Daddy's Duty

100 Warm Feet

2010-10-31T09:27:00.001-05:00

So I am having some issues with this post. If anything shows up crazy, I am sorry!!! Gotta love blogger sometimes!

I am something very exciting to share with you. My little blog has been featured on a video for an AMAZING Sweepstakes to support our troops in Afghanistan. Verseo is hosing a sweepstakes called, '100 Warm Feet' to provide thermo soles to help our troops stay comfortable during the cold months in Afghanistan. Check out the Sweepstakes here

.This sweepstakes came at a perfect time for me. It really hit close to home. Since August, David has been told he is deploying and then not deploying at least 4 different times. It has gotten to the point where I haven't worried if he is going or not. It is his job, deployments come with the territory. That doesn't bother me at all. But this going back and forth is old. For a month, he wasn't going on a deployment. A few days ago, he comes home and says he is deploying again pending a grade waiver is accepted from AFPC. I looked at him and told him, can you just tell me when it is official. And when I say official, I mean he is boarding the plane!! To our family who may be reading this post, we haven't said anything because we are constantly going back and forth. We will give details when it is official. I am thinking he will have 2 different deployments that he is going on before he actually deploys! Oh the life of the military, there is never a dull moment!!

On a more positive note, David was featured in the base newspaper on Friday. It was a great article. I am so proud of him!!! Oh and Tyler was coined by the Base Command Chief a few weeks ago! She is still carrying around her coin. She is so proud!!

Happy Halloween!! Check out the video below!!

It Is So Hard to Say Good-Bye

2010-10-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my last day with my 3rd grade class. There is a huge void in my heart right now! To say I became attached to my class is an understatement. I felt as if they were my own children, all 25 of them. I am so thankful that I had a wonderful class and an amazing supervising teacher! I learned more in 8 weeks than in 3 years of education courses!

Yesterday, the class earned a movie/popcorn day. I am not going to lie when we kind of planned it that way so we could get grades finished for end of the quarter! HA! While I was out popping popcorn, my class was working hard on putting a book together for me. I had no clue. Then the office called and asked if I could come and pick something up. Little did I know that this was a set up!! I came back to the room and the door was locked. I knocked and one of my students ran and opened the door and I heard SURPRISE!! The tears began to roll down my face. At the front of the class, was a box full of goodies for my future classroom. Little did I know that the kids had been brining in things all week! I always catch on to surprises and I had no clue!

I did good for the most part of the day until the kids started packing up at the end of the day. I LOST IT! Several of the students were tearing up too! It was so hard to leave, but I refused to say goodbye to them. I plan on subbing in the Spring and my teacher is going to request me every time she is out.

I will never forget my time with my class. They taught me so much about teaching and myself! They even made me a better parent!! I am tearing up as I write this post! I would give anything to erase yesterday, and go back to my 3rd grade class on Monday.

This Monday, I start my second placement in Title 1 PreSchool at a different school district. I am not going to lie, I am very nervous about going into a PreK classroom after being in 3rd grade! I am hoping for a smooth transition! I know that I will learn just as much from those little kiddos and become an even stronger teacher. This also means that I am half way done and will be certified in 8 weeks! YIKES!!

Sorry for the lack of posts! Student teaching has consumed my life and I love it! David, Tyler, and Landon keep me pretty busy too!! We are very excited that fall is here. Tyler has a Halloween carnival tonight at the Youth Center. She is super excited! We are enjoying the cooler temperatures and college football on Saturdays!

I hope everyone is doing well! I am sorry I am a horrible blog reader right now!

WINNER

2010-09-19T19:55:00.000-05:00

I drew via Random.org for the fun and adorable cinch sack.

And comment 16 is the lucky winner. Comment 16 was left by Kael, Maddie, and Sage!! Leave Allison a comment on here to claim your cinch bag! I will also let her know that you won!! Congratulations!!

We have had a pretty laid back weekend here. The base had its annual air show which meant David worked all weekend long. I only braved the crazies on base long enough to go to the commissary! We needed food in a bad way!! It was a great weekend because my Hogs won which always makes me a happy girl!!! The rest of the weekend consisted of writing lesson plans and working on my teacher work sample. If I didn't love my students so much, I would be wishing away the next 2 1/2 months!!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and your football team won!!

MIA Give Away

2010-09-12T10:38:00.000-05:00

I am still alive! I am having a blast student teaching. I would love it even more if the college didn't require 10 million more things on top of focusing on my students. But that is how it goes!!

My long time friend, Allison, asked me to host a give away. She is a Thirty-One Gifts Consultant. Have you seen their adorable monogrammed gifts!! I really cannot wait to get a paycheck coming in, there is so much that I would love for the kids and I.

About a month ago, I ordered this adorable cinch sack for Landon.

I am in love with this sack. I am thinking about ordering one for Tyler for Christmas for a dance bag. The options of endless on how you could use this bag. I thought of a gym bag, MOPS bag, beach bag, overnight bag, and so much more. I am a sucker for a cute bag!!

Allison is giving away one cinch bag and throwing in monogramming.

Here is how you can win:

1 Entry - Blog about this giveaway and leave me a comment with your link.

1 Entry - Go to Allison's Thirty-One Gifts page and tell me which bag you would want.

1 Entry - Become a Fan of Allison's FB Fan Page.

1 Entry - Tweet about my Give Away. Be Sure to @daddysduty.

1 Entry - Become a Follower on my Blog.

Leave one comment per entry. I will pick a winner on Sunday, September 19 at 7:00 P.M.

Good Luck!!

A New Normal

2010-08-22T15:31:00.000-05:00

My first week of student teaching has been CRAZY and the kids haven't started yet. I never knew that I would learn so much before the students arrive. I am having the time of my life!

Landon started back to PreK this week and Tyler started the Youth Center and 2nd grade. The first day of school was on Wednesday. Imagine my surprise when I get a call from The Youth Center on Sunday telling me that Tyler is asleep and running a fever. WONDERFUL! She missed Meet the Teacher Night and the first day of school. She was so upset. She was back to normal and ready for school on Thursday. Thank goodness!!

I will probably not be on here much this semester! It is going to be a super busy semester! I will try and keep you updated when I have some free time!!

2010-08-16T07:00:00.005-05:00

On Friday, the base had their annual Atomic Luau. They have free BBQ and tons of bouncy castles for the kids. We had fun, but only lasted an hour. The temperature was 100 and that is before the Heat Index. The kids managed to get soaking wet and stay cool!!

UGH this picture looks a lot better before it was shrunk down to fit on the blog!

And it has been a while since I have posted of picture of our 3rd child. He is almost 17 weeks now! He is such a great puppy! We adore him!

Today is my first day of student teaching. The students do not start until next week. I am so excited!! It was a long road to get here and I know that December will be here before I know it!! Tyler starts the Youth Center today. She is super excited and Landon is back to daycare. He will start PreK after Labor Day. I think all 3 of us are ready to get back into a normal routine. So long summer, see ya next year!

Christmas Came Early

2010-08-15T09:06:00.000-05:00

A local retired teacher opened up a place where businesses and people could donate anything and everything that teachers can use in their classroom. Once a month, teachers in our county can come and get whatever they want for FREE!! They also let student teachers in the county come and shop! Fox 4 did a segment on Teacher's Warehouse this past week. You can check out the segment here. What a great resource for teachers when budgets are being cut and teachers are having to reach into their pocketbooks even more than ever.

Here are some pictures of what I scored yesterday! I was like a little kid in a candy shop. And then it was Christmas when I got home and discovered stuff that my teacher threw in my boxes for me! When people found out that I was student teaching, they were throwing stuff at me and telling me, "You have to have this, you will love it!"

I probably came home with over $600 of goodies. You cannot see all the wall decor and bulletin board goodies that I got!

Comprehension Books!

Word Cubes, Math Manipulatives, GeoBoards

Math Manipultatives, Teacher Resource Books, Readers, Phonics CD, Manipulative Clocks

All About Me newspapers, Pocket Folders, Letters and Sight Words for Word Walls

Readher's Theater, Comprehension Books, Alphabet Game, Math Flashcards, Tornado Tube,

Checkers in a Net Bag, Brand New Canvas Bag (I want to get it monogrammed.), and more

Heaven!!!!

Your Questions Answered

2010-08-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

It is Friday night (I scheduled this to post on Saturday!) and David is watching football. I love college football, but not too crazy about The NFL. I have teams that I favor over others, but the Kansas City Chiefs are not on that last! Anywho!! So I am taking this down time to answer some of your questions. If you have a question you would like to ask, be sure to leave me a comment!!

Lady in Waiting asks.....
What made you decide to get a degree in Education?
For as long as I can remember, my mom always told me that I would be a great teacher. I was always the girl in church that was called on to babysit their children, active volunteer in the children's programs and more. However, I could never picture myself being responsible for the education of young children. At our second base, I got a job at the Child Development Center on base and loved writing lesson plans, creating new activities for the children, reading aloud to them, and more. The Assistant Director and Trainer encouraged me to go back to school and get my degree. When we moved to our 3rd base, I enrolled in school a month after we got here. I have not looked back for a second. I am passionate about teaching and I am looking forward to student teaching this fall. I start next week and I can hardly contain my excitement!! I also have another story that drove me to teaching that I have shared in mock interviews with Principals. I will have to write a post about it one day.

Jessica asks....
What do you do to pamper yourself?
This is a hard question for me. I am pretty low maintenance kind of girl. I am not that girly either. I never get my nails done because I will just chew them off (bad nervous habit) and I rarely get a pedicure. I just do not like spending all that money on myself. Although I love getting my hair done. I love to go shopping, but with a husband and 2 children in tow, it isn't really pampering. I would have to say that I love sitting down and watching my Razorbacks (college football team) play their hearts out while I drink a cold one and have some yummy grub. Man, I sound like a guy!

Sespi asks.....
If you had three hours to yourself to do whatever you wanted, what would you do? (Money is no object!)
Sespi and I discussed on Twitter what a hard question this is to answer! I think that I would go to a luxury store and hire a personal shopper and let her bring the clothes to me while I sip on champagne. All of this without a husband and children around. Although I would probably buy them clothes too! HA! And I would probably have someone to my makeup. This is turning into a Mommy Makeover Day. Can someone please make this happen! Can you imagine the possibilities. OK, I am back to reality now.

Jenn asks.....
If you could choose any destination to vacation at, where would you choose?
I have always dreamed of going to NYC and Australia. Most people of going to a tropical beach, but not me!! I have actually never been to a real beach before! I lead a sheltered life!! (NOT REALLY!)

I have always wanted to go to NYC since I was a little girl and would watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I still plan on attending that parade one day in person. I was so close to getting to go to NYC next summer. David was being considered for a deployment to Dover AFB in Delaware. What? A stateside deployment. YEP!! I am not going to lie when I called my mom and asked if she would take a week of vacation to go with Tyler and I to visit David. He would only get one day off so we would go to DC that day (only 2 hours away) and then we would go to NYC for 2 nights. I was crushed, but I knew it wasn't going to happen.

I have always been fascinated with Australia. I may have been slightly obsessed with The Crocodile Hunter at some point in my life and my have cried and cried the day that he died. Maybe one day I will get to go, but NYC seems like more of a possibility in this life time!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I am enjoying my last weekend before I am up at the crack of dawn on Monday. I have never been so excited to be up before 6:00 a.m. in my life!!

Friday Fill-In

2010-08-13T00:00:00.007-05:00

Happy Friday! Are you participating in Friday's Military Spouse Fill-in? If not, the click here and join the partay!! Hope you have a WONDERFUL weekend!!

What is ONE thing you’d like civilians to understand about being a military family? There is no way that I could list just one thing! How about a good ole bullet list! I kind of like them!

It is impossible to make plans ahead of time. Once that dreaded work phone goes off, all plans are put on hold. We have no clue what lies ahead of us in a month, 2 months, a year, etc.
No dates are set in stone until it happens.
There is a lot that we cannot tell due to OPSEC (Operation Security).
Watching a movie or tv show about the military doesn't give the 100% picture of our lives. Just a glimpse, and the majority of the time they give a false impression. I know I have never been to the base commander's house for tea and sconces.
Base Housing is not free, we actually pay for it. We just do not write a rent check every month. It comes out of our check, we never see the money.
The phrase, Oh there is our Tax Money at Work. We pay taxes too!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

2. What is your favorite mistake? Wouldn't you like to know. I am passing on this one! ;-)

3. What indulgence could you give up for a year? Sweet Tea. I have done it several times before and I have lost weight. I am about to give it up. God Bless my Students!!

4. If you could be a winged animal, what would you be? A cardinal! They are the mascot of my favorite baseball team and they are not hunted (I don't want my husband eating me!). And a bonus, they are beautiful!

5. What is one question you’d like to see asked in a future MFF? How did you vision your future premilitary?

What's in a Name?

2010-08-12T13:18:00.000-05:00

I have some great questions to ask from my previous post.

I thought I would start off with JG's questions because she is hosting an amazing giveaway. Have you ever heard of Scentsy? I love Scentsy! David is pretty hooked on all the scents too. JG is giving away a plug-in and 3 scentsy bars! That is HUGE!! Believe me, once you go Scentsy you will never go back. Be sure to tell her that I referred you to her blog!! Click on her button to go to her site!

JG's question was:

Why did you choose the names for your children?

Great question, JG! Not sure how great of a story it is, but here you go.

Tyler

Tyler's first name is not Tyler. She goes by her middle name. Her first name is my mother's name. It just did not work out as a middle name, no matter how hard we tried. (JG, if you are dying to know her first name, shoot me an email! :-) ).

I wish there was an amazing story on how we came up with Tyler, but there isn't. We did not find out the sex when I was pregnant with her. I am kind of old fashioned that way! David and I argued and argued over names. He had an excuse for every name that I threw out and the names he threw out were so plain with no personality! We were stationed at RAF Lakenheath in England at the time. Every week they put out a base magazine. I would always look at different people's names for inspiration. I came across the name Tyler and David said, "For a boy no, but I love it for a girl." I have always loved boy names for girls so it stuck. We finally had a name for our baby. And when I say finally, we were cutting it close to the due date!

Landon

Landon's middle name is after my father-in-law who passed away 10 months after Landon's birth. We are so thankful that we named Landon after his grandfather.

About 2 years before Landon was born, David was watching Real World New Orleans. There were two best friends on there who were in the military at the time. One of the guy's name was Landon. David fell in love with it immediately and told me that if we ever had a son that would be his name. I liked it, but shrugged him off. I already had names picked out. As you can see, my names once again did not make the cut! But I love the name Landon. At the time, we thought it wasn't that popular. David and Ashley are about as common of names as you are going to get. We wanted to give our children uncommon names, but normal names. You know, not Apple or Cheeseburger. Landon is gaining popularity, but he tends to be the only Landon in his classes so far!

