Thankful!

Gearing up for our big move, and I'm nervous, excited, and slightly sad.

Last time we moved it was September 2011. Wilson was a little toddler, and Callie was cooking away in my uterus. In the past two years, we had a lot of wonderful memories made. Said goodbye to friends, missed family back home, watched our babies grow, and made new friends. 

While I try to always remind myself of all I have to be thankful for, I don't mind having a day to specifically remind myself what I am thankful for, even if that day is mired in some pretty crazy history. (Seriously, those pilgrims weren't as nice as I thought.) 

For a lot of us, we all have special memories that come with Thanksgiving, memories of being children, surrounded by family, or if you are like me, and grew up an Army brat, a special time, most of the time, to be with my father, mother, and brother.

I will say, that one of the Thanksgiving I can remember the most, is sadly, one in which my dad was not there. He was deployed to Somalia, and missed Halloween, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. As a child, I remember feeling sad that he wasn't there to help do all the things he normally would. As an adult, I feel sad for my father, thinking of how he must've missed us. How we didn't have things like email and skype and facebook to keep in touch. And I'm once again reminded how thankful I am to be living in an age with (sometimes over-saturation) technology.

Unfortunately, even with all this technology, I still haven't figured out how to take a decent picture with my kids and my husband! So here is one of our attempts at a picture of me and my two children who I am thankful for! Even when they drive me completely bananas!

My Stitch Fix Box!

I have been dying to try a Stitch Fix box! So I finally caved, and signed up for one.  Now you are probably asking yourself :

What is Stitch Fix?

Stitch Fix is a personal styling service. You tell us your style, size, and budget preferences, and we send you a package of stylish goodies to try on at home. Each Fix™ is unique and hand-picked just for you.

You fill out your profile and sizes, things you like, and a stylist will pick out 5 different things for you. So here is what I got. Sorry for the terrible hair, no makeup, and terrible posing.

1. Coconinno Meta Watercolor Print Fit & Flare Dress
I was really, really tempted to get this one. I thought it was pretty figure flattering, and just a pretty dress for any occasion, but sadly, I decided to not keep it. I might kick myself later on for this one, but I think I just wasn't in love with the color so much. And there was some slight under arm bra poking out. *Sigh* it is pretty though isn't it?

2. 41Hawthorn Lachlan Cross Front Long Sleeve Blouse
I knew as soon as I saw this one, that I would not like it. I also don't like the unflattering pose I made, but I couldn't make this work with anything. Just not a fan. (Also note, the strap and pocket are completely messed up.)

3. Fun2Fun Blakely Lace Detailed Short Sleeve Blouse
LOVED LOVED LOVED this top! Super fun, (minus my pretty visible bra straps) The lace makes it sexy and feminine, and love the red. This looked really cute with a black skirt I also tried on with it too. Kept this one.

4. Rizzo Skinny Ponte Pants
These black pants were super soft, stretchy, and comfortable. I didn't keep these because I wasn't really sure how else to pair this for a more casual look, and I don't think I would get the chance to wear them out much. This is another one I might regret not getting.

I had one more item, that I didn't take a picture of but it was a long gold necklace with gold leaves on it. It was pretty, but with the toddlers, I would just be asking for trouble wearing it. So it also got sent back. 

I really enjoyed getting my box, seeing what my stylist picked out for me. I liked everything except for the one shirt. If you end up purchasing every item they give you 25% off the total. Which is a nice perk. You also pay a 20.00 stylist fee that goes towards your purchase.

I had a lot of fun, and will definitely try another one in the future! If you think you might like to check it out, click on my referral link HERE.

This is not a monthly subscription thing like Ipsy.  You can buy just one box, or if you love the thrill of getting something every month, can have the option of doing a monthly subscription.

Hope you enjoyed my not so pretty pictures and review of StitchFix!

The beginning of my THIRD decade.

I'm glad to say I was able to do something big, and something I wouldn't normally do for my 30th birthday.

Andy and I ate dinner at the amazing, Mabry House. The food was just amazing. (disclaimer: it was a pretty expensive dinner, so if you choose to go plan on dropping at least 150.00 to 200.00, and if you like to drink BOTTLES of wine add another 50.00 to that)

When I came from dinner, I was just so full. Like I wanted to cancel and just go to bed, fat and happy. Instead I lounged around after I got dressed. Then it was time to head out! I had a bit of a headache trying to plan this part of my birthday party, because the limo can't come on base, so I had to figure a semi-safe pickup drop off location. We had a bit of a snafu, and had to wait a little longer than normal, but when that Mercedes Benz Mini Bus came, it was nice.

