So technically summer has not ended but this coming week is school and summer vacation is gone for another year. Bella will start school next week. She is officially a kindergartner!! Yay!! Drew will go to preschool 2x a week and story time 1x a week on base. He also will be doing physical therapy 2x a week. Helen and Stephen will be doing Sequoia Charter Online School at home. We look forward to the school year and what is brings. I am excited to see all what each kid will learn.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
The Summer Trip From Hell =) But All Worth It In The End!!
The good Ole family trip was fun but had some interesting points in the trip. We made it but I am not sure if I would adventure to driving again without Andy. Not that I can't do it, it is just not so much fun without him. We left Yuma to head to Mesa to pick my mom up and get the truck in for the 100,000 mile check-up. Well something simple turned to something complicated and expensive. When we finally left 5 days later than planned, we were driving in Payson, when a good Ole value popped off (didn't I just get the truck fixed??), I thought we had gotten a flat tire but it seemed to be a faulty truck value that Ford trucks seem to pop off. Easy fix but not what I wanted on our first day of driving. At that point, I made the decision that if anything else went wrong or had to turn back around to go to Phoenix, we were not going on the trip. God was in our favor that day. (We also had no other problems with the truck after this). We did not drive far that day, tempers and nerves were not the most relaxed to say the least. I then knew my biggest mistake was not listening to Andy telling me to go alone. Oh well, not much I can do......... The following days were long but easy. We headed to Kenosha, WI to visit our friends Jenny and family. We stayed a couple of days and were heading to our next adventure - Naperville, IL (We never made it) :0( The dog ended up getting overheated and almost died. So we rushed him to the vet and praying everything was going to be okay. It was a huge lesson that we learned and will never be more scared for him. It was a huge miscommunication on our family part - Two days later he seemed to be fine and back to his normal self. Instead of seeing Chicago and Naperville liked we planned, we went straight to Bowling Green, OH. We made reservations for a hotel and the person that made it was interesting. A long story short, we got charged multiple times for a hotel we did not stay at. The pet rooms are only smoking rooms and it was too much for us to handle. So off at 1100 raining Friday night to get another hotel that seems to be booked everywhere we go. How fun. We ended up in a interesting hotel that night. It was two beds with 6 tired people, it fit what we needed for the night. So Saturday we ended up getting into a nicer hotel for the day. We meet with family and looked at houses where Grandma and my parents and Bob lived at. Looked at where my mom went to school. It was fun but again felt like it was cut short due to everything else that happened.
Sunday morning we are finally headed to MI. Our first stop was seeing Jenny and Greg and the three beautiful and handsome babies they have. It was our first time to see the babies and seeing Jenny and Greg from a year ago. They were gracious enough to open up their house to our big crazy family and fed us too!! It was the right way to start our vacation with family in MI.
We drove out to Dad's and Janet's house who was so kind to have us stay with them. We had lots of fun adventures with Grandma and Grandpa. We got to swim at Clarklake a few times, saw the yacht club, the horses around the property, the falls with the lights, and of course the family reunion. It was a good to catch up with some of the family we have not seen in a long time, the kids to meet some of the family for the first time or second or third time but not really remembering who they were.
We went blueberry picking with our Aunt Carly and our three cousins. We also went to the lake together and had lunch. Aunt Carly agreed to come back to Grandma and Grandpa house for dinner. It was one of the best days we had there.
We also got to spend an afternoon with are other Grandma. It was so good to play and have lunch with her. It makes us realize how much we miss everyone when we get to see everyone once a year. We also spent the evening with Aunt Carly and Uncle Chad's Clan. We had so much fun eating dinner, playing outside (Thanks Uncle Chad for watching us so the "mommies" could talk), eating ice cream bars, and watching a movie and popcorn before we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa house.
The day of the big party was fun. We help set up and much as we could. Grandma and Grandpa gave each of us a job to do. We ate, drank soda, had yummy homemade maple candy from the family in Canada. Mom was excited to get the maple syrup from Canada. It was a fun day to see our cousins and meeting new ones for the first time. We got to see Uncle Alex, Jake, and Sam. It was the perfect day to end our almost end to our vacation.
Sunday was a relaxing day for all of us. We got to see the Yacht Club by Grandpa and Grandma's house, we went swimming for the last time, and had really good pizza!! Mom started to pack everything up because the next day was the trip to head home.
