Andrew
&
Peggie

67% Compatible

♥ Andrew and Peggie have been romantically-together for a long time. That alone demonstrates a degree of compatibility. Their personality descriptions seem to be in conflict, which may present a challenge. However, their shared faith will help form a bond between them. They both abstain from drinking, so that helps compatibility. A mismatch in athleticism could decrease compatibility. Andrew may complain that Peggie is too sloppy. Furthermore, their astrological signs are not in harmony. Their common love of animals is good thing. And their views on children are similar. Money differences may cause relationship stress. Andrew and Peggie have a number of compatibility weak spots. With love and devotion these are not insurmountable. ♥

The Dating Compatibility Test by Dating Diversions

A friend of mine has this compatibility test thing on her myspace page, so last night Husband and I thought it would be funny to take it and see how "compatible" we are. First we were reading horoscope stuff and saw that Aquarius (me) and Tarus (him) are not good together. Well, I already knew that, but apparently he didn't. My friend, who we stole this from, and her hubby are 93% compatible. We, as you can see, flunked.

I'm not really sure what this says about us except that we probably fight a lot (don't worry, I know these are just for fun). And husband did give silly answers to a few of the questions. (Like the abstaining from drinking part!)

And no, I'm not procrastinating again, I'm on hold with the doctors clinic to make an appointment for me and Hunter. They only do "same day appointments" here at this on base clinic, so whenever you need an appointment you usually end up spending a good part of your morning on hold waiting to get through.

Ooh! I just moved up to number 10 in the que! And I only started out at number 22.

**Update: after sitting on hold for over a half hour, I was greeted with a snarky lady who told me there were no appointments left today. In a voice that suggested I should have already known that. Silly me!

Grrr.... people annoy me sometimes!

