Plano Mom Living on the Vine

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-19T22:30:00.004-07:00

Wow! It's almost Christmas. I can't believe it. We've had a wild month here. D had an emergency appendectomy early in the month. He really wasn't really hurting that bad, but by the time he got in, his appendix was on the verge of rupturing. They took him into emergency surgery at 5:00 am, and at 5:45 am, the doctor came out and said everything was fine! I think it's so amazing what modern medicine can do these days.

As some of you know, we are finishing our basement. As it turns out, it's taking a little longer than it should. One night, we had really high winds, and our fence blew down, hitting the outside hose hookup, breaking the line, causing a flood in our basement. The water was 2 - 3 inches before we realized it. We were all asleep, and oblivious to the fact that our basement was turning into a giant swimming pool. Luckily, our amazing basement guy did the framing in steel, and we weren't to the drywall point yet, so there was no damage! Amazing!

So, we had a temporary little fence thingy put up, because the ground is too frozen to put the real fence back up properly, and apparently some misguided deer tripped into it, knocking it down. When we let the dog out in the morning, not knowing that, she was gone. She really doesn't run away, she just saw some people walking down the street with their two dogs, and decided, hey, that looks fun, maybe I'll go. When we realized she was gone, I jumped in the car, and just then a neighbor drove up with Brandee in the back seat. I was nearly in tears, and I apologized repeatedly for being so emotional, but come on, that's my dog! So, another amazing moment! She said her husband said, hey, when I was out running, it looked like our neighbor's dog was following a couple with two dogs taking a walk. So, she went out to get her for us! If she wouldn't have, I'm just not sure what would have happened!

The boys had their orchestra and band concerts this week, and I was so proud! Theron plays the voilin, and Shane plays the guitar in orchestra. It's funny, because when people find out they're brothers, they're shocked, since they look nothing alike. Then, the next two nights we had Theron playing percussion in band, and Shane playing the trombone. I was such a proud mom!

Now, they're off school, and we're going to make our traditional cut out cookies tomorrow. Maybe I'll take some pictures and post them.

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, and a safe and Happy New Year!

Great Song!

2008-11-25T18:10:00.001-07:00

With Christmas coming up, I feel compelled to post this video. It is a song loaded with things we need to hear.

Snapshot of Military Life

2008-10-30T08:18:00.002-06:00

You know your child is a military kid when...

It was wear your school t-shirt backwards day. We're waiting at the bus stop. I glance around, and Collin has on a different shirt than anybody else. I didn't even notice when he was getting dressed!!!!! I say, um, Collin, I think you have the wrong shirt on. He TRIES to look at his back to see what's on it, but can't! Then it hits him, oh yea, I don't go to that school anymore.

We run back home, and I drive him to school, receiving a tardy. But, it was worth it. Wearing the wrong shirt...that's just bad community relations!

She thinks she's human!!!

2008-10-22T13:59:00.002-06:00

I'm just glad that's D's side, not mine! The blue pillow is a long story...

The Axe has fallen...

2008-10-08T15:30:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, I spent $35 at the grocery store for varioius Axe self grooming products for two teenage boys. I mean, seriously, what happened? Just months ago, they hated girls, and never wanted to get married. Did some light switch go on? Because those were the good ole' days my friends. They have to smell good now. The shower gel matches the deoderant, which in turn has to match the body spray. I seriously hope that the teenage girls don't have allergy induced asthma people, because if they do, we might be in some serious trouble!

Fall

2008-10-05T18:10:00.004-06:00

I just love fall. I'll say this every year if I have to. I love getting out and seeing the fall colors and taking my pictures. I got to do a little of this last weekend. It was great.

Having grown up in the area I did, we just didn't have fall. It just turned from summer to spring really. The trees just didn't change colors as much as they do in other parts of the country. I don't know if that's why I love fall so much, but I do. We can just be driving down the road, and I'll say, look boys, fall, and point to a tree. They laugh.

In unrelated news, I had a mouse in my mini van! Yes, people, you heard me correct, a mouse. How did he get in? I don't know!!!! How did he get out? I don't know!!!! He left evidence of his existance there, though. We found the hole that he's coming through in the garage, and put bait right in front of it. Later that night, D went out to the garage, and turned on the light, and there he was, chomping on the bait, just looking back at D. If he wouldn't have gotten into my mini van and had a fun little night, I'd almost feel sorry for him. I mean honestly ya'll, how did he get in there? I am possibly quite a neurotic person about things being clean. I mean, I get behind in my housework from time to time, but I like things to be clean. After work that day, I spent 4 hours cleaning out my van. I vacuumed, I wiped down every surface and sanitized it. I shampooed the entirety of the carpet. I shampooed every seat. I really want a new van now, but D says just a mouse in the van once is not a reason to buy a new one. Sniff...sniff. He's so unreasonable.

So, the very next day, I was going on base to get blood work done. Nothing wrong, just getting old, and they want to check everything. Obviously I'm on my way out and everything seeing as I'm so old. Anyway, back on track, I get to the base, and I whip out my trusty military ID card, and the guy at the gate says, "Um...ma'am (geez, enough with the old references) I'm going to have to "confiscate" your ID, it's expired. First of all, confiscate? That sounds like I'm a criminal! And second, do you really have to do that, I've been fasting for 12 hours, and I need to go get my blood taken out so that I can go pop open a Diet Dr Pepper and get on with my day! So, he tells me he has to take it, and to go get a new one. So, I go to the ID place, I get called back, sit down, and tell the nice young man that I need a new ID, and he asks me if my husband is there, because he needs to sign a whatcha ma gigger form, blah blah blah. So, I get up, say, no, he's not here, he's gone. As I'm walking away, he says gone like in deployed? No, I say over my shoulder, just at a conference. Luckily enough, they had pity on my starving soul and took my blood without my ID. That my friends was the highlight of my week.

Post Fireproof

2008-09-29T22:32:00.002-06:00

D and I went out for our date night to go see Fireproof. We both really liked the movie. We enjoyed seeing a movie that we knew didn't have anything bad in it. We enjoyed seeing a movie with humor (it's quite funny at times), action (it has firefighting scenes), and a positive message.

When the movie finished, the entire theatre enthusiastically applauded!

Go see it. Do it. Then come back here and tell me what you thought.

Fireproof

2008-09-22T08:24:00.003-06:00

Hey everybody! There's a new movie coming out this Friday that I'm really pumped about. No, it's not a major crime drama, or a summer blockbuster. It's a movie about marriage, and God. I think if every married person in America could see this movie, maybe we'd be better off.

I'm going to go out on a limb here because it's my blog, and I can say what I want. If you and your spouse don't have Jesus Christ at the center of your marriage, I urge you to go see this movie. I don't even know if anybody is going to read this post. But, I do know, if you happened on my blog by accident and are reading this post, it's not an accident. I've been married 16 years, and through those 16 years, we've been through a lot. We would not be married today if it weren't for the saving grace of Jesus Christ. He has saved us time and time again. Marriage is hard! It takes work! So, even if you think your marriage is fine, I think this movie would be great for you to go to. I already sent an e-mail inviting my husband to go see this movie with me on Saturday night. He was so excited when he got the e-mail. I was actually upstairs in the bedroom. He came running up, and said, can I RSVP now? We're going on Saturday night, and yes, it took us planning it over a week in advance to make it work.

There's also a devotional book that is featured in the movie that you can buy at your local Christan bookstore. It's a 40 day devotional that can be used by you as a couple after you see the movie. After we see the movie, I'm going to give the book to D as a surprise. Some of you reading might be thinking I'm a dork. You're right. I've been a dork all my life. Oh, and by the way, my husband is a dork too. And I love him.

So, if anyone reads this post, I dare you to go see the movie with your spouse. If you have any friends you think would benefit from this movie, send them over here to read the post and watch the trailer. I would love to hear back from someone! Then I would know there's someone out there reading my posts!

Check out the trailer here:

Random

2008-09-10T21:29:00.002-06:00

I just started the new Beth Moore Study - the Psalms of Ascent tonight. I am so pumped. That lady really can relate to people. I haven't been in one of her studies for over a year. I'm so excited! I hope I don't fall behind in my homework, though!

Well, a lot of you know that my very wonderful friend Wendy recently moved away! Sniff...Sniff! But, my God is so good to me. One of my other wonderful friends just arrived this week. It's really a small world in the Air Force. This is our third base together. I love their family like they were my family.

OK, so you don't feel jipped...here's some "Weekly Wisdom with Collin"...

Collin: Mommy, John McCain must be really busy.

Me: Well, I'm sure he is. Why do you say that?

Collin: He's been approving a lot of messages

Oh my goodness, I love that little rascal!

I need to update with some pictures soon! I need to get on that.

More Wisdom from Collin than a stranger needed

2008-08-26T23:03:00.005-06:00

Sitting at a Boy Scout Court of Honor:

Collin to a lady sitting next to him that he doesn't know: How old are you?

Nice lady: Let me give you a hint, never ask a girl that.

Collin: My mom's 38.

Later, during the dinner portion:

Nice lady: You better eat that brownie before I eat it for you.

Collin: I know, I know. Women and their chocolate. Women have to have their chocolate.

Nice Lady: Now you know two things about women. You know never to ask their age, and you know they like chocolate.

Collin: Yea, and they don't have a weiner!

You just can't make that stuff up, people!

Check out this dude!

2008-08-23T17:53:00.002-06:00

Since it's my blog, I can say whatever I want. Can I just say here today for the record, Zach and Cody have got nothing on this kid! It should totally be called the "Suite Life of Shane Thomas" He just started middle school too! The girls are gonna go crazy for this cool dude. There, I've said it. It's my blog, and I can brag about my kids if I want to.

Renovations!

2008-08-19T20:39:00.004-06:00

Well, the reason I was absent from blogging for so long was because we bought a house and moved. This is a big deal for us, as we have never owned a house before. We have never been able to stay in one place for long enough, and we usually lived on base. But, we found a place, and we love it, and we're fixing it up. The look just needed a little updating. We're having a lot of fun doing it. I'll be posting before and after pictures to shock and amaze you. My husband, not to brag or anything, but he can do just about anything around the house. While the older boys were at summer camp, we renovated their bathroom. It was terrible before, really outdated looking and had pink flowers on the linoleum. Take a look...

Ewww, look at the pink countertop...

Not manly at all...

OK, here's the result of all our hard work after one week...

Thanks daddy! It looks much better!

I know that you've missed Collin's Wisdom

2008-07-30T21:36:00.002-06:00

The older boys are at summer camp, and D and I are seriously doting on Collin. We're doing some home improvements, and today we went to the pool because Collin is bored without his brothers. I'll post pictures of the pool outing tomorrow. But, more importantly, we let him pick the restaurant he wanted to go to for dinner, knowing full well his choice would be Red Robin...Yum. He loves his "Cheesy Mac-N-Cheesy". The boy loves his cheese. So, there the three of us are eating dinner.

Setting the stage: Collin has cheese all over his mouth and chin, and well, his cheeks.

D: Collin, napkin please.

C: Well, that would be a waste of cheese!

You just can't debate the wisdom of Collin.

All right, so I never did it

2008-07-26T20:32:00.005-06:00

OK, so I never did the going private thing. I wasn't sure if I could figure it out! I was talking to my mom today, and everytime we talk, she says I should blog! She's missing the pictures! So, here are a few!

Here are the boys with mohawks at our church VBS! Like, rock on, dude! D took the week off from work to be a crew leader at our VBS. That's just the kind of guy he is. He was so great with the kids. He had a crew full of girls, which was cute. They were lovin' it! I have a picture of them, but I don't want to post it, seeing as they're not my kids and all...

So, Collin turned 7. Wow, where did that time go? My youngest baby is 7. Here we are at Collin's favorite restaurant for his birthday. I love Shane holding up seven fingers. Oh, and by the way, they have ALL gotten hair cuts since this. They got to grow the hair out during the summer, but it got really long!

Here is Collin being dropped off at summer camp. That was tough for me to leave, but he apparently isn't having any trouble with it! Sorry about the bad picture. I don't have enough time to edit the pics tonight, but I figured it had already been so long since I blogged...

Yes, surprisingly so, I left my baby boy with two camp counselors named Moptop and Turbo. I'm not sure what Collin is doing. Deer antlers? Just not sure there.

Well, I will post again when I get pictures of his homecoming, cause that'll be great. I pick him up tomorrow!!!!! Yippeee!!!!!

To all my blogging friends, I've missed you! Now, I better go call my mom and tell her I have posted, or she'll never believe I've done it!

Wow, it's been a long time again

2008-02-17T19:52:00.002-07:00

I have been so busy, and I have meant to post, but haven't. I can't believe it's almost been a year since I started the blog. Almost a year since D got home. It's absolutely flown by! We had a little scare a few weeks ago. D got a call that he was going to be deployed again, and we were bummed. However, when it came down to it, the deployment office said he couldn't be deployed because he hadn't been back a year. Phew! We dodged that bullet. However, seems I can't avoid it, he'll be going back again. Bummer. His career field is deployed all the time! Sucks!

I am going to go private with my blog as soon as I get everyone's e-mail's squared away. There's a few I need to get. I might do it tomorrow, I don't know. I have the day off tomorrow, woo hoo. I have a new job that I'll talk about once I go private. I love it!

I've had a very emotional roller coaster of a week. We've gone through some tough times. Keep us in your prayers. We're making it through though. We're blessed with a house, and three beautiful boys and a dog, so we're doing fine.

I was just reading Susie's blog, and she has had a few snow days recently. We've had a few, but this winter is so mild compared to last winter for us. Everytime it snows, it seems to be melted in a few days. The boys are always praying for snow days, though!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. D and I went out to eat, and went to go see Fool's Gold. We enjoyed it. It's a pretty cute movie.

More updates soon...

More Wisdom from Collin

2008-01-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

Me: OK, Collin, we need to leave at 8:10 today, so make sure you have all your stuff.

Collin: That means we have 15 minutes.

Me: You're so smart.

Collin: Uh, Yeah, what do you think, I'm loco???? It's 5 minutes till 8, then 10 more, that makes 15. That's why I'm in advanced math.

Me: Yeah, and you're in advanced reading too.

Collin: Yeah!

Me: But you're not in advanced handwriting...

Collin: Some people are late bloomers! I'm a late bloomer in handwriting@!

Following suit...

2008-01-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, so has it been since New Year's Day that I posted? At least I didn't wait until Valentine's Day, right Susie?

I have so, so many exciting things happening in my life right now, but alas, I don't feel I can blog about any of them on this public forum. I am following suit and going private. I will probably do it sometime next week.

So, if you still want to read my blog, and if I don't have your e-mail yet, (Stacy, I don't have yours) send me a comment with your e-mail. I won't publish the comment with your e-mail in it.

After I go private, I'll update everyone on all the things happening! Don't worry mom, I'll work you through this whole thing. You'll just have to sign in with your e-mail and a password to look at my blog.

I've been busted..

