No Clever Title Here

I couldn't think of anything to explain why I've been on hiatus yet again, and how my lack of blogging now leaves me in an update predicament. So here, goes, boring, generic blog, enjoy.

I don't even remember what my last blog was about, so I'll just start with "WE MOVED!" Yes, again. When are we not moving? Okay, but seriously, this time, I'm pretty sure we won't be moving again. I believe my words to Mark were, "Good luck getting me to leave this place. I'm in love and I'm having an affair . . . with the beach." I'm such a good wife, right? Honestly, this place is great. We have found our dream home, okay, maybe not we, just me. Mark is more of a Northwest guy, loves the mountains and the snow. How did we end up together again? Oh yeah, that's right, he found me at my favorite place on earth. haha. Mark has never stepped foot in this house. In fact, he has never even physically seen it, but I'm sure he'll love it. I love this house. Its in the country, and its not far from the city or the beach.

Taylor goes to a great school. Its one of the best in the county, which really doesn't say much considering the school district was ranked like number 50 out of 55 for the state of Florida. But, it is a great school, and he will excel no matter what. I don't think much is going to ever hinder him, except confidence. He needs more of it, but then again, don't we all. His teacher is sweet, and his class is small. He has a class of 16, how awesome is that. I love the smaller class size because it makes for a much better teaching environment. That, and the teacher doesn't have to run to her locked cabinet and take a swig from her flask throughout the day.

Austyn is doing great. He is loving living in the new house, mostly the fact that he gets to ride his bike in the road. Being that there aren't a whole lot of people on our street, all of the kids on the street ride their bikes into the culdesac and race and play. There are a lot of kids on our street for him to play with, and having friends makes him happy.


Ryleigh on the other hand, is still doing great. She is still having issues with her shyness. I really can't blame her considering we are in a new, strange place, surrounded by new, strange people. She does okay most of the time, and she is adjusting very well. She is absolutely in love with having her own bathroom with her pink toothpaste, pink shampoo, and pink body wash. I must admit that I love walking into her bathroom because it smells so girlish.


Roscoe is doing good. I think he loves Florida. He has become increasingly protective, and that makes me feel good. He is such a good boy, and he's adjusting well. Bailey on the other hand. *sigh* Bailey is going to be the death of me. She is such a puppy and it drives me crazy. I don't have the time, patience, or love to deal with her. Sad, but true.


Mark is doing well, I suppose. He and I don't talk much these days. He's been pretty busy working on a hard to get qualification. He's a hard worker, and he's amazing at what he does, so I'm confident that he'll knock their socks off. Everything is still as scheduled for his homecoming, or at least we think. He is still waiting on having those orders in his hands. Time is winding down and he will soon be back in the awesome town of Lemoore and then headed for us.


I am doing good, or as good as possible considering I'm living like a homeless person in an abandoned house. Okay it isn't that bad. We have an air mattress, two computers, internet access, toys, clothes, some dishes, things to cook with, a fridge, food, working water and electricity, so I'm a sophisticated not so homeless person. But at the same time, that's all we have, and I have three kids I have to entertain as well as two dogs. I'm still looking for work. I've applied everywhere and anywhere possible. I'm also in my third term of school, and I'm beyond over it. School is overrated, but I've managed to eek out a bunch of B's, so that's promising.


Well I suppose that's about all I have to talk about this time around. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, because I always am, but I don't have the patience to sit here and rack my brain over a blog.

Ehhh...I've Been on an Extended Sabbatical...Yeah, That's It!

