Army Household6

Well last night our family attended the Military Family Appreciation Dinner at Walter Reed Med. Center (WRAMC). It is part of the a week long celebration celebrating Army families at Walter Reed and all over.

We were nominated as an Exceptional Military Family For Headquarters Company,  WRAMC Brigade by one of SGT Daddy’s friends, SGT Z. I’m was surprised that we were nominated as I know there are lots of other awesome Army families there in Headquarters Company. SGT Daddy and I were completely blown away that is was our family that received the honor. I

It was a wonderful event, very laid back for the Army LOL (lots of kids where there too) and the food was awesome. Even Becca ate the food and she’s super PICKY! We were seated with the several members of the Brigade Command Team, including the Brigade Commander COL Roberts, so I was a bit nervous that my kids were going to act up like little bratty kids. They did great and listened really well. I’m really very proud of them.  : )

The Army photographer took some pictures of us and I’ll be posting them as soon as I get them. While we were there, our whole family were also interviewed by the Pentagon channel during the event which was very cool. (I don’t have the link to video on the web yet but I’ll post it just as soon I do)

I thought that girls would be nervous by the camera but they LOVED it!  As soon as the camera and the lights went on, they were very chatty and interacted with the reporter from the Pentagon channel. They are such New Media Kids… wonder where they get it from?? As soon as the camera went off, they went back to being shy. (I wonder if we should start a video podcast for them?? hmmm )

After everything was over, the USO and Army MWR people passed out all our cool schwag! We got TONS of stuff like backpacks, stuffed animals for the kids, phone cards, t-shirts and even a $50 gift card to use at the PX. The thing I’m most excited was that I got our family was given a Commander’s coin.  : )

It was an awesome way to end an already wonderful day!

I know the election is over and we have a new president-elect, but I just came across the video (Hat tip : Spouse Buzz ) of the teacher talking about the elections, Obama and McCain. I understand talking to children about the political process and teaching them how it all works. I believe in teaching them all about the process. Heck, we did this with our own kids and had an indept conversation on the elections, why it was important to vote,etc. I am completely in favor of a “mock election” for them to cast their vote and to have an open, generic discussion about . I think it can be done in a very neutral, benign way.

This however is an example of WHAT NOT TO DO

The Cumberland school district in Fayetteville, NC (where this occured) has issued a written statement on their website as the Superintendent issued this video statement via YouTube

I’m thoroughly infuriated by this as a military parent! I can’t imagine what those kids were thinking and feeling especially that one girl whose father was a US Soldier. Military life can sometimes be hard enough and then you have to endure this at school! There was no need at all to bring up that point especially in the manner that the teacher was saying it.

This is just one more thing to add to the “pro ” pile for homeschooling both of our children next academic year. We were planning to homeschool our oldest due to some special needs and anxiety issues but I’m seriously considering both kids now.

I’ll be posting updates as we come across them… Let’s hear your thoughts, opinions,etc.

Ah its FINALLY Monday morning! Yes I know usually I’m dreading Mondays but after the full weekend we’ve had you would be glad it was Monday too!  : )

Halloween arrived with the usual chaotic mess.. kids ready to leave, parents weren’t.  : ) I guess I”m a “mean mommy” because I actually expected my kids to eat before they left the house. My kids didn’t agree with that philosophy so much. Any way, we had fun and the kids got way more candy than they should have!

The biggest hit of the night was the new game we bought for the Xbox 360… Disney’s Sing It! Now we’ve had both Rockband and Guitar Hero but this one was a lot of fun for the kids! Even some of the neighborhood adults got into the fun. It was funny seeing kids and adults rocking out to High School Musical, Hannah Montana & Camp Rock songs! : ) (video coming soon… pics can be seen here )

On Saturday night , we finally had Beck’s birthday party.. it was re-scheduled due to illness. It was a slumber party no less.  We ended up having about 5 kids here. (which was fine with SGT Daddy) We did crafts, played more Disney’s Sing It! (of course) and did makeovers.

Yes I was brave and let a bunch of 7 year olds do my makeover. (what I don’t do for my kids) It wasn’t too bad and I actually came out alive and unharmed ; ) The girls had a great time and finally “passed out” around midnight.

Apparently there was too much “partying” going on, because Beck was sick the next morning. So we just hung out at home pretty much all day and did nothing. Well , we did play Sing It! for a bit . I think I’m on my way to being addicted to that game… I LOVE IT! : )

Most of the weekend was a fun time except for Saturday afternoon when I found out some sad news about some of my extended family members (mother’s side) concerning alcohol and drugs. Prayers for them would be greatly appreciated.

