Yes we are still here....we have just been super busy with vacations, and enjoying summer!!! We head to Utah this week and I can't wait....so look for updates when we get back in 2 1/2 weeks!

safe and sound......

Jason has made it to Iraq safe and sound......

Here are a few pictures he sent has sent me so far.......Oh how I miss this man...but I couldn't be more proud! Love you and MISS you Jason!

Getting ready for a training exercise......

Not sure where they are at this point....couldn't tell me!

When they first got to Iraq this is where they were sleeping.....

We Love our SOLDIER!!!

The day finally came. Jason has left and I'm pretty much at loss of words. I can barely see through all the tears right now, so this is going to be brief......now I'm not saying this for people to feel sorry for me.....its just how it is for me right now, I know in a few days I'll be fine, me and the kids will get in a routine and life will go on. But for now and for a few days, I'm going to cry as much as I want, sit in my PJ's, have cereal for dinner,  lounge around all day and watch movies with my kids.  So with that here a few pictures from today.....

Jason packing.....

This was the hardest part of the day.....saying Goodbye!

I love you Jason! We are so PROUD of you and come home safe!

Weekend Getaway......

We had an amazing Memorial Weekend! We decided instead of sticking around post, we would head up to Tucson for a little weekend getaway, my mom got us in at the JW Marriott and I have to say, it was AMAZING, we spent almost all our time at the pool swimming with the kids, eating at the poolside lounge, and getting some much needed sleep(the kids took 3 hour naps for us)! We had perfect weather, the kids behaved and we got some much needed family time in, with all the stress of getting ready for Jason to leave this was just what we needed! We hope you all had a fun and safe Memorial Weekend!

This is the view from our room!

This is also the view we had from our room!

Typical family picture......why can't the kids at least be looking at the camera?!?

I'm sure gonna miss this man.... =( Please let this next year go by fast!!!

A little Daniel Update......

We have been pretty busy around here getting Daniel into all his specialist and trying to get all his medical transfered down here, but I think we are on track now...but with good news there seems to always be bad news with us. We took Daniel to see a Pediatric Neurologist, and we finally got approved to get some extensive Genetic testing done, maybe now we finally can get some answers as to why Daniel was born the way he was, or what the future holds for him!Then we saw his Orthopedic Surgeon, and after more x-rays and hours in the office, we found out he needs MORE surgery.....UGH! Poor little guy.....we got lucky last time where he only needed it on one foot, but this time they want to do BOTH! As difficult as that was to hear, I know its going to help him and I know he needs it! I just hate seeing my little boy go through this! But he is a STRONG little boy, and despite what has been given to him, he always faces it head on and remains the happiest little boy ever!

So today things became real for us.....Today was the Casing of the Colors and Farewell Ceremony....{sigh}......so now we are just trying to enjoy every last minute of our time together. We are headed to Tucson this weekend, my mom was able to get us in at the JW Marriott, so we are taking off and enjoying a weekend of swimming, laying out, and playing with the kids, with no interuptions of house cleaning, cooking, or any chore for that matter....a complete weekend of pure enjoyment! 

Vegas Baby!!

 This last week we met up with my parents up in Vegas for one last vacation before Jason leaves.....and I must say it was a BLAST! We went swimming, lounged around, did some shopping, and of course enjoyed all the yummy food Vegas has to offer! Thanks Mom and Dad for inviting us and for giving me and Jason some "us" time as well!

My parents took the kids for us Thursday night so we could have a little date night. We first headed out to dinner, walked the strip for a bit, did some shopping at the Forum Shops then headed to the MGM grand where Jason took me to see KA! It was amazing....I highly recomend it! But it was a perfect night, and boy am I going to miss this man when he's gone!!! Love you Jason and thank YOU for always making me feel SO special!

Oh....and then to top of the night I got one of these! We are getting it engraved so I actually don't have it yet (but Tuesday I will!!) but as we were walking through the Forum Shops he led me into Tiffanys I thought we were just going to do our usual window shopping but when I found something I liked I looked at him and gave him that I want this look, and I was expecting to hear "NO" but instead he said without hesitation "YES!!!" Does he know how to spoil me or what!?!?!

ok.....We are gonna try this again

So a while back I had my blog private, and I hated it, always having to log in, and I kept having people email me and say they couldnt log in, so I went public again, then I noticed some strange people looking at my blog and so I decided to try and do the private thing again, and well.....same problem. And as much as I'm gonna hate it and well I don't even know if anyone really looks at my blog anymore.......(I facebook way more than I blog,) but I continue to blog for Journal purposes....but with that, Jason has asked me to take the blog private again. With him leaving for Iraq in a month, we really don't want all the crazies out there to know I'm all by myself with a husband deployed and have access to all my emotional ups and downs that will come with this deployment. So I'm not sure exactly when I'm going to do this.....most likely it will be within the next week or so. I still have my list from before, but if you are a new reader and want to continue taking a look, leave me your email so I can add you!

I took one look at her and just starting laughing, it was just the cure I needed when having a NOT SO good day. This little girls just seems to know when I'm having an off day, or just one of those days, because without fail, she always seems to find a way to snap me out of it! I just love this little girl!

My little Helper!

Brielle absolutley LOVES helping me clean.....whether its dusting, sweeping, or cooking, she LOVES to help! Now if only we can keep this going into her school age years! Because I know one of these days she isn't going to want to be as helpful!

As you probably remember from one of my previous posts, that my backyard is well......SCARY, so while I work on that, I thought well, my backyard is a disaster, I can at least make the front of my house presentable.....so i made a trip to Lowe's and I probably went a little overboard, but at least the front of my house looks good, now I just need to get the backyard to look the same.......

