Hat Day!

It's Red Ribbon Week at L's school, so she has been able to wear something different every day (i.e. Pajama Day, Team Sport Day, Twin Day, etc.). Today was Hat Day...




She wore Daddy's Security Forces beret =)
She was soooo proud to wear it!!

punkins' carving pumpkins

The original plan was to go to the pumpkin patch as we always do, bring home three big pumpkins and have a jolly old time. Time... I fear, got away from us being limited to weekends this year, and we never made it to the pumpkin patch after all (so sad). Then the plan became to choose a day (this was last week, btw) and go to one of the local sellers, pick out one BIG pumpkin and make a night of carving it up. Well... that didn't work out so great either. We were going to go right after school that day, but we had to come home for some reason I can't remember and then none of us felt like getting back out, I got a headache and blah blah blah- no giant pumpkin to carve. So... my brilliant idea was to hack into the teeny tiny pumpkins the kids brought home from Ava's party. That way, they would each have their own pumpkin to work on and it would be loads of fun :)

Turns out, carving teeny tiny pumpkins is actually really difficult. Especially without teeny tiny tools to carve them with. I was just using an old school knife like we used back in the day, no fancy pumpkin-carving tools like they sell these days. Also- Cale and Layla, not so fond of pumpkin guts. Brynn, however scoops like a PRO. I asked each one of them how they wanted the face of their pumpkin to look and while I carved one, she would scoop the next! She was awesome :)



Layla knew immediately that she wanted a scary face. Cale wanted a happy! face. Typical. Brynn wanted a bear. Yes, a bear. I tried and tried to talk her into something a little more... fundamental (teeny tiny pumpkins I'm working with, remember?). But nope, had to be a bear.




They were so excited with the final results and went CRAZY when we lit them up on the front porch! I absolutely have them loving Halloween as much as I do!!!

Serenity.

I kid you not, the extent of my direction for these pictures was "stand or sit in this general area, whatever ya'll want to do". Seriously- the rest is ALL them. They were having a blast! This is just a sample:

Fall Break!

A break, indeed. It just could not have come at a better time. I know some of you thought I was crazy, heading out on a road trip with these kids alone (again!) and I'll admit... I was a little nervous. Not about being alone on the road with three kids, but that it would be more work/stress than it was worth. However, somehow when I blinked my kids grew up. I don't have babies anymore. And it turns out, there just wasn't a whole lot of work involved at all! It was the most peaceful, stress-free 5 days I/we have enjoyed in a LONG time. Nearly perfect- only missing two things: Nathan... and warmth :)

The ride down was effortless. I couldn't have cared less about how long it took us to get there. You want to spend almost an hour staring at/running circles around the rocket at the rest stop? Sure. 78 bathroom breaks? Whatever it takes. (But hey... we still made it in 9 hrs AND made it all the way there with ZERO potty accidents with two 2-yr-olds! I think that's pretty darn good!).

Day one started with rain, but ended up pretty pleasant.










Day two started with rain, and ended up FREEZING. They INSISTED on still going to the beach during the day though. At least for a little while....









I had pretty much packed based on Aunt Paige's weather the week before (genius), so it was time for Plan B. We had to get a little creative, it's not that easy to find things to do with little ones in the cold weather- I ended up having to purchase some warmer clothes for the kids. Then we went on our merry way. We went to Baytown one night (Layla's fav), had chocolate-covered marshmallows, saw Where the Wild Things Are (we all LOVED it!), went to a (free) Family Nature Day Festival at Seaside... seriously, it just doesn't get any better than this. I literally cried at one point sitting back soaking it all in, because -aside from Nathan not being there- in that moment, in that place, everything was perfect. The kids were absolutely FULL of joy. They couldn't have been happier.

Day three, we ended up riding over to Blue Mountain (where Nathan and I were married) to do portraits on the beach. It was pretty chilly and I was afraid it was going to be even colder near the water. I didn't dress the kids until we got there and left it up to them whether we went thru with it or not. They wanted to give it a go, so we did! We got down near the water and amazingly enough- it wasn't that bad at all! I don't know if the sun was hitting us just right or what, but it felt pretty good and the kids were GREAT! They were so into the photos :) I got some great shots of them being THEM.
(I'll post those separately).

Again, the ride home- easy, breezy. Minor detour... but it was a lovely drive :) Bran, Angel, Ev, & Catalina were on their way down as we were on our way back up and we just happened to be crossing paths in Alabama right about lunchtime, so we were able to stop together for a bite which was a lot of fun!

It was awesome. The whole dang trip--- wonderfully awesome. I really really can't wait till Nathan gets home to go back in the Spring so he can see how MUCH the kids love it there. It is soooo fun to watch them have THAT much fun. I heart you, Fall Break 09.

Kyrgy mission pics from my other half.

I still don't know what he was doing on this mission, but I know he ended up getting to spend the day hiking one of the mountains and shopping at one of the local "malls" (not part of the mission, lol, just a bonus when the work was done!). One of the other guys took some pictures of Nathan so he could share them with us. We were SO excited to have them. Even though we get to see him on Skype, it was really exciting to see part of his world right now.


