Retail Therapy

We are currently waiting for some follow up test results for our son, I am still not ready to talk about it, but I am not doing very well trying to hold it together.  I thought that with Nick having a three day weekend, I needed lots of distractions.  I planned lots of activities to keep me busy, down time is when I get depressed.  One thing that this area has, is really good outlet shopping.  Pretty much every store I shop at, is located in Foley, AL.  If you are ever in the area, I do find it a must.  For the past three years this is where my whole family has gotten about 80% of their entire wardrobe.  I knew Caden had no 3T winter, Nick and I could use some new clothes, and Ashton needed a couple of things of his own.  I saved most of Caden's things, but clothes have still changed so much in three years, plus I want Ashton to have some of his own things.  It was definitely a very successful shopping trip!!  I got a few new sweaters and a new pair of jeans.  Nick got three new polos.  Caden is pretty much set for the winter, with pants, school clothes, and nice clothes.  Ashton even scored big with a lot more than I thought I would get him.  My favorite stores were Carter's, Old Navy, Gap, Children's Place, Gymboree, and Osh Kosh.  I had a very good time and was completely distracted in savings mode that I never had one negative thought.  We then came home and let the boys chill.  This started to get bad for me, so we went and got one of our favorite treats.  Frozen Yogurt from TCBY is the best ever here, really anywhere.  We all love the flavors and toppings and it definitely ended the night off right.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

A Goodnight's Sleep

Both of my boys started sleeping through the night at a very young age.  I am very lucky for this, and I know it.  I am definitely one of those people who need some sleep, and I definitely would rather be kept up late at night than wake up early.  Well, lately both of my boys have been trying to test my sleeping patience.  Ashton goes to bed early and sleeps well, but come 5 to 6, he is ready to wake up.  Now to me this is getting up in the middle of the night, but he is wide awake and ready to go.  Nick's alarm goes off at 430, so I tend to blame him for being noisy, but I do not think that is the real cause of his early morning wake-up.  I think he is his father's child, and not mine.  Well last NIGHT, he woke up at 430 and I was not a fan.  I decided he was going to cry through it, and go back to sleep.  He talked/ banged on the bed/ listened to his music for a good hour before he gave it up!  I was so excited to get back in bed and sleep for a little bit longer when I found this:  The other new problem that has arose in our house.  Caden crawls in bed with us in the middle of the NIGHT, again more so early morning, and falls back asleep.  At least he goes right back to sleep, but I am getting tired of not getting a good night's rest.  He usually is able to crawl in bed without me noticing, it is once he is there that he starts kicking and wakes me up.  He is a huge snuggler and sleeps in the weirdest ways. Well I thought this one was too funny that I had to take a picture of it.  I am sad that I could not center it, but it was pitch black, so I had to guess where to take the picture.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

Halloween Homemade

I am very much one of those parents that love to see her kids in matching outfits or at least similar outfits.  It has been hard up to this point because most places don't make the same thing in newborn and toddler.  But now that Ashton is getting older, I am starting to find some things.  Well, I knew I wanted my boys' Halloween costumes to be cohesive.  I know I don't have many years where I have complete say in the costume department, so I am taking full advantage until I loose my title.  Caden doesn't watch superhero shows and only really watches Disney/ Pixar type of movies.  He has no idea what is out there, because right now we are sheltering him from violence that he doesn't need to be familiar with yet at such an early age.  We don't do guns and swords, so most superhero shows are a no go.  I know eventually we will be there, but I am trying to keep my little boy innocent for as long as I can.  So basically I have full range in the actual hero department, since he does know that stuff.  Nick is a fireman in the navy.  So I thought it would just be adorable to have Caden be a fireman and Ashton be a dalmatian puppy!  I know, too cute! :)  Well I found a good quality fireman costumes online with all of the extras.  I don't like that cheapy plastic look in costumes, I like to go all out.  But the dalmatian puppy has proven to be a bit more troublesome.  I haven't found anything I like.  So I had a vision that it couldn't be that hard to make it on my own.  Now when I say my own, I really mean make my mom do it!  She just finished it, and it looks awesome!!!  I will post pictures closer to Halloween, but I am so proud of what she did.  I wanted pants and then a bubble type long shirt that is stuffed to make him look nice and poofy when he sits down.  That was a whole lot of description, that I don't know if I conveyed the right way, but man it looks cute!!  I am so glad that I thought of this combo.  I really hope for many years of costume pairs with the boys, but I know that is pushing my luck.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

