So Much For Spring Break!

Well, Spring Break is almost over and its been a rough one, for me any way. They boys have done rather well all things considered. They have spent hours playing with toys, playing in the back yard, computer games and LOTS of videos thanks to Netflix! I have had a tough time being a single parent while my husband is currently TDY. Four more weeks until he's home and only two more days until the boys go back to school :)

It has certainly been an interesting week. It started off with very bad news of a family member's health. Bad how my sister and I found out about it as well. Proof once again that the family is further apart than we'd like. We can't change peoples actions but we can control how we react to them. Thats tough to do. My sister can just wash her hands of these things and I tend to want to press the issue, find out more, reach out etc.

I sure would have loved to do something exciting for Spring Break but that didn't work out. No extra money with a big trip to California coming up in a few weeks. I do feel like things are falling into place as far as the planning goes. If only we could win the lottery! It costs us so much money to go home once or twice per year and with one income its becoming so very draining. On the other hand, I am more than excited to see my sister get married! She has been waiting a very long time to find the right guy and she found him! They are buying their first home and I am so very proud of my sister :)

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Okay, its been MONTHS since I've added an entry on my blog. I'm guessing no one even reads it anymore. Maybe it will turn out to be my online journal, who knows?

So its Christmas Eve and not a damn thing is going on here which makes me sad. We have friends but they all have families here and are doing their own thing. We don't have any dinners to go to, no friends to invite over, nothing happening at all. How depressing! We don't even know what we are going to make for our own dinner tonight.

It seems to be getting more and more difficult being away from my family as the days go by. I feel like I am missing so much!

I guess I'm in a funk at the moment and this is not a good time for it! Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

My New LOVE

ZUMBA!

I have finally found an exercise that I love to do. I had heard about Zumba recently when I joined the local YMCA. I started off just using the treadmills but to be honest...its quite boring and I tend to not push my limits on the treadmill. Each day that I walked down the hallway in the Y I would walk right past the cardio room and peek in the door of the aerobics room where Zumba was taking place. I knew it was an hour long class and I was so afraid to try it. I was positive that I wouldn't be able to get thru a whole hour of cardio not to mention that I have NEVER had any kind of rhythm for dance in all my life.

One Sunday I decided that I would bite the bullet and just try the beginners class. Well it didn't seem very "beginner's" to me but I jumped right in and tried. I made it thru the whole class although I felt like I didn't belong. I could barely keep up with the pace but the music was amazing. I kept trying and went back to the morning classes a few times each week. I discovered that I truly LOVE Zumba! I have found many of the songs and downloaded them to my iPod and I often wake up with these songs in my head :)

My sister wanted to try it with me while she was here visiting and she loved it too. Now she has a gym membership in CA and is going to Zumba! Its so exciting that she and I both found something we love to do.

Completely Uninspired

Its been a tough couple of months for me. I don't know if its the holidays or what. I haven't figured it all out yet. I just keep thinking "hmm, I wonder if I'm depressed". Not what I wanted to hear myself say. I really think I need to go see my doctor and address a couple of issues.

I am totally uninspired! I used to be prepared to cook dinners. I go to the store 2-3 times per week and I still can't manage to pull a meal together. I don't cook all the things that I used to cook because I have tried to be healthier however I haven't replaced those "full of fat/calorie" meals with healthy options...so I never know what to make! When Dominic is working I tend to just microwave something for the boys and fend for myself.

I used to do laundry from start to finish...now it takes me all week to get the stuff all put away and thats if I even managed to fold it all.

I feel very short tempered lately too. I'm not in a "happy" mood unless Dominic is home.

I need to snap out of it!

There's my rant!

Christmas Time!!

Its Christmas time again and about a year after I started this blog. Its unbelievable that a year ago this month was when Dominic left for his deployment. So much has happened in a year.

Last week mom's were invited to come to school to help the Pre-K kids decorate their gingerbread houses and have milkshakes. That was fun! Then yesterday Ayden's class had their Christmas party so I went to that. It was nice too.

We are about done with our Christmas shopping. We always have to focus on getting our families stuff done first since we have to ship it all to CA every year. That was a major process again this year. It takes a lot of organizational skills to get all the gifts for all the right people in the right boxes, packed, labeled and ready to ship. Its a lot of work! We managed to get it all done and shipped off last week. Then I got all the Christmas cards ready and mailed yesterday. Today we got three packages from family in CA. So now it really feels like Christmas :)

We don't have any plans for Christmas at the moment but I think we will invite a friend and her daughters over. Her husband is deployed and will be back the first week of January. She and her daughters just moved back to town this week to get settled before he gets home. I think we'll have them over for dinner. We're going to cook a turkey with all the fixin's. Dominic will be off of work for 8 days but will have to work 8 days over New Year's.

