Sledding

It's Thursday, another snow day for the kids, and so Gunner stopped on the way home from work to grab sleds.
Yep, I know he isn't wearing gloves. I am hoping that we will eventually find a pair that he will wear.

Just down the street we have a big hill next to the soccer fields. I love our housing area. Gunner did a lot of dragging Abs and Junior up the hill.  I still haven't found any snow pants for Abs yet, but she was happy wearing my old Baylor sailing team foul weather gear bottoms.  A little big, but they were warm and kept her dry.

I think in almost every picture Gunner has his tongue out. I think he had more fun than the kids!

Emily loved it too, but of course she has to be coordinated! I found her ski pants, brand new, with the tags still on them (Eddie Bauer) for $1.25. A buck twenty-five!!! How can you go wrong with that. Of course I found them in Texas before we even knew we were coming here.

Snow Day

Em broke off 6 of her brackets, so we had an appointment at 7 this morning to get them glued back on.  That means that I had to get up at 5:15, and have the kids up by 5:45 so we could be out the door by 6:15 to head to Junior's school to drop him off.  Add in snow and ice and the fact that no matter what the orthodontist doesn't close, and we were on our way.

First I had to clean up Sammy's accident.  Abs found it first, when she walked straight through the puddle, and walked around the house to find me and tell me that Sammy peed.  Cleaned up that 2 miles mess of wet footprints, and started getting Junior up.

After not having had to wake up early for the last few months, he refused to get out of bed because "It's not a brand new day, it's dark".  I managed to dress him while he slept since he disrobed during the night. 

We finally get the dog walked, kids bundled up, and headed out to the warm car.  (I love living in a place where I don't have to worry my car will get stolen!)

The roads weren't bad, so I dropped Junior off at school, and we headed to the orthodontist.  Abs decides to hole herself up in the bathroom at the ortho office, the only bathroom, while kids waited to brush their teeth.  They glued all of Em's brackets back on and then she told me that she had food stuck behind the wire, so she was jamming her toothbrush behind the wire and the brackets were popping off.  Are you kidding me?  I explained the finer points of dental floss, again, and reminded her that this did not match her story of them "mysteriously popping off for no reason while she was doing absolutely nothing". 

We head home, and at this point the two hour delay has turned into school being cancelled.  We were all hungry so we headed to Cracker Barrel.  Everyone was well-behaved, and everything was going smoothly till Abs proceeded to throw up all over the table.  Since I am not mother of the year, the first words out of my mouth were "Try to hit the plate" and "You better not be contagious!".  Typical.

We left after a very sincere apology.  The roads had gotten worse, so we are at home, with the girls quarantined in their rooms until it's time to go get Junior.  I've got tons of homework to do, and the snow is really coming down now.  It's starting to accumulate but is still little flakes.  I miss those big flakes that we had in Germany!

Off to hit the books....

Preparing for Deployment

You would think after 4 year long deployments, I would be an old pro at this, but every deployment is different, and so it's time to start thinking about this next one.

Gunner hasn't deployed to Afghanistan before, so I need to have plenty of time to read up on it, and learn about what is going on over there.  I am not totally oblivious to the situation, but I like to be informed.

We need to update the big white notebook that Gunner made for me last deployment.  During his first deployment to Iraq, I couldn't find POA's, and luckily he had given my mom one, so she was able to sign for housing for us.  His last deployment he made an organized notebook (since I am the most unorganized person around) that contained sections with anything and everything I could have needed--POA's for all the different possibilities, his will, daycare information, shot records, educational records, copies of deployment orders, all of our accounts organized with passwords and account numbers, emergency contact numbers, and tons of other information.  I carted that big white book around religiously, and always had anything and everything that I needed at my fingertips.  We still use it consistently, but it's time to start making sure it is updated with all of our new information, stuff about Colorado, and anything else we can think of that I might need.

Pictures.  I need to update the photo frames that each of the kids have with pictures of them with their dad.

