Been Tagged!

I just have a quick minute so wanted to post this for fun! I tag anyone else who wants to share...Just paste this list into your blog and bold the ones that you HAVE done, and unbold any I have done that you have NOT...

I have done everything that is in big, bold letters .

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (does Rock Band on Wii count?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (does Disney World count?)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (twice)
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch-hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (had an awesome science teacher!)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (I have to be able to hit the ball first)
32. Been on a cruise (a one day crusie in Alaska!)
33. Seen Niagara falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (old house in kansas)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (Twice!)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (all the time when I was little)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (it's not done, but I have it started!)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (Finger in a car door)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Scottie Gomez, the hockey player)
92. Flown in an airplane
93. Joined a book club
94. Lost a loved one
95. Had a baby
96. Seen the Alamo in person
97. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
98. Been involved in a law suit (still waiting to here if I get my money back the dealership charged me double for!)
99. Owned a cell phone
100. Been stung by a bee

Am I going to survive the next 8 weeks?

So 2009 has gotten off to a rough start for our family. I have been looking forward to my last two classes and then when they started this week I have had nothing but frustration, stress and worry over how I am going to get this done! It all started with my Pell grant issues. I registered for classes and was told my pell grant should pay for them again. After paying my own tuition for the last 2 years I was so happy to get a pell grant to pay for my last few classes! Then I got an email saying I owed tuition the day class started. I was very upset because I had not planned on spending $1200 on tuition this month. After an hour in the CTC office they figured out that yes I do have a pell grant to cover the cost, but I was going to have to pay upfront and get reimbursed. I had to do that in September and I am still waiting on a refund so I didn't want to pay the college more money! Unfortunately it was the only way so I paid.

Class that evening was beyond stressful! This class is essentially student teaching. I need 225 hours in the next 8 weeks to complete the course. And on top of that I need to put together a portfolio of all my employment experience, education, resume and such. I have not worked in ten years so I was very frustrated trying to figure out what I am supposed to put in this portfolio! Luckily the teacher is helping me. I am the only one in the class that is not employed so they get to count the hours they work and until it adds up to 225. I, on the other hand, had to meet with principals and CDC directors to get permission to do my hours. Cody will have to go into hourly care or a friend's house since I need roughly 6 hours a day for the next 8 weeks! So I am very stressed out, worried how this is going to work, worried Cody will be unpleasant since he only has two mornings with me and now he will be in daycare or at a friends house, and worried my portfolio won't be very good!

So I didn't sleep after the first class! The next evening I go to my second class, the one that was supposed to be laid back and somewhat easy. Nope it isn't. The teacher was told to teach Admin II, not Admin I last minute so now I get to write an entire employee handbook! At least the other assignments are too bad, but an entire employee handbook! Oh my goodness! So that night I didn't sleep I was so stressed out. Now it is Friday and I am feeling better. I have met with the school principal and she said she really admires military spouses who go the extra mile to continue their education so she was going to do everything possible to make sure I get my 225 hours! Boy was I relieved! The CDC director is helping me as well. I will be in developmental preschool classroom at the school in the mornings so she is having me work in the preschool classroom that many of the same children are in at the CDC. My focus is special needs so I was very happy she suggested I see the children in two different environments! I am very excited to be in the classrooms starting Monday!

I still question whether I will survive the next 8 weeks! I told Zach that I have never really asked for help when I am in school. I usually handle it all on my own rather well, but this time I am not even going to try. I am relying on him to step in and take over! Eight weeks is not that long so nothing can be put off, I have to start right away and not stop until the classes are done. On the bright side after all this headache and stress I will be graduating in May!!!!! And because I have had to work so much harder to take classes, complete the requirments and all to finally graduate means so much more to me! I can't wait for May!!!!

Lucy is 3 weeks old!

Sunday Lucy turned three weeks old and the family sent us more pictures. All three puppies are growing fast, howling, play fighting and even eating a little bit of puppy food. I am not sure how they are going to keep three adventurous puppies contained until they are able to be taken them from their mom at 8 weeks old! The kids are having a hard time being patient and keep asking why she can't come to our house now. In another month or so we will go get her.

Biggest present ever!

I don't really have anything exciting that has happened here lately so was looking back through pictures and found this one! I wish I would have come up this idea myself. It is ingenious! My sister and brother in law took all of the Christmas gifts and put them inside this huge box. On Christmas morning my three nephews came in surprised to see such a big present, but it was the ONLY present. Once they got through all the wrapping paper they discovered the other presents inside so were relieved that they all didn't have to share one giant present together!

They told us it took almost 2 rolls of wrapping paper and they had to assemble the bos inside the house. Once the kids discovered how much fun the giant box could be they were having a hard time getting it back out of the house!

I finally got it to work!

I have been trying since Cody's program to put the vidoe of his class singing Must Be Santa on my blog. Today I decided to give it another try and it worked! At first you can't hear Cody and then you can hear him pretty loud on the chorus. We, along with other parents, couldn't help but laugh as he sung his little heart out! The teachers had told me that Must Be Santa was his favorite song and they were right! Cody amazes me all the time and I am so happy we got this little movie of him singing!

