Saturday

It was absolutely beautiful in Colorado today. We had plans to hit the gym and then a health fair, but like everything else, plans changed.


We decided on another bike ride, heading south on the Santa Fe Trail this time. We loaded up the 3 bikes, the hitchhiker, the trailer, 5 people, and of course, Sammy the dog.


Junior was king of the hill.

The flag came into play later when we took a walk and it was his "horse". What good is a horse if you can't say "hiddyup"?


Em did not want to go at all. She had all kinds of excuses—I don't want to sweat. I don't want fresh air. I don't like to be outside. I don't like to exercise. It's too cold. The list went on and on and on and on.


We went anyway, much to her dismay.

The south part of the trail was beautiful, and a lot more of it was paved. They had a sign up that said that they want to eventually extend the trail from New Mexico to Wyoming. I'll take that trip, but without the extra 100 pounds I was packing there with Abs attached to me.


We finally reached a turning point, and headed home. Abs and I took off, with Em close behind. We got back to the park and realized that a train had parked and blocked the exit. We waited for Gunner, Sammy and Junior….and waited….and waited. Finally I started running back on the trail to find them.


There was Gunner, walking, holding Sammy's leash as he was walking, followed by Junior who was walking. Gunner was still managing to push the bike followed by the trailer. He was quite a sight, but I didn't have the heart to take a picture of him.


We took the kids home, fed them, and got them situated watching tv and Gunner took me to a mountain bike trail up the road from our house. It's going to be great once it is dry, but it was a little too wet to fly through today.


Gunner fired up the grill and we had ribs, pea/corn salad, beans, and cornbread for dinner.


We got Hurt Locker and it took less than a minute for Gunner to start pointing out inconsistencies.

This will be fun…

There are a few of my favorite (Army) things...

10.  Black Silks--perfect for keeping me warm when I go skiing next week.

9.  Army slang--hooah, roger, over, out, at ease--the list is endless, and I love them all, especially when coming out of the mouth of my handsome Soldier.

8.  DFAC--where else can you eat so inexpensively?  I remember when we got to Germany and got stuck at 21st replacement, I couldn't wait to go there three times a day.  My husband thinks I am insane.

7.  Tricare--While there are a lot of unfortunate stories out there, and they didn't cover Ab's visual therapy, they have covered everything else that we have tried, and without question.  After three kids, I had nothing but great medical treatment, and only one cost me $20, the other two were free!

6.  PT & cadence--If you don't like the sight of men running in formation and singing cadence or marching and calling cadence, then there must be something wrong with you.  Ummm....I had to ask Gunner which one was which.

5.  I'm sure there's a technical name for this shirt, but Gunner and his buddies call it the "spidey shirt".

4.  Reunions--Deployments aren't ideal, and after 4 years of them, I can assure you, that a reunion is better than anything else.  :)

3.  Full battle rattle--It may be heavy for him, it may be a little uncomfortable, but the sight of Gunner in his full battle rattle.......love it!

2.  Brown towels--You don't like them?  They are the perfect size for my hair!  I love that they aren't so heavy, so I don't feel like my neck is breaking under the weight of the towel and my soaking wet curly hair.  They dry quickly, so are great for the pool, and they fit Junior perfectly after his bath, but don't soak up all the water off of him, which is not good for his eczema.  (You want to lube him up when he is wet, to lock in the moisture)  I heart brown Army towels.

1.  The OLD Army PT shirts--I love, love, love them.  They are soft, warm, comfortable, and remind me of a time when Gunner wasn't deployed all the time.  I wear them to workout in, sleep in, hang out in.  Forget what Oprah says, these ARE the perfect tee.

Of course there are always the ideals that Gunner holds true such as pride, patriotism, honesty, integrity, brotherhood, etc., but most of all I love that he has dedicated his life to not only his family, but to ideas that most people can't even fathom.

But I really love those brown towels.

Cutting Losses

I'm the type of person that takes on a lot, and puts up with a lot.

I'm tired of doing it.

I'm simplifying.  My life.  My house.  My environment.  Everything.

I won't be investing time in any projects that are not going anywhere, friendships that are one-sided, and even cooking meals that I know my children won't eat.

