Happy Halli/Quincy-Ween!!

Here's pictures from the last couple days.  We went trick or treating on post with the Welsh's on Friday and then Trunk or Treating at church on Saturday night, the kids got a ton of candy!!

Ready for Trick or Treating!

 

The Grinch and Thing 1

My little Devil

I made the Trident so he couldn't hurt anyone with a plastic one.

Another pic of the Grinch with Thing 2

Thing 1 and the Cat in the Hat

Goofy grin at Trunk or Treating

A Huntsman boy

Once he noticed the picture, he posed, I had to snap another one!

Waiting to go get candy

Can we go now?

Halloween was awesome, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and got lots of good candy as well as getting rid of the candy I had, YAY!!  Next year I'll actually do more for costumes, but I liked the super easy ones this year.

Pumpkin Picking

A couple weeks back we went and picked out some pumpkins with Gma Max before she headed home.  The kids had so much fun and we got lots of cute pictures, enjoy!

Family Photo

Showing off Halli's pumpkin

Posing with Gma Max!

My Cinderella pumpkin

Loving the little pumpkins

photo with Mommy

Quincy insisted on getting his picture taken with this!

Little pumpkin!

Updates on it all!

Life has been crazy at the Jarmon household and blogging as well as picture taking has suffered, mostly the blogging.  So here's my quick update before I head off to bed!

Quincy is doing great, driving us crazy as usual.  He is so sweet and loving sometimes and gives the best hugs, he likes to hug you around your neck, but he has a major temper.  We're definitely working on it, but he'll scream when he's mad and throw or hit things, it's crazy to see someone so small so angry.  He still loves us all to death though and knows even more signs now.  He loves the outdoors, dogs, cars/trucks and babies, and tracks them all down whenever he can.

The 3 of us playing around

Halli is hitting the pouty phase as well as the 'love to annoy my brother' phase.  It makes life very entertaining.  She still loves his company and enjoys playing with him, she loves cooking with mommy and sometimes begs to do laundry, definitely a one of a kind child!

Chad is great, enjoying work as much as possible, staying healthy and playing Ultimate.  He has a PT Eval coming up soon, he's a little stressed about it, but not stressed enough to exercise extra, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

3D photo of Kyson's face, he has his hand up over his eye

Baby #3 officially has a name, Kyson Max Jarmon, at the moment it is permanent, but we'll see if it lasts.  Chad's nickname at DLI was Kyse and since we didn't want a jr. we figured doing a variation of Kyse would be fun.  And since we couldn't figure out how to spell it so people would pronounce it correctly, we decided Kyson would work best. Plus I really like it two-syllable.  Anyway,  I am currently 31 weeks and 4 days prego and so ready to be done.  He is a major mover and kicker, my belly looks like the ocean once it gets moving.  Kyson has been given a clean bill of health, his kidney dialation has disappeared and he is head down, so all is good on that end.  We even got some 3D photos of him at the last ultrasound, he already looks just like the other two.

I am doing well, falling farther and farther behind in housework, which I know is expected but is driving me nuts.  Can't wait to be able to have some more energy again, and flexibility, as well as just plain having my body back to one occupant.  Trying to stay busy though and not sit around too much (not really working), attending play groups and hanging out with friends, as well as keeping up on some cooking.

That's about it for us, we had Chad's mom come visit a couple weeks back and it was a wonderful break for me, kids were so well behaved for a week.  Both of Chad's parents will be out here as of Thanksgiving, and mine will be coming soon after if not for Christmas, so life will be crazy!!  Hopefully I'll get a blog in before Kyson is born, if not, it'll have lots of pictures of him! 

Financial Peace

So we've almost done it, we are down to the last week of courses and due to some slacking on our part and trying to catch up.  But oh the things we've learned!!!  We are determined to download all the worksheets and lesson audio before our time is up. Have SO enjoyed the classes and will kind of miss it when it's over.  Pretty sure we're asking for the book for Christmas, so have that to look forward to as well.

We have learned so much, so much more then I can even start to cover.  Especially since I'm almost half asleep and haven't been able to keep up on weekly installments to keep you up to par.  Sorry :( 

But I would definitely recommend it and it has helped us so much!  We are so excited to finish and apply it all and see how we come out in the years to come. 

So far we have paid off our credit cards and cut those up, paid down our car loan an extra $1300 and are continuing to make atleast double payments per month (aiming to pay it off in 2 yrs instead of 4), have set up a small $1,000 emergency fund (the best thing EVER, finding out you have to get new tires on your van isn't that big of a deal anymore, and not any cause for argument).  Life is good and secure, granted I get annoyed at times that we can't pay things off instantly, but as we know, good things in life take time. 

We have been amazed at the blessings that have come.  We have always paid, or tried to pay, a faithful tithe and have found with all this precise budgeting (or as close as I can yet figure out) that we can now visibly see the monetary blessings that have come from tithing.  We were shocked to find that last month we were somehow $300 short and thought we would have to borrow from our emergency fund, but somehow we managed to be perfectly fine by the end of the month.  Then again this month we took our car in for a tire rotation and oil change, just to be told our tires were bent and needed to be replaced, it was going to be $500, which wasn't horrible since we knew we had the emergency fund, but it meant postponing paying off the van so we could rebuild the emergency fund.  Well, once again, come the end of the month we do all of our mathematics and manage to only have to borrow $20 out of our savings, once again with no clue as to how.  I'm chalking it up to blessings and thanking the Lord, never felt so blessed and so reassured that we were making great decisions.

