What do you do when you are iced in?

Have fun! I was so saddened when I was on facebook tonight and all these people were saying, "Why do I have to have my kids all day tomorrow?" I have my kids almost all the time and love it that way! Now granted, I enjoy taking them outside. So it does get hard when we can't even venture outside, but we make the most of our time together and do things we normally don't have time for or don't usually want to make the mess for! Enjoy the pictures of our family time!

What do you do....

In Kentucky, when you are renters in the military, without a show shovel and you get hit by an ice storm? Please scan the photos below to find your answer! I am sure the nieghbors had many a laugh at our expense! I turned our outside broom upside down and used the handle to break up chunks of ice. The girls were slipping and sliding everywhere and looking very adorable! I fell once and it was not so adorable. LOL! Luckily, we are all safe and sound and HOME with homemade bread hot and ready. Plus, it only took 45 minutes to get our van up the drive! Gotta love Kentucky!

Snow/Ice/Will we make it up the drive????

Growing Up

We were returning that awful thermometer and a man with 1 and a half arms came up behind us. Wow. Our oldest was full of questions about that. "Is that funny?" "Hpw does he push a cart?" "how does he eat?" "What if both were missing?" "How does he hold hands?" . It was a great learning experience to discuss it with her. Thankfully far away from him!
My husband is praying for tons of snow tonight so that he can forgo his 12 mile ruck march in the morning! I hope it comes true.

What did I see????

Well, if you must know.... I walked around the corner and into our kitchen and found my husband DRINKING RIGHT OUT OF THE CARTON of orange juice!!! You know, I figured being married for almost 8 years and all that no longer happened, but I caught him in the act today!!
Then I caught him doing this during the basketball game. Photo #4
And this during cheerleading. Photo #3
Now actually, he really did pay full attention and cheered for them both AND complimented them and said how proud he was. But I do have to tease him a little!
We had a great day watching the girls! The basketball player is great at defense!!! She steals the ball and runs with it. The youngest just stands there looking scared to death but amazingly cute at the same time!

Sign of the Times

Today the girls were playing with their pretend cell phones and the oldest said, "Hey, I have two websites on my phone. Wanna play?" The youngest said, "Oh yes" (and at the same time pulls out a little pretend pencil and acts like she is using a palm pilot. She starts tapping the "Screen" with the pencil) Then the oldest said, "Our connection must not be real good because this page is taking forever to load."

Just remember... evidently, Kids are always listening!!! LOL!

Liberty Tax

Today the girls and I were driving when we saw the Liberty Tax people. The youngest says, "I think those people always dress that way because they don't have any other clothes and they need someone to take them shopping at a store." HA!
Another great thing is that they are both feeling better! They both fell asleep driving around today but ate normal meals. I think they will be ready for their game on Saturday!

Sad Day

Today was....interesting? I got up and took my husband to work and the youngest to preschool. Came home and did home-school and went to pick up the youngest. Her teacher handed me a letter and said we better read it. I did and thought, "That can't be." But yep. It was. They FIRED her teacher! With no notice and then lied about it! Said she was leaving to take care of her mother, but it was not true. I felt so bad for Ms. Rhonda! The youngest cried when I told her and chewed her nails. She says she still wants to go and we will let her through next week but we may not send her in February. It really bothered me the way it was handled. Plus with the whole Selective Mutism thing, it adds more stress to me and the youngest as well.
I watched American Idol tonight. My husband worked on an Opord and I still stand by my stance that the girls did NOT just have a cold! I took them to Chick-Fil-A and they basically sat and asked to leave. They got computer time and asked to be done and then they laid down and went to sleep. Tonight they went to bed at 7:15. I could not even take them to Awana's. The oldest spiked a low grade fever AGAIN. I have never had a cold like that. Oh well. Tomorrow is a new day!!

