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July 23, 2006, 6:10 pm Today is Andrew and my 12th anniversary! I'm so thrilled to still be married to the most wonderful husband on earth. We have certainly had our struggles, but God has miraculously brought us through them to the most awesome relationship of any couple I know or have ever known (and that is not an exaggeration). We are so in love, even from opposite sides of the world. Andrew is amazing, and I cannot imagine being anywhere else in life but celebrating my 12th anniversary with him. :) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY! I LOVE YOU!!! :) July 20, 2006, 5:48 pm Still here... Darby is feeling completely better, and I'm feeling much better (although I woke up with another migraine and aching jaw today - I can't WAIT until my dental night guard comes in). No one else has gotten the stomach bug; thank the Lord! Andy was so nice and sent flowers to me and flowers to Darby. He's so sweet! We got to talk to him for a long time on the instant messenger yesterday, and the webcams were actually working so we got to see each other! So nice! I will update the ole blogaroonie soon with more photos (and possibly a new banner - haha). I hope everyone is doing well. July 18, 2006, 10:25 am stomach flu... Yuck! I haven't even been on the computer in two days, and I'm not sure how long I'll last this time. I've had some kind of stomach bug since Saturday night. Darby started throwing up this morning and she's now set up in my bed with the Gumby movie. I hope no one else gets it, but usually these types of things make their way to everyone in the house. We'll pray for better things. All I have to say for now though, is: THANK GOD for Immodium AD!!! :) July 13, 2006, 2:05 pm HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARBY!!!! :) Today is Darby's 5th birthday. I can't believe she is FIVE! Time flies!!! She is so cute. She wanted a new bike, but Uncle Josh fixed her bike while she was here (thanks Josh! he also fixed Jarvis' bike - he's pretty handy to have around when my husband is missing! - yeah, i'm not much of a mechanic?). Anyway, so I asked Darby "since your bike is fixed, what do you want for your big birthday gift?" and she said "a trampoline and a pool". Um yeah. So Josh and I went to Wally World last night while the girls stayed home and watched movies. They had a 12' diameter, 3' deep pool in my price range, so we got it. It looks all nice and round and pretty in the photo on the box. Josh got up this morning early before anyone else and got it set up and ready for water so Darby would be surprised when she woke up, but my yard is not very level. So yeah, it does not look like the photo on the box. I'm going to drain it tonight and get a tarp to put on the patio so I can set it up there. It will take up most of the patio, but at least the kids will get the full 3 feet of water!!! They seem to be having fun in it anyway. :) Anyway, we'll have her 'party' tomorrow when the boys get home. She is VERY excited to be five years old! :)
July 11, 2006, 12:48 am HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER-IN-LAW, KRYSTYNA!!! :) July 10, 2006, 12:38 am FYI... I'm aware that we are ten days into July, although my blog banner might lead you to believe otherwise. I do actually plan on updating my blog for July at some point in the near future. Just thought everyone would like to know that I AM aware. :) :) HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!! :) Don't fly Continental... they lose your luggage... Josh got here today. The airline apparently decided there was not enough room on the plane for his suitcase though, so they told us it would be on the next flight. We went back to the airport three flights later and it was still not there. We are hoping it comes tomorrow!!! Movies... We were going to go see 'Pirates of the Caribbean 2' today (I hadn't taken the girls to the movies this week because I thought Charmaine wouldn't want to go since they do not have Closed Captioning at the theater - which is another issue that I am getting increasingly upset about... don't they realize that deaf people like to watch movies too?! They could at LEAST offer CC on a matinee showing or something). Anyway, Charmaine said she would like to go - she can figure out what is going on by reading body language and lips. So we went. But 'Pirates' was sold out for the next 7 hours of showings. None of us had seen 'Superman Returns' though, so we saw that instead. I loved it! Now, I love most all the comic book and/or superhero movies, so I'm hard to disappoint in that genre. But the movie was great! I thought the new Superman looked and sounded a lot like Christopher Reeves, so the movie just seemed to go right along with the old ones (only wow, technology has come a looooong way since the LAST Superman movie!). Kevin Spacey made an excellent Lex Luther, and I like Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane MUCH better than Debra Winger or whoever it was that played Lois Lane in the old movies. :) I'm looking forward to the next Superman movie. I may take the boys to see this one when they come home from TN. I could definitely sit through it again (I'm a superhero movie geek though, remember?). Speaking of which, we saw previews for Spiderman 3. It looks good, BUT... I have ISSUES with the Spiderman movies. I used to LOVE the Spiderman comic books (I'll bet a lot of you never knew I was a comic book nerd). So when I found out they were making a Spiderman movie several years ago, I got very excited. Let me just say that I CANNOT STAND the guy that plays Spiderman! I mean, I'm sure he's fine in other movies, but as a superhero?!?! He's so weasely and whiny and unattractive. Ugh. I will still go see the 3rd one, and we do own the first two Spiderman movies, but I still can't stand that guy!!! It drives me crazy that they didn't use someone else for the role. Okay, it doesn't keep me UP at nights, but it was certainly worth some space on my blog! :) July 8, 2006, 6:45 pm My blood sugar is on a major roller coaster today. I was