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.