets home.  I hope his flight isn't late!  


Abs got written up at school.  It's about something so ridiculous, and something that in every other classroom across the nation would have been handled in the room.  Granted, it is slightly bigger than when she got written up for having a cold and blowing her nose and using an entire box of kleenex, but still.  


I can't believe Easter is here already.  


We have plans tomorrow for an egg hunt and carnival.  Em has a chemistry day with Girl Scouts, and I signed up for a 7 am spin class so I can get my workout in before all the festivities start.  


Maybe we can ride the route for the triathlon too. 


With JRTC finally being here, it is reminding me that I need to get busy on preparing for deployment!  My initial to do lists were pushed aside with everything else that is going on, so it's time to create more--I wonder if there is an app for that?


Does anyone have any checklists that they have created that they want to share?


Oh, and earlier this week I was ready to book a one way ticket for myself on the crazy train, but more about that later!

Wordless Wednesday--Baby, Baby

Unfortunately my son knows every word to Justin Beiber's "Baby". Poor kiddo, the curse of having two big sisters.

Garden of the Gods

After picking up the bricks (they were free!) we needed in order to make a raised flowerbed and playing some basketball, we decided to go hike at Garden of the Gods.

Next time we are taking the bikes.

Yes, he had his shoes on the wrong feet. (He's holding his snack in his lap so it wouldn't fall)

It was absolutely beautiful, not a cloud in the sky.

And this my friends, is what my family looks like traipsing around the countryside. Junior decided he didn't want to ride, but wanted to hold on to the safety strap. Abs insisted on pushing the stroller and the two of them could not agree on a constant speed.

This is my family

Meet Gunner. He is easy-going, a hands on father, and loves the outdoors.

There's Abs. Always squinting. Wearing mismatched clothing and earrings, because she's decided that always matching doesn't release her creative side.

Em, Em, Em. She was irritated that I made her take sunglasses off. Twelve going on 23.

Junior--Always a ham. Learning to stand up for himself. Loves having his own camelbak.

Sammy the dog. He went crazy at every person and dog he saw. He either needs to be socialized more, or he was trying to tell the other dogs to save him.

Me--Taking the picture as usual.

Picture taken at Garden of the Gods.

Snow Day

We woke up to 5" of snow yesterday and it was still coming down.

Luckily, it quit about 10 am and started to warm up.

We went to Focus on The Family, because the girls were dying to do the 2nd script for the radio show.

There was a meltdown about a cookie instead of a sundae.

They put on a show for us.  Em was in the back in charge of costumes and makeup.  I could remember when she wanted to be the one on stage.

Junior pooped in his pants.  Then he had to go again, and Gunner was the foley guy in the radio show, so I took him to the women's restaurant.

Junior:  I don't want to go into the girl's bathroom.
Me:  It's okay, it's a bathroom for mommys and little boys.
Junior:  That doesn't make any sense.
Me:  Just go potty, you don't have any other alternatives right now.
He starts to potty.
Another mom and her little boy walk in.
Junior:  Hey, this bathroom IS for mommy and their little boys.
Me:  Yep, so focus on what you're doing.
Other Little Boy:  I just peed all over my legs.
Other Mom:  How did you manage that?
Junior:  That doesn't sound good.
Me:  Focus on yourself kiddo.
Then the other mom tried to get into the stall where the little boy had locked himself in, apologizing and explaining that he was three and she should have known she couldn't go into her own stall.

Junior at this point announces to everyone in the bathroom that he is pooping, a lot.

Thankfully the third lady in there assured us that the boy with pee on his legs in the locked stall, and the boy that were pooping a lot were no problem because she had a 4 year old son.

We finally made it out of there.

I had to fit in an hour and 45 minute bike ride, so we tracked down the parts to the trainer and got it situated in front of the tv.

Even with a good movie, it's a long ride inside.  I better get used to it though because it's where I'll put a lot of time in once Gunner is gone.  JRTC is creeping up...

I love this face

Money & Deployment

I got an email from a friend last night, and her husband has spent a lot of money since he deployed last month.

How do you work money and the budget while he is gone?  What about TSP?  Do you increase it?  Does he get an allowance?  Do you pay off bills?  Do you buy more things?  Do you eat out more?  How do you make it work?

I've had friends that give their spouses all of the extra money they earn.  What works for your family?

Do you plan out a budget before he leaves?

This is what we do, and it works for us.  Gunner always jokes that his next wife won't have a MBA, lol.

We have absolutely no debt.  No car payments, no credit card bills, nothing.

We increase Gunner's TSP, by 1%, quite frequently.  You don't really notice a 1% decrease in your pay, every month or so, but the increased amount in your TSP is noticeable.

Gunner has his own bank account, and he gets an "allowance" every month.  The first few deployments it was $25 a month.  I know, sounds really cheap.  The third deployment to Iraq he got $40 a month.  He never spent it all.  I check his account and if he needs more, I put it in there, but he might have needed that once a year or something. (I just called Gunner at work to see if he needed an increase and he told me that since they are closing everything down, he won't even need $40 a month, lol)

What do we do with the extra money?

We make sure we max out our IRA contributions, I play the stock market, increase 529 contributions, save more, and save, save, save.

What probably helps, is that Gunner is usually not in locations that have all the perks of home.

