bscottsteve

Well it's been a while since my last entry. Kelly returned home from Europe and had an awesome time, except she did have some bouts of homesickness, but she's thrilled that she got the opportunity to do this. Once she got back home we had about 3 1/2 weeks before school started back and we spent that on family vacations to the beach, to Washington DC to visit my mom, and just getting prepared for back-to-school. The girls have been in school for 3 weeks now and it's been an adjustment for everyone.

Kelly is in 7th grade and started attending middle school. Can I just say, you could NOT pay me all the money in the world to go back to being a pre/early teenager. This is an extremely tough age. They aren't considered teenagers yet or teenagers with privileges like driving, dating, etc. And they aren't little kids anymore. Puberty is hitting hard and there are changes that occur every single day. I am lucky that Kelly is still a bit immature for her age, at least relatively speaking. Most of her friends have older siblings and seem to be way more advanced than Kelly when it comes to maturity, etc., but I'm not complaining, at least not all the time. She's slowly getting into boys, she has a couple of "boy"friends that are calling, but in comparison to some of my friends with kids her age, she's not into the kissing, dating, etc....YET. I know it's coming and will probably happen overnight. I'm not sure I'm prepared.

Madison, well she's in 4th grade and has also started a new school this year. An upper elementary school. She's doing okay for now, but she's always been the child where most subjects have come very easy to her, and now she's having to put a little more effort into it. She's also having to deal with being more responsible for her work. Madison is a super smart child, but she's lazy, plus she's going through some tough times right now. Suffering that middle child syndrome majorly right now. I'm not really sure how to handle this, b/c she's never been the child to get into trouble and lately I feel like I've been on her case more than I ever have been.

Hannah started pre-K this year. Which I have to admit to being extremely hard for me. She's my baby. She's the last baby I will have since I had my tubes tied after she was born. Now don't get me wrong, I don't regret that decision, and I'm clearly past the "wanting a baby phase" of my life, but it doesn't make it any easier when they grow up. She only attends M-Th from 9am-12pm, and it's great for her in terms of teaching her to sit still for lessons, etc. But the teachers have informed me that she's very smart. She knew her ABC's, 123's, colors, shapes, etc at the age of 2, so she has been a tad bit vocal about how "boring it is", but it's what she'll have to go through in Kindergarten, so I just want her to get a head start with the basic skills they will teach her. She wakes up every morning saying she wants to stay home with me because she misses me, but by the time we get to school she's thrilled to be there.

I will admit to having a little bout of depression adjusting to coming home for 3 hours a day to an empty house. Granted, I get a ton done, but still, it's too quiet. I don't know what I'll do next year when all 3 are in school for the entire day. I guess I'll have to do some more volunteering or something. I'll go nuts if I stay in an empty house all day long. There are only so many times you can mop/sweep/dust/etc.

Well, that's my latest update. As you can see, the kids are mostly at the center of what's going on in my life at the moment. I was speaking with a friend today who has a 2yo son and she said that he was in the "terrible 2's" and heard that the 3's are worse. I told her that in my opinion, the 3's are very hard because at 2, the kids are still learning, they don't always know better. But at 3, they know better, but they are just testing boundaries, etc. But in my experience, it seems the "horrible 3's" occur every 3 years. So at age 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, or there about, there is always a tough year to go through. Unfortunately my older two are 3 years apart so that means they are normally going through it at the same time or else I manage to just barely get one out of it and then the other starts. It's never ending! So is there anyone with advice on the upcoming teenager years with daughters? What worked in ways of discipline? How old to let them start wearing makeup? Dating? I never had those set rules growing up, except I couldn't wear makeup until I was 16, and as an adult who wears makeup, I think that's a little harsh as long as the kids don't leave the house looking like they are heading to work a street corner. As for dating? Well I didn't do too much of that, at least in terms of one on one dating. My boyfriends and I just "hung out" with our group of friends. I was at least 16/17 before I went on a one on one date, so that didn't seem like an unusual age for my parents to consent to agreeing with. But times have changed and I'm just curious to know what others have experienced. What worked, what didn't?

Until next time.

Well it's been a long time since my last entry, but there has been so much going on. Of course, first there was tax season, which always takes over my life, but then I had a vacation from pure HE(double hockey sticks) and then some medical stuff going on that had me pretty distracted.

