Huh?

hooah (hoo ah) adj., adv., n., v., conj., interj., excla. (Orig. unknown) Slang. H-U-A (heard understood acknowledged)

1. Referring to or meaning anything and everything except "no". 2. What to say when at a loss for words. 3.a. Good copy. b. Roger. c. Solid copy. d. Good. e. Great. f. Message received. g. Understood. h. Acknowledged. 4.a. Glad to meet you. b. Welcome. 5. "All right!" 6.a. I don't know the answer, but I'll check on it. b. I haven't the foggiest idea. 7. I am not listening. 8. "That is enough of your drivel; sit down!" 9. Yes. 10. "You've got to be kidding me!" 11. Thank you. 12. Go to the next slide. 13. You've taken the correct action. 14. I don't know what that means, but I'm too embarassed to ask for clarification. 15. Squared away (He's pretty hooah.) 16. Amen!

Friday, August 31, 2012

244 Good Ol' Rocky Top

Months ago, the LT saw that his favorite college team, the Tennessee Volunteers would be playing in the Chick-fil-a college kickoff bowl in Atlanta. He really wanted to buy tickets. At the time, we didn't know if we would even still be here, so I told him to wait and see.
Well, we are still here...
And the Fort Benning MWR had free tickets they were giving out!
He was SO excited to score some. It made for a long night, driving up to Atlanta for the game and then coming home, but we had a great time. The girls really enjoyed it and we had great seats. We left just before half time, but were able to follow the game on the way home through the internet on my phone.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

243 ALMOST Like Riding a Bicycle

I had sweet baby CC for a few hours again today. Man how quickly I forgot what it is to have a newborn! I was trying to cook dinner and of course she woke up, and then the girls were asking questions about homework. Busy! I tried to read a little while she took a short nap, but I was ready for one when mom came to get her!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

242 Catch That Salt!

We've needed some real salt and pepper shakers for a while.
Imagine my delight when I found these gems at Target today!
We have so enjoyed watching the squirrels here in GA and these will always remind us of our time here! (which hopefully won't be much longer...but you know, if I say that, we'll never leave!)

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

241 Daddy Time

Bean has been really nervous about things this year at school. Lots of pressure in first grade! She was worried about being able to count by 3's for her classwork tomorrow, so she came in after we had tucked her in, and shared her concern with daddy. He was happy to practice counting a few times with her to ease her nerves. 
I love moments like this!


Monday, August 27, 2012

240 Standardized Healthcare

Don't get me wrong: I am grateful for our military healthcare. 
I won't complain.
But I was a little taken aback when today, I went in for a check-up and had some tests that needed to be taken to the lab, the nurse handed me a bag and pointed me to the lab to deliver them myself! 
I suppose any way they can save they will!






Saturday, August 25, 2012

Friday, August 24, 2012

237 Rockstar

Well, maybe not a rockstar yet...
The LT had the wonderful opportunity to head to Nashville today to record some music with two of his best friends (who happened to be in a band with him a hundred years ago).
One is a music producer there in Nashville, and the other was flying in from Phoenix today to spend a week there. It's just under a six hour drive, so the LT loaded up his guitar and some clothes (way too many probably by looking at the size of that bag!) and headed off!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

236 Baby Watching

I greedily volunteered to take a good friend's newborn for a few hours so she could catch up on some much needed sleep and take a shower. 
It was so much fun!
The girls were fascinated with her and Bean insisted on doing her homework on the floor near the baby so she could watch her and make sure she was ok.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

