A Texas Aloha

Ten Years

2011-09-10T21:20:00.002-05:00

So tomorrow marks the 1oth anniversary of 9/11. It's doesn't seem like it was that long ago. How fast time has passed. I'm sure for the families that were tragically affected by the events that day the time has not gone that quickly. I'm sure that they have been aware of every day that has gone by that they don't have their loved one with them anymore.

So to answer the question of "Where were you when..."

I was 16. At home, just finished breakfast and getting ready for the day. About to do my schoolwork for the day. (I was home schooled) My mom called to me to come and see what was on the TV. At this point my story is much like so many others. Just watching what was going on, with the same questions that everyone else had.

Somewhere in the craziness going on in my head, I felt urged to pray for my future spouse. I laughed at myself! Now where did THAT come from? How would I, a girl from Texas, ever marry a guy from New York?! I had never even been more than a state or two away from Texas. Silly me! But I followed my heart and prayed for my future spouse. For whatever he would be needing for at that time, wherever he might be. I felt a little silly, and didn't tell anyone. I didn't really think about it after that day.

Two years later I meet my future spouse, Tony. And one day I remembered that crazy thought years earlier to pray for my future spouse on September 11, 2001. So...where was my future spouse on that day,when the planes flew into the buildings...when I prayed for him? On a train in New York City...planning to visit the twin towers later that day.

What I thought was something silly, was actually the Holy Spirit. And this Texas girl didn't marry a guy from NYC...but he was visiting!

I still get chills when I think about it today. I'm so grateful that he and his family was safe that day! But if they had visited the towers a littler earlier, my life today would be completely different. Although I would have no idea, because I had never met him! Just thinking about that makes my brain hurt. lol! What I can say is, it's awesome to see how God is in complete control of the smallest details of our lives. And sometimes the Holy Spirit can sound silly to you. :o)

So...what's your 9/11 memories?

MAY WE NEVER FORGET.

I've Been Busy...

2011-08-27T17:43:00.013-05:00

As usual it's been longer than I would like since I last blogged. However, this time I feel like I have a good excuse. I've been busy. Here's an overview of what has been keeping me from spending more than a few minutes at a time on the computer.

On July 6th, Baby girl #3 joined our family. Savannah Juliet was born at 3:59 AM, and was 6lbs, 8oz. 19in long. I was induced with both of the other girls, and really wanted to experience what it was like to go into labor on my own. I was about to give up on that, as I was told at my 39 week check up that I still wasn't really making any progress in that direction. I was very disappointed, as I was more than ready for her to be here. However I was also measuring smaller than I did at my previous appt, so after a quick sonogram, they discovered that my fluid was low. The Dr came in and said
"Congratulations, you're having a baby tonight!"
Me: "uuhhh, ok. Can I go home and get my husband and bag?"
Dr. "No. You have to go be admitted right away."
I think I had a dazed look on my face, because the Doctors and nurses kept asking me if I was ok. Ha ha!
Induced again. I'm totally convinced that my body does not know how to go into labor on it's own.

Everything went fine, and about 12 hours later Savannah was here. I did learn one thing...you can go from only being dilated to a 5, to holding your baby in your arms in less than 30 min. Surprise! :o) Savannah was over 1lb smaller than her sisters were at birth, so it was so fun to have such a tiny newborn!
She is a super good, happy baby. She is 9 weeks old now, and has been sleeping through the night since she was about 4 or 5 weeks old. Her big sisters adore her, and are huge helps to me.

Since she is the 3rd baby, and 3rd girl, things have been pretty easy for me. I am however using cloth diapers for her. That has been a new adventure, and one that I am finding is more fun than I thought it would be! I wish I had started doing it 2 babies ago...but I didn't. I'm loving how much money we are saving! I had decided to CD before she was born, but all the diapers that I had bought were WAY too big for a tiny newborn. So I used disposable for the first 3 weeks until I got smaller diapers. We used $100 in diapers in just 3 weeks. YIKES! That made me feel good about our decision to CD, and made me feel better about the initial investment of buying the cloth. More on this adventure later. :o)

Natalie is officially in Kindergarten! We decided to home school her this year. Hawaii schools are not so good, and she was already way ahead of what she would be learning at school. So that has been keeping me busy as well. We have recently joined a local home school group and will be doing a co-op twice a month. Fun!

Natalie and Gabbie have been taking swimming lessons all summer. Two weeks every month from June-Sept we walk down to the pool in our neighborhood for lessons. They are having a blast and learning a LOT. They have one session left for this summer. Then hopefully Savannah will be big enough that I can keep taking them to the pool so they can practice and keep up the skills that they have learned.

AWANA has started back up. I now have one in Cubbies and one in Sparks! How am I old enough to have one in Sparks??! I am helping out with the high school group again also. That keeps my Sundays full.

Tony's mom was able to come and visit right before, and right after Savannah was born. We always enjoy her visits! We are planning a trip back home to Texas to visit my family at the end of September. We are super excited! At that point it will be a year and a half since seeing any of my family, or being off this beautiful little rock in the middle of the ocean. I am not looking forward to the 8 hour flight (12+ hours of travel time, AND 5 hours time difference) with a baby and 2 little ones...but it will be worth it. :o)

Well, this is a small overview of what I have been up to these last couple of months. Trust me, it feels crazier than it sounds. My days are filled with laundry, dishes, nursing, feeding the other girls, cleaning up messes, cooking, cleaning again and more laundry. I have such a glamorous exciting life, don't I ? :0)

Her very first bath...she wasn't a fan!
My 3 girls.

Savannah on Left, Natalie on right. I feel like I am repeating myself...

The Logic of My Children

2011-06-03T16:14:00.002-05:00

The other day we were in the car and the girls were talking to each other as usual. I Don't always listen to what they are saying, but I happened to tune in just as Gabbie said something about mommy's work. (We had just passed the building where Daddy works.) The rest of the conversation went like this:

Natalie to Gabbie: "No honey, Mommy can't work, she doesn't have any work clothes!"

Me: "Mommy still works, what is my job?"

Natalie: "No you don't!"

Me: "Yes, I do. My job is to stay at home with you and Gabbie so I can take care of you. Who would take care of you if Mommy wasn't there?"

Gabbie: "GOD!"

Now I get to explain that God does take care of them, but they still need Mommy for other things. God can do all things...but I have yet to see Him make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

Is It Really For the Best?

2011-04-20T22:02:00.003-05:00

I'd like to post about something that I feel very strongly about. Not everyone agrees with me. In fact, a lot of people don't. That's ok. This is my side.

We are preparing to take a trip in late September. We will be flying. So this has gotten us to thinking about all the new TSA security screenings that are in place since the last time we flew, almost exactly a year ago. As parents, we have to decide what we are willing to let our little girls go through.

Now, before you give me the whole " you don't agree with it, don't fly" bit...I'll stop you before you wast your breath. We live on a rock in the middle of the ocean. To go to any land farther than 40 miles away, we HAVE to fly. Period. So flying is the only way that we will get to Texas. And besides, if we "boycott" flying because of the security invasions I don't think it will do any good. The airlines will think that people are not flying because of the economy or high fuel costs.

So, now that we have established that we have no choice other than to fly we have to decide. Will we let our children be exposed to excess, unnecessary radiation? Get touched
inappropriately?

They have recently come out with research that is saying that the radiation levels are up to 10x higher than they originally though! (and reported, of course!) Now, will a person be harmed through one trip through the machine? Probably not. Multiple trips...possibly. Would you go get an x-ray frequently without a thought to the side effects? Most people would probably say no. Radiation aside, would you let someone, a stranger, see a picture of you or your child without any clothes on?? For me, that answer is HECK no!

So that brings us to "opt out". So our other option is to get the "rub down" Ok, is this done by women TSA workers to women passengers? No. I have heard stories of women passengers having to request that the person that gropes them be a female.

What about our children? As parents, we stress to them that no one is allowed to touch them in certain places. How do we explain standing there holding them down while we the parents allow a stranger touch them where they shouldn't be touched? They don't even get touched like that at a checkup at the Doctor! What about children, or even adults that have been abused in the past? Should they have to go through this? You can look on YouTube and see videos of children screaming "don't touch me" as the TSA agent rubs them down. It's heartbreaking.
A TSA agent was recently arrested for rape and sexual assault. Of a minor. Did this happen at the airport? Of course not. Did parents going through the screening line know that a pedophile was touching their children?! NO! Now we don't know whether this guy has liked touching children all along and was able to do it with the government's approval in the name of safety, or perhaps he decided he liked it after he got to do it all day long? Who knows. But for me it doesn't make any difference.

My husband is just one of the thousands that is making sacrifices to keep our country free. Many have sacrificed to their death! I feel that the people that are fine with sacrificing their privacy for the sake of "safety" are just spitting in the faces of all that have made, and are making these sacrifices. They are saying, "no thanks". We don't really want to be free, we would rather have the government run every aspect of our lives. We would rather be sacred of the terrorists. Well, you know what?? The terrorists have already won!! If we are too scared to fly without putting ourselves and our children through this, then we may as will just give them the victory right now. Their goal is to terrorize. Make us scared. They have succeeded. We would rather be treated like we are criminals and put ourselves and our children through something that if it were done outside of an airport would be ILLEGAL! Just so we can feel safe. We aren't really any safer. We have just made the terrorists very happy.

How far are the American people willing to go? What are we willing to give up for the name of safety? The right to go where we want, when we want? What we let the government do to our bodies, or the bodies of our children? All the while saying" It's ok, I like to know that I'm safe." This is just the first step I believe. For now the government is "keeping you safe" from terrorists...what will keep us safe from the government when they decide that they must do even more to take over our lives??

What are your thoughts on this?

11 Steps to Becoming a Parent...

2011-01-05T21:46:00.001-06:00

I stole this from a friend on Facebook. I wanted to pass it on!

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.

2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.

3. Go home.

4. Pick up the paper.

5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...

1. Methods of discipline.

2. Lack of patience.

3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.

4. Allowing their children to run wild.

5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.

Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)

2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.

3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.

4. Set the alarm for 3AM.

5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.

6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.

7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.

8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.

9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.

2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.

3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.

4. Then rub them on the clean walls.

5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.

6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.

2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.

Leave it there.

2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.

3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.

4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.

2. Make a small hole in the side.

3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.

4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.

5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.

6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

This is all very tongue in cheek; anyone who is parent will say 'it's all worth it!' Share it with your friends, both those who do and don't have kids. I guarantee they'll get a chuckle out of it. Remember, a sense of humor is one of the most important things you'll need when you become a parent!

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

2010-12-08T20:45:00.005-06:00

Here's some great news for all you bloggers out there! Shutterfly is offering a great deal right now! I love shutterfly. They have so many great gifts and card options.

Right now, just click here and you can get a code for 50 free cards! This is great for Christmas cards. The deadline is soon though, so hurry! We like to send out photo Christmas cards, so this is perfect for us. And the price is pretty perfect too!

There are so many great designs though, I am having a hard time choosing one. I need to hurry though, Christmas is coming soon!

Here are a few of my favorites. Now I just need to decide on ONE. That's not easy to do with all the choices that Shutterfly offers!

I like the bright colors in this one.

But this one is pretty perfect for us. What do you think?

And while we are talking about Christmas, here is a great gift! What grandparent wouldn't love one of these?!

Like I said, so many choices! And great prices. So click on over to shutterfly.com today and order yours! It's super easy to just upload your photo. I can't wait to get mine picked out and ordered.

December Already?!

2010-12-05T16:02:00.003-06:00

Wow, I can't believe that it is December already. How well I remember last year! It seems like just a few months ago.

I am trying very hard to get in the holiday spirit around here. I have done hardly any Christmas shopping yet, and I just barely got the tree put up. It's hard to feel like Christmas when it is still so hot and green outside. There are no Christmas song about when it's 80 outside and the palm trees are swaying... Although according to the weather people here we are having "winter" weather. Winter here means a few more clouds and rain, and some days the breeze is fairly cool. I'll take it! On the cloudy days I just look out the window, and pretend that it is as cool as it looks outside.

We will not be with family for Christmas either. While this makes me very sad, and I'm missing all the family stuff we usually do on Christmas, at the same time I am looking forward to starting our own family traditions this year! I get the opportunity to start something special that someday my girls will remember about Christmas! And that does make me a little excited. But I am still missing the big family gatherings, with all the food and fun that comes with being with extended family this time of the year.

I am so thankful for my little family. I'm thankful that Tony is here for the holidays. There are many people in his line of work that aren't able to be home for Christmas. And someday, he might be one of those too. So I am very grateful this year, because we have no guarantee on the next years. The girls are very excited for Christmas too! Especially Natalie. Her Christmas list changes everyday I think. Haha! Although there have been a few things that have stayed the same. They love the Christmas tree! They plug it in first thing every morning. When I finally got it put up, Gabbie went running to it and gave it a big hug! There aren't many ornaments on it, and the bottom half is mostly bare. The bead garland is already messed up. But between the girls and the cat, I didn't really expect much different.

We also have the added blessing of a new baby this year! I am 9 weeks pregnant with baby #3. Natalie and Gabbie are VERY excited. They both want another sister. Poor daddy. Ha ha! So far this pregnancy is exactly like the other two. I haven't been sick, just super tired! I have heard from several people that have both boys and girls that their pregnancies were different with the different genders. I have a feeling the girls will get their sister, but of course that remains to be seen! Either way we will be happy.

I better go try and do something productive with my day. Tony is working this weekend, so I am being lazy this morning. Have a blessed December, with much happiness in this special season!

It's been...wow

2010-10-23T18:00:00.002-05:00

I know that most of you are probably thinking that I have disappeared by now. I haven't. I have just been busy. And stressed. And had more pressing things to do than update my blog. And every time I set down at the computer I have 2 toddlers crawling all over me. Which makes updating a little hard. But here I am. To spare you the very long post of what's been going on the last 3 or so months, I will just hit the highlights for you.

Tony's mom came to visit. We had a blast. Went shopping, and did some new things on the island. She bought me a sewing machine! I love it, and have been trying to find some time to make some simple clothes for the girls. While she was here the girls got sick. Then Tony and I got sick at the end of her visit. The combination of being sick and Gramma visiting made Gabbie regress in her potty training. BAD. We were back to day 1. Aaannnd, it took us over a month to get trained again! Ugh. (That's one of the things that has been keeping me busy, and kept me from blogging)

Tony and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! Sine we were apart for our last anniversary we had a lot of fun celebrating this year. We went to a luau on the beach. It was a wonderful evening. The Air Force ball was in September. It is to celebrate the Air Force's birthday. It also happens to mark Tony's anniversary in the Air Force! He has been in for a whole year now! I can't believe it!! The time is flying! We had a lot of fun getting dressed up and going to the ball. It was nice to have a kid free night! :o) We have also hit the 6 month mark of being in Hawaii! We REALLY can't believe that one. The time has really been going by so quickly! We still love it here, and haven't even done a fraction of all there is to do on the island.

One night the smoke detector in Gabbie's room started "chirping" You know, the occasional beep like when the batteries are getting low? Only ours are wired into the electricity...so no clue why it was doing this in the middle of the night. Well it scared Gabbie. BAD. She was afraid to be alone, especially in her room. Wouldn't sleep in her room. Naps and nighttime involved me sitting in her room for an hour or more until she fell asleep. Then she would wake up in the middle of the night and I would be outside of her room for 3-4 hours trying to get her back to sleep. It was AWFUL! A very long, sleep deprived month. She is mostly better now. We still have to stay outside her room for a little bit when we put her to bed at night, and she still wakes up in the middle of the night. Every night. BUT, I finally made her a pallet on the floor of our room, and so now she just wakes up and comes in our room to lay down and sleep more. So at least I'm getting sleep. We are still dealing with her separation anxiety though. Not sure if us trying a new church set it off, or if it's just one of those normal stages of life. It's annoying. She won't let us leave her in her class at church now, and she does not sit still and quiet to go to church with us. She even gets upset when I leave her with her daddy! I have to sneak out of the house so that she won't have a meltdown. It's really frustrating! I'm hoping that she will grow out of this phase soon as well.

We are still looking for a church that is "home" for us. We have found a couple that we like, but just don't feel that connection yet. Hopefully soon. We haven't been able to attend the new one very much lately because of Gabbie though. We started going to that church because it has AWANA's that starts at Cubbies. The chapels on base have AWANA's, but they don't start until kindergarten. Natalie has been going to Cubbies. She loves it and is doing very well.

We have been meeting more great people here. We are very thankful for that. I have a small group of moms (and 1 dad) that get together every week most weeks. Three of us live in the same neighborhood, so that's nice. We like to go to the beach, or the splash park, or just have a play date where the kids can play and the adults can have some time with other adults. Ha ha. I'm finding that to be very important.

Tony finally has a set schedule. He works 12 hour shifts. 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off. It's confusing, and has been hard for me to get used to! I never know what day of the week it is. I have to write everything down on a calendar. It's hard but he has about 1/2 the time off, which is nice. He works every-other weekend, which I don't like, but he has some weekdays off which is nice. We like to avoid the crowds when we do stuff around the island. He got Airman of the Quarter, which is a very good thing. It will look good when promotion time comes, and hopefully it will help him get promoted 6 months early!

