Doing it Stearman Style

I can't believe how mad I am at Julie...

2012-01-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

What a nice night. I barely had to make dinner because a sweet friend brought over meatballs with sauce. My chores were already done and overall things were just peaceful. My mood however, did a 180 when I found a nicely cut, chunck of Julie's hair hiding in a drawer. The pain was fast and sharp. I knew she had lied to me when I noticed the hair missing from her head. But the proof in front of me and the fact that she was so convincing that she didn't do it was too much. This is the first time a lie from my kids hurt so bad. I could see it on her face right away that she knew she had been caught. She's smart, I have to give her that. As I stared at her in disbelief she got down from her chair in slow motion, headed to make a run for it.

"Julie" I said.
"Are you going to cut my hair" she stopped and shouted.

My mind went over the many conversations we have had about not using scissors on hair and what would happen if she cut her own hair.

"Please don't cut my hair like a boy. I won't go outside if you do".

How could I not follow through with what I said would happen to her if she cut her hair. I looked for a loop-hole and found one.

"I will talk to your dad tonight and let you know what we decide. Right now you need to try and make me happy by eating your food".

Loop hole: we said we would cut her hair like Audric's after we had already found some hair missing. Now that I have her in a lie I will use it to get her to let me brush, braid and fix her hair more often.

Am I still mad at her? Yes. Does it hurt so bad? No, not since I've read an email that says Netflix is avalible in the UK now and I get a month free!

Toby's in Town

2011-11-20T02:43:00.000-08:00

Toby is our "elf on the shelf" that comes to visit every December and hops a ride back with Santa to the north pole on Christmas. This year Toby came early and with a gift from Santa. We didn't bring our TV with us because it wouldn't work here. Santa felt so bad for us and we have been so good this year; thus far.

We love our new 42"LED. I don't really like how everything looks so sharp because I want it to feel like a movie and not like I'm in a room with the actors. I'm not complaining, just saying.

The kids love having Toby here. Every night he goes to the north pole and tells Santa if the kids are good or bad and flies back by morning in a different hiding spot. The kids love to find him and talk to him mostly about how bad their brother and sister are being. We thought it was a good idea for Toby to come early because the kids were getting a little out of control and we use him ask a threat. Plus it was a way to explain the TV. Sometimes Toby forgets to go to the North pole but Audric always says he just liked the same spot.

Poor Julianna

2011-11-13T14:29:00.000-08:00

Poor Julianna woke up with severe abdomen pains Monday morning. She never had pains like these. The only time she would not be in pain is when she would cry herself to sleep. I needed to get Audric ready for school and thank goodness I have a wonderful friend that took Audric to school because she was in so much pain I couldn't even push her in the stroller like I planned.

I took her to the ER. Of course, Julie being Julie tells me she's fine when we get there. I don't really believe her but not waiting to sit and wait to be seen if nothing is wrong I have her walk it out until she is in the same pain again. Julianna is one stubburn child. I can tell she is in pain but she tells the Doc she is fine. It wasn't until he touches her stomach that you could really see the pain in her face. They wanted a urine sample because of her history of UTIs. She hadn't gone pee yet that morning but she just cannot go. I think we tried fifteen different times for her to go in the cup. They had an x-ray taken of her tummy. Next was an IV and blood work. I must say Julie is very brave; She did great through all this. Still she could not pee. The x-rays showed that she was completely full of shit. Two large balls of pooh blocked everything all the way up through her large intestine. We were afraid that all this pooh was blocking her urethra and causing her not to be able to pee. Next came the enema. It takes her another couple of trips to the bathroom and she gets two large boulder out of her bum; sadly to say not without a mess on the floor and my arm. Still no pee.

Julie doesn't want a catheter but she can't get it out and she has at this point had two large amounts of fluid pumped into her. I'm strong and can handle seeing my kids in pain if it means their health or safety. This was painful for both Julie and me. The nurses tried two times to get a catheter in Julie. And each time it took about five to ten minutes. Finally they got the smallest tube and got it in with much screaming from my daughter. Only drops came out. It was enough and they took it to the lab. Minutes later Julie tells me she needs to go to the toilet. I'm exhausted, and tired of going into the hospital bathroom that is outside the ER across a hallway next to the pharmacy. I ask her to just go in her diaper. She filled that thing up, I thought it was going to leak everywhere; She felt much better after that. Plus, Tim had gotten off work early and come to see her and pick up Audric. Julie is such a daddy's girl. She knows nothing bad happens to her when he's around. I was glad to see him too because it was 2pm and I was dying to eat something. Julie fell asleep with the comfort of Tim being around. By now they had added a heart rate monitor and blood pressure cuff. She had developed a fever while sleeping. It was my job to give her meds orally. That girl can try and talk her way out of meds like no other. It was nice being in the hospital and saying if she doesn't take it then she will get a shot. It still took an hour for her to drink it.

The big concern was that she had appendicitis. She was still in pain and wouldn't let people touch her tummy. She did have a UTI but that could be there because of an inflamed appendix. They waited and waited to decide whether or not to give her antibiotic. It was in the end given to her with some sent home with us. We have now had a week of cleaning out Julie's bowels. I think we are just about done. We fed her corn tonight and will wait and see if it comes out tomorrow. She is the most stubburn when she needs to take her meds. We try not to get mad but she is so difficult. I want to apologize to my mom and dad because I am told she gets her stubburnness from me. I'm sorry whenever you had to deal with me like this.

What a week!

Hurricane Julianna

2011-11-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

Before

After

Don't mess with Julianna because she will tear you up!

Girls

2011-11-13T12:33:00.000-08:00

I knew that Audric would have girls after him when he got older. But it seems like where ever we move there is alway a cute little blond girl that loves Audric. First Kate (whom he says he is going to marry), then Lauren in New Mexico and now Elity. She gave Audric a drawn map to her house, a rubber (an eraser) and a penny. Audric wanted to give her something back so he made this picture for her. Kids are so cute.

Halloween

2011-11-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

We went to three halloween parties and one night of trick or treating. Fun Halloween in England.

more Brugge pictures

2011-11-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

Family at Brugge, Belgium

2011-10-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here we are on the ferry with the whiter cliffs of Dover in the background.

These pictures are from our bedroom window of the B&B we stayed at

Walking around town

There were many window displays of Chocolate but this is the one that Audric wanted to look at the longest

We did the horse carriage ride. It was mine and the kids first time. I had fun scooping out places to shop.

Why so many pictures of us eating? For some reason we never had lunch while in Brugge. It always got left out. So when it was dinner time we were always starving. We didn't want to wait for real food so our first night we went to a donner kabob. I'm not sure if it was because we were so hungry but it was so good we just about finished it all.

I was told later that you go to Brugge for the Chocolate, beer and food. We did go out to a nice resturant the next night but I guess we went to the wrong place but we liked the donner kabob the best

Pumpkin Picking

2011-10-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

More dressing up

2011-10-13T13:10:00.001-07:00

Julie has been dressing her self and won't let me change what she has picked out. Stripes match stripes and stars match stars no matter what color they are I have learned. I let her wear what she picks out even to school. She has learned to listen to me about wearing a jacket when she is told. She is also not letting me put up her hair. I can brush it and put a bow in it but that's it. She is growing her hair out like Rapunzel's. I can't wait until she has to wear a uniform and wear here hair up.

Julie's Four!

2011-10-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

Julie had a princess party that all our English neighbors came to. Audric some how convinced Julie to let him open some of her presents. Our neighbor made her pretty castle cake. It was a great time!

Tim, Julie and I went to Bury for the morning of her birthday. Traditional Tim takes the kids to breakfast on their birthday so we went out for tea and donuts. Julie had a great time. Audric was at school so he missed out on all the fun and we haven't made it back to Bury since. Julie says it's her favorite place to go and she always asks to go to "Berry" because she loves it "berry, berry much". I love how Tim's and Julianna's faces match in each picture.