235 Another Miracle

So, I may have mentioned, that things here at Ft B have been a little anxiety filled. (This is the part where I put links to all of the posts where I talk about how we've been waiting forever and we have no idea what we are doing here and I get depressed every time someone moves because it just reminds me that we have no idea what we are doing here or when we will get to leave or if we'll even be able to stay in the army...but there were too many and I don't want to take all morning trying to do that, so trust me. It's been a long year.)
But I digress...
Long story short, the LT joined the army to become a finance officer, in the hopes that that would lead him to the JAG Corps. He soon learned that becoming a finance officer was a near impossibility because the branch is small, and they really only take Captains (which he will be in about 3 years). But a miracle happened when a slot opened up at the time he was to choose his branch at OCS. That slot came with the caveat that he serve approx. 3 years in the infantry first (thus, making him a Captain by the time he gets to finance). Fine. Then he discovered his hip was broken a week after we moved here last August. That put his plans for infantry school on hold until it was healed. Once it was healed he would hopefully start that 16 week course that November. The bone healed, but there was other damage that would prevent him from rucking if he wanted to be able to walk past age 35. He had a difficult decision to make: Should he just suck it up and go to infantry school and pray his hip held up until he could make the switch to finance? Should he try to get transferred to finance now? Or just take medical retirement?
I told you this would be the short story (trust me, I could write a book about this) so keeping that in mind, he did what he could to get a branch transfer. That was MUCH more easier said than done. 
We remained faithful and positive that the Lord would send us where we needed to be as long as we remained faithful and positive. And believe me, it wasn't easy. We were grateful that the DQ could have her spine corrected at no cost to us, and if that was what we joined the army for, and it was time to get out, then we would be grateful and move on.
But we persisted and the LT dutifully served in the jobs he was given. He continued to work out and keep himself physically ready. He did all of the menial tasks assigned with a smile and never a complaint and continued to prove how proud he was to serve the United States in any way he could.
And then.
Yesterday. 
Prayers were answered with a simple email.

"You have been moved to finance branch."

I think we are still in shock. 
The news we have been waiting nearly a year for came, unexpectedly at lunch time.
I think we are still hesitant to tell anyone in case something happens and we wake up from this sweet dream.
But he checked his _____ (whatever acronym it is for his records and whatnot...I can't keep them straight anymore) and sure enough, it says "Control branch: Finance".
So today, (I waited a day, in case it really wasn't true) I picked up a new set of branch insignia for his ASUs.
His finance diamonds.
Tiny gold miracles.

(p.s. If you're really in the know, you may have noticed I put them on sideways. The LT pointed that out when he saw his surprise. They are suppose to go "short axis vertical". So I've since fixed that. Such problems to worry about!)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

234 Yuck

I raked up this pile of leaves this morning.
Yuck.
I never thought I would complain so much about trees!! 
I really don't like the look of fall leaves.
Nor do I like them stuck to my car or tracked into my house.
I am probably complained about this before, but I'm complaining again today.
If the next place we move to has so many trees, I will make sure we find a house where there are not too many around our house.
The leaves are obnoxious, the shade blocks my beloved sun, and when we have a lightning storm, I am so nervous that one of the gigantic ones in the back yard will fall on our house!

Ok, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
I know I'm a horrible person for not liking trees, and for complaining about something so trivial.
I'm done now.

Monday, August 20, 2012

233 Family Game Night


Bean wanted to play a board game. She chose Life. We were too lazy to get all set up so she consented to play the Wii version. (It's more fun anyway, because you get to see the creepy spouse they pick for you and how many children you have.)
It is really silly and fun and we enjoyed it.

*Note* The LT would like you to know that I actually won the game. He came in second.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

232 Problem Solver

The girls love their Otter Pops. They don't love holding them though. They usually wrap a paper towel around them, but I get annoyed because then they waste paper towels. Bean asked if I would sew her a cover so she could hold an otter pop without freezing her fingers. I agreed, then promptly forgot. Today she asked me again, and I thought, it doesn't have to be anything fancy, she could probably sew one herself!
And so that's what she did!
I just cut a piece of fleece for her (orange) and then folded it in half. She then stitched the open side together (with supervision of course) with blue thread (noticing a pattern? Orange and blue? For those of you not familiar with the beloved SEC out here, those are Auburn's colors)
She said it worked great and she was pretty darn proud of herself too!

Friday, August 17, 2012

230 Family Fun Night

We haven't gone out and done anything fun together as a family for a while. 
Dinner at Five Guys was a perfect solution.
YUM!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

229 While We Were Sleeping

You have to look veeery closely...
Can you see the ginormous spider web!?
When we walked out to take the DQ to school this morning, this is what we found suspended from the tree in the front yard. It appeared to be floating in midair. That's a pretty big orange spider in the middle of it too.
Yuck.
The properties of a spider web are quite amazing when you think about how that can hang there like that.
But then, gross. It's a giant spider.

