Ice cream man

So, the video isn't good, but o'well. You get the picture.

Yesterday, we were enjoying the sprinkler and baby pool and bikes when all of the sudden we heard the music! I couldn't believe it! I hadn't seen an ice cream man in YEARS! Even though it was close to dinner time, I couldn't resist. I wanted the kids to have a piece of what I remember as a child, so I ran inside, got the camera and stole some of my sister's money. The kids were so happy and I was thrilled for them... even though I think ice cream truck drivers are a little weird and kinda scary!

More Karate

Here is another Karate video because I know how much Jack enjoys seeing them. Despite the fact that Jack isn't here, I have really enjoyed living in Lafayette. The chances of us getting a job here (when Jack gets out) is slim to none, but it's such an awesome place to raise a family. I can't imagine finding a better Karate place for Tre any where else! I hope I am wrong :)

The best hubby!

Jack sent the boys and I our own package today. Isn't that so thoughtful!!!!

He sent Tre and William the new Toy Story 3 Wii game. They obviously love that! William just pretends to play and Tre really does!

Jack sent me flowers through FTD and they were beautiful. I had never gotten flowers that way. My card was super sweet too...

"Just because...Sometimes the Greatest Mom in the World needs to know she is loved! I love you, Sarah. Jack"

Isn't he the best. We sure do miss him!!!!

Sports Camp

This video isn't the best, but I didn't want to be "THAT" mom that just stays with the camera hours after all the other parents left! This is Tre warming up and stretching. I just LOVE how he bends his knees when he touches his toes. He is really so darn cute! I just can't stand it! HA!

Promotion Update

So the board hasn't released the results yet. Last year, they were released July 22, but Jack thinks that the flood in TN slowed down the process a bit because the base in Millington was affected by that. He sent me this long email with his theory of when it's going to come out and why it will take that long, but I'll spare you the boring details. He now thinks the board results will be posted the second week in August. It'll be interesting to see if he's right!

3 weeks of potty training down

So... it's been three weeks since William has put on a diaper or pull-up. He sleeps in his undies too and it seems he won't give me problems with bed wetting. He is doing FANTASTIC! I don't think he's had an accident for 3 days. When he does, it's no more than once a day and then goes a few days without having any. So.... I will now say it's safe to say that my 2 year 5 month old little boy is POTTY TRAINED!!! YEA!!!

Thank you Meldrum Family!

The boys received a care package from their Aunt Gwen, Uncle Aaron, Zack and Jack and it was a big hit. They got some candy, a coloring book, and Spiderman book, and some towels that expanded in water. We thought it was so thoughtful! Thank you so much!

This video was taken in bright sun and it was very hard to see, so I am sorry for the poor quality. William is such a great big cousin and pulled him around in his wagon for a while! I thought it was sweet!!

Hurdles in Karate

This is a video of Tre doing his warm-up at Karate. He tripped over the hurdle in the beginning and looked at me with a face of horror. Poor guy. I reassured him and he never hit the hurdle again.

He LOVES Karate so much. This week he is going to "Sports Camp" at my gym instead of school. They will be doing karate, soccer, tennis, fitness, and swimming. I hope he likes it. His cousin, Grant, will be doing it with him. He said he was nervous because he didn't know how to catch the ball in baseball and Grant does. I reassured him that baseball wasn't involved in camp and came back with his most confident voice and said, "well I know how to do Karate and Grant will have to learn, so it's okay!"

Guilty Mom Days...

I know I can't be the only one that has these days. Sometimes I feel like I am in the "zone" and totally in control. I (sometimes) feel that I am doing this mommy job right, and even kinda good at it!

Other days (seems to be most), I feel guilt. I am not doing enough of this, I need to do more of that! Blah, blah, blah.

I could be totally wrong, but I think I feel this way more than a "working" mother because I feel like this is MY job and I should be doing it right! Right?

