bunch o stuff

So politics is a sore subject : ) I will just stick with the family.... I took the girls to the real pumpkin patch on Sunday. They had a blast! There was a gigantic pile of hay..well like a mountain of hay...kaia had soooo much fun burying herself, she didnt even want to leave to go on the hayride. I love good wholesome family fun!!!! Well minus one : ( Our phone bill was 245 dollars from rob calling on the cell phone so i told him to keep the phone calls to about 3 minutes a piece when he pulls into port next time.... sad but we cant afford that every month or so!!!

Ava has 3 teeth up top now. poor thing is suffering. I also forgot to put the gate up and she was hanging out in her room upstairs. Im glad i went up there, it would be a long fall down the stairs.... so now the gate is ALWAYS up.

Getting excited for halloween..it is my fav holiday of course b/c its my b-day. And its on a friday night!!! wooo hoooo

We are going to start walking around "mt trashmore" on tuesdays and thursdays with my sisters and ex stepmom..(haha thats funny.) Im sure you dont know what mt trashmore is....when my mom was growing up, there was a landfill. The city got a a bright idea to make it a big park so they covered the trash with grass and made a huge mountain..it sounds gross but its a cool place. Lots of parks and big lake....fun to fly kites on windy days on top of the mountain.. When it used to snow, my mom would take me and we would "fly" down the mountain on pool floats.....they banned it now of course b/c people would sled right into the lake....but man that was soooooo much fun. anywhoooo time for kiddie baths! just wanted to write a bit!!!

lots......

So we have stayed pretty busy and 1 month has already gone by!! 6 more to go!!! Yesterday, the girls and I went to the zoo.. they had a blast. well kaia did!! Ava laughed at the goats a couple times and she was happy when we went to the restaurant to eat pizza...piggy...speaking of piggy, i found kaias halloween costume from 2 years ago so im thinking that is what ava is gonna be this year. Kaia picked out a pumpkin fairy costume..i guess you can throw wings on anything and make it a fairy...anyway its super cute!!! SOOO ava decided to climb up my moms stairs this morning....ALL THE WAY!!!! So its time to keep the gate up at my house. Polly is GONE!!!! i am too anal about a clean house to have her peeing and pooping all over the house. I only have 2 eyes and i normally have one on kaia and one on ava. Im really not too sad about it either. I knew i should have listened to everyone, she was not what we needed right now.... she is in a good home now though !! One of avas teeth up top popped out...3 more to go, they should be out in the next couple of days. We are going to the pumpkin patch tonight....well the housing "pumpkin patch" so we will see how that goes. I think I am going to take them to the real one sometime this week.

Last weekend I went to see the Chiefs get murdered by the panthers.....It was my first NFL experience and WILL NOT be my last... I had a blast..... My dad called me on Friday and asked if i wanted to go with him since he had an extra ticket...i told him probably not...i was sure my mom wouldnt watch the kids so i told him to call her and ask her....he called back and was like "YOU'RE IN" hahahaha anyway Tony Gonzalez nodded his head at me...he was on the bus and i was on the street, i was like ohhhh myyyy gosshhhhh dad thats tony!!! and he looked at me and nodded his head....AHHHHHHHH crazy!! it was awesome!!

Lets see what else?? like I said we have been busy...We hang out with our neighbors alot...they are really cool and the guy is just like rob, they have THE SAME cockiness....its kinda like rob never left..hahahaha They are like the same people....its kinda weird....but yeah they have a 5 year old and a 3 year old...kaia LOVES them....its nice for her to actually have some friends....poor thing has been deprived....and all my friends kids are little brats..i dont want to even get into that....okay i need to stop writing. We have to go to the commissary then to the pumpkin patch..... busy busy busy

politics....so confusing.....

So, everyone is entitled to an opinion. First off, let me say that all politicians are liars and cheaters. They probably tell the truth 40 percent of time if that. I may be naive when it comes to politics as I am just now getting into it after what has happened in the last few years. I dont even know if I am going to vote. Our country is so deep right now....im not sure either one is right for the job....

John McCain is against abortion, yet he has never supported any legislation that would prevent unintended pregnancy which would reduce the need for abortion. He opposed legislation that would teach students about abstinence. With a world full of idiots, you would think they would want to teach people about sexual education....it would scare half the high school kids away from sex if they could be a little more graphic......

