Time is a passin'

This summer vacation seems to be flying by.  I guess I say that because we are now only about 2 weeks away from redeployment.  I never knew a year could go by so quickly.  Well, at least it did for those of us back here on safe land.

We haven't done anything special, but the kids are spending their second week in Vacation Bible School.  Is that cheating?  Are they only supposed to go 1 week a year?  It's at a different church and they REALLY had a great time last week so I decided to put them in at a different location this week.  You can't never have enough VBS, right?  And you know what?  VBS is nothing like it was when I was a kid.  I remember it being pretty much like regular Sunday School.  We sat in a classroom discussing the bible and doing a craft.  They are outside, eating dinner, singing songs, doing cool crafts and having a good ole time.

So do I feel guilty about taking them twice?  Eh maybe a tiny bit, but certainly not enough to not take them!

The time is winding down and I have done absolutely nothing this year to improve on the house or in preparation of Hub's return.  I feel like a lazy bum because I had all intentions of painting a room, making some curtains, SOMETHING!  But life seemed to have gotten in the way and nothing happened. 


Oh well.  I'm thinking that he will just be so glad to be out of the desert that he won't care if they house is a bit out of order!  Ya think?

Okay, so I started my classes at Kaplan Online and I am loving it!  I am really excited to be back in school and doing something to secure myself a brighter future. 

Cam is my little academic coach.  He is so funny because when I am on the computer, he will call from the other room and say, "Mom?  Are you studying?  Because it sounds like you're on Facebook because you're typing so much.  Mom, get off Facebook and study, please!"

It's officially summer and boy do I wish I had a POOL!  I want nothing more than to be able to go in my back yard and jump into some water right now. Anybody who knows me knows that I don't do heat.  My neighbors say they never see me in the summer and the winter.  They say I only come out it he spring and the fall. 

I'm dreading having to move.  I really don't want to go to Arizona.  I like it here where I am now.  I'm comfortable and the kids are happy.  The military sure can throw a monkey wrench in your plans for your life.  I hate the fact that we have 2 years left in the military before retirement and they decide that it's time for us to move.  With 2 years left in the military, Hubs should be networking here where we have been for all of this time and looking for a job.  It is crazy because we are moving to a place that is so new to us where no one knows him and he will then have to start looking for a job from there.  He is already talking about having to stay in Arizona after retirement and trying to get a GS job in the system there before trying to transfer elsewhere.

ELSEWHERE?  Where the heck is ELSEWHERE?  

I love my county and had it all planned that this is where my kids should grow up.  The Army doesn't seem to have much care for "your" plans, huh?

OKAY, enough complaining.  I got things to do.  My time is SHORT!  I have to at least try to get this place clean.  It's gotta go on the market real soon... yet another reason to not be happy. 

Call the Doctor! I have a VIRUS!

I'm on the brink of breaking. Today if my first day of online class at Kaplan University and I have a seminar that I'm suppose to be on at 7.  Low and behold, last night I clicked on something that gave me a virus.  YES A VIRUS!  Can you believe that!  My laptop is SHOT and I was up until 2 trying to get rid of this what seems to be a pretty bad flesh eating type virus... to no avail.  Not a computer geek in the least.

Although I am luck to still have a desktop, it is tucked away in a stuffy computer slash workout slash game room and there is little to no comfort and no ZEN what so ever.  Maybe I should get some water and fire going on in here!

Plus I really hate the fact that I'm going to be cooped up in that room for an HOUR and force to actually listen to the lecture.  Other than the PlayStation, there's nothing in here to distract me.  That may be a good thing, I guess. I am actually suppose to "listen", right?

Okay, so here I am, on high stress, wondering how my first seminar is going to go.  I'm thinking that I may need a massage and a glass of wine before the day is over!

Vacation Bible school equals Mommy Time!

Okay, so I'm up at what could be considered bright and early around these parts these days.  It's summer vacation and the kids don't get out of the bed until after 10 and I get to sleep in until the birds' chirping outside becomes unbearable every morning. This morning, that time was about 8am.

I bought new pillows yesterday because yesterday's sleep was so uncomfortable as I tossed and turned and turned, flipped and folded my flat and fluffless pillow so many times throughout the night that I woke up with bags and dragged the entire day.  So last night's sleep was so much better on a nice fluffy new pillow.

These last few weeks with the kids home has been challenging, to say the least.  The twerps have been driving me nutso!  Individually they are great, but together they are a hurricane!  Between their not so tidy tactics and their not so nice to each other attitudes, I am at a loss when it comes to how to keep my sanity and not YELL MY HEAD OFF all day!  They wake up to my fussin' and I fuss when they go down.  I felt a lot better when I talked to another mom that is pretty much feeling the same pain that I am and yelling as much as I do.  At least I know I'm not the only one that prefers year-round school.  What a TYRANT I am, huh?