So if you are looking to figure out how to budget well and manage your money, get definitions of investing and help with doing so, are buying or selling a house, want to get good deals, learn how to pay off debt quickly and efficiently, and find a job you love and make it bring in money, this is DEFINITELY a course for you.  I have learned so much I never knew about before, and wish they had taught this in high school.  Dave Ramsey is helping to change the world, one person at a time, helping us all realize we work our whole lives, so shouldn't we be able to retire and survive without government aid in the end?  What an amazing life it will be when we are DEBT FREE!!!!!

Air Force Ball

Our before ball picture

Hairdo pic

another angle

I bought the dress and the jacket, then shortened the sleeves and added it to the dress.

A pic of my 25 week belly

We finally made it to an Air Force Ball!  Although the stress of the day was rather frustrating we enjoyed ourselves, and learned several things when it comes to next time we attend one.

Here's my Top 10:
1. Don't let your son play with the rank, he'll hide them, you'll NEVER find them and have to go buy more the day of the event!
2. Always wear the bra you'll be wearing that night when altering a dress, makes a HUGE difference.
3. You can sew a jacket onto the top of a dress, but it does make it extremely difficult to get into without messing up your hair.
4. The amount of hairspray it takes to do your hair like this makes you a major fire hazard.
5. Last minute hair cancellations are God's way of saying, "Do it yourself, be simple"  Not, "go to a hair salon and pay more for an updo then you paid for the whole night out!"
6. When the only person who speaks English in the salon is the owner, chances are something is gonna go wrong!
7. Have your husband get dressed early in the day, so he has time to freak out about his tie not being perfect when people AREN'T around to see it. (sorry to my babysitters!)
8. When you force a happy picture and you really are both angry or annoyed, you WILL look it.
9. Fancy prom-like updos are only the "norm" at proms, red carpet, and the white house.
10. The Cha Cha Slide is way fun, but could totally put you into labor!

So yeah, it was a wonderful evening of food, friends and dancing, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves once we arrived.  We sat at a table with some neighbors of ours, and it just so happened that Chad's other coworkers had gotten last minute tickets too, so I got to meet them (finally).  We weren't the latest people there, so that was nice too. 

The speech was by one of the Tuskegee Airman, who was hilarious, cracking all sorts of jokes about being black and growing up in the ghetto, and what an advantage it had given him.  The dinner was buffet style, I would rather had been served, but we did get to decide quantities, which was nice.  We had a salad and pasta salad, red potatoes, then a pasta dish, chicken w/a yummy white sauce, and roast beef in a mushroom gravy.  For dessert you could choose from chocolate cake, lemon cake, or cheesecake (my choice!).  They also had a cake ceremony where the youngest and oldest Airman cut the cake together with a scimitar, the whole situation resembled cake cutting at a wedding.  So we got another slice of cake from them, also really yummy. 

Then the dancing, which they started off with fun songs, the cha cha slide and what not, lots of parents brought their kids in to dance, which was hilarious!  One dad, once  he too off his service coat, was wearing not only black suspenders, but the sleeves to his white shirt were some sort of funky pattern, he looked ridiculous, but his daughter (probably 8) thought it was wonderful.  They had some funny moves, but no one seemed to care which made it all the better.  Our friends brought out their two boys as well, and they proceeded to dance as though they were having a seizure throughout all the moves, I was cracking up!  Chad's coworkers finally gave him a hard time for not dancing with his wife, so we went out and shook our groove thing too, I love dancing funny and laughing at ourselves.  We stayed for a few slow songs too, and then most of the parents started to head out, so the music changed to really heavy base club-type music, so we headed out. 

We even came home to all of our dishes washed or in the dishwasher (also to a sticky floor from spilled grape juice, a thermostat turned down 10 degrees, and some fingernail polish on the microwave door handle, and they overpacked the dishwasher so we had to rewash several things).  But it was the thought that counted, and it was a lot of help!

Hopefully we'll go again next year, fingers crossed!!

Blueberry Picking

We went blueberry picking a week ago, it was really fun!  However we didn't get their until almost 11, so we couldn't stand the heat long enough to get any more then 1 gallon of blueberries. But the kids loved it and we survived even in the 90 degree weather!

Eventually Quincy got sick of sitting in the stroller, so Chad took him to the other side of the bushes and let him roam around a little bit.  He quickly figured out what we were picking (he LOVES blueberries) and decided to join in as well! He was even picking only the blue ones to eat, and a little dirt.

And here's one more picture of the blueberry bushes, I think we might plant our own bush next year!

We only have about a quarter of the bag left, but boy were they yummy!