Monday was a okay day. Grandpa picked Crush up from the boarders. We packed the truck up, and then it down poured rained for awhile. Our other Grandma was getting worried because we had not picked her up yet. So again, the leaving to head home started off late. We said our sad goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa to head back to Bowling Green to pick our other Grandma up. We finally get there and ended up eating dinner with some family. We drove a few hours and stopped for the night.
Mom's favorite place to visit was Norte Dame. So we drove around the campus and took pictures. Then it was just more driving, and driving, and you guessed it more driving. We made it to Denver Colorado where mom's oldest friend Elena let up stay for the night. She took us to a cool bar/grill that allowed you to play board games and toys at the table. Can you believe that?? Mom and Grandma were arguing which way to go. Since mom is the nice person went Grandma's way (We thought it was beautiful, but all wished we had gone the other way). The hotel in one city was really expensive and up mom went to the "million dollar mountain" or in other words a very scary mountains at night in our truck. Three of us were asleep (mom was grateful since we fight a lot in the car) and mom was even scarred. We were only allowed to go 5-15 mph majority of the time. We didn't know what was on the other side. If it was a big drop, no drop, or little drop. We just saw the top of the trees blowing in the wind, and started to rain. Mom and grandma even got along. We finally hit the next town. Tired, scared, and not knowing what was ahead we stayed there for the night. The next day we saw beautiful scenes from the mountains, lakes, green everywhere, and the dreadful mountain we climbed a few hours before. Needless to say, we think we were glad we stopped when we did. We had a cool hotel with two bedrooms and a living room.
We did get see the four corners again. Last year mom and dad went but it was closed for repairs. We saw lots of land, cows, and horses. It was fun but exhausting. We would do it all over again to spend the week in MI.
We are getting settled back home and gearing up for school to start!!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
This Last Month!!
Here comes the test of our family. Andy long and dreadful deployment. The catch is I can't say to much without breaching protocol, okay maybe that is not the right word so getting myself or Andy in trouble. It has almost been a month since he has left. I can't believe it has been that long. I do feel blessed that we get a few minutes of talking to each other. It is not much but it was starts my day and end my day. I have asked him lots of questions, which I do have to say that he does not answer. He is flying a lot, which makes him happy. Like I said before, I don't get to hear much because he can't tell me.
The kids and myself are keeping busy. We are trying to do as much as we can without breaking the bank. I am blessed to have friends and family so close by. I am also blessed to have made a few good friends that are military wives like myself who is going through the same thing. Sp our summer is just starting. Our big plans are going to MI to see family and have the family reunion. Can't wait to see everyone.
The kids are getting bigger as usual.
Helen is 13 and completed 7th grade. My baby girl is going to be an 8th grader next year. We home schooled her the second part of the year. We absolutely loved it. We will home school her next year. AZ has a great law that allows her to play sports at her "home" public school. So next year she will play at her public school. It gives us the opportunity to help her become a better student and not get frustrated with spending hours upon hours of homework and yelling. She is becoming the typical teenager with wanting to sleep all day, being lazy, watching TV or reading but I know it could be worst. She might be able to work across the street this summer where we are keeping our horses to learn a few things. She loves to ride and interested in learning. I see it as a win win for Andy and I!
Stephen is officially a 4th grader. Where does the time go? He will also be home schooled next year. We are trying to get him in a special gifted program for school. I think that this will keep him busy and out of trouble. I have had a hard time with him lately. He is trying to be the "man" of the house without understanding that I can do this on my own. It is very sweet until he doesn't want to listen. We are getting there slowly, just lots of time and patience.
Bella is officially a Kindergarten. I can't believe that we will have three kids in school. She will be going to school where she did preschool at. They offer a 5 half day program at her school. The great part is she will have friends that she knows, teachers she can trust and her baby brother there with her a couple days a week. We knew we didn't feel comfortable home schooling her, didn't feel comfortable with sending her to public school, didn't want to spend all the money for private school with out knowing truly how it was going to be. The kids school this year kind of left a bad taste in our mouth. AZ is so far behind in education that we didn't want to risk it. Yuma seems to be a little worse overall in my opinion. So we shall see.
Drew is going to preschool 2x a week next year. This will be a huge step for him. He needs to start speech therapy just not sure where it will be. He is doing great. He is talking more and more. Putting more words together in sentences. He is doing occupational therapy three times a week. Some days are great and others are not so good. He is constantly getting into things. He is so curious that I wish he would just not be so much. We are still going into Phoenix every few months to get check on. I am not sure how long we will be doing this, how often. We will find out later this year if he will need another surgery if occupational therapy does not work. I don't think this will be the case but only time will tell. We can only go appointment to appointment. The last appointment went really well. They were happy of the progress and how everything is looking.
