So Long, Farewell, Auf Weidersein to you...

There are so many blog posts I have started in my mind and just haven't put to the computer yet! Maybe if I get time in the coming weeks I'll get on it! This one is a very important one though as the feeling are so raw.

As an Army Spouse of over 9 years, I have passed into the category of 'seasoned.' Hm, I feel like a steak now! lol Anyway, I have moved all over the world and said goodbye to so many people who have become important to me. With small children I do not have a need to look toward the summer in any way other than as military moving season. And the season is again upon us.

Our summer, like everyone else's begins with Memorial Day and BBQs and ceremonies honoring those we've lost along the way. This is an important time for me as over the years the lost persons who I've known list has grown. This year we added another name to that personal list. So, I would like to take a moment to mention three names that aren't just friends of friends, rather friends and the spouses of friends we have been blessed to meet along the way.

I salute you and thank you for your service Ed Dixon and Clint Sikorski, and much love to those they left behind, Jana, Oliver, and Brianna, and Mandy. Most of all I say thank you to a great friend, John Vaughan.

We have moments in society when everyone remembers where they were, the loss of the shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and Sept. 11, 2001. When you lose a person who is very special to you, you always remember that place and those feeling also. John was more than a friend in college, he was a brother, and I think of him every single day. And in honoring him, I honor every soldier who has ever died for our country through the centuries. Each man and woman who has made that sacrifice deserves to be remembered, not just at Memorial Day, but every day. Even if its just a quick thought or pray to say thank you, they each deserve it!

Now, being in the military community we experience another kind of loss more regularly, that of friends as they move away. I had to say goodbye to two very special families this weekend. Thanks to technology, we will keep in touch in a way that was not available to military families even thirty years ago. See, Facebook can be a blessing!! But, while we make fast friendships, we can sometimes lose them too. As the distance grows in miles it grows in differences also.

Don't get me wrong, the people who I was close with in Germany 5+ years ago still mean a lot to me, but the truth of the matter is, if it weren't for social media I would not still be in their lives or they in mine! We don't talk, but we "FB Stalk" each other, just to know how each other is doing. Today I saw a picture of a friends son enlisting. I can't believe he is already at that age! I haven't talked to her personally in a very long time, but through FB I have prayed for her through a recent hard time and am now celebrating with her on her son's enlistment.

This recent loss of friends I think might be hardest because I found a truly amazing group of women here in Kansas the likes of which I haven't had before. It seems with each base we end up at the dynamics of the group are so different. Here we have a close group of about 10-12 of us. In Washington I had two groups of 3-4 close friends. In Germany we each seemed to have 2-3 close friends inside a larger group. I attribute the dynamics in Germany due to living on a tiny base (about 400 soldiers) in the middle of the German countryside! It's all very interesting to me, but I digress... again!

Anyway, this time I also had to deal with my children saying bye to their friends. Keirnan was only barely one when we left Washington, so he didn't really understand what was going on, but now at three, he was devastated that his friends were leaving him. And this, of course, means my heart was breaking for him!! We sometimes forget or don't realize just how much our children understand at this age, but they really get it. I had only mentioned to Keirnan that the Nevins family was moving a couple times over the past month or two and not at all on the day we went to say bye. But when I told him it was time to go, he burst into tears and clung, and asked to move with them. These friends were the ones who were there for us through Will's deployment, it was a major growing point in Keirnan's life and James' first year! That is the way of the Army family though. People you've only known a matter of months become so important and trusted. By the end of a couple years, forget it, they are family!

We said goodbye to the Brennans this weekend also, another close friend whose son is one of Keirnan's best buddies. Talk about a hard summer for the kid, all of his closest friends are leaving! Our group has 4 boys about Keirnan's age, by the end of the summer Keirnan will be the last one! In the next month or two we'll lose the Knaptons and the Walkers as well. These ladies and their children have become very special to me, each in their own way. And while I wish the best for them in their travels, I can't help but be sad to see them go!

So, in true military fashion, its not Goodbye, just See you later!

Keirnan's 3d Birthday Questions

I found this 20 questions to ask my kids at their birthday each year survey through Pinterest and really loved the idea. I have decided it was just meant to be seeing as Keirnan turned 3 last week! (I found this about a month or so ago, I'm only just getting to write this though!) This starts at 3 since before then its kind of hard to get these answers from a baby/ toddler!!

