A Day in the Life...Louisiana style!

So, living in the Leesville/Fort Polk area has taught me a little of what it must have been like back in the early 1900's when people "loaded up and went to town," once a month or so. Other than the PX, Wal Mart and a couple of Dollar Generals, the immediate area does not offer much in the way of shopping, therefor the Day family usually makes a monthly trip to either Alexandria or Lake Charles to visit some of our favorite stores! Since Randy had today off and it was payday, we decided that when we picked Cash from school (he gets out at noon on Fridays) we would grab some lunch and then head to Alexandria. Now Alex is closer than Lake Charles, but does not offer quite as many options as far as shopping goes. There is also NOTHING between Leesville and Alexandria (this will be come an important thing to remember later in the story). So, we pick up Cash, make a quick stop by Sonic and we are off! About 15 miles from Alexandria, Cash announces that he has to use the bathroom, we ask if he can hold it for a few more minutes and he says he can, but he seems a bit antsy, so Randy decides to pull over into a wooded area. Now, much like the bear in that old saying, poor Cashie had to "poop" in the woods and Randy accompanied him. After a few minutes life was good and we headed up the dirt road we had pulled over on to find a place to turn around, however Cash immediately announces that he has to go again! Now, a truck had passed us as Randy was getting Cash back in the van the first time around, and as poor Cash is making his second visit to natures toilet, a Durango pulls up and starts questioning Randy about what we are doing on that road! So Cash is copping a squat and Randy is yelling at the dude that his son just had a bit of a stomach ache and could not make it to Alexandria. He also apologizes to the guy, because we just figured he was the owner of said woods. Finally, when the guys takes out a notebook and starts writing down out license plate number, Randy approaches him to see what is going on. The guy explains that he is a sheriffs deputy and there had been a rash of burglaries in the area. Randy explains, once again, that he is in the Army stationed at Polk and his five year old son had to use the restroom! I am not sure what sort of burglars we looked like in our mini-van with Sir Poops a Lot out in the woods, but whatever! So, we get that all straightened out and we head off. Randy had to take a conference call, so the boys and I headed to the Children's Museum for a little fun and learning. Then we headed off to Target, the Spirit Halloween Store, Best Buy, Cici's Pizza and Big Lots! I told you we took care of a lot of business when we headed to town! Now, about 7 hours and many bathroom stops along the way, we head into the back gate of Fort Polk, which is about 7 or so miles from our house and Carter announces that he has to tinkle NOW!! Yep, you probably can figure out where this is heading, but needless to say the train tracks by the JRTC drop off point got watered tonight!! I swear, living with all these men is going to be the death of me!!!!

I Wish Everyone Could Experience...

Growing up in the El Paso area, I never paid much attention to Fort Bliss. We were out in the valley and rarely got to the Northeast and I just did not have much to do with the area. It was "just there." I think it was that way for a lot of my friends. Of course, this was prior to 9/11 and the whole patriotic movement that went on immediately after that. My first real experience with the military was when I started dating Randy. I had only been on post a couple of times prior to dating him, so I didn't know much. As many of you can guess, I was immediately mesmerized by the prices at the PX! Seriously, I never imagined I could get a Dooney for such a great price!! Slowly I also starting getting wrapped up in other, less shallow parts of military life. I attended my first hail and farewells, dining outs and other functions. For the three years that Randy was stationed at Bliss, we always went to the Christmas tree lighting and got to hear the Army band play Christmas carols. Seeing all those men and women in uniform, especially their dress blues, always makes me so proud. Now that we live on post (and right across the street from post headquarters) I get to experience even more of Army life. I wake up to a bugle call and know that the day is coming to an end to a bugle call. I wish that all my friends could experience what it is like to have a complete stranger come up to your husband and thank him for what he has done for his country. I am a very proud Army wife and I don't mind saying it. I think if more people were able to experience what it is like to "be" military we would have a much more patriotic nation. I know that I am much more "hooah" than I ever was before. Seeing a hearse driving down the road carrying the body of a soldier that died for your freedom will certainly change your perspective, and actually knowing the person will change it even more... So, I do wish that everyone could experience a little of what it is like to be a military family. I am proud of my husband and his fellow soldiers and I am so very glad that I have gotten to be a part of this crazy Army life!

