2004 is almost gone!

I remember last year dragging by, in large part because Ben was not here, but this year has flown by! Tomorrow we all will be getting ready to celebrate the New Year. I feel thankful for Ben being here, returning safely from Iraq this past March and starting to recuperate from his ankle surgery and seeing positive results, that his orders have been deferred to go to Germany than Iraq until March, that my kids are healthy and happy, that my mom could spend another holiday with us, for all of my friends that I have made in Georgia and my J-land friends....you guys are the best :) Also thankful for bloglines.com that let's me know when you all post a new entry :) and that I passed my first semester of classes. I have gotten so much support from family, friends and friends in J-land for my schooling that it makes it a lot easier. Thanks one and all and I wish you a safe, blessed, peaceful and happy 2005! Godspeed our servicepeople....

Fudge, legos and toesocks...OH MY!

We had a great Christmas here in our household. We celebrated Christmas Eve with one of my friends, Julie and a single soldier in Ben's platoon, Matt. We ate and ate and had a great time. On Christmas it was just us and my mom, I loved every minute of it. Just to have us all together was a blessing in itself.
I could hear the kids at around 6:30 ooohing and ahhhing over what was in their stockings....of course they peeked....and seeing the presents under the tree. Caitlin got alot of different items, lots of good smelling girlie stuff, but her favorite this year was her frog toe socks...go figure! The boys got legos...which are all over our house right now and alot of other items, mainly action figures. In addition to my blue shirt, Ben got me some really nice black jeans and I finally got a gravy boat! I know ::gasp:: I've been married 14 years and have never had one...thanks mom! lol She also got me one of those handy dandy spatuala flipper thingees. We all got new beautiful ornaments to hang on our tree. Ben got some good smelling aftershave and shaving cream, tools and a beautiful sweater. All in all a very merry christmas and we all feel very blessed.

Happy Holidays!

Prayers for all of our soldiers who couldn't be with their families this holiday season. May they all come home safely and soon!

P.S. Thanks for the kind compliments on my picture...it's not too often that I share one of me. Also thanks for the Christmas cards via snail mail and email. We all enjoyed each and everyone :)

I just checked to see if my final grades were posted online yet and they were.....I received 2 A's and 1 B :) My grade point average is 3.66 and I made the Dean's list!!!! Yes, I am soooooooooooo happy! Just wanted to share :)

Ben took this of me. I'm wearing my new blue shirt that the kids gave me and my new bracelet :) I got a few more items and overall we had a wonderful Christmas. The kids were thrilled with everything they got and I'll write more about that later. I'm just remembering a year ago today....Ben was here with us on his 2 week R&R from Iraq. I'm so very thankful he was able to spend those 2 weeks with us and even more thankful he was home here this year to celebrate the holidays with us. Merry belated Christmas to all of you. P.S. Remember the camera doesn't like me all that well,lol
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Matthew had to keep his Falcons hat on of course but he's still cute :)
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Here's Justin with his reindeer ears posing for me. The mall really has a great Christmas setup this year.
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I even got Matthew to sit on Santa's lap...Caitlin said no way and stayed home with Grandma. Justin was in Christmas heaven :)
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mmm can't you just smell the gingerbread? lol
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This n' that

My mom arrived safely yesterday afternoon. She is from Newton, KS, small town that is close to Wichita. She left there with cold weather and arrived here to cold weather. It's now 25 degrees outside! That's cold for these parts.

Matthew had a cub scout basketball and baseball game yesterday. They had to play each sport for an hour in order to get their sports belt loop. It was fun, of course I just watched while Ben played with the other dads and boys. Just call me the scout cheerleader,lol

This week will consist of baking, baking, baking! It's fun and the kids love to help.

My step-sister heard from her son Nathan. He is in Fallajuah and thankfully he is okay. They were in a firefight and a chunk of the building came down and hit Nathan squarely in the nose, which is now broke. I'm just thanking God he is safe though. During this firefight, Nathan is the driver, the gunner and the NCO were both shot. I'm not sure how those two are doing but I'm praying that they are alright also. Prayers to all of our soldiers....

Can't sleep....

so here I am online,lol. I first want to apologize for not being blog saavy. I just recently realized that if I didn't let anonoymous comments come in it would be hard for my fellow j-land friends to comment here. I am so very sorry and thank you for sticking by me :) I will get the hang of this....eventually! So now it is alot easier for everyone to make comments.

Why can't I sleep? Hmmm thats a very good question. It might have to do with the fact that Friday night I slept for a full 12 hours, something I NEVER do. Ben says it was because I have been so stressed with different things and since I got my finals out of the way my body just said okay time to rest. Now I'm awake! lol Friday was my last day of classes and now I'm just waiting for my grades to be posted online. I hate waiting! I know patience....

