Expos, Birthdays and Emails

We took the kids to the Kids Expo in Belton today. It wasn't too crowded when we first got there and the kids had a great time. They got to rock climbing, jump in the bounce houses, get lots of free stuff and watch some shows. We left before a lot of the more exciting things were on the stage, but we had places to go. I love to go to little things like this with DH when he is home. He misses out on so many things in their life.

Went to my mom's house and then my SIL and brother showed up. They are running an Ironman Triathalon tomorrow. Wish I could do something like that. Maybe for my 40th birthday? I'm still nursing a sore foot. Maybe the beer tonight will help?

We celebrated Em's 10th birthday tonight with my mom and sister and her boys. Em had a lot of fun and loved her gifts. Her new furniture gets delivered on Tuesday. I can't believe I have been a mom for 10 years. I can't imagine when I am old and gray and will have been a mom for 60 years! Em is mastering the being a teenager early and it is driving me nuts.

I came home and the electricity had gone off so somehow all my emails had disappeared. I needed recommendations for my new plan, and I lost all the information I had collected so far. Frustrating. Tomorrow is a new day, I will eventually get it all back together.

It is almost 10 pm and Abs is still up and singing in her bed. I wish I could function on such a little amount of sleep....

Cooking Crepes

I am not a good cook. When I was about 11 or 12 I tried to make a stir and frost cake. I read the directions carefully, and I still swear, to this day, that it did not say to stir the mix after I added the water. My family still makes fun of me.

When I was in college I was cooking shrimp and I called my mom to see how long they needed to cook and she told me until they turned pink. I hopped off the phone quickly as mine had been boiling for over half an hour. I don't remember them being tough though.

The other night I was trying to scrounge up something for dinner that was quick and easy since I had to meet a friend to go to a visitation. I finally made some turkey bacon, cut up some fruit and made some crepes. I was trying to flip one of the crepes and it was kind of stuck so I picked up the skillet and kind of turned it over and tired to scrape it off. (Looking back I think it wasn't ready to be flipped yet, but I was ready for it to flip) I finally turned it over and shook it a little thinking I would catch it with the spatula. It sounded like a good idea! Instead the little crepe fell into the gas flame and caught fire! I turned off the gas and it continued to burn so I grabbed the spatula and tried to move the crepe to the sink. That led to me picking up the burner with the burning crepe on it and causing a bigger mess. By this time I am yelling out to DH that I have a burning crepe and he and the kids come running to see this giant flaming crepe wrapped around the overturned burner. I finally beat the flames out on the crepe with the spatula. Then without thinking I pick up the burner to put it straight on the stove and I burn my hand.

I finally gave up and served what was made to find out that the girls didn't even like crepes.

Stampede...

Last Saturday after picking out furniture DH, the kids and my mom and I headed over to her town's Chisholm Trail celebration. We hit the park first where they had a chuckwagon cook off. We missed the food tasting but saw about 6 chuckwagons that were setup and people dressed up in period clothing while one of the women played a mean fiddle. There was a "sheriff" that answered all the girl's questions about what was going on there and about the wagons, etc. I love it when people take the time to answer all of their questions....and Abs has lots of them!

While they were handing out awards Junior wandered over to one of the wagons and started hanging around near the front. Got some great shots! One lady said she was an artist and wanted to use him as a subject and took my name and number. The newspaper guy came along and wanted to take his picture for the paper but by then Junior was off and running to the next interesting item.

After the chuckwagon cookfoff we went over to look at the cattle for the cattle drive. There were a few in the pen and we figured that they had the rest kept elsewhere. The kids checked out the longhorns, pet a horse and we were off to downtown to see what it had to offer.

We got down there and after a quick stop for ice cream we headed to the square. They had (plastic)longhorn heads pushed into hay bales that they could rope, horseshoe toss, corn grinder, face painting, longhorn petting, music, dancing, roping and tons more that they could all do for free! (Free, my favorite word!) The girls had a great time and after seeing everything we finally took a break and sat on the sidewalk to wait for the cattle drive. We watched a roping demonstration and then the horses came, one of which was carrying an American flag. The National Anthem was sung and there were still people that weren't even standing! The number of hats left on amazed me. Guess I am used to a lot more respect in the town where we live. But, there were still a lot that did stand, take their hat off and show respect, but it is always those few that didn't that stand out to me.

