Merry Christmas to you and your families! I have been horrible about updating this.....as you can see we have a new addition to our family. Natalie Dawn was born on December 7, 2008. She came 5 days early as we had a scheduled c-section for Dec 12th, so will all the excitement of her arrival I haven't had a chance to do real updates anywhere really.

So, when we get home from Christmas with our family, I will do a proper introduction to our sweetie Natalie.

Until then, here is the kiddos with Santa this year. Claire was so intrgued by him. The lady taking the picture thought I would be upset since she wouldn't smile, I told her I was just happy Claire wasn't screaming at him like she did last year. Jacob of course was my smily boy~he has always loved Santa, even as an infant.

Enjoy!

Terrible 2's are here!

I really really do not understand this Terrible 2's phase. Jacob never went through this junk~literally. He was such an easy going, go with the flow kid. I should thank him everyday for making my life easy at that age.

Claire.....Oh Claire! She is just so different. Different good & wonderful in many ways, but different bad in tons of other ways.

She is way to independent for her own good already. She talks back already. She pushes my buttons each day with sassiness. If she does something wrong, she will not say 'Sorry'. But if she gets in trouble and gets scolded or a swat on her tush, she will get right up to your face and say, "No! No! You say Sorry!"!!!! What the heck!

But the good different parts of her....she is helpful, beyond her age helpful. She will unload the dishwasher (knives are not allowed in the dishwasher now :), but she will unload things to the counter or drawer.....no one asked her to do this, she just did it on her own one day. And she does not like if anyone tries to assist her while doing it. Claire is also loving and sweet. She sings you songs, reads books to you and just is a good girl.

But holy crap! Those moments of naughtiness...................Thank God she is Cute!

Jacob's school picture

Oh! I am just so pleased with his picture this year!!!
You never know what to expect when they arrive home.

And I am really glad they turned out good--now photographers are charging $5 to do re-takes!! I guess I understand why, but maybe the photographers should invest in nice digital cameras and then look at the kids pic and use their judgement to resnap it right then and there. Guess that's what I would do if I had a school photography business.

Anyway--here's my boy! He looks so grown-up.

Over due update!

We have had a busy past few weeks.

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch. It was a little early in the season, but last year we waited and by the time we went the farm was not doing hayrides from all the rain, so we wanted to make sure the kids got to have all the fun this year!

~Here is a pic of my two little pumpkins~

Then Nick started sugarbeet driving! He is in heaven. Not only is he driving a big truck, but he is with a bunch of guys instead of in an office with whiny girls....lol!

He has been working Midnight to Noon. But been out of work somedays due to the rain. Which sucks, cuz that means no pay....but when he goes back to work on base, he will work 6pm to Midnight to keep helping out.

~Here is a pic of him driving his truck~

A random pic of the kids and I lounging on the couch. We were watching DVD series of the Roseanne show. Jacob gets such a kick out of the show.

And here is a pic of my little girl from last night. She got to pick out a new nightgown from the store. She has never had one of these silky ones, it is so dang cute! And I got a beautiful smile out of her for the pic.

Other than that, not a whole lot else going on.

I began a cleaning freak mode. My kitchen is cleaner than it was when we moved in this house. Now we need to move on to laundry and sorting clothes that are too small. I am going to put a huge lot of Jacob's old clothes for winter on Ebay, hopefully I can make some good $$ there.

Military Frustrations!

I do not know how Nick can be in the military sometimes....better that he is than me. I would have blown up at about a zillion people today.

A few months back, Nick was suppose to take time off for a few days. The purpose of that time off was he was doing a medical study to make some extra cash. Well in the military you have schooling/testing that you continue to make certain levels of your job. He hadn't completed that yet and it is 'recommeneded' to be completed in a year from the time you enter the job. But, we had moved bases in that year and when we arrived here, Nick was the boss of his office after only 3 weeks on the job for 8 weeks. So, one would think he would be given some slack. Also, the testing to complete this junk is not on your schedule. Someone else has to order you the test and blah blah blah.....and that person was dragging her feet. Well, Nick got screwed out of that time off cuz all of a sudden it was important for it to be done.

Nick NEVER takes time off. Yes, he does...but like a day here or day there. Since we have lived at this base, the most we have taken off at one time was like 3 days.

So, here comes sugarbeet season. Nick is suppose to start that tomorrow (Wed). So today should be his last day of work for 17 days!! I go to pick him up today from his office....he has 'bad' news.

Each year in the military, if you are a supervisor you have to write a review for people assigned under you. Nick completed this paperwork a little over 4 weeks ago. Once completed, it is sent off to a higher ranking person, OFFICER, and they have to approve it and junk. So today of course a list goes to the top person above that officer and what does that list say....there are like 6 outstanding reviews!!!!

The Officer has let this crap sit on her desk for over 4 weeks! So now my husband cannot take leave, which means we get screwed out of money AGAIN until SHE completes her JOB! WTF!!!!!

I was steaming in his office! A guy Nick works with, the one that got Nick the job with the farmer, comes over and asks me how I am and Nick said I just told her. He knew right away I was pissed.....and so is he. He went to bat for Nick to try and get them to let Nick go ahead on leave, knowing that we need the money and such. He told the commander that he is only doing it for 'fun money' but Nick is doing this for his family.

Never ending shit..............like I said, it's better that Nick is in the military cuz I would have raised hell to get to the bottom of this.

My question, is the Officer going to get in trouble cuz she has been slacking at her job???? Why do they have a different set of rules? I get so sick of it!

URGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sugarbeets!

Well, Nick was officially hired by a farmer to work this seasons sugarbeet farming!!! He starts October 1st. He will be working the midnight-noon shift (eekk!). This will be interesting to see how it all goes. The money will be wonderful though--get caught up on all bills and put a little extra towards them all too! He is taking most of his leave, so he will be doing this from Oct 1-17th! But since the 17th is a Friday, if they still need help he will also work the 28th and 19th.

He is very excited---just to drive a big semi truck! He is like a kid in a candy store.....haha!

Other than that, not a whole lot. I am starting to get excited about the baby's arrival, but still questioning how in the world I am going to be able to handle it all.

This weekend we are "Fall Cleaning" instead of Spring Cleaning. I want the whole house organized and done before Nick starts doing sugarbeets. We have gone through everyone's clothes in the house and have 2 huge boxes of give-away & some stuff to sell on Ebay. So that is my next 'project'.

Tonight I was invited to play Pokeno with some ladies on the base....it was a lot of fun the last time. I extended the invite to two of my neighbors....I realized I am getting lonely again on this base and it's time to start branching out....especially with winter right around the corner!

Toodles!