I'm seriously considering finding a Vacation Bible School to put them in for every week of summer vacation just so that I can have some ME time and regroup.  I mean really, show up at a different church every week and drop their butts off!  Really... I'm looking into this! Seriously.  God won't mind!

I haven't let their presence hinder me from my workout though as I still get up to do my Hip Hop Abs workout and some Barry's Bootcamp every morning.  So Yay to me on that!  I have even tried to commit myself to running a mile on the treadmill everyday to add to that.  Okay, so I just started the mile thing on Friday and yes I skipped Sunday and Monday, but I'm really gonna try to implement this into my everyday schedule.  I wanna run for 30 days straight.  Think I can?  Me neither, but I'm going to try.  And since I missed 2 days, my 30 days starts over today.  I say that as I'm lounging on my bed, slowly losing my momentum after a 40 minute workout with Shaun T.

I think it's time for my B12 shot again because I had NOOOOOO drive today and did a fairly lazy workout. My pumps where not on point and my hip flexes kinda flopped!

You know, the plus to Hip Hop Abs is that I might actually find some rhythm, because I have certainly been lacking that all my life!

How to be a Fabulous Mom this Summer

It's summer vacation.

I spent the entire school year being a single mom and still remaining fabulous in the eyes of my children by showing up at school events, being a PTO officer and having "Mommy and Me Time" with the kids individually on doctor appointment days while the other kids were still in school, those opportunities to spend time in the kids lives are no more with all kids now at home.

My kids LOVED the fact that I was a PTO officer and I planned out the events at the schools because it gave them bragging rights.  All the kids in the school knew me and greeted me with "HI MRS. KAY!" every time I was in the school.  I loved being there and knowing that my boys loved me being involved.  Now that it's summertime, I have to come up with other ways to be that "AWESOME MOM" in my kids' lives.

There are so many things that you can do with your kids throughout the summer that will make them think of  you as an awesome mom, and it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg to do it!

Yeah, you could take them to expensive inflatable jump houses, Chuck E Cheese type places or water parks all summer, but that kinda of fun becomes costly and for moms like me who are fabulously frugal.  It just doesn't fit in the budget.

But with my kids, it doesn't take a lot to be an awesome mom.  Just a little quality time makes them think they are having the best summer vacation of their lives.  A little something every day for every few days and I promise you will be that mom that ROCKS!

Here are a few ideas to pass the time.

Making pizzas (or anything in the kitchen for that matter)- This is something that the kids LOVE.  It's easy if you buy a pizza kit like Chef-Boy-r Dee or a Boboli Pizza dough and some of your favorite toppings.  The kids get to get their hands dirty and add toppings that they like and they are all working together, laughing and having fun while doing it.  If you invite a friend over to help it becomes another one of those "bragging rights" moments and you are not only cool to your kids, but you are the coolest mom on the block!

Board Games - My kids love to have a family game night, or day, or whenever we can get one in.  I don't mean the video games, I mean the board games.  The ones that we use to play when we were kids.  They really love the fact that I use to play these games "back in the days", as they call it, and love asking questions about who use to beat who between my brother and me when we were kids.  I love to introduce them to things that I loved when I was a kids.

Nerf Gun Wars - This was really one of the best nights I had with the kids, and it gave me an opportunity to be a kids right along with them. The boys got more Nerf Guns for Christmas to add to the small collection that they already had.  Now, on a normal basis, they are not allowed to sun around the house and they are not allowed to shoot darts all over the place.  But on one particular night, I decided to let them let loose, and I was the one who started it all.  It was awesome as we ran through the house building forts and barriers out of couch pillows and laundry baskets for about 2 hours, just laughing and having fun.

Wii Competitions - I don't know why, but they love when we get together and play the Wii together. See, I'm a trash talker and I love laughing at them when I win and making fun of them when they lose. We can go back and forth like that for hours!  I'm a team player like that.  With the Wii being so interactive, they get to see me get silly and try to move my body in crazy ways to get my avatar to do what I want it to do.  They think its funny and so do I.  So Wii competitions bring tons of laughs... and sometimes tears, but they love that we are doing it together!

Camping in the Livingroom - Have you ever pitched a tent of bedsheets and blanket and had a camp out right in the middle of the living room?  We pop popcorn, eat S'mores, and tell ghost stories by flashlight. What is awesome about this is that there's something about the dark that makes kids sleepy and so the night is often shorter than normal as they wind down in their sleeping bags or blanket on the living room floor.  It's a Win Win situation!


If there is one saying that is true about kids it's that they keep you young.  I have found that with summer vacations and spending more time with them, I have become more creative, more playful and more active.  I do it all just to see the smiles that it puts on their faces, but OMG does it keep smiles on mine!