Army Wives

So, I saw this trailer posted first on The Musings of Lil Moo Moo's blog and had to also say how excited I am for this Sunday night. I started watching this show before I ever met my husband and became an Army Wife. I have loved this show from the beginning. I even got my husband hooked, he watched it up until Jeremy got killed. He was actually pissed at the show and hasn't watched it since. Anyways. I am super excited and will be watching the two hour premiere Sunday night, hopefully the kids will go to bed on time so that I can do this. :) Are you all excited?!?!?

Annoying Facebook posts

I'm not sure if anyone else has seen these posts flying around on Facebook lately, but each time I see it, it seems to really annoy me.

"R.I.P To the 31 U.S. Troops who were killed in a Helicopter crash in Afghanistan today. I bet no one cares enough to re-post for Respect. This is a real reason for flags at half staff! Re-post if you have a heart......♥ Prayers for the Families"

Now granted I agree with this post. It is sad that in one event we lost 31 U.S. troops and that they do deserve respect and prayers. But what bothers me the most about this post is that is said it happened TODAY. I'm sorry but it happened in August 2011. I feel for those families, I really do and I pray for them and their loved ones, but why do we need to keep bringing it up? Not to mention every time I see it my heart stops a bit at the 31 U.S. soldiers part because things are not going good over there right now. The last article I read is the they are continuing operations as usual with just more vigilance, this just scares the crap outta me.
I have wanted to say something to the people I see posting this, but I am afraid to come across as bitchy and rude, when all I really want to do is tell them they have their facts wrong. What would you guys do? Would you tell them in a response to the post or a private message? One of the people who posted this is my sister-in-law, and I probably don't need to stir the pot anymore than it already is. I don't know this post is just really bugging me lately and I'm not sure if I should just ignore or do something. Any thoughts or suggestions would be very welcomed.
Thanks!

I'm not sure what to title this one :)

**The beginning might get a little sappy, you've been warned** :)

Last night I was talking to my biffle on Skype messenger and saw that a few notifications came through on Facebook. One my husband was making fun of the status update that I had done earlier, claiming that twitter was just a click away. I haven't joined twitter, nor do I plan to, but he thinks this is funny. So, after bantering back and forth for a min or two I decide to check his facebook page, just to see if anything new had popped up. This is what I saw:

"I want to thank my beautiful wife, Kathryn for standing by my side throughout this deployment. She is an amazing woman I knew that when I married her but this deployment has shown me that she is stronger than she knows, giving birth to our second child, raising 2 children,and keeping up with all the bills.........AND working...all the while keeping a smile on her face as she tries not to cry because she misses me.........I thank god for my amazing Wife.......I LOVE YOU KATHRYN"

Let's just say my heart stopped and I started bawling. Now granted it doesn't take me much to cry and my husband tells me he loves me all of the time and how much he loves me and all of this stuff fairly often. I sure do love hearing it, but I never expected to find this as his status update on Facebook. I absolutly LOVE it!!!! He is the most amazing man I have ever met and I feel so lucky to be married to him. He is an amazing husband, father, and friend. I am so proud to stand next to him and call him my husband. I don't know what I would without him in my life and I hope to never find out. I love him with everything I am.

So, I'm still really happy when I wake up this morning and get myself and the kids ready to go in the morning (we have a great little routine going now) and head off to work. Once I get to school I get ready for the day (which means I plan what I'm going to do because I haven't gotten back into the routine of planning ahead yet) and of course time goes by too quickly and the kids are at my door. During first period as I'm teaching about the Assyrians (don't you wish you were in my class? :) ) I get a Skype message from the husband saying he knows I'm teaching but that he wanted me to know he's ok. Well, I'm glad he's ok, but this made me curious as to why he would so specifically tell me he's ok, so I went onto Armytime.com between classes and found this article. Now let me tell you. I would have been a HUGE mess if I had read this before I had heard from him! I did really good in the beginning of the deployment, I never watched the news other than for the weather report, I didn't read news articles about the war, I just stayed in my little bubble letting the husband tell me what I needed to know. I know that probably sounds ignorant, but it helped me stay sane. I looked up information once and didn't find anything, then in October I think I found an article on Yahoo about when NATO forces took over a stronghold I think was in northern Afghaninstan (my memory is a little fuzy on the details) and started doing the reserach to find out what area it was in, I put all of this information together and  put two and two together and realized the husband was in that area at the time!!!! Can we talk about no sleep for awhile, not to metion driving my self crazy?!?! My goodness! I decided after that I would try to stay away from any news about Afghanistan. Well, let's just say after the riots (that's what they are because people are not "peacefully" protesting, so you cannot call it a protest) broke out, I started looking for any information I could. I wanted to make sure the husband was ok and to be informed. I almost became obsessed over it. The husband has told me time and time again to stop reading the news articles and today I was listening to him for once. It was probably a good thing too.
I don't know about all of you, but this rioting is really starting to make me nervous, anxious and crazy all at the same time. I feel like it's not getting better and it will get worse before it gets better. Ugh! I pray daily for the safety of every person of the armed service, whether they are U.S. or another NATO country. All of this is just driving me crazy and making it had to sleep. What are your thoughts and how are you keeping yourself from going crazy with what's going on over there? I think I need to stay away from the news for awhile, we'll see how well that goes. :)

