Fabulous Army Life

I am fascinated by the way my brain protects me.  In true survival fashion, it completely forgets deployments about four months after Hubby returns.  Really.  Like childbirth ... you don't remember the pain so you can convince yourself to go through it again ... I think that happens with deployment for me, too ... although my memory of childbirth was pretty clear when I got ready to deliver my second child and I was equally terrified ... but I digress.  Hubby got home from his last deployment in June.  We're 9+ months into 'Dwell Time' and I can hardly remember the gut-wrenching pain of him being gone, and gone to combat zone to boot.  We're in our 'new' normal right now ... calling from work, planning lunch dates, attending kids events ... he's even coaching two sports teams for our kids right now.  My brain has completely erased the concept of deployment; or so I thought. Hubby was asked to speak about life in Iraq to a local DAR group next week....

If you're like me, you're already thinking about how to fill those long summer days with fun stuff for kids.  In this post, I want to share one of my all-time favorite things for my kids ... ever.  We call it Cousin Camp! For the past several summers, all of the cousins on my husband's side of the family have gotten together for a fun-filled "Cousin Camp."  Eight kids ranging in age from four to ten, all in one house for one week of super-crazy, mega-messy fun!  Hubby's sister teaches private swimming lessons so once we have all the kiddos signed up in their lesson slots, we start planning the fun! The last time we were all together we planned "Messy Week" ... five days of the craziest, messiest fun we could think of.  Here are some highlights: Color Me Happy At a cousin's baseball game, we let those in the audience draw on themselves -- and others -- with colored ink pens.  They had a blast drawing pictures, writing notes, and copying tatto...

Okay, I'm a moderate sports fan; not fanatical, not disinterested, but somewhere in between. I much prefer watching a game where I have some knowledge or interest in the team and/or players (unlike Hubby who really could watch any game of any sport and derive pleasure from the experience). Well, my alma mater is in the Elite Eight of "March Madness" and it's been great fun cheering them on. We'll gather around the television again tomorrow afternoon as the Baylor Bears take on the Blue Devils of Duke University.  If you're currently unaffiliated, please feel free to cheer on my Bears! For a quick run-down of how the season has gone for Baylor, here is a short article from the " Baylor Proud " website:   2010 Men’s hoops reaches Elite Eight Last year this time, we were writing about the Baylor men’s basketball team reaching the NIT Final Four and the excitement of playing at Madison Square Garden. Fast forward 12 months, and the Bears are one ...

Okay, okay.  I promise to stop posting about Texas so much ... it's just that with travelling for Spring Break, we kept finding cute signs and sayings along the way.  Here are a few more of my favorites! You know you're in Texas when ... It is the middle of winter and the AC is running. Mosquitos are biting at Christmas. Every other block there is either an adult novelty toy store, BBQ restaurant, dollar store, or church. Saying "Merry Christmas" is the standard greeting in December (not "Happy Holidays"). While driving along, every fifth sign or so has a Texas flag or "Texas" in the name of the store. You've gotten a sunburn while driving. You automatically wave at those you pass. A truck or combine has pulled to the right shoulder for you so you could pass. A building has three huge flag poles several stories high, with one USA flag and two Texas flags. It's bright, sunny, short sleeve weather one day, and it's snowing the ...

As a Mom, I've tried all the tricks to encourage my kids to choose healthy foods. A couple of things that I've discovered in the process are: ONE:  They are more enthusiastic when they take part in the planning and/or preparing process. TWO:  A little creativity goes a long way in making food fun to eat! Here are a couple of fun and easy breakfast ideas that my kids really enjoy. SMILEY FACE BREAKFAST This super-simple breakfast is a slice of turkey bacon as the smile, two small crescent rolls as eyes, and two gummy vitamins as pupils in the eyes. Variations in our house include a boiled egg or strawberry nose, blueberry 'pupils,'  and shredded cheddar hair. GREEN EGGS AND HAM This super-fun breakfast was inspired by Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham." This could be a simple way to introduce the book or, as we did, a really fun St. Patrick's Day breakfast! The breakfast consists of a slice of ham and scrambled eggs (both tinted green with food...

Spring has sprung in central Texas!  We're seeing bluebonnets sprout up all over our area and are enjoying the warmer weather ... biking, playing outside, walking with the puppies, and enjoying some fun nature crafts.  I wanted to share this fun activity we enjoy when the weather is nice outside.  We've taken this to the neighborhood park, on an outdoor hike, and to trips to the lake. Materials Needed: thick paper plates (we use Chinet) white school glue (we use Elmer's) We tell the kids they are making a "Nature Plate" to show off all of the wonderful parts of nature.  The only rules?  You have to gather and place one item at a time and you can only fill one plate.  Easy, right? We start by setting out their plates and filling it with white school glue.  Then the kids take off in to the great outdoors to collect the items they want to place on their Nature Plate. Because they can only choose one item at a time, they tend to use a littl...