Dress-up

2011-10-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the kids dressing up.

Apple picking

2011-10-08T09:11:00.001-07:00

We picked apples with friends and had a good day out. I'm glad I brought the stroller because we filled it up. So far we've made apple sauce, apple butter and apple crisp. I have one more batch of apples I need to make into something.

Julie at Preschool

2011-10-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Julianna didn't want her picture taken. She loves going to school three times a week. She has so much friends and our neighbor is in her class as well. All the little kids ride their scooters to school so she started doing it too.

I started volunteering at the thrift shop on Mildenhall so she goes to the CDC once a week as well. She doesn't like that as much.

Chocolate for breakfast!

2011-09-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

The kids love me to take pictures of them. Yes we did have dark chocolate curls sprinkled on our fresh whipped cream and rasberries waffles. Yummy, Yum. And tea of course.

My spell check is not working and I can't copy what I wrote so if it's spelled wrong tuff titties. I suck at spelling too.

Third first day of school

2011-09-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

Audric has now had three first days of kindergarten. He started kindergarten a year early last year at First Impression Academy Fayetteville, NC, then we moved and he started mid year in kindergarten at Manzano Day school in Albuquerque, NM and now he started at Fordham primary school, England year one, which is the same as kindergarten. He was nervous but fine by the time I left him. Julie was upset, she wanted to go with him. He has to wear a uniform to school it's very cute. He says he had a good day and can't wait to go tomorrow.

He almost had four first days because on the Wednesday before he started I hadn't heard anything from the local school and the one day of home schooling told me it wasn't going to work until Xmas when I thought he would be able to get in. So I decided to put him in at the American school in Feltwell. We did the tour, signed all the paper work, and was going to have him go the next day. That is until I got home and found an email from the Fordham school saying he got in. I felt so bad wasting the other school's time doing all that paper work. They understood being military themselves. Funny how thing just work out some times.

Bowling

2011-09-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm not checking out my bum. I'm making sure my kids aren't going to get their heads hit with the ball. Twice the ran into someone else's lane.

Two Strikes for Audric

The kids also won three ticket for free bowling. Audric got two strikes with bumpers but no ramp. I suck at bowling. No matter how hard I try, in fact I'm worse when I try. We had fun.

Warwick Castle

2011-09-11T14:12:00.001-07:00

Audric and Julianna won tickets to Castle Warwick from the summer reading program here on the base for the most hours read. I must say living in a hotel for a month or more and spending half our summer days in the library had nothing to do with the win.

We had a blast. This was our first castle visit since moving here. Of course this one is almost like a theme park with it's shows and displays, but I liked it. The kids got freaked out by the wax figures they had. It showed how life would be living in the castle. I would rather be a servant then an owner in this place. I'm sure we will be going to it again once people come to visit.

We went to McDonald's on our way home. I told the kids they don't have them when we got to England so they thought it was a restaurant that just looked like it. In fact it never did say McDonald's anywhere except in small print inside a bag. The best part was they gave the kids balloons and had real flowers as decor. I liked that I could get a spicy vegi burger, yum.

Spouse Flight on MC-130

2011-09-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

I had knots in my hair after this

Which way is up?

Julianna sat so still the whole time. The lady did an extra good job on her because of it. Of course she wanted it off not long after the picture was taken.

I was very lucky and got to flight on the MC-130 250 ft off the ground (water) with the back door open. How cool is that. I was doing great the whole time until I went up to the front where my stomach tighten up. I spend the rest of the time in the back with my eyes closed hoping my friend next to me didn't throw up because I knew I wouldn't be able to hold it back then and I didn't have a barf bag with me.

Church Farm

2011-08-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

Without really knowing what or that it was 45minutes away we went to Church farm with some friends. I wish it was closer because the kids had so much fun and the way it was set up all the mom's got to sit and drink tea while the kids play. There was a big barn full of hay and hay bales for them to jump and roll in. A huge sand box, a big wooden play ground inside, crafts, pig races, pony rides and animals to stroke (pet). I can't wait to go back and same with the kids.

Cambridge

2011-08-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

We did a little day trip to Cambridge. Fun place to visit but too busy for me to want to live in. I like our little village. We parked and walked around. They had a market that day so it was fun to see all the things for sale. They had a mall and we were surprised to see some familiar stores like Build a Bear and Gap. We climbed up a tall tower in St. Mary's. It gave us a good view into King's College. I must brag a little about how good our kids were. They were great the whole time. They didn't whine, cry or complain once and we walked all day.

If you look closely you can see a bee over Julie's hands. She knows not to move when a bee is around. I can't remember if I wrote before that she is allergic to bee and ants.

Climbing up St. Mary's tower

St. Mary's tower

On top of St. Mary's tower

King's College

Julie wanted her picture taken in front of this building

Small crowed streets

Little "river" in Cambridge

New house

2011-08-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

This our new house in Fordham in Cambridgeshire. We love the little village and every neighbor we have met is really nice and friendly. This picture is of the kids when they both picked out what to wear on their own and it just happened to be patriotic. I had to take a picture of them in front of our British house.

This is the first, of many I'm sure, purchase we made here in England. The British hate antiques and their idea of an antique is something at least one hundred years old. We got these pub doors to go in our dinning room where we will put a bar/pub when we find the right one.

This is the fridge the house came with. It is a mini fridge and was too small for all that we eat daily. The Air force loans fridges and washers and dryer so we got one of them and now this one is used for drinks. No room...

Lots of room. Our American fridge.

Back yard. Two sheads thank goodness.

Back of house

More Back yard. We get a great view of it from the kitchen and living room windows.

Front of house. We have room for four cars to park which is rare.

Kitchen. There's room to put a small table in here too but our table is not small so we had to make the down stairs master bedroom into a dinning room and pub.

Upstairs, closet on right, bathroom on left, guest bedroom in front, master bedroom behind and room for desk and craft area in the middle.

Playroom/ guest room

Front door that we never use

Living room. It is about twice as big as it looks in the picture

Once we get all the boxes gone and thing put away I'll send more pictures of the house.

Random Pics worth sharing

2011-07-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

How to stay sane in hotels for 20+ days

2011-07-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

Go to a hands-on Museum

Dress the kids in matching clothes

Go to a Isotopes Ball game and make the guy next to you give you the over-size T-shirt he just caught.

Go to the mall and follow your kids around for a change.

Meditate in the Gap

Put rose thorns on your face at dinner

Play in the bath

Make sure you have a good night's sleep

Find a 3D Lego Buzz Lightyear to pose with

Go to the Rainforest Cafe. The food is wonderful and you don't have to entertain the kids. You can't have a conversation though

Find a playground

Go bowling

See the local sites (Ely)

Find some local kids to play with (our American friends with a British accent)

Play with your food

Challenge yourself with a 6 hour time change

Make friends with your neighbors. Especially when they are in the same boat as you.

Bye bye, Silver Subaru

2011-06-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Since we are on our way to England we only get to bring one car. We could have stored the Subaru with someone but we decided to sell it. It was our first new car. We bought it planning to drive it into the ground. We put over 100,000. miles on it. Drove it across country and back. Drove it in the snow, rain, dirt, mud and bugs. We already miss it. I tried to find all the pics I had of it or in it. We have more but they are all 35mm prints. We bought this car before we had a digital camera. I'm glad it went to a young girl going to college. I hope she has as much fun in it as we did.

Library

2011-06-23T19:24:00.001-07:00

Since the movers came and picked up everything but our clothes we are hard pressed to find things to do. We went to the library one day and they had a lady bring in her snakes and share them with everyone. Audric got to hold a corn snake and bull snake. The next Friday the zoo brought in fifteen different animals to share with the kids. Last Friday the medieval society people brought their armor and stuff to share. Audric seems to like going better than Julianna but I also have them signed up in a reading program and every ten books they read or I read to them they get a prize. You should have seen their faces when they got a small plastic top the first time. The prizes get better as they read more. We finished fifty books already. Now that our stuff is gone, I have Tim drop us off at the library and I read to them until they get ten books.