Pointless Post

I know I need to start an online Picasa account of my pictures.  Right now the only way most people see my pictures is through Facebook.  I am kind of over Facebook and sharing that way.  That was one of the reasons I wanted to start a blog.  I wanted the more intimate journal of the story of the pictures.  I was going through some of my pictures and found some random ones over the past few days and decided to share!  I will look into setting up a new way to do this, but this will work for now.  And please start commenting, I would love to know who actually cares and takes the time to see what is going on in our life.  One picture is how cute the boys are when they share lovies and suck their thumb at the same time.  Another is Caden thinking that the new high chair is his instead of Ashton's.  He sits at a regular chair now, but he seemed to think that he was a baby again.  So I have tried for over an hour to upload any number of numerous videos I have.  they are all taking way too long!  I definitely need to find a better way to do this, this was a pointless post, sorry!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.        

RV Life

Nick's uncle and aunt, David and Janice, travel the US in their RV.  I love to travel and explore new areas... It is the living permanently part that I am not a fan of.  Well they have made RV Life, their full time way of life.  They are on their long journey back to Texas for the winter, and they made a short stop at Fort Pickens in Pensacola Beach.  We went to visit them, since it has been two and half years since we last saw them.  I was completely amazed at how nice and not at all what I expected their RV to look like.  I can't even explain how great of a set up they have, but whatever you have in your head, it is probably the wrong idea.  It really made me want an RV and explore different areas... I don't think I could give everything else up permanently like they did, but it was truly inspiring.  I know that we could never do this though, because I would be driving all of the time.  Nick falls asleep as soon as a car trip happens... and I am talking riding or driving in the car!!!  SCARY!!!  So I will just have to live vicariously through their blog http://readytogofulltimerving.com/  We had a really great time, we love when family comes to visit us HINT HINT!!!!!  Janice, Caden and I walked to the beach and had fun with our toes in the water (and Caden pretty much completely covered) but I am too scared of jellyfish to go in right now.   Nick learned a lot of new job opportunities from David of different fire fighting opportunities post Navy.  Another day, another blog, but let's just say we are scared right now that we will not have the option to stay in the Navy until retirement.  After a good visit, I went and picked up Ashton's 6 month pictures, which are adorable, and I will post after I mail them to people.  It was a great family fun filled day!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.        

Princess Party

Today was Caden's Princess' Birthday Party.  He has been so excited about this and I couldn't really wait either.  The party was by a park that was close by, after nap time.  Well of course Caden didn't take a nap on the day I wanted him to take one the most, so it was already starting off to be an interesting day.  I made the decision that only Caden and I would go to the party.  As much as I wanted to the support of Nick, because I really don't like doing things by myself, I knew I needed to put on my big girl panties.  I was not sure the appropriate protocol for who all goes to little kid birthday parties when you don't know the parents.  I decided that the first party of the season, I would feel it out.  I now wish he would have gone because most people had their husbands and everyone had their babies.  I love an opportunity to show off Ashton and Caden, and I definitely missed it here.  Caden was his normal charming self.  Overall he did really well playing with the kids.  I definitely was able to see his short stature amongst the other children.  I am not ready to talk about it yet, but we have concerns.  His princess loved her tiara and tea set and Caden was so excited for her to open the present.  Like true Caden fashion, he did not try the cake and was hesitant about the pinata until he saw the candy.  I met some of the moms, so that made me very happy.  I am glad we went and glad we had a good time.  I also was able to witness the "mean guy" in action, and I feel sorry not only for Caden but for his teacher.  Caden was knocked down several times and cried.  I wish he would dust it off, but he is very sensitive.  The child's mom is seriously the nicest girl and we have so much in common.  I hope with the time, the boys can get along more so we can start hanging out more.  The only bad part of the party was really the end.  Caden went totally out of his normal character and into his terrible three's character and decided to play keep away from mommy for a good 20 minutes so we couldn't leave.  It was so embarrassing!!!  He was so not himself, totally showing off, I was about ready to kill him.  But finally he decided that his life was more important than the park, and we left without kicking and screaming.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.    

