Festivities...

Just wanted to throw up a few of the Christmas festivities so far.
This is the Nativity Play our preschool did for a care center nearby. I wish I had more pictures, it was very nice. The kids sang 4 songs, did the play, and gave cards to each of the residents. All of the residents were in wheel chairs, so it was a little hard to have the kids getting too close, but I think it was a really good experience for them all. They sang SO quietly though, I tried so hard to get them to sing out, haha, oh well.

A trip to Harmon's Tree Farm to find...out that their trees are too expensive for us. :) I'm used to paying like $15 or so for a tree, $50 is just too much. We didn't stay at the farm long and just drove down the street to Lowes to find our $20 tree. The tree is kind of dry already, major shape issues (must have been bundled for awhile), but it was only $20 and is all just the same to the kids. We decided to start the 'tradition' of having a sleepover under the tree after it's decorated. The kids loved it-- but seems to have started the trend of staying up late every night since.



This year, the kids made christmas aprons at a playgroup early December. I thought they were so cute, and festive to help mom make the big batches of cookies to give away. They had a lot of fun making these sugar dipped cookies.


The Christmas Cafe! While the aprons were donned and the kids in the mood, I decided to turn dinner that night into a night at the Christmas cafe. The kids and I made menus that had secret code words for the dinner items. It was a fun trick to play on Dad, and the kids were a hoot acting as our waiter and waitress. The kids especially liked the Golden Snowflakes, made from a round of fresh pineapple. (yum, I love fresh pineapple!)

Turkey Rewind

We got to get Thanksgiving up here before Christmas comes!! (Wait, did I even get Halloween up? That's the way these things go I guess!) We were so lucky and happy to a visitor for Thanksgiving. Kids love the extra attention, of course, and we're really looking forward to seeing Grandma. Lucy still prays almost everyday that "cousins" or "grandma" or someone will be coming on the airplane to South Carolina. ah me, little girl. Anyway, Grandma flew in and we drove the 1.5 hrs to go get her, but of course I decided to make a whole day of it. We started early in the morning with a sack lunch and visited to a gold mine just outside of Charlotte, NC. We joined the little tour and spent quite a lot of time there, in fact, we were "late" heading to the $2 movie, which was next on my agenda. We still went in to kill the next hour watching Despicable Me. The kids liked it, although it was in 3D and Lucy didn't want to keep her glasses on. Willie was fine with having glasses, cute little smiling cheeks underneath. :)


We picked up Grandma Connie amongst mad busy traffic- biggest travel day of the year. We also had a nice Thanksgiving visit. I can't remember now why I was particuarly busy at that time, but I remember not having anything planned for dinner. I did have a turkey thawed, but that was it. Grandma helped really pull the dinner together. Our visit also included a trip to the children's museum to see their new exhibits- Fairytale land and Snowville.

Tis the Season

A friend from my ward shared this with me and I had to post it immediately. Totally set the right mood for the season! I loved it! I loved that that lady knew to stand up immediately. Loved the Random Acts of Culture! And...did you see that organ???
I would click on the link (the title part of the video) because even though it's imbedded heare, it doesn't really fit.

DC or bust...

