You guessed it!

Well, you guessed it! I am, in fact, the most inconsistent blogger on the planet. In fact, it's been almost a year since I last blogged. Life has been busy. So busy that sometimes I have not even been able to sit down once at the computer in an entire day, or if I do get the time to sit down, it is only for the dreaded school work. Thankfully there is light at the end of the tunnel there. I currently have five, yes, I said only FIVE, classes left to complete my Bachelor's, and I am SO relived. At the rate I am going, I should graduate in August!! I am going to take a bit of time off and move onto my graduate program the next spring. For one because I need some time to catch up to the real world, and for two, Aaron is going to transfer his GI Bill to me so that I can complete the program without having to pay $25,000 out of pocket or get loans, and he can't do that until, you guessed it, next spring because of retainability blah blah blah Air Force stuff (<---- about="" am="" feeling="" how="" i="" military="" now="" p="" right="" see="" the="">
Since I last blogged, life has changed A LOT!!! Some changes:

-Elliot turned one! (Who am I kidding? She's well on her way to TWO now!)
-Emma turns three TOMORROW!! (What?!?!)
-Aaron found out he scored high enough for his promotion!!! (He's in school for it now, and will actually get the promotion March 1st!)
-Elliot has gone through 8 months of a grueling three days a week physical therapy, and SHE WALKS!!!! (She still has muscle issues, and her toe will still need corrective surgery. She also has one leg that is shorter than the other that will most likely require surgery too.)
-Elliot was diagnosed with Asthma and food allergies to Peanuts, Eggs, Shellfish, and Pecans. (WAHHHH!!!)

One of the biggest things that has happened since I last blogged is that I think I have finally found Ashley again! After being pregnant with both girls, I kind of lost the vision of who I was, in a sense of I only saw the mom Ashley, not the young, spunky, Ashley. I mean obviously I am not quite as spunky as I once was. Two kiddos will do that to you, but what I mean is that I am finally seeing beyond myself as a mom and only a mom. I have realized that I am a person too and need time for ME regardless of how much I love those girls of mine! Because of this, I got back in the gym and lost FORTY pounds! Yahoo!!! I am now at less than I was when I had Emma and feeling great about me! One of the best things about finding me again is that even though I am taking time for myself more than I ever was (5 minutes in the shower counts!!), I am the best mom I have ever been! My mood is better, and I am just overall a lot less on edge with girls.

Moral of the story: Your children are not all that matter. YOU are really important too! Obviously, there are a lot of things that get pushed aside for parents. There are, I get it, but some things just can't be pushed aside. Even if you take 5 minutes to polish your nails, or whatever it may be, TAKE CARE OF YOU!! It really does make for a better mom, wife, friend, person, etc.

Easter

This past weekend was obviously Easter! We had a BLAST! Aaron originally had to work on Saturday and was going to miss Emma's first egg hunt, but a kind single Airman took his place for the funeral, and he was able to join us!! Of course Emma loved hunting eggs and all of the candy that was inside them.

Now, call me crazy, but I wished there wasn't any candy inside. Maybe I'm a snob, but I don't want my children to have candy at every holiday. Candy in their Easter baskets, candy for Valentine's Day, candy in their Christmas stocking, etc. etc. Why? Why does everyone feel the need to do this? Is it because that's what we got as kids, so that's just what we are used to? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE candy, but it's terrible for us. I mean really, no nutritional value whatsoever. I am totally down for sweet treats and snacks here and there, but for the most part, I don't want my girls having those sorts of things! Call me a snob, I DON'T CARE! In my eyes, it is up to us as parents to help our kiddos make the right choices. This includes food choices. I cannot say that we are perfect eaters over here, but we are pretty good at eating wholesome meals and trying to eat real foods all the time. We make a lot of our things from scratch and don't buy many things that are packaged. I don't want my girls to be raised on the same foods that I was raised on (no offense to anyone that raised me, ;)

Seriously though, why would we give our children candy for every holiday? After a few times, they come to expect it, then they want it more than just for holidays, then it becomes weekly, then everyday. No thank you! I do not want that to happen in my house! So, I am proud to say that my girls did not have a single ounce of candy in their baskets. Instead, they each had a small toy, a pair of shoes, some new spoons and forks, and some clothes. Practical and useful. That's the way I like it to be! Maybe this post makes me snob, but as I said before, I really don't care! I feel like helping my girls to make the right choices is one of my duties as their mother and feeding them loads of candy for every holiday is a good way to head them in the wrong direction.

Light at the End

Let's face it: I am a TERRIBLE blogger. I don't know why I am a terrible blogger, or why I even pretend that I am going to be a better blogger. I really do enjoy blogging, but I just never find myself sitting at the computer with nothing other blogging to do. (Who am I kidding?! Every night after I am done with homework, I spend at least an hour looking at Etsy when I could be blogging.) I just have this tendency to get lost in what I am doing and totally forget I even have a blog. I mean it is March, and my last post was in November. Ummmm, helloo there again!

Anyhow, as I sit at my computer now, I think about all of the things that have happened since I last blogged and what I could write about. So many stories and memories stick out to me in my head just in that short span of time. I have to ask myself, how blessed am I to not have a hard time picking out great memories in just a few short months.

