I've been meaning to blog, really I have. :) Oops. Of course lift gets busy and I don't come here to write. It's entirely too bad that I don't, because I know I would enjoy doing so. As the new year approaches, I'm hoping to create some sort of rhythym to my posts so it's not such a jumbled mess. Sure, life around here is organized chaos, but it's hard to spend a few minutes trying to sum up entire days worth of happenings into a few words. So, I'm trying to come up with a plan. We'll see how that goes.

Christmas was wonderful. I'm so blessed. We didn't get to visit family this year, but it was a blessing to be here with all of my boys. We had a wonderful time. Yesterday all of our decorations came down. I don't want to go into labor with Christmas decorations still up, so I wanted to get them down now. 2 weeks ago, I cleaned out and organized our Learning Closet (I still have a few things I need to do in there, however) and yesterday we decided to clear out our storage closet and organize it. It got to be a huge mess with all of our Christmas decorations out and with us keeping presents in there. But now it's all clean and orderly. I love it!!

Baby Boy McGhee is due to arrive in 12 days. That's the day of my scheduled c-section. Some days I don't think I'll make it that far, but more often I think for sure I will. My older boys weren't early at all, so there's not much of a reason to think this little guy will come before then. I'm really excited! We all are. We're nearly 100% ready (stuff wise, I don't know how to get ready to be a mom of three boys!), just needing to pick up like 2 or 3 small things in the next few days. I'm hoping something we can work on soon is his name as he's still without one.

I've got to get to the couch to get my feet up as they are starting to get enormously swollen. I'll be back soon hopefully to go over all of my newfound CVS goodness! :)

Give everyday a chance. When the washer is falling apart and the TV is on the fritz, give everyday a chance. When the truck breaks down on the way to work, just a mile from home, give everyday a chance. When the money's low because you're maintaining a mortgage, rent, and two sets of utilities, give everyday a chance.



Because my husband is not deployed, he's home with us this Christmas, today is amazing. Because I have two very wonderful, healthy boys and a precious baby boy on the way, today is amazing. Because Christmas is just 2 1/2 weeks away, and it will be wonderful, today is amazing. Because tonight we're going to paint Christmas suncatchers and make reindeer from candy canes, today is amazing. Because despite not having a lot of extra money, all of our bills are paid, the house is full of food, and it's warm and cozy in here, today is amazing.

Holy is the Lamb.

So already not doing so well with blogging everyday. :)

On Sunday, Adisson celebrated his 7th birthday. He got some really great gifts that he loves and really has a good time playing with. This is good since there have been occasions in the past where we (and others) have spent money on something we were sure he'd love and then he never played with. Oops. I have pictures on my facebook page, if you are interested in seeing his birthday party.

Monday night we attended a military family recognition ceremony. The boys and I all got honored with certificates for supporting Adam through his military career. Then we got to eat some yummy food and watch a spontaneous magic show. It was a fun time! As soon as we left there, we were off to Adisson's first Pack meeting. It was cute and fun! Zander got a little bored, so I'll do better to be prepared for him for next time. Adisson got his immediate recognition emblem for his beads. Soon he'll earn his Bobcat badge. :) We're excited about that!

Last night, we ran to Walmart for some shopping and then came home to watch The Santa Clause 3. Unfortunately, we got in too late and missed the beginning. Instead, we opened the first door to our new Lego Advent calendar and read a Veggie Tales Christmas book, The Star of Christmas. Tonight, we'll continue on with our Advent stuff and a family craft. It will be nice to spend this season at home with just the four of us, even if I will miss our family celebrations in Ohio tremendously. :)

I'm online everyday. And everyday I think, I should blog a little more so my family in Ohio know what's going on in good ol' Maryland. So I'm going to try super hard to blog every single day from now until 2010. We'll see how that works. :)

Tomorrow is Adisson's 7th birthday. I can't believe my baby is seven already! SEVEN! He's such a good kid. I'm blessed and honored to be his mom. I'm going to be sure to let him know how great I think he is, but right now he's involved in a very intense conversation with his little brother and no one is whining/crying/fighting/yelling so I'm not interupting. :)

We have a lot of stuff going on this month. It's nice to be busy. Fortunately, it's not overwhelming. Adisson has his first Pack meeting on Monday. We'll have to hurry there as we have a military recognition ceremony we're attending on Monday as well. I hope we can get to both of them on time.

The house still hasn't sold. I'm not convinced we'll always have a house in Kentucky, I am certain it will sell at some point, so it is what it is. But because we're continuing to maintain a mortgage on a house that we still pay to keep lit up and with running water and paying our rent here in Frederick, we've had to budget our money a little better. It's a little difficult for us. I'm not saying we spend all we want on whatever we want all the time, that's DEFINITELY not the case. But a trip to McDonald's or picking up something for the boys while we're at WalMart, shopping for no reason, is something we've grown accustomed to. That will have to stop. :)

I've set a budget for myself for grocery shopping this week. Part of it has just become a game to see how cheaply I can get all of the things we'll need for two weeks. We have quite a bit of food in the freezer and cabinets, I just need a few things to prepare two weeks worth of meals. The trick will be to not give in one day and pick up fast food. I'm getting more and more tired as each week of my pregnancy arrives. Somedays it's all I can do to cook something from a box/can, but I am going to try really hard to work on that this coming pay period.

Even though money is tight, I have no problem seeing the blessings we have. Our bills are all paid, and on time, and there's never a time that the phone rings and I'm worried it's someone on the other end inquiring about a late payment. There's never a time I don't know if the kids will have food to eat. I sometimes wonder whether or not they will eat what I fix, but I always have food to prepare. The house is always warm, the water is always on. No one is coming to repossess the van. And most importantly, I have my boys...the two playing so nicely together and the one that is growing and growing in my ever expanding belly and we're all healthy.

I have some worries. The house is still for sale and we're approaching a time of the year when we've had issues with needing home repair due to weather concerns. It will be hard to do that from here. The van is acting funny and Adam has no idea what the problem is, but I know it doesn't sound cheap or easy. But we're grateful. We're blessed. We've been provided all that we need and lots of things we have asked for.

I'm getting more and more sad that the house hasn't sold yet. It's disheartening and I'm struggling. So today I stopped by my own blog to listen to Hillsong sing Came to My Rescue. I'm certain that God will come to my rescue and that our house will sell in God's time. I worry and I know that God says not to worry. That He will provide for us. And He has. I just need to remind myself that this all has a timeline, it's just not mine.

I called, You answered...and You came to my rescue.

Yesterday the shootings at Ft. Hood took place. It seems weird to do anything else today because my mind is never far from thinking about those families affected by this tragedy. As an Army family, you instantly feel a comraderie with other Army families. When you meet another Army spouse, it's like you just know them. The problems they have, the concerns, the worry, the struggle...you just know what it's like to walk in their shoes. These soldiers were preparing to deploy or just returning home. These soldiers were soon going to be saying goodbye to their loved ones, missing their spouse, missing their kids, missing Christmas and birthdays. When they got up yesterday, they had no idea that one of "their own" would walk into a building with the intent to kill them. Soldiers that had managed to make it through a year in a war zone, make it home safely, to have their life taken away by someone who was supposed to be respected as an officer of the Army.

I fight back tears so often today because I'm just in awe. How could this happen? I know this situation could have played out anywhere and it does...more often than we care to think of....but an Army post? To soldiers?

So heartbreaking. I'm so sad for the families of the wounded and deceased. It seems surreal.

God bless Ft. Hood families. God bless the Army and DA civilians. The extended Army family is saddened beyond belief and we'll all be standing by waiting to see what we can each do to help pick up the pieces.

