Doctor appt.

Yesterday I took the girls to the doctor. I was taking Ivy for her 2 year checkup. I know its a little early, but i wanted to get it done before things got all hectic with the move. I had them check Constance too cause she acted like her ear has been hurting her. Turns out she has an ear infection and strep. The strep surprised me. Wasn't expecting that one. Ivy has a little ear infection too. Same ear as her sister in fact. So they both got antibiotics. Other than that though they are right on target everywhere else. Constance is a little low on her weight, but makes up for it in height. Here are their stats!

Constance- Weight: 35 pounds(she has been that for a long time now!)
Height: 41 inches

Ivy Jewel- Weight: 29 pounds
Height: 35 1/2 inches

David and I have been talking about what we want to do for block leave after he gets home. We looked into a big vacation to Disney World. I love that place!!! We have decided to wait for that though. When he reenlists in four years he will get a pretty big bonus and we are going to go then and just have a great vacation. So instead of a big vacation we are going to do a small one. We are going to go up to Dallas. We are going to get a nice hotel, order room service and just relax. They also have a really nice aquarium up there that we all want to go to. They have a big zoo too, but we will have to see about the weather first. As long as we are all there together and enjoying ourselves it doesn't matter where we go.

Only 10 days til we move! I'm getting that excited/nervous feeling. I just wish David were here too. I hate doing these big moves by myself. Stressful!! So far there have been no problems, so hopefully it goes off without a hitch. I will have my mom post a blog for me whenever we are there and settled in!

Re-enlistment pictures

Doctor Appointment

Tree in our front yard
Pretty leaves

My little Penguin!!!

Arggggg!!!!!!!!!!

New coats!!! They look so grown up!!!!

I had a doctors appt. today. The main reason is to get some birth control started before David gets home. We havent totally shut off the idea of one more baby, but right now is not the time. I would like to wait til at least he gets done with his schooling before we decide that. So we shall see.....

The other reason I went was because I have another Ganglion cyst growing in my hand. I dont know who all knows this, but three years ago I had surgery to have one removed from my left hand. It was fairly large and just kept growing, so the doctor thought it needed to come out. I was glad too, cause before the surgery I could not straighten my hand at all. Found out afterwards that it was totally wrapped around my bones and tendons, that is why it was pulling so much. So about a month ago I noticed a small lump on the back of my right hand. Over that month time it has doubled in size. So I just asked her about it. Cant do anything here since I am moving, but she said that people that get these usually have them come back over and over again. So needless to say Im not too happy about that. She said I should get to a doctor when i get to Texas to have x-rays and all that good stuff done, and then go from there. I will probably just wait til David gets home to do that though. Unless it gets really big. If they keep coming back, I can just imagine my hands in 20 years! Scars all over them! Not cool!

I am posting a couple fall leaf pics and a preview of Halloween costumes!!!

3 more years!

Well David re-enlisted today. I know this is a suprise to most because last we talked about he was getting out. A good oppertunity came up for him and we didnt want to say anything til it was official. Now it is. He is getting a new job. Im not sure what the technical term is, but he will be a prison gaurd. His school starts October 23rd of next year. It will be at Ft. Leanord Wood, MO. Its two months long. At that time, the girls and I will stay in Texas. Not sure yet where we will be after that. He has put down for Leavenworth, KS. That way we will be closer to family. He wont find out for sure where we will be til he gets to school. I hate that part. Not knowing. Oh well. He has pictures of his re-enlistment ceremony, and I should have them tomorrow. When I do get them, I will post them.

Moms Meeting

Tonight was our monthly moms meeting at church. A bunch of us moms get together and talk about mom stuff!! Its alot of fun, and a nice break to just sit and listen and talk with other women. Tonight we had a guest speaker, who has eight children! That's alot, don't know if I could undertake that many kids. Anyways, she has alot of experience. How could you not with that many kids!! I really enjoyed listening to her speak. She spoke mostly about being a "significant woman". This is something I want to strive to be. She said that most "significant" people don't really know that they are significant, but they try to do things for other people to help them in their lives. She was mostly applying this to raising children. One thing that she talked about was how if we want to be significant women, we have to do some uncomfortable things sometimes. Like, instead of just throwing a movie on, or distracting our kids from doing somethings negative, we need to sit them down and reprimand them instead. It may not feel convenient at the time, but it is our duty as mothers. I am defiantly bad a taking the easy route at times, but I want to work on disciplining better. This will only come out better for us all in the end if I take the time to try and do it right now.

Anyways, that's just what I took away from the meeting tonight among with some other things. I am going to miss going to these meetings as this was my last one before we move. That's sad, but I have taken alot from them that I can apply in our home with our little girls, who by the way are growing up entirely too fast on me here!!!!

Our Weekend

Constance being cute!
the girls and Great-Grandma Butler
The girls and Great-Grandpa Butler

Ivy and Grandpa Dave Our girls
Sandra making butter
Grandpa and Constance petting the horse
Ivy and her Great-Grandpa
Uncle Rick at Nathan Boones

Here are a few pictures from our weekend. My dad and Colleen came down to visit. Saturday we went over to Nathan Boones settlement where my aunt and uncle do some reenactment stuff. It was pretty neat. The girls got some silver dollars and some fools gold. After that we went out for lunch and then back to my Grandparents house. We went back over there Sunday for lunch, then my dad and Colleen headed back home. It was a good weekend for everyone I think.

