Projects

In an effort to stay busy, we have been finding new things to do around the house. I love that this time of year has good toy and summer clearances! Down here it will be warm until November if I remember right, so we still have plenty of play time left with the summer toys.

 Aren't freezer pops the best?

 Play Doh. We love it. Jackson asks for me to get it out several times a day, so we have found ourselves really getting into it :)Might as well! It doesn't seem like long ago that I was begging for the stuff at the store myself!

Tough man! Those lids are on tight!

He was ready for me to sit down and play

He has lots of boo boos these days! Maybe his skin will recover once I can get him in some Fall/Winter clothes.
It doesn't help that he prefers to wear nothing when at all possible ha!  

 One of my projects has been space management. I have already turned my laundry room closet into a pantry, and now our bookshelf is being taken over too. I am not complaining, but we have some space issues here in this house. Just a temporary problem....but I dread moving all the perishables home. Pasta and salad dressing anyone? Last I counted I had 35 boxes of pasta (how can you turn it down when it is either free or a money maker?) I do plan to donate some. The army will be storing most of our belongings for up to a year. So our TVs and "pantry" are going home with us....and maybe Chloe if she starts behaving.

 I also remember painting with water when I was little! We scored some pretty good stuff at the Hobby Lobby clearance the other day. I'm introducing one or two new things to him every so often.

 He is ALWAYS ready to go. He owned the streets today.

The routine bedtime stories this week have been: Once There Was a Christmas Tree (which I love, it is a sweet story plus there is lots of snow and it takes me away from this summer heat!)

 And Let's Go to the Farm. Also a good one because he likes doing all the animal sounds and he likes picking out the fruits and veggies in the Farmer's Market. Of course I am talking about Jackson not Jeremy ha!
                                                                               

What a sweet age. I think I have figured out why Jack has been acting out of character lately, other than the normal 2 year old things. His 2 year molars are trying hard to come all the way in. Tonight he would just start crying for no reason, and then be fine. Very strange for him! Then he was reading a book and he started crying hard and actually said "I want my Mommy". Yeah....I dropped what I was doing and ran over to him. I had to soak up that moment :)  If you know me, then you know that I am wrapped around this little boy's finger and the smallest things just make me melt. I am still waiting to get over that part where if I picture any milestone in his future, I tear up....still waiting. Graduation and wedding day? Full blown depression. Anyway I have to stop with this or I will get sad.

As can be expected, no word from the army about Jeremy getting moved to the Warrior in Transition Unit, and no word from my doctor about when my appointment is going to be with the endocrinologist SO that means look out Arkansas! We might just be coming to town in the near future. I wish Jeremy could come with us :( but unfortunately since he is in a transition phase he has to stay close by. Also, his big appointment is August 2nd so he can't miss that. Jackson needs this trip plus my cousin is getting married so this looks like a great opportunity to head to the other side of the Mississippi for awhile. Although there will be lots of fun stuff going on in August, I have my work cut out for me getting the place ready for us to land there!

PS. Still haven't figured out what almost landed on our house the other night, but we have a strong suspicion that the props on a C130 came across our roof like reindeer on Christmas Eve.

Happy 5th Birthday to Kevin Disseler!!

When I first got out to Hawaii, he wasn't even a year old. He was the cute little chubby cheeked baby boy at our wedding and the first little one Jeremy and I babysat together :) Now he is 5?! Unbelievable

Weekly Randoms

I honestly haven't felt like I have had much to blog about this past week. On top of that, Jackson has been extra challenging to keep up with here lately!

 One reason I can't wait to move home: That extra nudge of help, peace, and sanity that comes with having family near. Granted I will lose a little sanity....I still fell it will be more like 1 step back, 3 forwardish....depending on the day :)

 I'm not sure who had it worse today, myself or Chloe. Jackson decided in the blink of an eye, that Chloe needed my Vanilla Spice body cream from The Body Shop....all over her. At least she smells good, and he topped it off with several shots from his watering can so she was cool too.

Among other things, we had a giant spill (my very full and large Styrofoam cup broke when I picked it up and fell to the floor, drenched me, the love seat, and my iPhone) which lead to a streaking little boy coming through at impeccable timing and slipping on the water...yay it wasn't tea or something and luckily he laughed about it! I should also say, yes I'm on my fourth iPhone, but you see what they go through.

We have been doing a little bit of shopping. I have set a somewhat tight budget now since we are gearing up to leave the army (hooah)! However, Target is a good place for popcorn and clearance this time of year so I think we are OK.

I wish they had this in a 3T

 Making new use of toys. He hopped on and said "Mommy wanna go for a Walk?"

 Hey, Where's Perry?

 We are doing good on potty training...He only wears diapers at bedtime and in the car mostly. We are letting him go at his own pace, and it is working out well so far. The worst that has happened would have to be just a stream or 2 on the walls, and he likes to go in private so I'm not sure how that happened.

 We have been taking long walks when the sun is going down. I love that about summer! We have fun in the housing construction every time now. Perfect considering the huge hill is a workout and no traffic since the road is new and blocked off! Only downside is when you fall on the new asphalt, the boo boos hurt! (Poor Jack).

Who doesn't like a family trip to the doctor with Mommy? I think it is safe to say that Jackson has conquered his fear of the doctor's office!

 I have an entire other post to write this week about my doctor experiences....particularly how I want to go to Ireland Army hospital at Ft. Knox and find the 8 doctors I saw and say  "Hey thanks for the Nexium and Prozac that you gave me for acid reflux and anxiety (AKA an autoimmune disease...same difference apparently) that I fortunately never took....and thanks for totally ignoring the fact that when I tell you something is wrong, it is wrong, and thanks for letting my thyroid go an extra year being attacked and eaten away by my own antibodies...I really appreciate you telling me that I am just looking for a problem". This weekend I will be writing all about it, and feel free to ignore because I know it will be pretty boring. However I will be tagging them in the post so that when anyone searches for the hospital, my blog will show up along with their other pages. If there are any other army families doing research they will see my post and know that their family care clinic AND pediatrics (come to think of it) =sorry excuse for medical treatment.

Firehouse for lunch afterwards. Yum! I forgot how much I like that place

 High school reunion in one month....healthy snacks in abundance. Plus Jack loves broccoli and carrots so win/win. Pay no mind to the cake balls in my refrigerator.....they are for a friend of Jeremy's at work that is a new Daddy. And just to keep me honest, there were 50 40

 Laundry day almost every day!

On Call

Love

 Oh our sweet Piggly Wiggly. When I need to revisit my childhood, I know I can count on you. The people, set up, music (aside from Big Green Tractor and Rain is a Good Thang), and snacks are all blasts from the past! Remember barrel juice? And candy cigs? Yep! They even still do the little cards where you earn stamps.

 Found my happy place at last! Hope Arkansas watermelon, yes please!

This poor child went from being carried like a football to bounced all around by his "crazy momma".
I can't stand to see this stuff. His neck was nowhere near strong enough for the slinging she was doing.

From the other night somehow mixed in with my Piggly Wiggly outing.
Jammies and some good conversation

 It is just a sweet little store :) Only 4 miles away there is another one that is newer and more like every other grocery store, but I think I like ours better. Not to mention it is just plain interesting!

 I mean we were seriously neglecting our watermelon habit and it shows.

5 minutes after we got home Jack was ready to dig in. Nothing like a little watermelon juice running down a full baby belly!

It was huge and worth every bit of $7.99. Jeremy already promised me another one by Saturday :)

Aside from random dizziness, headaches, and mood/energy swings, my challenge has really been Jackson this week. His sweetness is through the roof but he is a handful! What do you do when you have a boy that wants to jump off everything? Originally, I constantly was right there to prevent injuries, but I can't dedicate 100% of my time to being a parachute. He hasn't hurt himself at all, but he just has a ton of energy. Typical summertime problem for 2 year olds I would imagine. So he probably wouldn't wear knee pads and a helmet for long, and I can't chase him 24/7, I do not want to put him in front of the t.v. any more than I have to, and I am running out of ideas. Plus, we would stay outside in the heat anyway if it weren't for the mosquitoes being bad at times. He gets plenty of exercise in the evenings and sleeps well. I think he is just bored, so is his Mommy. Jeremy going back to work is really affecting us! We are just so used to going and doing! Soon we will be home and around family and I know he needs it badly. He has never asked so many times to go to Arkansas before. So in other words.... 2 year olds get in ruts too, and right now we are all in one.

I'm thinking starting next week, we will be in fast forward mode! Jeremy sees the doctor August 2nd for the big med board appointment.
At some point in August, depending on my appointments, I am going to Arkansas to start getting ready for us to move back and to go to my 10 year reunion.

I (supposedly) find out tomorrow when my endocrinologist and ENT appointments are to happen.
He finds out tomorrow news about the transition unit he is going to and how that is all supposed to work. He has such a sweet lady in his office that transferred down to his unit from the Warrior in Transition office and she has been a huge help. So thankful for her!

I think I have covered everything :) I have been working out after the boys go to bed and man am I sore!

One last thing! I think a plane almost crashed on our house tonight! I had just finished my workout when I hear a loud noise that sounded like a super loud motorcycle coming down the street at first. It kept getting louder...to the point where I froze and braced myself. Never have I EVER heard something that loud fly over any house I have ever lived in. Keep in mind that at Ft. Knox, our house was practically on the airstrip where C130s flew extremely close overhead probably 10 times a day and night. It was so loud that when I gained the courage to run out the back door to see what in the world was going on, Jeremy comes dashing though the living room with Jackson. Jackson had fallen asleep in our bed, and it was so loud that Jeremy panicked and took off running with him....sheet and all! I asked where he thought they were going, and Jeremy said he wasn't sure but he was confident a plane was about to crash on our bedroom so he was headed for the front door.  OK, That part was hilarious when it was all said and done. Somehow Jackson never woke up.

Jeremy spent 15 months in Iraq hearing all kinds of sounds from air crafts and other uncomfortable loud noises overhead while he was trying to sleep. He even said he has never heard anything so loud and extreme. This is no exaggeration! We were baffled for about a half hour trying to think of what possibly could have happened. It is our goal tomorrow to find out what monster grazed over our home in the late night sky. Jeremy is going to make some calls on post (we are that curious!) because our suspicion is a night drop or something army related. We just have to know!

Now if you will excuse me, I need to check our local news for some airplane headlines...

True That

Sometimes I need to remind myself

Aquarium Fun

Jackson and I took off to Atlanta Tuesday morning to meet up with my friend Brooke (we go all the way back to first grade!) and her little boy Brandt. They were in Atlanta on a trip for Adam's job. Brandt and Jackson are only 5 months apart, and they are now great buddies.

They did really well together. It was a great trip, but it also made me and Brooke really sad that we don't live closer to each other. It would be so nice get together more since we have the same interests and things going on in our lives, and the boys are perfect little play partners. They live in Marion, Arkansas though so once we move home it should be slightly easier.  

Started off with a little bonding over the ipad

In the parking deck leaving the hotel.

Lunch at the aquarium. Mac and Cheese for starters

Pizza, then ended with red velvet cupcakes. The boys were on vacation so they ate what they wanted.

So, after a nice little sugar rush we went to see some fish

These things creeped me out.

 Several of the pictures didn't turn out too well, mostly because I didn't notice my flash battery was almost dead. Brooke got some good ones that I will post eventually.

 They got to watch the stars of the dolphin show play around before we went in to see it. I think the dolphins were their favorite part. Ours too probably! The show was awesome! Lights and music. Very pretty and the dolphins were too sweet :)

 Running and playing

Really cool tunnel

Giant aquarium with giant fish!

This would have been cuter if my flash would have worked! They were loving this part

Not afraid to work his way in

New penguin friend

I wish I could have gotten a picture of the massive whale sharks too. This place was huge.

Dragon fish. So cool

Leaving exhausted, with his souvenir that he chose. He and Brandt got the same thing :)

We had big plans for the rest of the night, but after a long tiring day we decided to go home. Jackson was out cold in the back seat, so that was a good indicator that we should head on back. I think since the place is so impressive, we will definitely have to take Jeremy before we move home.