We have been fighting sickness around our house! We have all taken our turns. Yes, multiple. lol The girls have had stomach bugs, and colds. Tony and I have been passing colds back and forth. I even had a fever with one of my rounds, so not sure what it was. We are starting to all get cleared up, and I hope it stays that way!

While the rest of the country is enjoying fall, things here aren't much different. I planted some new herbs and flowers the other day. I didn't think I would mind warm weather all year, but I am missing Fall! "Winter"is the rainy time of year here on the island, so we have been having a little more clouds and rain than we have been. That helps it to be a little cooler, but not much.
It's hard for me to believe that the holidays are upon us...I still think it's summer! This is strange to me for sure. All the stores have winter clothes like on the mainland though! Are you kidding me?! We don't need fleece, sweaters, coats, and boots! Even gloves and hats! I didn't know this would happen, or I would have bought the girls shoes while summer stuff was still out. It's going to be an interesting "winter".

Speaking of holidays...they are almost here! Yikes! This will be the first holidays that we won't be spending with my side of the family. That will be really hard. However, we are looking forward to starting our own traditions for our little family here. :o) Although...if nothing changes with Tony's schedule, he will be working on Thanksgiving. I'm having a hard time with that. It will be an interesting Thanksgiving...

And another thing that's been keeping me busy...I have started selling Scentsy! If you aren't familiar with the products you should get acquainted! I LOVE it! I've only been doing it a little over 2 months now, but I'm already making a profit. :o) I'm not getting rich yet... ;o) but it's nice to have a little extra spending money.

Well that's probably enough stuff to make you bored. If you are still reading hopefully you can see why it's been so long since my last post and forgive me for it. It won't be that long before my next one, hopefully!

Wild at Heart book review

2010-08-15T14:29:00.003-05:00

This is a guest post from my husband. We signed up at BookSneeze to get free books sent to us, and then we have to put a review of the book online.

Wild at Heart is the author’s attempt to define, create, and inspire a new generation of “Real Men™.” At the beginning of Wild at Heart, John Eldredge declares that “in the heart of every man is a desperate desire for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.” This is the central theme of this over-200 page book. I believe that almost everyone should read this book. It is definitely geared toward men, but I think women would gain an important understanding of men from it as well. Eldredge does a good job referencing movies, poetry, songs, and books to draw his portrait of an ideal man. This turns out to be the main flaw in the book. Eldredge, rightly or wrongly, seems to be projecting his personal concepts of masculinity onto God. He refers to the Scriptures, but as maybe only 40% of his examples of true masculinity. This is fine with me, as long as people are not reading Wild at Heart expecting a theological masterpiece. John Eldredge is no Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, or C.S. Lewis. This is a self-help/motivational book at its core, painted with rather broad brush strokes. Read it, learn from it, but don’t take it as the Gospel truth. I suggest also reading Eric Ludy’s “God’s Gift to Women” as a companion to Wild at Heart.

Disclaimer: I received Wild at Heart – Revised and Expanded for free from the publisher for the purposes of writing a review.

-Tony

USS Ronald Reagan

2010-06-29T18:51:00.010-05:00

I am loving experiencing all the new things that being in the military and stationed in Hawaii has offered us so far. Yesterday we got to see the USS Ronald Reagan coming into port in Pearl Harbor. We were able to stand by the water on Hickam AFB and see it just glide by. It was very cool! It was a little over an hour late, but that's not unusual for the military! LOL

That thing is HUGE!
Just a couple of things that I think is super cool about the ship:
It can run for 20 years before needing to be refueled
It has a crew of around 3000- that's bigger than a lot of towns!
It carries 90 aircraft.
It travels 35MPH

This is definitely one of those experiences where words and pictures don't do it justice! If you click on the pictures you can see more detail. That helps a little.

Here she comes!

Getting closer!

You can see some of the planes here.

I love how the Sailors were dressed and standing at attention on every deck, around the whole boat! It looked very neat!

See the Sailors? I think that was my favorite part. :o)

It's been 4 years...

2010-06-22T14:48:00.002-05:00

Of changing diapers and pull-ups on 2 kids. Now...I have a break! Gabbie has been doing GREAT on the potty! She still hasn't mastered the pooping on the potty yet, which puzzles me. I thought that was the easier to train? Anyway, I am totally counting my victory where I have it though! She is getting better every day, and she caught on so quickly this time! She only uses 2 pull-ups a day now. One for nap and bedtime. YAY!! You know you are a mom when this is one of the most exciting things in your life! And in this mom's opinion, a tiny bottom in tiny panties is just so cute!

Different in Hawaii-Part 1

2010-06-16T09:21:00.000-05:00

Some things that are taking me awhile to get used to, or that I find different or funny.

Hawaii loves SPAM! It's everywhere. They have a festival every year to celebrate it. You can buy it at Burger King. The local souvenir section at Target has a ton of SPAM themed items. They are also crazy about Macaroni salad! And mayonnaise! I probably don't need to tell you that the native Polynesians are a, uh...hefty group of people. :o)

The roads/highways here. First, the speed limit is so much slower than I'm used to! The main, 3-4 lane divided roads are only 35 MPH! What?! Is this how they attempt to make it feel like the island is bigger than it is? You feel like you are driving further if it takes you longer to get there? The "interstate" speed limit is 45-50 mph. And yes, it is called an interstate. Even though it doesn't connect any states. Hawaii had to do that in order to get federal funding for the roads.

Second, the condition of the roads. I am spoiled by driving on Texas roads so much maybe, but these roads are rough! Potholes and cracks and bumps everywhere!

Third, the narrowness of the roads and the lack of big cars! In Texas our Expedition was one of thousands. Big cars and trucks were very much the normal thing to drive. Here, there are lots of Mini Coopers and small cars. I am definitely in the minority in my big car. Parking is a lot harder in my big car and narrow spaces. It usually takes me at least 2 tries to get it parked ok.

The traffic. It's terrible at rush hour! It can take you 30 minutes to go 5 miles. However, being from Texas, I am used to driving 30 minutes to get a lot of places I'm going. So it doesn't feel too bad to me yet. I just don't think about how far I have (or haven't) traveled.

The drivers. Are NICE! ha ha Very laid back and if you need over in the crazy traffic, it's not hard to do! Someone will always let you in. I definitely like that! I have never heard people honking at each other or getting mad in traffic. The Aloha spirit is very much evident here.

The language here. Yes, it's English...but the Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters. Some of the vowels make different sounds than in our alphabet. There are only so many words that you can make with 12 letters, so some of the words get very long and strange!! I think that they are just made out of random letters because they are running out of ideas. Tony and I got so cracked up listening to a couple of our movers talking. It was English, but we couldn't understand what they were saying! The islanders have a way of talking and words that they use that really do make it sound like a foreign language.

The scenery. I am not used to flowers growing beside the highways and everywhere! It's beautiful and makes it smell good! The mountains are breathtaking as well.

The customer service. Is terrible!!(mostly talking about fast food restaurants) There isn't much service with a smile here. No one gets in a hurry to help you either. Laid back is good, but sometimes it would be nice if you could do some things quickly! I think that's why there are no Chick-Fil-A restaurants here. They couldn't find enough people that would be friendly enough to work there! ha ha.

Finally!

2010-06-10T21:14:00.000-05:00

Well, you saw the front of the house in the last post. Here is some of the inside! We are finally settled into our house! No more hotel living for us. That makes me very happy.

The Staircase. There are lots of stairs.

The view from the front door.

The Girls' bathroom. I LOVE having more than 1 bathroom!

The "great room" Living, dining, and kitchen.

Living room
Dining area

Playroom!

And of course the kitchen!

I am so very happy to be in a house again. Our house is big and beautiful. We are so very blessed to be able to be living in a newer house here. It was worth the wait!

We had a bit of a rough time getting the house. The washer and dryer that were supposed to be included, weren't. The housing office told us it would be another 10 days before we could get one. Uhhh, I have 2 toddlers. 10 days wasn't going to work very well! So, I stayed persistent and kept calling the office until they managed to find me one after 4 days. Then, the day we got the washer and dryer we got a call saying that our dishwasher has been recalled...and we shouldn't be using it! Are you kidding me??! What's next, are they going to come and take my refrigerator? Ha ha. I have not been using my dishwasher...as much! I know, I know. But it's been running fine for the last 2 or so years. So I figure if it's going to start a fire, it would have already. I never leave it running when I'm not home, or overnight. I'm trying to quit, I really am. I'm just having to work up to it I guess.
I few things were damaged in the move, but nothing that can't be replaced. I'm thankful for that. The back of our leather couch got torn up, but I guess that's something that I'm just going to have to live with. We are turning all the paperwork in to be compensated, so we will see what happens. I'm not expecting much.
We have laminate flooring downstairs and high ceilings, so even with all our stuff in the house it is still very loud. It's very white too. We aren't allowed to paint or anything. So I get to buy curtains and some decor soon to soften things up a bit. I'm excited!

Almost 1 year ago, it was prophesied over me at church while Tony was away at basic training that "It's always darkest before the dawn. But the dawn is coming, and it's going to be brighter than you've imagined." Well, there have been some dark times since then. But I never imagined that I would be living in Hawaii, in a house like this! Maybe this is the Dawn that He was telling me about. :o) It kinda looks that way to me.

Almost There

2010-05-24T18:59:00.004-05:00

Today is day 57 of living in a hotel. Not good. However, the good news is that we only have 3 days left! We get to look at our house on Wednesday, sign the papers on Thursday...and have all of our stuff delivered on Friday!!!

I'm so antsy and excited I can hardly stand it! I am so ready to have a routine again! All those things that get old and boring...like the cooking and cleaning, well I can't wait to do it again! Don't get me wrong. A break from all that is nice. Eating out often and not having to cook and clean up afterward is really nice! However, I think 2 weeks or so is probably sufficient. 9 weeks is a little much, especially with 2 toddlers! I can't even tell you how nice it will be for all four of us to not have to live in 1 room! I can't wait to clean, and make out a menu and cook again. I can't wait to decorate, and plant flowers and herbs. I can't wait to get back to teaching Natalie preschool, and potty training Gabbie. I will finally be settled for awhile! For over a year now, I have just been waiting for time to pass. Living in the temporary, just waiting for what was coming. Well now it's finally here! We will be here for 3-4 years. I will finally be able to really settle in and enjoy life more! I can't wait.

Tony is working different hours this week, 2-10pm. Don't know if it's that, or the fact that we are so close...but of course these last few days are really dragging!! Come on Friday!!!

Another Day in (not so) Paradise...

2010-05-07T18:55:00.002-05:00

It is hard for me to believe that in 2 days we will have been on the island for a month already! We are still living in a hotel waiting on a house. I have good days and bad days. ha ha Today is a not so good day.

The fire alarms went off at 7:00 this morning, waking the girls up. We hurry down the 3 flights of stairs and wait around outside for awhile. A guy from down the hall told me that it was his toaster that set it off. And he "hoped he didn't wake anybody up" Uhhh, just some children. Finally the Fire Dept comes and turns the alarm off so we can go back inside.
We discover that there is no hot water for showers...again. This happens frequently.
We discover that the money that the AF owes us is not going to be on the next paycheck like it is supposed to be. We have already paid almost $2000 out of our own pocket for lodging since we have been here. We need to pay $1000 more in Sunday. We don't have it. The AF is taking their time paying us the almost $7000 they owe us so far.

We are supposed to move this Sunday into different lodging as they are out of room for us here. Tony was told that we are moving somewhere other than where we were planning to go. Which is fine, except that they only have room for us for a week. After that...we move again? Not sure.

Now I want to make it clear that I'm not really complaining...more like venting. At least that is the intention of my heart. I am grateful to God for the miracle that we have been living in Hawaii for a month, paying our own hotel bills and eating out every day without the extra money that we should be getting to cover these expenses. I have NO idea how that has been possible! Only because of GOD. Now for some more good things-

Tony has been busy this morning trying to get stuff worked out. He has a great 1st SGT that is helping him out. It's complicated and a headache, but we are being taken care of. He is in a great shop. We will be ok.
We are living in Hawaii! So many people would love this opportunity. So many people in the Military try their whole careers to get stationed here and never do. So many have to do a year long remote tour away from their families in order to get here. We got it as our first station! Basically handed to us. God must have a plan for us, you think?!
My husband has a stable job. That's always something to be thankful for! While there are a lot of headaches involved with being in the military, it has a lot of perks too.
I have a housekeeper! lol I may be living in a hotel, but I haven't had to vacuum, wash towels, clean the bathroom or make a bed for over a month. I'll focus on that part, instead of the homeless part. :o)
EVENTUALLY...we will have a very nice house! Once we tough it out through all this, it will be worth it.
I have met some great wives this week! Slowly but surely we are starting to make some connections and take some steps toward making some friends.
I have a "girls night" planned for tomorrow night with a few of these ladies. For mother's day our hubbies are keeping the kids and letting us have some girl time to ourselves! We are excited!

We think that we have found a church that we like.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. I feel a little better now. :o) I hope everyone has a great weekend! Happy mother's day to all you moms out there! To all my friends that want to be mother, and God has not blessed you in that way yet- My prayers are with you. May he comfort you in your tough times and fulfill your dreams.

Lanikai Beach

2010-04-22T20:12:00.005-05:00

We wanted to find a beach that had calmer waves to take the girls to. They love the waves, but its easier for us if the waves are a little more gentle. :o) This beach was nice. You can see all the plants and coral in the water close to the shore. This broke up the waves, but it also made it hard to go very far out into the water. We saw several people snorkeling there, so we may have to try it sometime! The nice thing about Hawaii, it's a state law that every beach (except for the ones on military bases) have public access. It was pretty cloudy the day we went here so it was a little cool when we got wet. The water was nice, about 78 degrees. We about decided to call it an early day since it was chilly when some clouds blew in and we got rained on. So our trip to that beach was cut short.

Somewhere along the North Shore...

2010-04-22T19:24:00.005-05:00

We went to Haleiwa on the North Shore. We didn't see any turtles on the beach like we were hoping, but we did see some playing in the waves on the shore.

If you look really closely you can kinda see the turtle in the water. It didn't show up on the camera very well.

My first Hawaii Shave Ice. This one was a pineapple bowl. Pineapple ice cream under the pineapple flavored shave ice. Yummy! Gabbie is all ready for the first bite!

Bellows Air Force Station

2010-04-22T18:38:00.006-05:00

The day after we arrived we went to the beach at Bellows AFS.

The views on the drive to that side of the island...

Natalie in a big hole!

Gabbie loves playing in the sand!

The girls absolutely LOVED the beach!! I think that we will have a couple of beach babies in no time at all!

Aloha from Hawaii!

2010-04-18T18:27:00.000-05:00

Well, we have finally made it to Hawaii! Our flight was a little over 8 hours long. We had to be at the airport 4 hours before our flight. The girls did fantastic!I can't believe how well they did. All the prayers that people were praying for us were definitely answered! It was nothing short of a miracle. Gabbie started getting restless the last 30 min or so of the flight, but I'll admit that I was too! I don't blame her in the least! We landed at 4:45 Hawaii time, which was 9:45 according to our bodies!

We had quite an adventure the night we got here. We had reservations on an Army base close to Hickam for our lodging. Hickam was full. We got to the lodging place and found that it was filthy! It was too dirty for us to stay there, so Tony's sponsor started looking for us another place to stay. All military lodging in the area was full, so my friend Jennifer helped us get a room at a Best Western. So by the time we got all our stuff hauled over there, rented a car, had supper...it was after 10:00 Hawaii time before we all made it to bed.(3am according to our bodies.) Gabbie was up at 4:30am the next morning. (9:30 according to her body) Ugh. We have been here just over a week and have managed to get her sleeping in until 6:30 every morning. The sun comes up here around 6:00, so this may be our new wake-up time.
We were at the Best Western until Monday, when we got lucky and a room on base opened up. We can only stay here until the 8th of May. But this place has a living room and 2 bedrooms as opposed to just 2 beds in a room like the hotel. We don't have a kitchen, but we do have a small fridge and microwave.

We were here for a week before we were offered a house. Hickam didn't have a house for us, and all they would tell us is that it would be 2-3 months wait. So we applied for Army and Navy housing. The Army is who finally offered us a house. We can't move in until JUNE 11th, but at least they were willing to give us top priority and at least offer us one. It is REALLY nice too! I am so super excited! It is a little over 1600sq feet, 3bedroom, 2.5 bath. Its less than 5 years old too. The neighborhood is beautiful also. God has really blessed us! It will be worth the wait...I hope! ha ha I am praying hard that it doesn't fall through. It shouldn't, but it could still be a possibility I suppose. If another house in that same neighborhood happened to open up sooner, that would be ok though. By the time we finally get into our house we will have been living out of a suitcase and eating out for 10 weeks! Yipes! Please pray for us...we're going to need it! I'm already missing being able to cook a meal, and I'm very tired of living out of a suitcase! I still have a LONG time to go to! There is only one good thing about waiting so long. The military gives us a per diem everyday that we are homeless. So we should profit nicely for being homeless for a little over 2 months. At times though, I still wonder if it's worth it. :o) If things go as planned, we will be moving into yet ANOTHER hotel next month, when they run out of room for us here. That hotel is a very nice Air Force hotel resort right on Waikiki Beach. Hopefully that will help to make up for the fact that we won't have a fridge, microwave or anything. We will be eating out a LOT then.