Many of you know my husband's hobby/dream of running. He's been working really hard this year to hit a fast marathon time. Long story short, this goal has been put on the back burner. But his running fame is big here at Fort Jackson and he was put on the Army 10-miler team for Fort Jackson. The "Army 10-miler" is a HUGE race which takes place in Washington DC and brings in runners from around the world. One of the neat thing is militia from other countries will send their soliders to compete. It's a peace-making kind of thing. It's a really neat race because the runners get to pass many famous icons like Arlington Cemetary, Lincoln memorial, Washington memorial, many of the Simthsonian buildings, up past the US Capitol, the finish (and the start) was at the Pentagon. It was really neat granted, however, the runners aren't sight-seeing while trying to pound out the miles, :) thus we did go to visit many of those places aside from the race. I can't remember right now how Jeremy did exactly... I do know that it wasn't as well as he hoped, he had big blisters on both feet. I actually didn't even get to see him run!! I was so disappointed. I had to take 3 kids on the metro by myself to get to the race, so I opted to just go for the finish and somehow I didn't even see him pass us! Lucy said she saw him, so guess that counts for all of us. It was very fun to take a family trip though! The kids did great in the car, being the longest car ride they've done, I was happy with that. Hallee had the hardest time, but she made it through it. What Lucy does every spare moment she gets...and the reason why Lucy ALWAYS has to wear a skirt! She couldn't practice her spin if she didn't! This last pic is in front of the White House. This was the last place we stopped before hitting the road back home. We were walking around and this bicycle officer stopped to chat. He let us in on this secret he "wasn't supposed to tell people" and said that a certain chopper would be landing in about 15 minutes if we wanted to stick around to watch. Jeremy was as excited as a schoolboy and said he had to see the President's chopper. We waited more than 15 minutes, it was kind of cool to see, but by the time the chopper lands, you're so far away and the angle is such you can't even see anyone exit the chopper. Who knows if it really was the president or not...then again, who else would be flying by Air Force chopper to the White House, hmm?

Pumpkin Season is so fun. We talked a lot about pumpkins at Joy School and there were many activities involving pumpkins this year, so we've seen a lot of orange! We went down to an activity Silly Scarecrows at the historic Robert Mills house and garden in downtown. It was way fun and quite a bargain I thought. The kids loved picking a pumpkin from the garden, which they got to decorate, and we loved seeing all the silly scarecrows put up by different businesses- there were probaby 40 or so scarescrows.




I didn't realize the kids were going to get their own pumpkin from the Robert Mills house activity, and I had already planned a playgroup trip to a pumpkin patch that same week. Athough I ended up locking my keys in the car (and my wallet), it was a great place to play while we waited an hour for triple-A to come rescue us. We had fun with friends at storytime, exploring and taking pictures, but did not end up buying any pumpkins.

Myrtle Beach

We got a 3 day weekend and I just had to get out of town! There are a number of places I'd like to go visit around the area. We decided to go to Myrtle Beach while it was still warm outside. (The fall weather here has been practically summer-i. LOVE. it!) The drive seem to take forever, it made me sad not to be staying the night (we decided we didn't want to spend money on a hotel.) It was SOOOO nice to be at the beach! Nostalgic memories of kids playing in sand, listening to the ocean for hours. I love warm beaches! Nothing especially interesting to tell, and these aren't even the cute pictures, lol! But I got tired of waiting for blogger to load the pictures. So, this post will be short and sweet. Can't wait to go back next summer! (Assuming we get put at Fort Bragg...!)

Swampfest!

Ewh, swampfest!? Doesn't that just sound too cool to miss?! That's what I thought at least. And I wasn't disappointed! I've been wanting to visit Conagree National Park for alittle while, and since we started our Earth unit in preschool, I had it at the top of my list of fun things. Then, I found out there was the 8th annual Swampfest going on this weekend- perfect!
The kid-paced walk along the bayou boardwalk was enhanced by face painting from a naturalist group, fur skin display, bracelet making with the Cherokee Chief, and a visit with Kessie a slave-reenactor and black history educator. We ended up spending I think almost 3 hours at the park!
Then, there were special events goin on down the road too! We enjoyed the hayride fromthe park to Swampfest where there were vendors, music and entertainment, and some carnival rides for the kids. They had the coolest balloon artists making probably the best balloon creations I've ever seen. That was Willie's highlight. Lucy got to ride all the rides (it pays to be 3 inches taller). Another couple hours passed and we were almost late getting home for the second session of General conference.