4 Weeks into Financial Peace!

AND LOVING IT!!!  It has been a challenge going through all the paperwork, the budgeting, the debt snowball, all of it has been a little stressful.  I've found it is terrifying to me to finish budgeting and have my income minus my expenses equal 0.  But that is because we are taught that you should allot a place for everything otherwise you will waste it.  So it includes other bills and things that you pay randomly throughout the year, such as car repair, presents and Christmas, dental, eye doctor and home repair.  So you decide how much you should set apart for such things, and divide the number by 12, then save up that amount per month over the year.  It really helps when it comes to those things you usually forget or other things that would usually get put aside until last minute and then cost you fees.  When it comes to getting rid of debt we only have the Van to pay off, we already payed off the Visa and have those frozen in a cup in the freezer, we need to get them out and cut them up though!  So back to the van, we are going to make double payments, and hopefully we will have it payed off by July of 2012!  Seems like forever away, but it's better then 2014.  Well, there's a lot more to say, but I'm tired, so goodnight, feel free to send any questions my way.

How to make your 4th of July even better!!

Just watch this adorable video of Quincy with his version of Patty Cake! It makes me laugh EVERY time, trying to decide if we should send it in to AFV.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

Financial Peace University

So, we finally got the government money for the house, and one of my requests was to take a class with Chad.  It's called FPU, or Financial Peace University, it is classes by Dave Ramsey on managing money.  It is a 16 week course and we chose to take it online.  We wanted to go to the actual classes, but arranging babysitting and finding local classes for once a week was a little challenging, whereas if we do the online we can go at our own pace.

We finally watched the first couple lessons and are thoroughly impressed and rather excited to start this adventure and see the change we can make in 16 weeks!  Wish us luck and feel free to join us!

https://fpuonline.daveramsey.com/

Oh, and here is my reasoning for taking this course, http://moneysavingmom.com/series/saving-100-down-for-a-home?orderby=date&order=ASC.  One of the bloggers I follow was able to saving enough money over 7 years to purchase their home in CASH!! Thanks to Dave Ramsey and his classes, this was all the incentive I've needed!

We'll keep you posted.

Oh the joys of pregnancy!

Sorry followers, I have been unsuccessful at posting lately.  We enjoyed an awesome vacation home to Utah, gorgeous weather, fun activities, yummy food and wonderful family!  But sadly, we had to come home, and even worse it was like 108 degrees one of the first days we were home.  We are kind of adjusting, enjoying our AC a lot and our little swimming pool.  This post is going to be a short one, I can't really sit in front of a computer for very long without getting nausea.  Plus I have to write a talk and plan a primary lesson for this Sunday.  So I'm just touching base with the few of you, and letting you know I'm surviving.  My morning sickness is still pretty bad, but mostly because we still haven't gone grocery shopping so there isn't much I like around the house to eat.  I also started having tooth pain after a filling fell out in Utah, went into the dentists today and found out I have an absess that is infected and I need a root canal - YAY ME!!!  So sadly, because of my pregnant state, all I can take for pain is the antibiotics and tylenol, which doesn't do much.  So yeah, I'm gonna go work on my lesson and talk and then drug up on tylenol and then try to sleep, wish me luck!

I sure hope it's twins!

So, in case you didn't know, I HATE being pregnant.  Not just don't care for it, I REALLY hate it, and I'm awesome about complaining about it too, in case you haven't noticed.  I do really want 4 kids, but after Quincy was born, I informed Chad that although I would survive having more kids, I would have no problem adopting the rest.  But lo and behold, we're pregnant again, and although I am surprisingly thrilled we are having another, I am once again miserably grouchy day in and day out.  I mean I survive, don't get me wrong, and I stay pleasant for my kids sakes, but this morning sickness stuff is horrible, and I don't even throw up at all.  I love food, and not only is nausea a problem, having an appetite with this one has been a problem, as well as feeling like my intestines are majorly backed up, which is majorly painful!  I don't really care for fruits or veggies lately, I'm mostly surviving off of cereal, eggs, juice and carbs, so that explains the issues.  I am downing a couple prunes a day to improve my normality, but they don't taste good to me either.  Oh well. 

So yes, like my title says I would LOVE to be pregnant with twins!  I know, I know, I am asking for a lot, but I'd rather have one rather hard pregnancy and be DONE having kids, then two okay pregnancies.  Plus, it would be great to be done having kids at 22.  Or atleast plan on being done, I LOVE raising my kids, but I don't really care for the growing them part.  So yeah, my grandmother had twins, so I have my chances, and at my 13 week appointment hopefully they'll hear 2 heart beats on top of mine.

But I know, be careful what I wish for, knowing heavenly father's sense of humor, it'll be TRIPLETS!!

YIPEEEEEE!!!!!!!! I love meds and good doctors!

So, as I blogged before, I have been trying to find good meds for my nausea.  As we all saw, I was horrible on the phenagrin, worst stuff I have ever taken in my life!  So I emailed my doctor and basically told him that the doctor that prescribed me that must not have heard the part about the fact I have TWO KIDS AT HOME!!!  And I insisted I still needed something, but it couldn't be that hard on me.  Yesterday I got the phone call I'd been waiting for, your prescription is in and ready to be picked up whenever you want. So I rushed over with my daughter in tow, got home, read over the side effects, drowsiness, headaches, dizziness, but there were a lot of them and I started to get nervous. But I reminded myself, there's nothing on the bottle, so it can't be that often of a side effect right?  I warned Chad and asked if it was okay to take it even if it mean I was asleep the rest of the evening, and we took the plunge!  Within an hour I had my appetite back, I could sit around without eating and not feel like I was gonna puke, no more forcing food down my throat when I don't want it!  And today, I had pizza, a salad, and cookies for lunch with nothing more then heartburn!  YAY!!!!!  And I even kinda want my hubby around more, he's pretty phsyched!

