Oops

So tonight I had to drop off some money for cubscouts at a friends' house. I told the kids I would be a few minutes while they waited in the car. Well, I guess they know their mommy too well...I got to talking and about 10 min later, Josiah, Malachi, and Aliyah came inside and started playing while I talked....well listened more because my friend is having issues. Anyhow, after 30+minutes, I mentioned Judah's name in the discussion only to remember he was alone in the car! I felt horrible that I totally forgot that I had another child....I mean completely forgot about him. He was screaming with tears on his cheeks when I got to the car. I was so sad. I hope he only cried for a minute......however, it was probably longer. When I got home he smiled big at me. I'm thankful for his forgiveness of his less than perfect mommy :)

Mother's Day

So today I spent Mother's Day with a new friend, her sister, and all of our children. It was a great time of fellowship and the kids had a blast! Today was my 9th Mother's Day. It was a good day. Mother's Day is a day that I get to reflect on 4 of the greatest gifts God has blessed me with. They are Josiah, Malachi, Aliyah, and Judah. I truly am so blessed and love being a mommy to these precious ones. They light up my world and make me smile. So for the day today, Josiah asked to scramble some eggs for me for breakfast. I made some bacon and toast to go along with it. He is such a big boy! The boys also made me some cards showing their love and creativity. I loved all my cards! I didn't get any from Aliyah, I guess her brother's forgot to remind her to make me a card :) Josiah also tried to decorate some with streamers left over from birthdays. Below are pictures posted from the day.

Here is the bonsai plant that Frank sent me for Mother's Day from the kids.

Now, I also happened across a list that Josiah made of things to do for me for Mother's Day along with checkmarks beside the completed task. The tasks read like this (spelled like this too):

1. stay up decorate house

2. cute paper to heart and make card (checked off)

3. pick flowrers (checked off)

4. make lunch breackfast dinner (checked off ...although only breakfast was made)

5. make desurt

6. decorate desurt

7. do show

8. mak cards (checked off)

9. give mommy flowers (checked off)

10. clean house if messy

Josiah's pile of cards for me....he just loves making things for loved ones! (#2 on list...check)
Malachi's card to me...it is painted inside with a marble. He only had help spelling Mother and the rest he did on his own!
My chair decorated with streamers. (#1 on list....he forgot to check it off)
The only other spot that was decorated with streamers.
My flowers that were picked off of the blooming tree in our backyard. (#9 on list....check)

Josiah cooking scrambled eggs for breakfast. (#4 on list....check)

Now for pictures of my most precious gifts of all....my children!

My beautiful daughter.
My handsome sons.
My sweet baby.
I had to add another picture of Judah. He has given up his pacifier for his fingers these days.

I had a great day. I am so very blessed to be a mommy. Thank you Jesus for giving me such wonderful children to love and raise. I just love them!!!

Interesting Week

So it has been an interesting week this week. I went to cubscout committee meeting on Tuesday. I've been leading cubscouts for both my boys' dens for the past year and I attend most of the committee meetings as a leader and concerned parent to know what upcoming events are and the such. Anyhow, it is sad but due to the fact that we are a military cubscout pack, we have people pcsing (moving) or deploying left and right. At this moment, the major key people involved with the committee (keeps the pack going) are either deploying or moving this summer. We are now in need of other parents to jump in and help volunteer for positions if the pack wants to continue to exist. This is a hard task trying to get others to volunteer, especially when you are generally asking moms to step up as den leaders or committee leaders while husbands are deployed. This definitely is not an easy task to ask for or an easy task for a "temporarily single" mom to do either. I was asked if I would step up and take over the committee chair because of my known willingness to volunteer and organizational skills. This position is basically the over seer of all the positions. I am seriously thinking of doing it and stepping down as a den leader so that I can put my focus in committee chair to designate volunteers and help the pack continue to run. It will take some of my time but in a different aspect than as a den leader. I don't want to see the pack cease to exist. Yes I know I could find a pack elsewhere, off post, and non military. However, there is a special bond and understanding that exists among the military. It isn't something I understood as a civilian or even understood as military living far from a military base. It is hard to explain the effects of a deployment on a family to a civilian who has never experienced such a thing. I'm not saying that we are more special or anything, but what I mean is that it is nice for kids to relate to other kids who understand how it feels to have daddy gone....gone a lot....and gone in scary unsafe places. It helps them to know that they aren't alone and that there are other kids their ages going through the hardships of a deployment at the same time. And for me, it is nice to be around other wives who are an encouragement when dealing with a deployment as well because they are either in the midst of one or just finished going through one. So for this reason, I would like to see the military cubscout pack continue to exist because it gives a different type of support to the families of soldiers, not just the normal cubscout things. I'll be posting the update of what happens in the next 2 months whether our pack flourishes with new volunteers or falls by the wayside.

