Cousins!

So my brother Dan and his family also drove to Ohio for Christmas. They have 2 girls--Emily, who is almost 5, and Elia, who turned 2 back in September. These ages dovetail in quite nicely with our girls, who are 5 1/2, 4 1/2, and almost 3! The girls always have SUCH a grand time whent hey are all together!

Anna, Grace, Faith, and Emily all slept in one room. The first night we were there, the girls got pretty much no sleep at all! I kept hearing giggling, so I went down to check on them around 11:00. The lights were on, and they were all chattering and reading books! I told them to get in bed and go to sleep, but when Bob got up around 2:30 to go to the bathroom, he heard giggling and told them to settle down. When Micah got up to nurse around 6:00--more giggling! I again told them to settle down and go back to sleep, but they were all upstairs a little after 7:00! We were expecting them to all be very crabby, but surprisingly they were not.

I put the fear of God in them the next night, telling them that if there was any trouble, Emily would have to sleep on a mattress in her parents' room. I told them they needed stay in their beds, close their mouths and eyes, and go to sleep! I was very firm, LOL. So firm that Emily was scared to get up at all, even though she needed to go to the bathroom! Anna didn't feel that same fear, so she got up, and Emily was amazed at her bold disregard for the clear law that had been laid down. I was actually directing my comments to Faith, who is one of the main troublemakers, so the next night I had to be careful to clarify!

Emily is just a lot like me, in terms of taking things literally. When I was 4 or 5, I was in this day camp for a week through our church, back when we were stationed in Los Angelos. One little field trip we had was on some pirate boat out in some bay. The pirates were being all fierce (and completely over-the-top, as I can clearly see now when looking back on it), and they threatened to throw any kid overboard who did anything wrong. I. was. PETRIFIED. I sat in one spot and didn't move the entire trip. I kept wondering when they were going to come around and get all of our names and addresses, because without those, how would they let our parents know that we had been thrown overboard?! LOL!

Aunt Melinda was a very patient reader of stories for everyone! Grace has obviously been in her stocking stash of chocolate, LOL.

Even though Emily's birthday isn't until tomorrow, we celebrated in Ohio early. We went bowling at the base. They have this little dragon thing that the younger kids can roll the ball down, so you don't have to wait an approximate year for the ball to get down to the pins. Also, they have the nice bumper things in the gutters, and you can lift them up and down, depending on who's bowling, which makes it nice for Jonathan and Caleb. The boys were really helpful with the girls, helping them carry their balls over to the dragon, making sure it was centered and all.

Elia had the absolute most fun. As soon as she gave the ball a push, she would start jumping up and down, clapping and cheering, as she watched her ball roll down the lane! A very enthusiastic bowler indeed!

She was not an enthusiastic eater of green beans however, LOL. We had those at our Christmas day leftover dinner, and while she would have eaten as much of the cranberry sauce as possible, she wanted nothing to do with the beans, so Dan had to lay down the law--eat this green bean, which was cut into 3 pieces, or no more cranberry sauce. And with that, the battle was on! She refused the green bean the rest of that day, and on until Monday evening. Bob and I went out for pizza with Dan and Melinda, and while we were gone, Luke somehow convinced Elia to eat the bean--all 3 pieces! Yay!

So now we are all missing Emily and Elia, and wishing they lived closer!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

We spent Christmas in Ohio with my parents, and my brother and his family, who drove up from Texas. They arrived Wednesday, but we got to Ohio late Friday, since we couldn't leave until noon because Bob had to go in to work for a few hours. Then Bob rode back to VA Tuesday with the son of a friend of my parents. He is a USAFA grad who is now out of the service. He lives in downtown DC, but he was kind enough to drop Bob right off at our house!

The kids and I stayed until yesterday. We got a late start on the drive because Anna woke up feeling sick. She heaved a few times before we left, but since she hadn't eaaten anything since dinner Friday, there was nothing in her tummy. She moaned and groaned pretty much the whole ride home, and we had to make a really long stop at lunch because of her tummy troubles, so the trip just took forever, it seemed. We drove straight to the L's house, since we were planning on going to their annual New Year's Eve party. We were only an hour late! Bob met us there and took Anna and Micah home, while the rest of us stayed and ate dinner. The boys played games, including their new Settlers of Catan game, which they brought in. Grace and Faith and I left before everyone counted down (at 9:00) because I was just so fried. Bob went back for awhile and brought the boys home eventually.

I am glad to be home, but dealing with all the stuff Bob unloaded from the van is almost too much to think about! I'm not feeling 100% myself, actually. Micah never really slept well at all at my parents' house, and I have 2 big canker sores in my mouth from the lack of sleep, as well as just some general snuffles. So I'm sitting here, foggy-brained, trying to muster up some motivation to do something useful. Maybe I'll upload pictures from our camera and write some more posts. That might be all the motivation I can muster, LOL.

Reunion Weekend

So this past weekend was my 20th high school reunion, and I had more fun than I really thought likely! It was so great to see people I hadn't seen in years and talk to them. I was going to post a few pictures, but for some reason my laptop is running really slow tonight, and it's not working. Another time . . .

My relaxing weekend started Friday a little before noon when Amy picked me up. We met our friend Julie, who now lives in PA with her husband who is a pastor, for lunch at Panera Bread. Julie doesn't live too far from Bob's family, and for awhile we used to drive over to their church Sunday mornings when we were visiting Bob's family. But as we had more and more kids, that just became logistically more than we could do, so it had been several years since I had seen Julie. We caught up on each other's lives over lunch, then we did a brief bit of shopping at Kohls before heading to a nail salon to get manicures and pedicures together!

The last time I had anything done to my nails was when we were out in Utah for my cousin's wedding back in May 2008, and I got a pedicure and manicure with my Aunt Claire and sister-in-law Melinda! I think this is a nice tradition every 3 years, LOL. It was just so relaxing and fun. The lady who did my nails was the salon owner, and she kept commenting on how beautiful and strong my nails are. Not to brag, but I really do have nice nails, for some unknown reason. When they are long, they look like I have a French manicure, without me doing anything to them! I told the lady it was all the prenatal vitamins I take, LOL!

