California...

I think the last time I was on here, James had just decided that he was going to resign his commission. That feels like an eternity ago! And now here we are…officially Californians. Due to the cost of living, I would've never imagined we'd settle here, but we're here now and hope to never leave. We feel very blessed that everything fell into place. Not long after James accepted a job offer, we found a house that we loved and got the offer accepted. It's really hard to believe that this time last year, I was recovering from gallbladder surgery and preparing for a move from Ft. Bliss, TX to Ft. Irwin, CA with a newborn Caleb in my arms. SO much has happened since then! Life couldn't be better. God is good.

Chaos Company...

As always, I feel like it's been forever since I have been on here and am not really sure where to even begin. The last month has FLOWN by! Samuel spent time with all of his grandparents, James took Command over Chaos Company, I became the FRG (Family Readiness Group) Leader of that company, and we've somehow been busier than ever while James is away in the field. I am really starting to think I'm going to have to start scheduling in free time so we can just veg out every once in awhile. After all, Samuel barely has a chance to play with his toys these days and that needs to change. Being busy is great when James is gone, though, so I suppose it's a good thing that our days are flying by...

A Busy Month...

March was a very busy month for the Moore family. Looking back, it seems like it was rare if we even got one day a week to just hang out at home and let Samuel play with his toys. I'm starting to wonder what the point of having them is if he never gets to use them, ha. Samuel and I are part of a few different mom/toddler groups, so between meet ups with them, birthday parties, tumble tots, story time, and now speech therapy, "the boy" was constantly on the go. Oh, and how can I forget? Samuel got to meet the gang from Gabba Land in person! March was definitely a fun month...

Here, I was actually looking forward to aiming for a slower month in April, but it looks like it will be quite the opposite. We recently found out James will be taking Command here in less than 2 weeks and with that, I'll be the new FRG (Family Readiness Group) Leader. It's a very exciting time, but also very hectic. I'm super happy for James! He'll be in charge of Chaos Company. Ha. Every time I hear that, it makes me laugh. Chaos 6...it's very fitting, ha. And what better timing? They'll be prepping for their big field problem almost immediately following the COC. Chaotic to say the least. :)

To make the month of March even better, it also included Obadiah's 11th birthday. Our little old man enjoyed his day with his own bottle of beer and lots and lots of treats. How is it possible that he's 11 already?! Sweet Obie.

I had more to write, but nothing is coming to mind now, so I'll leave whatever it was that I wanted to say for later and finish up with a few pictures...

While at the Yo Gabba Gabba concert, they told us no DSLRs were allowed, so here we are with our old school PnS while waiting for the show to begin...

Samuel LOVED the bubbles!

But he wasn't so sure about meeting his favorite characters in real life...

Poor Samuel. He loves YGG, but between the live show and his 1st Birthday cake, he can also get very emotional when around his friends...

Samuel's first concert t-shirt, ha...

And here's one of the many videos taken while we were there. You can tell it was an emotional night for Sam...

On a different note, I've been loving watching Samuel have fun at the various play dates...

The toddler version of kettle bells right here, ha.

Observing the older kids as they build with lincoln logs...

And here's a typical pic of Samuel at tumble tots...

Fast forward to later in the month, here's Samuel at his buddy, Chase's birthday party...

Since it's already so warm out, Orange Leaf is a must. I suppose it doesn't hurt that it's within walking distance of our house...

Last but not least, here's our old man. Happy 11th Birthday, Obie!!!

Now on to April...I can only hope that things slow down and that we're able to enjoy every moment!

Thank You, Pinterest...

...for helping organize our garage...

I realize that our garage isn't nearly as bad as some, but to me, it's a complete pit. With the random Rubbermaid's, the endless supply of Army junk, sports/lawn equipment, and other random items, there's no way we could ever park both vehicles in there. Okay, not to mention the fact that I think the truck is too long anyways, but still. We always have my car on one side, and a complete mess covering the rest...

So thanks to Pinterest, I decided a couple months ago that we were going to create a massive shelving unit to help store some of the junk in an organized manner. Knowing my parents were coming for a visit, I decided to wait until that time to break out the tools and build it. My dad loves doing projects like this. In fact, growing up, I would always get excited about helping him build things, so I knew this would be a great opportunity to get it taken care of.

Here is a link to the tutorial that we based our project on...

If you ever decide to create one of these, this is how we built it...

You'll need...