And there you have it! No crazy stories, but special stories to us all the same!

I will be answering the rest of your questions this weekend. If you have a question that you are dying to know, leave it in the comments!!

P.S. Don't forget to check out JG's Fantastic Giveaway!!!

Why Hello.....

2010-08-11T17:49:00.000-05:00

Oh my, I just noticed that I have 100 followers! Thank you! Please leave me a comment and introduce yourself and leave your link to your blog (if you have one!).

I am having a hard time putting together a blog post lately. My mind is on student teaching and our summer coming to a screeching halt this Friday!

So I am thinking that it would be fun for you to ask me questions. Feel free to ask me anything! Well maybe not just anything!!! :-)

Check It Out

2010-08-09T08:14:00.000-05:00

I wrote a guest post for Mrs. GI Joe. You can check it out here. It has been a post that I have wanted to write for a long time, but for some reason I always held back. When Mrs. GI Joe asked me to write a guest post, I knew that it was the time to tell my husband's story. I am so proud of him!

Mil Spouse Fill-in Friday

2010-08-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

Today is Friday and that means that I get to cheat on my post for today. YAY!! These fill-ins are lots of fun. You should join up here.

What is something you wished you’d learned to do earlier in life? To listen to my parents. God that hurt to even type! For the most part, they knew what they were talking about! SHOCKER, I know! But you learn by making mistakes, I guess!
What is your biggest pet peeve with the military? My recent pet peeve is the award system. I have seen people lately who were given awards when their package was full of B.S. And I need to stop right now or I could get into trouble!!
What tourist attraction near you have you never seen? There is an amusement park an hour away that we have been wanting to go to. That is about as much as I can say without telling you where we live!
What are you avoiding doing right now? LAUNDRY!!!
Wine, beer or liquor? Wine!! There are two great wineries near our base! We love to go and sit out in the gardens and sip on a glass of wine. They are family friendly also, but we haven't taken the kids yet. Which means that we have only been to the wineries twice!

My answers are short this week! I guess I do not have much to say! Crazy, I know! I hope you have a SPLENDID weekend!

The Boy and The Shoes

2010-08-04T16:16:00.000-05:00

On Monday, I took the kids shopping for new tennis shoes for school. Taking Landon shopping for shoes is like shopping with a teenager. He NEVER wants the shoes that you like and there is no giving in. The boy knows what he wants. He may or may not get that from his mother.

I handed the salesperson 2 different pairs of shoes that were on sale. He comes back and I try them on Landon. I like one pair and of course Landon LOVES the other pair. He grabs the shoes and looks at me and says, "Mom these shoes I can play basketball, golf, and soccer." As you can guess, he got the shoes he wanted. They were both the same price so who was I to argue with his logic.

The picture is not a great shot of the shoes, but he is still very proud of them. Of course an hour after we get home, he steps in dog poo!

While I am on the subject on my sports fanatic 3 year old, he has a new obsession with golf. I have no idea where this came from. The only person in our families who plays golf is my brother-in-law (my sister's husband). Landon is dying to take golf lessons. If a ball is involved, then this boy wants to play! Perhaps we should get him golf clubs for Christmas!!

Fall Where Are You

2010-08-01T18:07:00.000-05:00

David has been smoking our dinner all afternoon. (It smells wonderful outside.) It is a beautiful day and we thought it would be a great idea to sit out and enjoy it! Turns out it wasn't such a great idea after all. Even sitting in the garage, we were hot. And the heat is so draining! I then began daydreaming about my favorite season on the year, fall.

Why do I love fall? I mean my allergies kill me every year! Well these are a few of my favorite things.....

College Football! I love my Razorbacks!!

Cooler temperatures which means we start cooking chili and taco soup!! YUM!
The trees start to change colors!
Grey's Anatomy comes back on.
Fall Clothes!
School starts back up and Tyler starts back to dance. I love staying busy and having a routine!
Thanksgiving! I think it may be my favorite holiday! The food, oh the food!!
GRADUATION!!!

I have so many reasons to look forward to fall, but it also means that another "D" will be approaching! Not ready for that all over again!!

What is your favorite holiday?

TGIF!!

2010-07-30T09:59:00.000-05:00

I am so glad that it is Friday! Tomorrow Tyler and I are having a girl's day and going Back to School Shopping. We are so excited about leaving the boys at home! I mean boys aren't that fun when it comes to shopping! And we may even squeeze in a movie while we are at it. We both want to see Ramona and Beezus. Has anyone seen it yet? I am so excited about a movie that is not 3D!

Friday also means that it is Mil Spouse Fill in over at Wife of a Sailor.

What is your spouse’s best feature?

There are so many features that I love about my man! I love his big brown eyes! I am a sucker for big eyes. I always tell him that he has the most beautiful teeth. He thinks I am weird. And he has lips that women pay for. Thankfully Tyler got his lips! She will be excited about that when she is older.

2. Mild, Medium or Hot sauce?

Medium to Hot, depending on what I am eating. I normally buy Medium Hot Sauce because David has sensitive taste buds! HA!

3. What is the worst uniform you had to wear for a job?

I have only had to wear scrubs as a uniform and I loved them. Man they were so comfortable and I didn't have to worry about ruining my clothes.

4. You have invisible powers… where is the first place you would go?

SHOPPING!!!!!!!

5. What’s left on your “to do” list for this summer?

Oh my, I only have 2 weeks left! I really need to give my house a really good cleaning and finish some teacher books. I also need to put together some binders and other fun stuff for student teaching. Hopefully tomorrow I will find me some clothes too! We also have allergy and dental appts coming up and Tyler's orientation at the Youth Center. Oh man, these next 2 weeks are going to fly by!!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL weekend!!

Back To School Fashion

2010-07-28T10:25:00.000-05:00

Well it is about that time, Back to School. I love back to school shopping. It is my favorite time of the year. However, this year will be a bit more of a challenge. Why? Because I have to shop for me too! I have a few nice things in the closet. But I am student teaching this fall and that means 5 nice outfits a week. UGH! I am not a big fan of shopping for myself. I have gained wait this past year and that never making shopping fun.

I have been browsing some of my favorite stores and trying to get inspiration. Everything is tight, low cut, or too short! Here are a few things that I have found and I like.

Old Navy

I love this. I can wear short sleeves under it and long sleeves when Fall gets here. It would also be comfortable!

Old Navy

I would have to wear a tank top under this shirt, but it is cute and comfy.

Kohls

Super Cute!

Francesca's

I need a couple of cute dresses for Meet The Teacher Night and a few other functions that I will need to dress nice for. And then there are the shoes. Comfy and cute shoes are a hard combo to find.

So this is where I am asking for your help. Are you a teacher or have a job where you are on your feet all day long. Where do you find cute, trendy, but not showing anything that should not be showing! What are some comfy shoes that you cannot live without? HELP!!! Please keep in mind we are on one income so I am looking for cheap to moderate priced clothes. Thanks in advance!

The Dry Land

2010-07-27T11:46:00.000-05:00

American Ferrera has been all over the morning talk shows today promoting this movie. She tells how she gained a new insight on what military families go through when their loved one returns home. They have been showing the movie at various military installations which I think is very commendable.

Summer Time and the Living is Easy

2010-07-25T10:55:00.000-05:00

It is always a challenge to get a good picture of Landon. He loves to ham it up for the camera or turn at the last minute. Friday night, he was lying in the grass and relaxing. I couldn't pass up a picture.

This has become my favorite picture of him. He loves the outdoors and would stay outside all day long if we would let him. Even though the grass makes him itch like crazy (Pretty sure he is allergic!), he manages to have the time of his life!

Thank you for all the sweet comments on Winston, our new pup. He is already spoiled rotten. David is already talking about getting another basset hound. I think we will have to wait a little longer for that!!

Introducing.....

2010-07-24T08:54:00.002-05:00

Winston is our (almost) 14 week old Basset Hound and we are in LOVE with him. After spending a week at my parent's house, Landon fell in love with all of their dogs. He has always adored each and every type of animal. However he has had allergy problems with certain breeds of dogs. My brother's coon dog licked him and he broke out in hives. Turns out Landon was allergic to one of the ingredients in the dog food. After spending a week at my parent's house and being around all of their dogs (They have a lot of dogs), he did not have any allergic reactions.

Landon kept begging us for a dog. It was killing me. Every little boy needs a dog. David and I have always wanted a basset hound. I started looking around at rescue places in our area, but all of the basset hounds were around 10 years old. Then we found one that was born in April and we fell in love with him. We picked him up yesterday.

He slept all through the night in our bedroom. Granted David and I didn't get any sleep. It is like bringing home a new baby and you are waiting on them to start crying. He never woke up!

Welcome to our family, Winston. We are looking forward to making priceless memories with you!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In 3

2010-07-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

This has been a LONG week and I am so thankful that it is FINALLY Friday and David has a down day! I am keeping my fingers crossed that the dreaded work phone does not ring. People do stupid things on long weekends and David has to go to work!

Friday also means that it is MilSpouse Friday Fill in over at Wife of a Sailor's blog. Check it out here and participate.

Besides the horizontal mambo, what do you miss most when your spouse is deployed?

I always miss the 4 of us crawled up in our bed and watching a movie or just talking and having fun. It is our nightly routine and our way of spending time as a family at the end of a day. I miss David venting about his day and me telling him about an exciting lesson plan that I wrote. I miss ADULT conversations. I miss his touch, his smell, I miss HIM.

Landon missed riding in Daddy's truck.

Here is a post that I wrote while he was deployed last year.

2. What do you miss least?

I would say putting the toilet seat down, but Landon is here to keep that going on now. So maybe keeping sweets in the house. I always loose weight when he is deployed and gain it back when he is home. There has to be a connection there! HHMM!

3. You only get three crayons to finish your picture… which three do you choose and why?

UGH, I always hate these questions. Tyler's favorite color is pink and Landon's is green. I obviously have to pick those two colors. And I guess red for Arkansas Razorbacks!

4. If you could have your own fragrance, what would it be called?

Oh I am horrible and naming anything. I am not original at all. Even though I was determined my children would not have common names. (ARGH Landon is growing in popularity!) And it doesn't help I am not a big perfume person. The majority of them give me headaches. Wow I sound like a Debbie Downer. Maybe I would call it Angel. My grandfather called me Angel for as long as I can remember.

5. If the shoes make the man (or woman), what do your shoes say about you right now?

Well right at this moment my shoes wouldn't say too much about me because I am bare foot. I never wear shoes at home. David swears that I kick them off as soon as I get home. My shoes would probably tell someone that I am all about comfort, but trendy and cute (the shoes, not me!).

Question

2010-07-20T10:13:00.000-05:00

I have a quick question for all of you beautiful military spouses. Have you ever done a BOP? If so, how long did it take you to get it? Any tips or advice? Feel free to share your experience! Thanks!

I had a long night with Tyler last night. So this is short and sweet! Have a great Tuesday and stay cool (as in temperature, HA!)!

D Day

2010-07-19T18:56:00.000-05:00

I had this great post all written out in my head, but Tyler has been sick the past two days and I didn't get any sleep last night. I am not sure that I could write a decent and coherent post right now. Both of the kids took a nap this afternoon which provided some peace and quiet in the house. But that just makes me even more worried about Tyler. She has to be sick to take a nap.

Who watched Army Wives last night? I think I started crying before it was 2 minutes into the episode. I HATE D Day (Deployment Day). How do you handle D Day? David and I prefer the rip the band-aid off method. For his first deployment, the families were encouraged to stay and wait around (for hours) for his squadron to fly out from the base. David asked me not to stay. Honestly, I was kind of relieved. It was just dragging the inevitable.

His last deployment, he flew out from an airport about an hour away from the base. Someone from the squadron took them and we had a quick good-bye. This was easier for Tyler and Landon. The three of us went back home (it was early in the morning) and crawled up in my bed and went back to sleep.

And now we will do this all over again in a matter of months. Why does it never get any easier?

Friday Fill-In

2010-07-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

I have missed the last two weeks of Wife of a Sailor's Mil Spouse Fill-In. But I am back from vacation and back on track. Well maybe not quite back on track yet!! I think these Fill-Ins are lots of fun! You should join in too!!

1. What food reminds you of your spouse?

Oh this is a fun one!

I would have to say Fried Catfish! It is a Southern Food and he is Southern to the core. It is also one of his favorite foods. We recently discovered that the Commissary sells Catfish Filets and this made his summer! I swear that he can make better catfish than any Down South All You Can Eat Buffet! Just Sayin!!!

2. Who would you rather sit next to in a cross-country plane ride: an irritating non-stop talker, or a quiet stare-er?

Definitely someone who is quiet and staring. If I was traveling by myself (Yeah RIGHT!), I would be reading and wouldn't be paying any attention to them anyways. If I had the kids with me, I would be busy with them and Tyler would eventually ask them what they are staring at anyways. Or Landon would keep saying Hi to them and they would eventually stop staring.

3. What are your best tips on how to save money?

Yes this is a topic that we are currently discussing big time. With me student teaching in the fall, Tyler will now be in Before and After School at the Youth Center. WONDERFUL! I am usually really good at clipping coupons, but got lazy with it. We are about to pick that back up. I have also found that if I sit down and make a weekly menu, then we do not eat out. I also try to buy generic when I can. Heck now that Landon is FINALLY potty trained, that saves a good $40 a month!

When I go shopping for clothes for the kids, I hit the sales racks. I am pretty good at finding a good sale and can still shop at my favorite stores!

3. What is your favorite summer memory?

I will have to admit, this summer is up there! The kids are at such a fun age! They both love going to the pool this year. Whereas last year, Landon would barely put his foot in the pool. Tyler is swimming all over the pool and Landon has a new found obsession with fishing. And to make it an even better summer, DAVID is HOME this summer!

4. Do you believe in ghosts?

I love this question! We swear that my parent's house is haunted! Too many weird things have happened there. My sister had the Sleeping Ernie (Remember when that was popular?) and it was turned off. The thing would go off all the time. Ok, so it might have just been the toy itself going crazy. But Mom has just had weird stuff like that happen all the time. Her dog started going crazy one day and staring at NOTHING and was barking like crazy! That was very out of character for her. So we always say that the elderly couple that lived there before them, that their ghosts are still there. It is all a joke, but sometimes it really does make you wonder!! :-)

Happy Friday! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Exercise is in Full Swing here AGAIN! So David will be working! BOO!

Public Service Announcement

2010-07-15T13:17:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, Landon has severe food and environmental allergies. It isn't fun, but we are at the point where we feel that we are finally getting a handle on it. His allergy doctor and pediatrician doctors have warned us that they are 99.9% sure that he will suffer from asthma due to his allergies, eczema, and family history (I have asthma).

Ok, no problem! I have asthma. I know what to look for and how to handle it. But it is different when you are standing in the shoes as the mother of a child with asthma. We have not had a full blown attack, but I got my first glimpse this past weekend.

