Sunday, January 29, 2012

Lazy Sundays


Have a Relaxing Sunday



Nothing like a beautiful, bright, breezy, lazy Sunday.
What a perfect way to end the weekend which was much to short.
Monday is always welcome don't get me wrong, they used to be dreaded. But with Mark being gone Monday's will always be welcomed with open arms as it means another week has come and gone.

It has been 54 days since he left. We are 19% through with this deployment. I'm sorry that just seems so low but hey got to start somewhere right?

Nothing exciting this weekend. Maybe next weekend will be filled with excitement. Plan on taking the children to have some much needed FUN!

Our day was spent playing board games (Guess who anyone?), watching movies (still want to be a wizard, how about yourself?), playing with the animals (go get it Murray, Jonjon stop biting Murray's butt!!!), and spending some time outside in the crisp cool January weather. It was a nice way to spend the last weekend in January that is for sure. Lots of pinning going on Pinterest also! Can't wait for Tuesday pinning! Hope everyone had a great relaxing Sunday!

Much Love, Hugs, & Smooches!
-Michelle

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Pinterest Tuesday's



Lots of interest has been surrounding pinterest. Lots of notices of being "followed" and "pinned". Now let me just say if I could sit here all day (some days I definitely could) I would be on there pinning away as my heart desires. I'm sure you are all just so fascinated with my pins- I know truly some of you are. So I've decided Tuesday's are going to be my Pinterest finds fun day!


Today's Pins were mostly Valentines Pins. We all know it's coming. It's been peeking around isles & corners since December, just waiting for that Christmas Cheer to disappear so it can peek it's head out and say "I'm HERE"!!!


Valentines Day


Now being blessed with creative juices but not always sure what to do with my time I turn to Pinterest to occupy me and fill my head with "I'm soooooo going to do that" thoughts. But these are truly some I want to do!


Pin #1:

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Isn't this the cutest idea ever!! I so think I am going to whip up some of these for Elora's class, instead of buying teeth rotting candy we are going to make silly colored heart crayons!!

This was courtesy of :http://thelongthread.com/?p=5646


Pin #2:

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This is a neat idea as well!
This was courtesy of :http://icandyhandmade.blogspot.com/

Pin #3:

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This was courtesy of: http://www2.fiskars.com/Activities/Crafting/Project-Gallery/Holidays-and-Seasonal/Hand-Crafted-Valentines
Another very cute ideas. No time for more pin posts but happy pinning everyone!

Much Love, Hugs, & Smooches!
-Michelle


Who you calling Four Eyes


Unfortunately we knew this day was coming. That the children would needed glasses. Poor kids had NO hope with both parents being of the vision impaired society lol. But sure enough Caleb more than others at this point in our lives needs them to better himself in school. So off we went and got him his glasses. He is just as handsome as ever, if not more so. Although I am impartial =)


He was very excited to pick them out himself and when I delivered them he was shy about them at first but excited at the same time. I'm so glad the stigma of how glasses used to be isn't as pungent as it was back when I was a kid.


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Isn't he just handsome!

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Isn't he just the sweetest.

Much Love, hugs,& Smooches

-Michelle

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah!

Well I finally did it! I broke down and signed Elora up for Cheer! She has has been asking for the last two years just about. Of course at the moment I thought she was too young, it won't hold her attention span, we were involved in several different activities, and my list of excuses could go on. But as I was "looking" into it we get a flyer from school, so I took it as a sign =)

She is VERY excited to start cheer. We signed up with UPWARD cheer/Football. She got all fitted for her uniform which we do NOT know the colors just yet but the more I sit here and think about it the more I get giddy! It's an excuse for more hair bows and of course PHOTOS!!!!

Here are some pictures of her just "practicing"

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She is just going to do great and I can't wait!

Much love, hugs, & smooches!
-Michelle

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The not quite so innocent...


I came across last night onto an acquaintance's blog. I like popping in so to speak. She often has entries that are meaningful and full of her own in sight which I like. One recent blog post in particular caught my attention. Her post about re-entering the Navy way of life. Now I enjoyed reading the post and reading the comments and her responses back but couldn't help but giggle to myself too. I remember how young Mark and I were when we got married and while it isn't for most couples to marry so young "these" days and quite honestly most marriages that occurred like ours don't last. Mark and I were the minority amongst our friends and are still standing strong. Now this wasn't a testament about whether marriages would or wouldn't last but how she perceived the way Navy Family life went. I thought I myself would post about how our "Navy Family life" really went.

