Photo Shoot

Today Michael and I took the kids to a park with a pond and ducks to get some good pictures of them. Although I got some great shots, the ducks kept distracting Cooper, so not as many great ones with him. I got some awesome shots of Ciarrah when she wanted to cooperate.

Skating

Today we took the kids skating. They had a blast as did I. I haven't skated since I was in high school, where I used to figure skate, oh how I miss it. I can still skate pretty good. Although this floor was a little slippery, but it was a blast.

When we got there it was empty. We were the only ones there which was nice until later on.

Cooper was a natural. He got out there and started skating. After a while of holding the wall he decided that he didn't need it anymore so he skated without the wall. I was skating backwards and he decided that he needed to do it too. He's such a smart little boy.


Ciarrah, on the other hand, wasn't so good at it. She just has balance issues. We tried regular skates for her and that didn't work. So we tried the kind of skates that Cooper had, that seemed to work better for her. Although she still had a hard time, she had more fun that way.



All in all we had a great time.
Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Big Boy Bed

Tonight we took down Cooper's crib and put up his toddler bed.

We did our normal routine except for instead of reading a book to both kids I read Cooper one in his room, just for him. We took a bath, brushed teeth and read a story, then he crawled into his bed and covered him self up and said night night. I told him goodnight and left his room. He started crying, so I went back in there and told him it was okay and he laid right back down and then I left. He fell asleep pretty quickly. I tucked Ciarrah in and read her her own story. They are both sound asleep as I write this.

Things have been pretty busy with us down here. We are preparing as much as we can for the upcoming deployment in Jan/Feb. We are having lots of family coming down to visit us before Michael leaves, which is pretty exciting. Looking forward to Christmas.

Hope everyone has a great night.

*UPDATE*
He slept all night. He woke up at 8am this morning. Maybe he's been ready for a while and I just wasn't :( Hoping for more great nights

Update

Things down here have been pretty busy. But as I am writing this, I have no husband and the kids are in bed. So I decided to update my blog. I know bad blogger :(

We have done so much in the last few weeks, its been so busy.

The weekend after Ciarrah's b-day party we went to the pumpkin patch. That was a lot of fun. I loved this pumpkin patch. It was just what I wanted to go to. It was a locally owned farm. They had a kiddie train ride, a hayride, pony rides, duck races (they used ducks and tunnel things and the old fashioned water spouts to push water down and race the ducks), bean-bag toss, and a maze. The kids loved it. Although we only bought small pumpkins, as the big pumpkins were pretty pricey so we went to walmart on our way home and got a couple to carve.

Kiddie Train

The next day we carved pumpkins, We carved a silly happy pumpkin and a kinda scary happy pumpkin. Michael did most of the work as neither kid wanted to touch the insides of the pumpkin.

Lit pumpkins and kiddos

The following weekend was my birthday weekend. My b-day was on Wednesday. I got some beautiful flowers and some Bath & Body Works candles. Then on Saturday we had a babysitter for the night, so Michael and I went to Austin. We went to Salt Lick, I LOVE that place. The food was awesome and the winery was cool. I tasted some great wines (I've not really been introduced much to wine, but I have found some I like, especially white wines). I even bought a bottle of some local wine :) After dinner we went to IKEA. I love that store, this was my first time in the store, but I've been online a lot. I found some awesome stuff that I plan on buying after the holidays.

This weekend was a hard weekend. Ciarrah and Cooper had a sleep-over with Haidyn and Rileigh, their mom watched my kids last week, so this week I watched them :) We had a lot of fun. We watched How to Train Your Dragon. This was a great movie, even Ciarrah liked it. On Saturday we had a b-day party for Ciarrah's friend from school. That was a lot of fun. Sunday we had to get up at 4am to take Michael to drop-off for California (He is at Fort Irwin, at the National Training Center) so they can get ready to go back to Iraq in January :( Michael will be gone for about 30 days. This means he'll be home a few days before Thanksgiving and HOPEFULLY, fingers crossed, he'll be home for Cooper's birthday on the 20th of November.

