Over Spending

Now that we have to go and purchase a new vehicle things just seem to be more expensive. How is it that you can not find a decent car for a decent price that wont raise your insurance up 100.00 every month. Maybe it is the fact that Cody wants certain cars that are fast and have parts on them so they are more to insure, what ever happened to a good reliable family car and then a project car? How come everything has to be fast and have aftermarket parts and things like that. I might be the only one but I want something factory that gets good gas mileage that I dont have to worry about things getting stolen from it....
However that case may be, we can not agree/find a car that we are both willing to purchase and pay for. Everyone has a budget on what they can and cant afford, I dont feel comfortable outside of that budget even though we both work full time I want to be able to survive on one income. Call me crazy but with us being military we can always just get moved when ever and then we wont have that 2nd income coming in and then how do you afford bills? I do not know how some families feel that it is ok to run up credit cards and max out loans just to live a "certain" lifestyle. Being a military wife I have found that the army has amazing programs (like the commissary) that offer you things at a cheaper rate or a tax free rate. Some of the specialty shops do cost more then others but thats a way of life. I cant justify buying the same gallon of milk from a grocery store for 4.00 a gallon when I can get it at the commissary for 2.05 a gallon (or less). I see it all the time through friends or acquaintances who complain about bills and have to go and splurge everything on payday because thats when the have the money for groceries for 2 weeks and they go out to eat all weekend and come the next week they have nothing in the account or pantry because they cant budget money..
It has taken me a lot of years and a very difficult financial period to be wise and not overspend what you make. Hopefully my family will continue to keep striving and saving and staying on budget for a while. My goal is to have at least 6 months of living expenses in a separate account for emergencies... Wish me luck!

Anyways thats my rant as far as not being smart with money and over spending.... This weekend we will be cracking down on finding a car that is right for our family and for Cody and our budget.... I can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst....

Have a blessed Friday! Enjoy your weekend

What a Wonderful Weekend

Now that Christmas has come and gone it is time to relax, when are all out hustling and bustling for gifts and traveling to our loved ones homes we sometimes forget to relax and remember what the holiday season is all about. I know that for us this Christmas was hectic and bitter sweet.
Not only did they find Cody's car on Friday but it was completely stripped of all parts and so now we have to find out what is best for our family, to pay for something out right or to buy newer and have payments.... Only time will tell for that.
Christmas day in our house was a crazy one, with an almost 2 year old set in her ways about playing with the first gift that she got (her HotWheels in her stocking) and really not wanting anything else to do with opening presents and then the clean up and put away of all the toys, only to turn around and start on dinner.... We found that Christmas really didnt feel like Christmas. This was our first one on our own with no family close by. It was very bitter sweet just spending time as a family of 3 instead of hustling between in-laws and brothers and sisters and niece's, we truly missed our crazy and hectic families.
We hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas, no matter how near or far from family you are always remember to breath and relax. We are now on to planning our Daughters 2nd Birthday that is in a week and a half and making sure that that becomes a special day all in its own since its so close to Christmas.
Have a blessed day and always remember to be thankful for who you have in your lives and the many things that you have been blessed with.

Our Christmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family                                                                                                                                                                2012

That time of year is finally here that we get to send our love and Holiday cheer. This year has been extremely fun filled and action packed. We have moved from Arizona to Fort Eustis, Virginia, we live off post in a wonderful Towne home and are enjoying the weather minus the humidity some days. We will start with the only man in our family.

Cody turned 22 this year and graduated AIT for the army the beginning of February and was stationed at Fort Eustis, Virginia. For those who do not know his job (MOS) is 91E, he is an allied trade specialist for the Army. To quote him “he hates the Army but he likes his job, it would be a lot better if he didn’t have to wake up so early for P.T every morning”. He did get his driver’s license back and purchased 95 Acura Integra and was hoping to make it his project care one day, however those plans changed when someone decided to steal his car and military equipment 2 weeks before Christmas. He is looking forward to seeing what car he will get be able to get next and hoping for the return of his stolen car.

Jessica turned 24 this year and moved from Arizona to Virginia to be with Cody and Kaiya and loves it. It started out a little rough and has had to have surgery on her finger from trying to cut a tag off of a wire Wisk so she probably shouldn’t attempt to make him breakfast anymore. It was a good thing her mom was still in town to help out with Kaiya. She is currently working full time and loves every minute of it. She is the Administrative Assistant for a Land Survey Company in York County and has learned so much about property and building laws and permits, needless to say she doesn’t want to build a house anytime soon. She has also found a new hobby and love for wreath making. Our household will soon have one for every season (yes she gets 99% of her ideas from pinterest).