The House

I remember talking to Jason about Army housing, and it scared the CRAP out of me, I have heard some pretty scary stories of Post Housing, and just how run down they are. Well, all my worries and stressing I guess were for nothing, because we got pretty lucky. The military is now going to Privatized housing, which means, better homes, and NEW homes! No more living in homes that were built in the 60's! The only thing I'm having to get use to, is NO CARPET! That's right, there isn't carpet in a single room in this house, so we have had to buy A LOT of rugs! I guess it helps with cost issues with how many people move in and out of these houses. At first I hated it, but I'm use to it now. These aren't the best pictures, but I thought I would post a few of the house....So, Enjoy!

The kitchen

Part of the living room area......I haven't finished decorating or putting pictures up, so this is what I have so far......

This is the view from the back door to the front door



more of the kitchen......


This is as you walk in the front door



The laundry room and Gingers Home..... Nothing fancy or special

HELP

Okay....so we moved into our house here on Post and we LOVE the house, but the YARD IS A DISASTER! The people that lived here before us did not take care of a thing! I swear we have more weeds than grass, and then the grass we do have looks like its pretty much dead. So here is my question to all you homeowners or anyone that knows anything about lawns. Where do I even start?!?! I have never had to deal with a lawn like this before, and because i know we will most likely be moving in a few years, and the house isn't actually "ours" I don't want to spend a whole lot of money, but I also want a decent looking yard and somewhere I can let my kids play and not worry about a weed infested mess! Now I say decent looking because I know I can't get it perfect and because I don't want to spend a fortune on this thing, but seriously this yard is embarrassing! I put a weed killer down, and I have noticed some of the weeds wilting.....but seriously there are so many I don't think applying a weed killer is going to work, and I can't even think about seeding this yard until we get rid of these weeds, and so I'm wondering is there no hope??? So here are a few pictures of the yard.....Don't judge...well, actually you can judge, because I judge the people that lived here before me, I mean seiously!! So any advice would be MUCH appreciated!

I have been watering this thing for over a week and it still looks like this...... UGH

here is a close up of a section where its pretty much all weeds...... Scary!

and this is even after i put the weed killer on it!

and the countdown begins......

All I can really say is I sure hope these next 2 months go by as SLOW as possible!

Jason leaves in 2 months! (sigh) I pray everyday that I will have strength to get through this next year ALONE with 2 VERY active kids, and a new puppy! Now onto my HUGE list of to do's I want to get done before he leaves! So let the countdown begin.....

We would like you to meet.......

-Ginger-
The newest member of the Carroll Family!

Ever since Jason and I were married we have wanted a puppy.....but considering we have always rented that made it almost impossible....but now that we live on Post and in a house, so we decided it was time! We had been looking for awhile and last weekend we were up in Tucson and saw this cutie and just knew we needed to take her home! She's 13 weeks old and absolutley adorable! We have only had her 3 days but we are attached! Sorry about the lack of pictures or not so good pictures......but she is a very active and curious little puppy and I haven't had much time to pull the camera out, or let alone do anything for that matter......its almost like having a newborn all over again!

Brielle insists on sitting in her babies stroller while watching movies...... gotta have your laptop while watching the morning news........this girl cracks me up, her latest thing.....imitating mommy and daddy!!

This last week has been pretty busy, we had Jason's Dad here for the weekend for a visit, and we finally were able to get a lot done around here....as well as spend a lot of money! Its kind of sad when the sales people at Lowes start to recognize you.....as we were checking out the cashier went a head and just gave us our 10% military discount because she recognized us! But I think we are finally starting to feel like we are home, we got the kids rooms painted, and finally got our garage cleaned out so we can park in it..... now all we have left is to paint the kitchen and living room and maybe one of these days I'll finally get my pictures up. Maybe..... But we are loving it down here and most of all we are loving being together again! Even if its only for a few more months.....(sigh) Yes, we are about 99% sure, but Jason will be deploying in June..... I'll have more details later, but for now I want to focus on our time with Jason right now and not think about him leaving again.

A special visitor

This last weekend we had a SPECIAL visitor.....Granpa Carroll! He was out in Yuma for Business, and so he extended his trip and came out our way! We had a great time with him, he helped us finish A LOT of projects around the house! I don't think we could ever thank him enough for all he did and helped us with this weekend! So THANK YOU again! We love you and miss you already Grandpa Carroll and we can't wait to see you again this summer!

Daniel

Seriously??? Is this my little boy! Where did my baby boy go?? Yes, i know he needs a haircut, but with moving, school, and getting the house done I haven't had time....so don't judge...but despite that I think he's just handsome! I love this little boy more than words can say! He lights up my day but at the same time he drives me absolutely crazy! He has developed into an amazing little boy and I am the luckiest mom in the world to have such an adorable and fun loving and handsome little boy! These last 6 months he has taken off developmentally and I couldn't be more proud of him. He is really trying to communicate with us, as he is starting to sign. Still no luck with talking, but just like everything else he has done I'm sure it will happen in time, and on his time....as much as I try and get him to do things he just does them when he wants to and when he's ready....I pushed and pushed him to crawl and no luck...then at 21 months he just did it one day....then with walking I tried and tried and then 1 month before his 3rd birthday he just did it...so I'm hoping that just doing our everyday schedule and reading to him and Pre School that one day he'll just start talking.....but if not...I'm okay with that as well. He has started at his new school here on Post and LOVES it, the first week was a bit tough and he was upset a lot, but now that he gets to ride the bus and has gotten in the swing of things he is loving it! We love this little boy more than anything, and even as challenging as it is to raise a child with special needs......I couldn't imagine my life without him, he is the little angel in our home! We love you Daniel!

99.8% of the time this is how he is.....Happy as can be, laughing and just making my day that much better!

he thinks he doesn't need naps anymore.....but I beg to differ!