Our new addition to the family is thumper
I am taking a break from school. I think I might only take one or two classes. Doing them online by myself is more than I can handle. Andy and I think that when Drew is in school full time then I can finish up. It makes the most sense. Our family is too important to have me be stressed out.
I am taking more time on me and focusing on what I need to do to become healthier and better for them. I have lost about 20 lbs so far (wish I could say it was me but it was medical), I have learned that I have an ulcer and acid reflex with my gallbladder not working 100%. I have been going to see the specialist for the last two months to run a series of test. I had to take antibiotics for two weeks because I had bacteria in my stomach. Not so much fun but I am going back in a week or so to see if its better then start medications for the ulcer and acid reflex. The good news is I did loose the 20 lbs. I am going to start weight watcher soon and loose the rest of this unwanted weight. My goal is to be a lot skinner for when Andy comes home. Yay!!! We shall see.
The kids and myself are keeping busy. We are trying to do as much as we can without breaking the bank. I am blessed to have friends and family so close by. I am also blessed to have made a few good friends that are military wives like myself who is going through the same thing. Sp our summer is just starting. Our big plans are going to MI to see family and have the family reunion. Can't wait to see everyone.
The kids are getting bigger as usual.
Helen is 13 and completed 7th grade. My baby girl is going to be an 8th grader next year. We home schooled her the second part of the year. We absolutely loved it. We will home school her next year. AZ has a great law that allows her to play sports at her "home" public school. So next year she will play at her public school. It gives us the opportunity to help her become a better student and not get frustrated with spending hours upon hours of homework and yelling. She is becoming the typical teenager with wanting to sleep all day, being lazy, watching TV or reading but I know it could be worst. She might be able to work across the street this summer where we are keeping our horses to learn a few things. She loves to ride and interested in learning. I see it as a win win for Andy and I!
Stephen is officially a 4th grader. Where does the time go? He will also be home schooled next year. We are trying to get him in a special gifted program for school. I think that this will keep him busy and out of trouble. I have had a hard time with him lately. He is trying to be the "man" of the house without understanding that I can do this on my own. It is very sweet until he doesn't want to listen. We are getting there slowly, just lots of time and patience.
Bella is officially a Kindergarten. I can't believe that we will have three kids in school. She will be going to school where she did preschool at. They offer a 5 half day program at her school. The great part is she will have friends that she knows, teachers she can trust and her baby brother there with her a couple days a week. We knew we didn't feel comfortable home schooling her, didn't feel comfortable with sending her to public school, didn't want to spend all the money for private school with out knowing truly how it was going to be. The kids school this year kind of left a bad taste in our mouth. AZ is so far behind in education that we didn't want to risk it. Yuma seems to be a little worse overall in my opinion. So we shall see.
Drew is going to preschool 2x a week next year. This will be a huge step for him. He needs to start speech therapy just not sure where it will be. He is doing great. He is talking more and more. Putting more words together in sentences. He is doing occupational therapy three times a week. Some days are great and others are not so good. He is constantly getting into things. He is so curious that I wish he would just not be so much. We are still going into Phoenix every few months to get check on. I am not sure how long we will be doing this, how often. We will find out later this year if he will need another surgery if occupational therapy does not work. I don't think this will be the case but only time will tell. We can only go appointment to appointment. The last appointment went really well. They were happy of the progress and how everything is looking.
Our new addition to the family is thumper
I am taking a break from school. I think I might only take one or two classes. Doing them online by myself is more than I can handle. Andy and I think that when Drew is in school full time then I can finish up. It makes the most sense. Our family is too important to have me be stressed out.
I am taking more time on me and focusing on what I need to do to become healthier and better for them. I have lost about 20 lbs so far (wish I could say it was me but it was medical), I have learned that I have an ulcer and acid reflex with my gallbladder not working 100%. I have been going to see the specialist for the last two months to run a series of test. I had to take antibiotics for two weeks because I had bacteria in my stomach. Not so much fun but I am going back in a week or so to see if its better then start medications for the ulcer and acid reflex. The good news is I did loose the 20 lbs. I am going to start weight watcher soon and loose the rest of this unwanted weight. My goal is to be a lot skinner for when Andy comes home. Yay!!! We shall see.
