Recapping 2013

Well, I managed to not blog at all during 2013 so here is a recap of our year.  Tobbie, my oldest, made the competition gymnastics team at her gym.  She compete's level 3 and is rocking steadily rocking it.  

Tristan turned 5 in December and he has become a miniature version of his daddy.  He loves going hunting, building anything with legos, and is your typical little boy.  I love him "way far much".

Darcy is the glue that keeps this family running.  She will be 4 next month.  She is sweet, sour, speaks her mind and will make you bust out laughing.  She is headstrong, opinionated, and loving.  She is following in her big sisters footsteps and is in gymnastics as well.

Michael and I are doing well.  We celebrated 10 years of marriage in Hawaii this year, he's home for a solid year (that can be good AND bad!), and we are anxiously awaiting our next duty assignment for summer 2014.

Stay tuned, more to come!

I'm so tired...

This is kind of a whiny post, so I'm sorry. 

I am so flipping tired!  Exhausted tired.  My neighbor, Jean, and I have been waking at the butt crack of dawn (well, 0430) to go running.  If we want to run outside, we have to get up and get it down before the men in our lives get up and leave for PT.  So, Jean and I have been hustling it every morning at 0430.  I'm loving it though (when I get to nap during the day, I love it more!) and it is making me super productive in the mornings and my days just run smoother.  Well, today my deary friend Teresa took me to do my very first crossfit workout.  I think I am going to die.  It was so dang blasting hard, but I felt amazing when it was over.  So, that's why I am so damn tired.

Army Sistas

I am so blessed with some of the best friends, better known as my Army sisters. I had an amazing day with four of my amazing Army sisters. Potter was traveling through townso we made the most of it. We drove an hour north and hung out at the Chateau Ste. Michele winery. We were educated and slightly inebriated by the end of our tour. Thank you ladies for a wonderful start to my week!

Lemonade, Come get your lemonade...

Our community held it's annual fall community wide garage sale.  My kids have been begging all summer long to have a lemonade stand, so I told them they could when it was garage sale day.  We purchased special cups and a banner and a sign.  They helped mix the lemonade and they even made cookies and cupcakes to sell.  While we were prepping their table, Tobbie, my oldest, suggested we do something nice with the money that was earned.  We started discussing the different things that could be done with it and we came to the conclusion that we should use the money to donate something.  After pondering this for a bit we chose to benefit the Fisher House. 
If you don't know what the Fisher House is, it kind of like a Ronald McDonald house, but for the military.  Fisher House's are for all military and their families that are inpatient and at least 40 miles away from their home.  There is no nightly fee to stay at the Fisher House.  It is funded directly through generous donations from individuals and organizations.  The one where we are has seven private rooms with baths, a shared kitchen, laundry room, a dining room and a living area complete with a library.
Our family greatly benefited from the Fisher House when Tobbie was born.  She was born at 24 weeks gestation and we had to medically evacuate her from Okinawa, Japan.  We were fortunate enough to snag a room at the Fisher House for a month.  It was so nice to not have to worry about a place to stay and the financial hardship it would have caused us to secure a hotel room for that length of time.

So, how much money did they raise????? Those kiddos raised $134.00!  This week we will go purchase 134 travel sized toiletry items and hand deliver them to the FT Lewis Army Fisher House.  I am so proud of my children and it makes me so happy to see them as kind individuals that are giving back to our community.

355 DAYS??? REALLY???!

Holy frijoles!  It has been 355 days (or was it a leap year?  IDK) since I last posted.  CrAzY!  Anyway, so much has happened and our lives are still crazy here in our household and I don't see it letting up for at least another 16 years (Darcy is only 2, so we have a ways to go). 

Things that have changed:  Tobbie started gymnastics last fall and is now a level 2 gymnast and wants to be an Olympian/small animal veterinarian when she grows up. Tobbie also completed kindergarten (half- day kindy really sucked! For me anyways), Tristan potty trained and Darcy, well Darcy is just Darcy.  :)   We survived another deployment of six months.  Michael got some more body ink while in the Philippines (he FINALLY had my initials tattooed on him- I had his done over 9 years ago!).  I picked running back up and lost 30 pounds but I re-found 20 of them after suffering a leg injury. Now healed by the amazing powers of dry needling, I am back to running.  AND, I started college courses in June.  Yes, I am a 35 year old college freshman.  AND I LOVE IT!!!  Well, I don't love the math.  I am attempting to study nutrition sciences.  I'll have my associates next summer then hopefully move into a nutrition program at K-State next fall. 

That 's about it for now, I hope I come back in a few days and post again.  I miss writing. 

And I'm back....

from outer space....

Not really outer space, but we are officially settled in the new house and done with moving for at least 2 years. 7 moves in 8 years. That's a lot of moving, but I'm going to miss it when the Mighty Major retires.

So, my sewing business has resumed and I've added custom embroidery to the mix. I'm going to get away from doing so many "crafty" things and stick to the real deal. I better, that machine cost Mr. Clause an arm and a leg! But, I LOVE my new machine. My regular sewing machine might get jealous over the attention that the new machine is getting, but I can't do everything with the new machine. I LOVE SEWING (that was totally ghey)!

If you haven't already, go check out Sweetie McSweets blog, I've got a giveaway going on over there. Be sure to read the rules correctly so you get all your entries in. And, if you have time, check out the website. Christmas is fast approaching and I'll have s plethora of gifts up for grabs. All personal and special, like all of you.

In other news, we feel like we are home here in the PNW. I'm a Southern girl at heart, but I love it here. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever lived (And that's a lot!). The kids are loving the weather here (wait till the rain starts!) and Tobbie has started kindergarten. And she rides the bus! I love it!

Ok, that's all for now, I gotta go sew!

This is the giveaway!

How often do you bathe your children?

I recently read a post on a "board" where a question was asked about how often do you bathe your children. I was stunned by some answers. I will warn you, if you don't think you are going to like what I am going to have to say, stop reading now. EYE MUFFS!

I tend to bathe my three hooligans every night. These are the ONLY circumstances where they wouldn't get a bath every night: We've been gone to a friends house for dinner and we get home past 10:00 PM (extremely rare), they had a bath the night before and they did absolutely nothing (insert bad mother comments here) and I am too lazy to give them one. If those events did not occur, their little biscuits are getting a "warsh" (that's how my hubby's grandmother says it, too cute).

I was STUNNED to read that some people only bathe their kids once a week. Really, do they only wash their ass only once a week too? Then I read where some have to have a calendar to "remind" them to bathe their kids. OMFG! How do you "forget" to bathe your child? Do they forget to feed them too?

It's called parenting people. Take care of your children. Love them, nurture them, make sure they are CLEAN. Smelly kids stink and they'll be made fun of for years, plus a bath will make them feel so much better and rest more peacefully.

Leave a nasty comment and I'll sic my 2 year old on you...he bites!