I just wanted to let you know that my Thirty-One party is almost over. It ends on the 23rd. There has been a change to the special deal going on! Check it out!
You can now get the October deal OR the November deal! For every $35 you spend you can get a bag from the Retro Metro Collection 50% off OR you can get a Medium Utility Tote or Square Utility tote for only $7.
Don't forget, these can make GREAT Christmas gifts!
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
Hi! I know I sent some of you emails or facebook invitations but I wanted to get the information out to anyone that I may have missed. I am hosting my 1st Thirty-One party and I am VERY excited! I wanted to ask if you would take a couple minutes and look at what there is to offer. I have started my wishlist for myself and friends/family and maybe you will too!
Start your own wish list!!
My consultant, Victoria, has been sharing some GREAT deals that are happening this month. The main deal is if you spend $35 on products, you get 1 of 4 metro style bags for 50% off!!
All you have to do is go to http://www.mythirtyone.com/victoriagurgone then click on "My Scheduled Parties" and click on the "shop now" associated with my name. I hope that you will take a couple minutes and see what there is to offer. Maybe you can get a Christmas gift out of the way early! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask! Make sure to look around because there are so many great deals out there. Thank you for your help!
We started the week off with Curtis getting Quicksand Warrior/Sailor of the Week, had a minor scare that Ella might have had hand, foot, and mouth disease (didn't), had a leak in the ceiling from all the rain we got, I had to go to the doctor due to sore ribs from excessive coughing, and the latest is that 2 planes from 2 different squadrons on the Carl Vinson, Curtis' ship, collided. As I am writing this, 1 of the pilots is still missing...
One of my current favorite pictures posted by one of the family members on the unofficial Carl Vinson facebook page....
Hoping for a safe recovery of the 2nd pilot
As of the last update, the one pilot is still missing. The Carl Vinson family has been supporting one another in a way that is simply amazing! To see all of the different posts and comments on the facebook page(s) gives you a wonderful feeling. I even started talking to one of Curtis' co-worker's mom on facebook. It really is funny how things work out... Thanks to Mrs. Faulkner and her son, Rob/Bobby, I am able to share these two pictures with you!
This one is easy to find Curtis :)
Now we have to play "Where is Waldo" Spencer style...
Ella
Ella had a fever last week and had to stay home from daycare. Thankfully our WONDERFUL friends were able to watch her for the day so that I could save up my sick days since our friends moved back to Indiana :( We miss you Cammi and Orion!! Ella got to play with her boyfriend all day and they snuggled. Some things never change...these two pictures were taken almost a year a part.
Playing sure takes a lot out of you!
Snuggle Budies - The Beginning
Ella and her boyfriend, Orion, got lots of play time in. Cammi made sure to take some pictures of them playing together because they were just the most adorable tiny humans ;)
Ella also happened to figure out that she could get in Bela's cardboard castle...
Ella has beenstarting to walk more and more. She has been comfortably taking about 4-5 steps at a time but she still would prefer to crawl. Anytime the daycare director or one of the other ladies come in to observe, she stops walking. We keep joking that she knows they are looking for her to walk so they can move her to the pre-tot room. Currently the room record is 16 months before moving on to the next room...I think Ella has accepted the challenge but we will see. :-p Soon enough she will be the oldest one in her room. I really think that is all she is waiting for, to be the oldest and to claim the room as hers. I've been told she knows how to open the gate there and she is just a character! One of her new favorite things is to come tackle me when I'm laying on the ground playing with her, then crawl over me, and laugh like it is the funniest thing in the world and repeat from the other side.
Julie
My cold from a few weeks ago went away but the horrible cough I had with it has been lingering. It started to go away with my medicine but then I was getting horrible pain under my right ribs. After some co-workers convinced me to see a doctor, I scheduled an appointment. Apparently I was was coughing so hard that I caused some minor trauma to the cartilage between my ribs. Needless to say, I hope that I don't sneeze, cough, pretty much do any rapid movements unless I want to be doubled over in pain. I seriously never knew you could cough THIS hard. I did lose my voice for awhile because of it and some other fun stuff but you don't need to know all those details! ;) I thought I was on the mend but Ella was crawling over me and managed to get me in the throat, I went into a coughing fit, the pain got worse. So here I am, TRYING to rest, HAH!, and take care of my aching ribs or cartilage or whatever I messed up.