Yes, I know, I'm a horrible procrastinator. One of the officially elected "Queens of Procrastination"! The dining room isn't quite done, and as I'm going through it, it wasn't all that bad. You know how you always anticipate things to be worse than they really are? It's just a lot of craft projects and school papers, stuff to "organize". The kids have only been in school for a week, but *wow* paperwork from two kids piles up fast! So, I'm working on it. I promise!! (with a little nagging from Husband who is now home safe and sound from 18 days of training in the field)
Now, I have to complain for a minute because I'm so steamin' mad. Louisa has been in Girl Scouts since the Kindergarten Daisy days. Which, by the way, if you have a little girl in kindergarten, sign her up for Daisy's! You'll thank yourself later! (and so will she!) Back to Louisa. The troop we were a part of in Wisconsin was fun. The leader was always making sure the girls kept busy, had fun, and learned what Girl Scouts was all about.
In Wisconsin we also were a part of Awana, which is a nation wide church based bible study for kids. They typically meet on Wednesday nights. I wanted to get the kids involved in Awana down here, too, but when we finally got assigned to a troop the local GS council told me there was only one troop that had 3rd grade Brownies in it. Conveniently they met at 6:00 on Wednesday. Same time as Awana. The kids said they were fine with not finishing out Awana last year.
We had several issues with Louisa's new Brownie leader not calling and notifying me of changed meetings, times, and locations. I was given a calendar, and much of it ended up being changed and the leader not letting me know. Therefore, Louisa missed out on a lot and blamed me for it. I made sure, more than once, that her leader had my correct phone number. Kindly telling her that Louisa was missing out on activities and I'd appreciate a phone call when things were changed. Also, I found out from a mom of a little girl in Louisa's class that there was indeed another 3rd grade troop who was meeting on Saturdays, and she knew this because her daughter was in it! Huh! Interesting. (can you see my blood boiling?!)
End of the year comes, Louisa bridges to Junior Girl Scouts. The leader tells me that there is a really active Junior leader who meets on Wednesday nights and Louisa would do great with that group. At the time I didn't think about it and said, "Oh, Great!" Anything to get away from this stellar Brownie troop.
Summer comes, and the biggest event the girls had to look forward to all year was a trip to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to spend the night. They earned the money for this by selling GS cookies (that some of you bought from us!) The week before the trip is here and no call from the Brownie leader. I call her on a Tuesday and leave a message with her husband. No call back. I call her again on Thursday (the trip is on Saturday) and leave an urgent message on her voice mail complete with correct phone number. No call back. Louisa didn't get to go to the Space Center and she cried and cried. It's one thing when a parent lets their child down, but don't anyone else EVER hurt my children. This lady is now on my Shit List.
We advance to this week where we get a note from school saying that it's sign up time for both Cub Scouts (which Drew has been waiting for forever!) and Girl Scouts. We sign Drew up for Cub Scouts, more specifically Tiger Scouts, and the go to the Junior GS table for Louisa. I have totally forgotten about the Wednesday night troop that the Brownie leader had told me about. I signed her up for Saturday because we were for sure doing Awana this year on Wednesday.
Yesterday I get a call from who else? The fabulous Brownie leader. She asks if "Margaret" is home. Yes, that's me. Then I see, or rather *hear* a light bulb go on in this woman's head. "Ohhhh....., are you Louisa's mom?" Yes. "I tried to get ahold of you this summer, but I was calling some Wisconsin number that had been disconnected. I'm sorry!"
I wanted to jump through the phone and break this woman's light bulb. Did she have any clue how many times I gave her my correct cell phone number since Louisa first joined her troop? And how did she get my old Wisconsin house phone number anyway? From GS records? I filled out new paperwork when Louisa transferred troops with my correct current cell phone number on it. Why would she go off of OLD records? And why did she ignore my phone calls in the summer? I identified myself as "Louisa's mom" every single time. Grrr!!!! ARGH!!!!!!
Ok, the phone call. She told me that she had a Junior troop for Louisa this year and it meets on Wednesday nights. I said, thanks, but we already signed her up for Saturday because we are joining Awana this year on Wednesday. She gave me a disappointed, "Oh", and explained that the troop on Wednesday is much smaller and much more active and would suit Louisa better because she's more mature than many of the other first time Juniors. I didn't care. I was mad. I said we're joining Awana this year, thank you, good-bye.
Last night we went to what I was told was Awana registration. Nope. It was the first night of Awana, registration was weeks ago (I was told by a snotty lady) and there was no room left. So I start to storm out (yes, of a church) with a screaming toddler on my hip, and several people staring at me like I must be pinching him for him to scream like that. Never mind that he was starving and tired and had just worked himself up into fit of rage. All by himself. No pinching needed. A much nicer lady chased me down, sensing my frustration, and took my name and number in case anyone drops out. I explained that we had been in Awana for years, that the kids missed out last year and I didn't want them to miss out again, and that I had gotten an email from my FRG saying that tonight was registration. At least her pity was better than the snotty attitude from the first lady.
Now I'm thinking maybe I should just let Louisa be in the Wednesday night Junior troop. The kids have so many sports, scouts and other extra-circulars throughout the school year. We can technically work on Awana at home. I am a trained leader after all! And we have the books. Louisa would benefit from an active GS troop. She loves adventure and she's very independent.
I'm still annoyed with last year's Brownie leader. She handled herself poorly and let down a little girl who was counting on her. *My* little girl, no less.
And now it's back to the dining room. Think of all that time I wasted by typing this up, proof-reading it, editing it, and re-reading because I know I rambled too much and had to delete a lot of what I typed.
Pictures of a clean dining room to come! No promises of when this time, though! And thanks for all the support. I'm glad I'm not in this "clutter kingdom" alone!

Ok, ok... my dining room!

Alright, Scrapping and Nikki talked me into it. But you all have to promise you won't call CPS on me!

I hope to be posting my "After" picture by tomorrow this time. Here's the "Before" picture that I just took about a half hour ago.

The balloons on the wall have been there since the last weekend of April. Three of the six chairs have stuff on them. Most of the floor is covered in craft stuff like paper, half finished projects, and things that are still "drying" 2 months later. I still have a few boxes stuffed in the back corner filled with those things that you just don't know what to do with. The biggest part of my job tomorrow will be finding a place for everything.

Post your "Before" pictures, and comment back letting me know where you posted them. Help me out here! Let me know I'm not the only one drowning in clutter!!!

Tomorrow, People! This will be cleared out tomorrow!

