Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Some days I wonder if there are any good people left in this world.  I drive down the street with people cutting you off, honking their horns, shoving in lines at a store, etc. etc. etc.  I know deep down that there are good people, but to find them on a daily basis is sometimes hard. 

Today however my belief that there are good people in this world was reassured.

Our day started out as any normal day.  We got up, ate breakfast, headed to the walking trails, and walked 4 miles.  When we were walking there was no sign of any bad weather to come so we took our time.  At the furthest point away from the vehicle it started to dump water on us!!! I was not prepared for this so as we RAN back to the car, we got soaked!!! ha ha ha  The kids loved getting wet and going fast in the rain, so all was well!

We came home, got a snack, and went down from a nap....typical day in the Putnam household. 

We got up from our naps, ate a snack, and put on clean clothes to head out for part 2 of our day....also typical events in our home.

I knew we couldn't eat at home, there is nothing in our re fridge because we are moving and adding more food to the mix...I am afraid it would go to waste.  So my plan was to head to Mc Donalds and let the girls play in the play place for an hour and get some energy out.  We pulled up to MC Donalds and the big sign said closing at 2pm, and it was 1:45.  So now onto plan B...well I didn't have a plan B, and rarely ever do!  So we drove around in the rain trying to find something that was open.....Denny's it was!

The girls were pretty good, far from the norm, but I was taking a risk and it paid off.  The store wasn't packed, but the staff clearly didn't want to be there on a holiday...that was very evident.  Service was slow, and my kids wanted their food!!! Dorian was dead set on a pancake, she asked every person around if they were the ones that would bring it to her.  We spilled an entire cup of milk everywhere.  Short tantrums, but nothing out of the normal.  Our food came, we devoured it, and honestly had a great time just the three of us in the restaurant!

Our waiter came and asked if we needed anything, and I was debating on dessert since it was a holiday but didn't want to push my luck since my kids out numbered me and thought I should leave on a good note.  I asked him for two boxes and our bill.  He came back to me very quickly, and made me think "you got that in like a second, you are gooooooooooood!".  He leaned over and whispered into my ear that the lady and gentleman that was sitting to the right of me had taken care of my bill and wished my family a very happy thanksgiving.

WOW....I instantly teared up.  I asked him if was serious and he replied yes.  And the tears came.  No one has ever done something so nice for me.  It was just a normal day out with my kids, they were the normal level of "bad", and I was at a normal level of being a mom of two crazy kids. 

This truly is an action that shows there are amazing, wonderful, and good people in this world.  Before leaving we stopped to say our thanks and they were super nice people.  I am forever thankful for making my Thanksgiving a memorable one.  I woke up thinking how sad it was to be so far away from our family and that our daddy and my husband couldn't be here with me.  But we went on with our day like it was nothing different and really had the most amazing day. 

I really hope that every one else out there had a great day also, wherever they may be and whatever they are doing...I hope that everyone finds something to be thankful for.  Today I am thankful for many things, but one of them are caring and dear people like the couple we met today in Denny's. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Cheese!!!

Look at the head of hair on this little girl!!!!
We added a little mouse last night, and WHOA curls!!!
Dorian LOVES to get ready with mommy, and loves to help me put on makeup and do my hair...for all of those who thought she wouldn't be girly, WATCH OUT!
Dorian is the girliest girl and every day gets a little worse!
She loves to dress up, put make up on, do her hair up, carry's a purse, and have her nails done.
Uh-Oh...teen years may be a little expensive, he he he

Addeline's First Hair Syle

Addeline's Hair is FINALLY long enough to put up in a pony!!! Whoohoo!!! And seriously, could she get any cuter?!?!?!?  I didn't think so and now I am not so sure...She is so stinkin' cute (most of the time) he he.





Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Hope Mills, NC

Hope Mills is a VERY small town located right outside of Fayetteville, NC. It has a total area of 6.1 miles of land and population of only 11,000 people. It is about 24 miles from Pope Air Force base, which is where Niles will work. It will take him about 30 minutes to get there and back each day.

The great part about Hope Mills is that although it is a tiny town, it is only 6 miles to the larger city of Fayetteville. We chose to live here because we wanted to be in a quiet place yet be close enough to the necessities of life we are accustomed to. It offers an amazing historic downtown district with one of the best elementary schools in the entire state of NC right down the road to where our home is located.

This town offers everything we need for our little ladies to grow up in a safe and friendly environment with the ability to get to a Target and TJ Maxx within 10 minutes!




This is going to be our new home for the next two'ish years....Hope Mills, North Carolina. It has 4 bedrooms (3 bedrooms and a bonus room), a formal dining room, eat-in kitchen, and large back yard fenced in for the little ones to play outside! It is about 1750 sq. feet, which is going to be a mansion compared to the tiny apartment we've all been living in for the past 6 months. But after a long wait, patience, and searching we believe this is the perfect house for us to live in!

We will be about 9 hours away from DuBois, PA (my hometown). We will be about 10 hours away from Wyalusing, PA (Niles' hometown). We will be about 3 hours and 15 minutes from my sister, brother, and father in Virginia. And we will be in a ONE DAY driving range from anyone else that we want to see/visit! That has never been an option for us, EVER. So we are pretty excited about this factor alone!

