Family Time

Living out here in California I get to see My Mom and Family an Awful Lot!!! Its been great! But moving out here I have had to learn to say No on events and things. For the first two months or so of living here we were off doing things every weekend. If not going out to do things people have been over. Our first weekend here as just our family was Fathers Day weekend in June. At the end of June Mitchell started Sergeants Course here on Camp Pendleton. Once he graduates that in August he'll heading to training for a few weeks...home for a couple of weeks...then he's set to deploy in the beginning of October for 6-12 months. So our time as a family right now is more special than normal...just knowing that soon we won't have his wonderful company around. I'll have to admit though that I am very happy about living out here. The deployment isn't going to be easy they never are..no matter how many times you've been through but I've just learned Life itself isn't easy.
This year we get the Privilege of being apart of Hero's Summer Christmas(aka Christmas in July). Impacting Military Families and our church South Shores have partnered up this year on it. I tried explaining to KalieAnn that we will be celebrating Christmas at the beach this year and I get "We can't have Christmas at the Beach Mom!"..
curious I asked "Why Not?"...
"Cause there's no snow at the Beach!!"
So I explained to her again that here in California where we are at we won't get snow even during the Holiday season unless we go up to the mountains. So now she's excited! I'm kinda excited!! The only reason I'm kinda not is cause it just turns out to be the day my older Brother, James is having surgery that day.
For those that don't know my Brother was injured during a Training Exercise. The trauma to his knee was so bad that it caused RSD. So he's having a temporary Nuero Transmitter(hope I spelled that right) put in his back.If this works it will greatly reduce his pain level so that he could possibly start living life the way he wants to..independantly...For me I just don't want to see him in pain. So if everyone can please keep him your prayers. Well that's all to really update on. Looking forward to the day at my Moms house one Saturday! God Bless!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

I thought I was busy before! This move has sped up into our sights! Its been an interesting journey! Mitchell hasn't been able to get a whole lot of time off which has been frustrating all in its own. He's still doing the boss' job or fixing things for him. However I've grown used to it.

Our counselor before we left Okinawa told us that Recruiting Duty will either tear your relationship apart or break it up. That its a make it or break it situation! I can't even tell you how close to the truth she is!!! If your not careful with your relationship it can tear you apart! They work such long hours and so much stupid drama that you have to be able to understand both sides! We've come to learn that to help us make it lol!

In the past three years I have honestly felt like a single mother with the benefits of being at home with the exception of last summer. Mitchell had an awesome boss and they were rolling along with their misson so well that he had most weekends off. We spent almost every weekend out on a lake with our boat. Outside last summer though I have to admit it, its extremely hard! Your life is literally spent taking care of the kids by yourself! Husbands are gone before you wake up in the morning and get home if your lucky in enough time to kiss the kids good night. If your misson isn't met they are working through the weekends. A lot of people around here ask.."Well if he's working this weekend he should get time off during the week right?" The answer is No. When we first got here Mitchell would be at work by 8 and home around 11pm and worked through all the weekends. For him to see the girls we'd try to meet him for lunch once a week. Its hard...but when it boils down to it Is there really any aspect of life that's easy? I've found the answer to be No. Especially in the Military lifestyle. Recruiting Duty your facing long hours...long days...the obstacles that you read about above...in the fleet/division your facing training months or deployments...basically months of them not being home and worried about them. We are now looking at being off of Recruiting Duty!!! Now here's the "However" lol he might be deployed in the Fall. So like I said there's always those obstacles in life!

Our move is happening next week. This update might be the last till April! Hannah and Alayna have their routine check ups next Tuesday. If I have the time I will come on and give the update on how all that went. Otherwise we have the Movers coming to pack our stuff up on Wednesday and then pick it all up on Thursday. I am working my tushy off these days trying to get the house in order. I've started packing things that we are taking with us. I'm hoping to have the house to the point that all we have to do is the basic clean up when they leave with our stuff. If that happens then we'll be hitting the road on the 25Th. I still have a lot to do before then I feel like my head is spinning every time I think about what stills needs to be done. I've made a lot of progress but its only a dent in what all has to be finished. So here's to hoping and praying!! Otherwise worst case scenario we'll be out of here on the 26Th. Here are some beautiful pictures of our wonderful little stinkers...

KalieAnn is soo excited about this move! She is such a Girly Girl!!! She wants to move so she can wear her dresses and flip flops! She keeps telling me "Mom it needs to get hot so the snow can melt and I can wear my dresses and sandals. No jackets, tights or boots!" We went and got her some dresses. I let her help me pack them in her suit case. She ran out of the room and came back with all her dress up stuff, toys, and sandals dangling from her fingers. I had to figure out how to explain to her that we still had some time before we needed to pack everything. It was soo funny!

Now heres our trouble maker! If she quiet it usually means she is up to no Good! I've come to the point I've tossed their crayons! I'm soo tired of finding crayons all over our walls! I went to Home Depot and they had those magic Erasers on sale for a box of four for two dollars. I bought 12!! I turned and asked Mitchell "You think this is enough?" He was laughing at me!!! I'd buy a box of four and it would only got two walls if I was lucky! I still have half a room to do and a hallway. So out of the 12 which translate into three boxes I have one and a half left. So I'm hoping that it'll get those rooms done.

Alayna is our Mommy's Girl. Right now she's not getting into a whole lot. She's happy as long as she's in the room where everyone is playing. She doesn't need a whole lot of attention but when she wants it she's pretty good about letting us know. She can't get herself into sitting position by herself but if you sit her up she'll stay sitting by herself for about five minutes before she throws herself into crawling position and rocks.

Now for the blankets I have been trying to get finished in this process of Moving and Cleaning

This blanket I made for a family friend that is pregnant with a boy. Its currently sitting in Mitchell's truck waiting to be delivered. He's hoping to get it to the husband or Dad to be tonight.

Now these two blankets are Hannah's and Alayna's. The pretty pink one I made two of and the second of it has been given to its new owners. I only have one more to make and its KalieAnn's. Trust me she doesn't let me forget its not done yet! Well off to get some more cleaning done!