The Stangles

Florida

2010-03-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

Shawn had to leave for some training down in Florida...so we decided to crash his trip! Thought even though he was busy with training that the kids and I could get some good beach time in....even though it was cool and windy! We got good sand time in and had fun exploring. We're hoping to make another beach trip in a couple of months when it warms up! Can't wait!

Great Wolf Lodge

2010-02-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we decided to drive down to Charlotte and take the kids to Great Wolf Lodge. I strongly recommend this place to anyone with kids! Tregan had a blast and Taylor warmed up to it! It was so fun to see Shawn run around with Tregan like a little kid. It was one of the best spur of the moment trip we've taken. And just to see Tregan's reaction to things was priceless.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

way too long!

2010-01-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

It has been MONTHS since I've blogged...I know, I know...terrible! I'm going to try to get better though. Since I've written last there have been a few things that have been going on. The kids and I had a nice and cozy Thanksgiving with just the three of us. The middle of December we had an amazing homecoming with Shawn. That was one of the best gifts ever given! With him home we had a great Christmas. And for the first time EVER we actually spent a Christmas in our own house with no company. It was amazing to witness our kids run into the livingroom so excited and experience Christmas. I hope for many more of those kinds of memories. Now with January almost done, we're waiting to hear what Shawn's job will be and when the next deployment will happen....we are expecting that to happen the end of summer. So until my next blog, and who knows how long that will be, here are just a few of my favorite pics from the last few months!

halloween!

2009-10-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say...just wanted to share with you how cute my kids are! Tregan had so much fun on Halloween and is SO excited with all the candy he got. we literally have a shoe box full...dont' know what i'm gonna do with it all since daddy isn't here to take it all to work!

I should have known better...

2009-09-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't say I'm an expert at deployments seeing that its only our second. We have however seen our fair share of time apart, OBC, Ranger school, Airborne school, Korea, etc. But after Afghanistan I promised myself I wouldn't get my heart set on a "time frame" for when he was due home. Main reason for that is druing deployment #1 the time frame for him to come home changed like a zillion times. It got so bad we stopped talking about it. So when this deployment came I was optimistic that the 6 months wouldn't change much since he is in a different branch. Well, 6 months has now turned into 8 months...and we're hoping it will stop there. We have our fingers (and toes!!!) crossed that he'll make it in time for Christmas. And not really for me, but for him and the kids. He has missed so much with them already I hate for more memories to be missed. And yes, of course, I count my lucky stars that it is still a "short" deployment to a "not so bad place" but time away is still time away. This too shall pass and we will get through it and many more like it to come.

my brave little man!

2009-09-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

Tregan had his first dentist appointment yesterday. I knew he would do pretty well because I always took him to mine to see what the dentist was all about but I didn't know how well he would do. So we were in the waiting room waiting to be called and he was sitting there so patiently. Let me tell you he got so excited when his name was called. I thought he'd be a bit shy going back but before i knew it he had followed the nurse back to the room before i had gotten taylor and all of our stuff ready to go! When I got to the room he had already hopped up in the chair and was happily tapping his feet! I won't bore you with all the details, but he thought being at the dentist like a big kid was the coolest thing on earth...and to top it off when he found out that he got a new diego toothbrush and a prize at the end he was just in heaven! Turns out he has great teeth...and hopefully they will continue to be so!
We've been gone a bit traveling to see grandparents so here are a few pics from the month!

halfway done...i love the sound of that!

2009-07-30T11:56:00.001-07:00

I know I am a TERRIBLE blogger. I'm lucky to try to get one post a month. I'm working on it. We really haven't had too much excitment here...just doing some fun summer stuff...pool, library, water gun fights, you get the picture. Anything to make our days fun and go quickly. It is such a double-edged sword to wish for the time to go fast. On the one hand we want it to scoot along so Shawn will be home. On the other I blink and these kids just grow and grow and grow. I just can't wait to watch them grow...with Shawn home! So unless the Army pulls some hokey stuff, which they have proven they can & will, we're halfway done with this deployment. And hopefully the 2nd half will fly by faster then the first!
Here are a couple of pictures of the kiddos. And the one with Taylor, don't be alarmed, she isn't drinking the beer....just likes to lick the bottle!

taylor turns 1!!!