Moving Stages

I don't write down enough of what the kids are like at different times of their lives. And I love it, so I'm sur they would love to know about it! So, I feel the need to write it now. I was going to have the patience to add pics to this, but even the thought of it, well, I've already lost my patience. thus, this will be a pretty long and mostly likely a little boring of a post. :)
Right now, I feel like the kids are moving stages in life, it's so fun.
Hallee has graduated into the sitting up and "basically" crawling category. I didn't even know she could sit up, and then all of a sudden she was doing it. She also started doing some army crawling this week. True blue girl! ;) She also became a thumb sucker! My first. I remember the night when she seemed to just "figure it out." I was signing my lullabies to her, and she found her thumb and popped it in. It was like you could see the light bulb go on in her head. I could hear her unspoken words, "Hmm, this is great. I will do this every night from now on." It's incredibly hard to resist the cuteness of it all.
Willie is the love of my life right now. He makes me laugh so much! He is funny, not just a silly 2 year old kind of funny, but really a jokester. He's also switching from being a toddler to really a preschool kid. He's so smart! I smile every time I hear him pray, "thanks for my girl Lucy, and my other girl Hallee." He's so cute. It's fun to watch the mental development as a toddler leaves toddling age and becomes a preschooler.
I really click with Willie, more in a lot of ways than I have clicked with Lucy, which must mean he takes after me in personality or thought processes, because I know Lucy takes after Jeremy for sure. Jeremy and I were one of those oh so rare couples that, even though we were a match made in heaven, we found out how different we were after we got married. Not many couples out there like that right? ;) We have some polar opposites with respect to some things, and I've always felt Lucy has taken after Daddy in these kinds of things, she's opposite of me. Willie seems to be more like me and so I feel like I understand him and can relate to him more. This is important to me mostly because as I do home preschool, I have to remember their differences while I'm doing lessons.
It's also great to see Willie getting out of his toddler stage with respect to obedience and playtime/sharing. It is so fun to watch the two play together in their room. Right now, the kid's room is the only room we've spent money on for furniture. And it's a long story, I'm not totally thrilled with the furniture, but I won't go into that. But their room is set up like their own little world. Lucy's got a "doll house" bunk bed, which is a bunk bed that looks like a mini house. It practically puts a hole in the roof, it was an ordeal putting it up. And she kind of hates it. *Sigh*. Willie has a little tikes car bed. There is a table and chairs under the house, or "inside" their house. They have dishes for tea time and a tea cart, and lots of play food. And soon to be added (lest I forget, Willie will remind me everyday), a basketball hoop in the "driveway". The basketball hoop is Willie's potty present. He's been doing awesome on potty training really. He might be fully trained before Lucy is.
Though I said Lucy is so different, she is just as smart as 4 year olds come. She picks things up from friends so quick! She's also started to become mommy's little helper with the baby, which is nice to have. She asks everyday when "school starts". We're going to be doing a Joy School with two other kids in our ward, and Lucy and Willie. It should be fun. Lucy's great accomplishment this summer has been learning how to swim. I would officially say she can swim! I'll put a video up of her swimming. It's just so amazing to me how much she progressed this summer and a lot of it was by watching her friends.
We've been in Columbia for 2 months now, and we still don't have a bed, believe it or not. We finally had to give back our borrowed sleeping mats, so we bought a futon. Sold it again two days later because I thought it was junk basically, junk for sleeping on at least. So we're back to having nothing to sleep on. Tonight I think I'm sleeping with Lucy (whose expensive bed is also the nicest bed in the house) and Jeremy will sleep on the couch. We will be getting something soon.... :o