2 AM Wake-Up Call

So last night after the children were fast asleep in bed, Nick and I, being the stupid night owls we are, were asleep a few hours later.  For some reason we cannot go to sleep before midnight, even though his alarm goes off at 4:30 and the kids are usually up between 6 and 7.  Anyways, last night around 2 am, I was abruptly woken up.  My boys have both slept through the night, pretty much their whole little lives.  So when I am woken up, I am not used to it.  But this was not from one of my boys, it was the worst wake up ever; the battery dying in our smoke alarm.  There is something wrong with the wiring in this house, these batteries die all of the time.  And it is always in the middle of the night!  Nick could compete for being the soundest sleeper, and hardest person to wake up.  When Ashton was first born, there were several nights I was ready to call it quits with him.  My sleep deprivation had kicked in and I hated that he could sleep through the cries and feedings.  I thought since he missed it the first go around, he would be more than willing to help.  I was sadly mistaken.  That all is another story, luckily Ashton out grew late nights quickly, he saw that his parents needed the sleep too much.  Finally I got Nick up to help me, because I was not doing this alone.  He gets rather angry in his sleep haze and started mouthing off how unnecessary this was.  I ignored him with a few choice words, because I knew that any minute the boys would wake up.  After spending close to 15 minutes listening to each alarm, we finally found the one.  And it was right outside of Caden's door!  He never ended up waking up, but Ashton started stirring, but he put himself back to sleep.  Nick was already back in bed asleep by the time I had lights off and everything back in place.  I started to feel like I was replaying a great Friends episode where Phoebe cannot get the alarm to shut off.  I finally found the only way for me to sleep was to have the alarm wrapped up in several old towels at the bottom of our laundry basket.  The lesson I learned here, Nick will always be (insert choice word of preference) in the middle of the night and smoke alarms never stop beeping no matter what!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

My Sweethear, My Princess

I am in for some trouble in a few years.  My three year old son is girl crazy.  As I have said before, he is very good at watching a movie, and remembering every little piece (just like his dad, and the exact opposite of his mom) and even acts out scenes all of the time.  Well in Megamind, the main character has a "sweetheart."  I actually haven't watched this movie with him, his father has.  But from Caden's version, the main character has a sweetheart, so Caden needs a sweetheart.  For a long time, I was his sweetheart.  Sometimes his Jessie doll (from Toy Story) is his sweetheart.  But now since he has been in school, he has a new sweetheart....tear.  One day, his sweetheart and him left school at the same time, I was holding his hand but the little girl reached out for his hand.  He looked at her, and then me, and went for her hand!!  I have already been replaced!!!  I wanted to cry right then, but I could see the guilt he had, so I just smiled and let him run off with her.  Well I guess she liked the term "Princess" more, so now this is his princess.  Everything is princess this and princess that.  His teacher said the two of them play so good together, and it is always just them.  Secretly I am glad, after the bullying incident, that he doesn't even try to play with the mean boys and sticks with the nice little girl.  Well it is now Princess's birthday this weekend so we went to Toys R Us to pick out a present.  I decided with guided help, he could choose what he wanted.  After many fits of too expensive presents, he decided on a princess tiara and a tea set that had all of the Disney princesses on them.  It was so cute how he knew it was for her, and really put thought into it!  If only he could teach his father his thoughtful shopping skills! : )  I cannot wait to see first hand how they interact.
On a side note, I think for one of the first times, I genuinely hurt somebody's feelings, purely unintentional.  We were eating lunch at Panera Bread and said Caden's name.  The table next to us; a girl about my age, her mom, and one year old son, all looked at me.  They were so excited because her son's name was also Caden.  After meeting about a million Caden's, I kind of blew off their bewilderment, and made a smart ass comment.  I said get ready for lots of Caden's, in his old class he was one of three (no lie!).  They looked at me hurt, so I had to get out of the hole.  I said I still love the name, but I just didn't realize how common it was, with the Caden/Aiden/Hayden variations.  She said she thought it was so unique, and that is why they loved it.  I said I was sorry, I didn't mean to hurt their feelings, but I know so many Caden's, both boys and girls; they honestly were mortified.  I left, but the more I think about it, the more I am just like really??  You didn't know that your baby's name was common??  I think Caden even made the top 10 this past year, or close to it.  Through facebook, I know so many people that have Caden's or Cade's, spelt different ways, both boys and girls.  I hate to offend anyone, but they need to be prepared.  I still love the name, Caden, and I had no idea how much it would blow up, but oh well!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

