Christmas Season

The Christmas season has begun! That statement sounds really out of date now! This family was such an adorable Crachit family at the festival downtown.
Don't you love kids all matchy matchy and cute?! I have not been taking pictures this year, so this picture is priceless by the way!!

One more before baby is totally screaming... this one, in front of the piano. I don't think I've even posted any pictures of the piano that I bought last June, and then had refinished and it was deliverd in November. I decided I had to paint the wall behind it, and of course had to be red. I fell in love with this color, but of course once it got all big, it's started to have a lot of purple in it, which I was bummed about. But, it's way fun!

Promotion!

Jeremy made his first promotion in the army! He's now a 1st Leiutenant (the step up from 2nd Leiutenant)! For non-army people, let me explain- this is an automatic promotion, you get it pretty much as long as you stick in the army for a couple years and don't do anything real stupid. lol! It's called the wife's promotion, because really it's more to tribute to the wife who made it thus far with her husband being gone with all kinds of training and she having to be trained and learn all the new-to-military-life kind of stuff. Okay, I made that up, but it should be called the Wife's Promotion. :)

Jeremy's first unit that we've been a part of for 6 months now, is quite fun. He's the lowest ranking officer and so he gets all the jokes and what not. It's actually kind of funny. You get to be the butt of all the jokes, not as a reflection on whether or not they like you, but it's just a matter of being the lowest/newest one there. Nothing personal. :) One of the office jokes is about how many kids he has. The joke was that he probably has a fat wife, because she's had so many kids, and they thought that was pretty funny he (Jeremy) being so skinny and his wife so fat. Well, I did get to prove them wrong :P and they all actually quite like us. So it's good.
And noone can deny what cute kids we have!

Party!

Let's go back to October for just a minute. Though it seemed almost impossible to get a picture of everyone in full costume, all at one time, here's the best we could do. Trick or treating was a bust. It rained so we went to the mall, which turned out had no candy, because everyone already had the same idea. So, we're driving home and the the older kids get dropped off with Dad to trick-or-treat their way home for about 10 houses. Still, it was definetly enough candy (there's still a half a bucket full in the pantry)!
Our FRG (Family Readiness Group) is pretty awesome and do a lot of activities and some big fun parties. Halloween is one of their big parties. This is Willie with the Magician's parrot. It was a great holiday!
October is also birthday month for Willie! We didn't do to much for his birthday though, :( I even signed up to have the missioanries over and I didn't even realize it! Haha, oh well, it's always fun to celebrate with Elder Nii and Elder Shirrod!

Well, it's been a long time, not even possible to catch up on everything. So, let's just talk about now.
Right now I'm sitting at the kitchen counter, which has become a makeshift computer room, it's midnight, baby is finally drifting off to sleep, the night air starting to feel more and more chilly. I have my warm robe over my pajamas, and resisting putting any of the yummy things near me in my mouth so don't feel like I need to go brush my teeth again! :)
I've been feeling so so so overwhelmed lately. Kids, friends, church, daily rubs, life careers, holidays, money, healthcare, homeschool, home maintenance, not enough knowing and not enough doing. And I hate telling people downer sorts of things, so that's all I'm going to say about that. It did feel good to put that down somewhere though.
I can't believe it's a week before Christmas! It's been a fun December actually even though Jeremy is not going to be able to take off a lot of time. He surprised us with Disney on Ice tickets last week, which was fun! The show included Tiana, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. I loved the skating, lots of "couples skating" with fun stunts and acrobatics.
We had a Christmas party last week. I have a few pictures, though there not good quailty, but i have them, so I will post a little bit about that. I love throwing parties. I do. I don't have party people around me though I don't think. I think I was the only on excited about it and everything that we did. Except my kids; my kids I can rely on to get just as excited about parties as I do! :)
well, I will close this short post so I can get some sleep tonight.
Thanks for all the Christmas cards so far, everyone that has sent them to me. They are so wonderful! I won't be getting cards out this year so I hope you forgive me!!
Happy Holidays!!

Baby Small

Just to update on my little Ivy.
She is a cute, personable little tyke. I can't believe these are the only pictures I have to put on here. Hmmm, that needs to change.
I get exhausted pretty often as these two little girls both feel like babies. Hallee is my Big Baby, and I call Ivy, Baby Small.
Ivy loves taking baths and I'm excited to get in the pool with her. I waited too long with Hallee and she's really anxious in water. Hopefully we can get Ivy in the pool this winter.



As long as I'm on here...because I haven't updated in a little while. Life is busy with parties, preschool, church stuff and everything in between. Here's a sentence on each of us-
Jeremy placed something like 100th (out of 30,000) in the Army 10-miler in Washington DC, a worse showing than last year due to tendonitis in his leg.
Courtney is enjoying having a piano, though it is a bit of a battle with the kids sometimes, Christmas music can be heard often.
Lucy is sad when brother goes off to preschool, but she's definetly making progress in her own school work. She also wants to learn more piano, so far she only knows Hot Cross Buns. ;)
Hallee, ah Hallee. She has hit something of a terrible two. "No" being her favorite word- wow, these days couldn't be shorter...lol.
Ivy cute and talkative, she has many friends at church and is often found being "stolen away" by admiring sisters.