Rules of Engagement

I had an army friend of mine ask me how I was doing with accepting all this stuff called "army life". I told her I was probably at about 50%. Jeremy is still trying to get me to assimilate more into army ways. I think I must still be trying to live like I was in laie Hawaii, with no cares or worries. Army is much more rigid than that.
An example of my carelessness is this scare we had a few weeks back. It was in the first week or so that we moved and life was stressful and crazy, and the poor kids were getting the brunt of everything it seemed. I felt bad for them, and I tried to note small ways that we could help their day seem better- a little less big-kid like. So I thought it was way cute when they got so excited one time we gave thme a "ride" in the car, which means they get to hold on with no seat belts while we drive a short distance. And I mean a short distance. (I'm going to regret saying this aren't I? I'm going to have to explain my actions for years to come.)
Anyway, I didn't think it was a big deal, just 100 yards or less. We've pulled this kind of stunt at Grandma's house, course she had her own road and was not in the city technically. Anyway, Jeremy is dead set against this idea of mine, but I talked him into it one time. I had jumped in the back of the van with Willie and the baby and we were driving along when... ba baa bummmm! The sheriff drove past us! Jeremy turned white and said, Oh crap! We watched the sheriff and sure enough, the car turned around in the drive we just came out of and started heading our way. Jeremy was so upset at me! (I don't blame him.) Then, out of sheer luck, the sheriff turned down another way and we kept going. We were free for that night. Jeremy was repeating 'Never Again' over and over. He was saying how he saw his whole career flash before his eyes. Poor guy. I felt real bad. Needless to say, I've reevaluated my caution and respect to army strict adherence to laws of the land and I've repented. :)
It's amazing how much your "employer" can have ahold of your personal life. There's still many more ways I could be better at being in the army. Army families should have a high standard to show others. And I think that's important, I just got to get in gear I guess. From the wife's point of view- running the forgotten patch to the hubs, stopping in the middle of the street for trump or drill or whatever is going on, random vehicle weapons checks, etc. These little things that make me think, I'm not in the army, but... I am.
Yeah, so 50%, if that. I still don't have our insurance and benefits figured out. And I thought people were helping me learn that and learn what stuff was going to be available to me, the army wife, but after they talked to me- all I've figured out is there is a playgroup (which I haven't made it to yet) and they would love to have me volunteer if I can. (slight chuckle.) Yeah, so no "benefits" as of yet.

We got a dog!

...for a day. :)
Although the seed was planted in me long ago to get a dog, the overall premeditated period for this venture was pretty short. I grew up saying I wanted a dog and no kids. Now here I am, three kids and still wanting a dog...until now.
Brand new to the area, some new friends from our ward invited us to dinner where I found she was a big dog-lover and had trained her dog very well. I told her how I've always wanted a dog, but didn't know anything about them and needed to learn. She was excited to help me learn all I needed to know and gave me a book to read. Later that week, she let me know that a family in the ward had a black lab puppy they were trying to find a home for. We were quickly introduced and we liked the puppy but I just wasn't sure it was the right time for us to get a puppy. But here the little furry thing was. It was so cute. So wantable. I don't even have any furniture it could ruin, I don't care about the carpet we have right now, I have this great friend who is helping me learn all I need to know...all these thoughts made me think, maybe this wouldn't be a bad time to get a dog. And so I talked Jeremy into it.
We begun making all kind of preparations and, although I had already read quite a few chapters in the book, I began speed reading even faster. There was a lot to think about and I made three trips to the pet store in just a few days trying to get ready for her. We picked up the puppy on Wednesday evening. We hadn't technically got an approval from our leasing office though, but I assumed it would be okay- something you just kind of go down and sign the papers for. There were a ton of big dogs in the complex that walk around, it seems like.
It was kind of crazy night, our first full attempt at taking care of a dog. She was a great puppy! She even went potty on her pad a couple times, and just laid in her blocked off area, very mellow for a puppy, which means we could call ourselves lucky. All of this only made me feel worse about what I realized the next day, for it was all soon to end...
Jeremy went to the office the next morning and talked to them about the puppy. Even though it was still small, because our lease term was 13 months and the labs will be over the size limit by that time, they were giving us trouble about getting the puppy. You see, we kind of didn't tell them that we had already kind of got the puppy. So the puppy lived with me "illegally" for that day. We took her to the vet and got medicine for fleas and worms. We took her with us to pick dad up from work. This was all quite a bit of work doing a puppy and a 6 month old- not to mention two other kids- at the same time. Not that I can say i wasn't warned, in fact, there were many people that snickered and looked at me doubtingly when they heard we were getting a puppy- which was kind of hard to deal with in itself. But the basic fact was this- the office hadn't approved her yet, so we quickly took her back to our friends house who had been fostering her that night after work. We didn't want to be fined for having a dog. That night, I sat in my house, on break from this smell and everything that comes with the inclusion of an animal, and I realized... it's not right to have the dog here with us right now. The other kids, the close quarters, the neighbor downstairs that already thinks we're too loud, the fact that we're not sure where we're moving to in 6 months... it all kind of clouded over and I realized it was not a good thing- though the dog was a very good dog- it wasn't time to get a dog. It had been a costly decision in a way. I loved the crash course in dog care. I loved that cute little puppy face. But it wasn't the right time for us to get a dog.
Now, I'm looking back on that crazy week thrown in with the already crazy experiences that comes with moving to a new place. I have to be completely honest and say, I've started to have this inkling that I might not be a dog person after all. It was a heart breaking week for me, something I'm still trying to understand. I see others with dogs and I still feel a little 'jealous'. I still perk up when I see a sign or ad looking for a dog owner. I'm not sure what keeps driving that in me. But Jeremy has put his foot down and said No for now.