We need to make sure that Gunner has an album with pictures of the kids to take with him, and this time, come hell or high water, I am scrapbooking a deployment countdown calendar for him to take with him and one for each of the kids.

I need to have plans in place in case one of the kids gets sick in the middle of the night, which means I need to get out and meet some people.  Ugh.  I'm not the most social person, and I seem to attract people with more issues and drama than any one person should have.  Can't I just meet some people that 1. Like their kids, 2.  Like to get out and do things, 3.  Value education, 4.  Knit, 5. Have financial sense, 6. Like to workout and do triathlons and 5 and 10 K's, 7. That are honest, and 8. Are independent?

This is just me personally, but I can't stand people that sit back and wait for their husband's call every single day, don't go do anything because their husbands want them to wait till they get home, or don't take the opportunity to make their lives better for the entire family.  It's a year people, get out and accomplish something for yourself!  Go back to school, learn something new, get in shape, explore the area you live in, and realize that the year is going to pass and you can either do something with it, or waste it away.  Em told me after last deployment, that she was glad that I took on something so huge (going back to school to become a teacher) when I had all of them to take care of, plus getting in shape, and taking care of everything else.  She told me I was a great example of how to handle deployments and life.  That made me feel good and made me realize what a great example it was to them on how to take a not-so-good situation and turn it into something that made all of us better.  Just my .02 worth.

So, I am making a list of things that need to be covered over the next 10 months before Gunner leaves.  I would rather that he stay here, but I am glad that he has such an important job to do.  Once he is gone, I will wallow in self pity for a few days, and then begin my list of everything that I want to accomplish before he returns.  I'm thinking a marathon, half ironman triathlon, and learning digital photography are going to be at the top of that list.  This time I want the kids to set some deployment goals for themselves and we will pursue those as well.  Maybe they want to learn to ice skate, snowboard, run a 5K themselves?  Maybe they want to dance or learn to cook (since they won't get that lesson at home!) or travel?  Deployments in our household are viewed as a time to make things happen, so that when Gunner comes back he sees that we survived, grew, and even thrived.  While he makes our family complete, I don't want my children to look back on deployments as a time of misery and hopelessness, but rather a time when they missed their dad terribly, were proud of what he was able to accomplish and also had great accomplishments of their own that made them, me, and Gunner proud.

Deployments come whether we like it or not, but take it by the horns, you won't be sorry you did.

Farish Recreation Center

Last weekend when Gunner took the kids to the Dinosaur Resource Center, he stumbled on Farish Recreation Center for the military. They have camping sites, cabins to rent, lakes to fish in, trails to hike, and tons of stuff to do. Of course it is in Colorado, but it is open to all military. We are going to plan a trip here in the near future. Gunner wants to do the camping part, but I am more about renting a cabin, especially since we don't have a tent big enough for the whole family, and his parents RV is back in Texas.

How could we pass up an opportunity to stay in a place this beautiful?

Gunner's Children

I was looking for something in picasa when I came across this messy face. I still love him, even if he sneezed buckets all over me this morning.

I made an appointment to get Sammy fixed. Abs got reading glasses, but it still doesn't correct her vision problem. The eye doctor said it was a severe problem, but that Tricare has only covered one case of VT. We're going to have to make it two cases since I don't have a thousand dollars a month to drop. I will still do it of course if it comes to that. She has a PT eval today, and follow ups next week. She's so cute with her glasses.

Em gets her braces on this Friday. She got spacers on Tuesday, and didn't do so well on that, so I can only imagine what it will be like with braces. This weekend we have a bunch of stuff going on, but more on that after the fact. 

After it snowing all day yesterday, I am looking forward to a little warmth.  Oh, and the pumpkin patch?  Well we went to Walmart afterwards to get non-rotten pumpkins.  They came home with 4.  Then we had the 2 from the pumpkin patch.  Tomorrow there is a community event where they will each get a pumpkin to decorate.  Junior has an event at school and will get another one.  That puts us at 10 pumpkins.  I love roasted pumpkin seeds though and we will save some to plant. 