2008-01-01T21:00:00.001-07:00

I've been busted. I haven't posted in OVER a month. Sorry. Please forgive me.

What have I been doing with my time? Well, before school was out, we went to band concerts, and even a concert that the first grade put on. That was a lot of fun. Collin did such a great job. Too bad the battery on my camcorder went dead. Bummer.

Our December took an unexpected turn when D's grandfather passed away. We took an unexpected trip to Texas and then to Illinois, then back home again! Phew! Even though the circumstances weren't great, we were able to see family. D's grandfather was 90. He lived such a full life. He was married for 62 years! We'll miss him dearly. He had such a great Christmas though, I'm sure of it!

So, we got home for Christmas, and we've been busy ever since. I've been working over 40 hours a week.

For New Year's Eve, we stayed up to watch the ball drop. Then we had poppers that we popped all around the house and made a mess everywhere. I had to work today, so the boys all had to clean it up today. We had an apple cider toast, and went to bed.

So, here's the pics I know you've been waiting for...

Here's crazy Shane

We went to Wendy's house for Christmas Day. Thank you Wendy, it was great. Santa showed up. Thirteen year olds accept gifts, but they DO NOT sit on his lap. Fathers however, have no problem fixing his hat.

A little closer, but still, NOT sitting on the lap!

This six year old still loves him!

I might be in trouble for this one...

It's a party on the dog's back!

It's a party on the six year old's head!

Happy New Year everyone!

I won! I won!

2007-11-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't win a car like umm...one of you, but I did win an 80GB iPod!

I'm so excited! I usually don't win anything ever!

If you go to http://www.resources.family.org/, you can enter also. The iPod also comes with all of the Adventures in Odyssey loaded on it. They're giving away three a day for 7 more days.

(hint: read the contest rules. it'll help your chances of winning)

Yeah me!

I elfed my family

2007-11-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

click here to see my elfin' family. I'm laughing so hard, I'm crying!

Thanks Megan!

Hello everyone!

2007-11-25T20:48:00.001-07:00

Here's a happy face for all of you! I came home from work one day to find that Shane had made this for me, all on his own. I had to share it.

I just haven't blogged in so long! I've been so busy working. Thanksgiving flew right by, and now we're heading toward Christmas!

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home as a family. We had ham, turkey, stuffing, cheese potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and rolls. Basically, D said I made way too much food! After dinner, we went out to see the new Disney movie, "Enchanted". We loved it! It's quite humerous. Disney kind of poking fun at it's own princess stories.

I want to be better posting, and visiting all the blogs I usually read. Unfortunately, I think I won't be back to my normal blogging schedule until after Christmas. I'll catch up though!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Theron!

2007-11-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

Theron,

Wow, you're a teenager now. Imagine that. I still remember finding out I was going to have you. Your dad and I were so happy! You have had to go through so many moves with us, and I know it's been hard for you. You've come through them all stronger.

Remember reading all those truck books over and over again? Your first word wasn't mom or dad, it was car.

You are the smartest, strongest 13 year old I've ever known! When things get crazy in the house, when we're busy getting everybody everywhere, you're the one who keeps me sane. You tell me to go relax for a few minutes while you stir dinner. You absolutely blow me away with how caring you can be.

You still look exactly like this when you wake up in the morning. Well, your hair still sticks up everywhere...

First steps to greatness right here. Wow, dad looks REALLY young and skinny! Wait a second, is that even him? Nice military TLF (temporary lodging facility) there. This was amidst your first military move. Dad was a brand new 2nd LT.

You have a faith in God that most people never experience their entire lives. I know you will follow Him all the days of your life. He's ignited a fire in you that I know will only burn brighter and brighter. Don't forget to share it!

Check out how young your mom and dad look here. And, wow, did I have great taste in glasses or what? Those are stylin'!

I look forward to the day when you become the inventor you want to be. I hope someday you get that Corvette you've been wanting. You keep dreaming big, and you'll make it just fine!

Here you are getting your iHome for your birthday. Did you know when I was your age, we had cassette tapes and had to play them in WalkMans? I know, it's scary.

Pack that backpack, and take the road less travelled my son. You'll be glad you did. Just don't forget to call, e-mail and text your mom.

Mom

Bella

2007-10-29T20:00:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody. I get regular updates from a Christian organization, and I received an e-mail this week about a new movie that is out this past weekend.

It's called Bella. They are trying to get the word out about this movie. I have not seen it, but I plan to see it this week. It might not last long in theatres. It has won tons of awards already. It is a love story with positive Christian values.

Go to the website at http://www.bellathemovie.com/ and check out the trailer. I like to see positive movies in the theatres these days. They're hard to find sometimes, and I think we need them!

Seriously?

2007-10-25T18:16:00.001-06:00

Ok, so on our recent trip, I was going to try to get a nice picture of all three boys. Maybe put it in our Christmas cards, something like that.

Unfortunately that's easier said than done. Take a look at this...

Nope, no good, Theron's eyes are closed... Not to mention the look on Collin's face.

Nope, not gonna work. Theron has an "I'm mad because you're taking my picture" look on his face.

Wow, everybody looks ok, but who's that in the background?

Nope, not gonna work. Shane's eyes are closed (and he's forced smiling), and oops, the person is still in the background.
This one isn't bad, but Collin's not smiling, and Shane is squinting.

How about this, we'll try a new location. But, wait, what kind of look is that Collin?

Shane, I know the Bible tells you to pray without ceasing, but can you do that later?
OK, Shane's eyes closed, and doing something with his tongue...

Oh, well, you can't say I didn't try. I tried, really I did. Perhaps I'll just put a picture of our dog in our Christmas cards.

Theron's birthday was this week, and as soon as I can get some baby pictures scanned in of him, I'm going to post them. He was the cutest baby! Now, well...he's a teenager. Waaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Trip picture overload

2007-10-14T08:16:00.000-06:00

OK, so sorry it took so long for these pictures! And these aren't even all of them.

Here's the cabin we stayed in. I was trying to be all "artsy photographer" by taking this picture, with the fishing pole, and the reflection in the door. I'm such an amateur though.

This was the view from outside our cabin looking down. You can see the line of cabins on the left that we stayed at. It was so much fun to have the river right outside our door!

Here's my precious baby boy posing for me. He's the only one that willingly poses for me now.

Ha! I caught you!
And, here Collin is fishing.

Yea, ok, I'll touch it, or I may do the screeching thing dj's do with records.... What a mean man. He puts a hook in his mouth, takes it out, and then throws him back. Nice bed head, time for a cut! Ah, look at the beautiful scenery. Yea, great dad, can we go back to the car?

So, this was so funny. As we entered the park, there were tons of cars parked on the side of the road. D said, you want me to stop? Yea I do. It must be something incredible. So, we got out, and this was it. Of course it was neat to see, but we were laughing, because of the way they were just standing there looking at everybody like, "what's the big deal?" Oh my goodness, beautiful aspen trees in the fall...

Oh my goodness, more beautiful aspen trees in the fall...
Top of the world, baby...

Apparently at the top of the world, two out of three boys can't keep their eyes open for a picture. I think it was the wind. At least Shane's enthusiastic!

Yeah, man we don't know offered to take our picture so I could be in a picture, but you can only see my floating head. Oh well.
Funny picture D took. Can't those elk read?

OK, I'm trying to make some time here, do you mind?

Shane at the rock shop. As you know, that dude loves rocks. In fact, he would love a rock from Hawaii...hint...hint...
That's all folks...
"Cue Andy Griffith theme song now..."

All I need to know...I learned from Collin

2007-10-10T08:48:00.000-06:00

(in the mountains...)

Mommy, did you know that the elk come out at rush hour? Really Collin? How did you know that? Cause that's when the people don't bother them, cause they're busy rushing around.

(dropping him off at school this morning...)

I love you, Collin! I love you too mommy...even when you're in heaven, I'll still love you.
Wow! let's not get out the shovel just yet.

So, Collin's class lines up in the morning before they go inside. Everytime a girl gets in line behind him, he does a little bow and says, "ladies first" and lets them get in front of him. The girls are EATING IT UP! They giggle and smile. They love it. The other boys, well, they hate it. At first they got really mad at Collin! They would say, "no they don't" or "nuh-uh!" or "they're cutting!" Well, today I noticed they're warming up to the idea. I noticed at the end of the line was Collin...and five boys behind him. Way to go Collin! Way to start a new "Chivalry Revolution!" I'm proud of you bud!

Well, for those of you who were wondering, yes, we were in the good ole Rocky Mountains over the weekend. I had three whole days off from work, so we booked it out of town! We had a wonderful time. We stayed in a cabin with a river right outside, so the boys fished any time they wanted to. We went up the continental divide, and got to see what it's like above the tree line. The boys really enjoyed that. And, yes, it was elk rutting time. The wonderful, magical time of the year when the elk are finding their mates. We had to walk away a few times, just before it turned all Wild Kingdom on us! I thought of our good friends Mike and Mindy, and how they got to witness the glorious rutting time a year ago, and missed them terribly!

I took about 300 pictures. So, I haven't sorted through them all. I hope to have some posted by tonight or tomorrow!

Brat, two can play that game!

2007-10-05T20:50:00.000-06:00

For all of you who are readers of my lovely friend Wendy's blog, let me just say for the record, two can play that game....

I am somewhere far less exotic...

Wildlife abounds....

A river runs through it....

I am in a cabin...

Where am I?

Ha Ha!!!!

Fall

2007-09-30T20:02:00.000-06:00

Ah, the crisp cool air.

Ah, the beautiful leaves. Ah, the cool rustling sound they make when you're walking.

Ah, the sweet sound of silence because the kids are in school, ummm...I mean ah, the sweet sound of young boys walking in the door after a productive day of "mind-molding."

Anyway you cut it, I love fall.

2007-09-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's just been so long since I've updated anyone on what's going on here. I've been so busy working, and D has been too. He's been filling in for a co-worker.

So, I'll fill everyone in. Shane is in a running club. He's loving it. He's such a fast little bugger! He's still doing his guitar lessons, and is progressing well. He's also started up Cub Scouts for the year.

Collin, oh my goodness, my baby is a Tiger Cub now! Where did the time go? Seems like just a few minutes ago I was changing your diaper...

Theron is doing well in middle school. He's playing the snare drum in band, and is in art. He's one point away from getting straight A's at this point. Go, Theron, go. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of him doing his activities, because, well, he never lets me take his picture.

So, last weekend, I had a day off, so I was determined to make the best of it! We went and had a great day whirling, twirling and getting nauseous! A perfect day for three boys. Me, well I had to buy some dramamine at the snack shop. At least they sold them! That's ingenious of them.

So here's D and Collin riding the Tilt-A-Whirl.

Pure joy!

And, here he is with his arms up in a defiant "my mommy can't spin this bucket around enough to make me nauseous" stance. MuHaHaHa! Your mommy knows how to spin one of these. All the other pictures D took of me riding rides were a terrible likeness. I had like terrible looks of hideous terror on my face, and I was all weird looking. So, since it's my blog, I picked this one. At least I'm smiling. And, it's cute of Collin, with his little arms up.

Here's the boys on the Sky Ride. Collin and I were on another car passing them up going the other way. Collin ended up crying on this one. He didn't like it. Me, well, I hated the ferris wheel. It was freaky scarey!

So, this totally shows the personalities of both of them...trying to survive the Tilt-A-Whirl.

So all you mothers of cute little kids that you dress in cute little outfits...just remember some day, they'll have their favorite sweatshirt, and want to wear it everyday! Yes, I actually do laundry.

So, this weekend I work again, but next weekend, I have three days off. Yes, you heard correctly, three days off. I'm planning an awesome weekend with the family out of town. I can't wait! The pictures are going to be fabulous.

A Mom's day in under 3 minutes...

2007-09-27T07:52:00.000-06:00

Shane and I just saw this on a morning news show. We loved it! I know I have older children than a lot of the other moms that read my blog. So, I understand all of the things she's saying. My little baby will be a teenager in less than a month! Urgh! Well, it's not him that I have to worry about...it's Shane. Anyhoo, enjoy. I haven't been on in a long time, so somebody else might have posted this, I just don't know. If you have, sorry. I just thought it was hilarious! Collin says I say all these things, except I say "feed the dog" instead of "feed the cat". Personally, I don't remember saying the "hay" comment, and um, er...at least a few of the others!

How's everybody doing? I have pictures to post, and I don't work tonight, so I'm going to get on. Thanks for hanging in there for another post!

Duck vs. Cougar

2007-09-13T09:00:00.000-06:00

Is this what the world is coming to? I mean really. During the 80's and Ghostbusters, it was dogs and cats living together. Now, it's duck pitted against cougar. You would have thought the cougar would have won, but this duck has some....webbed feet. And, the cheerleaders are laughing! Brings me right back to high school.

Mindy and Mike, you are particularly going to like this, seeing as you're from Oregon and all....don't mess with the Duck!!!!

A great weekend at the game!

2007-09-07T20:35:00.000-06:00

Well, last weekend was the official start of the college football season. We went out and tailgated and had a great time. Theron isn't in the tailgating picture, because he was at home with a headache. Uh oh, I hope he isn't inheriting my migraines! He felt better later though, and D went to get him. He saw the last part of the game.

We had a special visitor with us for the weekend. Collin's godmother, Tammy came to see us and went to the game with us. Tammy is a childhood friend of D's. The boys had a great time, as you can see from the photos, and we all hope Tammy had a great enough time to come visit us again!

Who Am I???

2007-09-02T08:52:00.001-06:00

I always struggle with this question. I always wonder, am I doing what God wants me to do? I always struggle with being a mom, and wondering if I make the right decisions to honor God. I feel like if I don't have a full time career, that I am just not doing enough. Then God tells me that I'm His, and not to worry. He tells me that I'm doing exactly what He wants me to do.

He had a friend send this to me on a day when I was struggling with all my questions. He's so awesome. I thought I'd send it to you on this Sunday.

Enjoy. It's awesome!

The most valuable item in my purse

2007-08-26T18:52:00.000-06:00

My son Shane wants to be a Geologist someday. The boy already has a monster rock collection. Everywhere we go, if they're selling geodes, or the likes, he's 'a buyin'! When we go on vacation, or if he has a particularly good memory, he'll look to the ground and pick up a rock. I've been telling him lately to label them. He has them all displayed proudly in his room. I think if he labeled all of them, when he's a Grandpa, he could tell such great stories about his life all from rocks.

When we first moved here, he found this rock in our backyard and ran to me and gave it to me. Now it has a home in my purse. I carry it everywhere. It's the most valuable thing in my purse, and that's the truth! Mere chance could not have orhcestrated such an awesome thing. God created that rock just for me. For Shane to find someday, and give to me. He's so awesome!

So, I know I have been MIA for quite sometime. I just talked to my mother, and she said, I needed to post. So, here I am. Posting. Sorry to have taken so long to post. Did you miss me? I know that you did. You can admit it.