Military Spouse Fill In

I saw this on Monica's page at The Musings of Lil Moo Moo and thought I would give it a shot. I hope you all enjoy!!!!

1. How did you and your spouse meet? 

We actually met on eHarmony. He winked at me, but I didn't respond right away because I was out of the country on a trip. I responded to him when I got home, we chatted on the phone (after he gave me his number and told me he "wouldn't hold his breath" waiting for me to call) then decided to meet up that night. Two of my girlfriends were kind enough to accompany me. We met in person and started dating. I like to say that we met and he never left. :) 

2. How old were you when you two met? 
We were both 25

3. How long have you been together? 

We have been together almost 4 years. We met in 2008, got engaged in 2008 then got married in 2009.

4. Where are you and your spouse originally from? 

I am originally from Michigan and he is from Ohio, but he spent most of his youth in Florida.

5. How did you feel about him joining the military?

He was already in the military when we met.

6. Where did your spouse go to Basic Training? 

Fort Benning, Ga.

7. Has your spouse ever been deployed?

Yes. We are currently going through our first deployment

8. Ever been to his promotion ceremony? 

 Sadly no. I didn't know him when he graduated basic or AIT. He did get his 1LT promotion recently, but it was over in the sandbox so I obviously couldn't be there.  

9. How long have you been a military wife? 

Almost 3 years, since June 2009

10. Did you marry him before or after he joined? 

After

11. How did your husband propose? 

He proposed on the beach Thanksgiving weekend.

12. Where did you get married? 

 Our first wedding was at the court house, the second was at Plantation Golf and Country Club

13. How old were you two when you got married? 

 28 and 27

14. Did he wear his uniform on his wedding day? 

No
15. Where are you and your spouse currently stationed? 

We are not stationed anywhere because he is in the Reserves. We live in Venice, Fl and sadly there isn't a base that close to us (other than McDill AFB which is about an hour and a half away)

16. Do you live on base? 

Nope

17. How long were you married when you had to go through your first separation? 

8 months before he left for BOLC at Ft. Leonardwood.
18. What is your favorite base so far? 

I don't really have one. I haven't lived near one and only have visited two so far. I will say I wasn't a huge fan of Ft. Leonardwood and Ft. Bliss was ok.  

19. Do you think your spouse looks good in his uniform? 

Ummm....YES

20. Do you think military life is more advanced than civilian life? 

I'm not really quite sure how to answer this question 

21. Do you like the benefits you receive as a military dependent? 

I think they are pretty good

22. Do you have a lot of military wife friends? 

Not really. I have one good one who lives near me. But I feel like I have met some pretty awesome people through this blog.  

23. What is the hardest part of the military life? 

I would have to say the inability to plan stuff, the worry and anxiety about their safety, the loneliness and watching the kids miss their daddy 

24. Do you own military wife stuff?

Yes I have two stickers for my car, one magnet for my classroom, and two army wife shirts, plus a few army things that I have "acquired" from my husband :)

25. Do you support your spouse as a member of the military? 

Absolutely 110% :)

To all of my blog followers, I tag you! If you decide to do this, please send me a message or write a comment so that I can visit your page and learn about you and your honey. :) Thanks!

