May Part I

Thumbs Up:

• I survived my 30th birthday! I've been dreading that day for over a year and it wasn't nearly earth shattering as I expected it to be! I started the day at the gym with my body sculpt class. My instructor Louise is 76 years old and has had 7 kids. She could kick my butt with her hands tied behind her back! She is such an inspiration to me and she gave me a good talking to about being scared to turn 30! I know that every year is a gift from God and I'm very fortunate to have had such a fulfilling 30 years thus far. I hope he blesses me with many many more! Thanks everyone for your sweet messages on Facebook!

My black balloons and black vase from Daddy. He tried to get black or dead flowers, but the florist declined his request! 

• I absolutely love my babies and had such a fabulous Mother's Day with them. The only thing that would have made it better would be to have mine and Mike's Mom here too. 

• Last Friday Jackson's school had a little celebrations for moms. We planted a flower together and enjoyed some goodies. He had so much fun and has been diligently taking care of our flower at home!

• Mother's Day was my first time to lector (that's a reader for my protestant friends) at our church here on base. I used to do it all the time until I had kids, but now that Mike's able to be with me consistently on Sunday to watch the kids and the kids behave better, I get the opportunity to read again! 
• We've finally moved back into our master bedroom after a month of sleeping in Jackson's room. It feels so good to sleep in my own bed again. 
• Our garden, especially the squash, has exploded and we have a bunch of tiny zucchini growing!
• We leave tomorrow for the annual Hefferly Beach Vacation! We've been looking forward to this for quite some time and can't wait to be with the fam and back in the great state! I'm sure we'll have plenty of pics to share next time!

I gave Kennedy a super cute pedicure to get her 'beach ready!'

Thumbs Down:

• The contractor found mold growing under our sink and the rest of the house aside from our room is still unfinished. So ready to have my house back so I can feel normal again.
• We've spent every afternoon outside recently which is fabulous, but apparently I'm a magnet for these horse flies. I'm covered in huge bites from these vicious flies and bug spray doesn't seem to do much good. 

This is the kids new favorite play place to play - under the trampoline!  Our neighbor Alex likes the shade too!

• Jackson is super over dramatic! Tonight before our bath we took a walk down to the end of the street where are neighborhood pond and walking trails are. Jackson was running around with his friends and slipped and fell. He scraped his knee, elbow and nose, but you could have sworn from his dramatics that he'd amputated his leg! I carried him home, doctored him, gave him a bath and put him to bed and he never stopped crying the whole time. Any ideas to cure the 'drama queen-ness' would be greatly appreciated!

April Part II

Thumbs Up:

• This is my 100th blog post!
• On this day 8 years ago, Mike asked me to marry him! It really does feel like only yesterday, but when I think about all we've been through and accomplished in that time, it has been a long time. 

Celebrating at Abuelo's after the big proposal April 30, 2006.

• Mike is officially a B-Course instructor now! So proud of him and all his hard work. He also celebrated 6 years since getting his wings on April 25th.
• Mike took a break from his master's work this weekend to go with the kids and I to Mt. Olive for the Pickle Festival. It's only about 20 minutes from us and it's the Pickle Capital of the U.S. Anyone who knows me or the kids, know we LOVE pickles! We all had a great time!

We had to take pictures by every car that looked like one from the Cars movie!

Pickle Derby was the kids favorite game!

Of course Piggly Wiggly was at the Pickle Festival too!

• Jackson had his first dental cleaning and did fabulously! He looked so awkward in the chair 'cause he's so little. He also had his 4 year well check and came in at 43.5 inches and 36.4 lbs! 

Thumbs Down:

• Restoration of our house is moving at a snails pace. It just seems to take forever to do the back and forth between the insurance and the contracted company. I'm just ready to see some progress and am disappointed that it's been over 2 weeks and nothing has changed inside our house. We met with the flooring guy today and the carpet will hopefully be installed in our bedroom next week.
• The weather has just been crazy here. One day it's sunny and gorgeous and the next it's raining with hail and tornados! So far we've been fortunate enough to miss the tornados unlike some of our friends in the south. Looks like this will be another year of weather craziness and here we have hurricanes to think about in addition to regular storms and tornados. I am grateful we've missed out on all the dust storms back in West Texas. The grit in my teeth is the only thing I don't miss about home!
• Jackson is trying really hard to give up nap time and I can't handle it. He absolutely still needs a nap and is a total grouch when he doesn't get one. Not to mention that Mommy needs her 'me time' too! He also has no concern for anyone but himself and seems to wake Kennedy up because he's so loud.

April Part 1

Thumbs Up:

• Kennedy had a hair cut and just looks adorable! She couldn't stop staring in the mirror while she was getting the cut. She loved being in a hair salon getting pampered. 

Before...

After!

• Our garden has started growing and our grass is green! I'm still hoping for some grass in the front, but I think we're going to have to seek professional help before we can get there.
• Now that the weather is warmer all the kids our coming out to play! The kids have had a blast playing with all the neighbors. 

Thumbs Down:

• Last Saturday, I woke up to the sound of running water at 3:30am. As soon as I stepped out of bed, I stepped right into completely soaked carpet. Mike and I tracked the sound to underneath the sink and Mike turned the water off. The ENTIRE first floor was covered in water. We did our best to get the water out and then contacted the builder. The plumber fixed the leak, apparently a compression joint bust in a line to the dishwasher under the sink. All of our carpet, wood laminate, and vinyl flooring along with the baseboards have been torn up. Our kitchen base cabinets and bathroom cabinets have to be replaced as well. We thought everything would be going through our home warranty, but the blame keeps shifting and it seems safer/smarter to go through USAA on this. I think we have a long road to recovery, but thankfully the upstairs is big enough to accommodate us all. Here's just a few pics of the horrifying event!

Our flooring being hauled off.

Now to end on a happy not...hope everyone had a very Happy Easter!

We had a very unorthodox Easter this year. The weather was cold and rainy, so we had to the egg hunt indoors and as seen above, our house isn't in the best condition! The kids didn't seem to mind much as long as they get candy, they don't have much to complain about!

Someone like chocolate!

Jackson's face is absolutely hilarious!

Kennedy had to mess up a photo too!

Miss ladylike!

Checkin' their inventory.