So after about 1 1/2 dozen horses and riders came the cattle drive where about 6 longhorns were surrounded by another 8 riders, all led by one tiny little white longhorn. A lot of hoopla for such a small amount of cattle, but it was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it so that is all that matters. They are already talking about next year...

and we took some pictures....enjoy.....

Already Thursday?

I remember when it used to take forever for Christmas to come each year and when summer vacation would last forever. Now I turn around and another week has passed and then a year. I'm getting old. What's worse is it means that the girls and Junior are growing up way too fast!

I took Abs to the doctor yesterday and she is going to have to have her tonsils out. They are enlarged and there are some other problems so hopefully their removal and the adenoids removal will clear them up. She is excited about it and looking forward to having ice cream. I'm not going to have it done until right before Thanksgiving though so she won't have to miss as much school.

Em's new furniture arrives next Tuesday and I haven't finished switching out rooms. I thought I could do that this week....I better hurry.

Junior is getting funnier every day. Never a dull moment. He's still asleep this morning, so I think I can actually say he slept through the night again? I guess he didn't know that he was supposed to do this regularly by 15 months, not let this be his 3rd or 4th time.

Gunnery is coming up. Hopefully Chris will get some great pics while he is out there. He is slowly getting better about having someone take pictures of him while he is gone. Reminds me of when the guys went to Iraq the first time and a friend of mine got a roll of film from her husband. We raced over to Walmart to the one hour photo, dropped it off, and waited patiently with all the kids while they were developed. The hour finally ticks by, we pick up the pictures and she is so excited about seeing him (This was in the first 6 months of OIF I when we had no contact but a 10 minute call every few weeks). We searched through all the pictures in order to find her husband and it wasn't hard at all to not spot him since every picture was of the desert! The guy hadn't managed to take one picture of himself! Chris says it is because they don't want to ask. I told him to suck it up, I need pictures. How else will I be able to use all this scrapbooking stuff I keep buying?

The girls start soccer practice tonight. They are excited and I am hoping it means they will go to bed and not talk for an hour. They used to play some game that they made up which was a combination of Deal or No deal and American Idol. Had to put an end to it because every time Abs sang Em would tell her no deal. Poor little kiddo would then cry. Ah sisters, you have to love them!

Sacrifices & the Military Challenge

Michelle over at A Cup of Tea with Friends, has a husband who is deploying in the near future. She was challenged to give up three items during his 12-15 month deployment to show her support for her husband and his fellow Soldiers. How can I argue with that! This will be Chris' third deployment and I know I can follow suite.

Three things that I will give up during this deployment:
1. Ice cream. My husband and I love it, and this will be hard but if he can't enjoy Blue Bell, I'll wait until he can.
2. Diet Coke. This will be a hard one too as I have a several-can-a-day diet coke habit.
3. Frappacinos. Another weakness.

Hmmm....all these center around food.

Michelle also takes on the following challenge:

But then I got to thinking. In honor of the freedoms they fight for, maybe I should try three new things because as Americans we have the luxury of making choices, whereas in many other countries people are persecuted for going against their society. So in honor of their fight for our freedoms I will:

1. Try something new every month (they give up their hobbies and liberties to protect us)
2. Workout at least 4 days a week exercising (my husband had to run on a dirt track that surrounded the FOB when in Afghanistan)
3. Participate in at least two activities a month that include other spouses (support is a valuable asset during a deployment.)

These are great!

So I vow to do the following:

1. Try something new every month (this is a great one and will hopefully get me out of the house and help me to meet some new people).
2. Complete an unfinished project a month. Hmmmm...maybe my mom should join me on this one.
3. Complete at least 4 fun runs/walks/rides or something. I really want to do this with my husband, but I'll just be in tip top shape when he gets back. Not to mention if I have to carry three kids on my back across the finish line that will help me along!

I'm off to work, but who else wants to take on this challenge?

Wordless Wednesday

A hole in a rock at the park. Of course we all had to look through it.

See more pictures here.

