FaceBook stole me

I've been so gone from the world of blogging frankly b/c I've found a new lavah. FaceBook has stolen me with it's quick interaction and the ease of my iPhone app. I don't have to log into the computer and have time away from my animals to read other peoples blogs. I love the updates and hearing about every one's lives but I swear some are more of a brag session than the annoying "Look how great my kids are Christmas Letter". I like the everyday stuff. Those are the blogs I read. However, FB really has me. I check it al the time.

Top 6 reasons FB is in my life.

1. Actual adult interaction (I'm not friends with people that aren't legal. Sorry I won't be your kids' friends. I want to talk like an adult and talk about my kids as the tenants they are. )

2.It's on my phone. (While hiding from my children I can look at FB statuses.

3.Ask questions. (Like how important is the second toe? Go to hospital or not if it's not where it was this morning on your son.)

4. My real life friends and far away friends are all there. (and meeting who the people are that you "used" to know way back when. I love learning who they are as adults and parents now. Everyone changes and I like it.)

5. Fast. I'm all about fast now. (hello my bike.)

6. Makes me feel cool. (mainly b/c I can't figure out how to tweet. or if I'll need a vaccination to do that too. Isn't it an either or?)

7. Pics from my phone. (like my shots of real life people doing real life Darwin things). Memo to self. I need to have my own Darwin awards for the year. Submissions can be sent in at anytime. FYI

8. Everyone updates my mom on my stuff. ) She's not on but everyone else seems to feel the need to tell her about it all as if I don't share it with her already.)

9. Fast love notes. (to the Kemper hello!)

10. My Ya-Ya's are there! nuf said!

I love my children

It's hard work being the meanest mom on the block. I mean it doesn't take much to knock you off the block and get you outta the running. Another mom just needs to throw away their kids DS once and you're done. I mean there are constantly things you need to do. Forget to pack their lunch but put it in the back pack ... take them to the dentist three times in a month .... make them sit at the table until their 1/3 cup of food is eaten after they were flailing about on the floor because they're starved. (that's a two for one) Forget to pick them up on early release at least three times ... making your kids wear clean clothes to school ... not letting them sleep in their cloths and wear them to school. Or making them wear the same underwear again because laundry didn't get done. Having them sit with both cheeks on the chairs at the table. Not sitting on other peoples heads. Getting other people's feet out of your mouth. Not touching eyes that aren't ours. Not eating/licking car tires that aren't ours. Or Ours either. These are all things that are not easy to do. Some of them require planning and rearranging of time and schedules. It's especially tough if you do not own DVR/TiVo. There's the bed time and the no chocolate in your bed part and the

But to put all these things in focus. I just want to make sure that as my children grow up and become adults and eventually (because we all will) head off to their first therapist's appointment to discuss how they are unable to trust/relate/communicate/feel genuinely towards chores. I don't want them sitting their paying good money to this man and not have anything to say. I am not going to waste my children's hard earned money. I love my children enough to make sure they have something to talk about. It's not easy and it won't be a one shot deal but I'm prepared to make that sacrifice and explore more options for the future. One I think we're going to instigate soon is singing "Love At Home" to the neighbor when we talk rudely to one another. That will cause a lot of grief and inner angst. There will be being grounded and having to ride the bus to H.S. When we miss curfew. There will be going on dates with the neighbor old lady as a personal chaperon. I can foresee many hours of push ups in stores and many hours of mom homework papers about cleaning things and dirty things.

So I implore of you to think of your children. Don't let their money go to waste. Love them now.

Panties All Over the Place

We've been packing our panties quite a lot bit this year. Kemper started off with Green to Gold in Jan and he's been back and forth from the mainland and the island three times before he had us pack our up our panties too. My mother was even in on it. She packed up her panties and left Idaho to come to the island to help me with three little boys while Kemper's been gone. So when July came we had the big movers come and pack all of our things up and some panties to stay in storage for months. We are still hoping to this day to meet up with them at some point in Colorado Springs, CO for our next Duty Station. We first left the island with heart ache and excitement to live near Brian before he was slotted to head to the sand box in Dec of this year. Landing in Denver with Bronsen, Brian found us a hotel and I followed with Brenner and Beckett 9 hours later. We were on a mission to buy a car and head down to Arizona for Brian's last phase of training. No pressure right? Buy a vehicle right after 20 hours of travel time with kids and a mom that hardly leave the house and don't sleep in their car seats. They did their best and now we can get a little snooze out of them for about 10 minutes. We've come a long way yeah?

We moved into a furnished house in Sierra Vista to have the very best of neighbors. (I pray so hard for good neighbors. We've been so blessed.) Although I have to admit I was a bit bitter (shocker) that my Ya-Ya moved away merely hours before I arrived in town. Most likely with all of her panties too. Brenner started Third Grade the very next morning and had a wonderful teacher. He excelled and was loving the Tea Kwon Do, Choir, Scouting, & Century 21 Math Classes he took. I think his favorite part was that we were a straight shot to the school. He walked or rode his bike by himself almost everyday. Loved the Independence and freedom it gave him. 3 minutes is his record from door to bike lock to back yard. He even created a landing strip on the front lawn to slow his mach 5 speed down.