Today was the boys last day of school for the semester and now begins winter break. They go back to school on Tuesday the 5th! I will be so ready for that day to come by then.

I joined our local YMCA a couple of weeks ago. Its been fun to go a few times each week to work out and take a class. I have a friend that teaches a toning class which I have really been enjoying. My next adventure will be Zumba I think.

We have all been battling forms of colds and sicknesses over the past several weeks. Last weekend Dominic, Christian and I managed to get food poisoning of some form. We were sick the entire day and night then okay the next morning. I'm glad it was just a day. Now we have head colds, coughing and runny noses. What a pain! I just hope that it all works itself out by Christmas Eve!

I made 6 batches of my aunts recipe of Almond Roca this year. Its such a easy recipe but its all about execution and it can be a hit or miss kind of thing. I managed to only mess up one batch this year so I consider that a huge success. Everyone loves this candy and looks forward to it each year. Maybe its a new tradition.

It feels like home!

The new floors are finally in and done! Its been a very long few weeks between going to flooring stores, scheduling estimates and picking out flooring. We chose a great local flooring company to do our floors and we are completely satisfied with their work.

We wanted carpet in all the bedrooms and part of the living room with laminate in all the high traffic areas. I am so happy with how the house looks. We've also taken this opportunity to do some rearranging of furniture. Hopefully that will help make the house not feel so cluttered.

The Living Room

Laminate and Carpet

We are completely overjoyed at how awesome the floors came out. I can finally feel proud of our house. We've done so much work in the 4 years that we've been here but this, by far, feels the best.

I am anxious about getting the house put back together. The garage is packed full of household junk. I was able to get a lot done already and I will work much more efficiently once the boys go to bed.

Proud Parents

It was time for our first parent/teacher conferences at the boys school. The first 9 weeks of school are over as hard as that is to believe.

I met with Ayden's teacher last week. She was very nice and for lack of a better word, normal. She wasn't one of those Pre-K teachers that talks to EVERYONE like they are 4. That was refreshing :) Anyhow, Ayden is doing great. He knows all of his colors, shapes and can count to 14. My big question was "is he taking naps?" She said that most of the kids are not sleeping during their one hour nap time but by law they have to have a rest time. They must lay quietly and still for a whole hour which must seem like all day to all those 4 year olds. The only problem that she has with Ayden is that he is a little "handsy". He likes to push and hit however she did say that its not just him. There are several boys who are doing the same thing and what I liked the most is that she didn't make a big deal out of it. She acted like it was completely normal for boys at this age which I agree with.

My conference with Christian's teacher was yesterday. His report card looks amazing! He has four A's and the one B is only one point away from an A. He's doing so great! His teacher shared with me a composition that he wrote. He did a great job and had very few spelling errors. His teacher was very complimentary about Christian and said several times that he is a very hard worker. It was an absolute relief to speak to one of Christian's teachers and have a positive response. From the time Christian was four years old and started at a British school in England we have been getting nothing but negative comments from teachers. Its been a very long road but we are now at the point where we have Christian on track with his medication and he is excelling in school. Its amazing and Dominic and I are absolutely proud beyond belief.

We have spent the last week and a half going to flooring stores and having measurements done to get all new flooring in our house. Today I'm getting the last estimate. I am anxious to decide which company to go with and set a date. We are going to put laminate in the majority of the living area and carpet in the bedrooms. I am so excited about this because I feel like it will make me feel proud of our home. I currently hate to have guests over because the carpet is beyond horrible! Its thoroughly embarrassing. To have new flooring makes me feel like I will be proud to have guests come over.

I'm an Auntie!

On Monday, October 5th my niece Eleanor Paige was born! My sister labored very long and hard for 35 hours before they finally decided (after dilation stopped) to do a c-section. Kara worked so hard for so long with lots of discomfort and pressure and was disappointed to have to end up with a c-section. The surgery itself turned into "the worst experience of my life" in Kara's words. Hearing her describe it was heartbreaking.

Of course the end result was nothing less than a miracle...a beautiful, healthy little girl! Elle was 7 lbs 6 oz and 21" long. Her daddy is Mexican, giving her long thick black hair, dark skin and eyes. What a special baby she is. Her mommy and daddy love her to death and Elle has lots of family and extended family who are completely in love with her. She has lots of adventures awaiting her.

Me giving Elle kisses before I had to fly back to TX

Sweet baby Elle!

