Brothers

A brother is someone

with fun-loving ways

with wit and good humor 

to spare.

He does thoughtful things

without any fuss

and when you're in trouble

he's there.

 

A brother is more

than just part of the family..

he's also a friend

through and through.

 

And that's a description

that certainly fits

a wonderful brother like you.

-Author: Unknown

I can only imagine how they will be when they are older.

The secretes they will have.

The cover stories they will tell for each other.

The loyalty of each other as brothers.

It will be amazing.



Pictures on a Sunday

I had this spontaneous urge to take pictures today.

Not normal around the house pictures, but nice outdoor pictures.

They looked so handsome in their suites

These are some of my favorites

My Moo-moo

J.R.

I love taking patriotic photos

I think over all I took about 150ish pictures.

The boys and I had a blast

(Baby "I" was with a friend, it wasn't quite the kind of weather you bring a baby in)

What did you do today?



This blog has been linked to:

Army Wife's Creed

I wish I could just print this on a t-shirt and wear it everyday!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In



1. Aside from no deployments, what is one thing you would want to make the MilSpouse life “perfect”?
More Command support for spouses. I know soldiers are their priority, but we are the soldiers priority.
You take care of their families, and you will have happy soldiers.

2. Just how many peppers did Peter Piper pick? submitted by Married into Army

Peter Piper picks peppers? I thought that was a pizza place! LOL!!

3. If you could have any career in the world with nothing holding you back, what would you do?

I would be a Dental Hygeneist

4. Do you have a service oriented tattoo and if so what is it. If you don’t what would you get?

Well I have about 4 tattoos, none of them service oriented. I want to get another of all my kids names in arabic, I guess the arabic part is the closest to military ill get.
5. Imagine a block of time has opened up in your busy day for you to take a class in anything you like. What subject would you choose? submitted by To The Nth

A time management class.... Im constandly over booking myself.
This post has been linked too Wife of a Sailor.

Day 3/30: Something you have to forgive yourself for.

Day 3: Something you have to forgive yourself for.

That would be, working instead of staying at home with my children.

Sometimes I feel bad about not being there 24/7 watching them grow

and sometimes on the weekend being too tired to be the Mom I use to be.

I hear allot of Moms who are tired of being a SAHM.

And I understand that, because when I was a SAHM,

I was tired of kiddo talk all day every day.

Sticky tables. Barney.

But I look back on those days and which I savored it more.

Appreciated the time more.

But now I work 40+ hours a week.

Time is very limited.

Sometime I’m too tired to finger paint, fly a kite or play water guns outside.

And then I look at my week and ask myself,

"Is what I am doing for other families worth what I’m loosing with mine?"

Well yesterday, my question was answered.

There was a spouse in the BN I work for who had an emergency and had to leave her home rather quickly.

She did not have time to grab cosmetic items, but only time to grab her wallet and her

Pre-Deployment Packet.

The pre-deployment packet is an accordion folder full of important deployment information.

I spent hours making these for over 300 hundred families,
and when I walked into her hospital room and saw it on her table,
 I felt instantly fulfilled.

I helped another mother.

A now single mother.

I helped her, help herself.

I helped her to be prepared in a stressful situation.

Which will ultimately lead to her coming home to her family sooner.

That made it all worth it for me.

I know no matter what, my children will always be okay.

The time I do share with them, I make it as memorable as possible or atleast I will try harder too.

When they get older, they will understand my job and why it was so important.

And maybe they will find pride in that they shared time with their Mom, so she could help other

Moms and Dads.

Rib

Day 2/30: Something I love about myself

Day  2: Something you love about yourself.

I love that I am versatile.

I can do just about anything.

The intro of myself on my blog says,

"I'm a jack of all trades and a master of none".

Oh so true. Ill elaborate.

 I was a musician for 13 years.

Its what I went to college for.

Got scholarships and everything.

*When we move back to the states I will start playing again*

Crafty? Why Yes I am.

Crocheting, decoupage, tile pendants, scrap booking, you name it I can do it.

Baker? Oh, yea that too.

And I can decorate cakes like no other.

I built an Engineer Castle out of Rice Crispy Treats this year.

Oh, and I am a photographer, that can fix her own car. 

.

Oh, did I mention I am also a Certified Dental Assistant?

(Okay ye,s I am tooting my own horn now)

VER-SA-TILE!