Friday evening was the first official event of the reunion, and it was casual. Classmates met at Marion's Pizza and ordered what they wanted. The invitation specifically said "classmates", not spouses, which we all thought was really weird. Bob was not in town, so it was a moot point for me, but I'm sure if he had been in town he would have come with me anyways. There were a few other spouses there. There was a big turnout for this event--like 50 classmates, out of about 110. Everyone talked and talked and talked. In retrospect, it was kind of nice without spouses. I think people stayed longer and talked more because they didn't have to worry about entertaining their poor spouse who doesn't know anyone and is bored to tears! I went to a Christian high school, and there was definitely NOT any sort of "meat market" atmosphere of people trying to flirt or hook up or anything. It was just really fun to see old friends and visit over pizza! Amy, Julie, and I had all come together around 6:45. We were thinking we would leave around 9:00, since surely 2 hours would be plenty long, and we would be looking for excuses to go! Ha! It was after 10:00 when I finally looked at my watch, and I was so shocked--time really flew by unnoticed! We scooted on home so I could nurse Micah!

Micah was the only flaw in the day. He did NOT want to take a bottle either in the afternoon or the evening, so Mom just ended up holding him with his pacifier in so he would sleep until I got home. I had just left formula, since he had some formula before we left on this trip, and he took it just fine. I decided to go ahead and pump some Saturday morning, in hopes that he would like a breastmilk bottle better. I also went to Walmart and got some nipples with a smaller hole, since Mom said he didn't like the milk sort of dripping out at him. I was pretty nervous when Amy, Jason, and Julie picked me up Saturday night for our dinner at a country club, however. I kept expecting my cell phone to ring with Micah screaming bloody murder in the background! Thankfully that did not happen, and he happily drank the bottle. I had only pumped 3 1/2 ounces because we had a really busy day Saturday, and that's all I had time for. It was fine though, because I was really ready to nurse when we did get back Saturday night.

Before we went out to dinner, the kids and I went over to Amy's house Saturday afternoon after lunch. Julie and her kids came, as well as Julie's sister Tricia, who was 3 years ahead of us at DC, and her kids. We 4 moms visited while the kids played on the slip-n-slide and ran around. That was a really fun afternoon, but all too soon it was time to ehad home so I could get cleaned up and dressed up!

The dinner was at a country club down south, and there was a smaller turnout of classmates here. Again, it worked out just fine, as it was easier to talk in-depth with a smaller number of people. I had longer conversations with several old friends. It is really neat to see where people are and what they are doing. I know I never expected to be a homeschooling mom of 8 back in high school, and other people have had changes in their plans as well! I thought my classmates all looked really good! We're aging well, LOL. And none of us can believe it's been 20 years, because, well, we don't FEEL like we're close to 40!

Saturday night it was 11:00 before I looked at my watch! I couldn't believe it! I probably could have talked until they closed up the place, at 1:00, but I was definitely feeling the need to nurse at that point! I was very relieved to hear that Micah had done much better when I called home as Jason drove us all back. And I was very relieved to take my dressy black sandals off. My feet were killing me!

The reunion weekend continued for me Sunday. The kids and I went to Amy and Jason's church, which is also where Julie's parents go, so she and her kids came there as well! We took up 2 long rows! After the service, we all went out to eat at a Chinese buffet. It was so nice to catch up with Julie's folks as well!

So this was truly a memorable weekend, filled with a lot of laughter! I was a little nervous, especially Friday night in the parking lot of Marion's, but I very quickly felt like I was back among old friends again, with nothing to be nervous about! I had a thoroughly enjoyable time both days, and I am definitely looking forward to the next reunion! And in the meantime, at least we have Facebook, LOL.

Catching Up With Old Friends

This weekend is my 20th high school reunion, and I am really looking forward to catching up with friends from back then. But I have actually already started catching up with old friends on this trip! The nice thing about Wright-Patterson AFB is that people often end up back there, so it's a great place to run into people from the past! So far in this visit, I have caught up with 3 friends from way back.

1. Beverly and her husband Ted were stationed at W-P back when we were stationed here, and we have kept up through the years. Their family stayed with us back in September while they saw the sights in D.C. Ted is now deployed in Afghanistan for a year, but we met Beverly and her kids at a park near my parents' house Saturday morning and had a lovely picnic lunch there.

2. Marie and her husband Fred were stationed at W-P back when I was in college, right after Bob and I were married. She and Fred had just gotten married as well, and he and Bob worked in the same organization. We even all went to the same dining out! Marie and I both graduated from Cedarville, and we only reconnected because we have another set of friends in common, one of Bob's old bosses! We met Marie and her 7 kids, plus one friend, at the pool Tuesday afternoon. It was broiling hot, but we had such a nice time visiting while the kids splashed away. Marie's husband is deployed to Germany right now, and Marie is getting ready to take the kids over there for 60 days to visit--fun!!

3. Dawn and her husband Fred were stationed with us in Colorado. We were in the same childbirth class before Nathan was born, and after their son Fredrick was born (just a few weeks after Nathan), Dawn and I were in the same moms walking group at Peterson AFB. We had such a great group of ladies! Dawn and Fred eventually followed us to W-P, so we went to each other's kid's birthday parties and had play dates together. But as frequently happens in the military, we both moved, our Christmas letters with new addresses got returned, and we lost touch. Thanks to Facebook, however, we reconnected! They are stationed back here at W-P, and Dawn and her 3 kids came over and visited Wednesday afternoon! It was so wonderful to see them again, and to catch up with Dawn! It turns out her husband is also preparing to deploy as well, although his deployment will be state-side. I know some people complain about Facebook, but it is certainly a wonderful tool for finding and keeping in touch with people you don't live anywhere near!

Now, I am sure you can see the common link here--all 3 of these ladies have husbands who have or will be deployed. Clearly, if you are friends of ours who have been stationed with us before and are now stationed at W-P, it is just a matter of time before your husband will be deploying! Just a warning--so sorry!

But now I am looking even farther back in time, as I think about seeing people from high school. Tomorrow Amy and I are having lunch and getting manicures and pedicures with Julie, our good friend, who is coming in for the reunion from PA. I am so excited to see her, since it's been several years! And then we have dinner at a pizza place Friday night and a more formal dinner on Saturday. I am a little nervous, I'll be honest, but I am so glad I'll be going in with Amy and Julie! The three amigos, LOL.

We're Here!