Issuing a Challenge

My life, my house, there's too much clutter. All summer long we come in, throw our stuff down, go back out, come in, throw our stuff down, go back out.... Now, summer is over, and I'm living in way too much clutter.
So, I'm issuing myself a challenge. I really suck at challenges. I'd never do good on a reality show. But I need to get this place picked up. Now.
I'll start with the dining room. I'm not going post a "before" picture because it's just too bad. First, there's my dining room table which normally seats 6. Right now only two can eat at it. And sometimes I have to clear it just so the kids can eat breakfast. One of our rules was that was always eat as a family no matter how busy life gets. We're not doing that right now. Then we have all of my arts and crafts "crap", as my hubby calls it! He bought me such a nice organizer for our anniversary and I filled it, but didn't organize anything. So I need to really organize all my supplies so that I can start making things again (on my *clean* table!)
After the dining room is the living room, but we'll get to that later.
Anyone else up for a de-cluttering challenge? It's like a diet, no fun to do on your own! Leave me a comment, let me know I'm not the only one swimming in clutter right now.
I'll post an *after* picture because, let's face it, those are just far more fun!

Waiting for Babies

Two of my friends that live down here on base with me are expecting babies. One is due next week and this is her first, and the other is due in a few weeks and it's her second. All of our husbands are working hard out in this hot Louisiana sun, so while the guys are away us ladies have been hanging out. Including a 6 hour marathon at the Burger King playland on Saturday! (Yes, *really* 6 whole hours!)
With the upcoming deployment, both ladies are naturally pretty sad that the new daddy's won't get to know their babies very well. And both mommies will have to go through new-mommyhood on thier own. I thought I would get them each little cheer-them-gifts. Not sure how much it cheered them up, but these little shirts are pretty darn cute!
I ordered them off of Cafe Press. They have so many fun shirts. We ordered a t-shirt from CafePress for my father-in-law for Father's Day that said, "My son is serving in the US Army so yours won't get drafted". He, of course, loved it and wears it proudly.
Both babies are boys, obviously. I got the t-shirts big enough so they can wear them when daddy is gone to show off just who they belong to! And maybe make the mamas smile a little.

*sigh* Now I'm a Soccer Mom

I know I should always be happy with positive choices my kids make, like playing sports over playing video games. But soccer?! It's just so boring to me! Although I know plenty of people who fall asleep during a softball game, which I find exciting.
So, Louisa started soccer tonight. She's played with friends many times, but this is her first time on a team. She was actually better than some of the kids who claim they've played for several years.
The coach gets to choose how often, and when we practice. In this heat, he decided that only two times a week would be good enough. He wanted to meet on Mondays and Wednesdays to practice, and then games start in a month. Well of course several parents couldn't do one or the other day. I didn't want to be picky, or make a fuss, but we really did want to go to Awana on Wednesday nights this year. We started out in Awana in Wisconsin at our old church last year, but didn't finish it once we moved down here. The kids missed it and wanted to sign up again. A few other moms mentioned they were signed up for Awana as well, so Wednesday wouldn't work. The coach asked the main guy in charge of it all what we should do. He said, "Well, we're in the Bible Belt down here. If these ladies need to take their kids to church on Wednesday, then just move the practice to Thursday!" Simple as that.
Nope. Not simple. Other moms have Scouts on Thursday. Well, ya can't keep everyone happy. The guy in charge did say they were going to form two more teams because some of the teams were too big. That means we can still do some adjusting to make most people happy.
And now I really *have* to sign the kids up for Awana! No excuses!

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise...

Friday led Hunter and I to yet another very fun playgroup. Many of the playgroup members have smaller meet-ups in their homes. Our friend Melissa and her little boy Jacen invited us to a Teddy Bear Picnic, complete with teddy shaped sandwiches for lunch, a "Guess how many Gummy Bears" game, and a Vote-For-The-Best-Teddy-Bear contest.

Melissa made all the kids little bear ears to wear. Hunter wore his bear ears for a little while, and then added them to the pile where all the other kids put theirs. I guessed completely wrong for the gummy bears, and we didn't win the best teddy bear award. I took Hunter over to where all the teddy bears were displayed and asked him which was his favorite. He picked a cute little princess bear, and that is the one that won!