My heart is breaking for those families

My heart is breaking for the families that have lost their loved ones in the violence that has erupted in Afghanistan. I cannot imagine what they are going through, but to hear that one of them found out through a text message just makes me sick. I found out about this through a post done by Army Wife 101, in which she also has the local news story about the horrible situation. I mean to find out the most horrible news a person can hear through a text message is just beyond wrong. I really hope that who ever leaked the information gets in trouble. There is protocol put in place for a reason! This is why there is OPSECS! My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families, but especially this poor woman. I just can't imagine.
It sure does bring all those fears that are in the back of my mind to the front. Thank goodness I was able to talk to the husband today and know that he is ok, but still, it's hard knowing things aren't good over there. I know we will get through this, and every day done is one more day closer to him finally coming home.
I pray for the safe return of all of our men and women in the armed forces.

Missing my hunny today

This week for the song link up, I decided to do my husband and I's song. This was the song that we danced to at our wedding. It's been our song since we started dating, the husband heard this song and he said it reminded him of us and thus it has been our song ever since.
I have been really excited about some things happening lately, but being so happy about those few things makes me miss my husband even more. I want him home to share in these things and be happy with me. Fridays always seem to be my hard days, the days I break down and can't seem to function. I guess this week it's coming one day sooner. Gosh I sure do miss him. I never thought I could miss someone so much. I always thought I was an independent person and didn't need a guy. Well I still think I'm independent, but I sure do need him, he makes our family complete.

Sorry for the sappy/emotional post.

Head on over to Goodnight Moon and link up!

Pinterest Update

I never thought I would join Pinterest, I was afraid I would spend too much time on there and not get other things done, also I am not a crafty or artistic person so I figured most of the stuff on there I couldn't do. Well, I am pretty proud of myself. I have tried a few things and they haven't turned out half bad. First my friend, who also happens to be my neighbor told me about a salad in a mason jar that she saw on Pinterest

Pretty neat idea huh? I am trying to lose this baby weight before the husband comes home and eating salads for lunch is one great step, but I hate putting them together in the morning. So, when I saw this idea I thought, hummm, that sounds like a pretty cool idea. Monday night I cut up my lettuce, my cucumbers and added my feta cheese. I decided not to put the dressing in the jar because I didn't have enough toppings to keep the dressing and the lettuce apart. I made three of them and I ate the second one today. I was really shocked, the lettuce was still really crisp and the cucumber wasn't soggy. Tomorrow will be the true test because that will be day three for it sitting in the jar. But I think this is a great way to have a salad for lunch with only having to do the work once a week. :)

The next project I saw and loved. I've been wanting to try menu planning, but get overwhelmed every time I start thinking about it. My lovely neighbor and I were talking about how she only plans for three meals a week, because you always have leftovers and need to account for those "fend for yourself" nights. While I was on facebook one day I saw a college friend "pinned" this great idea

Cute right??? Well, I decided to make one. Now before you look at it remember I'm not artistic, but I think it turned out pretty cute and I can't wait to get my recipe cards done so I can use it.

I'm pretty proud of myself. :)

In other news....I should be seeing my Army Wife friend, her husband and baby this weekend. Our town is having their annual Italian fest and I've invited them, my biffle, her daughter, my lovely neighbor, and Army Wife friend's sister and son. It should be a blast as long as we have good weather. I'm really looking forward to it.

Also, I am REALLY looking forward to the new season of Army Wives. I've loved the show since it started and that was before I had met my husband and became an army wife. I feel like it's been forever since it's been on. Anyone else excited for it to start back up?

Well, the kiddos are in bed, so now it's time for me to try and get some sleep. Here's to hoping I can get a full night sleep without interruptions. (I'm not holding my breath because I can't tell you the last time I had a full night sleep without interruptions)

Goodnight all!!!!



Wordless Wednesday

I think we've all had that feeling walking away from our loved one as they leave

What an awesome day!