We made in to Ohio yesterday after a long day of driving! Actually, we had a crazy long day before yesterday as well! Luke popped a wire off his braces over the weekend, so I was able to get him in to the orthodontist at 11:15 on Tuesday. I nursed Micah, then passed him off to Nathan and took Luke. On our way home we got a few things for the trip at Walmart and made some copies at Office Depot for Latin class. Once home, I ate lunch, nursed again, and then had Latin class. After we finished, I nursed again, passed off Micah, then headed off to a Rivendell planning meeting. We had a productive time, with another surprise announcement from Siri, the queen of surprises, and then I rushed back home again to nurse. I again immediately passed Micah off to waiting arms, then leaped back into the car to take Nathan to Civil Air Patrol. After eating a quick bite of dinner, I actually had to do some packing! I got everything into suitcases, but I pooped out before loading the van. It was soooo hot and humid too. I wasn't very motivated!

Wednesday I was up and nursing by 7:00, but since I had to load up the van, we still weren't able to leave until 9:45, after I nursed a second time. That makes for a long day already! Micah did really well on the trip. He smiled at whichever brother was by him, and he played with his dangling toys, for the most part. He also obliged by taking his binky when he was up before it was actually time to stop. He did decide he was done with the carseat the last hour of the trip, and he spent that time loudly protesting his imprisonment, but still--not too bad. We were remembering a trip we made to Hershey Park when Grace was about the same age, and she screamed the entire way up and back, which is only a 2 hour drive or so!

Faith, however, was not so cooperative. She pitched quite a few temper tantrums, complete with loud wails. I'm sure she would have been just fine, had she been allowed unfettered access to her snack bag, but alas, we cruelly took it away. We were listening to Tom Sawyer on CD, but we had to turn it off after Columbus because she and Micah were just so loud! We put on a TobyMac CD and cranked that up nice and loud. It didn't drown out the sound, but it was distracting enough for me. That is one nice thing about the big van--the sound isn't so compressed! For the trip back, though, I am definitely moving Faith's carseat right behind my seat. Her seat was in the middle row, out of reach of the long arm of the law, as it were.

Speaking of the big van, it really wasn't as tiring to drive it as I had expected! I think it is just so fatiguing to drive in the city, where there are lots of turns and lane changes. Out on the open road, however, it was fine. And I found I actually prefer driving the entire way, rather than sitting in the passenger seat. In that seat, the engine thing in the middle pokes way over where your legs go, so you really can't straighten your legs out. The driver's seat, however, has plenty of leg room, so it is much nicer.

So we're here, and we are filling up our schedule with seeing friends! I'm looking forward to a relaxing week here!

Fun in Ohio!

Well, it has now been a week since I last posted. We definitely had a much different (and better!) weekend this time. We packed up and drove to Ohio on Friday! It is the winter break for our co-ops, and it was definitely time for a vacation!

The weather was absolutely beautiful for driving (although Luke did comment that it was a better day for playing outside, rather than driving, LOL). Our book on CD was Cheaper By the Dozen, one of my all-time favorites. There was a tiny bit of language that was a lot more noticeable to me when it was read aloud, as opposed to me just reading it. I guess I just skipped over it. Still, it is such a funny book, and as we have more and more kids, I can relate more and more to the book! We'll be painting Morse code messages on the walls and listening to language recordings in the bathroom in no time! Ha!

We are staying with my best friend Amy for the weekend, which has been so much fun. Satruday was a day of basketball. We went to Jacob's Upward game at 11:00, and then on to Zach's middle school game at 12:00. The weather was still nice, so the boys played outside all afternoon long while Amy and I caught up. Then we met my parents at Young's for dinner and ice cream before heading over to Cedarville to watch the last regular season basketball game at the university! The Yellow Jackets won handily, and we got to see Zachary L. cheer, so it was a very fun evening!

Yesterday Zach woke up running a fever, so he has not been up to par yesterday or today, poor guy. But the rest of us all went to Amy and Jason's church, where there was plenty of seating and no threatening black curtains, LOL. Nice! The service was nice, and their assistant pastor preached an excellent sermon. Afterward, ew came back here, where Amy had a delicious meal of chicken and noodles waiting for us in the crockpot. Amy and I go to do a lot of scrapbooking yesterday afternoon/evening. I finally got Faith's little album started--actually, it's almost finished! Now if only I wasn't 3 years behind on my regular albums. Maybe this summer I'll have some time to work on those.

Some time today we'll move over to my parents' house for the next few nights. They actually lost power last night and are still without it this morning, so we'll wait until it comes back on before making the big move! In the meantime, the kids are all playing nicely, and I am contemplating exercising. Ahhh . . . I can feel the stress melt away! So relaxing to not have to do anything or go anywhere!

Packing Up . . .

We've had a wonderful time, but it's time to go home. The time flew by, as usual!

We got here Sunday afternoon around 4:15 , having left at 8:00 in the morning (an amazingly early time for us, LOL). We were worried about snow, which is why we left early, but that turned out to be a false alarm, thankfully. It flurried starting in Cumberland, MD until we got into Ohio, but the road was never bad. We made one stop, for lunch, in Cambridge, OH. I did need to go to the bathroom earlier, but it was cold and snowy, it's a hassle to get everyone in and out, and we were listening to a good book on CD, so I just held out. The book we were listening to was another one by Richard Peck called On the Wings of Heroes. It's about a boy growing up in a small town in the U.S. during World War II, and it was a interesting look at life during that time. We all really enjoyed it, and it certainly made the miles fly by.

Monday the kids were all excited to play out in the snow. My parents only had a few inches on the ground, but it was more than in Virginia or Texas! We had brought a huge garbage bag full of snow stuff, so we got everyone dressed up and out they went. For a few minutes anyway. It was quite cold, and Grace and Emily both had troubles keeping their gloves on, so they were not fans of the cold or the snow. The boys stayed out awhile longer, but the ones who stayed out the longest were Anna and Amy, the Korean girl who is living with my parents for a year, along with her mom, while her dad finishes his PhD back in Korea. They sledded down the little hill in the yard for such a long time!