So, we went out a while back and launched the new rockets the boys had made. Remember how Theron lost his at rocket camp? Well, we went out and launched the newly made ones. Collin's did weird circle thingies. Theron's went straight up and down. Shane's went almost due sideways. And, we lost it! Urgh! I mean, seriously, where do they keep going? It was like, it should be right here! But it wasn't. Dang it all!

If only I was blog smart enough to cue the Air Force theme song right here...Off we go into the wild blue yonder...or something like that.

Look, he let me take his picture! Apparently when he's holding a rocket, it's ok!

"Cue the Hallelujah chorus now......"

Look at the view we had while we were launching the rockets...

And, as we were plodding through yet another field infested with flying stinging insects looking for a rocket, you know that I had to stop and take a nature shot!

Hope everybody is doing well!

Sorry it's been so long....

2007-08-16T19:09:00.000-06:00

I just have not posted like I should have in the last few weeks. I haven't even checked everyone else's posts as religiously as I should be. I'm just going through one of those phases...do you want to hear about it? I knew that you would.

1. Working at the library is going ok. The one part that is difficult for me is all the young mommies coming in with their little pre-schoolers. I just look at them having such a great time, and think, wow, where did the time go?

2. OK, so the first day of middle school was Tuesday. On the way there, I thought Theron was going to hyper-ventilate in the back seat. He said he had a stomach ache the entire day. His locker won't open. He's late to class because of it. He knows nobody, and is tooooooo shy to talk to anybody. So, I said, "do you want to homeschool again?" To which he quickly answered, "NO!" So, that made me feel good about his past homeschooling experience! So today was the first day he had to ride his bike home instead of me driving him. He was very upset about this. He did not want to do it. But, he did it, and he said it wasn't that bad.

So, since his school starts at 7:25, and his locker won't open, I have to have him there at 7:00 a.m.! Hello.... Seriously? Are you kidding me? Some of the mom's are even showered and have make up on! Obviously that's other moms and not me! So, I am trying to get used to this new schedule, and trying to go to bed early, which is not easy. While D was gone, I would stay up until 1:00 a.m., because that's when we could talk. After all, I could take a nap if I wanted to the next day. So, now, trying to go to bed early is hard. Even if I'm tired, I just can't fall asleep that early!

I've now been trying to load pictures for a half an hour, and it won't let me. Ugh. I didn't want to have a "pictureless" post, but apparently I will. So, maybe my next post will be better. Nobody likes a whining blogger. This was a whining post. Sorry. Please forgive me.

When does fall come? When does the new TV schedule start? Oh, sorry, I wasn't going to whine. I'll go now.

Camp was a "Blast"

2007-08-13T09:10:00.000-06:00

Sorry, I haven't posted in a while. That's the longest I've ever gone. Nothing to post about last week. Collin and I just moped around the house missing the brothers. We were so excited when we got up on Friday morning and were on our way to go get them. When we got home, I had to work for four hours. Then that night we ate pizza and watched the DVD from camp and had a fun family night.

So, apparently, they had a "blast" at rocket camp. They are already planning on returning next year. The first two nights they had terrible thunder storms. They both said it was so loud. I'm glad they made it through that! I actually had D call the camp to see if they were ok. They think I'm a freak.

They spent the week (a little time each day) making rockets. On Thursday, they launched them. Both of theirs did great. Unfortunately, afterward, Theron couldn't find his. He watched it land, nobody was up on the hill where it landed, and when everybody's was launched, they went up to get their rockets, and he couldn't find his. When I picked them up, even though I had to go to work, we all searched up on that hill for 45 minutes. We just couldn't find it. Those who know me know how I usually scream around any kind of buzzing, stinging flying things. I was so wanting to find that rocket for him, I barely made a peep. The boys were very impressed with that. Theron said I must have really wanted to find it! I said, of course I did. I love you. Well, apparently the earth swallowed it up because it was nowhere in sight. So, daddy took them out to Hobby Lobby over the weekend to get new ones to make together and launch. They're planning on launching them out at the base this weekend. Of course I'll post pictures!

When I was picking them up, one of the CIT's asked me who I was there to pick up. I said Theron and Shane. She said, they're brothers???? The other CIT's there looked at each other in complete and utter shock. "Theron and Shane are brothers?" "I never in a million years would have guessed it!" It was funny. I told the boys that was good. They are two distinct people with unique personalities. They agreed. It's a good thing. It's always fun to freak people out also!

Susie, now you'll have to e-mail me and tell me all about what they "actually" did. Since I mentioned CIT's are you singing the song from Meatballs????? I have....

So, today was the first day of school. OK, let's let the tears start falling! I tried really hard not to cry when I was standing there in line with Collin. Only a few tears leaked out. Wendy knows how I balled my head off when I dropped him off to kindergarten last year. That was hard enough. Letting him go for a half a day. Now this! This is brutal. Heartbreaking. He's my baby. My friend. My little dude. When did I get so old????? Wah!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so off my game, I forgot my camera. Wah!!!!!!!

So, I should change my profile. I really am not a stay at home mom. I now have two, yes, count them two part time jobs. For those of you who know me, I got a job working at where I worked in Ohio. For privacy and safety reasons, I'm not going to say where that is. Let's just say the "mother ship" has once again called me home. We'll see how this goes. I may be saying adios to the library. I'll just have to see.

So that's my news. Sorry so long in between posts. I have more pictures from camp with my boys actually in them. They're just in one of those disposable cameras. You know, the dark ages? When I develop them, if they're good, I'll post them.

I think I'll ramble on forever...

2007-08-06T15:57:00.001-06:00

First of all, what in the world makes people so grumpy and angry at the Commissary? I'll just throw that question out to all you mil-spouses. I mean, yes, it's crowded. Yes, the lines are long. But, have you compared the food prices to your local grocery store? It's insane crazy some of the deals you can get at the commissary. So, everybody needs to chill out. There, I got that off my chest. I feel better now.

Next, a few of you were wondering what the going rate for the tooth fairy was these days. Well, in my house, she brings $2.00 per tooth. Which when you add it all up over the years, across a whole mouth of teeth, kids are making out way better these days than they did when I was a kid. So, with a newly acquired $4.00 in his wallet, $10.00 in birthday money, and a month's worth of allowance, Collin was dying to go to Target the morning after the tooth fairy visited. He bought a Nintendogs game, which by the way is the cutest game ever. I totally want to go buy myself a pink nintendo DS and get it, but I'll control myself. Also, he bought a Cars playhouse. Now it actually does look like a Cars marketing promo room...

He's loving the playhouse, and even dragged it into mom and dad's room last night to sleep in. However, he didn't really sleep in it. He ended up sleeping way over on daddy's side, giving him about 5 inches of space in his king size bed. Why in the world was he doing that you might ask? Well, because we dropped the other two off at summer camp last night.

To get to this camp is incredible. It truly is out in the middle of nowhere. There was a quick orientation for the parents, and then the parents were "outta there". Except of course for me and D. I actually stood there nearly in tears and asked one of the counselors if they were going to "take care" of my boys. He had a look on his face like "you are one crazy mom." But, seriously, this is a big step for me, and I'm not taking it very well. I'm freaking out actually. They don't come back until Friday. So, Collin and I are just trying to make it without the others without crying all the time. Which, considering that we went to the commissary, it's kind of difficult.

Of course, Theron wouldn't let us take a picture of him, but my faithful Shane stood there and smiled for me! At least I can still count on him.

I keep thinking, of course if something happened, the camp would call me. Of course they would, wouldn't they? It's a Christian camp, so hopefully the other kids will be nice. So, send good and comforting thoughts my way. I know that they're just entering their place in the world, and I need to let that happen. They are well in the care of their Heavenly Father. I know they are. I just need to be better at not worrying.

Well, I think that was a long enough post for you to read. Until next time...which might be Friday when I get those boys back under this roof where they belong!

Houston, we have SUCCESS!

2007-08-03T20:27:00.000-06:00

OK you guys, I kid you not, the teeth fell out! Yippeeee!!!!!

I was shopping with the two older ones for summer camp next week. So, I only have it second hand. Here's how it panned out apparently. Collin was playing hide-n-seek in our house with our neighbors. He turned his head, and one of them just poof...flew out of his mouth on the hard wood floor. He looked at it, and the other one just fell out of his mouth. Isn't that hilarious? Not a story like, he was eating corn on the cob or anything. They apparently just went-a-flying!

Not to gross you out, but here's some pics. They're cute, cause he was so excited to tell me when I got home.

I know, that last one was way more nose than you wanted to see, but I think it's way cute. Of course, I'm partial to the little dude.

So, the tooth fairy is gonna have to bring double the money tonight...

Ugh, is summer over yet?

2007-08-01T09:54:00.000-06:00

I'm weird. I really don't like summer by the time August rolls around. I CAN'T WAIT until fall. It's my favorite time of the year.

By the end of July, it's just so hot!

By the end of July, I'm really wishing the boys would go back to school! We've had fun this summer, and believe me, I love spending time with those boys, but we have a hard time finding things to keep their interest by this time of the summer.

I just love fall. There's nothing like seeing a tree with changing leaves. It's just beautiful. It's just so nice God gave us such pretty things in the fall after we've endured a hot summer. I love how it feels to take an early morning walk, or an after dinner walk during September or October. I love the cool air.

However, in the spirit of trying to make the best of the rest of the summer, we went a local park with a neighbor today. Here's some pictures of our little excursion. But, it was HOT!

Of course my tween never lets me take pictures of him. You may think that I don't take pictures of him, but I try, really I do. I try all the time. It just never works! He runs and hides.

That was the best I could get. He turned his head when I was going to take the picture. I tell you, embrace your ability to take pictures of your kids now. You won't be able to when they get older!

So, my new favorite addition to my home is a metal sculpture. You just can't get it's full glory from this picture. But, it's amazing. In person, the details are amazing. It's just beautiful. Because I love fall so much, my husband bought this for me. It's above our fireplace, that has pictures of the family on a ledge above it. It kinds represents a family tree to me. Theron already wants it when I die. Geez, is that all I'm worth? Seriously!

"Cool Cat"

2007-07-30T21:38:00.000-06:00

OK, so this child never fails to give me amusing things to blog about. It's his gift. If you read the last post, I kid you not. Ten minutes after I posted that post, I was doing the dishes, and he was still watching TV. The Space Bag commercial came on. He said mommy, look, you need that. The bag is really big, but then it gets really small so you can put it in a drawer! I asked him, "What channel are you watching?" It was the Disney channel. Seriously? Seriously!

So, we were at the zoo again. We had finished feeding the giraffes crackers, and we were walking along. We came along three zookeepers. They were feeding giraffes crackers. So, they asked Collin if he wanted to give him one. So, he took the cracker, and commenced to try to play "keep the cracker away" from the giraffe. Well, the zookeepers didn't think it was funny. They said, "please give him the cracker, don't tease him." I of course was snapping pictures. But, of course, I said, Collin, give him the cracker! They looked at me like, "get your child to behave!" I was busy snapping pictures!

So, here he is looking like "cool cat" after he was trying to keep the cracker from the giraffe. Seriously, look at the giraffe's mouth. He seriously looks like he is mad! Like he's about to lecture my son. Seriously, it wouldn't hurt him to get a good lecture though!

$450 is lower than $1,000!

2007-07-26T11:14:00.000-06:00

Me: upstairs getting ready for work

Collin: Comes running upstairs

Collin: Mommy, there's this commercial on TV where you can only pay $450. You have to come see it.

Me: OK.

We go to the upstairs landing where we can see the TV down below
It's one of those loan commercials where you can consolidate your bills.

Collin: See mommy? You used to have to pay $1,000, but they say if you call, you can pay $450. See mommy? $1,000 is a lot. $450 is low. Do you want to call mommy? We should. $450 is low!

Me: No, baby, I don't think I'll call today, but you are very smart. $450 is a lot lower than $1,000.

Collin: Next time I see the commercial, I'll come get you. You should call. That's the best commercial ever!

Water Pond Pictures

2007-07-24T20:42:00.001-06:00

Where to start?

2007-07-23T20:49:00.000-06:00

Wow, D's parents left this morning. They were here for 10 days. We had such a great time with them. The boys are upset. Not much to look forward to left this summer. Everyone who was going to visit us has visited. They do have "rocket camp" in a few weeks. But then school starts, and they're upset about that.

Anyhoo, we did such fun things with D's parents. Ya'll, you gotta believe me when I tell you, they are good sports. We dragged those poor grandparents to the Renaissance Festival. Well, they said they'd go, and they even dressed up!

But look at this stud!

Rodrick can't hold a candle to you, honey. But, just to be sure, let's let the ladies see another picture of him...

I crack myself up.

But, although both those studdly Renaissance men are quite handsome, nobody can hold a candle to this one...

Pure joy of being in his daddy's hat!

So, alright, that's enough of those. You've already seen pictures of the Ren Fest. This week, I'm going to go backwards with my posts in a sense. I'm going to go back to when we went to the waterfall, and our 4th of July pictures, cause we did some pretty interesting things.

But...today I have to blog about something great that happened yesterday. My brother came to visit. Not my brother Brent, Angie's husband, but my middle brother. Yes, my friends, I have three brothers. I grew up with three brothers, and now I'm raising three brothers. Weird.

Anyway, the boys had never met him! He had seen Shane and Theron when they were little, but they obviously don't remember that. They had an absolute ball with him. Theron, my older, more introverted boy was just climbing the walls. They obviously really enjoyed the visit. It was short, but it was fun.

The boys were riveted to the guitar. Collin is even pressing his ear up against it here.

Shane really hit it off with his uncle. But, that's because they're a lot alike. That frightens me. Shane will be a teenager soon...I'll have to keep an eye on him!

Just kidding...OK, so they kept jumping on him, which I'm sure was not too much fun for him. Seeing as he's really old! Ha Ha.

So, I know Susie will appreciate this. My brother wanted to go somewhere with local beer. So, of course we went to Rock Bottom, which was oh so delicious.

When he was leaving, Shane chased him down the street at 13 mph. Collin was so sad his uncle was leaving, he ran up to his room, and took a rock out of his rock collection and gave it to his uncle. It was so cute. So, thank you to my brother for taking the time to visit our little corner of the world! It was fun!

The Party was Today!

2007-07-18T21:00:00.000-06:00

Well, with Grandma and Grandpa here, we had the birthday party for little peanut today at Chuck E. Cheese's, you know, where a kid can be a kid!

Here is Collin watching daddy make his birthday cake.Yes, D not only makes swords, he makes cakes ladies. Yes, and he even sews. Weird. Anyway, here's a picture of the finished cake. He really does make amazing cakes.

So, that was the one he made. Here's the one I made for the actual day of his birthday. See a difference anybody?

Here's the king for the day blowing out his candles!

Here's Collin and his friend saying, "please mommy, can we play a little bit longer?" Cute, huh?

