It's been awhile....

Since I have been to this space. We are still alive but I have mostly been blogging over at Confessions of a Coastie Wife about our homeschooling stuff and my random thoughts. I have come back here since Angela linked to this blog for a Running Challenge blog that I have joined. Yeah thats right me running! Who would have thought right? Well after scanning my past posts for way too long I think it's high time I get back to updating this blog with all our family stuff. Now that my entire world is not spinning out of control since the transfer.

Basic update:
We are in Rhode Island now. We miss Florida. Let me clarify, we were spoiled in Florida with the weather, the friends we had made, and the CENTRAL AIR AND HEAT!!! But Rhode Island has SEASONS and that is something I desperately need. And snow. Jakob is in heaven.

Mike:
Landed the EPO position for a Station here in Pt Judith. Its a promotion to go with his advancement but basically means he's in charge of making sure everything that breaks gets fixed. He has a work cell phone that rings constantly which means he isn't able to leave work at work anymore. Its been an adjustment.

Me:
This transfer has been hard(er). I am having to really work outside of my comfort zone to make friends. I don't want to say that the people here are not friendly.... I'm just the outsider and that's different for me. I have been trying to balance life between homeschooling, my fitness (sanity), and my own personal interests. After much thought and crying and prayers, we decided that I just needed to put school for me on the back burner. I was hating the classes. I didn't see the point in all the bureaucracy and the service hours were all but impossible to complete without someone I trusted that was close who could watch the kids. It just makes more sense for me to be home right now.

Jakob:
Is growing so much. He's learning so well and has recently discovered a love for reading. He has joined Scouts and is loving it. He made a tool box the other week and thought it was great. He still loves his video games but is only allowed to play them on the weekends. He has decided that he will be an inventor when he grows up and has a journal of inventions going. Its great. He and Mike are currently working on his Pinewood Derby Car and he has a race at the end of the month. So exciting, especially since its something just for them.


Hazel:
Oh my, this girl is growing so much. She talks up a storm about everything and is so smart. For a brief period of time she was asking to learn to read but has since put that aside. I can't say that I'm sad about it. I want her to be a kid while she is a kid. She turns 4 at the end of the month and we are planning on going to the Children's Museum. She loves to play-pretend and has to sleep with a million stuffed animals at night.


Well that is an oh, so basic update here. I hope to just update here monthly for milestone sake. If your really bored check out my randomness and our homeschool fun over at my other blog.

A little bit of this and that...

We have been up to a lot here lately including getting ready for our new location. Rhode Island!! Here's a little peek at some of our fun. Hope you enjoy.

We painted egg shells for the letter "E" and Easter
Isn't he cute? ;-)

I was able to sleep in one morning and this is what happened when Daddy turned around! OPPS!

"We" concentrated REALLY hard on putting together a Sleeping Dootie Puzzle

Hazel's Egg

Jakob attempting the famous wooden egg (he really did well!)

Easter Egg Youth Service at our Church (I've got love like a fountain)

Climbing trees with friends

Rainbow Xylophones on Preschool coop

And that's only part of it. I am currently working on catching up with Hazel school posts on my other blog Confessions of a Coastie Wife. I have been a bit lax there lately since we have been so busy but now that the yard sale is over hopefully I can get back to some sort of routine.

Another Wonderful Week

Life is soo much better when Daddy's home. Not that we begrudge the work that he does, but we sure are glad to have him home to play with. See? Happy face!!

A little friend of ours turned one this week and since all we had to wrap her present with was Christmas Paper, we just flipped it over and decorated the blank side and mad our own. The kids REALLY like the stamping!

I love seeing this! I work really hard each week trying to find books for Jakob that would be interesting yet readable. This week's treasure find was the Dinosaur reader. He loved it! It's so much fun listening to him discover his readings and telling us all the cool facts he gleans from them.

Daddy's Back and Seaquarium!

We went to the Miami Seaquarium this week with Hazel's Coop. Jakob got to skip school and we had an awesome time. the shows were the best!
See that lady? Apparently I wasn't suppose to be taking Jakob's picture with these birds. After snapping a couple of times I realized she was talking to me and repeating over and over again, "You can't take pictures with these birds, please move on and take pictures with the birds farther in." Yeah I totally know where my kids get it from! ;-)

The best part of the week was the fact that Daddy came home! he brought us all little gifts from Puerto Rico. Hazel got this cute little summer dress....
both kids got little frogs...
And Jakob got a ship in a bottle! So much fun!
We are all settling back in with Daddy being home. We have adopted a new limbo status as Mike was informed that he would need to put in a dream sheet since he is advancing. We will know later if that actually means that we are transferring this summer.

I'mmm Baaaackk!

Ok wow yeah it's literally been FOREVER since I last wrote. So much has been going on and a lot has been hard to deal with, but this is not the post to get into that. Right now I wanna talk about the cool stuff we are into. And show off my beautiful kiddos.




They've gotten big huh? So beautiful a perfect mini me and mini Mike. They are growing up so fast I can't believe it!

Part of the reason I have been MIA with my posts is because my camera suffered a big boo boo and had to go to the Dr. Now that its back I can show you the types of things that we get into lately.
We have our school time at home. Hazel is soo smart and I am excited to have both my lovies home next year all the time!

We give Mommy "hairdo's". I really think this is her way of getting me back for brushing her curls.

We go to the Zoo and play!

And we go to Michael's and learn how to make H2O!!

As you can tell we have been into a lot of stuff here lately and loving every minute of it. I plan on keeping this blog for family members and such but I am starting another blog Confessions of a Coastie Wife. I plan on using that blog as a way to document and categorize the different things that are helpful as we homeschool, budget, and live life from post to post. Hope you all enjoy!!

In transition..

So we are transtitoning to our new location...which is fancy for I have packed most of our crap and now the kids are bored!! So we have been keeping ourselves busy with a few of the free events around Miami and a couple of playdates. Check it out!


We made a little Music at the History Museum...

Made some Plaster Caster Art at the Art Museum....
Showed off how we were "Too cool for School"....
Chilled with Cheetos and Friends...
And of course Marked all over ourselves while Mommy packed boxes!
Hazel has gotten REALLY artsy here lately and wants to color everything. She is naming shapes and colors and asking for me to point out words to read. All because she sees her brother do this!! LOVE IT!!! Unfortunately Hazel has officially been dubbed dangerous with crayons and markers as I have found evidence of her presence on the walls, floors, keyboards, and the boxes. More to come later!!

On our way to the allergist and the bottom fell out...

Ok last time I was on here, we were on our way to the allergist... literally I had blogged and was going to grab my purse and walk out the door. That is when I got THE PHONE CALL. It was from TN and I don't usually answer number I don't recognize on my cell but for some reason I did. It was our landlords. Calling to say they were going to sell the house, and not just put it on the market but short sell it, that we would go into a month to month lease with them but we were going to have to find somewhere else to live. AAAAHHHHH!!!!

Long Story Short we found out the Landlords were being shady and actually are in preforclosure, and have been pocketing our rent money instead of paying their mortgage. We employed the use of a realtor and found a house 3 days before Mike left for Cuba! Pending the Home Owner's Association's Approval, we move in August First. It's a bit smaller of a house but we are gainning the use of a pool and an excersise room!! YAY!! Pray for me and the kids as I am packing the house by myself. Mike is still deployed and will not be home until right before the move. I will post pictures of the new house as soon as we move in.