Olympians

Willie is now a toddler "olympian." It was a cute program where they met at the rec center for "practice" and then had the olympics at the end of the month. Willie had so much fun. Didn't make a single basket in the basketball free throws (how do they expect little kids to make that, even when the rim is lowered?). They gave medals out to all the kids which completely thrilled Willie! Even though they tried to call every child up on the stage, there were a couple kids that really did win most the events. They had long jump, sit ups, push ups, basketball free throw, weight run, and the obstacle course. It was Willie's turn to shine, as this was "his" class that the family supported him in, though Lucy got to participate in the practices. Lucy had her shining moment with dance last June. It's funny to compare the two- Willie didn't care about being in the spotlight, just as long as he got to do something, unlike Lucy who loves all eyes on her. And after the 'awards ceremony' where Willie got his two medals, what was the first thing he did? Give one to Lucy. Willie's a bit more sensitive and caring in that way than Lucy is naturally.

A House a Home

Since we purchased this home in February, we've made some big purchases that I guess you could say have made it feel like home...kinda. Actually, these purchases didn't tranform the house, they're just the kind of things that we've always said, "someday when we have our own home..." kind of things. :) We bought a big trampoline for the kids, a treadmill for Dad, and a piano for Mom.
The trampoline was definetly worth it's weight. We jump almost everyday. I'm trying to decide what we'll do with it in the winter. It will be sad to not see it out in the yard, but no reason to keep it out in the weather. I wonder if Jeremy will let me keep it in the garage...which would mean kicking out the car...? haha, probably not.
The treadmill was purchased as a "need," according to Jeremy. Which it really has been great for encouraging to get some workouts in. I was able to start running again (no excuses left for this SAHM), and Jeremy has used it in some of his fast interval workouts to push himself, and when he has to run at times that don't let him get out on the road. Jeremy is into some really hardcore training for the marathon. He's still figuring out if he'll run the Charlotte marathon in November or the Cal International Marathon in December. He wants to run in California, but everything still has to come together for that one. He runs close to 100 miles a week right now. The man is a machine. I have no idea how he keeps up with it all- work, lots of kids, volunteering at church (calling), and running that many miles. Most people don't realize the time committment it takes to get that many miles in. Which for Jeremy, bless his heart, he'll get up at like 4:30am and do a lot of running while everyone is asleep. We made the mistake of putting the treadmill upstairs in the rec room. I think it was a mistake, but then, there was really no where else to put it. Anyhow, the house is quite shook up when Dad is pounding the rubber upstairs at top speed.
The piano...well, it has it's story that doesn't have an ending yet. I've been searching for a cheap (free) piano ever since we moved in. I would always respond to all the giveaway pianos but none of them worked out for various reasons. All this work left me feeling a little impulsive, or maybe a little too impulsive, and on a first name basis with a local piano moving service. So, this creagslist ad goes up for a baby grand piano for $100obo. I jump on it, of course. So, my piano guy, Ken, also does restorations and will give a free estimate. I arrange to come look at the piano right away, and Ken can come too (did I mention we're tight like that? ;) so he said he'll take a look first and if it's "fixable" then he would suggest buying it because grand pianos tend to fix better, resell better, yahyah. I think, I'm just waiting there with $100, I'm definetly doing it. Also, Ken offers to move the piano for nothing (and he'll keep it) if I decide not to keep it. So I don't really have to make a decision right now anyway, right? Well, in a dimly lit cramped house of the cutest little family and all their cousins or neighbors or something, Ken makes the decision it's "fixable" and starts loading it up. I say 'see ya later' to the piano and he transports the piano to his garage. I get a call later that week to come look at the piano- oh, and this is all when I'm super pregnant, the week before I ended up having baby #4. :) We have mom-in-law watch the kids and go to Ken's garage where he gives us the run down of what the piano needs and the work to be done and an estimate of the cost. It's a lot of money, I won't say it gently. I know we could have easily said no and he would have just kept the piano, but it was like I needed that baby grand to be born as much as I needed baby small to be born, right then! We had already decided we wanted it, in other words, and jumped in it for the long haul. So, this was almost 3 months ago. The piano is almost done being refinished. There has been snags and long waiting, but we're excited to see the piano and hope it will be beautiful. Now, if it will fit in our house...we will yet see... lol, sigh, that's another bad thing about my impulsive purchases. I really probably should have stuck with a small upright piano. Well, I'm sure it will be beautiful, and fun for sure. I'm already scheming my Christmas tea party this year.
And that's how we're making this house a home...someday, we'll go through and take a picture or two to show you these and other projects in action. Living the home owners dream. (there's a little bit of nervous chuckling in that last part.)