Last Wednesday evening was an FRG meeting. Obviously the first one since I've been here. It was....interesting. :) Not at all what I'm accustomed to in some ways and very similar in others. Because of being pregnant, there aren't a lot of options I have for volunteering activities so I'm hoping that I can help out where it's needed with our FRG.

This weekend was fun. Saturday was rainy all day so we ran to the grocery store, got some cookies to bake, and a movie to watch. Sunday was Adam's birthday! Happy 28th honey! We went to DC for our first family trip there. Unfortunately, it might be our last until after the baby is born. It definitely took it's toll on me!

We drove to the first Metro station in Maryland and parked the van and took the "Red Line to Glenmont." The boys were definitely interested in the subway. We had to make a lot of stops, though, so they started to get antsy for us to get there. :) We got to the Metro Center Transfer and had to catch the blue or orange rail to the Smithsonian. It was way busier than the station in Shady Grove so that made for a more apprehensive Mama!

We made it to the National Mall, though, and before 11:00. We went to the Museum of Natural History, but not before having to cut across a marathon 30,000 + strong. :) That was interesting.

The museum was great. The boys had a wonderful time and for it being the weekend, it wasn't overly crowded. We thought we might make it over to the American History Museum, but we opted to walk a few blocks to the National Archives building. My boys are a little too young to understand the importance, but there's something to be said for standing inches away from the most important documents in our nation's history. A few inches, very thick plate glass, and LOTS of guards in the immediate area was all that seperated me from the Constitution. The Constitution!! Obviously, it was the first time I've ever been, though I doubt there will ever be a time I can stand in the Rotunda at the National Archives building and not feel a sense of awe.

We saw the Capitol Building from a slight distance and the Washington Monument from across the street. I just could not walk anymore. I'm still in a lot of discomfort today, which is disappointing to Adam who hoped we'd be able to make one more trip before the baby gets here.

This week is a busy one for Adisson and his school work. He will find some more handwriting practice awaits him and a Mom/Teacher that is a little more strict. With moving and everything going on, school got to be a little too relaxed, even for a first grader being homeschooled. We need to buckle down a little more and get some ground covered this semester before Baby Without a Name shows up!

So happy! :) The potential buyers of our home have accepted our counter offer! :) This could be it. God is so good! I'm still nervous because I know things could fall through but I'm hopeful that God has found the buyers we need!

I knew it would sell, though I didn't think it would be this quickly. I have just been trying very hard to trust God's timing. I truly hope this is it and that we can wrap this up quickly.

Last night Adam drove us all to Gaithersburg, MD to a store called Great Beginnings. It's a HUGE baby and kid store. I went on the premise to find which stroller I wanted to buy for this little guy. I had no intention of buying one there (and I didn't!) because I know I can very likely find a better price online. I wanted to see the Chicco Liteway and the Combi Helio DX. They had neither. Ugh. I was pretty frustrated. They had some gorgeous strollers, but I cannot fathom or justify spending several hundred dollars on a stroller. In reality it's a piece of equipment that we'll be using for several years so I suppose hundreds of dollars COULD be justified....but not by this mama!

I wanted something meant for newborn and up because we are using a convertible car seat instead of an infant car seat. This will be the first time we aren't using a travel system! :) I need something lightweight but not light on features. The Liteway and the Helio fit the lightweight bill but I knew I was going to have to add some additional products to get my ideal stroller. I was disappointed when we couldn't find what we wanted last night. However, we did stumble across the Graco Cleo stroller. It was lighter and a little more compact than full size strollers and definitely had the features I wanted. The price? $250. Yikes. There was no way I was convincing the Big Guy that I needed to spend that much money. I told him again, "I can find it cheaper online!" He seemed skeptical.

I found it. With a discount coupon added and shipping included, I spent less than $73. :) I know, sometimes I amaze myself!

Today I have to get some stuff done around the house. The downstairs needs a little time, but the upstairs needs some loving! I hope I can get to the baby's room and spend a little time in there today as well. I'd LOVE to start washing his clothes and getting them put away...but we don't have a dresser yet. My in-laws are buying us a crib or dresser and my mom is buying whatever they don't. With each baby, they like to buy one big gift and they asked if they could purchase these items. Of course, Adam and I didn't say no! :) We picked out what we want from Ikea. I don't want to be here, however, when Adam has to assemble the pieces. Ikea furniture is less than fun to put together. :)

On tonight's menu is chicken queso's and spanish rice. I might try to get some dessert baked this afternoon, too. Adam likely won't be working this afternoon so I'd also like to go to the pond on post and let the boys play on the playground and collect some leaves for a fall project that I want to work on.

God is faithful and good. I hope I spend enough time thanking Him for all of his grace.

I'm trying to settle into a routine...which would make it easier to blog regularly! :) I hope we can get something figured out soon as the arrival of Baby Boy #3 is just 12 weeks away! :)

We still haven't sold our house in Kentucky. Our realtor is not as helpful as I would like and I wish everyday that we would have selected someone else to sell our home for us. It's truly frustrating. I think someone is interested in purchasing it, we're waiting to hear if they've accepted our counter offer, but our realtor is out of town all week so it looks like we have to wait until next week to find out what is going on. So maddening.

I do have a confession to make. For the first time in about a year I have purchased, and used, store bought laundry detergent. I was having great difficulty finding necessary ingredients for my homemade stuff and really, we're entering a season in our lives where I need to streamline things as much as possible. I've started accumulating household cleaning products as well instead of making my own. I must admit....I have missed them. It wasn't ever about pure and natural to me, I'm not a person that is anti-chemical. It was about saving money. And I still do save money. I don't buy a cleaning product without a coupon and I shop around for the best price. I'm happy with my decision, I just need to reassure myself that it's ok to buy instead of make! :)

I've also started making a pretty comprehensive menu for each day. When we moved, we found there was a plethora of grocery shopping options here for us....so different from Oak Grove. I'm saving a ton of money at Giant Eagle and getting to buy all kinds of stuff that wasn't available to us before. Plus with my Giant Eagle card I earn FuelPerks. Every $50 I spend at Giant Eagle earns me $0.20 off PER GALLON at their gas station GetGo. Last night we filled up the van with nearly 19 gallons of gas for $14.40. LOVING THAT!

The boys are doing really well. Adisson is loving that he has neighborhood friends...which eases my mind since I don't think we'll be getting heavily involved with activities this winter due to my concern over H1N1. I would still really like to get him involved in Cub Scouts but I'm having a heck of a time finding a pack to answer my questions. I think Karate will be waiting until the Spring unless he chooses another sport to participate in. I'd LOVE to find some other homeschooling families here at Ft. Detrick, but I'm told that there are very few. There are some neat places on post we could meet up and have a small co-op, but I have no idea how to find these people!

Zander has been doing school work for the past week or so. HE LOVES IT! By school work, I mean we are using Kumon First Steps workbooks, preschool activity bags, and other stuff. He's having such a good time doing "schoo stuff" like his big brother! :) He also loves the neighbor kids and rambles to them as long as they will listen.

Adam is kinda working, but not really. He still isn't sure where or what he's doing but I hope they get him placed somewhere quickly. He's antsy to get working. He's a hardworking guy when it comes to his job and he's already dealing with the fact that this post is A LOT different than Ft. Campbell. He's liking things so far, though and that makes me happy.

I have more to say, but I've got to get to bed. I'll be back!