After the playgroup we went to a friend's house. She is pregnant with baby number one, her husband is in the field with mine right now, and she's about to go into labor any day. We're hoping it's soon so that her hubby can come home to be with her. There is a point where they might not let him come home for the birth, and that would be very sad.

Hunter got to help her set up the new bouncy for her baby, and then of course he had to try it out to make sure it's safe! He found that it was very comfortable, and very bouncy!

The Night I've Been Waiting For!

No, it's not the night hubby comes home, but that would be nice too. Nope, tonight is the premier of High School Musical 2! And eventhough I have a really cute playgroup picture to share from today, I'm logging off for the rest of the night to watch....

And yes, I'm just as excited as Louisa is! And I've been waiting all summer to see it, just like Louisa. So we have our pizza and our orange soda and we're turning off the computer for the rest of the night... no matter how painful it may be for me.

Gerald McBoing Boing

I always knew that Gerald McBoing Boing was a Dr. Suess book, but I did not know that he also starred with Mr. Magoo *and* won an Oscar! Click here to see the original cartoon. I guess I'm not really hip to 50's cartoons.
If you don't know, Gerald McBoing Boing is a little boy who makes noises instead of using words. It takes his parents a little while, but eventually they are proud of their son and his noise making talents.
Hunter is the new Gerald McBoing Boing. He says a few words here and there like Dada (more than Mama!), kitty, Disney (yes, really!), shoes, foot (which he says "put"), ball, more (which he thinks means "milk"), and a few other random words here and there. He knows how to ask for things, like when he brings me the Cars DVD and then points at the DVD player, or when he brings me his shoes and points at his feet. But Hunter's best way of communicating is making noises.
When we drive past a train, he yells, "Choo choo!" Or if we're looking at animals, he'll say whatever noise they make. He's not much interested in learning their names, he just wants to quack, moo, meow, or make monkey noises. He really knows a lot of noises. He makes car noises when we get in the car, or airplane noises (complete with arms spread out for wings) when we see an airplane. I don't really mind it much, and people usually look at us with a smile in the store when he's making all his silly noises.
I was a little worried at first because when Drew and Louisa both turned two, they had very large vocabularies. I was always so proud at just how much they could say. Most of that due to the fact that we read a lot of books, and I point at everything and say it's name. This time around with Hunter, I don't know, maybe I didn't read enough. Maybe I made more noises than actually telling him the name. I do know that I don't make him ask for things like I should. He pats my knee, gives me his cup, points to the kitchen, and I get up and get him some milk. Bad Mommy! I should make him ask me. I make it too easy for him to get stuff out of me. I have made him start calling me Mama, though. He can say Da, or Dada, just fine when he wants his Daddy, he should be able to say Mama instead of patting my knee all the time. So at least that has gotten better.
I love his noises and I'm not quite so worried right now. I think he'll adjust sooner or later. I just need to start making him ask for things, and focus on telling him the names of things more often.

First Day of School, and Parent's Night Out

First of all let me just say that a toddler with a bag of M&M's in 100 degree weather when I'm wearing a white t-shirt, don't mix.

Today was the first day of school for Drew and Louisa. Louisa, with her new 'do, wanted to get up early and take a shower and have me blow dry her hair into the flippy style that the haircutting lady had it. I'm so bad with hair. I tried. It didn't quite look the same, but Louisa assured me she liked it.
Drew shot out of bed right at 6:30 this morning, ready to start his new year, whereas Louisa begged me for 5 more minutes. While getting Drew ready those 5 minutes turned into 15. That put us way behind schedule for Louisa. She got her shower, we did her hair and just as she started eating breakfast I noticed that she had to leave right that second to get the bus on time. She still had to put socks and shoes on and I wasn't done with her lunch yet. We made it, though.
They both came home with huge smiles on their faces. Their teachers are fun and they are happy with their classrooms. Louisa wants to apply for a job helping out in the library. I am very excited for this opportunity for her. Might lead to big things!
Hunter didn't really notice that his big brother and sister weren't around today. He slept till 11:30. We didn't make the playgroup that we were supposed to go to, but we did run some errands. He was happy when they got home, though!