Now, trust me, there have been some really crappy (And I use the word crappy because it is most definitely the nicest way to put it.) memories between then and now too. We could start with it being almost April and still not having our tax refund even though we filed in January, or we could talk about the truck we just bought needing $1000 in repairs, or we could talk about how Aaron's squadron is giving him the total run around about a decision that they needed to make weeks ago, or we could talk about someone in Korea hacking all of my online accounts, and the list really goes on and on. OR we could talk about the good.

I've come to realize just tonight that dwelling on all of these crappy situations above is going to get me nowhere, but being creative, an adult, and looking at the positive in everything WILL. We haven't gotten our tax return? So what. We'll get creative until then. $1000 in repairs? At least no one was in a wreck and injured badly because of the problems with the truck. Aaron's squadron giving him the run around? Well, I'm still looking for the positive there.

The fact of the matter and something that I am trying to do myself is to STOP DWELLING. It's so hard as a young family to not dwell on $1000 in repair costs to a vehicle you haven't even owned but for a week, but such is life. We will recoup and recover and move on with our lives. We can't keep thinking what if? or Why? We just have to put on our big girl panties and deal. (I know, I know. That saying is as old as the hills. It probably goes back before my time, but it is so incredibly true.). This is not to say that we will be perfect or even near perfect. I mean I still can't find the positive in the situation with Aaron's squadron, but the fact of the matter is that we are working towards finding the positives and bettering ourselves.

So to try and better ourselves and our family, Aaron and I have sat down and reorganized our budget, and we are really going to make this year a year of goals and accomplishments. If we get knocked down, we have to learn to get right back up and go again.

Heart Strings

Okay, I don't often blog three times in one week and especially not two days in a row, but there is something that is really tugging at my heart strings tonight. I know several people, acquaintances, if you will, who have recently gone through divorces. These people all have young children. This really has been tugging at my heart tonight. I know that divorce happens, and sometimes, it really is the best choice, but I keep thinking about if my own babies had divorced parents. For those of you married with kids, doesn't that make you sad? I think about having to let them go to "Dad's house" and sharing them for holidays and their birthdays. That makes me really really sad to even have to think about doing something like that. I watch, Teen Mom (I know, I know, but it is fun to watch really awful reality TV sometimes), and every time I see the girls have to say goodbye to their kids for a day or a weekend or whichever, I think what if that were me?

Well, I am so thankful it is not me. I am so thankful for a loving husband. I am thankful that we don't have to share our children and send them to each others' houses. I have realized lately just how lucky I am, and I really have to work on showing how thankful I am more often. It is easy to take for granted all of the good in our lives, and I think that is something that everyone needs to work on!

Too Fast!

I swear it seems like yesterday that Elliot was born, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't! On Friday, she will be six months old! Holy cow! Where in the world did time go? And Emma is going to be two in approximately a month! WHAT! TWO?! I have to admit it makes me rather sad thinking about my babies growing up. They are becoming so much fun though, really. Especially Emma since she speaks lots and lots of full sentences now! That girl is a firecracker, and on top of that, she is HILARIOUS! Seriously, I am not just saying that because she's my kid. Anyway, no news to report this time, but I wanted to share a few recent pictures. :)

Turkey Day!

Hey Y'all! (Ahh! It's so refreshing to say that, seriously! It brings me back to my home for a split second.) Anyway, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and boy have I been busy today! Everything is ready for tomorrow, even the girls outfits, though, so that is what counts! Tomorrow is the third Thanksgiving that we will be in California for, which means the third Thanksgiving that I haven't gotten to spend at "home" with my wonderful family. It makes me sad, but I am also happy to know that we have good friends here to celebrate the holidays with.

Even more exciting than tomorrow being Thanksgiving is that Friday we are going to pick up our tree and decorate it! I am so excited to get everything done this year since Emma is actually old enough to enjoy it finally! I hope she will actually rip all of her presents open and be super excited! My dad is getting her a trampoline, and I just know she will love that! I hope that the weather cooperates on Christmas day so that we will be able to put it together and she can jump on it even if it is freezing outside! Christmas is indeed my favorite time of year, and in the light of Thanksgiving tomorrow, I am so incredibly thankful for the Air Force. While it may be making me spend years thousands of miles away from my real home, it is paying our bills and providing us great benefits, and we are able to afford to give our girls a Christmas! I definitely know that that is not what Christmas is all about, but it really makes my heart happy to be able to give to my girls! :)

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

C'mon people!

Just a little rant! I am not a genius, and I can admit that. I am an intelligent person, though, and the misuse/misspelling/etc. of words and other grammar mistakes DRIVES ME CRAZY! If I am typing something, and I know I cannot spell the word or even question it, I look it up! Here's a little FYI on the words that drive me the most crazy!

THEN means soon after. I.e. I went shopping, and then I went home.
THAN is a word used after comparative adjectives and adverbs. I.e. She is shorter than I am.

YOUR is possessive. I.e. That is your ball.
YOU'RE means you are. I.e. You're the star of the show!

TO is a preposition. I.e. I am going to the store.
TOO means also. I.e. I am going too!

THERE means in or at a place. I.e. I am going to be there too.
THEIR is possesive. I.e. That is their house.
THEY'RE is a contraction for They are. I.e. They are having a party.

Oh and DEFINITELY is spelled that way <<< There is no A! :)

I feel better now!