Scouting

Last Wednesday, February 29th, our Troop had a Court of Honor. Nathaniel and William each got the Music merit badge. Nathaniel also received his Life rank.

(Nathaniel pinning the Life pin on me.)

Nathaniel had his Life Board of Review January 4, 2012. He has been working really hard to get where he's at, especially since he was a little 'behind' when we moved to Maryland. (Long story short, his last troop, while they did a lot of activities, failed to mark things off and didn't supply a record of many of the things that he did while there, so he had to redo a bunch of things.)

Tonight he is meeting with the Scout Committee to give his Eagle Service Project proposal. I'm very proud of everything he has accomplished. He still has a couple of merit badges that he needs to finish, but hopefully he'll have everything finished and be able to earn his Eagle before the summer is out.

William is a First Class scout. With four boys in Scouts, their progress tends to go in shifts. Andrew is turning 11 this month, so we needed to make sure that he finished everything he needed to to get his Webelos badge and earn his Arrow of Light. And Nathaniel, of course, was trying to finish his Life rank, and now we're involved with his Eagle Project. So for the last couple of months, William and Noah haven't gotten as much 'extra' help for scouts. But William will be ready for his next rank soon, and now that Andrew will be coming in to scouts, we'll be working with him to make sure he is able to make his first three ranks in the next year.

Noah, because he was already in a cub scout pack for four months before turning eight and joining our church pack, already has a lot of things done towards his wolf rank; that's why I don't feel too bad for not doing too much with him as he still has a whole year to finish his rank.

Scouting keeps us busy, but I think it's important. And it's pretty much in my blood, so hey, might as well do it and try to do it well. :)

Chess Tournament

This year Noah started going to chess club and he's really enjoyed it. He gets to stay after school each Monday. His best friend Jackson is also in it. So every Monday Jackson's mom and I take turns picking the boys up from chess club.

On Saturday, Todd took Noah to the Charles County Chess Tournament at Westlake High School. Noah's was in the Kindergarten to Second Grade division. He had a lot of fun and even came in 3rd place! (His friend Jackson came in 2nd.) That's pretty good for not really learning how to play chess.

In chess club, they just let the kids play, but they don't actually teach them how to play chess; they're supposed to already know. And we don't play often at home. So Noah did an awesome job without any coaching or knowing any special strategies. Maybe now we'll actually start playing with him more, and helping him to learn more about chess. (Although, we'll have to learn to, because he probably already knows as much as I do about chess. I know the rules on how the pieces are supposed to move, but that's about it.)

Abigail's recital

Abigail had a recital January 28, 2012.  (I know, I'm a month behind, but hey, I'm getting it posted so that's something.) Abigail has been taking lessons for the viola since around August of 2011. (In school they don't get to start playing an instrument until 5th grade; Abigail is in 4th grade.) But there is a lady in another ward that shares our building who teaches violin and viola, so we signed Abigail up to take lessons with her.

I was so proud of how she did. She loves playing the viola, and I think part of it is knowing that most kids her age don't play an instrument yet. I know for me, I find it hard to play or sing by myself in front of people; I'm much more confident when someone else is playing/singing with me. So I'm always proud to see my children get up in front of others to share their talents.

(PS- I took pictures at the recital, but none of them turned out very well. Surprise, surprise. :( But I thought I would add a nice picture of Abigail. This was taken my my neice, Miquelle, and I love it. If only I could take pictures like a 15 year old. Lol!)

Noah's 8!

We celebrated Noah's 8th birthday on Friday at Pump It Up. It was Noah's first time at Pump It Up, and he really had a lot of fun. Of course, I forgot to bring a camera, but I did remember to pull my phone out after a while. Unfortunately, that's when Noah was mostly inside the boxing ring where the boys got to whack each other as much as they wanted, so the pictures aren't very good.

Noah's birthday was on Sunday which also happened to be Fast Sunday. He was actually kind of excited to fast for the first time. He wasn't able to open up his presents from his birthday party on Friday or Saturday because of other things we had going on, so he got to open them Sunday morning.

One tradition that we do in our family is that the birthday child gets a bag with some of their favorite food in it. This was something my dad always did for us when we were growing up. There were eight children in my family, so it was really nice to have something that was just ours. There would be some things that we requested, but other things treats that were just added. A few years ago I told my children about it, and they said they wanted to start doing it as well. So the kids usually get to pick a favorite drink, cereal, candy, ice cream, etc.