feeling out of it, so a couple of hours ago, I tested my blood. It was 182 (that's too high). I ate some good for me food, exercised in the yard with Hannah... was feeling a little better. Then, I started feeling really weak again. I just tested it and it's 68 (too low). I guess my body can't make up it's mind! Fun stuff. I keep hoping the out-of-whack blood sugar thing will go away, but it hasn't. Granted, it doesn't act crazy all the time anymore, just here and there, so it's BETTER, but I'm ready for it to be NORMAL all the time! We are going to see the fireworks in a little while. Since they were rained out on the 4th, they are doing them tonight. It should be a good show. I hope I perk up! :) July 8, 2006, 1:04 am The animals are out to get me... Today at lunch, I was checking my email while I ate at my desk. The dog and cat were playing in the dining room (which there are just a set of bookcases between the dining room and the office). Hannah barked like she needed to go outside, so I went over and opened the door. She just looked at me, then she ran and got a toy. I was like "whatever", and went back to my desk. Ashley was on my desk EATING my pizza burger! I think they planned it!!! I'm going to have to keep an eye on those two!!! Good food, shopping, and piercings... I love Panera so much that we drove an hour today just to eat at one (in Wacko, I mean Waco). It was so yummy, and so worth the drive. I should do that more often! :) The Panera there is in a new shopping center with lots of stores, so we decided to go to a few. We hit Kohl's, Claire's, and Books-a-Million... and the Cold Stone Creamery for some ice-cream (which has nothing on Baskin Robbins by the way, but it was okay). While in Claire's, I was looking at the earrings used to pierce ears and pointed out to the girls that I had been wanting to get my ear cartilage pierced for a long time. They were like "do it, do it"... so I gave in to the peer pressure and did it. :) I like it. I'll be glad when I can put a hoop in it, as that is what I wanted, but they won't pierce your ear with a hoop, so I got a white gold ball. Brittany took photos. Of course, I wore no makeup today and my hair is in dire need of a new color job and was thrown back into a knot, but there are photos nonetheless. Here are some of the photos from today:
July 6, 2006, 9:53 pm Dentist... We spent forever at the dentist office yesterday. Brittany had to go to get her braces tightened and new bands put on (she gets her bottom brackets next time) and they made her wait FOREVER - I think the ortho side was behind all day. I had to get impressions made for my night guard, which was NOT fun. I had never done that before and I thought I was going to DIE. The lady kept saying "breathe through your nose" and "look at the photo on the wall", but I still gagged a few times. Oh well. :) I won't get my night guard for 3 or 4 weeks so I'll just have to keep dealing with the jaw pain and headaches until then. But I've been dealing with it for so long now, what's a few more weeks?! Then I had my teeth cleaned. The lady was like "when is the last time you had them cleaned?" and I was like "um... 1998?" She was very impressed - said that I had less tarter on my teeth than HER and she just had her teeth cleaned - that it looked like I had just had them cleaned. And that, my friends, is why you need to floss every day like I do! Because then the dental assistant will offer you praise and you'll feel good about yourself. :) 4th of July... Independence Day was fun. Eventful. The girls, Jacob, and I went to the carnival on base. I got wristbands for the girls to ride as many rides as they wanted to. They were having fun riding, but the sky got pretty dark, so we sought cover. We sat at the tables under one of the "shade" tents and it proceeded to rain... hard. I'm not sure how long we had to wait out the storm but we were all drenched and freezing by the time it was over. Except Jacob, who was cozily taking a nap in his stroller. Once it stopped raining, we ventured back out from under the tent. We decided to wait for the fireworks (many people left when it stormed). We got a pizza from the Pizza Hut vendor that was there; the girls rode some more rides to try to get the most out of their wristbands; we got good seats in the bleachers for the ceremony and fireworks. Then they announced that the ceremony and fireworks were cancelled and they would have them on Saturday. We plan on going back then. Hopefully it will be worth our while. A few photos from the day... (I will post more on ofoto at some point in the near future)
July 3, 2006, 10:03 pm Girls only... We've been having a good time with only girls here. I have found that girls aren't near as messy as boys, and they aren't as noisy either. Huh. I miss Justice and Jarvis like crazy though! We didn't get to talk today, as they were out, but last night when I talked to them it sounded like they were having a BLAST in Tennessee! I think Charmaine and Savannah are having a good time. They seem to like the peace and quiet without boys, and my laid back attitude of "go to bed whenever", etc. I keep hoping they aren't bored, but they say they are having fun. :) We are going to the carnival and fireworks on base tomorrow - that'll be fun; I'll take lots of photos. Next week, when Josh is here, we are going to go to San Antonio. Charmaine wants to see the Alamo, so we'll make a whole day of it. I think I'm doing pretty well with the sign language. I probably won't get a chance to post on the 4th, so Happy Independence Day everyone! I'll post photos on the 5th (which is the day I go to the dentist to get fitted for my night guard - my headache finally went away, by the way). :) I got to chat with Andy on the computer today. It's so nice when we get to talk. He's such a wonderful husband - I thank God daily for our awesome relationship! I LOVE YOU ANDY!!! :) July 2, 2006, 2:19 am Oh the pain... I woke up today (yesterday actually) with a migraine. Ugh. I tried taking a nap (slept with Jacob for about two hours in the afternoon), but it didn't really help. I