My Doodle Bug

Every year about this time, I get a little misty eyed. For most people that happens because the anniversary of 9/11 is right around the corner, but for me it happens because Carter D.'s birthday is tomorrow. My pregnancy with Carter was not the easiest in the world. I had numerous kidney infections and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and had to take insulin shots. Needless to say, that on September 9, 2007, I was ready to meet my boy on the 10th! Little did I know that meeting him would turn into the most harrowing two weeks ever. Because Cash had been so big and had to be born via c-section, my doctor had scheduled a repeat section for me on September 10th at noon. She arrived a little early, so he was actually born at 11:54am. All was normal, as far as everyone was concerned when he was born and life was good. However, on the morning of September 11th, the pediatrician who had stopped in to look at all the new babies came into my room and told us that she was a little concerned. It seems that Carter's breathing was way too rapid and she had admitted him to the NICU for further testing. Thus began the worst experience of my life. It turns out that my little boy was very, very sick and the most helpless feeling in the world was not being able to do a darn thing to help him feel better. It turned out, after much testing, that Carter had both sepsis and pneumonia, and no one could figure out how he contracted them, especially because he was a c-section birth. He had to be treated with massive doses of antibiotics, and we were not even allowed to hold him for his first few days in the NICU. Let me just tell you, when someone says they do not believe that there is a God, I just want to tell them that having a child that you think might not make it will make you hope like heck that there is indeed a God and he is listening to you! After almost two weeks, and many, many prayers, Carter was able to come home with us. Doctors never did figure out why he was so sick, but I am ever so grateful that they were able to treat him and make him all better. So, tomorrow I will wake up and have a healthy, happy (most of the time) four year old and I will say a very big thank you prayer to God for watching over my little Doodle Bug....

Our 7th Anniversary!!

Today is Randy and my 7th wedding anniversary. We got married in the hottest church, on the hottest day and then took the hottest trolley ride ever to Fort Bliss for the reception. Poor Randy was wearing his wool dress uniform and, did I mention, it was hot! We had a beautiful wedding though and a great reception. I have to laugh though, because while our wedding was awesome, we seem to have the most unromantic anniversaries ever! Here is a little timeline for you:

1st anniversary- I was five months pregnant and we spent it moving from Texas to Monroe, La.

2nd anniversary-This was the only one that has been uneventful!

3rd anniversary-I was in the middle of the world's worst pregnancy with Carter!

4th anniversary-Randy was in Georgia taking a class getting ready to deploy 15 days later.

5th anniversary-Randy had just returned from Iraq.

6th anniversary-I had lapband surgery two days prior and we were getting ready to move to Leavenworth.

7th anniversary-We are in the world's smallest FGO house with nothing but a card table, four chairs and a couple of air mattresses!!

Now, if I were a shallow person, this would all bother me, but I find it very funny. Oh the stories we will have to tell our grandchildren. A word of advice for anyone our there that is going to marry someone in the military: GET MARRIED IN OCTOBER!! Do not get married during the middle of what will become prime PCS season! lol

The Big Move and A Word To My Fellow Army Wives

It has been a long time since my last entry, but we have been a busy family! Randy graduated from ILE and Webster University and we left Fort Leavenworth for Fort Polk. Along the way we stopped and stayed with friends, family and had a great day at Sea World. Upon arriving at Fort Polk, we were a little disappointed to find that we weren't able to see a house the day we arrived, but had to wait until after the weekend. We did, however take a couple of days to explore both main post, and all the housing areas to get an idea of what there was. On Monday, we were shown a very SMALL house, and boy was I disappointed! We then went back to housing, to see what else they had to offer. It turns out that all FGO housing on this post is SMALL, so we decided to just go ahead and take the first house we were shown. The house itself is not my dream home, but the neighborhood is AWESOME. We are on a cul de sac and in the middle of the cul de sac is a huge playground. I love that the kids can play and I can sit in the front yard and watch them. Fort Polk also has wonderful community centers and pools. We have gone swimming almost everyday and it is so nice. We are still living on portable furniture, but our stuff is scheduled to arrive on July 11th. I really, really hope it does, as I cannot take much more sleeping on an air mattress!

Well, enough about the move itself and on to a word to my fellow Army wives. On the 4th we were invited to a BBQ at one of Randy's soon to be co-workers house. Upon arriving, I met four or five husbands in the yard and they informed me the ladies were inside the house. I went in and introduced myself and was immediately inundated with banter about how much Fort Polk sucks! I mean these ladies just went on and on. Now I know that Fort Polk is not high on most people's dream place to PCS list, but in my humble opinion, telling a person that just arrived here how much it sucks and how horrible life is going to be for the next couple of years really isn't a good thing. Maybe Randy and I are weirdos, but we really do try to go into every new place/job looking at it like there is a reason we were sent here. GOD has never let us down, or steered us wrong and that is just the way we look at things. We also love Louisiana. We really enjoyed our time in Monroe and are looking forward to spending more time in this state. So, fellow military spouses, please do not immediately tell people new to an area how much it sucks. Maybe that is why everyone is so down on places like Polk, because no one ever bothers to give the area a chance, they just listen to what other's say and don't bother to form their own opinion. As for me, I am keeping an open mind and just enjoying this nice warm weather!!

Home is where the Army sends us, but I still miss my friends!!

