Let the good times roll....

Summer is here!! Well not technically.. but hey with the kiddos in school one more week and the start of summer programs beginning shortly after, how can we not say its summer? Life has been unusually calm the past couple weeks, who am I kidding.. its been CRAZY!

Morgan has discovered the art of crawling..yes its true, my chunky baby has gotten off her caboose and has decided to become as independent as a ten month possibly can..  as I type this she is discovering the dogs water bowl for the third time today.. yay.

In addition Hailey is finishing up another volleyball season, but don't think that she will actually be taking a break.. oh no another season is right around the corner!

Chloe will be having a kindergarten graduation on Thursday to celebrate her graduating from the first level of elementary school.. not quite sure what that is about, but we shall see! I don't ever remember having a graduation for the promotion into first grade.. but I guess its a reason to celebrate, so why not!


Thats really all that is going on in the Lorenz house this week.. I am sure there will be more to update soon!

Caution: Fun Ahead!!!

Thats right... this weekend I am stepping out of the norm and have everyday jam packed.. I am pumped and excited.. and if my allergies would only go away, it would make it that much more exciting!!!

Saturday I have a military spouse lunch to go to at Texas Road House.. now if getting together with my friend Mandy (who is also attending) and potentially meeting new people isn't fun enough.. the location definitely rocks! After it is suggested that we head over to the mall.. Retail Therapy? Yes please!!! The beauty in all of this is I actually get to take a temporary break from being a mommy.. Darren's mom is keeping Morgan!!! This will be my first time away from her since Darren has been gone.. and I have only left Morgan with Darren.. can we say scary?? Yes! In any event.. it is needed and I am soooooo excited!!!

Sunday is Mother's Day!!! This is my 9th Mother's Day.. however it is my first Mother's day with 3 kiddos.. I LOVE spending time with my kids, and Mother's Day is a guaranteed mom/kid day! I am pumped! In the morning I am heading to church with the inlaws.. which will be followed by skyping with the hubby which will be followed by what I hope is a fantastic lunch at Mamma Louisa's.. yum!

The only thing that would make this weekend better would be to have my momma here to celebrate Mother's Day with her! I love her so much and she is an AMAZING, FANTASTIC, BEAUTIFUL woman.. and I am lucky to have her as a mom. She is one of the strongest people I know, and I am glad that she passed that strength down to me!

Thankfully I got a head start on cleaning up the house today, so this weekend is bound to be Mucho Fun!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!!

When all else fails.. SMILE!

Today I am completely and utterly annoyed.. definitely not with anyone.. just myself! I have the worse case of allergies and I am praying for this to be over!!! I think it may just be God's way of telling me to slow down.. the last few weeks have been non stop running errands or running around with the kids and I think my house and my body reflect it! 

Which brings me to my next point.. I have recently gotten back into couponing.. I have always done it.. just being more strict with myself now. I coupon for several reasons.. the obvious it saves money!!!! I love that I can save so much money while getting things I need! 

Another reason for the couponing is that it is very time consuming.. while I definitely need more time in a day.. for me its relaxing and makes me happy.. strange right? I love it, and I am not ashamed :)

As a result of my couponing, I have started a spreadsheet to show how much I am saving.. I am very excited to share that for the month of April between groceries, household items and some clothing expenses I spent $419.01 but saved $575.41.. thats over 50%!!! I am so happy about this! Its definitely a result of couponing and shopping smart!

Other than couponing and preparing for the summer I have decided I am going to finish painting the downstairs of my home (a project I started over a month ago and have about 30% remaining). I am also going to go through and slowly organize EVERYTHING!

We bought our home over a year ago and at the time being pregnant, wherever things were left, that became their home.. I am now convinced we will be here for awhile, considering the current housing market, therefore I would like to encourage permanent homes for everything! This will definitely be an ongoing project, and with a baby in the house, it will be a bit of a challenge! Hopefully there will be pictures to follow!

A day in need

Its Sunday again which means in only a few hours we will be back to Monday and the craziness that waits ahead. Its hard to believe we are officially into May! While I am excited for the time passing.. the summers tend to bring even more craziness to our lives! Kids are going in every direction.. the heat is INSANE and as a parent you are supposed to stay calm. Ha!

On another note I would like to share some positive information. Yesterday the girls and I attended the MOMC Event which stands for Month of the Military Child. This incredible event was just what we needed to get some positive flow through our lives. I took some pictures, however regret not taking more!!

The event was hosted at the YMCA Triangle Ranch Camp in Oracle, Arizona (about a 2 hour drive from our house in Vail). This was an all day event that included patriotic ceremonies, activities for the kids which included a team building obstacle course, lunch and lots of new friends!

Its nice to get together with others who can relate to how you are feeling.. they can relate to their spouse being gone, feeling like the world is on top of your shoulders and of course the day to day chores of the house, kids, etc. I am so glad we attended this event and will continue to do so in the future. It turned out to be a long, but beautiful day!



Our Day Started at 6:00am!

 Our piece of the puzzle:

Morgan fell in love with ponies!

