The move

Here are a few photos from the move when we left Fort Huachuca:

Got to get the motorcycle on the truck somehow. We had syphoned all the fuel and disconnected the battery.

All of our stuff packed in nice and tight!!

The driver let Niran and my friend's boys sit in the cab with him. Niran cried when we let the older boys go first then sat there freaked out when it was his turn.

My friend's son and Niran watching the truck pull away. Niran followed him everywhere.

The start of one tradition for our family. The last night in the house we order take out and watch a movie. Here the boys are hold hands while watching Tangled.

Another tradition we're starting: A photo in front of our home when we move in and when we move out. So we can see how our family has grown. We still need to get the one for our new home!

We stopped in Lousiana to visit some of my daddy's side of the family. I had never met any of them. I only heard stories about them and talked to them on Facebook. It was very neat to finally put faces to these names! We also stopped in New Orleans for a visit. Dusty has those photos on his phone, which I will get when he comes back from the field.

In our new home state!!!

We're there!!!

We stayed with one of Dusty's buddies. His apartment is on a lake so we went for stroll the first night. Daddy taught Niran how to throw rocks in.

Calvin snuggled with his Mama!!!

Our first family photo in North Carolina!!

The New House!!!

I LOVE our house on post!! I would love to have this as my long-term home if it met a few more criteria:

1. It was not attached to another home. Single family home is a must for me. Luckily for now, our neighbors are very nice.

2. It needs to be bigger. I don't want anything huge (ie, Brandi's mansion), but some more space would be nice.

3. A bigger pantry!!! Luckily the utility closet is very big with shelving that I can use for food items, but the close-at-hand items are just so crowded in the little pantry. I think I've been spoiled by our last three homes having large pantries.

Alright, time for the photo tour. I do apologize for this taking so long. I didn't want to take photos while I was unpacking. "Here's a room full of boxes. Now imagine it as the boys room with a bed, crib, dresser, bookcase & Spongebob table." I'm not saying none of our friends and family have imaginations. I'm saying your taste in room layouts might not be the same ;o)

The front of our house. The area outside the front window we can put in whatever vegetation we want. They actually encourage us to do so. We are responsible for that area. Currently it looks like someone wanted every plant possible at the nursery. And the rose bushes are pretty much dead.

Street view to the left: A park, this one is a little too old for Niran still. There is one a little further away that is better for him, but this one is nice and close! He loves riding is trike over here.

Street view to the right: Just some housing. Nothing too special

Back of our house. We want a charcoal grill, a table & 4 chairs, preferrably something that folds up (hint, hint) =) That blue door is our storage closet. It's pretty small and only contains Niran's outside toys. It's too hot to be playing outside right now.

The back yard. We can rent a fence, but in 3 years it will have cost us $2,000 and we won't own it. We can also install our own fence, but it has to come down when we move out, so either it comes with us or we sell it at a loss. We're fine without one for now.

Looking in from the front door: Living room, then dining room and kitchen is in the background. To the left of the kitchen would be the family room, but it's not visible in this shot.

Standing beside the dining room table looking at the front door. Stairs would be to the right of the door.

Standing in the living room. Front door is to the right, coat closet is at the bottom of the stairs

Kitchen. The little window to the dining room is on the other side of the fridge. I want to buy curtains for above the sink. I just forget every time there is a sale at Joann's.

Standing in the kitchen, the family room. Dusty and I didn't agree on what this room should be. He wanted a breakfast nook, I wanted a family room so we didn't have to buy another table. I like this as the family room even more since Niran can play in here while I make dinner. He watches movies on the computer, but loves listening to kids music even more. He can dance that way =) And yes, he has a kitchen and a shopping cart. Some would say those are for girls, but he LOVES to cook. The area in the far left corner is in the next photo!

Doors starting at 9 o'clock: Garage, closet, half bath, utility closet

The garage, until we get a new bookcase I have some more boxes left to be unpacked, as well as stuff we will sell (I was shocked at our weight for this move so I'm trying to drop it) and then we still have the empty boxes from this move, plus stuff that is in "storage."

The boxes on the left include stuff to be sold and the empty boxes from the move. The cubby area to the right is all storage area.

