I. Am. Tired.

I know I promised to keep this blog up better and I really intended to do just that. But then life got in the way. We were in Nashville for 4 days for a hockey tournament and we had just somewhat gotten back into a routine (as much as you can when it's Spring Break and rainy everyday), when Noah decided it was his turn for an ER visit.
Yesterday while roller blading out front, he bit it HARD and broke his finger. He has road rash from head to knee on his left side and did quite the number on his pinky finger. Thank you Jesus that he rememebered to wear his helmet or things could've been much, much worse. He's all splinted up right now and we have an appointment with an orthopedic doc on Monday for a cast. There's a chance he may need surgery to have a pin put in, but I'm praying hard that's not going to be necessary.
And wouldn't you know it, the hubby is leaving for yet another TDY this weekend so he won't get to be there for the fun of casting and, if needed, the surgery.
God bless whoever invented colored dry erase markers...there's no way in this great wide world that I'd be able to keep all of our upcoming doctor visits straight if it weren't for color-coding each family member!
We are barely 1/4 of the way through 2012 and I'm already spent! I really hope that I have the stamina to get through this deployment when it rolls around in a couple months!

This makes me smile.

Wish Lists.

The other day I asked the kids to make out their Christmas lists. Normally I'm just about done shopping by this point in the year but not this time around. Life has been, well, life.
Anyway, the boys spent alot of time on their lists and when Sophia was done in the bath she got to work dictating her list to daddy.
Jonah kept asking me how to spell things and I would tell him and I wasn't really paying all that much attention. He asked me how to spell "screen" and I told him, and then thought to myself What is he wanting that has "screen" in it's name? I let it go thinking maybe it was a game I'd never heard of.
And when they were done they handed me their lists and I figured out why my crazy 7 year old asked how to spell "screen".
First thing on his list? Big Screen T.V.
Nice try, bucko!

Thankfully the kids know that they won't be getting EVERYTHING on their lists and that it's a guide we go by, so he shouldn't be all that disappointed when Christmas morning rolls around and there's no TV under the tree for him.

Double Digit Milestone

Turning ten is a major milestone if you're a military child. When you hit double digits you get your first military dependant I.D. card. Trust me when I tell you that this is a BIG DEAL for a military kid. And a scary one for the moms & dads.

Secret Agent Party

Over the weekend my Noah turned 10. I'm still in shock that he's reached double digits.
We had a SUPER fun birthday party for him...he picked a Secret Agent theme. I found this great printable party from Simone Made It on Etsy. So much of this party was editable so we were able to personalize it and make it just right for Noah's birthday. All of the guests were sent "Top Secret" invites where they were assigned a code name and given a secret code to decipher, along with a secret handshake. They had to tell the password and do the handshake when they arrived, and if they did both correctly they were given their mission documents. We set up the food table with a magnifying glass cake and some "Truth Serum".Goodie bags were awarded when their mission was complete.Mustaches were offered as disguises. Sophia called hers a "Mustache on a steeeek!" (We may or may not be fans of Jeff Dunham in our house ;) )The hubby brought home a fingerprinting kit from work and fingeprinted all of the 'agents' for their dossiers.We set up a weapons training course and all the "agents" shot Nerf guns at targets we hung from the cabinets.We also set up a Laser Evasion Course in the kitchen with red crepe paper. This was the hit of the party!All of the Secret Agents in their disguises. We really had a great time and it was one of the most fun parties we've had!

Back to school (a few weeks late)

Alright y'all...here are the long awaited first day of school pics! My Noah is now a 5th grader, Jonah-man is in 2nd and my baby girl started pre-k!

Miss Thang was super excited for school to start!Just a girl and her daddy (and her brothers way up ahead) walking to school.

Baseball 2011: Noah

Some of my favorite pics of Noah so far this season.

Proof

Just in case you though I was exaggerating about how busy life is here:

It's an adjustment.

Last night my oldest, laid back as can be son had a meltdown.

He is not really a meltdown type. He's so cool, calm & collected most of the time. He played it off like he was frusterated with his homework, but then I heard the truth in the form of a mutter: "I hate Oklahoma. I wish we never left South Carolina."

And it hit me like a ton of bricks.