Becca at " Lovely Yellow Ribbons " posted an interesting post titled " Homeless on Earth " ... actually, she posts lots of interesting things (and has fabulous customized military items as well!) but I was especially drawn into this story. She describes seeing a homeless person and talks about how it feels for most of us to sit comfortably in our reliable vehicles behind our designer sunglasses and look upon these that have no homes and rely on the generosity of others for survival.  Several times, I have taken action ... some with positive results, others not. Once, I gave money to man who immediately picked up his sign and walked across the street to a liquor store (I understand addiction but I was dismayed that he didn't choose to eat with that money since his sign said he was hungry); and another time, my family and I picked up an extra hamburger meal as we drove through a fast food place and when we took it back to the 'hungry' man, he scoffed ...

One of the things I am enjoying most about blogging is the fun people I meet online.  I love reading blogs and seeing all of the creativity out there. I just found a new friend, Jessica , at " Me, Him, and The Army " who introduced me to the concept of a blog party!   I'm always up for a party and am loving the blogging world so this seems like a perfect fit for me.  This blog party is for moms -- and with two boys, ages ten and six -- I certainly have mom stories to tell!  Here is the link for the blog party; complete with explanations and codes for linking the blog party on your site. If you're on Twitter, use the hashtag #ubp10 to help promote the party (... and you're welcome to follow me at @MyArmyLife , too!). It doesn't start until April so you have time to get ready now ... and every good party hostess knows that preparation is the key to success!  Hope to see you at the Blog Party!

We spent the last part of Spring Break in the Hill Country and enjoyed our time there so much!  We saw our first Texas bluebonnets of the season and were lucky enough to see a family of four bald eagles before they left their nest for the year. While visiting this beautiful part of Texas, we came across several great Texas quotes and quizzes and I wanted to share some of them with you here.  You can only claim to be Texan if you can pass the following test! You can properly pronounce Amarillo, Bexar, Buda, Corsicana, Decatur, Ennis, Lancaster (the town), Lancaster(the street), Mexia, Palestine, Pflugerville, Waco, and Waxahachie. A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel. You’ve ever had to switch from “heat” to “cool” in the same day. You know that the true value of a parking space is by the availability of shade, not the distance to the door. You measure distance in minutes and/or hours. You listen to the weather forecast b...

Happy St. Patrick's Day from my Family ... with an interpretive dance from my youngest ... Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

My ten-year-old adores scouting and we were so proud when he earned his Webelos badge at our pack's recent "Blue and Gold" ceremony.  I was the Blue and Gold representative for our den so I had the parents help me organize a den meeting to make decorations for the table.  We printed out a history of scouting (since this is the 100th Anniversary of Boy Scouts of America) and made a table-runner timeline.  The boys did a great job of organizing the events into order by decade and adding lots of great photos, quotes, and stickers.  The completed laminated copy looked great on their table.  You can see a little of it here: We added some bowls of snacks (pretzels, goldfish, mini-marshmallows) along with some fun pass-the-time activities (History of Scouting sticker book provided by the pack and homemade play-doh ~ a surprising hit with all ages!). Hubby was here to stand by him when he received his rank and to receive the parent pin as well. I loved t...

One of my favorite things about Army life is that I always have a ready-made group of peers and friends at every installation.  People who speak the language, get the jokes, and live the life right alongside me.  Now that we're working on year sixteen in the Army, it's becoming more and more evident to me how very SMALL the Army can be.  You'd think with over half-a-million active-duty Soldiers in the Army today that you wouldn't ever see anyone you knew, ever.  You'd be wrong.  It seems like every time I turn around, I'm seeing someone from a previous duty station or, even more common, someone who knows someone we once knew. Case in point:  After our snow day a few weeks ago, my oldest son came home from school with a cell phone he'd found on the way home.  We turned it on and called the number listed for "Mom" in the phone.  When "Mom" answered, I told her my name and explained that my son found a cell phone with her number programme...

People here in Texas have trouble with all those "shalls" and "shall nots" in the ten Commandments. Folks here just aren't used to talking in those terms. So, some folks out in west Texas got together and translated the "King James" into "King Ranch" language. (1) Just one God. (2) Honor yer Ma & Pa. (3) No tellin' tales or gossipin'. (4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting. (5) Put nothin' before God. (6) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal. (7) No killin'. (8) Watch yer mouth. (9) Don't take what ain't yers. (10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff. ** Cowboy's Ten Commandments posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie, Texas.