still have it. I hope it is gone by morning, but unfortunately when I get these headaches, they tend to stick around for 2 or 3 days and make it difficult to function. We didn't do much today (or yesterday, rather). The girls had a blast playing outside at the fort Andy built for them when he was home on leave, and they did some crafts, put make-up on each other, etc. Charmaine and I watched a movie in the evening ('Firewall' - it was okay; I enjoyed it but I wouldn't watch it over and over again). Other than my nap, I just did a few chores like dishes and walking the dog, and I made dinner. A fairly boring day (but relaxing). Oh yeah, the headache... I go to the dentist on Wednesday to get fitted for a night guard. I'm fairly certain the reason for the migraines is the fact that I clench my jaw at night. It's also caused TMJ - fun stuff. So I'm prayerful that the night guard will work and I can say goodbye to the 3-day migraines that interfere with my life! Learning a new language... I learned several new words in sign language today, although Charmaine and I just used her notebook and pen most of the time. I've been trying to practice the words she has taught me so I don't forget. I'm hoping to have a fairly decent handle on sign language by the time she leaves in two weeks. I will practice and hopefully learn even more before the next time I see her. I'd like to be able to carry on extended conversations with her without having to write it all down! :) Justice and Jarvis... Michael, Trish, and the boys made it to Nashville. I talked to them on the phone before they went to bed and they were having fun (of course). They had already shot BB guns (Justice brought both of his with him). They were very excited about their trip! It was so nice of Michael to come down and get them!!! It's also nice for the kids to get a break from each other for a couple weeks. I think I got the easier end of the stick though - Theresa and Michael now have 4 boys for two weeks and I have 4 girls (one of whom is 19 so how easy is that?!). The house was pretty quiet today with no boys (well, Jacob is a boy, but I don't think of him as anything other than a baby so I don't include him when I say "the boys"). The girls did their fair share of running around, but I think the boys have them beat when it comes to noise! :) ;) Trish brought birthday presents for Darby and I. I took a few photos of Darby opening hers and will post one or two of those tomorrow (or later today). Darby is ecstatic that her birthday is in 11 days - she asks me every day "how many days?". I can't believe she is almost FIVE!!! Now I'm going to attempt to get some sleep (if my headache and Jacob will let me). Oh yeah, and I now know the sign for headache. :) June 30, 2006, 12:54 am Thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes on my comments page!!! :) :) :) Late nights... I was going to bed, but Jacob is having issues (combination of gas and teething?) so I'm up with him. I figured I'd try to type in between him grabbing my hands and me trying to comfort his belly. :) I'm old... Well, the birthday went okay. I had a dozen red roses and a cute bear delivered this morning from my husband (who had already given me my gift - moolah for scrapbooking supplies - so I was not expecting the stuff this morning!). He's so sweet. When they delivered the flowers, they had balloons too, but the lady lost them to the sky between her van and my door! She came back with more balloons (from Josh) this afternoon. Thanks Josh! :) Horrible turn of events... The kids and I went to lunch with my friend Rhonda and her kids. She actually ended up buying our lunch (so nice!). We ate at the Olive Garden and I'm afraid I heard some of the worst news I've heard in a long time while we were there!!! They are DISCONTINUING chocolate lasagna!!! I even questioned the manager thinking surely our waiter had been smoking crack on his lunch break. But alas, as of Sunday, there will be no more. I had the last slice the Olive Garden here had (free from the manager because I was obviously so distraught by the news). Incidentally, Andrew, they are keeping YOUR favorite black tie mousse cake. I'm bitter... I'm very, very bitter! Some photos...
June 29, 2006 Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! It can't be!!!!!!! Well, I don't want to lie, so I guess from today on, I just won't tell people how old I am!
June 27, 2006 HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANCE!!! :) June 26, 2006, 11:09 pm More about Jacob... Jacob had to go to the dr. this morning. I always hate the waiting part at doctors - took half the day! He had missed his 4 month checkup because of us trying to switch doctors, and by the time I got to make the appointment, the first one I could get was for today (at 5 1/2 months). Anyway, he is healthy as can be (and we like the new doctor!). Turns out Jacob is short (we knew that though). :) He had to get shots, which I think he didn't like being held still more than he didn't like getting stuck in the legs with needles! He recovered as soon as he was allowed to be mobile again (if he can't flail his arms and legs, he gets a bit testy - lol). He's sleeping in my arms as I type. The Tylenol gets him a bit hyper so he was awake for about two hours past when he usually goes to sleep! I had to get Brittany to watch him just so I could go wash the dinner dishes (which was fine with her, as she'd much rather hold a cute baby than clean up after dinner - and who can blame her?). :) Oh, and Jacob has been eating cereal this week (that gross rice baby cereal mixed with formula). I wasn't sure how he would do with it since he has never had a bottle and has only had breastmilk, but he acted like a pro and just gobbled it down, opening his mouth whenever the spoon came near. He gets to start trying other baby foods and juice soon too. He's so cute! Oh yeah, and Darby wanted to try Jacob's leftovers and she actually liked it - I told her she was more than welcome to it, so she actually sat there and ate baby cereal mixed with formula (gross!). LOL :) A few photos...