Gunner and I have a running debate over pumpkin seeds.  I eat them just as they come out of the pumpkin (after being roasted of course).  He says that they are like sunflower seeds and I am supposed to break open the shell and eat what's inside?  Who's right?  He's the same guy who eats the skin of tangerines and kiwi, so what's a little pumpkin shell?

Wordless Wednesday (and unedited pics)

Pumpkin Patch

One little girl...

My Abs.

Things are ALWAYS interesting with her around. 

Gunner found my lost dental floss today--three packages.  They were undone and used to tie her closet together so that nothing would try and come out of there and get her.

She told us she could be trusted with a bottle of shampoo again.  She did really well for three weeks and didn't use the entire bottle all at once.  Tonight she said she just couldn't help herself anymore.  It's empty.

We had an OT evaluation yesterday and they determined that she had a visual perception and tracking problem.  She will need OT, VT (visual therapy), and probably PT again.  They were surprised she was able to compensate for her problem and read.  Apparently this problem is caught a lot sooner because the children are unable to read.  Abs is a great reader though.  I took her to the ophthalmologist, twice, for the problem I thought she had and it was dismissed.  I had never even heard of visual therapy, but they say that they have great results.

The shampoo issue doesn't seem like much anymore, when I look at the big picture and those big blue eyes.

Ab's new favorite product

Ab's is forbidden from using our bathroom.  Every once in a while the other bathroom is full and she manages to talk us into using ours.  One of us will stand outside and monitor her time in there.

Last week we didn't and she took all the cotton balls she could find and put them into the glass container so it was overflowing....everywhere.

Today I went to use my bathroom, walked in, and was overpowered by the smell of cleaning supplies.  I looked in the sink, it was clear.  The mirror wasn't covered with any foreign substances.

Enter scrubbing bubbles gel toilet cleaner.  I love the product.  It lasts a week, keeps the toilet smelling nice, and lucky for us is sold at Sam's, so I can keep a plethora on hand. 


We went to Sam's last week and I picked up a 3-pack of the product.  Can you see where this is going?


Yes, my darling Abs went through two tubes of the product and the master bedroom toilet is now covered in gel stars.....lots of them.....


Some days I want to deploy....

Brrrr.....

It's 21 degrees outside, but with the wind chill it feels like 9.  My computer backs up to a window, and I am freezing even in sweats.  I'm not made for cold weather!

After leaving a message with the clinic on their voicemail that says they will call back in one hour, I had heard nothing.  I called back and they told me that they were too busy to check the voicemail.  Ummmm.....maybe you should change the message?  Junior screamed most of last night about hurting but couldn't really say where.  He started running a fever, and is passed out on the couch right now.  The H1N1 is going around here, so I am hoping that is not what it is.  He's a pretty easygoing kiddo, so it breaks my heart to see him hurt so much.  He keeps complaining that his head hurts.

Sammy, so far, is wonderful!  Last night he slept next to our bed in his new little doggy bed, and he didn't even stir when we had Junior in there screaming for an hour, all our trips to the bathroom, turn the heater up, see what Abs wanted, etc.  At one point I asked Gunner to make sure that he was breathing.  He sighed, did it, and assured me that dogs don't have SIDS.  Yeah, you can only imagine how I was with my kiddos.  Em used to peep and we would both fly across the bed to the bassinet.  I was a little bit better with Abs, and Junior was born while Gunner was deployed, so I just put him in bed with me.


It's been snowing off and on all day, and Sammy does not like it at all.  He hates to put his feet down, so Abs

stole commandeered a ball of yarn and some knitting needles and is trying to make him some booties.  Em wants to sew him a whole wardrobe.

.....Apparently Junior has the flu.  They said they wouldn't prescribe tamiflu, and then Gunner just produced the papers that they gave him, and it is all about H1N1.  Great!  I have too much homework to do this week to be sick.  I'll just lysol the whole house, wash all sheets and blankets again in hot, and sanitize every surface I see.  At least there is no need for the sick diet.....yet.  Anyone want to come visit?

