The House

We've been living in our house for about a month and a half so i guess its time for pictures. I finally got batteries for the camera and got them charged so the camera has been fired up and ready for use.



Here is the house from the street. I love the covered porch and when cools down in the fall hopefully we will use it more. There is a great view of the sunset from there and with the mountains it is beautiful.

Here is a view of the mountains from the front yard, its a great view I will try to get more pictures of it to share later.






These are pictures of out two huge ant hills in our front yard. The pictures really don't do them justice, they are big. And there are usually tons of ants. On the 1st picture there is white stuff around the outside that the ants have been carrying in their hole, it really cool to watch them. I would love to see the inside, I bet there are hundreds of chambers and tunnels. They start form the neighbors yard and come across our drive way and the yard from one hole to another. Who needs an ant farm inside when God gives you this in the front yard!!



Here is a picture of this innocent looking plant that looks fuzzy and cute...IT'S NOT. Poor Ashlyn, not knowing, touched it with both her hands and ended up with two hands full of splinters. That was interesting getting them all out. She was freaking out so we had to wait till she was asleep to pull them all out. We all learned a vital lesson, don't touch the foliage in California!!!!!

Here is the living room. I will soon be removing those curtains when the landlords put up blinds. They were a temp fix to fight the brutal sun that comes thought that window.

Here is the left side of the living room and the hallway back to the bedrooms and computer room.



This is the dining room and kitchen from the family room (picture below). I got this table right before we moved so I didn't get to use it till we got here. I really like it. I like the tile floors and counter tops, I have never had them before.

This picture is a dark, sorry. This is my favorite room, the family/school room. The toys and books and school stuff is in here. Antonio and I both got our hearts desire with this room. I like the house to be filled with learning so it can happen all the time and he likes is to have a home so with this room I feel like the kids are still with us and not tucked away in a bedroom playing and he get the stuff having a home.


Devin in the rocking chair getting ready to start a tea party with Ashlyn.

mmmmm...yummy tea



An update on me and baby. I am definitely feeling pregnant, got super nauseous and dizzy after taking my prenatal yesterday. I think I'm switching to chewables!! I feel like things are progressing, I have the lower ligament pain often and I get tired really easy. I nap almost everyday. I have and appt. on Friday and I think I get a dating ultrasound so I will let you all know the due date then. My guess is the end of March, which is funny cause that will give us February, March, and April birthdays and the last two will be with in weeks on each other. I guess its good to knock um all out at the beginning of the year, Antonio says it right around tax return time.

Slower Pace Around Here...

Well for those I haven't spoken too since last Saturday, we've been on a emotional roller coaster around here. Most of you know we've been wanting to have another child and we didn't think that happened this month. But was having some weird stuff going on, spotting and cramping after my period and the cramping getting concerning on Saturday, I took a test and it was positive. So I spent 4 hours in the ER, got my hormone levels measured and an ultrasound. Baby was still in there and my hormone levels were nice and high, looks like I'm about 5 weeks. Then I went back and got blood drawn again on Monday so they could see if the hormone levels rose like they should be during pregnancy, and on Tuesday I found out they did rise. We've had two miscarriages in the past and the last one before Devin and this one have too many similarities for me to be set on the idea that everything is OK. The last miscarriage they followed me all the was till 6 weeks and it seemed everything would be fine and then I went for my check up at 11 weeks and they did an ultra sound and the baby's heartbeat had stopped. So I am defiantly taking care of myself like i should and praying to be peaceful and surrendered, cause we don't know what the outcome will be. God's will is always done and sometimes his will isn't the positive outcome and I know that I have to be patient and wait. That is really hard at times, its difficult not to look to much into things like today I'm not as tired or moody as I have been then last couple days so I keep thinking every now and then what if my hormone levels are dropping? I was reading in a book that being truly surrendered to god and it is a daily battle in dealing with this. This is truly out of my control and all we can do is wait. So we have been taking it east, trying to listen to my body if i feel tired or crampy. The beginning of the week was tough, the kids were having a hard time and so was I. Today seems better, like i said I don't feel so tense and grouchy. Having to rest more also showed me that I need to stick to my daily routine cause it looked like a tornado hit and i didn't have the energy to do anything with it and my poor husband, being the neat freak that he is, came home from work and cleaned everything. So today I am determined to keep up and not let it all go crazy around here and still rest.

We also decided that we are not moving. Housing can only hold our house for seven day past the available day and we were going to see if we could find a tenant, but decided that it doesn't seem worth it and after a small tid bit of advice (thanks Tracey) that maybe God didn't want us to move. Both me and Antonio probably had this in our brains but I guess sometimes it take a person or two to actually say it to you to get it threw. So we decided that we are gonna stay put for the next year and then see what looks like the best decision. After all the stuff happening around here with the baby I honestly do not feel like moving anyways. Well that's all for now...