I'm off to bed. I'm so glad to have my camera back!!! I'm sure there will be many more photos to come in the near future. :)
June 24, 2006, 1:14 pm 5 days, 9 hours, and 41 minutes... ...until I turn 30. I was born at 10:55 pm, so on the 29th, I will not acknowledge that I am 30 until that time. I've already decided that I'm going to treat myself to some chocolate lasagna from the Olive Garden that day. And I might possibly get a babysitter and go see a movie (with Jacob because a babysitter can't feed him). I have not gotten a babysitter, except for doctor and court appointments, since Andy left, so I think maybe it's time that I take a small amount of time for myself. And what better time to do it than on my birthday? Travels and company... The day after the dreaded day mentioned above, Michael, Trish, Charmaine, and Savannah are coming down. Michael and Trish will leave the day after they get here, taking Justice and Jarvis with them. So the boys will be in Nashville for two weeks, and Savannah (my niece - Andy's sister's daughter) and Charmaine (Andy's cousin) will be here for two weeks. The boys are so excited! Uncle Michael is their hero - he takes them camping, 4-wheeling, all sorts of things that boys love! They love just hanging out at Michael and Theresa's house. Apparently it's fun there. :) Brittany and Darby are so looking forward to the girls coming as well (and looking forward to a house without boys for two weeks - haha). It will be fun! I'm looking forward to getting to know Charmaine a little better too. Hopefully I can pick up some more sign language while she is here. Of course, to say "more sign language" is misleading, since all I know now is the alphabet and a very small handful of words. :) Also, Josh is coming down in July. His trip will overlap with the girls' trip here, so the boys will miss him. But they just saw him fairly recently, so I'm sure they'll be alright. :) I'm going to find some fun things for us to do when everyone is here. Maybe we'll hit Sea World or something. Of course, that might be a bit too hot. Maybe we'll have a cool day that we can do something like that. Me, at three... I decided to start posting some random old photos since they seem to be such a big hit. I love old photos! This is of me when I was 3 (I think I was almost 4). I remember having this photo taken. It was in Kmart or some such store so people were walking past. The photographer and my mom kept trying to get me to smile, but I was too paranoid about all the people that kept walking past (like maybe they would think I was a dork if I smiled? I don't know. I was shy, believe it or not. LOL). I remember that I did think it was cool that Mickey Mouse was behind me though. The dress was crocheted by my grandmother for my mother when she was 4, and there is a photo with my mother wearing the same dress. :)
June 22, 2006, 7:01 pm Hannah... Well, I thought that the Benadryl was working with Hannah, but on the way home from the vet, she barfed in the van. Oh well. I don't know what we'll do if we ever have to travel with her (which we likely will have to at some point in the next year). Swimming... They finally opened the pool that's near our subdivision. Yay. The kids and I made the trek down there today. There is a kids pool and swing set, but unfortunately that part wasn't open yet. Jacob hates the pool as much as he hates baths, so that's too bad. I'm hoping he'll get used to it though. I'm going to get him a baby float and maybe he'll think that's fun. I ended up sitting in the shade with him most of the time (it's never really fun to take a baby to the pool, but part of life when you have lots of kids). Brittany and Justice helped me out with Darby. Jarvis can't swim, but was okay with his arm floats. The most shallow part is 3 1/2 feet, so Darby needed constant supervision, so Brittany and Justice took turns with her when I wasn't sitting on the edge with Jacob. Darby is so brave and wants to just jump in and swim. She has arm floats, but she is a little TOO daring, so that is why she requires the constant supervision. She was letting Brittany throw her and thought it was so cool that her feet touched the bottom of the pool when she jumped in. Maybe she'll be swimming by the end of the summer. :) I managed to get a little sun during the "pool breaks" that the lifeguards took, so I got about 20 minutes total of laying out time while the kids were in the shade to watch Jacob (waiting for the lifeguards to come back so they could swim again). It worked out well though - kept me from getting burnt, and I now have tan lines in the proper places (referring to my horrid 'soccer mom' tan lines I had been working the last couple of months). A few more times to the pool and I won't feel like Casper walking around. I'm glad I get tan quickly. Brittany complains that she doesn't tan well; so does Justice (even though I tell them, as I'm lying on the lawn chair soaking in the sun, that it doesn't MATTER if they are tan or not). Jarvis, however, looks like a little California surfer boy with his dark tan skin! Darby is 4 and couldn't care less. Jacob... Jacob is so cute. He is a little over 5 months now and is into everything! He is grabbing at my hands now while I type (which results in lots of backspacing and deleting for me). He wants everything he sees and throws himself at the real shiny stuff. He can sit up as long as he doesn't get too excited. And he can scoot around and roll and squirm his way towards the things that he wants. We're pretty sure he said "hi" twice last week, but we could be wrong. :) He smiles constantly and is always 'on the go' scanning his area for something he can grab and shove into his mouth. He has learned the buttons on the keyboard make a cool noise and keeps grabbing them, grabbing my hands to shove them away so he can push buttons, etc. Makes it hard to type!!! LOL I guess I should put him down when I am blogging, but he's just too darn cute. I like having him with me as often as possible!!! :D June 21, 2006, 1:20 pm Sleep, sweet sleep... I slept in until 11 this morning. It was the first time I had a chance to sleep in for a while and it felt NICE. Darby actually slept until NOON. I think she was just catching up on a busy couple of weeks and not enough sleep. She is pretty hyper now. LOL Oh, and Jacob slept for six hours straight two nights ago (not last night though). I'm thinking he may possibly be on the road to sleeping through the night! I won't know what to do with a full eight hours of sleep without interruptions. The night he slept for six hours, I woke up twice anyway. My body does not know it can actually stay asleep until the baby CRIES. :) Drugging the dog... Hannah goes for her last puppy shot in a little less than an hour. The vet told me to give her a Benadryl this time before coming, because she always gets carsick and pukes in the van (blech!). I was wondering if she would take it and she just ate it like it was candy. Ha! Hopefully it works and we don't have to clean up any more dog vomit!!! Oh yes, and on another topic, Hannah stood still for her bath yesterday. She let me give her a thorough cleaning and only tried to escape the tub once! I'm so proud of her! :) Driving everyone crazy with my photography... I got my camera back the day before yesterday, and I got the camcorder that Josh sent me money for. Woo hoo. I'm all set for recording our lives for posterity. And for Andy. And for all my faithful readers! :) 8 days... ...until that dreaded day that ends my youth. I'm not taking it well. I have a feeling once it finally gets here and passes, I'll be okay. But for now, while it is looming in that dark cloud ahead of me, I'm dreading it. I keep forgetting... Birthdays! Happy Birthday to Vicki (my good friend in Ohio since the 10th grade! She just turned 30 yesterday! I hope she isn't depressed like me!!! HaHa!!!) and Happy Birthday to Canyon (my nephew - he turned 11 yesterday!). June 20, 2006, 4:30 pm I had my hearing today about my on-base driving suspension. It's all fixed and I can drive on base. Woo hoo! Now I just have to pay the tickets and this will all be a bad memory. :) June 19, 2006, 9:25 pm The many hairdo's of the Kendster...