Obama has no experience......Palin has no experience.....And im sure she will be the next president when McCain dies.....hes pretty close to 100 years old hahhhaha..... I would totally rather have Obama president than Palin. TOTALLY....

Our country is founded on religious freedom - it doesn't specify that freedom is for only specific, popular religions, but rather ALL of them. We, as a country of voters, should be paying attention to what our next president is going to do about education, health care, social security, and getting our troops home, and the environment....

I dontknow how each candidate stands on every issue. Once I research it, i will figure it out. Im pretty open minded and whichever candidate strikes my fancy will be the one I vote for. Its thats easy.

LONG TIME.....

OKAY its been a long time............ ROberto is gone now for 7 months....but its almost down to six already WHOOOOOO HOOOOOOO..... My birthday is coming up in about 34 days or so...then THanksgiving, kaias birthday, Ava's birthday then the holidays...... IF there is ever a good time for Rob to be deployed, this will be it... It should fly by these next couple of months.....i hope anyway...... so we got a dog...shes a weiner dog (i have always hated weiner dogs) but shes a spolied brat. her name is polly petunia pocket......shes kinda cute :) she wears a necklace with sequins and a flower and likes to be carried everywhere.....everything i dont need right now, but she kinda completes the family.... ummm i dont know what else is new.....ava has 4 teeth coming up on top, and she will probably be walking soon, Kaia is getting a little crazy and i think i t has something to do with rob being gone....but we are all doing great!!! JUst keeping as busy as possible....

judging a book by its cover

Why are we so quick to judge people by just looking at them? When you see a guy with baggy jeans, he must be a gang banger or a black guy with a nice car, must be a drug dealer- there is no way he could afford that legitimately. A spanish person must be in this country illegally. A fat woman that very well could have given birth to twins a few days prior. A young mother with no ring on her her finger.....maybe because her fingers are too swollen to wear a ring. Somebody who is rude, is automatically a bad person...maybe they just found out a loved one has died or maybe they have cancer. Somebody that is acting crazy at a bar and YOU are embarassed for them.....maybe they have alot of stress in their life and need to let loose once in a while. You see a dark skinned person, covered from head to toe in black, boarding a plane- that must mean they are terrorists. It is so ridiculous how fast we judge a book by its cover. People can be so stubborn sometimes. There is such a big world out there, i wish some people would realize this

Im such a mean person!

So softball started a few weeks ago. At last practice, there was a guy that wasnt the best at batting. He stood at the plate like a baseball player and struck about about 3 times. I saw him on Saturday night and told him he hit like a girl and didnt know how to swing a bat. All day Sunday, i thought about what i said and how rude that was. Rob said that i just say the things that are on my mind and thats a good thing....i dont see how that is a good thing.....sometimes i need to learn to keep my mouth shut if i am going to hurt someones feelings. errrrrr im such a horrible person!

A peek into whats going on - Rob

I would think that a lesser person, in my current situation, would be incredible stressed out with everything that is going on in my life right now. Current Situation is as follows:

Avalynn is born December 11, 2007
* Go to Huntingdon and apply for a British Long Form Birth Certificate
* Apply for US Social security number
* Apply for US Birth Abroad Certificate
* Apply for US Passport for Ava
* Enroll Ava in DEERS
* Enroll Ava in Tri-care Prime
* Update my Page 2 to add Ava as a dependent

Receive Email from London US Embassy stating that "due to limited staffing, all applications will be delayed" with no kind word on when those applications would be updated.

Fast forward to March 26th, 2008
* Submit W-2 at the Legal office for Tax Refund
* Unable to Claim Ava as a dependant due to Ava not having a Social yet
* Told by Legal that we can Claim Ava, we just have to make an amendment to our Tax Refund when the Social becomes available.

Rewind to February 12, 2008
* I receive my Written orders putting myself on board CVN-71 USS Theodore Roosevelt.
* February 28, 2008 Receive my Checkout Sheet with specific instructions stating that this sheet is to be completed in 10 working days.
* Make all appropriate appointments with the exception of medical, as they are Air Force and have no idea what exactly a "Sea Duty Screening" is.
* Receive numerous Phone calls from ADMIN requesting a status report on my checkout sheet.
* Make numerous phone calls to medical and get the "We'll call you back when we get a solid date for an appointment"
*Still no appointment
*Phone call from ADMIN

