we are home!!!

well... we finally made it home on sunday!!

our internet, phone and tv

were hooked up late last night.

hopefully tonight or tomorrow

i'll be able to start posting again.

i have lots to do with unloading our storage unit,

unpacking, playing with the kiddos and cleaning

and it is so stinkin hot

that i need to get the coolest start as possible!!

lots to catch up on

talk to ya'll soon!!

so much fun!!

well... i'm sure you've noticed

i haven't been blogging lately.

i promise i haven't forgotten about you all in blogger land.

i have lots and lots of company,

which means we are having lots and lots of fun!!!

my mom and curt arrived on wednesday

and brought with them two others,

landon and mark!!

our little apartment is full

but we are having a blast!!

mark just cannot seem to get enough of me,

which i love!!

it's been fun talking and laughing with landon again!

curt made my computer

so much faster and easier to handle

which is AWESOME!!

and mom and i just have fun doing anything together!!

the trip is going to fast though,

they will be leaving on wednesday but

hopefully we will be leaving soon after.

so glad landon is here so he can help move our heavy things!!

chuck has a lead on a job in LA

but we are still gathering info on that job and many others.

looking forward to the day we can finally settle in.

i won't be blogging much

until after we get a little settled back in fresno.

i'll keep everyone updated on the important things

and catch everyone up on the funness of everything else later.

please pray for safe travels

and a good job!

correcton

well... i misspoke,

or actually mistyped yesterday.

chuck will be going down 180 feet not 120 feet

in the hyperbaric chamber,

hopefully today.

and since this is a controlled run,

the three men will be allowed

to wear their undies and a shirt,

not just undies like last time =)

i'm just wondering if the man who

has a crush on chuck will be going down with him???

eeeeewwwwww!!!

i hope for chuck's sake he gets to pick a friend.

his last dive yesterday was a fun dive!

he went down on air

and then they gave him oxygen and helium.

they are required to talk so the teacher knows

they are ok, as they are descending in the bell.

all the guys before him just talked

normal guy things but...

leave it to chuck to full on sing!!

can you imagine chuck singing

'baby got back'

with his helium squeaky voice!!

'i, like big butts and i cannot lie'

i'm laughing just thinking about it.

he got an encore and the guys on topside

were almost crying laughing so hard!!

mom and curt arrive today!!

soo excited to see them

and to see our time in new jersey coming to an end!!

frustrated

I'm so upset at Chuck's school!!

2 teachers have quit

in the middle of their class,

they've rehired new teachers

and an extra teacher

to help with job placement and resumes.

Well... they've dropped the ball in so many ways.

They were not able to get PADI certified

which means they were not able to get

deep dive or mixed gas or even

go farther and get his rescue certificates.

I was upset but this is something that

he can do after he gets a job

it was just going to be so much easier

to do it while attending school already.

My biggest gripe is that

a teacher took vacation and his class

was sent in with another class

no big deal except

everything is now out of wack.

They started their resumes late,

then the Navy updated their dive charts

or something like that,

which means they are the first class to be

taught this and tested on the final.

They did a full weeks worth of teaching

in one day yesterday.

But this delay means

that their resumes haven't even been

approved yet and it is already Tuesday.

They graduate on MONDAY

and no one has a job!!

Today and tomorrow they will be

doing their last dive.

This one will be fun since it is a mixed gas dive.

They will also be doing their

hyperbaric chamber run.

They will go down, with two other divers,

to 120 feet on only air and then be brought back to surface.

This will take several hours.

Just a thought,

what will three men do in the hyperbaric chamber,

in nothing but their undies,

in all that hot steam???

huh?

So... the next time they'll get to speak with the

resume guy will be Thursday.

Sure would like to have had that resume

a few weeks ago like we were supposed to have.

I cannot stand not knowing

or not even able to apply for jobs!!!

This is CRAZY!!!

... and counting

my husband graduates commercial dive school

in one week exactly!!

i cannot tell you how proud i am of him!!

he has exceeded the 90th percentile for his grades

and one of his teachers is going to help him

and ONLY him find a job.

he said that he is a natural diver

and with his background,

he will be a valuable employee to any company!

how exciting is that??!!!

the scary part is that we have no idea where his new job will be.

so... we will be headed back to cali.

our plans are to leave next thursday (hopefully)

and since our house didn't sell

we will be moving back in until he finds a new job.

the plan so far will be for us to move back

and he will attempt to get a job

off-shore for awhile.

if we find a job that he can commute to in cali

then we'll just stay living there

until he gains the experience to move

inland and then we will all move

to where ever this new job will be.

i think it'll be really good for all of us

to move back to family,

even if it is for a short period of time.

the kids really miss their grandparents,

aunts, uncles and cousins

and we definitely miss everyone too.

definitely not looking forward to that

L O N G drive across the states again

but at least this time

we will be excited to see everyone again

and he will have his degree!!

i just hope he doesn't find a job over on this coast line...

now that will be a horrible drive.

mom and curt will be arriving in two days

which means i've got some cleaning and packing to do.

soooo excited!!

sleep like a baby

wouldn't it be nice to sleep like a baby again?

ab's likes to sleep in the crack between

her crib mattress and ours. brayden often sleeps sideways

off his bunk bed,

feet hanging off

but he is my most normal sleeper.

and blake just sleeps in any crazy

position he chooses!!

this night was the upside down,

use the covers as a pillow method.

i love my children,
and i especially love when they are sleeping!!!
except when i remember,
that they are recharging
for the next day, lol.

