Vacation

We are going on Vacation for about a week and a half. I will probably not be posting anything to the blog until we get back.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and your families, Love from the Hardy's

First Wrestling Meet

Justin had his first wrestling meet on Saturday. I think he had a good time. He lost both times he wrestled when the other kid pinned him. He gave the one kid his first pin!! LOL. It was exciting to watch and be a part of. I am going to be more prepared though for the long waits in between matches. Here are some pictures of his meet. They came out really dark, but it was all I could get. I also have a 20 or 30 second video, I will see how to upload that to the blog later. I should mention that Justin is the one in the red.... Under the kids... LOL

Justin's 6th Birthday

Justin had a great 6th birthday on Saturday. He had been counting down to his special day for at least a month! We took the kids to Peter Piper Pizza which is like Chuck-e-cheese, but a smaller scale. The kids enjoyed the games.. well, Joseph and I did too! I could not get enough of a game called Deal or No Deal! It was addicting!!

Overall it was a good day!

Thanksgiving and stuff

Thanksgiving week was nice! Joseph and the kids had Wednesday thru Sunday off, and we just hung out. Thursday I made my first turkey. It was ok. It was not over cooked or undercooked, but it did not taste like mom's! I will have to practice. We stayed in all week, playing games and watching movies. It was very restful.

This week everyone is back into the routine. This kids are counting down to Christmas break. I think they are more than excited! Joseph is out of town for a couple days out to a range. It is so chilly, I feel bad for him. I hope he gets rest, and stays warm!! He usually gets sick when this time a year when he has to go to the field.

I have 2 1/2 weeks left in my classes then I get a 2 week break! I am very excited. I am not excited however, that when we get back I start two 9 week classes for algebra!!! Yuck! I hope I do well, I do not want to mess with my gpa. Mom, I am going to be calling you a lot over those 18 weeks to get math help, fyi.

My camera is still not working.. I ordered a battery charger online and they sent me the wrong one.. so I am trying to figure out how to get the right one. I hope soon because I miss not having my camera. For the life of me I cannot find the charger we usually use.. Grrrr. Anyway, when we get back from vacation, in January I plan to get our family photo done so we can update.

Hope your week was fun and safe, and December has started off right for you!

Thanksgiving

This week is busy when we are living around family, but this year we are not so there is nothing really big going on. Tomorrow Joseph has an organizational day for work. It is "mandatory fun" for the soldiers. Aaron and I are going to pop in for the morning, and if they are still having "fun" after I pick up Savannah and Justin, I will take them too.

The kids get out early on Wednesday, and have Thursday and Friday off. I am not sure if we are going to be doing anything. I do not even know if we are going to have turkey! LOL. Without being around family it does not feel like the holidays, and so it is just another day. I'm sure we will have a good time with the kids though.

I miss my family, and I love them very much. It is hard to be away sometimes especially when the time of the season is all about being with family. I am happy however, that my husband is home this year, and will surely enjoy that.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy the time with your family.

Date Night

So, we went out last night as I stated in the previous post, and we had a really nice time. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, but so did everyone else in El Paso!! The wait was over an hour, but we decided we could wait. That was a good time. We got to talk about everything while we were there. It was a very nice night. When we got the the theater for the movie, we were told that they were not playing Twilight!! So, my bad, I took us to the wrong place. We walked around the mini mall for a bit and came home early. Overall I am not disappointed that we missed the movie. We both had a relaxing and enjoyable time with each other. I cannot wait to do it again!

This cold that the boys had is still going around. This morning I woke up with a sore throat and headache. Joseph is still sick, and I am sure I got it from him! Boo! Oh well, hopefully we can kick this cold soon!

"Eat Fresh"

My poor husband has a cold still. This morning he had to run five miles too! I would just die if that were me, but he is such a strong person, he said it was no big deal! He is getting a flu shot today too, so I am hoping that his immune system is not too weak and he will not get sicker!

Justin is having a GREAT week at school. He had a couple of rough weeks but this week, he is on top of everything! He is so excited because he has 4 greens this week and only one more day to get 5! (green means he is doing everything he needs to with his teacher, listening, working well with others, etc.) I hope that today after school he comes running out with the good news.

Savannah is anxious to start up gymnastics. We have told her she can start after the holidays, but that does not mean much to her right now. I think she will like the more active participation of gymnastics. Judo was good, but she was a little bored.

Aaron is still just hanging out. He is so funny lately. He cracks me up with something new just about everyday. I will have to write these down and post them for everyone to read. Right now it is every time we pass a fast food restaurant he says that he is hungry and wants to "eat fresh". (from the subway commercials) It has not gotten old yet, and always puts a smile on my face.

