High School

Yesterday Taylor picked her classes for her Freshman year of high school. I can't believe this time is here. It doesn't seem possible that she is going to be in high school. It is very overwhelming for this momma! Just looking at her schedule (honors English 1, honors geometry, ap human geography, biology, acting 1, german, wellness, health science and ROTC) gives me a mild panic attack! She on the other hand is totally calm. I couldn't help but think that some of these courses are things I took as a upper level high school student (a foreign language) or even once I got to college (speech).

Tonight we spent 3 hrs at the high school signing up for extra-circular activities and see where everything is. It is a huge school. It is a nice school. It is an overwhelming school. My girl doesn't seem intimidated by any of it (she very well may but she definitely isn't showing it).

ROTC is the thing she is most excited about. Lots of people support her on this and quite a few are very opposed to her doing this. Her heart is set though. She would like to participate in it all 4 years so she can get scholarships. This child has a very good head on her shoulders. I know when I was entering my freshman year I wasn't thinking about college at all! Her plans include some type of medical area so all of her electives are geared that way. It's so crazy to think about her thinking about college.

I know she is going to do great but this momma is stressing out just a little!

Hello Blog, Sorry I've neglected you :(

Life has been crazy! We are so busy! Matt is working in Memphis until at least April and possibly through November...thank you USAF! He has been there since the beginning of November. He is loving doing what the military trained him to do and for that I am grateful! The kids and I miss him terribly. Luckily he was home for a few days at Thanksgiving. He also came home for 2 weeks at Christmas/New Years....thank you military leave! It was heavenly. The kids stayed up way past their bedtime the entire 2 weeks...they watched way more tv than they are supposed to, they played more Wii than they are supposed to, they ate more junk/drank more coke than they are supposed to....and it was totally worth it! We will go down to Memphis in 2 weeks and see him. The plan is to alternate the traveling...he comes home one month and the next month we go down there. One weekend a month isn't really enough but will have to do for now.

16 years

Today Matt and I celebrated 16 yrs of marriage...in different states :( He celebrated by being on active duty and working on AF vehicles and I celebrated by shopping for school supplies, taking Taylor to the dr and then spending 4 hrs at the pool with the kids! Yep, it was a good anniversary.

Last year we were here.....

and we looked like this....

Tonight, I will dream of Roatan :)

Busy!

I think this has been the theme of my last few posts but I can't think of anything more appropriate to describe our lives at this time. Our summer has been so busy and flown by! The kids will be going back in school in just a few short weeks. We have enjoyed lots of traveling this summer....and Matt has been with us :)

Right after school we enjoyed a beautiful trip to Destin with my parents and my sister and her family. It was the 1st time we had all gone anywhere together. It was also the 1st time we had been to the Gulf as a family. My kids will never return to the East Coast after a week of white sand and clear, blue water! Luckily, we have access to a timeshare there so they will get to continue that luxury. It was also the 1st time that we had taken a friend of vacation. Taylor's best friend Noelle came with us. Taylor definitely enjoyed having a friend with her. The weather was perfect the week we were there. The water was calm the 1st couple of days but the last part of our week we had red flags and therefore a bit more waves which my kids weren't fans of. We were blessed to have our own pool at the house my parents rented so we just enjoyed that.

June was so busy with both girls going to Girl Scout Day Camp (Taylor as a counselor and Madison as a camper for the 1st time).

The kids also had 3 VBS's which kept them busy during the day and evening.

