Day 94!! 4 days left!!

They finally came and fixed my floor.

They had to take a large piece out and replace it completly.

Then they had to redo all the seams since the first guys did them wrong.

So we were without the kitchen for a good part of the day again.

Mom, Ladaria and I went to Curves to work out.

Ladaria did two trips around the circle and then stretched.

That's all they would let her do since it was her first time.

We had fun and the lady there worked me harder than the lady on Sat!!

She made sure that I was doing all the machines correctly!

Took Ladaria to practice and stopped at the store to get peat and a few more homecoming decorations.

Only a few more days!!

Day 93!! 5 Days Left!

What an interesting day it was today!

We had Youth Day at church so the youth ran the service.

It was fun and they did a great job.

Came home and the kids cleaned out the van.

AND then they found an opposum in the garbage can.

Brayana tried to pick it up with a stick and it played dead!!

She freaked out and dropped it back into the garbage can.

The trash fell on top of it and was smushing it in there.

Hope came to the rescue and freed the opposum!!

He ran off into the neighbors yard!

Then we made homecoming signs for the house and the driveway.

It's still raining so I will have to put them out to hang a little later and finish decorating.

We are all getting excited!!

Mom made enchiladas for dinner and they were SO good!! YUMMY!!

Poppa fixed one of the bathtubs which had a steady stream of water running out of it.

It was hot water at that so not only were we wasting water we were wasting gas to heat the water.

The people who put the knobs in cemented the washer and stuff into the wall!

Poppa had to chisel it out so that he could remove it and replace it.

We were a little concerned that something might break but I decided that we could go ahead and try to fix it.

HE DID IT!!!!

No more leaking faucet!

Day 92!! 6 Days LEFT!!

Today was a long, busy day!

Started out the day with Coco going back and forth between a closed box and the closet.

I think she was trying to tell me to "Fix the stupid box and put the darn thing in the closet!'

So I did just that.

Put the sides up and a sheet over the top and stuck it in the closet.

She immediately got in and scratched and scooted, and dug and laid, and just tried to do whatever it was she was trying to do!

Then Mom and I went to Curves and worked out.

I'd never been there before and it was fun!

I did the full work out and it didn't hurt to bad - hehe!!

After that we stopped at the thrift store and I found an almost brand new pair of shoes for $2.99!! Also got Jaleel a pair of shoes and Makkiah some rollerblades.

Headed over to the church to help take down the decorations from my classroom.

Not very many people showed up to help which was kind of disappointing but it all got done!

Came home and fed the kids lunch before heading off to make homecoming banners.

We made the banners to hang at the pier and on the walking bridge as you leave the base.

Had fun but got burned.

Here's me painting banners:











I painted the flag, hearts, stars and some of the letters.

I got burned and it was overcast!

Then I headed off to pick up Ladaria from a pool party.

Acquired three other girls that I took to their respective homes.

Off to Walmart to get kitty litter and butter.

Came home and did some work for Children's ministry.

Then I went to check on my Momma.

I'd only seen her out once during the day and wondered if she was back in her box.

She was with THREE brand new babies!!

I left her and went back an hour later and another baby.

So far we have 2 grey and 2 black babies.

Here's a slide show with a few pictures:

Day 91!! ONE WEEK LEFT!!!

The tigers are all on the ship and the ship will be pulling out and heading for home in the morning.

One week and they will be pulling in to home!!!!

I went today and got stuff to decorate for homecoming.

Now I just need for the rain to stop so that I can get the decorating done!

We had our last day of VBS!

VBS was really fun and I think all the kids had a great time.

Even Taniyah got up and danced at the worship rally!!

After the first day things were organized and ran smoothly.

Now on to working on the stuff for Springtime Care (o-5 classes at church).

We will be redoing all the rooms there.

Painting, carpet, new cribs and toys!

It will all look great when we are done.

So I will continue to be busy over the next few weeks.

Have half the schedule completed and it should all run much more smoothly than it has.

Day 90!!! 8 Days Left!!!!!!!!!!