1, 2, 3, Will it be the Death of Me?

My precious little bundle of joy is turning into a big pile of poo!  (Caden, if you ever read this one day, know that I love you, and I am only kidding..... sort of!)  The three's are very trying and Caden is totally testing everything.  Ever since he started back in school, he is just a handful!  I think he is very tired when he gets home, but still has energy so he doesn't want to take a nap.  So this results in a lot of fits by both Caden and Mommy.  He never really ever talked back to us prior to school, nor did he know the word no in the negative manner, and he never knew what screaming for the pure annoyance of it meant.  Now if he doesn't want something, we know about it.  Before if he didn't want to eat something, take a bath, or get ready, all I had to say was "mommy is very sad" and he would do anything.  Now his response is "I am mad!"  I never had to punish this kid before, and now I have been trying to use time out or take a break and think about things.  When he sits there for like a minute before I feel guilty, I then say do you want to say sorry and you love mommy.  His usual response is now no.  It breaks my heart that my perfect angel now is not the happy child he once was.  I am going to believe that this is a phase and it is not that something is truly wrong with him.  I know he is becoming more independent and is just seeing how far he can take it.  But I am not ready for him to grow up.  I am not ready for any of this.  I miss my baby but am excited for the little boy that is to come after these threes! Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

My Other Big Boy!

So the cars are starting to get over run with car-seats.  I decided that it was time to move Caden into the next step of car-seats.  I really do not care for anyone's opinions on car seats.  I am so tired of mother's thinking that their way is the only way on whatever the topic is.  I am doing things the way I want.  Okay, I promise to get off of my soapbox now!  Caden is in the same car-seat Ashton is in, just forward facing.  Even though Caden can stay in it for a lot longer because of his size, he is also allowed to move up to the next size.  I want to give his car-seat to Ashton, so we don't have to keep switching car-seats in our cars!  This meant that Caden could get the booster kind that uses the actual car's seatbelt!  He was so excited and ready for this.  So after I did much research and reviews, I found the perfect carseat that fit with our limited budget.  And of all places the cheapest version of it was at the NEX, go figure!  He loves it and I love how easy it is to get in and out of the car!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I always make sure to go all out on my boy's birthdays, you know the many that they have had! :)  Not necessarily with the best presents or parties, but I want them to have the best time they can have.  I do not carry this same goal out with any celebration for me and Nick, however.  But none the less, today is Nick's birthday.  Like I always do, he got dinner and dessert choice.  I in fact picked these out, because I knew what he would want.  To go Chinese, something we never have but on his birthday.  I just don't like the options here, and I still did not like his dinner tonight.  I then made him Turtle Brownies, with Caden's help.  I got cards for Caden to decorate and then little mouth noise blower things, which my mind cannot think of the appropriate name for those.  Anyways, I made more of a big deal for Caden because he is really into birthdays.  So I let him help as much as he wanted and let him make the choices.  He had a great time and loves when we sing his favorite song, the Happy Birthday song!  We never really have extra money for gifts for ourselves, so at the last minute I decided Nick needed at least something small.  I went to an Antique shop an bought him about 30 Astros Baseball cards.  I couldn't believe I found that many, I thought it must be a sign.  He wasn't that impressed, in fact he looked pretty disappointed.  It really made me want to cry, which I did.  He never gets me anything and I thought I found a very thoughtful gift, something he is always talking about, and he wasn't happy.  I know he would have much rather had a new laptop or PSP or something, but I did not have the funds.  I still tried to make the day special for him, I just hope he remembers that in a month for mine.  I cannot believe we are 27.... time is going by way too fast!!!! Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

