Jake and PeePaw in a field of Texas Blue Bonnets

 Port LaVaca, TX on a very windy day.

 At the Alamo in San Antonio

 Gruene, TX under a super awesome tree

 Peepaw in a field of blue bonnets

The Alamo by night. Interesting fact- San Antonio was built in such a way, so that during no part of the day is there a shadow cast on the Alamo.


Jake, PeePaw Nielsen and Adam all took a 4 day motorcycle tour around south central Texas over St Patrick's Day weekend. Jake left Saturday morning and met Bill and Adam at the Round Rock Harley Store where Bill and Adam rented bikes. From there they headed to Houston. Sunday they rode down to the coast to see the Gulf of Mexico. Monday they made it to San Antonio just before a big storm hit us up here in Killeen. They made it back to Killeen Tuesday night. I'm not sure on all the stops that occurred in between but they had a really nice time just riding around. Jake was the second one to dump a bike that weekend (the other person shall remain un-named). He only had a few minor scratches on his knee and arm. The bike had a couple of scrapes but the real kicker was that our camera got crushed because it was in a soft case on Jake's hip and he landed and slid on it. Had it not been there I really believe he would have done more damage to himself. It is a small price to pay for him being ok.

Wednesday I went to work and they all went up to Dinosaur Valley State Park near Glen Rose, TX. All the rain from Monday's storm had swollen the river to 9 feet above its normal depth. They made a quick stop for some pie at the Koffee Kup near Hico, TX. and then headed home for lasagna that had come out of the oven only minutes before they got home.

Thursday I had an easy day since I had my phase I physical for getting out of the Army. When that was done I had the rest of the day off. We went to MR Snow and then on post to check out the Phantom Warrior in front of the III Corps BLD.

Friday the boys headed home and it was back to normal for us. Tuesday marks the 70 day mark for us and it feels so amazing. We will close on the house 10 APR now instead of the 2nd. However, the repairs are completed on the garage and there are really no hurdles left in our way. SO exciting.

Can you say PRODUCTIVE!?

Jake left for his bike trip on Saturday morning and will be gone until Tuesday evening.

It has been interesting being a "stay at home mom" again. Being home alone with the kids for 3 days has afforded me time to see all the little things that I think women naturally think to clean but never occurs to guys. I have re-arranged ALL the cupboards, and washed them inside and out. I scrubbed the walls, the floors, under the stove and the fridge. I had no idea how gross things could get in 2 years with no deep cleaning.

I do feel very accomplished as a result of the fact that now EVERY closet in the house has been emptied, sorted, and cleaned and is ready to be packed if it hasn't been already. We have taken bag after bag of stuff to good will and it feels SO good!

The kids have had fun going out with mom doing thing. They even "got to" go to work with me at 5:30 AM this morning to turn in some work. Thor was not happy to be awakened in the middle of the night as he put it. I kind of felt like it was payback for all the times he has woken me up at 6AM on a Saturday. lol. Baleigh on the other hand was so happy to get up and get moving. They are going to sleep hard tonight.

We washed siding and cleaned up the yard and the only thing left to do is wash the windows outside. We are paying a cleaning company to clean the house after we leave so I have no idea WHY I felt the sudden desire to deep clean like this when we are 72 days out from moving .

Tomorrow I have another day off work so I am pretty sure that I will be able to finish up all the loose ends and then take it easy when Jake , his dad and brother Adam get here. I want to put together a few meals so we don't get lazy and end up going out to eat.

I must now go forage for food - I kind of forgot to eat today. lol.

90 Days!

Wednesday was my 90 day mark until we are back in Illinois. It was a very good day to say the least. It started with my computer at work deciding to stop working- when I turned it on there was nothing on the desktop and when my tech guy checked it there was nothing on my hard drive either. Normally I would have freaked out that this had happened but instead I just enjoyed the fact that I could neither send nor receive emails. I think it was one of the best days I have ever had at work. I got delayed at work over lunch and was late to a class that was supposed to take all day - however, in the Army when you are later you are not allowed in class at all. So I decided that I would take the remainder of the day off and go home. We went and walked the mall and had a nice relaxing afternoon while everyone else was still at work. I am perfecting the art of zen while distancing myself from my job. I have to say it feels good to be under 3 months from being done. : )

Monkey Talk

Tonight we were reading a book about the animals of Asia and we came across a breed of monkey called the Proboscis Monkey. The conversation with Thor went something like this.

Me: "What do they call that special chamber Proboscis monkeys have?"

Thor: "A resonating chamber, its to scare of predators and other males"

Me: "Why do they need to scare off other male's?"