I am still doing well with school. I hate to brag but... I am pulling a 3.61 GPA! I am still amazed that I am doing so well. I guess I am loving school and it is showing in my work. School has been something in my life that I really needed for me. I enjoy it so much, and it is fun and nerve-racking all at the same time. I am half way through my block (9 weeks) and will finish just before Christmas break. Then I do not start up again until the 5th of January. I am dreading those 9 weeks, and the 9 weeks after because I will be in algebra!! I am horrible with math and it terrifies me to be in those classes. Oh well.

Tonight I am taking my husband out on a date! We have not had a real date in a while so we are excited. It will be a typical dinner and a movie, but I am looking forward to it. The babysitter that we have is AWESOME! Unfortunately her step dad is only here for the academy and will be leaving sometime early summer, but that is ok. I just hope that more awesome babysitters move in!

Time to get ready to run some errands. I will post again soon and comment on the movie we will see. Oh, the movie is called Twilight, fyi.

Monday!!

Ok, wow, well today has been long, and it is only half over. This weekend was ... fun...! All my boys were sick. Aaron is still runny/crusty nose, and he has a cough. I can tell he is not feeling well because he is whiny and very sensitive to everything around him. Justin had thrown up in the middle of the night Saturday.. Why do kids always wait until the middle of the night to do things?? lol. Joseph was ill as well. He hardly ever gets sick, so for him to get this as well means it is aggressive. I have been feeling icky today. I hope it does not last. I have been sick enough these past couple months!!!

Justin has been having issues with school lately. We had to have a conference with the teacher last week. He has been hitting and not listening. It got really bad the end of October and the beginning of November. She is going to try some things in class for him, and we are working with him at home. I was worried about this.. but I hope it was just because he was not feeling well, and will be back to his good self soon.

We are getting ready to make a trip up to Colorado, and Idaho for Christmas time. We are all excited and looking forward to it.

That is about it for now. I think I am going to check out new cameras in the next couple of days because I cannot seem to find our battery charger for the other camera. I have been wanting a new, more professional camera, so we will see. I do not want to go on vacation without one. I miss taking pictures of the kiddos.

TTYL

Cancellation

There has been a cancellation for Justin's wrestling tournament!!! :( So now his first one will not be until his birthday, December 6th. Oh well. That just means he will get to practice more, and be more prepared.

On a different tangent, The house is drowning me! I feel like I cannot keep up with three kids, a dog and a husband. Though the husband does not make that big of a mess.. thankfully! But I can not keep up with these mess-makers! It seems like every inch of the house is covered with something. Looks like I am going to be busy cleaning the house all day! Fun for me!!!!

November

Today is November 5th! The year is almost over, and a new president is in sight. What will this mean for our country? I am very curious to find out what will happen in the coming years. I have no doubt Sen. Obama will be a good president, but he has a lot of work to do to better our economy and repair many things. I do not have more to say on the subject other than we need to give this man a chance, instead of judging him before he has even begun.

We are doing well here. I am taking my 2nd Psych class, and I have an elective this round too. I chose to learn about different cultures and ethnics. It is interesting. It has been a painful couple of weeks with it just with reading about the past. It makes me sad to know that many people have suffered, and are still suffering. It is an eye opening class, and I am glad I chose to do this. Both classes are going well, and I am looking forward to my small winter break!!

Joseph is doing well. He has been busy with work, of course. There is much to do, and he always has something going on.

Savannah is doing well. We took her out of Judo for now. She does not seem to mind. She said that it was not challenging for her. (I think she would be better at competition stuff than what she was learning) Anyway, after the winter break she said she would like to try gymnastics. We'll see how that goes.

Justin is doing.... okay. He has adjusted well to school and has found his groove. He still has issues with listening, but we are working on that. He never listens to me either... Wrestling is going good. He has his first takedown tournament this Saturday. We are excited to see what happens. This will be my first time for this as well, and it is very exciting. Justin keeps saying, "all i have to do is take someone down".

Aaron is hanging in there. He has lazy days with Mom, and we watch cartoons when I am not working on homework or something else. He is growing up too fast! I wish I could bottle him up right now and just keep him as he is forever. He is my little cuddle bug still, and I dread when that changes!

Thats about it for now. We are not as busy since we knocked out Judo, but I have been volunteering all over the place with the FRG (family readiness group) and that is busy, busy work.

Miss you all, talk to you all later!!

