Miss. Molly visited Santa!

We got a suprise on Sunday! Beckie, Molly's Nana, came to visit and brought us a Christmas card from Molly AND...when she kept Molly for us just after Thanksgiving she had bought Molly a Christmas dress and had Molly's picture made with Santa! They are SO good! What a great gift!!!!! Of course I'm sharing them with all of you here on the blog. Is she not precious?! Beckie said that when she took Molly's leash off she went right to Santa. Santa was amazed at how she did her tricks for him. She is such a prissy thing! Check out the pics and you will see what I mean.
She will pose for a picture better than my kids will!

Tell me that aint the cutest thing you ever did see?!?!

Well, Monday the couple did not come see the house. The wife went back to FL to be with her children and the husband is a Pilot in the Airforce and had to fly out unexpectedly. Our house is still in the running but they have not made any decisions yet. Keep praying! We ended the day by meeting Aunt Carol in Lee's Summit for dinner and then we went to Wal-Mart...AGAIN! We went Sunday night at 10pm to avoid the crowds. Then we went again Monday night and left there at 10pm.

Tuesday...I woke up at 4am and could NOT sleep! I was frustrated and after tossing and turning for an hour and my mind running 100 MPH I got up. I went to the living room to start wrapping presents. Larry woke up when he realized I was not in bed and came looking for me. He was still sleepy but insisted in staying up with me. He was "helping" me in way of giving supporting comments. You know like, that package looks great and you are doing such a good job. Just joking of course. He would help but I'm a little OCD when it comes to stuff like that. I have an order in which I wrap, I make sure the seam matches when it meets up, I make sure every single thing is wrapped (even stocking stuffers...everything but the candy), I cut the paper like a puzzle so that I don't waste paper....I know you are laughing and rolling your eyes right now. I can't help it...I'm sick like that! Anyway, I wrapped for a couple hours then made breakfast. We decided to lay back down around 7:15 and it took forever to go to sleep but we did get a couple more hours sleep in.

We also went out today to do last minute shopping. Well, let me rephrase that, ALL of our shopping has been last minute. It's a crazy life we lead...it's sometimes very frustrating but it's never boring! We were out with winter mix coming down and it was freezing quickly. It is supposed to do more of that tonight and maybe tomorrow.

I got all my orders finished and out and on time! Yeaaaaa! I still have to stitch some stuff for my kids and redo something for a friend of mine.

I need to go and begin to unwind. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I have to wrap stocking stuffers, bake a cake, prep for Christmas dinner, etc etc etc!

If I don't get to blog tomorrow....Merry Christmas to all of you from the Parr's. We pray for a Blessed 2009!

kdp

Catching up...Finally!

Oh my am I behind?!?!

As usual, things with us are crazy and very fast paced.

For starters, the house is still for sale. We are planning to meet with our Realtor on the 29th and begin listing the house in Jan. Well, this morning she called at 9:30 and she has a family that is moving to Whiteman Airforce Base which is only about 10 miles from our house. The wife had flown in to Kansas City to see some houses. Kitty, our realtor, called and asked if she could go ahead and show it since the lady was here. Of course we said yes and for the next hour or so did the flight of the bumble bee and cleanded as fast as we could. Larry got home Friday night from Ft. Riley and I was so glad he was here to help! Anyway, she liked the house and Kitty called back this evening and the husband will be here on Monday and they want to come back. We are trying not to get excited but of course we would LOVE to see this work out and it would simply be all the Christmas present we want or need. Please keep praying for us!

Larry has been hard at work at his new job. He and I both have been back and forth some trying to spend some time together. He has been in hotels and in the Lodging (hotel) on post. He is really tired of that kind of living. He is home now on leave and when he goes back I'm going with him, house sold or not. Times are tough and not being together is not helping. Our time together is precious and there will soon come a day when we are apart for quiet a while. Until then, I want all the time together that we can possibly have!

Christmas....it's coming way too fast. My business is doing well and I've been working a lot to get orders out on time. As of now, I only have orders to do that are local to me and I have to finish the things I am making for the kids. I got my families stuff in the mail on time but my friends will be getting New Years gifts instead of Christmas. I know they understand but the real thing is, they know I'm making them things so they are willing to wait! Ha! They might be fooled! I always put my tree up right after Thanksgiving...not this year. After Thanksgiving I went to Riley so there when some days. When I returned home from Riley, I was sick sick sick! I've just gotten over it and am feeling better in the last few days. So I was sick and trying to work to get orders out. Needless to say, the tree was on the bottom of the list. Plus, I couldn't get it up from the basement alone. So, right now, on Dec 20th, my living room has a naked tree and there are ornaments and such everywhere! I've always thought that on movies and TV that is is so stupid that they are always decorating a tree on Christmas Eve and I think, "What a waste of time for 24-48 hours!?" Well this year...I'm the idiot putting up the tree 5 days before Christmas. I just couldn't not have a tree for the kids. Our lives are so messed up right now the least I could do was drag out the tree. Maybe tonight, it will be naked no more!

Yeaaaa, I've updated the blog and now the hate email will stop, including from my husband! Just joking, I'm glad to know that people actually read and keep up with us.

Keep all the soldiers and their families in your thoughts and prayers during the holidays. It's an exciting time of year but when you are missing a key player in your family, it's not as exciting.

Love to all!

Gobble Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving! We have much to be thankful for! We have our issues like; needing to sell our house BUT we are healthy, all of our family is well, we have a loving strong marriage and a Heavenly Father that loves us and for all of that we are thankful!

I started cooking yesterday…and stopped today around 3:30pm when we ate. Odd time to eat I guess but it worked for us. We had 2 turkeys (one roasted in the oven and one deep fried), dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, broccoli casserole, sweet potato soufflé, green beans, deviled eggs and mashed potatoes. Yum yum. Laura our 14 year old had asked yesterday if she could ask the blessing for Thanksgiving. We were shocked that she asked and told her she could. She did very well! There was a time that she was too shy and timid for most anything, especially praying out loud. She not only asked the blessing, she had a loud strong voice and did not hesitate one second. She thanked God for our family, for our food and for those that don’t have homes or food. There was more but is that not wonderful for a 14 year old?!

If any of you know the kids you know that they are skinny, skinny, skinny! Catherine is 18 and can out eat me and her dad put together without blinkin’ twice! Well after dinner, the kids have chores and Catherine’s is to wash dishes. I’m helping her and putting leftovers in bowls. She looked at me and said, “Hm, I think I could eat again!” What?? I am barely moving and she is ready to eat again! I don’t even have room for desert….and believe me…we have deserts! We have 2 pecan pies (Aunt Jeans’s recipe), 2 pumpkin pies and pumpkin gooey butter cake.

We cleaned up and retired to the living room for some Thanksgiving Day football. We were lying like stuffed turkeys on a platter. It wasn’t long before the kids were asking for desert. I told them to wait until 6:30 and we would have desert. At 6:28 I couldn’t hold them off any longer. They had a plate full and went back for more. Cat and Laura like all of the deserts but they all 4 love pumpkin pie with whip cream….and they finished off one of the pies! Once again we retired to the living room and the kids were back and forth from the living room to the basement playing video games.

Around 9pm Larry left to take his brother Terry home. (Terry is without transportation at the moment.) I’m pretty tired myself and I think I will sleep like a log tonight!

To the men and women in the armed forces stationed away from home, thank you for what you do and we pray that you had a blessed day and return home safely. To those stationed outside the warzone, we also thank you for what you do and sacrifices made. To the military families left behind; we pray for peace for you until your soldier returns home.

