Big Events

There are times in my life when I can remember where I was and what I was doing.

• Beginning of the 1st Gulf War - eating dinner at church


• USS Cole bombing - driving to work in Maryland


• Sept 11, 2001 - nursing my 2 week old 1st child in Maryland


• Beginning of the war in Iraq - at home in North Carolina, we were the guardians for 3 kids whose mother was in that convoy out of Kuwait into Iraq.


• Saddam Hussein is captured - just moved in Florida


• Usama Bin Laden is confirmed dead - nursing my 10 week old 3rd child in California.

I know that there are many other significant events out there, but none that hit so close to this military family as these. Its amazing what has shaped our lives and the lives of our children.

I don't rejoice in the fact that there is a person who is dead. I rejoice that his rule over people is over. I hope that the people that were following his lead will see that there is a better life than the one they are leading.

The Countdown Has Begun

Six months from now we will be moving on to our next duty station. The moves are getting harder for us. The emotions are more intense, but there is hope that we will bump into some friends in out next adventure. We hope that the next move will be the last move. From there we can finish our military career. That is scary and exciting all at the same time.

In the time between now and then we will:

welcome a baby girl to our lives

finish basaketball and baseball season

complete 4th grade and Kindergarten

enjoy visits from family

finish our 2nd year of Girl Scouts

and so much more.

While we look forward to being closer to grandparents, we are a bit bittersweet about leaving a place that has become home.

Play Ball!

I am a big fan of IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) They are strong advocates of veterans health and educational rights. They push hard on Capitol Hill to get help for all veterans. This summer we were able to get 4 tickets to a Padres game with other veterans. It was amazing and I wish that I had more pictures of the day.


Here are my 2 punks enjoying the game, but really they were just looking for the next snack vendor. It was a beautiful day.

Here is the field from our seats. We did get the chance to move down about 6 or 7 rows. I loved it, but I am a sucker for baseball.

Looking Down the Road

I am so happy to be on the downhill slide of this duty station. We are looking for orders back to the east coast and as south as we can get. We have stuck our toes in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and we definitely know where we want to call home.

Our next duty station could be our last. We are weighing our options so that when we request our next stop it will be the right place.

We will need a school that will be willing and able to work with us in handling C's dyslexia.

We will want a place to raise our soccer loving son.

We will find a place that will be home for quite a while.

My Military Kids - Notes from the Homefront

All kids are different. Their life experiences define who they are. I don't think you can make a kids life easy. There will always be hiccups, how you handle it will echo in how your kids handle it.

My military kids are extraordinary (aren't yours too). They show me time and time again just how resilient they are. So here is a happy list of things that I think define their lives. Some are good and some may not be in your opinion, but it is our life.

1. Practice counting skills by counting the tanks in a convoy.


2. Says "Hi Daddy" to all the helicopters that fly over.


3. My oldest is in her 4th school.


4. They hardly ever see the same Dr. We move and Dr's deploy.


5. They struggle with remembering to ask for Dad's help. They are not used to him being home.


6. My oldest has lived in 6 states, the youngest 4 states. They can tell you which states.


7. They have new friends at each duty station and can't remember very many from previous stations. I do see that improving as they get older.


8. They know what a commissary and exchange is.


9. They know that situations we don't like are temporary - uumm California.


10. We all stand for the National Anthem before watching a movie.


11. They know the words to the Navy and Marine Corps songs.


12. Seeing troops with guns does not surprise them.

There's more. Loads more. Today, I think my kids are amazing and that they are handling so much.

Only 19 States

visited 19 states (38%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

Seems like I need to broaden my horizon northward.

Two Sided Day

Veteran's day is my birthday, always has been and always will be. I can remember when the only thing I worried about on Nov 11th was my birthday. As I got older, I had a birthday, parade responsibilities and dinner with my family to think about. You see for 34 years, I have been a military dependent. I went from being the granddaughter, daughter, and niece of men in the military to being the wife of a man in uniform.