Soccer and Pound Cake

I missed the sign up for soccer, but they called today and they have room for both girls. I have to run over there and pay after my MOPS meeting, and then they will be assigned to a team. I am hoping that this will be a positive experience for them. Abbie just needs to run off some energy and Emily needs to get out and meet people and not be so shy. My children are total opposites.

They will have to be on different teams, so I just hope that the practices and games and all that workout since DH is going to gunnery soon. The Army never times things for when it works well for me.

On a side note, I wanted to take pound cake today for my meeting so I asked DH to pickup some when he went to HEB last night. He called and went over the flavors for me and I asked him to get three since I thought that would feed the hungry crowd of moms. He came home with HUGE bags! I couldn't figure out what extra stuff he got so I took a peek and he bought 4 HUGE creme cakes, not pound cakes. So now one cake will feed the masses and we have three to eat for ourselves. I better make room in the freezer so that I can still fit into my clothes before Hawaii.

Plan #756

I have figured out what I want to do with my life. Hopefully it will work out and I will be accepted into the program. Guess I need to get busy!

On a side note, GMAT only keeps scores for 10 years, so now I have to go take the THEA test. I believe this is like the TASP test I took way back when. I am sure that those scores are gone too. Oh well, I looked at the practice test and it seemed simple enough.

Wish me luck!

Pink Dyson

5 minutes for mom is having a drawing for a pink dyson. For each pink dyson that they sell they donate $40 to breast cancer research. A very worthy cause. Leave a comment in their comment section and the drawing is Monday, Otcober 1st.

New Favorite Shoes

I ordered from shoebuy.com some shoes for us to wear hiking in Hawaii and I absolutely love them! I do wish that the women's came in black, but I guess the mermaid colors aren't too bad. All I know is that these shoes are comfortable and can go in the water as well.

I bought Em shoes there last year and I always get Junior's Robeez there as well. They ship fast and free and have easy returns as my mom found out. They usually put out a 20% coupon, or the above link will give you $10 off. Also if you use ebates.com you can get 10% back on your purchase.

Anyway, that's what I do to buy shoes these days, it beats dragging three children out and hearing them complain the entire time and then finding out that the store doesn't have their size anyway!

It's All About Me.....and Tag, You're It!

TripleE over at Oh! That's Going to Leave a Mark tagged me. I am supposed to reveal 7 things that most people don't know about me. I'll keep it clean since my mom reads this too, and I am betting my family will probably know most of these...

1. I was born in Sydney, Australia, and thankfully was NOT named Killara, the suburb that we lived in, like my mom wanted to. Thanks Dad! (My brother was disappointed I wasn't a boy named after him and my sister thought "Plantaxley" would have been a better choice. While my name is unusual, I gave my children three very normal names.)

2. I sailed from Florida to the Bahamas with a group (Sea Explorers) when I was 16. I don't know what my parents were thinking letting me go!

3. I love to run on the treadmill at the gym, but I have to count when I do it. Hmmm..maybe I am a little OCD.

4. I am terrified of roaches. I can handle spiders and stuff, but roaches....my skin crawls thinking about them.

5. I love to go to the dentist.

6. I have never been in a tanning booth.

7. I love fried gizzards with sour cream and now the girls eat them too. I also like okra and artichokes, but the taste of celery makes me sick.

I had a hard time with these as I am a pretty open book. My husband thinks it is weird that I make lists, that I use those dry erase boards to make more lists. He's just not use to trying to organize and coordinate for three children on his own.

I tag....

Gypsy
A Cup of tea with friends
Michelle

And anyone else who wants to do it!

Wordless Wednesday

Blueberry pancake morning....

See more pictures here.

Lunches

When I went to school, lunches were 75 cents for elementary students. I remember I would get three shiny quarters from my mom in the morning, put them into my black bookbag and trek of to school. I also remember losing them a lot. I would tell my teacher things like "My mom doesn't want me to eat because my Grandma is coming in town and we are going to have a big dinner" and other off the wall things. One time the teacher asked me if I had enough money and I assured her that my mom didn't want me to eat lunch.

Here on post, our school offers breakfast and the girls like to eat there in the mornings. They also allow you to check your child's account balance online to see if there is enough money in their account to cover their meals. I checked tonight and the girls should have the same amount of close to it. Ab's was considerably less. I pulled up what she had ordered to eat and one morning she ordered off the ala carte menu and had a luxurious breakfast (that was stuff I know she wouldn't eat) and spent $2.85! Yikes! Tomorrow morning we will be talking about what menu she can order off.