Keirnan: 3 years, May 10, 2012

1. What is your favorite color? Black
2. What is your favorite toy? Books
3. What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? Mickey (Mouse Clubhouse)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? dinosaurs
6. What is your favorite outfit? clothes with bones
7. What is your favorite game? candypops game (Candyland)
8. What is your favorite snack? grapes
9. What is your favorite animal? monkey
10. What is your favorite song? spaceships (Theme song to StarTrek:Enterprise, he loves the YouTube video)
11. What is your favorite book? Spaceships (from Grandma and Grandpa)
12. Who is your best friend? Beckett
13. What is your favorite cereal? Colors (Fruit Loops)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? shovel (play in the dirt)
15. What is your favorite drink? juice
16. What is your favorite holiday? Santa Clause (Christmas)
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Baby Bear and KitCat
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? bread
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  pizza
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Astronaut

Needless to say Keirnan has a great love of all things space, bones, and dinosaurs! His birthday party is space themed this year at his request. I will of course get pictures and such up after the event on Friday!! It just amazes me that he is already 3 years old. Though he still has no interest in potty training, he does and says so much that I can't explain just how proud of him I am. He routinely uses please and thank you, and has even started with you're welcome! He is usually very polite and though rambunctious, plays so well with others and his little brother! I can't wait to see what great things he does in life!

All things Potty!

Well, we have some highly exciting news... We're having another baby!! Eek, what are we thinking having a third!?! The boys drive me nuts, especially with Will gone this month! I'll tell ya, I am glad he was deployed last year before James was mobile, because these boys have so much energy and never stop!

So with the advent of a third child into our family, I have decided we are switching James over to Cloth diapers and am going to fully cloth diaper the baby! I am having a blast getting all this fluff- its truly addicting! I am expecting the first 2 diapers today and am so stinkin' excited! I was really surprised at how willing to do it Will was, I figured it was going to be a hard sell, but he went over pretty quick! I did a lot of research, and thanks to friends' views and recommendations, and the wonderful series on YouTube, Cloth Diapering 101, I am pretty sure I have the basics down. Now its just finding what brand I like, and works best for us!

So, I am starting to stock up on pocket diapers for James and waiting until we know the sex before getting more for the baby! Yeah, when it gets older, it can wear James' since I think he'll be potty trained around 2! I swear James will be out of diapers before Keirnan!

As to that, Keirnan gets the point of the potty but just has no desire to go in the bathroom! I know he'll do it when he is ready, but its so frustrating! He loves sitting on the potty and jumping up saying all done! But he'll fight the minute I suggest we take his pants off! Oh well, all things come in time, and he has been slow in doing just about everything. Look at his walking, he didn't walk until he was 15+ months old, but when he did it, he did it right from the get go. Maybe that means one day he'll just run into the bathroom, do his business and diapers will be a thing of the past!! With my lack of patience, I really like that idea! ha!

Trip to DC

I love DC with a passion. Its one of my favorite places, along with Disney World! Since my family lives in Northern Virginia its always a must place to visit whenever we go home. Last month my great aunt died and though I have very few memories of her, I felt I needed to go home to support my grandfather. So, I found a great deal for the dates I needed and off the boys and I flew to DC. It was James' first plane ride and both boys did a host of firsts while in VA! Will stayed home because he couldn't get off work and had a lot of homework for his classes he needed to get done!

I was nervous about how the plane ride would go, but both boys did great on the first flight. I love flights that have perfect timing between meals and such! The second flight was threw the afternoon and James refuses to take a nap anywhere but at home or in the car- there is just too much going on! So, I knew it might be interesting, but I thankfully had some amazing people on our flight and one guy was more than happy to play with the boys the entire way. He said it was his way of saying thank you for my husband's service! So we made it off the plane just in time for some dinner with Grandma at Taco Bell! The boys passed out on the way back to my parent's house.