Dan and Melinda took Nathan, Grace, and Emily for a special trip to Trader Joe's, and then out to lunch at Marion's Pizza. Nathan thought it was good, but too expensive for our family, LOL. Then Dad took Dan and the boys to an AOG party at a local restaurant to watch the USAFA bowl game. The Falcons won, and everyone had more pizza, so a good time was had by all. The Air Force song broke out several times, it was reported! Jonathan was the only boy who decided he didn't really want to go, so he stayed home with all us girls.

Tuesday Dan and Melinda, going for "super-uncle-and-aunt" status, took Nathan and Luke to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 3-D. They all enjoyed the movie, although none of them were that impressed by the 3-D part of it. I got a haircut in the afternoon, and then we all went to Youngs for dinner and ice cream. This was the first time Caleb could have ice cream, and he sampled a few flavors, but he ended up getting green apple sorbet, just like old times.

Wednesday my parents took Caleb and Jonathan out to breakfast at Mimi's, to make up for them not getting to see the movie. They thoroughly enjoyed chocolate chip pancakes (Jonathan) and pancakes in the shape of a mouse (Caleb). Melinda and I went mall-walking in the morning, bringing back good memories of my moms' walking group back in Colorado. Then we came home and I made dough for sugar cut-out cookies. I tried a new recipe because I didn't have one I loved. This one . . . well, I didn't love it either, LOL. I had such a hard time making it not too sticky! Even after chilling it for awhile, it was still fluffy, so I added more flour and powdered sugar. That helped some, but the kids had quite a hard time rolling it out. We had to use quite a bit of extra flour as well as helping most of the kids. Ten kids . . . sticky dough . . . tons of flour. I think you can imagine the scene! Finally all the dough was used up, and the cookies were baked. Bob actually called while the last batch was cooking, and I totally got distracted and forgot to take them out. Whoops! Those ones were pretty crispy! After dinner we decorated the cookies. That was another sticky mess, LOL. After much frosting and sprinkles were used, the cookies were finally done, and we could actually clean up the mess! They did taste good--and hopefully the memories were good too!

Today Melinda, Mom, and I went out to brunch at First Watch. After we got home and got the kids fed lunch, we had a little party to celebrate Emily's 4th birthday. Her actual birthday isn't until Jan. 4, but hey--it's always a good day to have a party with all your cousins! They all had princess cupcakes, and then they got to hit down a princess pinata. The boys enjoyed that part, LOL. For our present, I made a photo book on Snapfish for Emily--"My Cousin Book". It had pictures from the time we were all together in July, plus some other pictures of us. It was fun to make! I also got a great gift idea from an old Family Fun magazine. A mom had written in about how she had a big extended family who were all spread far apart, so she got full-length photos of everyone and put the photos on magnetic photo paper, and then cut around the figures. I did this with out family, making a set of magnetic dolls for the fridge. I also typed out our names and put them on magnets as well, so Emily can match our names and pictures. The dolls turned out so cute! My girls really liked them too, so maybe I'll have to make our own set. I got the magnetic photo paper from Amazon. I thought it was a really good idea for family members who don't see each other all that often!

So now I'm pretty much done packing up, except for last-minute stuff tomorrow morning. I doubt I'll get up anywhere as early as I did when we left Virginia--I'm hoping we can get out of here by 9:30! We do want to get back so we can go to the L's annual New Year's Eve party, so we will be motivated to get out the door! Wow--hard to believe 2010 is already done! We're looking forward to what the Lord has for us in the new year!

Highways and Byways

We're back home in VA! We spent one last night at Amy's house and left from there, bright and early Sunday morning. It was so wonderful to spend so much time with Amy this trip! We never ran out of things to talk about either . . . I actually was blessed by being able to spend time with several good friends this trip, like Beverly and Anja, as well as the international wives, and of course, my Aunt Claire! I'm so glad it worked out that she came while we were out in Ohio!

We had to be at White Sulphur Springs between 3:30 and 4:00 to drop Luke off for his week at Camp Caleb. We didn't even take the Turnpike, choosing instead Rt. 31, which was a beautiful drive. We still made it to WSS by 2:30, so we hung out at the playground for awhile. We did find out that no one there found Nathan's swimsuit and towel, which he left draped over a rafter of his cabin. Grrr. But I digress. Luke was nervous, mainly because he realized while still at Grandma and Grandpa's house that he had left his Bible here in VA. I told him that was easily remedied, but he said that if he left that, what else might he have left? I totally and completely understand that thought, since that is exactly how I think! He was glad to be dropped off and to have the whole thing actually start.

As we started down towards home, Bob already knew there was bad construction on I-70, and he knew right where to pop off the highway and take another road to avoid it! And then as we got into MD on I-70, it always clogs up, which is the most depressing thing ever! We're always tired by that time, and seeing lines of brakes lights out in the middle of nowhere just brings to the fore all we don't like about Northern VA and makes us want to turn back around and head west! So the last several trips we have experimented with getting off I-70 at various points before Hagerstown and taking small back roads. For us, there's really no downside. I'm sure it is farther, distance-wise, but it is visually so much more appealing to drive on back roads through cute towns and farmland. Plus, if we keep moving, Faith stays asleep, LOL. Bob and I have always enjoyed looking at old houses, as well as old buildings in towns. There are a bunch of neat towns in western MD, like Boonsboro and Middletown! I don't think the kids appreciate the unique buildings as much as we do, but then again, they're not driving either, LOL.

I never thought I'd be the kind of person who would prefer to get off the highway and drive on small roads because I've always been a "get there as soon as possible" kind of person. I guess I've mellowed in my advanced maternal age, LOL.

So now we're back home, and it's very quiet! We actually left Caleb and Jonathan back at my parents' house for 2 weeks of "Grandma/Grandpa Camp". They were tremendously excited by the prospect of having Grandma and Grandpa to themselves for awhile, as well as Aunt Claire, who is there for a few more days! Many fun things have been planned . . . And of course we dropped Luke off at Camp Caleb, so until Friday, it's just Nathan and the 3 girls here with us! Wow! Nathan said he felt like an only child, LOL. He is the only boy, and the only "older kid", so he's got a point! He started football practice tonight, though, so he will have plenty to take his mind off his loneliness! I have a long to-do list I am hoping to accomplish with no school and not as many kids around. We'll see how successful I am. Faith is teething her eye teeth, so she has been a real bear the past week. I need a camp to send crabby teething 18 month olds to, LOL.

