Summer Fun 2012

As I compiled the post about the first day of school - I realized that my children got to do quite a few things this summer.  Many of them went undocumented however.  Here is a quick glimpse of our summer.

Tubs

Little Dressing up

a Few Tides games

A bit of silly with a cousin

catching a little air - best shot I got!

Summer Birthday - 7 years old!

  I am truly quite awful at arranging these pictures - forgive the photos and the arrangement.  I'll eventually get better!

At the fort's entrance.

Inside their first and last fort of the summer.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sleepover

So my kids are hilarious and decided to all squish into the bottom bunk (Julia's bed) to sleep for a night.  Hunter is always trying to lay down in Julia's bed - so we figured since it was still summer at the time, why not!?  This is what we found when they finally quieted down (and fell asleep).

First Day of School (aka Peace)

Today my eldest daughters had their first day of school.  Being that this is a new school for us, along with EVERYTHING being new to them, they also have changed from Dragons to Tigers.  I have yet to decide whether that is a demotion or an upgrade.

  Our morning started out as the usual - doing great with some rush the last 15 minutes or so before we left the house.  This new school is located such that it is a MUCH better idea to just walk them to and from school EVERY morning than to drive them. EVER.  The drive would take 3 times as long to get them to school than walking.  Funny how that works.  Apparently everyone decided to show up at the school pretty much at the EXACT.SAME.TIME.   There was definite bottle-necking from our two thick swarms of lines into the school two front doors and down the hallways riddled with trashcans and "leak buckets" to catch the leaks throughout the hallway.  I kid you not when I say Hunter literally thought it was an obstacle course on the way out.  He added his, "woo hoo's" and laughs all the way down the hall.  I all but chucked my children and their brown paper grocery bag full of supplies into their rooms to continue with my morning.

 Hunter has had some coughs lately and before we took off to drop off the fighting duo, he got sick.  He takes after his oldest sister that way - so much coughing it occasionally ends in getting rid of some extra fluid hanging around in that belly.  So, I embarked on the trip in hopes that was the only occurrence for the morning.  We got the girls to school and boogied as fast as we could to my local YMCA.  We had less than 2 miles to go to reach my exercise haven when he promptly coughed and coughed and.... lost more fluid!  Naturally I didn't bring extra clothes (I think I'll be coming up with an emergency kit for each child for that very reason pronto now) so we proceeded to head back in the direction of home.

  I rather enjoyed my day, watching my little guy ride his scooter (birthday present that was hanging out in the garage until next week for the poor kid - he kept bugging me to get it out - so I finally gave in today) around the house - he got quite good at it actually!  I cleaned up after breakfast and meals obviously, but other than that - didn't do much else.  I was determined to enjoy my day and relax a little.  By golly, I went through a WHOLE summer without a single day's rest from the fighting my older two are constantly parading around my home.  Except for the week they were visiting Mom mom and Pop pop in PA.

After school today, the girls said they loved it and it was SO much better than their other school because:  Melanie - I didn't have to write very much today.  and Julia - My green stamp smells like Lemon-Lime!!  I was GREEN ALL DAY LONG!!     Such truly wonderful feats for my daughters.  I thought back to last year at this time - I had only one child at home and was VERY close to delivering another.  She ended up arriving closer to the end of the month.  Now I have two children at home again- but am still really enjoying that so far.  She took a 3 hour nap today - so it was almost like having just one child around.   After her nap, we headed off to the library to return a book and check out more.  Hunter had a great time. There were two little girls there that were the cutest things!  One of them told me, "Hey, give me that baby" when we arrived at the play area.  I love how little kids seem to think ALL babies can talk - no matter what age!  They seemed to like my little princess of a baby though and were kind to both my children.

Pick-up was.....different.  So happy they are released at the same time this year though and I don't have to hang out for an extra half hour to get all my kids from school.  Anyway... it will take some getting used to for sure - but I hope it will run more smoothly as time rolls on.  I have to "fetch" both my children from the front of the school each day.  My kindergartner is the closest to the end of the school - but the first out - with my 2nd grader being the furthest away from our end of the school and let out after her.  So, I pick up one..... then walk down to get the other through the throngs of people.  Hunter rushed up to Melanie as they were lining up, then at some point re-entered the crowd of people and couldn't be found for a few moments.  I feel blessed that my girls seem to have very kind, wonderful teachers.  Melanie's teacher even has some fish in the classroom.  She is also really excited about being able to go swimming during school later this year.  What a treat!  Julia was hand in hand with some little boy as they walked out of school today (it seemed as though they were all paired up as buddies in her class today).  She of course was beaming about it - and even drew a picture with that same little boy and her beautiful teacher in it too!  Best part is - she can't remember his name!