So tax season as always changes drastically from year to year and this year there were a ton of new banking regulations, etc, but then add on top of that the President's stimulus package and people just become stupid. So most of my time was spent explaining and in many cases, re-explaining to clients over and over and over again. But the main season has drawn to a close and I can enjoy the rest of my year.

Next, Steven and I have these alerts from travel websites, etc., when great deals are offered, and we got such a deal last October when we bought plane tickets for all 5 of us to fly to visit my brother-in-law in Cape Cod. We booked them for the first week in April, and since the airport was 3 hours away from our home, we decided to stay at a hotel only minutes from the airport the night before. I got an email that said it was within 24hrs of our flight and we could check-in and print out boarding passes, which I did. The next morning, we got to the airport at 4am for our 5:30am flight, to find out our airlines went bankrupt at midnight! People are just standing around stunned. There were no airport representatives there, just a note taped to a kiosk. So I had 3 kids crying and my husband and I still in a state of shock, but we finally found another airline, bought new tickets, and settled in for a 5 hour wait until our plane would leave. Well, that plane ended up having mechanical problems, and to make a long story short, we didn't make it to my BIL's until about midnight...20 hours later than when we started that morning. We could have driven in 14 hours!!! So it may be a VERY long time before we do that again! The rest of the vacation was nice, we had a great visit, but we were all so exhausted from our entire day spent at the airport!

The day after I get home from vacation I go to the doctor for tests, tests come back abnormal, have minor surgery and more tests, and a long road of doctor's visits ahead of me to look forward to. Since this is a public blog, I will keep the details to a minimum, but know that as of right now I am fine, but I will have to be monitored more closely and more regularly. The point is, I've never dealt with medical issues like this related to me solely, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Yeah, I had medical problems w/ pregnancies, etc, but nothing like this and it's really weird and a bit daunting to examine your life physically, mentally, and spiritually. What have I come up with? I don't even think I know the answer to that yet, or if I ever will, but it's made me more conscious of it.

Other than that, the kids are doing great. Kelly is preparing for her trip to Europe this summer; she leaves July 1st and heads to Rome, and makes her way through Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and will leave through Paris, France on July 20th. She's getting very excited. Madison is trying to plan a million things for us to do while she's gone, and Hannah is sassy as ever! Hope all of you are doing well and hope to hear from you soon!

Love,
Brandy

So my youngest daughter, Hannah, who has just turned 4, keeps me laughing a good bit of the time with the things that come out of her mouth. My friend, Holli, and I went shopping with our kids, minus my older two, and Hannah saw Santa. Now in all the years she's been here, she's never been one to sit in Santa's lap. To be honest, she's normally terrified of anyone in a costume. So when she announced that she wanted to see Santa, I totally thought it would be from just a distance, not actually from his lap. And of course being the good mom that I can be at times, I didn't discourage or push her either way. It was totally up to her. Now this Santa in our mall has a real white beard and has the sweetest face, so he really looks like the real Santa, so maybe that helped, I don't know.

Anyway, she walked up to him, luckily there was no line, and you could tell she was a bit nervous about the whole situation, but she managed to get in his lap. So the conversation went a bit like this:

"So little girl, what's your name?"

"Hannah" she said proudly.

"And what would you like me to bring you for Christmas this year?"

And with the straightest face she said, "Whatcha got?"

Santa was literally speechless for a moment and the lady behind the counter was busting out laughing. I think Santa said in all his years of doing this, he's never been asked that. It's funny how you can have 3 children, let alone, 3 girls, and each one is completely different in personalities. Hannah is just absolutely hilarious and I hope she stays that way because it definitely won't be boring when she's around.

Hope you have a great Holiday!
Brandy

Hey everyone, I know I have been so remiss in posting regularly, but it's been a bit crazy since the kids went back to school. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Steven and I were in NYC a week ago today! We had a fabulous time and can't wait to go back! We left on Thursday, Oct 4th and we said we weren't going to do too many of the touristy things, but who can help but do touristy things in NYC, the whole city is a one big tourist site! We went to St Patrick's Cathedral, Central Park, WTC site and museum, Battery Park, Times Sq, United Nations, Rockefeller Plaza, The Met, went to a broadway show, and tons and tons of just walking, looking, shopping and eating!!!

I also met Marsha, a lady that I edit for, and it was really wonderful to finally meet her, after working with her for about a year. It felt as if we had known each other forever. She had given us some great advice about things we should do and things we should steer clear of, and she also bought us tickets to the show, Avenue Q! Thanks for everything, Marsha!