Otherwise, I am doing pretty well. School, Work, and Ella are all keeping me very busy which is good, but I need to re-learn my school year time management routine.
I've sent out Curtis' first and second care package (the first got returned to me so now he gets 2) and I have the next couple waiting to be sent at their appropriate times. I'm a little too prepared and have about 3 boxes ready to go with some basic snacks. My hope was to decorate and prepare now and it would distract me less later on.
As soon as I hear about the missing pilot, I will do my best to post. I will also try and get a video up of Ella walking. Thanks for following our interesting adventures!
The USS Carl Vinson publishes a newsletter called the Voice and Curtis is featured in it on page 17 for Quicksand Sailor of the Week. You can see him sitting in the Captain's Chair! It is also pretty neat to see all the things going on with the ship while they are out.
Curtis found out last night that he was Quicksand Sailor of the Week for the Airwing! He got to meet some of the higher ranking officers, sit in the captain's chair, and drive the ship! I am so excited and proud! They started to put some of the pictures up on the Carl Vinson Facebook page but I downloaded them to share here!
Quicksand
Sailor of the Week is someone who has gone above and beyond in their
normal day-to-day activities and has been nominated by their chain of
command for the award.
I cannot even put into words how excited I am for him to be getting this recognition for all of his hard work!
Curtis said in an email that driving the ship was harder than he expected. I think that might be what he is looking at in the top picture, but I could be wrong. Either way, CONGRATULATIONS CURTIS on this AWESOME achievement!! Less than a month down in the books and already kicking butt!! :)
There is a NEW address for Curtis that you will need to use. I won't go into the details, but someone screwed up and the original address did not work. I'm pretty sure I was the start of this dilemma when I got my first care package returned to me, but I could be wrong! ANYWAY....here is the address that they say should be used now. Fingers crossed everything gets there now...
AM3 Curtis Spencer
VFA-81
FPO AE 09501-5755
If you have any questions, please let me know and I will help to the best of my abilities!
As of 9AM PST, the USS Carl Vinson was leaving its home port of San Diego, CA. Curtis will be gone for roughly 10 months but of course, everything is liable to change depending on the needs.
When Chief Smith is being interviewed inside, if you look in the background, there will be a person carrying two boxes from the middle towards the left of the screen....that would be Curtis! Brief claim to fame ;)
We had to drop Curtis off at the base terminal on Wednesday morning which was definitely hard. The goodbye is the worst part of it all but we believe it will all be over before we know it. Here is a picture of Ella and Curtis the morning we had to bring him to base.
Getting ready for the 1st deployment
Back in July when Curtis' step-mom, Karen, and sister, Lynette, were visiting, we all drove up to Maryland to see Jim, Curtis' brother, and his family. Jim's family made the move from IL to Maryland where Jim will be stationed for the next 3-4 years. While we were there, Karen made sure to take a bunch of pictures and here is one of them... GREAT PICTURE Karen :-D
Family Picture July 24, 2014
If you would like to mail anything to Curtis, his mailing address on the boat is:
AM3 Curtis Spencer VFA-81 Unit 60149 FPO, AE 09504-6245
Mail is expected to take at least a month to arrive during non-holiday time. Boxes are also not always handled as carefully so expect items to get squished and warm, sorry! One thing that my local post officer worker told me was to ask for the game board flat rate shipping box OR use the large flat rate shipping box as they were the best deals for shipping for deployment. The game board box is the 5th of the flat rate shipping boxes that they apparently do not tell you about.
Overall, Ella and I are doing pretty well. Like I mentioned earlier, the goodbye was probably the hardest part and now it just feels like another one of Curtis' trips. Ella should be getting her Daddy Doll in the next couple of weeks, thanks to one of her birthday gifts from Great Aunt Sherry and Great Uncle Ed. Soon she will have a 12" size of Daddy to snuggle! The cat already knows Curtis is gone because she is testing her limits...this could get interesting!
