The past 6 months....

Soon after my last post, I found out we were expecting a new edition to our Family.  Matthew Harrison Armknecht is due Jan 7th 2012.  The kids are all super excited for a new baby. 

Oki is great.  We live off base ina 3 story home.  We don't have a yrad and the kids run circles around the house trying to burn off energy.  Oki has some of the best parks around and We usually hit a park on the weekends.  We have been trying to get the kids more practice on their bikes and go for walks to get out of the house.  We hope to move to a house on base next year and have a yard so they can play outside, since Oki has great outdoor weather. 

Dylan has an hour commute to work each day and home and sometimes has to make trips back and forth to work during the day.  He works long hours and is usually gone before we get up in the mornings.  We see him less than we would like, but make time count when he is home.  We look forward to the holidays  and all the days off that come with it.

Lex will be turning 6 on Dec 29th and a week later we will have a new baby.  4 kids in 6 years. :)  We are planning a Star Wars theme party for him early in December, he is very excited about that. 

Cayleen Is just about 4 1/2 and is a true girl, she loves dress up and play make-up and has all the drama and emotions to go with it.  She loves to go with me to get our nails painted or just do them herself at home. 

Kristopher is almost 2 1/2 and is so cute words cannot describe him.  He loves to shoot things with his nerf gun and just about worships Buzz Light year. 

We love life here in Oki and hope to be here for a full 6 years. 

Until next time....

The Joy of Marine Corps life

So in December 2010, just before Dylan graduated TBS, we had to meet with the medical screener, Mrs. Williams to start the wonderful process of paperwork needed to go overseas to Okinawa.  This is normally a long process. ( but not this long) We left the medical screener with a list of things to get checked off by doctors and dentists.  So I made appts, for all 4 of us, and started the process.  February 1st I walk in to Mrs. Williams office to turn in all the medical records and she tells me that she can't see me because I need an appointment, when in DEC. she told me that I didn't, just bring back everything when it was done.  So she made me an appt. for March 2nd, a full month later.  I go in, I am with her for 2 hours, I was told not to bring my kids, and walk out with yet another list of things that needed to be completed and told to bring them back when completed, again no appointment needed.  I go back 2 weeks later and turn everything in.  She says it needs to be sent to the Quantico docs to look at and then it will be sent to Oki.  A week later I go in to check on things and she can't find my records and then says oh but wait I need you to sign this form...(was she going to call me????) She says that the docs have seen the records but still need to sign off on the forms.  Then they will be sent to Oki.  So a week later we are told that they got sent to Oki and we should hear in a week.  Well 2 weeks later we call Oki and they say they can't open the email with all the records.  (Were they going to contact Mrs. Williams????)  We go into Mrs. Williams office and ask her resend the email, then we call Oki and they can view the records.  This is now getting close to Easter, and we decide that we need to head out to Cali just in case Dylan has to report to Oki without the kids and I.  So we get to Cali on Easter and then call Oki and they say that we still need paperwork filled out by the kids doctors.  So I jump through hoops and find a person near Travis AFB to sign off on the kids papers and email those to Oki, then they say that the docs in Quantico never signed off on the records.  So more phone calls and hoops jumped and 2weeks later the Quantico docs signed the records and then the Oki docs we able to look at them.  They approved our medical clearance. YAY! 6 months later!!!  Now we are waiting on area clearance...They first tell us 1 day turn around, then Oki tells us no its 10 working days, but we will try and get it done fast before the memorial day 4 day weekend.  That doesn't happen!  We are still waiting.  It is now June 1st.  We have been "homeless" since April 15th and separated from Dylan again for a month now.  Hopefully we will get word on clearance soon....10 working days will be June 6th, so we are hoping to be in Oki in the next week.  Pray for us.