Are we getting excited yet?

YOU BET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I wake up in the morning I will have ONE WEEK LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still so much to get done!!

Today I went and got curriculum from the church.

Had a long talk with Angie and am really excited about the direction that Children's Ministry is going!!

It's going to be great!

Then I went and picked up Ahma and Poppa from the airport! WOOHOO!!

I always enjoy adult company- hehe!!

Taught VBS tonight and was thouroughly entertained by Ted, Ladaria, and Phyllis with their "news broadcast". It was great!

And now I'm just sitting here excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 89! 9 Days Left!!!

Single digits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're getting closer and closer.

So much I still need to get done!

Today I had a another big go around with AT&T BUT I finally got switched over to my new provider and am not going to pay the fee for terminating my contract early.

I have to say that their service really stinks and their customer service is also very poor.

So glad to be with a new provider and I've been able to use my internet whenever I want!

Day 3 of VBS was good.

No cartwheels today though!!

We have a lot of fun though and even Taniyah enjoys going!

She's learning to do some of the motions to the songs and it SO cute!!

Day 88!! 10 days left!!!!

We'll be heading into the single digits soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Ladaria babysat for our old church so I took the kids to the park and cleaned out the van.

After that I took some pictures of the kids and played around some after I got home.

My first attempt at photoshopping items out of a picture:













Can you name the differences? It was fun to do.

Then I took some pictures and made a photo collage:










Taught Vacation Bible School. Dressed up like Queen Esther and did a cartwheel for the first time in years!! The cartwheel had nothing to do with the story, just entertaining the kids until dinner came!

Day 87! 11 Days Left!!

They days are counting down.

I'm glad it's Monday. Only one more left to get through!!

It was HOT again here today - triple digits! Hot and humid- YUCK!

We shouldn't be without Internet now since we switched over to a cable modem.

And today was the first day of Vacation Bible School!!

I had fun and I think the kids had fun!

I'm teaching the 1st and 2nd graders. They are a lot of fun and a nice change of pace from the little ones.

This week should fly by with VBS here!

Day 86!! 12 DAYS!!

Today wasn't as hot as yesterday.

Only hit mid 90 although it keeps raining in the middle of the night which makes for terrible humidity.

Mom's used to it but around here we usually get dry heat.

I don't like sweating when I'm not even moving!!

I "talked" with Rod from about 9pm to 4am!!!

He was doing his traffic school online so it was nice to be able to "talk" for so long!!

I should have been in bed BUT it was more exciting to talk to him!

Then I had to get up at 7 this morning for church and I was wide awake.

He needs to come home so I can get some decent sleep.

Although I really don't feel tired!

This week is VBS and I'm teaching so it will probably go by quickly.

Mom is coming back on Thursday for at least another week.

I think it depends on what happens with her doctors appt.

Day 85! 13 Days left!!

It has been HOT here.

Beyond HOT.

It was 111 degrees here at 2 pm and 94 degrees at 8pm.

Power outages and heat = no fun!!

We took advantage of the base theater and went to see the movie "Cars"

It was a really cute movie.

Taniyah slept through most of it!

That's the best way to do it!

I'm getting excited as the days count down.

Less than two weeks to go!

Day 84! TWO WEEKS LEFT!!!!

Today was a HOT day.

We spent the morning just being lazy in the heat but then I decided that needed to get it together and do something.

So in the heat I finished painting the bathroom. I had cut in the corners last week but was informed that I needed to do the ceiling first!!

I did the ceiling a few days ago and it has been so muggy that it took a few days to dry completely.

So one more bathroom is painted!! Now to add the border, trim and sink!

After that we went to a potluck.

The kids all started up here:











Then they would jump:





















And make a big splash:












Taniyah just lifeguarded:



















And then they all relaxed!

Day 83! 15 Days Left!

I painted the ceilings in the hallway and the bathroom.

I'm not so sure that I'm impressed with the ceiling paint that I bought.

I guess we'll see how it looks tomorrow.