I meant to blog the entire time we were in Ohio, but I was working with VERY slooooow computers and just didn't have the patience. :)

Wednesday, September 16: The new carpet was installed in the house and we spent HOURS finishing up painting and cleaning. We were finally done around 5:00. We walked through the house, said our goodbyes and left. We managed to get on the road at about 5:30, about the same time I knew there was no way we were making it all the way to Ohio. We'd be stopping in Louisville for the night. On the way there, we realized that my cell is useless out of the area we lived in (old phone, purchased quickly to replace a phone I broke) and Adam and I were driving seperately. It made for an odd, interesting trip as we got seperated a lot, but in the end, finally made it to the Red Roof Inn we were staying at (thanks to my travel agent, Tiffany, who totally got that arranged for us while I was driving!) for the night.

Thursday, September 17: We got up, had some Bob Evans and hit the road. Everyone was working in Ohio, so we drove right to my Grandma's house to visit with her for a little while. Headed over to my in-laws, found out the local festival (that I used to go to every year when I was growing up) was having their parade that night, emptied the van and decided to go. Loved the parade, as always. :) Went to my aunt's to visit with her as she was leaving town on business for a week. She gave me my first baby shower present, a super cute Vera Bradley bag. My first. :) Back to in-laws to sleep.

Friday, September 18: Visited Adam's grandparents, had McDonald's, went to a corn maze with parents-in-law. The boys loved it and hated it. The Kids Corral (or Kids Carol as Adisson called it) was their favorite. It had pumpking bowling, a huge hay pile to jump into, a corn box, a tunnel, a blacklight lit silo...it was fun. The corn maze was huge, took us over 90 min., scared the boys (we were in the dark, they thought we were lost forever), made me have to pee sooooo badly, but we had a great time!

Saturday, September 19: Visited the Renaissance Festival. LOVED it! Had such a good time! Got my belly painted with a henna Serenity Blessing. Had to walk around the festival with my belly hanging out for the rest of the afternoon so the paint would dry. Totally weird, totally worth it. It was so neat to have done! :)

Sunday, September 20: My baby shower! (Note to self: Finish thank you notes!!) Tiffany and my moms threw me a shower. I had SO much fun, it was such a great time. Got lots of little goodies for my newest little man. Tiff had told everyone to bring a book instead of a card, which was one of the COOLEST ideas ever. I got a nice little library started for my baby. It was so pretty, so blue, and so me. I'd almost have another baby to have a shower that fun. Almost. :) Sunday night, hung out with Jordan and his family for a little while. He's got such precious kids!

Monday, September 21: We went shopping! :)

Tuesday, September 22: Hung out at Mom's all evening. It was nice to visit with her and Joyce.

Wednesday, September 23: Aunt Pam went shopping with me in Troy and then Luke, Adam, and I took our kids and Alexis to Jumpy's. It's a "store" with big inflatables to jump on. That was, uh, interesting. :) Had McDonald's for dinner, again, and a good time just hanging out with my brothers. :)

Thursday, September 24: Went shopping in Springfield with Grandma and Pam. Had such a good time. Went back to Grandma's to make a birthday present for Mom and Joyce.

Friday, September 25: Spent the day shopping at Ikea with Ree, Grandma, Pam, and Jordan. It was nice! Then went back to McGhee's to get ready for Mom and Joyce's birthday dinner at BD's Mongolian Grill.

Saturday, September 26: Hung out at Ree's all day for Hannah's birthday party. I swear she grows a foot each time I see her. She's such a sweet girl. Got a new cell phone (there's no way we were traveling with the junky one again!). Went back to in-laws, ordered pizza for me and the boss. :)

Sunday, September 27: Big get-together at Mom's. Grandpa Tom was in town all weekend and it's ALWAYS so much fun to hang out with him and with everyone. The boys just love him and it's no surprise. He's always been such a great and wonderful grandpa. I'm a lucky girl!

Monday, September 28: KAREN'S PIZZA!!! Finally and oh what goodness!

Tuesday, September 29: We left town about 12:30. Got to Morgantown, WV. Had a horrendous experience checking in at the Residence Inn (rudest customer service EVER. In my life!!), but the hotel was gorgeous and so nice. Thanks so much to my wonderful aunt for hooking us up with the room here and the next night in Frederick with her frequent traveler points. What a blessing!

Wednesday, September 30: Left Morgantown, oh, and don't visit there....ugh!!....headed to Frederick, MD. 40 min. into trip...Adam's truck broke. By the grace of God and only that, we still managed to get to Frederick ok. It was a broken uh.....drive shaft??? I don't know, but it was so nervewracking to drive behind him the rest of the way praying he wouldn't wreck into anything or anyone. Got to our Residence Inn in Frederick. Great customer service! Headed right to Ft. Detrick to be sure we knew how to get there. Came back with dinner and hung out.

Thursday, October 1: GOT OUR HOUSE ON POST!!! :) It's great. Bigger than we had, more bathrooms, an actual laundry ROOM, just a cute townhouse! Too much white on the walls, but I'm working on it.

Friday, October 2: Got our STUFF!!

Unpacked for days.

Today, Thursday, October 8: There's more I've got to share, including my prayer request for our house in Kentucky to sell quickly, but I've got to feed the boys. I'll be back!!! :)

So close! The bedrooms, the hallway, and one bathroom are all finished. The kitchen has been painted and just needs a few touch ups. The kitchen needs cleaning, the living room needs painted, the yard needs mowed, the garage needs cleaned out, and the van needs loaded. And everything on the To Do list needs done TOMORROW as the carpet is being installed on Wednesday. A deadline means we'll get stuff done quicker. But it also means I'm tired and can't go to bed. :(

Ohhhh my goodness, it's never ending! I feel like the painting and cleaning to get the house ready for sale is never going to end. I wanted so badly to leave here on Wednesday afternoon, but now it's looking like we'll be lucky to make it out of here by Friday...when the house is listed!

Sigh. It's taking so long!

So what has been going on for us this week? Lemme tell ya!

On Tuesday, the movers came to pack up our stuff. The boys and I took off for a few hours. We went to WalMart, to the park, to my doctor's appointment, and McDonald's. We were here for a little bit while the movers were here, but not too long...and the boys stayed out from under people's feet.

On Tuesday night, the realtor came by. We discussed what she thinks we should list the house for and improvements that need to be made in the next several days...things we were already aware of and planned to do. I think we're listing the house way too high and it's never going to sell at that price...but I'm no realtor so we're going with her suggestions.

On Wednesday, the movers came back to load up our stuff. The boys and I stayed here and sat on the driveway watching. For four hours. It was long and boring and ugh. But it's done and over with and our stuff is on its way to Ft. Detrick, Maryland!! :) Also on Wednesday morning, the carpet guy came to measure the house for new carpet. Yay! After everything was done on Wednesday, we started painting.

Adam bought a Power Roller electric painter. It definitely makes the job quicker, but painting is still slow and tedious. The boys room and the master bedroom both needed two coats of paint, but thankfully, the playroom looks good with just one. Adam does all the walls and I do all of the trimming. It's more work for him, but more tedious for me. But we both have to be working hard or we'll never get this done. We did one coat in the boys room and master bedroom on Wednesday.

On Thursday, we woke up and headed to WalMart...again. We picked up a few things we needed and then came back home to hang out for a little while. The boys were getting their pictures taken by an amazing local photographer (www.paigekimballphotography.com) at a nearby pond. I CANNOT wait to see how they turned out. They both had goofy, crazy smiles and half the time weren't paying attention to what we wanted them to do...but they are cute and silly boys and I'm antsy to see how things turned out.

We had to stop at Lowe's and Home Depot on the way home...oh, and Goodwill to donate lots of stuff. We grabbed some dinner and came home and decided we were happy with our day of no painting.

Friday, however, was another story. We got up early and started painting right away. We added another coat to the boys room and the master bedroom, and started the first, and thankfully only, coat of paint in the playroom. We also got the hallway started. We had to stop in the evening to run to the laundry mat and do two loads of laundry, but we still got a lot done.