2009-06-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

so this past weekend taylor turned one! time has FLOWN BY! it really does seem like yesterday that i was swimming laps in the pool followed by hours of walking and cursing her to "GET OUT!!!" oh memories! anyway, we had lots of fun for her birthday. the only thing missing was daddy of course! my sisters flew in for the week and we had a great little cookout with all of our friends.
i forget how quickly the kids grown up too...within that week my sisters were here taylor started standing up on her own...walking with the push shopping cart walker she got for her birthday, and calling mama and coming to find me...which is huge...she only used to call for me when she was upset! so that makes me happy. anyway, here are a couple of pics that summed up the week!

tregan's first fishing trip

2009-06-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

let me start off by saying i have the most amazing neighbors. the women are great and their husbands are terrific too. the guys have been playing with tregan and taking him to do "guy" stuff ever since shawn left and it has been such a blessing. well today, mr. brad took tregan on his first fishing adventure. he took tregan up to the lake a few minutes from the house...the conservation dept was putting on a fishing event for the kids. he had so much fun and had so many stories to tell me from, the fish tried to bite me, to mommy...they are sharp! he even won a new fishing pole! so i guess that means more fishing trips!

ELMO!!!

2009-05-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

For part of his birthday I took Tregan (and Taylor) up to Raleigh to see Sesame Street Live. They both loved it!!! I splurged and got floor seats which were right next to the stage and it made the experince even better because The characters came off stage and gave the kids high five and all that good stuff. This will definetly be a show that we continue to do!

tregan's birthday trip

2009-05-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

so we're back from florida...it was great to see my parents & sisters and tregan LOVED all the extra attention (however i'm paying for that now). we had a fun trip but just wished we had a little better weather. if it wasn't raining the wind was blowing 25-40 miles per hour...and thats not just guts...constantly. tregan was such a trooper with it and tolerated it as much he could..but taylor on the other hand did not like the stinging sensation of the sand. but we made the most of it and tregan played outside our room a lot with his new cars he got for his birthday. and although it rained on his birthday he still had fun bowling (and beating his auntie maya!!) and "playing" video games at the arcade there. we also went to gulf world which was neat...we had been there when we were little. he is such the little man now! it kind-of makes me sad...but like i've said 10,000 times not sad enough to have anymore!
and as a side note...funny thing...i don't have any pics of him with his cake or party...i was too busy video taping to send it to daddy...so if his aunties hurry up and send me some pics i'll post them too!

FLORIDA!!!

2009-05-15T16:57:00.001-07:00

So we're headed to Florida! Yeah! This is the first family vacation (minus Shawn) my parents, sisters and I have taken in years. I'm very excited. What's even more exciting is that we'll be celebrating Tregan's 3rd birthday on the beach...which he is very excited for. All he has been talking about lately is his party on the beach! So next post will hopefully have some great pictures from our trip! Until then...

life this past month...

2009-04-23T08:18:00.001-07:00

Life has been crazy busy this past month. Shawn was busy with work getting ready for his deployment but luckily he was able to take 2 weeks off. He called home one day during a crazy day and told me to book a trip to Mexico. He didn't have to tell me twice! So we dropped the kids off in Oklahoma and flew down to Mexico for a few days to relax. And let me tell you...I didn't know how much I needed that along with some alone time with my husband until we were there. It was nice to go back to our "kid free" days...although I missed those kiddos to no end. (now, I don't know if the feeling was mutual though. After landing I had called my parents who went to visit the kids while we were gone and one of the first things my mother told me was "those kids didn't miss you at all.") Now, I know that is good that the kids did well without us but it still kind-of stabs you in the heart! Anyway, Shawn and I had a great trip and now the kiddos and I are making the best out the time we have while daddy is away.

deployments...yuck

2009-03-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

So the bad word has popped up and is showing it's ugly face in our household. Yep...deployment time. We have been so fortunate to have him home for this long...these days having your husband (or wife) home for a couple years is like an eternity. The up side to the whole deployment is that it is only 6 months...so that is a blessing. So we are going to embrace it and have a wonderful summer starting with a well needed vacation to the beach!!! whoo hoo!!!

my musicians!!!

2009-02-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

school day!!!

2009-02-02T11:50:00.000-08:00

Today Tregan started going to daycare/preschool at our church. He was so excited and I'm guessing he had fun because when I went to pick him up he was very upset that he couldn't take a nap with the other kids. My little man is growing up so fast!

our first snow!!!

2009-01-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning to find a beautiful blanket of snow outside! Tregan was so excited because this is his FIRST SNOW!!! Needless to say he was so excited when I told him it was time to go out and play! First thing he did was dive in and make a snow angel and then attack all the neighbors and daddy with snow! The only way I was able to get him in was to bribe him with hot chocolate (a huge treat in this house!)
The funny thing about the whole thing is that it NEVER snows here. And a few inches literally shut down the town...AND MILITARY POST! So we were very excited when Shawn got the call that post was closed which meant another day off!
Here are some of my favorite pictures from it all!

the holidays...