I had a pretty awesome day today. I was able to have lunch with my good friend who also happens to be a fellow Reserve Army wife. Her husband was deployed and recently came home. They were in another state visiting family for the past month and she is finally back in the sunshine state! I am one happy girl!!! (plus they are probably going to stay for awhile, which makes me really happy!) I love having someone who is a good friend and who also understands the military and deployments. Having someone so close is awesome, we live so far away from the husband's unit, and don't have the same support system that those who live on or near a post have. Don't get me wrong I have some great friends that have been absolutly amazing during this deployment (my biffle), but having an Army wife battle buddy is just awesome.
S and I's story of how we met is kind of an interesting one. This fall my biffle and I decided to go to our children's babysitters craft fair, my biffle invited a friend she wanted me to meet becuase she was a fellow army wife, her husband was deployed at the time and she had a baby boy. So, I was pretty excited to meet someone that I could potentially become friends with that also understood the what I was going through. We met that day and hit it off right away. We exchanged numbers, made plans to hang out soon and of course friended each other on Facebook. Later that night I got a text from her asking if the husband had been at Ft. McCoy in October 2010? I knew he had been up there around that time for a MOB course, but didn't know about the dates for sure, so I checked his orders and told her that he had been there at the time she was asking about. She then begins to tell me that the weekend his was up there the husband went out to the bar with her, her husband and another MP friend that the husband had met while he was at Ft. Leonardwood for EBOLC! How crazy is that?!?!?  I remember the husband telling me about running into this MP friend, and how strange that was, and that they went out to the bar one night. I couldn't believe that she had met my husband almost exactly a year before she met me! She also told me that while they were out the husband talked about me and Little L and her that when she moved to Florida she needed to stop by and meet me. What a small world huh? (Sorry for the random order of the story)
Anyways. We hung out while both husbands were deployed, and let me tell you how amazing it has been, we get along great and I consider her a really good friend, but to also have someone to talk "army" with and not have to explain the acronyms or answer those dreaded deployment questions (you know which ones I'm talking about) is great. Just having someone who knows what you are going through who is close enough to hang out with is AMAZING! S and her husband were also the couple that came to the airport with me to pick up the husband for R&R and took pictures. It was great having them there, one to keep me sane and from falling apart, two to have those pictures and three to have someone there who understood the feelings that I was going through without having to say them out loud was great.
So, back to my day. We were able to go out to lunch at Olive Garden (which I LOVE) and chat for at least 2 hours, without having kids around. It was a much needed break for me and I enjoyed every second of it.
I was also able to finish a pinterest project today, I will have to wait to post pictures because it's a present for the husband and I don't want him to see it on here before he gets it in his care package. But I will post pictures once he has it. I'm pretty proud of myself for this little project. I'm not very artsy, so the fact that this project's creativity was done mainly on powerpoint, I was all set.
Baby E is now going to bed around 9pm every night and sleeping until around 6:30. It is amazing how much she can sleep. Little L is now going to bed all on his own, I had created a horrible habit of laying down with him to go to sleep every night after the husband left, and I am happy to say we have broken that habit without shedding many tears. :)
I also heard from the husband today, which of course always makes any day great. I love hearing his voice and being able to talk to him.
So, sorry for the rambling, probably repetitive post, but I am just one happy girl today. Heard from the husband, great lunch with a great friend, kids were good tonight, project 1 done and now it's time for me to finally get some sleep. Good all!

MIL-an update

I saw my in-laws last night for the first time since before the husband went back to the sand box, if you aren't familiar with the recent issue with my in-laws you can read about it here. I met them last night at a little petting zoo that was set up in a parking lot. (Yes you saw right, a petting zoo in a parking lot, it's weird but neat) You are able to feed goats, llamas, ride ponies, see a tiger, monkeys and lemurs. It's interesting and seeing as admission was free it's a great thing to do with kids. Mainly while we were there neither of my in-laws spoke to me, they basically played with Little L. It was nice for Little L to see his grandparents and cousins, but it was very awkward for me. I would ask questions or make comments and they would respond to them and then drop the conversation. They did get Little L to ride on the ponies, which means I was able to get a video of him. It was pretty cute. They then tried to get him to take a picture with a baby tiger, but he wasn't having any of it. Thankfully they did not push him to do it, sometimes I feel like they push him a little too much to do things he might not want to do. Anyways. Afterwards they invited me out to dinner, in which case they hardly talked to me again and my MIL waited for me to tell her she could hold Baby E, which is very unlike her, generally she just grabs the baby when she wants to. We made it through dinner, which the service was horrible, and went to their house to visit some more. My MIL finally started to talk to me a little more, but it's not like it use to be. Her and I used to be able to talk for hours about nothing in particular and be pretty comfortable around each other. They asked how the husband was ONCE. I'm sorry, he's your son and in a WAR zone!!!! Seriously people?!?!?! What a way to show his family that you care about him. My goodness!
So, overall it wasn't a horrible experience, but I do miss the days I could go over there and talk to my MIL for hours and just enjoy being there instead of feeling like I have to walk on eggshells. But I have to remind myself, it could be worse and they are the reason we are in this situation. They had the chance to fix it and were too proud to do so.
I have been interviewing babysitters lately. I had an appointment set up with one before I came back to work and she never showed or called, so obviously I didn't hire her. Another one came and she seemed great. So, we tried her out the Friday before I went back to work and it went well. She has three girls around the ages of my nephews so Little L loved playing with them. Tonight I have another meeting with one. I think having two or three that I can call would be great. This way I can go to my book club once a month and possibly a dinner or two with friends without the kiddos. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and love being around them, but sometimes it's nice to get away and have an adult conversation without having to stop and say "No Little L", "stop doing that", "that's enough", etc. So, hopefully tonight will go well and we can try her out with the kids next weekend. :)
I am so excited to have Monday off of work! I know I just returned, but it is kicking my butt! I feel horrible when I complain to the husband about going to work or being tired. I know his situation is much worse than mine and he doesn't have the luxury to call in sick one day because he doesn't want to go in. So, I hate to do it and generally I try to keep my whining to a minimum or not at all. He doesn't need to hear it.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!