Our Future House

The view from our front yard one direction...

And the other direction

We really like being here, homelessness and all! The base is very laid back. Tony is still doing inprocessing and other stuff so he hasn't started work yet, but he really likes what he has seen of his shop so far. They gave him the afternoon off the other day because it was my birthday! It looks like it is going to be a great place for him to work! The base is right on the coast, and Tony got to see a submarine coming in the other day! So cool! I hope I get to see one sometime too. We get to see, (and hear) the fighter jets coming and going all the time too.
We haven't been able to go out and do a whole lot yet. We have done a few things though. I will post about that soon.

Tech School Graduation

2010-03-19T00:01:00.011-05:00

Today Tony (finally) graduated Tech school! We are so excited! He got Distinguished Grad too! That means that he had really good grades, never got in trouble for anything and had an instructor recommendation. I'm not surprised, and I'm very proud of him! This day has been a long time in coming for us. He has already been in the Air Force for almost 8 months! It seems like forever, and not that long at the same time. The fact that it has been 8 months and he is still in training is starting to get a little old! He has another 2 week-long training class and then we are off to Hawaii! We are very anxious to get to our duty station and be able to start this new part of our lives

My parents are visiting us for a few days since we won't have time to go to Amarillo before we move. They took the girls out to eat tonight and they are spending the night at Mimi and Pawpaw's camping trailer! We have no kids for the whole evening AND night. That has never happened! It is so nice! We went out to dinner with the other married couples from Tony's class. It has been nice having some friends for our time here. We don't really do much with them since we don't have a babysitter very often, but we have a lot of fun on the rare occasions that we were able to get together. Tonight we had fun celebrating that tech school is finally over! All the couples except for us are leaving town tomorrow to go to their new stations. This was our first time to say good-bye to friends that we have met in the Air Force.(first of many I'm sure, so we will have to get used to it) :o) It is bitter sweet. We are all so excited to be going to our new places, but we will always have this common bond of surviving tech school together. I am thankful for Facebook that lets us all keep in touch. Someday our paths just might cross again!

Natalie gave herself a haircut last night. She cut the hair in the front down to the scalp, and took big chunks out of the rest of it. I took her to a salon today to get it fixed. I will admit that it could have been much worse. She looks a lot older now with her new layered hairstyle.

Natalie's version

Better

And a picture of Gabbie, so she is included. :o) Plus it is so RARE that she will actually smile for the camera! I think she is so cute in this one!

So much Happening

2010-03-09T12:26:00.003-06:00

You may have noticed that I changed the name of my blog. I wasn't really liking the old one anymore, and I think with all the stuff that is going on with us it may not apply as well anymore also. I'm going to give this new title a chance, and see how I like it. Now we are not in Hawaii yet, but the movers come in a little less than 3 weeks, and I may not have time to make any changes to my blog between now and then.

Here are some highlights of what has been going on since my last post.

We got our tax refund (yay!)and bought our first grill! We are excited that we will be able to use it so much once we move! There will be lots of great grilling weather. We are using it a lot now, even though it's kinda cold still. We are trying to use up the bottle of gas before we move, as the movers won't move that.

We took a quick trip to Houston to see Clint and Kaleena and we took Molly to her new home. Kaleena works with a lady that wanted to adopt her when she heard that we couldn't take her to Hawaii with us. It would cost us around $1000 to get her there, and we just couldn't spend that on a dog. Molly has a GREAT new home, and even has a "brother" (they already had a dachshund) to play with. She took to her new family right away and is getting spoiled beyond belief! We keep in touch with her her family and she is still doing great! The girls hardly even noticed that she was gone, which is a huge relief. I didn't want them to miss her too bad.

Tony's grandmother from Rhode Island came to visit us last weekend. We had fun seeing her again.

We have been busy trying to get all the details lined up for our move. There are so many details too! Then the military lost some of the paperwork, so we had to repeat a step. They messed up a couple of things the first time, so we had to repeat those steps also. When they reserved the flight they only got a ticket for Tony, so he had to go back and get them to fix that too. We finally got everything that we needed to get official orders. Yay! After we got orders then we had to set up the date for the movers to come, a time to drop off the car that the military is shipping in Dallas. We are shipping our other car ourselves, so we had to set that up also. There was so many things we had to do, and we didn't have much time to do it in! I think it is all done now though!

The movers come for our main shipment of stuff on the 29th, and then our unaccompanied baggage ships out on the 30th. The unaccompanied baggage is stuff that we will need before our other shipment gets to us. (like more clothes, some toys etc.) It will take a little over a month for our household stuff to get to us. Since we are going overseas we are allowed this other shipment. They ship it quicker, so we will get it not long after we get there. That will help so much! I was wondering how I was going to fit everything in the suitcases! Tony's car will be picked up on the 18th, and it should be waiting for us on the island when we get there! It will be interesting seeing the 4 of us crammed into the tiny 2 door car, but it is better than having to rent one for a few weeks. Better money-wise anyway.

Well that's some of the main stuff that has been keeping us busy. Of course we have all the daily stuff that doesn't stop to allow time for all the extra stuff we have to do! I have 2 weeks to have the house spotless, and deep cleaned and ready for housing to look it over. It would be sooo nice if the messes could stop for a bit to allow me to do this extra cleaning, but that's not how it works with 2 toddlers! I'm going to have to work super hard!

Tony has his last day of classroom instruction today! Yay! Next he has about a week of mock deployment work to do. He will be doing hands on stuff like he would doing on a deployment. He will get to put to use (on a pretend scenario) some of this stuff that he has been learning the last 6 months! He graduates Tech school on March 18th! FINALLY! He has to take an additional class before we move. It starts on the 22nd, and runs through the 6th of April. April 7th he will have final paperwork and out-processing to do and then we will drive to Dallas that evening. We drop the car off for shipment the next day, and then fly out on the 9th!

As you can see, we have lots to do in the next 4 weeks! I don't know if I will be able to check back in and update before the move or not. I will try, but no promises.

Happy Spring everybody! I for one am very glad to see the weather getting warmer. Spring is my favorite season! (Now I better get back to that To Do list.)

Too young to be a tooth fairy!

2010-02-10T14:04:00.004-06:00

Sometimes being a parent is no fun at all. Don't get me wrong, I love my babies and I can't imagine my life with out them.

Before we got to the story behind the title, you need a little background information.

Because our upcoming move is considered an Overseas location, we have to be medically cleared to move. The Military wants to make sure that you don't have any conditions, or need to see any specialists that may not be available to you at your next location. It's not a big deal, especially for Hawaii. There is pretty much any kind of Dr. one would need over there, but regardless there is a lot of paperwork and hassle that you have to do anyway. Fun, fun. So this month I have been busy getting the medical clearance paperwork together for the three of us girls. This involves trips to the dentist and the clinic for checkups. After that we have to meet with some medical people and a "mental health" specialist so they can finish clearing us. I have been busy and exhausted, but I am almost done with my part! After this it is up to the military, and we are back to waiting. (The story of my life lately) We are hoping for orders soon, so we will have a date for our move. The next few weeks are big ones for us as far as moving plans go.

When I took Natalie to the dentist for her check-up they discovered that she has something known as External Resorption in her two front top teeth. Basically the roots and teeth are being resorbed. Like dissolved or eaten away. Anyway...this could have been caused from a trama to her teeth sometime in the past, like if she fell and hit them pretty bad. The dentist said that if we didn't have her teeth pulled, then it would spread to her other teeth and even damage her permanent teeth. Yipes!
So sitting in the dentist office I was in shock, and to clarify I asked,

"So you want to take those two teeth out?"

Yes

"And leave a HOLE in her mouth for a year or two??"

Yes

"And it's ok to do this??"

Yes

I had to come home and talk to Tony about it, do some research on our own, and make myself be ok with doing this. For some reason I had the hardest time making the decision to do it! How could I take the front teeth out of my baby's head way before it was time?? She would have trouble eating, and talking, and lets face it I was concerned with how she would look. I know kids are cute with missing teeth, but teeth that are missing for 2 years?! I was devastated. However the thought of damaging her permanent teeth, just to save these for a couple more years was stupid.

So we decided to have it done. Today I took my beautiful little girl to the dentist and had her teeth pulled. She's probably young enough that she doesn't know to care about how she looks with missing teeth. (Although the first thing she said to me when she got done was that she wanted to see in the mirror) :o) I think because her mouth was so numb she had no idea what had happened to her! She had to see that she was ok. She says that her mouth is "dizzy".

I got to thinking about how awful this was for me-and I realized that it really wasn't awful at all. So many parents are told so many things that are so much worse! What they wouldn't give to only have to have their kids teeth pulled instead of surgery, or chemo, or whatever other truly terrible thing their child is faced with.

It's not even as bad as when she was 2 days old and the Dr. told me there was a hole in her tiny heart....

So I will put on my big girl panties, a brave smile, and keep telling my little girl that she is a beautiful princess. (Because she still is!) I will put on my tooth fairy hat tonight and remember this milestone in my child's life even if it did come too early! I am thankful that she is healthy and whole, and we caught this before it was too late!

Now I have to go wake up both of my princesses, so I can go get my check-up. After this I am turning in paperwork and we are back to more waiting. I am DONE with Dr visits for awhile I hope!

We Were Surprised

2010-01-09T11:54:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Tony went to sign the papers to apply to trade bases. We were told it would probably take a few days to find out if it was approved or not. They were behind in the office and it would probably take longer than usual for us to hear from them. So we were very surprised last night, when Tony checked his account with the Air Force online and saw that our next base would be Hickam AFB! We were not really expecting the trade to be approved, much less in half a day! (Now why can't the Air Force always do things this quickly?!)

We did not go looking to trade bases. The guy Tony traded with came to him wanting California. We thought and prayed about it and decided to go ahead and apply for the trade, even though our chances were slim of it being approved. We didn't want to pass up an opportunity like this, just in case. We were happy with the possibility of either place. We just want to be where God wants us to be. So we left it in God's hands, not that we can ever really take control anyway! We were at peace with wherever He put us.

There are pros and cons to being there, of course. The biggest cons would definitely be that we would be farther away from from my family, and a lot of his family. We plan to take advantage of all the Space-A travel that we can though, and come back to visit as often as possible. I don't know that being in Hawaii would cause us to visit less often than we would if we were in California. It would possibly prevent them from being able to visit us as easily. However it doesn't cost as much more to fly there as opposed to California as I thought it would. It will all work out, as we are confident that God has a plan for us being there!

On the pro side, it will probably be easier to see Tony's parents than it would be if we were in California. The experience and opportunity that it would be for our family and especially for the girls is another pro to us.

I know that my family is not excited about this for us. That's ok, I understand. Even though it makes me so sad to make them upset. We have always seen my family pretty often, so this will be an adjustment. I'm praying that God will give them peace and excitement for us.

We have lots to do in the next 2 months to get ready for our adventure. I'm very excited to follow God in this next step. Our first order of business once we get there-swimming lessons for me and the girls!

Hello 2010

2010-01-03T13:44:00.003-06:00

I hope that this new year has gotten off to a great start for all of you. 2009 was a year of many changes for us, and there are a few in store for us in 2010 as well.

This time last year we had just decided that Tony would join the Air Force. Look how far we have come in 1 year! We survived the 2 month separation with limited contact for Basic Training. The girls and I moved 300 miles to be with him at Tech school. We are now half-way done with tech school. This time last year I would not have believed that I could go for 2 months without my husband, and move pretty much by myself! While it wasn't fun or easy, I wouldn't change anything about it. Everything we went through was used for learning and putting things in perspective. Our marriage and family as a whole has been made stronger and better because if it.

We look forward to our big move in the Spring. There is a possibility that we may not be moving to California after all. A guy that is in Tony's class came to him wanting to trade bases. He wants to go to the base in California that we have been assigned to. In exchange we would be going to the base that he was assigned. The base that he was assigned is Hickam AFB. I'll save you the time of Googling it and just tell you where it is....It's in Hawaii.

There are pros and cons to being in Hawaii instead of California. (More pros in my opinion.) :o) The biggest pros (aside from the fact that well, it's Hawaii) - are that I already have a friend there, and it would be a lot easier to see Tony's parents more often. They live in Okinawa. In the 6 years that we have been together Tony only sees his parents on average of once a year. They have seen Natalie 4 times, and Gabbie only twice. It would be harder to see my family, ( big con) but I would love the opportunity to spend more time with his parents. We would also make a little more money living in Hawaii as opposed to California. In the end we decided that you just don't turn a chance like that down. It may not happen again. SO, we are in the process of waiting to see if the trade will be approved. It may or may not be approved, but at least we aren't passing the opportunity up! We hope to know in the next week or two what the outcome is. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much...but some days it's really hard! :o)

Either way- whether we move to California or Hawaii- we have a big adventure awaiting us in about 3 months! I'm excited to get to our base and get settled. I'm ready to find a good church and make some friends. Natalie has also been asking about going to gymnastics lately-I think she misses it! Once we get settled we hope to get her back into it. She really loved it, and can still do some flips even though she hasn't had any classes in a long time.

I don't make resolutions, I never keep them so what's the point? Ha ha. My goals are pretty much the same every year. *Try to be a better friend, wife and mother than last year. *Learn to trust and follow God more. *Manage my time better. Those are a few of the basics. This year for sure I plan to... Do new things, see new places, and make new friends!

Blessings to you in 2010! Thanks for checking in with me as we start this year off. I hope we can end it together as well!

I'm Still Here

2009-12-01T06:52:00.007-06:00

As usual it has been way too long since I have posted. I have been busy.

The move went well. The movers didn't break anything. So far the only thing that I am missing is the front tray from my double stroller. I am not saying that they lost it yet, I need to look for it some more. However the more time that passes, the more it looks like I may not see it again and it must be riding around the country on a big orange truck or maybe one of the other military families got something new in their household shipment. I will be sad if I don't find it. It doesn't affect my ability to use the stroller, but it sure is nice to have.

I love our new tiny house. It is only 900-something sq feet, but somehow we have all the room we need. We even have a little bit left over! Its like one of the several miracles in the Bible where God caused something to multiply. (bread and fish, widow's oil, etc.) The space in my little miracle house just kept multiplying until I had all that I need. Somehow we have 3 walk-in closets. I love that, as do the girls. It's like an extra room to play in! I'm sure that I love the house more because we are all together here, but it really is a pretty nice house. It is old, and a lot of people complain about them. Maybe I've just never lived anywhere super nice, but I don't see what's so bad about it. The kitchen has been remodeled and it has new paint and crown molding. Other than the bad carpet and dishwasher I have no real complaints. The base is tiny, but I love it too. The Commissary and BX are super close and sometimes I will go at least a week without even leaving the base. My gas tank has lasted a month!! This again is something to love. We live withing walking distance to the playground, and the weather here is wonderful! We are still able to go to the playground often. It is (until this week anyway) still in the mid to high 70s during the day...and the wind doesn't blow!!!! I love that for sure!
It is a lot more wet here than in Amarillo. There are more trees too. There are Pecan trees everywhere on the base. There is mistletoe all over the town as well. I may have to go get me some for Christmas!
The day we finally got here. Yay, living in the same town again! (We were tired....not sure about the look on Tony's face!)

Our house. The pictures are a little blurry, they were taken with my phone.

Living room
Girls' room Dining room
Kitchen

Tony is doing great in school...no big surprise there. I'm so proud of him. His classes are not easy for most people, but he is sailing through them. He is enjoying most of what he is learning so far, and is looking forward to actually doing the job.

Natalie loves the new house and going to the playground. I have started her in preschool (home school) We haven't done it very much yet, but she likes it so far. She already knows most of what is taught in preschool, and she is only 3. So by starting now I am able to take our time and not push her. I don't have to worry about getting behind when we move in the spring either. We have a year and a half until kindergarten to learn the rest of what she doesn't know. We are working on writing letters and their sounds right now. I am amazed with how much she already knows and how easy it is for her to learn things. She loves it. Just like her Daddy. I hope she is always this way!

Gabbie is like me when it comes to learning...there is just so many better things to do with your time! She doesn't like to sit still long enough. We are working on potty training. It is a lot harder than it was with Natalie!! So far she has learned to run to the potty AFTER she wets her panties, and to say that she needs to potty when she should be in bed. She will sit on the potty for about 5 seconds before she says "done!" One night we had 2 successful trips to the potty, and I was SO excited! That was I got though. Gabbie knows more than she lets on though. She won't talk much at all, but every now and then she will let a few words out in the form of a sentence! She gets a look on her face like, "oops!" Then she goes back to acting like she doesn't know how to say those words. Silly girl! One of these days she will probably just start talking in perfect sentences and surprise me. Maybe that is her plan with the potty too...someday she will go from acting like she doesn't have a clue, to perfectly trained in 1 day. I can only hope. The military doesn't pay enough at Tony's rank to afford pull-ups, so I hope that day is soon!