Kaiya turned 1 this past January, every day is a new learning day for her. She has learned how to say a few words but she really uses her vocabulary around other people. She still whines and complains to mom and dad to get what she needs/wants. She has been going to a baby sitters for the past couples of months and has recently started a full blown child development center on post. Her most favorite word is no, she also thinks that she gets to discipline the dog (which doesn’t go over very well). Kaiya’s most visited spot in the house is her time out spot, she is very active and loves to play. We call her our little monkey. She is extremely opinionated and she knows what she wants when she wants it. I would like to say that her favorite color is pink just like her moms, however she loves all colors. Kaiya does have a shoe faddish; she will wear anyone’s shoes and loves to put them all over the house. For Halloween Kaiya dressed up as a little girl with a tutu and wings and glittery shoes (she hated any costume that we would put on her).

Ellie turned 3 this past year and has been working on eating less and losing weight. She enjoys barking at all of our neighbors on her walks and she will even go outside without a leash on and stay semi close (most of the time).

Through all of the ups and downs of this past year we are blessed to have our health, love for each other and the laughter of our daughter. It has not been easy to be away from our friends and family and officially on our own, but we are loving the new experience. We have wonderful friends here in Virginia that we have started traditions with and have loved every minute of it. We are blessed for the love and support of our families and friends all around the U.S. and wish we could spend this wonderful season with all of you.

Lastly we want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and we want to thank all of you for your friendship, love and support through this past year. We cant wait to see what next year is in store for all of you.

Happy Holidays,

Love The Schlotfelds,

Cody, Jessica, Kaiya and Ellie

Christmas Packages

As the holidays are coming closer and closer we have been receiving more and more packages from our friends and family. I have to say that our daughter is one spoiled lucky little girl, and santa hasnt even come and she has over 60 gifts... Not to mention that she will turn around and have her birthday 2 weeks later. We are extremely grateful for our friends and family and the love and support they give/show to us. We may not all always get along but in the end we love each other and the way Kaiya is treated is the best. She is truly a lucky little girl and will always have these wonderful memories for the rest of her life...

Happy Holidays!

Theft and a whole lot more

Well to those who know already know that one of our cars was stolen last Thursday night/Friday morning... It is truly a shame that people feel like they need to take from others. Not only did they steal a mode of transportation but also a full line of Military Equipment, Performance Vehicle parts and many more personal items.... Happy Holidays to the schlotfelds, over $10,000.00 dollars including the car.
I am saddened because we worked hard for what we had and we have done everything we could to prevent it from happening, it also saddens me because the person who stole the car will now have it weighing on them that they stole from someone who protects our country for a living.... I truly hope in the end they get what they deserve.. We are strong and will rise above this one way or another.

One Fast Weekend

This weekend went by extremely too fast. First things first. Cody came home from the field on Friday (which was nice to have another set of helping hands). Saturday was a full day, we took Kaiya to see Santa, she was excited until it came time to sit on his lap, so we ended up doing a family photo with Santa. I would have to say it is not all that bad of a picture for mall quality. After that we did a little shopping while Ellie was having a "Spa" day at petsmart. After about 4 hours and $200.00 later we were finally on our way home to finish up laundry and have our friends over for a night of Christmas Cookie decorating, drink and video games. It was a good night. We are truly blessed to have such great friends here in VA.   (No these are not our cookies)
Sunday seemed like a blur to us, we would blink and an hour would fly by. Luckily we got to spend the majority of it at home hanging out and having fun, cleaning and getting ready for our Monday.... 

We hope everyone has as good of a weekend as we did.
**Happy Holidays**

TGIF!!!!!

This week has been extremely rough, between Cody  being in the field, Kaiya not truly feeling well and Jessica having to be mom and all of the other titles (Maid, Cook, Taxi, Nurse, ect...), I would say we are ready for the weekend.

Kaiya decided that Midnight was a good time to start throwing up last night, we officially have no clean bedding or towels in our entire house (until I started to throw loads in after each episode). She started in her bed and so that went int to the washer, she got a bath, brushed her teeth, got some water and into mommy's bed she went. She fell asleep for roughly 30 mins  to only throw up all over her blanket in mommy's bed. So here went the routine again, changed the laundry, made her bed, started another load of towels and her blanket (thanking her for not getting it all over mommy's bed)... To only go back up stairs to lay down and her throw up all over mommy and daddy's bedding.... Oh joy. So now we are on her 3rd pair of pajamas (because she wanted them on) all of our bedding and almost all of our towels and mommy has had to change clothes each time... So as I start to take our bedding off she decides it was time to puke all over the carpet on her way to the bathroom... I had no idea that she could retain so much in her stomach. At this point it was a wise decision to just put in her the bath tub with a small towel and let her throw up in there. Its an easier clean up. We start to reach 3 am and have piles of dirty laundry next to the washer and piles of clean laundry on the couch. I finally give her a mint and some sprite to see if she can keep that down and asleep we went with the trash can next to us with a towel underneath us and the trash can. We got about 2 hours of sleep (on the couch) and then she threw that up, being the mom that I am I called the ER and they said if she doesn't have a fever or diarrhea it must be something she has eaten, and knowing that it cant be anything too crazy since she is currently on antibiotics for a double ear infection they advised to me that she was still good to go to school as long as she can eat something and hold it down for 2 hours.

