Holy smokes! I'm a tired mom tonight. So it would stand to make sense that I go to bed at 12:30 in the morning instead of blog, but I'm a chatterbox, er, uh, a typerbox??
Yesterday, I finally (FINALLY!!) got my boys registered with CYS. What is that you ask? Well, even if you didn't it is Children and Youth Services. And it's not like child protective services or anything. In the Army, if you have dependent children, they have to be registered with the post CYS in order to participate in any sports programs or receive childcare. We'd like to get tumbling in some gymnastics so we finally got our registration updated.... a year late. :) Not that it matters, you don't get in trouble if you don't do it, you just get excluded from participation in activities.
Then last night, which seems so long ago, Adisson went to his first Master's Club meeting. :) Which he LOVED! It's like AWANA's if you are familiar with that. He's VERY excited to go back next week. It's at a church we don't attend, because our church doesn't have a children's program that meets during the week due to location issues, but we are getting to know some of the people there as it's where we pick up our food from the Angel Food Ministries. Which, by the way, I LOVE!!!
Today we had our first Cloverbud meeting. Cloverbuds is a branch of 4H for younger kids (K-3rd) and the local homeschool group has a homeschool specific Cloverbuds group. And we went. I didn't care much for it, as nearly all of the moms knew each other and showed verrrrry little interest in getting to know me. But Adisson had a great time. :) So we'll go back.
We did other things today, but I guess I'll talk about my appearance insecurities.
I'm a petite person. I'm barely five feet tall and weigh under a hundred pounds. So to start with, I look like I'm getting ready to enter high school....not like I'm approaching my thirties. And don't say it. Please don't say "You'll love it when you're forty." because really, I don't care about what I'll love fourteen years from now. Just once, I wanna go somewhere that I'm not judged because I look so young. So I had my oldest son when I was 20. I'm 26 now....clearly that's an adult age. I just want to be treated like an adult, and not like I'm out with my little brothers. Sure my dad has kids that are just a little older than my son, and one that's younger than both of them, but I'm not out shopping with my brothers. These are my children. I guess I make matters a little more difficult as well. See, my husband and I, we're a little more contemporary than your run of the mill homeschooling family. Adam's got like eleven tattoos and gauges out his ears when he's on leave from work. I have three tattoos, with more planned, I dye my hair black and recently got my lip pierced (uhhhh, Grandma, I think you were there when I called Mom, so I hope this isn't a shock for you!!).
Maybe I bring it on myself. Maybe I should try to look more like the soccer mom you know that drives a minivan (I'm also a soccer mom that drives a minivan). But instead of being secure with who I am, I feel like I have to defend myself. I'm a pretty good mom. Sure, it gets a little hairy around here when Dad's been gone for eleven months. I am quicker to anger, quicker to yell, but it's incredibly stressful to be an Army family when Daddy's in Iraq. Although I shouldn't make excuses. But I love my boys. I love them so very much. I love them so much I feel like I am doing the best I can by ensuring the best education I think they can receive by homeschooling them. I love them so much that I do all that I can to be sure that they are happy, healthy, and know that every single day, they have two parents that would, and do, everything we can to show them how much we love them.
Even though I shouldn't concern myself with the ignorance of strangers, the remarks, the stares, the avoidance, the blatant disregard....it's hurtful. I'm a mom, too. Just trying to be the best mom I can to the most amazing children God could have given me. Even if I look like I'm 14.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
What's up, doc?
The boys and I have been going to church for the last six weeks or so. Adisson seems to like it, Zander not so much. But I love it, so we keep going. It has been a very very long time since I have been a regular church attender, and it certainly hasn't been since I've been a mother. But if I don't tell my boys about God and what it means to love Him, who is?
Today was the church's first birthday (WOOO HOO!!) and as we left, we grabbed a piece of cake (well, 2) and shared them in the van. So really, what's better than church and cake?
This week, Adisson is going to try out the Master's Club at another church (where we pick up our Angel Food Ministries food). He's a quiet little guy, except in a much smaller group of his close friends, but my husband shared with me today that he was like that for awhile when he was younger. And I guess I remember being shy until you got to know me, then I couldn't shut up. Come to think about it, Adisson is very much the same way. :) But I want him to try stepping out of his comfort zone sometimes to find that there are really fun things out there.
Also this week, Adisson will be joining a local homeschool 4H group. It's not animal related (much to the delight of my husband) as it's for the younger 4H crowd. I'm pretty excited, it sounds like a lot of fun. I know Adisson's been talking about swimming lessons so we might give that a try after the first of the year. We have a lot going on this year already.
So that's our week at a glance. :)
Today was the church's first birthday (WOOO HOO!!) and as we left, we grabbed a piece of cake (well, 2) and shared them in the van. So really, what's better than church and cake?
This week, Adisson is going to try out the Master's Club at another church (where we pick up our Angel Food Ministries food). He's a quiet little guy, except in a much smaller group of his close friends, but my husband shared with me today that he was like that for awhile when he was younger. And I guess I remember being shy until you got to know me, then I couldn't shut up. Come to think about it, Adisson is very much the same way. :) But I want him to try stepping out of his comfort zone sometimes to find that there are really fun things out there.
Also this week, Adisson will be joining a local homeschool 4H group. It's not animal related (much to the delight of my husband) as it's for the younger 4H crowd. I'm pretty excited, it sounds like a lot of fun. I know Adisson's been talking about swimming lessons so we might give that a try after the first of the year. We have a lot going on this year already.
