This Crazy Army Wife

Changing plans.... as always. We have said all along that if Sammie wanted to stay and graduate with her friends we would. She has been adamant that she didn't want too..... That being said, now that her anxiety is being managed with medication she is finally settling in and realizing she has friends and that life is good here. She still thinks her school sucks.... but she doesn't want to leave her friends. So it looks like we will be staying in the Pacific Northwest for a few more years.....  at least as of right now. Add in that Karah is saying that if she stays here for Freshman and Sophmore year she will want to graduate here too. Who knows what the future will bring. Just proves that nothing in life is ever definitive. I still wish I was closer to my oldest and the family, but just as we discussed staying in Kenosha for Tess to graduate, we will give the same option to my girls here. If they want to stay, stay we will. So for now who knows.....

I am going to try and do better about this whole blogging thing. We are currently in Washington state, back at Fort Lewis (or JBLM) as it's called now. We have been here for a little over a year. The oldest is off at college (and some days are better than others for her). The middle kid has started to study for her AP testing and is excited and scared for Junior year next year. Our little baby, isn't so little anymore.... She is scared about next year and starting high school. She has also continue to grow her artistic talents and is turning into quite the painter..... Jim, well he has decided to retire from the Army.... That's right, this Crazy Army Life is approaching retirement. The thought of being out and on our own is a little intimidating.... Where do we go now? Most people go home... but where is home? My family is scattered to the winds... Jim's are all in Missouri. Missouri is where we consider home, but.... it's a limited practice state for me. I have...

Well the Army decided Hawaii was not the place for us to live next. We are currently in Limbo awaiting a new assignment. We are hoping to find out sometime in the next few weeks where we are going next. Tess is now living in Missouri with her Oma, looking for work and getting ready to start Community College. The rest of us are just keeping busy with school and general life. I made some Pizza Soup today... and it was super yummy! I decided to share the recipe here. ENJOY Pizza Soup - a delicious tomato soup. Large can of diced or crushed tomatoes (28 oz) Can of diced seasoned tomatoes (italian seasoned) Can of pizza sauce Can of tomato sauce (8 oz) Can of tomato paste Chicken Broth (2 cups) Italian Seasoning (your choice how much) 1/2 tbsp sugar garlic (again how much you like) Salt and Pepper to taste 1 cup of shredded Italian Cheese Pizza toppings of your choice (I used mushrooms, onion, green bell pepper, olives, pepperoni, italian sausage) Place the first set ...

Today in a search for a recipe I decided to revisit my blog.... and realized I haven't posted on here since spring. Life moves on.... We still have our good days and bad days. Some better and some worse.... Things have stabilized and gone crazy all at the same time. Our eldest has graduated High School! We are proud of her, and about to miss her a lot.  She is moving out in a few weeks to live with her Grandmother in Missouri. Then she will start community college down there in the spring. We are working on our paperwork for our next PCS (military move for those non-military who follow us).  As of right now the plan is to move to the lovely isle of Oahu! We have been trying to get stationed there since Jim joined the Army 18 years ago.... How fitting that unless something changes, it will be our last assignment before Jim retires. I am about to start my final semester of grad school and then there will be some freedom in my life.... But, none of you follow me for all of th...

This is going to be a real, honest, and painful post. If you aren't up for it, don't read on. I'm failing as a mother. No, I don't mean that I'm not a good Mom, or I don't love my kids because I do and I know that I am a good Mom. But that doesn't change the hurt and pain I am currently feeling in my heart because of the struggles my kids are going through. My teen, the wonderful girl who made me a Mom, is struggling with generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. She is struggling, and at the moment she is losing that battle. She goes to counseling weekly (some weeks twice a week), she takes her medicine and yet she's not getting better. Some days we get a glimpse of our smiling happy girl.... but not often.  Most days it seems like she is getting worse. She feels like a failure because she can't do what other kids her age are doing.... most days now she can't even bring herself to leave the house. She was switched to onlin...

I haven't been on my blog in forever.... Not sure anyone still reads it. A quick update and explanation on what happened, where did I dissapear to you ask? GRAD SCHOOL!  I am working hard on earning my degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner, this on top of the busy life of Mom and Army Wife has made me scarce.  That being said I'm going to try and do better about blogging ;0 Maybe once a week or so if possible. We shall see what happens?  Anyone out there?

It's Tuesday... my menu planning grocery shopping day.  I sleep off my weekend on Monday so Tuesday is when I plan and normally shop while the teen is at bowling team (although today she's at home....). Here is this weeks meal plan with links to the recipes and my grocery list. That being said.... check the recipes for missing ingredients because I didn't include things I already had in my pantry like flour, spices, etc.... Tuesday - Spaghetti with meat sauce (no link, my own recipe).  I'm also going to double it and make a baked spaghetti to drop off at my neighbor's who just had a baby. Wednesday - Geschnetzletes and spaetzle. We love and miss German food. I don't claim to be the best German cook in the world, but after living overseas so long we really enjoy it so I try to make it occasionally. This is the recipe I am using, she has a great homemade spaetzle recipe as well, but I'm going to buy mine this week. http://www.daringgourmet.com/2013/03/26/...