My mom is flying in today from Kansas. She will be greeted tomorrow morning with 16 degree weather and a chance of snow flurries! And she thought she would get away from a KS winter, hehe!

We spent Saturday cleaning house, getting some firewood and I shampooed the carpets. Oh yeah fun, ha, but they are all nice and clean. Matthew is spending the night at a friends house and Ben and I treated Caitlin and Justin to dinner. Something we rarely do anymore since money is alittle bit tight right now around the holidays but it felt good to get out and enjoy yourselves. The kids all had a great last day of school on Thursday. This next week will be filled with making candy and cookies...I can smell the gingerbread now :)

Lil Bit is doing really good and Tiny and Hercules are accepting her slowly. We got her papers and I need to send them in so she is registered. Her dads name was Midnight Thunder and her moms name was Diablo's Destiny so we thought for her registered name it could be Destiny's lil bit of love, awww! lol I remember when we had our registered cocker spaniel, his name was Col. Joseph Maxstar III. No we didn't pick the name and we called him Joey for short. Tiny isn't registered since he isn't a full rot. He has 1/8 of lab in him. Hercules is a Foxer and since he is a new breed I haven't gotten him registered yet. Lil bit has papers so figured why not. I know I'm rambling so that must mean I'm tired......have a great night all :)

Here is a picture of the puppy and Hercules playing together. I know she is cute! Tiny and Hercules weren't too sure about her at first but Hercules has found that he has a playmate and Tiny just ignores her. We're leaning towards keeping her. She is such a lovable dog and I know she will be a great pet. Usually the ones that you rescue turn out to be anyway. I've already have had friends tell me that IF Tiny and her have puppies they want one. lol Ben and the kids have named her lil' bit.
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My birthday

I just wanted to start off by saying thanks for the ecards and bday wishes, they really made my day :) The kids and Ben took me out for breakfast at Crackerbarrel, mmmm! Then we had a nice quiet day here and spent some of it outside. It was a bit chilly but felt good! They all cooked me dinner and Caitlin even made me a cake :) The kids all made homemade bday cards and Ben got me this beautiful silver bracelet that has roses on it. I'll have to post a picture of it later to share with all of you. It just made my day though knowing that we could all celebrate it together this year, that's all I really wanted :)

Saturday we had a good time at our friends house for her Christmas party. She was a bit upset though since some of the couples who said would be there never showed up. It was us and another couple but we all had a great time and the food was excellent. She is originally from Puerto Rico and makes the best guacamole ever! Everything tasted so good and it felt good to relax. We even played a game of Uno attack, talk about making you jump!

Today reality sets in...bills and lots of studying! lol

About me :)

I got this from Jackie's journal - http://journals.aol.com/jgalarza879/SmallTownLife/ - and thought I would play along :)

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
Gretchen
G
Sweetie (Ben of course!)

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
Ggal3133
Tybee chick


THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF
I'm a good listener
My toes after a pedicure
My green eyes

Three things you hate about YOURSELF:
Waiting so long to go back to school
I procrastinate at times
Not being able to make a good piecrust,lol

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
Irish
German
Portuguese

THREE THINGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND:
The war
Why people have to talk during a test
People butting into conversations when they have no idea what the topic of the conversation is

THREE THINGS THAT ANNOY YOU:
People who don't yield at yield signs
Tailgaters
Rudeness of christmas shoppers

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
Ben having to go back to Iraq
Not knowing what the future holds for us
Losing someone I love

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
My family
My coffee
Right now, my school books

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
Its early in the morning so...PJ top, PJ bottom and you can guess the other,lol

THREE THINGS ON YOUR DESK:
My snowman coffee cup
Digital camera
Vase Caitlin bought me last year

THREE THINGS YOU SAY THE MOST:
No we're not interested in taking a survey right now! (telephone)
No you can't go on the computer until your homework is all done
You have another school function?

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS AT THE MOMENT:
Keith Urban (I know hes not a band but wooo!)
Evanescence
Big and Rich

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITES SONGS AT THE MOMENT:
Any song by Keith Urban :)
Holy Water by Big and Rich
Velvet Revolvers new one (Can't think of the name)

THREE PEOPLE YOU SPEND THE MOST TIME WITH:
Kids
Hubby, or try to when he is not working
Tie between talking to my friends on the phone and classmates at school

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR CLOSE FRIENDS:
Supportative
Easy to talk to
Funny

THREE THINGS YOU WOULD WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
Love
Trust
Communication

THREE THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
Eyes
personality
rear end of course :)

THREE THINGS YOU CAN'T DO:
Make a good pie crust,lol
I know theres a list somewhere but I can't think of anymore right now!

