August Give Thanks, Week 4

August 22:
     I am so thankful today to have experienced a new place (Children's Museum, in Rancho Cordova) for free, and the kids LOVED it. The children's museum was full of hands on fun, and the kids enjoyed touching, playing, painting, throwing, getting wet, and just running around. I can't thank my friend Paula enough for all the amazing places she has introduced me to.

August 23:
     I am so thankful that my husband has his bike back up and running, and we were able to go out for a small bike ride. It was so much fun and I never realized how much I like riding my bike.

August 24:
     Thankful today for my family who checked in on us to make sure we were okay. Napa/San Fran had a huge 6.0 earthquake and thankfully we did not feel anything and we did not have any damages. I am thinking about all the families and friends who are in that area and may have had some damage. You all are in our thoughts. Stay safe.

August 25:
     Thankful today for a little afternoon coffee. Yum yum, and it was well needed because the kids protested nap time.

August 26:
     Spent the afternoon in the ER with my youngest after he had an allergic reaction. Thankful for my wonderful mother and husband who help make me feel like I was doing the right thing, even if I wasn't.

August 27:
     After spending yesterday in the ER with my youngest, I needed some me time. I spent most of the day cleaning up my craft room and trying to get the room back in functioning order. I am thankful that I was able to spend some time cleaning and relaxing with my crafts. For crafters out there, you understand; its like a yoga studio to a yoga instructor, or a soccer field to a soccer star, etc. Its just my piece of heaven.

Before I moved everything around.

Folding partying, and color organizing all my fabric.

Half way done.

Another angle of the half way done.

August 28:
     Another visit to the ER today, this time it was my oldest son after he smashed his nose into the table. Thankful today that he did not break it, or need stitches, just some glue. Made me appreciate the small things today. I am just so thankful his nose wasn't broken and that my husband was there to help hold his hand (and mine).

Before the ER, this is after I cleaned up the blood.

Glued face and lots of bruising starting.

Give Thanks,
Sarah

Mother's Day and Aerospace Museum

Mother's Day this year, I wanted to go to the zoo and hangout in Sacramento. However, while driving down the 70/99 highway towards Sacramento, we came to a traffic stop. Absolutely no cars were moving in either direction and it was almost impossible to get around, as everyone was trying to. Later that day I found a small snippet about a semi that over turned and smashed into a bridge and broke apart on both sides of the highway. It looked like a horrible mess, but thankfully everyone survived.

When we started to try and head around the traffic jam, we ended up heading inland towards Roseville/Lincoln area. Before we knew it we were in the area. We decided that we wasted too much time trying to get around the mess that it would be pointless to go to the zoo. Instead we traveled over to the Aerospace Museum in McClellan, Ca area. It is free for kids under 5 and military ID holders are free as well. I was excited because this meant we still could get out and enjoy our day, but we wouldn't have to pay for anything.

We had not been yet, and so we were shocked with how much of a variety of airplanes and other internal parts. I was blown away with how much hands on and educational items their were for the kids. They also had a great room upstairs for the kids to color, and play with toys. It was a nice break after running around to all the different airplanes.

Take a look and see:

Sitting in a real pilots seat!

This was outside, look at all the airplanes!

You could walk through a few.

A small T-bird just right for the kids.

This is the play room/coloring area.

Overall, it wasn't the day I had in mind, but it turned out great. I really enjoyed the museum and it feels great to know that I can add one more unique place to see, to our list.

If you are in the area and want something fun to do, you should definitely check out the Aerospace Museum.

Discover Away,
Sarah

San Francisco Day Trip

Back in March, we spent a day in San Francisco, kind of on a whim. We both had a day off and headed out to see the sights. It was a lot of fun and we saw a ton of wonderful things. We both had spent a day in San Francisco, but never with kids. We thought we would find some kid friendly things to do, and we sure did!

We found a decent parking structure near Pier 39. We then walked around for a little while and ran into the Aquarium of the Bay. Its a great, smaller scaled aquarium. Our oldest is into fish and water, and when we had a chance to go the the aquarium we decided it was a must! The end result was a child who didn't want to leave!!

Pier 39

 Aquarium of the Bay:

Dad and son

 Once we pulled our oldest away from the fish and the aquarium we started to go for a walk around the pier. I forget how beautiful the coast of California can be.