The one mishap from the move. That was twice as high, but we are being refunded by the moving company. It's actually upside down so I might be able to save it in the end as a 3-shelf book case.

*No photo of the half bathroom. It's a toilet, sink and step stool =)

Utitlity closet. It's actually pretty big. We still have plenty of space left for things.

The top of the stairs. To the right is our bedroom. The door at the very top is the closet, to the left of the closet is our spare bedroom and if you make a u-turn to the left you find the boys' bathroom and bedroom.

A shot from our bedroom door. Closet & spare are on the right. Bathroom straight ahead and boys room to the left.

The boys room. I'm looking forward to finishing the decorating of this room. Niran saw some personalized items at a store the other day. Of course they won't have his name. I decided I would make something for him. I've also decided Calvin doesn't get personalized stuff from stores. It's not fair, so his will be custom made as well.

Standing by Niran's bed, their closet & bookcase. As you can see, they really don't need any more books!!

Their bathroom. It's pretty big. Niran's potty seat sits next to the toilet and is out of the way! I'm looking forward to decorating this bathroom more.

Spare bedroom, my craft area & then some toys for the boys to play with. That brown box is a homemade toy box. I took a dish pack from the move, which is very sturdy and cut a lid into it. I'll decorate it at some point. If this room needs to used by a guest we can put the air mattress in here and there is more space in the closet for storage.

Standing by my sewing machine, Dusty music area. I'm still working on this area. I want to put his Wall o' Weezer up & make it look nicer, just haven't gotten there yet.

The linen closet!! Which also includes, games and all of Dusty's gear he currently has. He has nothing compared to what he will have one day.

Our bedroom from the door. Hok sleeps on the far side, next to Dusty. I got the easy exit for when the boys need something.

From the window. Dusty's closet is the left door and the bathroom is the right door

My closet.

Bathroom. Bigger than our last bathroom and more cabinet space =D

That's the tour!!! I hope you enjoyed it and I made enough sense to guide you through the house!! Come visit any time!!

The Big Move

A new tradition, the last & first day in our homes we take a picture so we can see how we've changed.

Our move to North Carolina came a little faster than expected. We found out that before we'd be allowed in a house at Fort Bragg we had to be out of the house in Fort Huachuca. I was able to get the movers to the house in 5 days to pack it up and take everything away and we were fully out of the house in 7 days. Generally you plan a move about 2 weeks out at the earliest. We weren't going to do that since Dusty was needing to take his leave to travel with us ASAP. So far everything in the Army has been learn by doing and we are learning a lot!! The moving company we had for this move was much better than the last. They did an awesome job packing everything and didn't complain much when I asked them to repack things better. Our driver was great too. He was very interested in my ACU diaper bag. He sells ACUs at great prices and wants to work out a deal so he can sell the bags in his store in Sierra Vista. He makes deliveries to Fort Bragg often so I think we might be able to work something out! Here are some pictures from the move:

They argued over who would "ride" the bike up the ramp. None of them had been on a motorcycle. This gentleman was the lucky winner.

All of our stuff, tucked in tight!

The driver let Niran and my friend's 2 boys sit in the cab of the truck and honk the horn!

Niran's buddy, Lex, he would follow him around and do whatever he did. I miss Allana and her boys. She kept me sane during this day of moving...well, somewhat sane!

Another new tradition, our first & final night in our home we'll be ordering take out and watching a movie. These are very sweet little boys!!

Dusty flew into Phoenix and his dad was able to pick him up and spend the afternoon with him. I finished up everything at Ft Huachuca with housing there so we could get on the waiting list at Ft Bragg before heading up and meeting with Dusty. It had been 6 weeks since we had last seen each other. Niran was so happy to finally see his Daddy. Calvin at this point had been away from his Daddy for over half of his life. He had also grown a lot since Daddy left for Airborne School. We then spent a few days in Globe with his Dad and then went down into Phoenix to visit his sister and some friends before heading east.