Down in the Southland...

After four plane ridesv(and poor Jeremy having to carry way to many bags), we arrived in Columbia, South Carolina. Summer is in full swing here, and I'm loving it. We're staying in a hotel right now driving a rental car, which is an expensive way to live, so we're working hard to remedy that. I was quite worried that we didn't have much to go on as far as things lined up for a car and a house, but now I realize that Jeremy was right to just roll with things. It turns out we couldn't have found the options that we're now looking at, while still in Oregon. We just wouldn't have known about them until we reported to the base and went through their oreintation kind of stuff. Which is kind of frustrating that life is like that, but I'm definetly not disappointed in what the army is offering. That's the story of the army pretty much though... they have great things to offer but if you want them they come not on your terms or timing. Ah well, so we should be getting into a nice place to live pretty soon. In the meantime, not having to cook breakfast is a nice break.
The car situation on the other hand, is going to take a little mroe figuring out. We may have to hit the road a little bit to find something more in our price range.
Columbia itself, I think will be a lot of fun. It has a lot of the "southern beauty" going on I think. We drove to look at a house in the historic district. It was so fun to see these brick houses with tall coloumns in front, lots of rocking chairs on porches. The house was definetly a fixer-uper, so not what we're looking for right now. But would be a lot of fun, someday. The people here are very different and will take a little getting used to probably. I invisioned mostly black americans and caucasians, but I've seen a good melting pot of people from all over, so that's pretty cool. I feel like we're right in the middle of everything too. The coast is not too far. There's lots of nature trails and boating/lakes around. It will be really fun to explore.
Well, better get back to searching the web....

All On My Own

I'm all on my own this week, my "nanny" is on vacation. Grandma is out of town this week- in NY!- We miss Grandma! Wish I could have gone too, but we've been getting our kicks in. :P We dropped mom at the airport and went to hang out with our Portland cousins. The kids had tons of fun. We stayed the night as well (Worst night ever actually, Willie wanted to stay up forever, Lucy kept having bad dreams, and Hallee woke up every 2 hours. I didn't get any sleep.) That's okay. (Love the snuggled up kids watching a movie.) I had big plans to visit the Tulip Festival at Wooden Shoe Farm. We were set up for a really bad day because of the waether, but the sight of all those tulips in layers of colors, was unforgettable really. I'd never seen anything like it. But back to the experience as a whole, we were cold and to make matters worse, we were in the middle of the footpath to the fields when it started POURING! Cats and Dogs, soft hail even. It was awful. We had to run about 150 yards to the nearest tent. The baby was in my wrap and under my jacket covered up, but Lucy and Willie were drenched. All Willie wanted to do was cry. Cold is bad, but cold and wet, is nearly unbearable. We finally made it back to the car and stoked up some warmth. I was bummed because it cut our trip short. I wasn't able to buy any flowers or experience some of the other things there. Things did go from bad to worse, as I got lost coming out of Woodburn while driving in the rain. Boo! We got home to a beautiful, sunny day at home! We stayed outside and weeded the flower beds. The kids were happy to be such "great workers." We all took Sunday naps today and so I wasn't feeling in a hurry to put the kids to bed. So we spent the evening together not watching the time and just being together. We actually just ended up reading stories for probably an hour and half. I got downstairs after they were in bed and it was almost 9:30pm, which is late for us. As I tucked Lucy in bed, she says, Mom that was a great evening. Made me smile.

