Our Life Lately..

I realized that I haven't blogged lately about our life. Hailee turned 6 on November 4th. She is super excited to reach this age, as she has been waiting a whole year! haha. For days after her birthday, she kept asking me, "Mommy, am I still 6 years old?" as to which I reply, "Yes, Hailee, you are still 6". I remember about 8 months ago, she told me she was going to marry a kid in her class when she turned 6. I asked her why 6? She said because she will be old enough. Well, the kid moved away before we moved away. She wasn't too happy about that. She really liked him. Since we've gotten here, she's named a couple of boys that she is going to marry. But this time she says they will marry when they are 11. ;)

Andrew is almost 19 months, and wilder than ever. He loves to climb and pull things off of shelves. He still loves cars, but has developed a new love towards planes. We were watching Cars 2, and there is a preview of the new Planes movie coming out(from the makers of Cars) and he is all interested. That movie won't come out till at least 2013, tho. I'm sure he'll be just as interested 2 years from now. His favorite things in life are cars, balls, dogs, and his blanket.

Lincoln is a big pain in the you know what. I can't wait till he calms down a bit, but I think we have a couple years to go until then. I think it's partially our fault because we need to give him more attention and exercise. So, that's something we need to work on. He's growing so fast, and is a big boy! Him and Bubba are such good buddies. Bubba will come and love on him various times a day, and then while Bubba naps, Lincoln lays right by him.

I'm doing okay. I'm over half way through this semester of school, only have a little over a month left. I'm working out, trying to get back into shape and then I'll be training to become a Turbo Kick instructor. I'm really looking forward to that. I'm not sure if I'll be going back to school next semester due to the gi benefits issue I mentioned in the last blog. It sucks, because right now is the best time for me to take classes. I imagine it will all work out in the end.

Cody's Mom is coming up in a couple weeks to spend Thanksgiving week with us, and we are looking forward to it. We will be going to London, visiting Stonehedge, showing her around where we live and the surrounding areas. I know she will enjoy herself, as well as we will enjoy her company. :)

TURRRBOOOOOO

TURBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm back at it again, and this time I'm training to become an instructor. This is something I've wanted to do for a couple years now, and I've taken the steps to begin. I don't know how long it's going to take me to become certified, but I'm going to work my butt off. I've done Turbo for years now, although not as consistent due to pregnancy, moving, being lazy, living in a 3rd floor apartment(which the neighbors were none to happy with me doing TurboFire, lol), worked out at the gym, etc. But, I haven't forgotten Turbo, and I always go back to it. This is the ONE program that gets me in shape faster than anything I've ever done before, and it's addictive. I'll admit, starting off can be rough. In fact, I'm sore as I speak. But, no pain, no gain, right? After taking 4 months off of working out, I started out with TurboFire instead of Turbo Jam. I figured TF will get me in instructor shape faster than Turbo Jam. So, it's no surprise to me that I am sore. I have some bad habits that I need to kick, but once I get my butt in gear, I'll be on a roll. It's time for me to get refocused!

On another note, I have to put off getting my degree. Unfortunately, the whole 'you can transfer your gi bill to your dependents after 10 years of service, as long as you are still enlisted to do more', is a lie. Because, they declined our request for me to get gi bill benefits to pay for my schooling due to Cody not enlisted for longer than he currently is(which is 14 years of service by the time the current contract is up). So becoming an instuctor is my plan b, so to speak. I guess I will have to wait until Cody reenlists again. Makes no sense, but whatever.

Another program I want to teach is Hip Hop Hustle, but I'm going to start with Turbo Kick first, since I know it. Hopefully this time next year I'll be rockin' it! :)

Discovery & Motivation

It only took my whole 28 years of life, but I finally figured out what I want to be, what I'm supposed to be, when I 'grow up'! It's funny how I got to this conclusion, because in hindsight, I should have known it all along. I love animals. Always have, always will. They make me happy, they make me sad, they frustrate me, they astonish me, and I feel as though we should take care of them. These little creatures depend on us to.

I woke up this morning with so much motivation for my life, I have no idea where it came from. I do feel as though I need to credit the good Lord above, because we went to the Lincoln Cathedral yesterday and I went into the prayer room and said a prayer for my life. I woke up this morning with this great motivation and guidance.