On base they have "Parent's Night Out" every so often. On my playgroup website I saw that the Charlie Daniels Band is coming here to give a free concert next month, and that the Army Community Services is offering free child care. I signed the kids up for the child care. I will surprise Husband with the news when he gets back from training. It's only the Charlie Daniels Band, but Husband enjoys them and most of all it will be great to have some time to ourselves before he deploys.

From 9 to 15 in the Speed of a Haircut

Louisa has wanted her hair cut shorter all summer long. At one point we had decided on pink highlights (yes, really) but we found out that her school has strict rules on "unnatural haircolors". That nixed the pink highlight idea.
We spend a lot of time watching those cute shows on Disney channel like Hannah Montana and Suite Life of Zack & Cody, so she's always telling me, "I want my hair like that!", and pointing to the different characters. We had decided on something short and layered, so when we got to the haircut place yesterday we looked through some books to get a better idea of what she wanted.
I sat there and watched length after length get cut off. My baby girl's pretty hair!!!
After we were finished we had to go shopping. Louisa spent the whole time looking in every mirror we passed and swishing her new hair back and forth!
She immediately jumped to about 15 years old with just one haircut! Tomorrow school starts, so I'm sure she'll get a lot of attention from her friends. I'm happy with it. Louisa did have a few tears last night as she admitted it was a little shorter than she really wanted. We looked in the mirror and played with it a little. After she saw just how pretty she is she started to feel better.
I just can't get over how much older she looks!

*~BEFORE~*

*~AFTER~*

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

Yesterday was the big day for Hunter. Although Daddy wasn't here to help celebrate, we had a nice day. Of course, after all the excitement and junk food, our big Two-year-old is a bit crabby today.

We started off the day by picking up our friends Lucilla and Ethan and driving to the Big City for some Chuck E Cheese fun. Ethan's daddy works with our daddy and they live a block away from us. Lucilla is about 8 months pregnant with baby boy number two.

Each of the kids got 40 tokens (thanks to some awesome coupons I had) and Hunter insisted on using most of his to punch the duckies in the ducky punch game.

Drew found out just how strong he is... several times. And amazingly it went all the way to 10 every time. Although when I punched it the lights only went to 8, so he is way stronger than me!

Louisa helped Hunter ride the jetski. Notice how Hunter isn't paying attention? He's looking at the ducky punch game! (and yes, my kids actually do wear camouflage clothes a lot!)

After we got back home, the birthday boy needed a little nap. Unfortunatly so did mommy, and we both slept till 7:00! I wrapped the presents quick and Hunter unwrapped them quick.

He totally dug the little puppy vacuum that Louisa picked out for him. He's been vacuuming my house all day. Now only if it really worked, we'd be in business!

We sing Happy Birthday, we eat a little cake, watch a little Nemo, and head to bed after a wonderful birthday celebration.

Hunter pauses for a second as he heads to bed, looks around, looks at me, says "Da?". No baby, no Da tonight. He'll be home in a few weeks.

My Last Day With a One Year Old

This is me exactly TWO years ago to the day

In this picture, I am about to go to bed. When I wake up I will go to the hospital and have my sweet little Hunter. My smile could probably be a little bigger considering I am going to have a baby in less than 12 hours, but I was going to be induced, and not really knowing what to expect, I was a little scared.

Hunter was only one day late, but since I was *SO* big, the doctor didn't see any point in waiting. On August 11, my due date, when I still hadn't popped, the doc said, "Let's have this baby tomorrow".

Um, **gulp**, Okay.

Two years later, and I just realized this morning that today is my LAST day with a one-year-old baby. Tomorrow, he will be two, and no longer my baby. Off to toddler-dom we go. A little sad. Just a little.

I am blessed *beyond* words with my 3 happy, healthy kids. I'm sure, like most parents of healthy kids, I take it for granted. I have days when I really want another baby more than anything. I have days when I am sad that they are growing up at this lightning speed. And I have days when I realize what I have, get down on my knees and thank the One who gave it all to me.

Good-Night my baby One-Year-Old! See you when you're Two!