Anyway, yesterday I had one of those days and actually couldn't sleep last night worrying about it! I went to pick Tre up from school and they had done some art work and it was hanging on the wall. Tre's was obviously very beautiful, but compared to the rest of the children, it was obvious his art and coloring skills were lacking. I went home feeling like I don't do crafts or color enough with the kids. I totally over analyzed and wondered if I didn't make a big enough deal about his art work and he didn't feel as if it were appreciated. I wondered if he would be ready for kindergarten next year and thought about the possibility of holding him back. Yes... even though it's more than a year away, I let my mind go there.

Usually, when I get like this, Jack reminds me of all the areas he is excelling in. I tried to imagine Jack telling me that Tre's ability to concentrate is unbelievable. I tried to imagine him telling me that his ability to put together a puzzle that is labeled for 8 and up in less than 10 minutes is incredible. I tried to imagine him telling me that not all kids are gifted in art. I tried to imagine him telling me that I was over analyzing and completely crazy...because that is what he would have done if he were home. :)

So, crazy me, made a deal with myself. Every day after lunch is dedicated to art. We will draw. We will color. We will cut. And we will paste. Okay, maybe we'll mostly draw and color :) Anyway, I promised myself I would display their artwork and help them develop pride in their creations.

First thing I did (okay, second...I worked out first) was march myself over to Target. Silly me spent $60 on art supplies. I bought 2 really cool frames that opens from the side (like a door) that I can put that days art in and it has a folder in the back for the old pieces. I bought 2 coloring books, even though we have a trillion. I decided these would be special. We would do one page at a time. Our other coloring books get colored on every page in the matter of 10 minutes. I bought 2 sketch pads, scissors, and tape. I bought a frozen pizza too, but that's off subject!

I am attaching a picture of one of the new frames. When I picked Tre up from school, he had this in his cubby and I thought it was perfect for the initiation of our new frame. He was so proud to see it being hung!

Blog Makeover

Blogger question? I want to makeover my blog and I want that picture in my header, but it's humungous! I need an easy way to shrink the picture to an appropriate size. I have an imac and have figured out how to crop, but how do I resize?

Anybody know?

To Promote or Not to Promote

I'm getting nervous. Last year we found out the bad news on July 22, so based on that we should find out the results of Jack's promotion board any day. We are pretty sure he won't get promoted, but I still find it so hard to believe I sometimes convince myself that he will. I even had a dream last night that he was promoted!

Just to give you a quick back story... (I've never posted a link like this, so here's to trying)

There are good points and bad points to being promoted and not, and I've already decided that I'll probably cry either way.

Good points to being promoted:

1. A nice raise.

2. The guarantee that we can retire.

3. We really do love the military life

Bad points to being promoted:

1. Jack has to stay in Afghanistan the whole year (until June 2011).

Good points to NOT being promoted:

1. He (supposedly) gets to come home early.

- He current commanding officer (who is an Air Force guy) said he is not opposed to sending him home immediately. However, that is Air Force. Who knows what the Navy will say!?

2. We get a very nice severance package.

3. Jack will be home more often and we can find a place to settle as a family.

Bad points to NOT being promoted:

1. We can't retire.

2. The economy sucks.

3. We lose our awesome health insurance.

Stay tuned for the BIG news...

Happy Anniversary to my favorite man!

Today Jack and I have been married 6 years! SIX YEARS!!! I still can't believe it myself! We actually met 8 years ago and it was the best day of my life. It's kinda hard to celebrate an anniversary when your 9.5 hours apart, but I figured I'd celebrate my husband by telling you the top reasons I love him!

He's romantically spontaneous - Jack's not the kind of guy that gets me flowers after an argument or on a special occasion. He's the kind of guy who surprises me with things every now and again and I just love that about him. When we first got married I went shopping and found this beautiful coat at Banana Republic. It was on sale, but being that we just got married and didn't have any money, and it was green and I didn't know if I'd really have anything to wear with it, I decided not to get it. I went home and told him about it and the next day he came home from work with it in his hand.

The same thing happened just a few days ago. I have been looking for some tennis shoes and couldn't find any that I liked. Of course, the ones I found are way over my budget, but I told him about them and a few days later, they showed up in the mail.