Hello out there to anyone who hasn't completely deserted me and my blogging efforts; I'm hoping someone still has faith in me. The last time I blogged, the boys had just finished up their baseball season, and we just found out that Mark was selected for the Blue Angels. Wow! That seems like it was so long ago. Since then I have been as busy as possible. We decided to pack up and move to Florida early; a decision that didn't come lightly. Taylor finished up the school year as a second grader, and is now a third grader. Mark left on deployment at the end of July. We were lucky enough to get the chance to venture up North to Washington and spend a week with family. Boy it sure was a great week. We hadn't seen most of them in more than a few years. We were able to see everyone, with the exception of John, David, and Cindy. The kids thoroughly enjoyed visiting with family as well. We were even able to take some time to visit the Portland Zoo with Rick and Lisa. It was a beautiful zoo, and much more realistic to natural habitats than any zoo I'd ever been too. The kids favorite part of the trip was Bonnie's house. I tell you, that lady has the ultimate Grandma's house! I'm surprised the kids agreed to even come home with us. haha. She has a Wii (we do not), a trampoline (we do not), a pool (we do not), a playground (we do not), a llama (definitely don't have one of those), two goats (none of those either), the quad we had no use for, and plenty of space to run and play without worrying about cars speeding through. We ended the trip and drove all the way back to the valley.
Once we were home, we had just under a week to pull everything together for Mark's surprise going away/congrats party. Unfortunately, this was the only time that we could do something like this, and not many people were able to attend. But those that did attend had a great time, and made it a memorable time for Mark. Adam and the girls were able to come up, so that was the icing on the cake. Hiding things from Mark isn't something I had an easy time doing. I don't think I will ever plan another surprise party again! lol. We celebrated the 4th of July with Adam and the girls. We even ended the night with glow stick wars. Don't ask. It was hilarious, and definitely a memory I won't soon forget. Once Adam and the girls were on the road back home, we started back up with the packing. Over the next few weeks, we packed up our entire house, put everything in storage, cleaned the empty house, and passed a housing inspection. Once all of that chaos was over, we were officially homeless; words I never thought I'd speak. We spent a day and night with Laura and the gang. We even got together for one last dinner with everyone. That was nice. The next day we headed further south to drop Mark off at the ship. He was only going to be gone for a week, so we drove back to Laura's house and spent that week with her and the kids. We wanted to get in some last minute visiting time with everyone before we left. After that week, Mark came "home" for a few days, and then it was off on deployment. We stayed with our friends in San Diego for a little while longer, and then we took off for Tejas. We didn't intend on driving straight through, but we did. We fully intended on stopping in Fort Stockton, but by the time we got there, the kids were zonked, and I figured it would be easier to just drive straight through. We arrived in Fresno a little after 8:30 in the morning. Our time in Texas was drastically shorter than we ever anticipated or planned, but I won't go into details about that. There we were able to visit with even more family. I didn't get to see everyone that I wanted to in our short visit there, but we don't live as far away as we once did. I was most excited about meeting my niece for the first time ever! She was chunky little six month old adorable little girl. I was also able to see my grandfather. That wasn't easy for me, and I really had to choke back my tears. It was good to see that his sense of humor hadn't diminished yet; when I went to leave, I touched his hand to say goodbye and he quickly jerked his hand up saying , "AAAAAAAAAH". It scared the living daylights out of me, but he was being silly, and was trying to scare me. That made me smile to know that he wasn't completely lost in that body of his. We quickly found in Fl to live in. We are so thankful that Lisa's mom and her sisters opened up their mother's furnished home for us to stay in. The stay here is temporary, and always has been. Being able to live so close to Pensacola has afforded us the opportunity to seek out a home to buy, and take advantage of the home buyer's tax