This Thursday the kids and I are hitting the road to go to Nebraska for a week. Its been since Christmas that we were there and we are not going home this year, so unfortunately Michael won't get to go home. But we are hoping everyone can come visit him before he deploys in January, cause the army isn't giving us leave before they deploy :(

Just wanted to update everyone, I hope everyone has a great week.

Happy Birthday Ciarrah

Ciarrah turned 5. Can you believe that she is such a big girl? I can't.

She is so independent. She goes over to her friends house all by herself (Across the yard). She loves school and her teacher.

She is now into BOWS. We have quite a collection. I love them to, for her to wear anyways :)

She had a great party for her birthday. All of her friends came and we had a great time. She loved it.

Party Table





Hitting the pinata

1st Day of School

Today was Ciarrah's 1st Day of pre-kindergarten, AGAIN :( Next year she gets to go to Kindergarten :) She did a really great job at drop-off, at least she didn't cry. I think it really helped her that Daddy was here this time. We all took her together and she loved it. All of the families on the culdasac went to take the kids to school. It was a pretty great morning for us. Michael didn't have to be at work til 10am so it was nice that he could stay home with us for a while.

Ciarrah's 1st Day of School

All the neighborhood kids
Jr, Carrie, Ciarrah, Jennifer, Maddie and Dalyn

Cooper is so much quieter when his sister is not here. WOW. I mean seriously there is no screaming or yelling or crying going on. It is quite peaceful and I LOVE it. I've come to the conclusion that she likes to hear her brother cry :(

Well its nap time here and I am so taking a nap today. Hope y'all have a great week :)

What I've Realized

I've realized that we are pretty lucky. Everyone around us is having problems.

A neighbors husband attempted suicide Friday. We had not seen signs of this at all. I mean yes they drink and argue. But I would have never expected him to attempt to do that. I woke up Friday to a neighbor telling me that we are going to have to take turns watching their kids. I was like why and then she told me what happened. Michael told me that he had seen the cops and ambulance out side when he was getting ready for work.

Another really good friend, her and her husband are separated. They fought and argued but never would have guessed it would come to that. They have separated for over a month, today was the first I had heard of it. She told me that she was ashamed of it. I haven't seen her since Memorial weekend. We have both been so busy, we kept in contact on facebook, but she told me that no one but a handful of people know. I wish I would have been in contact with her a little more, I feel like I failed her as a friend. I know that's not true, but she helped me through the deployment. She helped me get through a lot and I have helped her as well. I just wish I could do more for her, I know talking about it was very hard for her to do. She is not an open/ask for help kind of person, so for her to tell me was a hard thing for her to do.

It breaks my heart to see all of the pain these people are going through. I can't imagine what they are feeling. What did it for these couples are deployments. They are hard. Deployments can make a couple stronger or break them a part. For us thankfully it brought us closer together.

Last Night

For the last couple days Cooper hasn't been feeling well. He has been running a low fever and had a running nose. I chalked all of this up to teething, he is working on 4 more teeth. So we just gave him tylenol and motrin every 4 hours and went on as usually.

Last night we went to a good friends house. The husbands were going fishing and us wives and kids were going to just hang out. Before we left I gave Cooper medicine, he felt fine, his fever was gone and everything. So after a while Cooper gets sleepy, so I put up his bed and get him ready for bed. We let him lie down for about 30 minutes just whining and talking and then finally he starts screaming so we go get him and he is burning up. I left my theromotor at hime, so my friend goes and buys one, while shes gone I give the kids a bath. Hoping that would help his fever go down. When she gets back his fever is 101.7. So I called Michael and we decided to just take him to the er.

When we got to the er, the receptionist told us that a lot of people had been waiting for over 4 hours to go back and see a doctor. We then went to get triaged, they took his temperature and it was 103.7. It had gone up quite a bit since we left the house, even before we left we gave him some tylenol. So we were told to wait in the waiting area til our turn. As we are standing there he seems to keep getting hotter and hotter. So about an hour and a half later, I ask them if they can retake him temperature. They retake it and its 105.4, I about had a heart attack, he's never had a fever that high, neither one of my kids. The man tells me he's going to update our chart and to have a seat. Ciarrah had to to the bathroom, so I take her when we were coming, the man is ready to take us back.

