Kimber's Navy Family

My husband and I recently adjusted our family budget and we are really sticking to it. I like our open conversations about our finances and how we work together as a team. I just don't like budgets (but who does?). Anyways, we went to Costco today. Our grocery budget is not as flexible as it was with our past family budgets so my husband was tallying our purchases as we added things to our cart. I've written before about our family diet and how we are trying to eat healthier (read " The first step "). We have kicked out a lot of bad ingredients and brought down the ingredient count on each of the items we purchase. I really try to make as much home made foods as I can and narrow down our processed foods. However, I'm not one to spend all day in the kitchen, so we do have some processed foods in our house. (I'm hoping organic cereal with no artificial ingredients is better than GMO artificial cereal-- lol!) So here we are at Costco, shopping the aisles....

What a week we've had! My grandmother stayed with us for the past 8 weeks and she went home this past weekend. I'm sure this is contributing to the boys' mood the past couple days. And mine. And our dog's (she brought her small dog with us, our dog's sister, and they love playing with each other). We all miss Granny! Despite missing Granny, the boys are driving me nuts. We've had so much whining and fighting and arguing. They've started arguing with each other-- all three of them-- like in movies: "Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!" Um, imagine listening to that for twenty minutes straight. Every half hour. For three days. I feel like as soon as I split up a fight, another one is starting, or the boy I just sent away wanders over to pick a fight with a different brother. Today I stood in line for coffee with the two toddlers. By the time I got up to the register, both of the toddl...

Ready to get their flu shots To start this off, I am NOT against military clinics. I know many people immediately start looking for the bad when going to a military clinic or automatically assume the doctors aren't as good or whatever. We have used three military treatment facilities (MTF) so far in my husband's naval career and two civilian providers, this being our third MTF. I knew what to expect heading back to the MTF. Before moving here, I was very nervous about moving our asthmatic toddler from our last pediatrician's office. They were wonderful there and knew his whole history, what his triggers are, what medicines he's been on, etc. They took excellent care of our boys there, especially O, and I was nervous to move right before cold and flu season. (Read " Reactive airways .") When I walked into the clinic here in South Carolina, I was impressed. It seriously looks like a mini Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. I have been seen quick...

I keep posting a bunch of articles on Facebook so I thought I would compile them in one place. I don't know how long this government shutdown will last and I don't know all the far-reaching consequences of a government shutdown. Some of the statistics that I've been reading on how it will affect the economy are unsettling to read. Bases are putting out on their Facebook pages and websites the various functions that will be affected by the shutdown, including closures, limited duty, and things that will stay open with little change (NEX and Navy Lodge, for instance-- "NEXs and Navy Lodges to Remain Open in Light of Possible Government Shutdown" by Navytimes.com ). What does the government shutdown mean to military families, now that congress has passed a bill saying military will continued to get paid? ( "President signs Pay Our Military Act" by Militarytimes.com) A military wife at our installation shared this list of closures for our base. This is...

So I'm trying my first "link up" and I'm not sure if I'm doing this right, so please bear with me. I discovered this blog, " Eights on the Move ," and she does a Military Monday topic where people link their blogs up to hers and answer the questions posted on the topic. This week's topic is about Family Planning. Here is the link to her blog to see what other people posted, " Military Monday: Family Planning ." Being a military family influences many aspects of your life. For instance, you never know if your husband will actually be present for your plans. Some plans are fine, like a family movie night that you really wanted to have-- easy enough to cancel or reschedule. Some are frustrating, like family pictures with a professional photographer ("Um, can you Photoshop my husband in...?"). Some are emotional, like your wedding; my husband didn't tell me at the time of our wedding that he did not know until a couple days ...

Picture taken by TwinBug Photography at twinbugphotography@yahoo.c om What a morning we have had! The boys woke up a little before 6:30 in foul little moods. I heard one of them screaming like a banshee and the other two arguing. Dragging myself out of bed I was settling he-touched-my-toy and he-hit-me disputes before even brewing my first cup of coffee-- definitely not my favorite way to wake up. From there it just went downhill. I put all the boys back to bed and hoped they would wake up with sunnier dispositions (and mine too). Sadly, breakfast without whining just wasn't in the cards for us this morning. So how do you do it? How do you discipline three kids, including two-year old twins? I think this becomes a big question for parents around this age. I know I see it a lot on parenting boards and on twin groups. It is overwhelming to figure out the logistics of time outs when one two-year old is causing mayhem here and the other there and you aren't sure who started ...

Picture taken by TwinBug Photography at twinbugphotography@yahoo.c om If you have read my blog post " 0-2 year old twin must-haves ," you know how I feel about having a housekeeper. However, things have changed for us. We moved from North Carolina to South Carolina (read " PCS to South Carolina ") and our financial situation has changed (student loans!). We moved away from our housekeeper in North Carolina and do not have plan to get one-- yet-- here in South Carolina. My husband and I have had many discussions regarding a housekeeper. While our opinion on having a housekeeper is remarkably similar, I still want to knee him in the... well, you know, whenever he says, "We really don't need a housekeeper. We really can do it just fine " (my emphasis). Who does the housework around here, if not the housekeeper? That's right! Me! ;) Our agreement is basically that we want to let our finances settle from the move, have a chance to adjust our f...