That is whats been going on with us. I hope that you enjoy our updates.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Vevie or Stevie
Stephen is starting 3rd grade - wow where did the time go? He is so smart that it can be fustrating to see how hard he is on himself. Just the other day this teacher did a math contest and he won multiple times. He was able to win no homework tickets. He won two and his teacher had to say nicely that he couldn't win anymore. He understood but was a little upset. He gets mad when he doesn't do well. So of course we have to tell him to relax and it will be fine.
He is also playing basketball and doing really well. He loves it. He has had one game and did well. There was a few parents that were yelling at him to throw the ball but we told him to not pay attention. He needs to work on looking at everything around him but for his first game he was great! Some parents just need to relax because they are 7 and 8 year old playing.
He is making new friends too. He wanting to venture out a little more and be on his own. For the first time I asked for a hug and kiss and he got embarrassed and said - "Really mom, here?" I said okay and understood. I was sad but I guess it's not the end of the world.
Stephen is happy that Drew is now wanting to play with him. He calls him Vevie all the time. Follow him around. Poor Stephen - this is now his nickname - two have called him Vive.
He is also playing basketball and doing really well. He loves it. He has had one game and did well. There was a few parents that were yelling at him to throw the ball but we told him to not pay attention. He needs to work on looking at everything around him but for his first game he was great! Some parents just need to relax because they are 7 and 8 year old playing.
He is making new friends too. He wanting to venture out a little more and be on his own. For the first time I asked for a hug and kiss and he got embarrassed and said - "Really mom, here?" I said okay and understood. I was sad but I guess it's not the end of the world.
Stephen is happy that Drew is now wanting to play with him. He calls him Vevie all the time. Follow him around. Poor Stephen - this is now his nickname - two have called him Vive.
Tween - What is it?
We have started this year with Helen aka Bubba being in full swing of the Tween. It will be hard to believe that in December she is going to turn 13. New school yet again, but Helen is beyond sweet. She makes friends like there is nothing to it. I do know she misses her friends back in Suffolk. She is also missing a lot of her friends from Naperville. She is loving her Facebook which allows her to keep in contact with them. We are trying to tell her that in the future she will love having so many friends around the world because it will allow her to have a network. Not quite sure if she is buying it though.
She has given us a little more attiude this year but nothing we can't handle. It comes with the territory. I think for myself that I have to step back and think about what it was like at her age. Kids are just mean these days. It is a funny to say that because kids were mean when I was her age. I like to think that we are teaching her to be a strong women, to stick up for herself. She is getting there. She seems to be more aggressive towards us then friends but we are getting there.
She is playing basketball for the Marine Base that dad is at. Not too sure if she is liking it all that much. It is a huge age group and the boys are a little umm...... not sure the right word to use but to play it say, they don't utlize the girls like they should. The bad part, she is second tallest and the tallest girl. It's fustrating to watch but yet a good lesson in life to teach her.
She is loving school - she is running for class represntative (makes mom happy that she cares), she is thinking about doing softball. She is making new friends, the closest one is the other new girl. Her teacher told us that there is one girl that is handicap and Helen everyday makes sure that she helps her out. We are looking into a program called Ambassdor to Ambassador for her to go next summer. We will have to see how much money and the dates. If she goes we will post more about it.
She is turning into a beautiful young lady. She is getting more mature over the years. We could not be happier or prouder of her.
She has given us a little more attiude this year but nothing we can't handle. It comes with the territory. I think for myself that I have to step back and think about what it was like at her age. Kids are just mean these days. It is a funny to say that because kids were mean when I was her age. I like to think that we are teaching her to be a strong women, to stick up for herself. She is getting there. She seems to be more aggressive towards us then friends but we are getting there.
She is playing basketball for the Marine Base that dad is at. Not too sure if she is liking it all that much. It is a huge age group and the boys are a little umm...... not sure the right word to use but to play it say, they don't utlize the girls like they should. The bad part, she is second tallest and the tallest girl. It's fustrating to watch but yet a good lesson in life to teach her.
She is loving school - she is running for class represntative (makes mom happy that she cares), she is thinking about doing softball. She is making new friends, the closest one is the other new girl. Her teacher told us that there is one girl that is handicap and Helen everyday makes sure that she helps her out. We are looking into a program called Ambassdor to Ambassador for her to go next summer. We will have to see how much money and the dates. If she goes we will post more about it.
She is turning into a beautiful young lady. She is getting more mature over the years. We could not be happier or prouder of her.
New Start
Well it's time to start again. This time I promise i will be better at keeping up and now that its under my account it will be a little easier to keep up. So much as happened in the last year in half. Now its time to keep my thoughts and stories to share. Hope you enjoy them.
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