Alcatraz

Of course we had to drive over the golden gate bridge!

 Once we left, we already were discussing houses and where we would live! Its just one of those cities that leaves such a impression on my soul. I wish I could have been raised in such a busy, quick, upbeat, unique city.

If we go back later on, I will definitely be going back to the Aquarium, but we might try to the science museum and let the kids run around that area. If anyone has any other great kid friendly places to visit or things to do, please leave a comment and let us know.

San Fran Stole My Heart,
Sarah

July Give Thanks, Week 2

July 8:
     I just can not be thankful enough for all the wonderful new places we are visiting and experiencing today. We have had some amazing food and shopped at some amazing new shops, best day ever. Love seeing some of our local area.

July 9:
     Thankful for an amazing day in Sacramento. It has been so much fun. Train museum, old Sac., shop hopping all over Sac., and driving around to see the area. Never knew California had so much to see and do.

Train museum; B man and Grandpa!

My sleepy J man. Love this ring sling.

July 10:
     Sad to see Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher leave today, but thankful for everything they did and gave us a chance to see and experience on this trip and vacation. Its amazing what you see and experience when you just take a few extra minutes and learn to relax.

July 11:
     Silence. Today, I am thankful for any silence I get. The boys have not been feeling well, I have not been feeling well, and my poor husband has not been feeling well. So, any small amount of calm silence is like gold to me right now!

July 12:
     Once again I have to be so thankful for the most amazing husband ever. I had to go to the ER and my oldest son got so sick, he was throwing up; and here my husband is, cleaning up and taking care of everyone! I was blessed with such a strong and amazing husband!

July 13:
     Thankful for a new phone!! We had our upgrades this past month, and decided to stop by a verizon store to see what we could get. Finally, we are apart of the 5c iphone group!! YAY!

July 14:
     Today has been a long day, but one thing I love is being able to skype with friends. So thankful for that modern technology, so I can keep up with my wonderful friends all over the world!

Give Thanks,
Sarah

October Brings Pumpkin Patches and Trick or Treating

October.

October, what does it mean to you?
For us, it means pumpkins, costumes, candy, and decorating. Well, thats what I hope my kids see it as. For me personally it means I have a few weeks to purchase material, make a costume (or two), and clean out and carve pumpkins as well as decorate the entire house. This year, since we just moved into this house I really didn't have a lot of energy to decorate, so our decorations consisted of a few carved pumpkins and a few big bags filled with packing paper that look like pumpkins. We seriously spent $3 on the plastic bag pumpkins and we had so much packing paper (free) which turned out pretty cute.

We spent about two hours at the local pumpkin patch here near Beale AFB. It was a lot more then we were expecting. It had about 3 different pumpkin patch areas, several food/dessert vender areas, a cute petting zoo, a small train, and so much more. We took our time and checked out the large pumpkin area. These pumpkins were the sizes of our oldest (almost 2 years old), and he had the time of his life running around touching all of them. A small family photo shoot was, of course, in order.

Once we attempted a few family photos, a-t-t-e-m-p-t-e-d; we went to check out the petting zoo area. The petting zoo was cute. You could feed the chickens and goats, and touch them as well. They had a stand where you could purchase the food and a large area with sinks and soap to clean up after you touch the animals. We didn't grab any of the food or try any of the pies or cookies, because the lines were outrageously long (not to mention the amount of money they wanted for the items). So instead we decided to walk over and pick out our pumpkins and head back home. Our oldest, Brian was having a serious melt down by this point and looked like he needed a nap.

We grabbed a few pumpkins and my husband purchased their "apple cider" to try. He liked it, but for me it just tasted like apple JUICE! It wasn't anything like I have had thats been called cider. I thought it was a waist of money, but my husband was happy with it.

After about a week or so of having our pumpkins we finally carved them, on Halloween! Yeah I know, we are so great with our time and know how to manage it so well (*sarcasm*)! Our oldest had a blast scooping the inside, but only with a spoon. We could NOT get him to stick his hand inside the pumpkin. Once the pumpkins were cleaned out, my husband and I of course carved them. We had one small pumpkin and I carved 2013 into it, and we painted the boys hand and foot and placed those on the pumpkin. Those tiny ones are to hard to carve, so we enjoyed the paint instead!