"Home is where the Army sends us." This quote can be found in many different Army homes, and it is true. While we occasionally have some say so, more often than not we are sent to a new duty station to fulfill "the needs of the Army." So far for us, this has worked out and the Army has not sent us someplace that we were absolutely dreading, although I am a little iffy about Fort Polk, but I believe it is what you make of it! The worst part, however, about leaving a duty station is moving away from the good friends you have made. This has been particularly true for me in our last two moves. When we left Hood, I was not only leaving my sister, but had made some really good friends in the Meetup group that I belonged to. It is sad to move on, because you miss so many milestones in the lives of the people that you once saw several times a week. For example, I still haven't gotten to see our good friends Stephanie and Josh Moody's Samantha in person, and I have no clue when I ever will! Here at Leavenworth, we have met so many nice people, but in about the last six months, we have just clicked with the Powell family. I was sad to see all of their stuff getting boxed up yesterday, knowing that meant the end of our time here together was coming to an end. I know that I will make great friends in Louisiana, and who knows, it is a small Army and we may even meet up with people again somewhere along the way, but it is still sad to leave those that you have grown so fond of!

And the trend continues!

I have mentioned before how bad weather/bizarre happenings tend to follow the Day family, and this spring is proving not to disappoint! On Saturday I was supposed to attend the final 6th Infantry Bunco before many of us moved. I spent a good part of the day making some delicious brownies to share and was excited to get some "girl" time! The weather turned fairly ominous about 7:00 pm, but I was hopeful that it was just a thunderstorm and all would be good. My friend Traci stopped by and we headed out the door to walk down the street for Bunco, Traci clutching her umbrella and Strawberry trifle and me balancing my brownies in one hand and my umbrella in the other! We got to the house where Bunco was being held, headed in the door and weren't there for five minutes when the tornado sirens started going off! Now, there were about six of us there when this happened and we all just looked at each other, torn between the need for some serious alcoholic/food fun and the need to make sure our families were okay. It was a tough call, but we all headed back to our respective houses, to make sure the men folk and kids were okay. We did, however, say that if this storm passed quickly, we would all be back! So, I headed back down the street, with my umbrella and brownies and came in to find that Randy and the boys were just playing and getting ready for bed like nothing was going on. Apparently, along with the sound of a crying baby in the middle of the night, my husband can also not hear tornado sirens! I have never experienced tornado like weather, but it is crazy how still everything gets. When I walked down the street to Bunco, it was quite windy, but by the time I got home the wind had completely stopped and it was very, very still. The kids had no idea what was going on, they were just really excited to get to stay up late! We all headed down to the basement, put on a movie for the boys, and Randy and I took turns coming upstairs to see what was going on. Yep, we would be those dumb asses who got sucked up in the tornado, because we were too curious to stay in the basement! We kept checking Weather Bug on my phone to see what was going on, and saw that the tornado warning would expire at 8:30...well the sirens did go off around then, and we brought everyone upstairs to get ready for bed, only to have the sirens start up again! This happened a couple of times, but the sirens finally went off for good around 9:30! By this time, I was too exhausted to head back down the street! Luckily, no tornadoes hit post, although a huge tree in a yard down the street from us split in half and fell down. So, yep, the trend continues, and this may be a long month before we move out of tornado alley!!!

Holy Hair Batman!!

Carter really, really hates to get his haircut. We are talking really hates it. With Cash we have always taken him to the barber shop on post and spent $7, but with Carter we have tried everything, including one of those kids haircut places that charges $20 for a haircut. That all being said, this weekend I was talking to a friend about his and she said that her middle son was the same exact way and her husband purchased a pair of clippers and started cutting his hair and all was good. She said that Ryan would sit just fine for his dad and get a nice cut. Well, I thought to myself, we have clippers and I could do that. I mean come on, how hard could it be?? I came to found, that it can be very, very hard..... Randy had his final masters level class on Tuesday evening and so it was just the kiddos and I at home. The weather was really nice and we were hanging out in the backyard, when I got the brilliant idea that this would be a great time for a haircut. I came in the house and got the clippers and a couple of Popsicles, figuring that I could distract Carter withe the Popsicle and maybe he would not notice what I was doing to his hair. So, I handed him the Popsicle, sat him in a patio chair and turned on the clippers. I went with the biggest guard there was, but Carter's hair is so thick and curly that it didn't even seem to be doing much cutting. On top of that, the Popsicle was really not doing its trick, as Carter was turning and trying to stand up in the chair. At this point, instead of doing the smart thing and just calling it a wash, I proceeded to put the shortest guard on, and this is where the total disaster really began! I got the top of the head pretty short, but he would not sit still for me to get the sides, so he had the bald old man look going. I ran inside for another Popsicle, hoping that this would do the trick and had to chase him around the playhouse when I went back outside, to get him to sit in the chair again. The poor kid was not happy, while he was clutching his hair covered Popsicle and at this point he now just had long tufts of hair covering the sides and back of his head. So.....I decided to come in the house and get the scissors to try to finish off the job. Oh, and by the way, Cash is back there yelling that he wants Mama to cut his hair next @@! I get the scissors, chase Carter around the playhouse again and proceed to try to fix this horrible thing I have don, without chopping off my babies ear. I get a couple of tufts cut off when I realize that this just isn't going to work. I finally just look Carter in the eye, admit that I have completely effed this up and tell him to hang on, it is all coming off and I remove the guard from the clippers. Two minutes later Cash and I are both staring at a completely bald-headed Carter and Cash is asking me what happened to Carter's hair. I felt terrible. The poor kid has some big ears and this really accentuated that. He himself ran into the house and looked in my full length mirror and turned and said, "Hey, where is Carter's hair?" Needless to say, this was my first and last attempt at a home haircut! The only good news is that Carter should not need another haircut for a long, long time!