Noah wanted Fruity Pebbles, marshmallows, gogurts, carmel candies, orange Crush, Cookies n' Cream ice cream, Doritos and something else I can't remember. Usually what happens on a child's birthday is that everyone starts being really nice to the birthday child since they're hoping the birthday child will share, but Noah on his own just started passing out marshmallows to people. He shared the most out of any of the kids, and no one even asked him to.

Noah is a very special boy. He is so sweet (he does have non-sweet moments like every child) and smart. We are so happy to have him in our family.

Lillian's prayers

"Dear Heavenly Father, please bless Mommy, and Daddy, and my Nathaniel, and William, and Andrew, and Abigail, and Noah, and my Sophie, and me. And Ari and Tanner (cousins) . . .and Santa Clause."  . . .?

PS: She normally has clothes on when praying, but thought I'd get this picture anyway.

New Year's goal

My New Year's goal is to take more pictures. I never think to get the camera out, and I never carry it with me. I got the idea from my sister, Debbie, who has that as part of her resolution of blogging something & posting a picture every day.

I call this my New Year's goal and not a resolution because I already made a resolution, and this is something extra that I just decided to do about 5 minutes ago when I actually posted on my other blog and, once again, realized that it would be nice to have a photo with it, but I haven't taken any since, oh, maybe Halloween. (Now that I think about it, I don't think I took any at Halloween either.) Maybe a picture a day would be a good idea . . .

She just makes me smile.

I want to start doing a post containing the funny things that the kids say throughout the month. I haven't started that yet, but I wanted to get this one down. On Saturday, we took the whole family to Old Country Buffet. As I'm taking Sophie up to get her food, she walks by a man and says, very loudly, 'Woah! You're really tall!' And then just continues on her way. . . . That's my Sophie!

Sophie's visit with Nemo

When Sophie came home on Friday she was very excited. It was FINALLY her turn to have 'Nemo' visit for the weekend. We were supposed to help her journal and take/draw pictures so when she returned Nemo and the journal on Monday the teacher could read about their adventures to the class. Sophie wanted to start taking pictures immediately!

First, she made sure that she and Nemo took their vitamins.

Then they tried on hats because 'That's what Nemo wants to do".

On Saturday, she took Nemo out to ride her bike.

Then out to eat with the family.


That night, she and Nemo asked to sleep in my bed. . .but I made them sleep in her bed after the picture.

Nemo came to church with us on Sunday, but we didn't get any pictures. Probably because he spent 2 of the 3 hours in the diaper bag.

After pancakes, Sophie wanted to play cards with Nemo.

Bible Trivia

Last night, for Family Home Evening, we were playing Bible Trivia. This was Noah's question and the answer he gave me.

Me- What was the name of John the Baptist's mother?
And truly distraught he said, 'How should I know, I've never seen her?!'

(He was deeply upset that he couldn't answer the question and that he wouldn't be able to move his piece. We agreed that it was very unfair for him to have to answer a question about a lady's name whom he had never seen . . .so we allowed him to answer a different one.) :)

Celebrities

They might not be your more famous celebrities, but they are definitely known to us. On the rare occasions where Todd and I are in front of the TV, we sometimes watch a show called American Pickers. It's a show about two guys who go around looking through people's junk trying to find treasures. Well, Todd (he's still in Las Vegas) went out to the Pawn Star's shop (another show we would sometimes watch) today, and while he was there, he saw the guys from American Pickers. Todd only got a couple of pictures, but it was still pretty cool.

Personal Blog

Ok. I'm trying again. I started a personal blog about a year ago, but like this one, I never got beyond a couple of posts, but I'm giving it another shot. If you are one of the few who actually went to it before, I changed that blog address as well (I found a cuter name and I explained it on the blog.) The new blog is at justonespark.blogspot.com. I'm going to try and keep this blog for general family stuff and regular updates. The other blog will be whatever I feel like talking about. :)

New ideas

I'm going to let you know right up front, that I'm stealing this idea. My friend Kiersten keeps a list of the good things throughout each day. I thought that a) that would be a good idea since I'm horrible at journaling, b) it will help me remember and focus on the good things instead of just the bad, and c) it might help me get on here regularly.