You'll never believe this, but we have been saving CEC tickets for years now. We had almost 3,000. There was a remote control car there that was 4,000 tickets. The girl there said that she'd give it to us cause it was the last one, and had been there a while. It's really, really cool. They're downstairs playing with it right now, including Grandpa! I'll have to post pictures of that.

Thank you to everyone for being so sweet to my sister-in-law as she starts up her blog. She's so excited to get to know everybody. I have the best blogging friends in the world! She's so addicted already, she's waiting right now for this post!

We have done so many exciting things lately that I've taken cool pictures of. We went to a waterfall the other day, and I got amazing pictures. I'll have to post them later in the week when I have time. You'll love them.

Later everybody!

My sister-in-law Angie

2007-07-16T14:05:00.000-06:00

Hi Guys,

Go over and see my sister-in-law's blog. She's just so totally new, and she only has one post, but if you have time to go check it out, do!

Angie is married to my brother, and they have a "wonderful life" as the blog says. They do really interesting things, and go to all kinds of exoctic places.

Check it out. She has pictures of my cute and adorable nephew and nieces. Oh, yea, and my brother. Tell me, do we look like brother and sister??

Happy Birthday, Peanut

2007-07-12T23:05:00.000-06:00

My sweet baby boy, It was six years ago today that you graced this earth with your entrance. It was Friday the 13th, as it is today. I had sat on our swing in the backyard with a neighbor the day before, and sunburned one of my legs. Every time the nurses or doctors came in to ask how I was doing, they would pat my leg. Finally, I let loose on them. I told a nurse to not touch my leg, and to tell everyone else to leave it alone as well! She promptly went and got medicine and a guaze wrap for it! Having you was a piece of cake. It was the sunburn that hurt! I remember I felt so good afterward, daddy brought me in a Dr. Pepper to my hospital room (and I think popcorn too)!

You were so lucky that when we walked you home (we lived behind the hospital at Wright-Patt), you were not only walked home by your mom and dad, but you were walked home by two brothers who wouldn't stop hugging and kissing you! They don't always do it now, but they love you still! I know, they boss you around sometimes, but that's just how brothers are!

You were so small, we called you peanut. Your big head and little body made you look like a peanut! Now, you're affectionately called Sharktooth.

You were the one who was there with me on that terrible day back in 2001. We sat on the couch together, while you ate, and watched the news. I think you brought me hope and peace that day.

You were my last baby. I treasured every minute with you as you grew, although looking back now, it went too fast. Now you're ready to go off to 1st grade, and I'm wondering who's going to keep me company during the day. I know every day when you come home, you'll give me the "big hug" though.

You're the only one in the family who wants to follow in your father's footsteps and join the AF. I don't know if you'll ever change your mind about being a pilot. I think if you do become a pilot, I will be the proudest mommy in the world, but a very tired one, because I'll never sleep.
You have only brought me love and happiness. You are so happy, you keep me sane sometimes. I can always count on a good laugh when you're around.

Never forget that you're a child of the Father Almighty. He knew you before I did, and loves you with a perfect love that even I can't give you.

You'll always be my "sweet" baby boy.

Mommy

I Love these Guys!

2007-07-09T22:48:00.000-06:00

I love all these guys!

U.S. soldiers pray in a circle before leaving Camp Victory for their patrol mission on the streets of Baghdad July 7, 2007. REUTERS/Nikola Solic (IRAQ)

My husband was gone for a year, but he wasn't in a combat situation like these guys. I have no idea what they go through, or their families back home. I think they're awesome. I think they're heros. I think they're corageous and brave!

This is killing me!!!

2007-07-09T22:26:00.000-06:00

OK blogging friends, this kills me. It really does. I'm sorry. I apologize ahead of time. Really I do. You really don't want this, but I tell you...you asked for it. You asked for it, I say. And, I'm a true blogging friend, so when you ask for it, I deliver.

OK, here it is.....

Don't scream....

We went to the festival AGAIN! I don't like getting pictures taken of me well, ever since college, when I weighed a lot less. However, D said that my blogging friends wanted to see me in my full costume, so I did it. So, when you want to laugh, just remember, that I'm very tender-hearted, and cry easy. Just ask Wendy. Maybe even Susie. I know Wendy has seen me cry many - a - time. Susie might have even caught an episode once or twice as well. So, don't laugh. And, if you're not going to leave a comment like I'm the most beautiful w*nch you've ever seen, well, then just don't leave a comment. Because, I'm fragile. And, I'm doing this for you.

OK, so I'm so conservative with my costume. Most of the women really "boost" 'em up there, right out there in your face where you can see 'em! Well, I'm with my three young boys, and honestly, they just don't want to see that! Anyway, mine don't boost up anymore. It just aint happenin' anymore!

So, since that first picture scared you, here's a little something for the ladies...

This is one of the guys who does the jousting. I think he's quite handsome. Only because I think he looks like my adorable husband when he was young, before the AF made him whack off his hair. He had long wavy hair like this when we were in college, and well, it just takes me back a few years. So, being the wonderful husband he is, since he knows I think this guy is cute, he took some pictures of him, just for me! And, being the blogging friend that I am, I wanted to share it with you!

Cute Video

2007-07-06T20:05:00.000-06:00

OK, being the dog lover I am, my friend sent this to me a while ago, and the kids and I loved it. You may have seen it before, but I don't care, I want to learn how to embed video on my blog. Turn your volume on, cause it's the added commentary that makes it funny. I think it was on America's Funniest Home videos. The last one particularly cracks me up, the lengths the people went through to keep that dog in, including putting up their huge circa-1987 stereo speakers.

Apparently I'm the only one who didn't know that you can still call 911 with an old cell phone, so I'm feeling old and not tech-savvy!

Some useful info

2007-07-05T22:43:00.001-06:00

D sent me this link about a little girl who kept calling 911 on a cell phone - . It's kind of funny the way they tracked her down with fast food (kind of scary also).

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288212,00.html

But, I wanted everybody to know about it. We let Collin use one of our deactivated phones. He charges it and everything. He thinks it really works. I had no idea, but this story says that federal law mandates that deactivated cell phones still have the ability to call 911. I totally wouldn't believe it, but I didn't get it from a e-mail or anything, it's straight from foxnews.com. It was also in the Chicago Sun Times today.

So, go check it out, especially if you ever let your kids play with your old cell phones. I totally would never had believed it!

8 Random Facts Meme

2007-07-01T15:36:00.000-06:00

Ok, this time around I have been tagged by Janice to do the 8 Random Facts Meme.

Here are the rules:- I have to post these rules before I give you the facts (check)

- Each participant posts eight random facts about themselves.
- Tagees should write a blogpost of eight random facts about themselves.
- At the end of the post, eight more bloggers are tagged (named and shamed).
- Go to their blog, leave a comment telling them they're tagged (cut and run).

So, here's my attempt. Although, I'm not sure I know 8 bloggers to tag. I'll have to look.

1. I have lived in more houses than I can count. If I go back 15 years (the amount of time I've been married) I've lived in 15 houses. I couldn't even count my entire life, because as a child, we moved every couple of years also.

2. I went to France during the summer after my junior year and wandered around Paris by myself taking pictures, reading, eating croissants, writing and watching people. I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and it was a windy day, and it was swaying back and forth at the top!

3. My first job was at the Peanut Shack in Plano, Texas. My pay was $3.35 an hour. I baked cookies and popped popcorn. I was told I could take home all the extra popcorn at the end of my shift, so sometimes I would pop some at 8:30, and take the extra in a huge bag to my boyfriends house.

4. I believe that taking a nap on Sunday afternoon after church is not only nice, it's my God given right as a hard working mother of three.

5. I have watched the series Alias all the way through, consecutively at least 6 times. I lost count. I think it's about 6 times. I secretly believe in another life, I could have been as bad a** as Sydney Bristow.

6. I still rock out to Def Leppard and Night Ranger.

7. I have a tattoo around my right ankle that I got when I was 30 I think. It's little swirlies, and flowers. I got it with my best friend in the world, Samantha. We've been friends since 6th grade. She got the same one, only different color flowers. We're tattoo sistas! Most people get a good laugh when they find out I have tattoo, because they envision me as being uptight and conservative. Muhahahaha! I have many layers!

8. I met D at a party my roommates threw in college on January 20, 1990, and I have loved him every day since. (The reason I met him goes back to a mouse...but that's a long story)

Here's my tags...

1. Wendy
2. Stacy
3. Susie
4. Debs (friend of Susie's/new blogger)
5. Shana (because Janice said you're safe...but no one is ever safe!)
6. Megan (because even when you go private, you can get still get tagged!)
7. Lori (because I haven't heard from you in a while)
8. D (because I'm all out of people, but he won't be able to tag anybody, because he doesn't know any bloggers)

OH, and I don't usually do two posts in a day, but because I was tagged, I did. Don't forget to scroll down and see my handsome boy playing the guitar!

Juke Box Hero...

2007-07-01T13:38:00.000-06:00

Here's my little rock star. For as long as I can remember, Shane has wanted to learn to play the guitar. We got him this guitar for Christmas 2005. Since then, of course D went oversees, and time has flown by, and to make a long story short, we've never gotten him lessons.

Walking out of church a few weeks ago, Shane said, let's go ask that guy if he can teach me to play the guitar. He was speaking about the man playing the guitar in the band at church. So, D and Shane went up and asked him. He said he'd call us, and he did. He said he's been thinking about teaching guitar, but never has. So, he wanted to do it for free, to see how it went. What a blessing! Shane couldn't wait until he got there, and he was just in heaven. I've never seen the boy smile so big in my life!

So, there my friends, a juke box hero is born. He's got stars in his eyes...(80's song)

It won't fall out!!!

2007-06-28T18:42:00.000-06:00

OK, so not only has the first baby tooth not fallen out yet, now a second adult tooth is growing in...crooked. Hello braces!

We're wiggling and wiggling it, and it just won't budge. The dentists keep saying it's ok, just wiggle it and it'll coome out, but geez, it just won't come out!

Stubborn...he gets it from his father.

The Pirate Ship and Other Intersting Facts

2007-06-26T19:35:00.001-06:00

Hi everybody! I have been thinking lately that my life has been so boring. I started to think, maybe I shouldn't blog anymore, because my life is so boring! But, I figured I'd just blog about the boring things in my life.

First of all, I started my new job today. You know what I do? I check books in, I shelve books, I check out books for people. And the books keep coming in! They just keep flying down that return drop! They just don't stop. See, this is what happens when you have a college degree, but you marry a military man, and have three kids! No, I'm just kidding. I think it will be fun. I even brought a book home my first day. It's called The Lost King of France, A True Story of Revolution, Revenge and DNA. I'm so boring, aren't I? I just love reading about history, especially French history. It's about the son of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, and how modern DNA is involved in solving the mystery of what happened to him after his parents were killed. Weird, I know.

So, I thought I'd post pictures of my finished basement. We have indeed finished it. In fact, my parents stayed in it, and loved it.

So, how would someone decorate a basement if they had four swashbuckling sword flinging boys like I do? Well, a Pirate Ship of course!

Here's what you see when you walk down the stairs...

Here's what you see when you turn the corner into the basement...

Yes, that was Collin's little "peace" fingers in the corner. Don't know why he did it, but he's just ADORABLE!

So here's the mini kitchen which I love. It's great for entertaining I think. But, how many wives do you know would allow swords, pirate signs and bird appliques in their houses? Am I the best wife/mom ever? I know I am. You can go tell all your friends and family.

Here's my dog...the only other girl in the house...down in the basement with the boys. Don't you think her face is saying...can't we do something pink in here???

Here's the only evidence of me...my treadmill. In the background you can see an old chest. That was brought over by Darrell's ancestors on a boat from Germany...well I don't know how long ago...but it was a long time ago. Little bit of history there.

So, they love it so much, they have built a "fort" and are sleeping in the basement.

Um...in boxes...but with remarkably cute "Cars" pj's.

But, once I crawled down in there, I realized there is remarkably more room than I thought there was. And, they have that handy lantern in there, in case they need to get up in the middle of the night.

Wolf room pictures to come later...

More pics of the house

2007-06-23T22:24:00.001-06:00

Well, my parents are heading back home. We had such a great visit. My boys keep saying today that they miss them. Thanks mom and dad for coming all this way to visit us. We had a great time!

Wendy was able to come down tonight. She was able to see her husband who was working, and we all had my homemade pizza. Which, I might add, is quite tasty. Then D watched the kids, and we went to go see Ocean's Thirteen. We liked it. It was good. However, Wendy and I have really bad luck with people sitting behind us and kicking us.

So, a long time ago I said I'd post pictures of the bedrooms, so now I'm making good on my promise. Here's a few pictures of Shane's room. The Lab room. You can't really tell from the picture, but we painted the top half of the room a cream color. It just looks white in the picture. But, it's a really pretty cream color in real life.

The lab flag was given to us by my mom a few years ago. We decorated the room around the flag.

These plates were bought by D and I when we were first married. I think we got one every few months for the first year we were married. I think it was through Lenox or something. I can't remember. Anyhoo, we got them because our first baby was our black lab Bandit. They have sat in their boxes for 14 years now. At least now they are gracing Shane's room!

And, here they are playing their Game Boys.

A few people have requested that I post a picture of me in my full Renaissance costume. I fully intend to do this. I can either dig up a picture that was taken last Halloween, or I can just have D take one of me when we go again. Because, dear friends, D fully intends to take us again when his parents visit in a few weeks. I will also post some pictures of the "wolf" room as soon as I can!

Sammy, if you read this, know that I am thinking about you and your family, and I am praying for your continued peace. I love all of you!

Hope everyone has a great Sunday.

We're having a good visit

2007-06-21T07:58:00.000-06:00

Well, we're having a great visit with my parents. My boys were so excited to see their Grandma and Grandpa after about a year and a half. We've been doing all the tourist things in town.

But, I think what they are really enjoying is Tess. Grandma and Grandpa brought their dog. We're of course, not used to a small dog in the house, so we're having a great time with her!

Look at this face!

She's so cute! I got this picture of her running in the back yard. Her ears flop up and down when she runs, and I happened to get this one when her ears were up. I'll never be able to do that again.

So, here's the boys with Grandma and Grandpa. Of course, once again, the oldest looks less than enthusiastic. I'm telling all you younger moms out there...take lots of pictures now, cause someday they'll be a "tween" and won't want their picture taken!

Now that I look at it, Shane's the only one who looks like he doesn't mind getting the picture taken...

Bad Day Today

2007-06-18T15:46:00.001-06:00

So, did everybody have a good Father's Day? Ours was good. We were just happy to have him in the states! That's quite an accomplishment. I got up at 7:00 a.m. to make him breakfast. Then we had a nice homemade steak dinner after church for him. Well, if anything, he was well fed.

So here's a picture of a book the boys picked out for him.

It's a way cool book. It has "everything" a boy needs to know it. It has a section on paper airplanes, tying knots, making a treehouse, a homemade battery...etc. etc. etc. It even has a section about "girls" which Shane said they were going to tear out, since he doesn't like girls. But, serisously, here's a quote from the girls section...you'll love it.

