Missing Germany...

Today I was just missing Germany.  There were some loud bangs outside kind of like what I'd hear constantly from the canons that would go off in Germany.  And it made me wish i was back there...

I miss the people....my neighbors especially.
I miss the library and storytime and the best librarians that ever lived...
I miss the green trees and grass and countryside I drove through.
I miss the red roofs.
I miss the pretzels
I miss the speed limit on the autobahn...
I miss going to a small town and walking the pedestrian zones.
I miss the church bells
I miss castles
I miss alot about that place.  I'm so lucky to have lived there for 3  years.

We've been told that once you've been its unlikely you'll be sent back.  Boo.  I guess I'll just have to push for Korea.  :)

So close to the end...

Deployment ends next month.  Just over 30 more days.

I feel like I'm in the move The Jerk...the first day felt like 3 days.  The second day felt like 2 weeks and four days.  The third day just felt like just a day...

Mr chucklehead said the same thing.  He fees like he's got 10 months left...short timers disease.

My neighbor who left after John comes home next week.  I'm jealous....but at least I have 30 more days to clean out the house and get rid of anything I want since John won't remember if we had it or not.  Haha....

We have almost made it to the end.  That's something to celebrate!

The mess...

Its amazing to me how long it takes to finally get everything put away correctly after the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays.  I took my tree down on the 27th thinking if I could just get the tree down the rest would be easy.

I live in a disaster zone! 

Just saying....and complaining is over...

New Year's Resolutions...

Its January 1st and I'm am SO. READY. FOR. A. CLEAN. SLATE. called 2014.  I saw a great quote on Facebook that said, "Today is the first day of a 365 page book with empty pages.  Write a good one."

I'm on it.

We'll start with today....the laziest of New Years Days...spent loving on my kids, playing games, watching movies and eating cheese dip.

My kind of day.

I do have to backtrack to that cheese dip, though.  Its actually kind of amusing how that all came about....for New Year's Eve we went to a party at a friend's house.  She is Columbian...her other friends that came are Puerto Rican and I was the lone "American."  We were all supposed to bring something to share.  Columbian chicken with ham and pineapple and a delicious gravy from Columbia...rice and beans and and flan from Puerto Rico and Velveeta Ro'tel Cheese dip from the good old U.S. of A. 

ha ha ha...when she told me to bring something from my country I had to laugh...I threw out a bunch of options including tater tots, hamburgers, ribs, etc...and she jumped at the Velveeta cheese dip.

So...the American contribution to the New Year's celebration was cheese dip. 

Makes me laugh.

Ok...resolutions...I've got a few.

I lost 60 pounds in 2013.  I love that.  I have 60 more to loose to be at my BMI recognized goal weight.  So....Resolution 1 is the reach my goal weight.

I've already got my zumba classes lined up and I'm starting crossfit this month too.  yikes!

Resolution 2....sprint triathlon.  I do not like to run...but I love to bike and swim...so if I can enjoy two out of three I'm thinking a sprint triathlon is a good goal for me.

Resolution 3.  Cook with less processed foods.  I want my kids to love veggies and real cheese and not macaroni from Kraft.  Please disregard all previous comments about velveeta cheese dip.

Resolution 4.   Draw.  I bought a sketchbook and my goal is to draw more...with Bella in particular.  I want her to love art...she's a good good artist.  So we will be following this woman's lead....I've already done our first picture and am working on the second.  I'll be posting more about them.

Resolution 5.  Blog at least 3X week and get my website up and running.  That means you'll be hearing a lot more from me.  I'm hoping that's good new.

Cheers to a New Year...and much happiness in 2014...

Zombie Zumba

I've gotten into Zumba. 

Ok...I've REALLY gotten into zumba...in fact one might call me a zumba addict these days.

But its helped me lose 50 pounds so I'm saying thats a really good thing.  Yesterday was Zombie Zumba. 

Oh yeah....

A room full of women dressed up like zombies (and two men)

This is me and my zumba friend and cul-de-saq neighbor...we decorated our shirts and blackened our eyes and frzzed out our hair and then zumba'ed for TWO HOURS.  Burned me 1500 calories!

So listen...if a zombie can zumba...

I highly suggest if you've got a shimmy in your body that you try out zumba. 



Don't Feed the Bears!

There I am...Ranger Anna all ready for the HHB Trunk or Treat.  And why go as a park ranger, you ask?

Because I had the cutest little Owl...

Who insisted on calling HOO HOO and flapping her wings everywhere we went...

AND the cutest little grumpy bear...

Who finally popped his grumpy bear hat over his face so the park ranger would leave him alone...

The kids raked in so much candy...I've got to remember not to buy halloween candy until after we attend these events.  It's likely I wouldn't have to buy any...ever...again....

We officially have...

Oh, I'm such a bad blogger these days.  I've been focusing on so much other stuff that I've let Chuckleheads fall by the wayside.

But there are major milestones that just simply have to be recorded!

1.  We have a walker!  Jaxxy boy is not officially walking more than he is crawling.  It happened just the past two days.  He's been occassionally toddling along but preferring the faster crawling method...then yesterday he started walking on his own...catching his balance and getting up when he'd fall to try walking again...

And today I can't stop him.  He's a walker!

2.  We have passed the 6 month mark for deployement!  As of about July 24th we are on our way back DOWN the hill.  Woohoo!  Three more months before leave and then three months before he's home for good.  Hallelujah!

3.I have lost 36 pounds!  Woot!  Pretty proud of myself.  I restarted (again) the C25K and instead of doing the program as is...decided to do each week twice in an attempt to really be able to keep up with it and the run times it eventually gets to.

Well, can I just pat myself on the back and say...Last Saturday I ran TWO miles without stopping.  Thats right...me...running...two...miles.  I couldn't even run 30 seconds without heaving for breath 8 weeks ago when I started this. 

I also am taking a zumba class 2X a week.  I. Love. It.  And my teacher...holy booty shake queen!  This girl can move like nobody I've ever seen.  Except for maybe my mom on her new jiggle jiggle machine.  ha ha ha.

So thats where we are unless you want to hear more about my house that needs a good clean.  (next on my priority list if you can't tell.)