I've been promising pictures and videos for Daddy... I love this candid shot of Willie and his cousin Breanna. Breanna is so good with the kids- she's such a great cousin! D is for Donuts! The kids had fun making homemade donuts. I figured out a great frosting I like for donuts too, I decided- make a cream cheese frosting and then fold in cool whip. I think I like it better than a glaze or just a cookie frosting. The infamous boat. It's not infamous quite yet, but for being in our family such a short while it already has got a reputation. I got this boat from a sweet, nice man off of Freecycle. So yes, it was free. And it's not in beautiful condition, but it's not broken or anything, just could use new paint. So it's a great boat! I'm so excited, I wish I was going to be around long enough to use it more. Ok, I feel the need to tell the whole story. We were reading a book a while back and there was this story of a dog and a cat and they had cat's birthday cake while out on a boat. And Lucy and I were talking how it would be fun to do her birthday cake in a boat. So, I began to think how I could do it. I thought about taking her for a riverboat cruise or something. But I liked the idea of just having her birthday here at Grandma's pond, like Willie was able to have a big party at Grandma's barn. I thought I could just borrow one, but I wanted to dec it out and wasn't sure how that would sit with any owner if I had to use tacks/staples. So I set out to find one of my own,and came upon Gizmo on Freecycle. From communications from this man on phone and not actually seeing the boat, I thought it would fit in the back of our truck and that it was fairly light (for a boat). This is what the guy had suggested to me at least. Well, I convince my brother-in-law to go help me get it (after laboriously convincing my mom to let me go get it and watch the kids for me while I did). The boat was bigger than we thought, and definitely not light. The nice man let us borrow his trailer (told you he was sweet) to make the 40 minute trip to my house. It was kind of a crazy three hour process of going between his house and ours and trying to load and unload this big boat with just two of us. We pull up at my mom's house with the boat at which point my mom decided this was the worst idea ever. She hated the boat, hates orange, hated that it would be sitting by the pond, thought it was too dangerous. All these things. Oops, awh Grandma, all I can say is sorry. The kids have been good and understand all the rules about the boat. We had a fun afternoon cleaning it and have made one trip to find lifejackets, but still need some for the kids. So we haven't taken it into the water yet. I'm looking forward to Lucy's birthday and watching her blow out her candles while in her birthday boat. I think we'll do Lucy's party a couple weeks late because Jeremy thinks he might be able to come home for a couple weeks after his graduation from Officer School on May 20th. He'll be here for about two weeks and we'll do a party then.
...Sorry Dad the video is not uploading!

Only a Matter of Time

It was only a matter of time until Willie figured out how to get out of his crib. Today, that time has come. I'm actually surprised he hasn't done it sooner, being the crazy jumper/climber he is. He just didn't put it together. Anyway, I have no idea exactly how he gets out. Hope it's safe....as can be. So, now the dilemma, should I start having him use a toddler bed. I feel myself really hanging onto the crib as long as possible, dragging it out, playing mind games with him until he's totally figured out the battle that's at steak here. But should I really drive him to understand so much of what this situation entails. Eh, I'm sure he's figured it all out already anyway.
Jeremy was super sweet and had flowers delivered to me today. Yesterday on the phone he was so giddy and anxious saying 'What are you doing tomorrow?' 'Are you going to be home?' 'There might be a surprise for you tomorrow.' So he was very obvious in something going down, but didn't let up at what it was. I asked him, 'Did you spend money?' To which he replied No, so that really stumped me. I couldn't think what wouldn't cost money to have show up at my door. Then I thought, maybe he is showing up?? I honestly thought that might be it, although I knew there was no way it would be. I tried to not buy into my secret wish, but it was so alluring it was hard not to. I had to laugh inspite of myself when the flower van showed up. It was a lovely surprise, not to be downplayed by me thinking it was my hubby showing up. The flowers are beautiful- red roses with some smaller very pretty flower, in a cute square chunky vase, there's this long thin grass made intoa shape of a heart around it. That didn't sound beautiful the way I described it, but it raelly is. The card was very sweet, of course. ;)
falling asleep....got to go.........