The hubby & I had noticed some uncharacteristicly low grades coming home in his folders lately, and a major attitude brewing. Granted, he's 9 and I've been told that the attitude of teenagers starts early, but it was so out of the norm for him. He's such a go-with-the-flow kind of kid. These were signs of him not adjusting, and I just didn't see it. I was too busy wallowing in my own self-pity of hating the crazy, can't-make-its-mind-up weather and longing for my friends and the beach that I didn't even realize he was having an even harder time acclimating that I was. Way to be an on-the-ball mom. Nice.

I feel like it's partly my fault, too, because I'm guilty of voicing my complaints about Oklahoma in the presence of my kids. I realized last night that if I want my kids to succeed in getting used to a new place, then I need to show them how. I can't just expect them to dive in headfirst and come up smiling. I need to show them how to hold their noses and then swim to the surface. I need to give them positives instead of just pointing out the negatives. And I'm the first one to tell you I'm a pessimist, so that's going to be a major working point for me. But if it means that my kids will be better able to cope with a new environment, then I will bust my butt to get myself in the right mindset to make that happen.

It's going to be a process, I'm sure, but I know that they'll get there. We all will.

(It will definitely help if the weather can warm up and keep the snow and rain and tornado threats away though!)

I'm surrounded by monkeys.

Yesterday we took the kids to the Oklahoma City Zoo. The kids were out of school for President's Day and the hubby had the day off as well, so we decided it'd be a fun outing. Our apartment gets small when the 5 of us are sitting around with nothing to do. We found out from a friend that the zoo was offering free admission on Mondays in February, so that sealed the deal for me. Even with it being cold and windy. Passing up a free zoo day was NOT something that I could swallow...I do have Dutch blood running through my veins you know. We are a thrifty people.

Anyway, we didn't spend a ton of time there because of the cold...the animals weren't very active either. But I did get some great pics of the kids.

And this one is by far my favorite.

Monster Jam Time!

For the second year in a row, the little man chose a trip to see monster trucks over having a birthday party. Last year it was a boys' night out- the hubby took the two dudes along with a friend of ours and his son. But this year Sophia & I went along. You know...because we need some 'culture' in our lives.


I have to say, I had alot of fun. My kids and hubby were SO excited to see Grave Digger. But when the "halftime show" was on and I witnessed motocross bikes in action...this momma was blown away. These crazy nuts were doing backflips off a ramp that I'd be scared to walk up, let alone speed a dirtbike onto. And the quad riders were doing tricks too. But the chaos that was their finale...I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Serious. They had the bmx bikers going off their ramp while the dirtbikes and quads went off their ramp and did tricks OVER TOP OF THE BMXers!! WHAT?! As a mom I was scared to death for these boys who clearly were dropped on their heads as children. I mean, what other reason would someone willingly fling themselves upside down while riding an offroad vehicle? And if one of them fell down and landed on those poor bmx bikers? Forget it. I'd have been scarred for life, and I probably would never let my kids ride their bikes ever again. Because you know that the little man would try to do some tricks the next time he hopped on his two-wheeler. No. Thanks.


But thankfully no one got hurt and I was sold. I want to go to more motocross freestyle events! I watch X Games with my boys and can't believe the stunts those guys do, but when you see it live in person, right in front of your own face...it's amazing.


Oh yeah, and the monster trucks were pretty cool too.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Last week I was sitting in my house shivering as I looked out the window in disgust. For the second week in a row the kids had more than one day of school cancelled due to snow (6 snow days in 2 weeks people!!) and I was at the end of my quickly fraying rope.

But this week?

This week has been lovely. Well, except for the "breezy" 30+ mph wind we have everyday. But gale force winds aside, the weather has been almost perfect. Two days this week we got up to 80. I was in heaven! Today was a little cooler, and the ever-present wind made it feel more chilly than it should have, but we decided to celebrate the sun and above-freezing temps by meeting the hubby for a picnic at the park since the boys were out of school.

Again. This time it's for teacher in-service day or something. (I'm seriously beginning to wonder if Oklahoma schools EVER have a full 5 day school week!)

The kids had a blast getting outside, and this park- despite being sandwiched between the interstate and one of the main roads outside the base-was alot of fun.

The kids said it was the best picnic they'd ever been on. Looks like we'll be frequent guests there....as long as the weather allows.

Disney Pictures. Better late than never.

Here are the super late (I'm talking over a month folks) pictures from our Disney trip the day after Christmas.