What to Expect When You're Expecting Your Hubby to Graduate From Army BCT

I'm sure many of you are curious about Army BCT graduation and what it entails, much as I was before I attended it. When a soldier successfuly completes training, his family is invited to a 2 day event to celebrate his accomplishments. The first day is called "family day" and the second day is the official graduation, although the soldier has successfully completed BCT before either of these days occur and, short of a major mess up on his or her part, will graduate.

Family Day at Fort Jackson is always on Thursday. They recommend you get to gate 4 by 7:30 am to be able to get a good parking spot and a good seat, although if you do get there by then you will be at the field by 8 am and will have to wait an hour for the ceremony to start. When you get to the field that the ceremony is held at, there are soldiers there that direct you where to park. Joey said they are people who are being held back until the next BCT session. It was not a good idea to take a stroller. We took our double stroller to shield the girls from the sun only to find that the bleachers are covered and the only place the stroller can go is on the bottom row (otherwise it is a fire hazard) and that is the only row where the sun will hit you at 8 am. We ended up leaving our stroller at the bottom row with a sergeant's assurances that it would be fine with all the drill sergeants staying in the front row. We sat at the top row where we were able to catch a nice little breeze. It was a good idea to take water and snacks. They do sell food and beverages at a mobile refreshment trailer, but its much cheaper and healthier to take your own. We took yogurt and water and the girls were pretty happy, antsy to see daddy, but pretty happy nonetheless.

At about 9 am, the person in charge (I believe he was a Captain) spoke for a while and then there was a demonstration. The soldiers were across the field from us. First they threw out what appeared to be fake grenades that released plumes of different colors of smoke, then the soldiers ran across the field and fell into formation at attention. I think the Captain talked a little more at this point, but no one was really listening. Then he released us to go find our soldiers, who had to stay in formation at attention until we found them. Of course, I saw Joey run across the field, so I knew where he was. But the crowd was so crazy and we were at the top of the bleachers, so I had the girls wait with my mom and sister and I went to go get him. I don't think he has ever hugged me that tight. We got to spend the rest of that day with him on post. We went to the PX (like a mini mall), reactivated his iphone, got him some stuff he needed for AIT, took Addy to the playground (by this time Evie and Izzy were asleep in the car and my mom and sister wanted a nap so they stayed in the car with the babies), toured the barraks where Joey slept and a couple of the training areas, and went bowling. We had to drop him off before 9 so he wouldn't get in trouble (anyone late was to be considered MIA and would not graduate, according to his drill sergeant earlier that day).

The next day was graduation. Again, we were advised to get to the gate at 7:30. We were a little late, but that just meant we parked further back and we still had to wait until the ceremony started at 9. As with Family Day, there were soldiers to direct us where to park. This day, they played music while we waited for the ceremony to begin. During the ceremony, we heard from Red Cross people and listened to the Captain speak again. Then the soldiers marched around the field, some were recognized and received awards, there was a brass band that marched and played. Afterwards, we took Joey back to his barraks and he signed out so he could leave post and we went to our hotel and the girls stayed there while Joey and I took a walk. Then we went to lunch and came back and spent a couple hours alone while the girls took a nap. Then we went to dinner and took Joey back to post. It was a lot harder saying goodbye to him, knowing that we wouldn't get to see him the next day, but we managed.

The next day, he was shipped off to his AIT in Oklahoma and we came back to Georgia. A week later, he's still waiting for his AIT to start and we're hoping it starts soon because he has 7 weeks and 1 day of AIT once it starts and I'm due November 6th with our 4th daughter.

I hope I cleared up any curiosity any of you wives may have regarding BCT if your husband is planning on joining the Army or if he has and you're planning on attending graduation and family day once that day arrives. I wish I had had a blog that told me what to expect before I went.

Mason family update

Well, it has been an active month here, not that you can tell from my blog posts. We spent the first part of the month getting ready to go visit Joey for his Army Basic Combat Training graduation. We left on the 21st much later than we had intended on leaving then got back on the 24th much later than we intended on getting back. The time we got to spend with Joey was infinately precious, but the traveling was not so much LOL. The past week has been spent for the most part getting my house back in order from the trip. I cleaned it before we left, but had to catch up on laundry, etc. I am happy to say that I am finally caught up and am hoping to be able to post more. I know I keep saying that. And I keep hoping it. Somehow it just doesn't happen as often as I would like. But I'm doing the best I can.