Thor: "Because they (other males) would try to steal their mates"

Me: "What is a mate?"

Thor: "Its a female they want to marry"

It was so hard to not crack up at his simple way of explaining it. I think sometimes we don't give kids the credit for knowing as much as they do. Some of the things they can explain seems so beyond their single digit years.

Time is Flying

The past few weeks have flown by in a blur or activities. We are getting closer every day to closing on our very first home. No one tells you how many steps there are in getting approved for a mortgage and then all the hoops there are to jump through in getting a home inspected and a lawyer to read over your contracts etc. I have been more than a little busy faxing, scanning, emailing and making dozens of phone calls to lenders and realtors. It is going to be amazing to close on the 2nd of April!

The kids had their Valentine's Day party at Story Time and I was able to take an hour off work to go to it with them and Jake. We made a last minute run to HEB (the local grocery store) for a watermelon and fresh pineapple the night before. I had seen a great idea in Pinterest where you cut the fruit into shapes and skewer them so they look like lolly pops. I cut the fruit into heart shapes; however, the skewers were too thick and they were breaking the hearts in two pieces. We adjusted fire and got out silver cupcake liners and filled them with the heart shaped fruit. It was beautiful and we got multiple comments on how adorable they were. I have to say it did look pretty amazing next to the trays of obviously last minute  bowls of gold fish crackers and deli cheese trays. I'd also like to add - I'm the only working mom in that group too. Take that! : )

Work has been so nuts as usual. We are quickly approaching my 90 day mark and it feels amazing. We actually started packing up things this past weekend and we scored a ton of nice moving boxes for free on Craigslist this weekend.

Jake just completed plans with his younger brother Adam and his dad to go on a bike trip around central and southern Texas over St Patrick's Day weekend. It will be the kids and I for 4 days - maybe we will go down to San Antonio for their St patty's day celebration. Its no Chicago celebration but it is supposed to be alot of fun and they dye their river green too. We will see how that plays out as the time draws closer.

The Bend In The Road

For some reason since my last post I feel that the kids have made it to the bend in the road. Something changed - or maybe its just me. Lately I have thought that they are exceptionally cute. Regularly Baleigh cracks me up with her inventive name calling. We have a game that we play where we call eachother silly names - and I really mean silly- she calls me a nose, I respond with "turkey", she shoots back with "book" and on it goes. My favorite the last few days has been when I pinch her butt and run away saying "squishy butt" to which she responds " NO! I'm a hard butt" It just cracks me up! We have been snuggling more and watching TV less. Playing more games and spending less time getting upset about things. Thor has all of the sudden seemed so grown up. When he got sick he lost about 5 lbs and I don't think he gained it back. Now he looks like a boy and definitely not my baby anymore.

In other good news, I found out in the last month that my sister Holly and her husband Justin are expecting a baby girl around the time we move home. AND My sister-in-law Tracie and my brother Chris are expecting a girl within a couple weeks of my sister Holly! Its going to be such a fun summer. I am so excited to be near family.

Growing Up.

The kids have been a handful lately. It seems when one difficult stage ends yet another begins. Gone are the days of bottles, dirty diapers, carrying a baby on each hip, no verbal communication, and total dependence. I thought that was supposed to be the tough age. HA!

Now we are in the stage of complete Independence....of so the kids think. They want to do everything by themselves but in the end they end up asking a million questions and making 3X the mess it would have taken to have had a parent's help.

The stage where they insist on walking everywhere ( we no longer own a stroller) and when the last loop of the zoo rolls around they are too tired to make it to the car under their own power. Try carrying two toddlers on your hips - I want my 15 lb babies back! lol

Diapers may be behind us but the laundry has not diminished. I have a little girl who reminds me daily that she is related to my little sister Holly by ALOT! She changes her clothes multiple times a day- heaven forbid that she be seen with a mustard stain on her dress or even worse Popsicle drips on her socks. She is amazing and hilarious and I lover her but some days she pushes the envelope of what a parent can tolerate. : )

Some days I long for the time when there was no sound in the house but that of a sleeping baby. Now I am bombarded from every direction when I walk in the door at night. Once they learned the dreaded phrase "excuse me mom" I decided I wanted to change my title. I love hearing them talk on the phone to grandparents and sing songs when they think no one is paying attention but some days I would give just about anything for a sound proof room ( for me to sit in).

All that being said I had one of the best mornings helping them create finger paintings for each set of grandparents. I hate that I have missed out on so many projects with them in the past 3 yrs. They deserve to have a mom around them a little more. I am looking for a teaching/aid type job for this coming fall and would love it if I was able to have all the same days off as they have so we can re-connect again.