Of course I usually enjoy a few Halloween projects, but instead the day before Halloween I was in surgery. You can find that story over here and Ill update you all soon.

With that, I say Happy Halloween,
Sarah

Beale AFB

We have arrived!

We arrived Thursday morning and by noon we had our keys to our house in hand! We spent the night on cots and the boys were in the pack-n-plays. It was like camping in a nice clean brand new home. Yes I did say BRAND NEW HOME! They just built the homes and are slowly renting them out! We had snack food but not really anything to cook, and so of course, we just did drive through food (yet again).

Down Stairs, camping out with our crazy mess!

When we woke up Friday, we cleaned up and got ready for the day. Our TMO was arriving some time in the morning around 8am. We waited about 20 minutes after 8 and we received a phone call saying the driver and crew were lost on base. My husband jumped in the car and drove off to find them. Around 9am they all finally arrived and the long process began.

New dinning room and kitchen.

The largest garage yet!

My worst nightmare came true, stairs!!!

 We started out with the simple walk through of the house and where we wanted everything to go. Of course thats usually the important information for them because then they can make piles of boxes in the areas where your furniture wont be placed, right?!? I noticed they really could care less when I was telling them exactly where all the large furniture items were going to go, so I knew right then and there this was going to be a fun filled day. Then, the guys got to work unloading the crates. One by one our items came off the truck, loaded into the house, and checked off the long list.

Helping me check items off the list. He is in the swing, but the swing is not assembled, LOL!

As lunch started to approach the guys started to rush through the last crates. We noticed more and more damaged items. They also were placing random boxes all over the place (we didn't realize this until after they had left for the day). Our list was still not fully checked off and we were missing a ton of stuff. After all the crates were emptied, the head guy made a phone call and of course they found another crate that had our name on it.

The first crew then packed up: fast, very very fast, and headed out. Nothing was put together, none of the beds had all their pieces, and tons of stuff was still missing. We ate lunch, the boys took a nap, and about an hour maybe more, the second truck showed up. They started to unload items, and we realized even MORE stuff was broken. Not only that but the previous head guy with the first crew was telling us to check stuff off that he "knew" he brought in. When the items came of the second truck I was checking numbers off and of course they were already checked off. When all was said and done, ton of items and boxes were missing. We were pretty upset and again these guys were trying to rush off and not set up anything. I pretty much nagged them and begged them to put the items together so my two children (remember they are both under 2) could sleep in their beds. Finally, after the paper work was done, the beds were put together and a few large items were built.

When we started to unpack a few boxes and get the boys ready for bed we noticed their beds weren't put together the way they needed to be. So, we spent the next hour fixing their beds. Then finally the boys were in bed. We spent the weekend unpacking and putting stuff away. We were pretty upset as we started to notice A LOT of damage. Our large dresser is broken, our bed is broken, our recliner is broken, our fold out table is broken, tons of wood items have HUGE gashes of wood missing or scratched, shelves are broken, and theres extremely expensive military items missing as well. The moving company that packed our stuff in NM loaded it into a large truck, not crates. When it arrived in Cali it was taken off the truck and loaded into crates. That is when we feel the most damage happened. The moving company here in California was Colonial.

If your military and you are given an option to use Colonial or not, PLEASE do NOT use them! We are missing so much stuff, high priced items are broken or damaged, and even some of our Military items are missing. Please do everything you can to NOT use that company!

Our stuff was thrown everywhere and placed anywhere they wanted to put it. Stuff was down stairs that needed to be upstairs, and stuff was upstairs that needed to be down stairs. Boxes that were marked master bedroom were found in our dinning room. Items that were marked office were in the craft room when it should have been down stairs. We are still digging through stuff, and were still missing important items and half our stuff is just not in the right spot. Its more frustrating then ever. Also, the movers brought in our dryer through the front door and scratched the front door so bad. Did I mention this is a BRAND NEW HOME! Then after the guy comes out to my husband and asks him if he has paint or a pen to cover it up... SERIOUSLY?!?! No, we just moved in, the house is brand new and you think were just going to cover up the damage. I DO NOT THINK SO! We will be filling a claim against them as they not only damaged our door but they damaged our banister and walls as well!