And on other great news, my son spent an hour without pants on today!!!  You may wonder why I am so thrilled, well, my son has had eczema since he was born, every morning and every night I lotion him from head to toe and he screams, EVERY TIME. He hates it, and I don't really care to do it.  But I've gotten used to it, including  making sure we always have lotion wherever we go, that his pants are always tucked into his socks, and that his hands are always covered with socks during diaper changes.  It's been miserable, once a babysitter put him to bed without socks on and he scratched his feet until they bled, I literally cried that night.  Other times he gets a hold of his arms and scratches his elbows until they are raw and weepy, breaks my heart. 

So we finally got him a visit with a dermatologist since I was sick of being told by his doctor just to lotion him a lot and don't bathe him much.  The dermatologist was super friendly and I loved how helpful he was and how much he explained to me.  He never gave me any magic cure, but he answered all my questions about bathing, sleeping, what to put on his skin, and how often.  He is hopeful that Quincy will get to the point he can wear shorts in the summer, even this summer!  So the fact that after a diaper change my son rolled over and played all around the house in just a onesie, never once flipping over to scratch at his legs repeatedly, TOTALLY MADE MY DAY!!  Plus I loved seeing those chubby little legs.

Well, now the only thing to overcome is Chad's, Quincy's, and my cold, getting rid of the runny noses would be great! 

Under the influence

So, I totally love the medication commercials, ya know, how you can't control your bladder, but you can have it totally under control if (and here's the kicker) you don't mind a possible side effect of nausea, respiratory problems, vomiting, dizziness, blood clots, stroke, OR even DEATH!!  Yes, I totally would rather take the risk of dying and not have to wear adult diapers!  And not only are all those risks not worth it, but they purposely pick their fastest speaking actor to read them off!  No, I'm serious, if you don't believe me check it out.




So yeah, my morning sickness has been so uncomfortable that I made a last minute appointment today to get some meds.  I got put on Phenergran, so I read over the side effects, they read as follows, drowsiness, dry mouth, and energy in younger kids, as well as some unidentified side effects!  (WHAT?!!?!?! How are they unidentified?) Anyway, I risk it, and take one, not only does my mouth feel rather dry, it's been 9 hours since I took it and I still feel a little drowsy.  I did conk out right after taking it and took a 2 hour nap, and dragged myself around until I could take a second nap, that one was like have a drowsy tired body in a wide awake brain, INSANE!! 

So yeah, gonna take a second dose tonight, see if can then wear off by morning, but I have had a little more appetite.  Had 4 eggs for dinner, and a couple cookies as well as a glass of milk.  And, if I am still tired in the morning I did my home teaching for last month and so they are doing free babysitting tomorrow in the morning, so I can drop the kids off and go home and sleep.  We'll see how it goes!!  Hopefully I can get the meds worked out so that I can handle them and they'll work all day without too many side effects.

Keep me in your prayers, life is crazy.

Doctor follow-up

So my doctors appointment was lame, I was there for almost 3 hours filling out paperwork, talking to people and getting blood work done.  I love how you have to fill out the same paperwork with each pregnancy, and they still use tons of medical lingo that even my CNA barely helps me with!  Then have the pregnant, nauseated woman go down and get 5 VIALS OF BLOOD taken, 5!!  They had an ice pack on me and a fan I was so close to fainting.  And add onto that that they forgot that they needed a urine sample until after my blood draw, so I get to juggle my "Yay you are having a baby" bag, my purse and a taped up arm, then try peeing in a cup!  That was so much fun.  I was feeling so much better today with my stomach though that I didn't worry about it.  And I have my first official appointment on the 21st.  Wish me luck!

Stupid Government Healthcare!!

So last night I start getting REALLY nauseated, and knots in my stomache, feeling like someone punched me in the gut!  So bad that I bug my husband at work until he can come home and give me a comfort blessing at 4 am.  They did let him stay home with me though, that was nice!!  Anyway, he took care of kids and me all day today, even taking me to the dr's office and helping me around.  Oh so grateful.  Anyway, onto the ranting!


So I call to schedule an appointment, I tell them I'm having really bad morning sickness, or I'm just really sick, I don't feel hungry, can't even function really today, and I'm sure I'm pregnant.  The follow up question ticks me off, "How do you know you're pregnant?"  I tell her I took a pee test, and then she proceeds to tell me that I can't see ANY doctor until I come in and take THEIR pregnancy test AND they set me up with an OB. 

So I call a friend to watch my kids, and drag myself out of bed and into clothing (thanks to my hubby) and have Chad drive me onto post and to the doctors, where I sit and wait to be told to go down to the lab and have my blood drawn for the pregnancy test, AND THEN I CAN GO HOME!!! I proceed to tell her I REALLY don't feel good and need to see a doctor, and she tells me the same thing.  They will call me with my results today and set me up with a OB as soon as possible!  REALLY?!?!!?!?!  I feel like someone succor punched me and don't even want to get out of bed, and all you can tell me is I have to wait until you know for sure I'm pregnant.

