Bonded

In between crying and smiling...

these two have bonded far deeper than I ever thought possible.

In Action

He stays on the move.

And

He's getting braver.

And

He won his 1st basketball game today
(not that we were keeping score)

Thanksgiving Day

Only one of us participated in the Turkey Trot. Look closely at that face, he did not like it at all.

One lap down and I think I will just watch for the others.

My crafty girl made a thanksgiving banner for us.

Making Fall Trees

The kids are out for the Thanksgiving holidays and I am in a crafty mood. I may get over that quickly depending on how messy things get.

We don't get many fall colors in Southern Cali, but I am doing my part to make sure my southern kids know what fall is all about.

Hopefully this time next year we will be in the Carolinas enjoying Fall in all its glory.

Isn't he cute. Messy hair, SpongeBob shirt and all

Halloween Costumes!

We are ready for the Halloween festivities, but one is sick

and one is "super excited!"

Busy Fall

I have to say that I am ready for October to be over with. It has been a long, hard, busy month.
I'm 22 weeks pregnant and feel great, but I run out of steam by about 7:00 every night. Compund that with some yucky hours from hubby's work and I am give out.

We have had soccer

Cheerleading

Girl Scouts and the school Fall Festival.

They Really Do Love Each Other

She came home from a sleepover very tired.

And he just had to be in the same room with her.

My room to be exact.

It doesn't look like she minds to much (and she never got her nap).

Can He Really Be 6?

I cannot believe that my boy is 6 years old.

He is:

compassionate

serious

funny

athletic

smart

and a

ROCK STAR

All Boy

I really should not be surpised that he busted his head open this weekend. Luckily no stitches, but it was his first busted head in nearly 6 years. He's more cautious than his sister is.

Loving this swing!

They could stay out here for hours twisting, turning, and pushing each other on the swing. After living in a Katrina zone and in new construction and I am so thankful got tress to hang a swing in.

Girl Scouts

Someone bridged to Junior Girl Scout yesterday and I was so happy to be a part of that with her.

Some of her patches and her buddy standing right beside her.

Hanging with little brother!

The little man and I waiting.

To Serve

Recently, the kids served each other lunch. They made a menu, fixed what the other ordered, and served lunch. They were so good about it. I was hoping that they would learn to appreciate each other and the work that others do for them.

Of course, they are just to cute.

I wish the great attitudes lasted all day.

Muffin Tin Monday

Muffin Tin Monday is another first for me. Well, it is the first time that I am participating with pictures and all. We do these types of meals for the kids all the time, especially when Daddy is deployed or away training.

I had one muffin tin in the freezer and one in the dishwasher, so I used what we normally use.
We also have a lot of fun dip cups, saucers, and utensils that we use, but none of that was needed for this meal.

On the orange plate we had:

• whole wheat tortillas with cheese rolls
• a slice of tomato
• corn chips
• baked peaches on a slice of bread with a dollop of cream cheese

On the blue plate we had:

• hot dog rolled in a slice of cheese
• tomato slice
• corn chips
• baked peaches (that he did not eat, no surprise there)
• he also ate one of sister's cheese rolls

They also had a left over cookie for dessert and they do not get anything to drink until their meal is half done. That sounds so mean, but they will drink it up and not be hungry.

My daughter is 8 years old and only has few things that she will not eat. However, my 5 year old is a picky eater and he has some texture issues. No bumps in his food.

I ♥ Faces Photo Challenge

Participating in the i ♥ faces photo challenge for the first time. I got a Canon Rebel a couple of weeks before Christmas and have been snapping away. I don't have a fancy photo editing software, but I tried to clean them up the best that I could.

This is what it looks like when I try to get a picture of J. He is at the age that wants to pose for each picture, but he tries to move while I am taking pictures. The results are these hilarious outtakes and quite a few blurry ones.

Little Man

This is how we usually find him. Spread out on the floor, sound asleep, and looking like Linus with that blue blanket. I swear when I put him to bed, he was IN THE BED.

What do you do with a sick boy!

Why you color, of course, and watch lots of "toons" and snuggle with mom.
Hope you are having a grand day!

Still Summer

It is still summer time to me and we are finally enjoying some down time. Once we got moved in military housing just before 4th of July, we began to feel a bit more settled and ready to enjoy some time of nothing. And we have. The house is set and friends have been made. we get daily use out of the closest playground

We are making some decisions about school. C would like to attend public school this year, I don't blame her one bit. This past year has been difficult on her. We began homeschooling to pull her out of a school situation that she was in. Two moves later, she misses the friendship that she had at school prior to our move from AL to MS. So it has been quite a while since she has had some good girlfriends.