I unfortunately got sick Sunday and am still recovering. I have a nice strained voice right now so if you have tried to call and I have not picked up, I am not ignoring you, I promise. I just have trouble talking and when I can talk, it doesn't last for long before I start coughing up a storm.
Ella has a little bit of the sniffles as well which I am sure is a combination of daycare and teething. Actually, I'm pretty sure our little petri dish is how I ended up sick... She still only has 2 teeth and is not quite walking yet. She has taken a step or two here and there but nothing major. Thankfully, Curtis got to see her take a few steps before she left. Her teachers and I agree that she probably could walk, she just doesn't want to. I think she knows that if she starts to walk she will have to transition to the next room and that would mean new teachers :( I know she LOVES all of her teachers and we love them. However, we will have to learn to love our new teachers one day too.
My Medical Transcription program is still going well but I need to get back on task. I worked ahead so that as we got ready for the last few days as a family I wouldn't have to worry about stepping away to do homework but now I have to get back in the groove :( As for actual school/work, I go back on Monday the 25th, booo! haha And the students return on September 2nd. I am still not used to starting after Labor Day out here. Our last day of school should be June 19th give or take.
For the holidays this year, Ella and I are planning on flying to IL and spending time with family like we did last year. I don't have the dates completely figured out yet but it will be sometime after December 19th. The tentative plan for Spring Break is to fly to Texas so we can see Great Grandma Ella, Great Aunt Sherry, and Great Uncle Ed!! :) We figured it would be smart to take some time and see people while we could and it would be nice to be around family when I have longer periods of time off from work. That is currently the only travel plans we have while Curtis is deployed but we are ALWAYS welcome to having visitor :)
Here are some pictures to enjoy of Ella!!
Virginia Beach Aquarium
Chillin'
Julie in the upper left, Curtis in the lower left and Ella on the right.
Hi everyone! We promise we have not forgotten about you! After Curtis got back from his last boat trip in June, we have been trying to spend as much time together as a family as possible. Curtis' 1st real deployment is coming up at the end of August for about 10 months.
Ella
Well, our little girl is now 1 year old! We had her party on July 6th and almost had to cancel it the morning of! Ella woke up with a high fever and you could tell she just did not feel well. It turned out that she had another ear infection :( She managed to perk up a little when she got a taste of her cake.
Overall, she has been doing very well! She is still army crawling to get around and will pull herself up to walk around while holding on to things. Ella currently has no interest in walking on her own. Every now and then she will stand on her own for a second or two but once you try and take your hands away, she either squats or plops down. She MIGHT be a trouble maker as she gets older ;) At the moment, she still only has 2 bottom teeth. She has been working on the top ones for months now and nothing to really show for it; they will come eventually. Both Ella's doctor, at her 12 month check up, and her daycare teacher think she is right on track with the exception of walking. We also found out that she will not have to go back to her pediatric surgeon doctor until next year unless she has potty training issues. Since Ella is not walking, she is still in the infant room at daycare. As soon as she starts to walk, they will start to transition her to the pre-tot room. We LOVE all of her teachers but we know she needs to go to the next room at some point.
10 Months Old
11 Months Old
1 Year Old!!
Happy Birthday!!
Cake!!
Ella is definitely a little water baby! She LOVES bathtime still and really enjoys the pool and the beach.
Julie
Julie started her medical transcription program around Memorial Day weekend and completed the first semester with an A. She started her second semester at the beginning of July and has been doing pretty well for the most part. Along with family time, school has been keeping her pretty busy. It has been a challenging program but not out of control. At the moment, Julie is in an ophthalmology section and will move onto otorhinolaryngology next. All of the sections have been rather fascinating and insightful. The second semester is expected to be finished by the end of September. One trouble Julie has had is with some of the dialects and accents.
School starts back up on August 25th with a week of meetings, prep, and no students. The students will be back to school on September 2nd. It is still strange to start so late out here and after Labor Day. Julie will be back in the library again as the assistant and is excited for what the new school year will bring.