It took two days to actually get our trip going and we were behind for most of the trip. Our first day of traveling Dusty, Niran and I got food poisioning. We stopped early the first night and traveled slow the second day due to Niran throwing up constantly. We were supposed to spend half a day with my dad's family in Louisiana, but instead spent most of it trying to catch up on driving. We were able to still eat dinner with them. We had homemade gumbo, jumbalaya and other yummy treats made by a true Cajun =) It was great being able to meet this side of the family. My dad always talked about them so now I have faces to go with names. I'm looking forward to being able to visit them more. They are only two days away from us.

Part of my dad's family

We got into Fayetteville/Fort Bragg early in the evening and made our way to our friend, Brownell's apartment. He was at Fort Huachuca for the same training as Dusty and was kind enough to let us stay with him while we waited to get into our house. We stayed with him for 3 weeks before being able to move into our new home!

North Carolina!! So close!! Enjoy those trees as well, that's all you can see from the roads. No mountains way off in the distance, just trees right there!

Yup, we made it!!!

And our first family photo in North Carolina!!

The Family Update

I thought I'd give you an update of each family members happenings. We'll start with the youngest:

Calvin Lee

He's 6 months and weighs about 16 pounds

Has teeth starting to come in that make him very cranky some days

Can always make you smile with his little grin and infectious laugh

Rolls back to tummy only for 2 months now, but won't attempt or think about tummy to back

Flat-spins and scoots on his tummy to get around. Niran rolled everywhere, Calvin is content with his mode of transportation

Is eating solids. First few bites of every meal he hates, but eventually gets mad at us for not feeding him fast enough

Is starting to sleep through the night. He's still trying to figure out how to soothe himself. If he can get his binky he'll use that, but fingers seem to be for snacking only

He's about ready to sit on his own. He likes to reach for the toy that is furthest away so he folds himself in half

He's a brother's boy!!! He loves Niran so much. He will laugh at him while he's riding his trike or playing with his toys ignoring him. As long as he can see his big brother he's happy

He's still a snuggler! It's wonderful for the most part, until you need to get things done after an hour of snuggling =)

Niran

In 2.5 months he'll be 3 years old!!! I can't believe it and quite frankly I really don't want to!

He isn't quite talking yet, but he can communicate better. You can ask a yes and no question, he'll answer yes or no and give you a subject. "Can put this in your room?" "No, room." He can also say thank you, where are you, what are you doing. Pretty much what I constantly say. It works for now, but he's improving a lot. I can't wait to hear what his stories in English!

He still loves books, in fact he sleeps with a book every night. I've caught him laying in bed reading. Playing with toys in bed isn't okay, but I'll excuse reading for now

He can ride his trike by pedaling!! I worked forever teaching him. Dusty got him to do it in one night. The next day we went to the park and he rode his trike like we've been doing it for years. He rides it everywhere, even when we take Hok outside to go potty, when we walk Daddy to the car in the morning, when he's done watching tv and wants to play. Forget walking, he rides his trike

He has wood puzzles that he's never been able to do, he'd just get frustrated with them after awhile. He put together all three puzzles yesterday without any trouble. He may be practicing by himself since he learns better without someone watching over him

He's working on ABCs. He has A, C & D down if he watching his leapfrog video. He has A down with me and will "sing" them with me

He's working on counting. "1, 2, 3, 6" which is actually 1, 2, 3, 5" He can do better if he as something to count, such as his fingers or cars

He uses his imagination: Builds things, plays with cars & they interact, plays in his play kitchen & makes meals, "Where's your nose?" game (we need to a get video of this game, it's fun to play)

He loves giving kisses & hugs. At dinner he has a do group hugs. And he loves holding, kissing, & hugging his brother