What's your song link-up

My song link-up for the week may seem a little strange. I grew up in Michigan and a suburb of Detroit, I am a pretty big Eminem fan (I like pretty much anything that comes out of Michigan) and I have been listening to him quite a bit lately so I thought I would use this for my song link up this week.



What's your song link-up? Head over to Goodnight Moon and link up!

First day back

First off I have to say Happy Valentine's Day to those in the sand box (it's already Valentine's Day there), especially my amazing husband. I wish we were able to celebrate together. Even though we can't he did get me an amazing Coach purse that I absolutely LOVE!!!

Isn't it pretty?

I think he did a really good job this year, even from so far away!!! I just hope he gets and enjoys his Valentine's care package.

Now on to school. I have survived my first day back to work. It wasn't too bad. My substitute was there today to do the transition, which made it easier for me. She did all of the teaching so I could see where she was and how she was doing things. Tomorrow I must do it all on my own. It's weird, I have started almost every year teaching either a new subject or new grade level and have dealt with treading water to survive in the classroom, but I have never had this feeling of being lost and not sure what to do or where to start. It's a very strange feeling. We will see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully the students who were happy to see me continue to be happy for a few more days. I wouldn't mind a few days of good behavior before their attitudes start coming back. I have to say this group is the worst when it comes to attitudes, disrespect and laziness. I have seen my fair share of lazy, disrespectful students, I teach middle school after all, but I have never seen this many in one group! It's crazy!!! They are acting like it's May already and we haven't even done FCAT yet. (FCAT is Florida's horrible yearly state testing)

I can't believe I just got Little L to bed without having to lay with him. We had created a bad habit once the husband left of me laying with him to get him to go to sleep, but I think I have finally broken that habit. Now I just have to break him of waking up in the middle of the night. It's strange to have Baby E sleeping through the night at least 8 hours at a time and having Little L waking up in the middle of the night. One day I will get both of them to sleep through the night. :)

I guess I should get some school work done. I decided to do other things like play with my kids and look at things online instead of doing things for school, so now I must get it done. :)

Back to work I go

Ah shucks! I have to return to work tomorrow. That means getting up to an alarm (different from the Baby E alarm), getting showered, dressed and ready to get out the door by a certain time. Then I have to deal with 100 12-14year hormonal students while trying to figure out where my substitute left off. This could be an interesting week. At least it sounds like the kids are ready for me to come back, which is funny because if you asked them about me before I left they would have told you I was the mean teacher in 7th grade, now they think my sub is meaner than me. :) hehe! This could work to my advantage.

On another note. I was pretty annoyed last night. I was woken up to my phone ringing, thinking it was my husband, I answered it. The annoying part was that who ever was on the other line said nothing, then hung up. Now for all of you who have or had a husband in the sand box know what horrible things can go through your mind at that time of night. So, I stayed up thinking it was the husband and that he would call back, that maybe something was wrong with his phone. Well, as you can guess my phone never rang again. So, I lost a lot of sleep last night because of some stupid person who blocked their number!!!! I did find out later this morning that it was not my husband who called and this further annoyed me. I don't like those horrible thoughts going through my head, it's hard enough keeping them away during the day, but to have to deal with them alone at night with nothing to distract me is not ok.