Now, you may be thinking, 'I understand the first two, but how is this going to get her on here regularly?' Part of my problem with blogging has been that I think that I have to have some big important thing/event to talk about. Then, even if I do have something to talk about, I have to add a picture or something. I'm not always the best about taking pictures, but even when I do take them, half of the time they just sit on my camera. So even when I do think about posting something, because I don't have a picture handy, I decide to do it later and it never happens. BUT by doing these daily snippets, I don't have to worry about having some big, beautiful, perfect post. Hopefully, being on here more regularly will lead to me also doing more regular posts, but for now, I'm just taking babysteps. :)

Why I shouldn't blog

Reason #1- I'm no good at it.

Again, it has been a while since I last posted anything. I see others updating their blogs frequently and they're very cute, yet mine hasn't been touched since August and I did something funky to my layout and I can't get it to do what I want it to. Oh well. Here is my not very creative, not very regular update.

Todd's job has been keeping him busy. He's gone to Colorado, Iraq and he's currently in Las Vegas. He's preparing for his Major's board. BUT the Air Force has realized that it has about 2,500 officers too many, so they are planning on cutting that many. Some of those cut will be JAGs and some will be from Todd's year group. We should know this summer if he is one of the people who will be cut.

I started school back in September. It has been a little crazy, but I enjoy it. I was going to school for Dental Hygeine, but I've decided to switch to Business Administration and transfer to a four year program for Accounting. I believe that I will enjoy that more since I love math and budgeting. My ideal goal is to become a Financial Planner so I can help teach people how to budget, get out of debt and save for retirement and such.

We really like our new area. We're hoping to stay here 3 or 4 years. (I know, crazy idea, huh?)

We've been looking at selling our house, but that's a little scary. We'll probably try to continue renting for another year or so, but being a long-distance landlord is no fun.

Well, there you have it folks. I will TRY to update more regularly. I've seen a couple of things from friends blogs that I think I could do that would help motivate me to update things more regularly. ... Maybe I'll give them a try. :)

Catching up

My last post was in March . . .it's time to catch up a little.
Todd was home about 2 months when we were told that we would be moving this summer in stead of next summer like we thought. So with 2 months notice, we got things ready to move. Todd's mom had already decided to stay in Rome, so she moved out in May.
We were told that Todd would be working in Roslyn (sp?) in the DC area, but that eventually he'd be moving to Andrews AFB. Then we found out that, although the main headquarters is in Roslyn and he'd have to go there sometimes, he would actually be working at Bolling AFB. Needless to say, we were a little stumped as to where to look for housing. Todd asked some people from the base and they told us to look in the Waldorf area of Maryland. We looked on militarybyowner.com to check out houses. I found a couple that looked good. When Todd came home, I started showing him the houses. I showed Todd the first place that I had up on the screen still. It looked nice, had at least the 4 bedrooms that we needed, and it was in a good school district. After showing Todd the house, I went to show him the next one and he said no. This was the house he wanted. The house was available exactly when we needed it to be, and with a short notice move, that was a blessing. It turned out that they were an LDS family and some people in their ward had joked with them saying that they could only rent to an LDS family.
Our move was not the smoothest move we've had. We almost didn't get our shipment of stuff, they messed up the leg on my piano, they dropped some of our stuff while loading and unloading, etc. Before we left, we gave Jenny our bookshelves and desk planning on making new ones once we moved. So while we were unpacking, we also had to start making bookshelves. (The bookshelves are not finished, so we still have boxes of books out in the garage, but their almost done.)
Todd took leave for the first two weeks we were here, which was nice. But with his current job, he'll be gone a lot. He is part of an Accident Investigation Board (AIB) so anytime there is an accident, he has to leave to investigate it. He left in the beginning of August and is still gone. He's estimating that he'll be home the beginning of September.
After moving here, we got the kids started up with piano lessons again. Abigail and Andrew were already taking lessons, but we were also able to get Nathaniel into lessons as well. Nathaniel will still be playing the clarinet this year in band, and William will be picking an instrument on Tuesday to start playing. Abigail wants to play the viola since I already have one here, and we're hoping that we can get her into some lessons for that soon. There is a Mormon Orchestra here in the area that I was planning on auditioning for (although I was fairly nervous since it's been 14 years since I've played the viola), but I don't think I'm going to try for that anymore. (I may still do the Stake Orchestra, but I'll have to wait and see.)
The biggest change, besides Todd's schedule, is that I've decided to go back to school this semester. SCARY!! I've been wanting to go back to school for awhile now, but it's never been the right time. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I started looking into it again. The more I looked into it, the more it just felt right to start. I'm kind of surprised that I'm supposed to start now, because with Todd's schedule, I can't rely on him to watch the kids regularly, because he'll be gone for weeks at a time. I know that I'm supposed to do this now, although my head says that being home by myself with 7 children doesn't seem like the right time. But I'm going to make this work. I'm trying to find the best schedule I can. A combination of an evening class (so I can hopefully just find a babysitter for the weeks Todd's gone) and a day class where I can hopefully swap babysitting. My plan is to take 2 courses/semester.
So, our time here in Maryland will be kind of crazy, but hopefully we'll have good things and many blessings come out of our time here.