Move out of my way!

We officially have a crawler on our hands!!  I cannot believe how fast my little guy is growing up.  When Caden was a baby, all I wanted for him was to grow up and do the next big step in his life.  I was so excited to see him explore that I feel I did not enjoy him in the present, like I could have.  A lot of this had to do with my situation.  Nick was deployed or in school the first seven months of Caden's life.  He wasn't there for his birth up until the end of October.  He saw Caden a handful of times, but for the majority of it, he was not around.  All I wanted was for our family to be together, so I was so ready for October.  When I had Ashton, I made a vow to myself to enjoy the present and not wish for him to grow up any faster than he was.  Well I feel like I have enjoyed him more but he is still growing up way too fast.  And out of no where he decided he was going to crawl.  Now he crawls just like his brother, who continued to crawl this way until he walked at 14 months old.  It's the army crawl.  And he can get around fast.  He is so cute doing it but is now getting into way too much trouble.  He loves playing with cords and TV remotes is what got him going in the first place.  He broke out of my baby prison today, which is how I box up our sectional couch.  Last night he crawled from his room to the bathroom because he heard his bath water was going.  I feel as though Caden was my easy child with no real issues, and Ashton is going to give me a run for my money!  He is napping now, and I feel as though as much as he keeps me on my toes I should be doing something very productive with my little spare time! Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

Taste of Pensacola Beach!

I love going to festivals.  One thing that Florida/ Alabama has is all sorts of festivals!  Around this time of year, every weekend I end up finding something for us to go explore.  They all start to look the same, with the same vendors, but we still go.  They are usually free to get in and we can walk around outside and have good quality bonding time.  My goal is for my boys to look back on their childhood, mainly through pictures and see that no matter what happened, they were happy and did a lot of fun things.  Well this weekend was the start of festival season.  Taste of Pensacola Beach is held at the beach where all the local restaurants bring out their signature dishes for you to get a taste of.  You do have to pay some money for this one, but it is well worth it.  It is not necessarily that kid friendly, unless your kids like seafood, which Caden does not, but Nick and I enjoy it a lot.  We end up getting something from almost everyone and share it all.  Most of the stuff is a way to check that off of your list and probably won't try again, but every once in awhile you find something you really like.  They had local bands there and of course my little ham had to dance up on stage for everyone...he got a huge applause.  It was truly a great day!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

What's in a Name?