The END of their first day 2012

 I am so happy they love school and love to learn.  I often hear them both going on and on about how much they love school.  (I just finished skimming this post and it's just a jumble of thoughts and bits of our day, but... it's going to stay just like that!  This is my brain on 4 kids - no drugs needed!)

Change

Our family got a bit of news a couple months ago that started a chain of change in our lives.  The 5 bedroom home in housing that we had been on the waiting list for what seemed like forever (equals 15 months) finally had one available for us.  We took it (of course!) and started necessary preparations to move just 30 days from then.  Our new home would be a few miles away but the children would be changing schools and our family would be changing wards.  Funny how that works sometimes.   Those of you who are out west could probably move a block and change stakes.  The east is much different in that case.   With that change though - many things will remain the same.  We are in the same stake and meet at the same building as before.  We live in the same city, and haven't changed military commands.  We still attend the same clinic for our medical needs as well. 

So, how has the family embraced the change now that we are settling in and discovering our new schedule?  My kids LOVE it!  I definitely think they miss the friends from Primary, but as far as the neighborhood kids go..... they scored BIG time!  The kids in our last neighborhood were .......uh...... let's just say less than friendly and very confused.   The girls seem to have plenty of girls to play with here that are around their age and have similar interests.   They hang out on the front porch of many of the houses here in our little "circle" and play - all within eyesight of their somewhat overprotective mother.  We've been bike riding recently and taken the dog out for some "runs" as well (yes... got a new bike after the last one was stolen from our backyard).  We recently started hitting up the neighborhood pool.   I wanted to tackle the tasks of teaching them how to swim this summer.   I'm pretty much a disgrace of a former lifeguard/swim teacher.   My kids are 5 and 6 (almost 6 and 7) and they do not know how to swim.  My only excuse?  I just kept having kids and couldn't take 3-4 children with me to a pool BY MYSELF to teach them how to swim.   After taking them to the pool at the Y a few times and the neighborhood pool a few more, I am happy to announce that they are pretty close to being fulfledged swimmers.  The lifeguards still stand up in alarm and wade out to them now and again (#2 tends to be more of an 'underwater' swimmer...if you know what I mean).  They are well on their way though and I think the end of the summer will bring HUGE success. 

     I feel incredibly blessed to be able to have a home where we feel safe, can welcome friends and have space for them, and inspire me to decorate and make it more of our "haven" from the world.   If you happen to come by during my "redecorating" phase, forgive the mismatching items.....someday everything will go together as it should... for now, I'm trying to learn how to make my house the kind of HOME I would love for it to be for a long time.  A place worth making memories in. 
     

Came by it honestly

Many of you wonderful people already know ALL about my 2nd child - my handful (both in age and temperament).  IF you truly know her, you know she is definitely NOT a graceful person.  Nothing about her screams graceful.  She trips, slips, falls, biffs, etc.  - you get the idea.  If something can go wrong, it usually does with her around.  One particularly bad week for her - she tripped on the same piece of sidewalk in front of her elementary school TWICE (once at the beginning of the week and again at the end).  Well, the first one was knee scrapes needing bandaids, wailing, and tears to boot.  The second time.... I hear her fall, turn around to see the damage (she is sprawled out on the pavement = pretty much spread eagle) and whining/screaming/crying the words...."OH NO!! ......... NOT AGAIN!!!"  I honestly had to smirk and chuckle as I walked back to help her up.  This time, she was wearing jeans so she had no knee scrapes.  I told her she was ok.... and she squeals - "NO!  IT'S MY HANDS!"    Apparently the pavement exchanged her knee skin for a little bit of the skin off the palms of her hands (prime biff-estate).   Now..... we walk to school holding hands so she doesn't gift more of her precious skin (she has tripped several times since then and I've been there to squeeze her hand and keep her from falling.......again) to the sidewalk in front of Camp Allen Elementary.   Best of all, I can't blame her because she has a mother who is almost the EXACT same way!  Hey -she comes by it honestly. 