Buddy also had to go to the vet yesterday. He needed caught up on his shots and Adam discussed a few other problems he was having. Apparently, he has arthritis and allergies. Poor guy. We'll be picking up a few over-the-counter meds to help him feel better.

Today, I'd like to get the hallway finished, the closets in the bedrooms painted, the finished bedrooms cleaned, and maybe we'll start on the kitchen. I'd LOVE to have the painting finished by tomorrow night, but I'll be thrilled if it's done by Monday evening, too. After the painting is all done, we have to rip out all of the carpet...by we, I mean Adam. It shouldn't be too difficult, just time consuming. We're not painting the baseboards until the carpet is ripped out, so we will have that to do after the carpet is gone.

We also have a lot of cleaning to do. Every nook and cranny and sticky fingerprint needs cleaned up in order to have the house ready to show. It won't be difficult and should only take a few hours, but that's also on the list of "To Do" stuff. We have some exterior work to do as well. The doors need repainted. The trim around the door frames, garage, and porch columns need repainted. The grass will need mowed again. The hedges need trimmed and we need to lay down some mulch.

I'm hoping we can get all this stuff done by Thursday...as the house goes on the market on Friday. Without the new carpet installed. I have no idea when that's getting done.

shhhhh, the movers are coming..... :)

So tomorrow the movers come. They will be here around 8:00 to pack up all of our stuff into boxes. Then they'll finish up and leave and come back on Wednesday to load everything into the truck. And then we'll have very few things left here. :) We'll be sleeping on an air mattress and eating dinner from a card table. It's not so bad, but already my poor pregnant belly is not looking forward to it.

Today we have to pack up everything we'll need for the month of September into as few bags as possible. We have to clean up the house so everything is in it's place to be packed correctly. We have to clean out the van, bring the tubs down from the attic, get rid of a few toys, pack up a few toys so the boys have something to do for the next week, make a trip to WalMart, etc. :) It will be a very busy day to start off a VERY busy week.

Tomorrow after the movers leave, the realtor is coming by to go over stuff with us. Wednesday after the movers load up, the carpet guy is coming by to measure the house so we can order carpet. On Thursday we're going to start painting...if Adam hasn't already started on Wednesday night. On Thursday afternoon, the boys are getting their pictures taken.

All I need is the energy to get through this week. I know it will go by fast...the days always seem to be passing faster and faster, but I'm tired just thinking about all of it. I guess if we can just get through tomorrow, we'll be good. But first there is today.

What is a friend? If I told you that my mind has been centered around friends of mine all day, praying for a miracle for them...would you think of them as less than friends if I told you they were people I'd never met?

I homeschool using Five in a Row and spend time everyday on the message boards there. But it's not just a homeschooling forum. It isn't just a place where I ask about math curriculum or for handwriting help. It's a family. A close, tight-knit, loving, caring family. A family that when you need something, the best and greatest something, they will provide it for you...they will pray for you without ceasing. They will reassure you, they will comfort you, they will storm the gates of heaven on your behalf. And they have likely never met you face to face.

And when one of our own is struggling, we bear the cross with them. We pray and pray to God Almighty that He shows our sister our endless love as He loves.

And tonight one of our sisters is so very desperate for a miracle and we've responded with overwhelming prayers. Yesterday her toddler was hit by a car. She posted briefly, while at the hospital, that her baby was in the PICU with severe brain injury...not expected to make it...and to pray. And that's all she had to say. And we prayed. And we still pray. But it doesn't look like God's plan is to keep that precious little boy on this earth. He will likely be home with Jesus by the time I am done writing this post.

And we weep with pain. And we still beg God for a miracle to save his life. And we sit staring at the word's on our computer screen and wonder how it's his time to go already. And we reach out to our own little one and hug them so close.

Last week, another one of the FIAR mama's posted about a friend of hers who was dealing with a very sick baby in the hospital. He was born in May and at the beginning of July his Mom took him to the hospital with concerns for his breathing. At the time the prayer request was being made last week, this precious little baby remained in the hospital since his initial visit in July. He suffered from a genetic disorder, found when he was admitted to the hospital. I visited C.'s blog everyday, begging and praying to God for a miracle to save her tiny little baby. But this morning she let us know that he went home to Jesus today.

I know I shouldn't question God. It's all in His plan. But these are just babies.

I'm off to kiss my boys yet again. Thankful that I was given another day with them.

Realizing how very precious my children are and how so very blessed I am to be their mother. Everyday that I have with them is an amazing gift from God.

Praying for some Mom's I "know" tonight.

May you feel God's healing touch tonight. May He bless your child with a miracle that only He can give.

I've been spoiled lately by a husband too willing to run out for food so I don't have to cook! :) The moving company had a representative come out to the house today to survey our goods. They need to know how many people they need and how many boxes, etc. He was nice. It took him about 4 1/2 minutes. :)

We've nearly sold all of our outside stuff. It's weird to look out back and see an empty yard. I am so very excited to move, so excited about the adventure. Sometimes, though, it's a little hard to look at things changing. Before we bought this house, Adisson had four addresses in two years. And this is the only home my nearly three year old has ever known. Two yearlong deployments. The loss of a pregnancy. The birth of a child. Living in this house as just me and Adisson and now we're collecting baby stuff for #3. I will miss our home. I will miss the memories made here. But the memories get to come with me. And someone else can hopefully can start making new, happy memories here.

The boys get their pictures taken tomorrow evening. Then Thursday is Zander's dental procedure. Then the last weekend here with all of our stuff. We're really moving.

And I'm putting my faith in the Lord God Almighty to help us along this journey. I worry sometimes, ok, a lot of times, about moving and this house sitting vacant. I want it to sell quickly for a few reasons, namely for the financial aspect and then because I will worry everyday about what is happening to the house while we aren't there to take care of any issues. But I know that it will sell, in God's time. I just have to have faith that He will work this all out for us.

I've got to go to bed. First I'm going to grab the blanket I bought for my little MW tonight so I can look it a little more and think about what it's going to be like to snuggle my third, and final, son in this precious little blanket...when he gets here in just five short months! We're so very blessed.

I can't believe it's been six weeks since I've updated this! We started school about four weeks ago, but took a weeklong break in the middle due to family visiting. School has been going really well for Adisson. He grumbles everyday before we get started, but he usually comes around pretty quickly, especially if we're working on something particularly interesting. We've rowed A Storm in the Night, Night of the Moonjellies, and A Pair of Red Clogs. Next week we'll be working on Grandfather's Journey. I think we'll work on the art projects tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, though. This week is going to be VERY busy and I don't want things to get pushed to the side when it comes to school. This is a very art enriched book and I want to capitalize on that while I can. It will also be the last book we're going to work on for about a month or so and I want it to go well.

Zander is having dental surgery this week. I'm not surprised as Adisson needed the same work done, it just doesn't make it any easier. So we have a pre-op appt. and then his surgery this week. I've also scheduled a photo session with a great photographer so I can get some good shots of the kids before we move (and I have to find a new photographer!). And Adam's got some more clearing to do on post.

Our house will be packed up on September 8 and then all the stuff will be picked up on September 9. It seems so far away and so very close at the same time. I can't believe it's happening! I can't believe we're moving! I'm apprehensive about selling the house, due to the market, of course, but that shouldn't affect us as much since this is such a large military community. We'll be paying our mortgage here and then rent in Maryland....rent that is literally three times our mortgage. :) That's crazy! I just would love the house to sell quickly, but I'm planning on it taking awhile.