(When The LT first saw the picture, he thought the web was behind the white car, and beyond massive. It's not...it's right in front of me, just to give you a frame of reference.)

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

228 Brilliant

Bean has had a difficult time adjusting to going back to school. I think she loves me too much and doesn't want to leave home! (Oh, and all of her fun toys...)
One thing she was worried about was logging in to the computer. Her teacher sent home the login info and suggested the children practice typing it in Word so they could see it.
She wanted to practice before school today so the LT got her set up. She couldn't find the paper with the info so she didn't know how to spell her teacher's name. 
She came up with a pretty great solution:
Can you guess her teacher's name??
It's Mrs. Reynolds.
Bean said she told the kids the first day of school that her name was the same as the foil. Bean remembered that and told the LT so they got it out.
When I told her teacher that when I dropped Bean off, she laughed and said she tells the kids that every year, but it seems to go over their heads.
Not my little Bean's!!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

227 Keeping Busy!

I just finished editing my second newborn shoot of the week! So much fun! I can't wait to deliver these!!

Monday, August 13, 2012

226 Fun Freebie!

On the way to take Bean to school today I saw this gem with the sign "Free to take" on it. It was wet from dew and covered in grass, but I knew it would be gone if I waited until on the way home, so I jumped out and grabbed it. It barely fit in the back of my car, but Bean and I were really excited.
I got it home and cleaned it up. I think it will need a new battery because I charged the one that was in it and it didn't work. Not too bad for the price of a battery though!!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

225 I'm Trying

As Relief Society president, one of my duties is to help with the general welfare needs of the members in the ward. There is a new single mother who moved in who was in need of clothes for her daughter and three small boys. Miraculously, another woman in the ward had recently cleaned out her son's closet and had a bunch of boys clothes in just the right sizes for the boys in need. The woman was supposed to bring them to church today so I could give them to the family in need. I had purchased some clothes for the older daughter and brought those with me. The mother was so relieved to have a few new outfits for her children. When I found the clothes donor at church, she said she had forgotten to bring them and they were in a bag by her door.
No problem. I had a feeling that would happen anyway. I just told her I would pick them up after church and deliver them to the family. The LT was going to visit another area south of us where they hold meetings in the afternoon to help out so the girls came along with me.
As planned, I picked them up and then sought out the other woman's home. They live in a trailer park that most people know the location of, however, I did not. I plugged the address into my GPS and set off. Unfortunately, the GPS was confused, but I didn't realize it until we got to the wrong location.
At this point, the minor frustration of getting the wrong directions was magnified by the fact that I was starving, and my gas light had come on. I have been trying to be a much better example in keeping the Sabbath holy for my girls (not stopping by Taco Bell on the way home from church...) and the numerous fast food restaurants seemed to be taunting us. I will say how amazing the girls were. Not one complaint.
I was fuming at my luck as I turned around and went back the way we came to find our destination. In doing so, we passed by this church a second time, and I saw this:
I realized that what I was doing was service. I had been able to go out and buy new clothes for my girls without a second thought. This woman had to rely on the kindness of others to clothe her children. I also realized that my attitude wasn't helping things and I it would be very soon that the clothes would be delivered and I could be home and eating.
The scripture Matthew 25:40 instantly came to mind:
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

And I thought, yes, I think I have made God smile today.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

224 Jackets

Yeah. It's totally not jacket weather here yet.
The DQ has complained that some of her classrooms at school are unbearably cold. Since the seventh graders wear blue shirts, their outer layer must also be blue, and cannot have a hood. 
She wanted a cardigan, but when we walked into Sam's Club, she saw some zip up sporty sweatshirts that she really liked. And luckily they had blue!
They also had a great waterproof jacket in Bean's size so I got one for her too. (She was at a birthday party at the time) She was thrilled to see it when we picked her up.
Apparently the a/c was too much for them this afternoon, (or they just really liked them) so they wore their new jackets around the house all evening.