(14) 2 x 4 x 96 boards

(2) 19/32 x 4 x 8 plywood sheets

1 lb roofing nails

1 lb 3 in. self-drilling star-drive screws

Instead of having Lowe's cut everything for us, we just had them cut the plywood and took the rest home and did it ourselves. You'll want to cut the plywood exactly in half, leaving each sheet at 24" long. After it's all said and done, you'll have one 24" piece of plywood left -- I wonder what project we can do with that? :)

With the boards, you'll end up with (6) 93" long, (6) 24" long, (4) 70" long,  (3) 21" long, (1) 19" long, and the last board left uncut. After all was said and done, we had several little pieces left over that I'll soon sand, spray paint, and give to Samuel to play with -- what kid doesn't like building blocks?!

Being the perfectionist that he is, my dad took his time to make sure every measurement was precise...

And me, looking a like a bum off the street with an old sweatshirt and boxer pants, had fun using power tools, ha. I think the last time I used a saw was in 6th grade working on a project for school (with my dad)...

To make each shelf, you'll want to line up the 93" boards with the 24" ends and use two 3" screws on each corner. Can I just say, I had never heard of a "rapid load" drill bit until my dad insisted we use them for this project. Where was this awesome tool all these years? It saved SO much time! I always drill pilot holes before drilling in the screw (even though they are self-drilling), just to ensure the wood doesn't split, etc. Switching between the different drill bits was super fast thanks to that rapid load mechanism. It will definitely (always) be used from now on!

I would definitely recommend using a clamp while drilling so that the wood doesn't try to run away...

Once the four corners are screwed together, the 24" x 8' plywood should fit perfectly on top. We then used the roofing nails, spreading them a foot apart all around the board. 

After creating each shelf, we added additional support in the middle with the 21" boards -- using (2) 3" screws on each side...

Seems pretty easy, right? Time-consuming, but super easy! After each shelf was done, the fun of measuring out the space between each shelf and installing the legs began. We chose to have 19 inches between each shelf. That is enough space for the tallest Rubbermaid container, so we went with it. This is where that one, lonely, 19" board comes in. If you hold it between the two shelves while drilling the holes/installing the screws for each leg, it ensures the spacing is perfect. We started with the top shelf and went down... 

 

There you can see my dad holding the 19" piece in place while James used the drill...

(Don't you just love the messy garage?! Drives me insane...)

Here's a view from the other side -- you can see the middle boards that allow for more support...

I failed to grab a pic of us installing the final board, but before finishing up, we added one final (full-sized) board to the back, going diagonal across the back to add more stability -- using 2 screws at each point where it met the shelves... 

And here's the finished project. It's much heavier that I expected, but a HECK of a lot sturdier than that expensive hard plastic junk we've bought in the past (that has broken with each move)! In fact, it's much cheaper than even the huge metal shelving units you can get at Costco, so yay for that! I don't know what I was expecting exactly with the weight, but my first thought when we stood it upright was, "I sure hope this doesn't make us go over our weight allowance with the next move!" Sad, but true. We're always bordering that pesky weight allowance with the military moves...

So here's a before and after...

   

It's still messy, and sadly, I could probably use another one of these shelves and fill it with more Rubbermaid's, but it works and I'm happy that I can now easily access each tub. I noticed when putting the Rubbermaid's on the shelf, a few of them were half empty. I suppose the next project will call for sorting these tubs and organizing them!

Samuel thought the view from the top was pretty awesome...

And there you have it. We all pin so much stuff on Pinterest...

Every so often, it comes to fruition...

A Day In The Life Of A 13 Month Old...

So as I sit here staring at the blog, I know I should be in bed. After all, Samuel has two more teeth coming in so he has been protesting that amazing thing called sleep. But what can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment...

Today was a great day, but a long one. Since moving here, I've tried to keep Sam busy with new things and today was no different. It started out with Samuel going to Story Time at the local library for the very first time. After a rough start consisting of a few screams and holding onto my shirt for dear life, Samuel eventually calmed down and had a blast! I think the poor guy thought I was leaving him there (he doesn't handle separation very well), but once he realized I was there to stay, Mr. Social Butterfly appeared. It was sweet watching him interact with the other kids -- especially the little Olivia that happened to be turning 2 tomorrow. Talk about bittersweet! Oh, I miss our baby girl...and to watch Sam play with a little girl with that name and that age...yeah, bittersweet. Considering the emotions felt by that craziness, it helped that Sam then brought laughs to all the parents. Miss Olivia brought cupcakes to share with everyone in celebration of her birthday. If you all remember how Samuel reacted to his smash cake (and I'm not sure if I blogged about his similar reaction to his Cookie Monster cupcake after getting his 1 year shots)...it wasn't any different today. He looked excited and took a bite, then gave me a weird look and spit it all out. Then after I took a bite, he eagerly wanted another try -- only to spit that out, too. The parents laughed and one said "Hey! I don't want any of that refined sugar! I need my healthy all-natural food..." As Samuel reached for the Ziploc containing his whole grain wheat bread that I had in my purse for him. What a strange kid! I know if I have the choice between a cupcake and a slice of whole grain wheat bread...well, I wouldn't make the same choice as Sam.