I've got chili on the stove, the heater is cranked up, and I have Mamma Mia from Netflix for the evening entertainment after the kids go to bed.  I'll be singing Abba all night long with a puppy snuggled up on my feet.

First Snowman of the Season

I love these guys! 

Gunner gave me the official deployment message.  Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh.  I should have known he would only be home 15 months again. 

For this I am thankful...

Junior has been dry the entire week.

Gunner has a 4 day weekend.

Em is home and my little girl is 12!  Happy Birthday Em!

We go tomorrow to get our new puppy!

I somehow got volunteered to make 10 pounds of pulled pork for Ab's school.  Good thing it is easy to make!

Our washer is not washing.  Gunner is ripping it apart right now.  Something about a guy in ACU's working on stuff....I like.

My working out is still going strong, but no races yet since we got here.  I'm ready to bite the bullet though and have a few that I am looking at participating in.  I'll have to wait till it warms up before I do another tri.  I don't handle cold well!

I've been busy volunteering, visiting PEO chapters (I feel like I am back in college during rush!), working on Christmas presents, and madly writing paper after paper.  I've decided the key to group projects, is do a rough outline, let them fill in their ideas, and then I write the paper, they help edit, and we are done.  No waiting till the last minute....too stressful for me!

No idea why the Done post went through, it was going to be something else before I got distracted.  I have thought about quitting, but with another deployment on the horizon, you can suffer through that with me.  4th one's a charm right?

More changes...

Em gets braces in less than three weeks.  We went to our consultation appointment yesterday, and since he came highly recommended and had an opening, we took it.  I cannot thank my parents enough for paying for me to have braces, but I can pass on the gift to my own children.  Em is excited....sort of.....until she realized that she would have them on before Halloween and wouldn't be able to eat most of the Halloween candy.

I took Abs to the doctor on Monday and asked for a PT and OT referral.  So far only the OT referral has gone through, but she has an evaluation set in a few weeks.  Hopefully this will get abs the help she needs.  She still really struggles with her handwriting, and she's such a bright, bright, bright kid!

Today Ab's class was going to the zoo on a field trip.  Her teacher asked me to accompany them, so I couldn't say no.  Her teacher told them to dress in layers because it was going to be in the low 40's today.  Abs took that to heart and wore a pair of tights, two pairs of leggings, two t-shirts, and a long sleeve shirt.  Then the girl tried to get away with sandals and no socks.  I vetoed that and she wore socks and shoes along with her unmatching outfit.  Oh did I mention she wore striped toe socks all her leggings and tights?

Junior had an accident yesterday, and the teacher asked where the puddle came from.  He looked at her, and answered excitedly "My penis!" as if it was some big surprise.

Making plans for this weekend, assuming I finish all my school work.  If you know of something good in Colorado, let me know!

All is well

Knock on wood.

Em was back at school today.  Abs is doing fine, and Junior is back in fighting form as well.  I have cleaned and sanitized everything.

The new roomba and scooba batteries have arrived and are charging.  I can't wait!

My group project is going okay I guess.  I told her to help me write an outline and I would write the paper and she could proof it.  Let's hope it flows to me easily.

It's supposed to be cold on Thursday again after the last few absolutely beautiful days.  Wouldn't you know that is the day that I am going with Ab's 3rd grade class on a field trip to the zoo.  I can hardly wait.

All those thousands of dollars of scrapbooking supplies that I own are finally being put to use.  Em has a "wanted" poster to do for a book report, and we spent the afternoon distressing file folders using the distressing kit that I had to have.  Abs got in on the action too, and plans to do her own book report for her teacher in the same format. 

The Children's Place is having a sale on their clothes.  Go through ebates to get 3% back, shopping is $5, and use the code NEXTJ78 to get an additional 10% off.  I got Junior some cute shirts (although he needs pants), and Abs some shirts that go with her clothes I bought for school from them in August.  I'm all about a good deal.