We were at my niece's first birthday party! Today is her birthday, Happy Bday AC!! Anyways, Landon was having a great time. My sister made sure that she didn't serve any food with nuts or eggs. Well obviously the cake had eggs, but she made Landon his special cupcakes and he was on top of the world.

As my niece was opening her presents, Landon had a crazy sneezing attack. It was one sneeze after the other. In between the sneezes, I could hear the wheezing. My heart dropped. His eyes were beginning to swell and were watery. He has never had an attack like this before. We have only had to deal with hives. My sister's friend and my brother-in-law ran and got him some Benadryl. He cleared up instantly and slept for 14 hours straight. Since last Saturday, Landon has had a barking cough at night. I remember that cough, a symptom of asthma.

I am telling you all this to lead up to a post from one of my favorite bloggers. Her oldest son (5 years old) also suffers from allergies, eczema, and asthma. About 9 months ago, her son was put on Singulair to control the barking cough that comes along with asthma. I do not want to tell her story, but any parent needs to read this post. It is scary and hit so close to home for me. Landon's doctor's have talked about putting him on Singulair.

PLEASE go read her experience here.

Trip Down South

2010-07-14T18:27:00.002-05:00

Here are some pictures from our trip down South. WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!!

Home Sweet Home

2010-07-14T12:31:00.001-05:00

We are home! Although I am not sure for how long. We may be headed back down South. David's grandmother is not doing well. We had a great time visiting our families in Louisiana and Arkansas, but there is NO PLACE LIKE HOME! I have so many pictures to post, but I have put off going to the Commissary long enough. It must be done! ARGH!

I will leave you with this though. I just love a boy in Wranglers and Cowboy Boots!

P.S. I am trying to get caught up on reading your blogs!

MIA

2010-07-08T10:16:00.000-05:00

Long time, no post! We are out of state visiting our families. We are having lots of fun! We have fed cows, longhorns, horses, puppies, rode wheelers, and the ranger. I have lots of pictures to post, but I did not bring the cord to my camera! SMOOTH MOVE!!!

Every time we come home, I get in the mode to get orders to get stationed here. There is a base 30 minutes away from my parent's house. We have just never managed to get orders here! BOO! Maybe our luck will turn around soon!!

I hope everyone is having a GREAT week!! I will be back next week!

Cohen

2010-07-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Praying for Heaven's tiny new angel and his parents today as they lay him to rest. God Bless!

http://sendlovetocohen.blogspot.com/
http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com/

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

2010-06-28T11:01:00.001-05:00

I just noticed that my followers grew over the weekend!! I look forward to getting to know you!! HUGS!

Can you believe that it is less than 6 months to Christmas!!!!! OH MY!! Where has the time gone? We have gone home the past 2 years for Christmas. This year, we have decided to stay home. We just miss that feeling of waking up in your own bed and running downstairs to see what Santa brought. I should disclose that I get more excited than the kids! So I thought it would be fun to do an Ashley's Fav Things.

Image Google Images

Our whole downstairs is laminate flooring. Oh how I would love one of these suckers!!

Image Google Images

I have been debating for a long time if I want a Kindle. I love the smell of books, but I can't get over how nice a Kindle would be. But I am terrified book stores will go under. I mean look at Blockbuster! I love walking around book stores!

Google Images

A Smart Board! I am pretty sure any school would hire me if I came along with my very own Smart Board!

Oh the life of dreaming!! There are so many more things that I could add to this list!!

Random Friday

2010-06-25T10:06:00.000-05:00

Thank God it is FINALLY Friday! I am hoping that this exercise indexes (ends) today and David will be home with us for the weekend! FINGERS CROSSED!!!

Wifey of a Sailor is hosting a MilSpouse Meme on Fridays. Check it out here.

How did you and your spouse/significant other meet?

This is actually a funny story. One of my sorority sisters actually had a crush on him, but I am going to leave all the details out! Anyways it didn't really work out. So a few days before my 20th birthday she asked me about him. I said he was cute. I didn't know him. Which is crazy because we had all the same friends! So my friend goes up to him and tells him that I like him (WHAT!!!) and he should ask me out. At the time, I was working at Mazzio's pizza and he was working at a movie theater behind where I worked. On his way to work, he left a note on my car asking if I want to go out sometime and call him! The boy is lucky I called! I NEVER called a boy!! So I called him and he was at work and he calls me back at 1 a.m. SERIOUSLY!! So we said we would just meet up tomorrow because it was his Fraternity's Bid Day. Another crazy side note, I was on his Fraternity's Court of Girls and we STILL didn't know each other. So we ate lunch together that next day (On my birthday, he didn't know though!) and we decided we would go see a movie that next night. Maybe 2 weeks later he told me that he loved me! That was 10 years ago and we have been attached at the hip every since. Ok maybe not since he is gone a lot thanks to the AF!!

2. What is the best thing about being a MilSpouse?

Crying when saluting a flag or singing the Star Spangled Banner, seeing my 2 children with hands on heart at 5:00 on base, my heart skipping a beat when he calls during deployments, HOMECOMINGS, and having endless pride of my husband's job! And being married to a man that wears a uniform is just an added bonus!!

3. What is the hardest thing about being a MilSpouse?

Watching Tyler's and Landon's heart break when their Daddy is gone. It never gets any easier. It is also hard being far away from home and missing out on so much that is going on in our families' lives and vice versa.

4. What is your favorite dish?

OH this is hard, it depends on the day! But I would have to say anything Mexican!!

5. If you could change one thing in this world, what would it be?

Provide more positive role models for our children.

What am I Reading?

2010-06-24T10:25:00.000-05:00

So whatever day I am on in the 30 Days of Me is about Fiction and Nonfiction Books. However, the only thing that I am reading these days has to deal with teaching. So why not share those!!

This past semester, I taught 1 day a week in a 1st grade classroom. My mentor teacher introduced me to The Daily 5 and CAFE. I was hooked. These books are a teacher's dream! Gail Boushey and Joan Moser are veteran teachers who were frustrated with teaching to Basals and not seeing their students achieve what they felt they could by the end of the year. The Daily 5 gives students choices during their Language Arts Block and CAFE gives the students strategies to improve their reading! It is AMAZING to see implemented in a classroom. My 3rd grade classroom that I will be student teaching in this fall uses this curriculum. If you are a teacher, you MUST read these books! It makes providing differentiated instruction a breeze! And as an added bonus, The CAFE books provides a CD-ROM of PDF copies of forms "The Sisters" formated and implemented in their classroom.

I am currently reading, Teaching with Intention by Debbie Miller. My mentor teacher that I will be student teaching with told me about this book. In fact, the school will be doing a book study on it this October. Debbie Miller is an inspiration. What I love about this book is that she gives real life examples on arranging classrooms. What you need, what you do not need, what you cannot live without, and how to include your students on room arrangement. I have not finished the book yet, but I LOVE IT!!

Reading with Meaning is also written by Debbie Miller. I just earned $20 in gift cards at swagbucks.com (Did that catch your attention, check out my button on the blog to learn more!) and I am about to order this book.

I know these 4 books will be attached to me during student teaching and when I land a job. If you are a teacher and have a book that you cannot live without, let me know! I am looking into some books on Math strategies in the classroom.

Hope everyone is having a GREAT week so far!!

Home Sweet Home

2010-06-23T16:32:00.000-05:00

Next week marks our 3rd year at this base! CRAZY! But what is even crazier is that we are not PCSing (moving). We have never been stationed at one base for longer than 3 years. In fact, we have never lived in a house longer than 2 1/2 years! It is kind of a bittersweet feeling. We really love it at this base, but that itch is there to move.

For our families that read this blog, NO we have no intentions of getting orders. We are trying to stay here. But it is always fun to pick up and go somewhere new. I mean who would've ever thought we would live in England (the country!) or Utah. Heck, we never dreamed of even taking a vacation to either destination.

We have a good thing going at this base. We are much closer to family. It is a great place to raise a family. The schools are great! The cost of living isn't out of this world. It just feels like something is missing. Oh wait, there is no shopping for a 45 minute radius. For some crazy reason, I have adjusted to driving to go shopping. I mean it does make it more exciting when we do drive to the city and see those pretty malls!

At the end of the day, it is really nice to call a place home for longer than 3 years.

Catching Up

2010-06-21T16:53:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I am going back to my 30 Day Posts. Man it is hard to get back into blogging after a short break. But man on man was that break ever so nice! I think I am going to post 2 days at a time for my 30 Days.

Day 11 is a picture that I have taken recently. My IRL friend, Allison @ The Story of 5 did a post of an assortment of foods in a muffin tray. I thought this would be something fun and different for the kids so we tried it out today.

I had the kids waiting in the den while I prepared their lunch.

They love it when I make a big deal out of the little things in life!

They were so excited with their lunch!

I cut up a pickle in half, turkey, carrots and ranch, 100 calorie cheese, and applesauce.

Would you believe that the carrots and ranch were the first things to go!

I will definitely do this again. I have ideas of different things to serve up!

Day 12 is something that tickles your fancy.

This group of girls crack me up!! For all Early Childhood/Elementary Ed majors, the semester before you student teach you take a block of classes known as PDS. It is intense and stressful, but very rewarding. We formed a great bond and support system to survive the semester! I miss these girls like crazy and cannot wait to hear their student teaching stories this fall!!

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T15:04:00.001-05:00

So I am back! We had an amazing week with David being on leave. And when I say he was on leave, well we were still at his office 3 or 4 times and did stuff for work throughout the week. As I type this, he is off doing something for work. Next time he is on leave, we are going out of state. Better yet, out of the country!

We have had the best weekend. We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 yesterday! They LOVED it! This morning, Tyler and I got up early and cooked David a big breakfast. Then David and the kids put together his new smoker. Then Landon begged David to go fishing and off to the base pond we went. The kids caught close to 40 fish! CRAZY! Who knew they would catch that many at the base pond.

The base pond. It was a beautiful day after a week of rain!

Look close to the shark's mouth and you will see the world's smallest fish!!

We had a GREAT Father's Day! We are so happy to have Daddy home with us this year!

We hope all Daddy's are having a WONDERFUL day!

And to all Father's who are Deployed, TDY, Remote, or no longer with us, we are thinking of you today!

Now it is back to reality! David starts 12 hour shifts tomorrow! I HATE EXERCISES!! BLAH!

And Oldie, But Goodie

2010-06-14T09:55:00.000-05:00

Day 10 is a picture that was taken over 10 years ago!

This picture was taken before David's Ole South Formal. I had my hair looking so great that night, but the southern humidity got to it before I walked out of the door. I really cannot believe that this picture was 10 years ago!!

David is on leave this week and I am not going to be around a computer that much! I am soaking up every minute with him because next week a big exercise kicks off. ARGH!! Hope everyone has a great week!! We are having a blast so far!!

Snaggle Tooth

2010-06-12T08:32:00.002-05:00

Day 9 is a picture that I took. This is a picture that I took of Tyler last spring! I LOVE IT!! She just lost her top front tooth. I cannot believe what a difference a year makes!!

Always in Our Hearts

2010-06-11T14:21:00.000-05:00

Day 8 is a Picture that makes me sad.

This picture is of David, Tyler, and my father-in-law in July 2005. We had just bought our first house and David's parents came up to help us move. November 2007, David's dad suddenly passed away. David was 27 years old, Tyler was 4, and Landon was 9 months old.

Allen served in Vietnam War and was so proud of David joining the Air Force. David loved sharing stories from his first deployment to Iraq, TDYs, and things going on at work with his Dad. He would call him to get tips on how to make his rose bushes grow and any electrical problem that he had stumbled upon.

It makes me sad that David cannot call his Dad and tell him military stories. It makes me sad that Tyler was so young and we always lived far away from home and she didn't get to spend that much time with her Pop, as she called him. It makes me sad that Landon Allen will never know his namesake.

But we always talk about him to Tyler and Landon. Allen LOVED Elvis and Landon has some major Elvis moves. We always crack up laughing and say that Papa is looking down on us and telling us hi through Landon's dance moves.

I used to always give Allen a hard time for wearing a white shirt. I swear his wardrobe was a white t-shirt and jeans. If he was getting dressed up, it would be a colored t-shirt and jeans. Whenever Landon runs around in a white t and jeans, I can't help but laugh!

This Makes Me Happy

2010-06-10T13:23:00.001-05:00

Day 7 is a picture that makes me happy! Words cannot express how much I love this picture.

This picture was taken the night David got home from his deployment. The kids were glued to him! My heart still skips a beat when I see this picture!

The Southern Girl in Me

2010-06-09T18:29:00.001-05:00

Today of the 30 Days is Whatever Tickles My Fancy! So many people would be shocked if they knew this about me. In fact, I think I was pretty shocked too! David is a HUGE hunter. I mean we are from Arkansas, it is what people do! HE has always wanted to take me hunting and I was like yeah, ok, whatever about it. Getting up in the wee hours of the morning is not my thing.

This past Thanksgiving, my parents told us they would keep the kids for us and we could go spend the night at the deer camp. I got pretty excited about it. Ok, maybe it was a night away with David more than anything. So David gets all excited about taking me hunting and decides that I need to go shoot my Dad's gun, just in case. OMG.....talk about a RUSH when I shot the gun! I was hooked and I was so excited about going hunting.

That night was a blast. We made s'mores over the camp fire and talked about everything and nothing at all! WE got up the next morning and before the sun was even out a doe walked up. As soon as the sun was up, I shot and had my first kill.

I am so sorry if you are not a hunter. I do not mean any disrespect, but it is for the protection of your car!

What is something that would surprise someone about you?

I Need Cake

2010-06-08T15:24:00.000-05:00

Last summer, David was deployed and my favorite summer show was The Cake Boss.

I am so excited that this show is back on! I feel like I gain 15lbs just watching it! HA! I kept telling David about how much I love this show and he gave me his crazy look and complained when I made him watch it. Needless to say, he loved it! Why does he ever doubt me?

So now I am CRAVING a real cupcake or cake from a bakery. There is nothing around here! We do not even have a bakery. Yeah we have the commissary and Wal-mart, but come on! I was begging David to take me to NYC for graduation or our 10 year anniversary! Don't I wish!

So today is Day 5 and today's category is your favorite quote.

Tell me and I'll forget

Show me and I may remember

Involve me and I will understand.

-Chinese Proverb

I am planning on having this painted on a canvas and hanging in my classroom!!

Day 4 Favorite Books

2010-06-07T20:00:00.000-05:00

This is a dangerous topic for me. I LOVE to read!! I especially love children's literature. I have a good collection started for my classroom and Tyler and Landon's closet is full of books! Here are some of my favorites:

(google images)

I better stop with these books. I could go on and on and on.

What are your favorite books?

