My most favorite day of the week!!

Have I ever told you that I LOVE Thursday's? No? Well, I do! It is the day before Friday, the night Survivor comes on, a day off from running, and a fun evening with my kids! I just love it.
Today has been a busy day though running around and getting a few things done with daycare kids in tow.

So I have a weird question. Everyone knows that I have lost a significant amount of weight. I believe I am at about 48lbs. WOW! Seeing that number on the computer seems HUGE! It's more than Jaelyn weighs. Anyway, my question is....do you think feet shrink too when you lose weight? I know it sounds crazy, but I have always been a size 8 1/2. I went shoe shopping- BOGO and tried on a couple of pairs of shoes. My normal size was too big! I could not figure out what was going on. I ended up buying 8's! So I am wondering if my feet shrunk in the process of the rest of my body shrinking? Crazy, I know, but I am just baffled. I came out with a couple of pairs of shoes though, so who cares what size they were right?

Daycare is picking up. I now have a 6 month old starting on Monday. He is the cutest little guy ever. I can't wait for him to start, so we can play together. I love having babies around, since I am not and can not have anymore. They are nice to take care of and enjoy for the day, but I also like sending them home with their mommy and daddy at the end of the day! I guess I will make a great grandma one day, a very far away day! It is way to early to be thinking about that right now.

I am looking forward to my vacation home so much right now. After three months alone with the kids, it will be great to see all of my family and to have them take my kids off of my hands every now and then. I am in need of a break from parenthood. Steve and I have a great tag team plan that we do while he is home, so when it's just me- I don't have anyone to tag up with and it can be tiresome. Don't get me wrong, I love my children with all of my heart, but there are days when I just want to run out of this house screaming and jump in my car and drive away! Those days are very far and few between, but I still have them. Think about being a single parent to three children, working 50 hours a week, taking care of all the household bills and cleaning, and taking care of the vehicles too. How would you feel after three months of doing that? Pretty tired, well that's how I feel today. I am hoping for a little relief when I get home at Christmas. This year will be an exciting year cause I am going to my Dad's side (Denslow) of the family for Christmas too. Not only will it be another function to fit into my already chaotic schedule, but it will be more family to see and enjoy too! I don't' get to see my dad's side of the family very much, so I am looking forward to seeing them all again. My dad is going with me and my sister is driving up from Kentucky to join us. It will be so much fun.

Well, I have probably bored you with all of my ramblings. I love coming on here and typing away about nothing. It makes me feel like I am actually sitting here and chatting with an adult. I don't get much adult conversation anymore. I have my close friends here, but other than that I don't have many people to talk to. It seems like people just go there own ways and kind of forget about you after a while, which is fine with me.

I will be putting some pictures on here soon. I promise. My poor husband bought me my fabulous new camera and I haven't been great on sending him a lot of pictures. Shame on me! I will find the time to do that this weekend. I send boxes out to him all the time, so he knows I still love him......always.

I want YOU

To get moving today! I just finished running on my treadmill and I feel GREAT! I wish that more people would take initiative and give exercise a chance. I can't even tell you how great it makes you feel when you are done. You feel like you can accomplish anything. I changed my song (temporarily) to the song that I start my run off to. Talk about motivating! I hope it motivates you as much as it does me....

I don't know what motivated me to get on here and tell you to GET MOVING....but I feel like it's something I should share. There's no easy way around it, get up off that couch, chair, bed...whatever and get motivated. It isn't as grueling as most people think. Just go for a walk with your kids or run around and kick a soccer ball with your kids for an hour or so. It doesn't have to be on a treadmill, or in a gym, just get moving.

The Holiday season is upon us and this is the time of year when most people put on a few extra unwanted pounds. Don't let that be you! Keep busy, and keep moving. You will be amazed by the way it makes you feel and how you will become easily addicted to it in no time.

Can you tell I am in a goofy mood today? I am enjoying my day off and loving having some extra time to get some things done around here. Everyone needs to make sure to be selfish every once in a while and take care of themselves. If you don't do it, who will?

Moving on to the next project...