"If you see a girl in need of help - unable to lift something, for example - do not taunt her. Approach the object and greet her with a cheerful smile, while surreptitiously testing the weight of the object. If you find you can lift it, go ahead. If you can't, try sitting on it and engaging her in conversation." Cute huh?

So, yes, I had a terrible day today. I am volunteering at a church we're thinking about becoming members at for this week of Vacation Bible School. I'm a house leader. Within the house, there are family leaders who are each in charge of like 5-8 kids. I'm kind of in charge of the house. Well, I got the three year olds. Seriously, I'm in charge of 26 three year old kids. I worked so hard all day trying to count and make sure they were all there, so as not to lose one. Then at the end of the day, it was mass chaos. Parents for like 75 pre-schoolers all converged on one little corner of the church to pick up their kids. We were trying so hard to keep track of everybody. Then a lady came up and said, um, I'm here to pick up so and so...and his friend. Yikes! I ran like a mad woman through that church. I found them. I said, where did you think you were going? Oh, we were looking for our family. Well, they wouldn't have gotten out of the building, because there is security at each and every door, but hello...the mom was mad. I understand. The thing that I keep replaying over in my mind is that I told those two kids to come back in the room like twice. They were determined to get out. Turn your head for one second...poof they're gone. I understand. I would have been a little put out if it were my kid. So, I feel terrible, and don't know if I ever want to volunteer at a church again. I've been crying all afternoon.

But, on an another note, my parents are coming to visit tomorrow! We haven't seen them in like a year and a half. The boys are so excited, and we're getting the house ready. Well, we're getting the house ready in between my bouts of crying, and kicking myself.

My Little Shark-Tooth

2007-06-15T07:40:00.000-06:00

Years ago, when Finding Nemo was popular, my little dude here was quite small. However, he loved the movie. In particular, he loved the scene where they say..."Sharkbait, bru ha ha" OK, so if you have never seen it, go out and rent it. It's a cute movie, even for adults. So, as the years went on, we used Sharkbait as his nickname.

Flash forward to the age of five. Wendy and I were having lunch last week (quite nice to be a lunching mommy for a day!) Well, anyway, I was sitting across from him. He was sitting next to Elaina, who he says he IS going to marry, and she's going to have to kiss him, because the mommy has to kiss the daddy (already a man). He laughed, and I was like, omg, open your mouth again. Well, I was shocked to see this tooth growing in, and the other tooth hasn't fallen out yet. Wendy said, you should have a dentist go see it. So, of course, being the worrying mother I am, I was there the next day. They took x-rays. They fell in love with him (of course). Then they told me it was fine. They said it was very common, and that the root of the baby tooth is gone, so it should fall out any day now. Well, that was last week! It's been over a week, and we can't get that sucker out. I've fed him corn on the cob. I've fed him carrots. Not a budge. I've tried to wiggle it, but I'm sort of a squeamish mom when it comes to my own kids, so I can't really do it. That little bugger is hanging on for dear life. Now, I'm thinking, ok, is that other tooth going to continue to come out, and like be at a terrible angle? What should I do?

So, he came up to me that day and said his new nickname should be "Sharktooth", since sharks get rows of teeth like that. OK guys, he's only 5, quite a genius, right?

On another note, I got a job!!! There were 38 applicants, and they interviewed 4, and I got it. I'll be working at my local library. My oldest said, I can totally see you doing that mommy. The pay is an insult, but it's only like 15 hours a week, and it's during the day, in four hour shifts. So, it's perfect for me. I can get out of the house, and not sit around feeling sorry for myself. Because, to be quite honest, I've been known to go into crying fits lately. My youngest is going into 1st grade, which means I have an empty nest during the day. I'm not dealing with it well. I mean, just a short year and a half ago, I was homeschooling all three of them, and I was with them 24 hours a day. So, for all you young moms out there, savor each and every day. It happens really, really fast. Well, as I was crying last night and said this, my very logical husband said, "No dear, it didn't. You just feel like it did." Thanks Socrates!

I've been outed

2007-06-13T09:43:00.000-06:00

All right, I've been outed. By my husband no less. I have a confession to make. Every year at Halloween, I dress up in Renaiss. attire. Every year when the fest comes along, my entire family dresses up, and heads out. But you see, there's a big difference between my family, and the king and queen you see above...they are paid...we're just weird.

So, our favorite part is the jousting. See, once again, I might add, these people are paid to look like that. Just wait for it...I'll get to pictures of my family.

So, they do like a real fight, and it's really cool. Then, there was this guy. He was hilarious. He looks, to me, like a certain Aussie actor. He made the kids pinky promise that they wouldn't go home and play with fire. He also said we weren't supposed to tell his mom, because he told her he's the guy who goes behind the elephant with a bag! Classic!

So, here's my handsome husband swordfighting his very own flesh and blood...our son! Yikes!

So, here's big C (AKA Green Knight) in a "swordfight" tournament. Oh, boy did he steal the hearts of all the people there. The women started chanting..."Go Green Knight...Go Green Knight." The judge said..."I know I'm supposed to be impartial here, but go little dude!" Of course that was when he was up against a kid who was like 16. He was so sweet, he let Collin get two points before he ended up beating him. It was really sweet.

OK, so here, I said, what is this the Civil War? Brother against brother????

Didn't really get many pictures of me in them. There were a few, but this one is the best. It's little Green Knight taking a break to eat a pretzel while sitting in his mom's lap.

So, there you have it...I've been outed. I'm one of those weird festival people who dress up when they're not even getting paid for it. I admit it.

The Good Ole Days

2007-06-11T17:38:00.000-06:00

Remember those good old days when you were a kid, and you sat at the table and ate your favorite cereal, while reading the side of the box? I say, relive those days! It doesn't matter how old you are, you can recapture those times. Who cares who might see you. Just do it. Seriously!

My kids are restricted on the sugar cereals on school days. They're just wild enough as it is. But during summer, or vacations, these restrictions are lifted. The other day, I came downstairs, and all three of them were sitting there in front of a cereal box, reading it, and doing the puzzles and activities.

So, if you can't beat 'em, I guess you should join 'em! I sat with them. I poured myself a good old bowl of Apple Jacks and ate it with them. As soon as I sat down, they were showing me things on the side of their cereal box. I helped Collin make it through a maze of syrup to make it to the bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Theron said, look mommy, this one is good for you...it doesn't have any fat, but it has 5 grams of fiber. "That's good for you!" he said. Yea, that's good for you, Theron!

My favorite is Lucky Charms. I love it. I could live on it. In fact, years ago when I had my appendix out, and I was trying to get my appetite back, I ate Lucky Charms. After a week or so, that did the trick! Wait a second...that was 10 years ago! Wow. Time flies.

I think Lucky Charms is quite nearly a perfect food. If only it was all marshmallows, now that would be truly magically delicious! Collin says, "Lucky Charms make you lucky, mommy!" Well, I guess it's true, because I have those three!

What's your favorite?

Summer is in Full Swing!

2007-06-06T19:25:00.000-06:00

Well, summer is in full swing here at my house. And with it comes the obvious question...what do I do with these three boys all summer? I really don't know. I'm going to have to figure something out.

So, we have a really nice family behind us at our new house. The boys really like hanging out with them. The only problem is, they have to climb over the fence to get there. Well, either that, or walk all the way around the block! And, well, that's just too far, especially for the little one. So, they climb the fence.

Here's S heading over at like 8 a.m. I'm still in my pajamas, but I had to snap these pictures. It's so cute. It's so early in the morning, and he even still has bed-head!

So, I love my new house! We planted some rose bushes, and look at this! I love yellow roses, and it's acutally producing flowers! I'm so proud! It's like a new baby.

All right, so I know that got you in the mood to see more of my nature pictures.

That was shameless. Just a shameless attempt to get more compliments for my amateur photography.

What a week!

2007-06-02T21:56:00.000-06:00

Well, some of you have asked when I would finally be done driving my kids an hour to school. Well, we are done. It's a sad occasion, and a happy one. I have putting off blogging about it because I'm so emotional about it.

Here's Shane getting chased by the girls on his last day of school. He's gonna be a heartbreaker with that blonde hair and tan skin. He wanted to wear his "My Dad, My Hero" shirt on his last day. It's kind of funny. He was sooo sad about leaving his friends, yet he wanted to wear that shirt. It's so tough for military families to move as much as they do. It really puts a strain on the kids when they get old enough to really get attached to friends. Yet, I think my kids are proud of what their dad does, and understand that it's a sacrifice, but it's a worthy one.

At the end of the day, Shane and his class were supposed to sit in a circle, and tell one great thing about the year, and one thing they didn't like so much. The boys were all saying the one bad thing was their friend Shane leaving. Shane was crying, his head in his shirt. His friends all started crying, and there I was, in the back of the class trying not to lose it. It was sad. I don't think I'll ever forget that.

All right, on to my baby. Yikes, I'm holding back the tears now! He graduated from kindergarten! Here he is holding up a picture of what he wants to be when he grows up...a pilot! OK, I said to D, mommy's never going to sleep.. You can't see it on the picture, but the dude in the picture, which is supposed to be Collin when he grows up and becomes a pilot, has a shirt on that says, "I love my job". Too cute.

So, here he is graduating. He's in the front, in the middle. I don't know why he's so close to the other guy. Maybe because there's a girl on the other side. But, she's cute! I digress. The little hats were so cute. My son's was the only one that kept sliding forward. Of course, he was playing with the tassle, so that didn't help.

During the kindergarten graduation, they showed a video of pictures from the entire year. I was sitting there fighting back tears! I mean, seriously! I'm going to be a mess when this little guy graduates high school!

We went to the park this week with daddy, and here they are looking at nature. I love taking the unposed pictures!

So, here's the little guy...Collin, I am so proud of you! I love you!

OK, so on to Theron. He graduated elementary school. Here's his desk I decorated. I loved the card I picked out, if I may say so myself.

All right, so he had a graduation ceremony as well. Geez, people, come on, how much do you think I can take in one week? They also did a video recapping the entire 6th grade year. I'm a mess!

He's my shy one. He's a little nervous about going up to get his elementary school diploma.

But he does it, and his mommy is about to lose it big time in the audience.

So, that's my week. It was hard. It was very bittersweet. We are on to new adventures, which is nothing new to military families, and that's exciting sometimes. We had to leave friends, and that's excrutiating sometimes! Seriously!

Memorial Day Water Fight

2007-05-30T22:09:00.000-06:00

Serious taunting going on here...

We had a great Memorial Day, and I hope you did also!

More Fun with my Zoom Lens

2007-05-26T20:49:00.001-06:00

OK, so I am so inspired by a few other blogging ladies who take beautiful pictures! I'm just a newbie, but I did get a new zoom lens for Mother's Day, and I'm having fun with it. We went to the zoo today, and I kept stopping to take close ups of flowers. People would be walking up, looking into the greenery, wondering if there was an animal! It was funny. I was faking people out.

So, here I was trying to learn how to manually focus in on an object with the zoom lens, and blur everything else out behind it. I think it looks cool.

Even just a leaf makes a beautiful picture if I do say so myself!

OK, it's a little too late for Mother's Day, but look at this! AWWWWW!!!

PPPFFFFTTTTTT!!!!

OK, so this grasshopper walks into a bar...AH Ha Ha!

That cracks me up. It totally looks like he's telling the other one a joke.

OK, well, I took over a hundred pictures. Like a ton more flowers, and a ton of the bird sanctuary, with the boys feeding the birds, but I just can't bore you in that way.

I'll close with this picture. I think it would be a great entry for the Father's Day picture contest, but I am entirely sure I won't be able to figure out the "Mr. Linky" and "link back to here" and post this button process. I'm just such a newbie!

So, here it is. I think it shows the true nature of my boys. Number one, not following the rules, by climbing on the fence. Don't worry, this wasn't the lion display or anything. I actually think they were watching a ground squirrel. Number two, it's shows how daddy is just joining in. Lastly, I love it. After a year of doing all these things without him, I love it!!! I love it that they can have these daddy moments now.

Plus, he's a good husband also, because if you look closely, he's carrying my Diet Dr. Peppers in his backpack! Now, that's love.

Finally...a post!

2007-05-25T21:39:00.000-06:00

Sorry, I have heard from someone...uh hmmm...that I haven't posted in a while. It's quite true. This week was another tough week of commuting the kids. It really is hard when you don't have a house to go to during the day! Luckily Wendy has been nice enough to let me go to her house.

But more importantly, what happened on Lost? I am so Lost. I can't figure out that show. I suppose that's the point. I truly believe the name of the show is Lost, not because the people are lost on an island, I believe it's a sick cruel joke that we're always lost! But, I loved seeing Apollo Anton Ohno with Dancing with the Stars. He was really good.

So, I'll post some pics now for the fun of it. Here we are at Wendy's b-day party...First picture of the both of us in quite some time...I usually don't like to get my picture taken...

Here I am feeling a little "sheepish" and Shane is a cow, and Collin is a pig. Theron refused, which is why he took the picture.
Here we are helping Thomas Jefferson with the Declaration of Independance. Don't look directly into Theron's eyes. It's a little creepy. Not sure why he did that with his eyes!

So, I got a zoom lens for my camera, and I've been trying it out. I'm not very good yet, but I'm trying. Here's my first attempt to get Collin on a see-saw from across the park...

Well, I was going to post some pictures from field day this week, but I think I'll do it tomorrow, just to give you something to look forward to...

Hope everybody has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Two by Two...About Me

2007-05-20T16:46:00.000-06:00

Liza from Liza's Eyeview tagged me to do this! I really enjoy reading her posts! Thanks for tagging me so I could take time out from my cleaning to do a post. Hey, at least I can tell D I had to do it!

Two Names You Go By:

1. Kristen to friends, or K to D
2. Mommy

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:

1. Exercise Pants (though I have not exercised today)
2. Purple T-Shirt

Two Things You Want in a Relationship:

1. love
2. honesty

Two of Your Favorite Things to do:

1. Napping
2. Watching movies

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:

1. A nap
2. A glass of wine

What 2 pets you had/have:

1. Bandit - a black lab
2. Brandee - a yellow lab (naughty dog)

Two people who will fill this out first: I'll tag...

1. Stacy - Bowl Full of Wishes - new blogger, go check her out!
2. Susie - The Solo Family - because she gives good answers to questions

Two things you did last night:

1. Went to a dinner for my friend Wendy's birthday
2. Watched an episode of 24

Two people who live at your house:

1. D
2. Boys (there's three of them, but I can't leave one out...there will be mass chaos)

Two things you ate today:

1. Rice Krispie Treat at a reception to honor active duty military at my possible new church
2. Hot Dog for lunch (hey, D made lunch...I'm lucky it wasn't beenie weenies)

Two people you talked to last:

1. Shane - "do your homework that's due tomorrow"
2. Collin - "pick this up..."

Two things you're doing tomorrow:

1. Driving my kids to school
2. Sitting on Wendy's sofa possibly

Two Favorite Holidays:

1. Thanksgiving (love, love, love fall)
2. Christmas

Two favorite beverages:

1. Diet Dr. Pepper
2. Regular Dr. Pepper (what can I say? I'm a pepper. Are you a pepper? I know you'd like to be one. I can show you how...)