How Did I Get So Lucky????

As many people know, I was a little bit "older" when I met Randy and we got married. While people are waiting longer to marry these days, by age 32, I was wondering if I would ever find "the one." Once you hit a certain age, it seems like it is harder and harder to meet people. I had great friends at work, but most of them were either married, or in relationships and didn't really want to go out and do the singles scene. I gave my best friend Krista a lot of grief for doing the Internet singles thing, and I swore I would not do it.......that being said, I finally decided I would give it a try, since I wasn't meeting anyone any other way! Boy, did I meet some doozies!!! I usually assigned them names, as it was easier to keep track of them this way. There was T-Rex, who had these really short arms; Corvette man, who was the largest man I had ever seen stuff himself into a tiny car; Stinky, well lets just say if you fart on the first date, you aren't getting a second; Crazy Dave...fairly self explanatory; then there was Howdy Doody! My first date with Doody, he took me hiking and to lunch. I am not much of an outdoorsy girl, and I did worry a bit that he was going to take me to the mountains and chop me up, but it went okay and I agreed to a second date. On our second date we went to the movies. I thought he was a little odd, because he made sure that our arms didn't even touch on the shared armrest. Our third (and supposed to be final) date he took me to a drum recital at UTEP. By this point I had decided this was a nice guy, but a little too nerdy for me and I needed to move on, so I wrote him an e-mail saying that, but without calling him a nerd!! Well, he was composing an e-mail to me at the same time that said he knew he had come off a little nerdy, but he had been married before and things had ended horribly and he didn't want to move too fast.....so, I decided to give him another chance and nine years later here we are, Me and Doody against the world!!! I could not have asked for a better husband or father for my children. He loves me unconditionally, even when I tease him mercilessly and accidentally shave one of the children bald. I often tease him that the third time was a charm for him, but I am indeed the lucky one, and I would not trade my Doody for anyone else!!! I love you, EUGENE!!!! lol

Post Wide Yard Sale

Yesterday was the spring post wide yard sale here on lovely Fort Leavenworth. You are not allowed to have yard sales here on Leavenworth, if you live in quarters, except for on designated days twice a year. We had not been here all that long when the fall sale happened, so we did not participate, but since we are fixing to move again we decided to go ahead and get rid of some stuff. Boy was this an eye-opening adventure! First of all, the sale itself was from 6-3 on Saturday, but most people were out in their garages and driveways getting things priced and together on Friday evening. Starting about 4pm Friday afternoon, the early birds showed up in full force! We are talking 80 year old couples with Iowa plates, folks! We (being the Day family, as I have posted before) were of course no where near ready, so no one stopped at our house, but I swear to God the guy across the street from us had half of his stuff sold by 6pm Friday night! He and his family are PCSing overseas, so they did have a lot of stuff to sell, so I was very happy for him. Fast forward to 5:30am on Saturday morning. Randy got up to get all out big stuff out into the driveway and told me to sleep, but I felt too guilty (and also because I know Randy very well and he just wants to get rid of stuff, so he would sell things at a ridiculously low price if I were not out there to supervise) and went on out to help him. When I stepped out into the garage, there were already people buying stuff, so yay for us! As I said, we didn't have a lot of stuff, so I had a lot of time to just people watch.....and oh what a sight it was! We had been told that people come from four and five states away to attend the sale. I guess since this is the most transient post in the Army, and about 80% of its occupants are officers that will be moving soon, people figure they can get some good stuff. I saw several U Haul trailers and a few trucks. I am guessing these people either owned thrift shops, or were people I had seen are Hoarders:Buried Alive, because they were really serious about their yard saleing! I saw several people on those motorized scooters with baskets piled high, and I even saw one of those suckers that was equipped with its own little trailer. Let me tell you, I saw a lot of stuff I had never seen. The other thing that got me, was the fact that some of these people absolutely REFUSED to pay the price you had on items. I understand trying to bargain, if what you are buying is, oh say, $50. I get the whole, "I will give you $30 for it," thing, but I had a wooden stool in the sale that I had priced at $2. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this stool, I just have two others that are a little taller and I did not need this one anymore. A lady comes by, looks at the stool, turns it upside down and looks at it, asks if she can take it across the street where the ground is level and try it out and then brings it back and proceeds to say, "Will you take $1 for it?" Seriously..it was TWO DOLLARS!! I went ahead and gave it to her for the dollar, just because I had very much enjoyed how seriously she had taken her whole stool shopping thing. All in all, it was a good day. We made about $300 and the entertainment was priceless!!!!