Today I have thought about our friends, Robin and Chris Guthrie and their 3 kids who attend my church in GA. Just over a week ago their house caught on fire and they lost everything except the clothes on their backs. It started around 8:30am and they were at work and school. They have strong support from family and our church. I can’t even imagine what they are going through. This family is absolutely precious and they have seen some tough times recently. Chris had a really bad wreck that lead to a long recovery, he lost a parent, Robin lost her job, Robin has had medical issues not to mention all of the worry that goes along with those things. I’ve thought of them and prayed for them often today. I know there are many people helping to take care of them but I also know that their heartache must be heavy. Please pray for our friends. Thank you to all that have taken donations on their behalf to help them begin to rebuild their home and lives.

From the Parr family, we pray that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! To our family and friends, we love and miss you!

kdp

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLY!!!!!

MOLLY IS 2 YEARS OLD TODAY!

Happy Birthday Princess Molly!

Smokey Mtns Part II

Wednesday the 22nd was our 3 year anniversary. We love each other more with every passing day! We both feel blessed!

We spent the day shopping around Pigeon Forge. We had dinner at The Old Mill Grill and it was awesome! If you ever go there you have to have the appetizer; fried green tomatoes, fried pickles and chicken tenders. Wow, that was so good. Then we shared a steak and it was just perfect. We went back to the cabin and hit the hot tub. Then we shared a bottle of wine while sitting in the rocking chairs. What a relaxing evening.

Thursday we drove into Gatlinburg for the day. We walked around doing a lot of window shopping. We both got in one of those massage machines that you lay fully clothed and the pressure of the water massages you. Wow, we LOVED that! You know we had to follow the smell of fudge! Yumm, it was good. Larry really wanted to have fondue chocolate with strawberries and bananas. So, we took our fondue pot and chocolate with us. He wanted to have it on our anniversary but we were just too stuffed. So our plan was to have a larger lunch and have popcorn and fondue for dinner. Also, Thursday afternoon was to be an early day so that we could enjoy the cabin and spend time with just the two of us in the middle of nowhere…oh and Molly! We got back to the cabin round 3 or 4pm. A little later we decided to have the fondue and fruit. Well…we had some problems. We have had fondue at home many times before but that night it didn’t work too well. I emptied it over and over until we ran out of chocolate. I do think that something was wrong with the chocolate. So we had the fruit! We are watching the episodes of The Closer to catch up to the present. We took some of the DVD’s and watched it for hours. Sound boring to you? Nope…it was wonderful! It was a quiet evening relaxing together.

Friday…time to head to GA. It was a rainy messy day. We had plans to stop in Cherokee, NC for a while but it was just too yuckie. We continued on to GA and it was still raining like crazy! When we got to Lula we stopped at Jaemore for some boiled peanuts. I was craving them and could not wait to introduce Larry to them. We got the peanuts and he ate his first boiled peanut. He did not like it at all. After talking to him and him describing the taste to me and was confused. So he was a big boy and tried another on. He said that the second one was much much better. The first one was rotten! I laughed and laughed. Then we went to Tim’s and settled in. Molly was glad to see her Uncle Tim! Tim cooked dinner and we just talked and caught up.

The rest of the Ga visit will come soon…

I LOVE The Smokey Mountains!

Well, it’s been a while. I’m so behind on bloggin! I am working many hours trying to get my business off the ground not to mention all the other stuff we have going on.

I last left off when we were traveling to TN and then on to GA. I guess I’ll pick up from there and will try not to ramble on and just get caught up. Molly went with us and she is such a great traveler. We got to the cabin which was up on a mountain and it was just beautiful. There was porch on the front and back what went the length of the cabin; the front had a swing and the back had rocking chairs and a hot tub. We unloaded the Mountaineer and went to the back deck to try out the rocking chairs. SO relaxing!

Many years ago me and a group of girls went to the Smokey Mtn. Jubilee to see a show that is singing, dancing and comedy skits. So, I suggested we go there and we called days in advance to get tickets and just so happen someone had just cancelled for the front row center so he gave us those. When we got to the ticket counter to get and pay for the tickets but the lady didn’t have tickets held for us. I told her the day I called and the row and number of our seats. She checked again and again found no tickets for us and someone else had purchased those seats. You could tell she felt horrible about the mix up. She asked if we wanted two tickets on the 4th row and we said that was fine. She gave them to us FREE. We were cool with that! Well, we get inside and we were absolutely positively the youngest two people in the place. There were several senior tour groups and we were out numbered. It was SO FUNNY! We laughed and giggled about that all night. Get this; the seats we were to originally have were empty the entire show and we still got our tickets free! The show was great and just good clean fun.

After the show we went back to the cabin. When we got back what did we hear….the hot tub. It was calling us…and we answered! That was SO awesome to be on the side of a mountain, the air was crisp and cool and we were warm in the hot tub. After that we sat in the rockers listening to all the critters talking in the woods and shared some wine that we picked up at a winery earlier that day. It was a wonder ending to a wonderful day!

Tuesday we slept in a little and enjoyed the morning in the cabin. We had coffee and sat in the swing then we went to the rocking chairs. It was peaceful and quiet which is something we have not had near enough of lately

We had tickets for the Dixie Stampede on Tuesday. That was a lot of fun. Prior to the show there is a pre-show with singing…OMG it was wonderful. There were 3 guys and a girl and they were a talented bunch! We purchased their CD which is great. Then we went into the main arena and we had excellent seats. I had been many many many moons ago and remembered what it looked like but that was about it. Once seated we got to talking with folks to our right and left. The show started and not too long after then began to bring out the food. WOW it’s a lot of food and this list is Per Person; roll, soup, whole roasted hen, a slice of pork tenderloin, ½ of a twice baked potato, corn on the cob and an apple fritter. Can you believe that? The kicker is there is nothing to eat with except the utensils God gave you…your fingers. At the end they bring out warm towels to clean yourself up and believe me, you need it. Just watching them bring the food out is entertaining. The show was fabulous and we enjoyed it very much.

I will leave off here and pick up on Wednesday in the next blog…Until then here is a nice picture of us in the inside jet tub.....

Hahaha...bet you thought it was a XXX rated picture!

How Precious!

Today we went to see our new love…Anderson!

First we all met for lunch. Anderson was sound asleep in his carrier. Of course that didn’t stop me from holding him. What a honey he is. Just adorable! It was time for him to eat and I got to feed him. He didn’t want to stay awake so he only took about an ounce. Shelly went to change him and came back with a diaper on him and he was wrapped in his blanket. He pee’d on his clothes as she was changing him so she did as most moms do; she made do with what she had. She left in a hurry for church and didn’t grab a change of clothes. It was so funny but he was wrapped up in his blanket and trust me, he was plenty warm. We took turns holding him and his little body was rather toasty. After a yummy lunch we headed to their house.

Shelly wanted to take some random pics of Anderson (in his birthday suite which he was wearing 2 weeks ago today…oh but he did have a diaper on today). It all has to do with the announcements they are having made. That was fun just taking pics.

Mike fed him not too long before we left and Anderson gracefully gave a nice big burp and gave the formula back to Mike. Too funny! It reminded me of the commercial that has the baby trading stocks online. If you haven’t seen it I know I just lost you but if you have seen it, you are shaking your head and laughing.

They had plans this evening so we left in time for them to rest a while. It was great being with them and so hard to hand him back to him mommy. He is simply beautiful! Mike and Shelly are doing a wonderful job as first time parents. They don’t pretend to know everything about babies and being parents, they are learning as they go and doing a fantastic job.

I’m sure you will be hearing more about him in the future and seeing pics too!

Anderson Cash has arrived!