Had my foster parent meeting tonight and two people showed up.

I'm ready to be done with this group.

Almost at the two week point!!!!!

Tomorrow we will have only two weeks left!!

Day 82! 16 Days left

Today I took Makkiah in for his appointment at the Ear, nose and throat (ENT) clinic.

He's been there many times before to see Dr. B. Dr B knew exactly who he was when he came into the room!! Tells you how many times we've been there.

He looked at Mak's neck and said "Let's schedule him for surgery".

Up to this point Mak has done well in dodging the surgery bullet but not this time.

So he's scheduled to go in and get this mass removed from his neck on August 28th.

Dr B thinks that it just some saliva glands that were misplaced but he will be sending it off to pathology to make sure that it's nothing serious.

Thankfully Rod will be back by then and the kids will all be in school. I have someone already scheduled to watch Taniyah for me that day as well.

The bad thing is that it's the Monday after school starts so Mak will start off missing school for this surgery.

The kid just can't get a break!

On a happier note I took a few pics of Taniyah sleeping and thought that I would share. No one else was asleep when I got the camera out or I would have taken their pics as well!!

Doesn't she look so sweet?

Day 81! 17 Left

Today we went to the zoo with some other Navy wives.

Click picture for slide show

It was a lot of fun even though it was hot.

We stayed for a couple of hours and then had lunch.

When the pregnant Mommies got whoozy from the heat we all headed home. I was a good excuse to leave!!

My internet comes and goes - when it rains, when the wind blows, when it's hot, when someone sneezes, etc. Well I got home from the zoo today, no internet AGAIN. I wanted to upload my pictures but I couldn't SO I call AT&T again. This is the 5th time I've called since Rod left and I don't call everytime my DSL goes down.

The tech tells me that I should be on fiber optic instead of copper. Well I had no internet in Dec for 3 weeks because I was SUPPOSED to be switched to fiber optic. I WASN'T!!! He tells me I have two options 1)Use dial up for 2 weeks and get switched to fiber optic or 2)Wait until the maintenance tech can come out on Sat to see if they can fix it AGAIN BUT there really is nothing to fix as the signal SUCKS! He told me that I'm well beyond the cut off for service and they shouldn't have given it to me to begin with. He also tells me that I should be getting credit on my bill for the intermitent service that I've been getting.

SO I call the billing office where they tell me that I have two options 1)cancel my DSL, wait 2-3 weeks with NO service (this includes dial up). They won't charge me the early termination fee as long as I resubscribe within 30days with a new 12 month contract at TWICE the price that I pay now OR 2) I can suck it up for another month, change providers, and then dispute the charges! Another month of service that SUCKS! and doesn't work half the time.

Does anybody else see a problem with this? He is talking to a woman whose husband has been gone on deplyment for 4 months and the ONLY contact that I have with him is E-MAIL, which I can't access.

I also went to the Homecoming and Reunion brief so now i know the specifics of the ship coming home. It's starting to feel more real!!

Day 80, 80, 80!!!!! 18 left

The countdown has begun with only 18 days left!!

I'm getting really excited!

Today I did more cleaning.

My bathroom and I'm sure there was something else in there.

Took Ladaria to practice and picked her up.

The flooring guy came by finally and they are going to be replacing part of my floor where they cut it.

Ahma and Poppa will be leaving early in the morning and not sure when they will be back next.

Depends on Mom's appts.

Day 79!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was a LONG but very productive day. The kids cleaned their rooms, did all their chores and cleaned the yard. I spent ALL day after getting back from church cleaning my room. I cleaned out the closet, I went through all of Rod's clothes and refolded them, did the same with my clothes. I cleaned off all te shelve, cleaned out from under the bed and vacuumed. It took a LONG time to go through everything that had made it into my room. Funny how everyone else's stuff makes it into MY room! SO it's clean and tomorrow will be a new project!

Day 78 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROD!!

Today is Rod's 30th birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom and I put together a birthday box and shipped it off for him.