Curtis
Curtis has been working on his officer packets for both the Intelligence and Medical programs. He just had his board for the Intelligence Program on Thursday and it seemed to go well. If Curtis is accepted into the Medical Program, he will go to school at Old Dominion University (ODU) and be enrolled in the School of Nursing. Fingers crossed for both programs as they would both be a GREAT opportunity.
As we mentioned, Curtis will deploy at the end of August and will be expected to be gone for 10 months. We cannot give any specific details due to security purposes but what we can tell you during deployment, we will. Curtis will have access to email and will be able to receive packages and mail while he is gone. If you would like to send him anything or email him, please let us know and we can get you the information.
Ella
Our little girl is growing up fast. Where has the
time gone? She continues to be a very happy baby. We are VERY lucky!
Ella only has her bottom 2 teeth but we think the top 2 are a work in
progress. She is doing things at her own pace and crawling all over the
place. Ella still prefers an army crawl but she crawls over obstacles
and has been slowly working on pulling up. She still doesn't seem to
realize that she has legs that will help her. All in due time! She has
started doing a cheese ball grin with her toothless top gums. Where
she learns some of these silly things, we don't know but we can't help
but smiles and laugh. Enjoy some pictures!!
Getting ready to launch a cat attack
Ella's gift to her teachers
Cheeseball grin...
& this is when she is sick
Mother's Day from Ella <3
10 Months Old!
Another 10 Month Picture :)
Fresh Air Tuckers You Out!!
Ella
had to go to the doctor yesterday because daycare sent her home for a
fever. Julie figured it was just from teething but it is a good thing
the doctor's office could fit them in! Ella has ear infections. One
ear is red and the other is apparently dark red. Since this is her
second one a month after a minor ear infection in one side, they had to
give a stronger antibiotic which does not smell as nice as bubble gum.
Poor Ella doesn't seem to enjoy the taste of this one. Hopefully this
stronger antibiotic will kick these infections butt! The daycare ladies
and the doctor didn't think she was actually sick from how she was
acting...normal, happy, and playing! We have a strong little girl.
Julie and Ella stayed home Wednesday and Ella pretty much took a coma.
They should both be going back to school Thursday! The cheeseball grin picture is the same day as the doctor and the stroller picture is from the girls' day off.
Teacher
appreciation week was last week and Ella got her teachers a little
treat ;) They each got a cup with some drink mix and most importantly,
mini reeses cups and kit kats! Of course there was also a little note saying how much we appreciated all of their hard work and dedication.
Julie is teaching Ella young and making sure she dresses up for all the
spirit days...you know your mom is in education when...
Julie
Guess
who is done with Saturday school days AND extended 20 minute days!
This girl! It is back to regular work days and the end of the school
year is quickly approaching. There have been quite a few updates in the
library and it is all looking great! Julie is so excited to be a part
of all of the changes taking place. It has been great for her to here
comments from teachers and students on how great it is looking and how
it is becoming more of a library and a welcoming place. Work has been
kind of crazy for Julie but she likes that it keeps her busy. A busy
library? Yes, that is how it is supposed to be. No, she doesn't sit
around and read all day...end of Julie's minor rant. :)
Julie
just finished up paperwork for enrolling in an online program for a
medical transcription certification. She will begin on May 27th with
orientation. She was able to enroll thanks to a MyCAA scholarship for military spouses. MyCAA is about helping military spouses get
certifications, licenses, and degrees that will better assist them when
they have to move. The great thing is that it is an online program that
typically takes a year but it can be done at your own pace. Some
students have finished the program in 8 months, it just depends. The
other good thing about it is that she can work from home, especially in
the summers to bring in extra money and in the event of moving away from
Virginia Beach, she won't have to worry as much about finding a job.
The long term goal is that Julie can use this to pay off her student
loans and work towards making her teaching certificate valid in Virginia
or wherever we end up. Julie is scared but excited at the same time.