Beckett was officially diagnosed with Autism weeks before we left Hawaii and I worked furiously to get things rolling so we could transfer instead of start all over in AZ. He had teachers come to the house by the dozens. Well at least dozens of times. This is where we got our sweet little Beckett back. Looking in his eyes he was getting farther and farther away from us and more and more angry and hurtful to himself. Throughout all this he is coming through the window by leaps and bounds. Beckett has words and understanding of the words to communicate when upset and to share. He's also getting better with his transitions and touching. My favorite thing is the touching. He gives hugs and lets you hug him. My heart broke the first time he really hugged and looked at you and you could see his sweet soul inside again. He made his first best friend here too. Kaydence would wait so very impatiently for his teachers to leave the house so she could come get her Beckett to play. He would rush over to find his Kaydence. This was big because she would touch him and take him places. He let her and learned so much from this sweet little angel that heaven sent to help him.

Bronsen really grew up in this home. He was toddling around on his own but for speed he still chose to crawl. Walking and learning to hold his own against his brothers he would often taunt them. I would hear "No no baby." all too often from Beckett as Bronsen would be chasing him with a feather. It really freaked Beckett out. Darn peacocks. We have a few words but mainly he is still our little bear. Growling in so many different ways to communicate. He also would narrate is adventures of 4x4 crawling over rocks, cacti, streets, and brothers with his growls. Moon sand and rotten pears from the back yard are still a favorite but he really learned to stuff and run. Shove it in your mouth and hurry away.

I've learned so much living in AZ. I've had a great time learning how to help teach each of my children. The main thing I've gained is the knowledge that I can handle it all. I can handle all the kids and the Army and the schools. I learned how to keep the balance between the house, the kids, the learning, and life. This is a very overwhelming thing and I'm still needing to be able to go through things. I've forged knowledge and relationships with each of my boys in this home and learned to be so grateful for it. We attended a Spanish speaking branch and it was amazing. Here we found an old high school pal of mine and met his beautiful family. We also reconnected with Brenner's first little friend. The Nemeth's were a great family to get to know again. I will always love and miss having Keri to just go across the street at literally anytime of the day to just hang out or hide from the world.

Brian did great at balancing family and work. He was able to study late into the night and leave only hours after he fell asleep. Many in these courses are single soldiers and don't have the extra demand of family life and Brian hates not giving his boys all his attention when he's around. It was tough to balance but I think he did it great. There was a very short adjustment period for the family. We truly felt blessed and enjoyed being together.

On the mainland we sure did put miles on ACE (our Honda Pilot). We would travel all over with our panties in tow. We visited Family twice in Alb, NM, Tombstone, Lego Land, Sea World, Disney Land, and back and forth from the base and church. We also stayed sick for soooo many weeks too. Right before leaving I flew to Colorado Springs to look and buy a house. 30 minutes on the ground and I was hit at a stop light and taken to the ER. I was only there for 30 hours and so many were taken up by the accident and then woke to 4 inches of snow and so many cancelled house viewing appointments. Then back the AZ. The cold was so tough to deal with. Man we are going to freeze. My poor baby keikis. Then leaving was sooo funny. When we should have been packing we were across the street hanging out till all hours of the night with Camp Cardone. I think we packed until 3 AM and then left around 12 instead of 10. Panties in boxes and in a trailer and off we go trudging through the west.

We unpacked the panties a little up in Twin Falls, ID for about two weeks to visit family. It was amazing to finally meet my little niece Ella and visit the temple and see my youngest brother in his element all grown and taking on the world. But the best thing was when Brenner chose to be baptized by his father. We loved seeing him grow and learn of our Savior and want to take upon him his name to stand as a witness and act in his name to help and serve others. We are blessed to be from the same town so it was great to keep the panties in one place and go back and forth between houses. The Haralsons, the Kempers, Brother-In-Law Kemper. We even got a chance to buy panties and teach the boys what coats were. And soon enough it was time to go find us a house and live in a hotel for a couple months. lol.

Leaving ID we lead the way for a huge storm but the boys were great troopers and the DVD players were the best thing invented ever. So glad they are carried at Wal*Mart. I think we all have our favorites. As we were traveling here I recieved an email from friends we knew in NY to update their address for their friends. I wrote back to say we'll see you there on Monday. It has been great having friends you trust with your kids instantly. We have also been blessed to have found an extended stay hotel that we think used to be apts. We have a kitchen/dining room/living room combo, two bedrooms, bathroom, and hall closet/Bronsen's room combo to wait out the time. We've scoured the area and have found the house we want. But before we move in their we'll pack up our panties again (today actually) to move into our friends' house while they're away on Christmas break. Blessings again to not have to do Christmas in a hotel. The boys will love having a tree and beds and stairs and toys. We are hopeful that by Christmas we'll know if the house is really ours or not so we might only have two more times to pack up our panties and move again.

Our little family is happy and growing and glad that we've got Brian until at least spring time. Thank you for all your prayers on our behalf. We feel it and enjoy all your friendships.