The girls love their new big room. They play together all day in it! They get along about 90% of the time too. They love each other. The first thing Gabbie does when she wakes up in the morning is look for "Nat nat".

I am just trying to adjust. Adjusting to my babies getting so big, and adjusting the learning and discipline that goes along with that. Adjusting to the "stupid rules" of the Air Force. Most of the rules make no sense and are harder, more time consuming, and cost more than doing things another way. Nonetheless, we (especially Tony) have to follow them. I don't mind rules if they just had a purpose and made sense! It will be a lot better once we are permanent party in the Spring, but even then there will be things that don't make sense. Oh well, such is my life now. I'm not complaining at all, just trying to get used to it. I'm adjusting to getting up at 5:00am in the morning with Tony to help him get ready to go to class. I'm adjusting to him being gone from 5:20 in the morning until 5:30 or later at night. Some days I feel like I am adjusting better than others! I am adjusting to a new church. I miss Trinity Fellowship SO badly! There isn't really a good selection of churches here, so I am glad that we are only here temporarily! We have found one that will work for now. I am adjusting to a new town. I can make it to Wal-mart and the rest of the shopping I might need (they are on the same street. shhh, don't tell ;o) ) without my GPS now!

We went back to Amarillo for Thanksgiving weekend. It was good. We look forward to going back over Christmas. We had fun with family, and it made me realize that I consider here to be home now. Home is wherever my family (Tony and the girls), and my house is. I can make anywhere be home. That will come in handy over the next several years I think!

We are so blessed and Thankful this Holiday season! It has been a big year for us. We have done things that we never would have imagined for ourselves. In it all we know that we are exactly where God wants us, and we are headed down the path He wants us to travel! We are so happy where we are right now, and excited for where we will be next year!

Enjoy this wonderful, blessed season!

We Are Going...

2009-10-01T23:51:00.003-05:00

So I said that we should find out any day where we will be going for our permanent Duty Station. Well, it was actually that day! :o) Tony texted me that night with the news.
He will be graduating March 17th from his tech school, and then we will be going to BEALE AFB, California! That was not one of our top choices of places we wanted to go, but as soon as I found out that it was a possibility I had the strongest feeling that we would be going there. I was right! So I can't say that I was super surprised when he told me. Sometimes I just know things like that.

I have been praying for this-our first duty station- from the moment we signed up for the Air Force. I have been praying that God would put us at the best base for our family, one that wouldn't deploy Tony's job very much. I told Him I didn't care where we went, as long as it was His will, I just wanted what would be best for our family. From what we can tell with the little info we have on the base so far...it looks like Tony may not deploy very often from that base! So while we are a little nervous, and obviously very sad to be so far away from all our family here, we are very excited to see what God has in store for our little family!! We are at peace about this, and we totally feel God's hand leading us down this path! We will just take it one step at a time and hold tight to Him on the next stage of our adventure! We may not know why He is taking us to California, but I know I can't wait to find out!

But for now, the movers will be here in the morning to take our stuff to San Angelo. The next part of our adventure is upon us! I am so excited, and I know that the next 6 months will be a wonderful, happy time for us! For now, California is on the back burner and I am looking forward to embracing our time at Goodfellow! I will say that I am so happy to know where we are going next, but I also plan to soak up where we are now.

Your prayers are very much appreciated for the next couple of weeks, as we will be moving and getting settled into our new home. It will be at least a week after we get there before Tony is able to live with us, but we are still excited to see him everyday. We miss each other more than we thought possible! We will be living a few days without all of our stuff as well, so pray that the girls adjust and handle it well. The movers will be here early in the morning, and I must be up earlier than that, so I will say goodnight! I will be back in a few days to let you know how our adventure is going!

We Made It!

2009-09-30T13:25:00.001-05:00

It has been a long time since I last posted. I haven't been all that busy really. I've just been focused on surviving! Tony being gone has definitely been the hardest thing I have ever done! I thought I was prepared for it, but I wasn't! There is no way you can prepare yourself for your husband to be gone with very little contact at all! It was like he didn't exist for those 2 months. I wrote him a letter everyday, but the most I heard from him was pretty much once a week. I went the last 15 days with no contact at all!

I met a great group of 4 other ladies online who's husbands were graduating the same day as Tony. God brought us together for sure! It was so much help to have someone going through the same thing at the same time! We knew exactly what the other one was going through and how we were feeling. They made these last 2 months so much better. We were able to help each other through the dark days of BMT.

It got a little easier at the end, but that's when everything started going wrong! It was the longest 2 months of my life so far! While he was gone I only got one real phone call, and 5 letters. I got a couple of other "official" calls where he was getting or giving me information, but we didn't get much time to talk on those calls. Not like we had a long time to talk on his 1 "real" call either....only 15 minutes! Well...

WE MADE IT!!!

Tony graduated BMT on September 18th! That is the Air Force's birthday, which was pretty neat. I am sooo proud of Tony! He graduated as an honor graduate! Only up to 10% of the 799 people graduating were handpicked for honor graduate! He also got a perfect score on his final exam! He did awesome, and I am so very proud of him.

I left here on the 10th of September and went to Wichita Falls to see my best friend. I left there the next morning and went to Houston to see my sister and her husband, and then my aunt and uncle. I left Houston on the 16th to go to San Antonio!

We had a blast in Houston, in spite of my car getting towed from the parking lot of my sister's apartment! My aunt took the girls and I to the Houston zoo, and the downtown aquarium. The girls had a blast and they got to ride a train at both places, which they thought was pretty neat. At the aquarium we rode the little train through a tunnel aquarium where dozens of sharks swim all around and above you. I thought that was pretty neat!

When I got to San Antonio I picked up a friend of mine from the airport. Her name is Jennifer, she is one from the group of ladies I met online. Her fiance was graduating the same day as Tony. We finally got to meet the day before graduation, and it felt as if we had always known each other! After we got to town we went and explored the base a little bit, and then we split a hotel room that night. We got up super early the next morning to be on the base by 7:00am.

Thursday was the Airman's run in the morning. It was so neat to see! I couldn't pick Tony out of his flight, so I was a little disappointed about that. Then after what seemed like a very LONG time of waiting it was time for the Coin Ceremony and Retreat. All of this waiting in the hot sun was not fun with two toddlers, let me tell you that!! It was so worth it though!! After the retreat they tell you to go and find your Airman!! They have to stay in formation on the grounds, and all the families get to go and find them. I had managed to finally pick Tony out of the crowd I thought during the ceremony. Well they told us to go find our Airman, so the girls and I took off to where I thought he was standing...but when I got there it wasn't him!! I thought "Oh no! Now what do I do? I don't know where to look!" Then I looked closer at the person that I thought was him...and I read his name tag...and it WAS him!!! I didn't recognize my own husband!! He had lost 20 pounds, which wasn't all that noticeable I don't think. He was so tan! And the way he stood and carried himself, and he had no hair. I guess all of it combined made him look so different. Let me tell you though...he looked goo-OOD!!! :o) (Check out the pictures on the side) We got to hug for the first time in two months! But only for a second. There are very strict rules about any kind of PDA while he is in uniform. Plus we had to hurry to get to the ceremony honoring the Honor Graduates. After all of that he finally got "released" to us. We had some lunch at the mini mall. Natalie would not leave her daddy alone!! She would not let me sit by him, or by her for that matter. That was "for my daddy to sit" We had such a good time being back together! I was able to stay at the hotel on base, so we were able to go back to the hotel and have some family time. I got to get a real hug and kiss! The kiss was better than our first! :o) The weekend went by way to fast though.

Monday morning at 3:30 Tony was on a bus to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo(about 3 1/2 hours from San Antonio) Tx for more training. I met him there that evening to give him some of his personal things that he is now allowed to have. I left the next morning to come home, and left him there. Finally after 12 days and a little over 1400 miles, the girls and I were back home! We were all sick our first few days back. (Big surprise, huh?)

Because his school is so long, the Air Force is moving us to be with him! He will be at that base for 25 weeks. The movers will be here Friday! (Oct 2) I am so very, super excited! It could still be a couple of weeks before he is allowed to live with us, but we will be in the same town and be able to see each other every day starting this weekend! I'm happy with that for now! We have been able to talk everyday since he graduated which makes things a million times better than they were during BMT, but seeing each other everyday will be even better yet! I am working on patience for the next step- him being able to live with us! Each step is better, but I really want to be living in the same house again! Because of the no PDA rule, I am not allowed to even hold his hand in public when he is in uniform. So unless he is able to get permission to come to our house in his free time, there will still be no hugs and kisses for me for a couple of weeks! So will be able to see him everyday...but not touch him! So please pray for favor from his higher-ups, that they will grant him permission to come visit us at the house before he is able to live with us, and that the day that he is able to live with us is very soon!

I better run. Gotta get back to getting things ready for the movers to come pack it up! I don't know when we will have Internet after we move, but I will be in touch as much as possible. We should be finding out our orders for our next location any day! That is very exciting too! These next two weeks have a lot going on, and so much of it is unknown! That is the way my new life will be, so I am trying very hard to get used to it. I am so excited to take this next step! This week has been dragging!

Missing Daddy

2009-07-26T17:10:00.004-05:00

Before Tony left we took the girls to the Bear Mill and got them puppies in an Air Force Blues uniform. I put Tony's cologne on them so the girls have a little reminder of Daddy while he is gone. They love them, and Natalie is always saying "It smells good! It smells like my daddy!"

Daddy and his girls and their "Special Dada puppies"

Gabbie and her puppy watching Veggie Tales

I got my first phone call from Tony yesterday! This is the dreaded 30 second scripted call where he gives me his address. We actually got to talk for 2 min and 11 seconds! Yay! He was not very scripted, and there was no one yelling at him in the background. He sounded really good! Now I can write him letters. That makes me feel better, but we still miss him a lot.

Today...

2009-07-21T09:32:00.001-05:00

..Is the first day of the rest of our lives! We have officially become a part of the Air Force! We are so excited, but it is also a difficult transition for us. Please keep us in your prayers.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Getting Ready...

2009-07-18T16:24:00.005-05:00

As you can tell from my countdown on the side, Tony is leaving very soon! Thankfully he was able to take the last few days off of work and still get paid, so we have had a little while to get things ready for him to go, and also enjoy spending some extra time together.

About a week and a half ago, any time I would think about Tony leaving I would start to panic. How am I going to survive for the next 2-3 months all by myself? Well our couples life group had a special prayer time for us last week. They shared words that God had given them about us as well.

Some of the things they said-

God was impressed with Tony on the amount of prayer and seeking God and his will, in making this decision. Because this is HIS will for our family, we will be blessed and successful! (We joined this life group after we had decided to join the Air Force, and haven't really told them our story, and just how much we had sought God on this decision. ) It was so good to hear our leader say this. It is confirmation that his word did come from God.

He said that Satan knows that there is a "Hedge of protection" around our family. Job 1:10

They prayed peace over me, and said that they felt that God was going to make this time go by very quickly!

During the prayer I felt His peace. The fear and anxiety left, and I am feeling pretty good! I really feel like this is going to be a great time of growth for me as a person, and better time spent with God. I think it will also be good for our marriage, as we will better see how we take each other for granted, and don't appreciate each other as we should. Don't get me wrong...I will miss Tony a lot, and I'm sure that I will have days that I am ready to pull my hair out and I will be clinging to that peace by a small thread. However, now I think I have a much better perspective on the next 10-12 weeks. Please keep praying for me! I feel them already.

Now I don't want to come across as complaining in any way. We are very excited about our new life, and are willing to make this small sacrifice. I know that someday deployment will come and we will be apart for longer than this. So many women have gone through what I am facing and so much more! I know that I am nothing unusual or special in this case. This is just the first time that we have been apart more than 1 night since we have been married. It will probably take some getting used to! I'm not sure if adding 2 little girls to it makes it easier or harder. I will be busier and not as lonely, so that will make it easier. On the other hand...I will have two toddlers all by myself! Yikes! Definitely pray for me on that one!

Tony has to meet with the recruiter at 4pm on Monday. From there he will check into a hotel in town. We will be able to hang out with him there a little bit. We plan to try to take the girls swimming, if there aren't too many other guys there waiting to leave as well. After we eat supper, then we plan to come home and put the girls to bed and then I will take him back to the hotel. He has to be at MEPS at 4:30 the next morning. We don't know what time his flight to San Antonio is yet. That is the plan anyway...we'll see if it actually happens!

We'll keep you posted on this new chapter of our life.

Is it Summer or What?!

2009-07-08T22:37:00.000-05:00

The heat has really hit us here all of a sudden! Today was 102. Tomorrow is supposed to be 105, and the forecast for the next 6 days is all 100 or higher. Not a cloud in the sky.
I think it will be too hot for the girls to even play in the pool. We played out there today, but I got burned pretty bad. I put sunscreen on the girls, so they only burned along the part of their hair, and Gabbie has a couple of strange splotches where I missed getting the sunscreen on well. Poor babies.
It is still 91 degrees now, at 10:30pm.
It's dry here, so that is better than humid 105 degrees I guess...but some clouds and rain to cool it off would be so nice!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

This is a test...

2009-07-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

So I am supposed to be able to E-mail a post to my blog from my phone, or other E-mail device. Although if you have access to your E-mail on a computer, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to post directly on r blog. So I guess this is mostly for your phone. This is a test to see if I have actually figured it out! If you can see it, then I guess I have!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Where Did June Go?!

2009-07-01T11:11:00.004-05:00

Wow, this month has gone by so fast for me! I can't believe that it is July already. June seemed even busier than May was, and it definitely went by faster to me!

I want to start by saying hello to my new followers! I now have someone other than family members following my blog, Yay! Now I just need to give them something interesting to read... Hang in there, not all my posts will be about my kids! :o)

We finally got the tubes put in Gabbie's ears. She is doing great.

My parents are in town for awhile, so we are enjoying spending time with them. The girls of course are getting lots of Mimi and Pawpaw time which they love!

Tony's parents came to visit for a few days as well. They lived in South Carolina and came to see us on their way to Japan! Tony's dad is a MGySgt (Master Gunnery Sergeant) in the Marine Corps and they are PCSing (moving) to Okinawa for awhile. It was great to see them. We haven't seen them since March of last year. Gabbie was just a tiny baby last time they saw her! Both girls took to them right away and had so much fun with them. It's hard to believe that Natalie may be 6, and Gabbie will be 4- older than Natalie is now, next time they see them!
Yesterday marked exactly 3 weeks until Tony leaves for BMT! I am only a little nervous so far, but if I think about it too much than I get a lot more nervous! I have plans to visit some of my family while he is gone to help keep me busy, so hopefully those 2 months will go by fast. Right now we are just trying to get everything taken care of that we need to before he leaves. We have a list of stuff we have to get done. Once he leaves, he will not be back here to live! I will be moving everything myself in the fall. That's where things get a little nerve racking!

It seems like I had something on my calender a few days out of every week in June. It was crazy! July so far is pretty empty! That is good though. It will give us a chance to get stuff done and have some family time before Tony leaves. We are leaving on Friday after Tony gets off work to go to Wichita Falls for the weekend. Our good friends moved there several weeks ago, and the guys have days off that line up, so we decided to go! It will be a short trip but I am looking forward to getting out of town. I told Natalie yesterday that we are going to see Katie, her best friend and she is super excited!

Have a happy Fourth of July everyone! Be safe and remember all the men and women that make sacrifices to make this the great country that it is! Thank you!

Long Overdue

2009-05-31T17:42:00.002-05:00

Usually my lack of blogging is for lack of something to blog about. That is not the case this time! We have been so incredibly busy the month of May. From Natalie's birthday, and 2 weeks of company, to the garage sale I had this weekend I have stayed very busy. Now I am sick. Not a huge surprise there I guess. The house is a disaster, but I am on light housework(just laundry and dishes) restriction, until tomorrow when I hopefully will feel better. Hopefully I can tackle the disaster zone then.

Here are the highlights:

The 10th was Natalie's 3rd birthday and Mother's day! Her birthday being on Mother's day brought back memories of my FIRST Mother's day- I had been a mother for all of 3 1/2 days! It was defenatly a special mother's day that year, and this year too! Both years there was more focus on Natalie than Mother's day, but then I guess that's kinda what mother's day is all about. The children that make the mothers. Natalie's great-grandparent's from Dumas came over and Auntie Neena, Uncle Clint, and Mimi and Pawpaw all made a trip to visit for the special day. It was a lot of fun, and a very busy weekend. I will put pictures in a separate post.