On a lighter note. Someone I went to college with pinned a great idea onto pinterest and I think I might try my hand at creating something like it.

I'll post a pic of mine when it gets done. But doesn't it look like a great idea? I've been wanting to try meal planning for some time now and I think this would help me out.

Well, I must get the kids bathed and ready for tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!!!!

Interesting video on a Dad using Facebook to teach his daughter a lesson

**I forgot to add that I first saw this on Amanda from Somewhere Over the Camo's facebook page, sorry Amanda!!!**

I've seen this floating around Facebook today and watched the video. I found it funny and interesting. I wonder what our world would be like if more parents followed through with their threats and disciplined their children more. I see a lack of parental guidance, at least at my school, on a daily basis. I bet most of my students would have a different attitude if their parents paid more attention to them and weren't trying to be their friends. It's sad that I should have almost 22 students in my course recovery class. That means at least 22 students have failed a course for the semester, and sadly many failed more than one class. Our classes aren't hard, you just have to do the work and put some effort in, but that seems to be too much for many of the students. I just really wonder what teaching would be like if our society was different. What are your thoughts?



Dad uses Facebook to teach daughter a lesson: A 15-year-old puts up a Facebook post bashing her parents for making her work too hard, dad reacts by posting a video response to her grievances on her Facebook page.

Baby E's 2 month check up

We had Baby E's 2 month check up today. She did amazing during the check-up, that is until it was time for the shots. She got 3 shots and I have never seen someone's face turn the shade of red hers did. Oh my goodness!!!! She was so upset! It just broke my heart.
Our Baby E is now 13.7 lbs (that puts her in the 90th percentile, the doc said it was 70th I didn't believe her so I looked it up myself), she is 22in long (that puts her in the 25th percentile) and has a 41in head (that puts her above the 95th percentile). Little L as an infant was always below the 50th percentile for everything but his head (he was born a month early), so I guess the Husband and I produce children with big heads, must mean they have big brains ;)
Baby E has done amazing throughout the day, that is until about an hour ago. She decided her legs hurt and has been crying on and off for the last hour. Hopefully the Motrin will help her and we won't continue in this fashion for the rest of the evening.
Little L of course wants to be right in her face and be as loud as he can be right now. Gotta love the big brother. :)
Today was my last day off work, I return on Monday and I'm not looking forward to it. The only thing that makes it somewhat ok is that I get to see my biffle every day now. Oh and I get the Girl Scout Cookies I ordered on Monday. Yea for cookies!!!!

What's Your song link-up

I keep seeing the Sonic car commerical on TV and this song keeps getting stuck in my head. So, I thought I would share it for my song link up this week. The video is a little strange, but a good song.



What's your song link-up. Head over to Goodnight Moon and share!

Our Love Story

I've seen this floating around, so I decided to join in.

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
     We've been together 3.5 years

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

    We actually met on Eharmony. He "winked" at me, we did the guided questions and started emailing each other. Then one day he gave me his number and told me he wouldn't "hold is breath", that got me and I called him that night. He didn't answer that night but called me back the next day. We talked on the phone for at least an hour that day and decided to meet up. Some girlfriends and I were planning on going out, so he met up with us at Linksters. That was a Saturday night, we hung out again Sunday night and I met his whole family that Monday. They were celebrating his nephew's birthday and he invited me along. Pretty much since that day we have been inseparable (unless of course the army says we can't be together due to trainings, schools or our current deployment).

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

    We have been married for almost 3 years

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?

    Our first wedding (yes we had two) was a small wedding at the court house. I had gotten pregnant and we wanted to get married before our son was born (we had talked about getting married before we had gotten pregnant), however our son had a different idea and was born a month early and was present at the wedding. We only had our immediate family there with us, but that is the date we use to celebrate our anniversary. Our second wedding was still a smaller wedding. It was held at a local country club and was amazing! We were able to have our friends and family join in the celebration. I was also able to wear a wedding dress :)

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

    Hunny, not very original

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

    1. I love that he is an amazing father. 2. That he is my best friend and I can talk to him about anything 3. That he is an amazing man and loves me for me

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

    Thanksgiving weekend he proposed on the beach, we had gone on a walk and half way down he stopped and asked me to marry him. He didn't have the ring yet, so we went together to pick out my ring. I thought it was perfect.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