I do remember being so innocent in the ways the Navy really worked. Of course it is a whole new ball game once you've actually married your sailor. You are no longer perceived as an individual, you are now ( & in my instance) AD1 Prescott's Wife. Well that is all fine and dandy, lets just add that to the jar where you are also Andrew's Mom, Caleb's Mom, & Elora's Mom or as I've been called by some teachers (in a loving way of course) The Prescott's Mom. Well now you are married to your Sailor, have had a couple children, your actions not only speak for yourself but truly for your husband. They reflect and they are reflected brightly in most cases. Now if you are not good with dealing with stress the Navy life isn't for you!

This is your one and only warning!!

The Navy like any other part of the military branches and job in the "real" world has their specific duties. Us Navy wives get to endure days, weeks, & months of work ups before the actual "D" day. Now when the deployments were actually 6 months we all thought that was bad enough, but really Big Navy has decided yes since we have cut so many good men & women lets have the ones who have made it through suffer even more so. Now deployments are 7 & 8 months, lots of them are doing 10 months which through the grape vine is being said to be the norm. Now these 10 months DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT include the previous months in work ups. There is always talk of cutting medical, cutting retirement plans, etc. Nothing ever seems stable all our hard work could seriously be for nothing by the time Mark gets to retire. Life is not easy by ANY MEANS.

For those who are not military & never understood and thought military families have it easy, you are dead wrong. We pay in personal sacrifices for what we have and believe me it is not much. Now some might think well you get to move for "free". I do laugh out loud at this thought. Yes when you move for "free" it often means they don't give a rats ass about your belongings & when something does break or go "missing" (aka stolen) they take make you fill out countless paper work, then proceed to tell you unless you have proof of it being in your house when they packed it (AKA you have a picture of it dated the day you packed out) it didn't exist or it takes 6+ months to get what they think your item is worth. Now some of us are truly lucky and either A) haven't had to move that often or B) truly got a decent company that didn't throw your stuff around like a rag doll. Plus moving military or not is stressful in itself.

Living in military housing. It has it's perks but they do come with a price. Rules. Now don't get me wrong rules are all fine and dandy but I'm sorry some rules are meant to be bent at least a smidgen! For instance housing has a two pet minimum rule and fish are included as ONE pet. Um hello, while yes I guess some people consider them a pet I don't think it should count lol. But hey that is just my opinion. Everyone is entitled to them. Now if you know me personally I love my fur babies and um SHHHHHHH I have 4. But you would never know it. Lots of housing areas don't want pets at all. Which makes searching for the appropriate housing a little difficult. Especially when you are new to the area and don't want to end up in the "ghetto".

Moving on...

Medical. Medical is a curse and a blessing all rolled into one. While you are usually at the mercy of a Navy hospital they have improved over the years. But you can be denied services if you are too far from your Navy medical center hospital. Yes, when my child is hurt and I want to run him or her to the clinic I need to call the "hot line" and speak to a nurse, the nurse will then call me back in about 20 min, hello 20 min are you kidding me? Why the hell would I wait 20 min if my child is hurt??? No sense at all. So we risk the chance of being billed ridiculous amounts of money cause we are 49.9 miles from the Navy hospital. Now with that being said I do have good stories too bout Navy medical. For instance when our sweet baby girl was getting ear infection after infection and strep back to back we were finally referred out and seen by a specialist and had her surgery, which was 100% covered by the Navy, or when they referred us out to make sure Andrew was not in the spectrum for autism. I've also never had to pay for a child birth (big bonus) either.

Okay I seeing this post be way too long this might be broken up into parts lol.

But back to my original meaning. When looking from the outside in sure it may be through rose colored glasses but honestly being a girlfriend and a wife (especially after you start your family) are truly in two different categories. There are many more responsibilities when you are the "wife", like POA's, wills, living wills, care plans, etc. I just wish it was truly all that innocent but when you've been in as long as we have things don't ever look the same.

This life isn't for everyone, if you are not into change I don't recommend it. I love all the wonderful people I've come across through out the years, hell some of my best friends are thanks to the Navy. Yes I would do it all over again, but that is because we've made into an experience, our love and marriage was strong to begin with and we make best of every situation given to us. With that being said much love, hugs, & smooches!

-Michelle

Saturday, January 14, 2012

First Post in 2012 and it's not New Years Day

So, here is the first post in 2012 for us. We have been with out our Daddy for approximately 39 days (since he left for Afghanistan anyway, he has been gone a total of 97 days from training and leaving for Afghanistan). Life with out him here in our daily grind it hasn't been "easy" but I must admit it hasn't been seriously "rough" either. The children being older helps tremendously, activities, & friends help keep us busy, makes the days go by quicker. Not to mention we, well more like "I" chat with him on Facebook just about every day and Skype with him just about every few days or so. His connection there isn't always stable so Skype has proven to be somewhat of a challenge on some days. Have gotten his first "care" package ready and needs to be mailed out.