More Playgroup Fun

I think this playgroup thing is really working out. There were only 3 of us today, but it was fun. Even better I met two new ladies who were very nice and had adorable kids. We went back to the jumpy bouncy place that Hunter and I had been to for a solo playgroup a few months ago. This being Drew and Louisa's first time, they were amazed with the ginormous bouncies of every kind. Hunter prefers to play with some soccer balls and footballs that are set up there, but the older two bounced and slided till their little hearts' content.
Unlike most normal children, mine don't slow down after two hours of bouncing. They come home and bounce off the walls until bed time, and then they're still not done. My children don't slow down for much of anything, usually resulting in running me ragged for 12 hours a day. I say only 12 because they are glued to the tv for about the first two hours in the morning!
Back to playgroup, it was a small group, but it was nice. The women were chatty and it felt good to sit and talk to an adult for a little while. Even if I did have Hunter pulling on me to go back and play with the soccer balls again, or Drew and Louisa dragging me up the really high slide that burned my elbows on the way down.

...One to Go

Tonight was Drew's school orientation. The schools are set up kind of strange here. Pre-K thru 1st grade goes to one elementary school, and 2nd thru 4th goes to another elementary school. Those are the only two on-base schools. All the secondary schools are in the nearby town.
In a different turn of events tonight, instead of us telling the teacher how gifted and advanced our children are (because my 6 year old IS reading Harry Potter 1, after all!) the teacher told the parents how accelerated our fabulous children are. Apparently this one 1st grade classroom has been set up with all the advanced first graders in the school. They were recommended as "advanced" by either their kindergarten teacher, or the school counselor last year. Thus proving that I'm not the only one who sees just how *bright* Drew really is.
And of course my mom knew it all along as she proudly exclaimed, "See, I told you he was a genius! Didn't I tell you years ago that Drew would be our genius?!"
Yes, Mom. You told me.
This class will progress faster than the other first grade classes, they will have more advanced work and they will not go by the same cirriculum. All of that also results in more homework, and more of Drew trying his hardest to sit still and pay attention. The latter of which will be, again, our biggest obstacle this year. At the very least this faster pace won't give him much time to mess around in class as much as he did in kindergarten. And at the most, he'll be challenged every day without much time to get bored and antsy. (I think I just said the same thing twice.)
The new teacher seems very energetic and up to the challenge of a classroom full of "know it all" first graders. I sure hope so, and let her answer a few of Drew's 500 questions a day!

One down...

Tonight we had Louisa's school orientation. First, the fact that I even have a child going into 4th grade makes me feel old! Second, really, how do I have a kid going into 4th grade?!
We met her teacher who is an extremely nice young thing with four kids of her own and a hubby deployed to Iraq. One thing (one of the very few) that I like about these on base schools is that so many of the teachers go through exactly what the parents and the kids go through. A lot of them have spouses in the military, they know the deal. It's nice to have that extra person who can relate to you and your kids because they have experienced military life first hand.
After the teacher gave us the run-down on her cirriculum and teaching style a long line formed to talk to her, give her the papers we filled out, and in general suck up and brag about the kids. Louisa is gifted. Not a prodigy, but gifted. Last year when we first arrived to this school district she tested "gifted status" for the State of Louisiana. When she started testing there were 5 other kids with her. It was a series of 3 tests. You had to pass one to move on to the next. When she finished testing there was just her left. Last year in third grade at her school there were 4 kids in her G&T class. Only 4 kids of ALL the 3rd graders at her school. So tonight, as we're waiting to talk to Mrs. 4th Grade Teacher, every parent in line is telling her their child is "gifted", "accelerated", "above average", etc... So my question is, if there are so many gifted kids, why were there only 4 in the G&T class last year? Husband thinks that makes me sound snobby. Maybe it does. We ALL want our kids to be "above average" in some way or another. I would love to "claim" that Drew is gifted as well, but it's not my call. The school district is going to have him tested this year, but until he is, we can't say either way. Although I do like to brag that he has started to read the first Harry Potter book and he's only going into 1st grade!
So maybe I am a tad snobby. I'm just very proud of my daughter and her accomplishments. Being gifted isn't always what it's cracked up to be. It means more homework, and more is expected of you. I know she's got a long road to travel and I hope to make it as smooth as possible.

Happy Un-Birthday, Hunter!

