The Tire Swing

They love the tire swing.

Rain!

My kids have been loving the weather here in North Carolina. I guess I should clarify that they love HAVING weather other than hot, hot, and hot with 365 days of sun.

Friday evening, we had pizza with a friend and her daughters.  Right before we went to dinner, it started pouring so Madison and Alex ran for their raincoats.  Luke wouldn't put his on and didn't want his picture taken (sensing my challenge here at home???).  Anyways, I got these pictures of the two kids who did want to have their picture taken in their raincoats.

Jackets...

We wore jackets today.  After three years in the Arizona desert, we have finally arrived at a season other than summer.  Fall is here. Yea!

This is how we travel down to the bus stop each moring.  The bus stops two houses down at the corner.  It looks innocent enough, but for some reason, the bus stop is one of my biggest headaches.  Hopefully, it will get better.

Madison and Luke asked if it was going to snow since it was "really cold out."

Alex gave me a look like, "What in the world..." as I put jeans on him.  He didn't know what to do and was walking around like Randy from A Christmas Story with his legs way out because they must have felt weird to him.  Remember, Alex was born in Arizona, so he's never had to deal with cooler weather, other than two days in Flagstaff.

Two Months Down

Well, we have completed two months of the deployment.  Man, how it seems like so much longer!  We are doing fine here, missing Edward, but otherwise, things are moving along.  We have our ups and downs, but school has helped a lot.  The kids are back into a structured routine/day, and that is such a blessing.  My kids thrive on structure.

This past month we:
-Took a trip to Charleston
-Went to Raleigh for a birthday party
-Went to Wilmington to see my parents
-Went to Charlotte for a birthday party (really need to find birthday friends here, haha!)

-Madison started 1st Grade, riding the bus, and buying her lunch (depending on the menu)
-Madison started soccer
-Madison already brought home her first school fundraiser (cookie dough anyone, haha)
-Luke started Pre-K
-Luke started soccer
-Alex started preschool for the first time ever
-Alex continues to act like he's two

-Had to return my IPad for the second time (not a fan of Apple right now)
-Alex stuck two DVDs into the car's player.  The dealership priced a whole new unit at $1500, so yeah right.  They said they couldn't get them out, but they referred me to a "sketchy" place that might be able to do it.  I'll take sketchy if he can get them out.

-I finished painting the house!!!!
-I had an electrician out to fix two outlets that didn't work.  They were  more complicated than it seems, and I'm so glad he could fix them.
-I put down 60 pieces of sod around the yard (to fill in where the weeds were winning...the yard is sod, and the front is awesome, but the back needed some work)
-I have two vegetable gardens growing.

-Found a church we are happy in
-Joined a Sunday School Class
-Started going to Wednesday Night Dinners at church (they run all school year)
-Madison and Luke started kids' choir, which goes after Wednesday Night Dinners
-Started going to a Monday Morning Bible Study at church

-Made three nice friends and hope to build on that friendship.

-Sent countless packages to Edward via Amazon (LOVE using Amazon for him!  They rock, and I love their FREE SHIPPING even to overseas).
-Sent three boxes (with two more today) to Edward from us.  A lot of artwork is inside  :)

-Had an earthquake, hurricane, and tropical storm go through here (all separate)

-My parents visited a few times
-Edward's parents visited over Labor Day


-Miss Edward dearly
-Pray for his safety all day, everyday

Around the House

Here are just a few random shots from around the house.  They love this huge bear, and it moves around the house a lot.

A Birthday Party in Charlotte

Yesterday, we ventured to Charlotte to help Cousin Alaina celebrate her first birthday. With the three-hour car ride, it was nice to have my parents along for some normal conversation.  Don't get me wrong...we still had lots of questions from the little people, but it was nice to have some moments of clarity in the car.

Here's sweet little Alaina.  Who needs presents when you can put cups-turned-trash into your mouth?

I found matching dresses for Alaina and Madison.  The girls looked so cute, and I know Madison was so proud to have a matching dress to her baby cousin.

Luke lived up to his reputation and was very hungry upon arrival.  He dug into the fruit salad.

The Crew!  We wanted a nice picture for Daddy  :)

Grandma and Grandpa bought Alaina this nice ride.  There's a picture we need:  Madison and Alaina in a car together...hmmm.  I'm not sure if I'll be ready for that in another 10 years or so.

Still eating

Grandpa and Grandma with four of the five grandkids...we need to photoshop Wes in.

Alex's turn...definitely not ready for him to be behind the wheel!

