Welcome!

Hey SITSta's! I hope the trip didn't take too long. Did you find it okay? I know I know that last turn is easy to miss.

I hope you enjoy the spread. I put out a little of everything. "HEY KIDS get out of that choc fountain!" Opps sorry. Darn kids. Anyways have a little of this and a little of that.

I am around. Down to one daycare kid today (the other two are sick - no not my fault - they are sisters....they shared...LOL). I have some homework to squeeze in. I also have to make lists of what we need for our camping trip tomorrow. I can't wait to get to visit with you all.

So enjoy some ice tea, cool water or whatever you find. The alcohol is in the garage. Variety - a little bit of everything.

Crackliture

If you are an avid blogger you'd have to be dead or in a coma not have heard of "Twilight". In the recent weeks it was blog fodder. I mean almost every blog I happened upon was reading it. Me being who I am I had to find out what the hype was all about. I mean seriously vampires? a book written for teens? Are these woman SERIOUS?

One such blog can be found HERE. She lovingly coined the phrase crackliture. She explains the draw of the series so well in her post that I refuse to even try. I could not express it better. You must check out her review. Her post had me so curious that I had to hop on over to my local friendly Walmart. (okay the friendly part is an over statement) Once I made it to the book section there I find in all it's glory, proudly displayed for all to see. The "Twilight" series. (minus "Eclipse")

I grabbed up my very own copy of "Twilight" and pratcially skipped my way out of there. LOL no not really. This was Monday. I didn't get a chance to touch it again until Tuesday. It was naptime....the house was still and all was quiet (except the nap music). I opened and I started reading.....then it was 2pm. I had to put it down and get back to work. I didn't want to. I got sucked in. I.MUST.KEEP.READING. 5 pm didn't get here fast enough. While neglecting my lovely family I managed to keep reading until I forced it closed at 11pm. Hey I get up early around here. I got to finish it at naptime on Wednesday.

Now I needed "New Moon"! I couldn't even think about heading back to Walmart until Thursday *GASP*. I quickly snuck in there with my daycare cuties (shoot I only had two with me that day - hush). I couldn't wait til naptime. Reading bliss....I couldn't put it down cause I was so flipping mad. As you guessed it....naptime ended. Darn it! I got back to it at 5pm and I finished that sucker that night. YES!

Problem: Remember how I said Walmart was out of "Eclipse". Yeah big problem - I didn't want to go somewhere else but I would if I had to (you gotta do what you gotta do you know). I happened to mention said books at the bus stop. One of the mom's had read it too. She had "ECLIPSE" She was more then happy to bring it to the bus stop Friday morning for me. YES! SCORE. Must finish "New Moon" TONIGHT!

Friday morning Ms. Awesome Bus stop mom brought the book. I was in heaven. Whens naptime? Again finished that night about midnight.

Saturday rolls around and I dutifully take my two youngest to Gymnastics. Later when we returned home Chef and I were sitting here. I said I need the last book, "Breaking Dawn". Cause my classes start Monday and I won't have time to read it. I need it today so I can finish it. He says "Do you want me to go get it now?" Me "Yes!" Him "Okay, I'll go get it." and off he went. I love that man. (most days hehe) He quickly returned. I read.....and read....and ignored my family and read.....I'm hungry. Let's eat. Then read and read. Finally about 8pm I couldn't see anymore. I reluctantly put the book down. I only had 300 pages left! I could finish it. I left it alone for about an hour. Chatting with my friends on IM for a bit. Then? Then I read again. Until midnight. Then? Then it was done. Over. Finished. No more left to read. I was sad. Happy that it turned out so well. Sad that I wouldn't learn anymore.

I am satisfied. Thank you my bloggy friends. For showing me the way.

So long story short. Four books, five days, hundreds upon hundreds of pages. WOW

*I did note that as the book progressed it seemed the author started moving away from the teens into the adults. While along the same lines I wouldn't recommend the 4th book "Breaking Dawn" to your teen until they are older or you read it first.

Someone slap me!

Dude why didn't any of you warn me. Forget that crap about "You can do it" BLAH

My classes started today. WHEW! Four.....FOUR people. Why did I take four. I have been sitting there for FOUR hours. Getting started, reading up on whats expected, getting into discussions. BLAH! I am pooped. Oh lookie here naptime for the kiddos is almost over. Well there goes that break. hehe

Well rest assured I'm around. Now if I don't pop up or check in you know why. I'm here I'm here I swear. I love and adore you still. I think I must permentantly attach this laptop to my lap. That way I'll have you with me at all times.