Curtis
Curtis
just left for a boat detachment on Thursday. He will be gone for a
little over a month. This is the last work up(trip) they have before
their deployment at the end of August. Curtis has officially gone to
his shop in the squadron and is learning more about the F-18 Super
Hornets and how his rate (Aviation Structural Mechanic) does the
necessary repairs. So far his new shop is hard work but it is a good
change of pace. The other day, Curtis got to give the thumbs up to
launch an F-18 from the catapult! He is doing well on the boat and
continues to learn a lot. He is anxious to get back home to his girls
though.
Our Backyard
We are kind of proud
of our backyard improvements. It isn't much BUT it is a start. It used
to be mostly weeds but we are getting it cleaned up. Next step, some
grass seed. We added some stones for a walkway for when it rains and a
vegetable "garden" is a work in progress too. We have cherry tomato and
beefeater tomato plants, cucumbers, and red bell peppers. We are
excited and can't wait to see how everything turns out!
Better late than never...meant to post this a couple weeks ago :-/
Ella
Ella had her 9 month wellness appointment and she is catching up to her age group. She is 17 lbs. 15.5 oz. and 27.5" long. She's about 50% for her height to weight ratio. She actually fits in 9 month clothes but can also still pull off wearing her 6 month stuff! Overall, she is doing well despite a minor ear infection. She got her first taste of amoxicillin....mmmm bubblegum!
We also had a follow up with the pediatric surgeon to see how things continue to progress.
Waiting for the Pediatric Surgeon
Overall, healthy and happy! :) And apparently 18 lbs., 6 oz. at that appointment!
She has been army crawling more and getting higher up but still struggles to figure out she has legs that can help her. Silly girl! She is figuring out how to crawl over objects and is trying to figure out how to pull herself up. When we help her get into a standing position with her toys, she does a great job standing! Ella is trying new snack foods and it's quite fun to watch. She enjoys her various flavors of puffs, ritz, and saltine crackers, goldfish are hit and miss. She really enjoyed some mashed potatoes with seasoning and green beans these other night. We have tried mixed veggies but she wasn't too thrilled but we think she was just too sleepy to try something new at that time. Our next snack item will be graham crackers! Ella gets a LOT of variety at daycare with food options so testing them out at home first is our little adventure for the time being. We are having a lot of fun watching her experience new textures and flavors. Ella has also been participating in craft time at daycare and is loving every minute of it. Apparently she loves it so much that she can't wait for her teachers and tries to start on her own! Her artwork is on display outside of her room and it's always a surprise to see what will be up next. We absolutely love daycare and our wonderful teachers! Since April is the month of the military child, there have been dress up days and special activities for the kids and one Friday was red, white, and blue day and the children had a parade. We put Ella in her adorable sailor dress and we were told that she was waving away during the parade! She's too stinkin' cute sometimes that we predict a lot trouble in the future!
Julie
Julie has been on spring break since last Friday and is enjoying not having to set an alarm. However, Ella now becomes that alarm instead. She did have to wake up early 2 days for doctor appointments but at least those are out of the way and done. The first doctor, hand surgeon, ruled out carpal tunnel on her right wrist and said it was inflammation...a follow up will happen after she's no longer nursing Ella. That appointment was a bit strange... The next day Julie saw another orthopedic doctor for her heel. That appointment was a LOT better and very informative. She has a combination of plantar fasciitis and tendinitis/falling top arch. Did you know that you have 3 arches in your foot? The plan for the heel/foot pain is hopefully physical therapy if the schedules can cooperate, new arch supports, stretches, and a night sock to stretch the fascia. The wrist, basically no plan of action other than Motrin, wrist brace, and follow up in about 3 months.
Curtis
Curtis was kept back from Fallon, NV and has had a lighter work schedule which has been amazing for everyone. He has been able to take leave to coincide with Julie's spring break :) and we all have been enjoying the extra time together. Curtis will be going on the next trip which will be around May to mid June to go back out onto the boat. This will be one of the longer trips, especially on the boat before deployment happens at the end of August. He is still waiting on his results from his E-5 advancement exam but probably will not hear anything until May/June.
