Crabby Pants

So, the kids had fun in the tent last night. They'll sleep in it again tonight. They're already out there playing. I don't see how since it must be hotter than blazes in there. Last weekend when we were on our date we went to Home Depot. I showed Zach some fire pits. Today we bought one. It's just a small, cheaper one. Then as I'm reading our local news station online I see that they may be illegal in our town. Great. So let's hope nobody will call the fire department on us tonight! That's all I need. I'm already feeling really crabby right now. Probably a lack of sleep. I couldn't sleep at all last night and then I heard Zach & the kids come in at 6:30 this morning. He then came up at 7:30 asking if I was going to sleep all day. No, but it would've been nice to sleep after 8! Sigh. So I think my lack of zzzz's is catching up with me. Abby is super clingy still and I'm just done. I keep thinking I only have 10 days left until Zach leaves. I really need to try to get some 'breaks' away in there, but I don't see that happening. Even some sleep would be nice!

Holiday Weekends

Can be so overrated. I get so depressed. We don't have our family around to spend time with. We miss out on family events. Then I feel like we're just losers and loners. Seriously, its not just the hormones either because this always happens. I get to thinking about all the people we know. How come we never get together with them? I can't even remember the last time we've been invited to somebody's house as a family, aside from Bible study! I want to think it was within our first 3 months of living here and we've been here almost 2 years. It makes me sad. I LOVE to have people over and I admit we haven't done it as often with moving in, having Abby, settling in, Zach gone, winter and morning sickness. But we have had some people over. We've tried to have others. And I don't want to feel like people need to 'reciprocate' as that isn't true hospitality. It would just feel nice to feel loved once in awhile. I suppose we have 'too many kids' and that is a 'deterrent'. Sometimes being a military family is SO HARD. And living here in Iowa, not a lot of people understand the whole military card. Most are from here and have family nearby or have lived here for a long time and have their 'roots'. Sigh.

Then let's move on to my daughter. I feel SO bad for her. We have quite a few little girls in the neighborhood, all about her age. She used to play with the twins across the street quite often last summer but hasn't really had a chance to yet this spring. A gal down the street, K, she plays with the most, but that doesn't always happen either. And I see all these girls riding their bikes together, playing and I feel bad that Hannah is left out. Now, there's been a few times when I've told her to go on out but by the time she gets out there they're gone on another street or inside! She hasn't told me anything about how she feels, but I'm sure she feels it! I feel it as her Mama (and Miss Sensitive One)! I really, really, REALLY wish I could find a good friend or two for her! I think it is so important for girls to have close (GODLY) friends! I need to pray about this for her more often...

Ok, so that's all heavy on my heart tonight. Meanwhile, Abby is sleeping next to me in my bed. She had a fever a couple of days ago and has since been sleeping with us! Bad habit! Her appetite has been a bit weird, but today was improved so I'm not sure what's going on (although I did notice this evening that her throat looked red). The other kids are sleeping out in the tent with daddy in the backyard!! Fun for them! I hope they have a good time and stay out there all night! I don't want my sleep interrupted! I had a busy day of teaching and finished cleaning the basement and I just want some SLEEP!

Answered prayer

Wow, God is awesome!!! Just yesterday I was praying so much about the whole job thing with Zach. Last night we really sat down and just talked about it all, trying to figure out what he should do, going over pros and cons, etc. We couldn't make a decision and I said to just wait and see what happens, that God would show us. I know waiting is so hard!!! Then when I went to bed I wanted to read a Psalm and I scrolled on the screen on my iPod and came to chapter 37. Here are some verses that stuck out to me:

v. 3 Trust in the Lord and do good
v. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
v. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him
v. 23 If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm
v. 34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way.

Isn't it awesome how God speaks to us??? Wow! Then this morning I awoke and prayed right away and read a bit of my Bible again. This morning I prayed that God would just give us an answer TODAY regarding the job thing, that he would make it VERY clear. Wow, I checked my email this morning and there was one from Zach. Here's what it said:

FINALLY got some job info… I called to talked to agent L, but he and agent J (the two guys working my application) are both deployed…so I talked to agent N, and he said that a message came down 4 months ago saying that they weren’t accepting MSgts no more, but that could change in the future…looks like we got our answer!

Is that NOT crazy!?!? Talk about being SO clear! THANK YOU, GOD!!! I still have mixed feelings about it...but I know God is in control. So we're here for at least 2 more years. It's just so nice to know that, so we can just settle in and not wonder if we're moving in a year. Although I must say I'm still having a hard time accepting the fact that we're still gonna be crammed in this tiny house with yet one more body!!! Lord, give me contentment!!!

11 years!?!