We put in some cupcakes, a #30 candle, plates & napkins, balloons, and some decorations.

Then we added a 30 SUCKS sucker and some Old Geezer playing cards as a joke!

Added a t-shirt, a calendar with family pictures including Rod & I, his parents, my parents, the kids, the ACTION team, and a few family vacation photos, a cup with a family picture on it, an MP3 player that I had loaded songs onto for him, and SNACKS.

Out on the boat you don't have much variety in the snacks so I always send snacks in his packages.

He got the box a couple of days ago but was waiting until today to have his cupcakes and such.

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On the homefront it was a busy day.

Got up this morning and cut the pieces to go under the cabinets.

Didn't glue them yet but they are cut to fit.

Then Mom and I headed to Home Depot to get moulding for the doors and baseboards.

I forgot my wallet in the other van so I owe Mom big time!!!

Came home and unloaded and got everyone ready to head off to Erin & Tom's going away party.

They are headed off to Washington soon and we wanted to go and wish them well.

We were there for the rest of the day and the kids swam and just had fun.

I took a few pictures and wanted to share them.

You can click on the picture to go to the slideshow.

Day 77

Started the day off early by going up on the roof and putting up tinting on the windows.

The windows into our kitchen make it HOT!!

SO to remedy that we put up smoke colored, glare cutting tint.

Sure made a big difference on the temperature in the kitchen this afternoon.

After we finished the tint I replaced the border in the kitchen that was coming off.

Hopefully this time it stays up a bit better.

Next on the list - putting up the border in Taniyah's bathroom.

Ladaria found it on sale when we went to Walmart for $5 and it matched perfect.

Looks much nicer in that bathroom.

Then it was on to moving the stuff upstairs over against the wall and covering it up.

It had been moved so that the house could be painted and had never been moved back.

I really need to get up there and go through that stuff.

Then I edged the corners and the edges of the walls in the kitchen bathroom.

Next I need to edge the ceiling in the bathroom and the hallway so that I can make it all one white color.

By that point it was so hot that I had to just hang out for a little while and cool off.

Mom went to her doctors appt and we chilled in the house where it was nice and cool thanks to the A/C.

Day 76 - Picture Day

Ok I'm a little late for her birthday but she is still one so they still qualify!!

Ahma, Ladaria and I took Taniyah to get them done.

Ahma ended up doing the session while Ladaria and I hid out in the front.

I think she did better with Ahma in there even though it was still HARD to get her to smile!

Here are all the pictures that they took.



















And here are all the photos that I photoshopped and I will add to it as I do pictures.

Yes I did buy the CD so I have a legal right to them!

This is my FAVORITE picture out of them all.

If you click on the pics it will take you to the two slideshows.

Day 75 - Spray Park pics

Took the kids to the spray park again today and I remembered my camera.

We went early in the day since it's been getting SO hot here lately.

Got all the kids together and off we headed.

Met a friend there with her kids and it wasn't nearly as crowded as last time.

He is a slide show of the pictures.

Day 74

Went in this morning and got my flat tire fixed.

Well more like I got four new tires so that I don't have to worry about a flat tire again for a while.

So I now have four brand new tires on my van!!

Got my house cleaned and took Ladaria to practice.

Made dinner and then waited for Ahma and Poppa to come in.

They FINALLY made it about 10pm!!

Doesn't seem like I got much accomplished today.

Day 73

So much happened today!

First I sat Makkiah down to do his K workbook that I had recently bought him only to discover that he had finished the WHOLE thing!!

So it's on to a different one!

He just amazes me sometimes!!
_______________________________
Taniyah has learned to say her name!

You asked her what her name is and she says "tete"

It's SO cute!!
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Went to pick up Ladaria from practice and headed home.

Was on the 94 freeway when my front passenger tire blew out.

Thankfully we have AAA so I called them.

Kristi was nice enough to come take the kids home for me while I waited for AAA.

An hour and 15 minutes later the tow truck got there.

Put the spare on, let the jack down, and pppppppppppppppppppppppffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!!

