Another Exercise

 Hello to all who read this. I apologize for the lapses in updates. Things have been very busy here getting ready for the school year to start on top of everything else. Even though as of right now we don't have any kids starting school, I swear it is just the time of year and the busyness of everyone else that makes it busy for us.

Matt is taking part in another exercise. Just in case you don't know this is when he works 12 hour shifts, runs around in chem-gear, and pretends he is in the middle of a war. It means incredibly hot, irritating, and long days for him. He has also started taking his governmetn class which he says is okay. It is nice that the terms are only eight weeks here. It kind of lets you get done with a class before you get too sick of it. Matt is already in bed tonight, so hopefully he will feel a little more rested tomorrow.

We had an addition to our family over the weekend. We adopted a kitten. She is very cute and the kids love her. As much as we want to be dog people, we always end up with cats and that suits us just fine. Colin has never laughed so much all at one time. He just follows the cat around laughing all the way. We named her Bella, which means beautiful in Latin.

Ryan just finished up soccer and I am going to try and put up a couple of pictures of him in his soccer uniform. He is addicted to the playstation now and is alarmingly good at it for a four year old. we have had to set a limit on it now, as he was choosing that over anything else including playing outside and even going to the pool! We find out this week if he gets into the Pre-K thing. He has had trouble adjusting to having lots of kids here for the daycare and seems to be rebelling even more lately.

Colin has officially said two words. He said Mama twice the other night and then the day after we got the cat he said Kitty in the form of "Titty" two times as well. I know that is what he said because he pointed right at her and said "Titty!" It was very cute. He has also gone back to sleeping through the night and getting up at about 5:30am. I feel a little more rested this way though, so it is better. Colin has added a high pitched scream to the list of things he does now. He is definately deciding what he wants and uses that scream to let us know!

I have finally finished that baby sweater that I started forever ago. I will put up some pictures of it. It is a size 6-9 months but I needed a model so I used Colin. I just have to finish sewing in the loose strings. I am also working on getting my financial aid paperwork into the school so that I might be able to qualify for that this term. We shall see. I need to get my butt in gear though if I want it to go through in time. I have been busy with the daycare again. Everytime I think "Gosh, I don't have any kids lined up." I start getting a million calls. It is good though as I wanted to get some things paid off before Christmas.

Okay, I think that I have updated on everything and everyone. Thank you to all of you who continue to read this and thatnk you to all of you who I have recently been getting a couple of emails from....Allison, Nikki...I appreciate it. We love you all and miss everyone. I will try to upadate next weekend again.

Murhl, the picture of Colin on the phone is when he was talking to you the other night. Sorry it took me so long to get it up there.

Just an Update

Well, it has been forever since I have updated so I figured I better get to it. I got my camera fixed and have new pictures to post, but for some reason the website is not taking them right now. I figured I would just write and try to add pictures later. Everyone is doing okay here and we hope everyone out there is doing well.

The boys have both just gotten over some sort of virus. They have both been very sick stomach wise, but it looks like we are coming out of it now. Colin had it for a whole week, but Ryan only got it for about 24 hours. Thankfully, we can all sleep a little better now that they are feeling better. We have been staying inside a lot lately so as not to be out too much in the heat, but we try to go out in the evenings after dinner to get some fresh air. However, just like in Texas when we were there, it is too hot to go out in the daytime and there are tons of bugs to eat you alive in the evening.

Matt and I have been keeping busy. Matt starts back to school this term in about another week and he will be taking an American Government class. Government and history are two things he has an interest in. I say more power ot him because I would be asleep in seconds. I have been busy with the daycare. I am actually full everyday this next week and then in about two weeks I am going ot start caring for a two month old.

We should also be finding out in about two weeks if Ryan is going to get into the Pre-K program here or if we are going to have to find an alternative for him as far as that goes. I keep my fingers crossed on a daily basis that he gets it, but we shall see. Colin has been getting some more teeth in. He chews on his fingers so hard he leaves marks all up and down them and needless to say the pain is interrupting his sleep again.

Anyway, I am sorry to be kind of brief, but I have to get to bed at a decent time so the kids don't drive me crazy tomorrow. We love you all! 