Todd's home!

Well, OK, he's been home for a couple of weeks now, but this is when I'm writing about it. The first night home, Todd and I were able to stay at the Turning Stone Casino. It was nice to just have some alone time and to be able to have time walking around looking at things. The next day we came home. The kids were very excited to see him, as you can imagine. Originally he was going to come in on a Saturday, but he got in on a Thursday instead, which made it nicer so the following morning wasn't rush-rush to get kids ready for church. The only problem was that school was cancelled on that Thursday and Friday because of the weather, so there was still a bit of rush-rush to find babysitting, but it all worked out.
The following week, we took the kids to an indoor water park for about 4 days. It was nice to have that time as a family to just have fun and not have to worry about kids not doing chores or homework or having to do various activities. It was wonderful! We've visited family before, but we've only done a 'real' vacation maybe once before. I can now see why people try to do vacations every year. :)

One week left!

Only 7 days until I get to see Todd again. It's so close, but still doesn't feel any closer. Our schedule will still be the same up until I leave to pick Todd up. Next Saturday I'll head to choir practice and then leave from there to pick him up. Of course, there are still things I want to do around the house before he comes home, but that's all my regular daily stuff anyway. (ie, laundry, dishes, clean out the cars, more laundry . . .) I don't think it's really hit the kids yet either. They know he's coming back next week, but it's still just life as usual.
Todd had his going away dinner today and was given his various medals and awards that he earned while there. He was able to earn an award that usually only higher up officers earn, so of course I'm as proud as a mama bear, because I know he's brilliant and it's nice to see others recognize it too. :o)
HE'S COMING HOME IN 7 DAYS!!

Lillian's 1st Birthday!

Yesterday Lillian turned one! The kids were all very excited. Especially Sophie. She thinks it's cool that she can now say Lillian is one instead of zero. :o) We started the festivities as soon as all of the kids were home from school so that we would still have time for dinner and to get to Boy Scouts. Unfortunately, Todd missed her first birthday, but I sent him lots of pictures. We did presents with her (she refused to open any, so we pretty much just opened them and gave them to her), sang 'Happy Birthday' (which she absolutely loved!), and had the first-and-only-time-they-get-to-make-as-big-of-a-mess-as-they'd-like-to cake. She loved all of it. Even the bath at the end.

Motivated

Since Todd has been gone, I had a goal to lose all of my baby weight and get down to my ideal weight. Well, my schedule has been crazy, it's been uber cold or snowy, and my treadmill was in my freezing garage. Needless to say, not a lot was accomplished, and I actually put on another 3 lbs. after the holidays and such. That was the middle of January. I decided that I just needed to buckle down and get things done. So, I started really sticking to my diet (which I was doing fine with before for the most part), and decided to ask my home teacher to help me move my treadmill into my front room. There's not a whole lot of room, and I have to move my couch everytime I use it and then move everything back afterwards, but it's been worth it. In the last 3 1/2 weeks, I've lost 7 1/2 lbs. I could have easily reached my ultimate goal before Todd came home, but because of my late start, I've had to set a new goal. It's only about 7 lbs. off, but still. It is a little discouraging to not be where I hoped I would be, but I'm very happy with where I will be when he's home. Then once he's home, I plan to lose the last 7 lbs. before my birthday in May, which is completely doable.
I've been very focused, but it hasn't been easy. There are days that I just want to EAT! Like today. It was Fast Sunday, so I was excited because I should have automatically not used as many calories today. But I came home, and over the course of the last couple of hours, still ate the meals I would have regularly eaten. I've noticed that Sundays are hard for me. They're hard because I'm just home most of the day and I'm home with Jenny. I don't know why that matters, but it does. I'm not the kind of person who is an emotional eater, or a person who eats to deal with problems . . .until her. And I still don't do it for that reason, but when I don't want to be around her, I usually want to get out for a while. Well, what can I do out of the house, that can get me away for awhile . . .usually going out to eat. So now I just find my self hungry anytime she does something that starts bugging me. It reminds me of Pavlov's dogs. I've trained myself to be hungry when she's around. So, even though today should have been a good day for calories, I've wolfed down 3 meals since 2 pm. Now, I'm still being good and not going over, but I should have been way under for today. And I'm still VERY hungry. (It's been a rough day.)
But the weekdays will come, and my schedule will get back to normal. Yet I know, the weekends are still coming, and there's also a holiday where there will be no work, so I still have a couple of bumps along my road before I cross my finish line. But I am still motivated. I have 11 1/2 lbs. to go to reach my ideal. I'd have 21 1/2 to go to reach my pre-any-baby weight, but I don't think that would be a healthy weight for me, so I'm sticking with what the experts say should be my weight.
And, just so you don't think that weight is all I think about, I know that that's not the most important thing. I'm just looking for healthy and fit, but I know from experience where my body is at it's best, and that happens to coincide with a #. I just feel good when I'm eating healthier and exercising regularly. I really miss my runs if something in my schedule makes a run not possible.
**(Disclaimer-- I'm getting on a soapbox here.) I have people that are always telling me that I don't need to lose weight. And I know that it's not a bad thing, and that it's meant as a compliment, and I in no way take it the wrong way, but I just want people to understand my side of things. I may be smaller than other people, but that doesn't mean that I can't be the size that my body is meant to be. If a woman who's a size 10 puts and keeps on 30 lbs. from having children and another is a size 4 and keeps on 30 lbs. from having children, shouldn't the smaller woman have just as much of a right to lose the weight as the first one? It's not the smaller one having an unrealistic view of her body. She just wants her body back.
Anyway, I guess that's my ramble for the day.