So we just got back from our second vacation in two weeks, and successfully have no pictures, again! boo.
We had a great time in DC doing nothing much related to DC, but fully enjoyed hanging at the hotel and seeing all our family!!! The wedding was great! The bride and groom stunning. The little cousins, the most adorable little people ever! And can I add we had some awesome mexican food- probably the best mexican I've ever had. And I guess it should have been because it was a little pricey. But we were so in the mood for good food, and we found it! I had Jeremy order for me, so I don't even know the name of these enchiladas or what was in it- I think something about chocolate- but man, they were heavenly delicious! Ok, I'll stop talking about our meal now; and get back to vacation aftermath clean up!

My Homebirth

Little Izzy Belita Van Tress {those are nicknames} is almost two weeks old now. We don't have her name all totally figured out. She has more than one nickname as you can see, so... it's complicated.
When asked about my "birth story," I find myself going on and on and it sounds really complicated too. However, if you look at just the birth record, what the midwives write down on paper- it was all very simple. It was my easiest and fastest labor for sure. But I guess because it was my first homebirth, the thoughts and feelings going along with everything that happened are complex and deeply involved. I asked Jeremy to write up a list of interview questions to help me log down all my feelings about my homebirth experience, but I won't bother you with that in depth of details. Overall-
Am I glad I did a homebirth instead of birth in a hospital? Yes.
Was I happy with my homebirth experience? Yes and No.
Would I homebirth again? Yes, definitely, with some changes of course.
There were two big things that worried me with homebirthing (after getting over the initial "sticker shock" because it can seem like a lot of money to dish out... it is a lot of money to dish out) but the two things that worried me were-
*it being messy and staining our [new!] home :)
*feeling at high-risk and scared that I'm not at a hospital, especially during pushing/delivery phase
The latter of these fears was dispelled, I felt very safe the entire time and wasn't nervous that I wasn't at a hospital. The first fear though, got to me a little. But it probably wasn't as bad as I made it out to be.

So, I'll expound...

I was a week past my due date when I was in for an appointment my midwife asked if I wanted to strip membranes and I agreed. That was mid-afternoon and it was enough to start contractions. Contractions came about 2-3/an hour for the next 5 hours. They were not strong and I wondered if they would stop eventually. Jeremy had gone back into work actually, and so I went about with dinner and getting the kids to bed. Right after I had put Hallee down, the contractions started getting strong, enough that I had to sit down for them. Luckily Jeremy was already on his way home. He got home and put the older two kids to bed. And then we started timing contractions which were anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart. These kind of contractions went on for the next 2 hours. Even though I was consistently having contractions for 2 hours, they seemed to vary in intensity so I really wasn't convinced that I was progressing in labor very fast at all.
Around 10pm the intensity jumped up again and I had Jeremy call for the midwife to come. That next half hour was really the most intense. I was dilated to 9 when the midwives arrived. I had planned to use a birth stool, but they didn't bring it, and I ended up just delivering from my bed. Unfortunately, because they didn't know how far along I really was, and I was already on my bed going through transition, we didn't have time to prep the bed. At this point, in my head I remember thinking, Oh man, this is it and it's totally not what I had pictured my birth to be!!" I was frustrated and upset thinking about ruining my bed and not being in the position I wanted to be in. It probably wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. Quickly these thoughts were replaced with just pushing baby, so I guess I really can't say just how messy it was. I can say that no part of the house was damaged or defaced during any part of our homebirth experience. ;)
To hurry the story along... since I was ready to deliver, everyone got ready, I started pushing and less than 3 minutes later, there was Isabella! The midwives were only there about 20 minutes before baby was born. There was a lot more emotions and thoughts wrapped around this that I'm leaving out. The biggest disappointment about it afterall was just that Jeremy took more of back seat than he wanted to. He wanted to 'catch the baby' and be really involved, but because of the position I ended up being in, I needed him giving support to my back. Anyways, he was bummed that didn't work out. Well, the rest of the details...you'll have to ask me about that on your own. :)
Weighing in... 8lbs 2 oz...my biggest baby I still don't know how she got so clean even though she wasn't "whisked" away like in the hospital.
Baby's first bath: a tradition for Daddy to do it

Baby is super cute, easy to love! The kids all adore her!
The big 4, we're a family of 6!!! holy cow!
Just the girls. We thought Hallee would not like the baby, but quite the contrary. Hallee had to hold the baby. And when I tried to take her back, she had the biggest fit ever. I ended up letting her hold the baby 3 times, she threw a fit everytime. Guess it's love at first sight.

End of the Road

Although this blog post really had it's meaning a couple weeks ago, I'll go ahead and post it late anyway.