4th of July

Well, Happy 4th of July everyone. I hope you all had a great holiday. We all had a long four day weekend and the weather was actually nice. We went to the pool one day, to the beach the next day, and we had a cookout with the neighbors on the 4th. Then we all went down to the park on base where they had little carnival rides, games, and food. After we stood in long lines for eveything we sat down and listened to the band play and then watched fireworks. The fireworks were great! It is truly a special thing to celebrate the 4th of July with only military people. There is so much emotion and so much pride. I had tears in my eyes several times between the tribute to those who are deployed and the patriotic songs that even the kids knew all the words to. I felt so proud to be standing among all of these wonderful people who do so much everyday to keep alive exactly what we were celebrating. Matt had class, so he had to miss most of this, but it was still a great night.

Ryan is doing well and he really enjoyed the fireworks. We are still having our usual battles for good behavior with him, but I am not so sure this will ever end. I took him to the tennis court on Monday and we had a great time. We staye dout the in the heat for almost two hours and he was begging to stay longer. He isn't that great at it yet, but with his knack for sprots I am sure he will have it soon.

Colin is doing okay, but is running on very little sleep these days. He has decided that he wants to sleep in our bed now, which for those of you who know us well, this is not an option. He wakes up everynight at least once and cries. I can't leave him in his bedroom to cry, because he will wake up Ryan. So I bring him into our room and put him in the portable crib. He then screams and throws everthing out of the crib. He can keep doing this for and hour or more, but as soon as I pick him up he is out on my shoulder or in my arms. Last night I finally got him to go back to sleep after more than an hour of cying, but he woke up and hour later. I was too sleep deprived to fight him anymore so I just layed him down in our bed and he was out like a light. If he only had his own room, this would be much easier. Hopefully this is just a phase, because I need more than 5 hours of sleep a night!

Matt is doing well and looking forward to his much needed time off of work when my parents come. He also can't wait for this terms classes to be over. This late night class that lasts until 11pm is killing him. He is taking not getting his promotion better than I expected although he is definately upset, he is not as mad as I thought he would be. Hopefully, they will offer some good classes next term and he can get on track with a new goal. I am trying to get him to play football with his squadron, but he doesn't want to because it is only flag football and wouldn't be as much fun. Whatever!

I am pretty busy with the daycare. I actually have kids all day everyday this week. I am also looking forward to the two weeks I am taking off when Mom and Mark come. I can only hope the weather stays as nice. I kind of fell off as far as my gym goal goes. I did well for the first two and a half weeks and now I have barely been going. I am just too tired most nights to even consider it. I am also looking into doing some volunteer work at the clinic or the hospital over here to keep up some of my nursing skills. I have my CNA right now, but if I don't do some work I will lose it. I am hoping to volunteer maybe one afternoon a week once the school year starts and then maybe every other saturday. I don't know yet, but I want to do something. Even though I am now doing this daycare and contributing to the income, I still feel stuck (if that makes any sense). Oh, and now I have another friend who just found out she is pregnant. That was my last person to workout or go out with. I have got to put up an ad or something that says, looking for friend who is not pregnant and who is not going to be pregnant in the near future.

Well, I should go. Colin just woke up from his nap and I should get him a snack. Sorry again for no pictures, my camera is still broken! Love you all.

Upset

Well, we finally ound out about Matt's promotion, and he didn't get it. It turns out that three girls got it, so Matt will have to stay at his current rank for about another 7 months. This wouldn't be so bad except for this way he misses the cut off for testing for the next rank by about 1 week. Also this means that people who came in a whole year after him will sew on the next rank well before him just because he signed up for four years and they signed up for six. I feel upset, so I am sure Matt feels even worse. There are other people who have gotten BTZ when they don't even have their mandatory training done!

I am in shock!

Love you all but I better go now before I complain too much more.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there. I posted above Matt's Father's Day gifts from Ryan. Hopefully they will come out okay. One is of Matt playing golf and the other is of Matt and Ryan playing basketball. We thought they were great.  Matt spent Father's Day sleeping in and then he went to get a new pair of shoes. I made steak for dinner at his request and for the first time since we have been here, I was able to get the cut of steak that I like. They were great! We both went and got a massage on Friday night, which turned out to be very weird. First of all the "business" was in an apartment and second of all the people who did the massage were both men. I was slighlty uncomfortable with this, but Matt was even more uncomfortable. Thank goodness I didn't go by myself because I would have been freaked out in that situation..and apartment, two guys who don't speak english, a full body massage! Needless to say in the future even if a woman answers the phone (as in this case) I wil be requesting a female for us both. Other than that the actual massage felt quite good and helped my muscles to relax after that week of going ot the gym.