The week after that I had overnight company for a week straight. For the first couple of days Tony's grandmother from Rhode Island came for a visit. It was her first time meeting Gabbie, and only her second time to see Natalie. Both girls took to her right away. We really enjoyed her time here. My grandparents from Oklahoma came literally 30 min after I dropped her off at the airport. They were here for 3 days, and then a couple of hours after they left our best friends came to visit. They just moved from here to Wichita Falls. It was really good to get to spend another day with them. Natalie and Kaitlyn, their little girl are best friends. They still talk about each other every day, even though they don't get to see each other any more.

In the midst of all this we had been getting out storage trailer cleaned out and ready for a garage sale. That took up most of our evenings off and pretty much all of Tony's days off. We finally got it done, and our part of the storage is almost empty! Which makes me wonder why we even moved and stored all that stuff in the first place!!? Mostly because at the time of our last move we didn't have time to go through it all I guess. I didn't to move it all again, especially twice in a year like we will be doing, so we got rid of it. I had the garage sale this Friday night and Saturday. Tony had to work so I did it ALL BY MYSELF!! Rebecca helped watch the girls, which made it possible for me. Friday I started coming down with something, and Saturday I felt REALLY bad, but I wasn't able to take a break until today...so I crashed hard! I haven't felt this bad in a long time! I am so glad to have it behind me though. I didn't do very well on the sale Saturday. but I have a friend that is having a sale in a couple of weeks. I am going to put what I had that didn't sell in her sale. That one should be a lot easier, and hopefully with that one all of our stuff will be gone!

Gabbie is still having trouble with her ears. We have an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor on the 9th to start the process of getting tubes put in. I can't wait! I am ready for her to be sleeping through the night again. She is WAY too old for me to be going through this again! I want her to be feeling better too, poor thing.
She sure does think she is big stuff. We have moved her out of the highchair to a booster seat at the table, AND she has moved out the the crib into a big bed! We weren't planning to move her into a big bed this early, but we got some bunk beds for the girls. The only bed that we owned for them was the crib, so obviously we needed some for when we move. We decided on bunk beds in case we only get a 2 bedroom house when we move to San Angelo and don't have much room for 2 separate beds. The beds will separate into two beds for when we get a 3 bedroom house though. We were keeping an eye out for one, and found a really good deal, so we went ahead and got it now. We decided to go ahead and put the girls in the new bed so they wouldn't have to adjust to a new house AND new beds when we move. Adjustment to a bunk bed is kinda a big change in and of itself I think. For Natalie sleeping on the top, and Gabbie going from a crib to a bed. Both girls adjusted really well! Gabbie had a little trouble settling down the first night, but she slept great once she did. Natalie of course thinks it is really neat that she gets to climb stairs to get to her bed! We haven't had a bit of trouble with either girl in the new bed. They are both getting so big! Gabbie has started telling me when she is going to the bathroom in her diaper, even when she just pees. So I guess in August when the girls and I get back from visiting some family we will work on potty training. If I can get her to tell me BEFORE she goes, not AS she is going then I think it will be pretty easy. :o) She already is showing more interest in it than Natalie did at the time that I potty trained her! Hopefully I can get it done in that window of time that Tony will be gone and I am not too busy. It will give me something to do to keep me busy!

That's most of the highlights for now I guess!

May Pictures

2009-05-31T17:40:00.000-05:00

The new beds and new curtain that I love!

Natalie's Dora birthday cake that Mimi and Mommy made!
She got so excited when we started singing happy birthday. The huge grin on her face was priceless! The picture didn't capture it well enough.

Natalie blowing out her candles!

Riding her new "motorcycle". That's what she calls it.

Opening birthday presents!

The new dress-up skirt from Gramma and Grampa
"No, you're supposed to wear it like this!" She likes it better that way.

Are You Serious?!

2009-04-21T11:13:00.003-05:00

It is so sad that this is what it is coming down to. I don't know if anybody watched the Miss America Pageant this weekend. I didn't but I did see a story about it on the news. Miss California Carrie Prejean's answer to this question cost her the crown. She wouldn't say that she thinks the rest of the states should make gay marriage legal, and she said that she believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Because of THAT, she didn't become Miss America. While I'm not necessarily a big pageant fan, I know that it was very important to her.

This makes me so angry!! There is no way that they would NOT give the crown to someone because she WAS gay...That would be discrimination. But to not give someone the crown because she believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, THAT'S FINE?! In our world of double standards I guess I shouldn't be surprised at what "side" won...but it still makes me mad!

So to Carrie Prejean, I say this: "Congratulations! You stood up for what you believed and suffered because of it. I'm sorry that happened to you, but we are proud of you for not giving in. May God Bless you because of it, and give you much greater things than the Miss America crown."

***Make sure to scroll all the way down the page on my blog. I posted two new posts yesterday, so there are 3 recent posts.***

Quick Update

2009-04-20T14:46:00.004-05:00

As usual, it has been awhile since I posted last. Every time that I think I get an opportunity to sit down long enough to do this something else comes up, or somebody wakes up from their nap! I hear snoring coming from the baby monitor, so here goes...

Tony got a job and will be leaving for his basic training on July 21st. He will be in San Antonio from then until the weekend of September 20th. His graduation will be that weekend if anybody will be in the area and wants to come. :o) I think it will be really neat. These dates could possibly change...but this is how it should be. After that he will be going to San Angelo, Tx for more training. He will be there for 19-22 weeks. We aren't sure yet which it is, we have heard both. We are thinking it is more around the 22 weeks. There is a possibility that the Air Force will move the girls and I to San Angelo since he will be there for so long. Even if the Air Force doesn't pay our moving expenses, we are still thinking about moving ourselves-it's only about 6 hours from here. It would be a lot harder (I would have to move by myself!) and cost us a little more, but being apart for 8 months when we don't HAVE to be sounds worse to me! Hopefully we can save up the money to make that possible.

The girls are healthy right now. Natalie goes next month to the Dr for a checkup, so we will see how her weight and iron levels are doing then. She and Gabbie love playing together. Gabbie is getting old enough now where they are having more fun. Gabbie is getting a lot more teeth and saying a lot more words. She is all of a sudden changing into more of a little girl. She is good at following directions and picking up after herself. She is still better at making messes though! She loves to throw trash away...but sometimes things that aren't trash get thrown away as well, so I have to check it all the time. She gets the trash and laundry hamper confused sometimes. Natalie is still loving her gymnastics, and Gabbie is going to be my dancer I think. Every time she hears any kind of music she dances to it. She will even put her hands together above her head and spin around. I have NO IDEA where she learned how to do that! Maybe it just came natural?

I am just trying to stay on top of all the housework and other stuff that is going on around here! Some days all I can do is keep from getting too far behind...forget about getting ahead! I am trying to get more organized and scheduled. It looks like Spring may be here to stay...The forecast for the next couple of weeks looks good! (Except for the wind of course) The weather can of course change overnight without warning, but if it holds like this that will get us into May. Our chances of staying nice are a lot better after that point. I am trying to plan our days so that we can have time to play outside, without me getting behind on what needs to be done inside. It is a work in progress! Hopefully I will get something that works for us in the next few days. I promised Natalie that she could play in the sandbox after her nap, so I have to get some stuff done while she is napping. This will be the first time for Gabbie to play in the "box", so I am scared! :o) Hopefully I can keep her from eating too much of the sand, or getting buried by her sister!

We only have 3 months until Tony leaves, so we are also going to be cleaning out and getting rid of a bunch the junk that we don't need anymore. It's funny how your perspective can be changed and what you thought you just had to have a year ago, now is not important to you. Thinking about moving around a bunch of extra junk helps a lot with that!

We have something going almost every week until July. Another reason for me to get our days organized! We will have family visiting 2 different weekends in May and some family here in June as well. I am glad that we are busy, it will help the time pass until Tony leaves. I am not looking forward to his leaving, it's just the sooner he leaves, the sooner he will be back. That's how I am looking at it any way. I don't know if it is logical or not. :o) I plan to stay pretty busy all Summer. I don't want to summer to go by fast necessarily, but I am ready for September and October to be here. I have heard that it is better to stay busy while Tony will be gone, so that is what I plan to do.

That's it for now. I know I kinda rambled but I am trying to get a lot done in a short amount of time this afternoon. I hope that you are able to make sense of all of it! :o) I have some pictures that I will try to put up soon.

Prophecy

2009-04-20T14:45:00.000-05:00

I few weeks ago I went to a Women's Bible study at my church. It was a special week, they had members of the Prophetic Ministry there. I know that some people may be uncomfortable with the practice of some of the Gifts of the Spirit today. That's ok, I used to be that way too, until I got involved in our church. I just didn't know any better, or had only seen the "gifts" being used in a way that did not follow the guidelines of the Bible. I am learning not to limit God and his power today. He used Prophecies, Tongues, and Healing in the Bible, so He can use them in the same way today. My God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! We are the ones that prevent Him from being able to fully display his power, because of our lack of faith and Honor to Him. Our Pastor says this about these prophecies: They are not telling your future or fortune, but simply encouraging words from God.

There are so many great scriptures about these gifts; here are a couple about prophecy (since that is what I am talking about right now) that I like-

1 Corinthians 14:1- "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy."

1 Corinthians 14:39- "Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues."

Romans 12:4-8 (vs 6) "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.

1Corinthians 12:27-30

I have never met anyone on this team, and I have never had a personal word before, but I had this opportunity a few weeks ago. Anytime that one of these people that God has given the gift of prophecy to, gives a word from the Lord to a person, they record it on a tape. They said they do this so that you can go back an listen to it because you may not hear everything that God has to say to you the first time. They also do this to hold themselves accountable to the pastors, and anyone that may misunderstand or misuse what they have said. Understand that in no way do they tell you your future or anything like that, it is simply a word from God to you.

This is some of what they told me:

God says to you, FEAR NOT.
There's some doors going to be opened that's going to get your attention. He says I have prepared a way. The door is opened because I have opened the door. The door is opened because you CAN go through it. The door is opened because you are my daughter. This is just the beginning of your walk. This is the beginning of a new season in your life. You are going to see things and hear things and do things you never knew. It is going to increase your faith, not only in the Lord, but in yourself. Because you do know the Lord, you are His daughter, you are his child. You are his vessel. You are going to be used in a very new way. The Lord says fear not, you are not by yourself. I am the one who opened the door.

This was a powerful word to me, especially in light of the new direction that our lives are about to be taking. Sometimes the unknown gets to me and makes me a little afraid. I don't know where we will be living or what exactly our lives will be like 6 months from now. What I DO know is that we won't have much money!! :o) All that can kinda make you get a little crazy from time to time if you don't put your faith in God to take care of you. Having this word from God is extra reassurance to me that we are headed in the right direction. He will get us through whatever happens along the way.

Date Night

2009-03-24T12:19:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday we went to an Amarillo Gorillas hockey game. It was the first time I had ever been to a hockey game, and it was a lot of fun! It is such a fast moving sport. I had a hard time keeping up with where the puck was some of the time.
The Air Force was sponsoring the game Saturday so we got to go for free! That made it even better! :o) During the break between periods Tony had to help with the entertainment. He said that it was a good thing he didn't know about that before we went. I told him that I still would have made him take me. :o) There were several people that are in the DEP (Delayed Entry Program) at the game. During the first break they had to form two teams and throw water balloons across the ice with big sling shots. At the other end of the rink someone had a bucket trying to catch the balloon. It was pretty funny, and Tony's team ended up winning, so we got a gift card to a pizza restaurant.
The Gorillas lost, 7-8. It was still a really good game though, they really fought for it at the end. I was disappointed to find out that it was the last game of the season...so it will be awhile before I can go again. :o) I told Tony that one good thing about Amarillo is that it is a big enough town to have a baseball, hockey, and arena football team, yet small enough that the people really get into supporting the teams.
It was a great date night, and Tony's first time doing anything associated with the Air Force-even though it was just having fun!

God's Plan for Our Family

2009-03-20T13:39:00.003-05:00

Like probably all of you that are reading this, we are always seeking God and His will for our family. Several months ago, we felt Him leading us in a new direction. After months of diligent praying, searching, researching, and numerous confirmations, we are certain of the path God wants us to follow. We believe that God has called Tony to join the Air Force! I know that many of you may not think that this could be from God, or a wise choice for our family, but I promise that we have put MUCH prayer into this, and have nothing but excitement and peace from God! We know that there will be hard times in this path, but are confident that God is faithful and will be with us every step of the way!

Tony swore into the Delayed Entry Program/Inactive Reserves yesterday. He scored a 99 on his ASVAB, which is the highest score possible for the test! That makes it possible for him to pretty much get whatever job he wants that is available. He is hoping to leave at the very end of June, or first of July. We won't know if it will be then or sometime after that. It all depends on when his job will be available. We are supposed to find out in about a month when he will be leaving for training.

We are thankful for all of the love, prayers, and support of our friends and family, and in turn we pray that God will give the same peace about this to them as He has given to us. Everything about this decision has been from God. We are excited about the places that it will take us and the lives that we will have the opportunity to influence for God! We are also looking forward to the benefits that it will have for our family, and believe that they outweigh the struggles we will encounter along the way. We are looking forward to the growth and strength that it will bring to us as well.

We invite you to pray for us and share in our adventures as we "Cross Into the Blue".

So Busy

2009-03-20T12:48:00.002-05:00

So far this year has been so busy for me! I can't believe that it is already the middle of March! Happy first day of Spring!

Last weekend we enjoyed Kaleena, Clint and Mimi coming to visit for a few days. The whole weekend passed and I didn't get any pictures though. I'm telling you, I have been busy!

The girls have been keeping me so busy! I am tired all the time, and it seems like most days I can't get a break. Natalie is getting closer to 3, so she is getting better at listening, following directions, and obeying. -Sometimes! We have good and bad days with her, the good days are REALLY good, and the bad days... well lets just say that her bottom stays pretty red those days! She has memorized her first Bible verse-Col 3:20 "Children Obey your parents." She can say it really well, but we are still working on the understanding of what it means I think.

Gabbie has been having lots of trouble with ear infections lately. She had one a little over a month ago that the first round of antibiotics didn't clear up, so we had to do more to finally get rid of that 2 week long infection. The Dr. checked her and said that it was finally gone, and then 2 days later she started running fever again. We went BACK to the Dr., and she had another one! We tried antibiotics again, and the day we stopped them her fever came back. It was the weekend, and Sunday night her fever got up to 104.2! So back to the Doctor Monday morning. This time we did 3 days of REALLY painful antibiotic shots, and then 5 more days of oral antibiotics. After 4 days of her fever being 102 or higher I think she is finally feeling better. If her ears don't clear all the way up this time, or if the infection comes back anytime soon we will do tubes. I have lost count of how many times we have been to the doctor lately, and how long she has been on antibiotics. I know she has been taking them for around a month now, with not much break.

It is almost time for naps now, it is my favorite time of day!

Something Doesn't Belong...

2009-03-04T15:27:00.003-06:00

This is the forecast for the next 7 days in Amarillo. I think something is wrong!! One of these is not like the other...

Thursday: 83 Friday: 80 Saturday:66 Sunday:65 Monday: 70 Tuesday:39

I am so tired of the drastic temperature changes! No wonder everybody is sick! I had to take
Gabbie to the Dr. AGAIN today. She has had a fever for the last few days, and it has been too high for it to just be because she is teething. She has ANOTHER ear infection. It was less than a week since her last one. Great.

We can't even get out and enjoy one of the limited nice days today...the wind is blowing 20-30mph. We have had hardly any moisture all winter, so it's just dirt...and wind. That makes dirt IN the wind-coming at you 30 miles an hour. Fun. No wonder my head hurts!

Yesterday's Dr Appointment

2009-02-26T15:42:00.003-06:00

The girls went for their checkup yesterday. Gabbie's ears are cleared up, she is doing great. Her nose started running again yesterday though. I just got all her mucus issues cleared up! I am really bummed and am praying that it is just because of the crazy weather and wind we have been having.

Natalie's weight is still up from when we started her on the appetite stimulant, but she has lost a bit since her last visit to the Dr. We are keeping her in the medicine for the next 3 months. The Doctor said that she is fine with Natalie staying where she is weight-wise now, as long as she doesn't loose any more. So we have to check again in a few months to make sure that is not happening. The Doctor also noticed that Natalie looked paler than usual, so she had us go have blood work done to check her iron levels. That was not fun! Poor baby, had to have big needles in both arms to get enough blood. She did not like that! (Neither did I!) It turns out her iron is low, so she has to be on an iron supplement for 3 months, then they will check her levels again. -I am already dreading that! Poor little girl.

New Haircut

2009-02-26T14:37:00.004-06:00

I finally gave in and took Natalie to get a "real" haircut. I was tired of it always looking so scraggly and messy. These are the best pictures I could get of it. Trying to get Natalie to sit still or pose for a picture lately is next to impossible!