8 days old

I am so happy that I was able to fly home to be with Kara, Julio and Elle for a week. I cooked lots of meals for the freezer and helped wherever I could with other housework. I know how amazing that help is after having a baby and I didn't even have a c-section.

I am excited to see how Elle grows and I hope to be a big part of her life although being so far apart makes that tough. I think that our family has proved that its possible though with our boys...so I'm determined!

Losing My Mind!

Its Sunday.  Dominic is working nights this weekend and its my job to "try" to keep the boys civil and preferably quiet so that Dominic can sleep.  I bought him ear plugs but doesn't wear them.  

Ayden is a major handful!  He is currently sitting in time out for the 5th time today!  He wrapped a belt around Christian's neck at one point.  Then less than 5 minutes later he spit in Christian's mouth!!!  Ugh!  I thought I was going to loose it.  He's been climbing over the back of the couch all day after being told to stop a thousand times.  I just don't know what to do with this kid sometimes.  I guess I need to re-read my new parenting book.  

I'd like to go to Target today but honestly, leaving the house with all three boys in tow just doesn't even sound slightly appealing to me right now.  I'll wait until tomorrow when I can just have Mason and Dominic will be off.

We're inviting a potential new friend over for dinner on Tuesday.  Our good friend Zach who is currently deployed, announced several months ago that he's getting married.  We've met his fiance, Megan a few times and had lots of interaction with her online.  She's a sweetheart and we are excited for Zach.  They are planning on having their wedding and reception out at Zach's Papa's land.  She asked us if we would take her out there to sort of talk about where the best place would be for the wedding.  Then we'll pick up the boys from school and come home to have some dinner.  I'm looking forward to getting to know her better.  

I'm finding that I have much more time on my hands now that two of the boys are in school.  I would love to meet some new people preferably some other stay at home moms but I just suck at being social.  I wish I weren't so timid all the time.  Maybe I need a new hobby.

Back to the kids...

Just Stuff

Its been a fairly calm weekend.  We expected Saturday to be busy...it turned out to be busy for Dominic.  He got up early and headed out to "the land" as our family calls it.  

The land belongs to our friends Papa and Grandma.  They have been so kind in letting our family use it whenever we want.  Dominic takes the boys camping, fishing and hunting out there and they always have a blast.  Papa (Jim) used to have some cows but he sold them all this year.  There is a nice barn out there and the rest is all just mesquite trees and a few tanks or ponds with catfish.  Jim absolutely trusts Dominic and thoroughly enjoys his help out at the land. 

So early Saturday morning Dominic and the boys headed out to the land to fill the deer feeders with corn and were meeting up with Jim to help put up a new feeder.  They got out there around 8am.  Jim let the boys ride in the tractor with him and even let Christian drive it.  Jim said they were full of questions.  Christian had a Cub Scout car wash at 11am.  Dominic brought Ayden back home after filling the feeders then took Christian to the car wash.  They got home at about 1 o' clock then we had a bbq to go to at the Deason's house at 2pm.

The Deason's are some wonderful people.  Zach used to be one of Dominic's troops which is how we met them.  Zach and his family are from here so he is so lucky to be near them.  Zach is currently deployed but will be home before Thanksgiving.  His mom and dad (Laurie and John or JD) are so great.  They have babysat the boys for us a few times and are always so good to us.  They have a beautiful house here in town with a gorgeous backyard and pool.  Laurie's mom and dad are the ones that own the land outside of town.  The whole Deason family has been so kind to us and the boys...they treat us like family.  We had a great time at their house on Saturday.  They made great brisket and sausage, beans, salads and tons of desserts.  It was a blast!

We didn't have any plans for the rest of the weekend so we mostly just hung out at home yesterday.  Dominic got some wood split and stacked for the winter.  Today we ran a couple of errands and had some lunch.  Dominic is working tonight.  The boys are back to school tomorrow and we will get back into the routine.

Cub Scouts is going well so far.  There is a new den leader this year who seems determined to fix everything.  Part of that refers to not having siblings running around at the meetings which is a great idea but not for those of us who have more than one child.  He plans on having siblings sitting at a table during the meetings coloring or something.  That just won't work for us.  How do you make an 19 month old sit in a chair for an hour?  It just won't happen.  Dominic and I are committed to being more involved in scouts this year so Dominic is going to go to the meetings every other week which is when he'll be off anyway.  I will have to drop Christian off at the meeting on the other weeks.  Dominic is also doing some woodworking projects for the group that will help them get their Handyman badges.  I'm happy that he is more involved and anxious to help this year.