Okay, so I'm sure Kendra may make me regret posting all these old photos, but believe me, there is plenty more where these came from. Haha! :) Hope you had a great 31st birthday Kendra (a.k.a. Frizzy Lizzy a.k.a. the Kendster a.k.a. Steve {the name Kendra always chose when we played house and she was the dad}). :D June 19, 2006, 12:49 pm Okay, Kendra, I am so sorry I missed your birthday yesterday! There is no excuse and I should be taken out into the streets and beaten! (okay, maybe not anything quite so severe). I'll make up for it by posting some oldie but goodie photos as a tribute to your 31st birthday (I'm scanning them now ~ they should be up shortly). :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENDRA!!! June 19, 2006, 10:54 am I heard from Andrew this morning! Yay! We were able to chat on the computer for about 20 minutes, so that was nice. He's getting ready to go back out on patrols, but I'm glad that we were able to communicate before he left again. I'll get to talk to him again in a few days. Please continue to pray for him and his guys. June 18, 2006, 4:23 pm HAPPY FATHERS DAY... to my husband, ANDREW (Thank you for being such a wonderful father to our five children!!) to my dad, BOYD to my father-in-law, THOR to my brothers and brothers-in-law, JOEL, MATTHEW, JOE, LEROY, and MICHAEL and to all the other dads I know (I won't try to list names because I know I'll forget someone, so I'll just say, EVERYONE ELSE!!!) :) The cutest thing... Jarvis has been in dire need of a haircut for the last couple of weeks (he either has to have very short or fairly long hair - no in between or it looks bad because of his two cowlicks). I had sent him to VBS all last week looking so scruffy. With everything that happened this week, and all the things I had to get done, I just never made it to the PX to get a haircut for him. So last night, I decided there was no way I could send him to church looking like this, so I figured I'd just buzz his hair with the clippers. I am NOT talented with the clippers (I can cut the girls hair with scissors, but not the boys!). I have used the clippers to cut Andy's hair one time and Justice's hair one time - both ended up very, very badly. Those are the only two times I have ever used the electric trimmers. I figured there was no way I'd be able to give him a nice little tapered cut, leaving some length on the top, so it was a buzz or nothing. We went with the buzz. His hair is now about 1/8" all over (and I did manage not to give him any bald spots - it's pretty even - I'm so proud of myself - haha). The short cut looks cute on him. Anyway, this morning in church, before Jarvis and Darby left (they sit in the service during the singing and then are dismissed to Children's Church), I was holding Jacob. Jarvis was next to me, and when we stood up to sing, Jacob leaned over and started touching Jarvis' head. He realized how neat it felt, so he just kept on rubbing it back and forth! It was so cute. He has been grabbing things, but this was a new one for him. He rubbed Jarvis' head throughout the entire two or three songs. Everyone around us was giggling (oops - we can be distracting). :) June 16, 2006, 6:28 pm lighthearted... Okay, so I was just kidding about Coby turning 48 yesterday. :) He's the same age as Andy. (for those who don't know Coby, he is Andy's best friend from the Marine Corps). not so lighthearted... I found out today that Jeremiah Santos, one of Andy's friends and a soldier that was in his squad until a couple of months ago, was killed in action just after midnight on June 15th. I have not been able to speak to Andy yet, so pray for all the guys over there, including Andy and the other guys close to Jeremiah, and also Jeremiah's wife, Jessica, who is also active duty here at Ft. Hood. June 15, 2006, 1:37 pm HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY TO TAYLOR!!!! :) HAPPY 6TH ANNIVERSARY TO JOEL & KRYSTYNA!!! :) HAPPY 48TH BIRTHDAY TO COBY!!! ;) What a week! I dropped the kids off at VBS this morning (well, the three that are the right age to go), and then Brittany, Jacob and I followed Rhonda and Michael (who also dropped their kids off at VBS) on base. The court on base won't answer their phone or call me back, so I had to go find them. What a goose chase. I'm so glad Rhonda's husband was home on leave, because he thought of places to go that I never would have known to go (and the people at the obvious places were not very helpful - they kept telling me to "call this number", um... it was the same number I had BEEN calling). We finally found the person we needed to talk to (at a building I didn't even know existed), who said he had tried to call me 20 minutes prior to when I got there (even though I've been trying to call for two days, and my caller ID did have a base number on it for the time he said he called but there was no message). I have ten days to get everything straight, while I'm still allowed to drive on base. My 'hearing' is next Tuesday afternoon, the 8th day of my ten days of leeway. So hopefully it all gets taken care of that day. Errands and clearances... After the running around on base and putting almost 60 bucks in my gas tank (because even though it's gone down a few cents - sorry Matt but - I'm still complaining about the price of gas), Brittany and I (and Jake) went to the mall. I haven't been since we bought Hannah, and I needed to get her registration papers that had come in weeks ago. So we got some early lunch there, got the dog papers, and I saw Bath & Body Works was having their semi-annual sale! Woo hoo! I usually stock up with 6 months worth of lotion when they have their sales, because I LOVE their stuff, but I don't LOVE their regular prices. :D Anyway, I had saved a gift certificate a friend had gotten me when Jacob was born, so I was like "yay, I have a g.c. for B&B and they are having their sale" (well I didn't say it out loud, as it was just me and Jake at that point - Britt was chowing down on some Subway in the food court - I just said it in my head). :) Anyway, I saw they had ONE bottle of the lotion that Andy and I both love, and I grabbed it (it had been discontinued last year) and asked if they had more. She said they had a whole big shipment that just came in and is going to call me if they have any of it. I told her to hold a bunch of it if she has any. :) Andy will be so thrilled. It's one of their few non-feminine smelling lotions that he likes. And that stuff