I am Frustrated

I am frustrated

While making this decision to move to New Jersey
we tried to think of everything.
Obviously, we all know that wouldn't happen
but we tried.
Most things have gone as planned.
God protected our travels,
we are in a safe neighborhood,
the children are happy
and Chuck is doing great in school.
But we have had some major hangups
which is really bumming me out right now.

Our house didn't sell,
and I feel as if we trusted a friend who let us down with that
which makes it even harder.
Now we are attempting to rent it,
and I feel we have a great team helping us with this,
but we have to invest more money than I'd like to, to get it going.
We were denied unemployment
which I don't think is fair since the new career Chuck is going into
is in high demand and benefits the economy,
plus it is a super stable career and construction is not.
I'm appealing this decision but who knows how long that will take.
I never thought that moving to New Jersey
would actually cause us to loose contact with important people to our family
but apparently the distance has strained our relationships
and I'm really frustrated with this.

On a lighter note,
I have mixed feelings about our library.
Looks like it has a great children's section and programs
but they are seriously lacking things for me.
I was wanting to borrow a Beth Moore book or two
and they don't have a single book in the entire Camden County written by her.
Their Christian section is primarily based on actual Bibles or Dr. Phil books.
Guess, I'll start looking in the history section.
I am ready a great book on diving.
I've really enjoyed reading again.

So... I've decided that at the end of each post
I'm going to think of something that I'm thankful for
and share it with everyone.
Keep things in perspective, right?

So, I am so thankful for the understanding and support my mom and step dad has given us throughout this entire process!! THANKS!! We cannot wait to see you in 22 days!!!

Counting

I am THRILLED!!!

I finally broke Brayden from his counting bad habits!

Boy this was a challenge yesterday,

but I told him if he counted correctly to daddy

then I'd clean up the mess they made in the living room.

If he didn't do it right,

he'd have to clean it up.

Guess who had to clean the living room.

Yep, it was me and I was happy to do it!!

This morning he even woke up

counting correctly!!

Well worth all the time and effort.

Both boys are learning so much

with our school work.

I'm so encouraged!

I love teaching them and watching how they learn.

I wouldn't be surprised if both boys are at the same

level soon except for writing.

I'm very proud of them both!

Chuck is supposed to dive today,

and although he is very excited about it

he is still sick.

If he goes down and cannot clear his ears

from his cold he could blow an eardrum.

I told him to be careful and not risk doing damage.

But this is very disappointing.

He's waited so long for this day.

HOPEFULLY he will feel better soon.

I suggested he go see the doctor and get an

antibiotic if it is a sinus infection to help clear him up faster.

I'm also ordering a Swiss product to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Sickness travels around the school like crazy.

While dry diving last Thursday,

all 17 men were sharing one dive hat

and one regulator.

This is one reason why they require such an

extensive physical before you are accepted into the school.

No communicable diseases wanted here!

static cling

We decided that the beach was calling our name

this weekend since the snow has finally melted!!

It was sooo beautiful!

The boys build a little sand castle

and collected a TON of sea shells.

Abigayle is super great at collecting sea shells!

She was having so much fun putting all kinds of

shells and rocks in our bag

she soon found out that she could scoop up sand

with her big clam shell and dump

sand into our bag.

She thought she was so cute,

and I must admit,

she was!

So glad Chuck brought a map

our GPS battery died and the charger wouldn't work.

We would have been soo lost.

But I dug out the map and eventually we made it home.

Abigayle LOVES slides!

She had so much fun sliding down

that her hair stuck straight up!

Too bad we were too far away
but this bridge opened up to let a boat pass.
It was really cool to see a HUGE boat
go though.

I know this isn't a really good picture
but I've had a hard time catching Abigayle
give kisses.
She has figured out how to pucker.
She has the cutest little fishie face with her fat cheeks!
Chuck has a cold now
and has to get better soon
he is supposed to start diving in the lake on Tuesday.
Hopefully he won't miss his first oppertunity
to dive.
He is so looking forward to it.

today

Trying to figure out what to do today.

It is supposed to be 50 degrees for the first time this winter!!

We are so excited!

Think we might go to the beach and have a picnic.

We had so much fun last weekend,

even though it was freezing.