That what I love about me



Day 1 of 30 Days of Truth.

While blog hopping Ive noticed a trend among bloggers.

Lots of them are doing a
30 days of truth
or a
1, 000 things to be thankful for.


So I am jumping on the band wagon and doing the same.
Hopefully this will get me in the great habit of blogging everyday.

So here we go...

Day 1: Something you hate about yourself.

Oh goodness. Do we have to use the word, hate?

How about, dislike.

One thing I dislike about myself.

I dislike that I am a bit anti-social.

I'm not really the type of person who can walk up to someone

and instantly be their best friend.

I'm more of the, observing type.

Quiet, independent...

A loner.

Which all has great benefits.

But some people perceive me as maybe mean, because I am

not all warm and fuzzy.

Do I wish I could be more social?

Actually not.

I know lots of super social people, and the have TONS of friends.

Me, not super social, and I have a handful of friends.

But my friends are quality friends.

 (Quality VS Quantity)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well Id better go.

 

Just One Bite

When my husband and I were dating we both worked at Home Depot.
He worked in the lumber yard from 6 am-2 p.m. and I worked as a Cashier from 9 am- 5 p.m.

My husband is an early bird.
I am not.

Every morning, my then boyfriend, would wake up make himself
two sandwiches for lunch and store them in the lounge refrigerator.

Now being that I am not an early bird,
 I would literally wake up 20 minutes before I had to clock in.
Breakfast is something that never happened for me.

So when I got to work, I would sneak in the fridge,
Carefully unwrap each sandwich, and take ONE bite out of each
Wrap them back up.
And put them back exactly where I found them.
Cute, huh?

Drove-Him-NUTS!

Today I dropped in at the commissary for a few things.
And I noticed they had one of our favorite seasonal items.

When ever they have the Christmas Tree Reese's or the Valentine Heart Reese's we get them.

So now that I am in my flirty, frisky phase of deployment.

 I thought id re-create that memory for us.

I took the egg out of the box, and cut a bite size piece off.

I would have bitten it myself, but I don't think germ-wise that would have been smart.

Tho I did try to cut it with grooves for the realistic effect.

After I put it back in the box, I wrote this little note.

I hope it puts a smile on my soldiers face.

The "Other" Side

The conversations in my office are most interesting at times.

Especially in the days leading to deployment.

Recently, I had a conversation with SGT "G".

SGT "G" is one of the seven awesome FRLs that I work with.

He was telling me how it was killing him to see spouses cry when they put their SM on the bus.

Ill admit I gave him a raised eyebrow look.

"Why is it killing you?"

"Because I've never been on this end" he said

"This end?"



"Yea, I've always been the one to leave and say good-bye, but now I get to see the other side".

I thought that was interesting.

 I never looked at it from that point of view.

Speech Delay? Impediment?

My oldest son Brandon has a speech delay?

Or impediment?

Something of that nature.

I don't really know what to call it.

We first really noticed his speech problem shortly before he turned three.

It took us almost a year to get him started in a Speech therapy program because,

well the process is a lengthy one. 

So since he was three, he has had help.

His speech improved immensely.

Now he is in Kindergarten, and its over whelming for him

and its over whelming for me.

I worry all the time.

My husband, not so much.

He thinks Junior will grow out of it like he did.

(My husband had the same speech problem)

I guess I am just impatient.

I wish, I could just make it right for him.

Ill be honest.

There are nights I go into his room, and I kiss him on the head.

I ask God for just a little help.

I asks him to take from me, and give to him.

Something. Anything.

I'm scared of kids making fun of him.

It would just break my heart.

In fact I have friends who mimic his stutter to his face and mine.

I don't think they realize how much that  makes me angry.

This weekend, we worked extra hard on his wall words.

I don't know if it will pay off or not.

Hopefully it will.

I guess that is all I have in this.

Hope.



These Boots and Letters from Home.

As an FRSA I have access to a lot of resources.

Which can be a good thing and a bad thing.

Good because the information I find, of course I share with families so they can learn,

and through them I can learn too.

Bad because sometimes its so much information, a few good items get over looked.

I'm planning an event soon.

And at this event I am giving away every book, DVD, CD, Teddy Bear,

Daddy doll that I have in my storage.

I'm not a hoarder, I'm a purger.

All of the things past FRSAs of my BN didn't give away for God only knows what reason,

will find a home at this event.