One Last Vacation

We're here in Ohio again for one last week of vacation before getting back into the daily grind of school again! We got up early and left to pick Nathan up at Camp Caleb Friday morning. We were OUT THE DOOR by 8:15--a TOTAL record for our family, LOL. This is especially impressive since we had to be packed for a week in Ohio as well. I don't know if this feat will ever be replicated however--it was not easy!

Nathan had a wonderful time, as usual, at Camp Caleb. I think what I am most impressed about is always the quality of the counselors. Nathan could not decide on his favorite activity, but he finally said it might have been the whole day of Tuesday, when he went on 2 hikes, did some rapelling, and camped out. Unfortunately, he left his swimsuit and towel drying over the rafter in his cabin, so we are hoping we can get that back when we drop Luke off on Sunday. In the meantime, I guess he'll be swimming in his shorts.

We had a picnic lunch up at the pond at White Sulphur Springs before heading west. We had a horrific drive filled with construction once we got into West Virginia, so we didn't get here until after 7:00. It was a long day, but we were listening to Redwall on CD. That is a very long book (9 CDs!) and a very exciting, fast-moving one, so we were all entertained. Well, not Faith so much. But she survived!

The past 2 days we have just hung out and relaxed! The weather was so amazingly pleasant yesterday--mid-70s and not humid--so we went for a walk to the park after dinner. The kids had a ball, and it was so nice not to be dripping with sweat!

We were supposed to pick my dad up at the airport at 11:30 last night. He was getting back from 2 weeks in China where he taught English to some 5th grade kids. Unfortunately his flight from O'Hare was delayed and then eventually cancelled, so he didn't actually get in until this morning. My mom went to get him, so we decided we would try Amy and Jason's church. They weren't there this morning, but we had a great time! Everyone was very friendly, even though they had to bring out another row of chairs for us all to be able to sit together, LOL.

I am REALLY looking forward to this next week! Tomorrow we're going to Amy's house after lunch to play and spend the night! Tuesday morning my Aunt Claire is flying in from Utah for a visit! Wednesday morning, a friend is coming over with her 2 little girls for a play date and to talk! Wednesday evening Amy and I are getting away for a night to scrapbook at a hotel! Thursday afternoon the Mom's group of international wives is coming over, and Friday Mom, Aunt Claire, and I are hoping to have lunch with Amy and her mom! Wow--what a week! I am not going to be ready to come back to the real world, LOL.

Three Cousins

. . . splashing in the wading pool in the backyard

. . . playing dress-up with the princess costumes in the basement

. . . eating an after-swimming snack at the little table, which is just perfect for the three of them

. . . pretending to be future pilots in the cockpit of an F-16 at the Air Force Museum (Grace wouldn't get into the cockpit AT ALL, LOL)

. . . playing at the park! Best buddies!

Ohio Trip

We just got home from a great trip to Ohio! What made it even more special than usual was that my brother Dan, his wife Melinda, and their 2 little girls Emily and Elia also were there from Texas. Emily is a few months younger than Anna and a few months older than Grace, so you can imagine that these 3 little girls got along like a house afire! The entire week there was hardly any bickering among them at all! They all played together and shared so beautifully! It was such a joy to see them get along so well and enjoy each other's company.

All the girls wanted to do was play together, so this led to a very inexpensive vacation, LOL. The first few days we were there it was ungodly hot, so the girls played dolls inside and swam in the little wading pool in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard. We also went to Youngs for ice cream and visited the Air Force Museum. Then when it got cooler, we went to the park. Very low-key and low-stress!

I enjoyed a week off from cooking, as my mom took superb care of feeding the "army", as Nathan put it. And I also thoroughly enjoyed the unlimited adult conversation! It was such a lovely vacation.

But now we are back to real life! We had good trips both to Ohio and back. We only had to make one stop each way, so you can tell the girls' bladders are getting stronger, LOL. We listened to The Railway Children on CD both ways, since it was a long book--7 hours! The younger kids liked it, but the older kids were not as impressed. "There's NO plot!" was a comment frequently heard, and it did indeed seem like a random bunch of stories strung together. I had a completely different idea of what the book would be, so I must never have read this as a girl. But it definitely passed the time! Going for full disclosure, I must admit that I ate way too many Oreos on the trip back. That also helped pass the time, LOL. So now I feel like exercising all week long.

The kids are all outside playing football (well, not the girls), but I think everyone will be going down soon. We're all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds tonight! I took a TON of pictures, so hopefully I'll be able to post some of those over the next few days.

Still On Vacation

The kids and I are still here in Ohio. I didn't bring any schoolwork, so it has been so very nice to be completely on break. So nice, in fact, that I am hoping I can scrape together motivation to ever start again, LOL. Unfortunately, we must return home next week, so all good things must come to an end.

We have not been too terribly active. It's been cold and gloomy, and we've mainly stayed inside the past few days. Yesterday Mom's group of international wives came over. I had made cut-out sugar cookies yesterday morning, and the ladies decorated them in the afternoon. they made these intricate and delicate works of art. After dinner, the kids decorated the rest of the cookies. They made frosting-heavy works of sprinkles. And a mess--they also made a huge mess.

My parents have a Korean lady and her daughter living with them right now. They used to be stationed here, when the husband was getting his master's degree at AFIT. Now he is back in Korea, getting his PhD, and his family is here so he can have peace and quiet to work on his dissertation! Amy, the daughter, is 4 years old, so she, Anna, and Grace have been having so much fun playing together. She has several "princess" dresses, which her mom picked up very cheaply at a garage sale, so each evening all the girls get dressed up in their princess finery.

Work is progressing on our house back in VA. Painting has begun, and Bob has finished getting the trim around the hardwood floor in the kitchen. Much drywall was patched. They are also going to start tiling the laundry room floor.

I am still dealing with the news that we won't be moving. I'm having a lot of trouble processing it, to be honest. It seems so capricious that God would work things so that it looked like we were supposed to go, and then at the last minute take that all away. He could have stopped things back in September, and no one would have been as disappointed. Now I have to accept staying in Northern VA for good, and I'm having a hard time with that. When we moved there 5 1/2 years ago, I can clearly remember thinking, "Well, it will only be 4 years." But now it's forever?! Bleh. I hate the idea that the girls will grow up never having lived anywhere else but there. It will be nice to have the house finally be a little nicer, but since that comes with the knowledge that we are stuck with it, I'm not as excited as I thought I would be. I guess I'm just a little depressed. It's nice to be here in Ohio, where at least there is some distance from it all.