That was fun. Does anybody know me any better?

An Ice Cream Trip

2007-05-17T19:49:00.000-06:00

Not too much to talk about this week. Just driving back and forth, and sleeping on Wendy's couch.

Oh, wait...my 15th wedding anniversary was this week. My wonderful husband took us out to a swank restaurant, and it was great fun, and great food. Hard to believe I've been married 15 years! I'm getting old. Yikes.

We went to Dairy Queen last week with Wendy and her kids. Of course, since Wendy and I were there...pictures were taken!!!!

Collin giving the "thumbs up" to the wonderful Dairy Queen lunch.

Elaina is soooo cute!

Wendy took this one, because of course she is better at taking pictures than I am.

And, yet another picture that Wendy took of Connor.

I love the look on Julia's face. Like, what are you talking about?

Too cute...still trying to get what's left on the stick.

Um...Julia, dude, you got somethin' right here...

So, I hope that was enough pictures for you!

The Boy Turns 10

2007-05-13T21:25:00.000-06:00

Hope everybody out there had a good Mother's Day! Mine was ok. I unpacked the whole day, which wasn't fun. However, I got a great gift from my boys, and D made me a steak dinner. I had a yellowjacket in my bedroom. What is it with me and animals (or insects as the case may be) coming into my house?

Yesterday we spent the day back up north. Shane had his birthday party. Wait, let me back up. Collin had a birthday party for someone in his class at the bowling alley. Then, we had two hours to kill before Shane's party (and with our house an hour away and all) we went put-putting. Then, Shane's party was at the skating rink. OK, so back in the day, I was good. I mean, I had the white roller skates, with the orange wheels, and the big orange pom-pom thingies on top. Any chance I went, I was there. Well, that was a long...long...long time ago. I stink now. I was trying my best to roll along, but these little kids were speeding past me. I thought to myself...OK, back in the 80's I would have skated circles around you, little kid. Oh, wait a minute, you weren't even born yet!

D was a little better than me, however, he had a wipe out, and now his wrist is killing him. He went and bought a brace for it today. I told him to go back to work and tell everybody that he hurt it while mountain biking up the mountain, when a mountain lion attacked...but he said he was going to tell them it was from roller skating! I can no longer be responsible for the chuckles he'll get. He's been forewarned. So, it was a fun filled day of hopping from party to party, eating pizza, cake and ice cream...and being slightly sore when I woke up this morning. Here's some pictures.

So, here's Shane doing the Limbo on roller skates. Luckily D didn't do that, he would have thrown his back out! He He

OOhhh...fire! Cool!

Cute picture here. Staring at the one candle that didn't go out!

Gee, thanks mom...books.

OK, so once again, Collin doesn't fail in giving me a good laugh! There was an arcade there. He said mommy, can I go play. I said no sweetie, I don't have any of the tokens (thinking I can outsmart my 5 year old here...seriously). He said, no, look over there. There's a machine over there. If you put a dollar in mommy, you get a WHOLE 100 pennies! OK, how can I resist that? Here's a dollar. He went over to try to put the bill in. BZZZ..in the dollar goes...BZZZ out it comes. We've all been there. Well, this was his first experience with it. This picture is him saying, "The dollar's no good, mommy!"

Have a good week!

My Good Friend Wendy

2007-05-09T18:34:00.001-06:00

Well, I haven't blogged much lately. Too busy trying to move in, all the while driving the kids an hour each way to school. On Monday, we were almost there, but I was running low on gas, and we were early. So, I stopped and got gas. As we were pulling away, I said, "What is that sound?" Theron said, "It sounds like we're pulling a trailer." Which of course we weren't. Then he said, "Wait a second, I feel like I'm getting lower, and you guys are up higher than me. Pull over mommy!" So, I pulled over, and my tire was flat, flat, flat. All the way down to the rim. Luckily, my friend Wendy was able to come and get Theron to school on time, because he had a field trip.

In the military, with all the moving we do, each time you move, it's both an exciting thing, and a sad thing. Obviously I am very happy that my husband is home, and that we're embarking on a new adventure. However, this also means that we are moving away from Wendy! She is the whole reason we moved here when D was leaving. She was a friend when I needed one. I just wanted to say thank you to Wendy for being such a good friend. I will miss sitting with you and eating candy. I'll miss watching movies with you while criticizing the plot lines and eating popcorn! I hope that since we're only an hour away, we'll still be able to find the time to get together and go see movies or something! Thank you God for sending me such a wonderful friend!

By the way...Wendy's birthday is this month. I won't give away an exact date, for privacy purposes, but I hope she won't mind if I say it's this month, so if you read her blog too, please go over there and wish my great friend Wendy Happy Birthday! (She's going to be so proud of me for putting a hyperlink on my blog. I hope it works).
I'll still post pictures of Shane's birthday soon.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!!!

2007-05-06T19:02:00.000-06:00

OK, so there's a bird outside my new window. I love nature. I love birds. But, they've been a little too close for comfort lately.

As we were moving out of the old house, a huge mourning dove flew into our house. I screamed, Collin screamed, the dog hid in a corner. He kept wacking himself up against the big window and we just kept screaming. Then, he made a swoop through the kitchen where we were, and me and Collin hit the deck! My husband thought I was a nut! It's only a bird he said. Yea, only a bird about to attack me! Collin said that he was afraid he was going to land on his head and poop!

So, now, back to the bird outside my new window. Look, I'm a Christian, I love nature! I love all of it. God's creation...it's magnificent. However, I am still a human sinner, and this bird is really pressing his luck! He starts singing at 4:30 a.m.! My husband who can sleep through anything just keeps on sleeping. I just lay there awake. I've heard the early bird gets the worm, and I'm thinking this bird must be the fattest bird in the city then. It has reminded me of a scene in the movie Failure to Launch. I love that movie, because of the animal scenes in it. There's a story line where the girl has the same problem as me. And, she asks her boyfriend if he has a BB gun. So, he lets her borrow his "Red Rider BB Gun". You know, from the Christmas Story movie a million years ago? So, I'm laying in bed one morning, and I ask my husband if he has a BB gun. He asks...why? I say, nevermind, I'll just shoot my eye out anyway!

Naughty Dog!!!

2007-05-04T21:31:00.000-06:00

OK, so those of you have read my post, you know that I have said that I have a naughty dog! She's just naughty! The only problem is, I love her to death. Almost two years ago now, we lost our beloved black lab Bandit. He was very ill, and we had to put him to sleep. He was our first "kid" when we were married. I had never really seen my husband cry until that time. We were driving home, after we put him to sleep, which was a long way. We lived in Del Rio at the time, and the nearest place to have him put to sleep and cremated was a little bit away (sorry AK, Del Rio is in the middle of nowhere, but you'll make great friends!) So, on the way back down the little two lane highway back to Del Rio, my husband cried. I did too, and we said, we never wanted to go through that again. Wendy will remember this...a month later, I was doing some serious yellow lab shopping on the internet. Nobody could replace Bandit, but I had to have another dog! I got her on the same day I found out that D was going to Qatar for a year. We got her in Houston, which was another long drive. I went with just the boys, we got her, stayed in a hotel, and then went back home the next day. That first night, she slept through the entire night! Well, that was the only time she did that!So, we're in our new house, but we're still commuting the kids to school every day so they can finish out the school year. It's an hour drive. D was going to drive them this morning, and it was 7:00 a.m. They were about to leave when I came down and said, where's Brandee? Um..she's outside. I went out to the backyard, and saw that the wind had blown open our gate. OK, something's gotta be done about that gate, but that'll have to be dealt with later. I ran back into the house screaming..."My dog's gone...My dog's gone." I found the first shoes I could find and ran out the door and got in the car. Yes, I was indeed in my jammies, wearing brown dress shoes! Well, I also had no time to put on my glasses or contacts, so here I am driving through our new neighborhood, which I don't know very well to begin with, squinting, calling for my dang dog! So, I pray really hard..."God...please...please...she's my dog! Please let me find her." I turned down a street that I know God must have led me down, because there she was. I jumped out, saying, "Brandee...Brandee...oh my gosh, you scared me...oh, thank you God." She got in the car, and I looked up at the house in front of me, and there was a man watching the whole ordeal. There I was, hair messed up, in my jammies, and dress shoes! Well, later my husband said that that man must have called the number on her tag, which was still the old house, because someone called and said that they had our dog. So, it had to be him, and he was probably thinking...geez...ungrateful woman. She didn't even say thank you! Only, I didn't know at the time that he was trying to help me! Teeny bit emberassing! So, I'm driving back, and I find two of my boys walking down the street. I ask, what are you doing? We're looking for Brandee they say. Where's Shane? I ask. Somewhere loooking for Brandee they say. Oh great, now my 10 year old son is missing. That dude can run fast too! So, I start praying again, "Please God, now please let me find Shane!" That little rascal was like 10 blocks away! He loves that dog so much, and boy, can he run!

Here he is running a marathon...well, he only ran one mile, but he was one of the fastest kids! He turned 10 yesterday, and I'll post pictures of that hopefully this weekend!

So, everybody is safe and sound now. I keep telling her "Do you know what you put mommy through this morning?" But she just stares at me blankly and licks herself. Her paw of course! What were you thinking?

2007-05-02T09:44:00.000-06:00

Check this out, over at www.5minutesformom.com! They're giving away great prizes for Mother's Day.

Ronald McDonald Finally Exposed!!!

2007-05-01T20:50:00.000-06:00

Setting: In line at Kinkos waiting to send a fax. There is candy at the counter. Why, I have no idea. Can I not even send a fax without my kid asking for candy?

Collin: mommy, can I have some candy?

Me: no baby, because I'll probably be getting you McDonalds for lunch.

Collin: (after a pause) McDonalds is a stupid name!

Me: Well, I think it's named after somebody.

Collin: Well, yea, but it's fake!

Me: How do you know?

Collin: Hello...have you ever seen a guy walking around with a white head and big feet? He's fake!

Me: you're a genius, Collin!

Collin: I know!

The King is Exhausted on High

2007-04-29T07:23:00.000-06:00

Oh my gosh, I love this dude. He never fails to make me laugh. We were driving to the new house yesterday. Personally, I love to crank up the Christian praise songs in the car. I've also been known to belt out the words, at the amusement of other drivers. Well, my kids have started to follow suit. If you're gonna influence a habit in your kids, why not make it a good one! We were in the car, and "He is exalted" came on. Collin started to belt it out. Except, he thought the words were, "The King is Exhausted on High." Because to a 5 year old who's never heard the word exalted, God would be exhausted. I mean, come on, he has to answer all those prayers. Then, there's the entire galaxy. My goodness, He's busy! Seriously!

We're in the new house, and we are all indeed exhausted. Everybody loved sleeping in their new rooms last night!

Here's a juicy bit of information...my blog is going to have a new look soon. It's so beautiful! I can't wait. It will, once again have a new name. Don't let it confuse you. It'll be me, just with an absolutely gorgeous blog template from Splat Designs. She's so good! She really has a talent, and she's nice too. If you need a new blog design, check her out.

I'm a rolling stone baby

2007-04-27T10:06:00.000-06:00

Home Sweet Home

2007-04-26T07:23:00.000-06:00

Well, it's home sweet home for 3 - 4 years. The AF is trying to not move people around as much, so we're hoping to stay for 3 - 4 years. That would be nice. I'm not counting on it, but it would be nice. A.K., no, it's not an AF home, sorry!

We moved some more things inside yesterday. We had a furniture delivery. I got a new kitchen table which is lovely. We got a new bedroom set. It's amazing. I've never had a king sized bed, and now I do! Yes, we bought all those things before the van died.

As an update though, we decided to fix the van. We looked at new cars, but just weren't ready to get one. Getting a new car takes homework, prayer, and shopping obviously. We just weren't ready to do that this week, with moving and everything. D is so sweet, he told them to detail it while they're at it, so my van is "like new". Awwwwww...

So, here's the cars room with the road, and the appropriate decorations...

Collin said, mommy, come here, I have something to show you. He slowly opened his door, and said, "Welcome to Radiator Springs" and started dancing around the room. OK, here's another one...awwwwwww.

Now, in conclusion today, I have a "HUH?" I have those often. Mostly while watching Lost. But, lately there's been a picture on my Yahoo home page under the most e-mailed photos categories. I'm scratching my head on this one...

So, seriously? I don't get it. Was he going to the bank to get money? It says he's at a bank, and fell asleep. Was it at night? Was it just one of those vestibules that are unlocked at night? I'm not getting it. And, a horse? It says he's in Germany. Didn't know people still rode horses to the bank in Germany, but apparently they do. Wacky Germans. (D's family is German, ha, ha).

Thanks to everybody for your well wishes regarding my van! I love hearing from everybody!

Back to packing...

Oh snap, that's gonna leave a mark!!!

2007-04-24T22:31:00.000-06:00

OK, so once again, I had a terrible day. I hate to blog about terrible days. I've been doing too much of it. Today, we were driving in my mini-van to get fixed. Well, D was driving it, and I was following behind him. Well, it died all together at a very busy intersection! So, it's raining/snowing, and here we are, people honking at us, giving us dirty looks. I'm thinking, geez, we're broken down! It's not like we're doing this on purpose! Trust me! So, we get it towed in, and they tell us we need a new engine, to the tune of $3,400. OH SNAP! That's gonna leave a mark!!! Well, we're just not sure what we're going to do right now. We're praying hard, hoping God will show us whether to get it fixed, or buy a new car, or buy a used car....yada...yada...yada.

So, everybody in the military knows that they use letter abbreviations for everything. When we first got in the Air Force, wives would talk to me, and use these letter abbreviations, and I would just smile nicely, nod my head, and act like I had an idea what they were talking about. Then, I would go call my husband and ask him. There's TDY, which stands for "temporary duty". There's PCS, my personal favorite..."Permanent Change of Station"...or, until we feel like moving you again in 2 years. That cracks me up. Well, there's another one...DITY. This is "Do It Yourself." You can do this when you move. You can have movers come and move your stuff, or you can "DITY" some or all of your stuff. Well, this is what we're doing right now. After the events of today, I am beginning to see why God wanted us to do this...so we can have a little bit of money...to fix our 9 year old mini-van. You can make some money, but I don't recommend it. Yesterday, I helped my husband move our sectional into our new house. I nearly dropped it, which would in effect negate any money we might make. My arms have bruises all up and down them. We're still not done. We plan to get another truck later this week, and repeat the tremendous fun we had yesterday! I think I'm too old for this.