The spare had a hole in it and the air came out of it as well!!

So he towed it to Sam's Club and thankfully Kristi came back to stay with me until the driver came so she gave me a ride home.

Will get the tire fixed tomorrow.

Taniyah was the only one that I kept since there wasn't room in Kristi's van for her seat.

So when I got home to feed her dinner she did this:

Day 72!

Today we went to church and stayed for a meeting until around 1pm.

Then Jaleel and I went to Walmart to get a few things and came home.

Not much happened today.

I couldn't quite get motivated to do anything.

Tomorrow starts a new week.

I think I'll start it off with a cup of coffee and a kick in the pants!!

Only 26 days left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahma and Poppa will be back in TWO days.

Boy I have a lot to do before they come back-HEHE!!!!

Day 71

Today was a lazy play with the kids and with pictures day!

It was to hot to really do anything.

I did make it to the commissary so I guess I did accomplish something!

Jaleel went to a friends house and then his friend came over here to stay the night.

I have a bunch of things that I need to do.

Laundry, baseboards, cleaning up, painting the two doors that I took down, putting all the stuff that is in my bedroom back in the kitchen where it goes.

Here is my latest project:

Day 70!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!

One more milestone down!!

Getting closer by the day!!

As you can see we got our new flooring in and it's finished!!

It looks so nice!

Now I just need to get the baseboards in and I think that I can do it.

We'll be able to move stuff back into the kitchen today and then I'll have my kitchen back.

I'm tired of having the kids eat in the library and it being so far from the kitchen.

Not much else is going on here.

I've felt disabled not being able to use the kitchen or go through the kitchen to get tools that I need so haven't gotten a lot accomplished in the last few days.

Spent time with the kids instead!

Day 69!!

They installed most of the vinyl today and will come back tomorrow morning to finish.

It looks so good!

I went around and washed the walls and took down the border that needs to be replaced.

It's always easier to put up the new when the old is gone.

I also started doing the molding in the hallway.

I bought a few pieces to do the molding near Taniyah's door.

The guy installing the floor said it looked good so I must be doing OK!!

I think I'm going to do the ones in the kitchen and save John's help for another project.

I want to replace the door in Bray & Lad room so I think I'm going to use him to do that.

So much to do and so little time!

Day 68

Today brought the flooring guys who skim coated the kitchen floor.

I hurried and got breakfast stuff so that the sleeping kids could eat when they woke up.

Took the kids to the spray park at Santee Lakes.

We met some friends there and the kids played.

It costs $1 per child for a wristband to play and it was well spent.

We stayed there for 3 hours until Taniyah was ready to take a nap.

Came home and painted some of the trim in Makkiah's room.

Headed to Home Depot and got molding which I am going to teach myself to install!! We'll see how it goes.

Then I decided to play with my Photoshop Elements.

Here is the result:
For some reason Blogger distorts the picture. It looks better in Flickr. I need to rescan the pics to get rid of the drywall dust.

Day 67 Happy 4th of July!!

Today was a LONG day!!

We moved everything off the floor in the kitchen to prepare for tomorrow.

Vaccumed and scraped around the edges of the floor.

Finished 3 loads of laundry.

Headed off to the store to get stuff for the beach.

Came home and packed the cooler for the beach - chicken, chips, apples, jerky, juice, water, gatorade, and crackers. Beach towels, toys, sun shade, swimsuit, extra clothes, sweatshirts, sandals.

Loaded up the van and headed to the beach with great timing.

Loads of people were leaving the beach to go see the fireworks elsewhere.

Good, gave us a front row parking spot!!

The kids ate and played in the water until about 8:15 then got showered and changed just in time for the foreworks to start.

It was awesome - we could see 10 shows - up close!!

There were so many it was hard to see them all!! Two of the sets were in sync.

Fireworks finished at 9:30pm, we packed up and headed off to home.

Or we attempted to head off to home!!

Some teens had been pulled over on the bridge, 2 cars, 3 police cars and backed up traffic.