Morning walks

2011-06-23T19:10:00.001-07:00

We started going on walks in the morning. The first time the kids got maybe one hundred yards and were done. So the next time we looked for animals. Then we brought the camera and took picture of them. We are able to walk a lot farther now that they aren't thinking about walking.

Kids together

2011-06-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Once again they surprise me how they can get along with each other one moment and the next be killing each other.
Reading books after bed time
Computer time

drawing pictures together

(it's a haunted house with a rocket flying out of it)

Web monster

Silly Straws

2011-06-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

While in Kentucy the kids got these cool straws that you get to build. We had fun with them one day.

Pool pics

2011-06-23T18:52:00.001-07:00

Out patient surgery

2011-06-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

Julianna had kidney reflux, that's where when ever she would go pee the urine would go back up into her kidneys. She would always get UTIs that would be very painful and she hated to take medicine. It's something that kids outgrow, in fact my sister had it. Julie was young and didn't understand and instead of peeing she would hold it in making it worst and making herself constipated. It wasn't until I saw a pediatric urologist here that I knew it could be fixed. It came at a good time too. She was starting to throw up her meds that she had to take everyday just not to get a UTI. The "deflux" surgery only took about half an hour to do but with all the prep we were there for about three hours. Julie didn't remember anything. She thought she fell asleep at her Dr appointment and woke up and got some popsicles. The scabs on her nose was from a fall she got falling on the side walk. Now she is doing great! She hasn't had a UTI since before the surgery. Now she is potty training herself. We are going to go full potty training mode after we get to England.

New helmet

2011-06-23T18:21:00.001-07:00

Julianna got a new helmet and her and Audric got camelbacks. I hope the British people don't think she looks silly. Speaking of silly, Julie is a funny girl.

end of gym

2011-06-23T18:15:00.000-07:00

Audric and Julie's Gym and Karate finished up. Julie made it to her last class but Audric was sick for his. We were going to keep them in it until we left but we were unsure when we would go. I hope they have something like this in England the kids loved it. Bye Albuquerque Little Gym!

Kentucky

2011-06-23T17:26:00.001-07:00

Sorry these pictures are so out of order. It's hard organizing pictures on this site. Just know that we went to Louisville, Kentucky for Tim family reunion and his Grandpa's 90Th birthday. Everyone was able to make it and we had fun with all the Fam. We went to a children's museum, the Louisville slugger museum, church, the Squire Boone caverns and the hotel pool every night. Lots of funny things happened because that's what happens when Stearmans get together. We never got used to Eastern time zone because we stayed up until 12-2 am every night. It was a good time seeing everyone.

Rainbow Jello

2011-06-23T16:34:00.001-07:00

This, if you haven't figured out is rainbow Jello. Many of you may have been lucky enough to try it. For those who havn't I thought I would share. This was one of my favorite desserts growing up and with six kids it never lasted more than one night. Twelve layers, six different flavors of goodness. I make this in the spring, for potlucks and when the kids ask for it. Now you can enjoy making it yourself in three different ways.

Rainbow Jello Big dish
40 servings

super large clear container (Rubbermaid makes a prefect one with a lid)

12 jello boxes, 2 of each colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple

48 oz sour cream

Pick what color you want on top and start with the bottom color first. I start with purple or grape. Heat one cup of water, add package of jello, stir until dissolved. Add one cup of sour cream, stir. pour in large container, place in fridge for one hour or until jello is firm. Next heat up one cup of water, add same color package of jello, stir until dissolved. add one cup of cold water, stir. Add on top of firm jello in large container, Place in fridge for one hour or until jello is firm. Continue to follow these steps until you have made all twelve layers. I give myself two days to make it.

Half size rainbow jello
20 servings

Clear container
six jello boxes, one of each color
24oz of sour cream

It is the same to make this one as the large except: After adding the jello and stirring it split it in half. put 1/2 cup of sour cream in one half and 1/2 cup of cold water in the other half. Add the sour cream jello in first. It takes almost as much time to make this one as the large one because the container in smaller so the layers are the same size.

Plain rainbow Jello
20 servings
clear container or 9x13 pan
six jello boxes, one of each color

Make jello as shown on box, pour into container, place in fridge for one hour. make next color add to container. continue until all six colors are added. It does take half the time to make this one.

Helpful Tips
I pour it over my hand when pouring on top of the sour cream jello, so that it doesn't make a hole in that layer. Another tip, you can make the non-sour cream jello at the same time as the first one and let it sit out of the fridge for the whole hour until it's time to pour it in. Another time saver is to add ice to the cup of cold water. Makes a great snack for kids.

Swimming and snow storms

2011-05-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

Strange weather we have been having. One night Audric and Tim went out in the hot tub and ran through the sprinklers. The next day it was snowing all day and a little the next (May 1st). a week later it's 90 and great pool weather. Now three days later it's cold and there's snow on the mountain behind us.

Mother's day

2011-05-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Audric's class had a mother's day celebration. They had scones, strawberries and lemon curds that the kids had made. Audric made me a canvas painting with his picture on it, handmade wrapping paper, a flower and a letter about why I'm so important to him.

I got a surprise box of Shari's berries from Tim's mom for mother's day that I had to share because they were so big and so many. Yummy!

On mother's day I woke to the smell of cinnamon french toast and bacon. Tim even got me a Starbucks coffee and a big bowl of fresh fruit. They made me a card the listed all the things they love about me. Most were very sweet however most of Julie's were about herself like "I love when mom buys me dresses" and "I love if mom gives me another birthday party/ more candy". Audric's were more like "I love when she's happy" and "I love when she gives me kisses and hugs". All were cute and touched my heart.

We went to the pool and had hot dogs for lunch. Tim made steak, mashed potatoes and fresh green beans for dinner. It was so weird not cooking meals. I felt so spoiled. Lucky me!

Surprise baseball game

2011-05-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before Mother's day we had a friend give us three tickets to an isotopes baseball game because one of his boys were sick and couldn't go. It was last minute and we hadn't eaten yet but nothing McDonald's couldn't fix. We got to parking and the guy looks at us and lets us go in without paying $5 for parking. Then on our way walking to the game a lady stop on the road yelling "hey you're a mom, do you need a ticket"? Why yes I did and now we didn't have to buy one more to get in. We had great seats and could afford to buy snacks because it only cost gas to get there. We had such a great time. This was the kids first time at a ball game. Audric loved hearing about the rules and Julie always clapped when the crowd did. They both did a ton of dancing to the music. At the end of the game they did fireworks. They did such a good job that we clapped three times thinking it was the end. The isotopes won by one point. It was a closes game the whole way through. Fun times!

Funny Girl

2011-05-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

Julie keeps surprising us with her changing personality. My little monster is becoming this cute, kind, love bug. She shares, gives hugs, kisses and is just funny sometimes. Don't misunderstand me, she is still a butt and can throw a huge fit if she feels like it. Those times are just far and few in between. Good thing I love her and all her moods.

Other new things with Julie is that she loves to wear dresses now. I was so worried that the many dresses that I bought for her would go without being worn but I don't worry about that any more. She will wear three dresses in one day now. She is also going to have her kidney reflux fixed next week. We are excited. hopefully no more UTIs and daily medications. If all goes well we hope to start potty training as soon as we get to England. I want this to be the last time we have to potty train her. So cross your fingers.

ABQ Botanical Gardens

2011-05-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

It was a nice weekend to go to the Botanical gardens. Lots of flowers were in bloom. I couldn't help but take a ton of pictures of the flowers and kids. However, I decided to post most of the ones with the kids in it and not all the flowers.

We had to keep reminding Julianna not to pick the flowers. I made the mistake showing her that you could eat the wild roses. The rest of the time she kept asking "can I eat this one"? pointing to every flower. I wonder what people thought when they heard her.

Julie wouldn't go near the cactus.

