Lauren's song!

Every afternoon at 5:00 the National Anthem plays here on base. This is a time where everyone stops what they are doing to listen and respect the freedoms they enjoy each day. This freedom could not be possible without those who have served and are currently serving in the military. Lauren has claimed the national anthem as, "her song." Each day as the song begins, she runs outside and on her way says, "Mommy, its my song!" After which, she stands on the side porch each day rain or shine with her hand over her heart facing the music.

After the song, I chased Lauren around trying to take pictures of her. She kept running from me so I couldn't take her picture. We both had a good time with that! I feel like lately I am always getting on Lauren for everything and praising Nolan just as much as I "yell" at her. It makes me sad. I told my friend Cassie today that I feel like the mom on "Everybody Loves Raymond" favoring my second child. I hate being on her all the time. She is such a sweet child. I keep reminding myself that she misses her daddy and needs extra attention from me.









There have been times where she will purposely do what Nolan is doing just to get my attention. It breaks my heart when she does that. I think we need a mommy/Lauren date soon. I am going home in a few day so I think I might make it a point to leave Nolan with my parents so me and Lauren can go do something fun together. I love being a stay at home mom so much and know that I am so blessed to be able to do this for our family. Without all of Joe's hard work I could never do what I do.

Halloween Dress Rehearsal!

"Roar!"

There will be cuter pics later, but this will have to do for now!

Yep....hates it!

My scary little witch!



What happens when mom gets bored? I dress my kids up and take pictures! As you will see Nolan absolutely hated his costume....its the hood! Lauren didnt have her hair or make-up done, and there are a few embellishments we still need to add like a broom, jewlery, ect. Im so excited for Halloween. We will be with lots of family. This will be our first year since we've been at Whiteman that we have been gone for Halloween. This will be our second Halloween without Joe home though

: ( He will be home in 51 days though! It is going fast!

Our Random Week

I love it when I walk in and see that she has read herself to sleep

Practicing her dance
"Honestly Daddy, we're good as gold!"

My crazy cheezer trying on her recital costume !

They always get a treat from their teacher at the end of dance class!

Learning the dance....it is way cute to watch!

And another hairdo

Nolan in my basket of toys I dont want to put away!

Just some fun new pics!

I like this for the wedding...simple and cute!

Ok mom, I'll take one more, but that's it!
I am practicing new hairdo techniques!

Our first attempt for the "wedding" do


I think she likes it!

I curled my hair for once and wanted proof

Distracting them at my Dr. appt. while waiting on him to come in



They love each other!

Nolan looks so old in this picture


This brings out his eyes a lot

One really important thing for both me and Joe is that we take plenty of pictures of our family. Though I have manged to dodge many pictures in the past by always volunteering as the photographer, we now have a child that loves to take pictures! Needless to say, I am in many more these days! Some are of my new found hobby of playing with different hairstyles with Lauren's hair (thanks Misti!), but most of these are just random pictures we take throughout our normal day to day activities. Hope you enjoy!

"I Love Your Blog Award" Tag

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others.

The questions are as follows:

1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Where is your significant other? Deployed

3. Your hair color? Highlighted!

4. Your mother? Sandy

5. Your father? Ken

6. Your favorite thing? bedtime

7. Your dream last night? none

8. Your dream/goal? Retirement

9. The room you're in? Family

10. Your hobby? Crafts

11. Your fear? Widow

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? graduated
13. Where were you last night? bed

14. What you're not? male
15. One of your wish-list items? Zune

16. Where you grew up? Indiana

17. The last thing you did? snacks

18. What are you wearing? jeans

19. Your TV? Debate!

20. Your pet? Nada

21. Your computer? new

22.Your mood? anxious

24.Missing someone? Joey

24. Your car? beast!

25. Something you're not wearing? contacts

26. Favorite store? Gordmans

27. Your summer? over

28. Love someone? Absolutely

29. Your favorite color? pastels

30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? earlier
I award the following 7 people with the "I love your blog award" and in so doing tag them to complete the above questions.