Here in Ohio

We've had an unusual past few days! The kids and I left Monday to drive to Ohio. We had a good trip, although we did have some rain and even snow. Faith was fussy in the morning, but eventually she resigned herself to her fate and wasn't quite as loud anymore. We shoveled a bunch of snacks her way as well, which didn't hurt, LOL.

Yesterday Nathan and my dad drove back to VA. They are going to work on our house, and there are certainly plenty of things to do! Right now they are working in the family room. The guy we bought the house from was an electrical engineer who loved wiring things, and there was a huge rat's nest of wires behind our couch, where they had their entertainment center. You really can't imagine how many wires were back there! He also had plastic plates on the walls ALL. OVER. where he had wired for speakers. My dad cut off all the wires, took off all the plates, and is patching over all the places! It's going to look so nice!

While they were driving, the other kids and I went over to Amy's house. We were supposed to spend the night because Amy's husband was out of town. We had planned a nice night of scrapbooking and talking! Alas, it was not to be. Caleb had woken up that morning not feeling good, and he basically didn't eat any breakfast or lunch. He felt better then, so we went ahead over. Around dinner time, Luke and I both started feeling really, really nauseous. It hit so fast! Neither of us ate dinner, and we just sort of laid on the couch, hoping it would all pass. Eventually I threw up, and we decided it was the better course to head back to my mom's house. This turned out to be a wise decision, as Luke threw up 4 times once we got home, and Anna and Grace both starting throwing up around midnight. Anna threw up 3 times, and Grace 4. I had to change the sheets and their pajamas many times. It definitely made for a sleepless night for me, but thankfully I never threw up again. Everyone is feeling better today, but I have a huge headache, probably from my choppy night.

The other odd thing thaat happened is that we heard again from AFPC. Bob talked to them on Wednesday, and they surprised him with the news that the people in Guam were thinking about filling that IG job internally, as they had 3 top people leaving, a big inspection next summer, and they wanted some continuity. So they were going to move one of the people supposed to PCS over to the IG job. We found out today that they definitely are going to do this, so we will not be going to Guam. I'm disappointed! I was really looking forward to the slow-paced island life and meeting the people I've been corresponding with by email. This does explain why we hadn't received orders. We were wondering what was taking so long. Soooo, now we don't really know what is happening. One thing we were hoping to do by taking another assignment is sell our house and take advantage of the military homeowners assistance program. Well, right now that requires a report date of 29 Feb., and the jobs they are talking t Bob about don't have report dates until May or June. Congress is talking about extending the program, but again . . . you never know with them. Certainly not something you can count on! So once again, we are back at square one, as far as assignments go. It's been the weirdest thing.

Well, that's where we're at now.

Packing Up

We've had a great visit, but our time is just about up. Tomorrow we head back, and it looks like it is going to be a rainy drive the whole way, so I would appreciate your prayers for safety!

Today, however, is a beautiful day! We were supposed to go visit a friend of mine from way back in college, Marie, who also has 7 kids, but alas, some of hers were vomiting last night. We didn't want to have a vomit-filled ride home or Easter, so we said we'd have to get together the next time we're out here, probably in late June. The kids were all disappointed (me too!), but we made the best of it by heading to the park instead. I put Faith in the front pack, and we even swung on the swings together! Nathan did take a picture of us, but to be honest, it looked like I was still pregnant, not wearing a front pack, so I don't think you'll be seeing that picture, LOL.

Yesterday afternoon, the boys, Anna, and I went to the Air Force Museum. We only went through the WWII hanger, since we got there about 3:30, and it closes at 5:00. That was a good amount of time, especially for Anna, and not too much walking for her. We studied WWII this year in history, so I figured it would be a good time to focus on those particular airplanes. They even had a small display on cryptography, with an Enigma machine on loan from the National Crytologic Museum that we went to back in October!

We watched some interesting videos as well, including one which had Jimmy Doolittle talking about his raid on Tokyo. So fascinating to hear and see him talk about it in person, so to speak. The boys were really impressed by the actual camera footage from a fighter squadron in Germany. Harrowing! We also watched a video on kamikaze planes, and the big finale was the video on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The plane that dropped the "Fat Boy" bomb on Nagasaki, Bockscar, is actually on display there at the museum, and remembering that it was there was what made me want to take the boys there to the museum this time. I figured it would really cement in their minds what they heard on the Story of the World CDs about the end of WWII.

Now I'm busy packing and getting organized. I also need to run to Walmart to resupply the snack bags for the kids (okay, for me too, LOL). In fact, I should probably do that now, while Faith is sleeping . . .

Sleep Problems

Last night, I had a great night sleep! This is a big deal, since I haven't been having too many of them since we got to Ohio!

It started Thursday night, and it only involves the girls. The boys have been sleeping great! Grace had a bad dream once and then was cold another time, Anna fell out of bed once and needed to pee later, Faith decided she needed to increase my milk supply by nursing every 2 hours--it was a long night.

Friday we wore the kids out at Amy's so even the girls slept pretty well, although Anna keeps needing to go potty at about 2:00 AM, and then Faith has been waking up around 4:00, which is earlier than she was waking at home. Still a choppy night.

Saturday we went to Youngs in the late afternoon. Grace gobbled down a hot dog and a scoop of cow patty ice cream, which is a rich chocolate ice cream. Then we came back here and watched basketball and ate popcorn. At 1:00, Grace woke up crying, and as soon as I walked in the room , I could tell she had thrown up. It was all over her and the pack-n-play. Evidently nothing had digested, because there were chunks of hot dog and pieces of popcorn in a lovely dark brown liquid. Blech. I had to stop and think for a minute how I was going to extract Grace from the situation without increasing the mess! I got her into the bathtub, all the while thinking about how I was going to have to go back into the room and deal with the mess in the pack-n-play! Fortuitously, when my parents had this house built, they made all the doorways really wide, so it would be handicap-accessible, so I was able to just pull the entire pack-n-play out into the hallway without further disturbing Anna. It ended up taking me an hour to get both Grace and the pack-n-play cleaned up, and then Grace had to sleep in my bed with me. For the next 2 hours, I slept pretty fitfully, because every time Grace moved around, coughed, whatever, I was instantly alert, ready to grab a trash can if needed! She was fine though, as least until 4:00, when she fell out of bed. Oops! Her tummy was fine, at least. Then Faith got up a little later, then Anna had to pee . . . I was so tired all day Sunday.