So less then a few hours of sleep and a lot of laundry later, she was showered, dressed, fed and off to school (since mommy cant miss work and daddy is in the field). I contacted Cody and he cant leave the field to be at home with her. I did let school know what happened and they its normal, since she didnt have a fever she can be there and if she continues to throw up they will call me. Thankfully as of now, no phone calls or messages from them, and Kaiya was able to hold down Goldfish, Banana and Sprite after 5 this morning.

Friday has been well awaited for by this family. We will all be together again tonight and can go to bed early in our clean beds hopefully with no puking.

Oh the wonderful things my child does

I have to say that last night was adventure for us. While Cody has been out in the field this week Jessica has been busy at home with Kaiya and Ellie. While bringing in the trash from the curb Kaiya decided that she was going to take a kitchen chair and push it next to the counter, climb on top of it and grab a Hot Pink Pen off of the counter and make mommy a very pretty picture on ever couch cushion of her tan leather sectional. Needless to say when mommy walked through the door Kaiya was very proud and kept saying pretty while mommy freaked out and grabbed every imaginable cleaning product and special sponge possible to get it off of the couch... Good thing for Grandma's who have cleaning books with neat little tricks and tips on how to get almost everything imaginable out of what ever material... FYI Hairspray works wonder on in and leather (it will discolor the leather a little bit, but you wont have ink in your couch). A few minutes of coloring for Kaiya turned into 30 mins of cleaning for mommy. I am thankful for hairspray and leather cleaner and conditioner.
+  = no more pink ink on my couch!


While having a conversation with my mother she mentioned all the wonderful things that her kids loved to do when she wasnt looking to name a few:
coloring with crayon on the walls, cutting each others hair with kitchen scissors, throwing polo balls at each others faces and having to get stitches, running, screaming, fighting and just straight up not listening... the list went on and on.

I cringe at the thought of what she might do next, but hopefully I will be prepared to clean it up or be able to remove what ever she does to what ever surface she decides to do it on.

Our Weekend

This weekend has been one of those crazy calm weekends for us. Besides from the normal trip to the commissary and doing a little Christmas shopping things went as usual. Laundry, cleaning the house and hanging out and the amazing smell of White Bean Chicken Chili cooking in the crock pot with some corn bread in the oven, by far one of the most amazing dinners I have made. However we did get to watch our friends super cute baby and she was just a doll. Kaiya loved having her there, she wanted to hold her and play with her.

Sunday is our wind down day, also dooms day for Cody. He had to get all of his bags packed to go to the "field"... He has to be gone for a whole week just camping out and playing army (well that is what Jessica calls it). We are hoping that since he will only be at Fort Eustis (where he is stationed) he will get to come home to sleep and see his family. Jessica had a fun day crafting on Sunday. She made the Christmas wreath to go on the outside of the door of our house. Kaiya was very helpful in handing mommy tulle. Our next project is making the inside wreath and getting a star for the tree.


Next weekend should be fun, we have plans to go through a drive through light display at a local park near us and to take Kaiya to go and see Santa. She is finally at the age where she kinda understands what is going on. Every time we go to the mall we tell her look there is Santa and she gets the HUGE grin on her face. We were at Sams Club a few weeks ago and she kept staring at this man, he said hi to her and said are you going to come and visit me soon? She looked so confused, he looks just like Santa and his wife looked like Mrs. Clause (we think they play them during the holiday season because he acted just like it). Kaiya was smitten by him and his wife and ever since has had a thing with seeing Santa. Hopefully she doesnt cry when we go take her to sit on his lap. She is going to have an extra special Christmas this year, besides all of her presents and multiple days of opening them, it is our first Christmas alone as a family. Jessica is excited to cook her first Christmas dinner and have fun just hanging out all day watching Kaiya play with her new toys, Cody will probably be having a good time not having to work and h will probably have a few beers in him throughout the day. LOL

*Tis the season to be Jolly*