You may not want to follow us around...

Randy and I have noticed a trend amongst the Day family. It seems like whenever we move someplace, or at times visit someplace, there is some sort of bizarre thing, totally out of the norm for the area, that happens while we are there. Some examples: we had not lived in Louisiana for more than six weeks when Katrina hit. Initially we thought we were getting stationed in New Orleans, and I was a little bummed when it turned out to be Monroe, but was way happier with where we ended up after Katrina hit! We were also in Louisiana when Rita hit, so I guess I need to apologize two times to the people of Louisiana. After we left Louisiana, we moved to the Fort Hood area, where crazy ass Nadal Hasan decides to shoot up the place right down the street from Randy's office. In fact, Randy was supposed to be at the procesing center to get some shots, but a meeting ran over and he wasn't able to get there. Thank goodness for small blessings! Next stop, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where the area has the worst winter it has had since 1912. They had to cancel school for something like 11 days, and post actually shut down three times, which is unheard of around these parts! Then the Day family loads up and takes a little vacation to St. Louis, where a tornado hits while we are there and destroys the airport. We didn't even know a tornado had hit, since we went to bed so early that night. We woke up to text messages and Facebook postings asking us if we were okay and we had no idea what people were talking about until we turned on the news! So, this summer we are moving back to Louisiana and that does not bode well for the state. I must apologize beforehand for anything that might possibly happen while we are living there, but hopefully we will be able to break this streak we seem to be on!

Living in a Male Dominated World!

Growing up I often thought about my poor dad, and how he would have probably enjoyed having a son, so that he could have some male-bonding time, but instead was trapped in a house with three females. Well, I am now living a parallel life to dear old dad, except that I am the only female in my household. Even the dog we recently got is a boy! It is quite interesting, being the only female. I haven't had to do things like play dolls, or put makeup on, but I now know more about trains and superheroes than I ever thought I would. Yesterday there was an incident at the Day household that really hit home the fact that I am going to be surrounded by a testosterone filled bubble for the next 15 or so years. Our Internet went out on Monday night, and when it was still not working on Tuesday, I called AT&T and they scheduled someone to come by yesterday morning. The technician calls at about 9:00am and says that he is on his way, and will check the outside box, but that he may need to come into the house. Okay, that is fine, as housing maintenance had already been by for their yearly inspection of the house, so we were all up and at'em. So, the technician does have to come in and he and Randy (who didn't have school yesterday) have some sort of techno geek conversation and the technician heads back outside. It was at this time that Randy shut himself in his man cave (the downstairs half bath) for a little light reading. Well, about 30 seconds after he goes in there, the technician comes back in the house and asks to speak to my husband. He follows me, as I go knock on the door and let Randy know that the guy needs to talk to him. So, the technician and I are standing outside the bathroom, looking at each other and waiting for Randy to finish his article, when we were approached by Carter. This is where the story becomes horrifying! Carter looks up at the technician and the following conversation begins:

Carter: What was that noise?

Dude: What noise?

Carter: It was Carter's heinie!

Dude: What...???

Carter (turning around and pointing at his rear end): It was Carter's heinie..see, see!

It was at this point that I wanted to die! The poor dude didn't know what to do, and we were all just standing around waiting for Randy to get off the throne! Luckily I was able to find something else to occupy Carter, but I am afraid that this is going to be a long 15 years. I wouldn't trade them in though, and I can relish in the fact (I hope) that no one will be wanting to borrow my shoes or make-up ever!

Bogie

Randy and I are both dog lovers and when we met and married, I had a chihuahua/dachshund mix named Rebel. All was good with Rebel, until Carter came along. Once there were two little ones in the house, poor Rebel did nothing but stand on the couch and bark and shake! Neither boy ever did anything to Rebel, but I think there was just too much going on in the household for him to relax. So, we found a new home for Rebel with a lucky fourteen year old who had recently lost her pet of ten years and was really looking for another "baby." This was the perfect job for Rebel, and I still keep in touch with the family and he is doing great. After the Rebel incident, we decided that we would not have anymore pets until the boys got older, and were able to appreciate having a pet around, and were also able to respect the fact that this was a living creature and they had to be gentle with it. I started getting "puppy fever," about four or five months ago and have been checking out petfinder.com since then. We knew that when we decided to get another dog, we had to have one that was good with kids, and also we decided we wanted one that was a little older and past that whole puppy stage. I have looked and looked, but just never found a dog that was calling out to be a member of our family. This is where my mom comes into the story. She and my dad lost their Pomeranian, Jingle, about four years ago. They went for a while without a dog, but decided about two years ago that it was time for another house pet. I started looking around while they were visiting us in Texas and found a Yorkie that looked promising. I took my mom and dad to meet "Jackie" and it was love at first sight. Jack is the greatest dog. He is gentle and jut loves to be loved, and is wonderful with my boys. So, when my mom was reading Sunday's paper (she is here in Kansas visiting us) she ran across an ad for a 1 1/2 year old Yorkie poo for sale. I contacted the owners and found out that Bogie was indeed, great with kids and an all around great dog, but that the family just didn't have the time to devote to Bogie that they felt he needed. They had four daughters, ages 7-14, that were very involved in many activities, and Bogie was just spending too much time crated up. Well, the Day family decided to lead up, Beverly Hillbillies style (except we did not strap my mom to the roof) and go meet Bogie. What a great dog he is. He is playful, yet gentle with the boys, and has a great disposition. He has been well trained, and other than a couple of chewing toy incidents, has been a perfect gentleman. We are so happy to have him in our family and are looking forward to many, many years with him!

