A little update

So I haven't written in a while to just update things. Those of you that also follow me on Facebook know that we found out where we are moving after Virginia. But before I go into that here is a little back story.
So two Fridays ago Jason received an email saying that he would be meeting with his HRC or human resource coordinator and it gave a list of possible assignments. They were allowed to pref five choices. I thought this was a little way of making us think that we had any control over our lives but it turns out they actually listened, more on that later. So we had our meeting on the 19th and I felt horrible after coming out of the meeting. We gave her our top 5 (1-Germany 2-Ft Irwin, CA 3-Alaska 4-Ft Lewis, WA 5-Ft. Campbell, KY). She said, "I think I can work something out of these!" I heard...you are going to Alaska. I didn't really want Alaska but somehow my husband convinsed me that it would be great...God answered my prayers and sent us elsewhere. So then the waiting game began...Friday around 5ish our BFF's (the Fairs) called to say that the emails went out and that they got their first choice...GERMANY! There will be a whole post on living an ocean apart from our besties!
Back to the story...so Jason opened the email and said "oh"...I thought great we are going to Alaska! He then says, "it isn't cold". I in return said, "NO RIDDLES TELL ME WHERE WE ARE GOING!"...

And the answer was...Ft. Irwin(our 2nd choice)! We are moving to California! Not just California but to the middle of the desert. It is about 2 hours from Vegas and 2 hours from LA. And 30 minutes to the nearest town. If anyone knows anyone that is/did deploy they may have gone to Irwin for NTC or National Training Center. This is where they train up in a similar atmosphere (climate and surroundings) as the Middle East and "play" soldier before the real thing. ( I was just informed that they do not PLAY they are serious!)

I am actually really excited and hope that it meets my expectations!

Some Clayton videos

These video's I have to say are very funny! He should be in commercials , I think he takes cues very well!

Richmond Zoo and James River Winery

Last weekend we drug Clayton to two of the wineries in the area. Turns out that VA has some really nice wine! So we decided that this weekend we would do something for Clayton and went to the Richmond Zoo. The zoo was nice but the weather was horrible. We got rained out and had to cut the trip but it was still really fun. We had taken Clayton a few months ago in Waco when we lived in Texas but this time he seemed so much more alert and interested in the animals and could even identify a few of them (bird=chicken and all other animals=puppy)

Sally the camel has two humps

That giraffe was so close. We got to feed and pet him. It was really neat

Clayton wasn't really sure what to think

This is the first time Clayton sat in a booster instead of a highchair. He did ok but I was nervous the whole time that he was going to fall out or pull everything off the table.

These were taken at the James River Winery. Great wine and beautiful Va scenery...I am going to miss it here!

Pictures of our apartment in Virginia

I figured this would be the easiest way to share the pictures of our apartment. And some random pictures of Clayton and us.

New Church

We decided to try finding a church this morning. We were going to go on post but while we were riding around Hopewell yesterday I saw their First Baptist and decided to check out their website. The website sold me and already felt welcomed and like I had found the kind of church I was looking for and was used to going to. So went and LOVED it! The sermon hit right at home and Jason and I both felt like we were in a church that was similar to our churches from our past. The congregation was little older than us...OK a lot older...but we loved that too. Oh and Clayton seemed to like the nursery also. We will definitely be going back there next week.

Kohls and the coffee pot

Let me start by saying that Jason gets up and fixes coffee at 0430, I get up and fix coffee at 0730. Therefore we were fixing coffee twice or I was drinking it cold. Solution....Hamilton Beach Brew Station Summit. I will let you check it out yourself but basically it is great. The coffee doesn't sit in a pot it is in a reservoir and will stay warm for 4 hours. Just what we needed plus it makes iced coffee for my 3 pm pick me up.

Pack track for a minute. Kohl's had a special where you got $10 Kohls cash for every $50 you spent. We got $50 dollars from our Roomba so I then had that $50 I knew I wanted to use on the coffee pot. I sat on this $50 for a bout a week even though I wanted to rush out and get the coffee maker. I was waiting until another Kohls 15% off everything sale. It happened this weekend in conjunction with Tax Free weekend in VA. So I headed to Kohls expecting to buy a coffee pot and some winter clothes for Clayton while they were tax free.

Original thoughts: Coffee pot- $70-15%= $59.50 - $50= $9.50
add some clothes (2 pants, 4 shirts that would go with either pant, jacket)
I was thinking about $100 at minimum

Out come: Total spent........$73
Total saved:......$175
I finally met my goal of more saved then spent....now if I could just do it with groceries!

Week in review

Nothing too exciting happened this week except the ear infection which we do not feel is a fixed situation. Clayton still constantly pulls on his ears but he is sleeping through the night but I feel like that might be because I cracked down on his schedule and he is drugged. . .

Monday: I took Clayton to the Dr (already blogged on that subject). Then we had lunch with Jason and Andrew at a BBQ place on post, by "we" I mean Angie, Clayton and I. The food was good but it was the first place i had even been that did not have a high chair...weird?!? So he sat in a big boy chair and did just fine. Oh I forgot to mention that at the Dr. Clayton has moved up to the standing scale. He thought he was really cool. Now at home he is always trying to weigh himself.