How to get a $2000 or more new wardrobe for $300 or less

2011-04-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Go to Goodwill and other thrift shops.

Gap jacket retails for about $98-120 paid $5

Ann Taylor dress $120 paid $5

Gap pants retails for about $40-60 paid $3.5

Ann Taylor shirt retails for about $25 paid $3

Wool jacket

Apostrophe pants retails for about $40 paid $3.5

Banana Republic top retail for about $60 paid $3

Apostrophe Skirt retails for about $40 paid $3

Banana Republic top retails for about $40 paid $3

Wool pants

Gap top retails for about $40-60 paid $3

Express pants retails for about $ 60 paid $3.5

Boston Proper top (real rabbit fur on a %100 silk)
retail for about $200 paid $3

Alfani top retails for about $50 paid $3

cute old navy dress

J Jill linen dress retails for about $120 paid $5

David's bridal dress retails for about $98-150 paid $8

New yorker's apparel dress

Apt 9 dress retails for about $50 paid $5

Ann Taylor loft dress retails for about $89 paid $5

Anne Klein dress retails for about $140-180 paid $20

Donna Ricco new with tags retails for about $140 paid $8

Eddie Bauer top retails for about $50 paid $3

Ann Taylor dress retails for about $98-120 paid $5

Why second-hand-

I know to most people the idea of going to a second hand shop is something you would do only if you had to because you can't afford anything else. Not me. Ever since I had a say in where I shopped I went to Goodwills. I love having a disposable wardrobe and spending 1-10 dollars instead of 20-40 dollar on a piece means I can. I also like having lots of clothes to choose from.

About second-hand shopping-

I believe that if someone else bought it once than why wouldn't I like it too. There are things I don't buy second hand: underwear, sportswear, running shoes, swimsuits, PJs, lingerie and socks. And Shopping second hand is not for those who hate shopping. This collection took maybe fifteen trips to stores over four months. You always have to be on the look-out for something good within long racks of okay stuff and junk. I enjoyed shopping with my sister while in Ca. She made it easier to go through the piled on shopping carts of clothes. That's another thing, you have to like to try things on. It's one thing if you have a favorite store and you know your size in it. But second-hand every brand's sizes are different. I can be in a size six in one thing and a size twelve in another. I actually fit into a pair of size four shorts once (I've never been a size 4). Don't be afraid of going out of your style. You never know what you will like and what will look good on until you try it.

About my new clothes-

I have a lot of clothes. Most of them are in England waiting for us. My goal was to get rid of most of them because of space and cleaning them will be a challenge once we get there.

So why did I buy more?

Talking to my sister, who's friends have lived in Europe for the last few years, only Americans wear jeans and t-shirts as casual wear. I needed to update my clothes from not fitting me college/ after and during babies clothes to smart sophisticated, I look good, feel good clothes. I think I did a pretty good job.

You may ask why so many dresses?

I do admit I have too many black and white dresses in similar styles. It is hard to pass up a nice dress that looks great and is only $5. I do like wearing dresses and it's easy to put on in the morning and not decide what shirt looks good with what pants. I did get more shirts then pictured. Tim was nice enough to take the pictures and I didn't want to push my luck with more.

Pearls?

All my clothes were not meant to be worn with pearls. It just so happened to be what I was wearing at the time. Anything could be dressed down with different accessories.

Pictures-

Anyone that knows me well knows I'm not vain. I did enjoy having my pictures taken for this but I'm not a big fan of posting them all. I'm very critical of myself and would rather have had them laid on the bed but it wouldn't have done the clothes justice. In fact the bright blue tight dress in the picture, Tim saw it before I tried it on and thought it was a joke but loved it after I had it on.

Easter

2011-04-27T10:59:00.001-07:00

Oh Easter, what fun. We got to do a Easter hunt on Kirkland AF Base on Saturday. And compared to Pope's hunt last year this one was Grand! Audric saw his friend from school there too.

On Easter we got to sleep in until 7am which was great. Then they had to look for their Easter baskets. It was so hard for Audric not to grab eggs as they looked for them. So many eggs, so much candy. The Easter bunny decided to fill the 51 emptied eggs that they got from base plus the 24 he came with. 75 eggs isn't too much is it? All the egg hunting was followed by ham, deviled eggs, quiche, real mashed potatoes and rainbow jello, yum yum.

Hike

2011-04-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

It's hard to see but this is a huge cannon.

La Luz trail. I can't believe there is a running race that happens up this trail once a year.

Snack break

Tim had a day off and we decided to go on a hike with Julianna. We thought it would be easier with just one kid but Julie likes to difficult. She would cry if she had to be carried in the backpack, walk a bit and then would cry wanting to be carried but not in the backpack. Tim and I had such a drive to hike about ten miles to the tram and ride it down. We made it 2.7 miles and decided to turn back because of our hungry tummies and that we forgot about the five mile hike we would have to make to the car once we got off the tram. Don't think of us as quitters, it was all up hill and I swear the mileage was added up by air distance and not ground distance. We had fun and the whole way back we thought about eating at Weck's. Yum yum

Science fair projects

2011-04-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Audric was busy for a couple weeks after getting back from California. At school he had a project to teach his class something, anything. Audric decided on teaching his class how to make a paper airplane. Of course he didn't know how to make one himself. So every night he made a plane with Tim or myself and acted like he was teaching us. The science fair was coming up too and Audric wanted to do " how to make paper". If you have ever made paper it's a mess and you need to make screens and other stuff that we don't have here. Being the good mom that I am I went to the library to look for books on how to make paper. While there I found a book on different paper airplanes and thought Audric would like it. Then I found a section on science fair projects. Looking through them I found one on testing the difference between two different flying toys, freebie and something else. Then I got a great idea. Audric is already making paper airplanes why not use them for his science project. So we came up with "Paper Flight". Audric did a great job with all the test flights and learning about how airplanes fly and what can effect them. Plus if he really is going to fly and make planes when he is older, like he says he is, then this is a great start. In class he did a wonderful job teaching his classmates how to make a paper airplane. He says he had to help most of the kids fold the paper. For his class science project they did volcanoes. Not my idea of a very creative project (I know, I'm a science fair snob, what can I say, I always won 1st place) but it looked like they had a lot of fun doing it. All the kids had to go in front of the judges and talk about their projects and answer questions. Everyone that did a project got participation ribbons. Audric's was huge because he did one by himself. When I came to pick him up at school all the kids were telling me he got 1st place. I was so happy that he felt so proud of his ribbon that I was holding back tears. He worked so hard and deserved to feel good about it.

Silly Julie

2011-04-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

My Julies in so funny and silly. When I'm lucky I can take a picture of her doing what ever it is she's doing.

In New Mexico Julie's hair is always a mess because of static-electricityPretty pretty princess gone wrong

Sweet cheeks

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She like salad dressing

Sleeps standing up

And has great fashion sense.

California!

2011-04-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

I like this pic because Bison and Audric look so much alike. Eyes, nose, lips, chin. The only difference is size hair and complexion. Funny because everyone says Bison looks like his dad, but I think he looks like Becka.

St Patrick's day.

Everyone loves Uncle Joey!

Yes Audric's finger is going through his ear

Gramma's 80th birthday. The whole Wilson family surprised her for dinner.

Poppy loves giving love!

(Julie and Luke)

Cami and Jack fighting over the kangaroo rat.

I know Audric needs a dog. He had so much fun playing with and loving on My parent's dogs. Maybe once Julie is in school full time.