Then, of course, I lost some of it after spending the WHOLE day on school work, lol..but that's okay. I still know WHY I am going for criminal justice. Now, I have a more specific goal in mind- to become an animal cruelty investigator. I feel it's my calling. THIS is what I want and need to do. I have so much passion for it. It's going to be a long road, but I'm going to get there and I have plans along the way to help me.

It has been a long day. It's been a long week. I've had so much to do as far as school alone goes. I can't imagine being a full time student, I have no clue how people do it and juggle everything else in their life. I feel like I'm a full time student now, and I'm only taking 1 class. Maybe one day I'll figure that out, because I don't want to be in school forever.

Cody has been so supportive. He helps me more with the kids, and housework, because he knows I have a lot of school work to do. He knows this is what I need to make me happy. I couldn't be more blessed to have a great husband. It's time to focus on me more, and what I want to do with my life. The last 10 years have been great, but I really need to find my path. It's something I've struggled with for years. And now, I finally have a direction to go.

Amazing.

Finding My Place

So, it's only taken me THREE months(which feels more like SIX), to feel comfortable here. But, I think I'm finally finding my way. I drove to the base w/o the garmin today, which I consider an accomplishment since I take the back way that Cody showed me.

Also, Hailee is starting to fit into her school. I think you are cool if you have a scooter here, lol. I let her bring her scooter in the morning today, and she instantly joined the group of girls with scooters and wanted nothing to do with me. She was constantly showing off her Toy Story scooter (with Jessie on it) to anyone who would listen!

I have been looking into churches around here, because I always feel better when I have a church to go to. There is one about 10 minutes away from the house, that I am going to check out this Sunday..since Cody will be off. I'm not sure if they have sunday school for the kids, but I'm going to look into it. I know that they have something called Fizz for Hailee's age group. I'm sure it's something like Awana is, back in the states. I always like to be involved in things, it makes me happier. I also love when my children learn about the word of God.

I'm trying to find a gymnastic type class for both kids. I found something that I am going to look into which is similar to a "My Gym" in the states. I think Bubba would benefit from some socialization, considering I think he is my interverted child. Hailee is the exact opposite, and it has made life easier for her and us.

Lincoln is getting better with potty training. He knows to go to the door. His biggest problem is holding in his potty, I think his bladder is quite small and/or he doesn't quite know how to hold it yet. When he has to go number 2 tho, he goes outside every time. The kids are also learning how to adjust to him. First, Bubba was scared of him, but now Hailee is moreso scared. It's getting better every day tho. I'm not as stressed as I was the first two weeks we had him.

I can't wait, but then I can(hah), to start school in 12 days. I'm ready to get the ball rolling on my degree. There are some hurdles since I'm in England, but I am determined so I will pull thru them.

"My life is like a lemondrop, I'm suckin' on the bitter to get to the sweet part..I know there are better days ahead.."

The Start of our Life in England

Well, this week officially starts our life as we know it in England. Hailee has begun school, Cody has been on shift work, and me? Well, I've been stressed to the max. I'm all to blame, however, because I always have a way of making my life more difficult than it has to be. I obviously get bored, or feel like I have a gap that needs to be fulfilled somewhere, and the ending result almost always never lives up to it's expectations that I put forth for it. In this case, I am talking about our latest addition to our family, our dog Lincoln. Whew. This little fella has turned our household into chaos. I almost think it would have been easier to just have another baby! HA! Joking, of course! But seriously, having Lincoln has been quite an adjustment. We usually get our dogs a little bit older than we got Lincoln. Lincoln was only a measely 8 weeks old, now he is 10. In all actuality, I have dreaded the day we got our "big dog". We knew it was going to happen one day, and that day is here. We love labs, and have always wanted one, so we are sticking it out and hoping that he will learn all things he needs to in a speedy kind of way.