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
Cross stitching
Reading and writing in journals
Making desserts :)

THREE THINGS YOU WANT REALLY BAD RIGHT NOW:
Not to worry about money
Ben not having to deploy anywhere
Graduate the LPN program :)

THREE CAREERS YOU'VE CONSIDERED:
Nursing, of course :)
Physical therapist
Owner of my own business

THREE PLACES YOU WOULD GO ON VACATION:
Any tropical island
Alaska
Spain

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
Go to Spain
See my kids have thier own family
See Ben get out of the military and become physically better again.

Woo for the weekend!

I'm gearing up for my final week of classes and of course tests out the you know what! I'm so ready for next Friday :) Then I can have 2 and a half weeks off with my kids and Ben gets alittle time off here and there as well. My mom called and is flying in from Kansas and should be here on the 19th of December. It will be good to see her again and the kids are so excited.

Along with studying this weekend, we have a unit Christmas party today at 3 and then one of my friends is having a Christmas party at 7. Somewhere in there I need to take Caitlin and one of her friends, Monique, to the library so they can do some research on a project oh and clean house. Tomorrow is my birthday so Ben and the kids are planning on cooking for me, cake too. Watch out kitchen! lol I think after we turn 30 we can stop counting how old we are :)

My oral presentation went alot better than I expected it to in English class. I HATE speaking in front of people. I have no problem presenting something as a group but by myself, ugh! But I got through it thankfully.

To top it all off Ben comes home last night just in time for dinner. (Yummy pork roast) He sits down and looks at me with those brown eyes and says honey there is something I need to tell you and your probably won't be thrilled. Of course my heart is racing cause I'm thinking he has to go back to Iraq alot sooner than expected again. (always thinking the worst about these things) He brought home a puppy and it was in our back yard. Apparently one of the soldiers, who lives in the barracks, bought a rott mix last week knowing that she can't have him in the barracks and has been making the poor thing live in a small kennel in the back of her truck. Needless to say when Ben and some of the others found out they were livid. She is in alot of trouble for animal neglect and she turned the dog over to Ben so he could find a home for her. No we are not keeping her. Tiny and Hercules are none to happy she is here in the first place! lol We gave her a bath and at first she was frightened at the surroundings since she has never been in an open area before. She's four months old and is adorable and very active and friendly. So we are going to call a few friends today and see what we can do. I repeat we are NOT keeping her.....

Have a great weekend!

Here is one big dog...they had about 6 of these in the parade. They are Newfoundlands and of course Ben wants one! They are beautiful dogs but I reminded him we have Tiny,lol.
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This is from the Savannah Christmas parade. I thought this float was interesting...it's from Georgia Pacific and it's hard to see but it has alot of paper towels and toilet paper on it,lol.
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Funfilled Wednesday

Last night was Matthew's band performance. I took my camera but since he is in the trumpet section he was towards the back and I couldn't see him :( They all sounded great though and played a wonderful array of Christmas music. I am so proud of all of them. Justin was singing along right with music and Ben was able to be there too :) I came home from school yesterday and he was already here (he had lunch ready for me,awwww) because he had a doctors appointment to get that xray done and they let him leave early. There might be a very small chance he may not have to leave next month for Germany, his doctor is seeing if he can postpone it since he is worried that since his ankle isn't completely healed what the effect of a deployment this soon could have on it. I'm not holding my breath or getting my hopes up but I am praying.

The unit Christmas party that was to be held Saturday has been cancelled. I was looking forward to it too. They are going to reschedule, I'm thinking it will probably be alittle bit closer to Christmas. Thats okay though, Savannah is having their annual Christmas parade Saturday afternoon along with arts and crafts set up along the river so we'll be going to that. They are even going to be showing a movie in the park that evening. Not sure if we'll go to that since it's been getting mighty chilly here in the evenings but we'll see.

3rd ID from Ft. Stewart is gearing up to go back to Iraq. From what the news is saying there is suppose to be around 150,000 troops there next month in time for the elections. That's more than what was there when we first went over. It's sad to see all the soldiers back in their DCU's (desert combat uniforms) just knowing that they have to go back. Some have already left in earlier flights but the majority will be going after Christmas. Prayers for all of our men and women in the military.

:(

Ben's unit had a meeting yesterday and their orders to go to Iraq on the 17th of this month has been cancelled. Everyone who had orders to go to Germany to that new unit then to Iraq is back on. So we are back to the original, 2 years *deep heavy sigh* At least the guys can spend Christmas here. Ben's doctor appointment went well, he wants to look at his ankle again before the first part of January so it's still wait and see on that now too. He ordered some xrays so Ben will be getting that done today.

Thanks for all the comments and support, you all are the greatest :)

Happy December 1st!