It's always fun to go back home. The timing wasn't the best. We had to go during spring break so Audric wouldn't miss any school. Why Albuquerque's spring break was in the middle of March I don't know. The only good thing about it was flights were fair priced. Sacramento was wet and rainy pretty much the whole time I was there. That didn't stop us from having fun. My goals while there were #1 to see and visit with family, #2 see some friends, #3 buy cloths at the second hand shops (look for an up coming blog about that). Becka and I were together most of the time. She was my shopping partner, telling me what to and not to buy. All the kids had so much fun playing together. It's so nice that there are so many cousins that are Audric and Julie's age. They are so lucky. We did get to take a day trip to Winters, CA and see my Best childhood friend Katie and her family. The kids loved seeing the baby goats. They were only a week old and a couple days old. See the goats always makes me want one. Katie always has the nicest goats. We also did a little Easter party since my plan was to come out for Easter during spring break. Becka and I made the kids Easter baskets out of Tee shirts. The kids had so much fun they hid and hid the eggs over and over again. I was glad to come home. I'm not a big fan of sharing a bed with the kids for a week and we did missed Tim. I probably won't see most of my family again until we get back from the England.

Grandparent's day

2011-04-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

Audric did really good singing on grandparent's day. He's in the front row on the far left. It looked like he sang the whole time. He was very excited to have Grandma Stearman there. But of course he sing for all his grandparents. I've tried many times to get the video of it up on here but it just not working. I will try some more later.

Grandma visit

2011-04-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Tim's mom was able to visit us for a week. We had fun making cookies, going to the zoo, riding the tram, going out to dinner and going to Audric's grandparent's day celebration.

Ran ragged

2011-04-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

Tim has been running quite a bit here in Albuquerque. His knees haven't given him much trouble but he can't seem to stop hurting his feet. These pictures are just some of his feet injuries. Okay I know these pictures are gross but Tim took them. The last one is of Tim with his metal that his won for First place in his age division on a 10K. We are proud of him. He is going to do another race this week end. He gets a beer at the end. Last week he had his PFT test and ran a 8:58 in the mile and a half. He got a 100% on his push-ups and sit-ups too. Tim is thinking about doing a half marathon soon too. I'll keep you posted.

Family hike

2011-03-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

On a day that Audric had off from school we took a family hike behind our apartments. We met up with Audric's friend Sammy and his Mom (who is now my only friend in Albuquerque). What a fun time we had. The kids were tired when we got up to the top but instead of resting they jumped and ran around and went even farther following the spring up the mountain.

karate

2011-03-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

Audric started doing karate at the Little Gym where Julianna does gymnastics. If you know Audric you know that he doesn't like group activities; example: soccer, music, singing... We tried it out because it was free and it didn't interfere with school. He loves it. Tim took him to the first one and said Audric kept adding his own moves. This is a small clip of Audric on the balance beam added his own punches and kicks.

This is a small clip of Julianna during her Gymnastics class. She does so much better since she stopped doing the ballet and tap dancing. When she started she wouldn't do the balance beam without someone holding her hand. Now she jumps off by herself.

Friends we met in NM

2011-02-25T10:30:00.000-08:00

Sierra and Nick Willis were our first friends in New Mexico. Tim meet Nick in the apartment gym. If I remember correctly Nick was critiquing Tim's running style and they were comparing injuries. By the end of Tim's workout he found out that Nick was an Olympic medalist in the 1500m. You may or may not know that Tim and I don't like watching sports but we love the Olympics. The first thing Tim did was Google Nick when he got home. It was very exciting. Nick and Tim started working out together. For some reason Nick only had my phone number, so every time he would call I would pass over the phone to Tim and say "it's your boyfriend". It was fun to tease Tim because he would go on and on about how great his workouts would be and how much he would learn from Nick.

It took awhile but I finally got to meet Sierra and Nick after bumping into them during a walk. Sierra and I did a free yoga class together. It was the slowest yoga class ever. Sierra and I agreed that it should be called geriatric yoga. We got to go skiing in Santa Fe together which was really fun and a nice break from home.

Audric was a big fan of Nick because he loved Star Wars too. They would talk in detail forever about it if we let them.

Sierra and Nick were only in New Mexico for six weeks for altitude training. They are very real, down to earth people so we got along well. We were sad to see are only friends in NM leaving. The picture is the only one I had of them. They were so funny cute about getting Henna done.

Nick's story is pretty interesting (google him). They are in New Zealand right now with a big race planned where they are going to present him with his silver medal. Tim and I hope that he will continue to do great with his races so we can see him and Sierra during England's Olympics.

Sarah Marie in the Kitchen

2011-02-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

I don't get to volunteer much at Audric's new school so when I had a chance to bake for the bake sale I went all out. Two batches of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (7 dozen), two batches of rice krispies, one batch of strawberry rice krispies and two batches of chocolate chip cookies (7 dozen). I love to bake and it was nice not to have all the left overs at home for me to eat. The best part was that I didn't have to buy much because when our friends moved back home they gave us all their pantry goods; score!

My little helper.

From the heart

2011-02-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Every time Tim comes home from the gym he is dripping in sweat. This time it just happened to come out in the shape of a heart. Some people wear their heart on their sleeve, Tim wears his on his stomach. I wonder if anyone at the gym saw it?

Please don't look too closely at the messy house in the background.

Who's kids are these?

2011-02-25T09:44:00.000-08:00

I love that my kids are starting to enjoy each other. It used to be 50/50 between fighting and playing next to each other. Now I find them playing dolls, Star Wars, pretending they're animals, hide-n-seek or stuffed animals . Usally it's only at night when Audric reads now he has started reading to Julie all times of the day. I love watching and listening to them play. They are very cute.

dread locks

2011-02-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

Julie let me twist her hair into little "dread locks" during her bath. Maybe not such a great idea because she, now her own, started puffing on her watering can. She looks like such a pot head.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T09:46:00.001-08:00

Interesting valentine's day morning. While getting Audric ready for school and baking muffins for his snack I hear a yell. Audric is now 5 and has decided that he no longer needs to announce when he's going to the bathroom and when he's done. Needless to say the yell was from the bathroom. But not "I'm done" or "come wipe my butt" I heard "come look at my red poop". Yes, red poop! the red velvet cake the night before came right on out and kept its color. This was the first time I saw Audric excited to wipe his butt.

The odd thing was that same day Julie's poop was bright green from the green frosting she ate two nights before. Audric, as you can tell is more regular.

Five! 5!

2011-02-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

Audric turning five seems like such a huge deal not only for him but for Tim and I too. I understand that all the kids in Audric's class are five or six so being the only four year old wasn't fun for him. For Tim and I Audric just seems so grown-up.

We were lucky to have some good friends in town and over to dinner and cake. As you can see Julie didn't like our singing to much.

Meet my Five year old. (not to brag)

Audric is one of the most caring, Loving, compassionate kids I know. He thinks of everyone and is sensitive to other's feelings. Sometimes he can be too loving. He always wants to hug and kiss me that in public that I have to limit him to one kiss or else it can look like he's trying to make out with me.

The thing that blows my mind is that he is so smart. He comes up with his own thinking's that are stuff that Tim and I couldn't think to know. He is a sponge that never dries up. Right now Audric is reading 30 page books with about 100-150 words at a first grade level every night before bed. He's very good at writing although it's not one of his favorite things to do. His math is awesome. He has been able to count by one's, five's and ten's to one hundred + for about six months. He's up to 30 with counting by two's and he just learned how to read and write in roman numerals to 39 (I didn't know how to write 50). He knows how to add and subtract double digits but because they aren't working on that at school it's hard to work on it more at home. I do feel bad about him being in school all day until 4pm and then making him learn after school too ,so I limit extra stuff to the weekends.

He is really into Star Wars like most children his age. He can remember all the names and details of all six of the movies. He is very good at making all the sounds that go with the movies too. He got some legos for Xmas and his birthday. He's very good at making his own star ships with them.

Audric has this natural ability to be great at everything. The only problem is he doesn't like to try new things. He would be happy staying at home everyday. He also doesn't like to do things in large groups (soccer, music, dancing...). He doesn't say but we believe it's because he doesn't want to mess up in front of everyone. With both of his teachers there was concerns on their part that we push Audric to only being prefect. He would get so upset that his work wasn't prefect he would stop and not finish his work. If you know Tim and I we had nothing to do with this. Audric is so hard on himself (when he was little he would put himself in time outs). With time he has gotten better.