My nephew was born on Sunday.... well not blood related but "Army Family" related. Anderson Cash Essary is his name and is he not precious?!?! I was sad that he was born while we were gone but was thankful that mommy and baby are doing well.

We just arrived home home from our trip to The Smokey Mtns and visiting my family and friends in Ga. We left Thurs morning and decided to drive all the way. We got to our house around 11:30pm Thurs. night and are pooped! I will catch up in the next few days and about our trip and my little Anderson. I just had to post Anderson's pic and announce that he arrived.

We are thankful for safe travel on our 13 hour drive and for Anderson's safe arrival as well.

kdp

Getting ready for our trip...

Well, no luck on our open house this weekend. We are discouraged but things are certainly out of our hands. Mike and Shelly had a showing today. One of us could us a break.

We are packing for our trip. I made a double batch of chex mix tonight for the journey. We are SO SUPER EXCITED. We are going somewhere that has nothing to do with the Army!!!! We have tickets for the Smokey Mountain Jubilee on Monday night. There is singing, dancing and comedy. I went many years ago with some friends and we had front row seats. The comedian picked on us and it was absolutely hilarious! I called on Thurs. to make reservations and they had just had a cancellation for front row center and we took them. It is going to be awesome! We want to do fun stuff but we also want to just stay in and enjoy the time together and the cabin and all it has to offer.

Molly is excited too. She will be going into heat any day now so we will have to keep her away from all the animals in the woods. Ha!

We are leaving sometime Sunday morning. If you are a nosey busy body (a stranger that we don’t know) that is reading our blog and thinking you might rob our house…don’t even think about it. We have a house sitter. Ha! Had to throw that in…you never know!

I’ve no idea how the cell service or internet service will be while we are in TN. So, if there is time and opportunity I will blog. If not I will catch up when we get to Tim’s house. To you GA friends and family…See you soon! Yeaaaaaa!

kdp

Friday...

Well, it’s Friday and we are having an open house today and tomorrow. This is the first time we have had one on a Friday before. At 4pm our first lookers stopped in. We are going until 6pm so maybe someone else will stop by. The man that stopped can’t buy until his property sells…maybe we should be praying for a buyer for him too!

We are leaving on Sunday for our anniversary trip and then on to GA for a short visit. Larry planned the trip and then told me about it and he could have not have done any better. We are going to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN. He has booked us a cabin that has a full kitchen, Jacuzzi tub inside and a hot tub on the back deck. I can’t wait!!!!! I love the Smokey Mountains and have been wanting to take Larry there but we never had the chance. So we are now on leave before starting his new job. I'm slowly starting to get things together for the trip. Molly is going with us and packing for her is like packing for a baby. I got her bag out today and she went nuts. She knows we are going somewhere. She ran to get in her carrier and was ready to go. I tried to tell her we were not leaving until Sunday but she insisted in going in and out of her carrier. Anyway, we will leave here on the 19th, stop for the night and then arrive at the cabin on Monday. We leave there on Friday and will drive down to GA. We will stop in Cherokee, NC. We are not sure if we will stay the night there or head on to my brother’s house in GA. We will just have to see how the mood strikes us.

On top of the house being for sell and not having a place for at least Larry to live at Ft. Riley (nor extra money for a second house payment or rent) we are having issues with a certain female that is causing havoc. Plus last Sunday Catherine had a wreck. Neither she nor the other person was hurt and we are thankful for that. However, that causes multiple issues.

I am working on getting things together for my website but at the moment it is in a holding pattern. It’s just taking much longer than we had planned but that’s the way life goes sometimes. I want it up and running but like my Momma used to tell me, I’m old enough that my wants wont hurt me.

Well bye for now. Please pray for the buyer for our house to show up soon!!!!!

kdp

Lisa and Christy

This is a long one, better get a snack! Last Wednesday I picked up my friends Christy and Lisa at the airport in Kansas City. They flew in for training classes on new software for their office. We all worked together at NE GA Surgical Assoc. Lisa and I worked together for 10 ½ yr. and Christy and I for about 6 yr. Christy and I think of each other as sisters and we call each other “Sis”. (Big Sis and Little Sis) Lisa and I have been through a lot together. I won’t mention it on the blog but we have definitely seen each other through some really hard times. Christy too. I don’t know what I would have done without them! I am SO thankful that God brought us together and that we have continued our friendship.

Any who…They had a room at Argosy Casino and Spa. SOOOO…I stayed with them. Yep, I packed a bag, left Larry and Molly home alone and stayed with the girls. O-M-G! That place was absolutely gorgeous! Our room had a bathroom to die for! The shower was HUGE with a regular shower head on the wall and a rainfall shower head in the middle. It was of course made of tile with a mosaic design in the center of the longest wall. Also, the entire front was glass. Fabulous!!!!

Anyway, we got checked in and then went to dinner. Of course I had to style Lisa’s hair first! (Long story but if you know Lisa that would make a lot of sense) I wanted to take them to a restaurant that they don’t have in GA so we went to 54th Street Grill. It is SO good! Once our bellies were satisfied we went back to the casino. I had to teach Lisa what to do and by gosh she had beginners luck! Christy was doing terrible and I was not doing much better. Well, we were playing the penny machines and if you know anything about the slots you don’t just bet a penny. Well, sometimes Lisa would get confused and she bet $4! On one bet she got 20something bonus spins and wound up winning close to $30 on just the bonus spins. Being the picture freak that I am, I got out my camera and took a picture of Lisa while the machine was racking up her $$$. By the time I snapped a picture a security guard came over and told me that cameras were not allowed in the casino for security reasons. I poured on the southern charm, apologized by saying that it was my first time there and I had no idea. He didn’t throw us out but I felt like I was being watched the rest of the night. Barney was not rude but still it was funny…after he walked off.

Thursday Christy and I woke up to Lisa, who is the loudest person I know, saying, “Good Mornin’ It’s time to get up”. She was bright eyed and ready to go! Again, I fixed her hair! Christy finally got up and they went to their classes. I had stuff to do in the city but first I started my day off with some Reflexology at the casino spa. That was nice! Then off I went. Later in the afternoon Larry met me and we did some errands together. After the girls’ classes were finished we met back at the hotel. Lisa, Christy, Larry and I went to dinner at Lone Star. Then…we took them to Sheridans Custard for some desert. Yum yum! Of course once we got back to the hotel we went to the casino. Larry stayed for a little while and then he headed home. With very little luck, the girls and I played the slots a little longer. Lisa is early to bed and early to rise so she was ready to call it a night way before me and Christy were. Christy and I are the opposite. On our way to the room we stopped at the shoeshine stand and took turns polishing shoes.

We finally made our way back to the room. The first night I slept with Lisa and the second night I slept with Christy. Well Christy is used to her almost 3 yr old son joining her in her bed during the night. So I think that in her sleep Christy was subconsciously thinking that he was beside her. I would wake up and she would be patting me like she was making sure I was there only I think I was supposed to be Sawyer. Too funny!

Friday was their last day and we woke once again to Lisa and her bubbly personality. ..and I did Lisas hair! Christy was about to strangle Lisa and I was laughing. She told Christy over and over what time it was. They joked back and forth and it was way funny. They had class until 11 and when they finished I had all their stuff in the Mountaineer and ready to go. We had lunch together and I dropped them off at the airport. It was great to see them and sad to see them leave. I enjoyed the visit and wish they could have stayed longer. So that was my few days with the girls. Of course I can’t put ‘everything’ on the blog. I’ll just leave you wondering. Ha!

kdp

Back to Momma and Aunt Jean

I’m SO behind on blogging. Life gets in the way!