    He's more of a chocolate covered strawberry type of guy. Those are my favorite and he gets me those for the major events.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

    I am a pop in a movie and relax on the couch kind of girl. I love cuddling on the couch with my guy and watching a movie.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

      I would love to travel with him. I've been to Europe, but I would love to go there with him and explore new places.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

       Spending the day with my children, nothing too exciting seeing as the husband is currently deployed. Hopefully we will be able to Skype that day

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

      Nope. He bought me a new Coach purse and gave it to me early. As well as a pair of diamond earrings. One erring for each child. :)

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

       Communication. I think being able to communicate with each other makes a relationship strong. Being able to talk to your significant other makes you partners in a relationship.

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

                         

Wordless Wednesday

Picturs from Elizabeth's first portrait session.

Pinterest

Well, I finally gave in and joined Pinterest. I'm not sure what I'm doing and haven't had a lot of time to look through it, but I can see me spending hours on it. I couldn't spend a lot of time today because Baby E decided she didn't want to sleep more than a half hour at a time and Little L came home from daycare bouncing off the wall. It has been one heck of a day. But here are some quotes that I really liked. :)

                                                                        Pinterest

                                                                      Pinterest



I got to hear from the husband today. It's so much better when you know he is ok, even if the phone call is only for a short amount of time.
Now it's time to try and get some sleep and pray that Baby E sleeps through the night tonight. :)

Valentine's Care Package

Today we got the husband's Valentine's care package in the mail. Generally when he's home we don't make a big deal about the holiday, to me it's not an important one. However, this year I wanted to do something for him, and I am by no means crafty. I couldn't bring myself to join pinterest to get ideas, I can waste tons of time on the Internet as it is, I'm not sure I need another site to distract me. :)

Anyways, I bought a small frame to put a picture of the two of us in it for his room and a box with his favorite candy in it. I also bought him his favorite Combos, which are never in stock on his FOB. Then I had the kids make a "card" for him and Little L finger painted him a picture. I sure hope he enjoys this little care package. Like I said I'm not very crafty, but I'm pretty proud of myself for this care package. Here are some pics.

                                           I'm surprised I got him to finger paint seeing as he hates getting his hands 
                                            dirty :)

                                          Lucas' finished product

                                          Baby E's foot prints didn't turn out the greatest, ah well.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

I'm really excited to be able to participate in my first MilSpouse Friday Fill-In :) Please check out Wife of a Sailor's blog to find out more.

1. What is your favorite winter memory?

           My favorite winter memory is growing up in Michigan my dad paid the snow plow guys extra to plow all of the snow into one spot on our driveway that way I could have big mounds of snow to play in. I loved playing out in the snow for hours when I was younger.

2.  What is your current favorite TV show?
     I have a few, but my new favorite is the Big Bang Theory. When my husband was home on R&R we caught up on it on On-Demand and it is hilarious!!!! I also love Teen Mom, Teen Mom 2, The Real Housewives (all but Atlanta), House, Army Wives, Grey's Anatomy, Sons of Guns. I love any drama in my life to be on the TV and not in my real life. :)
     
3.  What was your favorite thing that happened in January?
      Having my husband home for R&R. It was the most amazing two weeks of my life.

4.  What is the best sound in the world to you?
      Hearing my husband play with our children. For one it means that he is home and safe with us, two he is an amazing father and is so cute when he plays with them.

5. What is the biggest lesson you have learned as a MilSpouse (or significant other)?
     The biggest lesson I have learned as a MilSpouse is you can't plan everything or control everything. If you plan it, the Army will change it. I've always been a control freak, but I have learned to let that go a little and realize things still work even if I don't  have every part of something planned. It's been a hard lesson, and one I am continuing to work on.

What's YOUR song-Link up

I've never done one of these and thought I would give it a try.

The husband listened to a song a LOT while he was home on R&R and now I hear it on the radio every time I'm in the car. I can't get the song out of my head, which is fine because it reminds me of him and I am missing him every second of every day.

P.S. Sorry it's kind of a strange video :)




What's your Thursday song? Go link up with Amber at Goodnight Moon!