When we get back its about midnight and poor Cooper can barely keep his eyes open. We get seen by a bunch of different people. They do x-rays. I learned that you can do motrin wait 45 mins and do tylenol and wait 4 hours from when you gave the motrin. I was always told you had to wait 4 hours in between the motrin and tylenol. The nurse told me they don't like to do it unless they have a pretty high fever. After a while the doc comes in and says he has an ear infection and an upper respiratory infection. We are giving antibiotics and sent home.

We then had to drive about 20 minutes to pick up Ciarrah then about another 30 minutes home. We got home around 4am and well Cooper and I were up at 730 :( He woke up with a fever, but we are just trying to manage it til we go to see his normal doctor Monday :)

Just wanted to share our wonderful night in the ER.

Happy Weekend Everyone

Marriage Retreat

This past week we went on a marriage retreat. It was alot of fun. We had to be there at 0830 on Thursday morning and we were finished on 1630 on Friday. Since we were staying over night we had to leave Collin at a kennel. This made us nervous. We found a great small family ran kennel. They did great with him. And we only paid 15 dollars.

After we dropped the dog off we had to go to Lampasas, Texas which is about a 45 minute drive. Once we arrived there we dropped the kids off at the Nursery at the church. Then we went out to a ranch. They had a lot of horses and a big that ran with the horses named Miss Piggy. I was not informed that we would be working with horses til we got there, as I was in flip-flops, so not a good choice in footwear :(

The marriage retreat was a blast. Who knew that you could do couples therapy with horses. I sure didn't, but they taught as alot, especially with Michael getting ready for deployment. We met some great new friends there as well.

After we were done for the day we went and picked up our kids and headed to the hotel. We got some great rooms, and unfortunately the pool was not working, what a bummer. After we got settled into the hotel, we dropped the kids back off for dinner. They gave a list of local restaurants to choose from to eat dinner at. we choose the Italian one, we ate at one in Fredricksburg, VA, so we thought it would be just as good, NOT. This one was not the best, but the desert was really great. Then we went to the local park and walked around and just hung out. It was nice to just spend time with each other instead of having the kids screaming every minute of the day.

The next day of the retreat we got to play with more horses. I don't really know my way around a horse, so this was an interesting experience. We learned how to get a horse to move without touching it and lots of basic stuff about a horse. We a had a great time at this marriage retreat. We will definitely be going to ones in the future.

Happy 4th of July

Cooper's 1st Sparkler







Ciarrah loved these

Mysterious Bird

Yesterday when I was outside with the kids I noticed a baby bird walking around. So we went back inside to not make the bird nervous. I went out to check to see if the bird was still there and I didn't see it, so I let the dog out. Of course the bird was blending in with the shurbs near the tree and Collin saw and it and attacked. He broke its wings and then wanted to play with it, but it was very spunky and fought back, even though it was hurt. So I went next door cause the neighbor had caught a bird like this one before and I wanted her to see if it was what she had, and it was. We thought it was a crane. So we called the game warden and they came out to take a look. The thought it was a crane as well. They told me they were going to put a call into the biologist out here and have them come take a look.

This morning at around 9am, I heard a knock at the door. They actually came and quickly, which is unusual for the army lol. The man went back and looked at what we have in the tree. We have 3 green heron nests in the tree. He told me they look like they are getting ready to leave the nest and that is why they are running on the ground. He told me that it is very rare to find them so close to humans. He told me that this may be a once in a lifetime experience. Then I told him that they were here last year and I had no idea what they were. He then asked how long we will be here. I told him at least til 2012. He then asked me if I could give him a call next spring so he can come back and take a look at them. He seemed pretty excited.

To me they look like ducks, but that nest in trees. I had no idea that they were herons. It is really cool that they are in my back yard.

Ciarrah's Last Day of School

She sure has changed a lot since the first day. She has become a big girl. I had no idea what they would teach her in pre-k. But she really learned alot. In just 9 months she has learned how to write her full name. And you can actually read it :) She was learned how to write all the letters of the alphabet. She can count to 100 with very little help. Yesterday she counted to ten in Spanish, didn't know she could do that. She uses a very broad range of vocabulary. She has learned about weather and all of the basic stuff. She is recognizing words in books, so maybe by the end of the summer she will be able to read a little. I was amazed at how much she is learning.

