Monday, January 26, 2009

New Assignment!

This week we found out for sure that Jerry DID get picked to be a part of the LCBP, Logistics Career Broadening Program, and that we are going to be moving to Warner Robins AFB, GA!! How fun is that?? (We would have liked VA, but this is the next closest to family... literally!) We will be headed south again. I figure if we survived SC then GA shouldn't be too much different! I guess we will find out though, and real soon! We don't know our exact move date yet, but should in the next couple of months. We hope sooner. It should prove to be a good two years of Jerry's career. He will be switching from job to job within the ALC, Aerial Logistics Command, under the General there. The good thing for the family is that they will not deploy him while he is there. So the next two years he has nothing but family!!

We also are finalizing some plans to go to Vegas this summer. One of our neighbors from SC that had Jerry do his re-enlistment has asked him to do his retirement ceremony. Hopefully, we will get all our plans hammered out in the next week! We are really excited to be a part of his retirement as well as humbled that he would ask us!

This summer is going to prove to be a busy one that is for sure. We have Vegas, house hunting to do, a move to get through, and establishing a new community all in one year! It will be stressful at times and probably pretty crazy too... but it always brings us closer as a family and always brings us more dear friends.

The kids are doing well. They don't really understand a lot of what we talk about... or so we think... and then they will ask us questions about whether or not their friend is moving too. The move from GA will begin to mark when our moves will become harder on the kids I think. Mainly because Jay and Anna are at the age where they want their own friends their age. They will miss their friends here, as they have other friends from our previous move, but they will remember the next set of friends more.

Jerry seems to be happy with finally knowing where we are going. I am. However, I also look around at all the "stuff" that we have acquired since moving here and it is staggering. Yes, we have added two kids, but WOW! We have to start winnowing down what we have and soon! I feel it like a bad itch. I just want to get it done. At the same time, I need to focus on what is important and that is the kids' school and the kids' themselves. And so it will be until their school is done and then it will be a spring cleaning like none other!!

So if anyone is looking for anything specific, let me know... I might just have it!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Why you should never play Wii with children on couches behind you...

Okay... so... Jerry has been out this week and will return tomorrow... While he is away something always seems to happen. Well, all right, it just seems more traumatic then if he were here!

So the kids convinced me to play Wii with them Tuesday night. We have a rule that when we play people that are not playing have to sit on the couches (we have 2). In our living room there is one on the back wall and one sideways to seperate the pack and play from the rest of the room. I decided to try my hand at hitting homeruns... Xavier and Sydney were on the couch behind me, Jay was on the floor in front and off to the side of me, and Anna was on the other couch beside me. I am standing in the middle of our living room under our fan (our coffee table is MIA at the moment in the garage) getting ready to hit baseballs. I hit one... almost got a homerun, but not quite. I gear up for the next one and.... hit a foul ball. At this point, I think to myself, "I am going to try the chopping thing that my dad always does and hits these stinking things once and for all!"

So I am really gonna give it my all this time! What happens, however, to my amazement is that my hand comes down and suddenly stops with a sickening thud on top of Xavier's head! Evidently, he decided that he was going to sit by Jay for a better view and since he was coming from behind me... yeah, didn't see him coming until I crushed my pinky finger between the Wii remote and his head with all the force of my downward swing behind it. I swear I saw stars, and blacked out for a minute. Now you might be thinking... "what about Xavier's head???"

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! The child's head is made of METAL or CEMENT or something REALLY HARD!! He was more upset that I stopped him from his goal of reaching Jay and because I scared him!

Meanwhile, I can't feel my hand. Of course it is my right hand... since I am right-handed... My pinky swelled to the point that the fleshy skin was taut instead of pliable. Sobs were so close to coming out that I had to leave the room and get ice for my hand. The kids were not concerned about me... Oh now! They were more worried about all the balls that I was missing! Gotta love kids and their sense of compassion right?! Ha! Actually, truth be told, I was glad they were distracted because they tend to hover!

I did call my neighbor, Shelli, to see if she knew if you could still bend a broken finger. She and I decided that if it got worse, I should go to the ER. I haven't gone. It still aches and is pretty colors now. The swelling has gone down but my knuckle closest to my nail looks odd and my hand aches more then it originally did. So we'll see how it all turns out.