Back to my mom and aunt visiting. Last time I left off at the end of Thursday night. Friday was just a goof off day. We went to Merle Norman who should just hire my mother as their spokes person and to be the face of Merle Norman. She has used it for at least 30 years. Next we went to Whiteman Air Force Base which is about 10 miles from our house. Momma and Aunt Jean (and me too) took pictures of planes and different things on the base. For dinner we roasted a chicken on the grill and it was SO good. If anyone wants the recipe let me know.
Saturday, the children came over to see their G-Ma. They were so excited to spend the day with her and Aunt Jean. The kids talked up a storm and made us all laugh as usual.

Sunday we got us EARLY…like at the butt crack of dawn to leave and head to St. Louis. We were up at 5am and left at 6am. Momma and Aunt Jean wanted to go to the arch on their way back home which is on the way. It’s a 3 hour drive from our house and they needed to get on the road as soon as they could so that’s why we left early. St. Louis is a very hard city to get around in and there was no way we were going to let them go alone. One wrong turn and they would have been in a bad area of the city and it is easy to do there. Anyway, they followed us there and we made our way to the arch. I’ve been to the top of the arch 3 times now and have driven by in more times than I can count but every time I see it I am amazed at the magnitude of it. There are steps to go up and down on your way to the carrier that takes you to the top and I had not thought of that. Aunt Jean is recovering from a fractured pelvis and has trouble with excess stairs and walking. She did very well! If you have never been to the arch you get into this elevator cart thingy. The door opens and it is a small door that you duck into. There are 5 very small seats in there that make a semi-circle and the top is low even for short people like me. There is NO WAY you can have personal space in that thing. Once you are at the top there are windows to see out each side. It is amazing to look out over a city as large as St. Louis. We took lots of pictures, visited the gift shops and headed back to our cars. We gave lots of hugs and kisses and sent them on their way.

We enjoyed their visit more than we can say. I am blessed to have a loving Christian mother and a loving Christian aunt as role models in my life. Larry adores them too and treats them as family and not in-laws.

Momma and Aunt Jean, thank you for making that long drive to our house. We love you and are blessed to be family. Our door is always open!

Kdp & mlp

PS We are having issues with our home computer which is where the pictures are of the trip. I will ad pictures when I can access them.

Larry's Award Ceremony

When soldiers leave one duty station and goes to another they have “Award Ceremonies”. Today was Larry’s ceremony along with Mike who is also going to Ft. Riley. Also there was a retirement award for another friend, Terry. The Ops group commander, COL Blain, spoke highly of all three of the guys.

When COL Blain started, I guess you could say he was presenting us. He said to me, “I only know you as Peaches, is that what you go by? Is that what most people call you?” With chuckles from the room of folks I said, “To most of the people in this room, yes, but my name is Kim.” Everyone laughed and we continued….

COL Blain talked about the positive influences that Larry has had on the team and on all the units he has trained. Larry trains units to deploy into combat and one thing that was mentioned is that Larry has a way of teaching and training in a way that others understand. To complete his job well, communication is a must. After more positive words from Blain about the job Larry has done, I was presented with flowers and given a Thank you on behalf of the Army for “Keeping the home fires burning.” COL Blain said something that was touching; he has a mentor that tells him all the time that, “GOD has a special place in haven for Army spouses. “ I don’t know that to be true but I do feel that we should have an extra jewel in our crown. HAHA! On a funny note; I have a t-shirt that say, “Army Wife, Toughest job in the Army.” Larry says that is 100% true! Ok, lets get back on track…

Then, Larry was presented with his award and a going away gift from BCTP. The gift is a 31” X35” frame with a picture of the officer corp from 1819 taken in front of the building where Larry works now, a picture of his team, a plate with his name and years in BCTP and unit patches of all the units he has trained and/or touched in some way. It is awesome! It is a special item and overwhelming to him as he looks back at all he has been a part of while in BCTP. That brings me to his travels which are called “TDY’s”. He has been in BCTP for 4 years and in years 2-4 he traveled 601 days. So there were many more days in year 1 and he actually said that at 601…he stopped counting. Sometimes he was home for a few days, sometimes a week, sometimes 3 weeks and in a ‘few rare cases’ he was home for over a month. Yep…a whole month! Sorry, I got off track…again!

I then sat down and Larry gave his going away remarks. He began by thanking me which was very humbling for me. He told the story about the first day we spoke on the phone. He also said that marrying me was the smartest thing he had ever done. He said many more nice things about me and I am thankful that he feels the way he does about me and that he is more than comfortable telling the world his thoughts and feelings. (This is not word for word what came from him but as close as I could get!) He went on to thank those on his team. He reminded everyone to never forget about what others do to prepare the team for success. He also talked about surrounding yourself with good people. Not one person can do all and know all but by surrounding yourself with good people that have the answers that you don’t makes you successful.

His remarks were great and heartfelt. Before Larry, Mike received his award and Shelly was too presented with flowers. His remarks were great as well and he thanked Shelly for all she does.

Being an Army wife has many up’s and down’s. I am honored to be the wife of my hero, my Prince, LTC Parr, and I am proud of him and love him more than I can possible find the words to express.

After the ceremony, Shelly and I went shopping in a little town named Parkville, MO. It is such a cute town! We went in a few shops and then found a place for lunch. After that we went to a VERY HIGH class neighborhood that was having a weekend yard sale. They were putting stuff out today so we made our way through all the sales. If was funny because Shelly only had some coins and I only had $7. Lot of good that would do! Ha! Well, we managed to spend what little we had but still stopped to look around. I found something I really wanted so I went to look in every pocket of my purse and wallet and I found $10! Yeah! We were excited because I could by my item and I got 2 things that Shelly wanted…and we still had a $1 left! (and some change) THEN…I found something else at another house. So, when we met up with Larry, we hit the ATM and went to get the office chair I wanted. I got an office chair that was in great condition for $15! Great deal!

Rewind…Last night, Thursday, we spent the night at Mike and Shelly’s. They live much closer to post and since the ceremony was this morning, we crashed at their house. Mike grilled steaks and of course Shelly did all that other stuff. She made a yummy strawberry cake!!!!! They were having some water drain issues and they were calling for professional help around 10 or so last night. It was fixed and all was well but still it was stressful for mommy to be. Speaking of, only 5 weeks left before we meet wee one!

That’s enough for now since I’ve written a book! I still have to finish telling about the visit from my Mom and aunt. I will do that tomorrow but I felt that today, I needed to share my husbands success and his career. (There is only a picture of the departure gift on the blog. There are no pictures in uniform because Larry does not like pictures of him in uniform anywhere online.)

Thank you again my hero, my husband!

Hooah!

Momma and Aunt Jean are safely home!

Momma dropped Aunt Jean off in Macon and then headed to FL. They had a safe trip and done very well with the drive. We enjoyed them being here so much. I am so much like my mother it is not even funny and every time I am around her I see it more and more. My aunt is just like my grandmother. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mother and role model. Aunt Jean is also a huge role model for me and I’ve always said she was the next best thing to Momma.

Rewind to Tuesday...On the way to our house.......I had told them about the Russell Stover store that is about an hour from our house and of course they had to stop on their way in for some fresh chocolate. Momma bought a few things but Aunt Jean bought A LOT! We teased her but in her defense she bought some as gifts. (Or so she says) They arrived on Tuesday and we didn’t do a whole lot. They of course were tired and went to bed a little early.