Parenting is scary stuff!!

Two nights ago I wrote an entire blog with this same title, ranting about how scared I was that Cash was going to be starting kindergarten in the fall, and I just wasn't positive that I was going to like the elementary school in Louisiana, but for whatever reason, I could not get that blog to post. Well, yesterday my friend Keala posted something on Facebook about doing research on the elementary schools around Bliss (where they will be stationed next year) and how she was not very happy with her findings, so I decided to sit down and do some more research on the school that Cash was supposed to attend next year. What I found almost sent me into a panic attack! Apparently this school is all about discipline and not academics. They also do not have walls that seperate the classrooms, but 3/4 partitions and curtains! Both of these things disturbed me, but what finally sent me over the edge was the school policy called "lips and hips." It seems that kindergateners, when walking in line, must keep one hand on their lips and one on their hips so they don't talk or touch the walls. Oh HELL no!! I taught public school for 14 years, and I did not run my classroom like this, and I do not want my child to be treated like this. My husband may be in the Army, but my child is not. I want my precious, creative, smart boy to continue to love life and learning, and I just had such a bad feeling about this school. So, of course, I called my mom and talked it over with her. She was also appalled by some of the things I read to her, and so we decided that a private Christian school would be better for Cash. I think things were a lot easier before everyone in the nation decided they knew what was best for "my" kid. Before standardized testing and sucking the creative juices from the teachers and the students. I want my boys to love school, not be afraid of it. This parenting stuff is just so scary!!

I Am Missing The Mom Gene

......that makes me crafty!! I love my boys to death, but I HATE holidays around pre-school. Seriously, it is a bunch of four and five year olds ladies, you don't have to impress me, or them for that matter, with your ability to make cupcakes on sticks and Valentine's cards with your sweet child's face on them!!! Today, the boys had their little party at school. We got a list of names for Valentine's on Tueday, and me being me, forgot all about the list in the van until 6:00pm last night. I rushed to the PX before Bible study and bought two boxes of $2.96 Disney favorites Valentine's Day cards, and then proceeded to spend 1/2 an hour writing 38 names on them for class today. When we got to school this morning, I got the boys settled and then spent 15 minutes putting the cards in everyone's little bag. I was almost run over a couple of times, by moms with huge BOXES of Valentine's goodies that they were trying to stuff into the little mail bags that the kids had made. When I picked the kids up, and we got their bags home, I was amazed by the lengths some of the parents went to. Goody bags, with their child's picture and name on them....really??? Some of these things had to have cost the parents a fortune. There are 38 kids on the Tues/Thurs preschool class, and I am guess some of these parents spent about $5 a bag!! I am sorry, but I just can't see spending almost $200 on a Valentine "card" for a bunch of little kids. This is why I taught middle and high school, and not elementary....a.) I don't think I could put up with some of the elementary parents, and b.) I just don't have the crafty gene in me. My mother didn't have it, and I have never known my Nannie to be particularly crafty either. This is also why I loved my friends in Texas. I offered up my house to host playdates, and bought drinks and plates and they were in charge of all things crafty. It worked out perfectly... I need to find me some more friends like that, and pay them to put together crafts for my boys at holiday time!!!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez

So.....we will be Louisianans once again come July! At first, I was very disappointed and I really would love to be closer to family, but God has never led this family astray and he must have a plan for us in Louisiana. We have already talked to housing, and while it will be duplex living again, the houses seem nice enough. I have checked out the elementary school, and I am very pleased with the fact that it is just K-2. It makes me feel good that Cash won't have to start school in a huge school with a lot of older kids. My sister is only five hours away, as are Krista and Charla, so I hope we have a lot of visitors while we are there! Another big plus, as I sit here and write this with a foot of snow outside my window, is the weather!! I am definitly a southern girl, and I have found that I LOVE year round warmth. So, while Fort Polk may not have been on our top 10 list, we are indeed blessed. I have the comfort of knowing that Randy will not have to deploy for 2-3 years and will be home to watch many of his boys milestone events. Plus, Louisiana holds a special place n my heart, as both boys were born there and a group of wonderful doctors and nurses did an excellent job making sure we did not lose Carter right after he was born. So my friends, "Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez," AAEEEE!