I'm 20 weeks pregnant now. We found out earlier this month that we are expecting our third little boy! Of course I was thinking pink, but I'm THRILLED at the fun of three boys! I can't wait to see my precious son. He's going to have such a great time with his big brothers. :)

It's all going so fast! I hope to update more, and with lots of pics, when we get to Maryland. I'm so thrilled that God has given us this opportunity. I can't wait to see some more of this great country and I'm long overdue for a change of pace!

So the summer is just zooming past! It's exciting, though, knowing we're moving in two months! I can't wait! We went to Ohio over the fourth of July weekend. We got to see my dad, his wife, and the whole gaggle of kids. :) We don't get to see them often, so it was fun to get to play with them. When we move to Maryland, we'll be much closer to my dad and we're all looking forward to that.


I'm thirteen weeks pregnant now. Some exciting things have been happening with Baby M. lately. On Saturday, July 11, I was listening to the baby's heartbeat via doppler and I kept hearing a persistent noise. I turned to Adam to ask him what he thought it was and he said, "I think it's hiccups!" and sure enough, we were listening to our baby having hiccups. HICCUPS!! At thirteen weeks! It was amazing! The baby's heartrate is still good. It's been about 145-155 bpm. Adam's thinking girl, I'm thinking I'll end up with a house full of boys. We'll be thrilled either way, but I'd love so much to have a daughter. And yesterday I was convinced there was a team of acrobats hanging out in there! :) This baby moves so much and I can feel a lot of movement already. It's wonderful!! :)


Yesterday we also got our Rainbow Resource order in! THRILLING!! I loved opening that box! Now today I have to go through our learning cabinet (as Adi calls it) to organize our school stuff. I should say that the cabinet is quickly becoming too full. We have another one in the garage, and we'll be able to use that inside when we move, but there's absolutely nowhere for it to go in the house right now. So I just have to make do with what I have. School was going to start on August 3, but I think we'll be changing that to at least a week earlier, though I have no problem starting next week. I'm pretty much ready to go. I ordered a planner from Well Planned Day that I have been anxiously awaiting for, but it's not going to be mailed out until Friday, so I HOPE to have it early next week.


The boys are doing well. Adisson is excited to start school, but it's hard not to be when he sees all the amazing goodies we have to use for learning. He's disappointed that he's not going to public school because he wants to pack a lunch. I assured him I would buy him a lunch box and he could pack it everyday if he wanted to. :) Zander also got several goodies from Rainbow Resource. The Kumon First Steps workbooks look like so much fun! He's going to love them. I also got him a feltboard, but I have no felt pieces to go along with it. :) I'll have to work on that. Zander's school lineup looks like tons of fun with several preschool activity bags, file folder games, felt board and pieces, and books. He's going to have a good time!

That's about the extent of the fun we're having here. We're getting VERY excited to move. I cannot wait to live so close to so many different, amazing places! In the meantime, it's storming like crazy and I've got laundry to do. Back again another day!

It's been a busy week! :) This past weekend we decided to try to take the kids fishing. They've never been before and when we were in Ohio last, we picked up Adam's old fishing pole as well as his little sister's old pole. We went out to a pond we've never been to before. We didn't even get out of the van. It was gross and disgusting. We went to another pond we knew of in town. We pulled up to see that it was closed, half empty, and nearly covered in vultures. It was even more disgusting and smelled so bad. So then we went to a spot on the river, but with such rocky embankments, we couldn't really let the kids fish at all. We didn't stay long before we decided to head to another park in town where the city was showing a movie on a big inflatable screen. This month's movie was Madagascar 2, which the boys like, so it was a really great time. It was a good ending to a crappy day of fishing.

On Sunday Adisson called me in to the kitchen telling me something was wrong with one of our hermit crabs. I go in to find the crab in the water bowl (wasn't much water left, the sponge in the bowl had soaked it all up) with crab pieces filling the bowl. I think the crab has died and the other crab has dismembered it. I take the water bowl out of the cage and dump the contents in a plastic bowl, TO FIND A CRAB STARING AT ME! The thing wasn't dead! He had molted!!! We put him in a bigger bowl and raced off to WalMart to get another cage and some sand (they have crab wood chips right now and that's not good for a freshly molted crab). We get the new cage all set up for the weak little crab and put him in there. He died during the night. Despite our best efforts. It seems that molting takes so much energy and sometimes crabs can't even make it through the process. Rest in Peace Sharky. I think his friend Melvin is mourning the loss.

We're heading to Ohio this weekend. I have no idea what we're doing because no one in my family can make any kind of plans. Well, no male in my family can plan anything. It's so frustrating! My dad can't make decisions, Jordan and Lucas can't make decisions....it makes me want to pull my hair out! :) Fortunately for the world, I can make decisions! I suppose I'll be planning our time together after I talk to the three of them tomorrow.

Things are good here. The boys are doing well. I am getting ready to place a HUGE school supply order tomorrow. We start school at the beginning of August so I have to get our school stuff soon so I can finish with my planning. I ordered some extra goodies for Zander, too, so he doesn't feel left out of the school supply box! :) He'll like the goodies that are meant for him! I'm excited to be working with him on some new things this year, too.

My little Baby M is doing well, as far as I know. I listen to a heart rate nearly everyday. It still reads a strong 165 or so. It's a wonderful noise to hear.

We move in a little less than three months. I can't wait! :)

Love and vinegar!

Yesterday was super productive for me and I hope today I can get some more stuff done as well. I got Adisson's whole first semester of First Grade (!!) planned out and made a complete list of all the things we'll need to order this month. I'm hoping to get the second semester planned before the end of the week. We'll be ordering a lot of items from Rainbow Resource to complete our list of "gotta haves" and also a few books from Abeka. He'll still be using Five in a Row as his unit study curriculum this year as it's so amazing and we love it dearly.

Our school year is going to start in August. I scheduled the year to have two different schedules. His full schedule will include the following:

Bible Study by Explorer's Bible Study
Complete Arithmetic 1 and start Arithmetic 2 from Abeka
Reading, 2nd Grade Readers from Abeka
Spelling and Poetry 2 from Abeka
Language Arts by Queen's Language Lessons for the Very Young
State Studies by Fifty States Under God for Young Learners by A Helping Hand
and our favorite
Unit Studies including Social Studies, Science, Art Appreciation, Language Arts, Health, and Math from Five in a Row

We'll be working hard in August and September as we'll have to take some time off in October to move to Maryland. Back to work at the end of October and for the rest of the year as we'll take a little bit of time off while I have Baby M.

Even during our "off times" Adisson will still be working on a "Light" Schedule. It's better if he continues to work on math daily so we won't be skipping everything while we're moving and having a baby. His light schedule is the same as above but will not include Unit Studies or State Studies.

Zander, my little sweetheart, will be working on a few things this year as well. I recently purchased an amazing File Folder workbook and a laminator and have been making file folder games for Zander. He loves what I have made so far! :) I really like making them for him as well. I also participated in a Preschool Activity Bag Swap a few weeks ago and have acquired 16 different activity bags for him to work with. I'll be adding a few (hopefully 9-10) more bags to the collection that I have made myself. He'll be starting on Before Five in a Row soon, but not just yet.

Now I've got to get some cleaning done and get everyone ready for my OB appointment today. Adam has a busy day at work so he's not able to come home to keep the boys so we're all going to meet up at the hospital. And it's nearly lunch time and the natives are restless. I'll be back soon with some more school planning updates.

I haven't been here in awhile because things have been so crazy at our house! :) We just got back from a weekend in Ohio with our families! It's so nice to visit! It's hard to live away from them, especially now that my brothers have kids, but we get to visit every two months or so and I'm happy with that. Hopefully in the future we'll be able to stay longer in the summer.