Friday, August 10, 2012

223 False Alarm

Loud noises are nothing new to life on an army post.
I didn't think much of the humming motor outside until I realized that it had been going for more than a half hour. I finally peeked outside and saw this:
There were a few firefighters walking around without a sense of urgency, so I didn't think it was anything big. I did see a puff of smoke behind the black car on the right. I worried because that family has been gone for months and I thought something had happened to the house. 
I finally went outside to investigate and saw that a new neighbor was standing on her porch watching so I introduced myself. She explained that they were training in an empty house.
Easy enough.
I'm so glad it wasn't anything bad, and I'm glad that I got to meet a new neighbor!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

222 My Job is So Rough

Today I had another practice photo shoot. I was so honored to take some pictures of this precious little one. Her daddy is deployed in Kuwait until next year.
I was so excited to not only practice, but to give this family a gift; capturing those brand new moments and documenting her in her very first week.
I will have more on the blog later, once he has seen them all.
I am so thankful for those men and women who volunteer and sacrifice so much for the freedoms we enjoy.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

221 Another Boy in the House!

No surprises here, he was only temporary.
We babysat tonight for a couple who had to attend a social on post. This little guy was so much fun. I seriously fell in love. He loved watching the girls play and giggled at the silly things they did. He loved Lola and got so sad when she would walk away from him. He got fussy for a little bit, so I made him a bottle. He hungrily grabbed it out of my hands and drank it down so fast. It was adorable. The LT enjoyed having another male in the house, although he couldn't really do any "boy" things with him. We really didn't want him to leave!
(Although it was really nice to wake up in the morning and not have a baby to entertain all day...I know. I'm selfish)
We also made sure that mom and dad know that they are to take full advantage of date nights or solitary trips to the commissary any time and he can come play here. 

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

220 Back to School

I can't believe school is back in session!! The girls had great days and were both excited to see their friends. I can't believe they are now in 7th and 1st grade!!

Monday, August 6, 2012

219 On the Medal Stand

The party was a success!! The girls had so much fun bumping balloons around, throwing frisbees, and knocking down cups with water guns. 
Even the rain held out until we were done!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

218 Duh duh dut duh da, dun na na duh dut duh dat dun daaa

(did you get that that was supposed to be the Olympic theme song??)

We are celebrating Bean's birthday tomorrow, and at the very last minute, the party went from "spa" themed to the Olympics. I think we did a pretty good job of whipping up a fun party. We'll see how tomorrow goes!


Saturday, August 4, 2012

217 Date Day

The LT and I were able to secure a babysitter so that we could make the trek up to Atlanta to visit the temple. It was great to have some quiet time together. We did have to rush back afterward though because his office was having a BBQ that evening. 
I'm sorry to say that it has been a really long time since we've been able to get to the temple, and I hope that we can manage to get back there soon!

Friday, August 3, 2012

216 Cool Trick

We've caught Olympic fever around here. It's been tough too because I like to actually watch the events, not read about them beforehand. I have tried to avoid the computer and especially the news. Even facebook has had spoilers on it! 
I found a solution...watching the events live on the computer! I had to set up a password for our Dish service, but was able to tap in to the live feed. 
Aside from the same commercials cutting in at weird times, it's been nice watching things this way. 
Today we caught Michael Phelps' race and then the 800m free where the American Katie Ladecky won gold. Much more exciting that waiting until 11 o'clock at night!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

215 I Miss the Dry Heat

This is what happens to a cake in humidity. The cake is dry, but that frosting is a mess! I didn't even have it sealed tightly, but this Georgia humidity can mess everything up!!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

214 Impressive

We went to the pool today and it was super cloudy and misting rain. Despite the knowledge I have of how the rays of the sun work, I did not put sunscreen on the girls. We weren't there that long and it was still early in the morning.
As the day progressed, I noticed that the DQ's face was changing colors. 
It just so happened that the color of her face matched her shirt exactly.
Quite the skill to be able to match that!