Homeschool is still in our line of sight though. J will be doing a modified preschool/kindergarten program. Basically we are going to beef up the prek stuff, add in things he enjoys, and run off on every bunny trail he would like to study.

We never know what the future holds, so we are mentally preparing for every possibility. C could stay in school or come home, if R deploys we may not stay here at all (we are across country from our family), and J could go into Kinder next year, test into 1st, or stay home and continue homeschooling. Right now, we are living in the summer and not worry about the what ifs.

Hope you are having a fabulous summer. Keep enjoying it.

We are still here...

Where have the days gone? We are busy and stressed here, everything seems to be coming fast. Could someone turn off the fire hose, because we are drowning in the decision making going on.

For now, we are doing what we set out to do, keeping life for our kids as stable as possible. That is one of our main priorities in homeschooling our children. We may move a lot, but they do not have to constantly face a new classroom. Our school time has relaxed, and C is doing a happy dance over that.

Today both kids had to have a sports physical done in order to participate in MWR activities on base. The nurse practitioner asked, J (4 yrs old) if he liked school and he said "NO" very matter of factly. That kid! Good news is that J is more willing to write, color, and be read to and we can see improvements. He's a good kid and still loves to snuggle with his Mama, so we will keep him.

The Navy seems to be out of money and so they will not pay tuition assistance for R to take classes toward his degree since he is at a training command. That makes no sense, I know! If he were not at a training command he would not take classes because he would be deploying or getting ready to deploy. This just came about this week. What a bummer! You can guess it, another change of plans.

Until later, say a sweet prayer and enjoy the weekend.

Nature and My Boy

J is not really all about the outdoors. He loves to play with his friends outside and he loves a good playground, but nature hikes and nature study he could do without. So C and I have intentionally made an effort to comment about beautiful things outside. That way J notices them, but we are not asking him to participate. We are sneaking education on him.

Today while walking from the park J said "Mama those are pretty sticks."
When I looked over, I had to laugh. He was pointing to a pile of dead limbs that had been gathered by the lawn maintenance people, but I will take any type of participation I can get.

Kinda sweet

Please ignore this haircut, this is after he had cut it himeslf. Every kid does that once, right?

This morning my sweet boy got up a little bit earlier and crawled in bed with me. I loved the little bit of time that I got to spend with him before sister woke up. We didn't even get out of bed. We giggled and tickled and snuggled. I was reminded how fast he is growing and one day he will not want to giggle, tickle, and snuggle.

Once he and sister were up and at em, I was left behind. I was back to being the mom that tells them what to do. I am trying to teach J to put up his own clothes, the folded ones at least. When I handed him the clothes that I had folded he asked me to come help him put them in the drawers. Not, I don't want to do it or you do it, but he asked for help in doing it himself. Hooray!

Kind of bitter sweet. Not wanting him to grow up but celebrating in the growing and learning that he is doing.

Right now I am a distant memory as he plays with the little boy that lives on out street. They are all boy and can get a little rough at times. What amazes me is that with one extra kid in the house I can get more done.

My Baby, My Boy

I have recently had to accept the dreaded fate that my little boy is growing up. Where have the years gone? He used to want to cuddle and be held. Now he wants to run down the street alone.

We have lived with a blue blanket for the last 4 years. We never dare to leave the house or go to bed without it. Now he is voluntarily leaving the blanket behind and does not hunt for it prior to bedtime. I have learned that I was getting as much comfort out of that blanket as he was. It symbolized my baby and now he wants to out grow it.

Two years ago, my little man received a John Deere bicycle for Christmas. He was not tall enough to reach the peddles and so to ride it someone had to walk with him and pull the bicycle along. What a pain it was. With all the new little boys on our street, J wanted to ride his bike. Lo and behold, he fit. We has so excited that he could not only reach the peddles, but turn the peddles around and around and around the block twice. Hooray for you little man.

My last proof, that my boy is growing up was just yesterday. With a house full of kids that were starting to argue, I asked everyone if they would like to go for a walk/bike around the block. Everyone was in and we headed out. On our second loop, J was lagging behind and I asked if he wanted to me to get the stroller out and push him around one more time. He promptly told me "strollers are for babies." Boohoo, I want my baby back.

So there you see, my life has changed and I am not to sure that I am happy about it.