credit. After being in town for a very short time (1.5-2 weeks), we had already found our home. It is definitely a dream home. It sits on about 3/4 of an acre, has plenty of space, 4 bedrooms, and 3 bathrooms. The 3 bathrooms was on the wish list, but not a priority. As a woman, sister, and daughter, I know what its like to have to share a bathroom with boys, and it is NOT a pretty picture by any means. I really wanted for Ryleigh to have her own bathroom, and that's exactly what we got. I can't even believe that we found this house on our first trip with our realtor. We are very lucky, but mostly thankful. The house is not "ours" yet, but there is a sold sign in front of it now! We are scheduled to close on the 30th of the month. None of this would be possible without our wonderful brother Adam. He has been great throughout this whole process. He isn't always the easiest person to get into contact with, but when it comes to business, he's all ears. He has helped us in many ways than just one, and it we can't thank him enough for all of his help and efforts! We also can't say thank you enough to Hazel for 'loaning' us this home in the meantime. Taylor is doing well in school. He had a rough first week or so. He had been insistent on riding the bus to school, however the school bus was coming at 6:30AM every morning to pick him up. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not a morning person, and sleep is like gold to me...very valuable. After his rough week of early mornings, we decided it was best if he only rode the bus home. From there, everything has been wonderful, and for the most part I have my wonderful little boy back. His teacher is amazing, and I really like her. She is extremely organized, and she sends home a classroom related newsletter every single Monday. I always know what's going on at school, and with Taylor. She is a great communicator, and I really appreciate her. I've talked to his teacher here more than I've talked to all of his teachers put together. I hope that his teacher at his new school is similar to her. Oh yes, that's the only downfall, Taylor will have to change schools after we move. Hopefully, it will be an easy transition for him. He would also like to join the cub scouts, so that is in the works for him. I think it would be an excellent opportunity to make new friends, gain some confidence, and help him 'find' himself. I'm looking forward to that. Austyn, you know, hell on wheels. Well, he learned how to ride his bike without training wheels about 2 weeks ago. He just jumped on, and took off after seeing a girl smaller than him riding her bike on her own. Since then, he has given me a heart attack almost every time he gets on his bike. Not to worry, we insist on bike safety so he always has a helmet on. He has learned to ride with only one hand, he tries to pop wheelies, hops off curbs, sits on one foot while riding, puts one foot up in the air while riding, and sometimes both. And you wonder why I call him hell on wheels. The kid is crazy, determined, and curious. Who knows, maybe he's a future X-Games BMX-er in the works. Ryleigh has also made progress on her bike. When we were living in California she would insist on sitting on her bike, and then she would get angry when she wouldn't go anywhere. After seeing Austyn ride her bike, and then his own, she quickly learned how to navigate her way on her little second hand bike. She's now a pro and tries to keep up with the big boys, although she isn't daring like them! Oh yeah, we also have a puppy named Bailey. She is about 5 months old. She is a gorgeous yellow lab that we got from a (I know, tsk, tsk) breeder. She has been great so far, aside from her scares that she has given me. Vomiting, bloody stools, and blood on her side. Who knows what was wrong with her, but she's as normal as a dog can get now. I think she may have eaten some mushrooms in the yard. She does have a pesky habit of barking early in the mornings before my alarm turns on, and that makes me really grumpy. She's getting better at not barking as much though, as she has very quickly learned that barking just buys her more time in the kennel. She now knows that if she wants out or wants attention she has to be calm. Did I mention how much I hate puppies! They are so much work, but you don't realize it until you have one. While this blog is obnoxiously long, I can't say that I've covered all the ground in between June 2, and today, but this will have to do. Pictures will follow soon, most likely tomorrow as I have a headache the size of the earth, and I don't plan from moving from the sofa unless I'm absolutely required to. ;o)