Audric is a wonderful son. He cleans up after himself and helps with chores. He loves to cook everything. He also loves to eat. some meals he eats more than Tim. He must be growing because most of his size five pants are getting tight and short. One of his favorite things is to know what he is eating and what it does for his body. We never limit the amount of information we give him. He likes to tell others too that meat has protein that goes to make muscle and milk gives you calcium for strong bones.

Audric's favorite color is still red. His best friend is Kate in Washington DC (which he says he is going to marry). He like Julie best when she's asleep but still loves her. He wants to fly and build planes when he grows up. He also wants to have a farm with lots of animals. The best part is when I am old and all my hair is grey he said he will drive me around where ever I want to go!

good moves

2011-02-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

Audric ate a lot of meat for dinner which of course gives him instant muscles. He did this whole exercising routine x3 and then decided he wanted us to video it. This video was taken after he had already done about ten minutes of exercising. We added the music for effect. Then he liked the music so much he started to dance and then added lights to have a light show.

Happy day!

2011-02-10T07:55:00.000-08:00

Tim decided to take the kids out to pick up some donuts for breakfast. It was so nice having the morning to read my book without interruptions. When they came home I had a knock at the door with a delivery boy and a box of donuts on the other side. Audric wore that hat all day. We also got a package in the mail from my parents for Valentine's day and Audric birthday. Julie got this skirt. I can't even get her to wear pants most of the time let alone a skirt but because it was grammy that gave it to her so she loves it. Sorry about the red eyes. Tim's lap top doesn't make it easy to remove it so I don't.

Snow days

2011-02-10T07:39:00.001-08:00

We were part of the snow storm last week. We had four no school snow days. I tried to keep the kids busy doing crafts and having friends over the first two days but that seemed to just wear me out more than it was worth. Tim had off two days and was excited about the four day weekend. We did a family hike in the hills. Audric loved looking for animal tracks. He was the leader up until he found out we weren't headed to the tram which was about six miles away from where we were. Within a minute he went from happy adventurer to "I'm tired, I'm hungry, I can't walk". Julie was pretty much unhappy the whole time. How could she be unhappy with someone carrying her? She did fall asleep which made everyone a little more happy to not have to hear her whine.

Fun Weekend

2011-01-31T09:08:00.000-08:00

We have been quite lazy on weekends and usually stay at home or walk to the park. This weekend we went to the Rio Grande Zoo, Aquarium and Bio Park on Saturday and Explora science Center for a birthday party on Sunday. We drove past so many other museums I think we will have to do one every weekend now.

At the zoo there were so many people that commented on the kids I felt like we should have been on display. I admit they were very cute that day. Julie wanted to wear her princess dress and Audric with his blue eyes always gets comments.

At one point Julianna and Audric were playing in these caves and I went to chase them not knowing they were holding hands (when do they ever do that?). That ended with Julie falling and Audric dragging poor Julie down a slope. She was pretty upset and I felt really bad. One band-aid and a nap later she was happy again.

I have a hard time at the zoos. I can get over people calling the animals by the wrong name(Apes/monkeys), but I hate the noises people call at the animals, the tapping on glass, and just not following zoo rules. While watching the Gorillas, which were in a playful mood, I saw a rock flying towards ones sitting on the edge. I was so disgusted, I yelled out "Hey don't do that" and saw a little girl with her dad sitting her on the railing (against the rules too) holding more rocks ready to throw more. To make sure it didn't happen again I ask the dad "Can you have her stop doing that"? He said NO! I wanted to start throwing rocks at the guy but instead I just said "it's against the rules" like it should have to be posted. After he nicely said okay he left and went to the next gorilla viewing area, I'm sure to let his daughter throw more. Why are there those people that have no respect for animals. Do they think they are so Superior?

I remember a zoo trip we took in NC with a group of friends when Audric was two. One of the moms threw a rock at the lions to get them to move. Even after flipping out on her she did it more, I was so upset. That was the same zoo trip where Audric was arguing with a three and a half year old that gorillas are not monkeys, he got so upset he started choking her. Here are a few pics from that trip. Aren't the kids so small?

Back to this weekend... We ended up going to the Elephant bar for dinner. Food was great and kids were good even after a 45 min wait.

sucker!

2011-01-31T09:03:00.001-08:00

Tim had a day off so we walked around old town. We bought scorpion pops for the kids. Julie liked hers but Audric wouldn't even try it. Tim decided he would eat it and got the scorpion out and ate that too. He said it was crunchy and good at first but then nasty.

Large breakfast

2011-01-19T16:33:00.000-08:00

This is what breakfast looks like when no one turns the dish washer on before we go to bed. The kids don't seem to mind.

My 6 month goal

2011-01-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

Weight is subjective, Fat is in the eye of the beholder and clothing sizes lie. My goal is to be healthy and feel good about myself. In terms of weight I can gain 15 more pounds and still not be over-weight, that's on top of the 15lbs I've gained in the last year. My body has changed so much since having kids but the biggest problem is not taking care of myself. That is my other goal; to take care of myself. How can I enjoy the fruits of my labor if I'm sick or tired or dead. Be healthy!

Utah

2010-12-30T19:38:00.000-08:00

Julianna with cousin Levi. Yes that is "coffee" they are drinking.

Norah and Audric playing with a new toy.

Some would say that Audric needs a dog.

Christmas morning. Audric woke up and cuddled with Gus(a dog) for a half an hour before realizing that it was Christmas and that there were toys in his stocking. He ran down stairs, woke up Julie and came in our room yelling that Santa got him a Harrier Jet plane. Once we all got up stairs it took him climbing over his bike to get another present and for Julie to say "hey Audric look at your bike" before he noticed the bike. I guess you could say he was a little out of it that morning. They had so much fun opening gifts.

Before we left Audric brought home a nasty bug and gave it to Tim and Julie. Everyone was better by the time we left for Utah except for me who got it on the ride up. Having a fever and a cough while spending two days driving sucks. It took five days of feeling miserable before I felt like I could do anything. Of course that was the last day we were there. We spent it playing in the snow and roasting marshmallows. The kids felt better than me during the trip but as you can see some days wiped them out.

funny videos

2010-12-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

This was taken in Mississippi at a rest stop. I could have more fun with it but I felt bad.

The kids had just openned presents on skype with gramy and poppy Wilson. Julie loved her new PJs and Audric thought she would like to dance with it on.

Albuquerque, NM

2010-12-21T10:39:00.000-08:00

This is our Xmas tree so far. All the ornaments are home made.

Julie wrote her name on her own.

Audric First bus ride at his new school.

Kids making ornaments for our tree.

Tim made a card board kitchen for the kids. Audric and Julie got to color on it. Audric's flowers on the fridge were really good.

Audric wanted to make a shoe so he did. He sewn it through his sock but it was a really good shoe for making it all by his self

Julie feeding her little bear.

view from kitchen window

Living room window view. Looks better in person.

Night view, we can see all of Albuquerque and our heated pool and spa.

Snow day!

Our moving experence

2010-12-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

At ballet recital with friends.

At Xmas tree lighting with friends.

This was a great climbing tree by our temporary Lodging.

This has been a big move for us. Before the movers came we had to make three different piles for where our stuff would be going: England, long term storage and Albuquerque. We were very stressed not know how it was going to be having all the movers here on the first day. We were lucky and the movers were good. Only three time we thought they packed the laptop, the binder and pool key that needed to stay in the house ($100 fee) and our passports but there were no problems. I did cost a lot to feed people lunch for three days but they deserved it. We have so much stuff. I am to good at organizing and fill all and any storage places. My goal is to have a big yard sale when we get to England. I just hate to throw something away that I might need there.