Day 3 and Our Weekend

2010-06-06T17:49:00.000-05:00

We had the best weekend! I am really loving the ages of Tyler and Landon this summer. I look back at this time last year and we were getting ready for David's deployment. This summer is off to a much better start. We spent the afternoon at the pool yesterday. It is so crazy to think that Landon would have NOTHING to do with the pool last year. He would barely stick a toe in it. This year he is jumping off the side of the pool, loves the kid's pool, and begged to go down the big slides. He has come so far and we are so proud of him. I do not have any pictures. It is so hot and we do not stay with our bag. I am afraid something would happen to my camera.

Today we took the kids to see Shrek the, heck I have lost count which one it is. David and I were hesitant to go see it. I mean, after so many could it really be that good. And I am not a big fan of the 3D movies. They costs so much money and they usually give me a headache. We decided to go anyways. I am so glad we did. It was really cute and the 3D was pretty tame, no headaches! Now we are counting down to go see Toy Story 3!

So Day 3 of the 30 Days of Me is my favorite TV show. So here we go:

I am pretty sure that I will go into seclusion when Grey's comes to an end!

I know that so much of Army Wives is so far from reality, but that's Hollywood for ya!

David and I love watching this show together. Capt Phil was my favorite and died on my birthday! I am still very upset by this!

What are your favorite tv shows?

Day 2 Favorite Movies

2010-06-05T20:07:00.001-05:00

Today's topic is Favorite Movies! I have so many favorite movies!!

I think my all time favorite movie would have to be The Wizard of Oz.

Unfortunately, I could not find a picture or video that would not violate copyright rules.

So here is a picture of my Dorothy and The Scarecrow.

What is your favorite movie?

Hope everyone is having a FANTASTIC weekend!!!

We have been hanging out at the pool! Life is GOOD!

Me in 30 Days

2010-06-04T17:56:00.001-05:00

I found this on Julie the Army Wife's blog and she got it from here. Anyways, I thought this would be fun and give me some blogging material.

Day 01 - your favorite song
Day 02 - your favorite movie
Day 03 - your favorite television program
Day 04 - your favorite book
Day 05 - your favorite quote
Day 06 - whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 - a photo that makes you happy
Day 08 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 - a photo you took
Day 10 - a photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 - a photo of you taken recently
Day 12 - whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 - a fictional book
Day 14 - a non-fictional book
Day 15 - a fanfic
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - an art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 - whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 - a talent of yours
Day 20 - a hobby of yours
Day 21 - a recipe
Day 22 - a website
Day 23 - a YouTube video
Day 24 - whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 - your day, in great detail
Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Day 27 - this month, in great detail
Day 28 - this year, in great detail
Day 29 - hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 -- whatever tickles your fancy

So here is Day 1, my favorite song. I really do not think that I can narrow that down, so here are some of my favs!.

Please ignore the corny video! David made sure that I found a video with the best recording. It is a classic, you know!

Once again, ignore the video. There wasn't a code to embed the REMs version of the video! Major sad face here!

David introduced me to this song when we started dating. I had always loved Pearl Jam and was shocked when I had never heard it before. This was my ringtone during David's first deployment.

Man, I could go on and on. David and I LOVE music! I have so many favorites and so many that have a special place in my heart.

Dancing Queen

2010-06-03T11:39:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was Tyler's dance recital! This kid was born to dance! She loves it and lights up when she is on the stage! We are so proud of her!!

Tyler all ready for her jazz number!

Tyler's Combo Class with their teacher. She gave the a little pep talk before the recital! So sweet!

Our little ballerina ready to perform.

Daddy and Tyler before their Daddy and Me performance!

They rocked their number. I was so proud of them!

I just realized that I didn't get a picture of Tyler in her tap costume. ARGH! They had a quick change after their jazz dance. I was doing good to get her ready in time! Oh well! Tyler had so much fun and is ready for dance to start back up in August. Her Daddy gave her a dozen roses after the recital. She also got balloons from my parents, Landon, and her Aunt Courtney. It was almost 11 at night, needless to say I didn't get pictures! We were all so tired and this was night 2 for Tyler and I.

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. My mom and grandmother came up for Tyler's recital. We basically hung around the house on Sunday. We were all so tired. Monday we took the kids shopping for some summer clothes.

And it is OFFICIAL, Landon is potty trained! I am still in SHOCK!!

I Wanna BE LIke You

2010-05-27T09:36:00.000-05:00

Since David got home from his last deployment, Tyler has become a Daddy's Girl! I gotta admit, I am eating it up and so is he! So it was no surprise when Tyler wanted to do the Daddy and Me dance for her recital. David, well lets just say that it took a little bit more convincing and BEGGING on my part! As you can see, he gave in. As if he actually had a choice! :-)

Last night was dress rehearsal. Although this is not what they are wearing for the recital. David is in the white t-shirt and khaki shorts and Tyler is in the red and white costume with the white tutu with red trim. I pretty much have the camera on them the whole time. I accidentally chopped off David's head a few times. OOPS! Enjoy!

Oh and if you do not hear from me anymore, I may no longer be living. David is going to kill me when he comes home and finds out that I posted this on Facebook and the blog!! But I am a proud Mamma and Wife. I could not think of a better way to spend our anniversary!!

9 Years

2010-05-26T11:00:00.000-05:00

David,

Today we said, "I Do," 9 years ago.

I never knew that I could love you more today than on May 26, 2001.

Many obstacles have come our way, but we always persevere,

and come out stronger.

We may not be able to go to a fancy restaurant tonight,

but we celebrate our love every day.

So today, I want to tell you how much I love and appreciate you!

Happy Anniversary!

All my love,

Ashley

The Adventures of Potty Training

2010-05-25T11:45:00.003-05:00

So we have been TRYING (Key word is TRYING) to potty train Landon for a year now!! We almost had him 100% trained at Christmas and then he started PreK and had that in the morning and daycare in the afternoon. Needless to say, he regressed. Ok, that is normal. We didn't stressed.

I worked with him again hardcore over Spring Break. It went okay. Now we never abandoned potty training from January on. We took him, but didn't stress over it. Landon is our special child! He meets all developmental milestones on his time frame. Granted those time frames are WAY BEHIND! But he gets there, but with a little more help that some children.

Starting last week, we decided to put Landon in underwear during the day and pull-ups at night. IT wasn't going good at all. Friday night I was about ready to pay someone to train this kid. Well Tyler asked if she could go outside to play and Landon decided that he wanted to go. WE told him he could as soon as he went to the bathroom. HOLY COW, did that boy ever throw a fit!! That lasted for 10 minutes and then he told us he had to go to the potty. We had no expectations, but low and behold he used the bathroom. He got so EXCITED!!

We played outside for hours and then he came back in and used the bathroom again! Imagine my excitement! Saturday was another great day! David and I are thinking, OMG this kid is on his way to being potty trained. David put a pull-up on Landon Saturday night. Sunday morning, we took him to the bathroom and it was a no go. He wanted nothing to do with his underwear. He wanted a pull-up. So we decided to throw away his pull-ups. He has been staying dry at night for a while now.

So here we are at Tuesday and he has not used the bathroom since Saturday. And to top it off, he is holding it until he can sneak away from us and go take care of business (pee) in his room! Seriously, he knows he has to go and would rather mark his territory in his room then go to the bathroom.

We have tried every trick in the book. We are doing the Cheerios, stickers, we made his special cupcakes Saturday as a reward, skittles, and so much more! The problem is, he CAN do it and he knows it, but he refuses!!

Has anyone had a similar situation with your child? I have googled to my heart's content and found NOTHING. Our pediatrician has 3 sons and she said 2 of the 3 were just like Landon! I think she was afraid to tell me when they were actually potty trained!

UPDATE: Not even 2 minutes after I hit publish, Landon says, "Oh I gotta go pee." Folks, he did it! Now if he can just keep it up!

P.S. I made chicken spaghetti last night and added pictures to the recipe found here.

P.S.S. I was just reading one of my fav blogs, Sgt. and Mrs. Hub. Anyways the post was about how she always hears, Oh there are our tax dollars at work! This statement really gets under my skin. Funny thing is, the people who say that have never been deployed to fight for our country and leave their families behind. Anyways, check out the post here!

I Need Some Color

2010-05-23T11:58:00.000-05:00

What was supposed to be a super busy weekend ended up being a SLOW weekend. Tyler woke up yesterday morning sick as a dog. My poor baby girl! She was feeling better by lunch, but needless to say we didn't get out.

When I am at home a lot, I get these modes to rearrange our furniture or paint the walls. All of our walls or WHITE! I am loosing my mind!! I am a girl that needs color on walls. And when I say color, I mean bright colors! Three years of WHITE is making me go INSANE!

So what is the hold up? Our downstairs living/dining area is set up really weird. Pictures cannot show how weird it is set up! And then half of the area has really, really high ceilings and the other half has normal ceilings! I swear they did this to encourage you not to paint!

I have thought about doing an accent wall, but a little unsure of how it will look due to the layout of the floor plan. I am really looking forward to getting some advice from my mom this weekend.

Here are some pictures, but I was unable to get the true idea of how the area is set up. And another reason for wanting to paint is the horrible lighting in this house!!

Like I said, horrible lighting in the house. The couches are chocolate brown.

We have also added khaki colored drapes since these pictures were taken.

The ottoman is black. You cannot tell in the pic, but this area has the high ceilings.

This is the dining area. The pictures are no longer there.

The pic below shows the mirror that is now hanging on this wall.

We also have the matching khaki curtains hanging in the big window.

This is the wall that I thought about painting as an accent wall, but is the shortest wall.

This is the mirror and you can see the drapes hanging.

Horrible pic, but you get the idea.

I do not have a picture of the long wall in the area. The long wall has a collage of framed pictures and our tv. Our couches face this wall and could work as an accent wall.

This morning, I was messing around on Sherman Williams. Here are some of the colors that I really liked:

I know that I will catch a lot of flack for this, but it matches my personality.

Plus in the winter, I would always have sunshine in the house!! And it is only 1 wall.

So what do you think. I may try to upload a video this week of our living area. But this week is going to be crazy with Tyler's last day of school and her recital coming up next weekend and family coming up.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Chicken Spaghetti

2010-05-19T07:53:00.005-05:00

Please excuse all of the weird spacing. I was working with The Mrs. to get the link working properly and now I have so much space between the top of the post and the picture! Who knows!!

The Mrs. is hosting a recipe blog hop!! If you are like me, you are always looking for a new recipe. I am going to share two of my go-to recipes!! Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures. Food doesn't last long in this house to get pictures!! I hope you enjoy them!!

Chicken Spaghetti

1 Whole Chicken

2 cans of rotel

2 cans of cream of mushroom

Spaghetti Noodles

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Boil chicken and spaghetti noodles. After the chicken is boiled, then shred it and throw in a casserole dish with the cooked spaghetti noodles. Mix in rotel and cream of mushroom. After the first 4 ingredients have been mixed together, then top with shredded cheese. Cover with aluminum foil. Place in oven at 350 for about 30 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This recipe always tastes better the next day. You can also use canned chicken. Enjoy!!!

Lemon Ice Box Pie

2010-05-19T07:47:00.001-05:00

The Mrs. is hosing a recipe blog hop!! If you are like me, you are always looking for a new recipe. I am going to share two of my go-to recipes!! Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures. Food doesn't last long in this house to get pictures!! I hope you enjoy them!!

Lemon Ice Box Pie

Medium Carton of Cool Whip

Sm can of Frozen Lemonade (or 1/2 of reg can)

1 can of Eagle Brand Milk

1 Graham Cracker Box

Mix the first 3 ingredients together. Pour into the graham cracker crust and put in the fridge. I usually make it the night before. Enjoy!! It will not last long!! It is cheap and super easy!! What's not to love about this pie!! And an added bonus, allergy free for Landon!!

Award and Books

2010-05-16T19:54:00.000-05:00

First off, thank you for all the sweet comments on Landon's allergies and my Mom's graduation! We have a good handle on the allergies, FINALLY!!

I got an award from Jen at The Adventures of Our Army Life. Thanks, Jen!

1. Why do you blog?
I started my blog last spring before David left for deployment. I wanted him to go to the blog when he was unable to talk to us and see pictures of the kids and I. It was also a great way for me to journal and cope with the deployment.

2. How did you meet your significant other?
David and I met in college. One of my sorority sisters set us up and we hit it off. Our first date was Feb 10, 200. We were engaged Aug 18, 2000. He left for Basic on Oct 4, 2000. We were married on May 26, 2001 and left the following weekend for our first base in England. We haven't looked back!!

3. Where is your favorite place to shop?
Oh my, I love to shop! I love Gap, Gymboree, Forever 21, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Target.

4. What is your favorite childhood memory?
I do not think that I could narrow that down to just one. But all of my favorite memories are of camping with my parents and brother and sister. David and I are hoping to take the kids on our first camping trip as a family this summer.

5. What is your favorite movie?
Once again, not sure that I can narrow it down to just one. Here are some of my favs: The Wizard of Oz, Steel Magnolias, Top Gun, The Breakfast Club, and The Lion King.

6. What is your biggest fear?
Something happening to my family!

7. What do you do for fun?
Anything with David and the kiddos!

8. Who is the one person you can tell anything to without judgement?
David

9. Do you have any pets?
No, poor Landon is allergic! :-(

10. What is your middle name and is there any meaning behind it?
Suzanne, I am named after my maternal grandmother.

I am passing the award along to all of my readers! I love you all to pick just 7!!

We had BIG plans for the weekend. Yesterday was Armed Forces Day and there were so many opportunities to attend events for free. We had tickets to the Royals, but the seats were about as high as you can get! We scratched that idea. Then we got an email about the dirt races (hhmm, not sure if that is what they are called!) in a nearby town. Military children could get in free and Active Duty and spouse got in at a discounted rate. WE thought this would be a better idea and the kids were so excited. The weather didn't hold out! It rained all day yesterday and today!

We ended up having a nice and relaxing weekend. Tyler and Landon played together all weekend. There may have only been 2 fights! David and I kept waiting to wake up for the dream!! We decided to rest and just take it easy.

I read 4 books this weekend!

BFG

Because of Winn-Dixie

Sheep

The Daily 5

Can you tell that I am getting ready for student teaching in a 3rd grade classroom!!

Dear Mom,

2010-05-14T13:52:00.000-05:00

Today, you graduate with honors with your associates degree. Words cannot express enough how proud I am of you today and everyday. You have always been an inspiration to me! You and Dad have been through so much in 30 years, and you fall in love more and more as the years pass. Through the two of you, I learned how to build a strong relationship with David. I know that there is nothing that we cannot handle, even whatever the military throws our way!

I cannot imagine a better mother as a role model. I may not have understood your rules growing up, but now I think OMG, I can't believe she let me do that! Now that I have children of my own, I call you all the time for advice and you listen when I have my freak outs!!