Keirnan got to sleep in a regular twin bed with nothing on the sides and did great- he didn't fall out once! Such a big boy! James got his first experience out of a crib or pack and play and did fairly well also! Mom had put the other twin bed on the floor in a corner of 'my' room and he slept there. He didn't fall off the bed until the 3d night! (And thankfully it wasn't a big fall. That was the same day he took 2 tumbles down the stairs! Poor Kid had a really bad day!)

The boys did pretty well at the funeral, I took them out into the hall for the second half of the service, but they sat still for about the first 10-15 minutes, what more can you ask from a 1 year old and a 2 year old!?! After the service, everyone went to my grandparents house. I feel bad saying we had a good time, but we did. I think the general consensus was that though Aunt Effie will be missed, her death brought the wider family together. As my second cousin said- she hadn't seen me since I was 3!! It was nice getting to meet and talk to members of my family I had essentially never met. And the boys had a wonderful time running around Nanny and PopPop's house, which meant so much to me as I want them to know all their great grandparents!

Friday evening we went to Rainbow (IORG) with my parents, for a pot luck and game night. Keirnan's friend Danial was there as well as my friend Erin and her 3 kids. Keirnan loved playing with Daniel, Noah, and Ryan, and James made a friend in Erin's little girl, Ella, who is a few month older than him!

Saturday Mom and I took the boys downtown to the Natural History Museum. It was interesting to say the least! lol James was grumpy on the Metro ride down, but cheered up when we got off the rail (Keirnan LOVED the 'train' ride!) and got some street vendor hot dogs for lunch! We walked the long way around the seriously too big USDA building and across the Mall to the museum in the very cold wind. When we got to the museum, it was all I could do to keep the boys from running off in excitement! We started with the mammals, which Jams loved, moved on to the Humans (Bones) which Keirnan was more than enthralled with, into the ocean and then dinosaurs areas. All of it was a success. Keirnan never stopped running trying to see everything at once. It was such a joy to watch my boys have such a great time in a museum! By the time we finished it was time to head home. James did much better on the Metro ride home, and both boys we're exhausted!

Sunday we all went to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum where the boys again ran round trying to everything! My boys love planes and spaceships, especially Keirnan. We even got lucky enough to be up in the tower when an AirFrance A380 came in to land on the runway right next to the museum. That was awesome to see, and made my day! After the museum we just had to make the drive to Fredricksberg for some ice cream. (Yes, we drove 2 hours each way for ice cream!) Carl's had opened for the season the weekend before we got there, so Grandpa had to introduce the boys to his favorite ice cream! They loved it, of course!

Monday evening the flights home were not bad. They weren't good, but they weren't bad! lol That's all I will allow myself to remember about the flights home! I might never get on another plan with my children if I remembered anymore! But we were all very excited to see Daddy waiting for us as we came out of the terminal!

So, that was our visit to DC. My boys got to experience so much, from meeting part of their family to seeing Bones, dinosaurs, and spaceships! And I'm so glad I got to see my family. I miss so much being away from them and hope that one day we'll be much closer and get to see them more! Now, I will eventually get pictures up!

My Rockin' Body Journey

I am starting week 4 (The final week) of the Rockin' Body program and its been nuts! Ok, really its been a lot of fun, though a bit stressful trying to fit it in everyday. I have really come to love getting in my 45 minutes (give or take) of working out each evening after the boys are in bed! And when it ends this Sunday, I will probably keep at it on a modified level!

What is Rockin' Body? Its one of the many programs by BeachBody, the makers of P90X. And its done by Sean T, who also does the Insanity workouts. He is pretty goofy, but so motivating! Most of their programs are a bit expensive, but this one is only $28, after shipping! I took beginning pictures but forgot to get measurements until a week into it. So, I'm a bit bummed about that, but still can't believe the difference between just a week into it and 3 weeks into it, a couple days ago when I measured myself!

In 2 weeks I lost half an inch in my chest and an entire inch from my waist (read love handles!!!), which I am so stoked about! I am hoping to get rid of the rest of the little bit of chub on my back and thighs so if we do decide to try for kiddo #3 I am down to a good starting place and am already conditioned for working out so I can continue into the pregnancy!