Sarah W., Brandi, Cindy, Misti, Jade, Rachel, Michelle

Lauren's First Dance Class!

They dont have a clue!

Before her first dance class


Lauren really enjoyed her first day at dance class. She has 2 of her friends she already knows in it with her....Mary from church and Jordyn, her neighbor friend. I took some video of them. It's not the best quality and it has no sound since parents arent in the room while they are learning, but it's cute to watch them. They dont have a clue yet, but Im sure after a few more lessons they'll start to catch on. It was really fun to watch. At the end of the lesson, the teacher asks the parents to come in so they can show off everything they learned! I think that was a cute idea. They get a little shy when they have an audience, but hopefully that will go away by recital time! We'll just have to wait and see! Here are a few pictures though.

New Pics and a little rambling in between!

Nolie being as cute as ever!

Lauren my poser! She kept rearranging her animals so I could get them in the shot too!

They play so well together


GO COLTS!

Well I just wanted to post some new pictures of the kids. We are slowly creeping up to the end of this deployment. We can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have one more full week of September and then Oct and Nov. should be cake! We have some things planned that should keep us busy. Let me just list a few. October: Well, things really dont get busy until the end of the month, but I will just be busy getting ready for the end of the month business throughout the month. My brother Eric is getting married on Oct 25th. The wedding is in Chicago and Lauren is their flower girl. She is going to be so darling! Nolan turns 1 the day before on the 24th. We are going to have to put something together for him. All of the family is going to be together. Except for the most important person, my husband! Figures...he always has to miss out on all the fun. Poor guy! Halloween is also in that last week in Oct. I love Halloween! I actually will get to eat the candy this year b/c Nolan doesnt know that it's his yet! Lauren was sure to put me in my place last year when I tried to eat all hers! This year Lauren is going to be a witch and Nolan a giraffe. Fun! November: well November doesnt really have much, but it is the last month I have to be alone. Thanksgiving is in Nov. and me and some friends are getting together for that. I am not going home for that since I will have just left. It's fine with me. I will miss my mom's cookin, but things will be fine. Lauren is going to be starting dance this week so that is one more thing to have on my list. I cant wait! Yes I know I am rambling, but all this rambling helps me get through things easier. It's like you're in my head I know! It's therapy! Free therapy at that! Only 82 more days till Joe gets home! Let the countdown begin!

Summer Update

Nolan and his Great Grandpa Carl in KY

Lauren at the lake in Kentucky

This is Lauren and Zach. Zach is Lauren's cousin.

They came in and were so proud they had switched suits!

They both said, "Tada!" It was so funny!

A new updated picture of our dog cousins!

This is so funny...Eric and Michelle's bridal shower!

It has been quite some time since I have posted anything on here. Since I last posted we have been to Indiana and Kentucky. We just got home earlier this week and I must say it is great to be home! Nothing is quite like home as Im sure all of you will agree. While I was in IN we caught news that Joe made SSgt. It was such a relief to know that he has done it. His goal was to make Staff before we left Whiteman. We aren't sure yet, but in about 15 days we will know whether or not we are getting overseas orders out of here! We put various places such as Japan, Alaska, Hawaii, and Germany on our dreamsheet...or should I say Joe put it on "his" dreamsheet. We are anxious to see where we are going . We have been here over 3 years and feel like its our time. Joe is still in Qatar and is due home early December now. We are just about to our 1/2 way point. Once we are through the month of Sept. things will go fast for us. I can't wait to be together as a family again. Lauren tells me everyday, "Mommy, I miss Daddy." Im so glad that she is still talking about him. I think Joe was afraid the kids would forget about him in the 6 months he was gone. Nolan I think will go to him right away...he takes well to men anyways! We are staying extra busy here. Lauren is getting ready to start her first dance class. There will be more on that later Im sure. I hope she likes it. I am out of school for this 8 weeks. I guess I needed a break because nothing seemed to be going through like it has always in the past. I am hoping to get back in the next weeks. If that doesnt happen I will for sure in the spring when Joe is home. Right now I need to make lunch for some hungry bellies so I gotta run!