And now you are a grandmother of 3 and you adore them like they are your own children. You have made their Halloween costumes, shared your love of horses and the outdoors, but do not get to see them as much as you wish! They adore their Nannie and Peepaw as if they do get to see them everyday!

As the years go by, our mother/daughter relationship has become much more than that. We are best friends. You are always there when I need to be and you are my 3rd cheerleader on getting my bachelors degree, next to David and Tyler!! I pray that I am as close to Tyler and Landon as we are.

Today is your day! Soak it up and enjoy every minute of it. Even though I cannot be there tonight, I am cheering for you!! You went through a lot to get your degree and I am so proud of you.

Congratulations, MOM!!

Allergies

2010-05-13T08:32:00.000-05:00

Many of you know that we found out that Landon was allergic to eggs and peanuts as a baby. Yes, that is awfully young to find out about allergies, but he broke out in hives one day. I rushed him to our doctor on base. I had no clue what was going on. He woke up from his nap covered in hives. She informed us that he was having an allergic reaction and got him into an allergy doctor the next day. Since Landon was so young, they did blood tests for the 5 Most Common Allergies: Milk, Eggs, Wheat, Peanuts, and Soy. His Doctor called back a week later and said he was highly allergic to Eggs and Peanuts and mildly allergic to milk. His formula was changed and we were given an EpiPen, just in case.

At that time, the eggs and peanuts were not a huge deal. He wasn't eating table foods yet and he had no clue all the delicious food that he was missing out on. After he turned one, the real troubles began. He was constantly breaking out in hives and his eczema was uncontrollable. We were truly realizing that eggs are in everything!!! We were VERY CAREFUL and CAUTIOUS and read all labels on foods. However, Landon was still breaking out in HIVES!

Landon turned 3 in January and his Doctor decided to do skin tests. He was still breaking out at random times and we noticed it a lot more when we were at my parents house. They basically live on a farm and have lots of dogs. On one visit, one of the dogs licked him and he broke out in hives. At this visit, we learned that he is still HIGHLY allergic to eggs, Peanuts were not as high as before, and he is allergic to pet dander, and ragweed. We still let poor Landon pet dogs. The poor boy LOVES dogs, but we wash his hands and face really good and he is given a bath as soon as we get home.

Over the past few days, the news is reporting about how 50% of people have a false positive to skin and blood tests. Landon has 2 allergy doctors, and they have both said this. But they do know that Landon is truly allergic, we have seen the HIVES! At his age, it is dangerous to give him oral challenges to peanuts. They are planning challenging him before he starts kindergarten.

My fear is that people who are not educated on allergies will see these reports and now downplay the seriousness of food allergies. These allergies can be VERY LIFE THREATENING for many children. Please, do not downplay how serious allergies can be. I will give MAJOR PROPS to GMA!! In their report, they stated how serious these allergies can be and demonstrated how to use an EpiPen. Thank you, GMA for being thorough in your reporting.

For some reason, food allergies can bring out the ugly in people who believe it is over diagnosed. I am sure they do not have a child who is suffers from allergies and cries when other children are eating cornbread with their soup and he gets crackers! So please, if you have a rude comment, do not post it here! This post is about my experience with food allergies.

Our Cowboy

2010-05-12T11:23:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, my Mom's bank sponsored a trail ride to raise money for Relay for Life. My parents have been dying to take Tyler and Landon. This year, my Dad was determined that he was going to meet me half way and pick up Landon. Tyler was still in school and she actually did not want to miss school. They were working on their Mother's Day presents! How cute is that! So I met my dad last Thursday and barely got a goodbye from Landon. He was SOOOOO excited!! He loves going to the farm (my parents' house!).

Mom said that Landon loved the live band and danced the whole time!

My parents have a pony and took him for children to ride. Landon loves Buckeye.

I always feel bad for Tyler and Landon that they do not get to see their grandparents (both sets) as much as I got to spend with mine. They really enjoy their time in Arkansas. I think they may even enjoy it more when Mom and Dad are not around and they get their grandparents undivided attention and the grandparents get Tyler and Landon's attention!!

HHHMMMM, Where to Begin

2010-05-11T09:51:00.000-05:00

I can always tell how busy a semester is going by looking to see when I last updated the blog!! Yeah, it was a crazy semester, but I am proud to say that I am officially DONE with undergrad classes!! WHEW!! I lack student teaching in the fall and will graduate in December! So much has happened and I do not know where to begin! I think a bullet list is in order!!

David was coined by the base commander. Who just happens to be a General! I am so stinking proud of him!! He did not know that he was getting coined, it was a surprise! So unfortunately, I do not have a picture! :-(
The 1st and 3rd graders had a play at school. It was so cute! I felt like I had so many children up there to watch! I taught at a 3rd grade class at Tyler's school this semester!! I tried to post a video clip, but it was taking way too long!!
Easter was kind of low key this year. We had big plans of going to church and then eating lunch at a friend's house. That was until Saturday night when David's work phone went off. Duty calls!!
The kids are getting so big!! Landon's last day of PreK is tomorrow. He is actually at home hanging out with me today. Tyler's last day of school is May 25. Stupid snow days pushed the last day back a week. Oh well, what do ya do? They aren't getting a Spring Break next year!
Tyler is getting ready for her dance recital at the end of this month! It is nonstop dance in this house!! Her and David are doing a father's/daughter's dance. When I signed them up, I assumed it would be a slow paced song. HHMMM, they are dancing to I Want To Be Like You from the Jungle Book. I am thinking there will be a BIG Father's Day present for this!
Landon had more allergy tests done! The poor guy is allergic to EVERYTHING!! Ok, maybe not everything! We knew he was allergic to eggs and peanuts. Now we now that he is also allergic to ragweed, dogs, cats, and a few other things. The poor boy adores dogs! Yesterday afternoon, Tyler was telling me that she tried Lima Beans at school and loved them. Landon said, "Mom, I can't eat vegetables, they have eggs in them!" It was all I could do to keep from busting out laughing! He is too smart for his own good!
I am now a Key Spouse for David's squadron. He has a great commander, for right now, and he was practically begging spouses to sign up for this job. I felt bad!
We are going to a Royals game this weekend! The USO had free tickets! Kind of excited! I am a Cardinals fan, but baseball games are so much fun!!

Well I guess that is about it! I will try and get back in a routine of posting on the good ole blog! And catch up on reading blogs!! Sorry for a boring post! Now I am off to meet one of my teachers that I will be student teaching with in the fall!! AAWWW, so EXCITED!!!

I Love My Hogs

2010-03-20T11:10:00.000-05:00

Staying at home this week with the kids was a reminder of how messy a 3 year old is when he eats!! I mean seriously, did any of the food make it into his mouth?

So I got to thinking, wow it sure would be nice to have a pet to come in after him and clean the food up! Too bad Landon is allergic to dogs and cats.

Then I got to thinking about how my sister and I always wanted a pot belly pig when we were younger. If you know my sister, then that would probably shock you! Anyways, we were on the phone about a week ago and talking about how much we wanted a pot belly pig when we were kids, heck even teenagers. Our parents were not to keen on the idea. Heck they basically live on a farm. They have 2 horses, 1 pony, a rooster, and 5 or 6 dogs (Well 5 of the dogs are my brother's hunting dogs.). Courtney went on to tell me that now the new craze are teacup pigs! OMG!! Are you for real!!

I had to look these little piggies up.

Seriously, how cute are they!!! Victoria Beckham bought two of these precious pigs. And they are hypoallergenic.

Too bad they are about $1200 a piece!! SIGH! I am pretty sure David would laugh in my face. Oh wait, he already did!!

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!! It is snowing here! :-(

Mission Trips

2010-03-18T23:36:00.002-05:00

I have never participated in Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner. But today's really brought up lots of great memories and I wanted to share.

This week's topic is mission trips. My youth group at Lakeside UMC in Pine Bluff, AR went on a mission trip every summer. I went on every trip from the summer I was entering 7th grade until the summer I before I left for college. I have so many great memories.

I have hundreds of pictures in a plastic bin sitting on top of our tornado shelter in the garage. Needles to say, I have no pictures to share with you today. But I do want to share about the trips. I am going to attempt to list them in order! OH MY, I am getting old so this may be a challenge.

7th Grade - How could I forget my first mission trip. We stayed at a Women's Shelter in St. Louis. My mom went on this trip with us and one of the women became very attached to her. I believe she had been abused. She had a mental disorder, but I was young and not educated. I remember how much she adored my mom and they wrote letters back and forth to each other for about a year. I always wonder where she is now. We did various things to help the shelter. We laid a new linoleum floor, painted a laundry room, assisted with VBS, and sorted clothes for the Thrift Store.

8th Grade - I am pretty positive that this was the year we went to Mississippi. (Ok, it may have been Louisiana. Erica, your memory is way better than mine. But I hit 30 already. Does that give me an excuse?) I do not recall where in Mississippi. (Erica told me that it was a small town in Louisiana!) We helped elderly and handicapped with renovations on their house. I remember that my group painted the outside of an elderly man's home. Wow, can you imagine a dozen teenagers painting your house? But we always worked hard and took our mission very seriously. Another group built a wheelchair ramp. This was the year that we also spent a few days in New Orleans. I was exposed to homosexuals for the first time. Well I was exposed to a lot in New Orleans and we weren't out at night!!

9th Grade - Kansas City - I have gone blank what we did in KC. I remember that we stayed at a church, but not sure what we did to help. But most of our trips consisted of painting, home repairs, soup shelters, etc.

10th Grade - Dallas, TX - I remember that we stayed in a Hispanic Church and I experienced Authentic Mexican food for the first time. I never knew there was a difference between Mexican and Tex-Mix. Here we helped with VBS, food bank, and I believe painting was involved. (This is really testing my memory skills and I am loosing!)

11th & 12 Grade - I cannot remember which year we went to each place. One year we went to the mountains of Tennessee. I remember that we helped with major repairs to a family's mobile home. The family's mobile home was pretty high off the ground and they used cinder blocks as their steps. They had young children and we were terrified that they would get hurt. We built them a covered staircase and replaced the carpet inside the house. And the other year, I am drawing a blank. I believe we went to Mississippi again.

My last mission trip was one of the most memorable trips. We went to EL Paso, TX. (Thanks for the Correction Erica!! I knew my memory was fuzzy!) We stayed at a Christian School that was in a very bad part of town. We were gated in the and were told not to go outside at night. One of our jobs was to paint the metal bars that covered the windows. We also painted the roof of the school, among other things. But what really stuck with me over the years was our trip across the border. We went to Mexico. Our driver took us to where the wealthy live. They had really nice houses and lived up to what I always imagined Mexico to be, TROPICAL. Then they took us to the boxed villages. This was the first time that I had ever witnessed any type of poverty. These people were living in unbelievable conditions, but they were so nice. One lady was sweeping her dirt floor, another was cooking rice over their very simple coal stove.

There were at least 30 teenagers on this trip. We were all speechless, but felt compelled to do something. We all had tons of money that we had saved up all summer to go shopping and out to eat on the mission trip. But we all decided to collect money and give to the families. I cannot remember the amount of money, but it was pretty impressive for a bunch of teenagers. We cried and we prayed with the villagers.

I look forward to going on mission trips with Tyler and Landon one day. I want them to experience what I experienced. In fact, I would love to chaperone a mission trip with a youth group now. Sometimes we all need that reality check of how good we have it and to help those in need.

A Tribute to the Fallen

2010-03-18T11:04:00.001-05:00

A Marine's wife needs your prayers. Her husband was killed in Afghanistan and the have a beautiful baby girl. Click here to go to her blog and read her story.

David is currently TDY to Alabama in training for mortuary. After this training he will become the NCOIC (Noncommissioned Officer in Charge) of active duty deaths on our base.

I have seen a new passion in David's eyes and voice. He is so honored to help the families lay their loved ones to rest. The deaths are not war related. Dover AFB makes all arrangements for the military who have paid the ultimate sacrifice overseas. David told me yesterday that he now wants to deploy to Dover.

On previous deployments, David has draped flags over soldiers' caskets and saluted the soldiers as their coffins were rolled off the planes. We must always honor our fallen heroes. This past deployment, David volunteered for a few days to get the fallen soldiers ready for their next destination to Dover. I do not know the details, it isn't one of those things he talked about. But he was honored to do what he could.

This war is in year 7 and it is easy to forget about those who are still fighting and those families who will never see their loved ones again. But the war is still going on and there are soldiers who will never see their loved ones again.

I am so proud of David and the small part he is playing to help ease the pain of the families. It may not be much and no one can ever replace their loved ones, but he truly cares and respects the sacrifice they have made.

Please remember this family and all families who have lost their loved ones to protect us.

Tyler's 7th Birthday

2010-03-17T18:46:00.000-05:00

To celebrate Tyler's birthday, we went to Chuck E Cheese. Somehow Daddy manages to miss out on the good times at Chuck E Cheese. The past two times we have gone, he was deployed or TDY!! FIGURES!!

The kids had the best time! Landon was really into this time around. He wanted to put the tokens in all by himself. He was less interested in the rides and more into the games. Granted some of the rides were games. But he was more into the big kid games! Shesh, you would think he was the one turning 7 today!!

I decided not to take my Cannon DSLR today. It was going to be enough to keep up with tokens, tickets, and coats. I am one person! HA!! I just took pictures with my iPhone and took some videos on my new Flip Camcorder! I am in love with that thing. It stays in my purse at all times!!

HHHMMM, maybe a future pilot?

I love Tyler's face in this picture!!

Landon was more fascinated with the singing animals than a pic for his momma!!

Ok, let me explain this picture! We were at Hobby Lobby and Tyler saw these masks that you could paint and decorate. This is right up her alley. I was a little shocked that she painted her blue and black. She has worn it ever since it dried and it always catches me off guard and scares the crud out of me!!

While at Hobby Lobby, I found this little beauty!! I fell in LOVE!! I want this so bad for my classroom. My students could practice their spelling words, math problems, and the so much more!! It was on sale half off too!! The only problem, there is no way it was fitting in my car!

I hope everyone is having a Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

3/17/03

2010-03-16T21:54:00.001-05:00

Dear Tyler,
On March 17, 2003 we welcomed you, our first born child into the world. To say that our lives would be forever changed is an understatement. I cannot believe that you are 7 years old! Where has the time gone by?

Daddy and I are so proud of you. You continue to make EXCELLENT grades and school and your teachers always have wonderful things to say about you. You are a hard worker and very compassionate to your friends and family. You truly care about people and their feelings and try your best to make them feel better.

You are the best big sister a little brother could ask for. As I am typing this post, you are playing with Landon in your room. I love to hear the two of you playing and laughing together. He loves it when you read him books and teach him how to throw snowballs. You are so protective of him when it comes to his allergies. You constantly ask if something has eggs or peanuts in it. And now you make sure that he doesn't get too close to a cat or dog. I know that he is always safe when his big sister is around.