So that's our week at a glance. :)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
It's been way too long..
I can't believe I haven't been here in a few weeks. We've been busy, I guess.
My mother-in-law came for a visit last weekend. My father-in-law was away at a big Harley Davidson thing, and due to Labor Day, she had an extra day off of work so she came to visit. On Friday afternoon, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. We had such a good time! And Adisson won 100 tickets all by himself and he's been talking about it since! We then went down to Nashville and stayed that the Opryland hotel...something the two of us have always wanted to do but the husbands weren't as impressed! :) So the boys and Memaw and I went to Nashville. On Saturday morning we got ready to go A Day Out With Thomas the Train. It was interesting and hot. The train ride was great...coulda passed on the rest. :) Came home, went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and watched Arthur and the Invisibles afterwards. Got up Sunday, took my mother-in-law to church (I don't know the last time she's gone, but I think decades is a true statement) where we heard a great message, amazing music (as usual) and then left to grab some Taco Bell. Then we took the boys bowling. It was so much fun to watch each of them enjoy their games. :) Then we came home and it was time for Memaw to leave. And I was sad to see her go, but grateful for a nap....she wore us out!!!
It's hard to remember what it's like to have two adults around. Adam's been gone now for 10 months, 2 weeks, and five days. When the boys and I get together with friends, there's many more kids than adults...so no one can help another mommy with her little monkeys because she's busy with her own. But with Memaw around, there was 2 adults and 2 kids....the whole time. And I truly forgot what a blessing that is. And I remembered again just how much I miss him.
At 26, I'm not a young army wife. Most of these ladies are just barely over 18. Sometimes with kids, sometimes not. Sometimes brand new to the life, sometimes they've been around for awhile. At 26, with five and a half years of army life under my belt, I'm not a newbie anymore. And in the store I see these girls, just 18 or 19, with a little toddler in the cart and you can tell right away that she's holding it down by herself....that her husband is gone too. And there's a good chance she's miles and miles away from her family as well. And I sometimes wonder how they've grown up so fast. I don't know if I could do what I'm doing now at 18. Adam left for Korea for a year when I was 22. Left for Iraq, for a year, the first time when I was 23 and left again when I was 25. And some days I'm barely treading water. It just makes me appreciate an Army wife even more. Moreso the young than the older, I guess. :)
In other Army news, I'd like to ask for this deployment to end already!! :) Because I miss my husband tremendously. :)
On the school front, this week we've learned an odd assortment of things as I've followed Adisson's interests. We learned about volcanoes and origami. Along with reading, writing, math, spelling, and bible stuff. I haven't done much art (oops!) and we're still waiting to start KinderBach music lessons until we get a keyboard, but there's always tomorrow. :)
There's more going on, but I've got to get some cleaning done and get to bed. I'll be back sooner this time!
My mother-in-law came for a visit last weekend. My father-in-law was away at a big Harley Davidson thing, and due to Labor Day, she had an extra day off of work so she came to visit. On Friday afternoon, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. We had such a good time! And Adisson won 100 tickets all by himself and he's been talking about it since! We then went down to Nashville and stayed that the Opryland hotel...something the two of us have always wanted to do but the husbands weren't as impressed! :) So the boys and Memaw and I went to Nashville. On Saturday morning we got ready to go A Day Out With Thomas the Train. It was interesting and hot. The train ride was great...coulda passed on the rest. :) Came home, went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and watched Arthur and the Invisibles afterwards. Got up Sunday, took my mother-in-law to church (I don't know the last time she's gone, but I think decades is a true statement) where we heard a great message, amazing music (as usual) and then left to grab some Taco Bell. Then we took the boys bowling. It was so much fun to watch each of them enjoy their games. :) Then we came home and it was time for Memaw to leave. And I was sad to see her go, but grateful for a nap....she wore us out!!!
It's hard to remember what it's like to have two adults around. Adam's been gone now for 10 months, 2 weeks, and five days. When the boys and I get together with friends, there's many more kids than adults...so no one can help another mommy with her little monkeys because she's busy with her own. But with Memaw around, there was 2 adults and 2 kids....the whole time. And I truly forgot what a blessing that is. And I remembered again just how much I miss him.
At 26, I'm not a young army wife. Most of these ladies are just barely over 18. Sometimes with kids, sometimes not. Sometimes brand new to the life, sometimes they've been around for awhile. At 26, with five and a half years of army life under my belt, I'm not a newbie anymore. And in the store I see these girls, just 18 or 19, with a little toddler in the cart and you can tell right away that she's holding it down by herself....that her husband is gone too. And there's a good chance she's miles and miles away from her family as well. And I sometimes wonder how they've grown up so fast. I don't know if I could do what I'm doing now at 18. Adam left for Korea for a year when I was 22. Left for Iraq, for a year, the first time when I was 23 and left again when I was 25. And some days I'm barely treading water. It just makes me appreciate an Army wife even more. Moreso the young than the older, I guess. :)
In other Army news, I'd like to ask for this deployment to end already!! :) Because I miss my husband tremendously. :)
On the school front, this week we've learned an odd assortment of things as I've followed Adisson's interests. We learned about volcanoes and origami. Along with reading, writing, math, spelling, and bible stuff. I haven't done much art (oops!) and we're still waiting to start KinderBach music lessons until we get a keyboard, but there's always tomorrow. :)
There's more going on, but I've got to get some cleaning done and get to bed. I'll be back sooner this time!
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