When we got pregnant with Caden, we went through every name book and literally wrote down every name we liked in the whole big book!  We both came to an easy agreement of Caden.  We knew the middle name would be Lee, the same as Nick's.  We thought Caden Lee sounded great.  I did not want a name that he went by another, because I found that to be confusing later on.  Even how Nick is Nicholas, important documents can be hard to come by with two different variations of names.  I also loved how it was unique but not too out there.  Well, I now know that Caden/Aiden/Hayden is the most common name there is now, but I still love it!  When we got pregnant the next time, I discovered something.  My son's initials could be my maiden name!  I feel as though there is about a one in a billion shot of this happening, so I had to jump on it.  Ake (pronounced like lake minus the L) is a very unique last name.  Growing up I was teased and hated it, but now I absolutely love it and hate that I couldn't carry it on.  After I randomly married an Evans', it made it a little easier to carry on the name in my own way.  So I knew that I needed the initials AKE, and luckily I had one of them covered, but sadly that was just the Evans'.  It made it easier that I just had to look up 'A' names, but still a hard task.  I wanted it to go with Caden and have the same unique but not weird quality.  We like several city names, Austin, Aspen, but didn't want that route because Caden wasn't the same.  I loved the name Ashton for a long time but Nick didn't want people to think of Ashton Kutcher.    After I convinced him that whatever name we came up with, someone would know that name, he jumped on the Ashton bandwagon.  So we had Ashton Evans' for almost our entire pregnancy, but the middle name we were have problems with.  My name of the week, I just could never get to stick.  I was all but to give up on my AKE initial idea, when I thought of Kole.  I knew that it normally was with a C, so people would have problems with it, but I thought Ashton Kole, sounded so cute.  And after some more persistent persuasion that probably included I am the one carrying this kid, Nick liked the name too!  So there you have it, Ashton Kole Evans, is the most special name ever to me, and I would love if he or both of my boys could carry on my name with their own children some day.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

Pick on Someone Your Own Size!

Caden has had a few good weeks in school now.  He doesn't cry every time I drop him off, so that is a successful day in my book.  He has how ever lately been complaining about the kids in his class.  He refers to them as the bad men.  "The bad men pushed me, the bad men hit my knees, the bad men knocked me down, the bad men covered up my mouth."  Now I have worked with kids for many years and know both sides of the story.  I felt bad for my little guy but also knew he could be very imaginative and likes to imitate movies into his real life.  I knew I liked his teacher and she probably would be stopping anything if something were happening.  But once he started talking about covering his mouth up and this going on for a few days, I knew I had to say something.  Well I told her everything he said, very nervously, like I was going to get into trouble.  And how I knew it was probably nothing, but I just wanted to let her know, to see if she saw anything.  Well she said she had never seen anything, and that Caden has a listening problem.  She tried to turn my problem into lets get Caden in trouble.  She said a few of the kids like to do the opposite of what she says and laugh.  Well my son has never been in a learning environment, and oh wait he is THREE!  It didn't surprise me in the least, but I also knew that he would copy other kids before he would be the leader.  But I got her back on track and just said to watch out for me please.  Well that afternoon, she was very apologetic.  She got Caden to talking and he showed who the bad men were and saw them in the act.  She spent the whole day going over rules and claims the issue is resolved.  I feel so bad for my little guy but hope it is all okay now.  He is by far the tiniest guy in his class, so I hope he is not always the target for bullies!  I can now see why some parents take matters into their own hands, not that I would be Nick is another story! :) He was so mad and we have a birthday party to go to soon with his class, so I am sure we will easily be able to determine the bully...  I may have to hold back my husband from the meanie's parents!  Oh my goodness!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

The Upside Down Show

This is a weird show that comes on around midnight, that Caden loves.  He used to wake up in the middle of the night and get in bed with us and watch this show.  He would always ask for it.  He now doesn't get the TV turned on at night, but still generally crawls in bed with us.  Anyways, this show is my life.  Nick has been on glorious shore duty the past three years.  For all of you non-navy people, that means no deployments and home every night.  He spent 5 years on the USS Washington (a carrier=really, really big ship!) and then 3 years shore duty in Florida, then repeat.  Well, for those of you doing the math, his shore duty time is up!  He is to report to his new carrier, the USS Reagan the day after Christmas!!  I am so sad, I cannot even talk about it right now.  Everything I know will change.  He was gone a lot before, but I have forgotten those times because I am so used to him being here.  All I can say for now without crying is it is going to be so hard to be away from him.  Our exact schedule and how things work is up in the air, so right now I am clueless.  But earlier when I was talking about seeing how much my life would change over a year, I was referring to this.  I am going to have some high and lows with this, and I am the exact opposite of excited!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

My Big Boy!