You were such a strong a brave girl while Daddy was deployed last year. Now that he is home, you soak up every minute that you can with him. Being a military child is not the easiest. Daddy has missed several of your birthdays, including this year. But a phone call from daddy makes you grin from ear to ear.

I love our girl time together!! I know that we will always have a close relationship! We are two peas in a pod, well that is what your Daddy tells us. You always make me laugh and I cannot wait for the years ahead of us!

Happy 7th Birthday, Tyler!! I hope you have a wonderful day!! You deserve the best!! Keep dancing, smiling, and loving life!!

Love,
Mommy

The Unimaginable

2010-03-04T17:24:00.000-06:00

I am asking for thoughts and prayers tonight for someone that works with my mom. Her daughter was riding home with one of her friends after church when they were in an accident. The driver lived, but my mom's friend's daughter died. She was only fourteen years old.

I cannot imagine the pain the family is going through. She has a stepbrother or sister, but she was her mother's only child. My heart is breaking for them today.

Get Movin

2010-03-01T11:20:00.001-06:00

Today I had a doctors appt. for some crazy stomach issues that have been going on since November. Nothing serious, may be acid reflux of inflammation. Anyways, I had to weigh! I have been putting this off for months. I knew I had gained all the weight back that I lost while David was deployed. It is so easy to eat junk food while I am in school. And when I am at home, I am sitting at the couch doing homework and writing lesson plans.

Needless to say, I wanted to throw up when I saw the number! So it is time to get back on a diet! Turning 30 has done nothing for my metabolism!! (Did I mention I turned 30 last month! Yeah, I may have left that off the blog!)

Casey at http://www.everchanginglife.com/ is hosting Get Movin in March! HHHMMM, I am thinking that March is as good as a time to get back on The Shred and hit the treadmill at the gym. I am a little unprepared for this week's menu, but starting next week I will post a weekly menu.

David needs to go on a diet too and he has his PT test next month. So sorry honey, but it is time for baked foods and no sweets!!

Wish me luck! It is so hard to get back in the swing of working out. Especially when school is so busy like it is right now!! Someone please tell me that May is almost here!!

Hello Sunshine!!

2010-02-24T17:04:00.000-06:00

The temps may still be really cold, but the sun is out and it has been an AWESOME day!!!! Well there were a few bumps throughout the day!!

This is our third base in almost nine years. For those of you who are military, you know how Security Forces LOVE to sit and radar. If the sun is out, you better make sure you are going the speed limit. So it is sunny today and I made sure that I stayed at 15 in the neighborhood, 30 on the main streets, and sat a little bit longer at the stop sign. So imagine my surprise when I hear the sirens behind me!! SERIOUSLY!!So I pull over and the guy asks me if I have a front license plate.

Back story: Missouri has to have the front and back license plate. Well back in the fall, David took the front license plate off and put on a razorback license plate that my mom bought me. It is pretty common in MO that people only have one plate on their vehicle. I warned him that I would get pulled over on base, because I get pulled over at least once ever 6 months on this base! NO LIE!!

OK, so back to being pulled over. I kind of play dumb and was trying not to act annoyed because I had an interview to be at in 45 minutes. He asks for my driver's license, registration, and insurance. My luck, my drivers license took what seemed like 5 minutes to get out of my billfold. Then I go looking for my registration and insurance. I looked and looked and couldn't find it. The SF said, it has a bar on the top in a hurry the hell up attitude. I replied, yes I am aware!!! UGH! He then tells me to just give him my insurance. I am really annoyed at this point and let him know that I am looking for it too. I am stressing out at this point and it turns out that it was in my lap the whole time! OMG!! So what do I do when he walks back to run my license. Call and yell at David. (Yes, I called him later and apologized!) All that and he lets me go. I was grateful I didn't get a ticket, but so annoyed!!!!

I never got pulled over at Lakenheath or Hill, this base is killing me!!!

So I am off to my mock interview with an asst. superintendent of a local school districts. I have been preparing for the interview and he throws me a major curve ball and asked questions that I had not prepared for. I had questions from principals and career services to help me prepare! I am sweating at this point.

Turns out, I NAILED the interview. He told me that the questions were taken from focus groups and they are looking for key elements in your answers and grade high, medium, or low. All of my questions were high minus two that were medium. And he told me that one of my answers was the best reply he has ever heard! I about fell out! He gave me tips to make me look even more marketable! I was blown away. He kept my resume and his notes from the interview. I told him I would see him next spring for a real interview! He laughed and said, I hope so!! I am seriously on a high right now! SO STINKING EXCITED!!!

Then I rushed to pick up Landon and we were off to his allergy tests. Wow, it is crazy how fast his back swelled up from the tests. We found out he is allergic to dogs, cats, and ragweeds, and he is still allergic to eggs and peanuts. Poor Landon LOVES animals!!! He goes back in 6 weeks and may run more tests then. But at least we have proof of what we thought he was allergic too! Poo on those other allergy doctors who told me I was crazy and he doesn't have any more allergies!! Geez, I am just his mother! I don't know anything!!

Oh and then I got a package from American Girl with all the goodies that I ordered Tyler for her birthday! Such an awesome day!! I hope you are having one too!!!

Can I get a trip to the beach? PLEASE!!!

2010-02-22T15:02:00.000-06:00

Is anyone else tired of this snow and ice? All I can think about is taking a vacation here

I need some sun and warm temperatures. I am even dying to go swimming. If you know me, you know that I DO NOT like wearing a swimsuit. Right now, I would buy 3 swimsuits just to get some warmer temperatures.

We got ice last night and schools were cancelled today. At this point, I wish they would just make up some days during spring break. We aren't going anywhere, so no big deal for us! Tyler's birthday also falls on Spring Break and she hates not getting to celebrate at school. She is a crazy one! We were planning a trip to Dallas, but David will be TDY to Alabama for training. It seems like he misses Tyler's birthday every other year. He hasn't missed mine or Landon's yet. Poor Tyler! Heck, as long as she gets her presents then she doesn't really seem to mind!!

I don't really have much to post about. We have been cooped up in the house. I have done some decorating and that makes me happy!! It only took me 3 years (almost) to get this house decorated! I am going to see Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum on Thursday night!! I can't wait! Maybe I will get some pictures of that. David and I are wanting to go see George Strait and Reba in April. We will see if I break down and pay the big bucks for those tickets. I already have a babysitter lined up! David told me that it is up to me. I wish he would say, Babe, LET'S GO!!

I hope it is warm and the sun is shining where ever you are reading this!! Happy Monday!!

Furniture and Birthday

2010-02-07T09:15:00.001-06:00

I finally downloaded the pictures off my camera from Landon's birthday! I still have some on David's camera from our birthday trip to KC for the weekend. Here are some of little man's 3rd birthday at home.

He got John Deere boots!! He has worn them every day since his birthday. He calls them his cool boots!

Landon was so excited about his Vtech V-motion.

He got some games for his V-Motion and some movies. He had a great birthday! We had such a fun time watching him get excited about his presents!!

Here are some pictures of our new couches! I am in LOVE with them.

This picture is really dark. I had all the lights on. Why does base housing always have CRAPPY lighting?

I am on the hunt for some drapes! I can't wait for my mom to come up this weekend and go shopping for accessories and drapes. She is awesome and decorating and always finds the best deals!!

In other news, David spent all weekend trying to fix our broken down dryer! UGH!! We thought it was the heating element. He ordered the part and no luck. It still is not working! He tried a few other tricks and still no luck. We are calling in a repair man to come and take a look. I am hoping we do not need a new dryer. If so, well at least we have the tax refund coming in! WHEW!! Do you have any suggestions for a new dryer?

MIA

2010-02-06T11:13:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, it has been forever since I wrote a post!! My life consists of classes, my 1st and 3rd grade classrooms, dance 2 nights a week, studying for Praxis, David studying for Tech, entertaining two kids, and you know how it goes!!

Yes, I know they are all excuses. But unless you wanted to hear the details of all that, then I had nothing to blog about!! I have tons of pictures that need to be uploaded off the camera. As you can see, it hasn't happened. SIGH!!!

We have had some crazy and exciting and scary things going on around here. Some things I cannot go into detail about. I had a HUGE scare that I will share. About 2 weeks ago my mom called me and told me that she had her yearly mammogram and they saw a spot that concerned them. So she went in for another stronger mammogram and they were still very uneasy about the spot. They scheduled a biopsy for this past Monday. I was terrified. My mom is my best friend. I kid you not. We are really close. I know a lot of people do not understand how close you can be to your mom, but we are. We are just a close family and I love that. So add to the fact that I am 7 hours away and couldn't be there for the biopsy, I was a wreck. I didn't want to talk about it. I only talked to David about how I felt. He was really worried too. Monday came and what was supposed to be a 15 minute procedure turned into 2 hours. It turned out that there were 2 spots that they were concerned about. OMG! I lost it. My dad was a wreck. Mom is the rock of our family, what would we do if it was cancer? Wednesday the results came in and they were normal! I cannot tell you how relieved I was. Her birthday is this Wednesday and she will turn 50 years old. And my parents are coming up next weekend to celebrate, Landon's, mom's and my birthday. I think there is even more to celebrate about this year!!

Right now, I am sitting on what is about to be my old couch. We are having new couches delivered today! I am so excited. It kind of sucked to buy new couches. We haven't had these for long. We paid to have them scotch guard and we are pretty much guessing they didn't do it. THey are a nightmare to keep clean. And we had some other reason too. I am in love with our new couches. They should be here at any minute! Nothing like new furniture to make me a happy girl.

David is on leave this week! I am so excited! He is off this week to study for Tech. He has been staying late at work to study for the past 2 weeks. His squadron really wants him to make it! HA!! I think they have big plans for him!! Lucky David!!

Well that pretty much sums up what is going on around here. Wow these posts are so dull when I am in school. I will try to post pics of the new furniture to liven things up on here!! Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Landon Man!

2010-01-22T19:59:00.000-06:00

This little man is turning the Big 3 on Monday!!

I cannot believe it!!! Where has the time gone? We have big plans to celebrate his special day this weekend. We decided not to have a party this year. Landon attends the daycare on campus and there are many children who come from single parent households, both parents are in school, and so on. We did not feel right about having a party and putting a parent out with an expense a month after Christmas. We could say, please do not bring a present, but I know people would still feel obligated. We do not have family here in Missouri to celebrate with us either. My parents were supposed to come up last weekend to celebrate, but mom is having some back problems.

But we don't let all these small obstacles keep us from celebrating the big day. We are headed to KC tomorrow morning and have a weekend of fun planned. We are even spending the night! OH MY, I am so excited!! We are going bowling (bday boy's request), The Dinosaur Cafe, a movie, and who knows what else!

Then on Monday, we will have cake and open presents. I got some decorations at Wal-Mart today and may or may not have gone a little crazy on the presents this year!! OOPS!!! What can I say, I LOVE Birthdays!!!

To my Landon Man, I hope you have a very special weekend!! I love you so much and cannot wait to see what the age 3 brings us!! And guess what, you are now old enough to start sports (first start, it is only 2 weeks long) on base!! You are our little slugger and I cannot wait to see you in action!! Happy Birthday!!!!

Random

2010-01-18T19:08:00.002-06:00

Well things have been a tad bit crazy since school started back up last week. I knew it would be a busy semester since it was my last block of classes before student teaching in the fall, but I still had no clue!!! So this is just a random bullet point post on what has been going on.

Tyler came home from school on Tuesday and was Orange Panther (their mascot) of the month for her classroom. She got student of the month the first month of school. We are so proud of her!! She also had an AWESOME report card!! CONGRATS TYLER!!
Landon started back to daycare last week after being home with me for a month. He was pretty ticked off at drop off, but they said as soon as I left, he was happy and playing!! HHHMMM, I am thinking that was all for show!! It is a good thing that I know he MISSED his friends so much over break!!
Speaking of Landon, he will be 3 years old a week from today! OH MY, he is growing up so fast!! He keeps telling us that he is turning 4 and will argue until he is blue in the face! It is too funny. Landon has had NO DESIRE in potty training! Well this weekend David and I decided that it was a 3 day weekend and enough was enough, it was time! He is doing great! We are in shock. It has gone so much easier than we thought it would go. We just may make that 3 year mark after all!!
Grey's Anatomy is back on! WOOHOOO!! Oh how I missed my show over break!
All four of us had a 3 day weekend. We really haven't done much. We took Landon to go try on some new cowboy boots on Saturday. He wants new boots for his birthday. David brushed up on his Mario Bros skills on the Wii. Oh my, that game is so much fun!! I am just now getting feeling back in my thumb from playing it nonstop when we were snowed in!!
My mom was supposed to come up this weekend and celebrate Landon's birthday. Unfortunately she was down in her back earlier last week and I was scared she would go down on the way here. We were disappointed, but her and dad are both coming up V-Day weekend and staying 4 days!! It all worked out for the best!! And mom and dad love having the kids without David and I around. Looks like we are getting a Date Night! WOOHOO!! We are celebrating our belated 30th birthdays and going out to dinner and a movie! I am already working on David to see Valentines Day. Wow, that was a long bullet!
We are going to Legends next weekend to do some shopping and celebrate Landon's 3rd birthday!! We have some fun kid friendly activities planned!! Now if we can just get through this week!! Yay for a 4 day week!!

Check This Out

2010-01-17T20:48:00.000-06:00

Are you military and always wanted a Sony E-reader? Then head over to here. If you aren't military, you can still enter as long as you are giving the Sony E-reader to someone in the service.

Things have been crazy busy here with school back in session. Some big things are going on at our casa and I have lots of bragging to do on two special kiddos. Hopefully I can get a post together tomorrow!!

Good-bye Christmas Vacation

2010-01-09T20:33:00.001-06:00

Starting Monday it is back to school. I am excited and nervous. I have a stressful workload this semester. It is my SR Block of classes that you have to take before student teaching. The upside: I will be back in the schools more this semester, learn more than I can even think about, and these textbooks actually look like books that I will keep for reference. The downside: CRAZY BUSY!!!!

I ventured onto campus yesterday to buy my textbooks. For one of my classes, we have an assignment to read the book A Child Called "It." I read the syllabus for the class and the assignment for this book was due within the next month. I was bored today and decided that I would get a jump start on reading the book. I had NO CLUE what was in store for me.

The author of the book, Dave Pelzer, was abused by his mother as a child. And when I say abused, I mean one of the worst abuse cases that California had ever seen at that point in time. Pelzer's childhood started out normal. His parents were madly in love. He had two brothers and life was great. Then one day, for unknown reasons, his mother snaps and starts abusing him. She never laid a hand on his brothers.