So.... I go down to the lab, have my blood drawn, and go home to sleep off (hopefully) my symptoms.  I miss my friends farewell party/birthday party.  I finally get the phone call, I am pregnant.  NO DUHH!!!!  And my appointment is scheduled for 1:30pm TOMORROW!!  Thanks for letting me suffer for 24 hours, totally fair. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not even seeing a doctor, that I'm just filling out paperwork and getting prenatals, which I REFUSE TO TAKE!!  Any woman knows prenatals are the only thing that GUARANTEE you will throw up! No thank you.  Anyway, so I'll see if I'm up for blogging tomorrow, since I'm planning on forcing my way into a doctors office no matter what they say!!!

AAARRGGGHH!! And people think government healthcare is the way to go, are they stupid?

So . . . . much for working out!

So, if you can't tell from my pregnancy ticker, I AM PREGNANT!!! We are totally shocked and surprised, really weren't planning on getting pregnant until Quincy was atleast a year old, possibly even 2 since he is so crazy!  But, I guess God had a different idea, so we're just gonna be happy since baby number 3 means we only have one more to go until we're done. 

So yeah, I have horrible morning sickness (and yes, I call it horrible because I am a wuss!).  I don't throw up, but I feel queasy most of the day, made worse by the evening.  And oddly enough, when I am pregnant I also can't handle looking at a computer screen or playing video games for too long, so my blog posts will be quite short until I hit week 12!

I am only about 5 weeks along I think, I'm setting up a Dr's appointment tomorrow, and I will keep everyone posted on the due date they give me and any other information.  So wish me luck! Life's gonna be crazy for the next nine months.  Especially since this one is due the 24th of December as far as I can tell.  CRAZY CHRISTMAS FOR US!!!

Insanity/Sanity day 2

So, yeah, I was SOOOO sore this morning that we decided to wait a day, and they climb back on the horse.  Yes, excuses, excuses. But we also ended up being too busy to fit it in as well! 

Oh well, tomorrow begins me waking up early and working out with the hubby, and hopefully going to bed earlier.  Then I guess seeing as how it is already 1050, I should probably call it a night.

But when it comes to housework, I was awesome this evening, all the dishes in the dishwasher or hand washed, all kitchen surfaces wiped clean!!! Yay for energy, long phone calls from a blue tooth, and cleaning!

INSANITY!!!

So, we finally got our Insanity work out dvd's.  And we went and got workout clothes for me, because SURPRISE, I've never had any reason for them.  We loaded up on the usual - capris, shirt, good shoes (cross trainers were recommended), and sports bras.  If you know me, I definitely need the sports bras, it actually took 2 today, and it did work, but felt like I was wearing a corset!  (Made me look rather small and loggish, but I survived) 

If any of you don't know of Shaun T's Insanity, check out my earlier post with the intro movie. 

After the shopping and WIC run, we put the kids down for naps and geared up for our first work out.  Actually it wasn't the workout, it was the first fit test, what you start out with.  After a full 30 min workout, including stretching, cooling down and then the fit test, we were exhausted, I have NEVER pushed myself so hard! (and I've delivered 2 children vaginally, one 9 lbs 13 oz, although with an epidural mind you.)  I have never sweated so hard either, my dad would be so proud, since he said when I was a kid I was terrified of sweating (very true).

We do 8 workouts throughout the fit test, here they are and my results.
Switch Kicks -- 33
Power Jacks -- 35
Power Knees -- 45
Power Jumps -- 15
Globe Jumps -- 5
Suicide Jumps -- 8
Push-Up Jacks -- 15
Low Plank Oblique -- 40

We also weighed ourselves and took pics, I will post pics and measurements tomorrow.

My current weight (painful to admit):  164.6 lbs

Percent body fat:  34.6

We are so sore, even after excersizing, but it was totally worth it, and I think we'll notice a change in our energy and stamina within a week though!

So the countdown begins!  62 days to go.

Shaun T's Insanity Workout - New Insane Workout From Shaun T

Kids say the darndest things!

So my kids make me laugh as it is, but today was especially entertaining.


My son has finally hit the snorting stage, so far both of my children do this.  They think it's really funny to scrunch up their noses and breath really fast in and out.  Quincy especially likes to use this when he thinks he's pretty funny!

(don't ya love the face, Halli looks gorgeous, but the Quincy face, I can't help but laugh!)


Anyway, Halli was actually the more funny one today (yes my friends, funnier is NOT A WORD!!! just ask my mother)  So I sent Halli to time out today while we were hanging out upstairs, she walks halfway to the stairs and she inquisitively asks, "where am I going?".  I reminded her she was going to a time out on the stairs and she responds, "oh yeah".  Should I be worried she can forget things that quickly?

And then incident #2, shows how much I have successfully taught my daughter!  We were making a salad for dinner, I pulled the head of lettuce out of the fridge, explained to Halli what it was, and then asked her if she wanted to try some, she said yes, so I pulled off a piece and she stuck it in her mouth.  She made her "yucky face" and then proceeded to tell me that, "she didn't like that wrapper"!