Pictures from Iraq

On a mission
Not a good day
Smoke and a little boy
The Platoon
Giving out candy to kids(David is the soldier in the back)
Sandstorm( dont think I would want to see that coming at me!)
150 degrees!!!! Crazy!

Here are a few pics I got today from one of the guys in Davids section. He got some pretty good ones. Cant wait to scrapbook them!

Carving Pumpkins!!!!!

So the girls and I went ahead and carved some pumpkins. Well, lets just say I carved them and they watched. I was all ready for them to help too!!! Ivy would not stick her hand in, she just wanted to look. Constance stuck her hand in once, and then got mad cause it was sticky! So I got to pull all the fun sticky stuff out all by myself this year! As I was doing this Constance was telling her sister to eat the pumpkin. So im up to my elbow in slime and Ivy is licking the pumpkin! lol

They both got cleaned out and carved though. I didnt want to do the traditional pumpkin faces this year so I found some pictures on the internet of some fun ones. Then I just drew them on the pumpkin and did it that way. They turned out pretty cute I think.

I have been going through all of our clothes today and getting rid of things that are too small now or we dont wear anymore. I got two trash bags full! So I will be taking them to a local charity place here. Lots of good kids clothes in there. I guess it hasnt really hit me yet that we will be moving soon. It all happened so fast, I havent had much time to get into that frame of mind. I have been packing though. It shouldnt take me too long to do. Tomorrow though is going to just be a fun day. No packing or worrying about moving. My dad is coming down and we are all going to Nathan Boones. Its like a reenactment place from before civil war times. My Aunt, Uncle, and cousin are involved in it, so we are going to go make a day of it. I will post pictures tomorrow!

Moving

Well, we officially have a moving date. We will leave here on November 9th and move in on November 10th. Im relieved to finally know when we will be moving, but sad that we have to leave family and friends again. I wish we could be closer, but thats what its like in the military. So I have lots of packing to do. At least I dont have to pack a whole house this time. Im just anxious to get this move over with and get settled in at our new place. I know which housing area we will be in on base, just dont have our exact address yet. As soon as I know it I will let everyone know through an e-mail. So anyways, I thought everyone would like to know. Tonight though, I have some homework to do for David!! :)

Boyfriend

Well, Constance now has a boyfriend at school. Her daddy is not going to like this at all! lol When I went to pick her up today, we were leaving and she ran back and was saying "bye Josh!" I thought she was going to hug him and then she plants one right on his mouth. I think I was in shock! Both her teachers were both cracking up. lol I will have to scrapbook about this one!

walnuts! Lots of walnuts!

So we have been picking up walnuts in our yard. We can take them down the street to the little corner store and sell them to the guy there. I seriously did not know you could do that! Its a good way to make a couple extra bucks. Im using the extra I make for gas money.

I put a pic of Constance writing her name on here. She is getting so good at it. A little more practice with her S and she will have it down. I also put a picture of Ivy loving her kitty!

School Picture

Here is Constance's school pics. Im mainly putting it on here so her daddy can see them, but I thought everyone else might like to see as well!

Pre-School Screening

Cutting the pictures out
Ivy coloring!!!

Constance had her Pre-School screening today. They checked her vision and hearing. Then they asked her all kinds of questions about colors, numbers, ect..... She also had to jump, throw a ball, and skip. She did pretty well. Couldnt catch the ball at all though. Im not so sure she is going to be our sportsy one! lol She knew all the answers to the question, but she didnt always tell them. She was being a little shy. So they graded her in the 65% for her age. They said that is great. Im not going to hold her to that number though. I think she is doing just fine with everything. I will continue to work with her at home, and she is doing great at school.



Here are some pictures of her doing her homework! She is practicing with Scissors, and doing very well. She had to cut out these pictures and then choose which ones start with an L. She got all of the right, but two. Then she had to glue the ones that start with an L on a piece of paper, color them, and the write the letter L on her paper. Where did the time go. Seems like just yesterday she was learning to sit up and now she is doing homework!!



Ivy got to practice with scissors and glue for the first time. I try to include her when Constance does her homework. That way she doesnt feel left out, and she is learning too. We have a ways to go with the scissors! lol She would just hold them and jab them at the paper! The glue she did pretty good, but she kept wanting to take the paper back off and do it again. It was cute watching her try though.

Baldknobbers!!!

My Grandma and I on the tour bus!!

Yesterday, I went with my Grandma and her church to Branson. We went to see the Baldknobbers, and ate at their resturaunt there. We had a fun time. Lots of laughs. I love Branson. I remember going with Amy, her mom, and her friend Lisa. That was the best trip ever! We were like 14 and trying to find all the cute boys! lol Anyways, I didnt get home until after midnight last night, and I was exhausted! Then Constance decided to wake up at 5:45 this morning! So tonight I may be going to bed with the girls!

Finally!!!!!!!

I finally got ahold of someone at housing in Texas who would give me some answers. Ive been calling for almost two weeks now and was just about to give up. The lady I talked to today is in charge of our application. She said the reason we are not on the waiting list yet is because if she puts us on now we would get a place right away, which means I would have to move right away. She is supposed to call me back here in a bit and go over the details with me. I told her I can move anywhere from November 15th on. So hopefully I can get all my questions answered when she calls back. I will let you all know what she says.