I will quit worrying about everyone else and focus on what is most important.

Lack of time=lack of desire.

I will make the time for those things that are most important to me, and will without regret, release those things that I can't be bothered with or change.

I'll go to bed earlier, get up earlier, and hopefully be able to hit the 5 am spin class.

I'll purge my house of everything that doesn't make me smile or serve a purpose, regardless of who gave it to me.  (Don't worry mom, I won't get rid of anything you gave me)

I'll be prepared for this deployment.

I plan on finishing all these books I have accumulated and then passing them on.

I will laugh more, smile more, and worry less.

Remind me of all of this in a week.

Sunny Days in Colorado

They say that March is the snowiest month in Colorado.  So far this hasn't proven true, but I can't say I wouldn't mind a little snow!

I had an hour of biking on my training plan today, so we decided to make it a family outing.

That of course sounds easier than it really is.  We decided to do the Santa Fe trail, and we decided to drive to it, to alleviate the whining from a certain preteen who doesn't like to sweat.

Gunner pumped tires and loaded up the car while I prepared children and water bottles.  The five of us hopped in the car along with Sammy the dog.

We arrived at the park down the street and started to unpack everything--3 bikes, 1 bike trailer, 1 hitchhiker, 5 people and 1 furry dog.

This cute Soldier hooked everything up and didn't even flinch when I mentioned a family bike ride.

We had to stop for a potty break.

We rode 8 miles round trip.  With a view like this....

and no matter what you hear, the hitchhiker, while convenient is not easy when you are in the front!  If Abs looks anywhere but forwards, I have to fight to keep the bike up.  We fell once....in the mud....but managed to remain somewhat clean.  Abs and I had a good time, so we rode all the way home too, for a total of 10 miles.

By the time we got home, Gunner had time to air up my road bike and I hit the road for 5 miles of hills.

We ran some errands after, and stumbled on this piece of work.

Do you think they are Bronco fans?  They had Bronco seat cushions, spare tire cover, and every imaginable Bronco car accessory known to man.

Tomorrow is my day off of training, but we'll see!

What are your best tips?

I posted this on fb and got lots of great answers, but now I am asking for your help!  What are your best tips for going to Disney World?

Today

Abs gave us a run for our money.  I really miss her wearing a school uniform.

Today she went to school like this.

This was much more appropriate than when she came home with a pair of her tights on her head the previous day, like gigantic bunny ears.  Clothing that covers her body parts is not a battle I choose to fight.

It was pajama day at Junior's school, and he fell in love with these fireman pajamas from Heidi.  So much so that he insisted he wear them to dinner.  He cried when we made him put on clean pajamas for bedtime.  We're such mean parents!

Have you ever read the book Caps for Sale?  He loves that book.  He was wearing Gunner's beret and trying to act out the story.

We went for pizza, and we were there over an hour after we ordered.  Gunner went to check on the meal and they said it was coming up.  The first pizza came up, was brought out, and delivered to the table next to us.  They delivered us the second pizza at least.  I told the waiter that I wanted a refund on the pizza, and he said he would have to talk to the manager.  I asked him to just send the manager out.

I explained the situation--waiting for the pizza over an hour, our neighbors eating our pizza, and only getting one pizza.  He apologized and said he would take care of it and get us our pizza.  He brought us the missing pizza, took care of our entire bill, which was more than what we asked for, I just wanted the pizza we never got, taken off.  Our neighbors also got the pizza that they ordered, so they thanked us and smiled with mouths full of my pizza as we sat starving.

After enduring painful blisters while running, I went and got fitted for new running shoes this morning.  My gait is fine, etc., but apparently when you move to a higher altitude, they told me that everything expands.  I thought my jeans were getting tight!  I tried on several pairs of shoes and if you saw a curly headed girl sprinting jogging around downtown, that was me.  I ended up with a pair of shoes that make it feel like I am running on air.

I came home, grabbed Sammy, and went for a two mile run.  Sammy could have continued, but it was too windy and cold for me!

Time for us to hit the sack, we have a full day of child wrangling coming up.