We are super excited to move at the end of this month! Niles leaves Arkansas in a little less than two weeks to go back to New Mexico. He will be allowed to leave NM on December 2nd and meet up with us on December 4th in our new home in NC!!! The girls and I will leave here on the 30th of November and get to NC on December the 1st (if all plans go as scheduled).

I am so excited to see what our new life entails. I have found amazing parks, really cool programs for the girls to get into, a YMCA right down the road, and jobs for me to start applying for! At this point the anticipation is killing me. I am so sad to leave a place I am starting to love, yet so excited to see what the rest of this world has in store for me and my family. Anxious is a perfect word to describe how I am feeling right now.

Arkansas has been fantastic to me. Leaving New Mexico I felt relief knowing that we would never have to go back. We looked forward to leaving but didn't know what to expect. I honestly thought that Arkansas was going to be a dud. That I was going to hate it almost as much as living in New Mexico, but I was dead wrong. I fell in love with Little Rock the second we pulled in and adding super great people and an amazing environment, it made it even more enjoyable. I wish we could stay, yet wonder what NC will be like. I wonder if the people will be as nice as they are in Little Rock, if the programs are going to be as good for the girls, if the environment is going to be as safe and clean, and if I will love it as much as I do now in Arkansas.

I also don't want to set my standards to high because if they don't meet them, I don't want to automatically hate NC because this is where we are going to live for a long time. This move marks a new point in our lives. Since Niles and I have met, we have never stayed in the same home or place for more than 6 months. We have always moved from one place to another and have been on the search for something to make our lives better and more resourceful. So this will be a different life. A stable one (for the next two'ish years). It will be different knowing that we will not have to be on the look out for the next move and not have to stress over the unknown.

So We wait. As of today we have 3 full weeks till I pack up the car and ship out. I wait patiently and am trying to soak up as much of Little Rock Arkansas as I can for the time being.

Friday, November 5, 2010

The Pictures taken during the 5K Race

I didn't know any of these pictures were took until I received an e-mail the other day. At this event a professional photography team was hired and apparently everywhere taking pictures. They sent the pictures out after the race to those who had their bib numbers showing!
At the very end of the Race.

Somewhere in the middle of the race

And this is definitly at the beginning of the race!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Getting Ready to Move...Again.

Kind of seems like we are always moving, huh??!! Well that is because we have been! ha ha ha In that last year we've moved (the girls and I) about 3-4 times. We moved from New Mexico to Pennsylvania when Niles started his training to become a Flight Engineer. We stayed with my Mom for about 6 months and then got word that Niles would have a two month break. In desperate need for our daddy we packed up and moved back to New Mexico (move #2). We then had to make a bid decision. Do we stay in New Mexico while Niles goes to Arkansas? (knowing this training was around 6 months) or do we move to Arkansas with Niles, knowing it was going to be a short 6 month stay but be with him while he finished his training? The answer was clear...we were moving again (move #3) to Arkansas.

So now, 6 months later, I am here to tell you, yet again, we are moving! BUT, this time it is for a more permanent stay (as permanent as a military life will allow, I guess). We knew that with Niles taking this new job we would have a permanent move to a new base at the end of his training. All of this moving around in between was for me to have help after having Addeline and to be with our daddy as much as possible while the kids were still young. About 6 months ago we received our news that our new location would be Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It was our second pick of places to go, so we were very pleased with our new assignments!

Niles will finish is training and complete everything he needs to be certified on November 15th. He will out process and drive back to New Mexico. Holloman is still his place of residency and he will need to finish up last minute paper work to make this move official. We have our "official orders" to North Carolina and he will in-process to his new base on December 5th.

I, and the girls, will stay in Arkansas until our lease runs out in our apartment. We have the moving truck reserved and paid for! I pick it up on November 30th and have two men hired to help me load up the truck. We will leave Arkansas on the 30th and get to North Carolina on the 1st of December, to our new home! Niles will meet up with us on the 4th of December and we will finally start the process of settling in to our home!

Last week we were notified that the home we were hoping to rent went through, and this week we mailed off the lease and deposit! We are so excited to be in a real home again, with space, and extra bedrooms, and SPACE!!!!

For the Next few weeks we are super busy, three weeks and 4 days to be exact but who is counting?!?! I am packing, and cleaning, and packing, and cleaning!!! Here is to a safe and some-what pleasant move!!! Wish us luck!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Monday, November 1, 2010

Happy Halloween!











Happy Halloween to Everyone!!! We had such a great time this year! So thankful for good friends to share this fun holiday with! We went trick or treating twice in Little Rock and Dorian made out great with candy! They both liked their costumes this year, which was a major improvement from the previous and both hung tight pretty late to enjoy the festivities! We ended up with two costumes for Addeline, she hated the first one but loved her duck costume! The ladies went nuts for our little ladies and how cute they look! Dorian was super shy at first, only having enough "guts" to hold out her bucket for candy but by the end of the night she was running full force to each house yelling "HI!!!"...ha ha ha it was so darn cute! It is amazing how much a years difference can make in a child! This makes me so excited for upcoming holiday's and events!!! Happy Halloween!!!