The first deployment to Iraq, my mom sent Gunner articles that she found in the local paper about life over there.  Gunner's response was "Tell you mom that not everyone lives in palaces and swims and BBQ's all day long".

How do you make your money work while he is gone?

P.S.  For the record, Gunner has no problem with the amount of money that he gets, and at no time has he not been able to get what he needs or wants.

Ab's Birthday

We survived another birthday with Abs.  She only managed to wake up at the crack of dawn, knock something over and give it a little character, and make a mess wherever she went.

We found this cute little outfit at walmart today, and I thought it would make her pictures a little more toned down than what she was originally wearing.  Six dollars too!  


We spent forever trying to pick out a cake.  Abs inspected each one, compared and contrasted, and mentioned that it might be easier with a venn diagram.  Finally she decided on one, and then requested that the cake lady write "happy birthday" and her name in a different color for each letter.  The cake lady looked annoyed, but said she would write each letter of her name in a different color.  


When the cake lady was finished, Abs was absolutely delighted, placed the cake in the buggy, and then threw her arms around the cake lady to thank her for making her birthday so special.  What was the cake lady to do but smile, tell me what a wonderful kiddo I had, and give her free cookies.  Just what she needed, sugar.


We had her open presents before we went to eat, and she was so excited about capri pants.  

She got a dinosaur.

It moves, roars, plays music, is really neat.  She loved her sewing machine.

And she seemed happy with everything else that she got.  We went to dinner at The Airplane Restaurant.  It was so neat!

We made reservations to sit in the plane portion of the restaurant.  Abs was about to jump out of her skin.  We hit the bathrooms and they reminded me of The Mrs.

We came out as Abs was telling everyone that we had reservations for the plane. (one guy thanked her for letting him know, so he could sit elsewhere) When Abs is excited, she gets louder and louder.  Three kids, and they need to be heard, so the sound seemed to be deafening to me.  

The waitress came to our table and introduced herself as our Flight Attendant.  Abs screamed "We are going to take off????".  I assured Abs we were staying put.  They were amazed to be sitting over the wing, that the table was a map, and that they were allowed to go to the cockpit and "fly" the plane.  Don't think that Abs wasn't trying to figure out how they had it stuck to the ground, so she could make it take off.

The food was great, although a tad expensive.  Our flight attendant assured me that we were not even close to being the loudest family that had ever been there.  Whew.  The kids were just so excited and it was pretty cool.  

There were milkshakes to be had.

Cute Soldiers in attendance.

Two piegons that decided to give a facts of life demonstration on the wing of the plane.  This was before those two little lovebirds got carried away.  

The kids' analysis of it was "they are riding each other piggyback like Sammy used to do to Junior".  Thanks kids for telling everyone in the restaurant that Sammy the humping dog lives with us.

The restaurant was filled with memorabilia and history.  I could have walked around all day trying to absorb it all.  

We returned home for cake and ice cream. 

 

Now all three kiddos are tucked into bed and will hopefully be asleep soon.

Happy Birthday Abs!

Will this help the mission?

I was wondering what other military spouses think about the General that is over in Afghanistan wanting to shut down fast food, no Hodgie shops, no coffee shops, and no movies.

Will this help the Soldiers focus?  How many of them take computers, DVD players, video games with them?  Will that be banned too?

I guess there was talk of shutting down AAFES, but the Soldiers need access to hygiene items, etc., so they are talking about limiting what is sold by AAFES.

What's your take on all of this?

Happy Birthday!!!

Nine years ago today I gave birth to a bouncing baby girl, weighing 9 lbs 9 oz.  She was by far the easiest birth, but from there, well.....it's still Abs!

See here and here.

Her only request this birthday was a stuffed duck for her dog.  I think we can manage that.  She's also getting a sewing machine (so she will keep her hands off of mine), a dinosaur (of course), material, a jump rope (because she finally learned how to jump at PT), and probably some legos (her other obsession).  While it is tempting to get her a straight jacket for the bus stop, a muzzle so she won't bite, and a lock on her bedroom door so she can't get up at all hours of the night, I think I will just hope that this year is a lot easier than the other 8.

Happy Birthday Abs, you have given us a run for our money, but we are fortunate that we were chosen as your parents because you are so special, and not everyone would be able to deal with your antics.  I love you!

I'm in the basement if you need me.

This would be the artwork that Abs drew while she was sitting in the third row seating in our highlander.  She was lucky that the tar came up with oxiclean.  Very lucky.  She then had to detail the entire car under the watchful eye of her father.

I finished cleaning up the basement and made room for my sewing machine down there, so I am back at work.

  I took a class several years ago, specific to my machine, but I am having to practice a little to remember everything that I learned.  It's slowly coming back to me.

This machine does everything, I love it!

First order of business was to applique some pillowcases.

Even Em got in on the action and made herself a bag.

Not too shabby!  Junior got a pillowcase and next on my list is a shirt for his birthday, some more bags, and a billion of other things.

Gunner and I were able to hit the road today and get in a 15 mile bike ride.  It's been absolutely beautiful the last few days.  We will have snow dumped on us tomorrow.

A better view, without me, and you can see Pikes Peak.

I'm still trying to simplify my life.  Some days it is better than others.

It's Spring Break this week, so plenty to keep us busy till they return to school.