P's in Kindergarten

Well folks the official start of school has come and gone in this house! P is an official kindergartener :) Her unofficial day was this past Wednesday. It was her assigned testing/transitioning day. There were only a few kids that attended that day with her. The day was designed to help the teacher assess where each kid is level wise plus give the kids a day to get use to the environment. That day was a success! I walked her into her class and she didn't even blink. When I picked her up that afternoon, she couldn't wait to tell me all about it. Then Friday everyone in Kindergarten had their first day. That was another successful day as well. P is settling in her classroom's schedule and adjusting to the long day. She loves eating her lunch in the cafeteria. And Fridays the kids can purchase ice cream for a treat. We are still adjusting to our new routine and life as well. The mornings haven't been too difficult. Thankfully, we are mornings don't start too early and the school is just down the road. We typically need to leave the house by 820 and it takes about 15 minutes in the car rider's line. Henry is getting use to not having his sister to play with during the day and look forwards to picking her up from school in the afternoons. P is really going to get immerse in school this week as it will be her first full week... Monday through Friday... seven hours each day... makes for a long week for a 5 1/2 year old. I feel she will get use to it no time and is up for the challenge in the school year ahead!

P on her first day :)

Catch All Update

Life has been busy around here! Not sure when it got so crazy but it is and there is no sight of slowing down any time soon. The motto for us around here is the days are long and the nights are short :)

• I have put on my FRG leader hat again and am now the FRG leader for HHC in the 3STB. The position has been only mine for about a month but it keeps me busy. Meetings, huddles, pre deployment briefs, etc have all been on the agenda these past few weeks. 

• The Battalion Chaplain hosted a Leaders' Marriage Retreat this past weekend at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville. It was a great weekend!! We had never been there and that place was awesome. We checked in Friday night and didn't leave the hotel until Sunday afternoon. There is that much to do inside that place. There was only one session we had to attend on Saturday morning and they provided child care for that. All 3 kids did well and had no issues. Then we had a couple of free hours for family time. All five of us had some yummy lunch at the pizza place in the hotel and did lots of exploring. We rode the boat around the Delta section. That was pretty cool. We also had child care that evening for a couple of hours for all the couples to have date night. That was much needed and very appreciative. Brandon and I enjoyed a fabulous meal. It was nice just to have some quiet "us" time. After we picked up the kids from child care, we sat by the fountains and watched the nightly water works show. P and Henry enjoyed that :) Sunday morning we had breakfast with Shrek and friends at the Hotel. P was very excited about this and enjoyed getting to meet a few characters. We did some more roaming as well as packed up the van and checked out. We grabbed some lunch at the burger joint in the hotel before heading over to the Opry Mills Mall next door to do some tax free back to school shopping. It was a great mini vacay for our family before school and deployment gets rolling!

• Speaking of school, we are down to home stretch before school starts for Miss P. School for the Clarksville Montgomery County started back today but Kindergarten doesn't begin till next Friday. On Monday night, we had Meet the Teacher. We found out the P's teacher is Mrs. Allbert and currently there are only 13 kids in her class. There was a Parent-Teacher meeting this morning for student and parents. Brandon took P and it was a very informative meeting. We have lots of paperwork to fill out and turn in. P will go next week on Wednesday for her testing date. She is getting excited as well as anxious. I think she will be good once she goes next Friday and starts the every day adventures. 

• Brandon also received GREAT news we have been waiting on for some time. The list was published on Tuesday so its now official he has been promoted to CPT. YAY!!! We have been waiting for this for months and are so thrilled and relieved that its finally happening. He will be promoted on September 1 and his promotion ceremony will be held on August 30. I am SO proud of him and all his endeavors. I  cannot wait to "pin" him his double bars in a few weeks. I have missed all of his officer promotions up to this point. It will be a big day for the whole family :)

Kid Kuddos

I feel like I haven't been blogging as much as I should or as much I'd like to. I also feel like I am failing in the department of picture taking. We have an awesome Nikon and it sits in the living room on top of our tv armoire and yet I never remember to take any. Thank goodness for my iPhone and Facebook. I can easily snap a great photo with my phone and load to Facebook so at least I'm sharing in that way. However, I do feel bad that little Scott has very few actual pictures that I have taken. Poor guy! He gets a lot of coverage with my iPhone but not so much with the regular camera. (#majormomfail) My goal is try and take more pictures of all 3 of them and hopefully get some actual professional pictures done of them as well. Its been since the end of 2010 since P and Henry had professional pictures done and of course Scott has not had any. I need to put that on my bucket list for this year! Nevertheless, I thought I would give some random updates on how the munchkins are doing and share some pics as well :)

