This past weekend went by way to quickly!  It was a nice long weekend since Geno had a four-day, well technically a 3 and a half day.  He had to go into work for a few hours on Friday because one of his soldiers was going before the E-5 board.  

We went to the farm again this weekend. This time, Tanya (our neighbor) took pictures of the boys for us.  I was pleasantly surprised that Derrick came along with virtually no protest!  He even warmed up to the camera after a little nudging. 

Saturday and Sunday Geno and I were practically bums!  We slept almost the day away on Sunday.  I was able to get a lot of laundry done but it’s now in piles in our closets…lol!  I told Geno that would happen.  Hopefully, we can put them away before they get dirty!

Yesterday was productive though.  After dropping Xavier off at preschool Geno and I headed over to the base gym only to find out it was closed for the training holiday.  So we decided to use our neighborhood and took a nice walk. After a little relaxing and eating breakfast we headed out on the missions for the day.  We had lunch at Beef “O” Brady’s. It was pretty good and they had a few items that looked really good. I had a hard time picking which one I wanted.  After the filling lunch we headed to the NAPA store.  It turns out that just because a Jeep is “Trail Rated” doesn’t mean it’s indestructible.  It turns out we did something to the “Idler Pulley” and it needed to be replaced. NAPA was the only place we could find that had the part in stock (since it is a new model) and it didn’t cost $50, which was the price the dealership wanted to charge us.  We headed Petsmart for name tags for the dog and cat, then Cold Stone for a small ice cream snack, AE to exchange a sweater of Derrick’s and to Laser Tag to find out prices for Derrick’s birthday.  We also ran into Linen N’ Things. They are going out of business and Geno and I wanted to see what we could find since we are in need of a few things.  We left there spending a little more then we had planned but we were able to get some good deals.  The main two things were new nonstick pots/pans and a new Spot-Bot.  The pots and pans are for when we move to Europe - they were just such a great deal I didn’t want to wait.  They will stay in their boxes until we get to Italy.  The Spot Bot was to replace the one we have. For some reason it broke and it only had a 1-year warrenty.  The one year was up last month, go figure.  We bought a few other “wants” but at 20-40% it wasn’t to bad.

Today I have a BioChem test that I will be studying for here in a bit.  I am feeling pretty good about the test though. 

Derrick and Xavier are off from school/preschool today for Veteran’s Day. Geno is at work, since he was off on Friday, and he’s in school for HazMat training.  Our neighbors, thankfully, will be watching Xavier so that I can go to class today. 

Well that is about all that’s going on for now.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures that Tanya took of the boys. The whole day is on Flickr if you would like to look at all of them.

It’s been a long joyful weekend…though it feels as though it went just a tad to fast. Friday Geno and Derrick took Lilly for a “Fun Run” with Geno’s Battalion. Derrick ran with Geno’s unit and Geno ran a little behind with Lilly. Geno said that Lilly did really well running and she was great during the sprints. After running (and the men took showers) it was off to the doctors to start the EFMP (Exceptional Family Member Program) process. This process is used to help families with special needs and making sure the care they need follows them from station to station. The boys and I do not have any “special” needs, however, I do have exercise induced asthma so they may stick me on the program but I’m hoping not. First the boys had their EFMP physicals, mine isn’t until the 14thof this month. Derrick and Xavier are in great health. Derrick is getting a speciality referral for his tonsils/adnoids. We are trying to get his tonsils out before Italy because we don’t want to deal with the multiple strep throat problems we have had recently. Derrick was 5′7”!!! A few more inches and he will be taller than me. Xavier is also growing like a weed. He is 41in and 40lbs.

The next part of our fun filled day had to deal with changing the Army’s record of having Geno “single” with 1 adult and 2 children dependents. After multiple trips up and down three floors on different sides of the building we got it straightened up and were able to get our passports started. The Army only pays for the “Official” passport. We have to go get the “Tourist” passports ourselves Regardless our road to Italy has begun!

The rest of the afternoon was spent between Geno’s battalion get together, getting Derrick and Xavier winter coats and hunting down light sticks for trick or treat for Xavier. I will have pictures loaded from trick or treating sometime this week. Our neighbor took some pictures and I’m going to wait until I get hers to load them all together. Trick or Treat went very well. There weren’t as many houses giving out goodies this year as last year but that is good and well, it’s not like Xavier eats a lot of candy anyway.

Saturday I had a speech on persuading the class to donate their organs. It went alright. Afterwards, Geno, Xavier and I headed over to the farm again with our neighbors and had a great time, riding horses, cooking hot dogs and making s’mores in the bonfire and just plain relaxing. We didn’t start to late since I had a paper to write for English and Geno wanted to watch the Texas vs. Texas Tech game. Texas lost but it was a great game!

Today, the boys had to get their hair cut since this is picture week. We had to get snacks for Geno since he’s going to the field this week. We also had to get spaghetti stuff. Derrick is doing a project on his family history and wants to bring Geno’s “famous” sauce for his classmates. We also met up with our friend so he can check to see what could be the problem with our Jeep. Luckily, it turns out nothing serious just a couple simple, inexpensive repairs do to a little over zealous offroading.

As you can see it was quite eventful but not near long enough. We also started making a list of things that we need to do, sell and buy before leaving for Italy. FUN STUFF!!!

This week there isn’t much planned other then Geno being in the field, I have a Micro test and Derrick’s last football game.

Check back in a few days and I should have the pictures from Halloween up.