My babies aren't babies anymore.

So Friday was Amy and Jareds first day of school. Tennessee does things so strangely out here but their first day was on a Friday and it was only a half day. Anyways here is some info on my Amy.

Amy is now is second grade. During her last month in first grade we were noticing that she was having a hard time reading. She also said that her eyes hurt when she read. We got her glasses and problem fixed! She looks so beautiful in them. She has been my right hand man these last few months. She has helped me with laundry, cleaning the house, playing with Jared, and just being there to help out. I am so proud of her and thankful that Heavenly Father sent her to me. I love this little girl and miss her now that shes gone during the day. She is so smart though and is having a blast in second grade so far. Her teachers name is Ms. Hatcher and she has a few friends from first grade in her new class.

Jared is starting Kindergarten this year. Wow...time flies. I can't believe he's going to be gone during the day. The way they work Kindergarten is really odd here but for the first two weeks he will only go to class twice. They have testing the first two weeks and each child will only attend two days out of those two weeks. Really odd but Jared is super excited to start going full time. He was so excited to get his school supplies and backpack! :) I am super proud of this little boy and can't wait for him to experience big boy school for the first time!

Here are some pics from their first day.

My handsome soldier!

I had to post a picture of my handsome soldier. He is the love of my life and has been my rock during this pregnancy. He has taken such good care of me and I appreciate him so much. He and I have been married for 8 years now and I wouldn't trade these last 8 years for anything in the world. I love you sweetheart.

And they are!!!

Two Girls!!!!!


We are so excited....We have decided to name them Lexie James and Lacie Nichole Craig. We are so thrilled and cannot wait to meet them. They are both about a pound each and boy can I feel them move. They are so active. We feel so blessed to be their parents and hope these next few months go by fast! :)

New Blog

Check out my new blog www.thecraigtwins.blogspot.com

Seriously?! :)

Ok so from the day I found out we were going to have a baby I joked around with James about the possibility of having twins. Its something that I always thought would be fun! So from that day on I teased him constantly. Well when we finally got to Tennessee it took forever for me to get an appointment to see a Doctor. I am use to having an ultrasound done right away to confirm pregnancy. The Army does things a little differently. Well about two weeks after moving into our apartment I started cramping really bad. I was so sad because I thought this meant I was miscarrying. So James took me to the ER to determine what was going on. When I got there they were concerned about a number of things from threatened miscarriage to an ectopic pregnancy. So the treatment was to determine my HCG levels and do an ultrasound. So they wheeled me into ultrasound and the tech started doing her job. I asked her if she saw a heartbeat and she told me she couldn't tell me because I was an emergency patient and it was hospital policy. I was not happy...here she knew what was going on and i couldn't know. Well after a little bit of her looking at the screen she started in on the small talk....her question that made me kinda think she was being weird was she asked me how many kids I had at home....well...I said...I have two. Well she got this big smile on her face and told me she shouldn't tell me this but I was about to have two more.......tears started streaming down my face and after that she said....and they both have heartbeats. I had so many emotions running through me at once. But the one that remained constant was that I was so lucky and so blessed to have this amazing opportunity. Then came uncontrollable laughter as I thought how I was going to tell my husband who was patiently waiting in my room. Here is a picture of our little miracles.


So as the tech is wheeling me back to my room Im trying to decide how to tell James. I really had no idea what he was going to say. We had decided that this was going to be my last baby. I had wanted four kids but because it had taken so long for us to get pregnant we decided this would be our last. I guess Heavenly Father granted my wish with one pregnancy! haha....anyways I just decided to hand the picture to James and let that tell him. He just looked at it and said "What is this"...I said well those are our babies. I think we both laughed for about twenty mins. At this point I was only 8 weeks along. Now I am 15 weeks and our babies have grown so much. We still don't know the sexes we probably won't find out for another couple of weeks but we are so excited and feel so blessed to bring these little spirits into the world. I fall in love with them more and more every time I see them and as far as we know they are paternal twins not identical. So this is the new and exciting news in the Craig family. :)

Tennessee here we come!