My all time favorite surprise, though, was when I was graduating with my master's degree. He had just gotten home from deployment but since we had long distance and I was finishing school and graduating I couldn't go to the homecoming. I was going to fly out the next day. However, the night before my graduation I went to pick my dad up from the airport (in my pj's and no makeup) and Jack walked off the plane instead. I screamed! I couldn't believe it! I hadn't seen him in 6 months and he surprised me for my graduation!

(I'm just realizing, this might be a LONG blog post!)

He has given me my dream life - I tell people all of the time, I am living my dream life. I have a loving husband, two healthy and beautiful boys, and I get to stay at home with them and raise them as I like. I know it doesn't sound glamorous, but my mom was a stay at home mom and I LOVED that she was there for us anytime we needed. I know Jack was unsure about the idea of having a stay at home wife in the beginning (he never said it, I just think that), but he NEVER once said I couldn't and was 100% supportive. I love to cook my man's dinners, I love to take my kids to the zoo, I love to clean the house on the weekdays and enjoy the weekends with our little family. I love that I can be "off" when Jack is off and that when he is has vacation time, we can just pack up and go!

He sets high goals for himself - I admire him so much. If we had met in high school and he would have told me he wanted to be a fighter pilot, I would have thought he was crazy! Who does that? He decided when he was in elementary school that he was going to go the Naval Academy. He wrote the academy every year until he got in! He's a persistent guy, I tell ya! After we got married, he told me he wanted to be the President of the United States. I started to write him off, but then remembered he's achieved every goal he's ever worked for. Maybe I should take him seriously!

He is a genius - and I truly believe that. He thinks I over estimate him, but I don't. I remember growing up, I loved that I could ask my dad anything and he always seemed to know the answers. Jack is the same way and I LOVE that about him. I always say I hope our kids get his brain!!

He's appreciative - There is NEVER any doubt in my mind that my husband loves me and appreciates me. He NEVER, and I mean NEVER, hangs up the phone, walks out the door, or closes his eyes to sleep without saying "I love you!" He's always talking about how beautiful he thinks I am. He ALWAYS tells me that I am a wonderful mother and the perfect wife for him. I love that about him!

He's a great daddy - I can honestly say that Jack is our boys hero. They feel pure joy when Jack walks in the door after work or they talk to him on the phone when he is gone. When they talk about their daddy they are ALWAYS smiling. They tell anyone and everyone that he flies jets and you can just feel their pride oozing!

He's my hero - I totally admire my man! He serves his country and LOVES doing it! Other than the fact that he is away from family, he actually enjoys deployment and serving his country. I admire his positive attitude and his strong character. I could NEVER do what he does on a daily basis and I am in awe of him always!

I love you, Jack. You are the most wonderful thing that has happened to me. Thank you for giving me this life. Thank you for giving me our wonderful boys. Thank you for loving me every day. Thank you for being everything I've always wanted and more!

potty update

So... it's been about a week and a half since I started this little endeavor. I must admit, I wanted to give up a time or two and if it were Tre I would have. I tried several times to potty train Tre, but with an infant breast feeding, the inability to just drop everything and run to the potty, and my patience running a thin line, I always gave up. Thankfully, it was easy once Tre made the decision and I could have cared less if he was two weeks shy of his 3rd birthday.

So... I officially started last Sunday. Sunday was fine. Monday was TERRIBLE! Tuesday was worse. Wednesday seemed hopeless!

I used M&M's to potty train Tre. He got three for pee and 6 for poop. I was trying the same for William and it just wasn't working. Then I remembered that he loves to get his haircut and the reason why was because our hair stylist gives him dum dum suckers. I sent my mom Wednesday afternoon (since I was staying home all day, all week long to focus on this... which was hard for me since I had to skip the gym, which I love, but that's going off the subject, anyway...) to get some and it seemed to work immediately. When she showed up at the apartment with them, he asked to go about 10 times in 20 minutes. I didn't care that he was getting so many suckers because I just wanted him to be motivated to try and get the feeling of the potty!