Hello, my name is ABW, and I am not organized--Deployment Ideas Part II

Most of my friends might call me a mess.  There's no rhyme or reason as to why I put anything anywhere.  While my house is clean (most of the time), I couldn't tell you where anything important is.

Enter Gunner.

My uber organized husband that loves me dearly.  After he went to Iraq the first time and I had to have my mom sign for housing because I couldn't find my POA--thank goodness he knows me and gave her a POA--he decided he needed to organize me.

He made me an Everything Book.

It was the best thing he could have done.

He made categories, printed out nice little labels, and spent weeks scouring the house for every important piece of paper.  There's a section on the car--titles, insurance copies, dealer information.  One on each child--shot records, passports, birth certificates, daycare information, school information.  There's a deployment section with POA's, orders, rear d information.  He included banking, credit cards, cable, job information, etc.  You name it, it's in this gigantic white binder--housing, camps, contact numbers, addresses, etc.

It's time to start updating it now that we are in a new location.  He'll sort through the piles of mail I don't open and start putting in all the vital information that I might need while he is gone, and if I ever have to go anywhere important, this book goes with me.  (He's also learned and gets more than one POA for me, just in case!)

I won't have to search for anything.

I'm thinking this time he might want to include ideas of things to do or maybe races I can train for?  Maybe a list of books for the kids to read that he loved at their respective ages.

Do you have one of these books?  What do you put in it that I am missing?

Give me your best!

So Gunner leaves in less than 5 months, and I am trying to come up with new ideas and things to do for both the kids and myself.  I usually go 125 mph the entire deployment, but since each deployment is different, this one might not be that way?  (knock on wood)

What was the best thing you did for the kids while your Soldier was deployed?

What helped you the most?

What was the one thing you wish you had prepared for before they left?

Any good books that you recommend?  

What's the one thing that helped you the most?

Last deployment I counted trash days in order to make the keeping of time bearable.  Now, because of bears, we have a dumpster with locks.  

What can I count now?  Number of times I have to unstop the toilet?  How many nights Abbie doesn't sleep?

I need some fresh input on how to survive our 5th year long deployment.  Hmmm....maybe I should count weeks until retirement?  

Booked

We are expecting snow today!  While everyone else gets piles of snow and it never melts, one of the things I love about this place, is that besides a few piles, it melts within a couple of days!

Yesterday we planned, researched, priced, routed, and spent hours upon hours planning the perfect vacation.

Then I said forget it, and booked another vacation to the other side of the country in less than an hour.  I can't wait!

Friday morning, I won 4 tickets to see The Magic Flute!  Em and I asked her friend and her mom if they wanted to go, and they jumped at the chance.  We had a great time!!!  The show was hilarious!  It was nice to get dressed up and get out and do something different.  There's a Broadway show I really want to see in Denver, so maybe that is next on our list!

Em attended a tennis sports camp at the Academy yesterday, and has fallen in love with the game.  I love that they have these camps here for the kids to be able to try out different sports, attend a game, and they even feed them and give them a shirt!

I'm trying to decide what to do with Sammy while we are gone.  The military gave free subscriptions to sittercity.com, and they have a pet section, but I don't want someone to stop by once or twice and feed him, he would go crazy!  I also hate the thought of someone I don't know coming by.  There is one place that comes highly recommended, so we might try him out in doggy daycare there and see how he does.  I never thought I would be one of those people that took their dog to daycare!

Today is biking day at the gym, core, and arms, followed up by my swim for the day.  Happy Sunday!

On a roll....

The Army has a habit of giving block leave dates and then changing them as they see fit.

Deployment date got moved up, so block leave got cut short.

In the past, they always have changed it a day or two and with no tickets or reservations, you are out of luck.  That gave me the kick in the pants I needed to book our entire vacation this week.  I have a schedule of events, now I just need to find the best deals and make it happen....by Sunday.

I told the kids where we were going and they were excited.  I then told them before that we were going to Texas, and they came unglued.  They don't know why anyone would want to live anywhere else but Texas.

Since I planned the Texas trip, I was able to commit to two triathlons.  One with a friend, and one with my sister!  I can't wait, but I have a lot of training to do before then.