Yet again

My computer is down, yet again. It's hanging on by a thread and we just keep pushing it to hang on longer. Not sure why it's not working right now, so don't know estimated time of repair. I hope soon....
We had such a fun Easter. It was one of those quiet, just our small family, special times, that don't happen frequent enough. Sometimes you make the holidays too big and get so busy working that you don't enjoy things. I often do at least. But this last weekend wasn't really like that. We did enough to make it special, but kept everything just simple enough too. We all LOVED the Lemon Torte Cake! Such a yummy treat for the holiday!
We had a special Ladies Night Out last night, Zumba! I arrived at the gym and it was packed! So I have no idea if any of "my ladies" were there. Kind of a bummer my night turned solo. But I had such a blast doing Zumba! It's totally my thing! I could do it all the time! I'm working on conning my mom or sister to go with me next time. I was very tempted to join the class, but since we're moving next month I decided not to bother.
Tomorrow is a big day for Jeremy. He has a test and then they will be branching out. That means getting their assignment or 'job'. It also means we'll be able to have a better idea what lies ahead in this journey as far as where we'll be living and for how long, etc. It will be so nice to have a plan and a little more specific goal of what we're doing. Jeremy's top pick is Medical services, working as an admin in a hospital or possibly doing social work. His next choice would be Military Intelligence. And if not those two, probably Infantry or Adjunct General. He has a high position on their ranking list so he should have a clear shot in choosing his desired position.
I haven't done too much updating about Jeremy since he got to Officer School. He is doing well. It's a much better situation than basic training. They are in rooms with more privacy, he does have two roommates though. He bought himself a little laptop and so he has internet access anytime he's in his room. He has time to call almost every night. He usually spends a lot of time on the phone or skyping on weekends as they have had every weekend off for personal time. So things have been nice. He complains a little bit about the monotony of the cafeteria, and repetitive busy work, and not too many good friends around. But this stage too is temporary. He'll be glad when he can say he's graduated.
The kids are doing great. Lucy has been doing really well with our little preschool and learning her letters. I hope we keep it up this time! :P Willie is such a great comic relief to ahve in the house. He's starting to potty train himself which is frustrating at times, but great for him. Hallee is getting to strong, it's so adorable. She's super talkative- I love it! I love listening to baby coos. All my kids have just jumped on language, it looks like she'll be no different. I wish someone would come turn my life into a TV series, just because I want it all recorded. I would love to remember so many more moments than I currently am right now. It's hard to keep up with it all- in memory or written down.
Well, this was a nice journal entry. I hope my computer gets better so I can post some recent pics, cause they're so cute. :)

3 month baby!

Today matches my mood much more than yesterday. Yesterday we missed the beautiful sunny weather on the account of being sick! We did make it outside, but it was pretty short lived. Today's pouring down rain is much better. ;P

Actually, I want to dedicate this post to Hallee. She is so stinkin' cute! I've already mentioned how much she loves to be looking out in the world, and that's why she hates all these carriers I guess. It is adorable to watch her being so ingrossed in what's going on around her. She loves the kids getting up in her face and trying to make her laugh. She'll always give them a smile. She's started pulling at her hair while she's playing on her back. I don't remember the those kids doing that very much, but they probably did. Sorry I didn't feel like rotating the photo above.

Two Scoops!