Dinner and Movie

Actually for us it was lunch and a movie! We loved it! Our sitter is so great and we will really miss having her to call on. She hand washes the dishes, never puts in movies or anything. They played hide and seek, Pretty, Pretty Princess, dress up, doll house and brushed each other's hair. She leaves the house clean and always brings a bag filled with new toys to play with for the girls!
My husband and I had a great time. We found some cool deals at the bookstore and Christian bookstore. We ate lunch, saw the movie "Defiance" and drank coffee! The movie was great! We love things based on true stories.
Now the girls are konked out!!! Yea!!!

Achoo!

Our oldest had apparently passed her cold on to the youngest now. I am assuming that we will all get it within the next week! Hopefully, I will be pleasantly surprised and my hubby and I will stay healthy!
The girls were wearing their coats that their grandparents got them. They are soft and white and furry looking. The oldest informed us that they were made out of polar bears! She did not mind in the least!
Does anyone know of a good kind of thermometer? We went out and bought a new expensive one last night. It goes on your temple and is supposedly great for use with kids. We had a huge problem with it though and are returning it. We thought the oldest was acting "off" and was chilling real bad. We used the new one and it gave a reading of 104.3! I was ready to rush to the E.R. But we tried the other side of her head and it was 101.7. Quite a difference. We tried it on us and each side of our heads got different readings and none were accurate. We eventually used one in her mouth and it was close to 102. But still. We want a new trustworthy one. Any ideas?

Yet Another Target Moment

If you read the post "Belly Talkin' " then you know the "moment" I am referring to. Tonights moment was great because my husband got to witness it and fling his head around to see if anyone else heard and took it the wrong way. We were out to eat at a yummy new place. There were jokes listed on the menu and I was reading them to the girls. One joke was.... "What do you call a pig that does karate?" Answer: "Pork Chop". Before I could tell them the answer the oldest yells, "KOREAN!" LOL! Now keep in mind that she does not mean this in a bad way at all. But because of the books and videos we have watched about Korea, she associates the country with Karate NOT pigs!! It was so funny, I thought I would need CPR to recover!
Not much else to report. The oldest is still running a fever and feeling crummy, but a trip to the ER said she has a cold. 5 years of parenting and never going in for anything silly and I called it wrong this time. Oh well. Better safe than sorry and it was free! She has been running a fever for 4 days and her cough sounds so awful and her nose is bleeding AND stuffy! Plus she is quiet and not interested in food at all. Her fever has been up to 102.5 so I thought it was more than a cold. I am thankful it was simple though!
I am sooooo happy to have my hubby back! You can read his latest adventures here.

Belly Talkin'

Well, after DAYS of prepping the girls for ALL the shots needed for Korea, it was rather anti-climatic. Our oldest had pneumonia a few years ago and had a bad experience with needles at the hospital so she is awful to give shots to. I had been building them up and promised ice cream WITH a topping from Baskin Robbins if they did good. The two rules were 1. Hold still (last time the oldest got shots it took 4 of us to hold her down). 2. Calm down when it is all over. So we have gone over this frequently. We get there for our screening and am told that the girls do not need any shots!! I only needed two. They were proud of me for being so brave. Then they were scared they might not get ice cream. They had been so good though so off we went. On the way the youngest says, "My belly is telling me that I need a cone." I told her if she got a cone they could not put a topping on, but that the choice was hers. She says, "Well someone needs to tell my belly. Here, let me pull up my shirt. 'Tummy. We can't get toppings on a cone.' My tummy says, 'OK'. We will get a cup with toppings." She is freaking adorable!!! Do you know what her final ice cream choice was? Rainbow Sherbert with chocolate covered hershey kisses on top. Eeeewwww! She loved it!!
Now a story I forgot from last night. Remember how our girls have selective mutism? Well, here we are. The oldest and I are shopping in Target. We are in line. Now remember, she would not dream of speaking to anyone... but she proceeds to sing in a loud, VERY loud voice about a duck. Then she decides to test out her new rhyming skills. What words can she say LOUDLY that rhyme with duck. "Luck, Cuck, Muck, *uck." Then she kinda fixated on the *uck. A lot. And loudly. I did not say anything. I know she has no idea she was saying anything bad and I have no desire to teach her that. She was just a kid rhyming. But for once I would have paid for her to be quiet!!!