Saturday we celebrated our 11 year anniversary! It is crazy to believe its been that long! Wow, where has the time gone! We went to America's Incredible Pizza for lunch. It's like a Chuck e Cheese, only better in my opinion. I have to admit our 'waitress' was very annoying. She must have had some sort of disability, but she wouldn't stop talking to us while we were trying to eat and she was just hovering over Zach's shoulder. I'd be talking to Zach and she'd just come up and interrupt! Very annoying! Then she said something about tips. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to tip you if you're going to start talking about getting good tips, especially when there are two long tables reserved for a birthday party- I'm sure you can get your tip that way!

I had probably about $30 left over from the last time we were there, before it opened to the public and we got the game cards for free so we didn't have to buy much in game cards! Zach and the three older kids did 2 go kart races and I took Abby on some little kid rides and did some little kiddie games with her. She got a kick out of throwing the ball...it was supposed to go in the fishes mouth but she just liked throwing it in the cage! I enjoyed watching her excitement over it! Last time we went all she could do was sit on some tiny carousel with one of her siblings! Zach and the kids had fun playing Guitar Hero. Zach's been wanting to buy it for quite some time, but I keep insisting we don't need it so he hasn't gotten it yet! I like the skee ball game and we all played some others as well. Zach and I also did a basketball 'competition'. We sure had a good time!

We ran to Toys R Us and got a slide for Abby. Since the other kids have grown up we've slowly gotten rid of the outdoor toddler toys, especially with moving! So she hasn't had much to play on in the backyard. She sure likes her slide!

I called the babysitter and Zach and I went out to dinner. We went to Outback and I'm so glad we did. I probably hadn't been there in almost two years. Oh yum, it was SOOO good! I ate ALL my salad, a bunch of bread, all my loaded baked potato and my steak (I think it was 10 oz)! Our waitress was awesome and then brought us a free dessert which I ate myself (Zach was like 'yuck' to the brownie)! We hadn't even told her it was our anniversary, she just said for being fun, good customers! Awesome! After than we walked around Home Depot, just looking at things we'd never buy and dreaming of bigger and better things that we really don't need! We also went to Wal-Mart and got a few groceries and then came home. We got the kids to bed and it was such a gorgeous evening we sat outside on our upstairs deck! What a wonderful day! Unfortunately the food I all gulped down didn't settle too well though!

Please keep me in your prayers. Lately I just have some anxiety over my pregnancy. I feel like its been awhile since I've been to the doctor and just worry a bit. I feel like I haven't gained weight in awhile, actually I feel like maybe I lost some (not sure if I did but I'm not sure how that would be possible seeing as I eat all the time). I would think that by now I'd be bigger and be feeling the baby's flutters but really I don't so I am just concerned. I go to the doctor June 2 and have my ultrasound and I'll be 18 weeks then. So please pray I have peace. And pray I feel my baby's movements!!!

We got an estimate on getting our basement completed but I'm not sure we will. As much as it would be nice I just don't think it'd be wise to spend THAT amount of money on something, especially not knowing how long we'll be here. We wish we'd get an answer on if Zach will get that other job or not as it'd give us somewhat of an idea of when we'd move (could be a year if he gets it, if not we could be here for 2 to 3 more). As much as I like Iowa and don't want to move there are reasons I DO want to move too! We have friends here, good neighbors, a good church and I like the weather (for the most part, I'm getting sick of the wind). We also live in a great town and really like the area. On the other hand, our house is so small and I would love to live in base housing again (dude we could have a 2 car garage plus our house could be doubled in size if we lived on base)! I miss having a military community around us. And I'm always ready for new adventures, to see new places! It's all in God's hands though! We'll just see what happens!

Today I've done some school outside with the kids, we ate lunch out there and then I put the sprinkler going. Now Zach aired up the pool and is filling that up. I bought what I thought was our normal one we get what seems to be every year but this thing is way bigger. It will be nice in ways, but not in other ways...especially with Abby, I didn't want something too big. The kids are having a blast though! I should either be outside in the sun or getting some much needed housework done, but first I wanted to update you again :) Thanks for reading!

Well...

So I WAS doing good blogging there for awhile, but then I guess I hit a rut. Actually I hadn't been on my computer much at all last week. When I needed to get online I'd just go on my iPod. It was actually nice as I didn't waste a bunch of time online! Speaking of iPods, yesterday we went to Best Buy and I checked out the iPad. Totallly cool! I had to get on this morning to do bills so here I've been on off and on all day while also teaching. It has been a LONG, LONG Monday in our house! I am so ready for school to be over and done with. I'm getting annoyed with it!

