Max and Mali

Well the Cat and the dog are starting to get along so here are a few pics of them too.

Baseball Banquet

Well the baseball season is thru. We came in undefeated and the Western Harnett National League Champions. Unfortunatly we lost the tournament in the end but we had a GREAT season and got to know a super bunch of kids and parents. Our banquet was at CiCi's Pizza and was a blast. Here are a few pictures.

New addition to our family

MEET MAX




Max is 8lbs and 3.5 months old. He is a Jack Russell. He is the newest addition to our family and is doing great. He is already kennel trained and is great with the boys.....all three of them. Mali is iffy still but I am sure that she will grow to love him.

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all the papa's out there!!! We hope that your day was as great as ours!!!!

What a busy weekend.....I know I need to post more but time goes by so fast. Here's a quick update.....the boys play their first tournament game on wed...WOOOOOOHOOOOO We are so very proud of all the kids on our team especially our two rugrats. Don't will be leaving again for 4 months.....but should be able to come home on the weekend now and then all the joys........you never really get used to it you just learn how to handle it better. So back to auto pilot I go. The boys are also officially 2nd and 3rd graders.....Donte (Jr) will have the EOG in the 3rd grade....he is already talking about them!!! Mom and Dad are good. Mom is healing well and Dad is very glad to have her back home. Our fat cat is doing well on her diet...for those of you who don't know our cat is a bit chubby so shes on a diet lets just say she can get up and down those stairs easier now. All is well with me except for the fact that I cant seem to get a minute in edge wise bt don't worry I have a week off in July woooooohooooooo!!

Have a great week!!!

Baseball

Well you will be glad to know that the boys team is undefeated GOOOOOO RANGERS

Visit to GA

We had a blast over the Memorial Day weekend. We went to GA to see my Brother, his girlfriend, and Melody's family. Mel's little baby boy (not such a baby) graduated from high school. Well I guess I should start from the beginning. Friday night the boys had a baseball game. It couldn't be a regular 6:15 game nooooooooooo it was a 7:15 game meaning that we couldn't even start the treck to GA until 9 PM. Well the game was great the boys had a blast and they won. I have become the score taker. I have to admit that I like to do it, even though this is the first time in my life I have ever done it and I think I'm pretty good at it. So anyway back to the story we left at 9pm and got to Adams house at 2 AM. Got up at 6:30 AM and made it to the football field on time. A part of me was nostalgic because it's the same field that I graduated on 13 years ago, that you could see the church that Donte and I got married in almost 10 years ago. I also saw a few old teachers and friends. We located Melody and her family and got cozy on the bleachers....now I say cozy but it was HOT but at least every once in awhile there was a breeze. It was like looking into the future a bit when her son's name was called.....I will need her there when the boys graduate....no one can whistle like her....you have to hear it to believe it. The graduation went well and all of us; Donte, the boys, Adam, Chrissy, and myself went to Melody's for a BBQ. It was really nice. Donte and Hank were like old war buddies reminicing and swapping stories. You know how guys get. Anyway it was a great day. Donte, Adam and the boys spent a majority of the rest of the weekend installing a stereo system in the truck and Chrissy and I did some shopping. As most weekends it went by way to fast.

Baghdad ER

Tonight Donte and I finally got a chance to watch Baghdad ER. I had TIVOed it but wanted to watch it with him. I have to admit that I was a bit scared, I know that this is the life that our men and women live everyday. I thought that it was a pretty honest look, I remember the incident at the PX, Donte was there when it happened.......I thank God that I have my soldier home and I pray dearly for everyone that has family and friends there, especially my military girlfriends that have their hubbies there. I say a prayer and a huge THANK YOU to all of those same girlfriends that have lost their loved one. Of Course this show coincides with the Army Times that has the pictures of the fallen soldiers. As I leafed thru Donte said "Pena's in there". When Donte was Deployed Pena was killed. I remember hearing it and feeling numb, I remember Melody telling me and it was like she was talking to me through a long tunnel, and I remember thinking how am I going to tell Nikky as her hubby was so very close to him. I thought of his wife, kids, and family, and finally I thought of the night that Blangger and pena came to the house and ate up all the hot wings and I smiled through the tears. I hope that eventually we can all smile through the tears.">

What a Week .....it's only Thursday

This week has seemed to go on forever......My Mom had surgery on both her knee's (shes outta the hospital now, Thank God that it all turned out well)I tend to not verbalize much on the things that for lack of better words SCARE THE SH!T out of me. But all is good now. I went on Daniels field trip yesterday to the Fire Department and had a blast. 1st graders are so much fun and sooooooooo funny. Then of coure I had to go back to work today....and lo and behold it was moving day. We have been in temp offices and have finally moved to our perm offices. Well lets just say I HATE MOVING!! Office or home it's a pain but oh well tomorrow cant get here fast enough!!!!