Rewind to 15 Feb, 2008
* Get in touch with the detailer and ask him what I am supposed to do concerning my Seaman to Admiral (STA-21) application. Normally a service member is supposed to sit it out at his current command, until the results come out, and depending on those results (accepted - Go to college or Denied - Go to Next Duty Station) I make my move. The Detailer said he would get in touch with the ship and find out what they want to do (Stay or Go)
* Still no word

Rewind to March 17, 2008
* Drive to St. Andrews, Scotland
* Buddy I'm with nearly ruins my trip because he wants to go out and get smashed the night before we play. I of course remind him that he knew perfectly well before the trip that I was not going up there to do this. I wanted this trip to be a memorable experience.
* Buddy gets all down in the dumps and I think that I'm ruining his "St. Patricks Day Experience".
* We tee off the next day, and buddy plays the slowest round of golf ever. We are a twosome and Foursomes are playing up on us, and he could care less. I of course feel rushed and make bad decisions and shoot what i like to call a less than stellar round at the one place I always wanted to play golf.
* Drive home and buddy sleeps most of the ride.
* Good riddance

Rewind to January 15, 2008
* After our daily Morning meeting, our division has been tasked with creating a New Job Qualification Requirement (JQR), new Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's), and New Reference papers for everything that goes on in our Area of Operations (AOR).
* Rough drafts of JQR and SOP's are due beginning of March and since I am the Division Training Petty Officer it s my responsibility to see that these task are completed.

Fast Forward to today.
* Admitted by everyone, no one knew exactly how much work was involved with these simple task assigned on the morning of January 15, 2008, so needless to say the division is behind and I have 4 guys working on these task (myself included) However they want this completed before I leave in July.
* Since I have not heard back from the detailer, I can not set up my Household goods shipment, cannot set up shipping the Truck, cannot make any plans concerning our move, and this is the time I need to get things sorted out.
* Setting up my Re-Enlistment paperwork...........more appointments (goody)
* Nominated for Joint Analysis Center Sailor of the Quarter (This means I have to study Naval History so I can sit before a board of Officers and Chiefs and they can ask me any question they want and see how much I know) Typically you get 2 months notice to allow ample time to study, however I found out Yesterday and the board is on Tuesday.
* No sweat I'll study this weekend. (Now the Navy is dipping into my personal time with my family, and that upsets me) So I probably won't do it as a result, mainly because I know trying to study at the house is a no go, with the frequent crying of Ava and the craziness of Kaia.

So a Brief Summary is as follows:

* We are 3 months away from leaving England and I still have yet to set up anything because I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.
* We are 3 months away from leaving and I still have unfinished business at work, that is in dangerous jeopardy of not being completed due to the level to time and detail required to achieve this task (I'm still gonna work my butt off to get it completed)
* We are 3 months away from leaving and we still don't have Ava's Birth Certificate/Passport/Social Security Number.
* I have to file the other portion of our tax statement
* I have to set up appointments to Transfer vehicles back to the states
* Trying to buy a house from an overseas location is horrible, but we're still looking.
* I was asked to coach this years Softball team and like an idiot I said yes, even though I won't be here for the whole season.
* I am currently filling in as Lead Petty Officer for our division as our Normal LPO is on leave, so that puts all my personal work on hold, until he gets back.
* Have to Re-Enlist at some point.

Today I come home from work after staying late on a Friday to work on the stuff I am already behind on and Brandee says she doesn't feel good, I ask "like how do you hurt?" and she simply says "I hope I'm not pregnant" I ask "Your kidding right" The whole time thinking, Birth control and Condoms have got to work, but knowing our luck it would not surprise me in the least. So I get back in the truck and drive to the shoppette and grab a six pack and a pregnancy test. The woman at the counter says "test for mom, six pack for dad?" I say to her "naw it's either gonna be a celebration drink for US, or a I can't believe this happened again for ME" She laughs and takes my money and I go back to the house and Brandee goes and checks. She has that momentary confusion where she doesn't know what the lines mean, so she's walking around the house with this look on her face, the same exact look I've seen only two other times before. She finds the box and lets out a sigh of relief, I then follow suit and say "That's good, I thought that I was going to have to have someone kill me so you guys could get my money so we can afford to put these girls through college" That's not the case Brandee is not pregnant and that's great, speaking of which that's another appointment, 16 April, 2008 is the day my mother cries as a result of Brandee and myself never having anymore Grand babies because I'm getting this organ of reproduction fixed. Sorry Mom, but two is our limit.

A lot of things have happened in the past 3 months. I can't wait to see what the next three have in store for us.