Our Tic Tac Bandit

I remembered tonight as I was pulling into the daycare that Nicholas is almost out of diapers. I knew this mission would have to be completed with all three kids in tow. Little did I realize what I was up against! Throughout our trip to the store Caitlin kept asking for candy and whatever else she saw that was of interest to her. I kept telling her "no" and that we were just buying diapers then going home. Standing in the checkout line I noticed she was acting a little on the odd side, so I decided to see what she was up to. I watched as she tried to hide something from me by placing it in her pocket. I told her to empty her pocket, of course we were right in front of quite a few people. She shows me what she has...a box of Tic Tacs! Yes, you read right. Caitlin tried to steal tic tacs! I am not even sure how to handle this! She had to apologize for her attempt in shoplifting. I have talked to her, as has her Grannie. I asked her if she has ever done this before and she turned her head from me. Only leaving me to believe she has. I never imagined having to deal with something like this. Now I have to figure out a decent punishment. Obviously she is getting too old for the corner and spankings do not always work. I need an attention grabber. Wonder if I could get a police to come out and talk to her to put some fear in her... Just a thought...

We are only a little more than two weeks into this deployment and it feels like the year should almost be over! These two weeks have been insane! And to think...it is all just starting!

Any advice on this situation is more than welcomed!

**Keeping you in our thoughts & prayers Kev! We love you & miss you more than words could ever say! Always baby!**

Tonsillitis Strikes Again!

Nicholas once again has tonsillitis! I cannot even tell you how many times this poor kid has had to go through this. The girls and I spent Monday night with him in the ER due to him being fine one minute then out of nowhere having a fever that spiked to over 103 degrees. He tonsils are so swollen right now! The doctor in the ER put him on an antibiotic and told me to monitor him. Which, of course I have done. We have had to rotate Motrin every 8 hours and Tylenol in between to keep his fever down. It stayed around 102 for a little over 24 hours...even with the medication. His fever finally broke very early this morning. Of course, that was after I made him an appointment with his doctor. We saw his pediatrician this morning. She said about the same thing as the ER doctor. There is not much we can do right now. They have added another medication to what he is already on to see if they can get the inflammation down and see if this is going to be an ongoing issue. His tonsils may have to be removed within the next couple of months. We will know more as he starts to feel better and the doctor does another examination, which will be soon. If his tonsils are still enlarged at that point, he will then be referred to an ENT specialist. As we know more we will update everyone!

Bre's New Look

I decided to take the girls to get their hair cut and ended up doing something different with Breanna's. She now has short bangs and shorter hair. It looks so cute on her! Great look with her face!

In the Motorpool

Work has started to get so busy since we now have over 4,000 pieces of equipment from 4/1 AD! We took on this equipment a few weeks before they deployed and are now in the stages of having the maintenance performed on our vehicles. We have a wide variety of vehicles. The picture below this is me sitting in a PLS. I climbed up in it to get it started before one of the drivers took off in it. Wonderful day spent in the motorpool!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

We hope all the Mom's had a wonderful Mother's Day this year! On Friday when I picked the kids up from Daycare I was given Nic's present to me. (See the picture below). On the back on it is a real cute poem. It all made me tear up! Breanna made me two real cute bookmarks (one with her picture) and a book with a poem. All very cute! She did such a good job. Caitlin's class put together a cookbook to all the moms. They did an amazing job with it. The drew pictures with every recipe and her teacher wrote a note in the back about Caitlin. All in all it was a pretty good day. Only thing missing was having Kevin home with us!

Thank You

Thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes today. It all meant so much. It was hard to have another birthday come and go with Kevin once again not being home. Seems that every year since he enlisted the Army has had him away on this day. However, my cell phone did ring at midnight with an unknown number. It woke me up and I was close to sending the call to voicemail. Thankfully I didn't because when I answered it, I heard "Happy Birthday Baby". At that moment I knew no matter what the day had in store for me Kevin had just made my day! We talked for a little over a minute before we were disconnected. He said he just wanted to call and wish me a happy birthday before anyone else did because he could not be here. I miss him so much with every passing day, but am so thankful for the phone calls and emails I receive. It all helps out so much through deployments. I think we live on the few and far between calls and emails.

Kevin is doing fine over there. As you all know he flew straight into Iraq over a week ago on a mission ahead of his company. He left here with a small group of guys from the battalion he is with. He will be heading to another FOB soon, which is where his guys will catch up with him. They should all reunite sometime in the next two weeks. This past week has given him a chance to get through the jetlag of flying over there. It has given him a chance to get situated and more prepared for this deployment. I have been able to hear from him almost daily, which is about to change now that he will start getting busy. Once again, I ask everyone to please keep him and everyone he is with in their thoughts and prayers. We all just want him and everyone home safe next year! Deployments are very hard and at times seem unbearable, but in 12-15 months this will all just be a memory. Something we can look back on and begin cherishing all moments we have together before another one comes up.

Thanks again for the calls, cards, and messages for my birthday!

What I Want to Be

Breanna was assigned her first real project recently! It is for Career Day and she had to write a report on what she wants to be when she grows up. Breanna and I made a special trip to Wal-Mart in order for her to find somethings for her project. She has decided she wants to be a Vet. Bre did an amazing job and worked extremely hard in completing her assignment. She said the teacher gave her a 100% and enjoyed presenting it to her class.