Apparently I need to work on a few things.

So... I realized

I've finally decided that I don't have to write HUGE paragraphs each time I blog to feel like a good blogger, nor do I have to blog everyday, seeing as how I have a seldom few who follow!  (congrats to you by the way though!)  So, they'll be shorter and sweeter from now on, we'll see how it goes!!

Was totally shocked today, we decided we didn't want to cook or venture through the pantry and the fridge to find what we could cook.  So we went to the Grand Buffet up near the JoAnn's, Chad had heard it was great, so we figured we'd give it a shot!

It was REALLY good, hit the spot and a lot of variety, including sushi for my disgusting husband.  Ha, I love you Chadly, I really do, you just have a very interesting palate!  We were amazed however at how our son fared.  Halli had one full plate, ate about half of it, but Quincy, my amazing little 8 month old, somehow managed to mooch bite after bite of food.  I swear, he had like 5 shrimp, half a roll, some soup, several bites of a cookie, macaroon, fish, chicken, rice, bananas, oranges, and he just kept going!!!

Honestly, by the time we had paid the bill and were ready to head out the door, he was still uh-ing for food. 

Yes, my son grunts when he wants more food! How caveman, or Tim Taylor, depending on your age.

So yeah, amazingly grossed out by the size of my sons appetite, and apparently stomach, boy are we in trouble when he hits his teenage years!

Spring Fever!

So spring has sprung in Georgia, the weather is gorgeous and the kiddos are loving to spend as much time outside as possible!!  This last weekend we have been busy prepping the yard and making everything look beautiful.  Monday we mowed all of our yard, front and back, for the first time since we've moved in!  I even mowed the front, which was a first for me because of my allergies.  We did get some pretty funny looks as people drove by and watched my daughter and hubby sitting on the sidewalk while I huffed and puffed pushing a lawn mower up a little over a 45 degree incline.  I did it though, and I think if I kept up mowing the front yard every week I could lose like a pound or more a week, quite the workout!

Has been quite the week though, Quincy figured out that he could crumble up saltine crackers instead of eating them.  He also discovered, while naked (drying off cuz of a bum rash), that he had something between his legs, he lost interest very quickly, but it sure was funny to see the shocked look on his face!!

Halli is getting so big, a couple days ago she told me she didn't want to lay in her bed because it was uncomfortable, that's a lot syllables for a 2 year old!!  And she even used the word right, she amazes me somedays, other days, not so much, but those days are the funniest.

Chad has been the greatest hubby ever!  I had a friend who went into labor and had her babies a little earlier then planned with no family available, so he was more then happy to let me come and go as she needed me.  I was proud to be his wife, he knows when others need help and is willing to lend a hand, even if that means his wife is gone for several hours a day, he's stuck with kids, and she's only able to keep the woman company.  No complaints from him, it's a good day to be married to a Jarmon.  And with that, I am off to bed. 

Warm Fuzzies!!

I love warm fuzzies, don't you?

I'm finally back from Utah, which was a great visit, but we are all happy to be back at our own home with our normal routine and schedule.  Vacations are so much fun but take so much out of you at the same time, unless of course you are sunbathing on some amazing beach somewhere.  OH.... I wish!
(pretty isn't it, wish I knew where it was, I'd book a trip there immediately!)




Anyway, back to the warm fuzzies.  Sufficed to say, although we had some very good experiences on the flight home, we will (hopefully) NEVER be flying again!  So with that, I shall start my story!

To begin with, we got to the airport on time just to find out that our flight was delayed, and that even though it was delayed 2 hours that we should stick around in case they could fly out earlier.  Supposedly the flight was delayed because of weather, but Atlanta didn't have any bad weather, and they also said the plane was just plain (haha) delayed, couldn't figure it out. Well, we finally boarded the plane, but they made us check one of our carry ons because there wasn't enough overhead room.  The flight itself was really nice, we decided to treat ourselves to an in flight movie, and since the stewardess noticed my military ID, we were given complimentary head phones and some goodies for our daughter after she woke up!  The movie was Whip It, really good movie by the way, and pretty clean too!



The kids slept through most of the flight but enjoyed themselves when awake.  Then came the fun part.  We landed in Atlanta and had time to get to the next gate, and get some food.  Apparently there were 2 other flights at our gate, so no seats, and we had to go outside to board the plane, with a stroller, and there was NO RAMP!?!?!  I got to manuever the stroller and our luggage down two flights of stairs while Chad carried both kids, fun stuff.  Then we all board the plane and come to find out the plane not only was TINY!!!! I mean climb up stairs to get in it tiny, but they had overbooked the seats by 1, only 1.  I felt horrible, poor man was 3 hours from home at 1100 at night, and was gonna have to find a place to sleep.  So my hubby being the awesome man he is went up front and gave up his seat and for the 30 min plane ride the four of us sat wedged into 2 seats, although happily so.  And come to find out the man we gave our seat to was retired Air Force and his wife works at the post hospital, pretty cool!