Ashton Kole is 6 months old!! He went to the doctor yesterday and got three shots and one oral vaccine.  He did good with the shots, just cried at the last one.  He actually ended up crying more when the doctor came in than with the shots.  It was so funny, I just had to laugh at him.  At that very second, my happy baby who has never met a stranger and flirts at everyone, developed stranger anxiety!  His doctor said he looked really good and had no concerns.  He said that the flu vaccine would affect him the most and boy did it!  He slept from 3:30 to about midnight!  He took a bottle and then went right back asleep till around 6 am!  Poor little guy!  So Ashton was born 2 pounds lighter than Caden and at 6 months is 1 pound heavier and 2 inches longer than Caden was!  I cannot believe my tiny little guys is now my big guy!  Caden is so tiny, it will be weird to have the exact opposite this time around.  Ashton is 18.2 pounds (62%) and 27 inches (69%).  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

If an idea's worth having once, it's worth having twice.

I thought this quote by Tom Stoppard was very appropriate for me.  I had an idea once on my birthday to blog everyday for the year to see how my life changed over a year.  We all see I failed miserably on that, but I am going to give it a go again.  I thought since I have already started to do good, I would keep at it.  I am usually very wordy online, so some blogs may be rather long, but others could be short, especially when I do not have time.  I am really interested to see how my views and state of mind will change because I know so much is about to change in my life.  But hey, that sounds like a great subject for another blog!  Here is hoping a second time is a charm!  (Another great title for this entry!)  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day!

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life!

Caden, now three and a half, started school a few weeks ago.  I was looking for a Church Preschool; something that taught him his basics, how to share with friends, and most importantly how to be away from mommy!  Well, if I haven't complained about this enough, let me just say Pensacola is COUNTRY!!  The few options the area had were long filled up in advance and my one week prior decision was not enough notice.  I had all but given up with Caden being on several church waiting lists.  I assumed that Nick and I's limited one income budget could not spare the luxury of mommy free time, since my job is to stay home with the boys.  I had even done preschool home school research and started a curriculum and schedule for Caden over the summer.  I had accepted the fact that he would be the one in kindergarten screaming bloody murder when I left.  But then a few days before school was to start my number two option (The first being the word of mouth best in the area) decided to open up an additional three year old classroom since they had so many kids.  I was so excited and Caden was even more excited.  We went shopping for all the normal school supplies and really hyped up how fun he would have.  We started eating lunches out of our lunch box just so he would be completely comfortable.  Then the time came. The first day of school.  Nick was able to go with us, so the first day routine went very smoothly.  We got dressed in our new outfit, had lunch made, and we were off.  Caden was so excited and looked so cute walking down the halls with his back pack as big as him.  When he went into the classroom he immidiately went in and started playing.  He was just fine!!  Mommy wanted to cry and longed for a hug, but I didn't want to bring up I was leaving, so I just turned around and clung to Ashton.  When we picked him up, we got Fro Yo, our favorite.  Caden loved school and I loved he was happy.  The next few days would prove to be a different story, but that is for a different blog!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.                  

    

10 years later...

I would just like to take a brief moment and remember how much 9/11 has affected me and everyone else.  I have spent the whole weekend glued to the television watching almost every tribute that was made.  I now feel like I know some of the people that were portrayed personally since I watched so much about them.  My heart goes out to every single person that was lost in 9/11 as well as every family member and friend that was touched by someone that was lost.  I think about my own life and how so many people joined the military afterwards, including my husband.  I don't know how many people took that path, but I would imagine many did.  The national pride that was shown right after the attacks, still gives me goosebumps.  September 11th, has two meanings for me.  Again, I am sad for everyone that died on that day.  But I am also, selfishly sad for myself.  I hate that I am admitting this out loud, but I am.  My husband is basically a fire fighter in the navy.  His job scares me so much.  Right now his job on shore duty is not that dangerous, but soon he is going back out to sea.  Now I know he is not fighting the front lines like so many other courageous people, but none the less, it is still dangerous.  I worry more about someone trying to bomb his carrier than I worry about him getting in an accident on board.  I know the latter is more probable but it is not the focus of my worry.  Nick always reassures me that he is safe, and I am sure he is.  But I also know that he would never tell me other wise because he would not want me to worry anymore than I already do.  I know this sounds selfish, and it is, but I am worried that one day I could be one of those widows.  I think 9/11 came right at a time this year, that Nick is preparing to leave the safety of my arms and going back out into the scary world alone.  I think that this weekend was too much emotions for me, and it got me thinking way too much.  I need to go back and take care of the boys to distract me.   Post and Carry on with the rest of your day!  