Last week for October

What a week! The rest of last week went on. Savannah has been fighting a cold for about 3 weeks now. I had to keep her home AGAIN yesterday since Sunday evening she got sick to her stomach and well, I am sure you can guess what happened all over the living room floor.. Yeah... So she stayed home with me, and Aaron.

I got a lot done at the Halloween party. I know there is more to set up, but it looks amazing. We have a very creative person in the group and she is awesome. The party should be on Friday, so I think the kids are going to love it.

Saturday was the fundraiser yard sale. It went ok. We did not have much to work with, but we made about $80. I think that is good with what we had. We worked it for about 3 hours and decided it was time to pack up. We moved everything outside, and whatever was left over was going to be picked up by one of the teams coaches. I went to take a nap.. and a couple people came by and offered to buy the remaining stuff, so Joseph sold EVERYTHING! LOL. It was great. So there was nothing to pick up.

Sunday, Joseph stayed home with Aaron. He has a nasty cough that he got from Savannah, and he has crusty nose too. :( But, hopefully it will all be outta this house. I am ready for everyone to be healthy again.

Sunday I was called into the Bishops office. I always feel like I am going to the principals office at school! lol. He was just concerned since Joseph and I have missed so much Church lately. He asked how I was feeling and I well, I came to realize that the depression is back. :( Yea, so I am back on medicine and feeling 100% better. It is amazing how this stuff creeps into your life and you are completely unaware. I will keep you updated with it, but I plan on staying on my meds for a long time now. Oh yeah, and I think Joseph is getting a different calling and will be leaving me by myself in the Primary...

This week will be same Ole stuff. Tonight Savannah has Judo, and she is excited about that. I think we are going to let her do it until the year is over and then switch her to something else.. We are not too sure yet. Wednesday is Wrestling and Achievement Day, Thursday is Judo and Wrestling. Friday we have the Halloween party, and Saturday we are doing a 3 mile walk for wounded soldiers.

Busy, Busy. I am sure there is more to add in between it all, but I cannot remember it, so I will have to update as I go. I hope everyone is well, and doing great.

Crazy Week, and it is not over yet!

This week is crazy! There has been so much going on, and my list keeps getting longer and longer!!

Monday was a typical day. I stayed home to clean and catch up from the weekend. I wanted to go grocery shopping, but decided I can go Tuesday. About 1pm I got a call to come get Savannah from school due to a bad cough and a slight fever. I had to pick her up early twice last week, and I kept her home twice too. So, Monday I repeated, and picked the kids up an hour early. Not much more happened Monday. I did however start a new block of classes, and so far they are very interesting. I will talk more about them later, I am sure.

Tuesday I had Savannah stay home with me, and at noon I decided I had to get some groceries, so off we went. Oh, and I was not feeling well Tuesday, I had a slight fever that would come and go all day. :( Tuesday continued and I ended up having to get one of Joseph's soldier's wife from the hospital. It was a surprise to me, but it worked out well. Then I finally got home, and was confined to the couch the rest of the evening.

Wednesday I went back to the commissary to get groceries for the couple I helped out. I made them dinners for the next 3 days, and had to get the stuff. I came back and started cooking. I was only in the kitchen for about an hour and a half and made 3 dinners.... Hmmm.. sounds like I should pick a day to cook, and make my weeks worth of meals, and freeze them! It would save a lot of money, time and well, sanity. So I took the meals over and dropped them off. Then headed over to the company's office to help decorate for a Halloween party for the families. I was there for about 2 or so hours and got nothing done, but I will be back today so hopefully I can be a better helper. After that I picked the kids up from school, and had about an hour before Justin had wrestling practice. Luckily Joseph called me and he got home in time to take the kids. I had a Primary meeting at 7 that I needed to attend, and was so grateful that he was able to take the kids with him, and give me a couple hours to relax. I went to the meeting and did not get back until after 9, and I was pooped!

Today will be like yesterday, but with a few little differences. I am not cooking this morning, but I do have a TON of dishes to wash. I am helping to decorate for the Halloween party, will hopefully be home to clean up and such, then pick the kids up from school, and Justin has wrestling tonight and Savannah has Judo. We also volunteered to help do a fundraiser yard sale at our house this Saturday for Justin's wrestling team. They are trying to raise some money to help offset the cost of uniforms, equipment, travel etc. So I am trying to get ready for that too.

Friday should be a pretty normal day. Just same Ole stuff, I do however need to clean, clean, clean!!! Savannah has a birthday party to go to, and she is excited.

I am sorry I have not set up recent pictures. I cannot find my camera charger anywhere! Hopefully I will find it soon.