We THOUGHT we were going to be back on track with posting but we are easily distracted these days...okay, more so we are taking full advantage of everyone being under the same roof and enjoying all our time together before the next trip. We apologize but we know many of you will also understand so thank you!
Ella
She is a growing little girl. She is 8 months! One of her current favorite toys are her keys and the exersaucer. We have our first toy fatality :( One of the pieces of the exersaucer is attached by ribbon and she pulled it off this past weekend. Everything else still works though! There is always something that she does that is cracking us up whether it is a face, movement, or reaction. She has a few favorite songs thanks to daycare. What Does the Fox Say?, Wanna Build a Snowman, and Let It Go. Ella now claps and is getting a little more noise from it every day. She started clapping with Wanna Build a Snowman at daycare and now does it for a lot of things at home. This past weekend was VERY nice out and we went on a walk and tried out the swings for the first time! Ella was a pro and loved it. She has been healthy and doing well. She is working on her first set of teeth but they are the top ones! You can feel them every now and then but so far, nothing. False alarm, her two bottom teeth have broken through! We can't believe it! She also started trying purée meat. She wasn't a huge fan of the chicken but when mixed with squash it was better! :) We also have an army crawler! Her major incentives to crawl are the cat and Julie's phone.
Ella's Valentines for her Teachers
Ella's 1st Artwork!
Cheeeese!
I wrap myself up in my blanket like Mom
Decked out in our camo!
Excited about my seahorse!
Daddy's nose is for chewing
1st Time Swinging!
Julie
Add 2 more "snow days" to Julie's make-up days :( That is a total of 7 this year. There are 2 more Saturday schools that Julie has to work at the moment and she has almost made up her 2 days on her own time...less than 3 hours to go! We won't even get into that because it gets kind of confusing. To make up for these most current "snow days" they will be adding on 20 minutes to the school day starting March 31 until May 8th. Spring Break is during that time, April 14th - 18th which won't be that bad but too bad that wasn't the original solution! In the end, Julie is thankful to have a job, no matter how difficult it may be at times to understand the decisions that have been made.
Julie is still waiting to see the Drs for her heel and her wrist. She was able to schedule the appointments for Spring Break to avoid missing any other work, especially after her initial appointment for her heel got cancelled and she didn't find out until she got to the appointment. And THEN her wrist appointment was scheduled for the wrong thing but thankfully she found that out before it was too late. Kind of a mess but finally back on track! The possible plantar fasciitis and carpal tunnel have gotten better thanks to testing at school and being able to rest it but neither are completely gone. Better safe than sorry to get them both checked out!
She is still enjoying her fitbit and the challenge to get a minimum of 5,000 steps a day! The "club" at school has been a huge help in the motivation department. Julie has also been learning some new things at school thanks to her professional learning classes she has been signing up for and coworkers that help her with computer issues. The library got over 200 new books last week and Julie and her head librarian have been busy putting genre stickers and series numbers on the books! Their current big project is putting genre stickers on ALL of the fiction books to hopefully increase circulation. This project has probably been in the works for at least a month and they are only on the Fs. AND on top of it, Julie has been shifting the collection! It has been a challenge but in the long run it will be worth it! Slowly working on making the library a more user friendly and accessible space! She will try and take pictures soon! They keep kicking themselves for not having taken before pictures to show the progress :( Next up...shifting the nonfiction! Eep! The Kindle Book Club has been a hit! Actually...the website Julie helped make has been great too! Check it out! She is VERY proud of it :)
Curtis
Curtis just found out that he was not picked up for the Intel Officer's Program. There were 96 candidates and only 4 were selected. He also took the advancement exam for E-5 last week. He won't know those results for some time but we are all hopeful and keeping our fingers crossed. Curtis was supposed to be going back to Fallon, Nevada in a couple days but has been selected to stay back in Virginia Beach instead. We are all excited, even if it means he won't be making a little extra money because of the trip. We greatly appreciate the extra family time we will get!
A local news station did a brief report on the squadron's deployment from Virginia Beach and you can see it here...
