So it's been a year....

Well, just over a year has come and gone since last I blogged... where does the time go? I knew it had been a while but I was completely shocked to find the last entry was Dated April 21, 2010.

So what has prompted me to blog now after all this time? Well I guess it could be that I turned... dare I say it out loud?... 40 last week. And I have no idea how that happened. I mean, 40 year old women are OLD, aren't they?? Well I used to think so, but now I guess I will have to rethink that.

Since I am now (gasp) 40, what does that mean, exactly? I can still do the things that I could in my 30's and probably even most of what I did in my 20's (not that I really want to...) I don't yet qualify for a senior discount at McDonald's or an AARP card (although I did get an email on my birthday telling me to apply for my hover-round for "little to no cost to me"). I guess what it means to me is looking a bit more closely at my life and what I want to accomplish since it would appear that I am not immortal, contrary to my prior belief.

One of the first big changes is that I am about to start work on my master's degree. I will be taking online classes through Liberty University. Yeah yeah, I know, I should have gone right back after the bachelor's, never taken any time off and just gotten it DONE. Well that sounds good in theory but I had gotten a job, and was making money. I had a car and an apartment, and I was a grownup! People (OK, my mother) said I would regret not continuing right away, and well, she was right. BUT, in waiting, I may have decided what I actually want to be when I grow up. I thought I would be a teacher forever. But, with all the budget cuts, standardized tests and crazy parents who don't teach their kids manners and blame teachers for everything have led me to consider other options... I love teaching, I love the kids, but so much time and energy is now spent on other aspects that those 2 things get pushed aside. So what then, you ask, am I going to get my master's in? Accounting. Yeah, boring old accounting. I'll probably finish the degree and get my CPA and work from home. Or maybe I'll get a nice government job. hmmm... much to think about, but luckily I will have a few more years to think on that one.

I have also decided that I need to do something to get into better shape. Over the last year or so I have put on a lot of weight, partly because I am now "old" and don't have the metabolism that I once did, and partly because of some medication that I have been taking for carpal tunnel. I will be having surgery to correct this in May, but I am thinking the weight will not magically disappear, so I am going to have to work at it. I have tried to get into running, unsuccessfully, 3 times using the couch to 5K plan. If only I didn't need oxygen to survive I would probably love running, but as it is, not so much. I am going to give it another try and hopefully push past the sucking and just do it. I'll have to let you know how that goes....

And that is probably enough rambling for one evening, I really do plan to do this more than yearly...

another week in the life

Hello all!

So, as a family, we have been trying to be more healthy, by both eating better and being more active. We have always been a dinner family, meaning that we sit down and eat together around the actual table as the norm, but I do have to admit that we often didn't have the best meals. I am not a great cook, and when sports and activites were crazy, we tended to fall to the frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs and Mac n cheese. Jim is a better cook than I am, and since he has been home for over a year now (yay!) he has been cooking quite a bit... BUT he recently discoverd pan frying, and quite possibly this was not any better than some of the before mentioned entre's. Don't get me wrong, it's AWESOME, but a little unhealthy.
Over the last month we have made a conscious effort to cook better, and include more vegetables. This has not been a hit with all family memebers. OK, this has not been a hit with the boys, as the girls will eat pretty much anything. Patrick is by far the worst, I swear I am going to go to McD's and get some of their boxes... maybe if it comes in a fast food package, he will at least try it. Tonight we had a nice grilled chicked salad, and it went over fairly well. I have also made a pretty good asian stir fry with noddles, chicken and veggies... I will keep you posted on out progress, but I am also open to any recipes any of you might want to share...
We are also trying to be more active, and have joined a gym. We were members of a gym in Clarksville, but after Jim got home we kind of slacked at going. Mollie is my motivator, she wants to go tot he gym every day. I really like the Zumba class, I try to go every Monday and Fri, and Jim and I have also done a few spinning classes. Spinning is tough, but once it's over it;s great.
Last week we took all the kids and went to the track. I am going to TRY to run... yeah, it will be a long road, but I have been twice so far. Last time I did a mile total, I run as much of it as I can, and there was more running time 2 than time 1... My first milestone will be when I can run an entire lap without having to walk, and then I will shoot for one mile straight through. I am not expecting these milestones to come all that fast, but I will try to keep you all posted. Hoping to get the the track tomorrow morning with Mollie for day 3.
We had some family visit over the weekend, my cousin Kelly, her husband and their 3 kids, Josie, 7, and Sean and Sara, 4 year old twins. The kids had met each other once before at my brother's wedding, and that was a few years ago. It amazes me how kids just go with the flow... after 10 minutes, you would have thought that they were the best of friends who played together all the time. The visit was short, but very fun. We hope they will come visit again!
Speaking of cousins Kelly, my other cousin Kelly will be arriving tomorrow with her girls. My kids know Skyliegh very well, and are looking forward to having them here. They are taking a huge step and moving to the area. It will be so nice to have family living close by. As a military family, that is rare, and we are excited!!!
Mollie is still loving soccer, and it is wonderful to see her get so excited about something. I am hoping that the other kids find something too. They all do sports or activites, but I have not seen the passion that will make all the difference. I don't mean this to sound like they don't care, they just haven't found their "thing" . It may be football for Eric, but he is going to have to settle down some and really get into the game. He seems to be more serious about it when we have talked about the upcoming season, so we will see.

