Happy Birthdays!

It has been another crazy week and I'm way behind again.  Clay is having to work really late almost every night.  He has been able to get off a little earlier than some of the guys to attend events that the kids have at night (i.e. pack meeting) but it makes the nights really crazy and one very tired mom.  Thank goodness the kids don't have to go to bed as early right now.

Saturday was Daniel's birthday (9 years old) and today is Christina's (13 years old).  I'll write more about their birthdays later.  We took the kids down to Round Rock to a place called Gattiland to celebrate.  It was a lot of fun and air conditioned.  :)  We told the kids we would celebrate their birthdays this year as a family doing this instead of having friend parties.  I'm glad they both thought it was worth it.

Almost 3 weeks ago, I noticed a red circle spot on Daniel's head about the size of a quarter.  I've been watching it and we've tried using dandruff shampoo but it got much worse last week.  I tried for 3 days to get Daniel into the doctor and had to wait for Saturday to get "urgent care" open for him to go to.  It looks so lovely.  Isn't it amazing that no matter how disgusting things may be, you still take care of them for your kids.

Meet Chubaka

Last weekend we were asked to dog sit. I have to admit that when I said yes, I thought we would be going over to their house to let the dog out, feed him, etc. Clay and Daniel went to pick him up Friday morning (Clay had the day off). He is huge.

Chubaka is a great dane and a house dog, although he can go outside. He is big enough that his head could reach over the kitchen counters to see what we were doing. We had to really watch him when we were washing dishes. It was really funny to watch all the kids with him. Even though he usually isn't around kids, he did really well, especially for his size.

The weekend went really well, much better than I anticipated. We even had to leave him for several hours (in his kennel) on Saturday when we took two kids to two birthday parties and all 5 of the kids saw the dentist within 5 1/2 hours. No cavities again! (YEAH!!!!) but 3 of the kids got referrals to see an orthodontist (CA CHING!) I knew that 2 of them would need it eventually but was surprised by the third, and one of them is considered "urgent". Fun.

Chubaka went home on Sunday afternoon and the kids are already talking about when we get a dog and some want to name him Chubaka. That will be a little while but I think we're closer to convincing dad that a dog would be a good idea. Hint, hint. :)

14 years ago.....

I can't believe today is our 14th Anniversary. Some days are definitely longer than others. :)

I have to admit that last year was really hard. Father's Day and our anniversary fell on the same day last year, and we were of course separated. A year ago I had no idea I would be close to delivering #6, living in Texas, or that we would be on the path we are (whatever path that may be). Crazy times.

This last year has been kind of hard on both of us. The unknown is still lingering over our heads. The due date is getting closer. Deployment date has been given. Hope is hard some days that things will really work out the way that we would like them too. He's still on the list for the school in Tennessee, they may call any day (we're praying for that). Otherwise, he'll be packing his bags, those leaving in a couple of weeks, and he's scheduled to leave for Iraq on August 20th. Neither one of us feel good about this for so many reasons and are praying the Lord will intervene and one of the other paths that we've been told about will open up.

Thanks for sticking with me Clay, through everything. We've been on an interesting road, not sure where we're headed now, but at least we're together now. Love you.

Happy Father's Day

So while Clay was gone, I finally got around to doing a project I've been wanting to do for him for about a year now. So here's some of the pictures I took for it.

We ended up making a little book for him for Father's Day and each of the kids came up with a sentence to describe their dad, using the letter they were holding. The kids all had fun being involved and working on something like that for their dad.

Horses, the beach, and sunburns

So I'm way behind again. The Saturday after Clay got back, we decided to make time for our family for a bit. That morning we all went with Daniel for his last day of scout camp. They met over at the stables on post and we all took a tour and saw what they did there. It was a lot of fun but was overcast so their silly mom forgot to put sunscreen on everyone. Whoops. Daniel got a lot of awards, mostly belt loops. The week long scout day camp was really good for him.

After that, we headed out to a man made lake here that's free for military called BLORA. We had packed stuff for a little cookout (hot dogs) which was quite the event trying to cook in the occasional drips and lots of wind and mom forgot anything to turn the hot dogs or get them off the grill. (I'm kind of forgetful at times lately, can you tell?) But it turned out well.

After that, we changed into our swimsuits and headed up to the waterslides for the bigger kids and I got to watch the younger three play on a kids wash (designed like a car wash for kids). They wouldn't let a pregnant woman go down the slides. :( I kind of had a feeling that was the rules anyway. The kids had so much fun playing in the kids wash. Samantha was very nervous at first but by the time we left, she was having a ball.

Then we headed down to the beach. I really was hoping it would be better than it was. The beach itself wasn't bad but walking out into the water wasn't on sand, it turned into rocks. I finally convinced Samantha to just sit on the edge and play with the sand with Amanda. The other three had fun going out further with dad.

Although I had put sunscreen on most of us when we got to the beach, some got pretty fried. Daniel's sunburn (from earlier that day, you can tell from the shirt line) ended up getting some good blisters. I was a mean mom and only let the play outside once last week just before dinner so they would all have a chance to heal. It's way too hot for this momma to want to go out much anyway.