Tagged

How To Play This Game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

3 Joys

1) My Family

2) Over 1/5th done with this deployment

3) Being outside in 72 degree weather!

3 Fears

1) Losing someone I love

2) The dark

3) Having a party and nobody showing up!

3 Goals

1) Be the best mother and wife for my family

2) Get my Bachelors degree

3) Learn a foreign language and the piano

3 Obsessions/ Collections

1) The Twilight Series

2) Staying busy to pass the time

3) Clothes for my kids...I love to buy them!

3 Random Surprises

1) I can shave with my left hand and am right handed

2) I always put salt on before pepper...always!

3) I like ths smell of puppy breath!

I tag Valerie, Victoria, and Brandi

All this week!

This week has been a very fun and eventful week. I took pics of everything we did. Starting from today and going all the way back to last Saturday. The captions tell the stories so enjoy!

This is our new family collage! It took me forever to put them up,
but here they are thanks to Misti!

And another huge thanks to Misti! With her help, we organized and rearranged Lauren's room!

This is our nieghbors Christmas weed. I swear if its still around by Christmas I am going to decorate it! Oh and they never mow their lawn...look at ours compared to theirs and I havent even mowed this week...can we say lazy!

Oh poor little Nolie took a face plant into the concrete yesterday from the steps outside. He is forever getting hurt...today he fell out of the bathtub...how he managed to do that, I dont know!

I got Ashlynn to smile...that NEVER happens!...she hates pictures!


We went swimming...

Lauren rode her first horse!




And I rode my first horse as well!...pretty fun actually!

Rachel watched Nolan while me and Lauren went horseback riding






Lauren showing off her new dress from Children's Orchard

I burnt my arm on the lawn mower trying to adjust the wheels...its looking much better now!

Rachel and Ashlynn while we enjoyed ourselves some Panda Express!...yummy!

Altogether this week was really fun. Next week seems to be filling up quickly so stay tuned for more updates then! I know this is random but, I love my husband!...he is so wonderful!

Joe's work

So I finally said it! "Stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about!" I never wanted to say that b/c I hated it when my parents would tell me that...it just made me cry more! And that is exactly what it did when I said it to Lauren. She is still crying in her room resisting naptime! She normally does good for naps, but today is different I guess. I am doing fine other than the occational annoyances! Today Lauren decided she was going to help me clean and sprayed lysol kitchen cleaner on the tv screen...now the tv no longer works. "Good one Lauren!" I never watch the dumb thing anyways so she is at a loss there. No more movies for her! We have a tv in our room, but the dvd player isnt hooked up to it and I an not techie! Im hoping the buttons will dry and it will eventually work again...we'll see!

Yesterday we got some videos and pictures from Joe. The pics are of his work and what he does. Also on his way there, he stayed in England for 2 days so he send some of his time there as well. He is staying really busy out there. He says the weather has to be 140 degrees during the day. He says it gets chilly at night though and that is when he works. Im sure he would take the cold over hot anyday though! He calls everyday even if its to say goodnight. He is the best husband. He loves to be with us and I love that. I dont know how he leaves us all the time. We are so great! Im just kidding....I still dont know how he leaves the kids....it would be so hard for me if I had to leave them. I love doing what I do and am so fortunate to be able to stay home with them. Tonight is the 4th of July and we are sticking around base for some fireworks with some friends. I will post some pics once the night is over. I wish Joe could spend it with us b/c this our first 4th apart since we've been together. We love to celebrate the 4th! Its fun!

Joe sportin the PT gear on his day off!

Some palets I guess!

England...driving on the left...Joe said it was really weird to see that!