The Waiting Game

When we moved to Fort Leavenworth in July of last year, we knew that it would probably only be for a year. Randy is here attending a 10 month school and he graduates in June, so the odds are that we will be moving on then. I enjoy the move, to be honest, but the waiting game to see where you go next is a bit unnerving! About the second week in January, Randy received a list of places/jobs that he had to choose from for his next assignment. He and I sat down together and went over the list. There are particular posts that we would really like to move to, and there are particluar jobs that Randy would enjoy, so we figured out which of those two meshed and made his top 10 list and sent it on to his branch manager. Of course, in a perfect world he would get his #1 choice and we would live happily ever after.....however, the Army isn't all about "happily ever after." While I was in Austin last weekend, visiting my sister and picking up Cash, Randy's branch manager gave him a call. It seems that Randy's name was chosen to become an instructor/evaluator at JRTC. Now, this is an honor and would be great for his career....but it is at Fort Polk!!! Now, for anyone that isn't Army and is reading this, Fort Polk is in Louisiana, and we loved living in Louisiana before, but this is arm pit Louisiana!!! The town of Leesville has NOTHING in it. The closest good shopping would be about 45 minutes away in Alexandria. The closest airport that Southwest flies into is HOUSTON!! Fort Polk was definitly not on our top 10 list. Shoot, I don't even think it would have made our top 20. However, I am trying to be a good Army wife and whatever happens, happens, but I am really hoping that the Signal Corps gods are smiling down on us and we at least get something in Randy's top 10. I know I have complained and complained about winter and wanting to be in a warmer climate, but not Fort Polk!!! I guess the saying is true, "Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it!"

Walking In a Winter Wonderland...

I realize that my adventures in the world of winter in Kansas are going to get old, but people I am almost 40 years old and I have never experienced a winter like this! The snow started coming down at about 12:00 pm yesterday afternoon, and stopped sometime after I went to bed late last night. On Wednesday evenings, Randy and I attend a Bible study with some friends down the street from us. We always walk, because it is just as easy, being that they live about five duplexes down from us. In our infinite wisdom, even though there was about 6 inches of snow on the ground by the time we left the house, we decided to go ahead and walk last night. Randy put Carter on the sled and off we go. The trip down there was fairly uneventful, although I did step into a snow drift and sink down to my knee and it filled my boot with snow! Fast forward a couple of hours and we are heading back down the street. It is significantly colder at this point, and the snow is coming down fairly hard. Randy puts Carter onto the sled and off they go....or at least off Randy goes. Poor Carter had fallen over backwards as Randy took off and was laying in the Baumann's yard, and to put it mildly, he was not a happy camper. To make matters worse, Randy runs over to pick him up and kicks a huge thing of snow in Carter's face. By this time, Carter is really crying and I am worried about his face freezing! So, back on the sled goes Carter, and we are off. Randy decides to run ahead, and I am just trying to follow the sled track and not fall down in the snow and die. I look up, and oops, poor Carter is lying in the street, having fallen off the sled again! So Randy picks him up under one arm, the sled under the other and takes off running toward the house. It took us a while to get Carter calmed down, and I secretly think he was calling Randy a dirty, rotten bastard under his breath, but I cannot prove that. Needless to say, the next time it snows, we will be driving to Bible study!!

Weight Loss

My entire life I have struggled with my weight. When you have the genes I was assigned and a love of food, there is no doubt that pugginess shall ensue! In February of last year, I decided to look into lap band surgery. I talked to my doctor on post, who referred me to an awesome group of people at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas. I honestly had always thought of any type of weight loss surgery as "cheating." I mean, come on, if you want to lose weight, you just diet and exercise. I had lost almost 100 lbs in 2001-02 doing just that. However, after having two kids, a tubal ligation and being almost 40, it just wasn't happening for me. I am so glad that I gave up my prejudices. I had lap band surgery on July 8, 2010, and it has been a wonderful experience for me. I did have some issues with my insurance and our move, but those seem to be staightened out and I received my 4th fill this morning. The weight itself hasn't come off as fast as I hoped it would, but I just feel so much better. I am down 44lbs and find that I have so much more energy than I had. Randy and I are doing the 30 Day Shred together every evening. There is no way I would have let him see me workout at my starting weight. My goal is to lose 100lbs by the first anniversary of my surgery. I am not sure that it is going to happen, but that is my goal! So, if you are out there and you have tried losing weight and it just isn't happening, and you are thinking about weight loss surgery, I say talk to your doctor and then go for it!

Totally Unprepared...