Hunter's birthday isn't for a week yet, but daddy has to go train in the field for a few weeks and won't be here to celebrate the actual day with us. Daddy was deployed to Afghanistan last year for Hunter's first birthday, and he will more than likely be in Iraq next year for Hunter's third birthday. We wanted to take advantage of having daddy here this year (even if he won't be here on the actual day) and make it special.
A few weeks ago Husband's company (4 platoons in a company, 4 companies in a battalion) had a big Family Fun day at a local lake. The lake had a great swimming area, a playground, volleyball court, boats to rent and was just fun in general. We decided to go back to the lake yesterday and celebrate Hunter's birthday.
In the morning I was moving very slow. I have some new medication that makes me sleepy and it's difficult to get up and moving in the morning. By the time I got up and took a shower, Husband had fed the kids, made the sandwiches and fruit salad for our picnic, made cupcakes for Hunter, wrapped the presents, and packed the diaper bag. Whew!! I was glad I had him around!
We got to the lake around noon. It's about a 40 minute drive out there. This section of the lake is just for us that live and work here on Fort Polk. There are cabins to rent and you can camp there. We ate our delicious lunch, grabbed our swim gear and hit the water. No, we didn't wait an hour before going swimming! We bought a floatie thing for Hunter where he can sit in it like a little boat. He had so much fun floating around in it. The water was so warm, it felt like a big bathtub. Hunter liked watching all the little fishies. He'd get excited and call, "Fish, fish!"
After awhile we hopped out, cleaned up, changed clothes and gave Hunter his presents. Of course the kids had to help him unwrap them. Daddy picked out the presents and he did a good job. Hunter loved them all.
We got the cupcakes and put two candles in Hunter's and one in Drew's and Louisa's. Hunter blew his candles out right away, and then blew out Drew's and Louisa's! Then he dug in to his cupcake, totally oblivious to the chocolate goatee that he was sporting. The kids played on the playground for quite awhile. Daddy went to find out how to get a boat license so that the next time we come out we can rent a pontoon boat.
It was a very fun day. I wish Hunter would remember it, but I know it will be one of those things that some day he'll look at pictures and have no memory that he was there.

A Cheerleader Mom?

There's soccer moms and football moms and baseball moms.... all of which I'm more than happy to become. But NOT a cheerleader mom!

When I was in 9th grade the city I lived in built a new high school that I would attend the following year. I decided new school, new me, so I tried out for cheerleading. Not exactly the "cheer" type because I had long dark reddish-purplish hair, I wore headbanger t-shirts, a leather jacket, and black Doc Martens. I went to a week of cheer try-out practice. I felt good, I started to dress like "them", and I really believed that this was for me. At the end of the week we had our auditions. A week after that I got my letter in the mail. Apparently cheerleading was not for me. I was heartbroken for a few days.

When I was little, in my very small town that revolved around high school sports, I idolized the cheerleaders, including my sister's best friend and my best friend's sister. I knew all the cheers, and sometimes, because they all knew me, I got to stand next to them and cheer along. I got to carry their pom poms and get them water. I wanted nothing more in life than to some day be a cheerleader.

After my disappointment in 9th grade, I swore a vengeance to all cheerleaders everywhere. MY daughter would NEVER be one!

Fast forward to last week. The children's youth club here on base offered some free summer camps including cheerleading. We thought we would give it a try. Louisa was in ballet for 5 years, she loves dancing and gymnastics type activities. She's not overly perky, but she's always friendly and cheerful. At the end of the week she decided that maybe cheer wasn't for her. On Saturday, however, I walked in to her room to find her doing cheers to an audience of her brother, her cat, and all her stuffed animals lined up on her bed. She knows my past experience and she knows that I have always had a little "thing" against cheerleaders. I'm guessing part of her apprehension is due to me and what I may have said in front of her. I let her know that it was perfectly ok to like cheerleading. She wouldn't disappoint me or embarrass me if she did.

Today we went to sign her up for cheer for the fall. Last week she just learned some cheers and dances, but this fall she will actually cheer for the flag football team. Louisa said she's a little scared to cheer in front of boys. We talked to daddy about it and he told us that when he was in high school playing football he didn't even notice the cheerleaders, he was too focused on the game. That helped her a little. I hope she likes this and I hope it turns into something good for her.

If not, then we also signed her up for soccer and we'll always have sports to fall back on.