Other big news in our house is that we are finally going to be moving! We are moving to Frederick, Maryland as my husband is going to be stationed at Ft. Detrick. We're so excited! It's located in such a great area and I cannot wait to get there! We'll be moving at the end of September.

We also found out about 6 weeks ago that we are expecting baby #3! :) I'm nearly 10 weeks pregnant with our next little one. So far things are going well. I'm pretty queasy most of the day, but that should ease up in just a few more weeks. We're pretty excited! I've finally found some names I like and I'm crossing my fingers for a girl, but will be very happy with a boy as well. I've got to get the house cleaned up as it's been getting messier and messier and I forgot that there is no such thing as a cleaning fairy! :)

My boys have gotten so big. When did all that happen? I mean, I could swear I just held their tiny little bodies just hours after they were born thinking "Oh my goodness, what now?" and now I'm planning my sweet little Adisson's kindergarten graduation party. Really? He's really six? He's really going to start the first grade in a few months? He is so amazing and independent. He thinks a thousand miles a minute and can talk just as fast. He's very passionate and constantly has a million ideas. He's a voracious reader and does so very well. He craves to learn more, to know more. He's such a blessing.

And my baby? 2 1/2 already? I thought I just found out he was coming, that I was going to have another son. Now he's a fireball of energy, everyday. He laughs, he's silly, he jumps from one place to another more than he walks. He's got a personality as big as he can imagine. He's tough, he's my little bull in a china shop. He's fearless and fearful. He's expressive and hilarious. He's a constant mockingbird. He's truly a delight and joy to be around.

I know they are still little, but sometimes they are too big. I know I want them to grow, to be strong, to be healthy, to be happy. But the time slips away so quickly, you don't even know it's gone.

It won't be like this for long.

"It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he's tryin’ to hold on

It won't be like this for long...."

Lyrics of "It Won't Be Like This for Long" by Darius Rucker

Just praying tonight.

Ok so a few interesting things to pass along! :) First of all, Adam and I celebrated 6 years of marriage yesterday! Woo hoo for us! We went computer shopping and out to dinner. With the kids, of course. But it was a great day.

Saturday we went grocery shopping. We've been doing a bulk of our shopping at Aldi and then picking up the remaining items at Wal-Mart...using coupons! :) I love saving money on groceries. :) We usually order Angel Food as well, but we've held off since I'm not sure when we'll be moving and I don't want to have to suddenly start eating everything in our freezers.

Friday night. About that. :) Adam came home from work and I ran down to Once Upon a Child. I've been trying to buy clothes for the winter for the boys throughout the past few weeks so when it gets cold later this year, I'm already ahead of the game! :) I come home from shopping and Zander says, "Mommy, I have a booger." He usually doesn't tell me about them, so I laid him down and looked up his nose. It wasn't a booger. It was a bean. Yep, my two year old shoved a bean up his nose. I know. This has either happened at your household or you know someone who has dealt with it. Me, too. So it's decided that I'll take him to the ER as my attempts to get it out are futile. We go. I take a bag full of things to do in case we are there for hours (it's a big military hospital and it was a Friday night...it could have taken forever!). Less than an hour after we get there, we're walking out....bean free from nose. Heres how:

The nurse takes us back and asks Zander about his bean. He says, "I put a bean in my nose!!" and she said, "You did?! Why did you do that! :)" and he said, "I do it!!" ......sigh. :) She says "Ok, Mom, we're going to try a trick. Lay him down on the table (he starts crying), it's ok if he crys, the snot will help loosen the bean. Speaking of, you might get snot on you (That's ok, I reply, that's not even the worst thing I've had on me today). Close the nostril that isn't blocked, cover his mouth with your mouth, and blow into his mouth.

I follow the directions.

Cover his unblocked nostril. Check.

Cover my mouth with his. Check.

Blow. Check.

The bean fly outs of his nose, hits me on the cheek, and rolls onto the table.

That, my dears, is what they call the Parental Kiss.

And it is, hands down, the coolest parenting trick I have learned.

Next year, school year that is, I think I'll have a homeschooling specific blog. Or not. I can't decide. Sometimes the randomness of my blog is crazy, but then again, who reads it? No one really, so I can post whatever I want, knowing it's just like my day and life...crazy and full of everything. :)

The boys went to the dentist today. Adi has one teeny tiny cavity. Zander has some spots on his teeth that concern me. The dentist said we'll just watch them, but I know he'll want to put crowns on them soon. I hate that. I hate that regardless of what we do to prevent cavities, it's like we're fighting a losing battle. Adisson's cavity doesn't bother me much. It is very small and it's on the side of his back tooth, where it's hard to reach with a brush (and he doesn't floss everyday...though he will now!). I hate that Adisson had to have crowns on his front teeth. I hate that Zander faces the same fate. Why can't I prevent them? I do the best I can (brushing twice daily with dentist recommended toothpaste, no juice/milk at bedtime, no bottle, of course, not many sweets, nearly NO candy, etc.) and the dentist really reassures me that some kids just have really soft teeth and it's really not a big deal. It doesn't make me feel much better. I feel like I let them down.

I've been planning planning planning for school next year. I'm so excited! We'll be moving sometime, though the where and when is largely unknown, but I'd love it if we moved before school started. I want to be flexible with our schedule, hello!--benefit of homeschooling!!, but we've been very relaxed for the last two years and I want to be more scheduled. I'm working on that.

I've tossed my name into a preschool activity bag swap. I'm really excited about it! Zander will end up with 18 activity bags!!!! :) He's going to LOVE IT!!! I'm hoping to start working on mine this week. I'd like to get them done sooner rather than later so I don't wait until the last minute. I want my bags to be very nice so they withstand the preschooler that will receive it. :)

I've got to get to bed. I didn't clean up tonight before now, so I guess I'm waiting until tomorrow. I hate that.

Anyway, see ya tomorrow!

Yay! Happy Mother's Day! Adam brought home lunch for us today and yesterday we picked up some flowers that the boys "helped" me plant in the flower bed. :) I'm hoping they bloom nice and big to help sell the house when we list it. The picture you see is the flowers that Adisson made at Master's Club. The rose is a yellow chocolate sucker, the blue and purple flower is a cookie with icing, and the pink and purple flower is tissue paper and pipe cleaner that he made himself. :) My first handmade Mother's Day gift that I had no help in making!

Speaking of, I wish I knew what was going on with that. I don't know where we're moving to or when or what Adam's decision is going to be regarding his career. I have since had a little change of heart in the situation and know I'm pretty sure what I would like to do. Since I don't work, however, it's something that needs to be decided logically and not emotionally. I also don't want to talk Adam into feeling how I feel because then I'll forever wonder if he's only doing something because of me and not because it was the best thing to do. I'm definitely going to be praying about it. I got a nudge (or one of those smack on the foreheads like you see in the V8 commercials) from God today. My Grandma emailed me a Mother's Day e-card that was so sweet. She actually sent me two. So nice! I started on her e-card last night and didn't send it until today, but it was a poem and a pic of the boys. :) Anyway, I was emailing her a thank you note for the e-card and telling her how I wished that we were at her house today with the rest of my family getting together to celebrate Mother's Day. And how it's days like today that I'm even sadder that we aren't closer to family. And that I wondered if God was closing so many doors with the Army as a way of letting us know that we should go home already. I sent the email after that and went over to the homeschooling forums I read daily and found someone had posted this verse:

Jeremiah 29:11."For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

And all I'm asking now is for the Lord to show my husband His plans. Adam's not very religious and I know sometimes he has a hard time accepting my answer of "it's a God thing" or "I guess God just didn't have that in the plans for us...." but He's proven to us time and again that He does indeed know what he's doing....we just need to have faith.