Those of you that know Randy and I well, know that we don't get in a big hurry with anything. We are pretty much "fly by the seat of your pants," kind of people. I am not sure if Randy has always been this way, or if being married to me has turned him like this. If we are due somewhere at 6:00 pm, I can usually be found trying to find the shoes I want to wear at about 5:58 pm. Even if we are in the car, ready to go on time, one of us usually forgets something and we have to turn around and go home. This is just how we roll, and while it drives my mother and sister crazy, I don't see it changing anytime in the near future. This particular little foible of ours did turn around and bite us in the ass yesterday. Since moving to Kansas, we love to follow the weather. I have weather bug on my iPad, and my parents got Randy a really cool weather clock thingy for Christmas. We check it all the time, and have had a lot of fun living in a new area and seeing how cold it gets in the winter, so there is no excuse for us being totally unprepared for the weather that hit us yesterday. We knew there was snow in the forecast. We knew there was A LOT of snow in the forcast. Did we panic...no, we did not. In fact, all Randy did was run around like a 9 year old chanting "snow day, snow day," and all I did was keep my fingers crossed that they would not cancel Carter's first day of preschool and ruin the 3 hour nap I had planned. Did we plan for inclimate weather....no, we did not. We just went on like it was any other day. So, when we woke up Monday morning to 5 inches of snow, did we have a snow shovel...no, we did not. Did we have ice melt....no, we did not. Did we have weather proof mittens for Carter...no, we did not!! We were totally unprepared for this weather event. Randy had to get a ride to school, because we could not get the van out of the garage. Someone had to give him a snow shovel, because we could not get to the van out of the garage to go to the store. We had to put two pair of wool mittens on Carter's hands, so that he would not lose fingers! I do not know how we found each other, but it is a good thing we did, because we would probably drive organized partners insane! Ha, and the government allows Randy to be in charge of millions of dollars worth of equipment! Fools!!!!

SNOW!!!! (and lots of it)

Being from Texas, snow is very exciting to me. We would usually get some snow once or twice a winter (maybe) and it was always a fun time. Well, I still like snow, but my first big snowstorm in Kansas is something to behold! I am used to an inch, maybe two if we were lucky, but it is predicted that we could have up to 8 inches here by tomorrow. That is right folks, 8 INCHES!!! I don't know what I am going to do. I am not even sure that I can back out of our driveway. We already have a couple of inches on the ground and it has started coming down hard again. Of course, Carter loves it and wants to spend as much time outside as possible. Me, I would much rather watch it from inside the nice warm house with a cup of cocoa in my hand. So, this is one of those "watch what you wish for," moments for me. I always said that I would like to live someplace that has seasons, and now I am experiencing one of the four! I have decided it might not be my favorite one! Keep warm folks!!!!

Oh, Carter!

There are a series of board books by author David Shannon that star a little boy named David. The fist book in the series is titled, "Oh, David," as David tends to be a bit naughty and gets in a lot of trouble. What I would like to know, is when did David Shannon follow around our youngest son, Carter?!? Carter is a mess. He is cute as can be, but he is a mess! Cash was never like this, so it has taken some getting used to, if it is possible to get used to having the Tasmanian Devil for a son. Yesterday alone, Carter took his bathtub paints that Cousin Cheri and Hugh gave him for Christmas and "painted" the quilt on the guest room bed. Mind you, he had to stand on the toilet and get the paint, as they were up on a shelf following a previous "painting" incident. He also decided that he would like to feed our frogs and dumped all the frog food on the bar. This was just yesteday, and that was actually an uneventful day where Carter is concerned. I really, really wish that my Grandma Bettye were still alive, because I get the feeling that Carter may be taking after his Pappa. For as long as I can remember, my grandma said that she drove 20 miles one way to take my dad to kindergarten, because Socorro ISD, at that time would accept kids if they were 4 years old and Fabens ISD would not accept them until they were 5 years old, and she had about all of my dad being at home that she could take! I always thought she was being a little rough on my dad, but I totally get it now. Tuesday will be Carter's first day of preschool, and I am ready. I may spend that three hours every Tues/Thurs taking a nap, just so that I can be fresh for whatever nonesense he decides to get into on those afternoons. He is lucky he is so darn cute......

Well, let's see how long this lasts!

Yesterday, Carter and I attended a birthday party where the crafty mom of the birthday boy made fleece dragon hats as party favors. I have to admit, I was a bit jealous of her ability to do this and it got me to thinking about the fact that I have no hobbies beyond my kiddos and reading. I don't sew, I don't knit, I don't scrapbook, I like to bake, but then I want to eat the goodies I have made and that is not good so.......I figured I could blog! I mean come on, I used to teach English and I have gotten a bit lazy about spelling and grammar when I write, so this could just be a considered a refresher course for future use! Plus, anyone reading would not believe some of the stuff that goes on around this household on a daily basis. I am more of a ringmaster than anything else, so welcome to my circus! I am hoping to blog a minimum of a couple of times a week, but those of you that know me well know that this could end at any moment. I have a habit of starting projects and never finishing them, so I hope to keep this up.