What an Honor & Baseball is Over For the Year!

First, let me start out my saying that (hallelujah) baseball season is over! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love baseball and I love watching the boys play. It amazes me at how much talent they have. But, after spending FIVE days a week at the baseball fields for the last 7 weeks; I've had more than my fill. We always seem to get stuck with horrible coaches. This year Austyn's coach showed real promise, but he struggled and lost focus between the two teams he was coaching, his own six kids, his full time job and his wife's job. Needless to say, the guy had way too much on his plate. He ended up being the most horrible coach in the history of baseball! I think that pretty much every parent on the team filed at least one complaint against the guy. Yeah it was that bad. I won't even get into the details of what a schmuck the guy is. So, then we have Taylor's coach. He's a little dweeb of a guy who doesn't really seem to know a whole lot about the game. I will say that he did end up being a pretty good coach. Thank goodness! Last Saturday was Austyn's last game and we had a party here at our house. The kids enjoyed pizza, fruit, veggies and cupcakes in between slipping and sliding down the skim board slider and playing in the pool. Everyone had a blast! Taylor's last game was tonight. He had a great game. It was my turn for snack, so naturally I was over prepared and went above and beyond. Hey...it was the last game! Each kid got a red goody bag with baseballs all over it. Inside were some baseball goodies, fresh fruit and a bottle of water. I had also made a pennant flag for each kid at the beginning of the season, so they also were able to take those home today. The coach and his wife kept the big banner I made for the team. I have no use for it! Taylor's last day of school is on Thursday! Where has the time gone? Wow. I can't believe that I...me...Stacie....is going to have a 3rd grader on my hands! Scary!
Anyhow, today was also a very special day. I received a special phone call from the love of my life. He informed me that I should pack my bags! I cried tears of joy. Doubt had begun to settle in, but I still had hope. I was very confident in him that he had been selected. I know that he is a hard worker and is awesome at what he does. But for the Blue Angels to actually recognize that is mind boggling. He was selected from many applicants. He stood out in the crowd. I am so excited, happy and proud of him. He has the honor and prestige of saying that he works for the Blue Angels. What an honor! I am still trying to wrap my brain around it. lol. With this wonderful news comes sad news. Our really good friends and old neighbors didn't make it. I am so bummed about this. We were really hoping that they would make it and we could take this journey together. Unfortunately, it just wasn't in the cards. We are surely going to miss them like crazy and wish them the best of luck in their next set of orders. But back to the excitement...I will be just over ONE hour away from my sister and those two gorgeous little boys that are my nephews. We can't wait. Austyn ran all around the house shouting, "WE ARE MOVING TO FLORIDA!!! WOOHOO!! BLUE ANGELS!! WOOOO!!" He is hilarious. He has no idea where Florida is, much less what Florida IS. lol. Taylor is so calm and quiet. I busted into his room and yelled, "TAYLOR!! THE BLUE ANGELS PICKED DAD!!!" He obviously wasn't as over the top as I was. He very calmly said, "Yeah....I know....you were crying. I know." That's it. That's all he had for me! lol. But, he did later say that he is very excited to move to Florida, so that is good news. So, the packing and house hunting begins. We won't be moving until the fall, but hey, one can never be too prepared for a cross country move! Floridian beaches...here we come!

The Latest....

I realize that I haven't posted in about a week, and the reason for that is that I have been busy. I finally decided that I would no longer put my education on hold. Its far to important to keep procrastinating and wasting the days away when I could be working towards a degree. My very first day 'back to school' was last Wednesday. I was a bundle of nerves, but I was also really excited. I've always liked school and learning new things. I am trying to get a Bachelor of Science in Health Science. I haven't exactly figured out what I want to do with it, but obviously it will have something to do with the health field. I am going to school 100% online with a great university. I needed an online school because....well, because I have 3 kids. Do I really need another reason? lol. Between taking Taylor to school; spending 5 out of 7 days a week at the baseball fields; cleaning house; spending quality time with the kids; cooking; grocery shopping and taking a shower everyday; I don't exactly have the time of day to spend going to a traditional school. I can't imagine sending my kids off to a sitter or missing a game because I had to go to a physical school. Therefore, online is best for me, especially since we are possibly moving to Florida. Keep your fingers crossed. So, anyhow, I am going to a great university, and so far it has been great. The professors have been awesome and they have so many additional resources to help you out in pretty much every subject imaginable. One of my first two courses that I am taking are Academic strategies for the health care profession. This is basically a class that will get me accustomed to attending school online and it will teach me what is expected from me. It also goes over ethics and things like that. My second course that I am taking is Chemistry. Yikes! It isn't that bad. My book is confusing as all heck, but all of the videos I watched pulled it all together. Tonight was our first seminar, in which I have to sit at my desk for one full hour and participate in class. Since I had done my 'homework', I knew what the professor was talking about. About half the class didn't watch any of the videos or read anything, so naturally they were all lost. I at least knew what the teacher was talking about. Now, the equations, well that's something else. lol. I'm not good at math. I stink. Taylor is probably better at math than I am. I know that's sad, but hey, I'm being honest. After figuring out the problems, it really wasn't so bad. I received a 70% on my first self assessment that I took. Not bad considering I still feel pretty confused. I can take the assessment numerous times to better my skills, and I plan on doing that. So, that was my spiel on school. Yay me! I'm very proud of myself for finally taking the plunge!
The boys are still doing baseball. They don't have any practice for the rest of the week. They both had practice today. Taylor's coach took my suggestion I gave him last week and turned it into reality. He said that he wanted to have a fun practice where everyone could just goof around and have fun. I suggested he bring water balloons and tell them to catch...thinking they would be catching a baseball and then just smack them with the balloon. He liked it and okayed it with the other parents. The kids had fun. I had fun watching, until one kid tried to throw a balloon at his dad, missed and hit me in the neck, therefore soaking my entire right shoulder and torso area. Yeah, and of all days, I wore a white t-shirt. HAHA, laugh it up. You couldn't see anything; obviously since I am not a trashy woman who goes around bra-less. lol. Austyn is still having fun with baseball. He definitely needs to move up to the next level. He hits about 7 out of 10 balls that you pitch to him. The kid has an arm from hell. Not only does he throw hard, he throws fast and accurate! Watch out! lol. And then there's Ryeigh. That girl has more attitude than a high school cheer squad. haha. She cracks me up though. She is getting so much better about being around strangers. She actually will approach a stranger and say hi. She doesn't run away screaming when they look at her either. She has come a very very long way from her stranger induced anxiety days. I'm happy for her.
Mark is out on the ship...again! He'll be home in a couple of weeks before its bon voyage for deployment. We still don't know anything about the Blue Angels, but we are keeping our hopes and spirits high. He is very confident with the way his interview went, and I'm very confident in him as well. As one of our acquaintances said, "Pfft! Mark's going to get it. That guy can charm the pants off of anyone!" Well, that's definitely one way that he has never been described. lol. He is very charming, personable, friendly and likeable, so I get what the guy was saying. Other than that, not much else is going on over here.