So, I tend to stress eat. When I'm stressed out, I tend to eat my favorite foods. I posted a few days ago about my pleasant memories of my dad and popping popcorn.

So, here's the world's most perfect husband making his wife popcorn on the stove after a hard day! Well, he's the world's most perfect husband for me. I don't mean to put down your husbands. I'm sure they're really nice and all. But, mine's perfect for me!

Dang, am I cute or what???

2007-04-21T19:23:00.000-06:00

Honestly, do I need to say more here?

What a Day!

2007-04-19T18:48:00.000-06:00

Ho Hum...my friend Wendy is out of town. I hope she's having fun. Today I was going to get a lot done, and as it would be, I would get nothing done. I decided I was going to start packing in the morning. I was getting ready to go to the U-Haul store to buy boxes, when Collin said he couldn't find his Game Boy. This resulted in looking for it for an hour and a half, and hurriedly going to the U-Haul store to get the boxes, then feeding him lunch and getting him off to Kindergarten. Good, now I'll start packing. Couldn't find the rolls and rolls of packing tape that I know we had from the packers from the last move. Fine, I'll mow the lawn. Mower won't start. Fine, I'll make dinner now. Put the water, butter, and milk in the pan to make mashed potatoes, and there aren't enough mashed potatoes to mix with it. Quick trip to the store. It was just one of those days when you have really good intentions, and in fact, you get nothing done. But, yeah, new episode of Grey's Anatomy tonight. At least it's all straight forward, unlike that irritating show Lost that I'm glued to every week saying, "Huh?"

So, I took this picture of my dog today. It was a beautiful day. Warm, and not a cloud in the sky. On days like these, my dog goes nuts to go outside. She whines at the door until we let her out.

When she gets outside, she promptly flops herself down. We call it her "sun-bath." I can ask the boys, "Where is Brandee?" Their answer will be, "She's sun-bathing." She just seems to be basking in the glory of the sun. Today amidst my failed good intentions, I heard the song, "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe. Actually, a lot of people have made a version of that song, but today I heard the MercyMe version. Here's a few of the words:

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel

Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still

Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine

When that day comes And I find myself Standing in the Son

I can only imagine When all I will do Is forever Forever worship You

I can only imagine

I thought of my dog, and thought, maybe that's what we're going to do. Just spend eternity basking in the glory of the Lord Most High. None of us know for sure what it will be like, so for now, I can only imagine.

2007-04-17T08:14:00.000-06:00

Well, just like all everyone else, I am deeply saddened by the events of yesterday at Virginia Tech. What a tragedy. As a mother, I find it unimaginable. I had a hard time sleeping last night. The one thing that keeps me going is the truth that God tells me in his word. He says over and over again to us, "Do not be afraid." I just have to hang tight to that.

It's cloudy, cold and rainy today. The weather underscores how I feel today, so I'm going to try to blog about happy things today.

Darrell started at his new assignment yesterday. I am so wildly proud of him and everything he has accomplished. He joined the AF after we were married. He never thought as a kid that he would do that. His courage and integrity amazes me. Here's a picture of him at our last duty station. It was his last day of work before he would move us, and leave to go oversees for a year. He wanted to sit down with his troops and play a card game that we always played at our Christmas parties down there. Of course the cute little blonde head in the bottom of the picture is my blonde cutie Shane! Nice AF hair, huh?

In other news, I've been wanting to blog about this for a few weeks, but have never gotten to it. So, in an effort to have a happy post today, I'm going to do it.

I am happy to report that my dry streak is over! I am officially a winner! I never win contests, I never have. Recently, however, I won a $50.00 gift card from my local popcorn store. I mean, this is like gold to me. I absolutely love popcorn! I know Chiquita says that the banana is the world's perfect food, but I say, no, it's popcorn!

I remember as a kid, my dad and I would make popcorn. I don't mean microwave popcorn, I mean the old fashioned way. We would pop it in a pan on the stove. Then we would put some butter in the pan to melt it, to pour it over. I still remember then we would sit down and watch something on TV, while eating yummy buttery popcorn. To this day, the smell of fresh popped popcorn is a comforting smell for me. Maybe I should make some today! I remember in high school, I took a creative writing class. Our assignment once was to write a poem. No, my friends, I didn't write about teen angst, young love, or even the beauty of nature. I wrote about popcorn! My teacher loved it. He thought it was funny.

I hope everyone is able to find joy in the simple things today...go pop some popcorn!

Are you Kidding Me?

2007-04-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Well, I haven't posted in a while again, so I wanted to get a quick one out there. I have been down this entire week with a cold. I had that flu bug a few weeks ago, and now I have a cold. What's up with that? I must be getting old. I usually don't get sick.

I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. For the past few days if not a week, the weather people have been telling us that we would be getting a foot of snow last night. When my kids went to bed last night, they were expecting a winter wonderland when they woke up. When I woke up at 3:00, there was nary a flake on the ground. Yes, I know, weather predictions are only predictions, and they can't help it if the storm takes a different track, etc. etc. etc. However, this is equal to like no visit from Santa Claus in the minds of young children. I mean come on, it's mid-April now. This was probably our last good chance to either be delayed or have no school. Oh, boy, they were ready for it. Even the teachers were ready for it. Theron's teacher was talking about it. Shane's teacher was talking about it. I'm glad I'm not at that school this morning at 9:00 a.m. with grumpy teachers and grumpy children! Even the public works guys all went into work and loaded up their plows with stuff. I mean, come on, they had to leave their families to get their plows ready! I should have been a weather reporter, because there's no other job in the world where you can be so incredibly off the mark and still keep your job! Think of the kids when you do your reporting! Tell us there's a chance the storm is going to take another track for crying out loud! Think of the families! Think of when you were a kid!

The only other morning worse than this was the morning after Daylight Savings, which we all know never turns out well.

I'll post more when I'm feeling better.

An Easter Week

2007-04-08T20:06:00.000-06:00

I haven't done a blog in nearly a week, so I'm just going to sum up my Easter week. What in the world is that picture? That my friends is the custodian at the elementary school who I hope they pay enough to be standing on the roof on a cold and wet day. Why you might ask? The kindergarden egg drop of course! Our assignment was to pack an egg in a baggie and in something else no larger than 8 X 8 X 8 inches to be dropped off the roof of the school and not break. The educational value for a kindergartner? I'm just not sure, but I'm sure the teacher had her good reasons. Did ours survive? Of course it did! Daddy, the logistician packed it, so of course it didn't break. Seriously!

On Friday night, we went down to the new house to do some bedroom painting. Now, this might be a sight you've never seen, I don't know. It's a tent right smack dab in the middle of our living room. We camped out Friday night to get up bright and early Saturday to start the painting. Do I enjoy camping out on the living room floor? No. Seriously. I love, love, love spending time with my boys and my husband, but seriously, I'm a city girl. I prefer a mattress and my little blue pillow. It was nice to do once.

Shane's room was painted green on the bottom, and a tan on top. He's going to have a kind of outdoor camo border. His room theme will be hunting dogs. He loves labradors. The room's gonna be cute when it's done. Oh, excuse me, it's going to be manly.

Now, Collin's room, this is going to be awesome when it's done. It's still a work in progress. Can you tell what it's going to be? Ok, I'll tell you, then you're gonna go, oh yea. Maybe not. It's going to be a "Cars" theme. Can you see it now? The bottom is the desert. Then we did the sky by mixing two colors of blue together. It really looks like a sky! Then, when we go back down, daddy is painting a road right down the middle. It's going to look cool!

That brings us to Easter morning. I'll have to say, this is a sight I haven't seen in my thirty...umm...something years! There was a blanket of snow outside! The boys and daddy kept humming Christmas songs. I kept saying, "stop it!" It's Easter!

It's all melted now, and it's going to be in the 60's tomorrow. Weird, strange weather pattern!

So, here we are coloring eggs! Always a favorite pastime for three boys. Every year we spend hours coloring eggs to specific standards. Then, I might need a hard boiled egg for something, but do you think I can crack one of theirs to use it? No! That would be a crime. They sit in the fridge for weeks, and I finally say, can I throw these away, to which they reluctantly say, yes, if you have to! I went to the grocery store today.

Darrell: you got eggs? Whatcha making?

Me: Um...deviled eggs.

Darrell: Why can't you use the ones we colored?

Me: Um...I just can't. There will be wailing and moaning. Just go with it!

For some reason, we all decided to put the buckets on our heads and run around. Yes, yes, I am proud!

Well, I think that's all for right now! I hope everyone who might come across this had a blessed Easter! I know I did.

Play Ball...

2007-04-04T20:40:00.000-06:00

So here we are at a Major League Baseball game last night. We had fun, but it was COLD!!! Baseball games aren't very exciting. Not much happened. Each time I had to take Collin to the bathroom, there was cheering in the stands. I kept thinking to myself, geez, I'm missing like the only thing that has happened the entire game! Or maybe they were cheering Collin on for making it to the bathroom. I don't know if any of you out there have boys, but raising three boys, I am keenly aware of the double standards that exist with the way people treat little boys as opposed to little girls. Don't get me wrong, I understand that boys and girls are different. Indeed God created them different, but as kids, they're all just kids. We went to the game because my son was singing the national anthem. Don't get all excited, it was him and like 100 other kids. It was two elementary school choirs. But, anyway, we were sitting in the section with all the families. So, you can imagine, it was chaos! Kids everywhere, running everywhere, up and down the isle, hanging on the railing, etc. Well, there was a cute little girl in a cute little pink dress hanging on the railing for some time. Well, quite a while. But, all she got was, "awww, how cute!" So, my son decides he's gonna give a try. Might as well try to get some "aww cutes" for himself. No such luck. Immediately the man who works at the stadium went right up to him and told him to find his seat. Irritating!

So, here's a picture of my son with the other kids, right after they had finished singing the national anthem. He's the one jumping out of the crowd. (the handsome blonde one)

Sort of mid left, with the big smile on his face. He thought it was just about the neatest thing he's ever done in his life to be able to sing the national anthem for a baseball game. It is indeed something that not everyone can say they've done!

So when we got there, my husband asked if I wanted to have anything to eat, because we did not have time to eat dinner before. I said, yes, some peanuts. He said, peanuts? Not something I would usually ask for. But, I wanted the authentic baseball experience. It was fun.

Theron had his standardized testing today. It was writing. He was supposed to write about who has influenced him in his life. He wrote about Jesus. You just know that's going to really bother whoever reads it to grade it. But, my son knows he still has the freedom of speech! He also wore his Jeremy Camp "I will take my cross" t-shirt and another boy in his class gave him a hard time. I asked him if that was going to stop him from wearing the shirt again. He said no. Rock on. You express that freedom of speech dude!

A Special Day

2007-04-01T21:17:00.000-06:00

Well, I read my friend Wendy's blog, and I feel like I am just not good at this blogging thing. She is so funny, and has so many things going on in her life. I just feel inferior. My life has been anything but funny lately. I had the flu or some sort of really nasty bug the other day. Let me tell you, it was not funny at all. YUK! I am feeling better today, which is good. It was a special day in my life. My oldest son was confirmed today. He has this incredible fear of speaking in front of people, and for confirmation today, he was supposed to read a speech he had written in front of the entire congregation. Up until the time he finished the speech, I was never sure he could pull it off. I could see it in his face. He was terrified. One of the members of my church walked up to me afterward, and said that seeing Theron do that brought tears to his eyes. Indeed, sitting in the front row, I was crying also. He's on his way to becoming a man, and I'm so proud of him! Next time we'll be taking pictures of him in the front of the church will be for his wedding! Yikes! And that's no April Fools! Well, this is me not looking my freshest. My hair is flat, etc. etc. I am still getting over the flu here, so I'm not looking my best. My friend Wendy came and was kind enough to take pictures for us. Theron walked up to me and said, "Miss Wendy came!" He was so happy that Miss Wendy would come to see him get confirmed! What a friend. And, FYI - for all of you who read her blog about her rotten rotten kiddos...hello, I heard not a peep from them the entire time. In fact, when my five year old turned around to try to talk to Connor, he shook his finger at Collin and told him to turn around! I saw no chaotic kiddos this morning!!!! Don't let her fool you. She's a good mom.

To close today, here's another real cool picture we took in the mountains.

Pretty cool huh? Amazing.

"Things you may not have known...or cared to know for that matter"

2007-03-28T07:30:00.000-06:00

OK, so my friend Wendy tagged me to do this, so here it is...

Four Jobs I've Had In My Life

Cookie Shack - first job ever, in Plano Texas
Assistant Manager at Children's Place
Assistant Director of Human Resources at a Hilton Hotel
Second Assistant Manager at Yankee Candle

Four Movies I Would Watch Over and Over

A Knight's Tale (weird I know)
Notting Hill
13 Going on 30
Pretty in Pink

Four Places I Have Lived

Washington
Indiana
Florida
Texas

Favorite Bands And Singers

Third Day
Jeremy Camp
Def Leppard
Night Ranger
Yes, I am showing my age here, but that's ok, I love those 80's bands

Four Loves of my life

Jesus Christ is number 1...the more I learn the more I love him and know that he is my Agape Love
My family obviously - my four boys and naughty dog
Fall - I look forward to the season every year. I think it's so beautiful
Popcorn - love it

Four Most Memorable Moments

The first time I saw Darrell. I remember what he looked like, what he was wearing, and what he said
Of course I will never forget when Theron was born, but it hurt. I will never forget dancing with him when daddy went to work in Spokane, Washington
Taking naps with Shane in Ohio when he was in pre-school. He used to hold my hand to fall asleep
Collin's "big hugs". He says, mommy, I'm going to give you the big hug now. He goes to the other side of the house and gets a running start, and well, gives me the "big hug"
Seeing Darrell for the first time when he got off the plane after being gone for a year, and how all of us jumped up and down and hugged him
I cheated, that was five.

Four of My Favorite Foods

Popcorn!!!
I agree with Wendy, Mexican food. All three of my boys got it A LOT in utero
Chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes (yes, I know, really healthy so far)
Chocolate

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now

Paris with my family
On a Mediterraean cruise with Darrell
Back in the mountains
At the movies with Wendy

Now, I don't really have anybody to tag. I'm new at blogging. So, if you're reading this, and you haven't done this yet, I tag you. Be sure to leave it in my comments that you're doing it so I can go read.

Rocky Mountain High

2007-03-24T12:55:00.000-06:00

So, here we are on our short little family vacation before our move. We're up in Estes Park. I've been checking the weather forecast, right up until we packed yesterday, and it was calling for weather in the 50's and 60's. We packed some warm clothes, but not really heavy winter gear. I mean, seriously, it wasn't supposed to be like this! We've had snow all day. We're stuck up here on this mountain. I mean, serioiusly, I'm from Texas, winter storms don't just show up out of nowhere. How naive of me! But, the good news is we're spending some nice family time together. We played Uno and Pictionary Jr. last night. Of course, with three competitive boys, there was crying and moaning, but you can't ask for perfection! (But that's a completely different game we didn't bring with us) The house is absolutely beautiful. It's three stories, and has a huge window wall spanning the entire three floors. Of course, the windows are covered with snow and we can't see outside, but let's not split hairs here. We're having a wonderful time in this beautiful house, surrounded by beautiful mountians.

