Photos by SASSY

Right around Easter, my friend Angelia, SASSY...took some pictures of the kids. We were at Azalea Park in Summerville. They were so adorable, yet I didn't think to post them here...so here they are.
And there are less of Austin because he wouldn't stay still for long, and he hardly ever looked at the camera. ;o)



Austin like to smile, but he didn't like to pose. LOL


Maddie was a model this day. Very cooperative.




A ferret happened to be at the park. LOL.

Austin thought he should pick it up.

My pretty girl.

Her fave past time...daydreaming & playing with her hair.

They saw a caterpillar.

Funny Boy!

You can't catch me looking @ that camera.

Awww...

His famous face.

Gotcha!

He really is ALL boy.

The face that everyone says looks

lie George Bush. haha.

I am holding him up and tickling him here.

The GOOD shot!

One of my faves.

The BEST one! ;o)

I hope to have her take some before we go to California, but we will see.

WOW!

I have REALLY been neglecting my blog...I did attempt to blog our trip to Oklahoma, but there were so many pictures and I do not know of anyway that is easier to upload them to here, in the proper order. Maybe I should load them somewhere else and then link to them on here. We were in Oklahoma from July 26th till August 15th. Hubby had training there for Iraq. On his last day of class, August 14th, the instructor told the guys that Iraq was cancelled. So, when we came back, we told everyone it was over, all the training was really for nothing, and we were staying in Charleston--with all the cockroaches and the humidity.

The a couple weeks ago, the Air Force notified Hubby that they wanted him Iraq. This time Baghdad. Some important guy in the Air Force searched high and low for my Hubby. He sent emails looking for HIM. He wanted him to work with contractors. So, right now he is in Dayton, OH, getting MORE training. Then we will be headed to Macon, Georgia to some training. This time we get to tag along--again. ;o)

So, needless to say, I need to post all the pics from Oklahoma, some pics from since we came back...then Maddie's Bday is on Monday...then pics from Georgia. I have plans for my first Tweetup (Twitter Meet-up) with a chick who is pretty cool. Her name is Rebecca, @rawilliams08 on Twitter. So if it all works out, it will be so cool.

So, the plan is: Hubby goes to Iraq sometime end of Sept/early October. Report date was Sept 25th, but if I have learned anything by being a military spouse: THINGS CHANGE almost daily around here. LOL ...so they pushed it back a week or so. Then I am having my Dad fly out here to help us drive the almost 3,000 miles to California. I will be living there with my sister for the year he is in Iraq. Then, we trek all the way back to Charleston, SC to live with the cockroaches--again. That will be a year. *catches breath*...Then Hubby gets to choose almost wherever he wants to be. I have a feeling it will be TEXAS. LOL.

But I will keep everyone posted and I AM trying to upload all those pics here. They are on my Blackberry now...so as soon as they get to the computer, they will be here.
Until then...;o) HUGS

M.I.A Potpourri

Ok, so I haven't been keeping up with my blog at all. Since EASTER!! Yikes! I have seriously become addicted to my new Blackberry and Twitter.com. Twitter is the easy way to blog short 140 character "stories". ;o) It is very fun.


Let's see what has happened since I last blogged here...


We kicked out the MIL. J/K, she moved to Arkansas to live with her boyfriend she met online. Within an hour of getting there she decided she could not and would not live there. (due to the rotten and run down trailer she was supposed to live in that had no room for her stuff) So, she calls her best friend in Ohio and decides to move back there. She and the boyfriend head to Toledo the next morning. I found this all to be very unneccessary and overly dramatic. But it is her life and her decision. But it would have saved a whole lotta money and anguish if done differently.



I am in the middle of potty training the Boy. He is doing really well. He even pooped in the potty 2 days ago. We took a picture. ;o) I took one of Maddie's first poop as well and posted it on the bathroom wall. It really helped her. This may seem crazy to some of you, but it works! They have a proud moment and it really sticks in their minds. So I would say he should be well trained by the time we go to Oklahoma...
We made up a song to help. It is sung to the Apples and Bananas tune....(I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas...)

I like to pee pee pee, peepee in the potty.

I like to pee pee pee, peepee in the potty.

I like to poo poo poo, poopoo in the potty.

I like to poo poo poo, poopoo in the potty.

I drink my juice juice juice and peepee in the potty.

I eat my food food food and poopoo in the potty.

He likes to fill it in with whatever he is eating, etc. It is so cute! And I think it helps a lot. He turned 2 in February.

Which leads to my next update;



Daddy is in New Jersey now learning Iraqi langauge and about the plane he will be working on, etc. He comes home on July 23rd. Then the next day we are all (minus Cowboy the dog) driving to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Daddy has training there too. So we will ALL be there until about August 15th!! We are so excited! It will be one of our only family vacations, since usually Daddy hasn't been able to come with us when we go to California, or when I took the kids to Minnesota to see my Dad in 2007. So, this will be fun! It is also the last time we get to have lotsa fun before Daddy goes to Iraq...We plan on going to the aquarium, the zoo and the Air and Space Museum. ;o) The Air Force is paying since they are making Daddy go. So, they will pay us $.55 a mile to drive there and back, pay for the hotel room, and then about $44 a day for food just for him. I think we can live on that no problems. We will have a kitchen in the room, so we can cook like we do @ home.