I'm working on Christmas shopping too.  My goal is to be done by the end of October for all the nieces and nephews, my mom, and most of Em's, Ab's and Junior's gifts.  I'm sure I'll add a little bit more as I land some good deals, but I don't want the stress of waiting till the last minute, and I hate the mall! 

I think the 17th is going to be renovate our basement day since Em will be at a babysitter class (I can't believe she is old enough to do that!), and Abs is taking a trip with her brownie troop to a dinosaur museum.  I have big plans--well sort of.  We realized that there is dry wall up down there so we just need to lay some flooring, setup the arts and crafts area, my sewing machine, and organize some toys and we will be good to go.  Don't quote me on that though!

"I'll make it up to you"

I'm sitting here watching Army Wives, with Em in her bed asleep, still running a fever and suffering through strep throat.

I just watched the part where Trevor had to leave the bowling alley and he promised Roxy that he would "make it up to her" as he raced off to do his job.

How many times have you heard that?  After a spur of the moment staff duty or CQ, a long deployment, JRTC, NTC, field time, TDY, PCS, and eventually one day, when he puts in his retirement package and there's finally an ETS.  I'm not even sure how many years Gunner has left in the Army.  I used to know at least how many years, but now it just seems par for the course.

When he calls from Iraq and I've got three barfy kids and am sick myself, he promises to make it up to me.  When he misses birthdays, anniversaries, and pregnancies, he assures tells me that he will try to make the next one (besides pregnancies, those days are over!).  He sends letters and cards.  He calls when he can, and he thankfully, does make up for it when he gets home. 

This weekend I left Gunner with all three kids while I headed off to the Great American Beer Fest with a good friend of mine.  He sent me off with a hug and a kiss, and assurances that everything would be fune, and I should have a good time.

I had a great time!  I went to my friend's house and then we met a friend for lunch and then my friend and I went to the GABF.  When you walk in they give you a small glass with a 1 oz mark.  There are thousands of beers to sample!  We tried a few on the way to find my sister's booth.  Met my sister and she gave us a list of beers to sample.  We headed out and tried those out.  We had our pictures taken in those photo booths, got a free tshirt, and met some interesting people.

We met friends again for dinner, hung out by the pool and went to bed early.  The next day we hit a Russian spa and had massages, body polish, and got hit with leaves in a steam room.  It was absolutely the best massage that I have ever had.  We ended the weekend with my first taste of Pho and I headed back to reality.

The house was a mess, Em now has strep, we're out of food (but he bought extra ice cream!).  The kids were happy though, had a good time, and I am ready to face the next week, but this time he's home, and he kept his word and in two days made up for the last year away.  It's the little things....

We survived

Abs wanted to go to school, and since she often throws up for no apparent reason, I sent her off and waited for the call.  Her school doesn't have a nurse (which seems really weird to me) and Abs called me at 11 and said she felt bad.  I went up there to check her out, and she came bounding down the hall. She looked fine, acted fine, and then confessed that her tummy hurt because she was hungry.

Of course there was no snack machine, so I found the apple I cut for Junior in the car and fed her that.

Me:  Here's an apple Abs.
Abs:  It's brown.
Me:  It's food, and it's not brown, that's your perception.
Abs:  Well it looks brown to me.
Me:  Just eat it.
Abs:  (pointing to the brown part) See, that's brown.
Me:  Looks fine to me, remember it's about perception.

She studied it for a while, ate it, and then bounded back to class.  Crisis averted.

I picked Junior up from daycare and he had had three accidents.  I made him carry his bags of clothes out, and he told me that they were too heavy.  I insisted and he wrestled those three bags of wet clothes out to the car.  We got home and he hauled them inside and put them on top of the washer.  I had him go potty.  Then potty again.  Then he had another accident.  His problem is that he hasn't figured out how to empty his bladder all at once.  What's the secret?

After dinner he was sitting on my lap, and Junior told me he wanted to marry me.  :)  I told him that he had to be potty trained before he could ever think about marriage (and college too, but I'll push that later).  He hopped up, went and sat on his potty for a while.  He stood up and announced "I peed and I have a HUGE turd!"  We all cheered and danced and then Junior came over and asked me to marry him again. 