I hate to keep repeating myself, but it just seems that I never get a chance to stop. I am wondering how I am going to fit my husband into my busy schedule when he gets home. Just kidding. He will fit in just fine, don't worry.
My next project at Church is our Harvest Festival, along with working on our Children's Musical. Can you say busy? Yes, I will be pretty busy through the end of this deployment. The light at the end of the tunnel is that I get a vacation home (if you call it a vacation) and my husband home soon after I return from home. I was holding onto some hope that my husband could possibly come home at the end of December, but he crushed any hope of that yesterday. He shared with me a tentative date and lets just say that it isn't until January,of course I can't say the exact date. I was not happy with the news, but I held my composure. It has flown by so quickly, so what's a few more days right? At least that's what I keep telling myself.
Today we resumed our small group again. It was great getting together and making a plan for what our future holds for our group. We have decided to move on to a "leaders training" study. I think it's a great idea. The one bad quality about our Church is that there is always the same SMALL amount of people doing everything. I use to be on the sidelines (a few years ago) and let this same group of people do all the work, but now I am right in there with them. It can be very frustrating at times, but always rewarding. I have made such great friends by putting myself in there and plugging myself in a ministry. I love working in the preschool department and enjoy working with the kids, but I feel myself pulling away as a teacher more and more. I think it has started to be more intense since I started daycare back up. Working with kids for 10 hours a day, five days a week is very tiring. Then to turn around and do it again on Sundays, makes it even worse. I don't want to be burnt out with teaching and I want my focus to always be on God and what He wants me to do. It's hard though cause I also have to help provide for my family too. So how do these work together? That is the journey I am on lately. With much prayer and much hard work, I am trying to find a balance here. The problem is that I want to be more involved with Church and furthering his kingdom.
Things are going great around here. Like I said, time is flying by. I wish it would go faster, but as I look back it really is. I am enjoying the kids more and more each day. Today's sermon was living your life as you were dying. That's pretty much how I look at things anyway. I have learned a hard lesson in life, about how short it is and you never know what tomorrow may bring, so I am always sure to let my kids and husband know how much I love them every moment I get. I think I can always do better at this, so my goal this week is to find some kind of activity to do with each of my children individually. It is important for them to know that I am here for them and never too busy for them. Life can get hectic and busy, especially as a single mom right now, and I need to make sure I don't let life fill my time to much.
Today is a cold and windy day here and I just love it. I am sitting here in my sweatpants, T-shirt, and Steve's sweatshirt (which is huge on me) sprayed with his cologne, my big fuzzy socks on, with my fuzzy shoes, just relaxing on the couch. I so badly want to turn on the heat cause I am freezing, but really it's not THAT cold just yet. I think after a while I am going to go and get my fuzzy blanket from Saudi Arabia and snuggle with my big dog, Samson, on the couch. Have I mentioned how much I love Fall?
I guess I have rambled on enough. I just wanted everyone to know that I am still alive and well. I am keeping up with my healthy eating habits, which I believes helps me stay mentally balanced as well. It just doesn't stop amazing me how much and how well I am getting to know my body. I love it. I love the way I feel and I love the way I am happy mentally. It has made such a huge impact on my self-esteem and also how well I have managed this deployment alone.
I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. The kids and I are going to make our own Thanksgiving and hang out here at the house in our Pj's all day long. It sounds like the perfect Thanksgiving to me! I think we will make it a game day and just play games, eat, and watch movies day!

Hope all is well with everyone. I feel so out of touch with everyone lately, but just know that I am still here.....

Is it Possible??

Rain in the forcast?? I surely hope so! I love the way the clouds look in the sky today and took a few pictures, while I had the chance. This was taken with my webcam, so the quality might not be so great. At least you can see my hair cut a little better. I LOVE it!