Scratched side rail to one of the cribs! NOTE: I made teething guards for my kids, so this is NOT from chewing, as I made sure the cribs were fine when we left NM!

 Click HERE to see the teething guards I made.

The laminate was torn off almost every panel on this bookcase.

This is a book shelf... no longer can use it, its broken from one side to the other.

Same bookcase, another book shelf, damaged badly!

 This moving company did not care about us at all. They even unloaded stuff, called the numbers, leaned the items against their truck and then TOOK items with them! We noticed we marked our ladder as being here, and then we realized a week later its nowhere to be found. We know we saw it come off the truck, we saw it, we checked the item as here, but its nowhere in our home! I can't even believe how much stuff is gone. Its mind blowing. With three moves under our belt, we know what to expect, but this; this was just way too much!

How do you do this? This is mind blowing to me.

The back of this unit is pushed in, completely damaged! The drawers on the other side helped fix the back, we pushed the drawers in and the board moved somewhat back in place, still doesn't look nice!

End tables in our living room!

Because you know, this is how I pack photos... ass holes!

My thread holder was beat up pretty bad!

inside a box, these are cards and other items from my sons 1st year of life. They were all NICELY placed into a box and organized. He took them out of the box and chucked it into this box. Now the items are bent, and wrinkled, as well as no longer organized. I am pretty upset at this one!

 I hope tomorrow is a better day, but after a week of opening boxes with broken or damaged items, its getting exhausting!

Happy packing,
Sarah

PS: Theres more damage photos, I just didn't want to post ALL of them! If you want to see more photos of our damaged items, let me know. I will gladly load them up on here for you all to see!

California Vacation

Have you ever gone on that one vacation and it just starts out awesome, but ends in a huge crash and burn? The one, where when you get home you think, "I never want to remember that trip ever again." Or maybe you have had that vacation where you planned everything out and everyday had something going on, then suddenly ... you end up in the ER and your entire trip is pretty much cancelled! Anyone?

Well, if you read my last post you know the vacation had an awesome start! We even made it to Disneyland (for the first day). We booked a weekend at the local RV lot, drove the father-in-laws RV  up on Friday, and got settled in. We went to Disneyland on Saturday with some of my family and my husbands parents. It was a lot of fun, minus the fact my oldest had his top two teeth coming in and was popping fevers and crying and wanted to be held the entire day. OTHER then that, the day was a lot of fun, with a lot of laughs!

We finished up the day, and headed back to the RV to get ready for the night and our next day at Disneyland. The boys went to bed well, including my sick one, and they both slept a solid 11 hours! It was a miracle! When we all woke up, we took our time, as we weren't meeting up with anyone, and packed up for the day. We grabbed our shuttle like the day before and headed off for a day of fun!

When we arrived we just took our time. We did a parent swap so I could finally ride star tours with all those new story lines. It was awesome and I am glad I was able to ride the ride. We then went to the nursery off main street to change the boys diapers and feed them. When we got their, Jared was upset and ready to eat, so I fed Jared and my husband tried to feed our oldest. I then went to change Jared's diaper, and when I came out to switch my husband for our oldest I leaned down, and my knee popped several times, and I felt a seriously large amount of pain. My husband jumped into action and grabbed Jared out of my arms. Another gentleman grabbed a chair and helped me sit down.

The rest of the day just seemed to be a blur. The Disneyland sheriff, or cop, or whatever they are came to take a report. However, after being with me for awhile we agreed the best idea was to try and pop my knee back in (as thats what I have done in the past). When I did so, I felt even more pulling and no pops. So, they then called an ambulance to take me to the hospital. By now, both of my boys are crying and the staff had taken both of them and tried to calm them down. The staff at the nursery were amazingly nice, and helped my husband collect all our belongings. My oldest was upset pretty bad, so the staff gave him a small mickey mouse. I only learned this after the entire day was over.

