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!