AUSA Convention

From October third to October ninth, Joseph was in Washington DC for an AUSA exposition. AUSA stands for Association of the United States Army. It is a great organization, and every year holds a convention to show up and coming military items and discussions. Since Joseph had won the Omar Bradley award last month, he was awarded a trip to this convention and was asked to talk about the FCS (Future Combat Systems) program that brought us here to Fort Bliss in late 2006. His talk is amazing! He did a fantastic job in informing others of what FCS can do for military members. I am very proud of him, and love him very much for what he has accomplished, and what he stands for. I am very proud that he got the chance to work with the FCS program, and that he can assist the future military with the equipment he has been testing. Here is the link to his speech, and he is the first speaker, so it will not be too hard to find. I do warn you it is 24 minutes long, so have some time to watch it or listen to it. He included videos of what he has done in the FCS program as well, so there is visual as well.

http://www.blueskybroadcast.com/client/AUSA/2008_review/

Happy October!

Happy October everyone! I cannot believe it is the tenth month of the year, and the year is almost over. It has gone by in a blink. I just wanted to write a quick note today. I have been sick almost all the month of September, and did not get much done that I did not have to (ie Blog). I am feeling much better, and have a least a little extra energy to use up.

Things are still going good. The kids are doing well with school, and their after school sports. Justin has had a great outlet with wrestling for all his energy. Savannah is going to get her white belt on Thursday! She is so excited!

Joseph is still busy with his new unit. They have much to do still, but it will all come together soon. He is off to Washington DC on Friday. He will be gone a week, and is excited. As it gets closer he is finding out he will be busier than he thought, and hopes to have time to sight see.

I have nothing new to report. I am still enjoying school, and I am super happy about getting over this cold. It really knocked me on my tushie.

We hope you all are well and happy!

Judo & Wrestling

Savannah has been involved with Judo for 2 weeks, and she LOVES it. Her sensei says, she is really good at it already. He gave her some homework to know as soon as she can... Its Japanese! She has to know a few things in Japanese before she can get her white belt. She is so excited.

Justin starts wrestling tonight! He has been counting down everyday to it. I think he is really going to enjoy it too. It should help him expend all this energy he seems to have built up in his system. I will take some pictures and post them soon.

Everyone is doing well. Just getting busy with the kids' schedules. Hope you and your families are all doing well too.

Update

These past couple weeks have gone by.. no, FLOWN by very fast. We had first week of school last week, and I got caught up in all that, and adjusting to 2 out of 3 kids gone all day. It is nice, but I am still adjusting. It is not as easy as I thought having all this time for myself. I am almost lost, even though I have a million and one things to do.

I need to recharge my camera battery to upload the pictures of the kids first day of school.
Justin is doing great. He LOVES school and has fun stories to tell me each day. It brings a smile to my face when he talks about the school rules with such enthusiasm!!!
Savannah is doing good too. She has been excited to see her friends again after summer break. She says that she does not do much in class, but has many stories about recess and lunch with her buddies.
Aaron gets sad when he cannot go to school with the kids. He loves to walk them in the morning, and loves to pick them up after school, but he always asks all day, "where is justin and savannah? at school?". He says the same about daddy when he leaves for work. I think Aaron likes the quiet time with mom though. (I know I like the quiet time with him)

Last night we had a little visitor. I had the kids take their shoes off outside because they were muddy, and Justin came out and said a dog was stealing his shoe.. Sure enough we went outside and a baby pug was trying to carry his shoe off to chew it. The puppy had no tags, and we didnt see anyone looking for him. We kept him over night, which was LONG for me. Just like a newborn, I was up with him ALL night. I am so tired today. Anyway, I took him to the vet on post and he was not micro chipped and they asked if we wanted to keep him.... LOL No! I kindly declined their offer and they reassured me that they would not put him down or give him to an organization that would. It was sad to say goodbye to our little friend, but there is just no way.... The kids will be sad when they come home and he is gone. (im not sad at all! It confirmed to me that I am not ready for another puppy, or baby) I am good with how big my family is right now. :)

That is all for now. Take care, and I will try and post some new pictures soon.

Re-Enlistment

It is confirmed. We are indefinite in the Army... well, Joseph is, I just get to tag along. He made official Wednesday the 20th of August. I am so proud of him. He is finally ok with the decision of being a "lifer" and I am content with it too. (Personally I am scared of civilian life now :P) Anyway, he has many changes going on within his current unit, and will be switching over to a new unit sometime soon. Once he switches units, he will be on the deployment rotation again, and training his soldiers for war. We have been blessed to have him home and out of harms way for so long, it is his time again.

Awards, Finals and School... Oh My!