Parent Watch Night

2009-02-26T13:22:00.006-06:00

This week was Parent Watch Night at Natalie's gymnastics class. Parents aren't allowed to stay and watch except on the last week of the month. After staying this week, we understand why! Natalie loves gymnastics, but once she noticed that I was there she did not do as well as she usually does. She kept needing me to kiss all her "owies". Anytime she got a little bump, she would burst into tears until I went and kissed it and made it better. Once her Dada got there it was even worse! We finally had to go stand outside of the gym so she would stop crying and listen to the teacher. It is hard enough for her to pay attention as it is. There are several classes and age groups that meet in the gym at the same time. Natalie always wants to go join the bigger kids doing the bigger flips and stuff. She really gets into it! Here are a few pictures of her at gymnastics. She is the one with the pink top and black pants.

Somersault time! Natalie is a pro at this!

Natalie at the end of the group.

Here they had to hop backwards across the room. Again, she is the last to finish! It's trampoline time!!

New Colors

2009-02-21T17:35:00.000-06:00

Maybe you can tell from the new background, I am ready for spring. I don't know why it seems like spring is always the slowest season to come. Maybe it's because I like spring and dislike winter, or because the weather here is so crazy. It will feel like spring one day and get your hopes all up, then crush you the next with a blast of winter. Anyway, I thought I would start getting into the feel of it by making it look a little more like it anyway. I am in the mood for a change as well, and this is really the only thing that can change right now! It may change again soon. :o)

The girls are outgrowing all their winter clothes, but it is still too cold to buy them new spring clothes! I am getting frustrated! :o) For now I guess they will just have their ankles and bellies showing. Natalie is loving her gymnastics on Tuesday nights. She goes back to the Dr next week to check her weight again. She is doing good, so hopefully we will be able to stop the medication. Gabbie goes back to the Dr next week also to have her ears checked again. She has had an ear infection for close to a month. The first round of antibiotics didn't make it go away so we had to go back to the Dr a couple of weeks later for more. She still hasn't cut anymore teeth. I think the next ones are right there about to come in, but I have been saying that for awhile now! This time I REALLY do think so though! I hope they hurry. She only wants to eat "Big Girl" food, and that is hard to do with only 4 teeth in the front!

We have started going to a new couple's lifegroup on Wednesday nights. We really like it, even though the couples in it are older than in our last group. There is one other couple that is close to our age and they have a 2 little girls. One is 2 months older than Natalie and the other is about 6 months older than Gabbie.

Right now the group is going through the study Honor's Reward, by John Bevere. We are doing the video study that goes with the book. It is so so so so so good!! I HIGHLY recommend it to everybody! We are only 3 weeks into it, but I love it. I am learning so much. It is FULL of stuff that I never thought about, and GREAT lessons from the Bible about honor, and how God rewards our honor. It's awesome.

Nothing very blogworthy is happening around here, so I don't have much to post about. It has just been a long time since I have posted anything, so I thought that I needed to post something anyway. As soon as something blogworthy comes up...you will be the first to know!

Something Good to Remember

2009-02-21T16:10:00.003-06:00

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

This verse was on the craft that the girls brought home from church last Wednesday. We really liked it, and Tony thought I should share it with the other couple of people that happen to read my blog. I read some of the verses leading up to it for some background.

Moses had just died and Joshua was taking over leading the children of Israel into the promised land. They were getting ready to cross the Jordan River (a rough, frightening, thing) into the "Land that I am about to give to them." vs.2 This land was unknown, and again a little frightening. They had no idea what to expect-

But God says this: "Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave to you; do not turn from it to the right or the left, that you might be successful wherever you go. Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Joshua 1:7-8

Three times in 4 verses God commanded them to be strong and courageous, once even saying VERY courageous. He says that if we are careful to obey Him and His word, He will take care of us wherever he takes us, and with whatever He has us doing. (That's my translation :o) )

Now I think that's worth remembering!

25 Random Things

2009-02-02T11:55:00.002-06:00

I was recently "tagged" to post 7 facts about me on my blog. I didn't do it because I didn't think that I could come up with 7 things! (I'm a pretty dull person) Then I was tagged REPEATEDLY on facebook, so I thought I would try it. So here is what I came up with. Maybe somebody will find out something about me that they didn't know before.

1. I have lived in this area my whole life with the exception of 6 months that I lived in Kansas.

2. I didn't meet my Father-In-Law until almost 1 year after I got married.

3. My first time on an airplane wasn't until I was 20.

4. I was in Mexico in 2003, the day we first dropped the bomb on Iraq starting the war. It was a little scary.

5. On Sept 11, 2001 while watching the news of the attacks in NYC, I felt compelled to pray for my future husband. I did even though I thought it was kinda crazy. Two years later (after we met) I found out that Tony was in NYC on that day, not far from ground zero.

6. Tony and I went to the same church, hung out with the same people, lived in the same neighborhood, and went to some of the same places when we were in middle school. We never met though. He moved to town just months after we moved to Kansas (see no. 1).

7. I have only been to 9 states, not counting the one I live in.

8. I didn't go to college. I knew God was calling me to be a mother, so I didn't waste my money. I do not regret it.

9. If I wasn't a mother, I would probably be a missionary or work with troubled kids.

10. I didn't have a boyfriend, or kiss until I was 18...and I married my first one!

11. I never went to public school.

12. I plan to home school my kids.

13. Most all of my friendships are online. I don't actually see any of them except Whitney, and my family. I still consider them friends though, and this way it doesn't matter if one of us moves away.

14. The births of my 2 daughters were so similar they could have been twins. They were born on the same day of the week, 10 min apart, and there was only 1 oz and 3/4 inches difference in their size.

15. I moved during both of my pregnancies...I really hope I don't have to do that again!

16. I hate spiders and make Tony kill them for me. However, he hates moths, and I usually have to kill them for him.

17. I have only gotten my hair cut once a year for the past 3 years at least. I don't do that on purpose, it just so happened to be that way.

18. We only own 1 car right now.

19. I used to be really good at memorizing scripture. (Thanks to AWANAs)

20. I used to play the keyboard for my church. I haven't played in a long time though.

21. I used to love to read. Now unless I can get into the book in the first couple of pages I don't read much. I get interrupted too much.

22. I love sweet iced tea. I think I could drink it all the time.

23. I have actually had a caffeine IV.

24. I love late Spring! It brings back memories from my childhood of playing outside all day.

25. My favorite restaurant meal is probably a Southwestern Cobb Salad and a Blackberry Tea from Chili's! Yummy! (nobody has to know that I used to work at Applebee's!)

Birthday Fun

2009-01-22T12:34:00.004-06:00

Gabbie had lots of fun on her Birthday!

She thinks the table is for standing on.

Gabbie LOVES cake!! She crammed it in her mouth as fast as her little fingers would go! It was all over her and the floor by the time she was finished.

Gabbie went to her 1 year checkup on Tuesday. She weighs 20 1/2 lbs, and is 29 1/4 inches tall. The Dr said that she looked great except for an ear infection. She has had a runny nose and cough for the past week or so, so I was not very surprised. She has not felt good the past couple of days because of the ear infection, and the 1 year immunizations that she got. Last night she would not eat (If Gabbie won't eat, then we KNOW it is bad!), and she had a fever of 102. She was so sad and wouldn't play or anything. All she wanted to do was just have someone hold her. That is unusual for Gabbie too. She is ALWAYS moving! She seems to feel a little better today, although she is still not 100%.

One Year Ago Today...

2009-01-16T14:50:00.005-06:00

This time last year I was in terrible, horrible pain. I was in the hospital. I did not know at the time that I would be there for a total of 5 1/2 days. The year that has passed since that day has gone by so quickly! I can't believe it has been a whole year since that amazing day. That's right, amazing.(Only that day, not the following 4 1/2 days!) As painful as it was, it was good because THIS is why I was in the hospital...

z

My little Gabriella Joy was born one year ago today, January 16th, 2008, at 5:40 pm. She weighed 7lbs 12oz, and was 19 3/4" long. She had a LOT of curly black hair. I can't believe how much a little person can change in the first year. Just one year ago this was all she could do...

Now she has been walking for 2 months, and if she is awake, she is MOVING and getting into things!!! There is a little trail all over the house. It is easy to see where she has been and what she has been doing. I am excited to see her personality continue to develop. Each day she does new cute things. She is always trying to copy her big sister. She spins in circles, tries to jump, and now she tries to turn somersaults!! She puts her forehead to the floor and takes off scooting it across the floor until somebody helps her flip over! It's so cute, but I'm afraid that she will get a carpet burn on her face!

As I reflect today on the past year, I can't help but be a little sad. Like I said, I am excited to see how she changes and grows in the next year, but I do so miss the little baby days! There is nothing better than a tiny, sweet-smelling, cuddly, baby and all the little grunts and sounds they make! (Although not having to get up every 2 hours during the night IS pretty good!)
I found out that I was pregnant with Gabbie just a couple of days before Natalie's first birthday, so it made that day a little easier for me. It was easier for me to let her be big, because I had another baby. That is not the case this time.

Now I just have two little girls who think they are so big! It's like I am standing on the sidelines, watching the hands on a clock just spinning and spinning. I am powerless to slow it down, so all I can do is just try to memorize every moment because I know that it will be gone all too soon! Now I know that one year is not that much in the big picture of their childhood, but it is just the beginning of the years that I know will be flying by!

So Happy Birthday my Gabbie! You keep me so busy, but I can't imagine this past year without you! We are so thankful for a happy and healthy first year.

Late Happy New Year

2009-01-06T11:30:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year to everybody out there that happens to read this. I
know I am late in saying this, but I have been busy!! I have had family here for 11 days. It is great to have everyone here, but it makes it hard for me to do my regular stuff. Now I am trying to get caught up on all those things that I need to do, and get the house cleaned as well. Having extra people in the house makes it hard to stay on top of the housework.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We celebrated with my family on the day after Christmas after Kaleena and Clint got here. Our family (Me,Tony and the Girls) had our Christmas, and of course Santa came on Christmas Day. Both girls loved tearing into the packages. Natalie still asks to open Christmas presents every now and then! The new toys have been great at giving them something new and exciting to do.

Kaleena and Clint got married on Jan 3rd! Since they live in Houston all the last minute planning and getting decorations ready came from here. It still looks a little like a craft store here!! It was beautiful and everything went very smoothly. Natalie was the flower girl, and she did great!!! I was surprised and amazed at how well she did. She dropped the petals like she was supposed to and stood on the stage with me for a little while. She got tired of standing, so she just quietly walked down the steps and went and sat with Mimi and Pawpaw. We didn't practice that part, but she did it so perfectly. Hopefully I can put a couple of pictures up here soon. They are on a different computer, so I will go ahead and post this first.
We are glad to officially have Clint in the family. Natalie has really taken to him. She absolutely loves him. Every little girls needs an Uncle that they love. The girls have another Uncle, but Natalie has only met him once, and Gabbie has never met him.

So between Christmas and the wedding and two little girls I have been busy! Things have settled down now, so if I can just get caught up on all the house work, I will be good. My parents are still here but they have their "house" that they are staying in so we are able to get back to our routine for the most part.

The next big event for our house is Gabbie's birthday! I cannot believe that she will be one in just 10 days!!! My baby has grown so fast! She has been walking for about 3 weeks or so, and now she is working on running! She is getting pretty good at that too. The other day I heard quick footsteps come up behind me and I thought it was Natalie. I turned and was surprised to see Gabbie! She can dance and spin in circles too. She has suddenly turned into a toddler. Her personality and actions have changed so much. She and Natalie love to play together! They run through the house just being silly and laughing so hard at each other!

Natalie continues to learn new things every day. Tony and I are constantly amazed. We are always looking at each other and saying, "Has she done that before? I didn't know she knew that!" We are going to sign her up for a gymnastics class at AC this semester. She loves to jump and turn somersaults. I think she will really love the class. It starts in a couple of weeks I think, so we will see how it goes.

We look forward to what 2009 holds for our family. We are trying to figure out what God has planned for us and follow His path. Please pray for us as we prepare for the adventure that lies ahead. We know it won't always be easy, but if we hold on to Him and stay strong as a family it will totally be worth it. We'll keep you posted!

COLD!!!!

2008-12-09T16:30:00.001-06:00

Right now it is 26 degrees, the wind is 30mph, and it's trying to snow. By trying I mean a few tiny flakes are flying around in the air, and if you look really hard in the low places of the ground you can see a little white. It's pretty miserable out there. Yesterday was in the 70's! It is not unusual for there to be a big difference in the temperature from day to day here, but I don't remember an almost 50 degree difference!! That's crazy. For those of you that don't live where the weather is crazy like this, I'm sure you can imagine! It is a bit of a shock. At least the cold is making it feel a little more like Christmas time. It was hard to get in the spirit with the 60 degree weather we had been having. My parents and sister live where it is still in the 70's and 80's, so they are really having a hard time!!

Thanksgiving was a great time. Most of the food turned out pretty good! In an attempt to fit all that we needed to in the oven at once, and trying to get it to all cook a little faster, a couple of the casseroles got a little dry, and the jello salad froze in the extra fridge that we were storing it in. Surprisingly the Jello turned out fine when it thawed! We ate it all anyway, and had a great time! My first time cooking Thanksgiving was not a disaster, and I learned some things for next time. I plan to redo some of the dishes that didn't turn out so great when everybody is here for Christmas.

Gabbie took her first steps a day or so after Thanksgiving!! She now walks about 50% of the time. She gets so excited when she does, and she always tries walking first, before she crawls. She can walk for a long way before she falls, and when she does fall, she can stand back up all by herself. She can walk while carrying a toy as well! I think she will be walking 100% by Christmas. I can't believe she started walking at 10 months. I can hardly remember her being a tiny baby. I don't know if it is because I had such a hard time recovering after she was born and I didn't get to enjoy it like I wanted to, or because she has grown up so fast! I told Tony that I can still call her a baby until her birthday, even though she is "toddling"!

Natalie is really getting into being a big sister, sometimes a little too much. Gabbie was messing with the DVD player the other day and Natalie tried to put her in time out and talk to her about what she did, like we do with her! I had to tell her that only Mommy and Daddy can get onto Gabbie. Natalie does pretty good at trying to keep Gabbie out of stuff too. Gabbie was getting into the cabinet with the pots and pans, and Natalie went over to her and said "No,no Gabbie. Can't touch it." Then she put them all back in the cabinet and came and told me what Gabbie was doing! Like I said, I think sometimes she may be a little TOO helpful!
The other day Natalie was talking to herself. I wasn't really listening, until I heard her count to 7...in Spanish!!! I guess Dora gets most of the credit for that one, we really haven't been working on that yet!
Natalie loves to do things by herself, especially getting dressed. She can even button her own shirt. Cooking is one of her new favorite things too. I was hoping that if she cooked the food, she would want to eat more of it. I was wrong. The last two days she has wanted to cook something, so we did, then I asked her if she wanted to eat some of it and she said "No!" and ran away! So much for that plan! She has slowed down eating again, after she was doing do good and gained some weight. I am hoping that she doesn't lose all that she has gained now! I guess we will see.

I have almost all of my Christmas shopping done! I have 3 more to buy for some family members, and a few stocking stuffers for the girls and that is it! I do have a couple of homemade gifts that I need to finish, but I don't have to do any shopping for those. I really want to wrap some and put them under the tree, but I don't think that would be a very good idea. I don't think they would last very long!! I guess I will just have to wrap them and put them back in the closet for now. I even have Christmas cards ready to go in the mail tomorrow. I don't think I have ever really done cards before, so I feel like I am really on top of it this year!!
For now anyway! I know better than to be too proud of myself. I managed to get the girls' Christmas pictures done the other day. That was no small feat let me tell you!! That was all I got done that day and I was not in a very good mood by the time I got finished! I didn't really get any good ones of the two of them together. I decided that it is pretty much impossible to get the two of them still at the same time! I did get some that are pretty good of them separately so I guess those will have to do.

I can't believe that Christmas is just two weeks away!!! Wow! It sure is coming fast. I need to get organized and plan what Christmas cooking I am going to do. Things are going to be crazy this year as Kaleena is getting married on Jan 3rd. We will have family in town for over a week, from Christmas until then, so I probably won't do too much fun stuff since I will be feeding a bunch of extra people.

I need to get back to the house work. I have had projects going on all week and I haven't gotten the normal daily stuff done, so I am a bit behind.

Correction

2008-11-21T19:36:00.001-06:00

I stand corrected, Tony just told me that gas is $1.61 at Sam's. Even bigger thanks.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

2008-11-21T12:37:00.003-06:00

I want to start out saying THANK YOU to you who have left comments. I LOVE reading them. It helps me to know if anybody is actually reading my blog also. So if you happen to read my blog, and haven't left a comment, please sign up as a follower and/or leave a comment so I can know about you. I will try to write more often so there is something more interesting to read.

I am getting ready for Thanksgiving here. This is the first year that I am hosting and cooking the majority of the food! Yipes! I am looking forward to it though. My sister and her fiance` are coming from Houston, and my grandparents from Oklahoma are coming. Of course my sister that lives here will be here, but that is all. My parents are of course working out of town and can't get enough time off to come, so that is how it fell on me. We won't have many people here, but there will be enough to fill a table and eat some turkey so it will be fun.
I have almost all of the grocery shopping done, just lacking those last minute things that won't stay fresh long enough to buy them ahead of time.