My hubby with our two great kids. We drove through San Antonio on our most recent PCS move.

My dad and stepmother with the my kids. They are 100% supportive of us and always try to visit us wherever we are living.

I know that it is late postingthis, but our Interent was all messed up. We got it fixed yesterday and I am just now sitting down long enough to think.

A New Adjustment

It has been so long since I have posted anything on this blog. Not only was my last post in August, but the last year has been less personal on the blog. So I had to make a decision on which way I wanted to look at my blog. Could it be a personal space that reflected my family or a space that was more beneficial for the reader or both?

Our military life has made our personal lives stressful for that last 6 months or so, but thankfully things have settled some. In my continued quest to find my spot in our new home, new neighborhood, new state, and new command, I heard God whispering to me "just make a home" and so that is what I have been working on.

My daughter C did go back to school and she is flourishing. She is eager to learn and is making friends and they act all kinds of girly goofy on a daily basis. Her teacher is fabulously organized and is teaching self responsibility. Our goal is to always do what is best for her in regards to school. If we ever feel the need to pull her out of school and homeschool again, there will be no hesitation.

My little boy, J, was very upset that he would be home alone with C gone and his best buddy across the street away at Kindergarten. So we found out about a Pre K program that is at the same school. I have been worried about him going and it has not been an easy transition, but he wanted to try and so we are letting that happen. He is fine during school, but being left there has been difficult, and he is very tired and grumpy at the end of the day. We have just completed our 2nd week and I want him to try for a while longer, but if it does not work then we will move on.

So with 2 in school nearly all day, I can volunteer at the school which I love. I love helping all children and these children are nearly all military kids and so I understand a little of what they are going through. J's class is lively and entertaining, my favorite part is where they read a story and then act out some of the scenes. Imagine 15 four and five years olds acting out scenes to books. To funny.

So I hope that you stick with us as we see where this road leads us. It has been an adjustment and we are hoping for good, positive results all around.

A Quick Update

We had a complete change of plans. Thank you Uncle Sam and US Navy. We moved a little bit further north, on base, and into a bigger house. Not much to complain about there. So between unpacking, spending time at the pool and beach, and getting all that lovely paper work done, there has not been much time for blogland.

This has been our summer. Yay for us! We have family coming during the month of July, so we will get well acquainted with the airport and enjoy parts of sunny California that we have yet to see.

Our school plans are changing a bit and it looks like I could have one homeschooler and one public schooler. We will see, I am not pushing the issue, but I am being pushed by some family member. So my hubby and I made the decision to not let their opinions influence our family. That has already helped with the stress of that decision. I will let you know where the good Lord leads us.

I did find a website that I love and will use with my 4(almost 5) year old this year. if you get a chance, go check out all the cuteness. The Crafty Crow. This links to the ABC section, but there is so much more.

Just what we needed!

" I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:13

If life is crazy, then military life is crazier! Y'all pray for us, everything is a little bit chaotic here.

We are still here...

Where have the days gone? We are busy and stressed here, everything seems to be coming fast. Could someone turn off the fire hose, because we are drowning in the decision making going on.

For now, we are doing what we set out to do, keeping life for our kids as stable as possible. That is one of our main priorities in homeschooling our children. We may move a lot, but they do not have to constantly face a new classroom. Our school time has relaxed, and C is doing a happy dance over that.

Today both kids had to have a sports physical done in order to participate in MWR activities on base. The nurse practitioner asked, J (4 yrs old) if he liked school and he said "NO" very matter of factly. That kid! Good news is that J is more willing to write, color, and be read to and we can see improvements. He's a good kid and still loves to snuggle with his Mama, so we will keep him.

The Navy seems to be out of money and so they will not pay tuition assistance for R to take classes toward his degree since he is at a training command. That makes no sense, I know! If he were not at a training command he would not take classes because he would be deploying or getting ready to deploy. This just came about this week. What a bummer! You can guess it, another change of plans.