Lots of fun for everyone, a hot tub and a pool table!

So, perhaps some of you other more ambitious mothers would make a homemade breakfast while on vacation. Not me. I fed my boys the breakfast of champions...Pop Tarts. They never get it at home, so I thought, why not on vacation? They were loving it!

Can you see what that is? Outside that window is a grill, covered with snow. Darrell will be out there tonight freezing, but we're going to have our grilled chicken! I only brought food to be grilled, because...well we've been through all that! You get the picture.Here's some local wildlife hanging out as we were driving up the mountain yesterday. What do you not see? SNOW!!!

Serious thinking going on here. It could be serious life thinking, or what song to download next on my iPod. You just never know.Here's a closing picture of Darrell drinking his breakfast of champions, Diet Dr. Pepper. Seriously, I should get paid for all the endorsements I've put in this post. I mean, I mentioned Pop Tarts (which I know you're going to run out right now and buy), iPod, and Diet Dr. Pepper (cause why would you drink something else?)I'll post again if we make it back down the mountain in our little family mini van with the cargo carrier on top! Just kidding, mom, we'll make it back down. It's not really sticking on the road.

My three sons...er...dogs

2007-03-19T16:24:00.000-06:00

Quick post...we were sitting in a parking lot, waiting for daddy to get done running an errand, and it was pretty windy, so all three boys decided to be "dogs" out the window. Just as I went to take the picture, the older one stopped! I've got to be faster next time.

Adjustment Phase

2007-03-16T16:03:00.000-06:00

I know, I haven't posted in like three days. I'm going through what you could call an adjustment phase. I am so very, very thrilled to have my husband back, and wouldn't want it any other way. However, after a year, I kind of started doing things my own way, and I'm having to adjust. Even the dog is having to adjust. She's just not sure where she's supposed to sleep now. She walks around the bed at night, as if to say, "mommy, what's going on here? that's my spot to sleep!" You see, she got really used to sleeping right next to me. Now, she's just a lost little yellow lab wanering the house at night. When she prowls around the bed, all we can see is her little yellow tail above the bed. The jaws theme comes to mind. I think, "Da da..." You get the picture. I'm waiting for her to attack to try to regain her spot. She walks over to my side, and either just sits and stares at me (which is kinda freaky in the middle of the night) or licks my face (stinky dog breath). Poor little lost yellow lab.

There's also the additional mess in the house that I'm just not used to. Yesterday, my husband let me sleep in, which I thought was really nice of him. Until I looked out my bedroom down to the main floor and saw the entire front room filled with little plastic pirate ship thingies. I continued to the kitchen, and on the kitchen table was leftovers from McDonalds, along with three remote controlled planes charging. On to the family room, the situation didn't get any better. On the sofa where I USUALLY sit was a laptop! I just decided to cut my losses and go back upstairs. Marriage, it's all about compromises and adjustments, with a lot of love thrown in.

But, worth mentioning is the fact that my husband agreed to go to my Wednesday morning Bible Study to meet the ladies who have been praying for him all this time. He indeed wore his "I Love My Wife" shirt (well, I did mention in my last post that his luggage was lost, but I didn't tell them that). I just let them say, "awwww, look at his shirt!" He was an immediate hit! They couldn't believe he came the morning after he arrived from a 30 hour trip and wearing his "wife" shirt. I was so proud! (he he)

Finally, I want to say to my new blogger friends out there, that I have really enjoyed starting to get know you. I feel a connection to you already. I know you must visit my site, and it probably looks different than the last time. Not to mention when I leave comments on yours, my name keeps changing there as well. We have it mostly worked out now. I won't be changing the site name now, and when I leave comments, it will be under "Kristen". Again, thanks to Wendy for helping me!

He's Here, He's Here!!!

2007-03-13T22:21:00.000-06:00

Well, for all of you who have been waiting, he's home! He was detained in customs, and missed his flight. He got in three hours later than he was supposed to. They lost his luggage. We were detained for 15 minutes leaving the airport because my little garage ticket was not readable to the parking guy, and he apparently didn't believe me when I said that I was only there an hour. He told me to "just be honest." Seriously? I was being honest. Weird, huh? Oh well, he's home, and that's just all that matters. Praise God!!! Thanks for everyone's prayers and thoughts.

Seriously?

2007-03-12T06:48:00.000-06:00

I have not slept in two nights! I am a Grey's Anatomy fan, so the title of this post is "seriously?" I'm laying in bed thinking about all my seriously? moments throughout the year. There's been a few. The most recent one being that I woke my dog up at 3:00 a.m. this morning to talk to her, and she's looking at me like, seriously? That's sad. So, you're thinking, seriously? how can the dog be saying seriously? Well, this picture is her seriously? look. I was teaching her not to eat chocolate kisses. Which brings me to another of my seriously? moments when we first got here; we got a free box of Girl Scout Cookies from a Deployed Spouses Dinner. My son put it on our table, and the dog ate the entire box. Thin Mints. I mean, first of all, Thin Mints? Those are my favorite. Second, I mean, seriously? that was a free box from the Deployed Spouses Dinner, that dinner is supposed to support me, not cause me more trouble. And lastly, I was definately thinking seriously? as I rushed her to the emergency vet. You get the picture. That's her seriously? look.

I was thinking about when the whole experience started. I decided to move on a Friday afternoon, the packers were there on Monday, and soon after that, I'm driving down the highway thinking seriously? I had just left a very dear family who lived two doors down, who I love, and I was thinking seriously? I think I cried until my head throbbed. Then there was the time my dryer stopped working again, soon after he left. Seriously? But, hey, I called him, and he said go out and buy a new set. Get a good set, like a front loading set. So, dude, I was there. I bought the set. The delivery people installed it. I washed my first load. Water was everywhere. Seriously? I called the "home improvement" store where I bought it. They said they couldn't help me, it was the delivery people's problem. I called the delivery people. The lady on the phone actually said, "well, can't your husband just fix it?" Seriously? I mean, really, aren't there single women in the world? Do you just assume everybody is married? So she told me to call the company who made the washer and dryer, and they said it was the store's responsibility. Seriously? So, my only choice was to waltz right back in that store, and...well, cry my eyes out and tell them the whole story about my husband being gone and everything. They had someone over the next morning.

Then there was the time the light in my husbands car said "check tire pressure". Seriously? So I went to the tire store. Wendy said they'd fill it up for me. The man looked at my back tires, and said, um, ma'am (seriously, must you call me that?) you need to come look at this. I knelt down, and he proceeded to show me how the metal was exposed on the tire, because all the rubber had worn off. First of all, seriously? he left me with tires like this? Secondly, seriously? I don't know how to pick out tires! So, I just told him to put on tires he'd choose for his own car. Did I get a good deal? Seriously? I have no idea. I had to get tires put on the van within a month also. Seriously?

When summer came, I thought, I can do this mowing and edging thing. I went to start up the lawn mower. Nothing. Seriously? After I got that fixed, I was thinking everytime I mowed, seriously? There was also the time my son was going through a "counting money" phase. When the disposal stopped working, I was thinking, hmmm, wonder what's wrong with it. When the repair man pulled a penny out of the disposal, I was thinking, seriously? "Collin, could you come in the kitchen please?"

I could go on for hours at this rate. I've had so many seriously? moments this year, I just can't remember them all. But, as I do that, I think, seriously? I'm so lucky. I'm so lucky I've had the opportunity to step up to the plate and do things I've never done. I'm so lucky I have a car at all. I'm so lucky I have a house, and a washer and dryer at all. I keep thinking of the Casting Crowns song, "I Will Praise You in this Storm." I have listened to that song this year. It's helped me through it. But, seriously? It really hasn't been a storm compared to what some people endure. It's been more like a gentle spring rain compared to some.

So, I'll close with a picture of the t-shirt I got my husband for a homecoming gift. Do you think he'll like it? Yes, those are crumbs on the table. Sorry. I'm not the best housekeeper in the world, but I try!

I also wanted to mention that my background is definately different, as people who have been here before would notice. It's more me, definately. My friend Wendy did it for me. Seriously? She was up late last night trying to fix my background and make it look more like me. She's not done yet, I don't think. She's going to try to add a graphic. So, seriously? What a good friend! Thank you Wendy!

Three More Days!

2007-03-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

OK, so I really am digging this blogging thing. Honestly, it's kind of fun. Just sending your experiences out there for family and friends to see. I've even already come into contact with a few new people who have been so kind in suporting me! Some of you have read the kind blog that my dear friend Wendy put on her site about me. She's so dear to me, and I love her so much.

I haven't put an entry on in a few days, so I guess I can recap my week. We're counting down! The counting down is excrutiating! The days are slowly ticking by. I never knew time could go so slow. But, I am incredibly thankful that my husband is coming home. I know a lot of wives out there don't know when their husbands are coming home! God spoke to me in November 2005, when I was at a Women's Christian event. He very clearly told me that my husband would be going oversees, and that He would bring him back safely. Some of you might be thinking I'm crazy, but that was a month before either myself or my husband knew he would be leaving. So, when he came home and told me that he might be taking this assignment, I wasn't surprised at all! I truly believe that God speaks to his children, and we just need to be willing to listen!

So earlier this week we went to the zoo with a wonderful friend that I've met through church here. We had a good time! So here's my 9 year old, who decided he'd sit on this statue of a gorilla and "pick his nose" for him. Ugh, the joys of raising boys! I mean, seriously, couldn't he just sit there and look angelic? NOOOO! Lovely isn't it?

Yesterday, Wendy and I went to the park here near our houses, and had a nice time enjoying the wonderful weather. She takes such beautiful pictures. So she finally talked my 12 year old into letting her take a few pictures of him. He has the most beautiful eyes of anyone I've ever seen. Of course, I'm totally biased. He's a rock. He's so strong in his faith, at such a young age, he amazes me. He has been a source of encouragement this year that has far exceeded his age. And, I can't leave "little bit" out. Wendy also took a few really nice picutres of him playing. Cute, huh?

So, one last thing, does anybody know where I can get a good background template for my blog? I like this one, it's ok. I do enjoy a nice glass of wine, but it doesn't look like me. It's too dark. Any suggestions where to get one, because I wouldn't know where to start to make my own.

Blessings!

Winter Jam 2007

2007-03-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

The boys and I drove down to Colorado Springs on Sunday night to go to Winter Jam 2007. It's a rock concert featuring headlinging Christian acts. The boys wanted to see Steven Curtis Chapman, and especially Jeremy Camp. Afterwards, we were able to meet Jeremy, and get his autograph. The boys loved that! He is their favorite artist. For all of you who don't know who he is, you should really give him a try. You might think that since he is a Christian singer, he's not good. Well let me tell you, he rocks! Shane was jumping up and down and singing to his songs, and having a great time. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad we went. I didn't have my camera at the concert, so afterwards, when I found out Shane could get his autograph, I sprinted out to the car and back to bring the camera in. Geez, it's really hard to run when it's like 29 degrees outside, at a high altitude, unless you're used to it! I highly recommend some training first.

As we were walking in, it was so cute, Collin was half awake, because he had fallen asleep on the way there. He saw a car with a fish on the back of it, and he yelled, "Look mommy, a Christian!" He was so excited. The older two were laughing. I said, baby, there's going to be a few of those here. He pointed out half the cars on the way in, because they had either a fish, or a Christian bumper sticker. He was so excited that he had found so many in such a short period of time.

So, here's some pictures of them wearing the shirts I bought them at the concert. Jeremy Camp sings a song called Tonight, and in the song, he says, I will take my cross, Tonight. So, that's what the shirts are mentioning. For those of you wondering, no the 12 year old did not want me to take these pictures, as this last one demonstrates! I'm putting it on here, and showing his wife someday! Ha!

Mice, Rock and Roll and Toilet Paper

2007-03-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

So I went to the movies with my friend Wendy last night, and right at the beginning of the movie, I thought I saw a mouse running around the floor! I was freaking out. So, I was only half watching the movie, watching the floor really, and Wendy told me, "Quit looking at the Floor". When he didn't show up for a while, I talked myself out of the fact that it was a mouse. Until he showed up again, and Wendy saw it this time! So, I grabbed all my stuff, because there was candy involved, and I think I climbed right over Wendy and ran up like five rows. Two ladies were staring at me, and I said, "oh, sorry, there's a mouse". The girl immediately picked her feet up off the floor! He stayed down at the front, and we didn't see him for the remainder of the movie. Oh, yea, the movie, "Music and Lyrics" was cute.

So, you all know the song by Joan Jett, "I Love Rock and Roll". Well, my son Collin heard it, and when he was in the bath tonight, he started singing it. Here's how the song goes to a five year old..."I Love rock and roll, here's another juice box baby!" Because of course that's what a five year old would think the song says.

So, to top off the day, our house was TP'd tonight. So, I just went out in sub-freezing weather and cleaned TP off my van and my two trees. Ah the joys of raising three boys, cause you know it was one of their stinking friends! But, I only have 10 more days!

January, February...um...um.....

2007-03-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a great friend Wendy who puts up wonderful posts every day, with beautiful pictures, and I am having blog envy, because mine is boring. My day exists of taking care of my boys, going to Bible Study and watching back episodes of "24" or "Alias". I also just recently found out that my mother and father, who are, well, grandparents, purchased a 40 inch flat screen HDTV. Now, I'm thinking, all right, all right, I'm supposed to be the one who is more technological! I mean come on, when I visit, I have to help them use the remote! I need to catch up, and quick!

So, here's a cute thing that happened the other day. Collin, my youngest son, was sitting outside my room in the morning. He's in kindergarten, so he is learning the months. He started singing, in a cute little "sing-song" voice..."January, February,...um...um...skip a few, October, November, December-er" . Cute, cute, very cute.

The Homecoming is Nearing!

2007-02-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

A number of you have asked how long until Darrell comes home. Well let me tell you, we have 18 more days! After that, we will be moving to our next assignment. After his return, Darrell's parents visit, and Theron is confirmed on Palm Sunday, April 1st. Needless to say, we have a few momentous occasions on the horizon. The boys and I are wildly excited to have our family reunited again. This year has been a tough time for all of us, but with the grace of God, we have made it through. The school here has been wonderful, and we have met lots of wonderful people through the school and our church here. I went to see The Astronaut Farmer today with a friend. It was a pretty good family flick. Tonight, we are having a family fun night. I made homemade pizza (Mike, I know you are jealous), and the boys are watching Open Season. A number of you have also asked about the snow. Well, it is nearly melted now, but we are getting a storm tonight, and into tomorrow. They say it won't be that much accumulation, though. Thank goodness for that! I hope you all enjoy keeping updated with our family, and I hope you come back soon. I'll try to do an entry every week or so. Blessings to you all!