Enough about him =)

Kids and I have been planning our days some what. Waiting for warmer weather (hey just because we are in Florida doesn't always mean it is warm) and going to enjoy what Florida has to offer us. Like trips to the beach, pool, trips to Orlando, Disney World, & Universal Studios.

I'm not one to wallow in self pity, well not for long anyways. Sure there are days where I feel like it just isn't right with out him here but what can I do? He ISN'T here. So I will do what I do best, PLAN. We will take this Year long deployment not weeks at a time, not even days at a time, but by each event at a time. Sounds better and has us look forward to certain plans we want to accomplish.

Our first big plans of the year

Jan/Feb 2012

1. Tax Return- Now I am sure this sounds petty but who doesn't wait for their tax return? Not a single person I know of. Everyone waits eagerly to see that money hit their account even if it is already spent before it got there. Our tax return means the fun can start to be planned out better for us. It means I can pay off our Universal Studio's passes and not have to have that debt hanging over us, it also means I can purchase our Disney World passes and again not worry about that monthly payment as well. It means I can relax and pay a couple of bills up to a couple months in advance and have some piece of mind & save for when Mark comes home for R&R.

2. Weekend trip to Universal & Disney World ALONE- This will be my very first time ever going to a huge theme park that is 2-2.5 hrs away ALONE with just the kids. I'm not big on going to huge crowded places with out anyone (adult wise) but I am going to do it and were going to have FUN!

March/April 2012

3.Mark's Mom's arrival- Yes I have invited her back since she has no job and gets pretty lonely where she is at. This trip will be shorter than last years. Be sure of that.

4. Spring Break- Having not really done a whole lot on spring breaks before to avoid crowds we are going to brave Disney for 4 days during our Spring Break. Taking Mark's Mom along for the crazy ride!

5. Choosing our next set of orders- This is the month (March) we can "officially" start choosing orders, will be setting our sites on San Diego.

6. My Birthday- even though it will not be celebrated normally I will go ahead and order myself a cake lol.

7. Elora's 8th Birthday- I've decided to do something special this year. Instead of having a birthday party where I have 20 kids that she doesn't play with every single day or might not even like come to our house, make a big mess, and go home I've decided why not something extra special. Considering she only plays with a hand full of girls and has an ABSOLUTE best friend that she will miss terribly when we transfer at the end of the year && Mark's Mom will be in town I am taking Elora and her BFF to Orlando for the weekend and doing anything she wants at Disney.

8. Caleb's Birthday- Yup as you guessed it can't do for one with out doing for the rest. He also wants a day alone with me and one friend to go down to Orlando. Fun times are a head!

Now these are just some of the things that are waiting for us and as we get to each of them time can keep on flying right on by! By these plans alone we have gotten through April and hoping it comes and goes quickly!

Time to get off my tush and go to the store and make some yumminess for an event we were invited to, having good friends is the key to a quick deployment.

Much Love, Hugs, & Smooches

-Michelle

Friday, August 5, 2011

One Of Those

So yeah it's one of those...

It's a 2:30 AM blog post. For one I can't sleep just yet. Of course I realize my addiction for the internet, facebook, gmail, etc is completely and utterly out of control lol. With that said here I am posting away.

Today was a healthy day. Not so much food wise, food wise actually was a terrible day, shameful even. Healthy as in an emotional state. Mark and I went to see "The Change Up". We highly recommend this movie. Totally laugh out loud funny with quite of bit of raunchy humor. I won't give anything away but if you like "Bridesmaids", "The Hangover Part 1 & 2", etc it's a must see movie on the list. Definitely not for the kiddie's though. Straight afterwards we picked up Andrew for his session with the infamous Dr.D. Our partial miracle worker. Highly recommend him for an ear to listen if you need it. Anyhow Andrew unfortunately due to his high anxiety, lack of meds right now was just how do I put it delicately? Well he was just plain difficult. Didn't talk much, wouldn't answer questions, and the list can go on, and on, and on...Literally it could. Mark and I just kept discussing all the possibilities of what the issues could be. He is a temperamental child really, always has been. We decided he needed some one on one time. With that being said we treated him to dinner (Of his choice) & a movie (again his choice) with just the TWO of us. Now this is a rare treat for the kids and we are taking every advantage of Mark's Mom still being here with us. Not abusing it, but taking and loving fully the benefits of "living" near a grandparent...not really her living in her own seperate space but you guys get the jist. He loved it. We ate at Golden Corral (see food choices not so healthy), and seen a long movie. Hopefully it brightened his spirits up! I know it certainly did ours.

Today is really a big day for me. With the support of my Husband and my family I know things will work out well. I won't reveal anything just yet, maybe this weekend, maybe next week or even in a month or two. But I am sure I will talk about it here eventually. Until next time.
XoXo
Michelle