I've come to the end of my pregnancy. Waiting for the big moment now. Funny thing is, there are some other things coming to the end of their road as well.
The biggest one is Hallee become a full-time walker! She has really blossomed with this new freedom too. I'm glad to see the end of the crawling phase come before baby is born. That was my secret wish, and what a nice girl for giving her mother her wish! With a couple of road trips coming up though, I think we'll be investing in the those backpack leashes for her. I swore I would never put one of those on my child, but I'm feeling an inkling of being overwhelmed when I think about tackling tasks with 4 kids by myself. scarey!
There was another end of the road last week- one that was more on the sad side. Jeremy's mom came to visit and help with the baby, but- sorry to spoil the ending- she ended up having to leave with no baby born yet. She arrived on Tuesday, 2 days before due date, and I even had a couple contractions that night. Then nothing really. I had a midwife appointment on that Thursday and I was dilated to a 2 and not really effaced much, but definetly "soft." :) I always laugh when they use that word. The midwife said she would be really surprised if she saw me again in a week for a regular apointment, in other words, she thought I would deliver soon. She told Jeremy, "no more riding your bike to work."
Well, everyone became very anxious for the baby to come; minus me I'd say, someone's got to keep a calm head. Each day was spent waiting for contractions, every conversation seemed to be about how I was feeling, Jeremy giving me orders to do certain labor-inducing activities. It was actually quite torturous. ;) With Jeremy taking the car everyday, Grandma and us were left at home to do nothing too exciting. It added to the torture. I crazily thought of things to do- one of which was making a big card- more about that later.
Luckily, we at least at Lucy's ballet recital that weekend. Another "end of the road." It was very fun to be a part of the dance recital. Lucy was very excited. I'm not sure how many dancers there were, but it was a long recital! I hadn't anticipated part of the mom's job to keep the kids entertained yet quiet as they waited for their turn to perform. I hadn't brought anything to do nor any snacks. Thankfully, some of the other moms were more prepared than I was. I was able to think of one game for the girls to do, "Ballerina, Ballerina, where's your flower?" (a twist on the Doggie doggie, where's your bone game.) It was quite the hit with girls and moms because it kept them sitting down, quiet, and entertained for a good 40 minutes or so. Lucy did a great job on her dances. I was surprised because she had missed a couple of the last practices and I wasn't sure she would remember anything. They have a leader to follow of course, but she still did a great job. You can see in the video how she was one of the 'those' kids that runs off stage as soon as she's done dancing, an excited exit to daddy, not to script, but it did make the audience laugh.

After the recital, the focus was back on having the baby. :( Grandma's flight was scheduled to leave Tuesday night. Sunday and Monday were tense and sad realizing that nothing much was happening. Monday was spent talking about how and if she could take another flight and stay a few more days. Unforunteately, there were just no signs I would go into labor and it didn't seem worth the money to change the ticket. We finished a huge card for the residents at the elderly community where she manages. I had started making ice cream cone cards for all the residents, then Grandma suggested making just one big card. We came up with the phrase, "I scream, You scream, We all scream" and the inside of the card said, "Is the baby here yet?" There were 37 ice cream cones, each with one of the resident's name on it, on the inside of the card.
The baby was eventually born. :) She ended up coming the day after Grandma left. That Sunday was Father's day and we were having ice cream cones for dessert. I had to take a picture of all of us with our cones. It fit in too well with our card for the elderly residents and I had to send the update: "Here's the latest scoop...Isabella Van Tress." We're very happy with this new little sister. I'm sure you want to hear every last detail (not really) so I'll be sure to write my birth post next.

Oh, and the last 'end of the road' was... the end of my 30th year. Happy 31st birthday with homemade apple pie.

Wait...Rewind!

Wait, holy cow- I'm due in just a week and I'm not ready to move on! I've had lots of mixed emotions these last few months as so much has been happening and I'm just barely beginning to see it and already another big new thing is on the way! I hope every baby in the army will not be so crazy. (Well, no, I'm not sure I endorse the ramifications of that statement.)

I almost cried the other day thinking how much of a baby Hallee still is while about to have another baby any day. I've done this before! How did I do this before??
I've been spending a lot of time with her lately just wanting to be with her to celebrate everything she's learning and discovering, knowing that with another baby those moments might be fewer. The girl has been cracking us up with her silly personality. She's super curious yet a cuddly homebody at the same time. Just yesterday she started to stand up! And today, she took her first steps. This feels so much bigger than the other two I guess because of how long it's taken her. Even though I know there's nothing wrong with her AT ALL (emphasis added for the dude who asked if she was slow, because she wasn't walking at 18months- boo to you Mister!), but I'm so happy she decided to take that risk and felt joy in doing it. It was a moment all 4 of us shared together watching her decide to stand up. We were doing songs during some circle time (it's so cute that Hallee will come sit with us for our little circle time) and the kids were standing up dancing while doing a song. She didn't want to miss the action, I guess, and just stands up on her own and starts doing a little bounce dance. It was so funny/awesome!! We were all together again when she was taking some steps today. Even Lucy and Willie were so excited for her seeming to understand this grandeur of what she's been through to be able to get to this accomplishment. So cute. Awww, families.