What I learned as a Wii player that is a parent of young children:
  • Put them in front of you, where you can see them at all times!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

So sorry....!

All right... Apologies to those who read this and have been waiting for me to update! I did not realize that it had been that long!! SORRY!!

Christmas was a wonderful time! We got to see both family sides and the Dragon extended side! I had one lapse in my memory that was kind of funny, but thankfully had a couple of awesome cousins bail me out!! I had made Gouffre cookies, which are French cookies that my Gma Dragon used to make, for everyone on the Dragon side. We were gathering for gpa's wedding and I thought this would be the perfect gift for everyone this year, since I would see them all for once! (Well, almost all.) So Jerry and Mary (SIL) made the batter for me and then I made the cookies on a borrowed cookie iron (from one of my wonderful neighbors!). Yes, I made 104 French cookies on a double cookie iron. It took 2 hours... but was SO worth it. I had made my list to pack up earlier in the week so the cookies were not on there. So naturally, I left without them! THANKFULLY, my cousin April and her husband Chris were driving by Dayton to get to the wedding, so I had another one of my FABULOUS neighbors unlock my door so they could get in to get them and bring them to the wedding, which they did!! The worst part of it all was that I left the house KNOWING that I forgot something and it was important. It wasn't until we got to my parent's house and my dad was helping me take everything upstairs that I remembered what I was forgetting. Probably because it was his mom and I was so excited to do the cookies for that side of the family because it meant something to all of us.... I think everyone liked the cookies! They at least remembered gma.

The kids had a good Christmas. They got to see all their cousins and had a lot of fun playing with them. Xavier attached himself to little Andy, my brother and SIL's son. He had the best time! Makes me see a promising future for him and Caleb! Sydney regressed in her potty-training while we were home. That wasn't too cool. She was fine when we got home and then had a couple days where she was peeing AT the potty on the bath mats and not IN the potty! That was really frustrating. We are hoping she is past that. She was going through clothes left and right there for awhile... which is fine on the clothes, but the bath mats can only take so much washing over, and over again before they start falling apart!

Jay and Anna had a lot of fun with their cousins as well. They enjoyed playing Wii with Uncle Michael and Gma and Gpa Dragon. Anna is so good at bowling it is scary and funny all at the same time! Jay does all right, but was more excited to play Lego Batman with Uncle Michael!

They are back into the swing of school now. They have days where they don't like school and don't want to do it, but I just push through. Once they finish, they forget what they were complaining about! Silly kids! Jay starts multiplication in a couple of weeks! Anna will be a couple weeks behind him... That should prove interesting!

We are going to start Piano lessons next week. I was going to start a couple weeks ago but thought better of it since we took a 2 week vacation instead of 1 week. I didn't want to have to review it all! They seem excited. I will see if I can't set time aside like we would do if they were really going somewhere for lessons. That way, we are sure to get it done!

Jerry's shoulder is healing well. The doctor or physical therapist is really happy with his range of motion. He doesn't have to wear his sling anymore, so he is really glad! He went fishing this past Friday and caught 6 Bass. He was ECSTATIC! Of course, he had to put two back, but brought the other 4 home to clean and all that. So our freezer has about 6 fish in it now. For the next 10 - 14 days he is on an inspection. The kids always miss him, but I think I miss him more because I lose the extra help and my heater in my bed!! (He's is my personal furnace!)

I am doing well. Busy with laundry, cooking, teaching, nursing, and general upkeep of the house and such. I am hoping to get on my scrapbooking while Jerry is away, or at least make some good headway. However, I also want to read a couple of books too!! AGH! So little personal time... what to do?!? It is precious time that I have to myself so I tend to be selfish with it. I am slowly working on adding more responsibilities to Jay and Anna and a more laid out plan with all the kids. I am taking it slowly because I am afraid to implement it all at once and have really upset kids and an upset mom!

Hopefully, this is a good update for everyone because I did not get Christmas letters out this year! Everything came at us fast this year! Happy New Year to all!