We're all together again!

I can't believe how fast this week has flown by and we're still running so I'll make this quick.  

Clay got home on Wednesday.  YEAH!!!!  It was great timing as they came in during the 2 hour window I had during picking up Amanda from school and having Daniel leave for cub scout day camp.  I'm glad it worked out.

Christina came home from Girl's camp yesterday (and LOVED it).  She had a ball during the three days she was gone.  

The best part, having EVERYONE gather around our bed for our morning family prayer before we all ran to our different activities today.  It's been almost a month since that happened and it's SO nice.  

I'll have to catch up more later but gotta run to appointments and errands again.

School's out!

Amanda has had a loose tooth for quite some time. Last night after I got everyone to bed, she came into my room and showed me how loose she had gotten it. I'm not sure if she bumped it or what, but it was bleeding and barely hanging on by a thread. We got a washcloth and I showed her in the mirror how loose it was so she just reached in her mouth and pulled it out. She has such a high tolerance for pain it scares me sometimes. Anyway, she was so excited to loose her first tooth in Texas. I had forgotten but she has already lost her two front top teeth so this is the first one on the bottom.

Samantha has had a hard time the past several nights. I know she senses a lot of the stress and I guess it caught up to her too. At least she didn't throw a tantrum tonight at bedtime like she has the past two nights. That is definitely a new thing for her. She also has become quite the expert at opening and closing doors, including the gates outside. She has also learned how to lock doors. For two nights in a row, she would get up during our evening family prayer, go over to the door and I hear it lock, then she steps outside the door, closing the door behind her--locking herself out. It's kind of hard to keep everyone else focused and hurry and finish the prayer so that we can go let her back in. She gets so mad, I guess she thinks she's locking us in but doesn't fully realize what she's doing.

Best news is that school is out! I kept the kids up a little tonight to watch a movie so hopefully we can sleep in a little tomorrow. It's getting harder for me to get to sleep and harder to stay that way. I feel like I've gotten really huge the last week or so and starting to feel it. Samantha ran after a ball that was heading into a street the other day and I couldn't believe how hard it was to run after her. I'll have to keep her closer so I don't have to run so far. :) This little guy is getting bigger and his punches are too.

This week has been really crazy.  I've been meaning to blog but just not quite sure what to say these days.

Monday we had a really crazy day, not the best start of the morning that day, but it ended up much better.  We spent the majority of the day cleaning.  We went through the boys room and dejunked, cleaned, and sorted out everything again.  It seems like I just did this but it's amazing how things forget to go back where they are supposed to.  After cleaning more of the house, Jonathan and I went out to run some errands while Samantha finished her nap.  Can I just say I am so grateful to have a babysitter so handy now.  I really don't think I could make it through any of this without some relief.

Jonathan and I drove around and checked out three different swimming pools here on post.  The kids (and I) have wanted to go swimming for a while but it's a bit of a challenge to do solo.  I finally found one that starts at 2 ft. 7 in. and the deepest was around 4 feet.  So after dinner, we headed over and we all got some relief getting in the water.  Samantha was scared to death at first but after I held her and took her around, she warmed right up and by the time we left, she was trying to jump in the pool by herself.  Kind of scary for me.  It was so nice that even Jonathan and Amanda could go around most of the pool by themselves.  I also met a lady there who is due the week before me and a member of the church.  It was nice to compare notes and listen to her experiences with the army.  She was moving this week back to where her parents are as her husband is being deployed a week before the baby is due.

The rest of this week, we've been running around.  I feel like I kind of overdid it on Monday and so Tuesday I wasn't feeling so good and tried to take it easier.  Today I finally got around to getting Jonathan in for his birthday pictures (2 months late).  

Tomorrow is the last day of school and early out.  I'm so ready for school to be over.  Tuesday night I signed up Amanda for summer school.  It's not required for her, but I think she'll still benefit from it.  Wednesday I kept wondering if it's worth it.  It's only a month and doesn't start quite as early, but I really would like some freedom from all the schedules.

Next week is going to be really interesting running the kids everywhere.  We're going to have to figure out a new schedule at home because of it.  Amanda goes to school from 8-8:30 am and gets out at 1 pm.  Daniel has cub scout day camp all of next week from 3:30-8:30 pm and Saturday morning.   Christina has girl's camp from really early Tuesday morning through late Thursday night.  Hopefully I can get her to the church (with all the kids in tow) by 7 am so I can be back to get Amanda to school on time that day.  I'll definitely earn my mom taxi stripes next week.

The kids keep asking when dad is coming home.  It's kind of frustrating because there is a chance it could be some time next week, but I need to be prepared for it not being for another 2 weeks.  Hopefully we'll get some notice.  The girl who took Jonathan's pictures today said her husband is there as well and they have a FRG (Family Readiness Group) meeting tonight to find out when her husband is coming back.  Our group needs some improvement.  I wasn't impressed with them in the pre-NTC stage, and have heard nothing from them since he left.