Its a whole new world...

Ok so this post will most likely be premature. But I felt the need to say a few things about the fact that in just a few short hours my husband will no longer be active duty in the Navy and I will no longer be a submariner's wife. This change, as with all changes, will come at a cost. There have been many many many times over the past 10+ years that I have wished that we never had to have anything to do with the Navy again. A fact that ALL of my military wife friends can agree with. Being a military wife is HARD to say the least. We are the moms, the dads, the taxis, the bookkeepers, the maids, the chefs and the cheerleaders for our husbands. Some days it just comes naturally and when someone says " I just dont know how you do it." You smile and say " You just do." Luckily for those people that is usually a good day. Most of the world doesnt see the bad days. The days that you spend most of the day crying and telling your kids you just dont feel like coloring today. The days that you serve cereal for dinner because you just cant bring yourself to make a full dinner when the only other person that would eat it is gone. Those are the bad days, the days we as military wives try our best to hide and only share with each other.

But each other is what we have. I cant say there has ever been a time in our military life that I havent had a shoulder to cry on. The submarine force has always been like a family for me. Theres the family members that you love and feel like you were truly related to and then the family members that you "avoid" at the family reunions. Ha ha ha Theres the family members that take charge and make sure everyone is doing okay while the guys are gone and then ones that need that extra bit of help getting thru it all. But in the end the only word that comes to mind about my fellow submarine wives is... family. A family I now feel like I am losing. I have so much respect for all the wives of the guys that are "career" guys. They will do 20 years doing things everyday that women in the outside world would never understand. I'm proud to say that I was part of that. That I was strong enough... To all of my friends out there that are still doing the Navy thing, I love you, I'll miss you and just always remember.... YOUR DOING A GREAT JOB!

A Texas pumpkin patch

So every year we take the kids to a pumpkin patch. There has never been a year that we missed and even though Ben isnt here with us, I decided to hitch up my big girl panties and take the kids myself. Wow... I so should have rethought this idea. Not that we didnt have a good time. We had a great time! Despite the fact that there was NO pumpkin patch! Thats right there was only a big barn with a bunch of pumpkin sitting in rows. But thats not even the worst of it. After driving for about 45 minutes we were greeted at the gate by a nice lady (with a cash register) informing me that it would be $9.00 for me and $8.00 for each of the kids to get into the "pumpkin patch". Well we were there and its not like I could have looked at the kids and said something along the lines of "Sorry y'all, but mom isnt paying this outrageous fee just so y'all can roll around in some hay." Nope I gave the girl the money (after asking if they had a military discount, which they didnt. But the nice lady did say "But we sure do appreciate y'all" to make her me feel better) We went in and I paid yet another 18.00 for pumpkins for the kids to paint and 10.00 for a pumpkin to carve. So all in all it was a very expensive day...

That being said it also ended up being a great day for pictures. I got some really beautiful shots of the kids that day.

A castle of cardboard...

So we have been living in a much smaller house then we were in before. Which has meant that we have had to leave a lot of our stuff in boxes, Lots of boxes. We currently have one whole bedroom, the office and a storage unit filled to the brim with said boxes. At first I thought it would be no big deal, that in fact it would teach me to live without so much stuff and help us in our attempt to downsize our life. Which is something that we have talked about doing for quite some time now. Dont get me wrong I am still all for downsizing and I still truly believe that we have WAY TO MUCH STUFF. That being said I feel like daily something I need is in one of those boxes. Which I am trying very very hard to not unpack. Some of them just cant be unpacked due to the fact that in our current temp house we have not garage, but some of them we have just decided arent needed right now. But the problem with a box is that although you might not need 95% of whats in there.... that other 5% would really come in handy. So between living without and convincing myself NOT to buy something to replace something I know I already have life has been trying to say the least. I will be happy the day I dont have to see a single cardboard box in my home again. Even more so, I will be extremely happy the day I am no longer in a "temp" house and finally in our home.... So pray for us, keep us in your thoughts or just wish us luck. This to shall pass....