Here's a few pics of the field trip.

That's what friends are for.

One of my friends passed this along to me and it brought a smile to my face. I had to clean it up but the message is there.

THANKS MOM AND DAD FOR THE BOX......WE LOVE ALL THE GOODIES....THE BOYS ARE WEARING THEIR NEW WATCHES TO BED TONIGHT. LOVE YOU GUYS

The difference between FAKE friends and REAL friends

FAKE FRIENDS: Never ask for food.

REAL FRIENDS: Are the reason you have no food.

FAKE FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr/Mrs

REAL FRIENDS: Call your parents DAD/MOM

FAKE FRIENDS: bail you out of jail and tell you what you did was wrong.

REAL FRIENDS: Would sit next to you sayin "Damn ... we messed up ... but that crap was fun!"

FAKE FRIENDS: never seen you cry.

REAL FRIENDS: cry with you

FAKE FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.

REAL FRIENDS: keep your shit so long they forget its yours.

FAKE FRIENDS: know a few things about you.

REAL FRIENDS: Could write a book about you with direct quotes from you.

FAKE FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that is what the crowd is doing.

REAL FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds ass that left you.

FAKE FRIENDS: Would knock on your front door.

REAL FRIENDS: Walk right in and say "I'M HOME!"

FAKE FRIENDS: Are for awhile.

REAL FRIENDS: Are for life.

FAKE FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you've had enough.

REAL FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say "drink the rest of that you know we don't waste."

FAKE FRIENDS: will talk crap to the person who talks crap about you.

REAL FRIENDS: Will knock them the heck out

How To Get Two School Age Boys To Sleep!!

I have found the best way to get two boys to bed.........First it has to be about 60 outside........Second get a baseball practice going.....and TAAAADAAA two sleepy boys....hehehehe it seems to have worked on the cat too!

Recent Pictures

OK so I am 30, but still getting in trouble for not sending/posting pictures. So I just took some pictures of us. It's raining outside and pretty nasty so we are still in our PJ's hanging around the house.

Here's Donnie Hanging out in his room.


Daniel playing around in Donnies room


Donte fast asleep.....


Half of our back yard...soaked in rain....can't it wait until we are at work to rain????


I debated posting this but what the heck....me in my morning glory...no makeup and hair unbrushed.....ENJOY..LOL

I DID IT

I did it, I learned how to add links.....hehehe I have to admit that I went to help and copied and pasted. Anyway I am happy......

It's Only Monday

It seems to me that the weekends blow by and the work week seems to take forever. I love my weekends, truly LOVE the weekends. This past weekend Donte and I had a date night since the boys were busy at a sleepover. Saturday morning we woke up and picked the boys up and went straight to the Strawberry farm. It was so much fun!!! I am all for 3 day weekends and four day workweeks.............all in favor say I! Well it's Monday and we are running around full speed ahead.....off to Baseball practice we go.

Tatoos????

After posting Dontes tatoo I have gotten a lot of traffic on where's the picture of mine?.......well I have to admit it....I AM A CHICKEN!!!! BOCK BOCK!! I was there when Donte got his and he did fine, the three of us, the artist, Donte, and I had a great conversation about Germany and a slew of other topics. Donte seemed to enjoy it actually. Maybe one day I will build up the courage but for now I am scaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrred.

AMEN!!!!

One of my girlfriends had this on her site and wow this letter to the stars and stripes blew me away!! Good for her for bringing a voice to all of us that have been thinking it. She is a Marine spouse but this applies to all services!!!!


Give spouses more credit

Ugh, if I read one more letter belittling military spouses, I’m going to scream.
I’m so sick of hearing that caveman mentality quote of “If the Corps wanted you to have a wife/family, they would have issued you one.” What a slap in the face to those of us who have supported our loved one’s career, have dealt with numerous moves, even more deployments, raised our children alone and still manage to love the service our spouse serves. I’m not complaining, because this is what I chose — but no matter our choice, we still deserve respect.
I’ve been a military dependent almost my entire life, so that means two things: I knew exactly what I was getting into and I have earned the right to enlighten you ignorant folks about the life of a military spouse. So for those of you who don’t know, the wives don’t turn into Polly Pornstar when our husbands deploy, nor do we have a secret calendar counting down to Year 10 and Day 1 of their time in the Corps just so we can be entitled to half of their retirement. Usually we turn into supermom and are using the calendar for useful things, such as remembering which kid has an upcoming doctor’s appointment.
So the next time one of you single Marines starts to grumble about “those damn wives” who are on the gym treadmill or are whining about another holiday duty (and, for the record, married Marines pull Christmas duty too), remember that we feel the same way. Like when the base is locked down and a curfew is issued because a Marine assaulted or vandalized another Okinawan or their property while on a drunken spree. Or one of you messed up and the whole office is kept after hours.
We open our homes to you on holidays, offer you rides, sometimes even a place to sleep, and I’ve fed so many of you I should start accepting meal cards.
So when you return from deployment and find a goody bag containing cookies and phone cards, then climb into a bed with fresh sheets, remember to thank a spouse. Because while she was raising her children, running her house and worrying about her deployed husband, she still found time to think of you.
Was I issued? No, but I should have been. Spouses like me are the single greatest “pieces of gear” a Marine will ever have.