So we went home with warm fuzzies and feeling all happy with ourselves, we got lots of compliments on the kids and asked if we needed any help when we got off as well, all was great with the world.  And then.... we went through the bag of ours that had been wedged at his feet the whole flight and as we rummaged through found something peculiar:

It was neither Chad's nor mine, so to the nice man who sat across from me on the flight from Atlanta to Augusta, thank you, you bought us dinner tonight!!  And it was DELICIOUS!!

Just goes to show there are still good people out in the world and grateful people as well.  (and you thought he'd done something bad, gotcha!)

Busy busy!

So, haven't had any time to share thoughts, packing for a trip to Utah!  So excited and anxious, our flight heads out at 540 am and I still can't get to bed!  We were able to pack everything in about 3 hours, which is a great record for us, especially when packing 2 kids!  So yeah, well I will see if I can find time to blog from deep within the Rockies, but who knows!!!

Have a great 2 weeks and I'll make contact for sure by the 24th!

Real vs. Imaginary

So I learned a lesson today, when men play video games, they take them very seriously.  So seriously in fact then when you can't perform at their standards, they get annoyed.  Now I understand why most women don't play the competitive online games that guys do, it's kinda pointless!  I mean, don't get me wrong, I love playing video games, especially with my hubby, and am proud to say I can keep up relatively well with the big dogs, but I do it for a totally different reason then my husband.  To me it is fun, helps me destress, get away from it all, apparently to him, it is a "mission" and he has to succeed or his manhood is at stake!  Guess it helps if you don't have any manliness to worry about huh!  But it would be nice if they could understand the woman's point of view on a lot of these things. 

Like football perhaps, I understand it is YOUR TEAM, and you've followed them for a long time, and they mean so much to you, but as the wife it is REALLY depressing when we see you get more emotional over a touchdown then when your first born child entered the world.  I also find it so odd to see the same expression of excitement on their faces when their baby walks, as when they beat the best online player on their video game!  I know how much it all means to them, but seriously???? 

PRIORITIES!!!

Oh well, I guess men will be men, and that's what makes the mystery, if we understood the opposite gender it would be too easy, right?  Oh the joys of relationships and marriage!

The Giving Tree, from child's view to parent's

So my daughter has a new favorite book that her awesome Aunt Avo gave her for Christmas.  She constantly is having me read it to her, and although it is long, she loves it.  The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is the name of it, and I too remember loving this book as a child, but apparently, your view on certain books definitely changes once you are a parent.

As a child I remember loving how sweet the tree was to the boy and how she took care of him and loved him no matter what he did.  I also remember thinking how much she loved him to give him everything she had, and then that the boy was so sweet to return and spend time with her again at the end. 

Now... as a parent I see it quite differently.  I notice how much the tree does for the boy and how much he leaves and totally deserts her for long periods of time.  And how everytime he does show his face he tells her he NEEDS something and that what she has isn't good enough unless it provides him with what he wants.

How come the boy doesn't go out and get his own lumber to build a house, or go out and get a job and make money, and then when he was older he could buy a canoe?!!!  Why couldn't the tree have just been there to help him come up with ideas for jobs, or help him jump start his career, or be supportive?  Then when he needs a house he goes and builds one, and the tree can stay a full tree and be made into a swing for HIS kids.  Such a sweeter story don't you think?  It just seems like the tree does anything and everything to make this boy happy and he NEVER says THANK YOU!!!  Not once, he comes, takes, and leaves, and then waits forever to come back and visit, I guess this is all we should expect from our children?

I THINK NOT!!!!  So I will definitely keep reading this book to my daughter, because it is one of her favorites, but I tend to add thanks yous, and pleases, and could yous, and I hope that when she becomes a parent, she can't say that i was like the tree.  Because although I would do anything for my children, they can't become the productive acheiving adults like my parents raised just by having everything handed to them.  Sadly that happens a lot now a days, we so badly want our children to succeed that we are willing to give up everything and do everything for them so then can be great, but then it isn't them who's becoming great, it's us, and then when we are gone, they will have no stump to sit on, they will have no support, and surviving on their own will be so much more of a challenge then it should have to be.

Being a helicopter parent hurts your children more then you think, being protected from certain things is very important, but to build character, true character, they have to face most of their challenges alone.  Then they will truly be amazing adults and show this world what the next generation has to offer.

Meal Planning

I have successfully made myself a 4 week plan of meals including snacks, breakfasts, and lunches.  I finished earlier this week the grocery list as well, and then while my AWESOME friend Sarah had my kids (we swap babysitting for 3 hours once a week, I love it!) I went to the commissary and started my adventure.  I don't tend to shop at the commissary seeing as it is no longer near my house, it is closed on Mondays, and I have to tip the baggers or look cheap, which I am.  But I decided to give it another try, and after finding everything I needed, with some help, since I never understand why the olives or the pepperoni gets put where it does, I headed off to check out.  Now I did learn one thing from this experience, mass grocery shopping and WIC shopping at the same time is a REALLY BAD IDEA!!!  You try to keep milk, bread, baby food and cheese separate from everything else in an overflowing grocery cart! I got to the cash register and successfully found all my WIC items, but sadly, as I often find, the Commissary is the last place to have WIC figured out very well, and seeing as how they recently changed it, that didn't help.  She had to enter 31 bottles of baby food individually, and then all my other WIC, which consisted of milk, cheese, bread, 32 more jars of baby food and some produce.  Let me put it this way, it took me a total of 20 minutes to get through check out, way fun let me tell ya!  When the lady that bagged my stuff and I got outside it was raining, and a freezing cold rain too, so we got to run to my car and load it with all the stuff while trying not to get soaked, I definitely tipped well, and was grateful that I had a garage at home.  All in all it was successful, I just have to decide on a grocery store to consistently shop at, since here are my issues at the moment with each.