Steven got to meet another friend of mine that lives in England, who happened to be in NYC for a wedding that same weekend, and we had such a fabulous time that Steven is ready to plan our trip to London, hopefully sometime next fall!

Steven's brother, Tracy, managed to take the train into the city to spend a day with us, but unfortunately he wasn't feeling too well, but it didn't stop us from just walking and taking in the sights.

This was our first trip away from the kids in almost 12 years, without it being work related or just a weekend trip, so it was long overdue!!! I can't remember the last time Steven and I spent that much time together, with that much adult conversation in one week! It's definitely something we are determined to do more often. It's hard to get away for any length of time with 3 kids at home. Plus, most of our vacations are family ones, and although we love that, there is something to be said for a week without kids! LOL Hopefully we won't have to wait another 12 years before we take another one.

However, the most memorable part of our NYC trip was the day we due to come home. We got to the airport at about 12 for our 3:15 flight home, but knew that since we were so early, we would just have a nice leisurely lunch and then just sit and read while we were waiting. As we were waiting we noticed that the fog was getting really bad and our flight was delayed to 3:30. No big deal, but then other flights were starting to get canceled and the storms rolled in. Our flight was delayed again to 5:00, then 6:30 and then finally canceled all together. We weren't surprised, and not overly worried, but by the time we got our bags, found a hotel to stay at and rode the hour and a half taxi ride of 6 miles, we were exhausted and had had our fill of NY! Our kids didn't help either, by crying and begging us to come home, but we knew they were in good hands and we finally got home around 2pm Friday, October 12th! I didn't say it was the best or the most fun aspect of our trip, I said it was the most memorable!

Overall, we had a fabulous time and thank all of those that made it possible: Nana and Mom, we love you! And to those who helped to make our visit to NYC a great one: Marsha, Ann, Petrina, Andre, and Tracy, THANK YOU so much!!!!

Until next time!
Love,
Brandy & Steven

Oh, I'll try to upload some pictures soon!

Well I am back from our first "family" vacation of the summer and I managed to survive! I tell you, it's more work than you think, being with your husband and 3 daughters almost 24/7 for 8 days! All kidding aside, we had a great time at the beach! I have enclosed a link where you can check out our photo album from our trip! As I was downloading, I realized that I am not in the first picture. I swear my kids are going to grow up one day and look back through the family photos and say, "Mom, where were you this year?"

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s1/bscottsteve/beach%20trip%202007/

We are only home for one week, before we head off to Atlanta, Ga. for 5 days! Steven has to work Monday - Friday, but the kids and I are going to do some sight seeing down there. We are possibly leaving on Saturday, if not, definitely Sunday. It's an 8 hour car ride and our reason for leaving Sat., is just to break up the trip some so the kids aren't strapped in for so long at one time! This will be a true test of my sanity. My kids can barely handle the 3 hour drive to my Mom's house in VA, so this will be very interesting! Any suggestions besides drugging them? I'll accept any and all! LOL

The girls have less than 3 weeks of summer vacation left, and I know they are at that stage of being excited about going back to school to see all of their friends, and then dreading homework, schoolwork, teachers, tests, etc, all at the same time! I, however, am extremely excited about school starting back! YAY!!! Anyway, sorry I've been so neglectful of updating here, but I hope everyone is well and I hope to hear from you soon!

Well it's been awhile since I last posted an entry, but it's been a bit crazy! I always think that after tax season ends that things will slow down for me, but I am always wrong! The kids will be getting out of school for their summer break in about 2 weeks and I am trying to figure out what kind of activities the kids are going to do this summer. Of course there will be the normal swimming lessons, etc., but I really need to find something else for them to do! Kelly is doing well and is growing up so quickly. She has her first "boy"friend and they are so funny, because they will talk via IM or the phone, but when they are face to face they just ignore each other! Madison is having fun picking on Kelly for having a boyfriend, although she has a little admirer that lives just down the street, but she's more into riding her skateboard or riding her bike. And little Hannah... what to say about her other than she is an absolute handful! She is 3 going on 33! She's independent, smart, sassy, and adorable, sound like anyone we know? ;-)



I just got back from a weekend at Mom's. Sam graduated from George Mason University with his BS is Psychology! Not sure if he has decided to go back yet for his masters, but I know he was considering it. Congratulations Sam, I love you and I'm extremely proud of you! They had almost 7,000 graduates but thank goodness only about 2,000 showed up for commencement.