Moving out of our house took eight days. Two days packing, Thanksgiving, one day to move the stuff out, two days of camping out on air mattress and sleeping bags (thank you Crystal and Jill) and two days of cleaning our butts off (thank you everyone who let us barrow cleaning stuff). We stayed in temporary lodging while cleaning and a few days after. We got to see Pope's Christmas tree lighting for the first time and visit with friends one last time.

It's always exciting to go to new places but this was the first time with kids. Most of our friends have always moved out before us so that was hard to leave them behind (even though they will be moving soon too). We had a Nerf dart war in our empty house with Audric's friends(he earned it for all the books he has read since June). Audric and Julie had a going away party at school the day before we left, we had a couple dinners with friends and Tim had a going away party at work. We miss everyone, it's hard to to leave home and Family; our friends.

It took five days of driving two cars from North Carolina to New Mexico. Our plan was to put a kid in each car but after seeing how much stuff we had packed that it wouldn't fit safely. The Rav4 got packed full of our clothes and thing we would need for the next six months, not even the front seat was empty. The Subaru had the kids, our travel clothes and bikes on top. (Sarah's struggles) If you don't already know driving long distances make me fall asleep. I trained myself to do that as a kid so I would get to places quicker. Well it's a pain in the butt now. The first day I was fighting myself to stay awake. The kids were in the back watching movies so I couldn't even sing to music to stay awake, I resorted to slapping myself. I tried eating sunflower seeds; that helped. Now I will forever use 5hour energy when driving. It was great.

Day 1: Left 8:30am, checked out of TLF. 8 hours drive, with a lunch stop, we stayed just outside of Atlanta, GA. We drove through NC on 95, SC on 20, and ended in GA. Stayed at Holiday Inn express. Audric got two spider bites.

Day 2: Woke up 7:00am ate free breakfast yum. Packed the car, loaded the bikes left around 8:30am. Drove on 20 through GA, AL (pretty state) and stayed in Mississippi right outside of Memphis in another Holiday Inn express. Julianna, we realized, had a UTI. She's on meds daily already and I knew what dose to give her to take care of it.

Day 3: Woke up ?? time change. ate free breakfast, I love free. Drove through Memphis and to Little Rock, AR for lunch. We met up with two good family friends for lunch at Jason's deli. A long lunch but it was worth it. We drove to Oklahoma City to another Holiday Inn express. It was nice staying in the same hotels every night. It made us feel like we were not driving all day. Tim did a good job.

Day 4: Good breakfast, no real butter. Poor Julie didn't eat much because she still felt sick. Short drove to Amarillo, Tx. OK was nice the day before but now it was bear and flat; Tx looked the same. We went swimming in the hotel pool, ate at Texas road house for dinner. I got carded for drinks and got to use my Texas drivers licence.

Day 5: stopped at Santa Rosa, NM for lunch. Got to new Apartment by 1:30pm. No more driving!

I forgot to say that this whole move we were all sick. Coughing, runny noses, just crappy feeling.

Our daily trip to the car with all our stuff plus one more with the bikes.

Portraits by Min Harding

2010-12-02T06:08:00.000-08:00

Min sells the copy rights to the portraits so I was able to make our Christmas cards. Her website is: http://web.me.com/msk22373/Site/Home.html

Picture Joy Christmas

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Halloween

2010-12-02T05:40:00.000-08:00

Every year I make the kids Halloween costumes. This year I only made one but no one wore it. Julie wanted to be a witch so a made this really cool dress that I sized down a formal from the thrift shop. She hated it. So she was a ballerina, a princess, a butterfly and a monster. Oh wait, Julie's always my little monster. Audric was a fighter Jet pilot and a burnt-up pilot. It's amazing what Elmer's glue and some make-up can do. We went trick-or-treating three times but not on Halloween. I did make to coolest Halloween pancakes in the morning. My trick is to turn the burner up high and use a medicine syringe for the details.

Fall Pictures

2010-11-30T11:15:00.000-08:00

Air Force Ball

2010-11-30T11:03:00.000-08:00

This was our first Air Force Ball. I helped the day before doing the flower center pieces. There was over 1300 people there. It was the biggest one Pope has ever had, It was their last one. I love getting dressed up. The food was really good and there was wine on every table. Tim wasn't much of a dance partner because he still had a knee brace and crutches.

First Day of school

2010-11-30T10:50:00.000-08:00

Audric started Kindergarten and Julianna started preschool this year. They are both starting a year early but the teacher says they are ready. I'm unsure if I will keep them ahead forever. I think they can keep up with the school work but I would like them to be ahead of the game and not trying to keep up during their school.

Birthday Parties

2010-11-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

The month of Sept was full of birthdays and parties. Julie had a party, Hat in the cat theme. It was the most low maintenance party I've ever thrown. I didn't cook, any games that I planned were done at the children's leisure it was great. They made necklaces with yarn and fruitloops and frosted and decorated their own cupcakes. I'm glad we got to have one last party before we move.

Two "Pees" in a pod

2010-09-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

We were both sitting in the front room when we heard a strange noise tonight. Even with my mommy hearing and eyes in the back of my head I was unable to figure out where it came from and what it was. I went to look since Tim had ice on his knee. I looked in the kids room. Julie's in bed, Audric? I hear something again and call his name. I go for my room but find him in the back guest room, in the dark, behind the door peeing in the corner. He had his shorts and underwear down and everything. I knew he must be sleep walking again (he hasn't done it for over a year). I throw a towel on the floor and guide him to the bathroom so he can finish. Only to have Julianna come out of the room wet, soaked with pee. I had just changed her sheet too that night. Sometimes I can be Super Mom and do it myself but they were on the edge of breaking down and crying so I called Tim for back up. Surprisingly we cleaned them up and all the rest of the messes without a whine, cry or shout from anyone.

I know, this is an odd thing to blog about but how many times has something like this happened to you?

Real Quick- What a week

2010-09-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

What a week.
Tim had his mountain biking accident on Sunday. Which landed him two days in the hospital with surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

Thursday I got rear-ended in an intersection because a guy tried to make a left turn onto a road he couldn't so I was stopped behind him honking my horn while another guy, that wasn't paying attention, ran into me at 40 mph +, Luckily the kids were not in the car and no one was badly hurt. The cars, not so luck.

And today (Sunday) Julie out of nowhere got this huge rash all over her body. We think it's hives. Her poor ears where so swollen that she looked like Dopey from Snow White and the seven dwarfs. Meds took away most of the bumps and swelling but I was worried we might have to make another trip to the ER.

Lets see what this next week will give us.

August- Can you see the big picture?

2010-09-05T18:29:00.001-07:00

I'm so lucky I have a wonderful, good looking husband that loves me and our kids...

How picture perfect, one boy and one girl. Who could ask for anything more?..

A smart, handsome son that still loves to cuddle and hug...

And a daughter, blond, blue eyed pretty thing that melts your heart when you look at her...

Too bad life isn't like a snap shot and you could crop out all the other stuff in the picture. Like...

A husband who had to have emergency surgery on his knee from a mountain biking accident right before our ten day vacation.

Or dog sitting one of Tim's Co-workers dogs for more than a week. They were pretty good most of the time, just the added work of walking, feeding, bathing and the smell. (I have just come to realize that maybe I'm not such a dog person after all and that it might be a long time before we get one for ourselves)...

How about the constant silliness and "look at me"that keeps you from getting things done so you can have time to do the things you want to do...

And the ink that shows up on her belly (and nipples) about once every two months that needs to be scrubbed off.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining. I wouldn't trade them for anything, or even change the things that have happened. I think we grow as people when faced with diversity. I just would like to crop somethings out and hand them off to someone else to clean up after and take care of sometimes. Plus, I thought it would be fun for people to see the cropped views and compare them to the "big pictures".

The beach

2010-07-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

July...some more.

2010-07-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

Julie has this thing for "boobies" one day while getting ready to go to the pool she came to me with a bottle and cup in her suit singing a booby song.

One of Audric's pictures. Now he's adding Props.

I love the clothes she picks out to wear for herself.