works better than any other lotion I've ever used. Just thought everyone wanted to know all the details! ;) Oh, and fyi - all the Bath & Body Works are having their huge summer sale from now until the beginning of July, so hurry up and go get your soap and lotion!!! :D Quiet time... The kids and I like to have a "quiet time" each day. Darby and Jacob are taking a nap, and it gives the other three kids a chance to have their daily devotions, and when they are through with that, they can play quietly. It's a nice little "everyone to themselves" time. Since we are all together 24/7 (no school or work), we all need to have some time alone, so this works really well. I like it when Jacob sleeps through quiet time (like now), because that gives me even more peace and quiet. I'm going to do some scrapbooking with my new scrapbook stuff now. I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the day!!! :) June 14, 2006 Much better... Today was much better than yesterday. I was a little exhausted this morning, because of yesterday's ordeal, but that's okay. My friend, Rhonda, drove the kids to VBS this morning, but I went to pick them up and she watched three of them while I went to the DMV. My KY license is about to expire on my birthday, so when they reinstated it yesterday, they said I would have to re-test to get it renewed. Um, I don't live in Kentucky? (In the military, it is not required to get a new state license whenever you move). So I had to get a Texas license. I waited for over two hours in the waiting area, but once I got called to the desk, it took five minutes. They didn't make me take the test or anything, just paid my $24 fee and left with a temporary license (have to wait for the plastic one with the dorky photo to come in the mail in 2 to 6 weeks - not sure why it takes so long to print off a license; anytime I got one before they just printed it right then and there). The place on base that is supposed to reinstate my base driving priveleges won't answer their phone and they won't return my calls. So during VBS tomorrow morning, I am going to go down to PMO (the military police office, even though there are very few MPs there anymore and it's mostly the rent-a-cops, um, I mean DoD police) and see what's up. My friend and her husband are going to go with me. Her husband is in Andy's unit (different company, but that's okay), so he just wants to make sure they don't give me a hard time about it and make it clear to them that I NEED to be able to drive on post since I LIVE on post - hello!!! So hopefully that will all go well and things will be hunky dory again. :D Church, food, friends, and ducks... We had a little 'hot dog social' at church tonight. Since it's the middle of Vacation Bible School week, they had a little worship service for everyone (the kids usually have different classes on Wednesday nights), and then they had a little fellowship thing with hot dogs. I'm not a hot dog fan, but the kids liked it. Then we went with Rhonda and Michael and their children to Mr. Snow (our new favorite ice-cream joint). On the way home from ice-cream, they were paving the roads, and traffic was VERY backed up, and Jacob was screaming to eat, so I finally pulled off an exit. I pulled into the local community college to park to nurse Jacob, and there is this adorable pond with a little bridge and tons of ducks and geese running around. I had seen it from the highway but never pulled in there. So the kids played while I fed Jacob. They LOVE the ducks and want to go back with bread to feed to them. It was a cute place for photos too, so when I get my camera back (which is currently being repaired by Canon - I should have it in a few more days), we'll go for a photo shoot. Woo hoo!!! For my birthday, Andy gave me money to spend at ScrapSupply (my favorite scrapbooking site and store). I, of course, couldn't wait until my actual birthday, and went ahead and made my order on Saturday. I got it from FedEx today and I can't wait to play with it all. Lots of fun new scrapbooking loot!!! :) Gorgeous flowers... Also, when I got home from the DMV, there were flowers waiting on my porch. The culprit tried to remain anonymous, but I'm no dummy. The card said "Smile. Have a fantastic day." Well, my brother, Josh, says 'fantastic' a lot, so I knew it was him. Thank you Josh!!!!! It really did brighten my day!!! :) :) :) July 13, 2006, 6:41 pm I was arrested today... So I had a suspended license in KY because of an unpaid ticket (which is another long story, but it wasn't unpaid on purpose, just through hassle after hassle of them not wanting me to mail in the payment, me not being able to go to Indiana to pay the ticket, blah, blah, blah), and I THOUGHT I had fixed it all before Andy went back to Iraq so that I could drive legally, but apparently I missed that last reinstatement fee. So I was on my way home (on base) from the post office and there is a hill and the van accelerated on it's own because I wasn't paying attention (had three kids in the car) and as soon as I noticed that I was speeding (because I really DON'T speed), I slowed down... just after the cop had clocked me doing 52 in a 40. I tried explaining, but he didn't care, said he was going to "issue a citation". Um, the license was suspended still (because I was too busy with everything else in my life, I didn't even REALIZE it wasn't taken care of - I thought it had been taken care of completely in March, that I just needed to still switch to a Texas license, which I was going to do this month since my KY license expires on my birthday). So he has me get out of the car, proceeds to tell me I need to call someone to come get my kids and van because he is going to arrest me. I tell him I have a daughter at home with my infant, and the infant ONLY breastfeeds, has never had a bottle and I need to go home and feed him. (I believe I was hysterical at this point). I think I was on my knees BEGGING this not-very-nice cop at one point. He told me to calm down so my kids wouldn't be traumatized. I wanted to tell him HE was the one traumatizing them but I was nice and polite to him (b/c if I had told him what I thought of him I'm sure he would have had NO mercy - Thank God that He helped me hold my tongue!). Anyway, he ended up processing the tickets and the arrest there on the side of the road (which he made very clear was because of the kids and if it was just me I would have been handcuffed in the back of his car), and I had to