I can’t believe we have 3 weeks to go and then we are Colorado-bound.. I’m excited yet nervous at the same time. Do any of you ever feel that way? I want to know how all of you deal with that.Leave a comment below and share your “tips”

Happy Halloween to all! Can you believe it’s Halloween already? Wow time is just flying by! We will be packing up our stuff in just 3 short weeks! Dan starts out-processing on Monday. WOOHOO!

We have a lot of cool upcoming stuff here on Army Household6 :

Operation HASMO (Help a Service Member Out) has its own home now, complete with blog. Check it out: http://www.helpaservicememberout.org .

A really cool contest to celebrate Veteran’s Day and to win the book, Mrs Lieutenant : A Sharon Gold novel . The contest details will start on Monday so make sure to check it out. I’ll even have an interview that I did with the author, Phyllis Zimbler Miller.

Speaking of Veterans, did you know that November is Warrior Care Month? So, I’ll have a series of posts in November about our veterans, celebrating Veterans Day and taking care of our veterans and wounded warriors. I might even had a video interview or two with some special guests!  : )

WHEW! All that before we pack up and leave! Of course, during our “adventure” across the midwestern plains to Colorado, I’ll be blogging and Twittering our adventures (and probably misadventures as well)  : )

Have a fun and safe night tonight and don’t eat too much candy! : )

Bryan (@thegrok ) and Chris (@chrisbrogan) are using social media to have some fun on Halloween and raise some money at the same time.

You can follow the rules HERE

The best part is that TOP 3 Companies voted on in the comments get the money that is donated! There are a lot of great organizations dedicated to helping our troops and their families like Homes for Our Troops, Soldiers’ Angels, Project ValourIT and many many more.

So get to it!

(Hat tip : @familyofavet)

DId you know that AUSA has a Free holiday book for military kids??

The name of the book is It’s a Family Thanksgiving! A Celebration of an American Tradition for Children and Their Families. The distrubution of the book is being sponsored by Raytheon. The book is being sponsored by Raytheon in partnership with AUSA’s Family Programs and Harmony Hearth.

If you’d like to get one, all you have to do is send an email  to familyprograms@ausa.org with your mailing address. First come, first served. Only 2 copies per request.

You can find more information at AUSA’s Family Programs website

It’s been an intense, crazy-busy couple of days around here but in a good way! I have to say that I’m so proud of EVERYONE for jumping into action when it counted! Your cards, letters of encouragement,etc are definitely doing the trick and lifting Hunter’s spirits.!

I also wanted to mention that Hunter will be receiving a visit this weekend from actor Gary Sinise, whose making a trip up to the VA Hospital to visit with some of the guys at the VA hospital and Hunter is one of those lucky ones! : )

I’ll continue to be working on this directly with with Hunter’s foundation, Hearts for Hunter. The website is under construction right now and will be ready to go on Monday, October 27th!

All future updates about Hunter, his foundation and his progress will be over there… so head on over and check it out.

The biggest HAT TIP goes to 1SG Brian Disque! Brian made sure that one of his soldiers got the help and support that he needed by letting the blogosphere know about Hunter’s situation. Brian certainly is a shining example of what a 1SG should be!

I AM A FIRST SERGEANT
My job is people — Every One is My Business.
I dedicate my time and energy to their needs;
their health, morale, discipline, and welfare.
I grow in strength by strengthening my people.
My job is done in faith; my people build faith.
My job is people –EVERY ONE IS MY BUSINESS.

- US Army First Sergeant (1SG) Creed

Kudos to ParentsZone, Matt at BlackFive, Milblogs, Michelle Malkin, Some Soldiers Mom, Liberal Army Wife, Mark Levinfan.com, Calistalee , Jihad Gene, NiceDoggie.net, and Greyhawk and many many more! Also a big thank you to everyone who emailed others to let them know about it! You guys picked up Hunter’s story as ran with it! I’m so proud to be part of this awesome blogging community and our military family!

Also, thanks to the inspiration of Hunter’s story, I recently started a list called HASMO (Help a Service Member Out). It is an email list comprised of Rapid Response Team Members to be able to help out soldiers like Hunter and many others. It will also be available to help out service member’s immediate families as well.

HASMO already have some things in the works for other service members that you can help. We’ll be able to tell you more next week about it all. You can sign up for it on the left side of the page and its a free service!