Baked Mac 'n' Cheese (from scratch)

I've been ISO a go to mac 'n' cheese recipe for a while. Ever since my research has shown me that the boxed mac 'n' cheese that tastes good is full of crap and the boxed mac 'n' cheese that isn't full of crap tastes like crap.

My ideal mac 'n' cheese recipe was one that did not have eggs in it, was semi-healthy, easy to make, and good reheated. And boy did I find it. It was recommended to me by someone on diaperswappers when I posted that I was ISO a recipe.

Ingredients:
1 lb uncooked elbow macaroni noodles (or noodles of your choice)
cheese (amount to your discretion/taste)
1/2 stick butter, softened
salt
5 cups milk
cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
2. Spray 9 x 13 casserole dish with cooking spray. I use olive oil cooking spray to avoid GMOs.
3. Layer uncooked noodles with cheese, sprinkling salt throughout and ending with a layer of cheese.
4. Place pats of softened butter on top.
5. Pour 5 cups of milk on top. It will cover everything else, but that's ok. Its supposed to.
6. Place in oven and cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until top layer of cheese is slightly browned.
7. Enjoy.
8. Refridgerate.
9. Enjoy again.
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 until its gone. Then start all over at step 1.

Easy peasy, nice and cheesy, made from scatch and NOT full of crap. I mean, it uses the same amount of butter as a box of Kraft mac 'n' cheese and makes a whole lot more mac 'n' cheese.

Crock pot barbecue

I used this recipe Sunday to make crock pot bbq chicken that was TDF. I'm sure you can use the same recipe to make other bbq meats. We won't because we only eat bbq chicken, but feel free to adapt as you see fit.

I got this recipe from a friend whose bbq chicken makes me drool just thinking about it (and all I did was smell it lol). But as we all know, when you're pregnant, to smell is to want LOL.

Ingredients:
meat (I used 3 large frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts)
1 bottle bbq sauce of your choice (I used Jack Daniels brand, but I plan to try Williamson Bros brand next time)
1/2 cup italian dressing (I used Wishbone House Italian)
2 tbsp worstershire sauce

Directions:
1. Place frozen chicken breasts in the bottom of your crock pot
2. Mix bbq sauce, italian dressing and worstershire sauce in a bowl
3. Pour over chicken
4. Cook on high for 4 hours
5. Take chicken out and shred
6. Put chicken back into crock pot and cook for another hour on high.
7. Enjoy on loaf bread, buns, baked potatoes, the starch of your choice or by itself.

Growing into it

We've all stored clothes that are too big for our kids for them to grown into. And at sometime in our lives, we've probably all seen some well-meaning elder lady "comforting" a new mom, telling her her kid would grow into their head/nose/ears/ whatever they percieve to be "too big". But did you ever think about growing into motherhood?

Sure, some girls were born to be moms. They slip into motherhood like Cinderella into her glass slipper. And you might think I'm one of those moms. But I assure you, I am not. No, I used to be that mom who would take her kid (this was back when I had just 1) to McD's for dinner to keep her happy and make life easier on me without a thought as to the nutritional value of that kind of dinner.

I didn't want to be a mom when I grew up. I didn't think about what I'd do if my kids did this or what I'd say if they did that. I "wasn't going to have kids."

Well, I did have kids and I'm happy I did. I can't imagine my life without them. But I am NOT an expert. I am NOT a pro. I'm learning more every day and one day I hope to be an expert or a pro or even a supermom. But for now, I'm dealing with the same growing pains that most moms deal with. Life becoming less about self and more about the kids. Figuring out how best to handle different kids in different situations. How to get the best out of said children. How to inspire them. How to inspire myself. How to maintain your sanity regardless of circumstances. I'm getting closer every day. I can feel it. But I still wake up some mornings to blisters where its not quite fitting.

So if anyone else is in the same boat I'm in, keep on walking. The shoe might not fit yet, but if you keep going, it will mold to you and you to it and that is worth all the growing pains and blisters along the way.

