Testing the waters again...

It's been awhile, let's see if I remember how to do this.....
We are the not so proud owners of the most ridiculous dog on the planet.
Meet Penny:



I have been wanting a dog forever, so I went ahead and just got one. Jim didn't talk to me for 3 days. I was really hoping it would be worth it.... sometimes it is.
Here's the pro's and con's list for Penny Pocket. We call her that because of our familiarity with Polly Pockets

Con's:
Noone thinks she is cute. Friends or family
Still not housebroken
She barks at the door
Dogs really do ruin yards
I'm stuck with backyardmpickup forever because she was my idea
I have noone to complain to, again she was my idea

Pro's
She makes us laugh
She is always good for a snuggle
She is always happy to see you

And that's all

HE IS HOME!!

Here he is!! Mallory was still on an airplane flying home from Seattle. Jim was able to go surprise her in Denver!! What a great day! More info later.....

Not to worry..

Don't worry blog friends, just my normal amount of crazy! Perhaps I should proofread my daughters blog posts! LOL!

My life right now

My mom said I could apply a new background with Mallory's help.I think she chose a great one.Having fun in seattle !!!!!!!! My mother is running a race right now.My family woke us up at six, so thats why I'm blogging at 7:05.So I get to babysit my awesome cousins!!!!!!!!Yay I haven't seen them in two weeks!!!!!They came to our house along tho way (two weeks ago). Dad gets to come homein a month!!!!!! But i'm pretty sure I will be at girls camp by then.Mallory gets to stay in seattle for almost two weeks longer.Abbey is at a sleep over with my cousin annika. BTW: if my mom hates this post, then she can just delet it.FYI: My mom has been going crazy. THanks to my grandpa and my uncle Arn.


Kimrie

What I've been up to....

With Jim gone, I've done nothing but get weirder. I know that isn't shocking to any of you, but with my mind a little more free to wander, and not having to worry about Jim's ridicule, (it's okay, he gets just as much ridicule from me) this is what I've been into lately.

I've read this amazing book, and I believe every word of it.



I read this book twice, and I'll probably read it a zillion more times, I already love running and this makes me love it more. It's amazing.




I am reading this book because I've tried to run a marathon 3 times and never made it past 10 miles without shredding my knees.




I've been eating these, because I am a freak and they are a super food, they give me tons of energy, and are an appetite suppressant. (Not that you can tell by my weight)




I've been doing alot of this




Sometimes wearing these




Oh how fun it is!! Arn and dad made me buy those shoes, and I said "I will never wear those shoes, Satan must have designed those himself!" Less than 24 hours later, I had a pair.

So these have been my distractions and obsessions the last 3 months. After years of ridiculing my mom for her hippie ways, I believe I have surpassed her in weirdness. I am turning into a mountain mama hippie. But I've decided that at a certain point in your life, you just let your freak flag fly and you don't care. I'm happy that at 34, I'm starting to do that. Or I could have been doing that all along, but I just didn't know it.