Our call was breaking up so I couldn't get the whole story behind this picture, but they met an old Kyrgy woman and this is her Blessing Tree. She gave Nathan a cloth, that she blessed, and then he hung it on her tree :)



This is a picture of a Kyrgy native who lives on the land, sort of like a teepee.



The kids have LOVED having these pictures of Daddy :)
We have plastered them all over! Love seeing him out there (would rather see him here!). Oh, and he said last night that they are expecting some snow this weekend- he's pretty excited about that. I'm not sure all those Texans are... most of them have never driven in snow and some of them have never even seen it! But our Nath can't wait :)

A request from Nathan...

I am getting SO many calls/emails about care package ideas for Nathan and his friends. As you know... he has been no help :)

He did, however, send me this and ask that I send it out and share it with those that may want to help. There are so many people that love him and want to send him the things that he needs, but the truth is... he has everything that he needs and that's why he can't come up with anything to tell us. These children don't. They have REAL needs that he would like to help with. So, I am respecting his request and passing along this message.

"Part of our counter insurgency (COIN) mission is to provide humanitarian assistance to the neighboring villages. Our efforts in Security Forces has been to Vinogradnoye Kindergarten. Recently, CMSgt Trautner and 11 other defenders went to the school to lend a helping hand. The school has a serious plumbing issue that we are working. Many of you have asked how you can help. The school employees have asked for toys, specifically “Playdoh”, school supplies, bed linen, dishes and utensils, and picture story books. The school consists of 60+ kids - ages 2-6 years old. There are also 14 workers - ages 25-30 years old and the Principal is 50 years old. They would be ecstatic with anything we donate. The principle has also requested a computer and camera. If you belong to a church, or have family back home that wishes to donate, these are the items requested. I would also request cold weather clothes for children. Coats, hats, gloves, boots, scarves. They don’t have to be new! This is a poor school and any little bit helps. If you or your loved ones would like to donate money so we can purchase those item here…we can do that too."

Nathan loves getting mail and he loves knowing people at home are thinking of him, but these children are really the ones who NEED the "care" packages.

*You can mail items to Nathan's mailing address with a note included that they are for the school* Thanks!

Disney on Ice

This was so fun! I VERY rarely get to do something with just the little ones. I was really apprehensive considering it was starting at the same time as their usual naptime and I was asking them to sit still in a very crowded suite for a really long time, but they did SOOO good!

The whole way there, Cale kept saying, "I'm going to hug Mickey Mouse! I'm going to hug Buzz and Woody and all Toy Stories!". I couldn't get him to understand that we were only going to see them, not hug them. Brynn hadn't even acknowledged that we were going anywhere so I just really didn't know what to expect. We got to our seats just as the lights were going down for the show to begin, both of them climbed in my lap. As all the different characters started coming out, Cale immediately got bashful and started saying, "Keep them out there, I don't want them!" heh. Brynn, however, went NUTS! She got so stinking excited! She was screaming, "Tinkerbell! Goofy! Daisy! Belle!". She knew everybody out there (Thanks, Sissy)! She gets an A+ for audience participation.






By the end of the first half though, suddenly my lap wasn't big enough and the lack of naps was making itself known. At intermission, we used Deda's gift money to find popcorn pronto and let each of them pick out a souvenir: he chose a Mickey doll, she chose Minnie (their favs). It was just enough to give them the burst of energy they needed. For the second half of the show, they were dancing and clapping with the best of them. I was laughing hysterically! Oh, and when "Toy Stories" came out- Cale went bananas! "I love them, Mommy! I love them!". Every time a new princess came out, it was Brynn's favorite, lol. Even Tatiana was there! It's their new princess- I was sooo excited they included her, and I'm even MORE excited that Disney has finally decided to get with it and have an African-American princess! (Seriously, what took so long?!). Brynn LOOOVES Tinkerbell (another thanks to her big sister) so she was thrilled to pieces to see her.




They really and truly had a GREAT time and it was so.much.fun to get to do something special with just the two of them. And now that I know they can handle such things, I can't wait to do more!!


Hanging in the suite with their new souvenirs, too cute!





Brynn and her new big cheesy grin with Tatiana!

Monday Night Futbol

Layla had a makeup game during her normal Monday night practice last week.

I didn't alert all the grandparents, so Cale, Brynn and I were here minimized cheering section. She actually had her best game up until that point (last week she scored her first goal- without me there!). She's getting really good at kicking the ball in and throw-ins.

And she still plays with a smile on her face :) She has gotten the "Sportsmanship" and "Christ-like" stars several times, which I'm quite proud of!

Taking a break with Maggie-


Her biggest fans (who were so hungry that Brynn was saying she was going to eat that donut right off her shirt! lol. I love that kid... ):


Thank goodness for free hotdogs! Cheering and eating at the same time-



A little mid-game stretch...


Now she's ready...


And she's off! I don't think she got very far... but it was a great effort :)


A couple of weeks ago, she seemed kind of listless at practice and her game. I thought maybe she was just "over it" or we had been doing too much with soccer and dance and school. Little did I know, she was at the beginning stages of the flu... since then she's been pretty pumped on soccer days and today she said, "Mommy, that was a blast." So I guess it's safe to say she's still enjoying it!