One Month Down...Eleven To Go!

One of the pitfalls of being a military wife is the single parenting involved. Unless you have a live in cook, nanny, chauffer, personal assistant, gardener, and maid, all these tasks are yours and yours alone. I did hire a housekeeper, which I LOVE. The company actually sends out two ladies. I will post about the conversations they have later. My Mom tells me some interesting stuff about the converstions the ladies have amongst themselves on housekeeper day. So now, I plan on leaving booby traps for them. Give them some stuff to really talk trash about.

We eat on the cheap the week our housekeeper comes but it is worth the sacrifice. Although, they are surprisingly affordable. I love coming home from work every other week and the house is super clean. Then 10 minutes later, it's trashed again. So for 10 minutes every other week, I get to enjoy what other houses must look like all the time. ;P I try to close my eyes and pretend the kids have taken their backpacks to their rooms, put their shoes in their closets, and their clothes are not strewn from the front door to the back of the house. This would qualify as my Calgon moment since I don't have time to actually soak in a tub. What is it with kids shedding every stitch they have on when they get home? Or is it just my kids? HM.......

The Army has granted the girls a scholarship for their gymnastics lessons while Joey is activated. Nice little benefit of military life. A couple lessons ago, they were working the uneven bars. The preschool age group, on the uneven bars, just dangle. They're too little to swing and sway and flip on the uneven bars, but they can take dangling to a whole new level of cute.

Jordan got to spend the weekend at Camp Grammy for the first time this month. You can't beat that as a reward to crossing the potty training finish line! NO MORE DIAPERS! My current favorite three little words, since Joey isn't here to pat my rear and say I love you. Jordan no longer requires Pull Ups, even when she sleeps. This has been a mile stone Joey and I have been looking forward to. And the first milestone he's missed due to his deployment.

I know deployment means Joey will miss milestones and events. In just the one month since I dropped him off, he's missed our 6th Anniversary and Mother's Day. Justin has embarked upon his Eagle Scout rank. This is an achievement boys must earn before they turn 18. Justin will be 18 in July. WOW! that sounds so weird out loud. Anywho, Joey and I met when Justin was almost 9. He jumped right in and was an active participant in Justins scouting activities, from the beginning. So Justin is busting his hump to get his project finished so Joey can see Justins scouting come full circle. If all goes as planned, Justin will be completely finished with his project and if council signs off on the paperwork, we can have the ceremony the two days Joey is home before he begins his year overseas.

I hope through this blog, Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Skype, texting, pictures in the mail, pictures over the phone, care packages, and phone calls we can keep up with each other. My hopes are to have him home without being a stranger in the house.