And the last major update would be that me and the kids are moving to Abilene, TX after Daddy gets shipped off to Iraq. I thought about it long and hard. Since we are unable to get a home loan cuz our credit is sadly less than perfect and I don't really wanna take care of a house and property all by myself anyways...we will most likely live on base and build up our credit for that year. I plan on taking the kids to California a few times though while we are there. I want to go before Thanksgiving and come back after New Year's. We would bring the dog and I guess I would need to pay someone to look after the house, water plants, make sure the yard isn't trashy, etc.

And that is about it....oh yeah, I almost forgot. I had a bad case of cellulitis that is just clearing up. Had it for almost a month. I went to the base clinic and they told me it was IMPETIGO. So I was putting the cream on my face for like 5 days. It looked nasty, and it was very itchy and tight. I waited till I knew the base clinic wouldn't have anymore appts for the day and I called and asked to be referred to Urgent Care. I go later that afternoon and they tell me it is CELLULITIS . They gave me a shot of antibiotics in my BUTT and a prescription for more antibiotics. The clinic doctor, who looked like Martin Short and didn't make eye contact, told me : 'Well good thing it isn't cellulitis. Impetigo is on the surface of the skin and cellulitis is under the skin.' Yikes and YUCK. If it isn't one thing it is another, with my skin.











This is what it looked like after the

Urgent Care wrote on my face! LOL.

So it is just about cleared up. I haven't been able to use my Murad this entire time on that side of my face since the toner has alcohol in it. I did buy this cool stuff called Cuticura though. And it has nicely dried up my entire face and made it look quite pimple free and smooth. It costs about $2.50. Maybe that would be better since the Murad costs me $50+ dollars every 2 months. They are both antibacterial products. Most acne is attributed to bacteria in the pores. Which is also what caused my impetigo/cellulitis issues.

So that is all for today...if you made it this far you deserve a HUG HUG! Or you are a family member and just was looking for cute pics of the kids...BTW, I do have a ton I am gonna post here shortly...so stay tuned! ;o)

Until next time...

Slideshow for 4/21/09 Photo of the day

There were so many photos from today that I thought I would post them all in a blog sideshow. Hope you enjoy seeing the kids...;o)

Egg Coloring and Hunting

I allowed the kids to color their own eggs for the very FIRST time this year. They had a great time and got very messy. They even enjoyed putting candy in all the plastic eggs for the hunt the next morning. We did the egg coloring the night before Easter...and the neighbor boy; Maddie's fiance (she proposed) went on the hunt with them. LOL.

And the pictures are out of order...The top photo is the last photo and the bottom bottom is the first. ;o) Enjoy!

California here I come...

...right back where I started from...





So, the kids and I will be moving to California when Hubby moves to Iraq in September. ;o)



I have had an offer to live in a friend's motor home in her RV parking at her house...my sister says we can live in her computer room which is open to the rest of the house...and I would be sleeping on a not so comfy futon. Both those options sound good to me, however. I just wanna spend the time with family and not think about drama or stress or sadness. I know I will be sad without my Hubby, but if I had to start life in Texas without him, I think I would be even more sad.



The BAH (housing allowance) will be good for us to save and help pay some bills. And maybe even save some towards buying our dream property. The property Hubby wants probably won't be available next September/October, but there will be something just as nice or nicer I am sure. And if we were meant to have that place, then it will be there waiting for us.





This is the one he really wants...










http://www.realestate.com/Property/18145012-10268-S-FM-1226-Hawley-TX-79525-11158377.aspx



http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/10268-S-Fm-1226_Hawley_TX_79525_1107207246




31.6 acres of property about 20 miles outside of Abilene, TX. We have orders to Dyess AFB, TX in October 2010. It is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 2,432 sq ft double wide modular home. It is actually a nice looking place on a bunch of land. It is fenced all the way around with lots of trees. All for only $129,900. I would think if we could talk them down to about $115,000-120,000 then we could get a loan for $150,000-$175,000 and then make some major improvements on the land and buy some much needed furniture. I am tossing the furniture we have before we move.




I think we could get a better loan amount if we take this next year to pay off the bills and save. We are planning on getting a VA loan, so we don't have to save a down payment. But it is based on credit score for the amount and wages vs debt amount for the interest rate. I would like to get as much as possible for the amount of the loan, with the lowest interest rate and then in 5 years or so when our credit is even better, we can refinance.



Hubby wants THIS property and he wants it ASAP. ;o) Poor guy. It is calling to him I guess. I am just thinking about the credit part of it and the monthly mortgage amount. I am also considering that I can't handle 30+ acres without him. What if there is a fire? What do I DO with all that space??




So, here is all the info and we need to make a decision for our future. This decides what school district our kids will grow up in. This is where we will be FOREVER. We will eventually build a nicer, bigger home on this land and many other things. This is it for us.





As a SSGT, he would get $1,073 a month for housing. As a TSGT (if he ends up passsing the test he took in February) he would get $1,205. In California, using my sister or friend's address, he would get $1,688 SSGT and $1,910 for TSGT. Hmmm...the decision should seem very clear and in focus. ::sigh:: (http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/bah.html)



And the more I look at it, the more I want it too. We just weren't very smart with our finances and credit score when we were single and also since we have been married. I am 31, he is 30 and we should be able to buy some land and a nice little house for the family. Is next year our year? Do we need to wait 5 more years till Rob's Mom can give us some money she says she will give us? Then when Rob retires from the AF will we be able to afford the mortgage? When will it be paid off? 30 years?



Maybe I am over thinking or over worrying about all this. But it seems that if I DON'T then no one else will or is even considering anything. Hmmm...



I just need one of these...