Hok

Yup, we're including him in family updates. I probably wouldn't if it weren't for the fact that we almost didn't have him anymore. Dusty had a 24-hour duty day from Sunday morning to Monday morning. He got off at 9 and ended up spending most of the day awake. That night we all went to bed early, since I had stayed up the same night helping Dusty work on some stuff. 37 hours awake was too much. I rushed the boys upstairs & into bed, Dusty sat outside with Hok for awhile before coming in to say goodnight to the boys. The next morning I went to let Hok outside & no sign of him...anywhere. I replayed in my mind Niran looking under the bed & laughing earlier in the morning, but there was no actual sign of Hok, since I didn't look as well. I searched the house high & low, rang the door bell, & started calling and texting Dusty. "Did you bring Hok in last night?" "IDK, I can't remember." I could only assume he didn't, so the boys & I packed up in the double stroller and headed out asking neighbors if they had seen him. No luck. I decided since it was late enough in the morning and by this time he hasn't been seen in 14 hours I'd call the shelter here on post. I spent time trying to call a building that wouldn't answer their phone & trying to keep Niran from going into a panic over not being able to find his dog. I asked Dusty to drive up the busy street on his way home looking for him on the side of the road. I tried avoided that request since I didn't want to deal with it. Dusty came home for lunch with no sign of him and searched the house as well. Just after lunch Dusty got a phone call from Gilbert Veterinary Hospital in Gilbert, Arizona with the name & number of the lady who had our dog. No, our dog didn't managed to cross the country over night. Once Hok was returned to us, we finally got the whole story pieced together:

Hok did not come in the house with Dusty the night before, instead he went up a street that is behind our house and ended up near an elementary school. The next morning when the kids went inside, so did Hok. He's not a fan of being outside too long. The kids and adults tried to read his tags, but he wasn't going to have it. I'm sure he was stressed, tired and very freaked out. Eventually a Captain in uniform came in and sat down. Hok jumped in his lap and curled up. When he left to go home, Hok tried leaving with him. The family took Hok with them and began locating us. The only tag Hok would let them read was a tag from the vet in AZ. They called them, then called Dusty's sister, who was our emergency contact to get our number and then called us. At first we thought they had got our information from his microchip, but when I had checked that it was current. But the family said they never made it to the vet on post to have his microchip checked. It took Hok a couple days to recover from that ordeal, but at least we know he'll go to someone in uniform.

Kimmy

I've just been mastering the role of a SAHM, Stay at Home Mommy. I have great days where I look at it and say I love what I am doing. Then there are days that I want to just run away. Luckily I end up getting a hug & kiss from Niran or a big smile from Calvin that just melt my heart. Now that the house is unpacked I'm finally finding time to get back in the craft room. I'm currently working on examples of crafty things that I will be able to make & start selling to bring in some extra money to pay off debt. I get to keep doing the things I love & make some money at the same time! I have a couple of friends here now. One I met online while Dusty was at Basic Training & who has been stationed her for awhlie. She has 4 kids which includes a little boy who is Niran's age. Once we can get on the same schedule we're going to plan a play-date. My other friend is the wife if Dusty's team leader (the next person in his chain of command). They have a little boy who is 4 months older than Calvin, but much smaller.

Dusty

My paratrooper is doing great! He's had his battalion jump which makes him an official 82nd All American Airborne Paratrooper! He enjoys his job & coworkers. He's lucky that he's with a unit that is doing work related to the training he spent a year doing. There are some guys out there that haven't been as lucky. He's been very worn out from all the hard PT they do here, but how many people run a 4-mile as a cool down? All his hard work his showing. On his body & all the extra cooking I'm doing in the kitchen to keep up with his energy needs!! He's still playing video games in his spare time & helping to raise a wild little boy!!

Well, there's a summary of our family. Now that we are a little more settled I will do my best to keep this updated. Yell at me if you need to!!

We ARE alive!

I promise we are alive. I have been working so diligently to get the house unpacked. I am sooooo close. I only have the garage to finish up and then it's time for our home to have it's first photo shoot! I know Brandi has been asking about pictures, but I though it'd be kind of silly to post a picture of room that was stuffed full of boxes and say "imagine my sewing machine here, Dusty's guitars over there." The only thing that isn't done is items on the walls. I figured I'll slowly work my way through that part, but for now I'm focusing on getting those boxes emptied, which hopefully can be done by tonight.

So far we are really enjoying North Carolina. Niran seems to love it here. I can't explain it but you can tell he is much happier in this home. And well, I am also. The house at Fort Huachuca was nice, but it's hard to feel at home when you know you will be moving again in less than a year. Well, I thought I'd do a quick little update. I'm going to head into the garage to finish up that area!!

I'll post some photos of the boys later as well. I thought we had some on this computer but we don't. Just of Niran as a baby. Of course I could probably post them and claim them as Calvin!