I'm Back...again.

I'm probably the worst blogger ever when it comes to unexplained blogging sabbaticals. I haven't written since JULY! How crazy is that?! Here's the thing, stuff happened. I probably won't go into great detail on all the "stuff" but I'm back and here's a quick run down of what we've been up to...

*Most importantly, I'm still pregnant. We had a couple complications  (given my history, no real surprises there) but everything is going well now and I'm already huge which is good...mostly. 

*Joshua has a new civi job...this one takes a little explanation. His old civi job fired him. Yup. Fired. He's never been fired before and despite the fact that they always gave him glowing reviews and he's never had a complaint, they fired him...basically, they were tired of having to work around his Guard schedule and responsibilities so when he came back from his two week AT, they let him go. I wasn't surprised because they've been anti-military since day one but I was angry and if I think about it too much now, I'm still angry...but I'm also grateful. He hated that place. They were HORRIBLE. Not everyone who worked there of course but yeah, horrible is the only word for it. Just to give you an idea of the atmosphere, before he deployed they were interviewing people for an open position and he overheard one of the managers say that there was "no chance in hell we're hiring that guy-he's another Guard guy and that's the last thing we need." Then, when Joshua returned from deployment, several of his co-workers thought it was funny to surprise him with loud noises just to see if they could make him jump. Classy, right?! Anyway, I say I'm grateful because his new job is better. I mean it's not hard to be better than his old job but it's WAY better. Like God did an awesome thing better. The hours are a little odd but we're good with odd and he enjoys the work.

*We've started with our new homeschool group and curriculum-Classical Conversations if you're interested. It couldn't be going better. I'm tutoring the 4/5 yr old class which has been a blast and the boy is amazing us with how much he's learning. Actually, our little 2 yr old princess is even trying to get in on the action sometimes.

(1st day of CC-our homeschool group which meets once a week and our 1st day of homeschool at home-yup, in pjs)

(our favorite project this semester...we created a multi-level eco-system...I plan to write a post with more details to come but if you want to build one yourself, you can find the step-by-step tutorial we followed here)

*I was asked to be a pattern tester for a new "ruffle top" which I loved making but unfortunately in the process my sewing machine died :( so now I'm at a bit of a standstill when it comes to sewing.

(here's the finished project...once the pattern is available for purchase, I'll post a link to it)

*The boy is, at this very moment, on vacation with his grandparents at Disney World. I'm jealous. I'm really jealous. But I'm also really pregnant and on travel restrictions...kinda going crazy with cabin fever. I have, however, enjoyed the one-on-one time with our princess. We switched some of the kids furniture around in preparation for Baby 3.0 so now the princess is in a big girl bed and loving it-still waiting to find out the gender but Joshua's trying to convince me not to wait so we'll see if that changes.

That's been us the last couple of months. I plan on spending the next week reading all the blogs I love and have been missing to get caught up on your lives!

PS>I just got a pic from Grandma of our little man and a couple of his cousins at Disney World's Pirate's League...so wish I was with him!

Emotional Rollercoaster

I've been absent from the blogging world this last week because it's been such an emotional time. I had every intention of writing a small but, at least to me, meaningful Memorial Day post but to be honest, I didn't have it in me. The men Joshua served with who died on his deployment and their families are never forgotten. They're always in my prayers and although I would have liked to pay homage to them again here, I just couldn't.

There's been so much pain. Good friends who are literally picking up the pieces of their lives after the Moore tornado. Also, a fellow former-nanny friend of mine found out the family she used to work for lost their son in an accident. So much overwhelming grief. Please keep them all in your prayers.

But there's also been joy. My step-brother (the one I like the most-shh, don't tell the others) got married on Saturday to a woman he loves with all his heart-what more could a sister (even just a step-sister) ask for?! And thankfully Joshua, whose Guard unit was called up to provide perimeter security for Moore (and in their "down time" chose instead of sleeping like they probably should have, to run supplies back and forth to the affected areas) was able to leave early to join us at the wedding.

(my step-brother Blain, his new bride and my new neices!-I can't wait to spoil them...'S'-the one on the right had to cover her sweet eyes for the kiss)

After the wedding on Saturday, Joshua and I came home and left the kiddos with Grandma and Grandpa. We picked up the kids yesterday and managed to hang out with family friends in town from Houston. It was just was what I needed to recharge. 

Liebster Love

Jenn from Mouse and Home (a blog you should totally follow!) was kind enough to give me the Leibster Award.

It was great fun to read through Jenn's answers (with the award the presenter provides 11 random facts about themselves as well as 11 questions to all recipients who then come up with their own random facts and questions to pass on to the next set of recipients). To be honest, reading Jenn's answers made me wish we lived closer so we could get together in real life. 