Jim's deployment

I finally feel like I can post about this, and it definitely needs to be a part of our family journal. So I'll write the whole story from the beginning. In May of 2009, we moved from Greeley, CO back down to Colorado Springs, CO. Almost as soon as we got here, Jim started hearing about other Logistics officers deploying, even ones who had gone to get a PhD. Normally after a move, you won't get deployed for at least 6 months, so when Jim started hearing about this, he decided to contact assignments to find out. They told him that he was #1 on the list for a year deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. We asked if the year he had already done in Greenland counted and they said no. So we mentally prepared for another year apart. Jim called back 2 weeks later and they told him there was a mistake and that he didn't have to go at all. That was a relief. But, as the weeks and months went by, Jim started having a gut feeling that something was going on with his assignment. So again he called, and that person said "who told you you were off the hook? You are #1 on the list for a year deployment!" So, we scrambled a bit to figure out what to do, and after asking many people for advice including his bosses, he found a six month deployment that would get him back home before football season. ( He is a big fan of football, but his job is team logistics for AF) Anyway, on Jan 2nd Jim left for Balad, Iraq. Honestly I feel blessed that he is there, it is the best case scenario in my opinion. He is over the airport over there, and it is a very busy base with over 40 planes coming in a day. He is mostly in charge of the "heavies" and doesn't have to do much with the fighters, so the 40 plus planes he deals with don't count the fighters. His first day he had his first mortar fire, and there have been multiple attacks every day. But he honestly feels that the base is very safe. Throughout the decades before when Saddam was in power, the Iraqi's would bomb Balad regularly because he was stealing all the water. So it's almost a part of life to bomb the base. With the elections coming up in Iraq, alot of people suspect the bombings will become more frequent. He has been able to go to church, and last week during a talk there was mortar fire. I asked him if everyone "hit the deck" and he said "No the speaker just kept on talking". We laughed at that. But they do take each one seriously, in fact yesterday there was an attack in Jim's area and they all dove for cover except for one airman who kept driving his truck and almost ran over the commander. So he said things got exciting after that. As for me and the girls, the first 2 weeks or so were very rough. They handled it a bit better than me. I don't remember taking it so hard last time. I think last time the kids were babies and I couldn't even take one second to think about it because I was physically "on" the whole time. This time the kids are self sufficient, so I get more time to stew over my thoughts. I am a tad bit worried about him, but mostly I just miss him terribly. He is my best friend, and I told him that I'm sure everyone is getting sick of me talking about him constantly.
I have had wonderful friends who check on me constantly and have us over, They are the best! My dear friend Wendy, just flew out to visit for a week, and we had a ball. We have Dave and Amy here in town, and we all love to be with them! They girls love to play with the boys, and we all have to take turns holding Annie. In fact the day Jim left I was able to mope around for hours and hold Annie who was 2 weeks old, I tell ya that was like therapy! I'll never be able to thank Paul and Dave enough for spending the entire day with Kimrie. I get choked up even thinking about it. I know they wanted to hang out with each other, but they let Kimrie tag along all day and that night played rock band with her for hours. I don't think they know how huge that was for Kimrie, and how touched I was to have them love my girl. They filled a huge void for her and I think helped her have a great transition to having Jim gone. I have honestly felt so loved and supported and I am so grateful.
One thing I'm not looking forward to so I won't dwell on it, is moving while he's gone, but I've had so many people offer to help, so I think it will be ok. Just mentally tiring.

So here are a few pictures of Jim leaving, I'll try to post the least sad ones!

Our trip to Ft. Worth, Texas, ridiculously long post

The week after Christmas we went to the Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth Texas. (Jim is in charge of team travel for the AF sports teams) We woke up Christmas morning, quickly opened presents, and headed out the door for Texas. We felt bad for ruining Christmas day with a road trip, but we figured it would be worth it in the end. We had a great drive up until the 10 hour point. It was supposed to only take 11 hours. At that point the roads started getting really slushy and icy. Then, it moved to frozen slush and pure sheets of ice. That area in TX hadn't had snow in 100 years, and it had snowed 14 inches the day before. There were hundreds of cars and semi's off the road, and even 5 or 6 SNOWPLOWS were off the road! Even being from Colorado, it was terrible driving. Well, once we were way out in the boonies, they closed the freeway, with us on it! We had to sleep trapped in the car for 8 HOURS!! The line of cars was thousands and thousands of people long. They even sent the national guard out to rescue drivers. We never saw them because we were too far out. Here is the best picture I could come up with at the time:


At this point the girls are all crying and saying "This is the worst Christmas Ever!". We felt so bad! So Jim stayed up all night turning the car back on every 20 minutes or so to warm back up. I was happy Jim had just filled up the gas tank, so we didn't have to worry too much about that. I tried to sleep, as well as possible. We got close to having the girls layer up with clothes from their suitcase, but their small blankets worked fine. We kept ourselves entertained by all the male drivers taking the "walk of shame" to "use the restroom" right on the side of the road. You do what you gotta do! Even if it is in front of thousands of people. We being a family of mostly girls had to improvise.... The front bumper with blankets to form a curtain...enough said. Yes we are a crass family that laughs at innapropriate things! Anyway we finally were able to get moving for about 1 mile after 8 hours, and stopped again. Jim ran up the road to push someone out, I followed him, dodged other cars and we finally broke free and were able to go off on our own. So, a road trip totalling 22 hours, when we finally made it to the hotel we looked like something the cat dragged in.
Speaking of the hotel, it was gorgeous right downtown Ft. Worth. A guy who works with Jim had told the hotel that Jim was going to Iraq and the hotel gave us a suite. That definitely worked in our favor. The beds were turned down for us and we fell into them immediately!!
The next day we explored Ft. Worth, which is the cleanest, nicest, cutest, downtown ever.


Cute cowboy boot stockings at the hotel
Let's see where was I? Oh yah
There was another AF family there with 3 girls all the same ages, and we had a ball with them, all the girls got along great.
In the hotel there was a hospitality room for all the AF coaches and staff. In this magical room was: 3 catered meals a day, tons of candy and drinks, snacks, games, you name it, it was there. That room was a lot of fun. In fact, on the second day we went to a movie ,but first we stopped at the hospitality room and got a bunch of candy. Kimrie said "mom that was so tacky" after I finished laughing I said "Yes it was.. But I don't care, live a little!" So anyway, the first night we went to a rodeo, which I affectionately call a bloodbath massacre. This ferocious,evil, bull provided us with the opportunity to shield our childrens eyes as it flipped a horse with a rider on it, and then started goring the horse in the stomach. This was not the only death defying incident that evening, there were many more. I will spare you the details.
Here we are before the rodeo, standing with a longhorn who you could tell was so humiliated by his life:

You can tell the girls are thrilled to be forced to stand there. As you can see, Kimrie has perfected her fake smile.
We had a very fun day with Jim's brother who lives in Houston (Mike and Brita) and their kids who drove up to spend the day with us. We really enjoyed playing with all the cousins. We went out to eat, went to a ceramics shop, and to the Stockyards in Ft. Worth.


We went to the grassy knoll, in Dallas where JFK was shot. It felt so weird to be excited to see such a tragic place. It was neat to see a part of history though.

The bowl put on a kids day where they took all the kids to a museum, bowling and an arcade all day with no parents! I was happy that one of the moms decided to go just in case. I was a little worried about Abbey getting scared, but she had more fun than anyone! They got to ride on a huge chartered bus with a police escort. I really got a kick out of that. Oh and a t-shirt. They had a great day, and Jim and I enjoyed a date of lunch and a movie.

On the last day, we went to the super fancy Galleria Mall in Dallas and the best jewelry store I've ever seen called Sam Moon.
Here is the Christmas tree in the Galleria Mall. It was the biggest tree I've ever seen in my life. And the mall was full of all the fancy stores you see in movies, but never actually buy stuff in. There was an American Girl cafe we went into, which was a big mistake because our kids have never gotten in to those $150 dolls until we went there.

And now Jim's worst nightmare, a huge store full of cheap jewelry.. More fun than a girl should have. Obviously Jim was on what we like to call "suicide watch." I know you shouldn't joke about that, but we think it's funny, and as you can tell from this picture, it might just be a true statement.

Phew.. so the last day was the football game, which we did not go to, because we had to get home so we could send Jim off to Iraq. So he helped get the players on the bus and we headed home. Thankfully the trip home was uneventful and boring.
You'll be happy to know that by the end of the trip the girls were saying the had the best time ever, and can we go again next year! We felt the same way, it was wonderful to just be together and play. Especially because it took our minds completely off what was coming up next as soon as we got home. All in all a great week, and I do plan to go next year!

Yikers

So this is what I woke up to today....