Tomorrow I leave for Denver to visit my friend Dave, see my sister, and attend the beer fest!

Friday

I was imagining that it would be a relaxing day.

So far the garbage disposal broke and my sinks are about to overflow so I am bailing water. 

Abs threw up in the living room--did I mention I love having hardwoods?--but she seemed okay after that.  Abs is the queen of throw up once and then be fine the rest of the day.  She wanted to go to school, so off she went.  Hopefully she will be okay.  She always throws up once when she has strep, but she had her tonsils out and she said her throat felt a little okay.  Who knows. 

I've got papers to write, appointments to make, bags to pack, laundry to do and now I am waiting on the maintenance man.  I hope he works fast!

The sickness begins

Junior had a fever, so I took him up to the acute clinic and he has strep.  We spent yesterday napping and relaxing.  It was wonderful.  He was fine today, and I hope that the rest of us don't get it!

I have a meeting with Em's school tomorrow about the classes that she is taking.  Apparently military kids get lumped into the bottom classes and then if they see any noticeable discrepancies, then they will move them.  That's insane, both from a parent's perspective and that of a teacher.  Hopefully we will be able to reach a resolution quickly.

I did find a school that they are trying to get a charter that will service gifted and talented students.  Hopefully it will be a go and it will workout the remainder of our time here.


I'm studying, blogging, and watching P.S. I Love You.  I love netflix.


We had some snow today but still not enough to stick.  Abs still wore snow boots today and she came back when she tried to walk to the bus and told me it was snowing entirely too hard.  It was small flakes barely coming down, but I drove her to school so she could have breakfast.


I had to break down and go to the commissary today because we were totally out of food.  Noodles and pesto didn't sound appetizing to the girls for breakfast.  Thank goodness they serve breakfast at school!


It's almost time for Em to home and the great homework spectacle to begin at our house.  Even Junior wants to do homework, wonder how long that will last!

It's snowing!

They said it would snow above 7000 feet today and since we are close at 6550, it has been snowing all morning.  What a way to spend the lasy day of summer!  It's beautiful, but I am sure just the tip of the iceberg of what is to come.

My neighbor just brought over gloves and a hat for Junior since we haven't found his, whew. 

More Estes Park

Estes Park

We had a great time this weekend! More pictures to come. We spent 3 days and 2 nights at Estes Park, Colorado. Abs wanted to go swimming and was not happy when I sent her away from the water.

The reason she couldn't swim? Because we saw bears way too up close and personal. They were on the entire walk with us and we kept thinking they would find some trees, but apparently we ended up near their home.

We hiked.

Our friend the wild elk. It sure seemed like the same one everywhere we went around town.

It was fun, but we are exhausted. Next weekend is the beer fest!

Happy Birthday Gunner

What you should wear

Abs got a good night sleep last night.  Thank goodness.  Maybe it had something to do with what she wore?

Three pairs of tights.
One pair of socks.
Three pairs of underwear.
1 bathing suit
Two tshirts.

Hey, if it works, she can wear as much as she wants, it's not like I don't do laundry all day every day.

Found a place for swim lessons for the kiddos.

Went to The Displaced Dutchican's dentist today and loved him!  I get to go back next Thursday too.  Good thing I like them so much.

It's hailing....again....

I asked Ab's teacher about coming to observe and she told me I had to go through the principal.  That sounds insane to me, but I will do it, and just observe more than originally planned.  She is begging to go back to Montessori, so I need to figure out what is going on.  They did lose two students, so they are down to 28 students...for now!

I went to the Arc today.  I need to stay away.  I found the cutest creamer though....some books I NEEDED....a few odds and ends I couldn't live without and a small table for all my school books this semester and all the semesters to come since I can't seem to stop attending school.  

Guess Where!

Gunner is turning the big 3-9 on Friday! 

I was looking for something special to do and scored big.

Where do you think we are going?

They have a specatcular military special going on right now.