Erin M. Pacheco
Okinawa

Donte's new tatoo

Donte just had to get one when he came home for R&R.

A few pictures of us.

Here's Donte coaching the boys Basketball team. He is truly great with kids.


Donte Hanging out with his brother after the Fall Festival.


The day Donte got back from Iraq at Green Ramp. You can see the exhaustion and joy in his eyes.


Daniel wondering why I am taking pictures of him just laying on the couch.....Dont I know that he has to pose for the pics.


Donte and I right before we took him back to the airport after his two week R&R.

Jordan, Donte, and Yvonne

Here's a picture of the crew...as usual Donnies is caught clowning around. :)

Ok I Know It's Been Awhile....

Well what can I say but "life is hectic" I had gotten on the blogger a few times here and there but couldn't really get started. I feel like I have done 1001 things since the last post and if I made a list I would probably overload my blog :).

I went on a field trip with Donnie to San-Lee park about a week and a half ago. I was told that there would be paddle boats and swings and a wildlife center that we would explore. Donnie has two buddies in class that he is close with, Jordan a fun loving old soul (I swear he's Eight on the outside and 55 on the inside) and Yvonne, One of the sweetest little girls I have ever met. Well Deb (Jordans Mom) and Yvonnes Grandma were going as well so we all decided to car pool. I had never met Yvonnes Grandma and was a bit nervous because she speaks no English at all just Italian...but my reasoning was well she should know some German or French....WRONG!!! but we made do and she was a lot of fun. Anyway I met her and Deb at the principals office and we were off to the park. Mind you I didn't for once think that I needed to dress like I was going on a camping trip. I wore Jeans a blouse and some slip on sneakers. Well the classes were split into groups and they proceeded to tell us that we would be doing the nature walk first (still no alarm going off) Well we get to the lake that has this old wooden bridge an I see a sign that says "DON'T FEED THE TICKS"....are they being funny? Well....No....they weren't....We start on the trail and we walk up and down and all around through it all. There was a point that the there were so many leaves on the ground that people were slipping and sliding like they were on ice.....now remember I have my slip on sneakers on and am pretty sure that if anyone is gonna fall in the middle of the woods its gonna be me. So we walk, and walk, and walk...............what seemes like 10 hours later we make it back to civilization and its lunch time. By the time we get there all the other kids are sitting and eating. There are about six tables full of overly excited eight year olds and another table with teachers and parents.....well to be honest the teachers are nice and so are the other parents but I really wanted to sit with Donnie but at the same time held back from saying anything because I didn't want to make him feel like he was obligated to sit with me. So we went and got our lunches and Donnie says "come on Mom there's an empty table over there (you guys know that I was beaming from head to toe)Deb and Jordan Joined us as did Yvonnes Grandma and a few other kids and parents. The rest of the day was spent learning about animals and plants and all the fun stuff....they even had a display of live snakes that they had caught there.....they were lucky that I didn't know that before the hike....Donnie and I wouldn't have gone on the hike we would have been swinging on the playground. Well anyway it really touched my heart that my big boy still has a soft spot for his Mom.

Big Donte ran track all this week and is feeling mighty young. He won 2nd place in the 100 His best time was 9.75 and his relay team won the Gold. The boys had a blast sitting on the back of his truck cheering him on. My friend Tracy brought Baby Taylor and came out there one day too so Donte had his own personal cheering squad.

You see North Carolina has its good and bad, there's nothing like sitting on the back of a truck with the sun beating down cheering and acting like you are 18 again but on the flip side I could do without the snakes and all the buuuuuuuuuuuuugs.

???? Still trying to figure it all out.

OK....I tried to post the translate my page thing days ago and I kept getting a message saying that the font was not right. So I figured I had tried it enough and that there would always be another time.....but lo and behold it posted yesterday. Vonn you will have to school me big time.......