2009-01-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

i can't believe that the holidays are already over...and yet at the same time i'm ready to relax. it always seems to go by in such a whirlwind that it is sometimes hard to enjoy them. it gets crazy when we travel from Missouri to Tulsa to Oklahoma City, back to Tulsa then to Missouri all over again...in a matter of 4 or 5 days. but atleast we were able to see all of our families. here are a few of my favorite pics throughout our trip.

my helper...

2008-12-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

since daddy has been out in the field for the past couple weeks i've had to recruit a helper while i'm trying to get meals done. tregan has stepped up to the plate! he loves to sing and dance for taylor...and she LOVES it!!! taylor has also now started to babble in a whole new light! she just goes on and on...and on!

October...

2008-11-11T03:53:00.000-08:00

So I haven't done a very good job with keeping up with the blog! So many things have come and gone that I could have posted about. So I will do just a quick recap! Of course there was Halloween...Tregan was Thomas the Tank Engine. He was very cute...and polite. We went trunk-or-treating at a local church and he had a blast. He would go up to everyone and blow his train whistle and say trick-or-treat and then thank you afterwards. I was very proud of him b/c a couple of days prior he wouldn't even mutter the words trick-or-treat! Taylor went as a little lamb...little thing slept through the whole thing though!
Tregan rode a horse for the first time and loved it....wasn't even scared which I thought he would be. He asks to do it again almost everyday!
Taylor started eating solid foods already...I don't know where the time has gone. She is growing up too quickly!
Other than that we're just enjoying fall before it gets too cold and looking forward to the holidays!

the past week or so...

2008-10-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

So nothing too interesting has been going on...planning for the holidays has pretty much been the highlight. We did take the kiddos along with my sister-in-law and the nephews to see Disney on Ice which was pretty neat. The kids loved it...even Taylor was interested in it. That is something we'll definetly do again if it comes back to town and it proved that Tregan can sit through a 2 hour show! Our next test will come when we take him to his first movie here soon (Madagascar 2!)
Here are a couple of pictures that I liked from the past few days! OH! Taylor has her 2 bottom teeth! So that has been lots of fun! More later!

visit from pa pa & auntie maya

2008-10-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

We had a fun week last week...pa pa and auntie maya came for a week long visit. tregan & taylor both got spoiled with lots of extra attention...and tregan still asks from them everyday. breaks my heart that we're so far away...but atleast the visits aren't too far apart.
taylor turned 4 months a couple of days ago! the time is absolutely flying by. she is already 14.1 lbs and is 25.1in long! she is growing like weed!
here are a couple of pictures from the past week or so!

Thomas the Train

2008-09-28T10:34:00.001-07:00

This weekend we took Tregan to see Thomas the Train over in Spencer, NC. He had such a good time and was so amazed at all the trains. I think his favorite part though was riding on the train and hearing Thomas "peep". The only crummy part was that it rained the first part of the day. Hopefully we'll be able to take him back next year!

cute pics...

2008-09-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

just thought i'd share a couple of pictures from this morning. too bad my son thinks he has to say cheese so hard that his eyes always squint!!!

life moving too fast...

2008-09-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

I really can't believe it...I guess I blinked too long but Taylor turned 3 months this weekend. It really does seem like yesterday that Shawn & I were going to the hospital...after a long day of walking!!! It makes me a little sad knowing that all of Taylor's firsts will be our last firsts...(but not sad enough for anymore!!! are you kidding me...we don't want to be outnumbered!). Then I look at Tregan...my little man. He is growing up so fast. The other day I had to put him in some of his new fall cloths b/c it was a chilly day and he just looked so grown up. He knows his abc's and numbers to 20. He is doing awesome with being potty trained so that is a blessing...only 1 child to buy diapers for now! I'm just a lucky lady to have such a wonderful family!

family

2008-08-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

so here is a picture of the family i snapped this afternoon. not so much the best light or anything, but it is the first one we've had done since taylor was born!

one sad thing though...i've offically joined the old person's club...i now have to wear glasses. and shawn loves to point out to me that i am old (even though i'm a week younger than him) i think he has forgotten that the wonderful army paid for him to have eye surgery. i may have to remind him!

summertime pics

2008-08-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

here are some of my favorite pictures from the past month or so!

Trying it out!

2008-08-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

So I decided to give the whole blogging thing a try...I thought it would be a nice way for people to check up on us since my computer time is getting limited due to a certain dynamic duo! All for now!