I am not sure if I heard correctly on the news this morning? I believe they said we are getting....rain...tomorrow night! We haven't seen a good rain since February, yes you heard me right, February. Rain is something we don't see around here for many months during Spring/Summer seasons. I get so excited when I hear that we might get some rain because that means Christmas isn't too far away! I can't wait for Christmas this year. We are going to see something we haven't seen in 5 years.....SNOW! I love the snow (even more now that we don't live in it) and can't wait to build a snowman and make snow angels with my children. I already found a snow suite for Jaelyn! I am slowly stocking up on the things we will need for the snow, things you don't own when you don't live in it. Like, Snow boots, scarves, hats, heavy winter coat, things like that. The last time we went home for Christmas, we landed in a snow storm in Pittsburgh. They opened the back hatch of the C-5 and all we could see was white stuff, everywhere. We didn't even bring winter coats. Luckily Steve's mom and dad were waiting for us at the base terminal with heavy gear for the kids.

So back to the rain, I thought I would take a few picture of the clouds floating around. It truly looks like Fall out there! I love it!

I also attached a few pictures of my daycare. You can see how it has overtaken my house. The only place I don't have daycare things are upstairs. It is against the rules to have kids or daycare things upstairs, which is fine by me. I need to have some place to call my own. Lately I have been retreating to my bedroom when I can. I love my bedroom and feel like it's mine and usually there aren't kids in there....sigh...usually.

I hope you like the pictures. I haven't had much time to take many, so take what you can get when you can get it. The kids and I are planning a trip up to Apple Hill sometime soon. I can't wait. I said last year that it was our last year doing the train museum. It just hasn't been as great the past couple of years. The kids DO love riding the train though, so we will see.

Enjoy the pics!

This is what USE to be my dining room!

More of my dining room....





My handsome son! He did his hair on his own. Don't worry, I fixed it before he went to school.

Chelsea, still in the process of getting ready for school
Don't be fooled by the "angel" face! She has been having some behavioral problems this week. We are working on them though!

The post I have been waiting for....

Ok. So I have been waiting for this day for two weeks now! Everyone knows that I have been working hard at getting in shape and losing weight, so now I lost the HAIR! I love it too. This isn't the greatest picture cause I was all ready for bed, but at least you can see how short I went. I am so excited about it and love love love it! I am hoping to make my life as simple as possible and I think this will help.
I will take more pictures tomorrow when the sun is out and my face is all fresh and done. Speaking of my face, I think my hormones are changing in my body. I did get a year older this month, so I guess it's bound to come. I feel like a teenager though! My face is breaking out like something horrible. Luckily I have a great friend who sells skin care products, so I am looking to make a purchase!
Things are great around here. Very busy though and I am tired and sluggish lately. I have started the past few nights to stay up late and then 5 AM roles around way too soon! I am hoping to get back into my routine of going to bed early soon. Right now I am working on our Church cookbook and just trying to get it done. We have alot of recipes and so it's alot of typing. I am getting it done and excited to see the final product. Thank goodness for my good friend Heather cause she has helped me so much with this production.
I hope you like my new hair cut. I am thrilled with it and so happy. Not sure if I will go back to long hair again, but time will tell.
Please keep our Church and family in your prayers. The kids and I are doing great and hanging tough during this deployment, but we could use all the prayers we can get. Mostly for strength for me being a single parent during this time. It takes alot of work and alot of energy. My Church is in a financial situation still and we are just hanging on by a thread. We need some kind of miracle to come up with some finances to keep us going. Please pray that we find a way to come up with this money.
Hope everyone is doing well!

"Mommy, your hair looks horrible!"

Words from my 4 yr old little girl as we are walking out of the Beauty Salon. Tonight I took all three of the kids to get their hair cut at the Beauty Salon. As we were walking out, I told them all how great they look and Jaelyn yells to me through the parking lot- "And Mommy your hair still looks horrible!" I had to laugh. She is so right, so how can I say anything to her? She did eventually tell me that I am still beautiful a few minutes later though. I am glad she isn't judging me from hair. Boy would I be in trouble with her!

Things are flying by here. I can't get over how quickly time is going! My goodness! I feel like I don't get the chance to breath anymore. It makes me happy though cause each day that flies by is another day closer to my husband coming home. I am finishing up my third week of work and I feel like I have already been working months. There is never a dull moment in this house now at all. I am now FULL for the next two weeks! I can only have four other children besides my own and so I now have four extra children running around my house. I am amazed at how quickly I filled up, even though one is temporary. I also found out yesterday that the baby has a slot at the Child Development Center and next Friday will be his last day. When I took him I knew he was temporary, but I will be sad to see him go. I can't wait to see what child will take his slot. That is the exciting part about daycare, you never know what kind of personality is coming next!