The closest Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream shop to us is about an hour away in Eugene. Of course I wasn't going to let that stop me from enjoying "Free Ice Cream Cone" day yesterday! I planned a day in Eugene and threw the kids in the car first thing in the morning. We went to the mall for a little shopping. I was looking for a certain bookstore and it wasn't there anymore actually, but we had fun in Borders. Then we had lunch in the car (feeding kids and getting fed upon- what I do the largest percentage of the day) while the day warmed up to be beautiful and sunny. Ben and Jerry's was no disappointment! Last time I went to one of these, we waited in line for close to an hour I think. So I got there 10 minutes before they even started, hping to get in the fron to fhe line. The kids were so excited to have their own ice cream cone. The line wasn't bad at all, which was nice. The kids steaked out their table and waited patiently while I stood in line. I got two chocolate ice cream cones and handed them to the kids. While I was getting my scoop, I looked back at the kids at the table just in time to see them yell, "Cheers!" and bump their ice cream cones together! Honestly! What a crew! The mom at the table next to us started cracking up. It took about an hour to eat the ice cream. Willie was so excited he just sat there talking about it for the first 10 minutes. Look how proud he is of his cone. Lucy gets the award for the messiest. They didn't have any napkins there (the owner was talking to me and saying how they don't put any effort into this day because it's so crazy, they just scoop. I guess I understand.)
Next stop was the Science Factory, which was fun but I was surprised to learn that it's actually quite a bit smaller than I imagined. We circled the exhibits probably three times and spent a large majority fot he time in the Tot Spot, this small little corner with a boat, crane, all pit, and some other ocean things. Baby Hallee made her first attempt at sitting in the stroller. She's probably still too young to sit up in it, but she loved being able to see out. She has not liked being strapped into anything, and she's hated all the carriers I have. She didn't mind the stroller too bad, but it had to be moving to keep her really content.

Happy 100th!

This is my 100th post on this blog. I will celebrate with (yet another) random rambling. No, honestly. This post will be the most random rambling I can get done in 15 minutes or less, because that's all the time I want to spend. :)

My Lucy has grown up this week. I'm talking radical change. Her speech, her thoughts, her interests. I'm scared. I wrote about the incident at the pizza place that happened just three days ago. Now, today, similar story, perhaps more serious. Or not since the boy seemed much more harmless, he was only 3 (not 5!), but they were married! We ventured to a park which was very happenin' in the mom scene. Lots of mamas there. Lucy was playing with some good friends of ours, who were also playing with some other good friends of theirs. So, the game was house again, and it developed into Prince and Princesses game. The play structure was the castle- we even caught the moment where Lucy was laying "dead" asleep (as in Sleeping Beauty) in the 'castle' while all the princes were scaling the walls to save her (there were two princes). Ultimately Lucy was to be "married" to Gabe, and Will to Sophia. Then, twist of events, Will decides he wants to marry Lucy. Lucy agreed, so they took each other's hands and started to walk off. Holding hands, people!! At 3 years old!! How did this happen?! (ummm, disney movies...duh) Well, it was too much for Sophia that her prince had left her, so she started a melt down and plopped herself down at the base of a nearby tree. Were talking a pretty big crying fit. All because my daughter is marrying both princes- the little fox! This is the point where the moms came in to round everyone up to go home and found out the whole storyline of their playtime. And this little three year old Will, repeatedly insisted that he and Lucy were going to get married. I tried to just ignore the little Romeo and get the kids out to the car. Turns out we were parked right next to these people, and on the way to his car, Will stopped by to make sure I knew I had to come back to 'this park' to play because he was married to Lucy. What a guy.
aye yai yai. I'm really being melodramatic if you couldn't tell. I don't hold anything against Will. He was a sweet boy and I'd totally love to have a playdate with those guys again. Just after I have a little talk with my girl. I still don't like that five year old though...

Ok, time's up. I'm going to throw a couple St. Patrick's day pics on here though. We went letterboxing downtown and had a lot of fun. Some friends came and we went to four businesses that had letterboxes hidden in the store. So fun. We made it into a treasure hunt, left by a leprechaun. It ended at American Dream pizza and we found the leprechaun's hat filled with treasure. Then we had lunch. I also made rainbow cupcakes for a dinner we had with my sister. She had made a corned beef brisket dinner. I brought these for dessert. They are quite fun because they're so colorful, but a little labor intensive. I'll try anything once though.