It went too fast!

This was one crazy weekend. Friday night Taylor had a game. They played the Astros, with whom they were tied for the #1 spot thus far in the season. He played an amazing game. I swear, each time I watch him play, he improves. He's getting a lot better at hitting, and his fielding skills are immaculate. The game went really good until there was a mix-up in the batting order and the other team caught it. Our coach's wife should have caught it since she was the one keeping score. No big deal, right? Oops, we screwed up, that's a 3rd out, you guys are up, lets keep playing....right? No! Next thing you know, she rips her (Yankees) hat off of her head and throws it onto the field. (Where's the respect for the team lady?!) Then she storms off, grabs her stuff and walks away...pissed. Someone asked her what happened and her reply was, "I got fired....because I quit!" I'm not really too sure how that makes sense, but whatever. So, then the game is going to continue on but she comes back and screeches her son's name. She wanted to take him with her. Her husband (the coach) says to just leave it, and go home and instead of just doing what he suggested she yells, "No, this is bullshit and you know it!" So then our coach calls the game....because of her! I was a upset. Not only did she show poor sportsmanship, but she also showed poor judgement and poor leadership, while breaking the parent code of conduct. No one offered any explanation as to what happened or why the game was canceled, much less an apology. Today is Monday, and we have yet to get an apology from anyone. The kids were robbed! All they wanted to do was play baseball, and that was taken away from them for something that wasn't their fault. I hope that today they offer an apology, and she should not be at the next game (per the code of conduct.)
Saturday morning, Austyn had a game at 8:30. I love those early games. haha He played awesome, as he always does! It just sucks that Mark wasn't there to have seen him play. This is the 2nd year in a row that Mark will have missed every single one of his games. Its such a shame too, because I think he would really appreciate and love the way Austyn plays the game, and to see how much he loves the game! After the game we hit concrete heaven for about 6 hours. Mark was on his way from Pensacola to San Diego. This was our last chance to see him for the next month. He had a friend pick him up at the airport and we arrived shortly after he did. We pretty much all just hung out and recovered from our traveling adventures that night. I also got my Mother's Day gift from him that night. He gave me some bath stuff, ie. shower gel, body butter, lotion and stuff like that from a place called the Body Shop. The stuff was made witth Florida Oranges. It smells amazing and it left my skin feeling like a baby's behind. lol. It was a very sweet gift, and I'm sure that everywhere I went, people were wondering who smelled like oranges. =) I loved it. He had to do his own shopping in FL, since he didn't have any other chance to do it.The next morning, we woke up and Taylor brought me his gift that he made at school. This was the sweetest, most hilarious, most awesome best gift ever! I've never laughed so hard in my life. I will keep this book forever and I will show it to him when he is grown. I'm sure he will get a kick out of it too. Mark also gave me a card that morning that was pretty sweet. We had planned on going to breakfast at Denny's that morning, but the Denny's we found was packed full of people that looked like they possibly ran across the border. There wasn't even space to wait for a table. So, we opted for the next best thing....McDonald's take out. It was actually my first suggestion for breakfast, so I didn't mind at all. We were lazy and hung out all day until Mark needed to head to the ship. We took him to the ship and then had dinner with Elvis and his family. After that we headed home. We didn't get in until after midnight, but we made it safely!
All in all it was a good weekend, but it didn't last long enough. We always seem to be longing for more time with Mark. He won't be back until June, and then he'll be home for a little over a month before its sayonara for deployment. Oh, the life of a Navy wife. Anyhow, I thought I would share Taylor's book with you all. I really enjoyed it and I think that you guys will get in some good laughs as well. So, here goes: His answers are in bold and my feedback is in italics.