go down to the police station once I fed my baby and secured a babysitter to finish the processing. Before leaving, the cop made it very clear that I was a horrible mother for "losing it" in front of my kids (um... he told me he was arresting me and that I couldn't feed my baby? of course I got a little emotional!). But no, he acted as though crying in front of my kids was equivalent to sharing my heroine needle with them!!!! That cop was soooooooooo rude!!! He made several wisecracks and treated me like I was dirt. He was so unprofessional. Thankfully, my friends' husband was home from Iraq on mid-tour leave - he came and drove me and the kids home and then she watched my kids while he took me to the police station, where I was frisked (after which I felt so violated - it was a woman cop doing the frisking, but still - they frisk everywhere!), fingerprinted, and had my mug shot taken. So, I called and cleared up the KY license thing - it's not suspended anymore, but I have ten days to get my Texas license, pay some outrageous ticket fees, and go to a hearing to get my on base driving priveleges reinstated. June 12, 2006, 10:51 pm HAPPY (a day late) BIRTHDAY TO CORY (19) AND ISABELLA (1)!!! I took the kids to see 'Cars' tonight. It was so good. We LOVED it. Of course, we always love the Pixar films ('Toy Story' 1 & 2, 'Bugs Life', 'Monsters Inc.', 'Finding Nemo', and 'Incredibles'). It was just as good as the others. And we saw previews for the one they have coming out next summer about a rat ('Ratatouille!', pronounced 'Rat-a-too-ie'), and it looks awesome too. :) Hannah and Ashley have started to play together and it's very cute. Hannah is still a little intimidated by Ashley, even though she is like 20 times her size! Haha. The kids loved VBS and want to go every day. Justice has a dentist appointment on Thursday, but I'm thinking about changing it so he doesn't have to miss a day of VBS. Yes, ANOTHER dentist appointment. We live there now. :) June 12, 2006, 10:00 am Bugs are creepy... I got some more organizing and more scrapbooking done this weekend. Dropped the kids off at Vacation Bible School this morning. I hope they like it. We didn't go last year, and this is Darby's first time going. So it is just me, Brittany and Jacob for a couple of hours each morning this week. This morning I'm going to scrub the house (am nursing Jake right now). Pest control is coming this afternoon to spray for all the gross bugs that reside here in Texas (we have scorpions, huge spiders, silverfish, and ants). Okay, while on the topic of bugs, let me just say that silverfish, bugs that I never even heard of before this year, are THE creepiest bug EVER. I think I may hate them more than worms, if that's possible! Words just cannot describe how freaky and disgusting they are. I'll take a spider the size of my fist (like the one that our cat killed in the living room the other day) anyday over the tiniest silverfish. But honestly, I would prefer NO bugs at all! I almost crashed the van the other day because a ladybug was on my arm. Yes, that's right, a ladybug! :) June 9, 2006, 2:44 pm 30 is looming... Oh man, just 20 more days until the dreaded day that ends my youth. I'm starting to be a little bummed that Andy won't be here for it! I really don't know why this bothers me so much. I love my life right now. It's soooooooooo much better than when I was 20! I guess I just don't want to get old. Hey, everyone should send me a present. That would make me feel better! :) (I'm just kidding... sort of) :D Scrapbooking... I'm so glad I've started scrapbooking again. I love it! I want to make lots of pages for Jacob and Darby so their books can be thick like the other kids. Jacob just has one page, and Darby doesn't have many more than that. The kids LOVE looking at their books too. It's so much fun. :) Woo hoo... I finally shipped my camera to Canon yesterday. So in a week or two, I should have a WORKING digital camera! YAY!!! :) Celebrate good times, come on! Wanted to say happy 8th birthday to my nephew, Nicky!!! And happy 5th anniversary to my cousin, Daniel, and his wife Michelle!!! Get in my belly! Have you eaten Pop Tarts lately? They have started putting these little cartoons on the wrappers and they totally crack me up. My favorite (which I tried to scan, below, but it's too shiny) is a cartoon dude standing by a Pop Tart pointing to the 'mouth' on his belly and he says "Get in my belly!". So now whenever I eat a Pop Tart (which actually isn't that often), I say "GET IN MY BELLY!" to the Pop Tart. I'm such a dork. :D
June 8, 2006 Happy 43rd Anniversary Mom and Dad!
June 7, 2006, 10:52 pm No A/C!!!! So my A/C stopped working this afternoon. I called maintenance and they won't be out until between 4 and 8 pm tomorrow! Ugh. And I don't have any electric fans. There are two ceiling fans in the house and we have those cranked with the windows open. About 9:00 tomorrow morning we are going to be living in pools of sweat! And it's supposed to be 100 degrees tomorrow. May be a good day to go shopping, at least until 4:00 (even though maintencance likely will not arrive until 8:02). I know some of you are saying "well back in my day we didn't even have air conditioning in our cars, let alone our houses"... well, it's not 'back in your day'... it's now... 2006... and I want my air conditioner to work! :D (actually, it's not too bad right now, and I guess I'll have all the kids sleep in my room with the ceiling fan tonight and maybe we'll just play in the hose or something to keep cool tomorrow - I just wanted to gripe a little about it - I'm done now). ;) June 7, 2006, 1:50 pm We spent yet another morning at the dentist. Different patients this time, though. Darby had her first ever teeth cleaning. Her teeth are perfect, no cavities, and she did a great job. :) I also had an exam (first time at that dentist and they just do the x-rays and exam - I have to go back for the cleaning). I had no cavities! Woo hoo! Usually after a pregnancy, I have a couple cavities since the baby depletes all of my calcium. But not this time. Yay. I have to go back on July 5th for my cleaning and I'm getting a night guard. Hopefully that will help with my migraines. I clench my jaw at night so my jaw and head hurt a lot. I feel like we live at the dentist. The people there recognize us now. Oh well, tis life, eh? :) My friend, Vicki, emailed this to me today and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share it...