That combined with the bullet proof sunglasses he also got, has made for a bit of a sad day. I'll get over it, but today it seems real.
Jim is going to Iraq first week in Jan. It's just part of life, and it's o.k. but today I'm feeling sad about it.

Who needs fancy toys?

Tonight we have cousins Brad and Jack over for a sleepover. The kids have been playing for hours having so much fun together. No one has been screaming, so I figured all was well. (A+ babysitter right here!) Then I was alerted to what was really going on in the basement. Let me just say this: If you have only been using your treadmill as a laundry hanger, you are sorely lacking in the creativity department.... Here is what they were doing with the trusty treadmill... can you guess?




That's right! Playing baggage claim! I can't stop laughing!

Mallory's choir

Mallory had a choir concert on Veterans Day. It was really sweet to hear all the kids voices singing patriotic songs. They invited all Active duty military to wear their uniforms, and Jim was relieved that Mallory forgot to remind him. When they asked for all active duty military to stand, I had to shove him out of his chair and make him stand up. I don't care that he doesn't like attention, I am proud of him! Back to Mallory, she has been going to school early on Tuesdays for choir practice, and she has taken it very seriously. She is also practicing for the 3rd grade Christmas program, that happens to be the Nutcracker. It has been really fun listening to Mallory sing all around the house. I think she has a beautiful voice, and I really hope that she keeps participating in things like this. Mallory is a talented girl, and I love that she is interested in so many things.
The concert itself was wonderful, and it included the 4th and 5th grade handbell choir, that was exciting for me because I absolutely love handbells, and would love, love, love to be in a handbell choir. Perhaps I could pass as a 5th grader? Yah, maybe not. I hope that I can live through Mallory next year and force her to be in it. I don't think that will be too hard.

Halloween

This year Halloween costumes were easy. Kimrie wanted to be Hermione again so that the awesome cape my mom made last year wouldn't go to waste. Mallory wanted to be a queen, and we already had that costume, and Abbey wanted to be a fairy. I made her skirt, but that was the only crafty thing made this year.
We had fun spending the evening with our friends, and I believe this year was the biggest haul of candy yet. Now to just stay out of it!

First Snowstorm!

Last week we had very snow weather! We had a 2 hour delay, 2 snow days, and then another 2 hour delay. We enjoyed it very much! We had hot chocolate, watched movies, read books,etc. The girls got along great all cooped up, and I enjoyed just being with the girls

Fall 2009

Fall, my favorite season! Nothing makes me happier than a sweatshirt and jeans! We've been busy this past month or two, with the pumpkin patch, pumpkin carving, class parties, etc!

Abbey's first lost tooth

Last night was a very exciting night for Abbey!! After 2 weeks of barely hanging on for dear life, her tooth finally gave up the fight. It was so funny, Abbey would let Mallory try to pull it, which Malzy liked because she wants to be a dentist so naturally she is the best one in the family to pull it. Jim tried, Mallory tried, and finally mom pulled it! It was like finding the last puzzle piece on the floor and putting it in the puzzle that others have spent days slaving over. Anyway, she was so excited! And a very good sport as well. The tooth fairy around here has a bad reputation for forgetting to do it's job. That can become rather costly, because of inflation. So luckily the tooth fairy remembered 10 minutes after getting all snuggled in bed. Of coarse Abbey was so excited this morning!
It is such a joy watching the kids grow up. I am constantly wondering how tall they'll be, what they'll look like, etc. Since we are on the subject of Abigail, the last month she has decided that she wants to be a kindergarten teacher. I think that suits her to a T. She'll be wonderful. So now all the kids have their careers lined up. Kimrie wants to be an officer in the Air Force, more specifically a Colonel. Mallory wants to be a dentist, and says she won't give me free braces because she has to make money. And now Abigail wants to be a kindergarten teacher. It's all just too cute.

