Our Random, Fun Life!

Before I begin, let me just say that I am not a parenting expert. I have two kids who I absolutely love and adore and great parents who raised me. I do not think that I have all the answers, or that how others choose to raise their children is better or worse than what I do with my kids. To each his own. I did, however, feel compelled to write this blog after many weeks of people "attacking" one another through social media and after many, many lessons with my oldest on how she should behave with her brother. Playing nicely together on Christmas morning I have this philosophy when it comes to raising kids that I have been passing on to my kids, and that philosophy is 'worry about yourself.' Most people would look at that phrase and think, "my goodness, how selfish." But I contend that it is anything but selfish. Payton, my 3 year old, often comes to me with the all-too-common-in-our-household phrase, "Austin did this..." or "Austin di...

I nominated mom today for the Live with Kelly and Michael's Search for Unstoppable Moms. Here is the submission: There are so many things that make my mom unstoppable. While her children are all grown up, mom still cares about us and leads by example as much as she did when we were little. My mom is one of the strongest people I know. My dad is currently going through chemo and radiation for esophageal cancer and my mom has been not only his rock, but my sister and my rock as well. From the moment we found out dad had cancer, mom has been by my dad's side and has shown great faith and hope. She asked my sister and I to make sure people were informed, and sends us regular updates to upload to my blog and dad's Caring Bridge site. She takes my dad to his appointments, feeds him through his feeding tube, and gives him his daily injections. She's even decided that we are doing the Glo Run in August when dad is all better, which will be a great and fun run with our fami...

Sometimes it's hard for us to believe that God really does have a plan for us. Often, we don't see it until after it has happened. So why is it so hard sometimes to believe that there is a plan when we are reminded time and again. Looking back over our 5 years of marriage, I now know that every place we've been and the length of time we've been there have been a part of God's plan. What we sometimes called "luck," wasn't really luck at all. When we first were married, we lived in Savannah, GA while my husband was stationed at Ft Stewart. While there, we met our very best mutual friend, were able to spend time in Florida with Adam's grandpa before he passed away, and rescued Chance who has been our protector. Nick, our mutual friend (basically we met him around the same time and all 3 became friends together), is our daughter's godfather and brings us lots of laughs and smiles. Chance is our protector dog. Ok, so mostly he's my prote...

My husband might be the one person who knows all of my secrets. Even those I consider to be my closest of friends and family have some gaps in their information. Some might say that I am a secretive person or guarded person. But today is one day where I would like to share some information, some information that I did not share earlier until I got the word from my mom that it would be ok. We had known for a couple of weeks that my dad was going to the doctor’s this morning to find out why he was having so much difficulty eating. I had done some research, but didn’t really think much of it. At 11:47 am today, I got the call from my dad. I started out the conversation as usual with the, “hey, how are you?” The reply was not one I was prepared to hear. He told me that he wasn’t good and that the doctor’s said that he had esophageal cancer. He and my mom were headed to get more tests and information. My sister, living in Maryland, joined my parents and kept me in the ...

Second visit with Santa didn't go so well  When you grow up, you follow the traditions of your family. But what about when you get married? When Adam and I were first married (2009), we spent Christmas with my parents in Annapolis. I was just pregnant with our oldest. We didn't have any traditions of our own, so we followed my parents' traditions. In the summer of the next year, our daughter was born. But once again at Christmas time (2010), we ventured to Annapolis. We once again followed the traditions of my family. Now before I get too much further, let me just say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my family's traditions. I loved them growing up and I still do. We've incorporated a lot into our Christmas this year in fact. The next year (2011) was our first year of spending Christmas at our house. We didn't go to my parents' house until after Christmas. It was a departure from the norm and something we weren't at all used to. We'...

Don't jump to conclusions, this isn't about what you probably think it's about. When you are in the military, one of the easiest things to decide every day is what to wear. That's probably in part because what you wear is decided for you. You start the morning in your PTs (physical training) with reflective belt and they change into the uniform of the day. Most days, your uniform is ACUs . Other times, you wear ASUs . The military has everything all laid out for you. They tell you what to wear to work out in, down to the length of the sock and the color of reflective belt. With ACUs, they tell you where to put patches, which arm unit insignia goes on, and which cover (patrol cap or beret) to wear. With ASUs, they tell you which neck wear to put on depending on time of day, where to put medals, what neck wear for time of day, and which cover (beret or service cap) to wear. And if you ever forget where something goes, they have a book with a ruler to help you put...

When I woke up this morning, I thought that today was going to be a regular Tuesday. I got up and got dressed, got the kids dressed, packed Payton's snack in her backpack, poured Payton some milk and got her breakfast, and then got in the car to take Payton to preschool. I went to the gym to work my co-op shift and then worked out while Austin remained in the room to play. We then went to the PX to get a Go Army! Beat Navy! flag for my dad for his office, and then we went to get Payton from preschool. On the way home, Adam calls. The day took a turn that I wasn't expecting. Adam heard from the vet today and found out that Chance's mast cell tumor was Stage 2 and that he needs to see the oncologist to figure out what to do next. The cancer cells have spread to his lymph nodes so he will either need to undergo chemotherapy or radiation. Well, at least we hope those are the only two options. Chance after his mast cell tumor removal surgery Having a 1 year old and a 3 y...