Wednesday we went to Lee’s Summit and Independence to do a little shopping. Larry was our chauffer. We went to old Time Pottery, JoAnns, Wal-Mart, the beauty supply place (To buy momma a supply of hair products to last her for quiet a while!), I don’t remember where else but we had a good time! We drove back home which was about a 45 min drive…let Molly out to potty, freshened up and out the door we went on our next journey. We drove just over 2 hours to Springfield, MO for dinner. Yep, for dinner! On the way we stopped in Oceola at Oceola Cheese. As you can guess they sell…cheese! Any kind of cheese you can think of, they sell. The best part was that they had samples. They also have different snack crackers and such and of course we sampled them too. I wish we had thought to take a cooler but we didn’t. However we all bought snack munchies that would not spoil. Then on to Lamberts restaurant which is also known as “Home of the Flying Rolls.” It is SOOOOOOO yummy and they give you way more food than you could possibly eat. We each ordered an entrée which was a meat and 2 sides…PLUS…they have ‘pass arounds.’ That is large bowls of side dishes that someone brings around and offers you a helping. I think that there were 6 pass arounds but I’m not totally sure. Of course we didn’t get all of them but my goodness, it was crazy! I guess you have guessed about the throwing rolls part. Well, they do just that. If you want a roll, you have to catch it! Yep…catch it! When the rolls are hot out of the oven a guy walks through the place and if you wave at him the throws you a roll! Oh, and they are SO good! They are homemade yeast rolls and absolute delicious. Then, a girl comes around with sorghum syrup and drizzles it on your roll if you want. Mmm, mmm, mmm…that was a tasty meal.

Thursday I went on a field trip with Marissa and Larry went to work. That left M & AJ alone with Molly. Molly gave Momma a scare. You see, sometimes Molly has running fits where she just runs and runs and runs as fast as she can. Momma took her out to potty and she had a running fit. Momma freaked out and she said all she could think of was that Molly was going to run around to the front of the house and into the road. She finally got Molly to stop running and gave her a “stern talkin’ to! Ha! Later Momma was out in our yard picking up walnuts and AJ left Molly out to potty again. Molly almost never goes into the front yard but she must have known Momma was out there and she took off for the front yard. Momma looked up and there was Molly running for her. Momma panicked because she had no idea how Molly got out. I so wish I could have been a bird in the tree for all of that! I had a roast, potatoes, onions and carrots to cook for that night and they put it on to cook while I was gone with Marissa. When I got home the house smelled SO good and I felt like a kid coming home and smelling the good scents from the kitchen. The taste was just as good as the smell. Also while I was gone they picked up walnuts from our yard, emptied the dishwasher and I’m sure there are things I am forgetting to mention. Did I mention that it was nice coming home to mommy and auntie taking care of me/us! Hee Hee!

Ok...Pause...it's time for intermission. This is a long blog and I know that you guys are ready for a break. To be continued.....

Updates Coming Soon...

Before I get into trouble with a select few I need to acknowledge that I am behind on bloggin’…
Well, Momma and Aunt Jean left today, Sunday. I will be reporting to you soon about their visit. Also, I have to report on the field trip that I went on with Marissa on Thursday. While Momma and Aunt Jean were visiting I was somewhat slack on my bloggin’ so I’ll try to catch up within the next few days.

Speaking of M and AJ, at the moment (Sun. night) they are in a hotel in Chattanooga, TN. They will travel on in the morning to Macon, GA and them Momma will go to her new location in FL. Safe travel to them!

I think I will begin a “Prayer Request” section to my blog. There are always family and friends that are in need of prayer. So I think I will add that to the end of each of my blogs. If I leave anyone off please don’t be upset. Just email me and I will add your request. I am human and sometimes I make human errors.

Prayer Request: Jeff W. lost his job last week, please pray for a job opportunity for him that is even better than his last, Safe travel for Momma and Aunt Jean, The sell of Mike and Shelly’s house, The healthy birth of baby Essary, Safety for Tim M. while deployed to Iraq, Safety for all military men and women in combat zones, those preparing for deployment, the families of deployed soldiers and those in the decision making jobs, For the upcoming election, For Angie Grahams mom who is in the last stages of cancer, For 2 businesses that Larry and I are trying to build, For the sale of our house.

Love to all,
kdp

Momma and Aunt Jean arrive in MO

Well, my mom and Aunt Jean arrived today. Momma drove up to Macon, GA on Sunday and spent the night with my Aunt. They left Macon on Monday morning and stopped in Forsyth, GA to get breakfast…and to pick up a hitch hiker. When Momma opened up the door of the car a frog jumped in! She could not find it so as of now it is still in the car. I talked with them several times during the day and they were laughing the entire time I was talking with them. They made it to Mount Vernon, IL where they stayed the night in a hotel. Up early the next morning they headed on to our house and arrived early afternoon. Aunt Jean got a tour of the house and Momma got to see the things we finished since her last visit. Of course Molly was excited and could not wait to give them loves.

Later I began to prepare dinner. Larry got home from work and soon after dinner was ready. We had chicken casserole, dirty rice and a salad. We went outside to throw the ball for Molly to fetch. We watched a little TV, chatted some more and now Momma is off to bed and Aunt Jean is showering and then off to bed too. They were very tired from the drive although I think they enjoyed the time together and I think they laughed most of the way. Also, they are on Eastern Time and an hour is a big difference for them…you know…at their ages. HA, just joking you two!

We are so glad that they are here. The kids are excited too, their G-Ma is here!

More later and I’ll let you know if we find Kermit in her car. Now that was funny!

They grow up SOOOO fast!

When the kids came home today from school the fun began! Laura’s friend Chelsea is spending the weekend with us while her parents are out of town. Tonight is the Home coming game so of course they wanted to go. The dance after is VERY casual. (Not at all like the ones in my day!) I was joking with them and asked “Do y’all have hot dates for the dance? Thinking the answer would be no I was shocked when Laura said, “Yea, I do”. I stopped what I was doing and turned to her and said, “Don’t hold out on me. When did this happen and WHO is it?” Her friend Rebecca knows this guy (from another school) and wants to introduce them. In shock and letting it absorb, I started giggling quietly. I was making a fall wreath for our front door and Larry walked over to me. I whispered to him that Laura has a date for the dance. Oh the look on Michaels face! His eyes got BIG, he made a sound and walked away. Within a minute or so he came back to me and said you have got to tell me what is going on! I laughed out loud!! I got to a stopping point with my project and motioned him into our bedroom. The look on his face was priceless…funny yet sad. He sat down on the bench at the end of our bed and I knelt down in front of him. He asked what was going on. I am ashamed to say that I laughed. Yes, I did. I know, that was not nice but I am telling you, his expression was indescribable. I got serious and told him that it is ok. And, that yes, she is just 14 and NO she is not old enough to go on a date but she is old enough to have a date for a school dance. He said, “I know your right but this is hard”. I gave him a big hug and within a few minutes he was feeling better about the whole thing.

Wow, did this remind me of my teen years! I remember homecoming and being on the homecoming court. I remember my daddy walking me out on the field in his suite and tie with a goofy grin on his face. Oooh, and I do remember the dance!

I don’t know the conversations between my Momma and Daddy during my teen years but I feel sure I repeated some of her words tonight. I know that more often than not, she did some smooth talking with my daddy when it came to me. Daddy would not say much to me but he would tell momma to tell me something. Funny huh? You know, I love both of my parents equally but there are such different bonds between mother/daughter and father/daughter. A girl wants to be her daddy’s princess that never does wrong, wants him to be proud of her and goes to him for love and money. (Ha ha on the money part) On the other hand a girl wants her momma to be a friend, someone she can confide in. Plus, she needs nurturing and guidance from the mother. Her mother is truly the one she does NOT want to let down! After all, when she is all grown up, she will become her mother.