I'll post pictures of our adventures tomorrow!

Grocery stores

Brayden informed me that the snow has almost melted

so I need to find a new background, lol.

So... be patient while I try out a few backgrounds.

Went grocery shopping yesterday after Chuck

was done with school.

I'm so frustrated with New Jersey stores!!

The produce is so incredibly expensive,

so brused up and half rotten.

Plus they don't have a lot of food you can buy in Cali.

like molassas, almost anything Mexican and many more things.

Having trouble finding decent food.

When walking down the isles you see people

flocked in the frozen food isle

and pre packaged food section.

All the restaurants parking lots are full so I'm

convinced that not too many people actually cook at home here.

I am so excited to have found a great

web-site for recipes!!
I'm looking forward to using my new crockpot.

Plus the meals I can make in it can still contain veggies without

using the expensive, half rotten, fresh ones.

Chuck didn't dive yesterday

but he was as excited as a child on Christmas Eve with anticipation.

He will for sure dive next week.

Hoping to go to the library today when Chuck gets home.

I think the kids will enjoy it,

plus I'd like to find some reading material!!

Looking forward to a yummy dinner and a good book!

second in his class

yesterday was such a busy day,

we cleaned our little apartment from top to bottom.

out of all three kids

i think ab's is becoming the best helper.

she saw me mopping the kitchen floor by hand

and she ran into the other room and grabbed herself

a hand towel and started scrubbing on her hands and knees!

brayden did a great job too with a little encouragement

but blake... he was hilarious!

i'd hear, 'momma, my legs and arms are soooooo tired.'

i'd tell him he could either go sit in time-out or he could help.

he actually choose to sit in time out some of the time,

can you believe that?!!

he did help once he realized he wasn't going to get to watch

fox and the hound if he didn't help but he was so funny to watch.

chuck is doing so well in school!

the owner (momma brown) called three students into her

office yesterday and two were kicked out because they didn't pass their drug test

and one was given his last warning before he is kicked out.

his class took a quiz yesterday

and chuck got the second highest grade in the class!!

they did dry diving yesterday.

the helmet itself weighed 40 lbs and with chuck's small head

he said it almost made it so he couldn't see, lol.

one student was really afraid and almost passed out,

and when they cut the air off of another student

he didn't even notice

until 2 minutes had passed, they finally asked him over the com

if everything was ok.

then he freaked out since he realized he'd be breathing his CO2 for so long.

thankfully these helmets float when he in the water

he won't have a problem seeing.

he said the oxygen constantly being pushed into this helmet

was so wierd and there was so much pressure it wasn't like

normal breathing.

he said i wouldn't be able to handle this type of helmet, lol.

there is a possibility that they might actually dive today!!

on a side note, abigayle can now climb a ladder up to the

top bunk on the boys bed. nice huh?

and although a 'suggestion' was made

to try to get my children to take naps at the same time,

i just want to report that even though they

did all three nap at the same time yesterday,

and i was able to read for the first time in peace and quiet

in such a long time

lets just say... i didn't get much sleep last night.

ab's did not sleep well and i will not be trying to move her

nap a little later in the day.

thanks mom!! i blame my sleepless night on you!! lol

My Friend

For everyone who knows Brayden

he talks about "his friends".

Everyone he sees in the grocery store,

to friends he remembers at church.

Well... he doesn't like to share those special friends

so Blake had to come up with his own.

So... this is what he told me the other day,

"Momma, you know my friends Mimi and Mark?"

I of course said, yes.

He said, "we went to the zoo and fed the giraffe's, huh?

That was fun."

So... here are a few pictures of Blakes "friends"

at the zoo.

All four kiddos were so brave and fed the HUGE

giraffe's!

We had so much fun that day.

Chuckie started his second phase and seems to like his teacher.

She was a diver in the Gulf of Mexico for about 10 years

and full of very important/interesting information.

She is strict and doesn't allow the slackers in the class to talk!

Which is a huge blessing since they are very distracting.

His rubber dive suit had to be sent back (due to the boot size being wrong) so

his first dives, into the FREEZING cold lake either later this week

or the beginning of next week, will be in a wet suit!!

The snow is finally melting and hopefully soon we will

get to play outside!!