Hubby is HOME!!

So hubby made it home on Jan 17th!! We all went up to the airport to meet him. Rory was so excited to see him (as was I!!) Lily was trying to figure out who he was LOL! Right now he has been on his leave. He has one more week left then goes back to work.



With him being back, we have been doing some things around the house. Had to re-insulate under our bedroom floor. It is so much warmer in there!! We both wore our military uniforms...I am no longer in so glad to see they still have a use!! He wore the ones he had in Kuwait with him and it was funny b/c the 6 months he was in the desert, they were always so clean...after 6 days being home...He got them completely and utterly filthy!!


Almost had to replace our garbage disposal but was able to figure it out and fix it...Waiting for our taxes to get done. The things are so confusing this year. But we are looking at getting anywhere between 7500 and 8500 back. So continuing on with paying down our debt and buying a new (to us) van. We found the one we want...Now just waiting to see if we can afford it. Still owe 7500 on my car (paying it off with our taxes) and using his newly paid off car as a trade in and hopefully only have to pay about 2500 out of pocket for the van. Hoping to talk down the price a lil bit...about 500. I sit and drool when looking at it online. LOL

Other than that, not much really going on. Kids are growing and one seems to always be crying. It is nice having someone here that I can just turn to and say...Your turn!! Well that is all for now. Hoping I can keep up with my blogging so I dont have so much to do at once...Will have to look at that mobile posting stuff.

He Is Finally Coming Home!!

FINALLY! He has a fly out date for leaving Kuwait!! And it is a two day window of when he actually gets here. I am so excited. We are still trying to decide on what to do when he gets here...how to spend his time off and what not. He still wants to go to Washington for two weeks and I still dont want him to. So going rounds on this one LOL. We will have to see if we even have the money first...

Did an estimate of our taxes and it looks like we will be able to finish paying off my car and have some left over for savings and our stockpile. I cant wait to get everything paid off and start our Fully Funded Emergency Fund!!  I figure we will need about $7,000 for about 4 months of expenses...Seems crazy when you see it like that doesn't it??

Rory was sick over the weekend...Woke up and spent all morning throwing up. Poor baby couldn't eat or drink anything...had no wet diapers so we went to the ER...and of course after sitting there she was feeling so much better....LOL! Just like when a girl takes her car to the mechanic...I swear that child makes a liar out of me everytime. So they gave her some Zofram and sent her home. She was feeling so much better the next day and it was a lil warmer so we went out to play in the snow. I let her stay out til she was frozen...this time there was no fighting when it was time to go in...











Today we went to Walmart and Lily got her first chance of sitting in the cart instead of her carseat...She loved it!!


She kept kicking her feet and looking around. Well I am off to start on Ryans welcome home sign...Much excitement!!

Rory's Snow Day

So about 4-5 inches of snow last night made for a fun outing for Rory!! We couldn't stay out to long because of how cold it was but she LOVED it!! When it was time to go in, she screamed and cried...I was ready to cry from the cold and here she wanted to stay outside!! Ah the joys of being a stubborn child...LOL! As soon as we went outside, she made a beeline for the swing set...Covered in snow but she still wanted to slide and swing...Here are some pics


Gettin all bundled up


She kept falling down and crawling thru the snow...


Beeline for the swingset


She looks so cold!


Such a crazy child!!


I have a video of this...but it is sideways


She even got to swing...Mommy had to dump the snow out of it first...


Drinking hot cocoa afterwards


All sorts of tuckered out... :)


So was able to talk to ryan, his relief has arrived and is in training!! So he *should* be home soon!! So excited!! I miss him!! Okay off to bed...

*I WILL BE ASLEEP B4 MIDNIGHT! I WILL BE ASLEEP B4 MIDNIGHT! I WILL BE ASLEEP B4 MIDNIGHT!*

I am learning!!

Yay I am finally learning how to customize my blog!! Yay!! Okay need to finish Mercy...it is so sad...but happy too....Aww I hope they get back together and have a baby!! Seriously, finish the show, then go watch the snow...Then bed!! Oh wow, next week looks freakin awesome!! WooHoo!! Night all!!



Ahhhh just beautiful!!


Oh PS...what the hell is with the music industry today?? Where do they come up with these costumes?? They look like they are from the 80's!!

Snow and Snowball payments!

I am super excited!! There is finally SNOW coming down! Real snow...not that flaky crap...I am so happy that Rory might actually get to play in snow this year! Last year she was only about 9-10 mos old and I took her out when we had a good 7-8 inches. She really enjoyed it!!

This year she is old enough to actually play in it and there hasnt been ANYTHING but a dusting on the ground for maybe 2 hours...BOOO! But now we have at least 2-3 inches and its still coming down!!


So tomorrow should be fun!!

On another note...My hubby and I are trying to become debt free. We are following the Dave Ramsey plan and have so far paid off $10K in credit card debt, Ryans car ($7K) and are currently paying off my car (just under $9K left on it!!) So with him hopefully coming home soon, we will be changing up our routines and going to cash only...All our bills are paid online but things like groceries, household items, baby stuff, entertainment and our blow money will be gas. We will keep a debit card for gas so we can do pay at the pump...So I took some time between kiddos I made some envelopes like the DR plan sells...His are not so pretty so a fellow DR fan posted a template and instructions to make your own!! They were so easy to make and look so cute; plus I can switch them out depending on my mood!