hope everyone sleeps like a baby tonight!!

bee hives

ab's had mysterious hives over memorial day weekend.

every time we'd go outside,

she'd almost immediately start breaking out in 'bee hives' lol

brayden calls them bee hives

which i think is super cute!!

at first we were afraid it was the pool water

but later we found out that 3 other little girls

broke out in hives on 2 or 3 days that same weekend.

since it wasn't the water,

we enjoyed swimming over the weekend.

watch and see how good the boys are doing!!

they are like little fishies!

feedburner

i've think i've finally figured out feedburner.

i cannot promise i've actually installed it correctly

but i need a few posts to actually test it out.

for those of you who requested

my blog to be sent to your email,

all you have to do is enter your email

address into the feedburner

on the left hand side of the page.

you will need to confirm the request in your email

and then once a day (only on days i blog)

you will receive my blog in your inbox.

you will not be able to comment through your email

but you will be able to read the blog.

hopefully everything is set up correctly

but please let me know if there seems to be a problem.

i'll attempt to fix it!!

have a great day!!

safe on mommie's head

ab's can be sound asleep,

wake up and realize she is not touching me,

and freak out,

all within about a second and a half!

i'm trying to help her not be

so dependant on me nursing her

so i scooted next to her crib,

she flopped around a few times

and kept trying to climb on top of me.

this is how we ended up.

she must have decided that if she hugged

me and fell asleep on my face

she could keep track of me, lol.

i pulled her off

and scooted back over by my husband

and slept peacefully for another

few hours until she woke up again.

=)

a bug

can you see it?

watch closely...

that little flicker...

it's a lightening bug!!!

too bad the kids were asleep

they would have enjoyed seeing this amazing creature!

hopefully we will see another one before we leave!

exciting stuff

well... for us anyways.

i just won the winning bid on a

new set of christian beginning readers

off of ebay for a grand total of...

$9.99 + shipping!!

these books cost $34.99 + shipping

when purchased from the manufacturer

and i got them NEW - sealed in plastic

for $13.99 with shipping!!!!!!!!!

36 transitional beginner readers!!

i went to a school supply store yesterday

looking for a science project book

and an art project book.

i found the store and noticed

they had a huge 50% off section.

after some searching, well a lot of searching,

i found exactly what i wanted.

we will be blowing up balloons with a water bottle,

making rainbow ice,

learning about teeth and eggs,

making a shadow pole and

lots more fun projects from the science book.

and the art book is perfect!!

it happens to be a

bible story's, puppets and poems book.

it is soooo cute!!

can't wait for you all to see the kids' work!

i'm trying to get everything in order

so when we move and get settled in

we will be ready to hit the school books

and stick to our new routine.

with our limited space we can only do limited work here.

i'm soo excited!!

on another note,

i'm making cookies right now.

yummy cookies!!

we are headed out as soon as chuck

gets off of school to go pick up our

new enclosed trailer!!

we got such a great deal on the trailer

and now where ever we move to,

our stuff will follow!!

come on!!!

REALLY???

does this look like a poodle cut to you???

why is the world did they cut all the hair off her ears?

and her tail??

and her head???

i told them to go short

but i told them to give her a traditional poodle cut

without the strip on her belly.

i don't know about you

but i've NEVER seen a poodle cut like this before!!!

poor taffy,

i feel so bad for her!!

they ruined her

really???

is it that hard to give my poodle a cut?

they ruined her!!!

i'll post pictures soon

of this disaster!!

swimming!!

our apartment complex finally opened the pool!!

we were so excited to go down,

we look out our window and see it everyday

but we haven't been allowed in until this past weekend.

it has been driving the kids insane =)

the water was cold

and i didn't think ab's was actually going to get in

but boy we all had so much fun!

brayden remembers a lot of his

swimming lessons from last year

and can swim about 1/2 way across the pool.

blake, not so much but he sure has a ball playing anyways.

ab's is working on her six pack here, lol.

yes... you see pen marks all on her legs,

i have the hardest time keeping pens and markers

away from her.

she is so sneaky and tall enough to pull them off the table, lol.

on a side note,

my mom and curt are only

2 weeks away from arriving
and chuck is less than 3 weeks away from graduating!!!

oh so exciting =)

oh so yummy!!!

so... i've been missing a restaurant called batter up pancakes

back in fresno terribly.

i didn't get them often

but they were such a treat

and oh so yummy!!!

i've been on a mission to find

a yummy pancake recipe for a few reasons,

i'm not only trying to eliminate

as many premade foods as possible

(pancake mix, biscuits, boxed food, etc)

but bisquick just isn't cutting it these days.

over the weekend i went searching

and i found a recipe

that i'll have memorized here soon, i'm sure.

the flavors are PERFECT!!

i found this recipe on the fresnobeehive.com.

it doesn't taste exactly like batter up

but it is super yummy!!

in one bowl mix dry ingredients together

2 cups flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

in a large bowl mix wet ingredients together really well

2 eggs, whip well

2 1/2 cups buttermilk (i homemade mine)

4 tbsp melted butter

1 tbsp vanilla (watkins is what makes it soooo good)

mix wet ingredients well!!! add dry to wet mixture and mix just enough to incorporate.

small lumps are ok. lightly wipe griddle with veggie oil and cook pancakes to golden. drizzle with pure maple syrup and enjoy!!

don't they look like they enjoyed them??!!

hope everyone trys them. it is soooo worth the effort!!