Well, I guess that is enough rambling for tonight!... until next time, be happy and healthy!!

well, I said I would be better, but

red sox game in DC

As you can see, she is much taller than the rest of the team
as you can clearly see I have yet to figure out this picture thing... these pics go with the second paragraph story of soccer star Mollie

Ok, so I said that I was going to actually DO this blog thing, but clearly, I have not. SOOOO what's new in the world of the Fager's?

We are adjusting well to Fort Lee, for the most part. Only Rori is asking when we can move back to Tennessee... I guess I really wasn't prepared for that, as we have never had much of an issue with moves before. BUT, I realize that this is her fist move that involved her changing schools, and also that all of our other moves have involved daddy coming home from deployment, so that has made them seem much more fun. I am sure in time she will learn to love VA, probably about the time that we are getting ready to PCS to somewhere else... oh the joys of army life.


Now, I want to brag a little on one of my monsters... really I could brag on all of them, but Mollie gets the spotlight this month. She was the only one interested in playing soccer, and man, can that girl play. She is by far the biggest kid on the team, although not the oldest. She is playing in a U5 league here at Lee, and her team name is the Blue Sharks. They had their first game on Saturday, which they won 5-0 (yes, we keep score... I get, but do not subscribe to the whole everyone- wins- score-doesn't-matter theory... peole win, people lose, learn to deal with it early) Mollie scored 2 of the 5 goals, tying for high scorer... I am sure she would have scored several more goals, but she spent about half the game playing Goalie, where she had several really good saves. She had really wanted to play goal, and although there is another little boy who is very good in goal (probably better than Mollie) the couch agreed to let her play for part of the game. After the game she informed the coach that she really didn't like goalie, it was boring. She wants to score... she wants to be a superstar :)

We had a great weekend in DC for Easter, not your typical Easter, I know. We did not go to church, and I have to say honestly, I do not enjoy church on Easter and Christmas... wrong of me, I know, but I find it's too crouded with the people that only go on those holidays... BUT, this is not the time or place for a religious discussion, so on with our weelend... I found out through a friend on facebook the the Red Sox were playing an exhibition game against the Washington Nationals, and after looking into it, found that we could get all 6 of us tickets for less than 2 at Fenway. After some thought we decided to make a weekend of it. It was the first MLB game for Eric, Rori and Mollie, and they all seemed to enjoy it. I was a little concerned that the girls would get bored, but they were great, and only started to show signs of disinterest in the 9th inning. The staduim was very nice, and it was neat to be a part of Red Sox Nation somewhere other than home. There were more Sox fans than Nationals fans, and I have to think that it must be very difficult to play in a place where no one is "from" and therefore there is not the die-hard fan following. Anyway, Sox won., and a great day was had by all.

On Sunday we walked the Mall, and checked out the monuments and the Air and Space Museum. The kids had a great time, despite the fact that we made them walk all day... man, kids today are getting lazy... and that will be a topic for other blogs, as Jim and I have made a commitment to eat healthier ( which involves me learning to cook) and be more active with the kids.

So that should get you up to date, and I promise to be a bit more diligent in my writing... I even have a few writing ideas floating around in that journalist brain of mine...

welcome to the Fager family's crazy life

I have talked about doing a blog for some time, and I am going to do my best to actually keep up with it. Life as a military family has its ups and downs, it is crazy, but there is always love, and we make the best of every situation.