The funny thing is that this was the second time I was honored with the Liebster Award. The first time came from another Jen from The Adventures of Our Army Life (another blog you should totally follow!). 

So, now my task is to come up with 11 new random facts about myself...this might be tough...

1. I'm legally blind without glasses or contacts. Yup. And my better-than-20/20 husband gets weirded out every time I mention getting lasik...in his words "But they slice your eye open!"

2. I could run 5 miles in 30 minutes flat in 8th grade until I tore a ligament. (translation: I peaked in 8th grade)

3. I'm overly domesticated...cooking from scratch, sewing, homeschooling, all of it but I truly hate housework.

4. My record for shooting is hitting a quarter size target with my rifle from 90 yards away.

5. I have 63 blood-related first-cousins. My husband has a total of seven family members. We eloped.

6. I love numbers...like way more than is anywhere near normal. When I go grocery shopping, I keep a running total of what the final total will be including taxes...it's kind of a game. I'm usually within $1.

7. I was an early childhood development major in college but I learned more about parenting as a nanny than I ever did in a classroom.

8. Two weeks after my 30th birthday I was carded when I went to see a rated-R movie (maybe not a random fact but definitely an ego boost and I'm running out of facts so go with it).

9. I am anxiously waiting for our son to have a long enough attention span so I can start reading the Harry Potter series to him...we're so close!

10. I have a love/hate relationship with living in the middle of nowhere. I love the quiet privacy but I miss having shopping and entertainment options (other than Walmart, ugh) less than an hour away.

11. We plan to visit all 50 states before the kids graduate. So far, we've got nine down.

Onto Jenn's questions...

1. If you could meet any person, living or dead, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Esther-as in Esther from the Bible. She's always been my favorite female historical figure.

2. What is the last book you read that you couldn't put down?

Fiction: Hunger Games Trilogy 

Non-fiction: Disney Wars

3. Name someplace you never want to visit.

South America. I recognize I'm alienated an entire continent 

and although I LOVE to travel, I have zero desire to go there.

4. Do you have any hobbies? What are they?

Yes. Sewing and photography. I also really like to go hiking 

and rock-climbing

5. Is there a song that would be your "theme song"? 

Um, that's tough. It probably changes based on the day but as 

much of a cliche as it might be, right now I'd say it's U2 

Beautiful Day

6. If you had a day all to yourself, what would you do?

Sleep. Sew. Read. Go see a movie.

7. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be, and why?

I'm not sure. I love living in Oklahoma now but I think it would 

be awesome to spend nine months a year in Orlando and the 

summer in Minnesota

8. Are you OCD or ADD when it comes to housework?

ADD. See above (I detest housework)

9. Who is your favorite Doctor?  (If you don't watch Doctor Who, feel free to simply respond with Doctor WHO?)

I desperately want to answer this question. Almost all my 

closest friends LOVE Dr Who but living in the middle of 

nowhere, our netflix account is essentially useless. It skips and 

drops out constantly. I keep meaning to check our local library 

for dvds but I haven't yet.

10. What is your favorite TV show?

Reality: Amazing Race Drama: Elementary or Criminal Minds

11. What is the best and worst jobs you've held?

Nanny. For both. Two different families. The bad-I was their 

27th nanny (didn't know that until after I'd been there six 

months and the housekeeper told me). They were awful. 

Incredibly wealthy but the children were starved for attention 

and guidence. The good-live-in for a family with triplets. I 

started when the kids were 4 and left when I got married and 

they were 6. They're still very much a part of our lives. I love 

watching them with our children.

Well, we just lost power...we're having an ice storm so rather than tagging and listing my own questions, I'm leaving it open to all my followers to come up with their own or use Jenn's really great questions!

Time Flies

Hello blogging world...you may (or may not) have noticed my total desertion of this page for the last month (and a half). To be honest, nothing major really happened to drive me away. I just needed a break. I needed to focus on my family and myself. 

Here's a (hopefully) quick breakdown to catch you up...

We cracked down on homeschooling and have officially decided to go with Classical Conversations next year and are super excited about it. 

We had a snow-pocalypse that was a ton of fun...

I got a new .22 rifle for Valentine's Day and we took some good friends shooting... (the boy and one of his best friends had a blast)

I escaped. I took a long weekend and flew down to El Paso (thereby leaving the children alone with Joshua for the first time ever!) to visit this awesome lady...

(cell phone pic...eh, sorry)

Joshua and I had a weekend away...hotel, theater tickets (Cathy Rigby's Peter Pan-I highly recommend seeing it!-that woman is in better shape at 60 than I am today!), dinner out...the basics

In related news, the boy also got to see Peter Pan as his first broadway show with his Grandma. He LOVED it!...he wasn't so much a fan of the pics I insisted we take before he left but I couldn't resist. I love my bow-tie-lovin', suspender-wearing little man!