And she gets to do it all over again next year. Yep, she has to do another year of pre-k, because her birthday is not before the 1st of September. I am hoping that by the time school starts next year she will be able to read a little too. That is my goal this summer, to teach her how to read. The best thing about school next year is, we can walk to school. Its about 3 blocks from our house. This year we had to go to another district for pre-k and that was about a 30 minute commute twice a day. I am going to be so happy to be able to walk her to school next year. On top of the closeness, they start school at 8am instead of 730! Which means we can sleep til 7 instead of 615!! Thats great news!!

We hope everyone has a great weekend and bring on the summer!!

Parent's Visit

We were unsure if my parents were going to come down after their best friend died the day before they were suppose to leave. Since he didn't really have family they were needed to help with the funeral. But all of their friends told them to go that he wouldn't have wanted them to miss seeing their grand kids. So they left around 2 pm on Thursday and they arrived around 2 pm on Friday.

When they got here mom and I went shopping for the weekend. They couldn't believe how much Cooper has changed in 6 months, as he is now walking. Ciarrah has changed alot since they last saw her she is a big kid now!

On Saturday they wanted to go to the Harley Shop we have here. It's called Horny Toad Harley Davidson. They have a bunch of cartoon toads with names and they wanted to see them. While we were there it was there 2 year anniversary, so they had a band and a bunch of cool stuff. It was a fun afternoon. That night we bbq and played in the pool.

On Sunday, we went to the beach. We took Collin with us as well. We came to find out that he was not allowed near the swimming area. This lake has only one area where you can swim and they have lifeguards and all that. So we didn't stay too long. Poor Collin was having a blast in the water too and didn't want to get out. Now we found out that there is a different lake that they don't have these silly rules, so that is where we are going this weekend!

After the beach we came home and started getting ready for our bbq. Michael was making Korean Ribs and rice. We had potato salad and deviled egss. My friend Amanda and her family came over too. Everyone loved the ribs. Its him mom's recipe and now everyone wants it! It was a great bbq.

Since my mom and step-dad were leaving the next morning, Ciarrah was pretty upset. We took pictures of them with the kids and we did a family picture, minus my brother. We even got Collin to sit in the picture too! It was a great time. We put the kids to bed pretty late like around 9 or so and their bed time is 7. But it was the last-night that they were going to be with them for awhile.

We had a great time and it was sad to see them go. I am hoping that around August before school starts we can go for a visit, not too long of course, but long enough.

Been Crazy

It has been a while since I have posted. We have been super busy. Lots of family time on the weekend and lots of cleaning during the week.

Last weekend we went to Rabbit Fest. It was a lot of fun. Ciarrah and Cooper rode on the ponies. At first Cooper didn't like it, but he came around. When it was time to get off, he didn't want too. Ciarrah LOVED the pony ride. I remember having to walk around with her, and now I don't have to!! Its a little sad to think that she will be 5 this year, where did the time go. Anyways back to the festival stuff. Ciarrah and I rode on every ride that she could. She got to go on quite a few of the big rides. We rode on the ferris wheel and this ride that goes really fast forward and backward. Its crazy cause she wasn't scared at all. Then we went on this ride that goes around in a circle, you can feel weightless for a moment, she loved that. A little girl next to us asked if she was my sister, that was kind of cool!! That little girl was scared and Ciarrah wasn't. We walked around and saw lots of vendors and stuff. It was a blast. It reminded me of JCF Days back in Fremont. I am sad that we will miss that this year :(

After we got back from Rabbit Fest, we put the kids down for a nap, while we set up the pool!! I am so happy to have the pool up. It was very quick and easy to put up. Sunday, Michael mowed the yard and he and Ciarrah got in the pool. It was quite cold for me and Cooper, but they had a blast! Everyday after school as long as Ciarrah gets a happy face she gets to get in the pool. I got in yesterday, it is a little cold at first but after a while its not so cold.