Almost there

We are now down to 20 days until Todd comes home!! It almost doesn't seem real. It just seems like my life will continue as it is-- just following our regular routine and talking to Todd. It will seem weird to actually have him here. He should be leaving Kabul in about 2 weeks, and then he'll be in Manas (not sure of the spelling) for a couple days before flying out. He'll retrace his steps, flying from Manas to Turkey to Germany to Baltimore. There he'll spend the night, since he'll be getting in around 10:30 pm. The next morning he'll fly on to Syracuse (not sure if it will be a straight flight or not), where I'll get to pick him up at the airport. We'll have to drive straight back to Rome so he can return his weapon, but then he's all mine. :o) We're going to head to the Casino/Hotel thing that's here in New York for the evening and then I'll bring him home the next morning. The down side is that he's coming home on a Saturday, which means that it will be a Sunday morning when we get back. So he'll get to see the kids for a little bit, but we'll still have to be getting them ready for church. Then they'll get to sit with him for an hour, and then not see him for another 2 hrs. after that. But regardless, it will be nice.
Then he will have to go to Boston for 2 days the following week to turn in gear and such. (I think it would make more sense for them to just fly him into Boston, let him turn all of his stuff in, and then just send him home so he can stay home, but it is what it is.) He's planning on taking Nathaniel and William with him, though, to spend a little time with them, and also since they're old enough to get military IDs now. So that will be nice for the boys.
It's been a long almost 6 months, and these next 3 weeks will probably seem the longest, but the end is in sight. I know that Todd has missed the family, but he's also glad that he went. He's been able to make some real contributions to the war in Afghanistan because of his position over there. He's always tried to look for opportunities to make a difference over there, where a lot of time, people just do only what they have to and that's it. So, even though it's been a sacrifice for us, it's made, or will make, life better for many of the Afghani people. So that's something he can be very proud of and we are proud of him as well.
HE'S COMING HHHHHHOOOOOMMMMMMEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Invisalign

Today I went to the Orthodontist and got the Invisalign braces on. I've wanted to straighten my teeth for many years, and I finally just decided to do it. It helped that Nathaniel was already going to the Orthodontist for his appointments. So one day after his appointment, I just asked them if they could give me an evaluation. I had the option of doing normal braces or the Invisalign, and I guess I'm just vain enough that I was willing to pay the extra money for the Invisalign. :-)
So right now, my teeth are a little sore, but only when I first take them off (one of the other benefits of getting this kind--I get to take them off to eat and brush my teeth) or put them on.
I tried to take some pictures, but you really can't tell I have anything on in any of the pictures, so I won't post any. Sorry. :-)
But I'm very excited. It's nice to do something just for me that will also make me feel better. I have to do 20 aligners for 3 weeks each. So that's 60 weeks of wearing these and it takes me to the middle of March 2011.