At 11pm when we finally got past them it was smooth sailing and we got home quickly.

I got to talk to Rod again today also!! That's always a nice bonus.

Day 66

Getting closer to homecoming day!!

We are soon to be at less than one month until home.

YEAH!!!
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This morning I was awoken to the pound pound pound of the hammer on the roof!

The roofer's came back and finished!!!

Got all the kids up and dressed for the fair presentation.

Mailed Rod's birthday box at the post office (shhhh there's some really cool things in there and we don't want to spoil it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Went and picked up my rider and headed off to the fairgrounds.

Had the unfortunate oppurtunity to see some dancing that I don't like watching adults doing much less kids that are my own kids ages - UGH!

They were doing some things that they didn't have no business doing and the parents of the kids were there cheering them on.

When the one teen girl was movin to the point that she had to hold her shirt up and put her arms across her boobs so they didn't fall out of her shirt Marsha and I decided that the Kids Art Tent was looking really good!

We spent the rest of the time in there until our group was ready to go on.

The presentation went well and then we picked up another rider who lives out by us and needed a ride home.

I ended up with two boys staying at friend's houses and one friend staying at our house. So it all worked out well.

I think tomorrow we are going to watch the fire works at the beach. Not sure though

Day 65 - Happy Birthday Brayana!!

Today my baby turns 10!

I remember 10 years ago today when she was born and I became a Mom.

She was a beautiful, tiny little thing but perfect none the less.

She was my saving grace and I can't imagine her not being in my life.

She is turning into a beautiful, smart young lady.
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I got two calls from Rod today.

He called this morning to say hello and wish Brayana a Happy Birthday.

I let him know that a friend of ours was also in town.

He called me later to say that he had hooked up with the friend.

They were hanging out and staying out of trouble.

Glad that he has someone there to hang out with.
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I took the kids to the beach again today.

We got there a little earlier but still later in the day after it had cooled off some.

Jaleel met a boy his age who lives close to us and his Dad is an MA as well.

They had a blast and we exchanged numbers.

Jaleel was excited that there was someone close who is his age and a boy.

He felt like he had hit the jackpot!!!!
________________________________
I spoke with Makkiah's prek teacher for a while today and learned some interesting things.

One of his teachers (not the one that I was talking to) seemed to have a vindeta against Mak.

She wanted Mak kicked out of school and was upset that it didn't happen.

His nice teacher also went to bat many times when he was blamed for something that he didn't do. He generally got the blame because according to the other teacher "Makkiah is always the one who does it"

I'm just glad that he will be going to K next year although he LOVED his other teacher. It helped that she is a military wife who has a young child and a hubby on deployment and understand what Mak is going through with Dad being gone.

Day 64

I have pictures that I will post tomorrow but I haven't uploaded them yet.

Today I took Brayana and her Shelby, Ladaria and Taniyah to lunch for Brayana's birthday. Brayana's other friends couldn't make it so she invited Ladaria. Taniyah was a tag along cause she saw us leaving.

Brayana chose the Souplantation and we had a good time. Shelby is definetly much better behaved than Destini's friend. SHe was polite, well mannered and quiet.

After lunch we went on base and saw "Over the Hedge". It was a cute movie. Taniyah slept through the majority of it.

Came home and Rod called to say hello. It's always nice talking to him. It's getting closer to homecoming time!!!

Around 6pm it finally cooled off enough and we went out to the beach on base. The kids have been wanting to go but it's been to hot to sit out there. They played in the water and we ate chicken.

Left there around 9pm and it was still light enough out to see but I needed to get everyone home to shower and bed. There were still quite a few people there but it wasn't crowded at all.

Now everyone is in bed and the house is quiet except for the break in silence from Mak's cough. I don't know if I'm going to make it to church in the morning as I'm trying to keep him out of the heat. That seems to make him cough worse. I'm hoping that this cough goes away without anything else happening. Dec and June have been notorious months for him. We are out of June now so he can't change the months on me now!