So now with that done I need to start packing so we can move back to our house...We need to fix up the water damage from the pipes bursting. Hopefully we will be back home within a couple of weeks. The check came thru from the insurance company so woohoo!! It will help with the updates to the house as we are doing the repairs ourselves so we wont have to pay for labor...Recently had the living room/family room area redone...

Old look

New Look (Its from a cell phone...you can just barely see the trim and walls...Trim is being redone as there is an opening between the old trim and new floor due to the shag carpet)

So it will be a busy year for us but hopefully an exciting one!! The kids are growing more everyday. Rory talks more and more in sentences and Lily is climbing all over everything. I cant believe how fast they have grown...

Rory has grown so fast...Some days it seems like yesterday she was born....


Now she is potty training and being a great big sis!!


My lil Christmas angel...

Lily is giving mommy a heart attack with all her growing and climbing...She climbs on anything and everything...(dont mind the mess!! LOL)



Apparently she wants to potty train too!! Woohoo!! No more diapers! I wish!

But I suppose that is all...It had been awhile since I updated so not all my posts are normally this long...Thanks for reading!!

The True Meaning of Christmas

So yesterday I experienced the true meaning of Christmas. A lady from my birthboard made a simple mistake, due to hecticness or mommy brain....She is the wife of a military man, a hard job in itself, mom of three amazing children; two of which are special needs. Money is tight in their families just like most families. But she decided that for Christmas they were going to try to get a decent picture done and mail it to family across the country (remember, she is a military wife, most likely not going home for the holidays). While packing kids and packages into the car, she somehow lost her precious pictures. These weren't just any pictures. 2 of her children have an eye disorder that is causing her angels to go blind and their eyes do not track at the same time. Well, they were able to get a really good shot of all the children. Unfortunately no one found (or turned in) the pictures, Sears wouldn't reprint them for her so it seemed like she had just lost her money. A group of ladies on said birthboard created a group and within 24 hours had gotten this amazing women a professional photographer who is donating a full day session to redo the pictures and we raised $1,118.00! This is enough to cover 3 plane tickets for a convention for people with the same disorder as her children. Due to money they have never been able to go. This completely made the spirit of Christmas flame again in me.

I am thinking that later today I may dress the kiddos up and head to church. I haven't been to church since tech school over 6 years ago. I feel as though I am missing something in my life and I am hoping that this will fill the void.

Some good news from the battle fronts...My hubby should be coming home sooner than expected!! I am so excited by this!! I hired a friends brother in law to rip up the carpet in our living room/playroom and refinish the floors. And he is going to finish all the painting in the two rooms!! That combined with the pipes bursting will make a great "remodel" gift for his return. I can't wait for him to come home. Every night I go to bed thinking he will appear in the morning...Every morning I wake up and reality washes over me.

Ryan missed yet another first in Rory's young life...Yesterday was her first time actually playing in the snow. She got bundled up just like Ralphie in "A Christmas Story" and had so much fun running around flinging snow and brushing snow off anything she could. We have barely half an inch but she didn't care. She had fun just the same. Lily is getting tooth number 6...and she is crawling everywhere!! She has even mastered crawling OVER things, like the high chair, jumparoo, table runners etc...They are both fascinated with the Christmas tree...Rory loves the ornaments and Lily loves unwrapping the presents underneath...I don't even want to know how many presents I have re-wrapped/re-taped. And Rory taking all the ornaments off...Sheesh!!

Well, I am watching a Monk Marathon when I should be sleeping...I dont want bags under my eyes for church tomorrow...Night all!

Fun Day...Kinda

Last night was a nightmare! My youngest, Lily, did NOT want to go to sleep...We fought for 3 hours....she was fed, clean diaper, had teething tablets and Tylenol (she is getting teeth 5&6 right now) and we even took a bath with that oh so special night time lavender soap stuff...yeah right...I was at my wits end...She screamed and cried so much that she woke up Rory who apparently had had just enough sleep to be hyper at 0200!! All she wanted was for me to stand up and hold her...she didn't want me to sit down or lay down...I had to stand....So she is screaming and crying, I am screaming and crying and I just felt like such a failure...I was convinced she hated me...

But she finally went to sleep and I got Rory back to sleep. We get up (after ignoring 2 different people knocking on our door this morning...sorry Ed McMann!!) and who is a bright eyed bushy tailed baby...Yep...My precious Lily. She didn't nap at all until like 2 in the afternoon...and even then it was only for about 45 minutes...So my sister gets home and we go to the park for a bit. It was an unusually mild day so I figured we would let the kids run out some energy. Rory loves the slides and boy was she mad when it was time to go. But what kid isn't mad when they have to leave the park?? :)

During the day I was able to talk to an old acquaintance from school. She is in the reserves (army) and just got married to active duty air force...who was deployed a week after the wedding. So I try to help her out as much as possible with dealing with the loneliness and the famous red tape to do anything in the military.

Rory got her nails done...She is such a diva...sitting so patiently while I clipped and painted them...she even wanted her toes done!! Girl ain't even two yet...Uh Oh...Daddy (and Papa), you better get your guns ready!! I just can't get over how fast they are growing. Lily is crawling around the house (more like dragging herself like that old dog on "family guy") and she keeps getting into the Christmas presents...Rory is so independent...We are trying to begin potty training...She loves her potty except when it is time to go. I want to get her an Elmo potty...Maybe Santa will get her one for Christmas!! Well, my lil angels are sound asleep now, so I guess I will go get a few winks in myself!!