This picture pretty much sums up his time at the library...

It reminds me of his 2 month picture...

What is it with Samuel looking shocked/surprised? Ha. As you can see, he created his first masterpiece while at the library -- a moon and stars. I definitely plan on taking him weekly after seeing how much he (eventually) enjoyed it!

After story time and picking out a DVD to rent with his new library card (Samuel chose Little Einsteins), we headed to post to eat lunch with James. Sam had so much energy that I took him to the toddler playground and then the pool afterwards. I'm seriously in trouble with this kid. He kept trying to go down the slide head first at the playground -- no matter how many times I would put him in the sitting position -- and then kept pushing away from me in the pool. He has been to the pool several times now and has figured out the whole kicking thing and now likes to hold on to the side of the pool and pull himself up, etc. Well, I always walk/tread water from one side of the pool to the other while holding him out on his stomach to promote splashing and kicking and now he tries to push me away. The kid has no fear and wants to explore the water on his own. It definitely makes for interesting times, ha.

Once we got in the car to head home, he immediately passed out. After not really getting much of a nap today, I thought I was in for a long one once we got home. Of course, that didn't happen. He was wide-eyed and ready to go once we got inside. So with a hyper boy, a hyper basset (after hours in the cage) and a tired momma, we headed to Sam's room to play. That's always my go-to when I'm exhausted, but want to allow for Sam to play and explore. To go along with all these new experiences, he decided to break out a few toys that until now, he had no interest in. So with that...I decided to break out the real camera and capture it...

Anyone remember this classic Tupperware toy? I had received it as a gift for Jacob back in '03 and now Samuel is LOVING it!

Oh, the drool that comes when new teeth arrive. #9 and #10 are on their way!

That bay window is Sam's new fav. He climbs up on his chair, then tries as hard as he can to get on the bay window. Luckily, he can't quite get up there yet, so instead, he takes his toys and puts them up there...

The boy is always on the move...always...

And Obadiah is always there to torment -- poor pup...

And for the first time, Sam found interest in this Ikea toy...

I just love watching those cute little fingers go to work...

Usually by the time he has dinner and a bath he's rubbing his eyes, but the crazy kid was still wired at 9pm. So the fun continued for quite awhile. I'll be curious to see how tomorrow goes. We have our first FRG (Family Readiness Group) meeting for this new unit and Smashburger has their kids eat free deal -- I think Sam might be testing out his very first burger tomorrow night...

Until next time...

The Past Month...

So, I didn't really know what to title this. The past month has been good, bad, crazy...you name it. There was a visit with grandparents, a trip to Savannah, ongoing doctor appointments for Sam, James and I both took turns getting sick, plans for our next duty station changed as well as James' first time going away to play Army since Sam was born, and best of all...LOTS of time off for James, which meant TONS of family time! That last one was definitely welcomed with open arms! Oh, and how can I forget...Samuel took his first steps yesterday! (And now he won't stop!)

So to say the least, it's been a wild ride. I keep saying I want to get better at staying caught up on the blog, email, etc. but it never seems to happen. I seem to primarily get online with my phone these days and I hate to type on that thing, so I seem to quickly get behind. And since the office is most definitely not Sam-proof, it's an experience every time I decide to come in here. Ha. I love it though. While I may not be caught up, I'm enjoying my time with a crazy boy that won't sit still. He's into anything and everything and if it spells out dangerous, he's racing to it. Sweet Sam...

So to go into more detail on a few of the experiences of the past month...Samuel had a month-long ear infection that started when he visited the ER in early March. After 4 different medications (two of which had horrible side effects), I'm incredibly relieved to know that it's now GONE! To put it nicely, one of those medications is now on my hate list and I will ban it from ever being given to Sam again. I think we went through a month worth of diapers in less than a week during that ordeal. James was away playing Army while all of this happened, but thankfully, my parents were in town and my mom was INCREDIBLY helpful! I happened to get sick (too!) while they were here, so it was even more appreciated when I could barely get out of bed myself -- let alone give Sam 4-5 baths a day after each incident thanks to that medication. Can I just say how thankful I am that he's healthy again?! I hated seeing him like that. After the last medication, I think he officially loathes his pediatrician's office. Just calling his name from the waiting room resulted in a meltdown during his very last visit. Poor Sam! Here's hoping he doesn't have to go back until his 1 year well visit!