I won four tickets to see The Magic Flute tonight!  Should be a lot of fun, and this will be the first opera that I have seen auf Deutsch.  Em is excited about it, and my friend is coming down to go with us.  I'm still working on convincing Abs that it will be fun.  She loves opera, but it also might be too late of a night for her.

Yesterday was a 4 mile run and an hour advanced step class.  I need to squeeze in a workout today too.

Em is headed off to a tennis clinic at the Academy.

I registered Abs for her first week of camp!  She's excited, and I am terrified.  This is the same girl that got kicked out of VBS.

Gunner hasn't been home a month yet, but he leaves again in less than 5 months.  Time to get busy getting everything together!  More on that later...

I did it...

I registered for my first triathlon in Colorado.  There are two I want to do in Texas before then, but I am working out the logistics on that.

I'm almost ready to take the plunge and register for the half marathon and marathon.

Tuesday was 18 miles on the bike and working my core.  Yesterday was a 1 mile sprint, an hour of an ultra conditioning class that wanted to make me barf, and then another two mile run, followed by weights and core.  I'm back on the bandwagon and finally over that horrible cold that Gunner gave me.  Today I am sore.

Gunner graduated yesterday.  Woohoo!  I'm so proud of him!

I'm apparently too efficient for my volunteer job.  Crazy.  I do enjoy getting off early though!

Abs came home from school, and apparently her marker slipped during art class.

Seriously?  I'm hoping it was washable markers.

Junior drew blood today at daycare.  He had been doing so well, so no idea what really set this off other than "they ruined my ice cream factory".  How do you get them to stop biting?  He had a good day other than that.

Still no door for Em.  She came home smiling this afternoon, and when I asked if it was about a boy, she just started giggling.  Shoot me now.

Tomorrow is a step class and hopefully a run, core, and weights.

I have a present to mail off to a certain blogger who makes me laugh every day.  I just hope they fit her kiddos.  :)

BDU's, DCU's, ACU's, FRCU's, Oh My!

I never thought that they would change the uniforms as much as they have while Gunner has been active duty.

Of course I never thought he would see a war, or that he would deploy as much as he had.  I guess I lived in denial?

First deployment to Iraq.....BDU's.  He was so young!

When Gunner first went to Iraq, they didn't have all the rules they do about getting involved with the animals.  He loved this puppy.

The second deployment it was DCU's. (This picture was from the first deployment when they could wear both uniforms) I still think that they are kind of pink.

Then there was the third deployment to Iraq.  ACU's.  I like them better than the DCU's, but not as much as BDU's.

This picture was from his homecoming from the third deployment.  So much for getting a nice picture of the two of us with crazy kids like this!

In keeping with the Army's tradition of changing the uniform every time Gunner deploys, they have come out with the FRCU's.  As if our house didn't have enough abandoned uniforms littering the basement, we'll be able to add to the collection.  All of Gunner's uniforms and TA50 fit in the front closet of our one bedroom apartment when we got married, not anymore!

Oh, and just for the record Army, I miss my husband shining his boots every morning. Can you go back to the old boots?

Catching Up

Sometimes, okay a lot of times, I let the little things slide.  I bought a picture frame over a year ago, displayed it proudly on my schrank, and finally put some pictures in it.  It took no time at all, so I have no idea why I didn't do it earlier.  I am the queen of procrastination.

I think I want to take a framing class so I can frame all the other stuff that I have.  I took Thai cooking before, but now I want to take another type.  Maybe I am just thinking of all the things that I want to do because deployment is looming and I have no idea how to occupy my time this deployment.  I've always had a ton of stuff going on, but right now I have nothing planned.

Yesterday Em went to a workshop at the AF Academy with Girl Scouts.  It was a sports clinic, and then the families could join them for the basketball game afterwards.

Junior was so excited, he couldn't stop moving and waving his flag.

He loved the falcon.

Abs was Abs.  After it was all over, she loved it, had a great time, and wanted to go again.  Go figure.

Em was over with her troop so we didn't see much of her.

Gunner made cinnamon rolls last night from The Pioneer Woman.  They are unbelievable.  Tomorrow I must run, and run far.