So, even though this is supposed to be a rewind in pictures...blogger, of course, can't load them up. So if I could share some pictures with you, here's what they would be about:
*Cute pictures of Lucy and Willie enjoying park time at Lake rim, and also at the grand opening of the Botanical Gardens.
*Day at the Horse Derby- most excellent 4 for 1 ticket I've ever bought. Picture was of the 3 kids eating our picnic lunch. Hallee stuck under layers of blankets protecting her cast from getting dirty or wet. This event was just 3 days after her fall. I was going to just not go, but decided late the night before, it just couldn't be missed. I'm so glad our first outing with cast went well.
*Huge Python at the nature center corraling the kids- talk about scary!
*Lucy's big 5th birthday- not anything what we tried to plan, but it was fun. We also happened to find a trampoline just a week before, so extra fun there!
*The Easter bunny photo, taken the day a tornado ran through town. So glad we were blessed to have escaped ANY kind of devastation from that ordeal.
*Placing flags on graves of the Veterans in preparation for Memorial Day.
*Baby shower for Jamie. So fun! How the heck did she start labor before me?! Unfortunetly, this wasn't a good thing and I hope it all goes well for her!
*A nice big belly shot for you. One last shot before baby comes. I'm so bummed that I never lined up a photographer for this pregnancy & newborn photos. sigh. I never can get on that it seems.
I guess the rest of the picture are just preschool stuff. I've been able to meet some super nice homeschooling moms and hope that we will be able to start a good support group for each other. I'm not sure what school will be like next year, I still have so much to do there! :(

Oh yeah- I got a few pictures on here-
Our celebration night out after Hallee got her cast off. Such a cute munchkin!

Belly Belly Belleeee (when you coming off btw?)

Lucy creating Barbie's "Baptism dress" from a paper napkin (we're talking HOURS of fun here!)

Easter egg hunt, Hallee still in a cast.

Cute brother and sister! Botanical Gardens with great face painters!

He's home.

I've not felt like writing lately, but I look at my unupdated blog and it kind of just bugs me. You know, like looking into the mirror and wishing you had put make-up on that day, so you have the real you looking back at you. Ha! Guess I should be saying the real "made-up" you, right? lol.

Anyway, I guess the biggest news is Jeremy's home. Yep. It's disappointing, from my side, that he didn't finish, but of course that doesn't reflect at all my feelings for having him home. That's been super awesome. And, yes, now I don't have to worry anthing about what to do about when the baby comes.

That last statement is not really the story at all. Really, it's just the fact that all the worries I have are completely different ones from before. It's all so wrapped up and I won't disclose every detail. The short of it is...I was planning a homebirth and had found a midwife that I like. Now, mostly from Jeremy's side, we're feeling like maybe we shouldn't do a homebirth. I feel I'm starring at two completely fine roads to the same end point, and just have no idea which way to start trodding down. So, I'm doing both, lol, of course. This next month will have to be some major decisions, so I'm sure things will be shifting in a permanent direction soon.

Jeremy leaves tomorrow for airborne school which is about 3 weeks. I'm nervous at how the kids will react. We struggle with the separation a little bit still, it's been hard to find a way to help them be more positive. My strategy right now is to just distract them like crazy...which kind of works for the most part. And the next 3 weeks have a lot of fun things going on, so I'm looking forward to it. It's always a plus when we're not worrying about sharing the car either. :)

Of course I haven't been taking pictures too...rats. Maybe next time.
I'm very excited to announce my little brother is getting married in July. It will be a hard trip having just had a baby, but I'll be fine, and actually it's not too far away, so that really helps. They are getting married in the DC temple, so cool!!

Ballet Girls

Lucy is taking ballet at the rec center. She had her first class this past week. The expanded version of this story is on Lucy's page, if you want the full story. I thought she did a pretty good job being new and never had done anything before. It was just as great watching Willie as it was Lucy actually. Willie sat there in the line of parents on the wall just watching the girls. He was so cute, sitting against the wall, crossed feet and just chilling. What a nice brother. He's pretty upset that he doesn't have "his class" yet. Unfortunately, he's just a little too young for any organized sports.