Steven and I are still looking ahead to our trip to NYC this October. I think he has over a dozen restaurants picked out to try! If anyone has any suggestions of what we should do or see while we are there, by all means, let me know! Well until next time!

Brandy

Well it's been over a month since my last journal entry, so I figured I had better write something, even if just a paragraph or two. It has been a little hectic as it is tax season and my busiest time of the year, but Madison turned 8 on Sunday and we had a large family birthday party for her! Will probably be her last "family" party until she's 16 or 18 or whatever, since they normally get into the whole "girl/boy parties" LOL I am amazed each day at how quickly time goes by. It really only seems like yesterday that my girls were babies! And I am sure it will feel like I have blinked and they will be graduating college and getting married!


Steven and I are planning a trip to New York this fall and we are so excited to get that far away, just the two of us! It is long overdue! I hope to meet some wonderful friends that I have recently made and just being able to take in NY, without doing the whole tourist thing! Of course I want to see NY, but I don't want to run myself ragged looking at tall buildings and statues! The only things that I am telling myself that I really must do,is #1-See central park in the fall! I imagine the leaves turning different colors is a beautiful sight! #2- See ground zero! I could not go all the way to NY without paying my respect to the lives lost that day! Anything else I do will be strictly whatever suits my fancy at the moment. So if you have any suggestions, I am open to them! Oh and I plan to eat, eat and eat! I will need to loose 20 lbs just before I leave so I can gain it all back while there! LOL

Well that is it for tonight! Hope to hear from you all soon!

Well I have spent the last 13 hours making some of the most valuable memories that I will probably ever have! We left this morning at 8am to head to Jacksonville, NC to Camp Lejeune to prepare to welcome home our friend and "son" Stephen Herbst from spending the last 7 months in Iraq! We were informed of a window of when to expect them to arrive of 12-3 which of course, you might as well have voted on the latter! It was also the coldest day of the winter as of yet (with the windchill it was in the 20's!) We were all bundled up and we stood around and waited and waited and waited! I looked around at all of the people waiting for their loved ones and I saw parents waiting for the children, wives waiting for their husbands, brothers and sisters waiting for their siblings, but nothing touched me more than watching the kids waiting for their parents! Especially the newborns waiting to "meet" their parents!

When we finally saw those buses pull up, we were all just crying with relief, and joy! And of course we couldn't find him! I mean you have hundreds of men getting off the buses at one time and they are all wearing the same outfit and have the same haircuts, it was really hard to pick him out! It also didn't help that we were in front of one bus and he was on the 4th one behind it! LOL

Krisan was getting very anxious, but Steven saw him first and pointed him out and we all went straight to him! Hugs and kisses for everyone!!!! Hannah was soooo excited to have her "Herbst" back! She has been talking about him so much the past week and talked about him the whole drive down! I don't think Herbst could get over how much Hannah has grown. There were a couple of soldiers who were with him, who's family is out of state and couldn't be there to welcome them, so of course we had to hug them and welcome them as well!

We then of course had to "wait" again for them to unload all of their belongings off the trucks and finally we were able to get ready to leave! We had 3 extra soldiers coming home with us, since they all had flights first thing in the am and we only live about an hour away from the airport! Half way home we stopped and ate and it was so funny to see these guys eat! They wanted a big old greasy cheeseburger and they got it! LOL

We got them to the first leg of their journey as Herbst picked up his car at his house and left to take the other 3 to a hotel just a few minutes from the airport (they all have really early flights in the am!) I think it will take a while before this feeling of excitement is gone! He has this week off and then has to be in formation on Monday morning but starting on the 20th they get leave (up to a month!)

I have uploaded some pictures and I am trying to upload some video (if I can figure out how!) LOL So go under the family & friends gallery and check them out!

Talk with you soon!
Brandy

So this is going to be short, but just wanted to let all my family and friends know that I have finally uploaded some pics of the new house! Hope you enjoy! I still have some that haven't been uploaded yet, but will try to add them by the end of the week, ie. master bedroom, m. bath, outside views, etc. But you have the majority! I painted the entire upstairs (all 4 bedrooms and baths and hallway) and half of the downstairs. Still need to paint the dining room and den, but haven't quite decided what colors to paint them!