My girls come to me when they need “girl talk”. They are comfortable talking with me. Laura will tell me her thoughts or feelings before she will tell anyone else. Last Saturday the children were at their mothers and Laura called, Larry answered and she asked to speak to me. I got on the phone and she said that Marissa is crying and she won’t tell anyone why she is crying and she said that she only wanted to talk to me. I talked with her and calmed her down but it was nice that she wanted ME! (Hee hee)

Of course I have funny stuff to tell that the kids said but for now I must say goodnight. I’ll fill you in…maybe tomorrow. Right now, I am waiting on Larry to come home with the girls. He went to pick them up from the dance. I’m sure there will be stories!

Surprise...Momma's coming to MO!

Molly got a new baby today. It’s a stuffed flea. On its back it says Bite Me! Too funny because I say bite me all the time!

This morning I got a shocking phone call from my Momma. She and my Aunt Jean are coming to visit us this coming Tuesday! We are excited they are coming. They are driving which will be interesting. Ha! I spent a while talking with her about directions. Momma didn’t give me her menu request this time…YET. I’m sure it’s coming!

I cut grass today, oh joy. I don’t mind really because it gives me thinkin’ time.
My hubby stayed with a friend at Ft. Leavenworth last night and tonight. I miss him but he will be home Friday.

Remember our friends Connie and Tim in prayer. Tim will be deploying soon. Pray for Connie to have peace, safety for Tim and for the time to pass quickly for them.

kdp

My funny kids...

Today started with an ever so exciting visit to the dentist. Yippie! After that I had to go by Marissa’s school to sign a form allowing her to go on a field trip and to pay for me to go with her. She is SO funny! I have to step back a little. Larry and I got new cell phones yesterday. Well, anytime you get a new phone it takes time to get it programmed and ‘learn’ how to use it. This one is rather hard for me to get the hang of. Of course it’s only been a day but normally I do pretty well with the learning process. Back to today; I was standing outside Marissa’s class room and put my purse on a table while I completed the permission form. Missy saw my phone sticking up and she pulled it out and with wide eyes said, “You got a new phone”! I said, “Yeah, if I can just learn how to use the darn thing”. She replied, “OK, when I come over I will help you with it”! She just turned 10 and she wants to help me learn my cell phone with Palm! Of course she has no clue beyond using the camera and games but “she will help me”. The way she said it was SO cute!

Sean called when he got off the bus. He was just chatting away. He said, “So, you’re going to Arrow Rock with Marissa”? I said, “Yes, like me and Dad went when your class went”. He said, “Yeah, but I had both of you”! It was one of those…HA!...moments that only a brother and sister share. Not that Tim and I had/have those moments. Unless you count when I remind him that I’m “the baby” of the family. Ok, we ‘sometimes’ have those moments but now that we are all grown up…well, we still have those moments sometimes. Ha! Love you Tim!

Princess Molly had a visit with the groomer today. She did not trim her as short as she normally does…not sure why. When I went to get Molly she went nuts! She was so excited trying to get to me that Jackie, the groomer, could barely hold her. I got her and put her down at my feet while I wrote a check and she was whining and whimpering like crazy! She wanted her Mommy!

Of course the day contained more than all that but it’s time for me to say goodnight. So Goodnight!

Have a great day!

Monday...

We started our morning off with about a mile or so walk. After days and days of rain and gloom, today was beautiful and a typical fall day…which I LOVE! I love fall!

We did a few errands had lunch at Subway and off to home we went. Larry used the weed eater until it broke! Yep, of course now we have to buy a new one. We have the one with interchangeable ends so we just have to buy the adaptor. Walnuts have started falling so we picked some up. We were SO hoping to have the house sold before leaves and walnuts started falling. What a job they are! We have 2 huge weeping willow trees beside our pond and they were really ‘weeping’. They got a hair cut today. Ha! Well, that’s what is seemed like…giving a hair cut.

I made a new dish tonight. I made Thai Chicken Satay. It was really good and the chicken was very tender. Along with it I baked sliced squash, zucchini and onions of course with my special sauce to make it yummy. I also made a cucumber and tomato salad summer salad. Don’t you wish you had dinner with us?

Well, tonight we watched the last episode of The Closer season 1 disk 3! Season 1 disk 4 should arrive in the mail on Tuesday, disk 5 on Wednesday and disk 6 on Thursday. (We are on the blockbuster online thing where they come in the mail. It’s a really cool deal!) We are still really into the show and can’t wait to get the next disk! We go to the mail box and we are like kids at Christmas!

Keep praying about the house. Still no nibbles. Mike and Shelly’s house has not sold either. I talked with her today and they are as stressed as we are. We are both in the same boat and feel like it’s sinking. We are ready to get off this boat and on the Ft. Riley boat! Ha!

More later…

kdp

Rain, Rain...go away......

Go DAWGS! UGA had a 14/7 Win!

Not much to report on in Missouri other than RAIN! Rain is good…until your driveway begins to wash away, your pond is on the verge of over flowing, your small landscape pond is overflowing and your yard has standing water. At that point…WHOA! It has been raining for 2 days. During the night last night it began raining solid and steady and has not stopped yet! Though it is raining we still put out the open house sign today and will after church on Sunday. Who knows, maybe someone will drive by and wont be able to resist stopping!?

I think I mentioned this in an earlier blog but I am hooked on the TV show, “The Closer”. I just LOVE it! We are starting with season 1 and working our way forward. Tonight we watched the first 3 episodes of season 1 and it is SO good! I love Kyra Sedgwick anyway. In this her character is southern, smart and funny…great qualities! Of course with her character, Brenda Lee, being from Atlanta, GA that makes her all the more wonderful. HA! Kudos to the writers of the show! What great writing! So if you are looking for something to get wrapped up in during the upcoming cold winter nights… rent The Closer, curl up on the sofa with your special someone, a bowl of popcorn and catch up on the show. Perfect date night at the Parr house!

Hope you all are doing well and we will chat more soon.

Kim

Where Were You?

9/11 seems like yesterday yet it has been 7 years. 7 years! Where does time go?

So much has happen since that day. There have been changes; some positive, some negative. There have been a lot of eyes opened to just how cruel some people can be and just how precious life is. Personally, prior to 9/11 I didn’t put much thought into war or the way people live in other countries. Of course we all know about the countries that are shown on TV where people are starving and need food and clothing. I never stopped to think that there were countries where children could not even play in their front yard due to violence. How many of you see your children play on their swing in your yard or ride their bike in the driveway and think, “Oh, I better bring them in before some kills them”? It upsets me tremendously when I think of the soldiers who have lost their lives in the War on Terror. It also upsets me to think that someone made a detailed plan to attack Americans who were just minding their own business like going to work or flying in a plane. Because of that, not only did the people in the twin towers and in the planes lose their lives but also the men and women firefighters and police officers who were trying to do their job and help and save lives.

I know that the families of the people who lost family members and friends on that day will never read my blog but that doesn’t really matter. I still want to say that I have not forgotten. Some people say we need to forget. Some say we need to remember. Well, I think we need to remember. Remember the heroic ones on the flight that knew they were going to die and unselfishly decided to save lives of others, who knows how many they saved that day. Remember the people who were killed in the twin towers that were just going about with their normal daily routine. Remember the men and women of NYPD & NYFD that were just doing their job yet lost their lives. Remember the family members of all those who lost their lives, they thought they would see them again at the end of the day. Remember the Service men and women that are protecting our country so that we ‘can’ go about our daily routine and we can let our children play outside without fear.

I’m not saying any of this because I am a wife of an Army Officer. I am saying this with conviction in my heart. My husband could be deploying at anytime, no service person is excluded. Of course I DO NOT want that at all but I also know that is part of who he is and he is good at what he does.