Collin is doing great. We talked with our vet and since he tries to escape the kennel she recommends that he not be put in the kennel. He's doing well with it. He hasn't chewed anything up all week. The only thing he does is pee on my chair, ugh. But at least I can clean it with bleach and water, so its all good.

We are excited for next weekend. My mom, step-dad, brother and his gf are coming down for a visit. I am so excited I can't wait. Its been since Christmas that I saw them. We are really looking forward to them coming. Ciarrah has no idea, she is going to be sooo excited.

I hope everyone has a great week!!

One Week

Yesterday we hit our one week mark, and we finally have adopted Collin. They give you a week to make sure things work out and if not they take him back. Well he is working out great. We are just waiting on our paper work for him, so we can go register him with the army.

The first time I left him alone was not so great. He shredded my curtains. Then he managed to lock himself in the laundry room, and he must of panicked. He shredded the brand new 42 lb bag of dog food. Then he decided to pull the vent out of the wall and eat the dry wall. Let's just say it was not a great welcome home present. But we got him a kennel and he is doing really well in it. He doesn't go in it on his own, we just have to "help" him in there. Other than the first day I left him alone, he hasn't really ruined too much stuff. He DOESN'T touch the kids' or really chew anything that he isn't suppose to.

As for him and Cyra the cat. They are doing alright. As of right now she stays upstairs and he stays down stairs til its bed time. We have baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. When she feels good she comes down and will sniff him. He just gets too excited for her and she runs off. Today she came all the way into the kitchen and she was doing okay until he got excited and she ran, then he chased her. I mean for him only being here a week, I think we're making great progress. I am confident that maybe in a few months we won't have to worry too much about them.

The kids have been doing great. Cooper can now climb on to every piece of furniture we have. Ciarrah is doing well. We only have just over a month til summer break. We are getting ready to put up our swimming pool. Once we have someone come out and level our back yard a bit. We tried to put it up today and we found out that it is really uneven.

New Addition

Yep that's right, we got a new puppy. Well he's more like the size of a horse lol, but is super sweet. We picked him up yesterday from Dallas, TX. He was in a great foster home and he's really sweet. His name is Collin and they think he's about 1-2 years old, but they are not completely sure. We have a 10 day trial period to make sure that he is the right fit for our family, they he will become officially ours :)


When we talking to the foster mom she made him sound like he was a really hard to get along with dog. She says he chews everything and he doesn't really care for guys. Also that he has a lot of energy. When we picked him up yesterday he didn't have too much energy. We took him on a mile walk last night and after the walk all he did was lye around. Today we took him to the lake and ran with him and all he has done since we got back is sleep. I am thinking that maybe they just didn't exercise him enough?? But who knows.

They also said that he has REALLY bad separation anxiety. I guess its a good thing that I am a hermit lol. She said he has a tendency to chew lots of stuff up when he's left alone, so we will see I guess.
He is very gentle with the kids. He sometimes knocks Cooper over, but he will hopefully learn. He can sit, shake and lye down.

The only thing is he likes our cat, but our cat doesn't know what to think of him. She tends to stay upstairs and will occasionally come downstairs to the gate where she will let him sniff her. If he gets too close she will hiss and run away. So for now he stays downstairs and she stays upstairs. At night though she gets locked in the bathroom until they learn to get along.
We are very pleased with him and we are very glad that we have the chance to adopt him.

Vacation

This last week we went on vacation. It was a blast. The drive sucked. We went 1300 miles with 2 toddlers. What a drive. We made the drive in 1 1/2 days. It was a long couple days, but it was all worth it. We have learned one thing, Cooper LOVES Barbie. Although we didn't know this til the trip home :(

We left our house at 4am on Saturday and drove for 16 hours. In that time we only made 4 stops, which is great with 2 kids. We stopped for about an hour each time. Our first stop was North Carolina. We stayed there for 3 1/2 days. We went shopping and hung out with his mom and sister. I ate alot of Korean food. I have never ate any of that type of food before. It was good but different.
We left North Carolina on Thursday and we drove up to Grandma's house.

It was only a 4 hour drive to Grandma's from his mom's house. It was a short drive thank goodness. Once we got there we visited with Aunt Chris and grandma. Michael met everyone and we had a great time. Friday we went to Fredericksburg. We went to the Mary Washington House and walked around. We had lunch at this great Italian restaurant, and everyone working there spoke Italian. I thought that was great. The food was excellent.