I have faith. I just pray Adam finds it, too.

My little guy made me a Mother's Day gift! And I had nothing to do with it!! :) It was so sweet and nice! I picked him up from Master's Club this evening and he was holding a flower pot with three flowers in it. One was a handmade tissue paper flower, one was a cookie decorated as a flower, and one was a yellow chocolate rose. He made the tissue paper flower himself and made the arrangement in the flower pot. It was so precious! I love it! I'll take a picture and post before it gets eaten and disassembled by the kids!

Adam's only got one more night after tonight on second shift! Thank goodness! It's been a long two weeks. I am ready to have a somewhat normal schedule back. The boys are ready, too! Daddy sleeps all day after a 12 hour night shift, so right now we're only getting to visit with him 3 or so hours a day. Which I guess is probably a pretty typical amount of time for a family to get to spend together in the evening after Dad gets home from work, it's just weird for us.

And today I spent some time planning for next year. I think I have picked out EVERY book we are going to row and when we're going to row it. It's a WONDERFUL feeling! I only have a few books to buy. I can't wait to start planning and get to work gathering resources.

That's about all. Love until next time.

I haven't blogged in awhile as it appears that our good computer bit the dust. Adam's working on repairing it because he's pretty good with those kind of things and in the mean time, I've got to use the older, slower computer. And sometimes when you type something on it, you have to wait an entire minute for the words to show up. And some of the keys don't work well and some not at all. :) One day, he'll get to work on fixing this one up better, too, so we can use it for the kids computer.

In the past few weeks not much has been going on. We went to the MidWest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati. It was WONDERFUL! It was Adam's first convention. He seemed to like it. We got some really great school stuff for next year. Nearly everything was already picked out before we got to the convention, I had very few impulse buys. :) And I definitely stayed with my budget. That was hard to do because there was so many WONDERFUL items there. I loved it!

Adam's been on a crazy work schedule this past week. He works 12 hour night shifts and then sleeps all morning. He only has a little bit of time in the afternoon to hang out with us. Fortunately, it's a very temporary thing and next week he'll be back to the same day shift he's been working.

Some friends of ours moved away this week. Adisson was particularly close to the little boys so he's sad to see them go. I am too, of course, because I don't have many IRL friends. :( The Army life leads to friends moving away and that's what has happened with nearly all of my friends....which is too bad. I hope we're going to be moving soon, but I don't know. I've been praying something will work out and we'll get another assignment to somewhere else, but there's not a lot of jobs for Adam in the Army with his current job and rank. It's definitely been trying, but I just keep praying.

Not too much else is going on. I'm hoping to start working on school plans for next year. I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to do things and I'm working on a few different ideas. I sometimes wonder how I'll be able to come up with two years of lesson plans when Zander is ready to start school, but I'm reminded that there are countless numbers of homeschooling mama's who plan out lessons for way more than two kids each year. :) I'm sure I'll manage.

More later I'm sure....

Lord, move in a way that I've never seen before. There's a mountain in the way and a lock on the door. I'm drifting away, waves are crashing on the shore. So Lord move, or move me.

~~Lord Move or Move Me, by FFH

So we're still working on The Tale of Peter Rabbit. With the Fold-N-Learn from Five in a Row and all of the goodies we found at Homeschool Share, we've had plenty to keep us busy for awhile! Adisson's still really enjoying this book. I love it when he really enjoys what we're working on, it makes it so much easier and way more fun.

A few weeks ago we started a Notebook. I just grabbed an unused one subject spiral bound notebook we had already. I wanted to use something inexpensive in case it wasn't something we decided to stick with. Well, Adisson really likes it. He loves flipping through what we've already learned and reviewing it. I like it too because I think that just helps cement past topics in his head, at least for now. :) Next year we'll get a nicer notebook. In the meantime, he's SO EXCITED to show his grandparents his notebook when they come to visit this weekend.

I'm still working on some Tot School goodies. I've decided to have 15 activities ready to go and then plan out the five we are going to use for the week. I want to work on Letter of the Week stuff with him, but he's just not interested in it. I don't want to make him do any of it...he's just 2. But I would like to print off some coloring pages, either just to color (ie. something fun like an Easter egg) or something to color that is a little more educational (ie. a letter or number coloring sheet) so he can work on that as well as his other activity.

We're also working on some Easter activities this week. Yesterday we made a tomb from salt dough. I'm hoping we did it ok because it is not turning out exactly as I had hoped, but there's still time for it to work out. :) We're also making some other crafts I found in Five in a Row Holiday and our Easter Fold-N-Learn from Five in a Row. I love making new traditions. :) I just love thinking about when the boys grow older that they'll remember holiday traditions with fondness and remember what fun we had doing them as they were growing up. I'm hoping to post pictures soon, just as soon as I get the camera all gathered up. :)

We're waiting on some important decisions from the Army this week. Pretty big decisions. I'm praying and praying for this situation. I'll let you know how things go...and what has been decided once it's been decided. :)

So I'm feeling better! Yay! :) I was stuck on the couch for longer than I can remember being in the past. Adam took care of most things and made me rest....at least for the first 24 hours. After that, he pretty much just let the natives roam free. :) I'm still dealing with some discomfort but it's so much better than it was.

School has been going well this week. We're rowing The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. Adisson's really interested in it. We purchased the Fold-N-Learn from Five in a Row as well and he's had a ball today "speaking British"! In the FNL it gives some examples of British words and what we call the same thing (i.e., loo means bathroom, etc.). The fun part is that Adam's got a few cousins that live in England so he remembers some of the things he's heard them say and I managed to remember some words from their last visit (six years ago, that's been too long!). Adisson's been chuckling about it all day. I was trying to get more than one math worksheet done each day, because we had fallen behind, but I'm actually grateful that we'll be able to continue working on his math through the summer...so as not to lose the foundation of facts we've been building on. So now that we're back to one math worksheet and doing only FIAR, 3 R's, and Bible study, our days are so nice and relaxed. :)

I keep wanting to work on some Tot School goodies for Zander but haven't got my act together yet. He does a lot of neat stuff, but I want to do more things on purpose. We'll be doing Before Five in a Row next year with Zander (he's really not ready for it yet) and I'm excited to purchase all the B4 FNL's and then other lapbooking goodies from Homeschool Share. I'd love to have it all ready to go by August.

Tomorrow's April Fool's Day and I have some neat ideas in mind for my boys. I'll hopefully be able to post pictures of my little tricks. :)

Can't blog. Got pneumonia. :( Gotta rest. Be back later.

"He took my case-of-dee-uhs!!"

God has answered some prayers for us this week and I'm just pretty excited about it! First of all is the good news I mentioned earlier this week but can't talk about yet. Then we realized that there is something hinky going on with the van and it's got the potential to cost a lot of money. I thought we were inching close to our warranty expiration, and while we are, we are nearly 6,000 miles away from it expiring. Praise the Lord for that! And Adam's been worried about the tires on the van in need of replacing and the only thing I can think of is dollar signs in front of my eyes....tires aren't cheap. Then we found someone today that is selling the brand new tires off of their vehicle (they are getting bigger wheels) and they are just the size we need! For the cost of ONE TIRE!! :)

Tomorrow night we have an FRG meeting to go to. It was announced today. For future reference, if you want a lot of people to show up to meet the incoming commander and his wife, you should give them more than one day's notice. But of course I'm going. I'm hoping Adam gets finished up with school early tomorrow afternoon so we can all go at the same time and take his car. I'm worried about driving the van. I once blew up the engine in a vehicle (uh, I will tell you now that I ABSOLUTELY did NOT blow up the engine, it was a mechanical failure. A replacement engine cost me 2k. If I wanted them to take apart the blown engine to determine the exact cause, and then contact GM regarding the issue, it would have cost nearly 5k. I had to go the cheaper route and thus have to tell everyone that I blew up the engine.) and refuse to do that again so I'd rather not drive it until it's repaired. We were supposed to go in today to have it looked at, but Zander was up VERY VERY late last night. He woke up early today and ending up falling asleep just a half an hour before we were supposed to leave. I wasn't about to stay up so late again due to a nap interuption, so I rescheduled the appointment. Unfortunately, they can't get us in until Monday.