This is Your Life

I thought I'd post an explaination as to the side bar coloumn I added called "This is Your Life." When we were growing up, I remember an "occasional" tradition that we did. The kids chose a memory from the past year of our Dad, and drew it out with a little caption telling what the memory was. The pages were complied and put in a book with the title, "This is Your Life", subtitle, "As told by your children." The binder was presented to my Dad every year on Father's Day. I think that was the initial thought of the tradition, though in reality, we really just drew pictures when my mom said it was time to draw a picture, and the gifting was done on Father's day or even on his birthday I think. An effort to involved all the ten kids in giving Dad a more meaningful gift. There may even be more details to the binder that I have forgotten, it's been a little while since I've seen it last.
Well, whether or not this is a treasure to my Dad is something to ask in the eternities, but I remember having oodles of laughter looking back over the drawings as we all grew up and could tease each other about our memories, or the drawings, or even our handwriting... :) Even from the time I got married, I determined to start this tradition with my own family. But guess how many drawings are in Jeremy's book- one. Yes, just one, from when Lucy was born. Wow, one in almost five years! It's not even in color, it's still in pencil. Haha. Well, life's not over yet.
Well, my kids are probably just coming to the age that they could really grasp the idea and contribute to the book, so I'll have to get it going again. But this idea has been my inspiration to be more diligent in journaling altogether. The other side of this is, however far the binder develops, or not, Jeremy still needs to be more informed of the goings on in the family and more specifically with the kids.
So, in short, that is my long explaination to the fact that I needed a place to journal about the kids. Somewhere separate from the blog which I keep more for just interesting, light-hearted, picture-filled accounts of big (and some little) moments. Well, because I'm on the computer way more than I'd like to admit, the blog seemed like really an easy way to also incoporate my other need. Plus, when Jeremy's away in places where he still has internet access, then he can read my entries.
So, what does this mean to you? Nothing more than the knowledge of what the "This is Your Life" coloumn is doing on the side there. And, no, it's not recommended reading. It's written rather poorly, it's boring and will get long. Especially the page for Mommy because that is just an outlet for my venting on life. Writing is good for the soul.
So that's it. any questions? :)

Just a few shots taken around the house. Our big white mailbox. The only other white mailbox on the street is our neighbor across the street. They actually put our mailbox in for us too. They are great, we love them!



Haha, not looking so great (no shower fit in today), but Jeremy has been after me to take a picture of my belly. Here you go, though you can't see it too well. I can't pull out the camera without Lucy insisting that she take the pictures, she gets such a kick out of it. I told her to take some of the house- here's a shot of the stairs...

Home Sweet Home

Life has been busy with all the "to do's" when you get to a new city- stocking the house with needed supplies, getting a mailbox (it's taken me way too long to get this one crossed off my list, in fact, it's still not crossed off!), medical records and appointments, keeping kid's school going, getting registered for various things, dealing with door salesmen...
Hate that last one. New house = prime target.
This week, we've been sick with colds, which ended up leaving us home from church for two weeks in a row. I'm anxious to meet friends at church, but it just hasn't fallen into place yet. The friends we've been able to meet have been at the library or our neighbors. The weather has been nice, warm enough to play outside, so that has been fun to enjoy the neighborhood and our backyard, even though there's nothing back there yet! That's kind of the downer about a new house, is how long it takes to really get plants and things in place. I'd love to get a garden going but it's bad timing with being pregnant and Jeremy not able to get it set up for me. I'll have to think of an alternative I guess....no ideas...I'm new in this department.
I've had people asking for pics of the house, and my excuse is my camera, though that's not a good one because I can easily fix the problem, anyway, I do need to get some documentation going. :) These photos are from the real estate websites. Unfortunately, I only have these two because all them are taken down now, otherwise I would tell you to just go look at it for more pics- they look better than any pics I could take anyway. There's nothing interesting about pics I would take because it's just boxes and unorganized messes, so it would have been better to look at the professional 'empty' pictures anyway! But that house is so nice. Jeremy picked this one out on his own really, so I've been dreading the possibility that I might not like it, but the more I live here, the more I love the house and feel like it fits us well.
We've been blessed to have all the help we've needed so far while Jeremy's gone. The day after the movers brought our stuff, the Singles Ward here called me up and asked if they could come help me for FHE that night doing whatever I needed. I was first inclined to say no, especially when they said it would be 15-20 people. But I'm so glad they came! I made a big list of things we could do, there were at least 15 that came, and they were done with the list in less than an hour! They were so great! All the guys were army (except one) and had no problem lifting heavy things, keeping on task, or being told what to do. :) They were great guys to have around! The girls were all very nice as well, a couple helped play with the kids while we all worked. It worked out so great! It felt SO nice to feel "moved in" too. I was already tired of pulling silverware and cups out of boxes to eat and trying to cook meals with not the right stuff. It was such a blessing.
The next big important things to check off the list is settling in with a ob/midwife to get ready for delivery, and getting the kid's school figured out. I've been going back and forth for the past 6 months or so deciding between starting public school or doing homeschool. I've always wanted to do homeschool, but I've had so many doubts these past 6 months. Contrarily, I've continually been meeting people these past 6 months who do homeschool and have been encouraging me. So I feel like it's been a blessing to have met those people and help me push past this kind of scary feeling of starting up homeschooling. Homeschooling is actually quite popular in the military community, I think it's safe to say. Which it does make sense, military families can strive better if they can take summer break or spring break when they want, or do school from Grandma's house for a couple months while Dad is gone if they want. It is a great solution to the demands of military life on the family. I just hope I can step it up and get disciplined and committed to the regimen and the lifestyle of homeschooling.
Finding a delivery plan has been equally as challenging. I'm pushing for a natural birth, as I have with the last two, and I've not heard good things about the hospitals in the area as far as those things go. I actually tried to talk to the hospital on base about my desires and concerns, and I basically got the rolled eyes at me. I've been talking with a midwife service that's in the area and have an appointment to meet them next week. That would mean a homebirth, however, which I never thought I'd do, but it's funny when you're faced with choosing between non- desirable options, a homebirth seems right for me now. There is also this looming cloud that Jeremy won't be able to make it home for the birth. I had come to grips with that from the moment we found out we're pregnant, but I'm still unsure how I'm going to be feeling as the 9 months draws to a close. I do thank God everyday that He is there. I've always felt God watching over me, it's something I've never doubted, and having that sense has given me so much strength to be able to accept whatever life has brought. I have a little girl who's every prayer the last few days usually goes like this, "Please bless Daddy will come home safe. Please help Grandma B or Grandma Connie to come to babysit with us, so we can go to the doctor so the doctor can help pop the baby out." Often, just those two things, she's been sick so she keeps prayers short I guess. But yes, I do have the exact same prayer of my own, little one.