The girls and I put up the Christmas tree last night. I know it's early, I don't usually put it up this early, but I kinda wanted it up when everybody is here for Thanksgiving, and I decided I didn't want to try to do it while they were all here so....I had a good evening to do it, so that is what I did.
Natalie LOVES it. She just looks at it and says "Wow, pretty colors! Pretty lights." She probably hung 90% of the ornaments on it, she thought it was so fun! She keeps saying "Mommy, nother one!" (wanting to hang another ornament on) She doesn't really mess with it at all now, aside from admiring it. I think her helping to put it up helps with that. Surprisingly, Gabbie hasn't messed with it yet today, so maybe I won't have any trouble with her either.
We have also brought out the Christmas music and Veggie Tales. Natalie loves the Christmas Veggie Tales! She watches them over and over and over and....You get the point. She and Gabbie both really loved a Trans Siberian Orchestra song that I had playing the other day.
I am really excited for Christmas this year. Natalie is old enough to really get into it, and Gabbie will almost be 1, so she will have lots of fun as well, even though she doesn't understand as well. I am starting it early, but I figure it makes up for last year. Between moving a few days before Thanksgiving, and being 9 months pregnant at Christmas I didn't really get to enjoy the holidays as much as I like to. So this year I am going all in! One of my very favorite things is having all the lights off except for the glow of the Christmas tree. It is so pretty and peaceful.

I am pretty much done with all of my Christmas shopping too. I have been buying things a little at a time for over a month now, so it didn't all hit us in one month. Pretty much all I have left is the little stocking stuffer stuff. I won't be able to put anything under the tree until right before though. I know I won't be able to keep the girls out of that!
Tony and I have already done our gift for each other as well. We got a Wii several weeks ago, so we have already been enjoying our Christmas!

Natalie's medicine seems to be working, she is eating a lot more, and I even had to let the waist of her adjustable jeans out a little bit! Yay! She goes to the Dr on Tuesday so we will see what she says.
She can count to 15 now! She has known all her shapes, colors and the alphabet for several months now. She is getting so big!

Gabbie has 3 teeth now, and the 4th is coming through any day now. She can stand alone for a long time, and the other night she took 2 steps all by herself! We were excited. I think she still has a little while before she does much walking on her own, but she sure is trying hard. I think she may have it down by Christmas. She loves music as much as Natalie does. She waves her arms around to the beat of the music anytime she hears it. She was up in the middle of the night the other night and Tony started singing to her. She stopped crying and started waving her arms all around dancing to his song!

Gabbie is up from her nap now so it is time for me to run. I probably won't get around to posting again before Thanksgiving so, Happy Thanksgiving! Remember what the day is all about what you have to be thankful for. I am thankful that gas is $1.73!!!!(aside from the obvious things, my family and health and all those kind of things,of course ) That is making a BIG difference for us.

Backtracking

2008-10-31T15:12:00.009-05:00

Not much new is happening, so I thought I would post some pictures that have been taken over the past month or so today. I have been meaning to post them for quite awhile now, but just haven't made myself do it.
I am now on my 5th straight day of not leaving the house. I am cleaning the floors today and well...doing this! I am starting to feel a little shut in, and I'm sure Tony is tired of me calling him and saying, "Oh, can you stop by Target and get some diapers?" "Oops, we are TOTALLY out of toilet paper." "Ummm, Natalie needs more milk". Three different items, three different days! I am having trouble collecting myself. :) Natalie has a birthday party to go to tomorrow, so I will finally have the car and I can get out for a little while. Sometimes having only one car can be a little tough. I need a few things at the grocery store, but they will have to wait until Monday, when Tony gets paid. Tomorrow is SUPPOSED to be payday. but since the owner's wife is the one that writes the checks, and she doesn't like to work on Saturday...Payday is pushed back 2 more days! That really gets to me. If your bills are due on the first, you don't get to wait 2 more days just because it is Saturday! The bad thing is his other payday for Nov is on Saturday also, so we will be waiting AGAIN! Anyway...I had to get that off my chest.
Natalie seems to be eating a bit better now that she is on the appetite stimulant. We still have days here and there where she doesn't eat too much, but they are not as often as before so I am happy. Maybe between the medicine and bribing her with stickers we can get a little bit of weight on her.
That's mostly it for now, so here are the pictures that I told you about... The Beautiful flowers my wonderful husband brought me for no reason!
Natalie playing in the shop with Pawpaw and his saw dust.

Natalie trying so hard to get the wagon out the gate.

I'm not really sure what that face is all about!

Natalie being such a good big sister and pulling Gabbie in the wagon.
I think Gabbie may be a little worried! Molly chewing on a stick that is bigger than she is.
Going for a pretend ride in Mimi's car
Mimi is so funny!
Story time with Mimi.

Story time with Auntie Neena.

Natalie wearing great-Papaw's boots that she put on all by herself.
Gabbie pushing the car/walker toy. It is her favorite thing to do now. She is getting so big!

Fun sister time in the tub!

Big smile!

There's a Natalie in the ducks!

Sleepy Morning

2008-10-23T11:39:00.003-05:00

Today is another cold, sleepy morning. The girls woke up EARLY! (8:00am!) Anybody who knows much about my girls knows that anytime before 9:30 is early for them! I guess they decided that it was pretty early too, because Gabbie fell asleep around 9:00 or so while she was having her bottle and I was in the shower. Natalie fell asleep around 10:30 during Veggie Tales! She never falls asleep during those! They are both awake now, and since Natalie only slept about 30 min, it shouldn't mess up her nap.
It is only in the 50's today, and pretty windy for the second day in a row. Yesterday the wind was about 30mph, so it felt really cold! I don't think it is quite as windy today, but still not really a day for being outside.
Last night was our church's fall festival. It is called Lord of the Harvest. This is the first year we have gone, since the girls weren't really big enough to enjoy it. Gabbie is still a little small, but Natalie had a blast. There were a bunch of those big inflatable things to jump and slide on, along with some little games and of course lots of candy! Natalie didn't want to leave, but she was so tired at bed time!
The girls have had runny noses and coughs for a week or more now. Tony and I have been a little sick too for a few days. I guess the weather changing has gotten to all of us. Gabbie had her 9 month check up on Tuesday. I can't believe it has been that long already! She has been here for as long as I was pregnant with her. Boy is goes by a lot faster after they are here!! Her checkup went well, she weighs just over 18 lbs. She got a flu shot, and has to go back in a month for another one. She thinks she is big stuff, playing with all of Natalie's toys, and crawling everywhere. She pulls up and can walk while holding on to something. She still thinks Natalie is the funniest person ever. She finally cut her first tooth on the 12th! It is taking it awhile to come all the way in though, it is still just barely poking through the gum. Her nose is really running bad since she is teething on top of being sick. Poor baby!
Natalie went to the Dr on Tuesday as well, but only to have her weight checked. She has been small for awhile now, so the Dr is keeping an eye on her. She has gained a few ounces since the last visit 3 months ago, but since she is still growing in length she is still dropping on the growth chart. She is now in the bottom 3% for her weight. She weighs 23 lbs. The Dr has put her on an appetite stimulant to try to get her to eat more. She hasn't eaten very much at all in the last 3 days or so. She is not really picky, she just doesn't want anything to eat at all, even of her favorite foods. She usually always wants chicken nuggets and french fries (I know, I'm a GREAT mother), but she won't even eat that lately. We will start the appetite med tonight probably, so we will let you know how that goes. We go back to the Dr in a month for another flu shot for her as well, and to check her weight again. I am constantly trying to get her to eat a bite of something, and the more calories the better. I never thought I would be trying to get my child to eat high calorie foods, or not care if what she eats is healthy or not, as long as she is eating. It is very hard for me! I am also trying hard to not let it become a habit, so that when we are back where she need to be, we won't have unhealthy habits. She still loves being a big sister, and the older Gabbie gets the more fun they have. She calles her "Sister Gabbie" sometimes. They have their own little language too. They jabber all the time and I have no clue what they are talking about, but they seem to understand each other fine. The other day Gabbie was fussing and when I asked her what was wrong Natalie said "Her teeth hurt". I hadn't thought of that at the time, and Natalie was exactly right! Just a little bit ago Gabbie was in her highchair having a snack and Natalie leaned over to talk to her. She said "You want toys Gabbie? Ok!" and then she ran and got her some toys to play with.
Natalie loves to help with the laundry, vaccuming, cooking, and pretty much any housework I am doing. It slowes me down a bit, but I let her help so she can learn. She is crazy about Play-Dough. She playes with it every day.
Now that I have had some caffiene, I think I can get to that never ending housework. Natalie ran down to their room saying "Come on Gabbie, Come on." Gabbie followed her and now they are playing in their room. This is my opportunity since they are occupied.

A Taste of Fall

2008-10-11T16:27:00.004-05:00

Like last time I wrote, much has happened since my last post. I am only able to get on here when Natalie is napping, otherwise she is on my lap the whole time pushing buttons. She knows all her ABC's so she gets really excited when she sees them. Usually during her nap time I do housework, but I am fairly caught up today. It is dark and rainy outside and about 62 degrees. Yay! I am so excited for the cooler weather. It has still been in the mid to high 80's most days so I am ready for the change. The high on Monday is only supposed to be in the low 50's!! Burrr! I need to get the girls some warm Pj's. Since neither one of them sleeps under the covers too much, they will need then with the nights getting down in the 30's and 40's this week. It seems that fall is here for now! It may or may not be here to stay though, you never know about the weather around here. The nice thing about Amarillo is we get to experience all 4 seasons. Sometimes we get them all in one week though!

The family came to visit for a few days at the beginning of the month, so that kept me busy. We had a lot of fun as always. My parents were on their way to a different city for work and stopped by to get my mom's car as it looks like they will be at this post for quite awhile probably. My sister has been laid off from her job in Houston due to a combination of the hurricane and the economy, so she came to visit as well. The girls as always had a blast. Natalie is still saying that Neena went home to be with Clint, and she is still thanking Pawpaw for the smarties that he brought. The visits usually leave quite an impression.

Natalie is getting so big. She loves to help me cook. She was helping me the other night when Tony came home from work and when she saw him walk in she said "Dada, I'm cookin!" She was so excited to be big. She often says to me "Nat Nat big girl!" when she is doing something that makes her feel big. Just so I don't forget I guess.

Gabbie is changing so fast. She is doing great at feeding herself finger snacks, and going and getting into whatever she wants, (or whatever Natalie is getting into of course.) She pulls up on everything, which of course results in lost of bumps and cries for "ma ma ma". She will eat anything she finds on the floor, no matter how tiny or edible. The other day I fished a teeny tiny rock out of there. Her coordination is best when she is putting something in that doesn't belong. I doubt that she could have gotten a piece of food that small in there! I sometimes catch her in the process of putting something from the floor into her mouth, so I say "Gabbie stop!". That just makes her jump, and then she rushes to cram the thing in as fast as she can before I can take it from her! How do they learn that kind of thing so young?! Last night she was up twice, the first time for close to two hours, and the second time she was screaming for 45 minutes! She has been sleeping through the night since she was 2 months old, so I am not used to this. I think the scream session was because of teeth, or lack there of. She is almost 9 months old and doesn't have a single tooth! I really don't mind that she doesn't have any yet, but I am very afraid that we have 4 trying to come in all at once! That will not be fun. Natalie had 6 come in all in one week right after her first birthday. It really wasn't too bad though, and we got it over with all at once. We will see how this goes.

As an update to my last post, we have been trying to get the van fixed. So far we have spent in the neighborhood of $500 dollars just to find out that it is going to take another $1900 to actually get it running. Stupid computer stuff! Since we don't have that kind of money laying around, and it is hardly worth spending that on it, we are probably just going to sell it at the auto auction. We just have to get it towed for the fourth time! We need to sell it before it totally sucks all the life out of us! :) It is hard to know what the best thing to do is, but right now it is just costing us a lot of money that we don't have to spend on it. So it looks like we will be going down to just the Expedition. Thank God gas is going down! We can make it work, I don't need to go anywhere all that often, and if I CAN'T go anywhere, I can't spend any money! There is the plus in that! I will just have to plan all my errands ahead of time and take Tony to work that day. Then I pray really hard that no emergencies or anything important comes up at the last minute. I will be quitting my Wed evening child care job. It doesn't work very well with me having to pick Tony up and be at work at the same time. Plus now I am barely breaking even or even loosing money on gas by keeping it. That doesn't make very much sense does it? They knew from the beginning that it may not work out for me to do it, so it shouldn't be a problem. I will probably have to stay until they find another teacher though, we usually have 20-25 kids,(only about 5 or so speak English) and only 3 teachers. Fun times!

I better run, our couples life group from church is meeting tonight and I still have a bit to do before I am ready to go, so I better hurry!

New Additon

2008-09-26T15:58:00.006-05:00

These last couple of weeks has been a crazy stressful time, and I wonder if my life will ever be what we hope and dream for it. These weeks have shown me that it doesn't do much good to plan around here.
Long complicated story short, we had to get a new (to us) car. The Van broke down, and while my car was still in great dependable shape, it was a bit small for all of us. ( I bump my head and usually at least one of the girls' every time put them in their car seats.) You can forget about room for groceries, or anything else by the time you have all the stuff that goes along with two little girls in there. The original diagnosis on the repairs for the van cost more than it is worth, so we decided that the best thing to do was sell try to sell the car, and get something else that is dependable and gives us enough room. We decided that we could survive on one car for awhile, since my mom's car is here for use in emergencies. We listed the car for sale on Craigslist, and started keeping our eye out for something else. We decided that whatever happened would be what was supposed to happen, and we didn't really try hard to sell the car, or find a new one. In less than a week we had an offer on the car, and found another one that we could buy without having to finance. SO... after a miserable weekend of car shopping with a baby and a toddler we are finally done with all of it! I'm so relieved to have it done. I have had my fill of used car salesmen-that's for sure!

2001 Ford Expedition

We may never know what the right thing to do was, but this is what we chose to do-no looking back. I miss my car, I have had it since I was a Senior in high school, but I do really like my new one. From what I know anyway! Tony has been taking it to work, so I have had little time to get to know it.

The second we walked in the door from buying the Expedition, the phone rings and it is my mom. Turns out she is needing her car, so it will no longer be here for emergencies. So much for our one car plan! I don't mind only one car, but if one of the girls gets hurt, or Tony is in a wreck or something, I have no way of getting to where I need to be. That makes me a little nervous! The good thing is, the price on fixing the van will be a lot lower than we were originally told. The bad thing is, we still don't have the money to get it fixed yet...hopefully in a few weeks. Then Tony can drive that to work, and save the miles and gas on the new car. That's kinda the plan anyway...but like I said, plans don't really work out very well for us lately!

The girls are growing so fast. Gabbie can crawl anywhere she wants, and she pulls up on everything! She wants to be big so badly! Anything Natalie does, she wants to do too. It is sad for me, because she is still my baby! I am not ready for her to be a toddler too!
I gave Natalie a haircut last night. It was only supposed to be a trim, but it was pretty uneven (It's only been trimmed once before) and with her wiggling, it came out shorter than I planned. It looks cute, but that was a sad moment for me too. It has taken her almost 2 1/2 years to get that much hair! It looks thicker now though.
That's most of the new stuff for now. Gabbie is awake from her nap and wants a snack, so I better go.

Lots Happening...

2008-09-06T13:33:00.015-05:00

So it has been a LONG time since I have posted last. First it was because nothing much worth posting about was going on, then because TOO much was going on for me to get a chance to get it done! Go figure. So anyway, here is a few highlights of the last few weeks.
Here is a Horney Toad that we found in the yard. We actually saw two different ones over a couple of days! I was excited, I haven't seen any of these since I was a kid. This was actually Tony's first time ever to see one in real life! I guess they don't live up north.

Here is a one antlered deer that came up to graze in our yard. I figured the more it ate, the less we would have to mow. It wasn't afraid of anything, it just looked at us and went on with what it was doing.

This Is Molly. While Pawpaw was in town he found a puppy that he thought the girls needed. Molly is a nine week old, 3 1/2 lb Beagle. She is great with the girls, and Natalie loves her to death. She carries her around with her all the time. Once she catches on to the housebreaking than it will be even better. She loves being outside, so while the weather is still nice she is spending a quite a bit of time outside as well. I think she will be a great pet.

We had family in town for the holiday weekend. My parents, sister, and future brother-in-law were all here. I always love it when everyone is in town, but it always seems to take me a few days to get the house and schedules put back together! :0) It's totally worth it though. It took me a little longer this time, with two kids- both of them mobile- and a puppy. Plus I had several errands and appointments that I had to do, so that is why I am just now getting around to posting. A week later. I am finally pretty much caught up on the extra stuff, so now I am just doing the daily never ending stuff. The girls are on totally opposite naps right now, as soon as Gabbie wakes up from her morning nap, Natalie goes down for her nap. I miss having the break from them, but I guess at least I get time with just one instead of two.
I have gone back to working at Paramount Baptist in their childcare dept. This time I am working for a few hours on Wednesday nights. It is barely worth it with the gas and all, since we live a ways from town. I told them that I would do it through Christmas and see if it was worth me working longer. I don't think it will be, but I figure any little bit extra will help with Christmas and Birthdays coming up. Plus the season is changing, and both girls need new clothes.