Get that ball a Rolling

Tonight was Upwards! SOOOO fun! The youngest actually held up some fingers and stamped her feet a few times during practice! She looked so cute and much more relaxed than last time. Afterwards, we were hanging out watching the oldest play her basketball. She found one of her little friends from preschool to play with. They ended up playing basketball with this huge man! It was adorable! Then our oldests coach was complimenting her in front of the whole group. I got so choked up. It is so neat to see these people praising our daughter who has yet to utter a word there. I am so thankful that God keeps placing people like this into their lives. All in all it has been a great day. The only downer is that my husband is still gone and it is so cold. I feel horrible for him! I seriously wish I could trade spots with him (just for tonight, I am not that nice!!!). I wish that just for tonight I could be out there and he could come in for a hot meal and shower. I feel so bad for him. Two more nights!!!

Nothing new

I wish I had exciting news to report but nothing much has been going on here. The girls have been so good during this field time. We have had lots of fun together. Tonight we went to Family Night at Chick-Fil-A! They got their hands painted, made a snowflake magnet and got to meet the famous cow! They had fun and already zonked out! I have been doing lots of cleaning and been watching Chick Flicks at night! With no one to make fun of me when I cry! My poor husband has had a cold week to be outside running 3 missions a day. Thankfully though it has been better than they were predicting! It rained the first day but has been dry ever since! Three more nights....

Better now

Aside from the fact that the evidently non-melting styrofoam balls are all over the state of KY now... the day went very well after the horrible start! We the girls first Upwards games and of course both were playing at the same time, plus I am the team mom for the oldests team. It went so smoothly though... except I could not find our camera. I DID bring our camcorder though and caught some GREAT action!!! To my amazement the youngest even mover her pom-poms!!!!!! The oldest, holy cow. She can't shoot to save her life, but the little superstar STOLE the ball twice in the first 2 minutes and caught and kept some rebounds!!!! She was in the zone! =)
Afterwards, I took them to a health expo and playland. We all curled up and watched a show together and played Uno. Now, I am lonely on the couch and wishing my hubby were here. But one night is almost down!

NOT a good start

Well, so far today is not going well at all. We had to wake both girls up and take my husband off to base where he is gone to the field for 6 days. As we were leaving, I noticed the garbage truck never came and the package my in-laws sent has now emptied itself of those oh-so-lovely styrofoam bead things. Thinking to be a good neightbor I ran out with a broom and thought to sweep them up. The wind was howling and every time I had a pile they all blew away. So now various parts of the entire neighborhood have bits of styrofoam. How humiliating!
Fast forward to security check to get onto base. They tell me to pull over because they want to talk to us. Get this. Our tags expired. They take my license and stuff. They came back with good news though. Evidently we DID renew our tags but never got them. Weird, but true. I guess some national crime database comfirmed I was clean and that the van really did belong to us. Now I am tasked with figuring out how to get these missing tags. The upside was that we did not get a ticket for "Improper Display." He said (in a heavy German accent), "I not give you a ticket because you be real nice. You no twist your eyes and sigh and say bad words at me." At least THAT was nice! =)
So pull out and my husband was losing it because we were now almost late. A fine mist starts coming down. Harder now. Drive a little. Harder. Now, I cannot see. It is a virtual monsoon. I have to drop the poor guy off outside to go stand in it.
As we leave base I am feeling tired, sad and a little shaky from the rain/security/styrofoam and we get behind a line of firetrucks and MP's responding to a wreck.
I am hoping that the day can only get better from here!

Ha!