While we were in Virginia, Cooper decided he wanted to trip and cut his head open. I so thought it needed stitches, but Aunt Chris said it was okay, so we just put a steary (sp) strip on it. It is healing nicely.

We left on Saturday morning. We stopped for the night in Arkansas. We drove for about 14 hours. When we left the next morning, it was snowing. Not just a little but alot. When we got to Dallas there was a huge accident, it was not fun. It took us about another 7 hours to get home.

I am so happy to be home. I slept so good last night. The only thing that sucks about coming home, is having to unpack everything!!

Cooper's boo boo.


Ciarrah, Grandma and Cooper
This best picture I could get!!

Cooper's 1st Haircut

Yesterday we took Cooper to get a hair cut. He had never had one and I was a little nervous about how he would react. As Ciarrah freaked out the 1st time she got a haircut. Cooper was totally different.

We went to the place that Michael gets his done at. This nice little Korean shop. He always gets his done there, so we figured since Michael had to have one, might as well get Cooper one too!!
We got there and I sat in the chair holding Cooper. She put a towel around him and clipped it, he thought the clip was cool. She snipped off a piece for me for his baby book. Then she trimmed the rest. They have hoses hooked up to their trimmers, so they don't get hair on the floor. I have never seen that before, but it is kind of handy!! As she was cutting Cooper's hair, he just stood there. He loved it. He smiled, he loves it when you rub his head!

So all in all his first haircut was a success. I was so proud of him, and since Ciarrah did such a good job waiting, she got a sucker, since Cooper isn't allowed sugar, yet!


before

after

Military Ball

Over a week ago on Feb. 19th, we had our military ball and it was our 2nd anniversary! And boy did we have a blast. It was my first ball and I really didn't know what to expect. It was kind of like prom but we got to drink and they served us dinner. The food wasn't too bad, but wasn't the best either. They even did formal pictures that you do at prom. We got these really cool beer mugs to take home with us. It was a blast.

We had a great babysitter. She is one of the soldiers mom, and she did a great job. She had 4 kids at my house that night. My 2 ages 4 and 1. My friends son who is 9 months and another couples daughter who was 7 months. AND she didn't even charge any of us. We tried to pay her, but she wouldn't except it. She even brought a movie and a bunch of new toys for the kids, and she left them here. I couldn't believe it. She did a great job. I was a little nervous as we haven't left the kids with anyone we don't know. But she did an awesome job.

I can't wait til our next ball. I have 2 other dresses in my closet that I can't wait to wear. I couldn't decide which dress to wear, so I bought 3.

The day after the ball, my best friend left to pcs to Fort Drum, NY. I am really going to miss her. We went through a deployment together. We kept each other sain. She was like a sister. I am going to miss her. Our husbands were in the same unit so they got along, and well now there gone. I know its the military people come and go, but man I am going to miss her.

Here are some pictures of our night!!

After the ball at eating a snack.

Jess and I

Snow in Texas

Little girl across the street

I know this post is a little late. We have been super busy, but I wanted to share some of our snow pictures we took last week. It sure was different to see snow down here, and we got quite a bit. I would have to say about 4 inches or so. Ciarrah loved the snow, once I picked her up from school, she was playing in it. Cooper on the other hand not so much!!

Snowman across the street, we didn't have enough snow in our yard!!

Picky Eater

So I am dealing with a VERY picky 15 month old. He won't eat anything I give him. Right now he will only eat yogurt, grilled cheese and kix cereal.

I just don't know what to give him. Everything I try to feed him, he won't give a chance. He won't even put it in his mouth. He has a texture issue. If it looks odd to him, he won't even try it. I feel that he isn't eating enough. He takes interest in what you are eating, but the second you try to feed him what you're eating he turns his head or won't open his mouth. We've tried to let him feed himself what you're eating and he won't do it either, it just ends up on the floor.

His doctor says he'll grow out of it. The doctor says to not worry about it, he'll eat when he's hungry. We've been playing this "game" of his for over 3 months now. We are in need of some help. Any ideas on what to feed him.