Tuesday: We were supposed to go to a play hour thing on post but the Dr suggested that he stay at home as much as possible for a few days and let the medicine settle in his system. So maybe next week! I was also supposed to go to spouses "coffee" (social gathering for spouses, we usually actually don't drink coffee but the "Old Army" terms still linger) but it was canceled.

PS- Clayton is walking around behind me doing the 2 finger nose pick...GROSS!

Wednesday: On Wednesday mornings Chick-Fil-A does a Bible Story hour. It was pretty fun. The children that Clayton sat with were really annoying and loud so he paid more attention to them then the story. We recapped when we got home. I love that CFA does things like that!

Thursday: OK so most of you who read this know that I am a super planner and pretty obsessive about everything. So I took the fact that we had nothing planned as a good excuse to drag Clayton around to scope out the local grocery stores. My findings : Kroger is still a top runner and Food Lion came in a close second. FL is currently running a buy 6 milks get the seventh free special. We go through 2 gallons a week easy so that will be great. You can do this special as many times as you can until the end of October. Plus, I went on the FL website and took this game/quiz and got a coupon for a dollar off and milk/ cheese product! Another great thing happened this day....our Roomba came! Clayton is terrified of it but other than that it seems to be worth the money and has shaved some valuable time off of my cleaning. After we were finished playing with the Roomba we had a cookout with the Fairs and another couple in the complex that goes to school with Jason and Andrew. As much as love the Fairs it is nice to have other people's stories to hear and someone else to tell our stories to...they just came from Italy so they had some great stories!

Friday: The library on post hosts a story/craft hour every Friday so we checked it out and it was a blast! Then we went to lunch with Jason and Andrew in their food court which was also fun. Another event happened Friday night but it requires it's own post.

Day 1 of the Zyrtec

This is how I found him the next morning....look later and you will see that he is laying the wrong way!

Clayton stated his Zyrtec on Monday night. When he woke up Tuesday morning I realized that was the first night he had slept through the night since Jason came home. I'm not sure if it is the medicine working and therefore no ear infection pain or if he is drugged either way he slept! However, I did have to wake him up which was not easy and he was silent (NOT HIM) and lethargic all morning. I hated it! Although it was nice to have some quiet that was not the personality of my baby. After his morning nap though he woke up fine and each morning it has taken less and less time for him to adjust. After the first day I was considering revisiting the Dr and asking for something different but now everything has seemed to work itself out and I think we are going to stick with it...until the next appointment ( on the 19th) and then we will see if his pediatrician agrees.

1st Dr visit in VA

In April, Clayton had an ear infection that lasted a month and through 2 antibiotics. His pediatrician at Ft Hood said that is could have been there for a while and was just missed. At the time I felt horrible, I still do. He never changed his personality at all and did not show any typical signs of infection until his birthday weekend when he started running a fever and stopped sleeping through the night. I thought the sleeping through the night thing was because Jason had come from Iraq a few weeks before and we had had company for 2 weeks. It turns out that it was because of the infection.

When we left he had a little fluid in his ears and the dr said to take him in when we got here so I took him in today. He has another ear infection and the dr. said that his allergies are the main cause and that his allergies are going crazy. She then put him on Zyrtec and Zithromax. If the Zithromax doesnt work and there is still fluid in 2 weeks then we will go to the ENT and discuss putting tubes in his ears.

I really liked the pediatrician here and I hope that we get this problem fixed...I dont want my baby to have surgery but I would rather do it and help him feel better.

Couponizer Day 1

So I guess I will be brave enough to share the results of the shopping trip.

Total balance: 156.53
Kroger Plus card discount:22.70
Coupon Savings: 16.20
Bonus (double) coupons : 1
Total Savings: 39.90

after savings the final bill was 116.63 so although my goal of having more savings than spending I think I did pretty well. I am considering adding all the savings up and buying myself something really nice...or just put the money in savings...who knows

Finally some pictures

Clayton sitting on the couch...he got up there all by himself ^
His new bath tube

The Cucumber tree...2nd oldest tree like this in the world

Preppy boys at the mall

Sporting some major GA pride in VA

The 2 finger nose pick

My dad and his grandsons

Clayton in a closet...?

Landon, Clayton, Madison...TROUBLE

Ummm

New hair cut

Pre new haircut

So the pictures are going the wrong way chronologically but here they are....I am really going to update more often...pinky promise

Coupon Clipper Extraordinaire

As I was looking at a friends blog I somehow ended up on another person's blog and they were talking about this organizer called a Couponizer. I thought organization+coupons+ grocery shopping= my favorite things. So I did some research on the Couponizer and discovered that I HAD to have one. It came in the mail last week and I have been patiently awaiting Sunday (coupons in the Sunday paper and grocery day). I just finished my list and getting my coupons in their little holders and I am ready for today's trip to Kroger.

If my next post does not mention the Couponizer or how much I saved....it was not a good trip