After James graduation we left Oklahoma and went back to Arizona to get all of our stuff out of storage and then head out on our journey to clarksville. We were so excited to see my parents and family again. For the two months we were ten weeks we were in Oklahoma we really missed them. We got to spend about a week with them which wasn't enough time. I enjoyed being back in Arizona. Thats where our little family began. One AMAZING piece of news was found out the night we got to Arizona. James and I left the kids with my parents and headed off to Target to get some things that we needed. While we were at my FAV store I decided to pick up a pregnancy test because I was feeling kind of blah and realized I was late....by a few weeks. Well to my AMAZING surprise and three tests later...

It was POSITIVE!!!! I was so extremely shocked and excited!! Its something that I had wanted for a really long time and I didn't think was going to happen for a while. So after we had found this exciting piece of news out we spent time with family and prepared ourselves for our big move! :)

Our big move came a little sooner then we thought. James orders were written out wrong and if we didn't leave early he would have been considered AWOL...which could have landed him in jail. So with the help of family we packed up our 16ft truck with all our belongings and sadly left Arizona.





Here are some fav pics and memories with my family!

It was the hardest thing I have had to do in a while. I was so happy to be with James again but leaving my family was hard. They were the ones to help pick up the pieces after James had to leave and they were the ones to provide my kids and I with comfort, love, and support during his absence. Plus we were leaving eight years of a life we created together behind. It was not something easy to do. But, we did. We traveled for 29 hours through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and finally Fort Campbell KY.

AIT Graduation!!

Since I am so far behind on my blog I decided to start with James' AIT graduation. I moved the kids and I to Oklahoma right after Christmas so we could see James on the weekends while he finished up AIT. It was so much fun being able to see him more often but it was a long ten weeks waiting for it to end. James graduated March 9, 2011 and he achieved the Distinguished Honor Graduate that he had worked 20 long hard weeks for. This means he graduated at the top of his class and received a metal and a lot of deserved recognition for this title! I was so proud of him. It was a huge accomplishment. The week before his graduation I was busy packing up our little apartment getting us ready to drive back to Arizona after he graduated. Here are some pictures of James' special day!

What a day!

Remember this?


This happened on February 1st...today is February 3rd. I barely got the snow away from my car and got it unstuck. Here is my hectic crazy day.

So this morning I was determined to get my car out of the snow. What I didn't realize was that there was a nice layer of ice that surrounded my tires. So I got the bright idea to fill up my mop bucket with hot water and melt the ice so I could move my car. Smart idea...at first. After going back and forth about ten times to fill up the bucket...and lots of snow shoveling I was able to get my car out of the snow..YAY!!! My first thought was I was a free woman and was headed to the mall. I was so excited. So I started heading back to the house to put all my "snow tools" away and this happened next.



Yep I fell flat on my tooshey. Oh boy did that hurt. Oh and that nice bucket of hot water I was carrying...ya that was dumped all over me. That actually helped to warm me up while I was laying on the ice. I guess its something I can laugh at now right? Ok so I finally get in the car after dressing in warm and dry clothes and I head off to get a friend of mine. We finally get to the mall and it was heaven. My kids got to run around at the play area, we had lunch, and I felt somewhat normal again being around people. We decide to leave and head off to walmart to prepare for another possible storm. We get in the car and start to drive away and notice a really odd noise coming from my car. I get out to find this.


Yep...that is a flat tire that I found...a flat tire in the snow ridden 12 degree weather. Uhuh...seriously? I never so happy to have AAA. I was able to have them come and put my spare on because do I know how to change a tire? No. So after waiting in the tire store for over an hour along with the other 20 Oklahomians who needed to have their tires repaired after spending $80 bucks for a new one because my tire was ruiend...I was finally on the road again. Needless to say I decided against my trip to walmart and opted for a drive thru dinner at McDonalds because I was sore and tired. As much as I'd love to say that my day was terrible it wasn't so bad now that I look back at it. I learned a valuable lesson. I need to always be prepared. I need to make sure that I have blankets in the car, water, maybe some snacks, just in case I get stranded for a longer period of time. I learn new things about myself everyday. I learn that I can handle what comes my way and that I have become strong and capable. So I am grateful for that trial. I am grateful for the power of prayer and that my kids, friend, and I were safe through this whole ordeal. I am grateful that I am now sitting safe in my warm apartment, my kids safe and warm in their beds and that I was able to get us home safely! I think it was a pretty good day! Plus I got new jeans! :)

Our first snow Storm!!!