Pelzer was denied food which led him to steal food from his classmates' lunches at school. He was beaten physically and emotionally. The abuse got more severe as time went on. It was so severe that I was close to vomiting, crying, and wanting to beat the hell out of his mother myself. He was basically treated as a Prisoner of War.

After several years of abuse, his 5th grade teacher, principal, and the school nurse put a stop to the abuse and Pelzer was taken away from his home. (What ticks me off is that he was at this same school for several years and showed several signs of abuse.) Pelzer went on to lead a normal life and served 13 years in the Air Force. He is now a speaker and an advocate of child abuse. He was determined that he would not be a victim of past, no matter how dark it was.

There was a quote that really stuck with me:

After years of struggle, my purpose became clear, for above all, I came to realize

that America was truly the land where one could come from less than humble

beginnings, to become a winner from within.

David Pelzer is a true inspiration and God Send to victims of child abuse.

This book is a must read, but I will warn you to have a box of tissues and be prepared to read of unheard of conditions of life.

Thirty and Still Kicking

2010-01-08T08:20:00.003-06:00

Today is a very special person's birthday! He makes me laugh. He makes me cry. He is a lover. He is a fighter. He is hard working. He is laid back. He is a provider. He is devoted. He is trusting. He is a son. He is a brother. He is a husband. He is a father. He is an uncle. He is a lover of music. He is a lover of the wilderness. He is a lover of college football. He is the #1 person in 3 people's lives!!!

Who am I talking about, you ask? Whose birthday is today? No it isn't Elvis. Okay, it is Elvis' birthday too. It is this lil guy's birthday!!!

OMG, Check out those curls!!!

What a beach bum!!

I said he was a lover of music!!

BOYS!!!!

Real boys wear pink!!!

Are you noticing a trend of no shirt?

HHHHMMMM, someone may have had one too many on their Sr trip to Cancun. Just sayin!!

Oh the college days! Normally I would ask why he is wearing a Bama hat! But after last night's win, I say wear it until football season 2010 starts!!!

A picture with his parents before he leaves for BMT.

He graduated!

Happy 30th Birthday, David!! You deserve an amazing day! I am so thankful for January 8, 1980!!

Blizzard of Twenty Ten

2010-01-07T11:17:00.001-06:00

So yesterday was a serious post and I did not mention my new layout! I LOVE IT!! Thank you so much, Becky! You are awesome! I just tell you what colors I want and you go from there!! I am not exactly the most creative person in the world!!

Thank you so much for your sweet comments and prayers for Lt. Curlin. He has another major surgery today and could use your prayers. The doctors said that they will have at least 12-15 more surgeries within the next month! They are keeping him heavily sedated! I cannot imagine the toll his family is going through right now!

So the snow came through last night! I am officially calling it the Blizzard of Twenty Ten!! We literally just looked out the windows in disbelief of the snow coming down. We cannot recall anything like this when we were stationed in Utah. We heard stories, but never witnessed it in our 3 years there! Anyways, here are some pictures.

So do you remember this picture?

Well David and I were watching the news, sipping on our coffee, and this picture popped up!

I submitted it on Monday. We were so excited and the newscasters said the sweetest things

about Tyler and Landon playing in the snow. I managed to catch it on the DVR!! WOOHOO!

The photo of the year contest ended last night. We didn't win, but that is ok. I think I was beyond excited that our kids were on the news this morning! HA!! I got an email from Rachael, the photographer, saying that it was a close race and we were in the top three as of yesterday morning. I think that is PRETTY AWESOME!! I am not a sore looser! I was just honored that our picture was one of the photographer's favs of the year! What an HONOR!! I will be doing my drawing tonight!! I know some of my blog readers voted, but didn't leave a comment. Go here and leave a comment so you are not left out of the drawing. Thank you so much for voting!!!

And I just have to leave you with this picture! I have had MAJOR cabin fever this week. Earlier in the week we were stuck in the house due to the snow from Sunday. Then we had subfreezing temps and I didn't want to get Landon out of the house. I may be going crazy, but Landon has LOVED just hanging out at the house! HHHMMM, maybe after the hustle and bustle of Christmas, he was thankful to just relax.

Ignore the quality! I took it with my cell phone!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Tomorrow is David's 30th Birthday! We are ready to celebrate his big day!! And next week is back to school for me!! I am kind of happy, but kind of sad. I enjoyed the time with the kids.

Prayers

2010-01-06T08:43:00.002-06:00

If you know me in real life, then you know that my dad is a fireman. I have never really worried about his safety. He has been a fireman for as long as I can remember. Of course, there are always the fires that you get a little nervous about. On Sunday morning, I got a text from my mom that said Call Me ASAP. She had sent the text very early in the morning and knew that I would not be awake yet. My stomach sunk when I got the text, I knew something was wrong. I called and she told me that there was a very bad fire in downtown and they called my dad into work early. (His shift was scheduled to go in on that day.) She went on to tell me that Lt. David Curlin was seriously injured. I could tell that my mom was holding back the tears. She was very worried for Curlin and all of the fireman. I have NEVER heard my mom so worried over a fire than she was that morning.

At the time, Dad was told to go to the main station and call in volunteer firemen, then they told him to come straight to the fire. Mom had no clue where he was. She was not concerned for his safety. At that point, they were fighting the fire from the outside. They were basically trying to keep it from spreading.

I could not help but to think, what if that was my dad. Curlin was stationed at the station that my dad was at for several years (off and on) up until this past fall. I am thinking that it was the same shift, but mom could not remember. My dad is a Lt. What if it had been him. When a tragedy like this happens, it really puts things into perspective. You can bet that David and the kids got extra big hugs from me all day.

Lt. David Curlin has a long battle before him. He has had 2 surgeries already. He had a surgery yesterday and they found more damage and ended up having to repair that damage instead of what they were going in for. He has two children (I am not 100% on 2, could be 3). My mom said that he is one of those people that will talk your ear off, in a good way! She also said that he is BRILLIANT SMART!

Please keep Lt. David Curlin in your prayers! Also remember all of the fireman, policeman, and EMT's that put their lives at risk at times to keep us safe!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!

2010-01-03T15:47:00.002-06:00

No seriously, it can quit already! We had our 15 minutes of fun! I forgot what a pain shoveling snow is and the slippery roads!!! But after the temps got up to a toasty 14 degrees with a windchill of 1, we bundled up the kiddos and get them out to play! Landon decided he liked the snow this year. Well he did until the cold got the best of him!! He is so my child!!

I am trying out my new hunting boots that David got me. They are perfect for this cold Missouri weather. My feet stayed toasty!!

Tyler is showing Landon how to make a snowball. Turns out, we had the powdery snow that does not make snowballs! They still had a blast!!

As you can tell, we just grabbed an assortment of pieces. Nothing matches, we went for the warmth factor! LOL! Not sure why I bother to buy matching pieces!!

Mom, I can't see!!!!

I love this picture of Landon Man!!! You can see how excited he is and cold at the same time.

I cannot believe that he will be 3 in 22 days!!! YIKES!

So earlier in the week, when it snowed, Tyler built a snowman. This is what was left, a block of ice!

My man hard at work!! I did help! Man, I forgot what a pain it is to shovel snow!!

Is it too much to hope and pray that the next snow front on Wednesday bypasses us? We got the pictures, we are good until next year!! HA!! Hope everyone had a great weekend!! We are preparing to get back into our normal routine of school and work!! BOO!! The break was nice while it lasted!

The Decade of Love

2010-01-01T16:30:00.000-06:00

So looking back, I had a pretty amazing decade!! After all, it was the decade that started off meeting the love of my life. Here is the breakdown for you!

2000 - In February, the day after my birthday, I met David and we were pretty smitten from the get go. We were engaged in August and he left for Basic Training in October. I flew for my very first time in November with David's parents to see David graduate Basic Training. In December, he got leave for Christmas and came home to spend the holidays with us. A few days before he left, we found out he got orders to Japan. The next day, the orders had changed to England.

2001 - I rang in the new year with the love of my life!! We both turned twenty-one. They hype of 21 was pretty much over after you turn 21! David graduated tech school mid May and we had our beautiful wedding on May 26, 2001. The next weekend (June) we flew to England to start our journey as a married couple and life in the military. Our first niece was born in August. In July I started working for a bank on base that September 9 or 10th I went to another base close to London for training. I was there on September 11 and was unable to get ahold of David for several hours. He picked me up the next day and our life in the military was forever changed.

2002 - We celebrated our first anniversary in London. It was an amazing weekend and one that we will never forget. In July, we found out that we were pregnant with our first child. We did not find out the sex. I was dying for it to be a surprise.

2003 - David sewed on Senior Airman on March 17 and later that day we welcomed Leslie Tyler Pierce to our family. That night, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to get out of Iraq. The day we left the hospital, war was declared. Less than a month after Tyler was born, David went TDY to another base in England to guard B-52s. He missed her first Easter, but we were beyond thankful that he was not deploying. That summer, Tyler had her first international flight to Arkansas to meet her family. My parents and brother and sister came up for Thanksgiving and we also celebrated Christmas.

2004 - We celebrated Tyler's first birthday with our amazing group of friends in England. In June we PCSed to Hill AFB in Utah. I started working at the Child Development Center on base. David's parents celebrated Christmas with us in Utah.

2005 - We love Utah and bought our first home in July. David deployed to Iraq in September. I have an amazing group of girls and all of our husbands are deployed. We had a great time considering the circumstances. Tyler and I had visits from my parents, my sister, and my mother-in-law while David was deployed. David sewed on Staff Sarg. in December. Tyler and I spent Christmas alone.

2006 - David came home early February! We survived our first deployment! We found out on our anniversary that I was pregnant with our second child. A few months later we found out we were having a boy. We went to Arkansas in October and I took David to his first Razorback game! We welcomed our 2nd niece into the family. We spent our first Christmas (together) in our new home.

2007 - We welcomed Landon Allen Pierce on January 25. My parents were there for his birth! In April, I flew to Arkansas, by myself with a baby and a four year old, for my sister's wedding. When we got off the plane, I had a text from David saying that he would not be coming home for the wedding, that he would be in Texas cross-training. We spent a month in Arkansas and welcomed my new brother-in-law into the family. In May we found out that we would be PCSing to Missouri. I had to sell the house by myself! Luckily it sold in a week! SCORE!! In July we were at our new base and 7 hours from our family in Arkansas. In August, I started back to school. In November, David's dad died. It was a shock to everyone. Landon's middle name is after David's dad.

2008 - We celebrated Landon's first birthday in Arkansas and Missouri. Tyler had her first dance recital in February. My grandfather died in April. Tyler started kindergarten in August. We took the kids to their first college football game. No, it wasn't the Razorbacks, but the Mizzou Tigers. We had a blast even though it rained the whole time. We spent Christmas in Arkansas for the first time as a married couple.

2009 - David and I celebrate our last year in our twenties!! This year we really got out and explored Kansas City and the surrounding area. Tyler played indoor soccer for the first time. She learns (we learn) that she is more of a dancer than into sports! LOL! Tyler finishes her first year of school. How did the year go by so fast? The kids spent Memorial Day weekend with my parents and David and I had a little getaway for our 8th wedding anniversary and to have alone time before David deployed. David deployed in June. The kids and I headed down South for a month. We threw my sister a baby shower and tried to hang out until my niece (first on my side) made her debut. We headed back to Missouri after 4th of July. My niece was born a week later! We tried to stay busy through swim and dance lessons and all of Landon's therapy sessions, but we missed David like crazy. We met my mom in Branson for Labor Day weekend for a weekend of fun and shopping. David got back home in October!! We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas in Arkansas. And we rang in 2010 at home as a family!

What a decade!! I hope the next 10 years are as exciting as the past ten!! Happy New Years everyone!!

Don't forget about my giveaway. Check out the post below!!

Happy New Year's Eve

2009-12-31T07:09:00.002-06:00

Update: Rachael extended the contest until midnight on Wed, Jan 6th. I will extend my give away until then also!! Thanks for voting, even if you didn't vote for our pic! LOL!! Rachael is an amazing photographer and there were several that I would've voted for if we weren't in the running!! Happy New Years!!

Seriously, where did 2009 go? I will be working on a post from our Christmas and this past year and possibly the decade to be posted later!! We just got back from Arkansas on Tuesday night. We had a wonderful time, but there is no place like home. We are very thankful that the floods on Christmas Eve had gone down by the time we got there!! Our guardian angel was watching over us!!!

For now, I have a favor to ask!! After David got home from his deployment, we had our pictures with Rachael at http://www.goodytwoshoesphotography.com/. (For my military readers, google OPLove for your complimentary session and portraits with a photographer in your area before, during, or after a deployment.) If you live in the Kansas City area, you should check her out! She is amazing! Ok, so back to the favor! Rachael has a contest running on her blog. She picked out her favorite pictures of 2009 and is asking her readers to vote for their favorite. The winner gets a free complimentary session in 2010 and a free 11x14 of the winning photo!! OMG, I would love to have both! Plus to make the deal a little sweeter, she is going to draw a winning comment and if your comment is chosen, you will win a free complimentary session in 2010. If I know you, I will bunk you up if you do not live in this area. If not, Kansas City is an awesome place for a summer getaway!!

Now, I don't feel right about asking for a huge favor and not giving something back in return. If you leave a comment on Rachael's blog and leave a comment here letting me know....................Then I will have a drawing for a $25 AMC Gift Card!! Blog about or Twitter about the giveaway and I will give you another 1-2 chances of winning (2 if you blog and Twitter!)

HURRY, the contests ends on Sunday, January 3 at 11:59 Central Time!!!

Your Questions Answered

2009-12-23T20:41:00.000-06:00

So I am finally getting around to answering the questions about our family and our lives in the military!! Just to warn you, it is long. We are headed down South tomorrow so I made it one post instead of two! I hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! If you are traveling, be safe!!!

1. What is the hardest thing about being a MilSpouse?

Deployments are always a given!! But I knew deployments would be part of the life when I said, "I do." What I didn't expect was David being forced to cross train from a career field that he loved and he was awesome at....... to a career field that he is very unhappy in. The past 2 1/2 years have been our roughest in the military. Things are finally starting to turn around, but he is now STUCK with this career with 11 years left to go. However, we are very lucky to have a job and a roof over our heads. At least that is what I keep trying to tell David!! :-)

Now that Tyler is getting older, she has a hard time when her best friend PCSes or wanting to live closer to our family. But she also understands how pretty awesome it is that her dad is in the military and she is so proud of him. She told me that he was her hero while he was deployed. I could not have been any prouder of her than I was that day.

2. What is the best thing about being a MilSpouse?

I love this question. I seriously cannot see myself being a civilian wife!! I love moving every 3 years. I am getting the itch to move again, but we are going to try to stay here for as long as we can. I have an amazing group of military friends that are stationed all over the world. These women are the only people who know what you go through as a military spouse. I never dreamed that I would live in England or Utah. The military is also paying for my school! WOOHOO!!! And as much as I complain about base housing, it is FREE!!!! And back to the deployments, the homecoming is always worth it and it makes our marriage that much stronger.