The Venison Version: Venison Chili

Ingredients:
3 cups dried pinto beans
water
salt
apple cider vinegar (I like bragg's organic because it has "the mother" and anything involving "the mother" is always better in my book ;))
2 or 3 15 ounce cans of tomatoes
1 large onion
1 bundle celery
fresh peppers (bell for mild, banana or chili or other peppers for hotter chili)
1 lb venison
2 or 3 pkgs chili seasoning (I use mild since I have small children who don't like it spicy and I add tobasco sauce to the finished chili to give mine some kick)

Instructions:
1. Sort beans and put in large bowl with 12 cups water and 6 tbsp apple cider vinegar and soak overnight.
2. Rinse beans and place in crock pot. Fill with fresh water up to 2" from the top of the crock pot (I think I'm using a 5 quart), add salt and chopped onion, cook on high for an hour then cook on low for 3-5 hours more, testing beans periodically for doneness.

** At this point, its usually dinner time, so we eat bean burritos for dinner this night and then make chili the next night, but you could go ahead and make chili now if you want. . . **

3. Brown venison, sometimes I brown it with a package of chili seasoning. Sometimes I don't. Dip some of the bean juice out of the crock pot and pour browned venison into crock pot.
4. (optional) put chopped celery, more chopped onion and chopped peppers into skillet used to brown venison and grill for a couple minutes. I usually only do this if I cooked the venison with the spices so that the veggies can soak up some of the spices as well. If you don't want to grill your veggies first, then just dump them into the crock pot. Dump tomatoes (including tomato juice) in as well.
5. Cook on high for 1 hour then switch to low and cook another couple of hours, testing veggies periodically to see if they are done enough for you (some people like their veggies slightly crunchy, but we like ours soft).
6. Enjoy in a bowl. Enjoy on a baked potato. Enjoy on crackers. However you eat it, enjoy it.

We sometimes also add frozen organic corn and sliced black olives to chili, just to give it more color and sometimes I use fresh tomatoes instead of canned. It just depends on what I have on hand.

Working Smarter

As a P.S. to my last post, I'd like to add that the easiest way to work smarter, not harder is to encourage your kids to help. My kids hate to clean, but they love to help. So if I make it more about helping me than about cleaning up, they are more willing and (dare I say it) happy to help clean. And its much easier on me, with my bulging 21 week pregnant gut to ask one of my beautiful, helpful daughters to pick something up off the floor for me than to bend down and pick it up myself. And its better for them, too. Its teaching them that they are a important member of the family and they can contribute to our family, too.

They don't always want to help. Sometimes they are hungry or tired or sad or angry and then I don't push them to help anyways, I give them a little space and ask them to help again later. Fortunately, I have 2 who are old enough to help (almost 3 and almost 6 years old) so usually at least one of them is ready and willing. And when one helps, the other usually wants to whether they are feeling particularly helpful or happy or not. Because they don't want to feel left out.

Also, there are some things that need to be done immediately and some things that can wait. If you concentrate on the stuff that needs to be done immediately and put off the things that can wait until the kiddos are asleep or otherwise occupied, that makes life easier, too. Things that need to be done immediately might be things that the kids can help with, safety issues (spilled water, toys where people will step on them and get hurt, small toys that need to be picked up so the baby doesn't put them in her mouth, etc), and things that it will benefit you to do now as opposed to later. Like wiping off the baby's high chair tray when she's done eating instead of leaving it until she's hungry again and whatever she's spilled has had time to sit and dry. Or rinsing off dishes when you're done eating so that when you have the time to put them in the dishwasher, they won't have gunk dried on that will muck up the workings of the dishwasher or require you to scrub them before sticking them in the dishwasher.

I'm not saying "don't put off until tomorrow what you could get done today" isn't still good advice, but think about what you're doing. Think about what you're prioritizing. Sure, you could sweep your floor 5 times a day (once after each meal and snack) OR you could spend time with your kiddos during the day, clean up anything bigger than crumbs by hand (or get your kids to help) and sweep at naptime, once the kiddos are in bed for the night or first thing in the morning. Think about your schedule.

I'm sure there is a time when the children are sleeping or otherwise occupied when you would be able to get some stuff done. Its not always easy to find that time. And sometimes that means putting off doing your own thing or having your own downtime. But for me, having a peaceful day with my children is like a whole day of downtime and its worth a whole lot more than a whole day of downtime. When it comes down to it, I would much rather spend the day with my kids than at a spa wondering what they are doing. . .