Until later, say a sweet prayer and enjoy the weekend.

Who am I?

At times I find it very difficult to be more than one person at a time, but how do you not do it. I chose the decisions that I did because I felt that was were the Lord was leading me. It is hard enough being a military wife or a homeschooling mama without mixing the two. These days I feel so overwhelmed.
I have always felt blessed by my life. Even considering all the downs mixed with the ups. I knew I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do. There is something that I have loved about every duty station and there are people all over the country that I miss dearly.
Now we are surviving a year away much farther from family, in a house that needs some work, with a schedule that is stressful, and we are homeschooling.
Except homeschooling is not going so well. We are both unhappy with each other and I awake every day dreading the fight that lays before us to get the work done. Of course, you can say that it is the move or spring fever, but this has been going on since the get go and I am worn out. I have changed everything more than once, had a rigid schedule and a relaxed schedule, took away privileges, and just ignored that lack of work she was doing, but now I am out of steam and tired of it all. The unfortunate thing is that she is behind in so many things because we relaxed so much to let her reading improve. Her reading has improved freatly although she will ask you every time what a word is before she sounds it out.
C would rather do what she wants to do all day long and the moment that something, anything, happens to upset her then we all pay for it the rest of the day. She cannot sit still and do an assignment and she will not do an assignment at all unless someone is standing over her. Poor little brother gets yelled at making a noise and disturbing her. All those actions are ridiculous in my book. There is not a day that goes by that one of us is not in tears. Usually her, multiple times, with screaming and shouting mixed in.
I wish there was a magic formula, but what I want more than anything is cooperation from all involved to get that formula figured out. I am sure that there is a way to make school fun for her. I just wish someone would tell me what it is.
I got the book Homeschooling the Child with ADD (and other Special Needs). I have no idea if that is C's problem but I thought that the book might give me some ideas.
Now my ranting is over. Thank you for listening. I feel better now.

Getting Ready

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks and things are not slowing down. We are gearing up for our big move across country. 2 cars, 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 dog, and a fish.

• We have packers coming to do a walk through this week and they will be here on Monday to start packing.
• A haircut for me


• Yard Sale on Saturday.


• My parents coming to visit and pick some things up.


• Final inspection from the housing office.


• Packing for 9 days in different hotel rooms. This has to be done before the packers come on Monday.


• Letting the friends say goodbye.


• Not to mention that we still do not have a place to move to and we are traveling on our faith alone.

What we have done in the last couple of weeks is mind boggling.

• R spent a week in school and then met me at Memaw's house in AL


• Celebrated my Memaw turning 80 years old with out extended family.


• Visited my Dad, had lunch with him, my stepmom, and my brother.


• Took one brother to the other brother's house to get a ride home because his car was in the shop


• Hubby went and visited a friend in Florida


• Spent a few days with my Mom.


• Went to the In-laws to see their new house.


• J got to play golf

• C went to 2 birthday parties


• One kids threw up, the other had a fever.


• Played in the snow. Can you believe that it snowed in AL.

Mind boggling isn't it. The kids are doing great and handling all the pressure and changes like champs. The are pretty good military kids. Mostly they are excited to see their friends in CA. Please keep us in your prayers and we travel these all to familiar paths.

Homeschooling in the military

Recently in my comments someone asked me about homeschooling and the military. Basically the pros and cons and would it be easier on military kids to go to school because then they could meet new friends.
Army Wife in Training, this is not only for you, but for anyone who is pondering homeschooling.
A little background though. While stationed in North Carolina we became friends with a couple of different people who homeschooled. They loved it and constantly raved about homeschooling being on their schedule, getting to take long vacations, and traveling when it was best for their husbands (both active duty Marines) other than when it was best for the schools. So we began to study homeschool and read everything we could get out hands on. When we moved to Florida, we put Caroline is a preschool and prepared her for her first year of Kindergarten at the local elementary school. Then over the next 2 years she changed schools 3 times. Bless her heart, she handles it so well.
Our last school was a challenge for our whole family. It was a school that had a lot of disciplinarian problems. I felt school time was leaning away from learning. So we waited until the year ended and made the final decision to homeschool her for the next few years. I don't say forever because we never know what the future holds.
Advantages to homeschooling.