The Latest

We have been trying to get on a normal routine around here and we are getting there slowly but surely. Last Tuesday we were able to go to our first live children type performance. Sesame street is doing a new type of mini show for the military about deployment and homecomings and injured service men. It was fun, it lasted about 30 minutes and they had lots of literature and pamphlets and all that. It was free and is at each base they go too. The kids had a great time.

I am in the process of deciding on curriculum, and I am pretty sure we are going to go with Sonlight, for those of you who aren't familiar its a literature based program that involves reading a lot of older books. Not the greatest description but all i can manage at the moment. I was excited to see that they offer payment plans for a small fee, cause they are a little pricey.

Oh and we got offered a house on base today, I drove through the neighborhood and it is a new development. I looks really nice. Now we just have to get out of our lease, we didn't realize that this one where we live now wasn't a flexible one. Most of the properties this company has is and that why the base recommends them, so we will see what Gods plan is for us in the next few days.

Well that's all for now...toodles

Devin and the 4 Wheeler

I found the pictures from our trip and will try to post as much as I can.

These are of Devin's first 4 wheeler ride. I was a little nervous about letting him ride one but with Daddy's gentle persuasion and a helmet I agreed. You should have seen this crazy child of mine, pressing the gas a hard as he could (it was on the handle) flying down grandpa's rode. I was freaking out. He has a very adventurous spirit. No timidity problems here, my goodness. he did look quite adorable and way too grown up. Where did these four years go?

Fun filled (Extended) Weekend

Antonio got off around 2:00 pm on Wednesday so we have had an extended weekend. On Thursday we decided to skip homeschool group and hang with Dad. We went to the Joshua Tree National Park Visitors Center and browsed around. I am wanting to get some books that have pictures and information about the native wildlife and plants, I didn't really want to spend 20 bucks so i didn't get any. But they did have a cool coloring book of native plants and animals for $3.95 so we got that instead. Then we went to a local coffee shop next door and got some java and smoothies. It was a really cute place and I want to go back and get the Mediterranean platter. It looked so yummy, it had olives and some sort of lentil soup looking things and hummus and pitas, and stuffed grape leaves. I probably am not doing the poor plate any justice, i promise it did look really good. Then we went to the local health food store in search of wheat berries and yeah for me they carry them in bulk. I was excited. I had assumed no one really carried them around here and was going to order them online, but i found them for cheaper at that store and i don't have to wait. Later that night we all went to our first drive in movie, we saw Kung Fu Panda, which aside from the movie glorifying the pandas overweight problem (I am not putting down anyone who is overweight, I am in that boat, but I don't think it should be glorified either) it was a cute movie. It being our first drive in we were not really as prepared as some of the veteran drive in goers. Some people came equipped with air mattresses and pillows other had their folding chairs and some just pillows and blankets to lay in the back of their trucks with. We just sat in the front of our truck and watched, but the air mattress in the back with pillow looked like fun so we are going to try that next time.

On Friday morning I cant for the life of me remember what we did, but that night we of course went to the fire works. The base here really puts a lot of effort into family fun. They had jumpy houses and slides, a live band, and lots of local companies were giving away freebies. This event was open to the public so the food wasn't free, but I heard that normally when its just for military they just give the food away. The fireworks we awesome, the best I've seen as an adult, our church group met there together and we had lots of fun.

Saturday we got up bright and early and had a play date at the park with a lady i met at the commissary. It was a nice day not to hot only around 101 and there was a breeze that felt a little cooler. The kids had a great time, we brought bats and balls, soccer balls, and snacks and water. It was great. Then Saturday night we went to see Prince Caspian on base. We thought it was free but unfortunately we had to pay. I was so bummed cause it really broke our budget, he he he just kidding it was only a $1 per person and that included our drink. Like I said they have great stuff on base around here. Oh and the snack bar stuff was reasonably prices, we had our dinner there. The movie was pretty good, intense with more evil, but a really good movie. There was a kissing scene at the end, quick, but Ashlyn had noticed and had questions. Granted it was rated PG-13 but I thought that was for the violence. Anyways it was great, I do want to read all the books and I want to find out if Disney just added that part or if it was actually in there.

Whew my fingers are tired, so i shall go. As soon as i find our trip pictures i will post them and batteries are my list so hopefully soon there will be some pictures of the house.

New LInk

I wanted to point out that I put a link on the side bar titled "Check out the temperature in Twentynine Palms" in case you were intersested what the temps get like in the desert. Bye