You know the Alan Jacksons song that says; Where were you when the world stopped turning? Well I along with many others will never forget that day and exactly where I was. I was sitting at my desk at Northeast Georgia Surgical Associates and heard it on the radio. At the same time I got a call from someone I knew and he was watching it on TV and telling me what he was seeing. My heart sank to my stomach! I felt for the families involved and I was frightened of what was to come. I started praying for everyone and especially our President. Was the war necessary? Has the military made a difference? Are things changing for the good that the news media don’t want to tell you? Yes.

Love, hugs and prayers to all who are involved including the family members who still face that sad day as a way of life.

To all the service men and women, state side and abroad, our prayers are with you and I have not forgotten you either. And...Thank You!

My honey is Home Sweet Home!

My honey is home from HI. YEAHHHHH!!! He got home on Sunday. I got a hotel room in Kansas City and we stayed there Sunday night. We just needed some quiet time together. Once we arrive home the phone starts ringing and family are stopping by. So, we had a day with no phone calls. We even turned our cell phones off! I went early and checked us in then went to pick him up. He had jet lag of course and was drained from that and from the long hours he worked while in HI. We just chilled out together. For dinner we went to Outback. They have a new steak…OMG it is the best that I’ve ever had there. It was absolutely wonderful! After dinner we watched a little TV and were off to bed. However, out sleep time was short… we woke up to a severe thunderstorm. It was BAD! The hotel lost power! Just so you know, no power in a hotel in the middle of the night is a little spooky! The power went on and off several times for short periods. A second part of the storm came through and knocked it out for hours. The storm was so bad we could not go back to sleep. The power came back on in the morning but only for about 10 minutes. It went out again and we checked out. We didn’t even get our complimentary breakfast! Anyway, we made a few stops and then headed home. We had a day of doing much of nothing. We decided to skip cooking and had dinner at our favorite Mexican place. Larry was ready for bed kind of early so I sat in bed and read while he slept. Other than the storm and power outage, it was just over 24 hours of doing a lot of nothing but the best part is we did nothing TOGETHER!

Still no takers on the house. As of today, we have lowered the price greatly. I am very down right now. We’ll be fine I know and I know God will take care of us.
I will take pictures soon of my prizes that Larry brought me from HI and put them on the blog.

Ok Dawn…I didn’t give much info today but I did blog. I have someone other than my mother that points out when I skip too many days without an update. I was reminded today! Love you Dawn!

kdp

The Last Sleep...

The Last Sleep...
When Michael is out of town we don't count down the days, we count the sleeps. When we are apart neither of us sleep very well. So, we count sleeps and tonight is the LAST SLEEP. I pick him up at the airport on Sunday and on Sunday night I will have my snuggle buddy back. Ahhh, peaceful sleep that last all night.

I had an open house today and had no visitors. Depressing! We are SO ready for the buyer.

Later...

My Prince

Ok, My husband and I have been apart for 17 days now. I am SO ready for him to come home. He is just as ready as I am. So tonight this blog is not about our house or the kids. It's about me missing my Prince and our amazing love for each other. Honey, I love you and miss you more than I could ever find the words to say.

Some of you may think that this blog is full of mush and feel like you need to brush your teeth because of the sweetness. Well, get your toothbrush. We are the real deal.

The picture attached is one of my favorite pictures. It is from our casual fall wedding and we are dancing our first dance as husband and wife. In the background my brother is watching ! With arms crossed it seems like he is saying, "Take care of her, or else". Ha! Well, I guess that is what he is thinking. Rest assured my big brother, he takes great care of me. (Not that Tim doubted it)

{Most of you call my husband Larry. Most of the time I call him Michael. } (Michael Lawrence Parr)

Michael...I love you so very much! You are the love of my life and I am so thankful for you!

kdp

Happy B-Day Laura

Tuesday…Laura turned 14! WHAT? These kids are growing way too fast! Happy Birthday Laura! Her desert was a Rice Krispie treat cake with icing...came from Wal-Mart and was SO good!

My baby is in double digits!

On Sunday Marissa turned 10! Happy Birthday Marissa! Before Larry left for Hawaii we had early birthday dinner and gifts for the girls. They each got to decide what desert they wanted…Marissa wanted Dirt Pudding! They all love that stuff! She got Webkinz, clothes for her Webkinz, jeans and 2 shirts.

On Saturday evening, Aunt Carol came to hang out with me. We went to dinner with Sparky and then back to my house to watch a movie. Aunt Carol has never seen Jeff Dunham’s comedy routine so we watched it too. She LOVED it! Every time I watch it I laugh just as hard as I did the first time.

I’m hooked on the TV series, “Brothers & Sisters”. I’ve wanted to watch it but just never have. Aunt Carol loves it so I decided to rent season 1 episodes 1-4. I watched them…I loved it…I am hooked. I will be going to Blockbuster tomorrow to get the rest of season 1. Also, I am hooked on The Closer. Larry and I are going to rent the seasons of it and catch up on it. Actually, today I watched The Closer marathon. We record shows on the DVR so we can fast forward which means we can watch them quicker! WHAT did we do before DVR’S????? OUT with the VCR!!!!!

The house is still for sale and we have no nibbles. I must say, I am very concerned! I know that God will work it out and he has a plan. However, the human part of me is nervous and worried. I don’t want Larry to have to go to Riley without me while I stay until the house sells. Plus, we can’t afford this house and a place for him to stay in Riley. It makes me SO sad to think about it. We’ve been apart so much, it’s time for us to be together. Thanks to all that have called and/or emailed with encouraging words. Keep the prayers going up.

kdp

Catching up....REWIND....

Rewind….Saturday Aunt Carol came to visit. We went to dinner and then sat up until 2:30am talking. She spent the night and on Sunday we rested and watched a movie. I love spending time with her! WE are good for each other.

Monday I took Sparky to the VA hospital in Kansas City for an appointment. We had lunch and back to Warrensburg we went.

Catherine is doing well at college. She is not homesick yet. She is meeting lots of new people and seems to be settling in. She joined a Christian group on campus and was excited that she found them. They met for the first time Tuesday and she had a great time. I worry, but we have to let her fly!

The dad of my sweet friend Kathy passed away Wednesday. He had a heart attack and the complications got worse from there. Her mother has been sick for several years and with this happening I am worried about her mother. Kathy has such a sweet spirit and I love her dearly.

Larry is still in Hawaii. He is working loooong hours and is getting very little sleep. He had to be at work at either 5 or 5:30 this morning, Thursday. YUCK! He does have a day off on Saturday and he says he is going to sleep and go shopping for me a surprise! I LOVE surprises!!!!!
Today I cut grass which takes quiet a while. It was SO dusty and windy today. When I came inside I was covered in grit. My eyes were full of grit too. Even my ears were full…how gross is that? I’ve also practiced on a new item for my embroidery business. (Well, it’s almost a business) We’ve had severe thunderstorms this evening and is supposed to continue all night. We need the rain!

We are still trying to sell the house on our own and have now gotten an MLS. I have filled out pages and pages and pages...23 to be exact. Some of it was confusing and very time consuming. Anyway, I finally got it done and it should be showing up within 3-5 days. The sooner...the better! Keep those prayers going up! Mike and Shelly still have their house on the market. They had a showing tonight and I am hoping to hear from her tomorrow with good news!

Well, I guess this has not been the most exciting blog. I am having some issues with my thyroid and I am just drained and my energy level is negative 5. I’ve been working on some blogs that I hope to get on here soon.

Kim

Happy 18th Birthday and enjoy your new adventure of college!

Catherine at her early Birthday dinner before Larry left for HI. We gave her a combo of b-day and off to college gifts. We had a large box full of stuff from band-aids to a lock for her lap top. Here are the towels I personalized for her.