Also, I've been on a sewing kick...big time. I made a couple new dresses for the girl...

(she was less than thrilled to do pics at that particular moment)

(I got the hat from Halo Heaven)

And finally, the biggest news (for me at least) was that I finally got my much coveted Brother PE-770 Embroidery Machine!!! I'm in love! This was the first thing I made...

So that's what we've been up to...kind of a crazy busy season for us but a good one. 

Liebster Blog Award

The ever-entertaining (you should seriously check out all her and her hubby's awesome weekend adventures) Jen from The Adventures of our Army Life has graciously tagged me for the Liebster Award. I haven't done one of these in FOREVER so please excuse me if I make a terrible blogging etiquette faux-pas.

Here's the rub of it:

1. Each person must list 11 things about themselves.

2. Answer the 11 questions that the tagger has set for you plus 

you MUST create a set of 11 new questions for the 11 people 

you tag.

3. Choose 11 bloggers

4. Absolutely no tag backs.

5. The bloggers have to have less than 200 followers.

6. Go inform them that you nominated them for the award.

Ok, so 11 things about me...

1-Before I married Joshua, I was a live-in nanny for a family with triplet pre-schoolers.

2-Disney World is my happy place and I much prefer to go without my children (yeah, I know, I'll never win mother of the year, I'm good with it).

3-I spent the summer after high school living in a tent and working at the base camp of a back-packing ranch in the mountains of northern New Mexico where I almost got bit by a rattle snake.

4-I lived in Israel the summer after my first year of college which also happened to be the summer after 9/11 so my friends and I were pretty much the only Americans in the entire country.

5-I LOVE milk. Like I go through a gallon in about 3 days...by myself. But it has to be super cold and only Vitamin D from Braums (a dairy store in Oklahoma).

6-I used to go back-packing and rock-climbing all the time but then I got old, married, had kids and became boring (not in that order) but I'm hoping to reclaim my younger awesome-ness soon.

7-I want at least 5 kids. It will most likely only be possible through adoption but for now, we enjoy the two we have.

8-I'm not normally a fan of reality TV but if I could, I would do just about anything to get onto The Amazing Race and see the world while competing...preferably with my husband but JG from Me and My SoldierMan would be a close second, if she'd have me.

9-Over the last year or two, I've become obsessed with sewing and now all I want is an embroidery machine so I can add to my obsession.

10-My biggest dream is to one day open my own photography studio...and own an RV (true story).

11-I'm a little OCD and ending on the number 11 is bugging me.

1. Where did you and your significant other meet?

At church

2. If you could visit any place where would it be?

As cliche as it is, I've always wanted to go to Italy

3. What is your favorite dessert?

Lemon meringue pie but I'm not a big dessert person

4. Do you have a favorite sports team?

Minnesota Vikings! Go VIKES!!! Yes, I recognize they almost always start off great and then slowly, painfully die off but I grew up in northern Minnesota right across the bridge from all those cheese heads and I will always proudly wear my purple and gold

5. What do you like more, beaches or lakes?

I could go either way...I hate swimming so beaches are great for laying out but lakes are perfect for jet skis

6. How many siblings do you have?

None. One. Three. Four...all of the above. My bio-dad is sort of a loser and as far as I know I only have one half brother on that side but there are rumors...who knows. On the other side, my mother's husband has three kids so I have 3 step-siblings but I was raised mostly as an only child...

7. How do you spend your days?

Homeschooling the boy. Battling the girl...she's a little too much like me

8. Do you have any pets?

Bubba. Our beloved 90lb Rhodesian Ridgeback...he's awesome and ridgebacks may be rare but they're also the best breed ever!

.

9. What do you do for fun?

Plan and go on vacations...whether they're big ones to Disney World or just a stay-cation around our area...I love to just get away with my family

10. If you could meet anyone who would it be?

Tony Blair. Why? Because he's still alive so it's possible but he's also so far outside my circle that it's basically impossible

11. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

The me-time it gives. It was my sanity savior while Joshua was deployed.

My 11 questions for my fellow bloggers...

1-What has been your favorite vacation so far?

2-When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

3-Favorite movie?

4-What's your favorite food?

5-What is your favorite pastime?

6-What's one thing most people would never guess about you?

7-What's your favorite blog to read (I'm always looking to find new interesting people online)?

8-Favorite book?

9-Why do you blog?

10-What's your favorite recipe?

11-Do you prefer winter or summer?

And here are the bloggers I've tagged...

None.

Yup. 