And then at the end of June we left for a Disney adventure with most of Matt's family(his sister and her family weren't able to be with us). In all there were 21 one of us with the 11 kids ranging from 16 months to 18 yrs! It was so much fun. Our kids had been to Disney before however it was a first for our nieces and nephews. We were there for 9 days and never slowed down. There was so much to do. We enjoyed going to the major parks...Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom (twice) as well as Blizzard Beach (twice) and Disney Quest. This is our 3rd trip and we still haven't gone to Epcot. Our kids have never been very interested in going there and we enjoy the other parks so much that we just normally repeat Magic Kingdom. Maybe next time! Again we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was a little rainy the 1st few days but we didn't plan to go to the parks until Monday so we just prayed the rain would move out. We got pretty wet on Monday while at Animal Kingdom but the rain moved out and the rest of the week we just experienced the typical Fl showers a couple of times. And the rain brought in cooler temps which was nice. And the most pleasant surprise was the fairly short lines. We expected it to be pretty bad since it was peak season but for the most part only waited about 30 mins for rides (and that was w/o a fast pass, on those rides we waited less than 10 mins). It was definitely a fun time and we look forward to doing it again (in a few years)! LOL

We are getting ready to enjoy our last vacation of the summer. And we saved the most glamorous for last....we are going to Mississippi and Memphis! LOL Matt is going to be down on base doing some active duty training (he normally has to do 2 weeks however was offered 40 days and we jumped on it)! We are going to go and enjoy visiting friends for a portion of that time and then the kids and I will come back home and Matt will stay for another week and half. The kids are looking forward to going to Corey's farm and shooting some guns and bows, going to Incredible Pizza and seeing their friends Kaitlyn and Kyle! I'm looking forward to shooting too and just visiting with some friends I grew up with.

Then we will come home and start trying to get into a routine of some sorts so the kids will be ready for school. The 2 little ones will be going to a new school...that is going to take some getting used too! Taylor will be in her last year of middle school and Caleb will be in his last year of elementary school. That just doesn't seem possible!

The end is in sight!

I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year. I love that school is almost over and I am no longer going to have to get up at 5 AM during the week. I love that the teachers tend to send home less homework. I love that the days are long and my kids can go outside and play for hours when they come home from school. I love the flowers blooming and birds singing! I love the warm temps! I love getting ready for a beach vacation that always comes right when school gets out. I love celebrating 2 of my babies birthdays as well as my mom's, my sister's and now Quinn's. However I hate TCAPS! I really, really hate them. My sweet boy went to bed crying last night :( He doesn't like tests. He gets super anxious. HE is terrified of failing. He puts some much pressure on himself. He is miserable the whole week. That is why I hate TCAPS! IT makes a normally sweet boy very grumpy and sad for a whole week. And to make it worse for him....his big sister isn't intimidated by TCAPS at all! She doesn't brag about that fact but he knows it and it just makes his anxiety worse b/s she isn't phased by these daunting tests! I will be so glad when this week is over and my sweet Caleb is back.

On a happy note....13 years ago today I was getting ready to be a mom for the 1st time! Matt and I probably felt the same way Caleb does right now :) Hard to believe I am about to have a teenager! Where does the time go?

Easter 2013

This is our 1st Easter together as a family since 2010. It was so nice to have Matt with us for a change. His parents even joined us for lunch :)

My family :)


The rest of my Easter pictures are on my iphone and I haven't figured out how to get them onto my blog.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

What has been going on in our life!

Boy, life has been so busy lately and has thrown us some major curve balls lately. After many weeks of Matt having back/leg pain due to a bulging disc and doing physical therapy to try and get relief he ended up needing emergency surgery when the disc ruptured. I am very thankful that God was watching over Matt...the surgeon said had the rupture been a few discs higher that the rupture would have severed his spinal cord and he would have been paralyzed for life. He did have quite a bit of nerve damage that is causing some lingering effects (no feeling in his left leg) but we are hoping those nerves will grow back over time and that these side effects aren't permanent. In the meantime he is sitting at home for the next 6 weeks on limited activity! During Matt's ordeal Caleb had been coughing and had a low grade fever. I was finally able to get him to the dr on Monday and he had pneumonia. He is responding well to antibotics though thank goodness. And if all that wasn't enough I was supposed to have a small procedure Nov. 2 to remove a couple of spots that had been found on a mammogram a few weeks ago. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to remove them my dr decided I had been through enough and they would just leave them and do another mammogram in 3 months. If there is growth at that point we will attempt a different procedure to remove them. Needless to say we have had a interesting few weeks and I am looking forward to things being relatively calm around here.