We have had a busy couple weeks! First, Joseph was nominated for an award, which was very nice. However, Joseph found out that it was not simply a nomination, but he had a give his military biography, write an essay, get a sponsor and go to the board!!! (the board is a couple people that ask you questions) So, needless to say he was stressed out for a little while with this going on. The board was last week, and guess what?!!? He won!!! I knew that he was going to do well. He is an obvious choice when it comes to military awards and promotions... (I may be bias, but he is an awesome soldier!)
After that, it was my final week in my second block of classes, so I had two finals to turn in. I was not nearly as stressed out with them as I was the first block!!! I am still waiting on my grades, but I am confident that I did well. Monday (yesterday) I started my third block of classes. I am finally taking my core classes for psychology. That class has already started off with lots of information and lots of things to think about. My other class is research writing... and it is scary. I am sure there is going to be a ton of reading involved and lots of, well, research.
The kids are all registered and we got all the school supplies ready and waiting by the door. Savannah is excited that she is in the third grade. She is looking forward to finding out what friends she had last year, will be in her class this year. Justin is super excited about school. He asks about once a day when he will get to go. He has been super cute this last week as we get closer to the first day of school. He has a lot to learn when he gets there, but I think the transition will be easier than I am anticipating. Aaron is oblivious to anything outside his world, but I know that when he realizes that Justin will be gone all day, he is going to want to go to school with big brother.
Joseph will be re-enlisting (indefinitely... yikes!) tomorrow morning. He wanted to make sure he re-enlisted while his Lt. was still around and all his soldiers. I cannot believe that in September he will have 13 years in the Army. It is amazing how fast that time has flown by. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments with his military career. I feel honored that I am a part of his life and can experience all of this with him. He is such a wonderful man, soldier, father, friend and husband. I couldn't ask for anything more.

It's Friday already??!?

Well, I cannot believe it is Friday!! Again! When you stay at home with the kids it seems like time just will not stand still and just fly away from you. This week we had a busy week. I had a doctors appointment for my asthma. I did a good deed a week ago... I mowed the lawn for the first time in my life! I know... i am spoiled, but I was glad to do it. Well, about two hours later, my asthma decided to show its ugly self, and it has been dormant (sp?) for about four years!! So I had to get myself an inhaler again. :( Then Thursday was a family trip to the dentist! Everyone had good check-ups and the kids are now obsessed with the dentist and cleaning their teeth! As soon as we got home they wanted to brush their teeth again, and again, and again! LOL. I am glad they had a good experience. This following week is my final week in my 2nd block of classes. Soooo, that means I am working on two finals! Pretty busy for right now.

Justin is excited to start kindergarten at the end of this month! If he does not listen to me, I can use the excuse, "well it will help you with school, or it will get you ready for school". I can only use that for so long, and you bet I am using it now! Savannah will be in the third grade! THIRD grade! She is getting so big! She loves school and cannot wait to go see her friends (whoever is left here and did not move!). Aaron is still my little baby! He likes to snuggle up and watch cartoons with Mom. He is such a sweetheart. He still takes a couple hours a day for naps, so i am looking forward to that alone time! I am sure I will be confused for a little while with no kids around... LOL.

Well, I better get going. I am still messing around with the site. I am very new to it, and finding out how to do a lot of stuff. Any advise would be great!!! :)

Vacation Pictures

Here are some pictures from our trip.. The kids really had a great time and enjoyed the out-doors. It was a great vacation. I got much enjoyment out of watching the kids have so much fun.

Back from Vacation?

We are back from our trip out to California! We got back a week ago and I have still so much to catch up on! I do not know what happened but when we got back I became lethargic and tired. I slept a lot Monday and Tuesday. I was better Wednsday, but by Thursday I was wiped out again and it is Friday! I have not done much this week except be tired. What the heck??!

We were joking that on our trip Scout (our family pooch) was on alert all week watching the kids, making sure no strangers got to us, and when we would get home she would sleep for a week straight! Well, it appears that I was on alert for a couple weeks, and now I am finally relaxing! Going on vacation is hard work!

As I sit here I still cannot believe it is Friday, and it is in the mid afternoon too!!! Before I know it, the day will be over and I have not much to show for my week back home. Hopefully I will be rejuvinated again soon and have the energy that I am lacking because I need it, desperately.

Well, Off to try and get something, anything done for the day!

Our first post

This is our first post! I hope to get this going weekly then possibly daily. It is just a place for family and friends to come and check up on the Hardy family. I will post pictures as often as I can as well, to keep you all updated with the ever growing weeds (kids hehe). Looking forward to it!