It seems like the only time I get a picture with both of them together is when they're watching TV.

Tim at "work". I'm glad I'm not the Jealous type because gets to go to some great places with his job.

Pumping "Iron"

2010-07-14T11:04:00.001-07:00

Audric looks like a little kettle beller!

Rouring Twenties Party

2010-07-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

I think these Pictures speak for themselves.

4th of July

2010-07-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

We had a good fourth of July. We went to Fort Bragg's thing to watch the para-jumpers do their show. It was hot, crowded, and expensive. We went back home to have our corned beef and cabbage dinner (so American of us). We did a little bit of fireworks in the backyard because we aren't aloud to do them on base. Julie burned herself while using two sparklers at once. She's fine, nothing big. Once it got late enough we went to the soccer fields to watch Fort Bragg's fireworks. I think this is the first time the kids have both been up to watch them on the fourth. Oh yeah, the dress I'm wearing is one that I make earlier that morning. It's made out of old fourth of July T-shirts.

New couch

2010-07-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

Tim and I have been going back and forth wondering if we should get a different couch for a long time. Our green microfiber one fit our style and was comfy but because of the lounge on the side only two would sit on it when we had guests over. Plus we weren't sure because of the shape if it would fit in all houses we would live in in the future. One day I was cleaning under the cushions and the kids wanted to make a fort with them like they always do. I left it up to them to make it and started working on another project. I came back to find them jumping off the couch and on to the cushions. Okay I did the mom thing and let them build a fort again. By the time Tim came home they were jumping o the couch without the cushions again. This time Tim found a spring that popped out of the side of the couch. My heart sank. There goes my chance to sell the couch and get a new one, fate has decided for me (fate being my kids). But a light shown through the dark clouds and Tim was able to hammer the spring back in and only a tiny, unseeable (I know it's not a word) hole was left. That next morning without asking Tim I put the couch and popasan on Craig's list. I was surprised at how many people wanted my furniture for $300. I couldn't get a hold of Tim at work so I waited to respond to any of the emails until he came home. By dinner we had people coming over to check it out. They wanted it! They didn't even want to test it out, they were so excited to have it and they wanted to pick it up the next day. Oh yeah... what will we sit on? I made a decision to go couch shopping after dinner even if it was too late for the kids. The first place we went to was had some nice selection but every one we were interested in would take 6-8 weeks to get. My heart sunk again. We had a party coming up in a week. Not to worry There was another place to go and I knew I had seen something in there before that I liked that was on sale. Now remember for later in the story I was planning on spending $800, $1000 at most. We walk in to the next place and we both see a leather couch, love seat and chair to the right. I think we were both surprised at how much we loved it. We had never really thought about leather before. We kept it in mind as we walked up and down and through the huge furniture store. Damn! the couch I wanted was gone, there goes my fail safe. The kids had gotten a little whiny so as Tim entertained them on the vibrating chairs I finished looking around When I made it back to the front I found that Tim and the kids were back at the leather couch. The Sales Lady had asked him if he wanted her to check what was in stock and which pieces, he said "check them all." There goes any room to bargain. We finished looking at all the couches and still love the leather. But how was I going to convince Tim was couldn't get it all. You would think the price would scare him away but his eyes were in the back of his head, with his body sprawled out on the chair, and his feet on the ottoman. He knew I would love to have a love seat and couch. I knew he would love to have a chair and couch. We didn't have enough room for it all. The compromise, the ottoman. We ordered the couch, love seat and ottoman. And the best part was they could have the couch and ottoman to the house in two days.

We are still waiting for the love seat to come in. We are enjoying the couch and ottoman very much. Funny as I look at this picture, it looks like our old couch just this time we can move the ottoman.

Kentucky

2010-07-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

Timing was on our side and we got to drive to Kentucky and visit with Tim's grandparents while his Parents were also visiting. I loved just hanging out at their house looking at old pictures and talking. The kids loved catching fireflies and playing with all the old toys they had and Tim besides visiting, loved that it wasn't as hot as Little Rock, AR and that he was done with his instructor training. On our continued trip we stopped at the Museum of Appalachia. I have never been to such an interesting museum before, and I love museums. Walking around you got to get a feel as what it was like to live in a log cabin back in the day. When looking for a hotel to sleep in that night we wanted a suite with two rooms but could only find one with a pull out couch for the kids. It did come with a large tub that the kids swam in before bed.

That Night...

I didn't have a very good night. We went to a very nice grill that had amazing food. Not even half way through with my meal my stomach starts turning. I knew what was coming, I had had BBQ pork the night before and it must have had chili powder in it. I was stuck in the bathroom on the toilet while everyone else finished their food. The thoughts going through my head were "I'd rather be having a baby right now than going through this"and "I hope this doesn't make me have to throw-up because how would I do it in a bathroom stall when I need to be on the toilet". Needless to say I made it out and my food was boxed up for me. I was looking forward to getting to the room to relax and eat my food. We made it to the curb and realized Tim put my food on the top of the car and drove. I made him turn around to see if any of it was salvageable. It was all over the parking lot. I could have saved some of it but Tim wouldn't let me. We made our way up to our room with arms full of bags and kids. I know it wasn't done on purpose but before I made it into the room the door slammed shut on me and I was stuck, hungry, aching and tired on the other side of the door. I don't know how I didn't brake down and cry. I could hear Tim trying to get Audric to open the door while he unloaded his arms. It had been such a wonderful day only two hours before. At least it wouldn't get any worst. Tim made it up to me and went to the store for food and came back ready to rub my shoulders and back. He even gave the kids their bath.

This last picture is after we got home I had to clean out Fiz's fish tank so I put him in a wine glass. Tim had open this bottle of wine and poured himself a glass, later that night he was about to drink the fish because he thought for a second it was his glass.

Visit to AR

2010-07-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

We took a little trip to Little Rock to visit Tim while he had training. We flew there with little trouble. Audric still gets a little scared when we take off and this time he had to sit by himself across the isle. I was pretty good at bringing what they needed on the plane so they were happy most of the time. Julie had been having trouble with BMs so I had to change three bad diapers on the plane. I got yelled at twice for getting out of my seat when I shouldn't have. What do they expect me to do. I wanted to yell at them "Then you take care of my screaming kid"! It all worked out and we got there safe. We got to visit with friends that we knew at Pope. We went bowling, "watched" a fishing Derby(Audric caught his first fish, a blue gill), went to the pool, made daily trips to the library, and got kicked out of TLF because they were full and needed our room. It worked out because other friends came back in town and we stayed at their house for one night. Lets just say we had enough to drink that night and the guy decided to take out the golf clubs and practice their swings and hit balls to the field across the street. It wouldn't have been a problem but Tim needed more sober practicing because his ball went about fifty feet off course to our back wind shield. It was decided that since we had a 9 hour drive ahead of us the next morning the window should be taped...with blue painters tape. The guys put a big FML (Fuck My Life) on the windshield. Luckily we made it safely to Tim Grand parents house and had it fixed the next morning. I can only guess what people thought of our car as we were driving.

U-S-A All the Way!

2010-06-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

I took advantage of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum flag display and took some pictures of the kids.

How come the best picture with the two of them in it has neither of them looking at the camera?

Forget about "where's Waldo?" Where's Audric?

Fire Station visit

2010-06-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

Our friend set up a visit to the fire station. They gave us a tour and showed us what their suits look like on and lifted the ladder up all the way up. It was pretty exciting.

FTDA

2010-05-28T22:08:00.001-07:00

Future Tractor Drivers of America...need I say more.

crap in his leg

2010-05-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

New Cat and Dog

2010-05-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

Dread

2010-05-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

Julianna decided to give herself a dread lock this morning. Audric got this really cool bubble blower that has a fan on it as a gift from the birthday party we went to yesterday. The fan got caught in her hair and twisted it up into a hundred knots. It took hair conditioner a fine comb and about ten minute of working with it to get it out.