Cayleen's Tummy Bug

On Monday
night the 14th of March, Cayleen started throwing up and didn't stop until I
took her to the ER on Tuesday morning. She had thrown up 20 times in 15 hours
and kept nothing down. The docs gave her an anti-nausea pill, she perked up and
they handed her a Popsicle. Then, with a sugar rush, she began walking around
the hospital room and was a little chatter box, - they sent us home, no IV.
Around 6:30pm Tuesday night she went to bed and didn't get up until 3:30am
Wednesday morning to pee, she hadn't pee'd in 19 hours. She literally stayed in
bed all day Wednesday, getting up 2 times to pee and hadn't drunk very much.
She had a fever of 103.5 most of the day. I had to fight with her to get her to
take any fever meds or any more anti-nausea meds. By that night she had diarrhea
and would just cry out in agony. She wouldn't talk to me, or tell me what was
bothering her. She told me once that her legs hurt but at that time it didn't
make sense to me. She would just lay on her bed motionless, barely able to stay
awake. She had wanted nothing to eat or drink. She hadn't eaten since dinner on
Monday night. Around 1am Thursday morning, after talking to a friend I decided
to take her to the ER and I am glad I did, they basically looked at her and
started an IV and ran a blood sugar test, along with a chest x-ray and urine
sample and other blood tests, all before the Doc looked at her. They decided to
admit her and had to put her in an ambulance to transfer her to a hospital that
had a pediatrics wing. I had to follow her to the 2nd hospital, it was probably
the most heart breaking thing I had to do. I couldn't ride with her; I had to
drive my own car. I could see her face through the window of the ambulance; she
was so small; my little girl, but she was so brave. I told her before they took
her from me, to remember everything inside the ambulance so she could tell her
brothers all about it. We got to the 2nd hospital, they took her vitals and
finally around 5am we were able to go to sleep. The docs came in around 10 am and
decided to keep her on the IV and monitor her. I decided to go get my boys, my
friend said they were asking for me and for Cayleen, I picked them up and took
them to buy Cayleen some get better presents, they went a little overboard LOL.
They bought her a Mulan doll, a balloon and 2 other small Disney toys. Lex
walked into her hospital room and was so caring. He asked her several times,
are you ok, are you getting better, Cayleen I have missed you. Cayleen are you
ready to come home and be with us, how are you feeling? It warmed my heart to
have all my children with me during this scary time, it made me feel better
just to be with them, and I know that it really helped Cayleen to recover fast.
Throughout the day on Thursday I received endless texts and phone calls,
checking in on me and Cayleen. Dylan was speaking to his "higher-ups"
and finally at 5:30pm they told him that he could come home from work, they let
him miss 2 days of work. He rented a car and drove home, he got home around
midnight and the boys woke to find their daddy home, he got them dressed took
them to buy Cayleen flowers and met us at the hospital. It was such a relief to
see him and know he was there. That morning, Friday, the docs said that they
would take out her IV and as long as she would eat and drink for the next few
hours they would let her go home. She was ready we could tell, she was pretty
much back to normal and brought with her this sassy little attitude. Dylan told
her, you have to eat and drink so we can go be together at home as a family,
she said but I don't want to, I want to stay here and watch TV all day. I
really think she enjoyed all the attention that she got this past week, maybe a
little too much. She came home and colored on the wall and thought it was a
"cute" thing to do...I think she thought that because she was sick
she wouldn't get in trouble. LOL I am glad that she is well again. :) And well
for the most part Life is “Back-to-Normal around here J

A snippet of Disney

So this isn't he best picture, it was taken from my cell phone, but this is Princess Mulan...Cayleen and I were in "China" in Epcot and she was coloring her Bear stamp and Mulan came up and talked to her and KISSED her and she was so excited because the boys didn't get a kiss or a pic with Mulan..This was very special for Cayleen. :)

The Wonderful triple Jogging stroller

This is our wonderful new stroller. It's a triple jogger....Yes that's right TRIPLE! I can put all 3 of my kiddos in and take off for a run...or well a walk, pushing 120lbs of kids is a little hard at a jogging pace. We took this with us on our disney trip, it was amazing, the crowds just seemed to part when they would see us coming. People made so many comments about our wonderful stroller, that at one point Dylan would reply "yeah I got a little carried away" LOL. I love my stroller, now getting out for some exercise is no big deal.

snow fun

Fun in the Snow

SNOW!!! SNOW!!! MOM!!! IT'S SNOWING!!!  This is what I have heard the last few days.  My children standing in the window staring at the snow.  We lived in Moscow Idaho before we moved here and had snow several months out of the year, and still when we get snow here in Stafford VA, they go nuts.  Sand toys make great snow toys.

Life Update

Hello,

So it has been awhile since I have done a post, I am not very good at keeping this updated.  So I thought I would add a few lines.

We have gotten orders to go to Okinawa.  We will be leaving VA around mid April.  We are super excited to go back to the place our hearts call home.  The 1st time we were there I was 20 and we had no children, it was a bit scary not knowing what to expect.  This time we couldn't be more thrilled.  It's exciting to go back and show Lex and Leen the place they were born.  We all look forward to sunshine and blue skies year round...well except for the occassional typhoon. :)