Publix - too far and like an Albertsons, so a bit pricier, but amazing service and wonderful coupon policy
Food Lion - close and cheap, but I can't drink their WIC milk, makes me nauseated
IGA - creepy!!!  And last time I went a package of crackers fell out of the box and the girl crammed them back in and put them in my bag, plus the bag boy just randomly stacked all my groceries and placed the eggs on top, scary.
Walmart - the one nearest to us is a test walmart, so they don't carry the more rare items I sometimes need, but other then that, they are my first pick.

So I think I will just have to find a happy medium, and shop commissary for WIC  and Walmart or Food Lion for everything else, we'll see.

Our Money Challenge, and a complaint.

I've found the most annoying thing in the world, well to me that is... a sinus headache.  Not only that, but a one sided sinus headache!  That's how I spent my day from about 2 pm on.  Still able to be social and go get some meds for it, but definitely not fun walking downstairs or dealing with happy yelling children! 

I love February, tax returns!! We got ours today and paid off the credit card, which was a relief for me, since this has been the first time we've had issues doing so.  But with buying a house this last year, putting a fence in, dental work, and a minor military debt (along with some "genius" money ideas from the mortgage company) we fell into the living from paycheck to paycheck hole!  OUCH!!!  Really hated it by the way, resolved to never do that again.

So for a long time we've known we'd eventually need a newer vehicle.  My hubby being a car guy would prefer something like this:

  Or this:

He's not a fan of minivans, but sadly, the truck would cost more then plane tickets to drive cross country, and the flex has a ridiculously small backseat that I would never stick a teenager in, much less an adult!  So after much talking and deciding the next family vehicle would be mostly what I drive, I decided on a minivan, prefferably a Kia Sedona or an Odyssey.  And then Chad can get a truck of his liking to drive to and from work, and to pick up items we need for projects (which with the new house there have been a lot of). 

Right now we'll just start off with getting the minivan though, and we've issued ourselves a money challenge, you ready?  Here it is:

We're gonna pay CASH IN FULL for next vehicle, no financing needed!

It'll be worth it just to see the looks on the salesman's face when we say it, that in and of itself motivates me!!  I assume it'll look a bit like this, but hopefully human, as it would be amazing if a monkey could sell a car.  Although I think it would definitely make the experience much more enjoyable and interesting, depending on how domesticated it was.  But it would definitely have to be potty trained or that would be a rather disgusting situation.  (yes, you have just had a look into how my brain works, and the tangents it veers off on, scary isn't it?  If you find it offensive, turn off your monitors now!) 

The beginning

So, first time blogging, we'll see if I can keep it up, and if I actually enjoy it!
First off, the two things I learned today that are major red flags when at a car dealership:
1: they don't put the prices of the used vehicles ON the vehicles
2: the vehicle doesn't come with a warranty because you won't need one until 10,000 miles

That last one still worries me, so yeah, now we have officially decided not to shop at the Honda out here as well as avoiding the Kia for a while too.

Got our white miniature schnauzer ready to go out for a haircut today, we went to a new place that was a first come first serve, but apparently they only take 12 dogs a day?  So yeah, no room for Rascal, tried checking a bunch of other places, but they were wanting me to pay $45 or more for the cut, sorry Rascal, you're no show dog!  So I did the dumbest thing, I decided to try to groom him myself, I dropped by the CVS on the way home and got some hair cutting scissors, and a poncho to avoid getting too much dog hair on me, and then headed home.  I was feeling very excited and empowered, especially since one of my neighbors grooms her own dogs, but they are mini poodles, VERY small.  So yeah, sufficed to say, Rascal's hair is thick, and our electric clippers complained quite a bit, even on the shortest setting, and although I cut out a good amount of hair, you really can't tell.  Which I guess is better then it being really obvious and really bad!  So I snipped around his face a little, and got it looking okay, and gave up on his body, I'll pay unless someone can give me lessons, maybe some day.

I still was a little clipper happy though, so as soon as I made eye contact with my son, I knew what I was gonna do... Quincy was born with almost black hair, and a good amount of it, it never fell out, but he has bad eczema and he has pulled out a bit of it scratching, not only that, but his hair is quite long for 6 months old and the hair growing in is light brown like my daughters.  So I have come to refer to his hair as a bad dye job, so I took this situation as an opportunity.  I stuck him in this bebe pod we have and then placed that on the cement, since I was outside shaving Rascal anyway, Quincy was so mesmerized by the cement itself, he didn't even bother to see what I was doing, or complain.  I cut it all down to 1/2 an inch, I love it, and he looks so manly! He is quite the stud now, and it's much easier to deal with his itchiness.













Also trimmed up Halli's bangs, but nothing much, she always likes having her hair cut.  Wish she was that way with everything!