This is the front cover of the book!This is all about ME:
Her Name is Stacie
She lives at Viking Street
She is 26 years old.
Her Birthday is September 25. (he says he forgot when my birthday was, so he just picked a day instead. Gotta love it.)
Here are five words that tell about her
1. Crazy (I can see that) 2. Shopping Freak (I am not!) 3. Oprah fan (It looks like it says Oprah fart, but he insists that it says fan!) 4. Fancy (that's cute) 5. Math (I HATE MATH!)
My Moms Favorite:
Color she looks best in purple. (I don't think I have anything that is purple!)
Animal she likes crab. (does anyone even like crabs? My favorite animal is a turtle!)
Ice Cream Flavor vanilla. (That's sort of right)
Sport she likes to play baseball. (I think I'd be ousted from the family if it were anything different!)
Day of the week Saturday
Things to wear earrings. (I'd say flip flops)
Food to eat salad. (Really? Do I eat salad that much?)
Place to visit Las Vegas (I've only been once!)
Song she likes to sing Boom Boom, got to get that. (I don't even want to know what his teacher's response was when she read that! It's the song by the Black Eye Peas..Boom, Boom, Pow.)
Love
There are many ways my mom makes me feel loved. Here are some ways....
She calls me bling bling boy. (I don't think I have EVER called him that!) She buys me video games. (I thought it said she bugs me!)She helps me cook. (He loves cooking in the kitchen!)Things to remember
The nicest thing I ever did for my mom was....Gave her breakfast in bed. I cook for her. (He's so sweet!)
The nicest thing my mom ever did for me... Let me play video games. (something tells me, I've done more than just let him play video games! What am I....evil?!)


Three Wishes
If I could give my mom three wishes, I would wish her:
1. I hope you get colored gold. (apparently I want to be gold and didn't know it!)
2. I hope you get one million gold bricks. (That would be something!)
3. I hope you give me a smarter brother. (WHAT?? Austyn isn't smart enough? This one cracked me up beyond belief!)
And last but not least, a Picture of my Mom. The jet flying over my head is carrying a sign that says I "heart" MEN! I am shown wearing a blue Yankees hat with my hair sticking straight out, and my shirt matches the sign!! I asked him why on Earth he would put that on a sign and a shirt and he said because he couldn't remember what any of my shirts said. For the record...I don't own ANY shirts that say I "heart" anything! I have a bag that says I "heart" recycling!! LOL. Anyway, this was by far the best gift ever! It was hilarious, and I cried from laughing so hard. I'm going to keep this and show it to him when he is grown!