3. What advice would you give a new MilSpouse?

Find an amazing group of military wives for support. There will be times when you want to vent or complain. I have been accused many times of just bitching and should be thankful that I know David will come back home from deployments. The truth is, it sucks when they are gone. How do you know 100% that they will come home. Hell, I could be killed in a car wreck before he comes home. Not to sound like Ms. Debbie Downer, but nothing in life is certain. So find someone that is going through the same thing.

Be flexible.

COMMUNICATE!!!! Communicate with your spouse when they are home, TDY, or on deployments. They need to know how you are feeling when they are gone, and the same applies when they are home.

4. What is the funniest nickname you have for your husband?

HHMMM, I don't really have one for him. I have always called him babe! Boring, I know!

5. What is the funniest nickname he has for you?

He doesn't really have any funny ones. He calls me Ash, Ashley Boo, and Baby.

6. What is your worst "OMG, I'm a horrible parent" moment?

OMG, I have those daily!! I always feel like a horrible parent when David is deployed or TDY. It breaks my heart when he has to miss something and I know that I cannot be both of us. David has missed quite a few of Tyler's birthdays and Easters. Luckily with her birthdays, he would leave just a day or two before hand so we would celebrate before he left.

There was the time that Tyler rolled off the bed. And the time that I was holding Landon's hand while he walked up the stairs and he tripped over his feet and fell down the stairs. I feel guilty when I am really busy with school and stressed and I am not a 100% mommy. However, I always make it up to them! I always feel like a horrible mom when they get their shots!! I seriously cry!! Ok, not so much now that they are older.

7. What is your proudest "mommy" moment?

Tyler came home one day from school and said that her school was raising money for March of Dimes. I asked her if she knew what that charity was and she said they raised money for babies who are really sick. She started to tear up and said that she wanted to donate all of her tooth fairy money to give to the babies. Later that night she pulled a tooth. She got so excited because that was another dollar she was going to be able to give to the babies. Turns out the tooth fairy only had a twenty dollar bill that night. Tyler got the $20 and a note from the tooth fairy saying it was her donation to March of Dimes. Tyler was beyond excited that the tooth fairy gave her that much money to donate. She never thought twice about keeping the money to buy her something. She has a huge heart and I am so proud of her and I know great things are in her future.

Landon has been our child that has been very late in meeting all of his developmental milestones. He has been in therapy off and on since he was 14 months old. Within the past 6 months, Landon has made HUGE strides and has overcome so many barriers. He has impressed the heck out of his therapists. He is such a hard worker. The poor guy has severe food allergies, eczema, and asthma. It is like the poor boy cannot catch a break. But our Landon man is a fighter and has a personality out of this world!!

I cannot be any prouder of the two amazing children that God gave to me and David. We are truly blessed.

8. If you could choose to be stationed anywhere... where would you go?

Somewhere east coast, like the Carolinas or Virginia. I am a stateside kind of girl. We have done the whole overseas thing.

9. If one of your children came to you in high school and said, "I'm not going to college, I'm joining the military." What would you say?

Honestly, I would probably handle this better than David. I do not think that college is for everyone. I wasn't ready for college when I was eighteen. Plus my child can do an enlistment in the military and then they may be ready to go to school after that enlistment and they will have their GI Bill to pay for school. I will be a supportive parent as long as they are not trying to live at home mooching off good ole mom and dad. LOL!

10. What is your idea of a perfect day?

I would say somewhere away from the base with David and the kids. Maybe a vacation at the lake. My favorite moments are memories we are making as a family.

11. Let's say you get to pick David's job. Would you pick something else or stay the same?

I would pick what my brother is doing. He is in an apprenticeship program to become an electrician. It is a 5 year program where he goes to school once a week and works as an apprentice during the day. I can really see David doing this job. He loves anything that he is using his hands. THat is why he loved his job that he signed up to do in the AF.

12. What are some of the biggest differences in living in England and living here?

- The pace of life is really slow.
- Stores shut down at 6:00 P.M.
- In the summer, the sun does not go down until after 10:00 at night!
- No Sonic
- Pizza Hut is amazing in England.
- Chinese and Indian food tastes 10x better in England.
- They serve lemon with their coke. You also only get 2 pieces of ice and that is only if you ask for ice. This southern girl was about to DIE!!
- No cold sweet tea in England!
- I ordered a glass of water one time and they brought me a glass and a bottle of carbonated water. OMG, I spewed it all over David.
- The gardens in England are beautiful!! I have thousands of pictures of all the gardens.
- The markets are the best. You can buy a beautiful arrangement of flowers for a couple of pounds.
- The history!!!!!
- Guys in England are more metrosexual! Just sayin!!! My redneck husband stuck out like a sore thumb!
- The furniture is more modern.
- Tiny cars! No 4 Wheel Drive Trucks in England!
- They were into texting before I even knew what a text was. This was in 2001!
- Obesity is RARE in England.

Ok, I could go on an on about the differences. Maybe I should make that a post one day. I take for granted that not everyone knows how different it is to live overseas. I cannot imagine living in Japan. We were supposed to PCS there instead of England. I don't think David would've made it!!

Winner, Winner, Sonic Dinner

2009-12-22T14:42:00.002-06:00

Ok, I am a day late in posting the Sonic winner. I have been a tad bit busier than I thought I could be minus 2 children.

I just threw all the names in a checkbook box ......

And the lucky winner is....................

Allison, email me your address and I will send you your Sonic gift card!!

This is officially my 100th post! I am going to work on answering the questions tonight. Thank you all for keeping up with my boring life!!

Post 99 and a Give Away

2009-12-18T20:13:00.001-06:00

First off, Thank You so much for the sweet comments about the wreck! We are so thankful that we were not hurt and there was not serious damage. Black Beauty (my car) is in the shop and she will be all back to normal by the time we get back home from Arkansas.

So this is my 99th post!! WOW!! And I want to thank all of my readers because you helped me make it through the deployment. And now I have another set of friends, my blog friends. Ok, so I know some of you IRL!

So for as long as I can remember, even as a kid, my favorite place to get a drink at has always been Sonic. I about died when we lived in England and I had to live without Sonic for 3 years! GASP! So I am giving away a $10 gift card to Sonic.

Here is how to enter:
1. Leave a Comment. If you haven't gotten your ask me anything question, be sure to get that in. (1 entry)
2. Are you following my blog, if not well follow it. You will still get an entry if you already follow! (1 entry)

BTW - My big birthday is coming up! The big 30! I know, I am too young to be 30!! HA!! Anyways, I am working on a fun give away to help celebrate the big day!! Be on the look out late Jan to Feb!! You will not want to miss it!!

What is going on..........

2009-12-17T09:15:00.000-06:00

This past Saturday night, I had a night full of Christmas fun all planned out. This should have been my first clue that something would go wrong. I mean, you can never make plans and expect it to come out perfect. Tyler LOVES hot chocolate. I thought it would be fun to make some from scratch. I have never tried before. We found a recipe for peppermint hot chocolate. It was delish and so easy. Landon and David made egg-free cupcakes too. We had so much fun sipping on our hot chocolate and eating our cupcakes. Talk about lots of chocolate, I was in heaven. Landon was confused on the whole hot chocolate thing. I poured his in a tall cup and he couldn't get to the marshmallows. We ended up just giving him some to eat. After our desert, before dinner (we are such rebels), we got out to look at the Christmas lights. Clue number two that plans would not go great, it was raining. I blew the rain off, it was more of a mist after all. Heck, you aren't getting perfect weather in Missouri. You have to go with it or stay at home.

So we load the kids up in the car and David tells me to drive because apparently I know the big town (hhhmmm, not so much) better than he does. We drove through some houses on base and then headed off base. The kids were really enjoying the lights. Landon is really into them this year. In fact, he got very annoyed when houses didn't have lights. (OOPS, we don't have lights!) So at one point during our fun family festivities, Landon pulls open the car door handle. What, the child lock wasn't on? Yeah, news to me too! Luckily the door didn't open, but all my alarms were going off. We are about to go through an intersection, so I slowed down and started pulling over after we got through. As I am half way off the road we someone decides to help us get all the way off the road.

Yep, I got rear ended. UGH!! I couldn't even get out of the car to see the damage. I was sick. David calls the police and gets out of the car. WONDERFUL, it was a teenager. He told David that he put on his brakes, but the roads were too wet and he hit me. I didn't hear screeching tires, but whatever. His dad shows up, then his girlfriends dad shows up. Yep, she was in the truck with him. Twenty minutes later the cops show up. No tickets were issued! The cop said he would let the insurance companies settle it out.

Here is my poor car!! She goes into the shop today. I will miss you Black Beauty!!

If funnier news, Tyler pulled her third tooth since Thanksgiving. She is really starting to look like a hillbilly!! Needless to say, she needs to ask for more than her 2 front teeth for Christmas. I knew the comments were coming, I said it for ya! LOL!

Landon had an eye appt yesterday. We have laughed at the boy for months because he always looks over his glasses. Well it turns out that his eyes are not adjusting well to his glasses. His prescription was a strong one. So his dr cut it in half for now to see if this will help.

IT has been a very eventful week around here!! GEEZ!! Although next week I will be complaining about how bored I am!! David has to work til around noon on Christmas Eve. WHich means we cannot travel to AR until after he gets off work. So my mom and dad are meeting us half way on Sunday to pick up the kids. They are so excited! I am wondering what I will do for 3 days, at home, with no car! HHHMMMM, this minus kids thing sounds kind of boring.

Ok, sorry for the long post!! My fingers kept typing away!! Don't forget about asking questions for my 100th post. I thought of a good give away!! I will reveal it tomorrow!!

The Holidays

2009-12-15T08:38:00.001-06:00

I stole this from Ashley's Blog. It looked like fun and I am being too lazy to download pictures off my camera for a blog post!!

Are you a Black Friday Shopper?
When we lived in Utah and we had Target, Toys-R-Us, and a mall right around the corner, I did go Black Friday shopping. Now we have to drive an hour away and I am not a morning person. Thanks to the nice recession, you can find good deals after Black Friday. Not that a recession is ever a good thing, but it is good for shopping!!

When do you put up your Tree?
Normally, we put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. However, if we go home for Christmas, then we put it up after we get back home.

Do you Travel at Christmas or Stay home?
The past 2 years we have gone home, only because we had spent 6 years far away from home. However, I am really missing Christmas at our home and we are already planning on staying at home next Christmas. It is fun being with family, but I miss being in my home.

What is your favorite Christmas Movie of All time?
Oh my, I am a lover of the classic Christmas movies. I love It's A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street (the original is my fav), Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Home Alone, and the list goes on and on.

Do you do your own Christmas Baking, what’s your favorite treat?
My mother-in-law taught me how to make fudge the year that David was deployed to Iraq over Christmas. I have made it every year since then. The key, in her words, is to boil the hell out of it. This year, I was lazy and bought all the pre-made holiday goodies at Wal-mart and threw it in one of the festive tins and gave them to Landon's therapists and Tyler's dance teachers. SSSHHHH....don't tell!

Fake or Real Tree?
When I was in junior high, I was diagnosed with allergy induced asthma. I was highly allergic to mold and the live Christmas tree had to go. I bawled and bawled. I loved going and picking out the tree. My mom was secretly relieved because she had been wanting to get an artificial tree because real trees were getting so expensive. Now, I really like my artificial tree. The lights are already on it! Less work for me!!

What day (as a mom) does the actual panic set in to get it all done?
I never panic over Christmas. I shop really early for Christmas, so there is no stress on the money aspect of Christmas. Last year, I stressed b/c we didn't think David could get off work to go home and all the kids presents were home. This year it is the week before Christmas and we do not know when he is getting off, but I am chill about it all. I am really becoming a seasoned military wife!

Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve?
Yes, only because all of our presents are at my mom's house and we do not get there until right before Christmas.

What Christmas craft do you like the best?
LOL, if you know me IRL, then you know that I am not crafty. What you say, you are going to be a teacher. Yes, I know, I can be crafty when I have to, but it doesn't come willingly. We did make a gingerbread house. IT was kind of a nightmare, but the kids had a blast and it ended up really cute!

Christmas music. Yes or No, and if yes What is your favorite song?
Yes or NO, what kind of question is that! I love O Holy Night, Carol of the Bells, Silent Night, Away in a Manger, and so many more!! It is the one time of the year that I wish I had a talent for singing. Oh well!

When do you plan to finish all your shopping?
Done, well I have 2 gift cards left to purchase.

When do you take the tree down?

New Years Day.

Do you like eggnog?

Honestly, I have never tried it. I have been to chicken.

Hardest person to buy for?

HHHMMMM, everyone is equally challenging. I always want to find that perfect gift. I guess I would say, my sister and her husband.

Easiest person to buy for?

David, Tyler, and Landon.

Worst gift you ever received?

OMG, the Chrismtas after Tyler was born, someone bought me fleece pj pants in a 2X. I cried. It was hard enough living in England, far away from family on Tyler's first Christmas, but then to be accused of being obese!! It was too much!

When do you start shopping for the holidays?

I start seriously shopping around Labor Day Weekend, but normally before then.

Have you ever recycled a present?

I don't think so.

Favorite thing to eat during the holidays?

Fudge and my mom's big brunch on Christmas morning.

Lights on the tree?

They have to be white. I love white lights. I have never been crazy about colored lights.

Angel on the tree top or a star?

I had an angel that was given to my mom when I was born. So that makes it, well hmmmm, close to 30, but not quite there!! Needless to say, she just doesn't stand up anymore. So my tree is bare because I cannot find that perfect tree topper.

Favorite ornament theme or color?
We have ornaments that have been given to us over the years. David and I have our ornaments from when we were kids. My mom has a tradition that she gives each one of us a new ornament every year. The majority of our ornaments have a story behind them. We also have lots of razorback ornaments that remind us of home. I also have one from my church back home.

What gift are you hoping to receive this year?
LOL, I am not really expecting anything this year. I kind of had a wreck this past weekend. I wasn't at fault, well it is up for the insurance companies to decide. But he rear ended me. Anyways this is a whole different post. David took me shopping on Friday to find me something and nothing stood out. He racked up though. Last night he asked me if I wanted an IPhone and I didn't say NO!! So we will see!! Honestly, as long as our family is together, I do not care!!

That was fun!!! I love the holidays!! Especially now that I am done with this semester!! I am coming up on my 100th post!! WOW!!! So I am thinking that you can ask me questions. I love it when people do that. You get to know more about them! I am thinking about a little give away, but kind of stumped for ideas right now. P.S. Not sure why this is double spacing! Blogger is weird sometimes!!