School

The school sent home a flyer last week advertising a free class tonight titled "How to preare our children and stay involved in their education during deployment...". I thought it would be a beneficial class for DH to take and he agreed so I signed him up.

I had a class to go to somewhere else so off he went with all three children in tow. And from our school with over a thousand kids, guess how many parents showed up......TWO (and that was including my husband)! I just don't get it. Maybe everyone thinks that they know everything there is to know about preparing for a deployment and staying involved? Maybe they are too busy? Don't care? Have better things to do? This will be DH's third deployment to Iraq and he did one to Bosnia for a year before kids, but it still doesn't get any easier. Every time our children have been different ages, at different schools and doing different things. I'd go to a dozen classes in the hopes that I could gain one idea from it to make my life or his life easier during this deployment.

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?

Still here

I think I had food poisoning. The outlaws took us to Texas Land and Cattlle for Dh's birthday dinner and I got shrimp and I think that it was burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. I could never eat sushi. I think I am on the mend now though....I hope. On the bright side if it is food poisoning that means I don't have to put up with the four other people getting sick. I am not good with that.

I spent the day with my mom today who is back in town. We had a great time and then my sister made a wonderful dinner with chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. And to think that when I got married I did not like any shape, form or flavor of chocolate. I still can't eat plain candy bars but any other way I am sold. To think of all that I missed out on.

Junior is starting to get better finally. Poor little guy still has a rough go at night, and is up early but thankfully Dh was off on Friday and could take of all of us sicklies. Today DH went with both the girls and their Girl Scout troop to tour Inner Space Caverns. We've been there several times but the kids love it. Junior went along for the ride and slept through the entire tour. Now if he would just sleep through the night.

Sleep is a crutch?

I need my sleep. I love to get at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. I don't think that has happened in years though.

Junior has a horrible cold and keeps coughing up stuff (someone listens to you Grandma!). Around 3:30 am the girls were up talking and telling stories. Their dad went in there to tell them to be quiet and go back to sleep. Shortly after returning to bed the door shut. He got up and went back in there and they claimed that it was because the ac went on. DH opened the door, told them to be quiet and go to bed. He came back and gave me the scoop and I reminded him that the ac had been on. Then the ac went off and shortly after the door shut to Ab's room. (They have been sharing a room the last week or so because they wanted to and Abs has bunk beds). So DH got up again and went and opened the door and told Em to get in her own bed. Well of course to them changing beds means you move ALL the blankets, pillows and thousands of stuffed animals with them. So I hear the complaining and get up to tell Em to grab a blanket and a pillow and get moving because it is 3 am and now is not the time to be playing around. Everyone gets settled back into bed and we go back to sleep. Then Junior starts gagging on snot. Really gross. I cleaned him up and he is back in bed asleep. Guess I'll skip the gym again to keep an eye on him and not get anyone else sick. Poor little kiddo....I sure hope he takes a long nap today because I think I am going to curl up on the couch and join him.

Wordless Wednesday

 

From when I took pics last Friday when DH was off. He was leading Junior to the backyard for more pictures.

See more pictures here.

Moving on...

When we got here, DH was assigned to a company that everyone told us you could never escape from. Now almost 5 years later--while everyone else has left except for one or two others--we are FINALLY getting to leave. We will be stuck at Fort Hood--didn't expect them to make me deliriously happy--but DH will be moving to a different company. We never even thought we would see that. While his current CO is great, I am hoping that the move will be a nice change of scenery and will provide him more opportunities. I can try to be optimistic! Now if they would just lower the promotion points all would be well.

Memories Revisited

 

I finally moved to all digital, but I continue to find old rolls of film that I haven't gotten developed. My husband has been home since Dec 2nd of last year and these pictures were taken as he saw the girls and then met his son. Yes, the only picture of me was chosen because you can't really see me in it! But checkout those curls! How in the heck did only Junior get the curls? These aren't in order because I couldn't figure out how to do that, but the one where DH's mouth is open is seeing Junior.