Today Aug 21st is Catherines 18th Birthday AND she left for college today. Scary! She has never driven in Kansas City and she had to go through KC to get to Maryville which is where her college is. She made it through but she was scarred to death! She was not scared to leave for college…she was dreading the driving part.

Tuesday I took Catherine to get a fridge for her dorm. I also helped her get some other stuff that she needed. I need to back up a bit though. On Wed night Cat brought Laura over here to try on some jeans we had gotten her. Well, when they pulled out of our driveway she had a flat tire. She pulled over and called me. I went over there and Catherine was getting her donut and jack out. Problem with that was, the donut had a large slit in it. There were no lights at all so I had drive back over to our house. She and I attempted to take the tire off with no luck. I sent her back to her moms in our car. The next morning we had the car towed to the shop because it was already to go in for work that day anyway. Ok, the car is in the shop. We were taking Cat’s house key to her moms house to the middle school to drop it off for Sean. Cat took it off her key ring and dropped the key. She saw it and tried to get it however it fell even further. So here we are in the school parking lot with out butts sticking out the door trying to get the key. You are probably thinking, “what’s the big deal, where the heck is the key”? I’ll tell you where the key was…it was UNDER a metal plate that the electric seat track was attached to. We used anything we could to get it out…no luck. We went over to the auto shop where her mom works to get wire to try to get it out. No luck there either. John, the mechanic, had to take the bolt out that was holding the seat in and finally got the key out. What a beginning to the day! Finally, we made it to Lee’s Sumitt, MO to do some shopping. We had lunch at Culver’s. For you GA folks, he closest one to you is in Northeast KY. Anyway, we talked about a lot of stuff. We covered all the Do’s and Dont’s. We discussed ideas and plans. I gave all the “Momma Talks”!

Ok, now to Wed…I took Catherine to get her savings account closed and open a new savings and checking account at a bank that is also in Maryville. Interesting explaining banking to someone who is clueless on how it all works. We did some more shopping for her necessities. We had more talks about money and about her getting focused. She will even tell you that her hair is brown but she has blond roots. Her grades in high school were very good but she can be an air head and she makes fun of herself. Gotta love a teenager!

She is off to begin her new journey. She is planning to be a Vet which is what she has wanted to do since she was 5 years old. We are praying for God’s guidance and protection. It is just amazing that she off to college. She asked us about a week or so ago if we were going to be sad and miss her. We told her of course we will miss her and will be a little sad but we are also excited for her. We are excited to see her go off and begin a new chapter in her life that will shape the rest of her life.

My thoughts at this moment… It’s hard to explain to an 18 year old the importance of the decisions they make as they leave high school. I mean, the choices and the roads they take at that point really does determine so much of their future. Thank goodness for many of us that God shows mercy and gives us opportunities to make some changes alone the way and sometimes make corrections. Right now, I can hear my Momma saying, “Kimberly, if you will just listen to me, I can save you a lot of heartache”! Why oh why did I not listen to Momma on that one!?!? However, all the ‘stuff’ I’ve been thorough has made me the Kimberly I am today. Hind sites 20/20. You know how you hear people say, “If I knew then what I know now” OR “If only I could go back and change a few things”. But, we can’t go back, only forward. I’m just thankful that after all of my decisions in the past, both good and bad, and some other things I won’t go into, that the road led me to here. It led me to a wonderful, loving husband who is a Christian man and I now have 4 children who needed me as much as I needed them. Yes, I would make some changes to the past if I could but I would not change the fact that I am married to my Prince.

So, if you have a teen that is approaching life after high school, don’t waste a minute preparing them. Equip them with all the knowledge and confidence that you can. Stress the importance of decision and cause and effects. Most important…Start praying for all that NOW. (and start a savings account)

kdp

Home from visiting our Next Home!

On Tuesday morning Larry drove to work, Ft. Leavenworth, and I went later and picked him up around 12pm. We had lunch and off to Ft. Riley, KS we went! Most Army Installations are in the middle of nowhere and Ft. Riley is no exception. Much of the ride is green fields as far as you can see. Larry has not been at Riley since 1989 so things have changed since then to say the least. We drove around taking a look at the Post. The Historical housing is where we would live if we live on post. Those areas are so pretty. It is a pretty post and very BIG! They are making a lot of changes and doing a lot of building. They are in the process of building a new Commissary (Grocery Store) which is very good thing!

Before I go any further I have to tell you that I let out a little squill when I saw a Cracker Barrel sign a few miles from one of the gates. I know some of you are wondering why we love CB so much. I don’t know, the food is good, reasonably priced, you get choices of veggies and I like to shop there!

We checked into our room at the Lodge on post, unloaded our stuff and left to meet Mike and Shelly for dinner. After dinner, they introduced me to an ice-cream place called Stone Cold. Yum Yum! It was SO good! Later Larry and I made it back to our room. Once having a second look..OH MY…it was not the cleanest place I’ve ever been in. We have stayed on different post and bases before but our rooms were never quiet like this. Mike and Shelly stayed there before and their room was fine. I won’t go into details but let’s just say we got a refund for the second night and went elsewhere.

Wednesday morning we met with a lady to look at the historic housing on post. The homes are absolutely beautiful. The beauty and character of the homes was amazing. There were of course some downfalls to the homes as well. We loved the homes; however, they won’t work for us. We were SO hoping that it would work perfectly and be done with it but that was not the case. After looking on post Larry went to meet a few of the guys that will be working for and/or with him. I went to the library to search for homes online for us to see. After his meeting and my web surfing we had lunch and hit the road.

We visited a tiny town just outside one of the gates called Ogden. We had high hopes of living there but we were disappointed and must report that Ogden is a “no” unless a new area pops that we missed. (Which I doubt) We went to Manhattan looking for homes which is really the area we would like to live in. One problem is we want to live on the west side of Manhattan which is closer to the post. The homes we found on the west side that we liked and felt like were good neighborhoods were a wee bit expensive. Is that not always how it works?!?! There is one that we have our eye on but just did not want to pay the price they are asking. We had dinner at CB and we were off again to visit homes in Junction City which is right off one of the gates. Actually, JC was one of the areas we were trying to decide if we even wanted to look at homes there. Well, we did to get an idea of the area. We found 3 homes in JC that we are interested in. It’s one of those towns that you have to pick and choose the areas you feel comfortable in but aren’t most towns like that? We also keep telling ourselves, “It’s temporary” but at the same time we want to feel safe and enjoy our lives.

Thursday we headed back to Leavenworth. I dropped Larry off at work and I headed to Independence and Lee’s Summit to do some birthday shopping for the girls. Eventually Larry and I met back up at home. We went to eat Mexican and made a trip to Wal-Mart. After the wild and crazy trip to WM we went home. I started to embroider two sets of towels that we got for Catherine to take to college. I finished them and now here I am, bloggin’.
Oh, the most important event today….Molly came home from her Nana Beckies and was reunited with her Mommy!!!!! Larry picked her up from Beckies and on the drive here he put me on speaker phone and I was talking to her. He said her ears were perked up, her tail was waggin’ and she was looking around for her mommy! I sure do miss that fur ball when we are apart but Beckie spoils her just like we do and I know she is wonderful and loving hands.

To sum things up…We have no idea exactly where we will live. We still have some time and until our house sells we can’t do anything anyway. We do think we will enjoy living in the Ft. Riley area and look forward to the move.

We are having another open house this weekend and maybe we will have lots of traffic and even a buyer.

Keep praying for all of us that are trying to sell; Momma and Jeff, Tim, Loretta, Mike and Shelly and Us.