Presents...Madison has been talking about/dreaming about this for at least six months.  She came to me a LONG time ago (well before we moved) and said she wanted to get Alaina a Bitty Baby from the American Girl Store.  Now, if you don't know, Madison's beloved doll, Hannah, is a Bitty Baby, given to her by my college roommate, Jenn for Christmas at six months old.  Madison loves Hannah so much she wanted Alaina to have a doll just like her.  So, on our trip back from Maryland when we stopped at the American Girl Store, we purchased a Bitty Baby for Alaina.  Madison's has brown hair (as does she), and we bought one with blonde hair for Alaina.  The outfit she bought for Hannah that day was a matching outfit to what Alaina's Bitty Baby is wearing.  Madison was so delighted she sat with the box next to her the rest of the drive home from Washington D.C. (five hours).  She wrapped it the second we walked into the house, on her own, and it's been sitting here ready for Alaina.  I hope she enjoys her doll as much as Madison has loved hers.

In the Garden...

I know most probably yawn at the garden update, but Edward really wants to see it.  The kids LOVE their garden, so I'm so glad that I went ahead and planted stuff this year, even if it doesn't ever mature.  The way some of it is growing, I do think we'll get a "crop," but we'll just have to see.

 The garden continues to grow quickly.  The pumpkins and gourds on the left are doing well.  The right, consisting of several things, is really taking off.  The beans and cucumber are doing the best.

Okay, so this is my random post.  We have a crawlspace.  It was looking dingy and starting to rust slightly on the edges.  So, lucky for me, my parents had already had the same problem and discovered a good color of Rustoleum to repaint. The white is our "before," which it is hard to see how dingy it was looking, and the brown is our after. 

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First Day of Preschool!

Today marked a huge milestone.  The boys started preschool!  For the first time in six years, I don't have any kids at home (at least for a few hours).

 Edward was able to Skype with the boys before their first big day of school.

 Alex was really excited to have a shark lunchbox.  He's really enjoyed carrying Madison's to the bus stop, and preschool seemed okay since he was taking his lunch.  The bags are from the preschool for all the kids.

 Luke was beyond excited.  He's waited for this day all summer.

 Both of my boys ready to go

 Here they are standing in front of their preschool.

Luke dove into playtime he almost forgot to say good-bye. I hope both boys have a wonderful first day.

Soccer!

Madison started soccer last week.  She and Luke both get to play, but Luke doesn't start until next week (coach is out of town).  Both kids LOVE soccer, and I was glad to find that on post soccer started at age four, whereas in town, soccer started at age five.  So, both are playing on post, and because Edward is deployed, both kids get to play for free (added bonus!).  Madison's team is The Avengers.

She was so excited to play goalie.  Both kids love playing goalie (I did too for that matter).

 It was pretty hot, and Alex spent most of practice doing this.

 Luke spent a lot of practice doing this.

It looks like she has a couple of great coaches.  How technology is changing...practice was cancelled last night due to the tropical storm moving through here, and her coach sent a text out to cancel practice.  She was in my good graces too, as the text came four hours before practice, so I really appreciated that!

The Weather Channel

My kids are obsessesd with natural disasters. Hurricanes, tornadoes, sand storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods...bring it on. They can't get enough of other people's life changing and usually devestating events. I'm not sure if I should be concerned or happy that I have three kids who are on track to becoming meterologists. They now actually get up in the morning and ask to watch THE WEATHER CHANNEL. Yes, you read it correctly. Sure, they enjoy Diego, Max and Ruby, and Special Agent Oso, but they're first request is to see the weather. They get excited to hear about upcoming storms and have now learned how hurricanes are named.

This past week has been their "Dream Week" of disasters with Hurricane Irene rolling through here. Just a couple days prior to that, we felt the effects of the Virginia earthquake. And, we've had a lot of lightning storms here, one in which, actually struck a neighbor's house and burned it down. To go on, my old neighbor, Kellie, posted a bunch of pictures of the horrible sandstorm that blew through YPG this past week. The kids were "excited" to see pictures of our old neighborhood, street, and overall damage. Crazy, I tell you.

Today, I found out that Luke's soccer team is The Hurricanes. Awesome. He was over the moon excited, as I didn't think anything could top his team name from last year, The Dust Devils (lots of those in Yuma).

Ahhh, I'd better brush up on my knowledge of barametric pressure and such. I'm sure as they really pay attention to the weather on tv, they'll be asking a lot more in-depth questions. I love their curiosity and interest, but it's a little embarassing to hear them excited about approaching storms.