Cody is on shift work. 12 hour days. When 8pm rolls around, I am basically running out the door..welcoming him home! haha. Yes, by that time, I am literally run down to the ground and in desperate need for recoup time. Cody comes in, in a happy mood most days..thank God...and takes over. Apparently his days consist of him sitting in a nice quiet room..oh the LUXURY! At this moment, Hailee is harassing the dog..and if Hailee isn't harassing the dog, the dog is harassing Hailee. And if neither of those two scenerios are happening, then Bubba starts in. I cannot tell you how THANKFUL I am, when the dog finally plops down and naps. I don't think I have ever been so happy for a nap time, in my life. haha. But, then, usually, if Hailee is home...right when the dog is good and napping, she picks him up and starts harassing him. *sigh* When none of the above is going on, I'm obsessing about the dog having to go potty or yelling at him to stop trying to chew on something. Okay, enough about this topic..just talking about it, stresses me out. Of course, it may be because the chaos is happening as I speak..so that doesn't help.

Hailee started school, week one DOWN. She is doing well. I think we got off to a bumpy start in the beginning of the week. She came home and said that the kids don't like her name, they don't want to play with her, and they don't want to be her friend. But now, it seems as though she is making friends, so that relieves me. This week they learned about living and non living things, bones, and how to treat each other. She says she loves school.

I'm taking a Biology course on the 26th, I'm excited about this, but I really hope things calm down at home. It's about that time now, where Cody should be on his way home..and believe me, I am counting down the minutes till he walks through that door! :)

Adios!
























































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Home Sweet Hizzzome!

I wish we could say we are settled, but our furniture and car still has not arrived. No worries, we should HOPEFULLY get everything very soon. Hopefully. Ha. It's the 20th of July, and we were told the 27thISH..so...crossing my fingers! I keep thinking about how NICE it's going to be to zoom around in my little cubical again! It'll be like a little slice of home. I never thought I'd fall in love with that little box, but it has grown on me. In the winter, I'll be able to use my cool little disco dashboard/cup holder lights, since supposedly the sunny days get shorter.That's assuming I'll actually get the little box to move in the snow, of course. It's also going to be nice to hook up my ipod in it, and listen to some REAL music! Ooooh, it's the little things.

I'm getting used to the whole driving thing. I haven't gone down a wrong street yet, *knock on wood*. Yesterday, in an attempt to find a salon that accepts visa cards w/o a smart chip in it, I went to downtown Lincoln..not sure if that's what it is called, but that is what I'll call it. I give myself major points for this little journey into town because it's full of one ways, and two ways on a single lane road, and just some other very confusing roads. I've been avoiding driving thru there, but the time came for me to do it yesterday. I tried to just stay with traffic, and if the gps suggested I went down a road that looked questionable(because the gps has been known to take me down some wrong way roads in the past), I would just keep going past it and let the gps reroute me. I could tell the gps was getting annoyed with my doing this, but it was for the better. I didn't want to end up on some one way road, going the wrong direction. I EVENTUALLY got to my destination, probably about 20 minutes after I should have. BUT, I got some experience driving around Lincoln, and some good scenery, so that's a plus. Also, if you ever visit England, be SURE to use your turn signals. This is very important. They REALLY don't like when you don't, and they will let you know!

All in all, I'm enjoying it here. Well, honestly, no I'm not. I'm trying to enjoy it the best that I can. It's amazing being in England, but then when you can't go anywhere and use your bank card, or ask if they take Visa and they look at you like your stupid, then you're really wishing you were back in America where you don't have to ask that question..99.9% of the time. Or, when you are driving and you really wish you could be on the left hand side of the car, on the right side of the road. OR, if you are looking for something particular in a store and they don't have it..and you really don't know where to go to get it..because if anywhere would have it, it'd be that particular store..and they don't HAVE IT! OR, it's 6 oclock in the evening and that's your potential "ME" time to go out to do some looking around, and then you realize everything closes at 5. OR, you're freezing and it's JULY. OR, it's now a warm day and you have no AC(which, it's really seldom warm, but we've had few days like that). OR, you would love to have internet, but the internet company can't get their crap together and give you a date when they can come out to connect it. So they keep telling you that they will call you the next day with a date, and they never do. OR, you are super hungry and wish there was an Olive Garden or an Applebees, and there isn't..and nothing here sounds good. OR you look at the britsh pound price and realize that you will pay much more than that price. Okay, well enough about venting about why I wish I was back in America...other than the obvious of, OKAY...I miss my dog and my family back home, are we done yet, here?