• My relationship with C has gotten better. I used to get her at the end of the day when she was tired and grumpy and snappy!
• If Daddy is home then we can focus our attention on spending time with him.
• Our kids can learn what we want them to learn and avoid learning some scary things. Have you heard what kids say on the playground these days. Eye Opening!
• Since we are military, we can take extended stay vacations to visit family. This works well when hubby is on deployment. I can't move home during deployments, I need my own space and rules.

Disadvantages to homeschooling.

• You are never alone. That takes an adjustment and/or a good babysitter. My goal is to find a sitter when we move so that I can get a few hours once a week to myself.
• Bad days for one person usually result in bad days for everyone. That also includes when Mom is sick. There is no getting the kids to school and then going back to bed. There is school in bed though and that is fun!
• There will always be somebody who doubts you or thinks you are crazy or both. As long as it is not you then don't worry about it.
• There will be rally crappy days. Get over it and move on, everyone has them.

I hope that you can see that I really do enjoy homeschooling my kids. There is so much you can do. If your kids have an interest, then I will suggest that you follow that interest. Let them learn as much as they can.

Here is a new website for the younger kids. It is full of fun learning ideas for the tots in your home. Totally Tots, go check them out.

Lastly, military families that homeschool, think of homeschooling, no someone who homeschool. Give us your ideas. Why do you love homeschooling, why wouldn't you homeschool, what scares about making the decision to homeschool. Let us know.

PS, Army Wife in Training. I could not get to your website. Send me a link.

Things in motion, stay in motion

Whew, who knew that things could change so fast. We are suddenly on a race and I am not sure where the end is.

My loving husband called on Tuesday to say that he had been accepted to a school that he wants to go to. That is wonderful news, because coming out of this school should be a nice bonus and a promotion.

So would you like to see my countdown.

• 6 weeks until I have to be at my Grandmother's 80th birthday


• 7 weeks until much needed yard sale.


• 8 weeks until packers are here


• 8 weeks + 3 days until final check out and hit the road for California

Can you even imagine? Amazingly I have not had a major panic attack, but it will come all in good timing. Our girl, C is super excited about everything but the car trip. She will be my bouncer. Someone to bounce ideas off of and help me scheme to make this trip fabulous.

Our plan is to stop and have a couple of days in San Antonio. The riverwalk area is one of my husband's favorites and he wants to show us around. Then we will book it to the California coastline. We have a few friends waiting on us there and fortunately they already know there way around. We bought a TomTom and I am working on figuring out how to use it.

Now, I need all of your help. I went to Target last night looking for car games and there were none to be had. So what are your ideas for keeping a 4 and 7 yr old entertained on a 3 day trip?

And if any of you have lived in the San Diego are please spill the beans. I want to know everything. Best (and worst) place to live, to eat, to shop, and to have fun. This is a whole new ball game for us and we need you.

What doing?

We are moved and pretty much settled. Most things are put away, curtains hung, pictures up, and toys sorted. You know what happens when all of that happens, YOU GET ORDERS! We don't have orders yet, but that could happen at any time. We are debating two schools for hubby to attend and we think we have it narrowed down. Now it is a decision on whether or not we would go with him and we can't decide until we know when he is going and for how long. Just gotta love living in limbo.
Today is a beautiful day. We have not found a church and so we went to the park and visited a sports club that has lots of activities for the kids. We love the club, the military discount, and the fact that we can cancel at anytime with our military orders.
Now we have a big week ahead of us, lots of school to catch up on, Thanksgiving, and eventually I have start Christmas shopping. I have some homeschool reviews to complete this week. I still have to call a few people (companies) and change our address.
I do tend to function better when I have a lot of things going on, hopefully I can get them all done.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Next week, I will post a picture of our thankful tree that the kids and I have been working on.