All of us together.

Natalie with Auntie Neena, Uncle Clint and of course Molly.

Natalie in the tree.

Natalie, Pawpaw and Molly on the swing.

I guess that's it for now, I have to get back to the laundry and floor mopping.

Not Much Happening

2008-08-16T12:57:00.002-05:00

The potty training is going great! We are having few accidents, and she is telling me most of the time when she needs to go. I am so relived! The real test will be church Sunday, hopefully she will tell her teachers that she needs to go, and I won't have to deal with an accident there.
I don't have much new news to tell about, but Tony is always asking me if I wrote on my blog, so maybe this will make him happy! :)
Gabbie is getting closer to crawling, she can scoot herself across the floor pretty well, just not up on her hands and knees yet.
Today is all cloudy and rainy, and (Get this!) 61 degrees right now!!!!!! It is only supposed to be in the low 70's today. Not usual weather for August I'll tell you. I was planning to take advantage of the cool weather and play in the sandbox today, but I am very happy to take the rain instead! Now I plan to enjoy the cool day inside-today I will be able to open the blinds, and the ac won't have to run non-stop!

In Case I Forget

2008-08-09T21:22:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in awhile, I am DEEP into potty training Natalie. I am determined that I am going to make it work THIS time! That means not leaving the house, and not doing much else than following her around, asking if she needs to go to the potty. It is hard to do when you have another child that needs you attention too. Natalie does pretty well, I put her on the potty and she stays there by herself. She usually prefers for me to not be in the room when she goes. It usually takes her awhile too, so I can do other things while she is in there. This is the hardest, most discouraging thing I have done in a long time, if not ever. I really didn't feel like she was catching on very well, so I was not a very happy mommy. We have done pretty good today, but I am still having a hard time with it.
A little while ago Natalie came up to me and said "potty". So I hurried her into the bathroom. This is the first time that she has asked/told me that she needed to go to the potty. I put her in there for a little while and went back to check on her and she actually went!!! This is not the first time she has gone on the potty, but it is the first time for the combination of the two. Thank you God! A little encouragement in the midst of the struggle! :) I feel like I have won a Gold Medal!!! We have had more successes today than accidents, so I feel like a million dollars! It's funny how being a mother changes your priorities! Who would have thought that something like going to the potty could make me feel this excited?
Now I know that we are in no way even close to achieving our final goal, and we will have many more accidents along the way, but I want to remember this moment. I write this in order to have something to look back on to encourage me in those times.

My Favorite Time of Day

2008-07-28T18:11:00.002-05:00

This is my favorite time of day. Both girls are napping, (this happening at the same time is RARE!) and I get a chance to get caught up on some of what I want to do. The clouds have built, and it is thundering! I LOVE THAT! Hopefully it will rain, right now the clouds aren't big enough, but hopefully they will keep growing.

I am in the process of rearranging some things in the house. I think Natalie is big enough to play with her toys in her room, so after some cleaning out and arranging I have managed to fit most of them in her room and closet. She took well to the change, she walked into her room and said "Wow! Toys!" It was almost as good as Christmas, you would have thought they were all new toys! She spent the rest of the time before her nap playing in her room, by herself. Gabbie even played in there with her for awhile. They were so happy, and so was I! Now my living room looks like a real adult room! I still need to finish organizing some stuff and vacuum though.

Gabbie is six months old now, I can't believe it. The time has gone by so fast. She had her Checkup today, she weighs 16 & 1/2 pounds. She had her Cardiologist appointment earlier in the month, to follow up on the murmur and abnormal EKG that her regular doctor performed. The EKG done by the cardiologist came out normal, and he said whatever was wrong before had corrected itself. She only has a "Functional Murmur". She is getting very good at sitting alone now, although I still put a pillow behind her to catch the occasional falls. She is always busy, and always has to have a toy or something in her hands. She is always doing something! She is trying out the crawling muscles, although I think we are month or away from that still. (I don't know if I'm glad or not! :) )

Natalie is still a challenge, in more ways than one. We are still trying to get her into the idea of potty-training, and not having much success in that area. She can count to 10 all by herself. She knows several shapes and colors, and is now getting into the alphabet. She knows A-F in order pretty well, while recognizing a few others, just not in order. Last night she brought Tony a piece of paper and said "Dada, A Bs." She wanted him to write the alphabet for her. She can recognize most of the letters when they are written down.
When she was saying her prayers last night She said " Dear Jesus, I love you,... R,S,X,Y...Amen!" I guess she had the alphabet on her mind. Her prayer usually goes, "Dear Jesus, I love you. Thank you for Mommy and Dada and Gabbie, amen. She loves saying her prayers at night.
She loves shoes, and usually ends up wearing 3-4 different pair every day. She does great at putting them on by herself, and gets them on the right feet most of the time. When she doesn't, all I have to say is "Other foot", and she switches them. She likes having a say in what she wears and especially what hair bows she wears. Usually the shoes and bows don't match the outfit when we are at home, but it makes her feel like big stuff. She says please and thank you almost always without having to be prompted.

Natalie and Gabbie still get along great, Gabbie is showing more of an interest in Natalie's toys, so sometimes we have trouble, but for the most part they adore each other. Any time Gabbie is unhappy or cries, Natalie is right there to comfort her. Natalie wants to carry Gabbie around, but since there is only about 7lbs difference between the two, that is a little difficult to do. So she will just grab her by the legs and pull her wherever she wants her to go! (I have to watch out!) I can always tell if Natalie is nearby by watching Gabbie. When Gabbie sees her big sister she gets so excited and smiles so big. Today both girls were playing alone in their room together for quite awhile, as happy as they could be. Gabbie can push herself up when she is laying on her tummy when she is in bed too see over her crib bumper. When she does this she can see Natalie's bed, and I often hear them talking and Natalie playing peek-a-boo with Gabbie when they first wake up. That's one of my favorite sounds!

I need to go get busy now. Tony just called and he is off work now so I need to get started cooking supper.

Family Blessings

2008-07-15T11:04:00.000-05:00

It is 11:03 am, still morning to me, although some of you don't really see it that way. Natalie is still asleep, partly because she went to bed very late last night and partly maybe, because of the heavy cloud cover outside. Because of the clouds it is only 67 degrees outside! I thank God for that. The A/C is not running at the moment!
Gabriella is awake and in a great mood jumping and talking in her jumperoo...after spitting up all over my CLEAN pants before I even had them on for 30 min! I Thought she would have waken Natalie up when she woke up but when I went in to get Gabbie, Natalie didn't even stir. I think I hear her waking up now though.
Yesterday my great-grandmother was put in Hospice. Apparently she had a heart attack on Sunday night, and will not recover. So I have family in town. I love having the family around, my mom is flying in today, and my dad is driving in from where they were in CT, so he will be here in a couple of days. I hate that the family has to be here under these circumstances though. My other Great-Grandmother passed away in March of this year. I knew that these days would come, but I never expected them to be within 4 months of each other. I am very fortunate, these are the closest relatives to me to pass away. I also have had the privilege of knowing 3 great-grandmothers. (The other one passed away when I was little, but I still remember her.) My girls have had the GREAT privilege of having 2 living great-great-grandmothers (on my side, there may be one alive on Tony's side, but we aren't sure.) when they were born!! I told my husband that is a lot more than most people get, so we are very blessed. I was not as close to this grandmother as my grandmother that passed away in March, for several reasons, but I will still miss her. I have many happy memories of her.
Today is payday, which means I need to make out my grocery/shopping list of what we need for the next two weeks. Then I have to narrow it down to what we can actually afford, and then figure out how I am going to make that work!
It may be a few days until I can post again, with all the family stuff going on, so until then God Bless you and remember to look for your blessings.

Every Day Life

2008-07-10T15:28:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in awhile, because not much has been going on. We finally got the ac fixed, after almost 5 days. It's amazing how much you take that thing for granted.

My sister came from Houston for the 4th of July. I always love it when she comes, she is 10 hours away and that is hard for me. The girls and I miss her. Natalie loves playing with her auntie Neena. We didn't really do much for the holiday, just went to the park to see the fireworks. Natalie loved them. She would clap and say "Yea stars!" whenever they would go off. The mosquitoes were so bad at the park. Kaleena said they are worse here than in Houston. That's got to be bad!

Things around the house are pretty much the same, I am just trying to stay caught up on the housework which is a never ending battle, and waging major ant wars! I am still finding them at the strangest places.

Natalie has hit the terrible twos big time so every day is a challenge! She has learned to say "I'm Sorry", so that is helping a little bit. Gabbie is learning to sit alone, I can't believe that she is big enough for that already. She will be 6 months old next week!

Natalie loves watching that frogs at night. They come and sit by the lights on our deck. They are pretty smart, the lights attract the bugs, and they have all they need without having to hop anywhere. We saw one frog eat 7 June bugs in just a few min. Natalie says "Rog, RIBBIT RIBBIT! Hop, hop." She would watch them all night if I would let her.

I'm having a hard time getting the pictures where I want them on my post, so they are kinda all mixed up. You can read part of the post, and then match it with the picture it goes with! There is a little project for you!

Open Carry of Handguns in Texas Petition

2008-07-03T20:55:00.000-05:00

Open Carry of Handguns in Texas Petition

Hot Hot HOT!

2008-06-30T18:14:00.000-05:00

It's strange how things happen sometimes.

Our AC went out on Saturday. It was a pretty good day for it to go out I guess, you know, since it HAD to go out. It was cloudy and in the upper 80's, so we didn't totally melt. Saturday night was very cool and had a nice breeze, so we opened the windows...until it started to rain! Now we never complain about rain here, we always need it. I was a little bummed though at the timing of it. So I closed the windows, and thanked God for the rain.

Sunday was similar to Saturday, and since it was cooler outside than inside that evening, we mowed until it was too dark to see. It was a nice cool evening, but not a stitch of wind. Now we don't complain about the lack of wind here. A day where the wind only blows 15-20mph is usually considered a calm day. So it was very strange when I found myself praying for wind!

Now today it is in the 90's,and about 89 inside. There is nothing I can do to cool down. We finally got in touch with the guy that is going to come look at it for us. He said he will come tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. I am not looking forward to that, since I am out of cooling ideas, and clothes that I can remove! I had errands that badly needed to be run tomorrow, but unless he comes early afternoon, it doesn't look like that will happen.

We woke up today and the phone lines and internet were out. Something strange is going on around here. That was the easy one to fix...of course.

At least maybe 4 days without the ac will make the electric bill smaller.

Back to Blah

2008-06-25T12:35:00.000-05:00

Well, we are back home in the heat.
Our trip went great, both girls were great in the car. The weather was so nice. On Saturday it was in the 60's and rainy. The wind didn't blow at all. It was nice to get away and have fun as a family. We went into Red River and looked around at all the little gift shops. We saw deer, fox, turkey, and several birds at our cabin.

The fox came at night, so we were unable to get good pictures of them. Natalie thought they were cats, and meowed at them the whole time she saw them. Not much exciting happened, but that was probably what made it a great trip.

I had a crazy week planned this week, but everybody cancelled on me. So...I'm left with a Dr appointment for the girls to have their ears checked to make sure the infections are gone, and that's it. I'm excited. That leaves me more time for, "Do you want to sit in the potty?"
"NO!" And so the cycle continues....

Here we go...

2008-06-19T11:53:00.000-05:00

I am getting ready to leave town tonight when Tony gets off work. We are going to our family's cabin in New Mexico, close to Red River. I am so excited! The weather is supposed to be in the 70's for the highs, and 30's, and 40's for the lows! That is a big difference from the 90's and 100's that we have been having here.
We have never really had much of a family vacation like this, and even though it is only for the weekend, I am very much looking forward to getting away. This will be the longest trip that either of the girls have been on, so I don't know if I am looking forward to that part! We won't be leaving until 7:00 or later, and it is a five hour trip, so they will probably sleep for a big part of it. For now though, I better get back to packing, since Tony is working I have to pack for all four of us. Enjoy your weekend, I think I will!

Makes Me Angry

2008-06-14T18:36:00.000-05:00

I think this speaks for itself. I hate hypocrisy. This is crazy!

They're Everywhere!

2008-06-14T17:55:00.000-05:00

I know from some of my Myspace, and Facebook friends that I am not alone in this struggle. They are annoying, and trying to take what is not theirs. I have been fairly successful in keeping them away from me so far...until today. THEY... are ants. Teeny tiny, black ants. I have kept them out of the kitchen so far by making sure that I keep it clean and don't leave anything out that may attract them. I was at my bathroom sink (which is clean,by the way) and I saw a few ants crawling around. I followed those ants to see what could be so interesting in my bathroom. I saw them going into the cabinet that sits on the counter top. I opened the door to see dozens of ants crawling up to the top shelf. I continued to follow the stupid things straight to...my mouthwash! They were all over the the bottle. I cleaned, and killed all the ants, but couldn't find where they were coming from. A few hours later, I go in to check on my mouthwash, and find it covered in ants AGAIN!! I clean and kill again, and this time there are enough ants that I am able to follow the trail ton see where they are coming from. The ceiling! Sneaky little boogers! Who would think to check for ants coming in around the ceiling! So I finally got all the ants out of the bathroom. I will have to go check in a little bit to make sure they haven't come back. Somewhere outside there are some ants with some serious breath issues, or they have a bit of an alcohol problem.

Trying to Recover

2008-06-11T14:27:00.000-05:00

I didn't get around to posting yesterday. It was a crazy day! I was only home for about 2 hours, for nap time.

I still am not feeling well, it feels like I have a giant vise just squeezing my head. Major sinus pressure/infection. And to top it off, the wind is STILL blowing over 30mph, for like the fourth day in a row. It doesn't look like I am going to be getting better very quickly. Since I am nursing I can't take anything to unclog my head either. So, my head is a throbbing fog, the wind is blowing, the temp outside is above 100 for the 5th day this month...I told Tony that I am not leaving the house today!

Since I'm staying in, that means its time to give the potty training another shot. We had two successful trips to the potty this morning! I was so excited...then we had three times of not making it in time, so I'm back to not being so sure. Oh well, when she gets up from her nap we will try again.

Naps have been a struggle lately as well. She goes to bed, but plays/talks/yells, for a hour or more before she goes to sleep. By the time she finally goes to sleep she doesn't get to sleep for very long before I have to wake her up so she will sleep at night. Gabbie won't sleep for more than 30 min at a time during the day lately either, so things have been a little crazy around here! Hopefully soon we can find a routine that will work for all of us.

I still am trying to figure out/find the time to get more stuff put on here. (pictures etc.), so check back. Hopefully it will get better.

Oh Mondays...

2008-06-09T15:24:00.000-05:00

I usually get behind over the weekend since Tony is off on Sundays. We usually just relax after church, and I have to get busy on Monday getting caught up on the laundry and cleaning. We didn't make it to church yesterday since the girls have been sick. (They both have ear infections.) They are feeling better, but the antibiotics make them cranky. I didn't think it would be very nice to make a nursery worker have to deal with that, so we stayed home. The good thing is, we can listen to the sermon online, so we don't miss to much. It's a good thing we did, Natalie was better, but Gabbie was the cranky one. She had a hard time going to sleep for her naps, and when she did would only sleep for 30 min or less, so she just cried. She was so tired. She is on her 2nd nap of the day today, so maybe she will do better.
I actually got a bit of housework done yesterday since Dada was home to play with the girls,(so nice!) so I am not starting out behind today! That has turned out to be a good thing since I started getting a sore throat last night, and my grandparents from out of town stopped by for a little bit this afternoon. I don't feel too sick, just stuffy in the head and a little tired. Maybe it's just allergies? Who knows. My sister has strep, and the girls have had the ear infections. I know I'm not as bad as either of those.

Right now I am at that wonderful part of the day where both girls are down for their naps. Natalie isn't asleep yet, she is telling me now that she has a dirty diaper. I know, what you are thinking, she needs to be potty trained if she can do that! I used to think so too. We are working on it, but she won't tell me that she NEEDS to go, only that she HAS gone. Past tense. URGH! I guess I need to go take care of that. Then I need to make some banana bread with the black bananas that are on the counter before the fruit flies and ants find them. After that I will try to work more on getting this site up and running, and hopefully put something interesting on it.

Trying things out

2008-06-07T23:19:00.000-05:00

So I'm new to blogging. I'm not a writer, as you will probably soon be able to tell. I don't even know if this is going to be successful or not.
I am a full time mom. I have two little girls, one of which needs to be potty trained, which means I am crazy busy!
Hopefully I will have time to put up enough new posts to keep it interesting. Since I don't know how this is going to turn out, I am going to do a bit of a trial run before I let anybody in on my musings. Nothing terribly exciting happens to me very often, but maybe this will be a way for the 3 or so people who actually care to keep in touch. If nothing else maybe it will be a way for me to keep my own crazy life in perspective. So here goes...