I got escorted in, and picked our place in the nice VIP section. The Velcro Pygmies played some 80's rock music, they were good but no Molly Ringwalds. Got to do some Hookah, have some (too many) drinks, and just a great time with a bunch of wonderful ladies that I'm going to miss! 

30 before 30- The LAST update.

1. Become Debt Free! 

2. Learn to sew, knit, crochet something!

3. Breastfeed for 6 months! (I made it 6 weeks, so I think 6 months would be amazing this time around!)

4. Have a monthly dinner party with friends.

5. Complete something off of Pinterest. 

6. Have three months’ worth of expenses in our savings account.

7. Pay for a military family’s meal (a family I don’t know and without them knowing who I am) while out at a restaurant. 

8. Organize all my photos that are currently on my computer eating up space.

9. Learn to cook on a grill by myself.

10. Get both kids potty trained. 

11. Take a photography class.

12. Buy all my produce from a farmers market or local farmer.

13. Bake a pie and cake all from complete scratch. (Not at the same time though)

14. Get to spend at least 2 days/2 nights completely kid free, with my husband.

15. Go to a winery and do some wine tasting. (even if I don't like it)

16. Walk more, at least 4 times a week.

17. Throw a great 30th birthday party for myself.

18. Get a pet! (Preferably a dog)

19. Get Andy another car so we have 2 cars instead of 1.

20. Get a pedicure for the first time. (yes I have never gotten a pedicure)

21. Add something unique to my Hello Kitty collection of stuff.

22. Be able to get another cute birth announcement for Baby Bean like I was able to with Wilson.

23. To have driven under 10,000 miles each year on my car. 

24. To go grocery shopping by myself with 2 under 2. (this one I'm scared about)

25. To be able to fit all my clothes again after baby #2. (hopefully this one will be super easy to do! EEP!)

26. To be able to cloth diaper both babies, which means I need to build up a stash of Cloth Diapers. (See how number 1. is going to be insanely hard to do?) 

27. Stop biting my nails. Again!

28. Be able to budget one going out dinner a month.

29. Get my in laws to come out and visit us for a little while!

30. Be able to visit Indiana at least twice!

So there's my final list. I wasn't able to complete all 30.  But I plan on rolling some over and trying to do a 40 before 40. (And hopefully pick 40 things that I will be able to complete!)


We are SLOWLY chipping away at number 1. I hope in the next couple years we will be able to accomplish this one. With our upcoming move, I hope we can figure out a good location so that we can manage on 1 car until we can pay down more debt, and then look into getting a 2nd car.

I never did end up sewing/knitting/crocheting, but I did buy a little sewing machine for 20 dollars on zulily. So hopefully I can get that one done! I'm mostly nervous about not knowing what I am doing. 

6 kind of goes in hand with  1. We put a very small amount in for emergencies, but right now can't really afford to put much more into it. 

10. Get both kids potty trained? Ha! Who was I kidding! I am BARELY getting the one potty trained! 

11. Take a photography class. Hmm. I don't know if this is something I would really want to do now. I use my camera, and have played around with it thanks to online tutorials, so I have shot stuff in manual, but mostly I just use my phone. So it hasn't really been interesting me much. 

12. Doh! Really wanted to do this. Just never could wake up early enough or the timing wasn't right for me to be able to manage to go. Oh well, canned fruit is just as good right? ;-)

13. Thanks to pinterest, I have made a lot of good desserts, unfortunately not any from scratch. I will definitely be adding this one to the next list. I still want to try it, and unfortunately, thanks to pinterest, there are a lot of recipes I can try!

14. We will get to do this when we move and our parents come down and help us with the move! YAY! Definitely excited about doing this. We are thinking of possibly checking out New Orleans. But I'll have to blog about that some other time.

16. Whoops, I did really good for like about a month. And then it got Louisiana hot. And I was just not having it. In replacement I probably did take the kids to the pool 4 times a week. Maybe I'll shoot for 3 times a week... Although I am hoping to find a gym with childcare so that I can try to focus a little bit more on getting in better shape. 

18. Will we ever get a pet? Right now that window seems closed. Maybe in the future it will change. But as for now, no pet, and possibly not for a long while.

19. I really wanted a second car, that might have been nice during our time here in Louisiana with us so far away from everything. But with our next move, we might not even need a second car. So we are going to see how long we can go without again. No second car means no extra insurance, gas, maintenance, fees, etc. Which will help us with #1.