Moving Update!

I feel the need to update this blog as our move unfolds. It seems our predictament had some friends near tears and so I'm happy to update that after yesterday we were able to work things out that will make this week go much MUCH better!
Yesterday we had our walk-through with the builder. We found out we can start moving in on Friday! Which means that Jeremy will be able to help with the inital move in and even get to spend one night in his new house before he leaves! The movers will bring the rest of the things sometime between Friday and the middle of next week. Jeremy will still be leaving us for a couple months. It is always more work when the hubby leaves, but I can't help but always feel like I get the good end of the stick. I mean, gosh, my husband is a solider! I would not count myself as one who would go do what he does! But I fully support and love him- and all the soldiers and their families out there! He will need your prayers, if you have any extra ;) as Ranger school will be a huge challenge. This has come at him hard and fast, what a great thing it will be when he graduates.
We were also able to contact our bishop from the church where we will be moving to, and so they are aware of this prego lady by herself and are happy to be there for me if I need help.
That's the update. Now, I need to go take a deep breath...

AG Graduation! Hooray!

I think I've caught us up on the latest news...all except one detail, which happens to be the reason why we're here in Columbia in the first place!
Our time here at Ft Jackson is coming to a close, having had Jeremy's graduation from his AG class on January 12th.
We were supposed to leave that next day for our new (and first) duty station, Ft. Bragg, but because of a few snow days the beginning of the week, packers weren't able to get scheduled. Here's the boxes piling up as we prepared for a DoIt Yourself move just in case.
Fortuneately, our report date was extended a couple weeks so we could schedule movers. And it may be for the better because the closing on our house might be finished and we'll be able to almost move right in, only a few days in a hotel. (Oh yeah, another piece of news I haven't posted yet, we bought a house!) Then as if all of this going on isn't enough...Jeremy found out he got into Ranger school and will be leaving for a couple months. (That's news item #3 yet to report!) Do you see the trend here? How in the world am I going to keep up on all this life stuff! ;)
Jeremy is basically recieving two orders, one to Bragg (located in Fayetteville, NC) and the other is a temporary order to Benning (in Georgia). This is going to be a VERY tricky week! He has to move his family to NC and get himself to GA all in a matter of 4 days. He'll say goodbye to us from a hotel and hope that we move into our house with help of, umm....someone. (We're going to have to make friends fast! ;) I'm sure it will all work out. Poor guy though, he's had a majorly busy 10 days and not only is he headed for 2 months of basically torture, but on top of that, he won't even get to sleep one night in his new house before he leaves! lol! Something to look forward to when he gets back I guess! He's been feeling the pressure of this new challenge, but is excited for it too. There are many friends that have been tutoring him and offering him help to prepare for Ranger school. I know he'll do well, but it will be very tough, no doubt! For those who have no idea what a Ranger is...Ranger is to the army kind of like the navy Seals are to the Navy. It's pretty intense, heavy duty army stuff. I'll give you a few videos to watch to give you an idea what are some of the obstacles he'll have to do in Ranger school. I'm not sure how to post the video, so you'll have to follow the link here: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/ranger-school/

We've been running around pretty crazy this last week. Then, I was in for my OB this month and mentioned a discomfort I've been having, she checked me and asked me to go in for another ultrasound to check out the cervix, across town, later that day. Aah! Last minute demands on a family is tricky, thank heavens Jeremy was able to help me out. An even bigger thank heavens that it was nothing really. They were checking to make sure my cervix was not abnormally shortening (which is kind of = pre-term labor), but I'm fine. I do still have this discomfort to deal with when I stand up though, which will be a pain during all this moving, but good also, as mentioned by the ultrasonographer nurse lady, it'll make me take it easy and not do anything over my limit! But stressful nonetheless, trying to get a new house set up by myself. Basically, we will just be living in our house like we would our hotel (except food wise) for two months until Dad gets back to help us settle in. :)