I must come up with a schedule. A way to keep track of where I'm needed and when. Good thing one of my first assigments is "How to effectively use your time" or something like that.

ROFLMAO!!!! (Where's that fell on the floor laughing smilie when you need it)

Time is too short

*like Sara said. "Go hug your kids" now do it....

His mom is one of my closest friends. You know how you have friends who are like sisters to you? Well she is my sister. For so many more reasons then I could ever express. One, a major one at that, is this angel. See her lovely little mister went to heaven 2 yrs ago. Before he left he formed a bond so tight and so forever between us. I wish there was a way to share his life with all of you. He was beautiful, sweet and rotten all in one. I loved him. Correction I love him. I wouldn't trade my time with him for anything. He was the first baby my Princess fell in love with. Always wanting to touch him and kiss him. (she was about a year old when he was born) Thier bond was like nothing I have seen. See Princess wouldn't drink Choc Milk and JoeJoe LOVED Choc Milk. When JoeJoe passed we held a memorial for him at the neighborhood park we all spent time together at. During which we served Choc Milk. Princess drank so much Choc milk there and until this day has LOVED it as much as JoeJoe does.

Thank you JoeJoe for enriching my life.

Why now?

So Princess has been going to school all week. Her first foray into life outside of mom's daycare. Now don't get me wrong she has spent time without me before just not on a consistant basis. See where this is going?

Monday - Thursday drop offs were quick and easy. "See you later mom."

Friday???? Not so much.

I knew it would happen eventually but I was hoping I got lucky. LOL. Ms Wonderful helped her out though and she was fine when I left. I just wish she wouldn't go through that. I know it upsets her and I hate how she gets herself so worked up. It isn't as if she doesn't know the drill. I mean she has seen kids come and go from my daycare all the time. She is familiar with the routine AND she typically can see reason. Not this morning though. Oh well Monday is a new day.

*Hey at least she still loves me....hehe*

Tastes like chicken?

So last night we took the kids out to dinner since it was the first day of school.

Princess ordered a cheeseburger which came with a HUGE toasted bun so she removed the top and just ate the burger and lower bun. Well the burger slipped off and fell on the floor. No biggie go ahead and just eat the bread (I knew she had eaten a TON at school so I wasn't worried). So she is happily eating and the rest of us are talking about school and such when.she.screamed.

What's wrong!

Did you bite your tongue? (she shakes her head no - still crying)

I realize she is holding her hand out. Um did you bite your finger? (shakes he head yes - still crying)

Okay calm down and shake it off (meanwhile she is pressed against my side - crying)

So I look at her finger......she bit it alright. Even broke skin slightly.

Chef asked her if she tasted like chicken fingers. She glared at him.

*No chickens were hurt in the making of this blog. Child only slightly and by her own fault. Oh and father survived child's wrath but not completely unscathed....he didn't get a goodbye kiss this morning (I warned him about annoying her - she is a Taurus)*

*edited to add a clue as to how annoying he is. He was throwing spit balls at my sons during dinner. ERG! Then told them not to do it. MEN Are your husbands like this or is it only mine?*

First Day of School....in pictures.

When did they get so big???

Little Man is heading into 4th Grade. When did THAT happen. I remember when he was going to K for the first time. My goodness.


Now 4th grade brings coolness so you know the dude has to have Vans.


Monkey is off to 2nd grade. *sob* He is my baby boy. Why'd he have to grow up too.


He gets to start off the year toothless. Look at those gaps. LOL The toothfairy paid him a visit last night.



Ahh the Princess. Man. She started PrK today. Not a single tear, no hesitation, she was ready. "Mom can we go now?" she says.


First your brothers have to get on the bus. Bye Boys!!!



Then we're off. Look at her rush to get there. My goodness can't drop Mommy fast enough can you girl. Who'd of thought that less then a year ago this child wouldn't so much as look at another person besides me. *sob*

Picture for Ms. Wonderful (thats what I call her teacher...cause she is. I want to be her when I grow up) Can you SEE my child pulling AWAY. She's like Geeez mom let me go will you.



Princess and Ms. Wonderful. Bye ladies - have a wonderful day. (without me *gasp*)

Memories....

Once upon a time a beautiful princess (HEY it's MY blog shut up) was dreaming of a time before...



She called on her friend Sara.

She is thoughtful too. (or just hungry....)

A year past four Woman embarked on a new journey. One of melted bliss and dipped things. It was beautiful.

A delightful end to a magical night.