Must Be Santa

Ryan's new glasses

Over the Christmas break Tyler and Ryan had eye check ups. Last year the school said Ryan needed glasses, but he didn't. This year they sent home a letter saying he needed them so I was not sure what to think. The eye doctor said his eyes aren't very bad, but the glasses will help him at school. Surprisingly Ryan was very excited! Waiting a week to get the lenses and all was more than he could take and he whined everyday about them not calling to say they were done. Monday he told all of his friends as school that he would look different the next day. He was very upset when I told him his glasses weren't ready yet. Finally Wednesday they were and we went over as soon as school was out! I am not a nice mom when it comes to glasses. I threaten them with thier life if they chew on, play with or leave them laying around! I see too many kids with glasses that are all scratched and mangled and parents complain of having to keep buying new ones. Tyler did lose his this year, but the teacher said she is not sure what happened. She saw him put them in his desk to go to lunch and then they were gone when he came back. He got a new pair as well, but only needs them for reading, being at the computer and things like that. We just think it's funny how Ryan has been so excited about his glasses though!

Reliable timeline......we think.

PCSing in the military is complicated and for whatever reason you can never get a straight answer from anyone. In November we were told our overseas availability list was out. We were excited since there were 4 slots for Alaska. Well the cycle ended with nothing showing up on Zach's file so that means no overseas assignment. Or so we thought. A few days later he is told that was not our overseas list....ours was due out in February. Well that gave us hope, but at the same time we weren't getting our hopes too high! Yesterday Zach emailed me and said that our overseas list is the next one to come out. This was his email.

For Oct-Dec report dates, overseas lists will be released on 3 Feb and we should find out between 20 Feb and 15 March if we get another overseas assignment. For stateside Aug-Oct the list comes out 14 Apr and we will find out between 23 Apr and 15 May. That give us 127 days until we should know where we are going. 234-264 days until we leave Germany. 66 days till we know if we are going overseas.

So I guess the countdown is on! Funny how the number of days until we find out where we are headed for sure adds up to a deployment. And just like we do when he is deployed we set milestones to count down to instead of counting days till he comes home. So our first milestone is in 66 days! Keep checking back for updates!

Resolutions????

In our house we don't really make new years resolutions. Instead we try to have goals all the time some short term, some long term. And as the year goes on and life happens we see what we are accomplishing and what things we can do better. So this year I plan to keep that up. I am on the downslide of a goal I have had for many years.....to get my degree. Even with graduation in May that goal will not be complete since I still have future plans that take me through a master's degree! And plans to get a job outside the home and work with other peoples children!

I also plan to maintain my "live longer, happier, healthier goal" which I started last August. I may not feel the aging process or feel any older, but reality is I am aging and have to do something to live longer, healthier and happier! So with this I decided to start running so a friend and I can run a 5K together hopefully before I leave Germany. I can't say I enjoy running, but I enjoy competing with myself to always do better, last longer, run faster! I hope to be apart of events that raise money for breast cancer awareness, autism and other things like that. I feel less tired and it's a nice way to get "away" as I think and day dream on the treadmill. I am also taking my calcium everyday just like the doctor told me to do. I am drinking more water, less soda and juice (being nicer to my kidneys!)and trying my hardest to eat breakfast although that is a bigger challenge for me than anything! And part of this is not letting stress get the better of me! Stress ages us in my opinion and so I am doing my best to keep a balance in life, a cool head when it comes to the boys and to not sweat the small stuff in life!

And of course this is year we move on to a new place. Where that might be, we have no idea! If we are going overseas they say we will know in March. If we are going back to the states we will know in May. Then of course we have to have medical clearances to go. Right now Cody still needs oral motor and speech therapy beyong what a school can provide, but we think won't be too difficult to work with. Zach's eyes are cleared now so that red flag is off his file. As of right now no touch up is necessary, he's got perfect vision! He is still amazed at how well he can see!

We know this year is going to go fast, be a little more stressful with moving, but we are looking forward to all the new adventures!

Happy New Year!

Last night we had Bryce over for a sleepover and he mentioned fireworks. We can't set them off on base so decided we would go to the castle and see what was happening there. So at 11:30 we set out and sure enough we were not dissapointed! From the castle you can see the city of Landstuhl as well as other villages in the distance. We forgot our camera, but let's just say the people here know how to ring in the new year! There were fireworks going off all around us! The town was all it up, the castle was all lit up! Someone had big fireworks about 30 feet away from us! Then others started setting off smaller ones. Bottle rockets were flying, some hitting the castle right above where some people were standing at the top of the steps! It was crazy, but fun! The boys were in awe and seemed to have a good time. We watched them for a good thirty minutes when we thought things might be dying down, but they weren't. As we were walking back to the van it seemed that everyone must have gotten their second wind. As we drove around the Melkerei we watched people run out in the road and light something then run. The streets were littered with trash from it all! A firetruck came flying by us sirens blaring. Luckily it was raining a little. It was a good time! The boys were all out cold by the time we got back home, but we managed to get them all in the house and in beds. We slept until about 9 this morning although I think I could use a bit more. Zach and I got stuck on some old movie so stayed up watching it.

I am excited for this year although sad times will come as we have to say goodbye to friends in several months, but new adventures lie ahead! I am finally graduating....well as long as my paperwork gets processed correctly and in time. Zach tests for another stripe and hopefully he will get to take another class or two. I hope everyone has a great year and that we will get to see some family and friends we have missed seeing in the last three years!

It's Pinewood Derby time again.

Since Ryan is in scouts now we have two pinewood derby cars to make. We have a few boys whose dads are deployed so we figured why not make three! So here are some pictures I took as the boys began their cars. They picked their design, Zach cut the wood then handed them over for the boys to sand. Ryan is making a bumble bee. Tyler is making a hot dog and Bryce is maing the car on the box. He said it was easier then having to think up a design. After we figure out paint and all I will take more pictures of the finished cars!