Speaking of the house...so, we bought a house. It's been an interesting journey but a good one. We've been happy with our agent, and the house, and the process for the most part. We got word yesterday that all the additions the builder was doing for us (gutters, fence) were finished! So exciting! The last thing in question is the applicances need to get in! We're kind of unhappy with the sales rep from Sears because we feel like she sat on it and now the estimated delivery is too late! They were working with us though, so we can close on time. The kids are so excited for the house "with the purple door." It will be good to get some more room- but I'll admit I'm a bit intimidated by having to have so much house to clean! I'll have to update more on the house later...but word to the wise...might not be until Jeremy gets back from Ranger school. :) In fact, we'll see just how much gets done before he gets back! lol!

Yes, here come's #4

The news has been circulating via Christmas letter and facebook, but this is the first time in blog world I'll make the annoucement- we're expecting #4 on the way. Yes, it is pretty quick. We get pregnant pretty easily in general ;), but we were 'trying' or should I say planning to get pregnant. In summer, we were weighing out what Jeremy's army career would bring and felt like we had to decide if we wanted to try to have a baby now, or it might have to wait until his first deployment was over, probably about a year and a half later. We decided we wanted Hallee and the new baby closer in age rather than further, so felt like it was a good time to start trying. And now, we're due on June 9th; right on schedule for more birthday buddies! I'm now around 20 weeks. We had our ultrasound this past week and found out we're having a GIRL! I am completely not surprised, I knew it was a girl. The kids have been asking for a boy and actually very convinced it was a boy, so we were a little worried about telling them it was a girl. We decided to make a big deal of it with a "Cut the Cake" party (I saw this idea from the Sybrowskys). I can't get the video uploaded, but I think the idea worked. They show no excitement in the video, but ever since the party, they've been excited to tell people that we're having a baby girl, so that's good. No tears about not having a boy.
We're having a baby, shout hooray!
Let's have our Cut the Cake Par-tay!
Pink or Blue, what will it be?
Cut the cake and, Let's see!

New Year's Campfire Dinner

Our preschool unit right now is Order and Goal Striving, going right in line with New Years. I decided since we were already teaching the kids about goals, I would have a resolution writing dinner night. We made a fire and cooked hot dogs and made s'mores. We each wrote down goals for 2011 and put them in our stocking. The kids got into it and loved the fire! They made their New Year's toast with soda they made at the children's museum the day before. The last pic here is from the New Years party at the Children's museum where they had a little Dj dance party and a ball that dropped at noon. They didn't really countdown, they just dropped the ball at noon, so that was a little anticlimatic, but it was fun to see the big crowd and everyone screaming! ;)

Just for fun

Willie asked Santa for a rocket and rocket launcher this year. He got a stomp rocket. These things are pretty fun. We did get a rocket stuck on the roof of the apartment buildling and one up in the tree. Fortuneately we were able to get them both down. Then the kids tore off all the fins- for some purpose I didn't understand- so we've only done it once, lol.
It snowed here the evening of Christmas day. It was fun to wake up to a winter wonderland!

Christmas Tea Party

Hallee was born three days after Christmas, so technically this was her first Christmas, followed by her first birthday! Hooray for Hallee! I love parties! We had a Christmas themed tea party, it was just so easy to do a Christmas theme and I thought it was way fun. We had about nine little kids here for a tea party Christmas style. It was very fancy which was right up my girls' ally! :) We had top hats for the boys and boas for the little girls. Lucy helped serve tea sandwiches and juice, while the Moms enjoyed the "hot drink bar." I had so much fun I decided I want to do a "tea party" every year. The year 2010 has really been the year of the tea parties because we've had 4 tea parties- Valentines Day, Mommy group playdate, Hallee's birthday, and another mini-playdate tea party. The pictures here are from our video camera (xmas gift) and we didn't take any with the regular camera, but I had a friend who offered to take some so follow this link to her picasa albumn for better pictures!
I loved being able to pull out all my tea stuff. I had a reflective moment and realized I've been drinking tea for almost a decade! I first started driking tea on my mission in Japan. I loved it, we drank wheat tea, hot in the winter and cold in the summer. I realized that turned me into a tea sipper. I wouldn't say I drink it regularly now as it seems like we've always been on a tight budget and I don't count buying tea as necessity. But I really do like having a cup of something good to drink. I have a lot of special tea set dishware I haven't ever used so I would really like to try it out!
Lucy, our server
The kid's table
The birthday girl on her throne. She devoured two red velvet cupcakes. This girl loves her food!
Moms chatting by the drink bar.

Special visit from Uncle Travis and Amber! I think the kids counted down the minutes! It was fun to spend the day together! Thanks for being here for the party and driving all the way! Love you guys!