Colin, my Baby who doesn't cry and eats everything, is now quite a noise maker. He has been crying a lot at night and often times spends hours following me around the house and crying. He has also decided that he doesn't like much of what he normally used to eat. Now it is much more fun to throw it all over the floor. He is also still a little sick and getting a few teeth, so maybe he will resume his normal self  sometime soon.

Nothing really new to report on Ryan or myself. I'll let you know if anything of interest happens! Love you all, and hope you had a great weekend.

Oh by the way, it stopped raining for one day after eight straight days of rain and now has started raining again!

Once Upon A Time The Sun Did Shine

Just not here...We are now in our 5th straight day of rain and it is going to continue through the weekend. When I say rain, I mean rain, it has been pouring most of the time and giving us an occasional sprinkle.

Okay, now that I complained about that...How is everyone else doing? I haven't heard from most of you in awhile, so I hope all is well. Honestly, I wonder how many people read this as I only hear that a few of you do.

Matt has class now on Mondays and Wednesdays until almost 11pm. I know this is hard for him as he gets really tired. Hopefully he will get some good rest over Father's Day weekend. His package has gone up for BTZ (the promotion thing) and now we are just waiting. We thought he would hear sometime this week, but it may not be until the end of the month now. Who knows! We also found out that there are only three slots for BTZ and probably at least ten - fifteen people going up for it.

Colin has been very fussy with me lately and I think he is getting a little sick. He hasn't really gotten sick very often so maybe that is the problem, he doesn't know what it feels like. He has figured out how to make he ride on toy scoot around a little bit and so he enjoys playing with it a lot more now.

Ryan has been doing "homework" nonstop. He has these SchoolZone workbooks that I got for the plane ride and he loves them. He works on writing his letters, numbers, letter sounds, and following directions. We are happy that he is so into it, and with all the rain it sure is good timing.

I have been doing the daycare and I am anxiously awaiting my first monthly inspection. I just want to get the critisism over with and move on. I get a call olmost every day for the daycare so it is nice that I am able to make a little bit of money. I have also stepped up my gym workouts. I am now going to the gym five times a week so I am very sore. I am hoping that I will really be able to see some results this way.

Well, I have to get these kids in bed. Sorry there are no pictures this time. I dropped my camera in the sand and now it is not working properly. Love you all.

Quick Update

Well, it has been awhile, so where should I begin...

The pictures above are from a trip the kids and I tokk with our neighbors to Comprehensive park. I know the name sounds horrible, but the park is wonderful. I can't wait to go back. Not only was there play equipment, but there were fish to feed, trails to walk on, turtles to watch, and beautiful scenery. Needless to say we had a great time. Hopefully, I will be ablr to remember how to get there.

Our neighbors also took us to a nice beach on Memorial day that we all really enjoyed. Had the water been warmer we would have had an even better time. There were quite a few Americans there even though it is primarily a Japanese beach, but we don't mind either way.

I have finally started keeping kids for the daycare. It is going okay. I keep busy more with making sure everything is up to "standard" than I do spending quality time with the kids. Hopefully, I will be able to find a better balance once I have my first monthly inspection. Ryan acts up everythime I have parents here, so I am sure they think he is always that way. Really, he is very helpfull especially with the babies, but as soon as the parents get here he starts jumping on the couch and throwing balls around the house.

Matt should be finding out if he is going to get that early promotion really soon. All his supervisors are telling him he will definately get it. I just hope they are right and not making him hopeful for nothing. Matt has also been busy with school an dis finding plenty of time for golf as well. We are going to try and go get a massage soon. His for fathers day and mine for mothers day.

We cancelled our scuba lessons as it turned out to be a lot more money than we were willing to commit. I still kind of want to do it, so I may try to find a girl to take the classes with me.

The kids are doing well and I really don't have too much to report on them this time around. Ryan has a little photo album that he has been carrying around with people that he misses in there. Any pictures that you all might want to send of his friends, cousins, or family would be great.

I hope all is well, and I will try to have something a little more interesting next time.