I got an email this week telling me that Josiah was accepted into Operation Purple Camp. It is a week long (5 night/6 day) camp for military kids ages 8 yrs and up of a deployed parent. It is located a little over an hour from me so I would drop Josiah off on a Sunday and pick him up on a Friday in August. It is also free! This would be Josiah's first overnight to a place unknown with unknown people. I think he will be fine and will make friends with other kids that are currently experiencing a deployment as well. Apparently, activities include climbing wall, archery, riflery, canoeing, swimming, horseback riding, and more!! What an awesome opportunity for him! Malachi is sad he isn't old enough of course :(

Anyhow, I started feeling sick again Wed night and all day yesterday. It was different than before but still not fun. I didn't have time to cancel the cubscout meeting Wed night so we still went and ran it. However, on my way home, I was in a daze just trying to get home fast. I was pulled over for speeding on post. I don't normally speed in town....I tend to speed some on highways in safe weather conditions though--my downfall :) Anyhow, Frank has always told me not to get pulled over for speeding on post because he has friends who have done so and got whopping tickets of nearly $200! So when I was pulled over the officer told me I was going 42mph in a 30mph section. I was so mad at myself and frustrated I was going to get a whopping ticket. Well, Judah at this point was screaming because he was hungry and I must have looked miserable because I think the officer felt sorry for me.....he ended up giving me a warning instead! I was so thankful!! I think Judah helped with that one :)

So tonight I met up with an old friend from Highschool. Her and her husband were in town so we took the kids to the airplane restaurant. It is a restaurant that is built with an airplane in it. We ate in the airplane and the cockpit is designed to let the kids go play inside of it. I now have a place to take my husband on a date when we can't get childcare! Frank and I can now sit and talk alone in this restaurant while the kids go play in the cockpit! They had a blast and are wanting to take daddy there now! It was a pretty cool set up I have to say so myself.

I got a beautiful bonsai plant in the mail today from my wonderful husband and kids for Mother's Day! I will take a picture and put it up tomorrow. The kids didn't know that daddy sent it but when I read the card that said it was from daddy and them...they started taking the credit and saying thanks as though they planned it themselves...it was cute! I find it funny that Frank would send me a plant though.....I tend to forget to water them.....and thus they die :( I hope I can keep this one alive! I wasn't expecting anything though because before Frank left he bought me a really nice camera...a sony alpha 550 to cover all major holidays, my birthday, anniversary, etc this year while he was gone! I love my new camera and look forward to the extra time during the summer that I will have on my hands to learn how it works manually.

Anyhow, that is about it for now. Both the boys have soccer games in the morning. For whatever reason, Aliyah doesn't have a game tomorrow, however, the boys' games overlap. So I'll be watching Malachi's game since I will miss most of his this season because all of his overlap with Aliyah and only 1 or 2 overlap with Josiah. I wish I could watch both games though. I love watching my boys play soccer!

Indian Curry

Ok...so this is Frank's version of Indian Curry. I made it tonight for the first time by myself and my little ones said it tasted like daddy's. To be honest though, it tasted mostly like daddy's...there was just something that made it taste slightly different. It is still yummy though and much cheaper than eating it in the restaurant! Here is his recipe:

1 lb pork pieces (or chicken)

1 small onion

2T garlic

2T ginger

1 can diced tomatoes

2 cups chicken broth

3/4 cup plain yogurt (approx)

3T curry powder

3T garam masala

salt and pepper

In large skillet add 2T olive oil and 3T butter. Saute diced onion for about 3 minutes and add pork. Salt and pepper pork and fry suate until almost complete. 2 Minutes from end add garlic and ginger. Cook for 2 minutes. Pull from heat and add yogurt to generously coat meat. Add the garam masala and curry powder. Mix well and return to heat for an additional 2 minutes. The sauce should be brown in color. Now add the diced tomatoes and chicken broth. Let simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. If the sauce does not thicken to your liking, add little corn starch mixed in water at the end to thicken. if it does not taste exactly how you like, smell spices and add until your pallet tastes what you want.

Soccer

Here are a few pics of Josiah and Aliyah at their soccer game yesterday. I didn't get to watch Malachi's game or take pics of him because it was at the same time as Aliyah's game. I'll get to take pictures this next Saturday. I do need to invest in a good zoom...(hint, hint, to my husband :)).

Garage Sale Finds

I took the kids to a few garage sales yesterday morning. They each had $5 to spend and I think they only spent $1 each! I happened to find a few things for Judah for later and snagged a nice winter coat for this next winter for only $1! I just love garage sales :) Here are pics of the kids and their garage sale finds:

Josiah bought some sort of connecting things. Apparently with connecting these things you can make cars, helicoptors, houses, etc.

Aliyah bought 2 puzzles and a book. Here she is putting together one of her new puzzles.

Malachi bought a remote control dinosaur. He seems to like it.

Oh happy garage sale season! We'll be going to many more before the summer is over!

Hair Mishap

Ok...so I really enjoy being frugal and coming up with new ideas to save money. I don't know why I'm like this but I find the challenge quite interesting at times. So one way I have saved money over time is giving my boys a haircut (not Frank....he won't allow me to touch his). I have gotten better at cutting their hair as time has gone by but for some odd reason my guard 1 came up missing from my cutters. Now you see, I have a guard 2 and then of course no guard. However, it is really hard to blend between no guard and a guard 2. I tried and was leaving a much to be desired cut. So last night I decided to just cut the back with no guard and the top I left longer. This is what it looked like:

Remember that old "bowl" style haircut of the early 90's....its back! haha! It looked horrible in the end. I couldn't stand looking at my obviously bad hair cut I gave the boys ....so tonight I decided to shave it all off and start all over. Here they are now:

I still think they look handsome!!! I may have to look for a new cutting system with a guard 1 in the meantime as it grows out!