So while going through all of these things, I came across this CD.

These Boots.

Now I have seen this CD before, in fact I have ordered this CD before and given it away

 to other spouses, but I, myself have never listened to it.

Now I am a strong believer in,

 "you cant expect others to drink the Kool-aid if you don't drink it too."

So this past week, instead of bumping my speakers to some Black Eyed Peas

I was listening to Jacey Eckhart, talk about walking tall during a deployment.

She spoke on the many stages families go through in preparation of deployment.

She gave advice about in laws, and managing your expectations,

and with that she talked about communication.

Jacey mentioned something about historians worry that with technology today and how easy it is to send an email, that families will stop writing letters. And that piece of history being lost.

Hmmm, I had never thought of letters to my husband being part of history.

But its true.

Maybe they wont end up in some museum, but, they will be part of my families history.

Ive read letters that my Grandpa wrote my Grandma when he was at war.

So, starting this past week, Ive written my husband a letter almost every day.

Ive written him about our goals and dreams.

Ive asked him questions that I haven't asked him since we were dating in college.

Its going to be neat to see what he writes back with.

*Rule: we cant talk about what we write in letters on the phone, makes it more interesting*

This post has been linked too JaceyEckhart.com

To get your FREE copy of the CD, These Boots please visit: Militaryonesource.com

Wine and piercings

Last night I attended a Wine Tasting  hosted by our local spouses club.

The wine was fine and the company was superb.

Sometime that evening while sampling wines, our table got onto the subject of tattoos and piercings.

I mentioned to the table how I use to have my nose pierced but removed it when
I applied for my FRSA position. 

Talk continued, and then a good friend of mine mentioned that she and another lady were

going to our local tattoo & piercing shop the next day if I would like to join them.

So I got her number and mulled it over that night.

At 1100 a.m. today this is where I was.

This is, well I don't know his name, but I have let him pierce my nose twice.

He's real nice and really funny.

Today's story was about a 50 year old woman who got her "woohoo" pierced and passed out in the chair.

Now this is my new friend.

When Mr. Piercer up there asked who was first,

she had no problem throwing me under the bus.

That's okay, she was nervous.

And here is cute me with my new nose ring.

Hopefully by Sunday I have will be able to change it out, I can only imagine what my FRLs are going to say.

Friday Mil-Spouse Fill-in

1.What is your favorite MilSpouse blog (not including Wife of a Sailor who we all love, or your own)?
I cant say I really have a favorite. They are all well written and I enjoy reading them all very much.

2.What are your favorite perks about your s/o being deployed?
My favorite perks of my SM being deployed is the childcare benefits provided by the Army Family Covenant. We get 20% discount off full time care, $350.00 per child of free Skies classes, and 2 free CYSS sports and 16 free hours of free childcare per, child per month. Plus free child care for FRG meetings. I don't know how I would survive deployment without these benefits. My husband and I involve our children in sports, so this really helps with the bill. It paid for J.R.s first 6 months of Tae kwando and it will pay for Seanns soccer and J.R.s wrestling.

3.How long did you date your husband before getting engaged? Married?
We were promised first, and that happened about 6 months after we had started officially dating. Then about 1 year after that we got engaged, and 6 months after that we were married.

4.What do you think your husband would do if s/he wasn’t in the military? 
My husband would be a football coach and a HS history teacher. That's what he was in college for before we joined the military.

5.If you could talk to the Secretary of army what is one suggestion you would like to bring to their attention in order to improve the lives of military families? 
LISTEN! Thats all they have to do, is listen. They dont have to fix everything, just fix the big things, please.
 

This blog is linked to : Wife of a Sailor



From Saturday and Sunday

Just wanted to share alittle from my Saturday and Sunday shoots.

This Mil-Spouse was celebrating her 9 year wedding anniversary.

This Mil-Spouse is expecting her first baby here in a few weeks.

From starting a military family to celebrating many years as a military family,

it was neat to have these two shoots the same weekend.



M. Men

Its been a long time joke in my husbands family that *M* Men can sleep...

Anywhere...

Standing...

Or sitting..

I guess my Isaac is a true *M* .

Happy Heart Day!

I received a delivery today at the office.

Which included a cute little card.

Obviously written by whom ever took my husbands order.

But most definitely they were his words.

So

Happy Valentines Day to you and your loved ones.

I hope it is special no matter how you choose to celebrate.