The next few days, he had a few accidents, but mostly stayed dry. He pooped in his pants for two days and then on Friday he actually asked to go! When I finally made it a week, he seemed to be really catching on, so I decided then that I am going to stick with it. Since Sunday, he's had one accident every day. I can deal with that.

Tonight I broke out a Hershey's bar and said he gets no more suckers for pee (he seems to have that down), but can have one small piece of chocolate (or a sucker) for poop. He asked to go poop about 10 times tonight and each time a little came out! I don't know if my idea was good. Poor guy was squeezing so hard, I was scared he was going to get a hemoroid! HA!

Frog Catcher!

I would NEVER touch a frog, but I sure am happy that the boys have Aunt Frankie to do those things with since Jack isn't here to do it. I wonder if Jack would even do this! YUCK! Tre had a blast. He eventually started catching them too, but William wanted nothing to do with it!

So we realize they have out grown the pool, but it was hot and they needed something to cool them off and this worked. Other than me needing to threaten Tre with a time out, I like this video of 3 buddies playing together :)

Sa Sa Kia!

Warming up at Karate

My favorite part is when he tries to jump on one foot!

Potty Training

I was hesitant to write about potty training because once I admit that we've started, I don't want to fail. BUT, maybe the accountability will keep up my persistence. :) I have come to far to give up now!

I've decided this is the week for potty training William. He will be 2.5 years old this month. He wakes up dry in the mornings and after nap time. He loves to be naked and I don't want him going on my furniture or floor. He brings me diapers immediately after he goes. He even hides when he poos, so I know he knows when he is going. He also is very verbal and definitely has the ability to communicate when he needs to go.

I started Saturday afternoon. Sunday went great, but Monday and Tuesday were rough. My mom went and got me some dum dum suckers, since he LOVES to go get his hair cut just for the suckers. After that, he went about 5 times in a row just for the suckers (a few suckers won't hurt). Today he did great in the morning. He had a few accidents mid-morning, but after nap, I took him to my parents and he never had an accident. Let's hope this keeps up!

Potty Training...

So I am attempting to stick to potty training this week. We've gone a day and a half and I don't think we are doing too too bad! William came up with a cheer and I just thought it was too cute to share!

Helicopter Fun

My brother-in-law (Parrain is what the kids call him) has a love for helicopters. He has some fancy remote control helicopters that would be cool to any kid. He finally got his smaller one out and flew it for the kids last night. They LOVED IT!

Karate

Tre continues to LOVE Karate. Last class they learned about bullies and the other day we were at Frankie's house and Tre was getting aggravated with John Parker and instead of hitting or getting aggressive, he said, "BACK OFF! I SAID BACK OFF!" with his hand in front of him just like he was taught in karate. I got a kick out of that!

This is him practicing his side kick!

I'm so lucky to have such great friends!

I went to LSU and lived in the dorm. I met this girl, Frankie, who was on our floor and I immediately thought she was weird. I don't know why, though. We went through rush and we ended up joining the same sorority. One night, I was stressing about a biology test that I just knew I was going to fail and she came to help me study. She stayed up with me all night long and just made the stuff seem so easy! She's the smartest girl in the world, but still cool at the same time... a hard combination to find. That's when I realized she wasn't "that" weird and we became great friends and later roommates. Her, Becky and I all got married and we were all in each other's weddings. We always stayed close friends through all of our moves. Luckily, she got chosen for dermatology residency and moved to NOLA and the exact same time Jack and I got stationed in New Orleans. What are the odds? We lived 5 miles apart and literally made dinner for each other almost every night. Her boy is the same age as William and our kids are great friends. Then Jack gets deployed and I move home and only a few weeks later she finishes her residency and moves to Lafayette too! I am so fortunate to have Frankie as a friend and even more fortunate that we get the chance to live so close for a few more years. I know it won't last, but we will enjoy it while we can!

My Nephew Grayson

I have the cutest nephew ever and he sure does LOVE his cousins!!!