Let's see if I can hit on some highlights...I can't remember if I mentioned how Hannah got Abby to poop on the potty! Then Saturday Zach put her on her potty while I was getting ready for the day. She was kinda toddling around without a diaper up in our room for awhile and when he went to put her diaper on her he noticed her leg was wet on top. I looked and there was pee in her potty!!! I know I really should be working with her more but I seriously do not have time to do that right now. It is after 3 pm and we've been doing school since 9 this morning and we're not done. I need school to be done for the summer and then I'll tackle potty training! I feel like my housework is falling by the wayside and it is driving me crazy. I'm also trying to get ready for our yard sale. Yesterday I got most of the clothes sorted into sizes and priced so that was nice. I sure hope I make some money off of that thing or I'll be mad!

Pregnancy is going well. I normally don't feel too sick anymore, although I still am constantly starving! Especially at night! I can't believe in just a little over 2 weeks we'll find out the sex of the baby. I can't believe I even want to know this time around! I only want to know to have the proper clothing for him/her...otherwise I LOVE the surprise at the end! I still feel like its a boy, but I could be wrong about that! I thought Gabe was a girl the whole pregnancy and I remember walking through the hospital as I was going up to L&D and saying to Zach, "What if it IS a boy?" LOL

Ok, some boy is NOT working on his math even though I am sitting RIGHT next to him. I have NO idea what to do about how easily he is distracted...I am just at my ropes end with him. Did I mention it took him like 2 hours this morning to do 12 problems on his math sheet and he got them ALL wrong??? So, now he's sitting here redoing that sheet! I need a vacation!

Life

I was thinking last night I had something to blog about and do you really think I can remember what it is now! I hate that!

Zach took the day off today. I managed to do school with the kids and Zach went out and weed eated. He found a nest of 7 bunnies and the kids had so much fun playing with them! Poor things must be so cold- its freezing out there! I just hope Mama comes back to take care of them! So, we had science for the day :)

Last night I couldn't fall asleep so I was just praying and thanking God for all of His blessings. Then I was thinking about the baby and how blessed I feel to have another one. With 4 children as it is it's not like I have much time to sit and think about having a baby (not like when you're pregnant with your first)! We've talked about some names but I just kept going over them and trying to see if anything really 'stuck out' to go with our family! I'm still at a loss. It will be easier once we know if its a boy or girl, to come up with a name! This is the first time I've really wanted to find out the sex of the baby. I just don't have a lot of things for the season he or she will be born in and I really don't have many boy things at all. So, we'll find out and I'll really hit the garage sales!

Speaking of sales, we got our 'local' once-a-week paper today and in that paper alone 33 sales were listed in our town!!! WooHoo!!! I have to look them over yet and see if they're worth going to, but I love me some garage sales, as they'd say in the south!

Hmm...well my mind is blank so I guess that's it!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

I just have to post on something. Yesterday Zach was saying how he needed to go to Walmart to buy me a gift and was asking what I want. Hannah suggested flowers and a card. Why is that so cliche to me? Sure, flowers and cards are nice, but that's what every man gets his wife (or so it seems). I'm thankful for what I get, truly I am, but sometimes I just wish men would put more thought into what their wives would really want, something specific that their wife would like, know what I mean? By the way, I got a handmade card and picture from Hannah, a feather from Gabe and a picture and candy from Josiah! I love them! Zach sent me an e-card which brought tears to my eyes (but it doesn't take much these days). Anyway, I told Zach not to 'waste' our money on cards, flowers and things like that. Honestly, how hard can it be for men to figure out what their wife wants? Finally I told him a manicure or pedicure would be nice, or a massage.

Please know I'm NOT trying to complain- I'm thankful for every flower I get and every funny and meaningful card given. It's just that sometimes I think us women would like more thought and work put into it all than just a trip to Walmart. I really, really hope this makes sense and if Zach reads this I hope he knows I mean no ill will toward him or anything, just stating some thoughts!!!

Happy Birthday Josiah

Wow, time FLIES! Josiah is 8 today! Where on earth did that go??? I can remember that day like it was yesterday. I think he had a good birthday. Last night we went to Hibachi and spent an arm, leg and ear it was so expensive (but sooooo good). Today we hit a few garage sales as I was on the hunt for maternity jeans (I found 2 pair). Then we came and played a bit and ate lunch and prepared for his party. He had a good party- 2 families showed up so 5 other kids. They colored their 'goody bags', played a "Lego game" (they got a baggie of Lego's and had to build something with it), and played musical chairs. Then Josiah opened his gifts and we had cake and ice cream. The kids all played for awhile and left. Josiah pretty much hid out in the basement building his new Bionicle, until Zach came home to take them to see Iron Man. I guess it wasn't as good as the first one (the second movies never are).

I enjoyed the quiet when they were gone. Abby fell asleep on me and I watched trash on TV that I don't normally watch and fell asleep for a bit. Then we ate dinner and Abby got a bath and I got ready for bed. We played for a bit, talked to Nanny and then everyone came home. It was so nice and quiet with just her and I. She didn't really venture far from me and didn't play off of my lap. I think she thought it was weird that nobody else was here!