I don't have much news, but you have gotta read the comments from the previous post!! My sister-in-law and good friend are SOOOO funny! I miss both of them!
Today was a super busy day! We had the toe looked at on our youngest. She had a black spot. This happened on her other foot and she lost a toenail. We were concerned that she had a fungus or something. We took her in and the nurse looked at it and was confused. She got the doctor and the doctor was puzzled. They brought in another doctor and he was unsure. They brought in another doctor and he was, hmmmm. They brought in another and finally our diagnosis..... "She is a medical mystery!!!" Kinda funny I thought. She has never really been sick or had any big flu, but goodness, she gets really weird things and lots of calls to Poison Control. I believe there is probably one in every family!!! =)

Knitting Time

I was out on an errand yesterday for my husband. He needed yarn. Blue, Red, Black, Brown and Green. The girls were with me and were helping me pick it out. The oldest said, "Well, I hope when we get home Daddy does not get out two needles and go (insert clicking noises here)" I asked why. She said, "That is something ladies in rocking chairs do. Not boys or Daddies." I found that SOOOOO funny! The yarn is actually for the Army. They are using them to make sand tables! No, not dig and play in the sand tables. They are actually terrain boards representing the area they are about to invade.
Tonight both girls had their first real Upwards practice. The oldest really had a great time and she was so cute out on the court! She really guarded her zone! Her arms were up the whole time and she kinda bounced around people. But she ran fast and had fun! Her coaches were real pleased with her. The youngest was just the typical child suffering from Selective Mutism. She stood their on the stage, stared at the ground with her hand stuffed into her pockets. For one hour. Know what really breaks your heart? We picked her up and she said she LOVED it and had so much fun. It just kills me. I want to beat up this anxiety and yet our hands are tied. We can only keep making little bits of progress through therapy. She was cute though! =) Afterwards, I asked her team name. They are the Little Fireflies. I yelled, "Go Fireflies!" She yelled, "Go ThireThlies!" Adorable!!!!

Feeling the Pinch.... And it HURTS!!!

Not a real pinch, just that tomorrow my hubby is back to work and he leaves for the field Saturday for 1 week. Tomorrow we start back at home-school and preschool and all normal activities resume. A few weeks ago when we learned my husband HAD to take the two full weeks off we were a little bothered because we did not want to use all that leave time. However, it has been the biggest blessing. Since February, we have not had any slow time. Till now. It has been so wonderful! We have had long, lazy mornings and late lazy nights. We have had card games with the girls, leisurely meals around the table and some funny family moments! I am so sad that tomorrow it all comes crashing back down. Real life intrudes again. We are still waiting to hear about Korea, but no matter what they tell us we will all be there together one way or another.
Tonight the girls were playing with their new V-Smile and the oldest was playing a new math game on the computer. The guy kept saying, "You are doing so good Commando Alpha." She thought that was hilarious! She kept saying, "He thinks that is my real name!!!" It was very cute! Later I was telling them that Daddy will be gone for Valentine's Day and that they would need to make a surprise for me. The oldest said, "I'll get you a real puppy." I asked her how. She said, "You can drive me to a pet store and I will carry in my bank and come out with a puppy!" Cute kids!!!

First Post of 2009

I cannot believe 2009 is here so soon. This year is bringing in so many changes. This time next year I will be blogging from Korea. In 4 months we will tell our friends and family good-bye for 2 years! During our two year stay in Korea we do not plan to return to the states. Too expensive and way too hard on little girls to put them through the 14 hour time change over and over. This year our babies will turn 5 and 6. This year I will complete my first year of home-school and start my second year. We will move overseas! I have never been out of the U.S. except for a cruise and Canada. I cannot imagine what this year will be like but I am excited! A tad scared, but very excited! Right now my focus is on resolutions I have no control over! =) I want an answer from the military about our command sponsorship to Korea and I want to survive February. During the 28 days if Feb. my poor husband will be in the field 25 of those days. If you do the math you will see that we basically will not be seeing him or even talking to him for an entire month. I am not too happy about that part, but am excited to go to Korea with him! Right now we are planning to start our New Years Day with a freezing cold hike. My husband thinks it is a great idea! I am not too sure, but getting hot coffee with him and the girls afterwards DOES sound great! =)
Happy New Year!!!!!