• This summer has been hot and what better way than to spend it at the pool. And thank goodness all 3 of them including Scooter are all little fishes when it comes to the water. P is getting so much better at swimming this year. She is learning to hold her nose and swim under water as well as float on her back. I am so thankful neither P nor H are scared of the water and Scott just sits and splashes and kicks his legs. He is a huge fan of the pool :)

• P starts kindergarten in less than a month! Where has the time gone?!?! August 8 is her first day but we will just be having a short day where we just meet the teacher then receive a testing date for the following week then August 17 is her first full day. No turning back then, ha. She is so excited and ready. I know she is going to be just fine. Looking forward to buying her school supplies and some back to school clothes later this month!! YAY :)

• Scott is growing so fast!!! He is developing and learning new things everyday. He is getting well at sitting on his own and loves to stand. He is just a content, happy, go lucky guy! And he has been sleeping upstairs in his crib every night for over a week now. I am so happy. Him and Henry share a room and its always been a concern how it would work. But they both do really well. Scott has been sleeping just fine with no problems. I typically lay Scott down after Henry has gone to bed and Henry doesn't even stir when I put Scott up there in the crib. Usually Scott is the first to wake up but doesn't wake up H allowing him to sleep until he wakes on his own. 

• Henry is growing up to be such a big boy! He is finally talking more and can more words that we actually understand. Its such a relief. He is learning to recognize his letters too. Henry enjoys going to the Hourly program on post and will be attending more regularly once P starts school. He loves getting to play with other kids and learns so much from there. 

trying yogurt for the firs time, loved it!

happy little guy!

P and Henry checking out Fort Donelson. 

sitting all by himself :)

sleepy little boy... passed out in the bouncer. 

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Baked Ziti

Tuesday: Quesadillas and Rice

Wednesday: Bag Meal

Thursday: Roast Beef & Swiss Hoagies with Potato Salad

Friday: Tacos

Saturday: Out to Eat in Nashville

Sunday: Grilled Chicken, Baked Macaroni & Green Beans

Independence Day 2012

Happy 236th Birthday America!!!!!

Beyond blessed to live in the land of the FREE :)

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.  ~Elmer Davis

May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!  ~Daniel Webster

God bless our great nation and those brave men & women who defend our freedom!!!!

HOOAH!!!!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Quesadillas 

Tuesday: Pasta Salad with French Bread

Wednesday: Fast Food or Take Out (Water park day)

Thursday: Out to Eat

Friday: Pizza Biscuits

Saturday: Grill out Hamburgers

Sunday: Lunch at The Blackhorse (Museum day)

Summer Reads

I heart reading. It is my favorite hobby. Whenever I have any free time, I usually pick up a book and read. No matter how crazy my day is I always find time to read. Its a beloved past time since I was a little girl and I just love to read. I typically end the night reading a few chapters of a great book till my eyes are heavy with sleep. I usually read on my Kindle but lately all the books that I have been itching to ready are way expensive. I don't really like to spend more than $5 on the kindle edition of a book unless its something that I might read again down the road. But a lot of the fun reads I've been wanting to read are just that fun and not necessarily something I will read again or a book that I can justify spending $10+ on for it just to sit on my kindle after I am done reading it. Last week when I took the kids to the library I decided to check and see if they had some of the books that were on my wish list and they did! Score for me :) Unfortunately, I already read those two so back to the library we will be going this week. They were great, fun reads and I finished both in about a weeks time. Yes I read that fast! I couldn't put them down and read vigorously during nap time most days, ha!

this one is a new favorite of mine. great read!!!

i heart the stephanie plum series. and this one did not disappoint!!!

So if you are looking for a new book to crack open this summer, I highly recommend these two. They were both just easy, light reads. I have a few new ones to be on the hunt for this week at the library. I hope I can find them and get started reading :)

this looked like a fun, interesting read on mommyhood. 

I've read some of her works in the past and this is her latest novel. 

love her! she never disappoints!!

i am a fan of bethenny and looking forward to reading her novel. 

Happy summer reading!!!! <3