The Circus

The circus came to Fayetteville this week, and we went on for their opening night.  The kids had never been to a circus, and it had been years since either Edward or I had been.  We started the evening off with pizza at Mellow Mushroom in town, and then we headed to the circus.

 

 

 The camels and horses started off the show, and the kids thought they were pretty cool to watch.

 Juggling

 Flips and stunts-we were disappointed they didn't have a trapeze.

 Edward and I agreed this was the most interesting part to us...the sphere.  They brought out three dirt bikes, and the dirt bikes were ridden, at the same time, in the sphere.  What impressed us is how no one got hurt and the timing was perfect.

 Yes, they had a great time.

We all really enjoyed the elephants. 

 While so large, they look so graceful.

 

End of the show, and the elephants were ready to sleep. 

 

It turned out to be such a nice evening.  The kids were tired when we left, but they seemed to have a lot of fun. We only had a 20 min drive home, but all three were fast asleep when we got home.

Fire Antz

Nana and Pop came to visit this weekend and say good-bye to Edward before he heads off to Afghanistan, so Saturday evening, we took them to our local hockey game.  Fayetteville's team is The Fire Antz.  Between a few free tickets from work and it being Kids' Night, we only had to spend $10 for the game.  It was well worth it, as everyone had a great time.

 

 I sat next to Luke, and he was a great hockey companion for the evening.  He LOVED watching the brawls on the ice.

 

 Here's Luke cheering as the Fire Antz scored their first point.

 Our crew

Yes, we all had a great evening. The Fire Antz won 6-4, but we left before the third period, as it was already 9:20, and we all had an early morning with church.

 

Thanks for coming to visit, Nana and Pop.

Snow!!!

 The rain turned to snow after lunch.  With the almost five years we have lived in NC (with two different times being stationed here), this is only the second snow we have ever had here.

 Watching anxiously

 

 Luke wouldn't listen to reason and wanted to wear his lightweight jacket (not zipped either).  He came in about three minutes later telling me he was cold and wet...he went back out in his winter coat, zipped.  Amazing.

Alex doesn't remember snow from Arizona, so he kept asking if this was the snow.

I have no idea why the baseball bat is in the picture, but as you can see, we definitely got a decent amount of snow.  The backyard currently looks like a wet mess, and temps today never did get below freezing.  We've hung out at 35 most of the day.  It is supposed to get to 25 tonight, which could mean for some slippery roads in the morning.  Most churches, including ours, are not having their early service, but ours is still having our 11:00 service.  Edward had to work in the ER tonight, so I hope it's not too crazy for him tonight and pray he has a safe drive home in the early morning hours.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Last night, after dinner, Alex helped me make Valentine's Day sugar cookies (Carin, he's using the spatula from the set!).  It's a recipe we love, but it definitely takes some time.

 Finally, the finished product!  The kids loved the decorations on the cookies.  I have a homemade icing recipe to go along with the cookies, and they thought it was so cool to watch the icing turn frm white to pink and then to red.

The kids woke up to some sweet Valentine's.  Have a blessed day everyone.

Jonah's Sleeping Spot

Jonah loves to hang out and sleep in the kids' sink.  He usually makes a b-line for it when the kids are in the bath/shower.  He loves being around them, and that cat really loves being in the bathroom when they are.  He's too funny.

"I Have a Dream"

Luke just brought home his Martin Luther King school project.  I had not seen it until it came home.  He had to write his dream.  His says, "I have a dream to make my dad not go to Afghanistan.  Love, Luke."  Uggh, life can be so hard for military kids to understand.  I couldn't have said it better, Luke.

Riding Along in My Automobile

Alex had a fun afternoon driving the Jeep around the front yard.  Edward and I are both amazed at the durability of this Jeep.  We have had it for five years, and it has really been used. It's almost too bad it doesn't have an odometer because it has had the miles put on it.  Even more impressive is that is had been on two cross country moves in large moving trucks, i.e, out of our hands and stuffed in moving trucks, and this thing still keeps on going. 

 

Alex started his ride with his favorite pal, Kitty.

Soon, Flash was taking Kitty for a ride.  The Nerf gun there in the front was being used for protection  :)

He finally got with the times and flipped Kitty around to be rear facing  :)

It was a great day for an adventure. Thanks goes to Madison who helped collect all of Alex's special things for his joyride.

Packing

This room used to be our guest room...until the deployment took it over.  Edward has started his major deployment pack.  It is insane the amount of preparation this requires and the strange grouping of items he has to take. 

 

 To those not in the military, the black boxes are called tough bins.  Edward currently has two to pack. You'd think they would be issued those, you would think...nope. They can be found at Lowes for about $55 each.  They held up really well last deployment, so hopefully they will again.

Yes, that's a vacuum.  He also bought a piece of carpet, as their tin type floors are dirty and cold.  It does look like he is moving, but he definitely has a strange mixture of items to pack.

Cookie Time

The first order of Girl Scout cookies was picked up today.  When Madison came home from school, she sorted them all out.

 

The first order contained 54 boxes, not including the 22 boxes she had also sold for "Operation Cookie Drop" (sending cookies to the troops).  Another order is about to be placed, and she can place orders until March 1.  Madison has really enjoyed the cookie sales, and most of this order goes to family and Edward's and my Sunday School class.

Green Ramp

Edward called yesterday morning to tell me they would be home in the afternoon.  This time, the Army chartered a Delta flight and still landed at Green Ramp on Fort Bragg.  Green Ramp is the collection of hangers for outbound and inbound soldiers (mainly used for pre and post deployments).  As the day went on, their arrival time also moved...up!  The plane had caught an 85 mph tailwind (the only good thing about the terrible winds we've been having), and they ended up arriving about an hour and 45 minutes earlier than planned.  I scurried around to pick the kids up early from preschool and school (they still managed to be there to get credit for a full day-checked out after 1:00 PM), and we made it to see the plane.

 

The road leading out to Green Ramp is a long and winding one.  Once you turn in it, you completely wind around the airfield, which is really cool because you can see tons of military aircraft, many of which are landing or taking off.  There are several hangers, and overall, it's just a neat place to see.  As we started our winding, curving drive, we noticed an "out of sorts" non-military aircraft landing and beginning its taxi...thanks, Delta for bringing home our favorite guy.  I think by being on the road to the hanger when the plane landed, we had a great view of the plane and its whole taxi/landing procedures.  The kids LOVED it.  We quickly parked, went into the right hanger, and the back doors were open to this.  This is the view from the doorway of the hanger, so again, we had an awesome view.  I'm so glad it was a nice day.  When Edward came home last January, it was late at night so very dark, cold, and pouring down rain.

Waiting for the soldiers to exit the plane...luckily, our favorite guy was the second or third off.

Edward's phone, which was left on his bunk bed in New Mexico, should be rejoining us next week.

 

So, Edward is home for awhile until the real deployment, which will come much sooner than we would like.  I think pre-deployment training is as much for the families to get ready for deployment as the soldiers.  The kids did really well while he was gone, and I ran around here like a crazy person getting them to all of their activities.  The kids know our motto is: "Mommy is one person.  We will still do activities and sports, but since Mommy is one person, we may have to miss things every now and then."  I have to say I was most impressed with Luke.  He really did well, and last deployment, he had the most trouble.  He is very, very attached to Edward, and it was very hard on him, especially since we had just moved a couple weeks prior.  This time around, I wanted him in karate to positively express any frustrations, and so he's been doing karate a couple of months.  Luke loves karate, and I really think it is one of the reasons he was able to cope so well.  Granted, this was *only* three weeks, but still, he rocked it.  Way to go, Luke!