Now I am ready for bed. It seems I just don't slow down these days as there's always something to be done! I'm glad Josiah's birthday is over. Now I need to focus on finishing school and preparing for our garage sale.

I'm so thankful for Josiah. He's so creative with drawing, Lego's and Bionicles. He's really funny, always making us laugh about something (both of my boys are). He's been such a delight to watch grow these past 8 years! I'm thankful that he's healthy and growing!!!

Hump Day

School is winding down. Well, in some ways I feel like it will drag forever and in other ways it feels like its really ending soon. I'm not sure which it is, I don't have a set date to be done by, just whenever we're done I guess. Both Hannah and Josiah finished their English books, BUT we didn't do the writing chapters in those books as I had bought a different writing book to do. BUT they didn't like to do those exercises either so now we're going back to the writing chapters in their English books to write! They, especially Hannah, really struggle with writing and coming up with ideas for some reason!!! Although, her narrative for this week is going really well.

I don't know why but the only place I dream of that I've lived in (aside from growing up and college) is Minot. Last night I dreamed of Minot again! How weird is that!?!? I remember living in our house we'd lived in on Roaming Road, but I think we were just visiting? Whoever I was with, we walked down to the chapel but it wasn't the chapel but some other building where there was like a craft show and such. My cousin Sherry was there selling her Scentsy stuff, my cousin Darci was there working with the paramedics doing demonstrations. It was so weird!

Can you believe that I am 14 weeks today- in my second trimester!?!?!? I am sooo excited, although at the same time I just can't wait for my ultrasound at 18 weeks just to confirm (again) that everything is ok. Afterall, I was at a 15 week appointment when I found out Malachi had died. I just like to get past those 'humps'.

I am trying to plan Josiah's birthday party. I am having it Friday afternoon and we were going to go to a park but the weather looks cold, windy and possibly rainy so now I am having it here. I'm kinda bummed about that as its so much easier to have a bunch of kids running around at a park than my house!!!! lol That also means more planning on my part, figuring out about 2 games and such. Oh well, I know Josiah will be excited to have his friends celebrate his day with him. He also is going to see the new Iron Man movie that night with Zach, Hannah and Gabe. We're supposed to go eat dinner (he wants to go to the Japanese Steakhouse) but seeing as they're going to the movie I'm not sure how that will play out. Maybe we'll have to do that tomorrow night.

Ok, I am freezing and in need of a shower...Jamie this post was for you :)) More than 1 post in a week! I'm on a roll!

Where's Jamie?

Yesterday Zach asked the last time I've blogged...I couldn't remember! How sad is that. I haven't even been by to scope out my friend's blogs. I have been pretty busy with life in general though. Last week just seemed so crazy. I really am aiming to be done with school at a reasonable date (no idea when though). One of these days maybe we'll start doubling up on lessons, but we'll see. I haven't even been able to keep up on my housework- I seem dust caked on so many things and I just don't care right now. I'm too tired to deal with it! Between schooling, caring for the kids in general and everything else I just feel there's not much time! I can't wait for summer break!!! To do nothing! I'm also preparing for a garage sale so I finally made it in the basement last night to tackle some of that mess.

Speaking of garage sales, a friend and I went on Saturday. It was so fun to have somebody to go with, rather than alone or dragging out my kids! I don't know what I'll do when Zach's gone this summer because it's so much easier without the kids. Well, I did take Hannah and she took her daughter, but that's easy! We went to one neighborhood sale where there were like 23 houses having sales and SCORED! I took $40 with me and most of it was gone by the time we left there, 2 1/2 hours later! I came home with only $1 left! I bought some clothes for Abby, found a dress and jeans for Hannah and found some maternity clothes. I also found what I thought was a car seat cover for winter (I've never needed one) but turns out it goes in a cart. I thought about selling it in my sale, but maybe I'll keep it? We'll see. It's WAY nicer than the one I have. So, I guess at the next 'hunt' I'll be finding one of those car seat covers and some maternity jeans. I only have 2 pairs of those! Why I didn't buy any on Sat. is beyond me (I guess I didn't realize how little I have).

Speaking of maternity jeans, on Saturday I went to get dressed and couldn't fit in my normal pants!!! I have 2 pairs of jeans that are bigger so I wore one of those, but I'm no longer able to wear the normal ones. So, this weather either really needs to warm up because I have tons of summer clothes, or I need to hit some more sales and find some jeans!! Not bad to be pregnant for the 7th time (5th baby) and be needing maternity pants at 13 1/2 weeks!

Well, I'm going to try to rest while the kids are playing nicely. I'm exhausted since I was up so early. I hope to check in with you all soon!