Okay, so I think it may be a nap day. When I get up, I'm going to get rid of some toys in Darby's room and the boys' room (they apparently don't know how to clean up all their toys, so I decided fewer toys may help solve that problem - we'll see). :) June 6, 2006, 2:52 pm Yard work, not-so-sexy tan lines, sick kids... I have been outside doing yardwork for the last few hours. I got it mowed (thank the Lord the lawn mower started. I hadn't been able to get it started since Andy's been gone - last time Justice just weed ate the whole yard [which actually isn't TOO bad b/c we don't have much grass - mostly just weeds]. So this time I prayed all morning the mower would start, and lo and behold, it did. Yay!). Then I did the weedeating, but ran out of line before I finished (yeah, that's only like the second time I've ever weedeated - I'm definitely not a pro. And that was the first time I mowed grass since we lived in Louisville 4 years ago). Jarvis and Darby are out there cutting the rest of the weeds with scissors now. :) I moved the swingset to the back of the yard and took off the broken see-saw and put it on the street (it's trash day). I'm about to go sweep the porches and sidewalks, and possibly hit Wally World for some weed killer and some grass seed. This Texas heat just kills all the grass - for some reason weeds seem to thrive though. I need to remember to turn on the sprinkler each night. Oh yeah, and I forgot to put on sunscreen. I am so retarded! That's going to hurt in a few hours. Maybe I've built up enough of a base tan from the soccer games that I won't get burnt. I've decided to just embrace my farmer tan this summer. Usually, I would make certain to lay out in a bathing suit to combat the tank top, shorts, and sock lines, but Andy isn't here so I figure it doesn't matter this year. :) Justice is still sick. He had a high fever the last two days. It's broken today but he is still feeling weak and has a bad sore throat. So he is living life on the couch, which he actually hates, even though he gets to watch movies. He wants to get out and run around! :) Brittany pulled something in her neck so she is walking around turning her whole body instead of just her neck. She's watching Jacob for me while I work outside. Okay, I think I need to add gardening gloves to my Wally World list. My hands are feeling very calloused and torn up from all my outdoor work. For those that know me best, you KNOW I'm NOT a yard-working kind of gal! I'm waaaaay too prissy. Oh well. ;) June 6, 2006, 3:03 am Night owl... Am I the only one that is up mopping the floor at 3:00 in the morning? I guess I'm a little unorthodox in the way I do things, but I have more energy at night than in the morning. Even when I'm on a 'typical' schedule - I just do not function well in the a.m. I know some women that get up early, before their children get up, so they can have their quiet time, get some chores done, etc., and then when evening rolls around they are DONE. Well, I'm opposite - I get things done after the kids go to bed and have my quiet time then. Evening is my BEST time. I've never been a morning person, not even when I was little. I'm about to go to bed, a little after 3:00 in the morning (after folding several loads of laundry, doing dishes, mopping the entire downstairs [ugh!], emptying the cat litter, and various other chores - which I find easier to do when the kids are asleep and not running under my feet). I'll probably get up around 10 or 11 (that's around when Darby and Jarvis will get up - yes, they are on a weird schedule like me). I prefer a little bit more sleep (and usually go to bed a little earlier - like around 1 or 1:30), but 7 or 8 hours will do. Is there anyone else like me? I think Andy's cousin, Laura, and her family are the only ones I know who keep crazy hours. By the way, I see nothing wrong with the hours I keep. It works for us. For years I thought I 'had' to be on the same schedule as most of the rest of the world and stressed out about it, and when Andy is home, we keep a little more 'normal' hours since he has to work, but for now I like our backwards schedule. And since there's no school or work schedule to keep it works out well. :) Unanswered questions in life...
If anyone knows the answers to these questions, please answer them for me. :) June 4, 2006, 9:36 pm Scrapbooking... I know I've not updated in a few days. I've been busy scrapbooking. :) My favorite scrapbooking site, www.scrapsupply.com, was having it's 2 year anniversary party all weekend. I won one of the scrapbook bingo games - yay me. :) It was good to get some scrapbooking done though (and it was fun finally taking some time for myself). It has been forever since I had done any scrapbook pages! I plan on getting back into it full force though. Jacob only has ONE page for his scrapbook and I made that one yesterday. I am such a slacker. :) Here's two of the layouts I did that I think turned out well (if you click on them, they'll take you to where they are posted on the ScrapSupply site and you can read the journaling there if you are interested). Oh yeah, and if you want to buy any scrapbooking supplies, buy them from Wendy at ScrapSupply!!!! Her customer service is THE best and they have an awesome selection and GREAT prices!!! :)
June 1, 2006, 12:35 am Wow! Is it June already? May sure did fly by. Maybe I'll come up with a new June look for the ole blog-a-roonie when I get up in the morning. :) Brittany got more of her braces done yesterday - she got her top wires and metal spacers for the bottom. Next time she goes, she'll get her bottom braces put on. They have been bothering her since she got them on. She is now thinking that maybe crooked teeth weren't so bad. haha! Hannah had to go to the vet yesterday too, for a booster shot. She threw up in the van on the way there and then again on the way home. Ugh. She gets car sick every time. The vet said to give her Benadryl an hour before coming next time and it will settle her stomach for the car. Who knew? So if you have a carsick animal, there's a good tip for you! I asked how much it would cost for them to clip her nails for me. It needed to be done, and I really did not want to do it myself. After watching two vet assistants hold her down and struggle while clipping them, I decided I made the RIGHT decision in paying the ten bucks to have THEM do it. In fact, I will pay to have them do it every time she needs it done!!! :) The boys went to an RA pool party last night too. They had a blast. Oh, and I picked up several rolls of film that I'm getting ready to put up on ofoto for all to see. Photos of the kids, the pets, the zoo, and lots of soccer photos for Andy. :) Yeah, yesterday was a busy day (it was actually "today" but since it's after midnight, I just went ahead and said "yesterday" since no one will most likely be reading this until morning). :) A couple preview photos before I get the albums sent out...
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