Jim's weekend

This weekend Jim had the football trip to Minnesota. He has had the best time. They arrived Fri a.m, after they got situated in the hotel, he and some other guys were able to tour the brand new Minnesota football stadium, which he said is amazing. Then they managed to get free tickets to a Twins game. The next morning, he went out to breakfast with the medical crew which included his Academy roomate Dain. Then they had to figure out how to get everyone to the game while downtown was in lockdown for a presidential visit! He has had a great time! The only thing missing was the world famous "juicy lucy" hamburger featured on our favorite show, man vs food.

Just a bit

So, I made the mistake of "blog surfing", or "stalking", whatever you prefer to call it, and it really turned me off blogging for awhile. After reading strangers blogs, I felt old, fat, poor, lame, boring, hideous, etc. Pretty much anything bad to describe myself. I've learned that I'm not alone in this. I was talking to my friend Kristen about this and she had me laughing hysterically when she told me she was reading other blogs, and felt guilty that she didn't make her kids a welcome home from school treat of pencils made out of cheese! It's just too funny, so I had to remember why I started this blog. Why you ask? First, so my parents could see pictures of the kids because I never, ever send any. Second, journaling... I haven't written in a journal since I was 12 and all I wrote was "I love Justin". I should burn those because frankly, who cares who I had a crush on when I was 12?! And yes, that is all she wrote. Just ask Kacie. And third, I want my kids to know how I loved life raising my girls!! The girls and Jim are everything to me. There is nothing I love more than just being with them. But, to add to that list, I want my blog to be real too. I know it's shocking, but I am quite sarcastic. I know you'd never guess that about me, because I'm so meek and humble... So I think a bit of sarcastic humor is ok in here, because that's me. I'm not super cool, I don't wear fancy clothes, we don't go on lot's of vacations, we do get on each other's nerves, some days I stay home, and clean and do laundry. That is real! What else is real is that sometimes I AM old, fat, poor, lame, boring, hideous etc. And that's OK, no it's great! It's real. This blog isn't to impress anyone, it's to remember it all. I also remember that I love my husband, I love my girls, and all that comes with it.
So now I've missed an entire summer of blogging important things, Kimrie and Mallory's birthday, Mallory's baptism. Bjorn family reunion, school starting, etc. The list goes on. I think I will have to do flashback posts to get them all in, because I do want them documented.
Now, in an effort for personal growth now that I'm spilling my guts... This week, I've been putting photo albums together. Nothing cool, just transferring pictures from a box to a plain old book. Just how I like it. While doing so, there were many, many less than flattering pictures of me. Some of them made me want to cry. I wished I could get rid of them, but it got me thinking about my picture phobia. I have a phobia of posting bad pictures of myself. I always want my pictures to be so perfect. I don't want anyone to see if I've gained 10lbs, or my crooked teeth or my hair looking like 1970's man hair. (Thank you Tanya for inventing that term), but again it's real, it's life, so my new goal is to stop freaking out over a bad picture and just post it. Because again... who cares? So, these are my thoughts on the matter, and hopefully this gut spilling will clear the way for more benign posts about the Binns family. Although, I may have to start another blog for all the essays I constantly compose in my head. (another confession, and most of them are sarcastic in nature..)
To make a long story longer... Last week we had an awesome time at the Air Force football game. We sat by our wonderful friends, the Allred's and the Christs, and at half-time we got to see Uncle Ned! We are big time Air Force fans, and I love going to the football games. Kimrie is a super fan, especially because she wants to be a cadet!
So there is my journaling update... Hopefully this isn't too depressing!

cuz I'm 36..36 years old!

Dang! Not me! JIM!!