Sunday we went over to Amy and Jason's house in the afternoon for an open house celebrating Jason graduating with his MBA. They had rented a bouncy castle thing, which the kids loved, and the boys all played lots of football as well. Everyone was completely exhausted, and no one over-ate, so FINALLY I had an uninterrupted night of sleep. I fed Faith at 10:15 and was asleep by 10:45. She didn't wake up again until 5:30, and NEITHER DID ANYONE ELSE! I'm hoping for another such night tonight, but we'll see. Two in a row might be pushing my luck out here! Good thing I'm on vacation . . . I have a feeling I'm not going to feel too rested when I get back home, LOL.

Hello . . . Hello . . . Anyone there?

Hey, it's me again! We haven't perished in the wilds of Ohio! We've been having a great time, and I have just not been on the computer at all. We had 480 emails when I finally checked this afternoon!

Bob got a Priceline deal and flew out here last weekend, which was a nice treat. He got to go with us to the birthday party of Amy's younger son Jacob on Saturday. It was at a place called "Pump It Up", which had a lot of those big, inflatable bouncy things and slides. Needless to say, the boys had a wonderful time and bounced out a lot of their energy. Anna was in a grumpy, "nothing will please me" mood, so she didn't has as much fun, LOL. Ah well, you can't please everyone.

Sunday we went to church with Mom and Dad at the base chapel. It was nice to see old familiar faces, and we got to enjoy their monthly fellowship meal after the service. The only sticky part was during the special number. The chapel doesn't have a nursery, so Anna and Grace were both sitting on my lap, sort of playing with each other, and very nicely I might add. Until Grace stuck her fingers into Anna mouth, and Anna chomped down. Grace let out a very loud and indignant cry, so we had to make a hasty retreat to the cry room.

We've had a bunch of playdates too. Monday afternoon a Turkish woman and her one year old girl came over, along with a Korean woman and her one year old boy. Then on Tuesdya morning, the German wife of an American officer came with her one year old girl. Anna and Grace have never had so many little playmates! All the adult conversation has been nice for me, too.

Amy and I met at her mom's house Tuesday night to scrapbook. when we lived here, we would do this about once a month. No wonder I was so caught up back then! It's just so much harder to be motivated when you're doing it all by yourself. We had a great time, and I was able to make Anna's little album--the one where I have a birth page, a family page, and then either a 2 page or a 4 page spread for each year. I have one for all the boys, and I was really getting worried since I didn't have anything for either girl!

We all went back to Amy's house yesterday to play. The weather was so much cooler and more pleasant. The boys played outside the whole afternoon, and they didn't look like they were going to keep over from heatstroke either. Amy and I did some more scrapbooking, and I finished Jonathan's book for this past year. I still have Nathan's to do for this past year, but now I'm going to do some in my regular family album. The one where I'm stuck back in November, 2005. Sigh.

Tomorrow we're going to move over to Amy's house for the weekend. That will be fun! Then we'll come back here Monday so I can do laundry and regroup, and we'll leave Tuesday to drive back. So only a few more days of this wonderful vacation!

You know, the nicest part is that I didn't even bring any schoolwork, which I usually do. I'm sure it will be hard to get back into the swing of things, but actually I have 2 more weeks before I need to think about that. When we get back home, we have an orthodontist appointment, my first OB appointment, and we have to put the final details together for our big annual party, which we're having on Aug. 2. It's going to be an Olympic party. We don't have individual birthday parties during the year--I just make their special cake, which we bring to Bible study, where we celebrate. But we try to have one big party in the summer. This year, I have been very unorganized about it, and I haven't even sent out invitations. We're going by word-of-mouth, LOL. So needless to say, I have quite a few more details to take care of.

Then Nathan and Luke will leave for Camp Caleb Aug. 3 and be gone until Aug. 8. (Is that the week you mean, Joelyn? Is so, that would be great!!). I guess we'll be back to our normal routine that next week, at least school-wise. It's been a nice break, though, and then I'll be through the first trimester. Yay!

P.S. Please excuse any typing mistakes on this post and the last. I am a bad typist on a good day, and for some reason, I can NOT type on my parents' keyboard. We have a nice, ergometric one at home, which has the keys separated a bit more or something, but here I am always bumping other keys and not noticing. And I'm in too much of a hurry for spell checking, LOL.

In Ohio Again!

well, to start off, we had a busy weekend, hence non blogging. Saturday I shopped at the local homeschooling convention. I've gone the last several years and gotten a good deal of things at the used book sale, especially. This year was such a disappointment! There weren't very many sellers there, and there were tons of shoppers. Even though I didn't see any curriculum I was looking for (Rod and Staff English in particular), I hoped to at least get some books for the boys to read on the drive. The books were very overpriced I thought, and most of them we already had anyways. Sigh. A big disappointment, as I said. Also, there weren't even venders I was hoping to see, like Memoria Press. I had really wanted to look at their Henle Latin guides, since I think we'll be moving into year 1 this year. Oh well.



Sunday afternoon our church had a big picnic over at a local park. It was very, very humid, especially for the 12 pregnant ladies in the church, but we survived, and it was a lot of fun. The boys played volleyball and a ton of other games. The girls played on the playground. I sat in the shade of the pavilion and sweated while watching them, LOL.



Monday morning the kids and I got up and out the door by 9:40 to start the drive to Ohio. We're visiting my family and best friend Amy and her family for 2 weeks! This is a REAL vacation for me! I was a little nervous about the drive, since I'm just 10 weeks along and still get tired in the afternoon. But God is faithful, and it was no problem. We listened to The Great Cheese Conspiracy and A Year Down Yonder on CD, which really helped keep me awake. That, and the box of Junior mints I ate.