So, how will I be modifying my workouts next week once the program is done you ask? Well, I'll be dropping the dance videos because I am just so white I can't dance to save my life! lol I'll be keeping the "Rock it Out" 45 min. workout 2 nights a week, and the other 3 nights on the week I'll do the 10 minute Abs and 30 minute Booty Buster workouts. Weekends will be my 'rest' days. (maybe I'll go for a run! OMG)

I thought about jumping into TurboFire or Insanity, but decided I am not going to jump into that at the same time we *may* be starting to try to get pregnant! So, I will wait and see what comes with that and keep on keeping with this for now!

The best part of doing this this past month is, I started out having to do the 'modified' moves with no jumping and smaller lunges, but have been able to slowly move off it and am now fully doing each of the moves! I never thought my knees would be able to handle this high intensity type workout again, but I have slowly built them up this month and am so happy about it! Maybe once its all said and done, I'll post the before and after photos. Will, and even I, can see the difference already! I love it!

Recent Readings

I have actually gotten some reading done in the past couple weeks. And have really enjoyed all my choices. Talk about eclectic though, a historical romance, classic remake, and adventure!

The first was the romance. I am very particular about what romance novels I read. I usually skip most of the steamy parts and just enjoy the main story. Needless to say, its often hard to find good stories in the romance section. I have a few authors I just love. Johanna Lindsey's Mallory series was my first. I love those Malory's! I also love Jo Beverley and Stephanie Laurens. Between the two The Bastion Club and Company of Rogues are my favorites. My favorite quote is out of a Jo Beverley book! (And I have it quoted in the signature block of my military wives forum, as well as on my Facebook, and Myspace before that!) She even emailed me once to say how much it meant to her that I chose something she wrote as a favorite quote! How cool is that?!?! Anyway, I am currently in love with Stephanie Laurens' Cynister family. I have been rereading the entire series and finally got around to buying the ebook of their protege Giles Chillingworth! It was great seeing him fall!

Next was a book that has been on my shelf for as long as I can remember, though I'd never read it. My parents bought me the book when I was a teenager. Its called "Return to Oz." Its about Dorothy trying to go back to Oz when they need her again, but her granddaughter goes in her place. Its a very interesting story and I wish I had gotten around to it years ago. My favorite part has to be the names of the wizard's son (Ura Wizard) and the wicked witch's daughter (Ima Witch), oh and Itsa, her pet dragon! My sense of the ridiculous was peeked!

The most recent was a Clive Cussler. I have to say the man is a genius when it comes to the sea and adventure on it! I love his 'Oregon Files' books. Juan Cabrillo and his crew are such a dynamic cast of characters! (I love his NUMA Files series also.) This book was about a fanatical environmentalist who tried to create a hurricane and cause a major toxic oil spill to get the world to pay attention to global warming. Its a fast paced chase around the western countries of Africa that does not stop until the very last page!

So, if you are looking for something new and different to read, here are some great authors to check out, wherever your interest lies! As part of my Project 365 is to read every book on my shelves, I know I'll have more to share with you in the future!

Ours

Taylor Swift is such an amazing artist. She is too cute for wards, has a beautiful voice, and her songs always touch me! Her latest song "Ours" is one of those songs that I feel describes a part of me so well! In this case its my relationship with my husband. So many people over the years have thrown doubt our way, but while its not a perfect love, its ours and perfect for us!



Elevator buttons and morning air
Stranger's silence makes me wanna take the stairs
If you were here, we'd laugh about their vacant stares
But right now, my time is theirs

Seems like there's always someone who disapproves
They'll judge it like they know about me and you
And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do
The jury's out, but my choice is you

So don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard
The stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours

You never know what people have up their sleeves
Ghosts from your past gonna jump out at me
Lurking in the shadows with their lip gloss smiles
But I don't care 'cause right now you're mine

And you'll say don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/t/taylor-swift-lyrics/ours-lyrics.html ]
And life makes love look hard
The stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours

And it's not theirs to speculate if it's wrong and
Your hands are tough but they are where mine belong in
I'll fight their doubt and give you faith with this song for you

'Cause I love the gap between your teeth
And I love the riddles that you speak
And any snide remarks from my father about your tattoos will be ignored
'Cause my heart is yours

So don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard

And don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
But they can't take what's ours, they can't take what's ours
The stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours