A Family Journey

Update on Nursing School

2011-12-07T04:27:00.000-08:00

Clinicals are finally posted, it didn't work with our schedules for Scotts work and the kids school so we will have to find a way to make it work.

1st 8 wks I'm in Springfield for Geriatrics 7 to 4 wednesdays
2nd 8 weeks I'm in Manassas at a clinic for acute/chronic care 8 to 4 wednesdays.

Other classes spring semester are :
Intercultural communication 12 wks,
Abnormal Psych 1st 8 wks,
Clinical Psych 2nd 8 wks,
Nursing Lab 2 hrs every tuesday for two 8 week sessions,
nursing lecture 5 hrs every thursday for two 8 week sessions.

I got out of taking drug dosage calculations because of my diagnostic math test scores, thank goodness, cause I'll be busy enough!

The only frustrating thing I've found so far besides general stress is that they waited so long to post our clinical rotations and for someone like me that had a family and kids it's important to know things asap! We now have to start interviewing babysitters and figure out how to pay them because we still don't know anyone here :( Hopefully we can find someone in the 4 weeks that I have until clinicals begin. Wait I lied... there is a 2nd frustrating thing, I already took psych, in fact I took about 10 psychology classes and have credit for all of them but my nursing school has rules that the psych cannot be transferred in from ANY school it has to be taken at their school. So... here I go again with another round of psychology, at least it will be easier this time around still its time out of studying for my other classes and more time away from family. Frustrating!!!

Almost time for a family vacation!

2011-10-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

We are super excited and can't wait to hit the road. We are hoping the weather will hold out for us, it has been a nice 75 degrees and sunny in myrtle beach but when we leave this Friday they are saying mid 60's and rain during the week!! Let's hope not.... but we'll make the best of it either way. We own a timeshare so that makes taking these trips super cheap, the condo's didn't cost us a dime we just pay for gas, food and activities. I already booked the activities taking full advantage of online discounts and coupons (I'm super cheap!) so I think we will have a blast! Also planned the restaurants and did a rough estimate of food cost, hopefully it will be LESS then what we budgeted but we are a family of 5 and eating out can be pricey. Scott is taking the kids crabbing for the first time ever, it should be interesting to see what happens!

Here is a quick 35 second video of where we are staying the first day and night, Wyndham Sea Watch Plantation at Myrtle Beach. And a pic of the room layout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXHSJB4EylM

Here's the layout and the short 1 min video for where at are staying the next 7 days and nights Wyndham Ocean Boulevard at Myrtle beach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3LOzrEGlU

Schedule: (possible indoor / outdoor activity swaps due to weather)

Friday October 28^th: Leave VA at 6am

Breakfast: Food in Car

Check into Condo (1 bdrm deluxe) Wyndham SeaWatch Plantation at 2pm

Lunch: Hard Rock Café $50

Enjoy the pools, hot tubs, lazy rivers and beach for the day

Dinner: Hamburger Joes $35

Saturday October 29^th: Breakfast: Eggs and bacon

Check out at 10 am

Alligator Adventure Park

Lunch: Jimmyz Original Hibachi House $40

Check into Condo (3 bdrm Presidential) at Wyndham Ocean Blvd 4pm

Dinner: Pirates Voyage Dinner and Show 4:30 pre show 6pm showtime

Sunday October 30^th: Breakfast: Potoatoes O’brian

Nascar Speed Park (all day wrist bands) 11 am

Lunch: Abuelo’s Mexican Food Embassy $40

Shop Broadway at the beach outdoor mall

Shop Barefoot landing shops

Dinner: Planet Hollywood $50

Monday October 31^st: Breakfast: Eggs and bacon

Ripley’s Aquarium

Ripley’s believe it or not

Lunch: Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville $50

Ripley’s Moving Theater

Ripley’s Mirror Maze

Ripley’s Haunted Adventure Haunted house

Dinner: King Kong Sushi $50

Tuesday November 1^st: Breakfast: Omelets

Beach day, Condo day

Pools, hot tubs, lazy rivers

Lunch: P.F. Chang’s China Bistro $50

Beach rentals, jet skis, parasailing, crabbing

Dinner: Condo-cooked crab pot (hopefully) $15

Wednesday November 2^nd: Breakfast: Biscuits and Gravy with Sausage

Wonderworks

Hang out at condo, beach pool, board games

Take our beach Christmas family photo before show

Late Lunch Early Dinner: All you can eat Original Benjamin’s Seafood Buffet 4pm $75

Alabama Theater for the Christmas Spectacular Show 7:30 pm

Thursday November 3^rd: Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs

MagiQuest Interactive Game (2 hrs)

Lunch: Original Shuckers Raw Bar $40

Beach, pools, hot tubs, condo time

Family Kingdom Amusement Park

Sky Wheel

Dinner: Homemade Seafood $20

Friday November 4^th: Breakfast: Breakfast Burritos

Lunch: Cheeseburger in Paradise $50

Free day until 4:30 pm

Dinner: Medieval Times Dinner and Show 4:30 pre show 6pm showtime

Saturday November 5^th: Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and bacon

Check out 10 am

Lunch: Drive Thru, or something we see on drive home $20

Drive home from SC to VA

Dinner: Eat at Cheeburger Cheeburger in Richmond, VA. Arrive home around 6pm $40

I Got Accepted to the Momentum Nursing Program!!!!!!!

2011-07-17T06:04:00.000-07:00


Library at the NOVA Medical Education Campus

My Letter

George Mason University

It's official my letter was waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home from our New York trip. I was accepted into the advanced nursing program! Basically what it is: Its the momentum program, it moves FAST. In 32 1/2 months I will have 2 Bachelors Degrees (BSN Nursing, and BS in Psychology) and add two more Associates degrees to the one I already have (Associates in Business is the one I have, Associates in Science and Associates in General Studies will be the new ones) So in May 2014 I will graduate from George Mason University and have 5 degrees under my belt. I have to say I am very excited!!!! It was a long shot applying to this program and I'm so glad I kicked butt on the TEAS exam, I think that's what got me in.

The only foreseeable drawback to this particular program is that they make your schedule, pick your classes, and times for clinicals etc..... which most likely will interfere with the kids school, bus schedule, and scotts work schedule in Washington DC. So we will most likely have to have a babysitter daily. So I'm currently looking harder at the sitters on the sitter city website, but can't really do anything until I see my schedule.

So all in all a very exciting day!!!!

Spear Family Update (Disney Trip, School, Work etc)

2011-04-07T06:51:00.000-07:00

Once again I have fallen months behind on this blog. I will attempt a quick update and try to keep up with it this time. Let's see... what’s happening now.

April Fools Spaghetti and Meatballs (its cupcakes!)

Scott is finally enjoying his new job at Naval Reactors in Washington DC. He has a project he's working on which is keeping him busy. They have sent him to California for 5 days, and Pennsylvania for 3 days so far and they have plans to send him to Idaho for 3 weeks, and Newport News VA for 3 days sometime this summer. Although they are talking about changing it and making the Idaho trip 1 week and Newport News 3 weeks. So it’s up in the air right now. We miss him when he's away but luckily it’s just short little trips. Back in September he was gone 6 weeks for OCS and the kids really missed him so I'm grateful for this duty station and all the time he is able have with us. He is still getting used to the traffic and the driving, he spends 3 to 4 1/2 hours a day on his commute. Did I mention traffic in DC is horrible? Scott bought a new car that gets double the gas mileage of his mustang. He bought a 2005 Mercedes Benz and he loves it, he's getting 35 mpg now.


Aurora's princess makeover


Epcot

We also just has a wonderful trip to Florida, extremely last minute. I went with the kids for 4 days and then Scott came and joined us for the last 3 days (He had to work). We did 2 days at Universal Studios and got to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (which was amazing btw). Then we did 4 days at Disney and went to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. The kids had a blast!

Animal Kingdom


Hollywood Studios

The kids are doing well. Jennifer is starting to hate doing homework and beginning to test the waters around here with a pre-teen attitude. But she's changed a lot and has come a long way with honesty and discipline so we are very proud of her progress. The move was hard on her, she hates moving and losing friends. Aurora is doing really well in school she is doing math and reading above her grade level which is excellent. The girl has her nose in a book constantly, reminds me of me when I was her age. Both of the girls are still in their second year of girl scouts and really enjoying it. Aurora is working on her daisy journey patches while Jennifer is working on her brownie science try-it badges. Michael is enjoying kindergarten, he still struggles with speech. We had a 3 month wait for a ENT surgeon appointment only to have to wait an additional month because the doctor went on emergency leave. So now that appointment is next week and hopefully we will get some answers. His doctor (in Virginia) now believes that the tongue is tied fine and does not need to be cut (two doctors in NY said differently) She believes it’s a tongue muscle issue so that is why we are off to see the specialist. I just hope something goes our way; it has been over 2 years of struggling with speech for Michael.


Magic Kingdom

Hogsmeade Village, Universal Studios

The kids at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Hogwarts Caste

PHEW... almost done. Now what am I doing? I am still working part time at AMC, hoping to quit soon though because I'd like to work locally and not have to drive 22 miles to work each way. I am going to School now I started in January. I haven't finished my Bachelors degree in psychology yet, but I plan to finish it in the future (I am 5 classes short). Instead I have decided to try to go for Nursing. I am working on the pre-requisites right now and getting ready to take the TEAS exam. I need to score at least a 78% in all sections to apply to the program. But just qualifying doesn't mean I will get in, as they keep telling me over and over again its highly competitive and they have up to a year waitlist if you don't get in right off the bat. So this stresses me out tremendously. Testing is not my forte I have test anxiety big time. But I have my study manual here and will keep doing the practice tests. Classes end May 8th, then my summer semester begins May 16th. So summer will be busy busy. My Grandma Thelma will be coming here for the summer to be with the kids while Scott is at work and I am at school which is so helpful and it’s always so nice to have her here.

Well that about wraps it up. I will try to keep up on this blog from now on :)

Grandma Thelma arrives & College Schedule

2010-11-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

Last night (11/14) Grandma Thelma arrived at our house for a visit. We aren't sure how long she is staying but she will definately be here through Thanksgiving. The kids were so excited to see her, its been 11 months since we've been together.

Today I finished registering for my spring semester classes. My biology class was full so I had to rearrange everything which was not what I wanted to do. I will have to drive to more with this schedule. But I got everything in that I needed to take so here's the finished product.

Monday- Computing 9:30 - 10:45 Annandale Campus
Medical Terminology 1pm-3pm Med Ed Campus

Tuesday- Statistics 9:30 - 10:45 Annandale Campus
Nutrition 12:30 - 3:10 Annandale Campus

Wednesday- Anatomy and Physiology 9:30 - 12:10 Alexandria Campus

Thursday- Statistics 9:30 - 10:45 Annandale Campus

Friday- Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory 9:30 - 12:10 Alexandria Campus

Saturday- Work 8 am to 5pm at AMC in Alexandria

Sunday- Work 8 am to 5pm at AMC in Alexandria

Looks like a busy schedule, of course there will be homework and study time somewhere in there. It was not easy making a schedule that goes around Scotts work schedule as well as the kids school bus schedule but I got it done. I start January 10th.

November

2010-11-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

So far things are going great here in Virginia. Scott is working at Naval Reactors in Washington DC and I found a job working as Film Crew at AMC Hoffman 22 in Alexandria, Virginia. Both a a bit of a commute but we are getting used to it. The kids are enjoying their new house, and their new school here in Woodbridge Virginia.

Halloween went well we trick or treated around our new neighborhood and scored loads of candy!! The kids enjoyed handing out candy to their neighborhood friends. We had a big halloween party and I've already posted all the recipes on my food blog so be sure to check them out :)

November is here and its getting colder and with that comes our first round of colds and flu, I was hit first being sick now for 2 days but luckily I am off of work this week so it doens't interfere with anything.

The girls are enjoying Girl Scouts again this year. Jennifer is a brownie and Aurora is a daisy. They both have meeting twice a month and 2 monthly weekend activitys so that keeps us busy at least 8 days a month. Next year Michael will start cub scouts, he's very excited for that!

My grandma Thelma is coming in this weekend and staying for the holidays. We are still uncertain if my Aunt and Cousins will be able to make it up for Thanksgiving yet due to their work and school schedules.

Well there is a little update from the Spear family, I'll try to keep up with this blog a bit more from now on :D

New House in Virginia

2010-08-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

We recently just returned from 4 days in Washington DC. Scott took house hunting leave and we set out to find our family the perfect house. Easier said then done...... After 2 days of dud after dud we finally found it. It was actually one we weren't to excited to see, it looked small. But don't judge a book by its cover because the house turned out to be huge. For some reason the owner only photographed a few rooms and didn't even mention the completely finished basement. This house is immaculately kept and beautiful. It is in a great neighborhood outside of Woodbridge Virginia. The only places in the vacinity of the house are other big houses, schools (a block away) and churches, what better neighborhood could we ask for!

Scotts commute will be about 40 mins without traffic so he is going to check into the commuter lot that comes right to our neighborhood. Its a bus that takes you to the metro station and from their he can board the metro which has a stop right at Navy Yard where he will be working at Naval Reactors. He took me on a tour of where he will be working and it is a beautiful brick building on a quiet base. We also went to the Navy Museum which is right there, and there is also a big ship to tour. If he would like to get lunch or a haircut he only needs to exit the back of his building and cross the street to the Navy Barber, shops, eateries, and mini nex. Looks like an exciting place to work and only 2 blocks from the Washington Nationals baseball field, CVS, Safeway grocery store, 5 guys burgers, and a subway.

LINK TO HOUSE:
http://www.militarybyowner.com/listings/hometour.asp?F_BASE_ID=232&F_STATE=VA&LISTING_ID=158377

she didn't list that the house actually has a completely finished basement So it comes out to be a 4,000 square foot house.

HOUSE HAS:
Living Room
Family Room
Office
Dining room x2
Kitchen
4 bathrooms
6 bedrooms (master has Jacuzzi jetted tub and separate glass shower
Rec Room
Deck
fenced yard
two car garage
(in a home owners association, includes pool, tot lots, pond for fishing
Has a commuter lot with bus pickup for the metro for Scott to go to work in DC.)

I will be posting more pics of the house that I took as well as pics from the trip to facebook shortly.

Trip To New York City and Coney Island

2010-07-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

We took a wonderful trip to New York City, saw times square, shopped, and ate at bubba gump shrimp. We took Aurora to American Girl Place to get her Birthday Present (she's been waiting since May) she picked out Elizabeth since she is the best friend of Felicity (the doll she already has). So now we have 4 american girl dolls in our family and the girls could not be more excited! We then went to Coney Island for the first time!! We saw the rides, the beach and of course Nathan's famous hot dog stand. It was a really neat experience. What brought us to Coney Island was Michael's Birthday present which was tickets to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. The Circus was great and the kids really enjoyed it, eve Scott loved it! We then took a walk on the pier and beach before heading home. It was another wonderful trip to the big city! Pictures to follow maybe tomorrow :)

Spring Break 2010 Florida

2010-04-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

We left for Spring Break on March 31st in the early morning. We drove to Virginia and stayed at Sarah's house with her and her kids. If you're driving to Virginia or DC know that radar detectors are illegal there, I got pulled over and was given a ticket for having one. My friend Joann moved to Virginia a while back so she came over to Sarah's with her kids and we all had dinner, it's always so nice to meet up with military friends later down the road. We headed out early in the morning on April 1st now with two cars (Sarah came with) and 6 kids.

We drove to Kingsland GA (Kings Bay) and stayed at our friend Kelsey’s house with her kids. We had 10 kids between the three of us!! The kids enjoyed getting to see each other and we enjoyed catching up again. Kelsey wasn't able to join us in our road trip to Florida because her husband was coming back from deployment. We headed out early April 2nd for our 2 hr 50 minute drive to Orlando.

We purchased our tickets at Shades of Green, I love that place! It's a military only resort and so nice! It does ticket discounts. After we had our tickets we headed straight for Magic Kingdom. The next day we did Animal Kingdom, the next day we did Epcot, the next day we split up, Sarah and her kids did Magic kingdom again (Since her little girl slept through most of it the first day) and my kids and I headed to Hollywood Studios for the day. Jennifer and Michael both road the Tower of Terror for the first time, and joined Aurora in having a T-Shirt to prove it. They all loved it!! We met back with Sarah and her kids at the Hotel.

Next day Sarah headed out Virginia bound, she was supposed to stay longer with her sister in Tampa but unfortunately her sisters new house flooded so they decided to head home. My kids and I decided a board day in a hotel room was not an option so we headed out to Universal Studios for the day. It was insanely hot that day but we had a great day despite the heat. We did Universal as Michaels birthday present and spoiled him with photos and gifts from the ET store and Nickelodeon store. The kids saw lots of characters despite the long lines and had a good time. Every park had some sort of Firework event at the end and the kids were just in awe of everything they saw. It made me feel good to see them so happy.

Next morning after some much needed krispe kremes (haven't had those in 3 years) we headed to Tampa to stay at my cousin Tricia’s house. Tricia has 6 kids and I have my 3 so the house was always lively. The kids jumped on the trampoline and swam in their pool ( I wish we could have either of those in base housing!! but we can't) It was a good relaxing day after so many busy days.

The next day we went to Busch Gardens (love the hero salute passes) The kids had fun riding rides, and seeing the Sesame Street Characters there. It was insanely hot!!! Thank goodness for the splash area for the kids they stayed nice and cool. After Busch Gardens we went back to Tricia’s to watch Princess and the Frog with popcorn. The old adults watched double jeopardy.

The next morning bright and early we headed out for our long trip back to New York. We drove to Myrtle Beach South Carolina and hung out on the beach. We played in the water, sand, and gathered up sea shells then we continued our drive North to Wilmington North Carolina and saw places that the show One Tree Hill (one of my favorite shows) is filmed http://www.wilmingtondowntown.com/go/one-tree-hill-river-court2 . We also saw the Battleship USS North Carolina http://www.battleshipnc.com/ . Wilmington was very nice, I loved the historic district reminded me of Broadway Saratoga Springs. It was very packed because of its Azalea Festival that was going on http://www.ncazaleafestival.org/ We spent the night in the hotel.

Next day we headed out on our journey home. We checked out http://www.visitwrightsville.com/ Wrightsville Beach NC which was gorgeous! We stopped off in Woodbridge Va, but had no luck on scoping our next housing (I forgot the address at home). We continued on to Washington DC. Of course my luck it was packed full of people (more than usual) because of the cherry blossom festival http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/cms/index.php?id=390 . We walked to the White house and took pictures, we also saw the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, the Mall, World War II Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. We saw the capital building from a distance lets hope my disposable camera worked out okay because my digital had a dead battery for the entire day.

After that we drove back to New York, we arrived home at about 1am with some Michael Jackson on the radio, good ending to a good trip! Now to unpack the car, catch up on laundry, clean the house, and wait for Scott to fly home on Tuesday. We miss him!!!!!!!!!

Update on the sick family

2010-02-07T05:55:00.000-08:00

Everyone is doing better! Michael had a great appointment on Friday and his Oxygen levels have increased which is great. He was at 90% in the hospital, then 94% last week at the doctor, and now 97% this week at the doctor. He still has a chest x-ray on the 15th to make sure the Pneumonia is gone. Fingers crossed this will be the last time we are sick. Two Pneumonia's and a bronchitis all in the same house made for a fun 10 days.

What did we do this week?
Scott had 3 days off (he saved a coupon from his re-enlistment 2 years ago to get 3 days off) So had the weekend off, worked monday, then had tues, wed, thurs, off then worked Friday and had Sat, Sun off. We were completely spoiled having him here this much, it was so nice after the crazy 2 1/2 years of school and shift work. But tomorrow back to the real world and he'll be back at work. We finally saw Avatar in 3D at the IMAX in Albany, it was a great movie but it made me sad! We had Augie's Pasta this weekend which is this great little Italian place in Ballston Spa, it was yummy as usual. Scott surprised me with a huge container of Coldstone Ice Cream, he's the best!!! We watched cloudy with a chance of meatballs and had a popcorn party with the kids. I made a yummy sausage, bean, and cheese dip that we enjoyed with chips to go with the movie. We also saw The Lovely Bones, so sad (Love it when they bring books to the screen) and Leap Year which is a romantic comedy. Great weekend of just being together!!!

Today is Super Bowl Sunday!!! YAY!!!! Go Saints!!!!!!! I'll be cooking up some traditional new orleans food to have during the festivities today :)

Pneumonia

2010-01-26T09:58:00.001-08:00

Michael and I have been sick for a few days now. Michael went to the hospital yesterday, his fever went up to 104 again after not having a fever all morning. They did a chest x-ray and he has Pneumonia. They said we'll see an improvement in 2-3 days on the antibiotics, then appointment with his doctor to check him and see a full recovery in 2-3 wks. Rough winter for our little guy. Hope he gets better soon, he's very tired and cranky.

Been away from the blog for a while

2010-01-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

Okay so I was really great about blogging and now I just suck. What happened was we took an amazing vacation to Europe and a 16 day transatlantic cruise I came home and blogged about the entire trip, loaded pics, and loaded videos and then....... The computer froze!!! I lost the entire thing. This blog auto saves too, but it was no where to be found! I said okay well that's enough for today i'll do it again tomorrow, and so on and so forth until now which is 3 months later and I still haven't done it LOL. So a summer is we had an amazing time in Rome and the cruise was awesome. My grandma really enjoyed it and the girls just LOVED it and never wanted to go home. Everyone had tears when we left the ship. But it was great to be back with my boys again.

Pics from the trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124311&id=660999170&op=12

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124908&id=660999170&op=12

Since the last blog we took that trip, Michael had surgery on his ears. He had an adenoidectomy and well as tubes put in both his ears. He was at a 60% hearing loss in one ear and a 40% loss in the other. After numerous infections and medications the doctor finally decided to put in the tubes. He is now hearing better and covers his ears a lot because of loud noises. His behavior has also improved because he is not as frustrated as he once was.

Sounds like DC wants Scott from an email we received so we are hoping his officer package goes through and he does well in the interviews in DC. They are going to fly him there for 3 days to interview for the job. He really wants this so I hope it works out for him. We still do not know when we are moving. It will be sometime between March and August. If everything goes well he will get picked up officer and commissioned here in New York, then we will go to OIS which is only 5 weeks long. We will miss him for those 5 weeks but it shouldn't be too hard, we've done numerous 3 month deployments so this should be cake. Looking forward to getting some answers and knowing where we are going and when.

The kids are all doing great, having fun with friends and girl scouts. I was a girl scout for 4 1/2 years and loved it, my mom was my troop leader for 2 of the years. I'm so glad I get to share this with my daughters. The troop leader and his wife are just amazing and the kids really enjoy going to the meetings and visiting with all the girls.

I'm trying to get back into my old routine of cooking everyday instead of eating out. We've been taking advantage of living in Saratoga because there are sooooo many wonderful restaurants. It got to the point where we were eating out 4 or 5 nights a week. As fun as that is, we should put that money to better use. I have a lot of cook books from the time when we cooked together 3 meals a day everyday. So i'm whipping them out and putting them to good use. Every night has been a different meal from a good book mostly chefs on Food Network (I'm Addicted). So far it's going well and we haven't had anything that we wouldn't want to eat ever again.

School is going.... on and on and on forever. I should not have taken a break from it. I should have graduated with my Bachelors degree 1 year 8 months ago :( I kick myself everyday for that mistake but oh well. I had breaks for vacations, and was able to take a month and a half off twice during two moves, time off for funerals etc.... it worked. So I'm still trucking along with it.

So that's it for today. I'll try to keep up with the blog from now on.

Here are some links to new pics:

http://www.facebook.com/laura.spear?ref=profile

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137245&id=660999170

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97892&id=660999170

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137254&id=660999170

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136013&id=660999170

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=130867&id=660999170&op=6

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115083&id=660999170&op=6

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115070&id=660999170&op=6

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127313&id=660999170&op=6

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124307&id=660999170&op=6

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=128405&id=660999170&op=6

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=128403&id=660999170&op=12

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106939&id=660999170&op=12

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60678&id=660999170&op=12

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124304&id=660999170&op=12

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102957&id=660999170&op=18

Vacation to New Jersey and Pennsylvania and meeting Buddy The Cake Boss

2009-09-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

We had more time off so we headed to New Jersey and visited Carlos Bakery from the hit TV show "Cake Boss" which is now the #1 food show on cable!! They had big posters about it. Anyways the kids got to meet Buddy Valastro the cake boss and he was so so nice. He took his time with each one of them they all got hugs, fives, and photos, he gave them his autograph and asked what they like about the show. The girls had to tell him all the different cakes they love. It was a great time and the cannoli's were awesome! After that we headed to Ocean City on the south New Jersey. We spent the day on the beach and boogie boarded, built sand castles etc... The water was warm, with great waves. That evening we walked the pier, there are awesome shops there and so much to do. We took the kids to Wonderland amusement park on the pier they loved it. After that we headed to bulls island for our 3 day camping adventure. Next day we went to Philadelphia and saw the liberty bell and took a history tour and stood in the building and room where the declaration of independence and the articles of confederation were signed, it was very cool and the kids loved it especially Jennifer who loves the presidents and history. We enjoyed authentic Philly cheese steaks and headed to the children's museum there that was just plain MASSIVE. It was amazing and so beautiful. The kids had a wonderful time there. We ate a picnic lunch and rode their carousal. At camped we made smores, and skipped rocks in the river and went for a hike. The next day we went to Sesame Place which was a lot less crowded then when we went a few weeks ago. We got to go on all the rides we'd missed the previous trip and enjoy the water park more. It was hot and I got a little burned but everyone else was fine. We'd packed a picnic lunch to eat there and saw the Abby Cadabby show where my camera DIED on me! I didn't even get a shot off and it was the cutest show! After a long day at Sesame Place we packed up and headed for home on the 4 1/2 drive. It was a great trip and a much needed family time before Scott goes back to working and 4 hrs of classes almost every day until this December. So goodbye Summer!!! It's been fun!!!!

Here is a link to all the photos from the trip there are two folders of pics, just copy paste and then enjoy:

LINK 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100537&id=660999170&l=c84b9d6821

LINK2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100539&id=660999170&l=62eb9cc0df

Family Vacation to New Jersey and Pennsylvania

2009-08-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

We started off our trip with breakfast at the Saratoga Race Track and watched the horses warm up for the day. The breakfast was okay (buffet) the real excitement was seeing the race horses the kids loved it. Then we hit the road and drove to New Jersey. The drive wasn't bad at all and the kids behaved I had stopped at the store on the way and bought them crayons and sesame street workbooks for the car. They colored happily and ate cheese balls. We arrived in New Jersey at the New Jersey Pennsylvania state line (which is in the middle of the Delaware river). Right there is Bulls Island state park we looked around and really liked it so we set up camp. My amazing husband set up camp in only 20 minutes!! After the set up we went for a hike and found a way of crossing the river via the pedestrian bridge to the little cute town. They had cute restaurants over looking the river and little bed and breakfasts made of cobblestone. It really was a unique place they even had a general store there with all your camping needs. Next we headed back over the bridge and hung out at our campsite. We grilled food and walked by the river which was right along our camp spot. There were only 3 families camping there on the 80 acres so we had the whole place basically to ourselves. After camping we went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel which is one of my favorite restaurants I've been going there with my grandparents forever since i was a kid and I love that I get to share it with my kids now. It had rained on our firewood so cooking at the campsite was out. The kids loved breakfast then we did a bit of shopping in the store there. Next we loaded up and headed to Langhorne Pennsylvania to take the kids Sesame Place! We got the idea from watching Jon & Kate plus 8 because they went there on the show. I'm so glad they did that because I had no idea this theme park even existed. It was free for us because active duty is always free and it's also free for up to 4 dependents. The kids had an amazing time!! It was very crowded and very HOT but the kids behaved and we had a great time!! We hope to go back again this summer.

Here is the Link to all the pictures from the vacation: just copy paste this code....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=96373&id=660999170&l=2be4795d68

Celebrating Our 7th Wedding Anniversary!

2009-07-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

Nickelback - BURN IT TO THE GROUND from Nickelback on Vimeo.

We are going to a Concert to Celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary!! Our actual anniversary is July 28th, but Scott has work and Classes that day so just like any other holiday we moved it to a more convenient time lol. The Concert is tonight, and the weather looks great today so it should be a great day and a fun night. Needed after the crazy day I had yesterday. My classes have been dishing out a ton of homework lately so it's nice to have a break away from that. My friend Kristin is babysitting the kids for us this evening. She got her list of college classes so I will for sure be babysitting for her starting in September while she takes classes. She has the cutest twin boys!!! Hard to believe all my kids will be in school this fall, good think i found something to do and you all know how much I love babies!!! So it's perfect!

Still no word on the car. It was supposed to be put back together last weekend so we can have it towed to the repair shop and get this thing over with. This Saturday will be 2 months of my suv being broken. The transmission went out and it needs a new one or a complete rebuild. As soon as we can get it towed we are getting the rebuild done for $2,600. Not fun but it happens.

Other than that, not much is going on. The schedule is pretty open for the rest of the week. Next week the horse track season starts here in Saratoga. The kids are very excited for the races, they LOVE horses. You really see Saratoga come alive during racing season. This is our 2nd time stationed here in Saratoga Springs, New York and our last time so we need to enjoy it since we will be moving to Washington DC in May, 2010.

Aurora takes her screening test for Kindergarten.

2009-07-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Well today has been interesting. Aurora had her big screening for Kindergarten this morning! On the way out the door Michael decided to get a huge nose bleed. (scott was supposed to take her but couldn't get out of work) so stress, got it under control, changed his clothes cleaned him up thank god we left early. Made the apt. While she was in the test Michael threw up all over the schools hallway!
So then I'm cleaning the school hallway because the janitor went home for the day! uggh. Cleaned him up again and then out comes Aurora from the test. The guys like would you like to come in and go over it. Sure i'd love to come in covered in vomit...why not! She passed and is now in Kindergarten WOOHOO. She got the highest marks in everything except one category which was pronouncing her "th" sometimes comes out a "f" instead. But did great in math, shapes, colors, counting, abc's, scissors etc.... So hurray for Aurora and poor poor Michael... hard day for the little man.

Aurora was upset however that they did not ask her what her address and phone number was. We worked hard on that because it was on the list of things you had to know to pass the test. And they didn't even ask her!!! Instead it was a 45 minute sit down test where she went table to table, teacher to teacher and was asked questions, and did writing. Way different than we were told. Oh well she still did amazing!!! Scott promised her a trip to 6 Flags to go on the big kid rides once she was a big kindergartener so she's looking forward to that!

My baby turns 4 !!!!

2009-07-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th Birthday to my little Michael! I can't believe my little baby is now 4 yrs old. Where has all the time gone and why did it have to pass so quickly. This fall all three of my kids will be in school, I am very sad about it. So... I'm taking a job babysitting for a friend! She is going back to school and has the cutest twin boys and I get to watch them!! We are leaving now (Scott may need to be airlifted he is slow moving after last night he had a fun night out with the guys from work. They hit up some bars and had some fantastic Irish food at a pub downtown Saratoga Springs. But anyways back to today... we are leaving for Michael's big Birthday!! We are going to Order the spiderman cake, he wants to pick it himself. The girls big idea was to fly to NJ to have the Cake boss make michael a cake LOL!! too cute.... but not happening! Then we are headed to the toy store so he can pick out his own present (we already got him the big spiderman kitchen, with food, his new bike and helmet, knee pads, and lots of clothes from Gap and gymboree so he made out pretty well.) then we are going to 6 flags for swimming and rides, eating at Johnny Rockets, then home for cake, ice cream, grilling, and a movie! It will be a fun filled day!!!! I just can't believe he's 4!

I will be updating this blog, I've fallen behind again. We've been keeping very busy this summer since it's our last summer before the big move to Washington DC.

Vacation to New York City and Long Island

2009-07-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to New York City for three days while Scott worked and studied and had classes. We had a ton of fun! Unfortunately my camera battery died a day and half into it so you'll have to wait until I develop the disposable camera for the rest of the pics. We did the City for 2 days, Central park, Zoo, American girl Place both days, Shopping on 5th Ave, M&M world, Hershey's, Toys R Us, FAO Schwartz, the big disney store, build a bear, Time square, Ate at venders hot dogs, pretzels, gyro's, and we ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co with awesome seats overlooking time square at night, it was great!!! Hard Rock Cafe which the kids loved! and watched Michael Jackson tributes that were everywhere, we got to sit in chairs they had in the middle of time square!!! so cool. Rode a rickshaw, took a horse and carriage ride through time square, had dean and deluca coffee while the kids had hot cocoa. Then on Day three we left the city and went to Long Island to the Children's Museum which was amazing! The kids had a blast! check out the website here to see where we went, http://www.licm.org/ After that we headed to Long Beach Long Island, and played on the beach and in the ocean. We built sand castles and ate on the boardwalk it was beautiful! Hopefully I get this camera developed soon so you can see. http://www.longbeachny.org/

Here is a link to ALL of the NYC vacation photos (except the ones on the camera i need to develop)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86426&id=660999170

Just copy paste the link into your browser and you'll have access to over 200 photos.

This Video was the big Piano and FAO, they loved it!!

This Video was taken in the Elevator at the Disney Store, Hannah Montana was playing so the girls started dancing like crazy! Then after that every elevator became the "elevator dance party" and everyone crazy danced myself included. Tons of fun!

2009-06-29T07:44:00.000-07:00

Trendy new things!

Check out this site for wonderful personalized items for your child. There is everything from books, folders, puzzles, placemats, posters, growth charts, journals and even lunch boxes! very cute and not too expensive.

http://www.FreckleBox.com/personalized-books.htm

Tori Spelling's new children's clothing line will be widely available this Fall! It's called Little Maven and the pieces I've seen from her show and from the internet are CUTE!!

My final Recommendation of the day was featured in Pregnancy Magazine... they are the Penny People. They have a blogspot check it out:

http://pennypeople.blogspot.com/2009/06/pregancy-magazine.html

They sell their artwork at Etsy.com here's the link:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5058067

They are $15 for a small and $25 for a large and they will put your child's name on it in the color you choose.

June 27th, 2009

2009-06-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

Well the car situation is the same still only have the mustang which seats 4 and we are a family of 5. Hopefully soon I will have my SUV back. I heard within the next two weeks but who knows. It's been 5 weeks now.

This week was a hard week for Stars with the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and the King of PoP Michael Jackson. I've always been a fan of Michael Jackson's. I know some people think he's weird and believe the allegations against him but I am not one of them. I think this is a huge loss for the music industry. I was looking forward to seeing his big come back next month I think it would have turned things around for him. Just goes to show that anyone can die at anytime so make the best of it while you are here. It doesn't matter how much money you have when you die, the only things that matter are the good deeds you did while here on earth and the memories you leave the people that knew you with. So try your best everyday to do good for the world and for others.

Terrible Threes????

2009-06-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

I've heard of terrible twos we went through them with the girls but what about terrible threes? My son has always been a mommas boy and well behaved except for the occasional tired crankiness that all small children get. We are firm believers after having two girls and a boy that boys are WAY easier than girls. Boys for us anyways potty train better, listen better, are calmer, less emotional than girls. In the past month my dear sweet boy has turned a corner.... he's been bad. I have a time out chart hanging in my kitchen which lists the offenses and the times you'll serve if you commit them. It's sort of a do the crime serve the time sort of deal. It works really well nobody likes to be in the corner (corner is actually a wall but they have to put their nose on it) Anyways we've done the naughty chair, the naughty step, the time out rug and for us nothing works better then the wall. Lately however he doesn't care about the wall or listening to me at all for that matter. I've turned into a shrieker in the past month and lay in bed at night hating that I yelled so much during the day. Here's a list of what my son has done in the past two days just to give you a taste of what I am talking about:

Day 1:
Peeled the leather off the top of my NEW dining room chair (2nd chair ruined now, Scott is not happy) while playing his computer game.
pulled down his pants in the upstairs hallway (right outside the bathroom door mind you) and peed!!!!
pulled the cats tail
pulled hair out of the guinea pig (which he loves so i have no clue why he did it)
"dropped a deuce" as little stewie from family guy would say IN HIS PANTS! it preceded to roll down his pant leg to his sock eww! He's fully potty trained for God sakes!!
Broke one of the large hanging blind thingys on the patio door.

Day 2: Dumped the cat food (Eukanuba brand) and all the guinea pig food over all the shoes in the downstairs closet. Nothing like putting on your shoes to go to the bus stop and crunch cat food in between your toes.
Then put cat food in the cat water....
Then he "mopped" the kitchen floor with our water machine water while i was in the bathroom, i had also just swept up a pile and was going to hand vac it up in a minute and he decided those made good sprinkles for the newly soaked floor.
and to top it off he dumped the guinea pig cage poo and all on my living room carpet while i was folding clothes in my bedroom!!
He also decided one blind was not enough and broke one of the mini blind thingys in the girls room.

Now I'll admit I have been distracted the past week or so. I was sick for a good week and a half and needed to catch up on bills, our money program, laundry, cleaning ect.... Also I've had studying to do for school, yes i'm finally back in school after my year break. But I have still made time for doing things special with him. He still picks out a pile of books and by the end of the day we've read them all. We still watch sesame street and scooby do together every morning. We still play the cool school on the computer together for math and science, he does the art by himself. So its not like he's being ignored. I haven't had a car in over a month so perhaps it's cabin fever??? We go to the park every day, for walks, and for bike rides. Also i've borrowed scotts car and taken them to things when he didn't need to use it. So what is this??? Terrible Threes??? Just a bad mood that has lasted a month??? All I know is I hope it ends soon because this month has not been pleasant.

I am looking forward to Scotts leave, starting Saturday at midnight..... he just looks at them and they fall in line like little soldiers. I wish I had that kind of power LOL.

So anyways now my venting is done PHEW.

Today we had a power surge and it blew out 4 light bulbs and blew the breaker for 1/4 of my house here in base housing. I called up housing and once again they were incredibly nice. She sent a guy out to look at it within 5 minutes of hanging up the phone.... impressive. He fixed it all got every thing working again except the light bulbs because he didn't have enough on him. Also while he was here I debated showing him the blinds my son broke. i decided better tell him now then when we move out. He said no problem it happens and is fixing both tomorrow when he comes with the light bulbs, NO charge!! I was so relieved and so happy. I was charged a lot back in washington for two mini blinds and glad that was not the case here.

I'm currently searching the internet for a local church. We still haven't found one since moving to Saratoga Springs. Not that I have a car to get there but still I want to find one and i want it to have a good children's program like the one we went to where we lived before. So I'll keep looking. If any of you know of one around here let me know please. I've gone to Catholic schools growing up and been to Catholic churches for 15 years, LDS for 3 years and gone to Christian churches for 2 years so I consider myself open to different churches and religions.

We've reached a decision.... can you say "Aloha"

2009-06-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

Well we've pretty much reached a decision. Instead of doing the NR Engineer route in Washington DC we are choosing to go back to a boat and going the EDO route. Crazy I know but it does have some benefits. We will remain here in New York until May 2010 (Scotts putting in for the job in December) Then we will move to Charleston, South Carolina for a year. While there Scott will go to OCS for three months (probably away from us) Then he will go to power school in South Carolina for the rest of the year. About May 2011 we will then move to Hawaii as O-1E, we will remain in Hawaii for 3 years where Scott will be on a boat again. As much as being on a boat again will suck we will be making twice as much money as we would be if he took the NR job in DC due to the large officer bonus on subs and having sub and sea pay which we wouldn't get otherwise. Another perk is instead of working, going to school, and commuting in DC he will just be working in hawaii, that's it! After Hawaii in 2014 we will move to Boston where Scott will get his dream of going to school at MIT. While there.... no work just school! (remember this is the school he would have done while working in DC but by going back to a boat we get to push off the school until off the boat leaving him with no work just school) So he'll actually have more time with the family even though he'll have sea time. He'll have loads of time in south carolina and TONS of time in Boston. Another perk is by going to DC we would have had to pay for part of his college like we are doing right now, but by waiting and going to Boston it will be 100% paid for by the navy. Saves a fortune because that is an expensive school.

Neither one of us wanted to go back to being on a boat, we didn't want anymore time apart as a family. He missed a lot of the kids being little (2 of their first 4 years of life) just as all sailors do but still it wasn't fun and it made him sad. That's why he's killed himself to get the 4.0 for the NR Engineer job it would have kept him from sea for possibly the rest of his career! Now we are going to do the EDO route which only requires a 3.5 GPA So he could have relaxed about school while here in New York. Oh well he worked hard, very hard and I'm proud of him. So far he is still Valedictorian of the class of 2010 at RPI, while working full time shift work for the Navy. I love him so much for all that he does and he's letting me pick which career route we want to go. I didn't want to pick one he wouldn't be happy with so I let him decide anyways, and he picked what I wanted so it worked out. Their are different perks for both jobs as well as different drawbacks. We wanted the one with more family time it just happened to also be the one that makes more money and involves more travel.

We also asked the kids what they thought. I showed them travel books from washington DC, I've been there a few times so i showed them the different places they could go ect.... We also showed them Charleston, and Hawaii on the computer (i Ordered books as well) And they've been to Boston so they knew about that. Aurora voted for Africa....... lol. I told her that really wasn't an option. She was bummed, she wanted to live with the animals. Jennifer voted for Hawaii and Michael didn't really care. So three votes Hawaii, one vote Africa, and One undecided. The ballots are in so here's the plan:
Our Navy Travel Plan:

New York (Student) 2002-2003
Washington (USS Nevada) 2003-2007
New York (Staff) 2007-2010
South Carolina (OCS O-1) 2010-2011
Hawaii (O-1 through O-3) 2011-2014
Boston (O-3) 2014-2017
Then who knows :)

So that's the plan! Plans change all the time so who knows but that's what we are going for so now we just sit back and hope for the best because that's all you can do.

Photos of Charleston South Carolina:

Photos of Hawaii and one of the 0-1 Housing floor plans:

Photos of MIT (Scotts School) and Boston, Massachusetts:

Finally pictures from Grandma Thelma's Stay

2009-06-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

April and May pics are finally on the computer. I uploaded them to facebook rather then try to upload them all here (over 300 pics) Grandma Thelma's stay is on there as well as moving into base housing and much much more. Check it out and Enjoy.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81793&id=660999170

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81799&id=660999170

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81277&id=660999170

Great Escape Pictures and Videos

2009-06-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

More Great Escape

2009-06-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

6 Flags Great Escape Videos

2009-06-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

New Playlist

2009-06-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

The Monster Truck and Hollywood Stunt Show!

2009-05-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

Today was the big Monster truck and Hollywood Stunt show. They had people from the X-Games, as well as real Hollywood stunt men. Scott needed to study today so it was just me and the kids. We had a blast. I knew it was the right thing to go as soon as we walked in and Tow Mater from the Disney Movie "Cars" was there to greet us! He was a full size Monster truck that performed in the show. Michael was in awe. We saw Viper, Tow Mater, Bad habit, Storm Damage, and the legendary Bigfoot (who quickly became Jennifer's favorite) They were all awesome and put on a really good show. There was also a human canon, flying motorcycles, stunts, a guy that blew himself up in a car, and loads of off roading vehicles and bikes. The kids ate hot dogs, cheese burgers and nachos each! So they were stuffed when we left. I didn't let them take the ride on the monster truck because it went way too fast for them in my opinion. Aurora was devastated but it looked scary fast and did spin around turns so maybe next year when they are older. All in all a great day at the Saratoga Albany Speedway. Tonight we are grilling steaks and watching the latest 007 movie.

Memorial Day 2009

2009-05-26T06:35:00.001-07:00

On Memorial Day we went to 6 flags Great Escape. The kids had a lot of fun even though Jennifer decided to be grumpy for most of it. We also did spashwater kingdom which was fun but very cold. The kids loved going down the water slides. Aurora went with scott on the big slides, she loved it!! She was sad she wasn't tall enough for the big coasters but she went on everything she could. They have sasquatch now which is like the tower of terror only outside (not in a building) and your legs dangle so the height is 48" for that one and boy did she have a cow that she wasn't tall enough to ride! She said "i went on the tower of terror and its the same thing!" lol. We watched scott ride it and he waved at the kids the whole time so that made it all better. I did forget the stroller and the camera that day so that sucked but besides that it was a great time there.

Scott had a book he needed to read for class so while i waited in line with the kids he read the book. He ended up finishing the book just as we were heading for the gate so that's good, cause he was going to have to stay home and miss the whole day but it worked out nicely.

He works from 8am to 5pm all week and has class from 6pm to 10pm so we won't see him much this week. Can't wait for the weekend :)

On the way home from great escape about 5 miles or so from home my car broke. My expeditions Transmission may be shot. We will know more before the end of the week but in the meantime I'm looking at new cars. I'm thinking a van would be nice I like the town and country's and the grand caravan's but we will see. I don't want to get a new car unless we really have to because the past 2 years with no car payments has been amazing. We need to figure out something because our Canoe is still at the old house and needs to be removed asap.

I spoke with my Step Dad yesterday and unfortunately it turns out my sister was in on the robbery. I am so shocked and hurt and so is he. How could she have changed this much in 2 years. The police almost have enough to arrest her he husband actually turned her in and gave a statement saying that she told him she did it and a friend helped her. He gave the friends name to the police. So as of last night the police took her to her husbands for him to re tell the police what happened hoping she will incriminate herself so they can place her under arrest. I just can't believe my little sister was capable of this. She even told my Dad "If I have a say in it, skipper will be dead" talking about his parrot that was stolen. She had me convinced she didn't do it I can't believe I fell for it. Even after I told her all the videos and pics that were stolen on the cameras and computers she didn't budge or return anything or even show remorse. I'm talking to my Dad and we are trying to see if she can get put into a psychiatric facility rather then a jail. She needs help and has needed it for a long time. (Her dad was murdered when she was 10) and she never really got past it mentally. I just pray for her now as we have done all we can do at this time. I don't want anything bad to happen to my sister even though what she did was such a terrible thing she is still my sister and I still love her.

Planning things for the summer:
6 flags Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom (as much as possible we have season passes)
Children's Museum
Stock Car races, monster trucks
The Drive in
Camping
Canoeing
Whitewater rafting/ tubing
Movies in the park (which is so neat, info posted below)
Cheerleading (the girls)

Free Movies in Wiswall Park (9:00 PM)
Wiswall Park, downtown Ballston Spa
As part of the summer season First Friday activities, the BSBPA once again presents free outdoor family movies in Wiswall Park. June 5th's movie is "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", presented in "Aroma-rama". As the crowd sits under the stars, the aroma of chocolate, bubble gum, blue berries and other confections will fill the air! Just as in the movie, the crowd can buy Wonka bars, five of which will contain golden tickets redeemable for prizes at local businesses! Showing on July 3rd: "Kung Fu Panda"; The Ballston Spa Film Festival takes place on August 7th and the September 4th movie is the Academy Award winning "Wall-E". All films begin at dark, bring your blankets and lawn chairs.

July 4th, either Lake George or something in the Saratoga Area, we did clifton park last year and it was good. If I had my way we'd go to the NYC fireworks but thats a bit of a drive.

I think that's about it for plans for summer activities. The goal is to keep the kids busy all summer long.

May 12th, 2009 more baby news.

2009-05-12T05:48:00.001-07:00

So for baby news.... Scott had his appointment yesterday and he actually got something accomplished at medical, third try is the charm I guess. Long story short, Tricare does not cover vasectomy reversals, However, he can get it free through the Navy if we drive to the navy hospital in Maryland for his appointments and the surgery. Plus there is a year and a half waiting list to have it done. So it will take some extra time and be a bit out of the way (we will be in DC hopefully then) but we will save $5,000!!! That money can then go towards the new baby! So I think its a good deal. He is going to put himself on the list today or tomorrow and do the paper work, then we just sit back and wait for a call to go to maryland.

Other than that still just unpacking little random boxes from the garage. We are almost completely done with the other house. Scott patched all the nail holes and repainted all the walls, he still has half the living room to paint but other than that we are done with that. Then we just vacuum and shampoo all the carpets and stairs then DONE! Scotts mom is coming to visit this weekend.

Yesterday we went hiking with Jen and the kids we had a good time although Michael was a bit cranky and not feeling very well then we did a playdate and headed home to let him rest. He ended up taking a two hour nap which is not like him at all, naps are soooo two years ago lol.

Today we were supposed to go hiking again and then a play date but I woke up with a wicked sore throat so I'm going to rest today and hope to feel better tomorrow. Tomorrow Jen and I are going to the farmers market, hopefully i can find some nice organic produce there.

Well that's all i know :)

Happy Mothers Day!!

2009-05-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there! Check out this link.
http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=4TqekfUC6FmvY9GXJMA0dzY1Njg2MzE-&referred_by=15933580-r3.ybMx&p=moveon

May 7th, 2009

2009-05-08T01:24:00.001-07:00

I still haven't uploaded pics from the month my grandma was here or the move but they are coming. I can't find the cord to connect my camera to Scotts MAC and I can load them onto my computer, however the internet is not working on that one yet so when scott connects that one I'll upload them. I know my Grandma is very anxious to see them.

Today was a fun day, just kind of relaxed around the house. I'm out of boxes to unpack at the new house are we are not going back to the old house for more until Saturday. So i'll spend the weekend packing the attic and garage there and getting the back yard toys ready to move fun fun fun :) Today Jennifer had a bad day at school I guess she was messing around with another kid at lunch and a fork caught her face she was pretty upset but they mark on her face is not too bad. We did check out the local playgrounds here in housing on the 6th. The sun came out for a little while in the afternoon but there was still some water like at the bottom of the slides. "Play on anything you want just don't go down the slides"........ "okay mommy" 10 minutes later three wet bottoms. lol. Anyways they had fun and a bath when they got home lol. Today Scott got his grades from this Semester at RPI. He was really worried that he'd lost his 4.0 GPA because of an A- in one class but he ended up pulling it off. He is beyond happy about it and I am relieved as he gave up a lot of his study time to help me with the move. So in the end it all worked out. He now has a week and and a half off from school which is really nice! After we found that out we headed to the commissary I was itching to use my coupons hehe. Just got enough to last until the lot sale May 21st-23rd. I haven't been to one here but back in Washington you could get really good deals and still use your military and manufacturers coupons. So hopefully it will be good, I like to stock up on food, I probably have almost two months worth in my fridge, pantry and two freezers that way if there is something we want to do that month like lets say... Chocolate World in Hershey PA in June for Aurora's 5th Birthday than i don't even need to save up for it or dip into savings I just cut out the groceries for 2 weeks or even a month and we eat what we have. I works out really well. After that we came out and I pressure cooked a turkey breast we bought, made home made chicken soup (I did throw in some cars noodles for Michael) and made Tacos, and refried beans. Scott made some home made guacamole and sliced up my turkey so we finally used that new meat slicer, it works wonders. After that we scooted the kids off to bed for the night and played some mario party on the wii. Haven't quite busted out the Rockband or Karaoke here in housing yet lol, don't want to be too noisy. Tomorrow is the Military Spouse Appreciation Luncheon so I'm going to that with Jen so that will be fun. And tomorrow evening Jen and I are going to catch a movie while the guys watch the kids. I haven't done that in what feels like forever lol.

Stick Figure Family

2009-05-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Base Housing May 6th, 2009

2009-05-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well we've moved in!! Still have some things at our old house in mechanicville including our out door toys for the kids, play house, slide ect... Hopefully it will all still be there when we get there this weekend to move the last of the stuff. This past week we actually had our car seat stolen from outside our house in Mechanicville! It was sitting at our front door waiting to get switched into the other car, there were three sitting there for my three kids and when I came down to do it, about 30 mins after my husband set them there one was gone!! ugggh. Luckily we have extra, my husband has two for his mustang and I have 3 for my suv but still come on people, stealing a kids car seat!! uggh. I have everything put away already that's been brought into the new house on base, one benefit of moving over 30 times in your life is that you get pretty damn good at it LOL. My husband has been so good trying to move stuff for me even though he's been working and going to class and studying. He did take a few days of leave which were to study for his finals but he ended up giving me half of that leave to help move the boxes i packed. It worked out well i packed it all while he studied, then he moved it all, then I unpacked it all while he studied. The kids love it here and love the fact that there are three play grounds just outside of our door. They also love having their own yard! So far I don't know anyone on base but I'm sure that will change over time. My friend Jen now lives only 7 mins away!!! So that's great for visiting and getting the kids together. Other than that not much is new, just getting settled and seeing where life takes us from here :)

9:23 pm Scott just got back from taking his final and he received an....... A+ 100%. He's very happy about it so far he has nailed 2 out of 3 finals and is still maintaining his 4.0 GPA at RPI. He is amazing.

We are Moving to Navy Base Housing in Saratoga Springs

2009-04-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

I have fallen behind in Blogging because we are moving. It was a quick decision. Our landlord wouldn't fix the furnace that I've been complaining about. It was 53 degrees on the 1st floor of our house so we were unable to use the 1st floor. We were still paying rent and utilities for it as well. And now that it has warmed up the downstairs is 69 degrees while the upstairs is 83 to 87 degrees because guess what.... the AC is broken still from last year. The AC unit was very old and the repair man told her it needed to be replaced but she didn't want to do it. So we are refusing to spend another season uncomfortable. We will also be saving $700 to $1100 a month depending on the season (summer and winter were high on gas electric while spring and fall were lower) on utilities(tv, phone, internet) and gas/electric. That will be very nice. I will update the blog with all of Aprils events including my Grandma's visit here once we are settled in at the new house. For now we are just too busy and we will be losing internet for a few days during the move. We do have new email so be sure to write it down, its... thespearfamily2000@yahoo.com I tried to get thespearfamily but it was already taken so I tacked on the year we have been together since. Also we have all been sick in the house for a good week and a half but are finally feeling better. My friend Kira gave birth to beautiful baby boy on April 16th (also Scott's Birthday hehe.) He is so adorable!!! She and her husband Justin, also a friend of mine from school are doing great and enjoying the new baby so Congrats to them!!! The move has had a draw back although we will be saving a small fortune every month we have had to make some hard choices as far as what we take to the new house. Our old house is 4,800 square feet (i'll post pics of the actual listing after the move.) and the house we are moving to is 1800 square feet which includes the garage so its A LOT smaller. It does have a fenced back yard and all brand new appliances. There are also 3 playgrounds right across the road which is so nice and one is a 6 yrs and under only playground that is fully fenced off which I love. Our breakfast Nook is no more :( I had to let it go as well as our large living room chair (scott is still bringing it and trying to get it to fit) which it won't. We also had to get rid of the Princess Castle bunk beds they weighed over 400lbs and were too big for the room (too tall). The list goes on and on but its okay because we would have had to do it next summer anyways when we have our next Navy Transfer, they move you based on your household goods weight and we were over weight when we moved here and have since acquired many things so I know we were WAY over it. It's a dollar a pound to go over so .... no thanks lol. But anyways i think we've trimmed the junk and will fit nicely in the new place but lesson learned about acquiring too much furniture! This move also means that Jennifer will change schools but it is an upgrade for her. Its a better school district with better everything! Even the ratios are better the classes are 17 to 1 per class as apposed to the other elementary school that is 28 to 1 per class. It makes a big difference in the learning environment and how much time the teacher spends with the kids. They also have a better music and arts program and better sports. So far I am still going to let them do cheerleading here in Mechanicville, its already paid for so they might as well finish it. The season is during football which runs the beginning of August through the end of October. It will be a bit of a drive 2 to 3 times a week but they will get to see their old friends and they are really looking forward to it. I also need to find them a new gymnastics and dance place because I can't keep running them to Cohoes its like 30 miles from the new house each way and that's now too far, we were only 18 miles before. And now we also need to find a new church as our church will be too far away. Not to mention new doctors, dentists. Isn't moving fun??? lol.

If you want to see a floor plan for our new place check the link below.

http://www.nsusaratogaspringshomes.com/FileHandlers/FloorPlanHandler.ashx?floorplanID=7

April 2nd, 2009 oh Memories!

2009-04-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

Well its April again, which means another year has gone by in our relationship. Scott and I started dating 9 years ago now! That's just so unreal to me, and I know I say that every year but it's true! It feels like yesterday. It's amazing how busy we get and then time just fly's right by us.
Last night we took the kids to see Monsters vs. Aliens. They loved it and so did we. It was a really cute movie and I just love going to movies in the Clifton park theater because its almost always empty and its a newer theater so its nice. After that we ate at five guys, which is a burger place and headed home, it was a really fun night. Tonight we are having a family fun night, everyone is excited for Grandma Thelma to arrive tomorrow and excited means chaos, so... We are going to have a family movie night. We just got Jonah, the veggietales movie so we are going to watch that. Not much happened today we did have a little drama. Aurora loves puzzles and has worked her way up to 300 pc puzzles which I think is great for a 4 year old. This puzzle was a pretty hard one and took her 3 days of working on it to put it all together. She was so excited to show daddy when he woke up! Well while we were waiting for Scott to wake up (This week he works all night and sleeps during the day) Michael threw the whole thing on the floor and broke it to bits. Aurora was devastated! So... she'll have something to do tomorrow I guess but it was very sad.

April 1st, 2009 Disney Live

2009-04-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

We are getting ready for my Grandma Thelma to fly in this Friday morning and thinking of things to do while she is here with us for a month. We both thought Playhouse Disney Live on tour at the Palace theater in Albany sounded like a fun time for the kids. So Grandpa Mike bought the tickets for the 5 of us to go see it on April 10th. The kids are really excited!! At Disney there is a playhouse Disney live show that you can go see it lasts about 20 mins or so, and the kids have seen it twice and just love it, they dance and sing the whole time! So getting to see this for a few hours will be amazing! All their favorite characters will be there, Mickey and his gang from mickey mouse clubhouse, the little Einsteins, Handy Manny and his tools, and My friends Tigger and Pooh! The theater website has a great feature that lets you click on your seats and see what your view of the stage will look like, that is so nice when you are trying to pick out tickets. So I included the picture of the stage from our seats, and the poster from what we will be seeing.

March 31st, 2009 Seafood Buffet

2009-04-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Today we went to a seafood buffet. The kids loved it! They love the idea that they can eat as much as they want which they quickly realized isn't always the best plan. Jennifer ended up with an upset tummy at the end of the meal. There was an awesome clown that walked around making balloon animals for all the kids. He made Aurora a pig (Aurora is obsessed with pigs) and made Jennifer a tiger, and Michael a spider man. They had a blast!

March 30th, 2009 Rabbits

2009-04-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

Today we went on a nature walk and then to the park. We saw lots of birds and some lonely cats. Aurora tried to chase a squirrel but quickly realized squirrels are fast! The kids were so happy when we found some Rabbits!! There were three really cute Rabbits. So when we got home from the walk it was snack time and I got the idea to "snack like rabbits". We had cabbage, carrots, and cauliflower. The kids had a blast and made rabbit noises while eating like rabbits.

March 29th, 2009 Church

2009-04-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today we went to church as a family. The kids absolutely love it. They have an amazing children's area with multiple classrooms filled with toys, books, and snacks. The kids even have a mini door they enter through. Michael's classroom was the little bug room, and the girls classroom was the barn room. Both are decorated accordingly. Michael love the bubble machine. The girls each learned a Jesus song and read stories. Scott and I attended the service it was Okay, not the best. It was a fun experience for the kids and they can't wait to go back. I did get a picture of the side of the church but it was raining so I didn't get one of the front entrance.

Gymnastics Team Photos

2009-03-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

These are the kids Gymnastics team photos. Aurora and Michael are in the top photo all the way to the left and Jennifer is in the bottom photo on the bottom left. They have a lot of fun doing gymnastics. Michael likes to flip, Aurora likes the balance beam and Jennifer loves the uneven bars and beginning vaulting.

Day at the Park

2009-03-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

Apparently I spoke too soon when I said that Spring would never come. Today was absolutely gorgeous out. After we picked up Jennifer from the bus stop we went for a walk to the park. Everywhere you looked you could see at least 10 people apparently we were not the only ones tired of hibernating in our house all winter. The kids had a blast there running, sitting on the cannon and playing in the gazebo. After we finished playing there we took another walk 3 more blocks to the park that has actual playground equipment. It was fun for the most part. There were a lot of teens with no where to go around but we stuck to the little kids play area and had our fun. In the summer they open up the pool there it is really fun for little kids. It's only 2 feet deep all the way across so its pretty safe compared to other town pools.

Slide Show of Family Pictures through the years

2009-03-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

March 27th, 2009

2009-03-27T09:01:00.001-07:00

For about the past week and a half or so the heat downstairs has been broken. The upstairs heat has been working just fine, but that leaves the daycare area unusable. The temperature has been no higher then 54 degrees downstairs! So finally today the furnace man came to take a look. Apparently the furnace locked itself? He has no idea how that happened. But he also informed me that the furnace is extremely old and needs to be replaced!! Oh how I hope the landlord replaces it. Replacing the furnace with a new energy efficient one would do wonders for our astronomical electric/gas bills. We currently pay about $400-$900 a month in utilities which is just insane. I would much rather move and put that money somewhere else but the space here is fabulous over 4,500 square feet, so I guess that's the price you pay. Its much cheaper in the spring and fall when the air and heat can be off. So we will just tough out the rest of the winter. The kids and I are ready for spring. Where is spring!! Did it get lost on the way? lol. I'm starting to apply for financial aid again, oh the story of my life. It feels like every time I turn around I have to reapply. I'm going back to online schooling, I don't want to because I don't like it but its the easiest way to finish my degree while still being home for the kids. Especially with planning for a new baby, I'd hate to start going again and have to stop to stay home. So this just works out the best for everyone.

Today so far has been a very nice day, although my schedules are still conveniently lost. I keep an hour by hour schedule for the little kids while Jennifer is at school. This keeps things running smoothly and makes sure that everything gets done because it includes chores. No wonder it walked off right? So I'll have to make a new one. I'll post it here so you can see what a typical day for the Spear family is. The kids were really excited for the furnace man, they knew that meant they would soon be able to use the downstairs play room. They hit him with 20 questions from what is a furnace to how are their toys downstairs. Scott is at a study group from 9am to noon today and then he works from noon to 12:30 am. The kids and I did some puzzles and went over some Baby Einstein materials which they love doing. Aurora is preparing for her Kindergarten entrance test. The test is on their home address, their phone number, their parents names, their first and last name and being able to write it. Knowing all the abc's and what sounds they make and knowing the numbers 1-20. She has it all down except the address and phone number. So we are practicing. As I've mentioned I've started sewing. If you can call it that. I made the girls both purses for their littlest pet shop characters and I made a baby quilt (still have to stuff it). Its going well, I'm proud anyways. Today we preformed surgery!! We have 5 torn stuffed animals, and they are all the special kind. They are the kind that travel with us, go in the car, and get washed 50 times. They had rips and the stuffing was coming out. Michael administered the Anesthesia to the animals by his play syringe, I stitched them up, and Aurora put on the bandage when we were all done. It was a team effort but the surgeries went well and all the animals are now better!! Hurray!! I had ordered the cutest little onesie for the new baby, its unisex so it will work I know its early but so what its cute!! It reads "Green is the new Black" and follows my Organic baby theme. When it comes to babies I just prefer natural and Organic its just the way I am. Its good for the environment and it makes me feel good knowing that I'm doing some good and I love the earthy naturalness of it all. Here's a pic. Well that's about it for the day!! We are off to have lunch!

March 26th, 2009

2009-03-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Michael had another bloody nose today, minor compared to the waterfalls he had on st. patty's day. Aurora woke up feeling sick today and lounged around the house for the better part of the day. Jennifer had a great day at school, she had a class visitor from the Czech Republic, she made the class some authentic food and Jennifer was really excited about it. I'm looking forward to Friday!! I dread the bus stop in this freezing weather. The kids hate having to stand out in the cold and wait for the bus. My Grandma Thelma will be coming in for a visit, she will stay for a month. She will most likely arrive the first week of April and Stay until the first week of May. Long enough for me to drag her to great escape six flags :) This weekend we have gymnastics, tap and ballet on Saturday, then on Sunday we are heading to church. I convinced Scott to try it once, I really want to go but am just too nervous to do it on my own. Its a really nice christian church with a really good kids program so we are excited. Yesterday I made the girls some purses, I'm re-learning to sew. They are not the best but the girls loved them. I also made a baby quilt its pretty good for a first attempt Scott was impressed. I'm excited to take Michael and Aurora to the tiny tots tea room http://www.tinytotstearoom.com/. It looks amazing, they have free play and classes as well. Little chef classes and Etiquette classes. I also love that they have a cafe that serves healthy choices for kids. They are also offering a summer camp for the kids. We are undecided yet though, we are looking into the YMCA summer camp as well.

Week #1 June 29th-July 2^rd (M-Th)
Creepy Crawly Critters- The buzz about town that this will be fantastic! Join us for a weekly adventure full of natures wonder and beauty. We’ll discover the insect world through finger plays, stories, crafts, educational materials, and dramatic play!

Week #2 July 6th-July 9^th (M-Th)
Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes- Join us as we venture off to never, never land. We will broaden the imaginations of young adventurer’s with tales of the fantasy world. Stories will come to life with dramatic play, music, crafts, dress-up, and much more.

Week #3 July 13^th-July 16^th (M-Th)
Journey Through My Five Senses- an exciting week of experiments, sensory games, and exploring. Each day campers will focus on one of our amazing senses using exploration and experimentation. This class will reinforce healthy bodies, early math skills, and self-understanding. By the weeks end campers will have completed a self illustrated experiment book to bring home and they will have increased knowledge of how their body performs.

Week #4 July 20^th-July 23^rd (M-Th)
Marine and Island Life- We’ll learn about sea creatures and aquatic life that’s always on the move. We’ll introduce the wonders of our oceans and beaches through experiments and our sensory tables. Campers will enjoy their own luau complete with homemade Hawaiian skirts, leis, and island snacks. The island awaits us!

Week #5 July 27^th-July 30^th (M-Th)
Cooking and Creations- During each class our mini chefs will create their own healthy snack and a fun food art or concoction. Every child will receive an apron and they will make their own chef’s hat to wear during class and then take them home at the end of the week. This class will broaden taste buds, enhance creativity, encourage socialization and reinforce early math skills.

Week #6 August 17^th-August 20^th (M-Th)
Build, Concoct, Create!- Campers will construct with many different types of materials – gooey concoctions, building materials, clay and more. Cumulative and cooperative projects will be encouraged. We'll foster creative, cognitive, social, emotional and fine motor development with our wonderful creations. Let’s see where your constructive imagination will take you!

Week #7 August 24^st-August 27^th (M-Th)
Water All Around Us- Join us as we explore the wonderful world of water with our hands, feet and all five senses. We'll pour, measure, freeze, melt, splash, mix, spray, and create. Let's get wet! Please provide your child with a swimsuit and towel each day.

Week #8 August 31^st-September 3^rd (M-Th)
Growing School Skills- We saved this theme for the end of summer to prepare your child for “back to school”. Children learn by seeing and doing. This class will provide your preschooler the opportunity to learn how to write their name, sign and sing the alphabet song, learn their colors, shapes, numbers, and various animals. Through circle time, music, different art mediums and centers your child will be exposed to a fun and exciting early education setting where learning and socialization will be fostered in the most nurturing way. Whether you child is starting preschool, nursery school or kindergarten in September, this class is sure to give them a jump-start!

It just looks like an amazing time for the kids. We will have to see though.
That's about it for today :)

March 17th, 2009 St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-26T12:25:00.003-07:00

What do you know.... I'm falling behind on journaling again. Well let's see what happened since the 13th. The kids are doing well, growing up fast. The girls have been watching a show with pageants and beauty queens and wanted me to let them do one that is in New York in June. I'd love to let them do one for fun but there is a lot of pressure involved in those. I did pageants before and won some and lost some, I know they would cry if they lost and that's not the feelings I want to give them. Also what if one of them won and the other lost, I don't want competitive feelings between sisters. Then there is glitz or natural, I don't think my 4 and 6 year old should look all made up like they are 16 years old, so I was going to do the natural with them. But like I said I think its too much pressure and so we told them maybe next year if they are still interested. Between tap, ballet, gymnastics, and cheerleading starting soon, they have enough to do for fun. The kids have a gymnastics meet, may 30th and 31st, so that should be fun. And we still can't wait until The Great escape opens up May 9th!!!

St. Patricks Day was fun, it got off to a rocky start. Michael woke up with a horrible bloody nose, just pools of blood on this blankets, the carpet, and his stuffed animals. He's had them before but not like this. Then.... no car keys! Talk about freak out. Scott had to come home from work so we could get in his car. Which worked out cause they couldn't get us in until 11:20 am anyways. So we have to give him oil drops in his nose twice a day and hang wet towels up in his closet over night to put moisture in his rooms air. We've used humidifiers before but they can easily put mold into the air and we don't need this going from a nose issue to a lung issue.

After that things went smoothly, Michael took a long nap. He had a blood clot in his nose that we were told just to leave there as a natural blocker of the blood. It came out two days later and he was happy. Dinner went well I made a large dinner as usual. Corned beef, Irish potatoes, carrots, cabbage, Irish soda breads, Irish cheeses, sausage, crackers, cupcakes, mint ice cream, and green punch. It was very good. We didn't go all out with decorations this holiday but the kids made some cute ones that I hung up on the wall.

We all had a fun time and afterwards we played some board games together. Now that we have this new table we play games every single day and before bed Scott and I play a game or two together. Well that's about it I guess :)

March 15th, 2009 oh Baby

2009-03-26T12:25:00.001-07:00

I'm Happy!

I've been working on Scott to have his vasectomy reversed since the day he got it!!! He forged my signature and had it done I was so sad for a long time after that. In some weird way I felt like he took away my womanhood?? Weird thoughts, oh well. Well for the past probably year and a half the baby thoughts have been intense. I always wanted 6 kids, it was a dream of mine. But when I had 3 under 3 those thoughts went out the window lol. Between Scott being out to sea or working on the boat for most of that time and Aurora being a very sick baby, and my Mom having 4 of her 6 surgeries and being sick I had a ton to deal with. Plus there was the pregnancy scares and issues, a lot to due with stress I'm sure. We had Aurora having seizures, and had to have emergency surgery when she was 9 months old. We had Aurora who had acid reflux disease and needed to sleep up right for a year!!! She also needed compounded medications that I had to drive to Tacoma to get, and for the refills. We had Michael with the positive down syndrome tests. We had Michaels emergency c- section. GEEZ. We also had early labor 2 out of the 3 pregnancies. I had to go in once, and as many as 3 times a week to have my labor stopped!!! labor started as early as 2 1/2 months early!! And that's not counting that we moved 4 times, and navy drama, wife drama ect...... STRESSFUL is the best way to describe it. But we made it through!!! And I don't regret a second of it, my children are my life!!! and no matter what anyone has ever said I know I give them the best and when everything is said and done that's what matters.

Things are so much calmer now. With Scott on shore duty and going to school and no chance of going to sea it is such a relief. I have convinced him to have a reversal of his vasectomy. And I'm so happy!!! We had the three so fast (14 months apart) that its a blurred memory for me. I know I loved having them and watching them grow up but I remember all those sad feeling as they got older and older. My babies are gone. They are little people now!!! they no longer need me to hold them and are growing up so fast. I put off my feeling for wanting another baby, I've mentioned it to Scott on occasion for 3 years now, and have had many times where I've cried about it. But this past year or so I've really been working him for another.

So.... on Monday he is going to make an appointment for the referral to the infertility clinic. Its crazy but we are considered infertile since he's fixed. He can either have the full out reversal, 6 week recovery and very painful $5,100 - $7,000. The micro reversal, a lot less painful $6,500, or he can skip surgery and do sperm retrieval and I can do egg retrieval its more painful for me then for him then we'd do IVF, In Vitro Fertilization. The IVF route is the least amount of pain for him and he will stay fixed which will make him happy. They can also retrieve extra sperm and freeze it in case we want a 5 child (This will not happen) but its there just in case. This can be the most expensive way of doing it because it can take multiple rounds of IVF to get a pregnancy. But if it works the first time around it could be cheaper. So he was all for the IVF until............. the percentage for multiples was mentioned. It depends on the person and the number of embryos you are transferring. I have twins already in my family (3 sets) but they chances for twins would be anywhere from 20% to 30%. He did not like those odds LOL. So I think he might be back to the micro surgery idea. After he gets his referral we will go see the specialist in person. I've talked to them via email and phone only so far. They will explain our options and then we can go from there. If he has the surgery the time it takes to be able to get pregnant ranges from 2 months to 12 months. And reversals can fail so there is that to consider as well but since he's only been reversed for 3 years we have a 95% chance that it can be successfully reversed so that is awesome.

But I'm just so excited!!!!! This is something i've wanted!!!! I will still finish my degrees, I will go back to doing it online, even though I hated it. I do want to be here every second for the kids. I will have completed my masters within the first 3 years of baby and then on year number 4 the new baby will go to preschool and I will head back to school if I go for a doctorate (still undecided). Then year 5, baby is in kindergarten.

This just seems like the perfect time to have this happen because by the time baby comes we will be in our new location and all the kids will be in school. It will just be me home with one baby! God I can't even remember what that feels like LOL.

Oh and I've picked out names!! I know I'm way ahead of myself but still it was fun!!!

Creative Fun for the Kids

2009-03-26T12:24:00.003-07:00

Some ideas for crafting that I do to keep the kids entertained through the cold winter......

1) Make a book.

supplies: sandwich bags, Ziploc type if you have it

stapler

paper, cut to fit in the baggies

stamps, crayons, paper scraps ect.. anything to decorate.

Tape

What you do is you have the kids color pages for a book, they can just color or tell a story, words or no words it doesn't matter.

Make sure they color enough to fill all the bags, two pages per bag so the book is more stable. Card stock works great if you have it.

Next put the pages in the baggies, two pages per bag

Put the zip lock side of the bags all on the left side, this will be your binding.

Next staple the bags together on the left side.

If your child is small you will want to roll the left side over to cover the staples and put tape over the binding, to protect little fingers from the staples.

Then you're done!! You have a cute book made by your child and they will be so proud, you can have fun reading it together, if they can't read then just have them make up a story and tell you about it. Also if they spill on it, its protected by the bags, yipee!!!

2) Home made coloring books

supplies: Computer

Printer

crayons

optional: scrapbooking supplies

first go to www.google.com and click images at the top

next type in anything your child is interested in. We did: batman, spiderman, hulk, superman, star wars, Disney princess, Tinkerbell, gymnastics, ballet, strawberry shortcake, pigs, jaguars, Barbie, and Olympic events.

Next print the pages, to save paper (and trees) I run each page through twice so there is a coloring page on each side of the paper.

Then staple the left side about three times.

You now have your own home made coloring book!!!!!

If you are a scrapbooker you can scrap a cover for the coloring book and make it extra special for your child!!! you can put a picture of them on the cover and put something cute like: "Michaels very own coloring book!!!" with a picture.

3) teaching your child in a fun way

a fun thing I do to teach the kids is to do the same thing as the coloring book but print educational pages. Like math, foreign language, dance techniques, gymnastic techniques, numbers, letter, words ect...... then have them color them while you talk about each page. They will be learning and not even know it!!!!!!

These are just some fun projects I do with the kids and I wanted to share.

Oh i also used the cricut to make some awesome flash cards for Jennifer to study with, I'll post a picture of those!!!!!

March 8th, 2009

2009-03-26T12:24:00.001-07:00

Well i'm off the detox, i'm still on it actually but i'm adding to it because detoxing alone can't handle my workout routine. Last night was just tragic!! tragic i tell you!!!! I was doing the P90x and started puking. I had eaten right before I started it, bad idea!!!!! Plus my body hadn't had solid food so it was like a double shock!! I'm actually supposed to be eating 2300 calories a day because of my workout routine and i've been doing way way less because I was only on the detox. SO by actually increasing my calories I should start to see weight loss, weird I know. But from everything I've read thats the key. I'll build more muscle this way too. I've also started on a muscle building regimen so be prepared to see Hulk Laura!!! LOL jk. I just want to tone everything up, I've given up on those little numbers on the scale I don't really care what the weight is as long as a look toned and not flabby.

Today I'm doing, The biggest loser workout dvd 1, and Biggest loser yoga, then when scott wakes up doing the P90X, we have to finish yesterdays, since I got sick (did i mention i kept going after i got sick.... oh yea woot) but we only got a little over half way through the dvd. So we need to finish yesterdays and then do todays which is chest and arms. Then i will do yoga booty ballet before bed.

Other then that lazy day. I think i will organize the office a little, and then play some warcraft.

March 7th, 2009

2009-03-26T12:23:00.003-07:00

Today we did P90X first thing in the morning, Scott came home and woke me up for it (its like boot camp at my house right now lol) So I dragged myself out of bed and did the AB Ripper X dvd, omg not fun. Although I did enjoy the break from pull ups and push ups. After that we went to the gym, we weren't there for very long, cause the kids had Gymnastics at 11 am. So they did their thing and we were done at noon. Then I found out that dance class starts up again next Saturday so it wasn't as long of a break as I thought, so its back to that next week. So 10am to 12:30 am busy busy on Saturdays. They wanted to do jazz but I'm going to stick with this for a while and see how it goes. I don't want them to do too much and then start to not like it anymore, its supposed to be fun. They had their class pictures today they were cute in about 3 weeks we get them back and I'll post them. When we got home I gave the kids some lunch and off to nap for them, well actually naps are just a faint memory but they have quiet time in their rooms. Then Scott went to bed and I did some Hip Hop Abs, it was actually pretty fun and short so that's always nice. I told myself to only weigh myself once a week but I can't stay off the stupid thing lol. Still no change. I talked to my Grandma she's already getting her clothes picked out for the cruise lol, its a bit early. She asked me if I was packed! I think she might come out here for a visit which would be nice but I'm not sure yet. My dad is supposed to come out end of this Month but I think he might be waiting until Aurora's birthday now for a visit. My cousin Tricia's baby Talia is still sick and they don't know what's wrong with her, she's having a lot of the same issues that Aurora had when she was a baby, like seizures, projectile vomiting, crying constantly. And they are having her try a lot of the same things I had to try, like stop breastfeeding, trying expensive formulas, medications, collecting stool samples and having to run it in to the hospital 3 times a week. But the tests show its not the same thing but don't show what it is, its really weird. I hope she starts feeling better, its always sad when babies are so sick and she's only a year old.

Tonight I'm making some pureed organic veggies, doesn't that just sound so delicious haha. Back on the detox and I'm excited about it. Me and Scott were taking turns wanting to break the detox and all we are doing is throwing money to the wind so we need to just do it and get it done. So I'm finishing it and no more cheating on the diet. Tonight is Plyometrics so that will be a fun I'm sure. Then I'll end the day the usual way with some yoga. Its really weird but I've found that yoga not only wakes me up in the morning but it also makes me tired at night, i think its the deep breathing or something. who knows but it works and that's what matters.

Today was a nice spring day for once and now its pouring outside. I can't wait until Great Escape opens, I'm so excited to go there and so are the kids. I will hopefully even wear a bathing suit in the summer :)

ooh and tomorrow is sunday, Billy's Boot camp day!! woot

Well that was my day!

March 6th, 2009 ... Exercise

2009-03-26T12:23:00.001-07:00

Well we started P90X today. It's a hard exercise program. I haven't had to do a pull up since High school and this thing expects like 6 sets of 20 HA!!!! lol. I did my best with it, Lot's of push ups, and weight lifting. I did chest and arms today we were supposed to do abs as well but Scott had to leave for work so we shifted that to first thing in the morning when he gets home. Then tomorrow night we are on to day two's disks. I'm hoping exercising with Scott will keep me motivated so far he's been very supportive of doing the work outs with me and getting all the equipment. I support him in working and going to school and he supports me on getting fit, it works out. On top of P90X i do boxing, shred with Jillian, Biggest loser workout 1, and Biggest loser yoga, pilates with the ball, and dance off the inches, wii fit, and dance dance revolutions workout mode. I try to alternate it so I pick one of those to do everyday. I also tivo shimmy (belly dancing, its so fun!!) and namaste yoga, and all star workouts, and alternate those.

I probably spend about 3 hrs a day working out sometimes 4. I go for an hour in the morning while the kids are down, and do the rest late at night when they are asleep. I've tried doing it when they are awake and its just not happening lol. But can you believe still no weight loss!!!!!! ugggh But I'm still not giving up. I have a weigh in on Monday for the biggest loser group and I'm hoping to see a good number!

March 6th, 2009 Good day

2009-03-26T12:22:00.001-07:00

Today was a good day. We went to the mall, got a new pair of shoes to break in before the trip in October. It will be loads of walking. My grandmas out walking trying to get in shape for the trip too so it will be good for us. Finally got packages mailed out that I've needed to mail for over a year, how sad is that!! We went to Uno's for lunch the kids were just starved (aren't they always :) Then we went to dicks sporting goods and got another bowflex hand weights set, some pull up bars, resistance bands, and a boxing set up thing with a bag (small bag for me) and speed bag, and some other bag that I have no idea what its for lol. So now we are done building the gym, can cancel our gym membership and are going to save up for an elliptical machine and a bike. Its just so much easier to work out at home then pack the kids up and go to the gym and get them to stay in the day care there. Especially with Michael he's so clingy these days. We are starting P90x tonight so I'll have 90 days of intense workouts. Hopefully help me boost my numbers for the biggest loser group that I'm in here on cafe mom. I haven't lost weight in forever. Still after 2 months and a week of working out I've still only lost 9 lbs, and it doesn't even show. But I'm not going to quit and I'm going to keep going. We are doing 30 days of detox starting tomorrow so that will be fun LOL, its pretty hard. Only liquids and I just love food so I have major will power issues with it but I know its good for my body so I just need to force myself to do it and stop quitting. That's about it for today I guess, glad its the weekend, no more bus stop yippee!!

March 5th..... surgery and new additions

2009-03-26T12:04:00.002-07:00

Well Today my friend Sarah had her surgery, everything went well. I guess she had some slight complications when she got back to her room but everything turned out okay. I sent her some nice flowers with get well balloons and a funny card so hopefully it cheers her up, she's been pretty alone in all this. My friend Janet found out she's having a boy!! I totally called it too!!! How cute is that. I'm so excited but feel so out of the loop being so far away from Washington. She helped me so much when I was pregnant and was there for me when I had the babies. My friend Jess is pregnant also with a beautiful Boy!! And my friend Mona with pregnant with twins!!!! My friend Andrea is also pregnant (something in the water in washington i swear!!) don't know what she's having yet but she said Charlie might be out to sea for the birth. She wants me to be in the delivery room for her C-Section!!! I am so excited!!! I bet she has a boy too.

March 3rd. 2009

2009-03-26T12:04:00.001-07:00

I can't wait for the New Commissary to open April 14th, My husband told me about it a while back but then I didn't hear anything more on it for a long time. Now he came home a few days ago and said its finally going to open so we will see. But I hope it has good, bread, meat, and milk cause I hate shopping at commissaries that don't and it all goes bad in 3 or 4 days!!! But I am looking forward to a large ethnic section and hopefully a large organic section, most commissaries are pretty good about having those and I hope so cause they are my favorite two aisles!!!

March 2nd, 2009 ... In the Motherhood

2009-03-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

ABC has a new show coming out that I am way excited for!!!! Its called in the Motherhood, finally a show that shows that motherhood is challenging, fun, and a bit how should I say it.... CRAZY!!!!! Don't you hate it when people judge you or your kids and they don't even have children??? and have no idea how it is?? well I do. Anyways this is a comedy show that is as real as I've seen so far. Here's the link for a 7 minute preview of the 1st episode. It looks funny!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkewJlZRKPo

March 1st. 2009 .... Friends

2009-03-26T12:02:00.002-07:00

Today I'm thinking about a friend I have that has cancer and is going in for surgery on thursday. My friend sarah has 3 kids and I just can't imagine what she is going through but I'm so worried about her. I don't want to lose her. I just hate cancer and everything thing about it, I've lost multiple people to it and now two of my good friends have it. I feel like a ticking time bomb myself since my moms started when she was 28 years and my grandma on the same side started early 30's. I get my checks but still its very scary. I lost my Mom in Nov, 07 and it was just aweful. I've already lost 13 close friends due to varies accidents, and such I'm just really sick of losing people. All I can do is pray for her and hope for the best. I hope her kids stay strong and she stays strong. I just wish I lived closer to washington so I could see her. But I know she has Andrea there and Andrea is an awesome friend and will take good care of her.

Feb 28th, 2009 Jennifers Birthday

2009-03-26T12:02:00.001-07:00

Today was Jennifer's birthday she had an awesome day. First we started with getting her cake made (hannah montana) she got to pick a DS game which she thought was to play it on my Nintendo DS. She got the pet shops game. Then picked a movie, Igore. Looks cute.

Next we went to Gymnastics. Scott Signed get this..... All three kids up for gymnastics!! I thought he's throw a fit about Michael doing it and at first he wasn't to pleased but when he saw the facilities he changed his mind, plus there are other boys in his class so that's a plus. The girls will also be doing Tap and Ballet and when Aurora turns 5 they will add Hip Hop. They are really excited about it all even Michael. Lots of outfits to buy but I just love them in them.

After that we went to Chucke Cheese. ugghhh it started out so bad, the line wrapped the building in 22 degree weather. Took us an hour to get through the security entrance and in, then another hour for our pizza to get made. Michael got knocked down 2 times by running kids, the place stresses me out lol but the kids still love it!!!! They had so much fun and michael really got into it this time.

After that we came home for cake and presents, she got lots of Hannah Montana, Camp rock, and high school musical stuff. Plus some clothes. Her favorite present was the Metallic Pink Nintendo ds from Grandpa, she flipped!!!!

After that we went shopping at the mall, scott needed some free weights. I looked around for boys gymnastic pants but didn't have much luck. I think I'll just have him wear sweat pants for now and see how they work out.

Now we are watching Igore and the kids are having popcorn playing with Jennifer's loot. boy they will sleep in tomorrow and that will be nice. I was too excited for today last night and ended up only getting 3 hrs of sleep so I'm looking forward to sleeping in

Feb 27th, 2009... Day before Jennifer turns 6

2009-03-26T12:01:00.001-07:00

Well the new wives group is doing well 9 members so far and growing. I'm looking forward to meeting the ladies in our area and having a fun time together. Today I didn't do to much laundry, dishes the same old thing. Jennifers 6th birthday is tomorrow Scotts still deciding what we are doing. We know we need a Hannah Montana cake and decorations. I think we are leaning towards chucky cheese, we haven't been there in about 6 months and she's been begging. We were going to do the movies but they just saw Coraline in 3D and there really isn't any good kids movies out around here besides that one. We probably would have jumped some other parent for their popcorn if we went to a movie right now, this being day two on my detox lol. I'm dying for some popcorn!!!! Scott ended up getting tomorrow off so that's great news cause she would have been so mad if we had to put off her party. She's getting Hannah Montana stuff, high school musical stuff, and camp rock, and a Nintendo DS. So she will be really happy tomorrow. As for right now, I'm heading upstairs to start a movie popcorn party for the kids, I'll probably just chew on my pillow and drink my green stuff :(

Feb 27th, 2009.... Cafe Mom

2009-03-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've started a new Mom's group on Cafe Mom!

When I lived back in Washington I started 3 navy wives groups that were really successful, we had tons of game nights with the ladies, pampered chef, passions ect.... Loads of fun. We ended up having over 200 members and the lowest attendance at a game night was the first ever one with 12 ladies but after that our game nights increased to up to 36 moms!!! my house was packed lol. It was a fun time and I miss it so I started a group for Mechanicville moms and surrounding areas. There really wasn't anything for this area which was why i joined cafemom but didn't really do anything with it. There is a lot for saratoga, and Albany . So I thought I would add a group that's for the moms stuck in between. Should be fun. All areas are welcome including saratoga and Albany and surrounding areas. It will be a great place for the saratoga and Albany moms to meet some still close by mommies that were stuck in the middle.

Feb 26th, 2009.... Body Detox

2009-03-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

I've always been a firm believer and user of organic products from food, to cleaners, to cloth diapers. Although my husband thinks some things are a little nutty. Like the cloth diapers for example. Those only lasted about 7 months before he refused to change, or wash a diaper again his entire life LOL. Detoxing is something i've done for years but usually just for a weekend or a week. I am starting today on a month detox from martha vinyard. Hopefully this can cleanse my organs, colon and intestines especially and get rid of the build of of toxins. I'm hoping this might jumpstart my weight loss be helping my metabolism straighten out. I was 104 when I found out I was pregnant with Jennifer, and 127 at my first post natal visit after her, but when i got pregnant 5 months later with Aurora something changed and the weight didn't really come off. Then I got the birth control shot which i regret because I gained 30lbs in a month!!! Then just 6 months after my 2nd child I was pregnant with my 3rd. So the weight just packed on and then on and never really went away. Now I feel I should have no excuses and have been exercising like crazy but I'm barely losing weight. I've lost just 9 lbs in two months even though I went from no exercise to working out everyday... which sucks and makes me want to quit and just eat a bag of chips lol. Which won't help, I know. So I'm hoping this diet is the answer if not I'll have a lot to answer for cause I'm making my husband do it to and we spent $600 on it. >.< I know I know. But if I stick to it... which I will... and it works and I feel healthier and happier and start to lose weight again It will so be worth it. We've been on wheat grass for a week and already have seen changes. Wheat grass shots give you natural energy and are very good for you. My husband and I used to drink about a pot of coffee a day, he would drink about 2 pots. And now he's down to one cup a day!!! I have completely cut out coffee. So I know this stuff works its just taking the leap, sticking to it and not giving up. I am 5 '7 and weigh 180lbs today lets see where I am in 30 days.

Feb 25th ... The Tooth

2009-03-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

Well today Jennifer came off the bus with a loose tooth!! She was so excited!! But then she was sad because someone from her class told her the tooth fairy doesn't exist!!! grrrrr same thing happened with Santa at Christmas. Don't parents let their children believe anymore??!!?? I told her the tooth fairy does too exist and there was only one way to find out, by putting it under her pillow. So she did. In the morning I was awakened by her jumping up and down on my bed screaming "she's real, she's real!! She does exist" and waving a $20 bill. Tooth fairy gives good money for first teeth but will be cheap on the rest hehehe.

Scott came home early because he had to go in extra early the next day so that was fun. He got a lot of homework done and then we watched House together. We are both starting a body detox program tomorrow and needed one more night for twisted tea and chips LOL. We are doing Martha vineyards body detox... so hopefully I can cleanse my body and colon (great because of all my family history with cancer) and jump start my metabolism that has been non existent since having kids.

Jennifer and I working on her homework, she's getting pretty good about not needing help but I like to put my two cents in here and there lol. Kindergarten homework fascinates me and bores her. They are still learning letters in her class and she's bored with it since she already did kindergarten at kindercare. Oh well I told her to stick it out and be happy for the extra practice. But does she do that?? NO. She starts writing her name and all letters backwards!!!! ugggh parent teacher phone conference... They are giving her some extra stuff to take home and write words and stuff. What do you know..... all of a sudden nothings backwards!!! lol. I told her how important it is to take school seriously and not mess around for any reasons and she replied "but the other kids thought it was funny". oh my we have a class clown on our hands.

Feb 24th, 2009

2009-03-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Well I always used to keep a journal, just a place to keep my thoughts. Over the years I have slacked on the upkeep until my writing was almost not existent with the exception of a few myspace blogs here and there. I am going to start keeping a daily journal on cafe mom because its so much easier then writing it down in a book that lets face it... I'd lose.

Tuesday February 24th, 2009.

Today I awoke to the bad news that Scotts hours at work this week would be extended, uggghh. So now he leaves home at 8 to be at class at 9am, until 11am then he's off to work at Noon (regularly 3pm so he has some time to stop home) he gets to work at noon and works until 11pm which always turns into 11:30pm, and puts him home at 12:15- 12:30 depending on the roads. Did I mention uggghh?? Once home he crams, homework/studying, eating, and sleep into an 7 and a half block of time before he does it all over again. I've tried to make it easier, sending him with a big lunch and making sure I have something ready for him in the fridge when he gets home. Just a rough week I guess. Jennifer our daughters 6th Birthday is this Saturday he put in a special thing for it so hopefully they give it to him off. She's at the age where we can't do what we usually had to do which was switch birthdays and holidays to different days so that he could be there. Now she knows here birthday and the date its on. She's been counting down for a month now lol.

I still hate trekking down to the bus stop. It has been pretty chilly with gusts that cut like ice so standing with my two youngest waiting 10-20 mins for the bus is not my idea of a good time. I wish spring would come.

I recently received my cricut expression in the mail. If GOD could make a scrapbooking machine this would be it!!!! Its wonderful. I've made quite a few things just trying it out to see what it can do. I'm by no means good at using it yet but I'll get there. I ordered the Disney Cars cartridge from ebay because buying them in a store is just nonsense. I got the $99 cartridge for only $38 with shipping, brand new. I've made one 5 inch lighting McQueen car for Michaels door but quickly realized I was out of the solid cardstock colors I needed (Darn all that card making). The kids have the cuttle kids machine, I found it on clearance at Walmart for $19.99 they love it!! It only came with 2 dies so I now have about a million caterpillars paper piecings around my house lol. I'll get them some more eventually from Ebay.

That's about it for today, I've slacked on my diet and excersise this week. I hate doing it when scotts not here so I don't. Then I hate myself later for being so darn lazy. oh well. I'll say my famous line about dieting.......... "I'll start it tomorrow"