We are still trying to pick out furniture as well! Just haven't found what I am looking for yet, but when I see it, then I'll buy it! It will just have to hit me! LOL Same goes for the curtains and pictures that I need to put up! LOL

Take a look at the mural in the breakfast area and tell me your opinion, should it stay or should it go? I am not the biggest fan of it, but Steven and kids like it. But you know how the saying goes, If Mom's not happy, then no one is happy! LOL

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Brandy

Ok so I have been going through some old photo albums today and have just been having a ball! You may wonder what possessed me to do such a thing, well they are still in boxes from our move last MAY, so I figured now was as good of a time as any to "unpack" them but had to stop and look back in them! I, of course, started with the photo albums of my children! They each have their own ones and of course we have the family albums as well. But then I found some from high school and younger and was just blown away at how vivid those memories were! It seems just like yesterday!

I will be out of high-school for 15 years this year and to look back at some of the pictures from then, the friends that I hardly see, the friends that are no longer here, it's just so weird! It feels like yesterday and at the same time, feels like a lifetime ago! I looked back on my wedding photos and just smile! We were both so young! What were we thinking! LOL Just kidding! :)

I did manage to scan a few pictures and put them up here so I hope you enjoy the going down memory lane with me!

Well I have spent the past couple of hours reflecting on this past year! It has been a great one as far as I am concerned! The biggest change of course is the purchase of our new home in May. Selling two houses and buying one has been an experience that I would appreciate if I don't have to do again anytime soon.

Another milestone this year-- the first year that Hannah was not admitted to the hospital for any reason what so ever! Yeah! She's had a rough first three years of life, but hey, maybe the worst is behind us! Oh wait a minute, we haven't reached teenage years, so of course "the worst" is no where near behind us! LOL

Steven's promotion this year has been not as bad as it could have been! LOL Although he is working an obscene amount of hours, at least he can work a lot more from home now! I actually see him more than once or twice a week! He may be at his laptop, but at least he is a physical presence in our home! The kids don't have to try to remember what he looks like! LOL

The girls are growing up so quickly! It's so hard to believe that Kelly is 11 and getting ready to enter those teen years! Oh Dear God in Heaven, help me! I just pray that we both survive them! Madison is growing into such a beautiful young lady! And although she is definitely experiencing some middle child syndrome, we try our best to limit that jealousy if we can! Then there's Hannah! My little hellion child! She's 3 so of course that explains a lot, but she's so much like her mom, and that should explain a lot to the rest of you! LOL. She's bossy, determined, independent, sassy, spirited and absolutely hilarious! She will be the death of me for sure! LOL

I hope that all of you had a wonderful 2006 and will have an even better 2007! To you I wish you health, happiness and prosperity! May God truly bless and enrich your lives! Hopefully I will see most of you next year and those I won't, I do hope to see you soon!

Brandy :)

You know this is a very special time of the year but it can also be one of the most hectic and depressing times of the year! Christmas time is a time for family and friends, but it can be hard when you have said loved ones not with you during this season! My Grandfather died on December 22, 1978 and although I don't remember much about him, I was only 4 when he died, I feel a sadness on this day of the year. My oldest daughter was named after my Grandfather! His middle name was Kelly and they called him by his middle name, so it was a tribute to him that I named my daughter after him. My Grandmother has only been gone, to join him, for 5 short years and she was very special to me! She was the only living grandparent I ever had in my life and she is deeply missed! I love and miss you Granny! My other grandparents died before I was born, but I feel for my mom at this time of year, for the loss of her parents and the traditions they might have shared. She lost her parents when she was 16, in a plane crash, and I am always feel she is sad at times during the holidays!

I also have a dear friend who is serving in the war in Iraq this Christmas and although I get to talk to him via emails, IM's, and occasionally the phone, we still miss him deeply. It's his first Christmas away from his family and friends, so I imagine it's tough on him along with most of the soldiers away from home this time of the year! We miss you Stephen, and we pray daily for your safety and safe return home! We love you and miss you tremendously!

Now the hectic part, well between my husband and I, we have 4 sets of parents! (Both of our parents are divorced and remarried!) My husband also has two of his grandparents still living, so we have plenty of rounds to make during the holidays! This of course does not include the time we make with our own family! The kids love it, because it usually means more presents for them, but I will admit to wishing for the quiet Christmas' I had as a child! Wake up Christmas morning, open presents, and then usually head to Granny's house for Christmas dinner and come home! That was it! Not four families to visit on Christmas eve and how many more you can fit into Christmas day!

Now that I have vented, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! I hope yours are less hectic than mine! That is my Christmas wish to you all! LOL :)