Once the emergency personnel had arrived I was a hot mess myself. I was crying, I was telling my husband I was so sorry, I know I said "I ruined everything", a few hundred times. I was eventually lifted onto a stretcher, transferred to the ambulance and got to see a small part of the back stage area. Sadly, it was not how I wanted to see the back stage area. I got to see my oldest and my husband before I was rushed off to the hospital. My husband and kids were given a ride back to the RV and my husband pulled everything, cleaned everything, and drove the RV to his Aunts house.

Thankfully, my husbands Aunts house was just up the street. My husband drove the RV to her house, dropped it off, dropped off the boys with her daughters to babysit while his Aunt drove him to the hospital. While he was busy getting that done, I was at the ER getting my knee re-set. My knee cap was about an inch out of its socket, they pumped me full of pain meds and pulled my leg, what felt like, a hundred times. Once they reset my knee cap, the x-ray person came to take some pictures.

I was pretty relaxed and exhausted at this point. The doctor came by to see me and introduce himself. He mentioned he would look at the x-rays and get back to me as soon as possible. I laid in the bed for awhile. I started to feel pain again, and shortly after I was in excruciating pain. I asked the nurse for more pain meds and mentioned that I could feel a lot of pain. She said "Yeah I KNOW, but you just have to wait for the Dr to come see you first." I was so upset, and in a lot of pain. I laid in the bed crying, and crying even more.

After about an hour and a half passed without any pain meds, my wonderful husband finally showed up! I was so happy to see him. I was crying when he arrived, explained what happened, and he talked to a very different nurse. The nurse made a call, and the doctor came by about 40 minutes later. While we waited, my husband went back out to get his Aunt and she came to visit. Then when my husband came back, the Orthopedic surgeon finally showed up. As he was asking me to bed my knee and straighten it I mentioned I was off pain meds for the past 2 hours or so. He ordered pain meds right then and there. He then explained the x-rays came back with nothing out of place. In other words the first doctors had reset my knee cap. The doctor then continued to explain that he would get our paperwork started so we could leave. I started to cry because yet again I was going to be sent home and yet again leave without an answer as to why my knee was killing me.

My husband asked for an MRI to see why I was still in pain. I was crying and saying "here we go again, going around in circles." Eventually the doctor agree to do the MRI. After another hour or so, a few puke bags later and puke all over the MRI machine; I had my MRI done. I was give a nausea medicine three different times. The first two didn't work, the third one; which I received after my MRI, helped and I even got some rest.

While I was asleep, my husband made a few phone calls to let the family know what was going on. Meanwhile, I received a text message from my family that my mother was also in the hospital. Now, this day just went from bad to worse. I eventually got the information from the orthopedic surgeon that my ACL was torn, and that there was a lot of scar tissue. The pain that I was feeling was the scar tissue rubbing in all the wrong places and the torn ACL. I was given a prescription of some pain meds and headed out the door.

I arrived at the ER around 11AM and we were getting in the car to go back to my husbands Aunts house around 10pm! I had a muffin for breakfast around 9am, and nothing else the entire day. I was finally going to enjoy some food! Once I got back to my husbands Aunts house I contacted my family and found out what was going on with my mother. Thankfully she was admitted to the hospital and had surgery for her kidney. She was having pain and they caught it just in time. She thankfully is doing a lot better now, and is recovering!

The rest of our trip was pretty much something like this: I would mope around, sit on the couch, cry, and feel horrible that I couldn't do anything. Meanwhile, my poor husband was getting up at 5 or 6am with our little guy, and dealing with both our toddler and our little one all on his own. We did get to go out on a date night with my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law, thanks to my mother-in-law and father-in-law watching the kids for us. We did a lot of sitting around the house and having friends come visit us.

Our double date night! At the movies, note the crutches :(

 The vacation basically turned into a long period of time where I was in pain and my husband was left to take care of the kids. In the end the vacation wasn't a vacation. I still am so thankful for my amazing husband who has and did take care of all three of us. I could not thank him and everyone who helped myself and my kids enough! It was a lot easier with the extra help, and I'm glad we had so many helpful hands around. I don't think we could have done it without all the extra help.

We packed up our stuff, OK really my husband packed up our stuff, and we headed up to Beale AFB. We arrived Thursday morning, received our house before noon, and our TMO was delivered on Friday. Unfortunately, our TMO did not go so well, but that will have to wait for another post!

So glad to be home,
Sarah