I really enjoyed A Year Down Yonder. It was the sequel to A Long Way From Chicago, by Richard Peck, that we listened to on the way out to Utah. Both books involve 2 kids (just one in the second book) who have to visit their grandma down in some hicktown in the 1920's and '30's. The grandma is a real character--definitely not the cuddly, grandmotherly stereotype, but it makes for funny stories.

So far today I've been relaxing. I did a new Pilates For Pregnancy DVD that I bought off of Amazon, and I was very pleased with it. Exaclty what I was looking for!

The boys, especially Nathan and Luke, have been earning their keep here by helping Gradpa outside. He is pulling up sections of sod so Mom will have flower beds, and the boys have been helping truck the sod around the yard and lay it out on other places. They've also been helping to move the 10 tons of dirt that Grandpa had delivered a little while ago! They will be sleeping well while they're here, LOL! It's good for growing boys to be kept busy!

I need to go change a poopy diaper . . . it's not all relaxing around here.

Hiking at Glen Helen

The first week we were in Ohio was so cold and rainy. I found myself wishing we had brought our heavy jackets instead of just our fleeces! Fortunately things cleared up and got warmer on Friday, so on Saturday we headed to Glen Helen, in Yellow Springs, with Amy and her boys. First we went to the small raptor center there, where they rehabilitate injured raptors. There were several owls, hawks, and even a bald eagle there. Then we hiked around for awhile, thoroughly tiring out all the boys.



A big forest--plenty of room to run around and be loud!

Does anyone know why there is this big tumor on the side of this tree? I meant to look it up but never got around to it, LOL.

The original "yellow spring" perhaps?
Boys, sticks, and water . . . they could have stayed here all day.


The four girls

Anyone still out there?!

We're back!! My parents' computer is acting wonky so I couldn't blog the whole time we were in Ohio. I'm sure it seemed like we fell off the face of the earth (or maybe the dog cake got us, LOL).

The kids and I had a great drive back yesterday. The weather was nice, we only needed one stop, and we listened to Because of Winn-Dixie on CD. I really liked that book. The boys had watched the movie maybe last year at Grandma's, and they liked it, but they all agreed the book was much, much better (isn't that so often the case!). The nicest part for me was that the person reading the book made the character of a little old well-to-do Southern lady named Miss Franny Block sound exactly how my Nana sounded.

So to re-cap the trip, we had a nice time with Bob's family. The anniversary party was lovely, and we had a nice lunch at Ponderosa with the whole clan the next day before the kids and I headed to Ohio and Bob headed home. Sunday night through Thursday night we spent with my parents doing the usual fun Ohio things like Youngs, ladies' Bible study at Faircreek, and OCF Bible study. For school, I ran off a bunch of old Latin review sheets, and I brought the Spectrum test practice books that we use to review for the Standford tests they will take the beginning of May. Those things kept the boys occupied in the mornings, and I didn't feel like the whole year's knowledge and learning was leaking rapidly out their ears right before testing, LOL.

Friday night through Sunday night we spent at Amy's. The weather cleared up and warmed up, which was such a blessing, and the boys ran themselves ragged. We went on a hike and visited a big playground, as well as playing football, basketball, and other outside things. Amy and I stayed up late each night scrap-booking and laughing hilariously at old stories and memories. What fun! And I got Luke's scrapbook done for this past year, and I finally started on Anna's.

Then we went back over to my folks' house for a few more nights. This enabled me to do laundry, repack, and just get things ready for the drive back.

It was a great trip, although it was nice for everyone to sleep in their own beds last night! I'll work on downloading pictures and posting some later on. And I guess I should work on unpacking too . . . the most un-fun part of a trip, LOL.

Wrapping Up

We are wrapping up our trip to Ohio. Bob caught a hop back to Andrews AFB on Wednesday (big thanks to Ed for hanging around his office to meet Bob there and bring him back home). Before we left home, we called the passenger terminal, and there were flights to Andrews about every day. After we got here, the flights just sort of dried up! We were thinking that he'd fly home Monday or Tuesday, but there were no flights. It actually was really nice to have Bob stay for so long. We really got to relax! We had our double date, and we also would go hit the local hotspots after the kids went down--you know, Walmart, Meijers, etc. We're wild like that. Bob was also able to play a lot of games with the boys, go on walks to the playground, and do things like that.

We went back over to Amy's one evening, and we also had some playdates here. Tami, who used to live with my parents and was also a friend from high school, came over with her 3 kids on Monday. Her kids line up almost exactly in age with Caleb, Jonathan, and Anna (she has 2 boys and a Hannah!). Amy and Jacob came over on Tuesday, and on Wednesday afternoon, 2 of the Turkish women Mom works with came with their little girls. One girl was about Anna's age, and one girl was born in December. Anna is just not sure what to do with little girls that are her age and walk around! She's got the baby thing figured out--no threat there. But she is quite a bit more taken aback by ones who move around and play with the same toys she likes, LOL. We moms had a good time visiting. They were amazed that I just lay my kids down and don't rock or nurse them to sleep, so we had some discussion about that.

I was amazed at Azra, the girl who is Anna's age--she was playing, and then she came over to her mom and said something. Immediately the mom took her to the bathroom. When she came back, she told us that Azra was potty-training. I was so impressed! She obviously could feel the urge, since she told her mom! My boys were so clueless about potty things until . . . well, until close to 3, LOL. I've heard girls are easier to train. I can only hope! Anna so far has shown no sign that she has any clue what she's doing though. I thought I'd be doing well if she was trained b y 2 1/2!

Last night I met Amy at her mom's house, and we all scrapbooked together. When I lived here, we would do this about once a month. Now you can see why I was so caught up when we left, and why I am so behind now! I worked on pages from the summer of 2005--Nathan's 8th birthday, 4th of July downtown, our medieval feast, a trip to Rose's house on the lake, and our trip to Virginia Beach. Only 2 years behind! It was so fun eating pizza and talking. Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids, and Grace cooperated beautifully again with her bottle. A great way to end a wonderful trip!

The vacation isn't actually over however. Tomorrow we all (Grandma and Granda too) drive to Pennsylvania, to White Sulphur Springs, for the Wright-Patterson AFB OCF retreat. We'll be there until Monday, when we'll drive back to D.C. Bob will drive up tomorrow and meet us there, and then we'll caravan back home. So we'll be having fun riding horses, square dancing, listening to interesting speakers, making smores, and eating good food that I don't have to cook!