Dragon Awards!

Today Cory received two awards at school. One was for Perfect Attendance and the other was for Citizenship. Cory hasn't been at this school very long but he has not missed a day since he's been there. He's done so well waking up every morning and getting off to school. This is his very first Perfect Attendance award!!! His other award was for Citizenship. Helping in the class, being on his best behavior and always following the class rules!! He was so excited when he realized he was getting two awards...he had no idea!! Neither did we!!

Here he is going up to receive his Perfect Attendance award!!

All the kids who recieved a Perfect Attendance award!!

Going up to receive his Citizenship award!!

ALL of the kids who received the Citizenship award!!!

Playing at the Park

Last Sunday after Church the kids and I joined Jeannie, Rob and the girls at the park. We went to ride bikes and walk around the park. Well, Caiti's bike was not cooperating! Poor Rob kept having to fix it but by the 3rd try we gave up, haha!! Caiti just decided to run after Maddie while she rode her bike!! Gracie and Cory just took off without us around the park!! Rob kept up with Maddie and Jeannie and I just kind of cruised behind enjoying a nice chat while walking. I really enjoy spending time with them. They are such a wonderful family and so much fun to be around!! After our walk/bike ride around the park the kids wanted to play at the park and since it was a little hot outside we let the kids completely soak themselves with water!! They had sooo much fun with that!!!

They were so much fun to watch!!

Still Staying Active...

Well, it's been one week exactly since I became "Active" and what a week it has been!! I absolutely LOVE this program!!! I have nothing bad to say about it. So far I have burned around 450 calories and I have lost 4 pounds!! I am now 159 pounds and I have lost an inch on my waist!!! It feels great!! This week I have ran a total of 25 laps and learned many new techniques...cardio boxing being one that has really kicked my butt!!! My energy level has increased and I am back to craving a workout everyday when I wake up. However, I do not work out everyday. It gives me a calendar and has my workout days planned for me with certain goals I need to reach. It will tell me what days I workout on and what days I rest on. If I miss a day that I was supposed to workout (just as I did yesterday...due to errands!) it automatically switches that day with another rest day and moves that workout to what was supposed to be my rest day so I really don't miss a workout at all. I have recieved 5 trophies, haha!! I am 23 days into my 30 day challenge and I figure if I average losing 4 pounds a week I will lose around 16 pounds in one month and that is so exciting to think about!!!

I am super proud of myself!!

Dinner with New Friends!

After the pool I joined my new friends here for a girls night out. We went to Joes Crab Shack. I have never been there and was a little unsure because I thought it was all seafood but Nelly assured me that they had other things I could eat (she doesn't like seafood either, lol). So I left my kiddos at home with Daddy for a few hours and headed out. It was so nice to be able to have some adult time without having to keep my kids under control!!

Let me introduce these ladies because I'm sure over our next 3 years here you will see more and more of them. Lauren (far left, next to me), Anna (direct middle) and Nelly (pink shirt). The other girl is Courtney...she has known Anna and Lauren for years and she was our waitress for the night. These girls are a lot of fun and I look forward to spending more time with them...family time or more girls nights!! hee hee!!

Anna and Nelly both cannot drink for the next 9 month (hint hint, lol) so Lauren and I were the only ones able to have a drink. I took complete advantage because I was not driving and I had no kids with me!! Lauren and I both ordered margaritas and they were super yummy!!! Laurens drink had pop rocks in it which I thought was really cool!!

I had a lot of fun and I am so glad these ladies invited me to join them. It was really nice!!

Pool Time!

This past weekend we joined some friends at the pool on base. The kids had been begging me over and over to go swimming and we finally went!! They were so happy!! We joined Anna, Nelly and Sean (Nelly's son). Cory was really happy to see Sean and I'm sure the feeling was mutual! Nelly and her family were stationed in 29 Palms with us and her husband was also a part of 2/7 with Jason. Sean and Cory played a lot together when they were stationed there so Cory was happy to see a familiar face. They played in the pool for about 2 1/2 hours before the Virginia clouds started to roll in and it started to get a little breezy which made things a little cooler.

Sean and Cory kept squirting Anna with the water guns so Anna retaliated! LOL!! She dunked them both in the water!!

Wind, Rain and...HAIL!!!!

So we had our first big storm here this afternoon which actually brought hail!! It was pretty nasty outside for about an hour. I'm sure to the locals here it wasn't a very big storm but to us it was BIG! The kids were sitting at the window just watching the rain and then the hail started. They were so confused as to what hail was, haha! I tried to explain but me myself was not very hail educated, lol!! I opened the back door so they could see it when it landed and they were amazed!!

This picture is very blurry but this is the hail we had today.

I love when the rain rolls thru!!

Diorama #2

He's a pro now! Cory already did a shoebox diorama while at Condor Elementary in 29 Palms. He did such an awesome job on that one and here he is with his 2nd shoebox diorama in less than 5 months! This time he did it on the Sand Tiger Shark and he did it in class so I had no idea what it was going to look like. Parents were invited to come and view their childs work in class. When I arrived it was like a Diorama show! All the kids had their desks pushed up against the walls and they all had their work on display. As you walked around the classroom each child gave you a brief description as to what their diorama was all about. It was really cool! Cory did a really good job...even better than last because he was experienced, haha!!