Easter Sunday

Life has been insane lately.. mainly because of Easter coming and going.. the girls preparing for the summer camps and Morgan is on the loose! She is literally trying to manuever her way any way possible which includes her walker, rolling and she is now trying to pick up crawling (silent yay.. as I thought she would NEVER get there!).

The heat has come which has literally stomped on my motivation leaving me pretty much motivationless (don't think thats a word, but you get where I am going...) I am trying to stay focused on continuing to decorate my house, especially before Darren comes home for his R&R in August! I am so happy I started the project, but its all a matter of completion at this point.

On top of that I have had a lot of time to reflect on my life recently. While we definitely have had our  rough times (who hasn't?) I am completely content and happy with my life. I have an amazing family, friends, children and husband. I feel so blessed. I know at the end of the day God know what he is doing.. while I sometime doubted his decisions.. I feel like he has put me in a good place in my life.

I am currently praying for the people in the southern United States who are losing their lives and their homes to terrible weather and tornado's. I am praying for my husband as well as all of our military serving overseas. I am also praying for some close friends who are having a rough time right now.



Morgan and grandpa on Easter!

 The girlies!

 Recovering from a long day!!

Silence?

For the first time in a long time the house has been quiet at 7:30pm. The girls are with their dad.. Morgan is sleeping peacefully, for the first time today.. and well there's me and the dog.

While I absolutely love the fact that for the first time this week chaos has been at a minimum, I can't help to feel slightly bothered by the silence..  Its funny to think this very time last night I was craving silence and peace, for just a moment and now I feel empty with the silence.

No fear.. I have many things to tackle while I have these free few minutes.. I can start with the laundry, start hanging pictures on my newly painted wall.. or just sip on a glass of wine with my kindle.. The last idea is extremely tempting!

Go ahead,, take another swing!

Ugh! I truly feel like the last couple days have really been testing me. I am not sure if it is the onset of this unbearable heat which is likely to continue for the next 7 months.. or the fact that life seems to be slipping out of my hands faster than I can blink.

Between the kids, Darren being thousands of miles away and Morgan in the middle of her teething, I feel like life has come right up and smacked me in the head. While I absolutely love my life, I would pass on this deployment nonsense any day, and with that said, we can do without the teething as well..

I keep telling myself to take a deep breath and this too shall pass.. but for the past few months it has been one thing after another.. at what point does it pass?!?! I truly hope its sooner rather than later.. a few more months of this and I may just throw in the towel, cut my losses and you can find me somewhere on the beach in Jamaica with a cold drink in my hand.. but with my current luck, it would be raining.

Now that I have vented and gotten out all the negativity from my system, lets focus on the positives! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my family.. I have an awesome, supportive family. I love them so much and even though most of my family lives outside of Tucson, they still mean the world to me. Family is definitely the building blocks to happiness!

I have an amazing husband! He is the kind of guy who puts everyone else first (not to say this doesn't come back to bite him sometimes) but he is a genuinely good person.. not many guys out there like that! Darren does not have any alterior motives, he just lays his heart out there and hopes for the best.. he is amazing. I love him so much and without having as strong a bond as we do, I don't see how we would get through this deployment.

I love my kids.. they are all so very unique and that makes them so special to me.

Hailey is my realistic thinker.. she questions anything and everything that doesn't quite sound right.. she loves to be involved in planning family events and she likes to make sure things run smoothly.

Chloe is my artistic social butterfly. She loves painting, coloring, drawing and she is so darn creative! On top of that she is soooo very social.. its no doubt she got her social skills from her momma!

Morgan is going to be a lot like Darren.. she is very mellow, at ease and goes with the flow. She loves life and everything about it, including the wide variety of food available to her currently. Morgan is very observant.. she is constantly watching everything around her and nothing gets past her!

Just talking about the girls has already put a smile on my face. I'm going to roll with the punches and hope for the best. I got this.

Its that time of year.. again!

You know.. that time where I decide that I am going to keep up on my blog, because updating it to me is so important.. who knows if it will last, but either way I feel good about updating it!


There is no way I could update everything that has happened in the last year or so in this little blog.. I guess I could but it would probably take DAYS! In a nutshell, baby Morgan made her appearance July 25th, 2010 weighing in at 6lb10oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She is a wonderful baby and she amazes us everyday! We love her so much!

Hailey is doing fabulous in volleyball... she loves it and she is good, what more can we ask for? This summer she will be attending the David Rubio volleyball camp at the U of A. She is very excited!!


Chloe is loving kindergarten! I think she may enjoy the social part slightly more than the learning, but she has always been my social butterfly! This summer Chloe will be attending a Girl Scouts day camp for 2 weeks! She is so excited! I also plan on getting her enrolled in gymnastics!

Darren recently deployed to Kuwait for a year. We expect him home in March 2012. Of course him being gone is VERY hard.. but we try and keep in touch through skype and phone calls! He is an amazing person and I feel absolutely blessed to be married to him.

Other than the kids camp this summer, we are planning on relaxing and trying our best to manage the heat!!