Be Good,
Amanda

It Has Been Forever

We have been so busy since Daddy got home. I feel like I have been neglecting the Internet. Hah!

• We took a 10 day vacation and it was wonderfully relaxing.
• We took a field trip to the Kolomoki Mounds in Blakely, GA. There are some good nature trails and a outdated mini golf that my boy loved.
• We spent a few days with my husband's parents and went trick or treating with cousins. They were so excited all day long and 2 of the were asleep in the car by 7:30pm.

And then we came back home and I am not sure that we have sat down yet. I was doing mountains of laundry when I noticed rat/mouse droppings in many places throughout the house. We have never had mice before so I was beside myself. Then we noticed that our dog was covered in fleas. I have been fighting fleas and we thought we had a hold on it but when your neighbors 3 dogs are not being taken care of things can get out of control quickly. Hubby called base housing and they sent Orkin over to spray. We caught one mouse (he was cute) and I was told to vacuum everyday to get rid of the fleas.

Our surprise from housing was that they had just purchased some townhomes in a community closer to my husband's work. There is not any base housing where he works so he drives 45 minutes each way. Killer on the gas budget. His commute will be 15 minutes each way now.These townhomes are nicer than what we live in now and they are in a regular community. So we begin moving immediately. You may not see me around here for a while, but I will be back. So keep us in your prayers. Take care and see you soon.

Waiting is hard to do

You may remember that we had planned on Daddy being home last week. Never plan on anything with the military, but when things did not change I actually thought that date and time would stick. Boy, was I wrong. They were stuck in Spain for an extra 4 days and then had to stop in 2 different states before they managed to get home. Once they figured out when they would get home, we had about 4 hours to prepare. What a thrill of emotions.

Check out some of the beautiful pictures of Spain.

Oh, the week has come. I won't give you specifics but by the weekend we will have Daddy. By the way, you should never give out details of your loved ones arrival and departure. There are still people out there that want to harm Americans, especially American military and their families.
The kids are excited, although they do not know all the details because I do not want them upset if the date or time changes. Our family is calling daily to see if there are any updates or changes. I have made it clear that no one should travel here to meet us. We are not trying to be mean, but he will be exhausted and it stresses him out to try to spend time with everyone. So we will take a few days for ourselves and then head out to see his parents and mine. They all live in the same state.
The kids are still finalizing the Halloween costume ideas and we have got to get on the ball with that. We have to decide if we will be home for Halloween or at one of our parents. If we will be here then we need to get some pumpkins to go with all of our other decorations outside.
I am working on some reviews for The Homeschool Crew. Check back in a couple of days. Until then. Have a great day.
Amanda

No power

Monday mornings, in the wee hours, before anyone was awake, we lost power. Does that describe how early that was. Ha Ha! The kicker is that we did not get power back until Tuesday afternoon about 4:00 pm. That is a long time for this mama. We made it though.

The kids got Chick Fil A yesterday for lunch, as well as some time spent at the library and Barnes and Noble. That helped us get through the day. The Lord favored us and kept the temperatures mild so that we did not suffocate in the heat and humidity. We had a breeze blowing through the house constantly.

We lost all the frozen food. It is still in the freezer because garbage does not run until tomorrow.

My poor husband call yesterday afternoon when I was done with the whole power outage. He went into a mild panic and wanted to know what my plan was. I told him my plan was to survive, he did not like that but he cannot do much from Iraq.

Anyways, looks like the transformers had some corrosion due to salt air. I guess living this close to the beach does have some disadvantages. We are good now. Have a great Wednesday. Amanda