One enjoyed by friends a year ago. Two who have left to go on new journey's with their families while those of us left behind only have our memories. (Sonya and Stacy)

Our very own crazy lady a year ago. (read more HERE about this years crazy lady)
Where did this journey take place you ask. Why the Melting Pot of course!

*It struck us as funny that almost a year after we visited the Melting Pot with two wonderful ladies we would find ourselves here yet again.

Tissues?

So today at nap time I found a new blog. This one written by a Daddy. Unbelievable right. Well this guy is. He is awesome in every sense of the word. Though he'd tell you he was just taking it one say at a time. Matt is taking the time to share his world with us. I'll let you check out why....

Go here for a MOST beautiful beginning.

Go here to learn how it all changed.

You must read his blog before you continue reading my entry here. Otherwise you won't understand my rambling.






I am devastated to hear about what happened. I lost a daughter in 2001. I got to spend time holding her and loving her (even though it was short). This mother never got to hold her baby. I can't imagine. She left this world, this beautiful person while on her way to hold her for the first time. She was so HAPPY, anticipating seeing her Daughter again. Holding her, feeding her and changing her - all the things that come with motherhood. Then she was gone. I can't stop thinking of it. Her darling husband has privileged us by sharing his story and letting us peek into their life as Father and Daughter. My heart breaks for them. My heart fills for them. He is wonderful.

She


never


got


to


hold


her.


*SOB*

Call LoJack...I lost my kid.

So in April our contract with Verizon ran out. We went to renew it (hey had it for 4 yrs and no major issues). Our LittleMan was starting to want to ride his bike out alone and well I am lazy and hate sitting outside to watch him ride on the sidewalk behind my house. (Before you panic I am in Military houseing and while not always safe it is better then other areas)

So again he wants to go riding. Well I want to be able to reach him (read: tell his behind to get home without getting off my lazy behind) So we use on of our OLD phones and tell them to set it up to only recieve/make calls. Oh and add Chaperone Parent.

What's that?

Yes people my child has lojack. I can get online or use my phone to locate the general area my son is playing. I also informed him if he is snatched he is to leave his phone in his pocket so I can use it to locate him (well the coppers can). See my smart LittleMan wants to use it to call 911 but I expalined he doesn't want the bad guy to see it.

So it may seem odd that my 9yr old has a cell (well not that STRANGE I've seen 5 yr olds with them and they use them ALL the time). LittleMan only uses it when he is outside our home. He can only call 3 numbers....mine, Chef's and home. It's more of safety device then anything.

Sara says my child has LoJack. LOL

**Shoot I know I am joking around in this blog but I also realize the seriousness of children being kidnapped. I hope by arming my child with these tools we can avoid/quickly recover. Now I need to get something for Monkey and Princess as they get older. I am for the inserting location devices into children at birth and removing them at 18yrs of age. Yep sign us up for the test phase please. I am not so paranoid that I keep them locked up but I still worry. This is one of my biggest fears but I try not to allow it to hamper thier growth and youth. I teach them safety and I do what I can to keep them that way.

So whats that make you?

So we were discussing what we are on IM tonight.

I said hey I was conceived in Georgia so does that make me a Southern Girl??

She replied that it's where you came out that matters.

So that makes me a Yankee. (Born in Buffalo NY)

So that makes Princess a foreigner (Born in Turkey)

The boys are Texans.

Crazy military mutts we all are.

Chef - well we already know HE is a foreigner - he has a green card to prove it.

Guest Chef

So we're all sitting here doing daycareish stuff. It's time for lunch so Little Man says I'll make it. Um Okay go make lunch. Read the menu to find out what is for lunch. After a mintue he comes back and says okay. This is what I find on the counter. Um lunch is ready? Yes he says. Um so we're eating frozen fish sticks? Well I can't cook it he says. I say why not?






So then he starts reading the directions on the box. How do I turn on the oven? (LittleMan) Read the dials (Me) So he finds the right dial and spins it to a warm 475. He reads farther....arrange evenly on a baking sheet. Um whats evenly mean (LittleMan) It means to make sure they don't touch. (Me)

Then it is placed "carefully" into the slightly warm (OKAY I know it's HOT but he is 9 and I am supervising) oven.
Now what. Okay it says corn bread. Do we have corn bread? (LittleMan) Yes (Me) It's just bread with corn. (Monkey) HAHA No (Me) * I pull out two boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix.
Here you go. Read the directions. (Me)

Carefully adding eggs.

Look PROOF of Little Man being nice to Monkey. He let him pour the milk in.

Mixing is HARD. (LittleMan) Meanwhile Monkey helps hold the bowl steady. Didn't you know it takes TWO to mix stuff up. DUH where you been cooking?

Okay now you scrape while I hold. AWE isn't sweet how they work together when they want FOOD!

Um, Mom can you put it in this time? (Little Man) No dear you made it you bake it. Just be careful (Me) I'll stand over here (Monkey)

So Little Man made lunch. He did a good job cause all of the kids are eating it. LOL Now he wants to know how to use the grill. Um Chef thats on YOU.

Straight A's

Who'd of thought that I would go to college. Who'd of thought that *I* would be making straight A's. Yep thats right. I have taken 3 college classes (one just ended tonight with a A+) so far and I have managed to score a 4.0 through it all.

It has gone to my head too. Wanna know why. Cause *I* think I can handle FOUR classes this fall. Yeah I'm crazy...but you knew that.

(Really I'm not all THAT crazy cause well my GI BILL runs out next Fall so I have to get these classes done while I can for free) I am hoping since they are ECE classes I can pull it off.

Diapers and crazy

Okay where'd my week go (not that I'm complaining). Seriously though it flew past and Friday has snuck up on me and I do not know what I have done this week. I don't. I think this stems from my 3 kids turning my brain to mush and well lets just say the 18th can't get here soon enough. They ALL go to school this year. Little Man is on to 4th, Monkey heads to 2nd and Princess will kick off at PrK. SWEET! Then I'll have some stories to share cause right now I can't think of anything that they do as cute cause I spend 99.5% of the time wanting to strangle one of them. *sigh* When's school start?

So today I actually DID do something (during naptime). As you know my sister is pg with her first child. Well she is in NY and for obvious reasons I can not attend (I am in CO and broke). So I decided to make a diaper cake and ship it over for the shower.

Okay so I did one a few years ago and it was "okay" but not AWESOME. LOL I think I found my way to AWESOME. (I did and I don't care what you say it is awesome)


So I took a old rinsed out slimfast container (took the label off of it cause I didn't want my Sissy to think she needs to be losing weight) and started wrapping size 1 diapers around it. I kept wrapping until I couldn't hold them on anymore (about 1 or 2 layers) so I added a huge rubber band and then I kept slipping more diapers in until I thought my base was big enough.

Is this big enough?

So then I rolled up and shoved a few diapers into the container. I folded a HUGE blanket into thirds and wrapped it around the diaper ring. Since my folding wasn't "perfect" I had an overlap on the top so I placed a handful of diapers on top to fill in that space.

To keep the blanket in place I used two tiny binder clips where the ends meet. (You'll need a very LONG baby blanket for this) I thought about using diaper pins so I am sure they'd work as well.

Then I placed a square lovey on top of the bottom base.

My top layer was made by rolling 4 diapers and securing them with tiny hair bands. Then I wrapped diapers around just as I did with the bottom layer. Adding a hug rubber band when I needed to hold it all together. When it reached the size I wanted a used a blanket that I folded in fourths attaching it again with two tiny binder clips. Place on top of the lovey.

Here you'd decorate as you wish. Since mine is being shipped and I have to count on others to place it all together I kept it simple and just got a carseat hanging toy and two tiny stuffies.

See isn't it cute. Cute and simple.



Now anyone know anymore baby machines cause I'd love to make more of these. The last one I made was so difficult and took forever (rolling and tying EACH diaper and then trying to tie the huge bundle together UGH). I really enjoyed this one.

A 3mth old Terrorist

"Okay everyone you better behave today. Thank goodness you have school. Hey get over here. Are you listening? Stop picking on your sister. No acting up while we have guests. No I don't know if they will still be here when you get home. Just plan on being good. Where's my straightening iron??? Oh there it is. Okay hurry everyone. They are on thier way! Remember what I said. Do I look okay?"

"Hey SITSta's! Welcome to my little corner of bloggy land. I hope you find everything to your liking. I'm headed out to go camping with the family tomorrow (That's good blog fodder) So if I don't get over to your place to say Thank You just remember I will as soon as possible. I hope you all enjoy your visit and your long weekend! Be safe and have fun. *MUAH* Help yourself to anything you find....just no long distance calls please."




Okay so I made brief mention that The Princess was born overseas in Turkey. Which wouldn't be "that" blog worthy expcept for the fact that she almost didn't get a birth certificate or passport issued. You're probably thinking those *darn* Turksih people but no no it was our wonderful US Embassy who refused to give her one.

Why???? It's a baby. The father is in the Air Force. The mother is American. Why????

Okay so to get these handy dandy documents we have to submit our marriage certificate, passports and birth certificates. No problem.

Problem. Mine. YEP ME. MOM. My Birth Certificate was in my "bio"maiden name and my marriage certificate was in my maiden name. See there was this little issue of my mother making me use my step fathers name (no biggie but she never made it LEGAL) while growing up.

So when I joined the AF they said I needed to go back to my bio-maiden name or change it to the other one. I decided I like to use my Maiden name instead of my Bio one (I had been using it since I was 5 soooo I was kind of use to it) So my recruiter took me to the SSN office and they just changed it. (come to find out later they weren't suppose to do this without a COURT ORDER saying I could change my name - UGH)

So why would the Embassy have issues with this? Well since they didn't know who *I* was they couldn't issue papers for my daughter to go to the US.

Want to know what their plan was? To send ME to the US to get it all straightened out. I'd need a Judge to issue a Court Order stating I was who I say I was and blah blah blah. (NEWS FLASH here - if you don't have any clue who a person is and you THINK they might be a terrorist you DO NOT I repeat DO NOT put them on a plane to the US!)

So in order to do this I would of had get into the Court (which could take 2-3mths mind you) meanwhile my daughter had to stay in Turkey....oh and Chef was due to PCS in less then 1 month.

THANKFULLY my mother (for once) came through and went to a local small town judge she knew and asked him to write a letter stating that all 3 of my names (bio-maiden, maiden and married) belonged to the same SSN therefore were in fact the same person. The judge accepted this based on the fact that my mother had a print out from the SSN office showing all 3 names with the same SSN. (which btw - the SSN office just GAVE it to her without any documentation saying she could have it!)

So she overnighted it to us. We rushed it to a LOVELY US Embassy and they rushed her Passport and Birth Certificates so we could all LEAVE Turkey as a family.

Key points:
1. The Princess was considered a terrorist at 3mths old.
2. I in fact was NOT considered one. (Although according to them they didn't know who I was)
3. The New York State Social Security Office just HANDS out name changes and SSN info to whoever asks them.



We so wanted to get her a ski mask for the trip through customs but alas we couldn't find one. Got to love Photo shop though. LOL Here is the Original picture on her flight (FINALLY) to the United States.

The Sweetest Thing

My friend Penny is here. She is PCSing from NM to SD. Unfortunally as soon as she got here Chef declared that she wasn't going anywhere. Not just cause we love her and the boys and want them to stay but because her breaks were rubbing on metal. Yep folks thats right METAL. He immediately ran to Auto Zone to grab new breaks. Jamie (our neighbor) and Chef changed those breaks right away. While changing them another issue popped up...


Her tires were bare. Again she wasn't going anywhere. He told her that her hubby could Kiss his rear cause he wasn't allowing her, 4 boys, 2 dogs, a snake and the trantula to drive another 7 hrs on bald tires. So today he is calling around to get her some. Hopefully he can find them as she is suppose to leave in the a.m. (I don't WANT him to find any hehe but I'm evil like that)

So last night while he was busy ripping those breaks off I went up to him and this is our conversattion.

Me: You're so good to my friends.
Chef: Well I love you.
Me: I love you too {{{HUGS}}}
Chef: and I love your friends.
Me: GOOD cause you have too (giggle)
Chef: Wacko (walks off to work on the van)

Collective AWE now.

Friday Features: The Baby

Waiting to meet their sister.

She was born while we were stationed in Turkey. She was my little terrorist (another blog).

Yeah she is the Princess.



First Plane ride back to the United States.

She is truly a gift for our family. We almost lost her at birth. It was very scary there for a while but she proved right away how stubborn she is. She will do anything you tell her she can't do and she shocked those Turkish doctors. They had never seen a baby meet every expectation for recovery so fast. That's my girl.

Her brothers dote on her. Here Little Man is helping put her down for a nap. Isn't he the sweetest.

Monkey loved to help feed her. Even though now they bicker and whine they still would rather be with each other.

They adore her. She knows it too. She is so rotten at times. I wouldn't trade her for the world though.

Here she is as cool as a cucumber. My little girl. She is my little side kick. Always wanting to go with mommy while the boys would rather play video games or go fishing.



She completed our Party of Five.



She is our sword carrying, pedicure loving, fishing buddy, little sister, dress wearing, dirt digging and cuddling Princess.



Just don't tell her that.