What A Week

This has been one heck of a week. I am so darn tired and no end in sight.

Michael will be gone the next 2 weeks. He may or may not be able to come home. It depends on the instructor. He is at some sort training for sgt's. I am going crazy. We find out when he comes home that day and it will be after the kids are in bed. So they won't see him for like 2 weeks. Ciarrah asked me today, Mommy is daddy at work, and I said yes, she asked how long will he be gone this time. ugh, I am so sick of him being gone.

Ciarrah has been having a rough week. She has gotten sad faces all week. She just can't seem to listen or sit still. She has been having a real hard time following directions too. Not really sure why she is having such a hard time. But I think we may go make an appointment for her to see her doctor and maybe she can help us with some ideas.

Cooper is WALKING. He finally can do it most of the time. He can get up without any help from anything. I so happy he finally figured out how to do it. He is so proud of himself too. Now he likes to climb on to everything. Its quite a task some days. I can't leave the room otherwise he'll be on something he's not suppose to be.

We are planning on turning our dining room into a play room for them. And putting our table in the kitchen since its big enough for it. Then we are putting up a gate from one wall to the other, so at least I can be in the kitchen and not have to worry about him being into something he's not suppose to be in.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, I am hoping we do too

New Kitty

Well today we went to the animal shelter on post. We were looking for a kitty. I was told by a friend that they were better priced and sometimes have some really cute animals so we went. Michael, Cooper and I since they close at 3 and are not open on weekends, Ciarrah didn't get to help.

When we got there, we walked into the cat room, and they had about 10 to choose from. I saw a couple I really liked. But I really liked the calico looking one. At the time we didn't know age or gender. We only wanted a girl and it had to be under 1 year old. So I asked and well she was only 4 months. So they took her out, and she was missing a back paw. I felt bad for her. I asked them if it affected her when she walked, ran that sort of thing. So they put her down and she walks and runs, as if it were there. She hobbles a bit, but I didn't care. I really liked her. The lady looked hesitant to tell us about her leg, I am guessing because she has been turned away before. But I didn't care, she was a very sweet cat, and she has been in a foster home at night :)



So we decided to get her. It took about an hour or so, after the paperwork was done. We named her Kyra. We brought her home and she ran, of course. They told us that she would be a bit timid. She has been getting better as the night went on. She is alittle scared of Ciarrah, I think she moves too fast for Kyra. I am really glad that we got her, as Michael doesn't really "like" cats so well. But I think she will be a good thing for our family.

We hope everyone has a great weekend. As we will as long as it doesn't rain :)

It's Been A Long Time

I know I know...Its been a very long time since I last blogged. Things have been very busy. I haven't been on the computer much lately. But as of tomorrow Michael goes back to work and Ciarrah back to school. So that will free up alot of time for me.

We enjoyed his time with us at home. We have had a great few months with him to ourselves.
Over Christmas we went back to Nebraska. While it was fun, it was VERY cold. We got snowed-in an extra 3 days. So that meant that we couldn't head out East to see the rest of the families. But we should get leave in March so that is when we will head out that way. We had a blast while in Nebraska for Christmas. It was nice that he got to be there with us too.

Ciarrah, is doing well in school. She has about 2 days a week where she doesn't get a smiley face, so we are working on getting that corrected, ever since she went back after Christmas, thats when our problems started. Not much new with her. She is getting an attitude, but all in all, shes a great kid.

Cooper is growing into a fun kid. He still doesn't walk yet. He'll be 14 months old soon and you would think he would walk, but no not him. He would much rather crawl. He can walk, we've seen him take 5 or so steps, but he'll drop right down and crawl. He is finally eating regular food. Although no meat for him, we are taking it one step at a time with him. All in all he is doing well.

Things in Texas are great. We recently bought a new car. A 2008 Dodge Caliber. I love it. Its my car, which is nice cause its got just the right amount of space for traveling. The weather has been nice down here. It has been in the high 60's for a couple days. The rest of the week looks nice too.

Again, I apologize for the lack of blogging. But now that we are going back to normal, I will continue to blog.

I hope everyone has a great week:)