Having one of "those" days I guess

I guess I am having one of "those" days. I didn't realize it at first, but now looking back at my day and my current mood, I can tell I'm having, what I call, a deployment day (the kind of day that doesn't go your way and only happens when the husband isn't home to help or for you to vent to). First off I haven't heard from the husband in awhile, which of course always puts me on edge. Then I had the issue with work, which did get fixed thankfully. Little L woke up in a bad mood from his nap and has been whiny the ENTIRE night! I decided to go to the grocery store with the kids for the first time by myself since Baby E was born, figuring that getting out of the house would help get Little L out of his funk. I was very proud of myself for making it successfully through the store, and was in a better mood, that is until I got out to my car and noticed that some one parked like right next to my car! And I don't mean a little close like hugging the white line, I mean like so close I could not open my back door to get Baby E and her car seat into the car. I thought seeing as I live in the land of the retired that going to the grocery store after dark was a good idea, I guess not. As I was contemplating what to do and cursing the person who drove this car, the owner walks up. Of course the owner was a little old lady.  I asked her if it was her car and she said yes and that she would wait for me to get the kids in, and I could take my time. Really?!?!? How did she expect me to get them in when I couldn't open MY door???? Didn't she notice it was hard for her to get out of her car when she went into the grocery store? I explained my situation to her, which I didn't think needed to be explained, I thought it was pretty obvious. Then I had to wait as she put her groceries in her car, then decide what to do with her cart, slide into her car and back out. Any excitement I had at making it through the grocery store with both kids was just trashed because of her.  Normally stuff like this annoys me, I complain about it for a min then move on, but today it just pissed me off.

Now that the kids are finally asleep, which of course they fought tooth and nail, I think I will go to bed and hope that things tomorrow go more my way.

 I need to get husbands Valentine's care package in the mail ASAP. Anyone have any good ideas for what to put in the Valentine's care package?

Work

Ok I have to rant for just a min and I'm not sure if it's going to make a lot of sense so bear with me please. I am a teacher, I teach middle school social studies and a course recovery class and I love it. I know it's weird to love teaching that age, but I do. Anyways. I have been on maternity leave since before Christmas break. I have enjoyed being at home and not worrying about anything because I have an amazing substitute in my classroom.

So, today I checked my school email and found like 30 messages because I am getting 13 new lovelies in my course recovery class. (Our district makes our middle schoolers pass all of their 4 core classes all three years to go on to high school and if they fail a semester they get pulled out of their encore classes and put into course recovery and get to do the semester over again in an online program that is harder than the actual class is). Of course my substitute freaks out a little, which I don't blame her and I told her I was taking my son to the doctor (more about that later) and I would be home in time to put the kids into the program and get them set up. However, she needed to find more computers because my classroom only has 9. She is fine with this and I rush home from Tampa (yes I had to go up there again) to make sure I can get this done before 6th period starts. I get home, get Little L in bed for nap, feed Baby E and sit down at my computer. I log onto the program and see that someone has already entered the students. Hey that's great that someone was there to help my substitute out, but they did it wrong. If a student failed more than one class they are only to work on one class at a time, this person gave those students all of their classes to make up. Plus because I have so many students I was going to put each 6th grader in one "class", each 7th grader in one "class" and so on. Well, this person divided them up by subject, which means that I now have like 10 different classes to keep track of and makes it that much harder on me to run reports and stay on top of what they are accomplishing every day. Now I know I should just be grateful that someone was there to help my substitute out, but I like things done a certain way and this person didn't do it right! Not to mention for the rest of the quarter things are going to be harder on me with how I am able to keep track of everything. Ugh!!! I do not want to go back to work. :(

On another note. Had to take Little L to the urologist today. I was referred to one at his 2 year well child visit and just kept putting it off. I decided I couldn't put it off any longer. He has a hernia and it needs to get fixed. It doesn't cause him any pain, which is good, but the doc wants to fix it. So, that is what I will be doing over my spring break. Yea me! Let's just hope Tricare pulls through for us.

Baby E is still sleeping through the night. She wakes religiously at 7am, which will work perfect for me once I go back to work. I know you probably think that's late for a middle school teacher, but in the great state of Florida and in our great county, our middle schools start at 9:15am. I would love it if they would change it back, but that doesn't seem too likely. Anyways, I'm still excited she's sleeping so good. She also slept all the way to Tampa and back, just had a bottle when we got home and is asleep again.

Sorry for the long post, I just had to get that stuff off my chest. I just wish who ever helped my substitute would have asked me how I wanted it done. Ah well. Thank you to whoever helped out!