I'm breaking the rules. I don't want to tag some and leave some off (plus I'm tired and lazy) so if you want to join in, please do! I'd love to see lots of responses so get to work all my blogging friends! Meanwhile, Joshua's away for work and I'm exhausted so as pathetic as it is to go to bed before 10pm, goodnight!

Friday Fun

This week has been crazy but it's been a good crazy (well, except for the emergency run to the doctor yesterday for the boy but that's another story for another day-he's good and today we're focusing on the fun ahead).

Tomorrow is the boy's 4th birthday! I can't believe how big he is already. It's gone too fast. This week he helped me make Reese's Peanut Butter Bars. It was a blast having him help me with the recipe I found on pinterest. Although Joshua and the boy LOVE them, I'm just "in like" with them. I think it needs some sort of chocolate graham cracker crust.

Tomorrow we'll have a family day...going to see Brave and do basically whatever the boy wants. We'll have his "friend" party with extended family on Sunday at a bowling alley...thus the new shirt I made for the boy...

After the party, the kids are going to my parents' and Joshua and I are going to visit our best friends in El Paso. To say I'm excited would be a massive understatement. Joshua hasn't seen them in over a year and a half and the four of us haven't all been together without children since we had a weekend away in Tulsa and were able to see the Broadway show Wicked (highly recommended btw).

Hope you all have a great week and I'll be back in the blogging world in about a week.

Military Spouse Appreciation Day Blog Hop

Hello Military Spouse Appreciation Day Blog Hoppers! (that's a mouthful!) I'm linking up with Household 6 and Riding the Roller Coaster and can't wait to meet some new (to me) military bloggers.

I'm Brianna. I'm a stay at home/first generation homeschooling mom and Army Wife.

We have a huge dog that we adore (a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Balak-aka Bubba)...

and two AMAZING kids...

the boy will be FOUR next month...

and the girl will be ONE in July!

She was born while my husband was in Afghanistan on his first deployment. He came home two months ago and we're starting to all get used to this whole family of four thing. As a family, our favorite thing to do is go to Disney World...yeah, we're those people...we go as often as we can and we love all things Disney.

In addition to Disney planning, I'm a big fan of photography and I'm really getting into sewing. The other time suck for me right now is (and can't believe I'm writing this) training for a half marathon! It's kind of a big deal because I have a heart condition but I've been cleared to train and I'm looking forward to standing at the finish line with the finisher medal in my hands...not really looking forward to actually running.

Hope you have a great time hopping around! I'm excited to meet some new blogging buddies!

I'm still alive.

I promise I have not dropped off the face of the Earth. I've just been spending all my time with my favorite people. The first week Joshua was home didn't help with the whole staying connected online. Our house wifi crashed and Joshua's new smartphone wouldn't connect even though my (much less expensive, ahem) smartphone connected to the very same mobile network without a problem. So for several days we had two laptops and one cell phone down. Only being able to connect via my phone would have been a nightmare a month ago but thankfully, I'm free of my technological umbilical cord. I can sleep without holding my phone...I can turn off my computer. Seems like something so small but it's been the most freeing time. 


I would like to apologize because before my somewhat abrupt disappearance from the blogging world, I had promised to finish my series on Disney resorts. I'd love to say, it will be up tomorrow or next Monday as I usually post the Disney posts on Monday but I can't say that. Joshua will only be home for so much longer. He has to go back to work soon and I want to spend as much time as I can with him and the kids. Thankfully, I have some awesome Disney friends and I'll be posting some guest blog posts from them over the next couple of weeks...one in particular that I'm looking forward to reading is from a good friend's husband...he is in their marriage what I am in ours when it comes to Disney planning so it should be fun to get a male/father's perspective.


Finally, just to catch everyone up to what we've been doing...my birthday was the 23rd (aka opening day for The Hunger Games) and my AWESOME husband managed to call my FAVORITE theater...the Moore Warren...from Afghanistan before the tickets went on sale in February and Pat (my new favorite movie theater manager) took down Joshua's credit card number over the phone and then when tickets went on sale, he bought us the best seats in the house for the matinee. They were in the Director's Suite...it's a 21 and over theater with only about 40 seats...all of which are electronically reclining, heated, overstuffed beautiful seats. Plus there's a server for full restaurant and bar available with the push of a button. It's not gross, movie theater food...it's restaurant quality yumminess. There is no better way to watch a movie...just so you know.


Other than going out to eat...and eating at home...actually, we're doing a lot of eating...visiting with friends, family time and a couple dates, I've managed to force my husband and children to smile and pose so I can take pics way more than I normally would. I know it's a honeymoon period and soon Joshua and/or the children will revolt so I'm getting all the pics in that I can. Here's a few of my favorites...