So with mentioning James being away...James went and played Army for two weeks at Ft. Bragg for the Civil Affairs selection. It was my little trial run for how life will be once we're back in a normal unit. I've been so spoiled having him home for an entire year that it was hard adjusting to what I once knew as normal. Seriously...until we moved here, he had been away more than he had been home in the 8 years we had been married. If he wasn't away training, he was deployed...or so it felt. So for him to be home every single night since moving here, it was a bit of a reality check with him leaving. Unfortunately, the selection process didn't work out as we had hoped. We're not really that bummed about it, but timing couldn't have been worse. James caught a really nasty virus right before he was supposed to leave and while the steroid shot at the ER helped, he wasn't able to really get back to the shape he was in before it hit in time for selection. Oh well. As long as James is happy, I'm happy...and he seems pretty happy about going back to Armor. Soooooo...now we wait. We've been waiting...for two weeks now. We still don't have orders and have absolutely no idea where we're going to get stationed, but I HOPE we'll find out soon! It's about to drive me batty! I'm a planner and I need/want to plan out where we'll live, etc. Oh, the life of a military family, right? Constant changes and too many unknowns to count. Good times...

Aside from all that madness, we decided to take a last minute getaway to Savannah last weekend. It was fabulous! Samuel experienced the ocean for the first time, which was priceless! That handsome boy enjoyed it so much! After we went, we agreed that we'd like to take him down to Destin, FL before we move. However, I'm not so sure whether or not that'll work out. We'll see. Either way, it was a great family trip!

I've now lost my train of thought and after seeing the clock, I know I need to head to bed. So...I'll leave you with pictures -- first from the iPhone and then the good camera...

Samuel with his Grandpa Grant...

6 teeth, and I think #7 is on its way...

(taken a couple weeks ago)

His reaction to, "Ouch!!!! No, you don't bite mommy!!!!"

PS. He thinks it's hilarious when I bite him back, so that clearly doesn't work. I feel like I have Jaws in the house. He surfs by the couch and if I have a foot hanging off, he takes a bite out of it -- crazy child!

Anyways...

James let him try his 100% fruit Popsicle...

After a hard day at work...

Bummed he didn't get offered any ice cream at Leopold's in Savannah...

Paula Deen's cooking? No thanks, I'll take a bite out of this place mat instead...

Yo Gabba Gabba coming to the rescue on our drive back to Columbus...

The nurse felt so bad for him after receiving his first of 3 antibiotic shots that he received his first sugar-free sucker...

Poor Sam felt so sick (102.1 temp) from the shot that all we did was cuddle and watch Yo Gabba Gabba -- yes, it was the only thing to comfort him while he whimpered in pain. Poor baby...

(notice, he cuddled with Olivia's gift from Afghanistan -- the pink stuffed camel)

After shot #2. Glad daddy was there to help soothe him!

Just before shot #3, but after receiving the good news that his ears were no longer infected! Yayyyy!!!!

After proudly dumping his storage cube of toys out...

Researching the Gordon Biersch rewards program...

Now, if you're still reading, here are a few of our Savannah pics...

Can you believe August 9th will be 10 YEARS of marriage for us?! Oh, how I love this man...

While the trees are beautiful, all I could think about were chiggers -- freaks me out!

Hi, beautiful blue-eyed boy!

Sam looks like he got drunk off of puffs while at the brewery...

Love these two...

Girl Scout lemon sandwich cookie ice cream at Leopold's. Does it get any better than that?!

As usual, we loved just walking the streets. The historic district is beautiful!

Is it just me, or does the location of the Forrest Gump bench make you want to hum the intro song, too?

Okay, now I want to watch the movie again...

For anyone wanting to try Paula Deen's cuisine, it's good, but not worth waiting in line all day! Luckily, we hit it at just the right time and had no wait, but that's not the norm...

Someone loves playing with mommy's phone...

And cuddling with daddy...

A first for Sam...

He LOVED it!

Remembering his older siblings -- Jacob, Jordan, and Olivia...

A family shot...

I could sit in the shade and listen to the waves all day long...

Mmmm....leather...

Vincent Van Gogh and pizza...perfect combination!

Savannah's such a beautiful place...