Last night we had our first snow storm. I've actually lived in Utah so I've lived through blizzards and stuff like that but, this is the first snow storm for my kids and me being by myself. I kind of got scared because we could have lost power because there was an ice storm first....but THANKFULLY that didn't happen. This is what we woke up to this morning. The kids were so excited...this is the first time they have seen snow fall! :)

Projections!

James is in week 14 of his training right now for AIT. At about this point the Army gives out a projection of where they are going to station us for the next three or four years. Well we have been checking everyday for our projections...James says its like waiting for a mission call..haha....well we finally got them!!! Here is a hint of where we will be going...


Haha Ok I wouldn't have figured it out by that picture either but I thought it looked pretty! We are going to be moving to...........

KENTUCKY!!!

I am very excited! I am a little disappointed because our awesome friends The Freys won't be following which we were hoping they would be. I am excited for this new adventure and can't wait to go some place new. We are 45 mins from Nashville Tennesse and plan on doing a whole bunch of site seeing while living there! I am ready for this new adventure but even more I'm ready to see more of my husband! :)

How quickly things change.

So I am finally just about updated on this blog. After James came home we decided to OK to be with him for the last ten weeks of his training. We are currently on week 13! Yay...Only five more weeks to go! :) Here are a few pics of our new little one bedroom apartment.

Best Day EVER!!! :)

The last time my kids saw their dad was in October. James was able to come home for Christmas Exodus which was in December and we had him for two long weeks. After that he would have to go back to Oklahoma to finish out his training which ends in March. Ugh so much time away. I flew out to see James in November and my parents kept the kids. It was a blast. We had so much fun! :) Thanks Mom and Dad!

So to say the least my kids missed James so much. They were getting so antsy to see him. Its hard trying to explain to a 4 and 6 year old why its taking so long for them to be able to see their dad when they were use to seeing him everyday. Well on December 18th we surprised our kids with his homecoming. We had originally told them we were going to pick up a friend of mine at the airport but we were actually there to get our Dad! That Saturday was pretty surreal. It had been four months exactly since James had left Arizona...having him finally home was so exciting. I didn't think I would get so emotional seeing him but I bawled like a baby. The most amazing thing I have ever seen though was the welcome James and some other troops got coming through the terminal....you see James was wearing his Camo and as he as other soldiers were walking out of the terminal everyone was clapping and cheering for them. A few people came up and thanked James for his service. It was pretty neat to see the support people give our troops. They deserve it and so much more!

Phoenix Zoo with J-Man

I was able to go to the zoo with Jared and his preschool class. We had so much fun. Here are some pics from our fun day!

Its been way too long!

I can't believe how longs its been since I have blogged. A lot has happened since then. I will start at James' graduation!

James Graduation~ October 2010

So James graduated from basic training in October. It was the first time the kids and I had seen him since he left in July. It was the MOST amazing day for all of us. I left the Tuesday before his graduation. I packed up our little car, my two kids, and drove the 14 hour drive to Ft. Sill Oklahoma all by myself and did a pretty good job. Here are some pictures of family day and graduation!


Were all ready to go! :)

Ok so the next pictures will be from family day. That happened on a Thursday. We had to sit for about thirty minutes watching a few skits that the soldiers put together. There were so many of them I couldn't see James at all. It was driving me crazy! :)



The next few pictures are from Graduation! This was the most amazing trip for our little family! It was wonderful to spend time with James again. We were only able to spend a few days with him and had to leave again. It was so hard to leave him behind but I wouldn't have given up those days for anything. Our family bonded again...we were together and it was better then we could have imagined. We were also able to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa "Bula" (James' parents) They drove up for the graduation too. It was a great weekend! :)