Yesterday we woke up to find that Abs had eaten 1/2 quart of ice cream and 13 candy bars.

We hid the candy bars, but can't hide ice cream.

This morning she polished off the remaining quart of ice cream.

We won't be buying ice cream again.

Future Olympian

Gunner and I took the kids skiing. 

Big surprise, Em didn't want her picture taken. 

(for some reason I can't left justify anything)

When Junior saw me with poles, he was not happy.

He cried and cried for poles.

We were watching the Olympics last night and Junior is really into the skiing portion.  When he saw them doing the downhill skiing he was mesmerized.

He sat there and watched forever.  Then he said exasperated "That's what I would have looked like if I had, had poles".

Don't these kids ever forget anything?

On the Abs front, I was able to clean her ears tonight without any screaming.  That's HUGE.  She's also slept till 6 or later the last few nights.  I think the combination of everything that we (I say we, but it's really her, I just pick up the bill and drive her everywhere and wait) are doing is finally coming together and working.  Let's hope! 

Our 18" of snow was decreased to 4"-5".  Maybe we can get some good sledding out of it though! 

I have a boyfriend...

Those are the words that greeted me when Abs returned home

Abs:  I have a boyfriend.  (giggling and smiling ear to ear)
Me:  Seriously?
Abs:  Yep.
Me:  What about college.
Abs:  Oh, I'm going.
Me:  What's his name?
Abs:  Elijah
Me:  Is he in 3rd grade?
Abs:  No, he's in first.
Me:  Isn't that young?
Abs:  Oh, no worries, he got held back.
Me:  So how did this happen?
Abs:  He told me he wanted to be my boyfriend and that he liked me.
Me:  What did you say?
Abs:  Nothing, I was too nervous.  I just said okay.
Me:  So what does it mean that you are boyfriend/girlfriend?
Abs:  We love each other.

A short bit later, my neighbor stopped by to tell me that my faucet outside was gushing water.  As he was telling me this, Abs was running for cover in her room.  Elijah has no idea what he is getting into.

Fondue Night

We fed them before we pulled out the fondue, but you would have thought that they had never seen chocolate before. 

Em helping out her little brother. 

Once the strawberries were pulled out, Junior forgot about the chocolate.  Don't tell Gunner's trainer that he had a few bites. 

Gunner got a canvas of the kids for Valentine's Day.  I think Abs wants another one made, as she asked for a picture of herself with Em.  They aren't strangling each other so it's a good shot!

We went swimming today for a few hours at the Y.  We were hoping to get them nice and tired.

I think the chocolate might have ruined that, but at least they had fun!

Time for the Amazing Race...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Brain Map & Haircut

I'm so out of creative titles.  

Today we had a map of Ab's brain made. There is definitely something there and functioning.  He had no information on her diagnosis, other than what I wrote on the paper, and the neurologist knew right away that she had a visual perception and discrimination problem (which was not on the paper).  She has her first LENS treatment on Tuesday.  I can't wait to see how she benefits.  It also helps with PTSD, TBI, Autism, and several other things.  They want to use it with the military.....maybe they can get rid of Gunner's migraines.

The doctor that applied the "thingies" to Ab's head, would place them at certain points.  After the assistant called out a few of them, Abs had to stop the doctor and make sure he understood all the numbers and letters for each location.  She explained the lettering and numbering system to him, and then asked him to explain why they used z for the center instead of c, etc.  The doctor was great and answered all 500 million of her questions. 

We got a cage for the dog.  Junior wants one of his own.

I took Abs to get her haircut today.  My regular girl was busy, so we got Sue.  I don't think Sue knew what she was getting into.  Abs had the entire place almost in tears from laughing so hard.  We walked in and she announced to the entire salon "I'm the hair emergency!".  From there it went to her asking questions about anything and everything.  I think Sue was exhausted by the end of the hair appointment, but she did a great job.

She looks so sweet and innocent, as long as we keep it pinned back.  We went and got new barrettes for her to use, and a new brush to curl it under when I dry it.  We started to walk down the aisles of Walgreens, where I immediately managed to walk through someone's vomit.  I don't do well with my own kid's, much less someone else's.  I notified the staff, and they had to go look to make sure I was giving them correct information.  Thank goodness the lady confirmed that it was barf, just in case I was making it up.
 