So, thanks so much and keep up the great work for all the other soldiers, airmen, coasties, sailors and marines as well as their families! Also if anyone would like to help out with  HASMO, please email me at tammy.munson at gmail dot com

Hooah!
Tammy

 When I first talked to Nicole at Febreze about this, I was super excited not just because it was helping out our deployed men and women but because it was Febreze itself! We LOVE Febreze in our house, especially with stinky Army gear, my cigarette-smoking hubby (he smokes outside AND yes I just did tell the WORLD that you do that), as well our 2 big dogs, Ranger & Jack.

Febreze even sent us our own bottle of Febreze to go  to review…  its works great and smells even better ! The best part about the To Go Size is that it is travel ready and TSA-compliant! 

In case you’re wondering, YES– our family is just like the commercials you see where the entire family is smelling the Febreze!  (I’ll try to get some video of that one of these days) 

So here are the details… as promised!

Febreze has joined forces with Family Dollar stores nationwide to send bottles of Febreze To Go to deployed troops!  The donation — a direct response to military requests — will eliminate odors on military gear and uniforms and bring the troops a refreshing piece of home.

So how can you help the effort?

For every Febreze item purchased  at Family Dollar stores from now through Veteran’s Day - November 11, 2008 - Febreze and Family Dollar will send one 2.8 ounce bottle of Febreze To Go to a deployed servicemember for every Febreze item purchased. They also partnered with Operation Gratitude to facilitate distribution to deployed military servicemembers. 

For a listing of your nearest Family Dollar stores click here 

Sorry for the delay …

Most of the 2nd day of AUSA i spent with LAW of Parent Zone. We started off the day attending another Family Forum that mainly focused on the Army’s National Guard and Reserve component.

It was really interesting to see all the National Guard/Reserve families that were there. Since this forum mainly focused on them, there was a multude of information and resources available for them. General and Mrs Stultz talked a great deal about the how the citizen soldier see that their community if partnering with the Army and that gives them some comfort.

They also discussed how some soldiers and families were falling thru the cracks. It was also acknowledge how they don’t follow “family readiness” and the Army realizes that they need too.

The forum talked about “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program which was started by Minnesota National Guard after they realized things were lacking for the Reserve and National Guard soldiers after they came home as compared to the Active component.

Secretary Geren signed an order earlier this year that states spouses, children and parents of single soldiers allowed to attend re-integration programs at the Army’s expense to better prepare families to support  their soldiers when they do come home. They can anticipate additional training for the individual with a multitude of resources at their disposal.

During this family forum, they also talked a great deal about the Community Covenant. Basically, its the engagement of our communities with the Army .. to provide support for our soldiers within their communities.You can find out more information about it at Communitycovenant.army.mil It has lots of information about ways for community to support the military  and  best practices at state and local level.

After this, LAW and I headed down to the Expo floor to check out all of the vendors in the Family section of the expo. There were all kinds of awesome resources for families. One in particular, was Operation Life Transformed which is an organization that provides education and resources to our war wounded caregivers and military spouses through private and corporate entities.

After lunch with LAW, I headed back to Blogger’s Row to hang out for a bit. I eventually ran into my new media friend, Jim Long and got to chat with him for a brief minute before Gen Petraeus’ speech.

Gen Petraeus was quite funny! He was even cracking Chuck Norris jokes!  : ) Gen Petraeus talked all about the great work that soldiers are doing in Iraq , what it takes to sustain what they currently have, etc. It was truly inspring to hear that we are doing good and making a difference in the lives of the Iraqi people.

I ended up not attending Day 3 as I had some client things that needed to be taken care. Believe me I’d rather have been at AUSA!

I’m definitely looking forward to attending next year’s event! I highly recommend it if you can make the trip. Thanks Andi for give me the opportunity to attend!

I was recently interviewed by Debba Haupert of Girlfriendology about being Household6 and our military girlfriend relationships.I had so much doing the interview and I lived being interviewed for a change! : )  Debba has a ton of great information over there all about our girlfriends… so make sure to stop by her site!  : ) 

You can listen to it at  http://girlfriendology.com/1363/podcast-72-girlfriendology-interviews-tammy-munson/ or click the media player below.

PS. Also I’m going to be on Spouse Buzz Radio tonight (October 9) at 9pm ET talking about my newest JV project, Parent Zone . I’ll be joined by LAW (Parent Zone founder) and Some Soldier’s mom (Military Parent Blogger of the Year) So make sure that you tune in for that!