21. Nothing unique yet. I've toyed around with the idea of getting a hello kitty tattoo, but I just haven't decided. Mostly, I just buy Callie lots of hello kitty things. WHICH I LOVE!

23. Our odometer is at 47061. *sadface*  We did really great the first year, but with our longer commute to everything, we averaged about 12,890 miles a year. So we were still under the 15,000 miles, but no where near the 10,000. Still for a 2007 car, 47061 miles on it, is pretty great! At least I think so.

Oh, this thing?

Seriously fallen off the blogging wagon. Halloween is right around the corner. No pumpkins, no decorations, but I do have candy and costumes for the kids. So at least there is that.

12 more days until my birthday?! Andy is going to come up for it. Thank goodness! 

He has about 24 more days left with his TDY. 

I count myself lucky, that's he's close enough that he can come home on long weekends. (It's about a 6 hour drive.) I know typically, most military spouses don't get that. 

We've been getting by with a lot of "Where's daddy?" Wilson will then say "Daddy at school." So I think he kind of understands? 

The kids have been getting over random sickness for the past week. Whatever bug they both have is super resilient in little kids and refuses to die! 

I don't know how I haven't gotten sick yet. So we've been stuck inside a lot. The kids get stir crazy, and it doesn't help, that if they look out the window, they see a playground! 

Thursday evening, Andy surprised me, by coming home without me knowing! A neighbor boy had come to the door around 630 and wanted to see if the kids could come out and play. I had just thrown them in the bath though. So I went back up and started texting Andy while the kids played in the bath. He then was like "I think there's someone at the door." 

So I went down and saw it was him! :-) 

He's so cute. Then he had major baby aggro all weekend long. (And probably couldn't wait to go back down! Lol) 

The kids get really whiny with him being back, and have tantrums a little more. Plus, they were both still sickly. Callie more so than Wilson. 

Last night was a doozy, it's 10 pm and both the kids were still wide awake. I think the sickness has messed with our schedule a little bit. 

Hopefully, I  can find more time, and the drive to keep up my blog a little better. 

Christmas in October!

We keep joking about how we start seeing Christmas stuff earlier and earlier, and no doubt, Halloween hasn't even occurred yet, but I'm already seeing Christmas stuff out at different stores.

So naturally, it's time to start figuring stuff out. Since my best friend and I have our "completed" family, I thought it would be cute as part of their Christmas gift to get them matching PJs.  I've done 2 Christmases so far.


Here's Christmas 2011:

I apparently failed at getting Callie a matching set, but she was only 3 weeks old. Whoops. But anyways, look at our babies!


Christmas 2012:

Oh I loved loved loved last years PJs! Just precious!

This year there is a slight challenge to find matching/complimenting pjs, that the girls can both match in. Because Kaitlyn is just growing too fast!

I adore Carters. I really do. So this year so far what I can find matching for the girls:

or:

I love them both! So cute!

And here are the boys that kind of match but not.
Snowman:

or Santa:

So much cuteness. Maybe one year we will be able to get all 4 kids together in their matching PJs!! 

Our first TDY.

So yesterday, Andy left to go for his first TDY. He will be gone for 2 months. We threw around the idea of trying to move before he left, but weren't able to do it. 

On one hand I wish we could have, because living in Florida would mean a really short drive to see him. (It would be maybe a little over 3 hours). Compared to staying here where it's over 6. 

But I am not ready to leave my friends yet! I feel so lucky to have met such wonderful ladies during my time here.

Women who I draw strength from, admire, and have a great time with. 

Wilson has two therapies he goes to during the week as well, and I wanted to make sure he could continue them, until we move. When I hope I can get him into a more social setting/pre school. 

I think he would be willing to learn more with his peers, than with these individual sessions he gets. 

Potty training has been going okay. We have had a couple accidents here and there. And I'm okay with that. 

Unfortunately, the whole pooping thing, I am at a loss with. He now holds it, and doesn't want to poop. And will wait, until it's literally coming out, and run to the potty. And freak out a bit. 

I thought we had praised/treated him enough for him to associate good things with pooping in the potty. But now he's definitely like, "Nope." 

The hardest thing is making him use the bathroom before we leave anywhere. He gets so excited about leaving he won't go potty. 

Typical right? 

So 61 more days until daddy can come home, and then hopefully we will move!

I think it may fall on me to get this move all planned and scheduled. Eek. 

Also here's a picture of Callie at the park, picking flowers. The most girliest thing she could possibly do at the park. Instead of you know, playing!