Abs and I enjoyed a Starbucks, hit the thrift store (found pyrex refrigerator glass), and ran laughing through the snow.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so Happy Birthday to my big sister!

Gunner and I are catching up on Olympic action.  The kids are tucked into bed, and will hopefully fall asleep sooner rather than later.  Abs has slept through 4 nights out of the last 7, so we are headed in the right direction!

The haircut....again

Yep, she cut her hair again.  She wanted to even it out. 

It's about twenty different lengths in the front.  It was all one length. 

"A Brand New Day"

That's the phrase Junior calls out every morning as he wants to get out of his room.  I'm trying to keep that battle cry in mind today.

Sammy the dog barfed up all the crap that he ate yesterday.  He did it in the middle of the night.  We discovered it because Abs stepped in the barf, while she was up, in the middle of the night.  She didn't make a lot of noise though, surprisingly, but we did see the light on, and heard Abs in the tub, in the middle of the night.

Apparently you have to wash your entire body if your foot gets dirty, but only if it is the middle of the night.

I got a copy of Ab's 504.  I guess it will work for now. 

I'm thinking I will pull Junior out of school by the end of the month.  I'm making Gunner go to the conference, I just can't deal with anymore stress about what one of my kids is doing wrong.  I'll have to quit my volunteer job, but seriously, I can only do what I can do.  I think that the environment might be a little too chaotic for him?  Maybe it is that they are forcing him to take a nap?  I told Gunner that we could send in a leapster for him to play while he takes nap, or something like that. 

I miss Texas. 

Abs has polished off 16 mini hamburgers since Sunday.  At least she is eating. 

I am volunteering today, but hopefully can figure out a way to fit the gym in sometime today.  I really need an extremely hard workout, where I can do nothing but focus on breathing and trying to finish.  Then when it's all over I need to be so tired and sore that I can't think about anything but putting one foot in front of the other.

Did I mention that I got a report home from Ab's school yesterday?  She got written up.  Apparently she wandered out of class and they didn't know where she was.  Imagine what could have happened.  We had a nice long talk about safety and responsibility, etc. I also threw in there that she shouldn't have any scissors at her disposal.

Abs has her 90 minute OT session tonight.  She is having a brain map done on Saturday.  Can't wait to see how her brain works, and I have tons of questions for the neurologist.  Maybe he can explain why she was rearranging her furniture in the dark last night. 

Has anyone seen the ads that talk about "showing your patriotism by shopping our President's Day sale"?  How is shopping on President's Day make me MORE patriotic? 

Oh what a day...

It started out really well.

Great workout.

Great run.

Great lunch.

I juiced.

I took care of some work.

Then it went downhill.

Abs left her door open, so Sammy went in her room and tore apart her rice heat pack.  All over the place.  He got a hold of the daddy doll, but luckily didn't damage it too much.  He ate a sponge.  Knocked over a coffee cup and broke it.

Someone put potato peels in the sink, and I didn't notice and down into the garbage disposal they went.  So the sink backed up.  The garbage disposal doesn't work, and it's leaking underneath the sink.  I plunged and worked on it, then gave up.

Em showed up and is back to her old ways of being more interested in the social aspect of school than the academics.  She lost her phone and ipod.  She's in her room, redoing her homework and making up all the missing assignments that she hasn't done.

Abs came home.  She had no problems sitting down and doing her homework.  I'm sitting there feeding her more hamburgers, and trying to figure out what is different.  She cut her hair.  She had a hair pretty in it, but couldn't get it out, so rather than cut the hair pretty, she cut off 5 inches of her hair.  A giant chunk.  Right in the front. 

I figure everyone is in their room, so I go get Junior.  I walk in to find out that he pooped in his pants, got upset, and bit the teacher.  They want a conference this week. I think they want to give him a boot.  I'm sending Gunner, I can't deal with it.  He's not a violent kid, I don't know why he does it. 

I know why mothers runaway and I am headed in that direction.  I don't even want to think about a deployment in mere months and having to deal with this all by myself.  I quit.