This weekend I've got a list as long as my arm of stuff I want to get done around the house, but I have to get a bunch of stuff done inside before we can do outside stuff. It should be a busy few days. In the meantime, I've got to clean up a little and get to bed. :)

I cooked. A lot. He ate. Enough. The kids hate lasagna. Ugh. Of course they do. And it's nearly midnight and I have to clean the kitchen. Party time!! :) So not really.

And tonight, Tiffy made her kids some mexican food. Tiff's got four kids, EJ is 9, E is 5, F is nearly 3 and Little L is just five months old. (Not my kids, so I won't put their names on here.) The big kids (9 and 5) are boys and the little ones are girls. One of the things she made was quesadillas. And while we were on the phone for a few minutes tonight, Cute Patootie F walked up to her and said "Mom, E ate my Case-of-Dee-Uh's!" And it made us laugh harder than the other day when she called the Smurfs, the Smorfs.

And that pretty much was our day. Tomorrow I have to take the van to get looked at. I think it's going to need a lot more work than I really want to think about. The good news would be if Adam got done with school in time tomorrow that he could take the van up to the dealership and the kids and I didn't have to go. Oh, that would make me super happy. I'll be putting that on my prayer list tonight. In the meantime, I've gotta clean this kitchen and go to bed. :)

Well, after some exciting news last night, we all went out to dinner. I'll share the exciting news next week after it's official. But anyway, we're sitting down to eat and I mentioned to Adam that we don't go out to eat often. We do have fast food about once a week, but does that count as "going out to eat"? Then the food comes and we kinda realize why. :) It was fine and all, but it wasn't great.

What was great were my boys. My sweet boys who sat still, didn't get out of their seats, didn't yell or cry, didn't fight or fuss, but were just absolutely good boys. It further impressed me when we were seated near other families who allowed their children to run around the restaurant, lay on the floor, yell, and race each other from one end to another, literally.

So tonight I want to make up for our lackluster meal with a great dinner at home. Adam loves lasagna so I'm hoping to get that made as well as some rolls and dessert. However, time is rapidly ticking away and I've got many other things to get done today as well. :) So I'm off to cook like crazy and clean like mad. :)

My homeschooling head is heavy tonight. I often feel like I don't do enough with the boys. Part of me wants to just enjoy having little kids right now and not be so strict and regimented with learning. Adisson's only in Kindergarten and I feel he exceeds expectations of public schooled kids so part of me just wants to let him enjoy these last few months of being silly and having a good time more often than not. I know, life is still fun in the first grade! and that it won't be too much different than it is now. I'm just hoping that next year we can have more of a schedule, a plan, a routine, and expectations of what needs to be accomplished each day for school.

And my little 2 year old. Some Mama's do some amazing activities with their toddlers and we don't do enough I don't think. I know I shouldn't compare but I am now wondering, am I not pushing my kids enough? Are they not learning enough? Am I not using all the brain power in their little heads? Am I just too easy going when it comes to schooling?

I guess another reason I'm not more scheduled is that I'm often ill. I've been sick since Christmas. Some days are good, some days are not so good, and other days, it takes all that I have to get up. I know I should see a doctor and discuss possible issues (though I have a pretty good idea of what's going on), but I'm not sure how to approach my Care Manager (I don't see a doctor on post, but a nurse) with my concerns without sounding like a flake that spends too much time online.

I want to provide my children with the best education possible, and let me tell you, right now, I don't feel like I'm offering it. I am not even a little bit considering public school, but I am wondering how I can make this better....how I can be the homeschooling Mama I wanna be. I'm praying about it, pretty often, but I'll be praying even harder.

In the meantime, it's bedtime.

So a topic around here lately has been babies. One baby in particular. After Zander was born I thought for sure our family was complete that two was enough. After all, when Adam is deployed, I'm quickly outnumbered and stretched even farther. I know lots of Mommies do the deployment thing with a lot more kids, and I give them the enormous credit they deserve. I know how difficult it is with two, so I can't imagine how hard it would be with even more.

Enter Cooper Thomas.

This is my absolutely precious nephew. He's my newest nephew, born in January. I have two others, Boden is going to be one next month and Landen is three. I'm the world's most blessed Aunt. But until Cooper got here, I was done with having kids, I felt at peace with our family size.

Then I saw him. And my resolve started melting. Maybe we needed one more baby. Maybe just try one more time.

Then I held him. And that was it for me. I felt like we just needed another baby. But more than that, I want a daughter. I want to play with dolls and have tea parties. I want to bake cakes and go to ballet class. I want to paint a room lavendar and decorate it with butterflies and rainbows. But, to my dismay, Adam absolutely does not. Not even a little. Not even a teeny tiny bit.

So that's my answer. And while in my heart, I'm elated at the blessings that God has given us because it was a struggle to have the two children we do have, part of me wonders if the desire to have a little girl will ever leave.

In the meantime, the goofy, silly, precious little boys that live here want to watch a movie in Mommy and Daddy's bed....and I am more than willing to do that. :)

Here's an email I sent out to my family, I wanted to share it here so I don't have to repeat myself. :)

Right after Zander was born I had a column in the weekly newspaper on post. It was fun to write but after Adam deployed, it got to be too much for me to keep up with, so I had to stop. In any case, the name of my column was Mom's Good Cents. I like the title, so that's what this newsletter (aka, a weekly email I send out to my family on how to save some cold hard cash!) is going to be called.

Here goes!

Mom's Good Cents

Welcome to this week's edition of Mom's Good Cents. I'm not quite the money saving Guru that my grandmother is, but I'm on the path. Last week, I gave y'all some recipes for homemade cleaners. I had tried all of them and use them exclusively except for the fabric softener. I have come across some more info. in regards to the fabric softener situation. Tiffany has become my guinea pig for this expirement. She has now tried adding 1/2 cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle of her wash and then put some hair conditioner directly on a washcloth to toss in the dryer. She said it seems to be working as well as the recipe she previously tried but the upside is that it leaves her clothes smelling like the hair conditioner, which she loves! But here is another quirky tip I've found online. I hear that a ball of foil, the size of a tennis ball, will also act as a fabric softener. I've heard from several online sources that it does indeed work. I'm still waiting to give it a shot! Tiffany is using it and says it seems to be working!

My next good tip is about magazines. Did y'all know that you can sometimes get a free magazine subscription? I know it sounds crazy, but it is inded true. I recently received a free 2 year subscription to Parents Magazine from Value Mags and I signed up today to receive a free subscription to Woman's Day from Free Biz Mags. I haven't received my issues from FreeBizMags yet, because, well, I just signed up for them. I heard about these two sites from other sites...I'll talk about them now.

I visit Freebie sites. The one I visit most often is Sweet Free Stuff and one that I just found this week is Free Product Samples. I also use Start Sampling. It is at sweetfreestuff that I found the free 2 year subscription to Parents and then after signing up, I received an update from FreeBizMags regarding the Woman's Day subscription. Also, WalMart has samples listed on their website as well and I receive samples from them often.

Ok, there are my tips for this week!

Love and vinegar,
Nicole