How Time Flies!

So, this is a MUCH needed update.  It's been so long since I posted, blogger changed things around on me!  I assure you that even though I haven't posted in almost half a year, I have been doing things.  Life has run away with our family mostly and there are some new adventures coming our way very soon.  I am so stinking excited!  I didn't move a WHOLE lot growing up, but definitely more than the Navy has moved our family over the past 8 years.  Actually, the three times we have moved in the past 7 years were all our own doing, hopping from place to place within in the same city.  Where we landed within the city wasn't of consequence until about 3 years ago when they split the ward.  When it comes to split wards not mingling with one another, I am totally clueless.  However, that is what seems to happen consistently on the east coast.  So now our new home is located in the "other" ward.  Although there are many people in our current ward that we will actually live closer to (not to mention we'll be closer to the church) I have no intentions of being thrown out of the loop.  I am expecting to stay on top of what I am currently involved with and continuing to show up.  Sorry if you were hoping to be rid of me, that's not how I work.  You'll have to pray the navy moves us to a different state if that's what you want. 

So, being that it's a new part of the city, the girls will be attending a new school this fall.  My eldest of course is nervous about it and says she doesn't want to be a "Tiger" she wants to stay a "Dragon".   My second born thought about the new school idea for about 5 minutes (if that) and declared "That means I get to make new friends!".  Wow.  Not sure how I taught her that - I'm actually quite sure that I didn't and that it was just genetically ingrained in her little head from birth.  Anyone who has met her definitely knows EXACTLY what I mean.  Sometimes I feel that I just really lucked out with that kid..........sometimes.    Of course our son and youngest daughter haven't a clue what any of that means. 

How we landed a 5 bedroom amid the uncertainty of it all is quite frankly a miracle.  I became aware of a 5 bedroom coming available this summer and about a week or two after that found out there would be maybe two more by year's end.  So, after I found out about the first, I called to volunteer our family to move if no one else wanted the place.  Well, to put it nicely, I was pretty much laughed at and upon ending the conversation - felt as though our dream of having a little more space while being employed by the Navy was just that... a dream.  So I gave up - started looking for something we could maybe afford out in town.  I prayed that our family would find something or get a 5 bedroom when the time was right for us.  Now I had been praying for that most of the time we had been on the wait list (14 months at the time).   Well, our 15 month mark hit and I get a phone call while I'm in the commissary (which is a miracle in and of itself - there is pretty much no reception in the commissary for my phone) telling us there was an availability.  FANTASTIC!  From that day, we had exactly a month until our move date.   Signing up for the wait list to move in day, 16 months on a 18-24 month estimated wait time.  

I still haven't seen inside the home (I won't until the day I move in) but I have stared at the floor plan with ideas swimming through my head of how we are going to set everything up.   I'm thinking it's pretty much going to be amazing.  If the Lord decided now was an OK time for our family to get a home, then I need to have faith in His timing!  That in a nutshell is pretty much why I am excited about this. 

That is the most recent chain of events in my life, but since the beginning of this year - we have had more changes.  In March, my grandmother lost her battle with cancer.  My eldest daughter and I had the great blessing of being able to visit with her in February.  We rode out with my dad and youngest sister and my other sister and her baby girl (10 months old) flew out to be there as well.  It was nice to be able to tell her we loved her and to say goodbye.   I am so grateful I took the opportunity to go.  Thanks to my wonderful husband who watched the other kids while we were gone. 
She is the first grandparent I have had to say goodbye to and it has wrought a great change in my heart.  I often find myself drawing strength from her memory and begging her to help me deal with my crazy kids (she had 7 - 5 of them boys).   It has really helped me reflect on my relationship with our Heavenly Father. 


My husband has been wanting a motorcycle (he cries saving money on gas) and since I have an awesome dad and grandpa who LOVE motorcycles - I obliged him.  He got one - looks really good on him by the way - and it has only taken us a month or so to get him his permit and then insurance on it as well.  It has sat for a little too long.  He needs to take a safety course in order for his military life insurance to cover him in case of an accident.  Now we really need to get that done so he can drive it over to the new house and start using it to get to and from work! 