The Express Lane

One thing I was excited about after I found out we were moving to Bragg again is Harris Teeter. I really like that grocery store. It is a great store to use my coupons, as they double and sometimes triple them. I've discovered another wonderful thing about their store, The Express Lane. Oh, thank you from this wife who has no choice but to haul her three kids with her to the store. The Express Lane is a wonderful, priceless service! I can order my groceries online, drive up, use the call box, and they bring my groceries to the car! They take my coupons and have been awesome. I love this. I'm sure some might say that it's lazy. Are you kidding? If that's you, I'll let you grocery shop with my three, get everything on your list, not get extra stuff, get stares from crazy people who think you are nuts for having three kids, and leave with your sanity intact. It's really awesome because you can also see all the prices online before you buy, so you know you are getting the exact size for the item on sale/special. The store has been great if they are out of something to call about it. Thanks for this great service.

Here's my order from last week. They made very nice fruit, veggie, and milk selections. I really like to go to the grocery store, but for now, this helps so much.

More House Pictures

I took these a few days ago and thought I'd already posted them. Anyways, here they are:

This is the library. It was actually the original dining room, but with this massive house, it was the smallest room in the house. We decided it was too small for a dining room, so we made it into the kids' library. It's off the kitchen, so we figured it would be a great room to do homework, art projects, and such. I waited to take a picture because my dad had to move the chandelier and put up a ceiling fan (thanks, Dad!). There are two matching desks...one for the computer, and one is for crafts/artwork/homework.

I put the kids' Pottery Barn chairs in the corners too so they have a place to read. I had Madison's angled, but Alex didn't like it like that. They've really been enjoying their computer. It's nice to show them how to use the kids' games on Nick Jr. and for Madison to learn email. She's loved sending messages to Edward and other family members.

The almost-finished dining room! I still need a nice picture over the buffet, but it's coming. I know the picture I want to buy, but the picture is in Myrtle Beach, and well, I'm not. There's the chandelier my dad moved from the library to the new dining room. This was a formal living room right next to the family room. We decided that wasn't necessary, especially with a playroom upstairs, so we made it into our dining room. It's a great size, and we entertain a lot (well, when we have friends :)

Standing in the real living room, looking at the dining room and front of the house

The Bus Stop and Irene

Day 2 of Back-to-School...

Madison wanted me to take her picture again because Luke was in a picture-taking mood. So, here they are together for the second day of school. The boys start preschool in two weeks.

All ready for school, today with lunch in hand.

Finally, a picture of my crew!

Madison went off for another great day at school. As her day was ending, I was getting ready to walk down to the bus stop to get her. The boys and I had been keeping an eye on the weather as Irene was approaching. Here's Irene 15 minutes before the bus was due.

Here's Irene five minutes before the bus was due...

So, the boys and I dug out our umbrellas, dusted them off (you know, from not using them for three years in Arizona!), and we walked two houses down to the bus stop. We had two umbrellas, and it was not raining yet...

We came home looking like this! Just as we arrived at the bus stop, it LET LOOSE. The umbrellas didn't seem to help much as it was raining sideways. I tried to shield us, but as you can see, it really rained HARD. The kids thought it was awesome, as they love rain after three years in the desert. Madison came off the bus, laughing at the rain, and took off running to the house. The boys and I followed with the umbrellas. We were quite the sight. I decided to go ahead and get them their baths because it wasn't like we were going back outside to play, and they were soaked. Glad I did, as we lost power about 20 minutes later, which was just annoying. The power came back on about 5:30, and I was able to cook up a quick dinner before heading to bed.

Irene has moved on, thank goodness. We got about two inches of rain and a TON of wind. The kids got a great memory of their bus stop run in an approaching hurricane.

First Day of First Grade

We had a busy morning. Madison started first grade today.

The morning started with Alex getting up first. He's almost always the first up. I told Madison I would make her favorite breakfast, and she asked for waffles. Alex was also very excited to have waffles.

Luke was up second, as he normally is. He, too, enjoyed his waffle.

Madison was very excited for school. She didn't get all silly about it; she was just excited and ready to go. She really enjoyed her chocolate chip waffle I made her.

Before school, she was even able to chat with Edward for a couple of minutes.

All ready to go!

She wanted to show off her new backpack. She has a matching lunchbox, but today was also a big day...she decided to buy her lunch. I think she will normally pack her lunch, but I thought it was a good idea for her to buy on the first day so she, and everyone else, would be in the same boat about what to do.

Alex has been carrying the bus around, saying, "Madi go bus."

Luke, being four and stubborn, didn't want his picture taken with the other two.

Here, he is demonstrating how the bus works. He wanted his kitty to ride the bus.

Madison really wanted a picture with Luke. I snuck this at the bus stop.

Off she goes...wow, she's got a lot of new things going on today!

I hope you have a wonderful first day, Madison. We love you and are so proud of you being such a big, brave girl!