Signature Sign-Off

I decided I needed my own unique way to say goodbye at the end of each of my blogs.  After looking at classic sign-offs from news reporters, I thought my quest was stupid.  After sharing my disappointment with Nick, I was enlightened.  I described Carol Burnett's classic sign-off of her variety show (tugging of her ear for her grandmother).  I thought that her sign off was unique enough to get people talking, but definitely not feasible for the virtual world.  After Nick looked at me crazy for watching such an old show he started to think.  He said at the end of each of his commander's briefs he would say "Post and Carry On."  Basically saying leave and go back to your job.  I decided since my new focus was part military life inspired this was very appropriate.  I also liked the pun of "post" a blog.  So I had the start of my sign-off and added to the carry on.  I hope you like the symbolism and thought I put into it.  And please note now and any military discussion I use in the future:  This is my dumb down version for everyone, including myself to understand, plus what all I actually would listen and understand of everything Nick says (There are about 53025999 acronyms in the military)....  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day!

Blog Augmentation

Thanks to my awesome husband, my blog has had a complete make-over!  Everything from the font, color, background, layout, to the pictures have been rejuvenated.  I went with a more patriotic theme to go with my navy life theme.  The pictures almost all have to do with the navy, either by uniform's or where we are at.... with just a few exceptions of my favorite pictures.  I hope you like it!   Post and Carry on with the rest of your day!

The Evans' Family Snap Snap

That was supposed to be my interpretation of the Addam's family song, oh well!  I just thought I would give a little who's who of my family, just in case you are some stranger or family member who doesn't pay attention!  First up, there is me, Lindsey!  I am almost 27 years old and BA in psychology that I have never used and don't even really know how to use.  I enjoy staying at home with my sons for many reasons.  I couldn't imagine leaving them with someone else all of the time, I want to enjoy them as much as I can now before they would rather be with their friends, the cost of day care scares me, and frankly I don't know what I want to do when I grow up.  Next up is my husband, Nick.  He is even closer to turning 27 and is a second class in the US Navy.  His specific title is ABH2, now don't expect anything more from me about that! :)  He works crash, basically waits for the new pilots learning how to fly to crash and then he helps rescue them.  Luckily this has never happened, so his job is pretty uneventful and boring.  Our oldest son is Caden Lee.  He is 3 and half.  He is seriously one of the cutest kids I have ever seen...not biased at all!!  He has the most adorable smile, and generally is always happy!  He is very picky about many things and does not like change that much.  He has a special blanket, his lovie, and sucks his thumb...two things I need to work on.  Our youngest son is Ashton Kole.  He is 6 months old and is also so adorable.  He looks just like his big brother, so I cannot wait to see what he looks like a little older.  He loves Caden the most and loves to eat.  He does not like to sit still and loves to explore.  He also has a lovie and sucks his thumb.  Well that's the Evans' Family Snap Snap!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

Two Years, Too Late

I realized that once upon a time I made a vow to start blogging so I could always remember what was going on in my life. As we can all see that didn't work out too well for me, but I am vowing to change. I do not know if I will be able to keep up daily but I would at the very least like a weekly round-up of the events that took place. I want to focus on the little things that the boys do and start making note at these cute things that I soon will forget when I have two teenage sons!!! Expect an update blog to soon follow! Post and Carry on with the rest of your day! (Do you get it??? Meaning to follow)