My baby is growing like crazy too!  She will be 8 months at the end of this week!  I cannot believe how time flies!  She got her first two teeth (bottom) when she was 5 1/2 months old.  She's still working on more and can be quite whiny about it at times.  We still love her though.  Boy does she love to talk!  We hear her vocalizing all the time - she is our biggest talker ever at this stage of life.  She is also our biggest wiggler.  Anytime we hold her, there is a point where she starts trying to wiggle away - she arches backwards, moves side to side and generally makes holding her an exhausting task! 

As far as my weight loss goes, slow and somewhat steady is the game.  I have lost all my pregnancy weight with my most recent baby and am working to pre-pregnancy weight with my eldest (15 more lbs to go). I pretty much obsess over it - until recently.   It's tiring to always jump on the scale each morning to see how you're doing.   It's much more fun and rewarding to just be active and workout regularly, watch what you eat and see results over time.  I am letting my stress go and am aiming for being healthy and strong.  I think the weight will come off easier that way.  =) 

I also finally got a mixer so that I can make bread, etc more often.  Anytime I wanted to make bread, pizza dough, etc before I would have to do the work by hand.  I am so happy to have a mixer and really have such a desire to do so much more than I am currently doing.  I don't want to get too much into it now that I am packing things for a move though.  Maybe I will try another experiment or two before the big day and then give my mixer a short retirement until we get settled in the new place.  I look forward to doing SO many new things there! 

While I'm at compiling a novel, I will just keep on going!  I have also recently discovered Pinterest!  LOVE that place!  I find it's so much easier to navigate than blogs (which is another reason I haven't posted in a while) and there are tons of ideas for pretty much anything you can think of!  Some of the links that are attached are broken, but overall - it is a wealth of ideas for those who strive to be crafty (like me). 

I also have renewed my desire to work on achieving the personal progress young womanhood medallion. I know I am no longer serving in YW, but I have a strong desire to earn one for myself (to make a long story short, they changed the program right before I got out of YW and I didn't want to guess on numbers or hours worked to make sure I qualified....I want to feel like I earned it and do the work involved!) and be a witness to the YW of its importance.  Fewer and fewer young women are working towards achieving this these days (especially on the east coast) - I feel they need to see someone do it to rekindle the fire they may have once had.  The past couple Sundays I have been sitting down to look over experiences to accomplish.  I am really looking forward to the value projects! 

I have also been mulling over the idea of going back to school (online of course).  My ultimate goal is to become a personal trainer, but I know that I will not be able to work in that capacity until my youngest is in school at least.   So, I have time I can dedicate to a Bachelors in Exercise Science.  I think I really want to pursue that to better prepare myself for becoming a personal trainer and to feel more knowledgeable about exercise and the body.  While we're still poor (aka enlisted military) I figured I could get some grants to help cover the expenses of my education.  If things actually work out for me to be able to do all this - wish me luck!  I have taken an absence from formal schooling for almost a decade now and I'm sure it will be a pretty crazy learning curve at first! 

OK.... now that my rambling is finally through - I will finish off this post for today.  That mostly catches us up from the New Year and I can't wait to be able to post more exciting (and entertaining) things as time goes on.  There are quite a few good stories I can share about my children - kids are the best comic relief sometimes.  I'll be uploading pictures soon!

Resolutions

Ok... so many of us will make at least one of these at some point within the next few weeks.  My number 1 resolution is one I have been working to achieve for far too long.  Now that I am past the holidays - and mostly free of my favorite treats (interpreted as:  there are NONE of them in the house) I can hit the ground running!  I decided to start a separate blog about my fitness goals - so that anyone interested in acutally reading about it can just follow it there.  That way I can keep this blog truer to what I really wanted it to be - about me and my children's daily adventures.  Having two children in school and the other half of my kids mostly in the "not talking" stage... it seriously  minimizes my ideas of "adventure" - but I realize we still have our fair share.  Stay posted with both blogs to watch my journey.... if you want.  Happy New Year everyone!  I am hoping this year is the year for you to accomplish something BIG!