My kids are doing great too! They are busy in school and playing with their new friends. Jaelyn and I have been working on school work each day and she is so smart for her age. She cracks me up because she is so excited about doing her "homework." I think it's because she feels older like her big sister and big brother. I still can't get over her going to Kindergarten next year. It will be an interesting time for her because she still tells me everyday that she doesn't want to go to school.

Steve is doing wonderful and working hard. He is busy working out at the gym six days a week and working six days a week too. He definitely enjoys his day off that he gets once a week. Poor guy, I can't wait for him to come back home and enjoy his "normal" job again. As soon as he gets back from over there, he will be testing for Master Sgt. I can remember when he first put on Ssgt and thinking what a wonderful day it will be when he gets to sew on Master and now that day will be here soon. I am so excited about him testing for Master and making it because that opens the door to some opportunities to get out of here!

I am so excited that we are almost half way done with this deployment. I looked on the calendar today and noticed that I am under ONE HUNDRED days now! (I am counting down to the 1st of the year though) How exciting is that? Each month has a milestone and they just keep coming faster and faster! Right now I am working on a Church cookbook and will be selling it as a fundraiser for our Children's Church. This weekend I will be busy typing up TONS of recipes and getting them organized and ready to print, then it will be fun putting them all together and making the cover for it too. After the cookbook, I am working on our Church Harvest Festival. This will be our first HUGE one that we have and I have alot of work cut out for me. Even though I have been keeping busy with work and working at the Church, I have still been growing more and more in the Lord each day. It is only because of HIM that I am able to keep on going each day. There are many days I would love to just crawl back into bed and stay there until my husband comes home, but have learned to lean on God for everything.

I hope everyone's Fall is going good so far! Before you know it, Christmas will be here and I am not even ready yet. Each year I feel like it keeps getting more and more over-rated. I noticed the other day in the BX they already have Christmas trees and decorations out! What? It's only September!!!

Check back soon for some exciting news I have to share! Next Thursday evening I should have a great post!!

Too long....

Ok. So this is going to be quick. I feel really bad that I have been such a blogger slacker lately! I finally received my license two weeks ago and the roller coaster ride started that day!
The day I went to go and pick up my license, there was a lady on the phone desperate for childcare. If you know me at all, you know I am such a sucker, especially when it comes to kids. I told them to give her my name and number and that is all she wrote. The lady called me an hour later, we set up an interview for the next day (which was Friday), and the kids started on Monday! So I have been back to work and I love every minute of it. It was totally a God thing that the children in need of care fell into my lap, but it wasn't my plan. I am slowly (cause I am a slow learner), learning that God always has a plan for me and it may not always be MY plan. Darn. Ok. I get it God.

My preschool has now turned into a daycare. At this point I believe most people have already found preschool's to put their children in, so I am back to doing daycare. I LOVE it though. I am so happy that I am back into my career field and doing what I love. I have two children at the moment and working on my third. The two children are boys, ages 4mths and 8yrs old! I am teaching Jaelyn throughout the day, so she will be ready for Kindergarten next year.

Other than that, it's just been busy busy around here. It seems I am running kids to different things, working at the Church, going to Deployed Spouses dinner, or running on the treadmill. In the midst of all of this craziness, I can NOT forget to take care of myself! It is vital that I am healthy physically and mentally.

I have a HUGE change coming up soon in a week or so, so be checking back for more on that. I will be updating this weekend with some pictures and more details of what's been going on. In the meantime, I hope that everyone is doing well. I do get on here and check out everyones blogs, but just don't always have the time to comment or blog myself.

Oh by the way, did I tell you how excited I am about Fall? I LOVE IT(if you watch Dragon tails at all, that is how I am singing LOVE IT). In fact I have an Apple Spice candle burning downstairs as we speak! I just can't wait for October. I have many fun events going on that month. Like I said, I will give more details this weekend. Until then, Have a great Friday everyone......