military kids - Mission: Milspouse

Spring Break Spirit Week: Enjoying Life in the Midst of Uncertainty

by Retired Blogger | Mar 31, 2020 | Blog, Experience, Household 6, Military Life

I live with my family in Northern Italy, essentially ground zero for the Coronavirus. I’m not going to lie—some days are hard—but we are adamant about finding the joys and the silver linings all around us. We are going into our fifth week of schooling from home and each week, while the “schooling” portion of it gets progressively easier to navigate, the restrictions and mandates by the Italian government get harder and harder. We are quarantined, and if I am honest, this is not how I planned to spend our final months in Europe.

DoDEA Europe hasn’t even gotten to Spring Break yet—we have two more weeks before we dive headfirst into staring at each other without the distraction, continuity, and structure of school. As I laid in bed last night after Italy imposed more necessary and important restrictions, I tossed and turned worrying about all the things I know I can’t control. I started fretting about how we are going to amuse two children for 10 days of Spring Break. I mean, there are only so many movies, Netflix, board games, and books that we can tolerate before we pull our hair out. But then suddenly, I was inspired!

Ready? Over Spring Break we are going to have Spirit Week!

Investing in our Military Kids

by Sara Jane Arnett | Mar 4, 2020 | Blog, Experience, Household 6, Military Life

With April right around the corner, my community has an amazing team working to make sure that the Month of the Military Child will be off the chain for our military kids. From a school ceremony on Purple Up Day (possibly with special guest, South Carolina’s Governor), to a military children’s author reading at our local Books on Broad bookstore and Camden Public Library, to the Camden City Council honoring our military children at their meeting while reading a signed proclamation supporting Month of the Military Child, to Camden Elementary’s entire school community participating in a Spirit Week leading up to Purple Up Day—I’d say the time, energy, and investment of love in highlighting our military children will be a month to remember.

Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts?

by Retired Blogger | Mar 1, 2020 | Blog, Experience, Household 6, Military Life

Once upon a time I was a Girl Scout leader for my older daughter’s troop, and our troop lasted a solid two years. My daughter bridged from being a Brownie to becoming a Junior within that time-frame. Soon I had 20 girls on my roster, so I added a co-leader who was the best helper, assistant, and cheerleader I could hope for. Because our troop was highly sought after, we also had a waitlist of girls wanting to join, but we were never able to accommodate them—my girls never left. Our Troop Cookie Coordinator was phenomenal. She ordered a bunch of cookies, dispersed them once, we sold them all, and then we returned our money by the deadline.

That was it.

Today, Cookie Season has evolved into a different beast entirely. A lot has changed since 2003. Now we have an app, take plastic, offer direct shipment, order cases before taking a single personal order, and work booth after booth, weekend after weekend. Sadly, many volunteers quit during or because of Cookie Season.

Financial Literacy for Kids in 3 Simple Lessons

by M:M Command Team | Feb 28, 2020 | Blog, Financial Planning, Partner Post

As parents, one of the most important things we can do for our children is to build financial literacy. After all, if we’re not careful, time can slip away and our children will enter adulthood with no experience managing their own finances.

Use the following lessons as a guide for teaching your children basic financial principles that will help them as they grow into adulthood.

Hair Love for My Little Lady

by Retired Blogger | Feb 27, 2020 | Blog, Experience, Household 6

I knew I was watching something special when I saw the 2020 Oscar-winning Animated Short Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver. It is a beautiful short film that shows an African American father struggling to figure out how to do his daughter Zuri’s hair.

Full disclosure: I am very susceptible to cinematic crying. This seven-minute film has me on the brink of tears every time I watch it. It is not just the showcasing of family love. Nor is it just the precious moment between Zuri and her mother. There is something powerful about the message of Zuri loving her beautiful hair—for all of its fierceness and curliness.

AWTR Show #718: Vet Tix

by M:M Command Team | Feb 24, 2020 | Podcast

In this episode, we learn about a resource called Vet Tix. Vet Tix provides free and discounted tickets to the more than 21 million military and veterans.

Loving the Invisible Spouse

by Retired Blogger | Feb 7, 2020 | Blog, Deployment, Experience, Relationships

Don’t let the title fool you, my husband isn’t really invisible. But I’m going to be completely honest here—it sure feels like it at so many points in this military life.

He’s a true superhero. He jets off right in the middle of a toddler meltdown to save the world. Who could be mad at that? People swoon over superheroes.

So why, at times, have I felt as though I spend more time with the bagger at Kroger than my own husband?

Sweat Equity

by Anna Larson | Feb 1, 2020 | Blog, Deployment, Experience, Military Life

I just spent the last hour researching how to cook fish that you catch yourself. Like, fish out of a lake. Specifically, three rainbow trout and a large-mouth bass that we caught on a recent fishing trip with my son’s Cub Scout pack.

Have you ever been to a Cub Scout Trout-a-ree? Me neither.

At least, up to that point. When that excited little boy asked me if we were going fishing, I had to swallow a groan and then felt just a tinge of panic.

Quick regroup. Pull it together. Make a plan.

Realize I have no idea how to pull off a successful fishing trip.

My Sensory Military Child

by Retired Blogger | Nov 7, 2019 | Blog, Experience, Household 6

About 5.5 years ago I welcomed a child into this world, I’ll refer to him as “A.” He was born during the morning reveille; he must’ve already known not to be late for PT. In fact, he was two weeks early, already an overachiever! Born at 38 weeks and 0 days, my oldest fought his way into this world. His dad and I knew something was different about him from the time he kicked me so hard in utero that it looked like aliens had possessed my body. Little did we know, he would be our sensory seeking kiddo that would keep us on our toes for the rest of his life.