But really, I'm doing fine. Really. I'm grateful.

I must say, I love getting comments on my blog. I love logging in and seeing that I have comments that need to be moderated. On that note, I'd LOVE to know who is commenting on my blog, so PLEASE give me a hint or put your actual name. lol. One of the comments I got, was from someone named ME. So I clicked on their name "me", and it shows that they also have a blog, with one post. The blog is called "A place for me to scream" and then the title of the first post is conveniently called "My First Post" followed by "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!". Now, this post could very well be written by me, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. So, whoever you are, thanks for the comment! Would love to know who you are tho!! lol.

Well, that is all for now..I must attend to my children and start our day. I hope you all have a great one!!

*~*Jaimee*~*

I'm in ENGLAND!

As most of you know, we've been here for 2 weeks now! We spent the first week in a cottage at Watermill Farm. We really enjoyed staying there, it was really peaceful. However, we had to leave after a week because they had the place booked out for someone else. Cody was recommended another place, which we are currently staying at. It's nice, but it's weird because it's similar to that of a mother in law suite. We park in the owners driveway, and have to walk by their house windows to go to our cottage. It's just a little weird. The first cottage had a dryer, but this one does not. I started to just wash clothes and hang them up on hangers all over the house to dry, but that got old and I gave in. I found out where their clothes line was, which is in their backyard. Again, it's an odd feeling going in someone's backyard and hang my laundry in front of their windows. That didn't fly for long. hah! I was hoping and praying that we would find a house with a dryer soon! And we did!

We are moving into the house on Tuesday. The only downfall is that we don't have furniture/dishware(except a tv) and we don't have internet. We should have TV on Tuesday which is why we picked to move in on that day. I'm really excited to move in, though. It is so much more spacious than this cottage we are staying in. The kids love the backyard, and Hailee loves the fact that there are other kids to play with.

Yeah, so...we won't have internet until the 14th. Boo. I have internet on my phone so I'll be on every once in awhile to update everyone. But I'll miss skyping and being able to watch Casey Anthony trial snippets on youtube. Ah well.

I'm trying to get everything together to get Hailee enrolled in school. I found one school down the road from where we live. They only have 2 spots available for next year tho. However, the neighbors told us of another school that is across the street from the neighborhood. That would be great also. The whole school process is different here than it is in the states. She doesn't automatically go to the school because she lives near it. You have to try to get into a school. So I have to submit like 3 choices to the Lincolnshire County Council and wait for them to get back to me, or wait for the school to get back to me. It's interesting the way they do it. I just hope she gets in one of the schools that are close by.

We are liking it so far, here. We have been to a few pubs(during the day), and have become comfortable with picking things from the menu. We went into one pub that explained to us that they don't allow kids inside, we could sit outside, but they didn't have high chairs, and don't cater to kids. So we left, and went to a place called "Nosey Parker". It was in a bright orange building and was written in a similar font to "Hooters". Plus, it was called Nosey Parker, which to me sounds like an england version of the saying "Peeping Tom" hah! I thought for sure they weren't kid friendly, BUUUTTTTTT....they had a kids playground outside! It was a nice restuarant, but it only had 2 highchairs..so that was a bit of a pain.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, and I'm trying HARD to not think about it because I LOVE the 4th..and we have no plans. I'm really gonna miss the celebrations they do in the US. Boo. :( I'll be spending my day doing laundry, again. But oh well, even tho I may seem bummed, I am really having good days. I just will refrain from thinking it's the fourth of July.

Cody brought home some brownies today from Asda(which is part of the Walmart family). O..M..G. I like brownies, but these brownies are the BEST brownies I have tasted in my ENTIRE life. They are sooo yummy! I should tell Cody he is never allowed to bring them in the house again! ha! I really need to find a gym! I can't be eating like that and not working out. That's not the only junk I eat. They also have iced fingers, YUMMY! They remind me of the cinnamon buns I used to eat in high school.

Alright well, that's all I have to say for now..I feel like I have tons to say, but I'll get to it eventually!

Cheers! ;)