So tomorrow (June 13th) is Jim's 36 th birthday, AND our 12th anniversary!! A very exciting day indeed. Although usually I hate it because Jim always outdoes me with an anniversary gift that makes my birthday present to him look like I got it from the dollar store. Come to think of it... I might as well. So, in honor of our special day, I'll just have a basic cheesefest for Jim.
We met in April 1996. We immediately started dating other people. (Although I always kept my eye out for him). I thought his name was Tim. He thought my name was "Helga, or something". He scared the crap out of me. My friend told me I had no chance with him. But later told me he was the one. We were always together. I thought I would get arrested or something if I went to his dorm. We were engaged on Dec 11 1996. We were married on June 13th 1997. We went on two honeymoons... Seattle, and Mexico. Jim had a lovely time in Mexico with dislocating his shoulder, getting burned to a crisp while snorkeling, losing his watch, and picking up a wonderful thing called Montezuma's revenge. Oh well, at least I got to lay out more. We were stationed in Virginia right away, and had our first baby right away. Kimrie was born 13 months later. Then off to Japan where we welcomed Mallory. Colorado Springs,(blessed with Abbey) Greeley, (Jim made me get rid of the cat, but gained a PhD)then Colorado Springs. Jim is a wonderful father, very loving, very strict, very involved. He teases the girls mercilessly, luckily it takes some the heat off of me! (Only a small fraction though) He loves to harrass and tease our friends as well. You know Jim likes you if he makes fun of you.
Jim and I are opposites in many, many ways. But one thing in common, we love to be together.I am so lucky to have Jim, we laugh so hard together, and I wouldn't want to spend my life with anyone else!

Here is a picture of us "working together"..

Graduation video and pictures

The moment! The announcer was harrassing Jim while announcing his name!

A really wonderful weekend

This past weekend was Jim's graduation! We had the most wonderful time with all the family who came to visit and celebrate with us.
On Monday, my mom came, and the poor thing immediately started painting with Jim and I. We had to paint the entire house for the renters.. I cannot understand why anyone would use flat paint. We had to cover everything with 2 coats of primer then 2 coats of satin. It was hard work! On Tuesday, we had a little recital at the piano teacher's house. They did so well. Actually it was only Abbey and Kimrie, Mallory stopped piano because of her broken arm. I think she may have done it on purpose! I don't know if the girls realize what a wonderful teacher they have had! On Thursday, family started arriving, and boy was it rowdy around here! We went bowling, shopping, played outside. etc. Also in this week we had a fence put up. It is so depressing to have it now just before we move! Oh well, we will just enjoy it while we can.
Friday was a big day for many reasons.. It was graduation day, but it was also a fun shopping day for me and my parents. We went and found Jim a graduation present together, we got him a cool watch. That was alot of fun. And it was also D Day for Jim in 2 ways. Obviously it was graduation, but the scariest part of the day was in the morning....
A little background, we have good friends who the husband is a cow breeder. Jim has been so fascinated with his job and is always pestering him with questions. For months now, Jeremy has patiently offered to take Jim to work and let him see a typical day. Jim has always chickened out until now! I think it took taking his brothers to get the courage! Anyway, they all had a great time breeding cows... And yes Jim and David did participate. Paul said no way!
Friday night was graduation. I was so proud and choked up to see Jim walk in in his "Harry Potter" robes! I am so happy that it is over, and so proud of him for all his hard work!
The next day, just hung around the house, and prepared for the party later on. Shirley had a quick trip to the ER, she is a tough cookie! The party was at our neighborhood park that night, and it was such fun! We loved seeing our friends, and were so happy they all came! And I was happy that I had enough food, and that everyone ate it all!
My mom and dad were so amazing helping me get ready, and my sister in laws, Amy and Jeanette kept the food ready at the party. I was so happy, usually my parties are so lame. (ask anyone in the book club)
So I will attempt to post some pictures, I have tons more that I have to figure out how to get off my phone!

Just stuff

I needed inspiration to post because I couldn't think of anything, so I looked at my recent pictures and realized that we have had some fun things happen around here! So here we go:

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Here are Mallory and Abbey on St. Patricks Day wearing all the green we could find. I thought they looked so much alike on that day.



Kimrie was invited to a cupcake tea party with her friends. It was a chance for them to dress up, it was so fun for her! And me too, because it gave me a chance to give her an updo.