Home Sweet Home

Well for anybody out there that really cares what we've been up to in Georgia, our updates are going to be few and far between from here on out. Our laptop fan died and now the computer shuts off as soon as it gets too warm (so now I will be keeping it in the refrigerator and running it with a bag of ice underneath, NOT kidding!). Our internet had been down since the beginning of the week and we finally got that fixed today. So lately we've had quite a bit going on. The latest adventure was to Atlanta to visit our friends Josh & Angela and their kids. We met under unusual circumstance a few years ago and stayed in touch. We had always wanted to meet up again and with us in Phx and them in Atlanta it never happened. Here we are in Georgia and I figured we should go visit...but I didn't realize it was a 5 hour drive...with Dale who up until now has been a TERROR in the car! We made it, however, and had a great MLK weekend with them. We went to a huge Aquarium in Atla...

Blessings One of the greatest blessings I could have asked for in coming to Georgia was in meeting Carrie. One of my worries in coming out here was that I'd be lonely. Here I was with three kids, one being a newborn who was miserable all the time and screamed bloody murder anytime he was in his carseat, which pretty much dampened my desire to get out of the house very often with him. I met Carrie at church my third week here. Her husband was also at FLETC for training, though only for three months since he was already an agent, just switching agencies. Her older two girls are the same age as Brighton and Adaira and we had so much fun hanging out together during the week. I don't think I've ever had so many playdates in such a short time frame, and I LOVED it! Carrie was such a Godsend as well when it came to Dale. She not only told me about the preschool program for Adaira but also took Dale multiple times during the day (for over four hours) so I could sleep. Even though s...

Where have We Been? Dale has been learning to eat rice cereal. I introduced him to it the day he turned 4 months old but alas, it did not do anything to help him sleep at night. Yes he continued to wake up every 3 hours, sometimes even less than that! Who wouldn't love that cute little face though? Last week my friend Ale told me about "The Baby Whisperer" and the great sleep techniques it gives. I was at my wits end with Dale and really not enjoying a very good quality of life being grumpy all the time, so I bought the book that day and read it as soon as it came. This last Tuesday I implimented what I read and forced Dale on a schedule, used the pick up/put down technique to get him to go to sleep without nursing first, and lived a hellish life for two days straight. A miracle occured yesterday though! Dale didn't cry when I layed him in his crib for his nap, or for bedtime, and he slept for 11 hours straight! Yes people, 11 hours. I know this may not be amazing for...

This is back tracking a little bit, but it's too cute. Grandma Joanna had sent both the kids presents to open for the 12 Days of Christmas. They were enjoying opening their presents so much that the day before Christmas Eve Brighton thought we should let them open the last couple presents. We kept refusing and Brighton gave us this note to try to entice us: Translate: " if you let us open our presents we will give you our SURPRISE" The funny thing is that is you read it exactly as Brighton wrote it, it reads phonetically exactly the way he would say it! We got a good laugh. I'm not sure what he was planning on the surprise being; he was probably going to make that up if he got our approval. One of the presents was a magnifying glass. Both the kids enjoyed those. I already showed them how to burn stuff with it! This is just a cute picture of two of my favorite people down on the pier.

"I love Mom because she checks her email" On Sunday night we sat the kids down and we all went in a circle telling each member of the family what we loved about them. Sweet things were said by Brighton, me, and Justin. As Adaira searched for things to say, I think maybe she just thought of what she saw most of, whether good or bad, and just decided she could say she loved that. When she got to me, she said "I love Mom because she checks her email , plays tag wif us, watches movies wif us..." Ummm....I'm guessing if me checking my email was her first thought, I must be spending way too much time on the computer!!!  We also had to say why we loved ourselves. Brighton said really fast "and I love myself because I'm so smart and I'm the best in my class at reading & math! Teee Heee!" Brighton is truly a smarty pants. His teacher recommended him for gifted testing and always tells me how bright he is. We should find out how he tested at t...

I'm 4 Months Old today! Dale came into this world screaming and didn't really stop until almost 3.5 months later. Justin and I wondered what kind of child we'd brought into our family and seriously questioned whether he should be the last! He pushed me to my limits both emotionally and physically. It's sad to say but I really didn't enjoy him at all those first few months. As time passed and Dale learned how to smile, however, I really started to feel like he would actually be an incredibly sweet child. Justin scoffed at that but in the past 3 weeks he has turned into such a sweetheart. He likes to be entertained still, of course, but I've never seen a kid LOVE getting his diaper changed like Dale does. He starts talking and giggling as soon as we lay him down, and I'm pretty sure he is most ticklish when laying on his changing table. There isn't a part of his body that isn't ticklish, come to think of it. He breaks out into giggles for his older ...

This was a really busy week for us! On Monday Justin graduated from Basic Training, marking the midway point for his overall training. He received additional awards for Expert Marksmanship, Academics, and Crazy driving. This graduation wasn't really such a big deal since training isn't over and the guys didn't even have the rest of the day off, but we won't be here for his second and final graduation in April so we wanted to be there for this one. Justin won't brag about this but I will....Along with his awards he was also voted by the remainder of his classmates (half the people in his class were with the Secret Service and they are finishing their training in another state) to be their class president for this half of training. I think that's quite a compliment because they voted in the first class president when nobody knew anybody at the beginning of training. Now that everyone has been together for three months they voted for Justin. They must think he...

I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME! We kicked off the Christmas season making Gingerbread houses with the kids. This is a tradition Justin picked up from his Grandma Rena and he still likes to do it with the kids every year. The night before we decorated Justin stayed up to cut out the shapes and "glue" them together so they had time to dry. He made a little house for every person, including Dale, plus the kit house from the store. We ate so much junk that day and the next day... I feel sick just thinking about them. In our efforts to accumulate as little as possible while we are in Georgia, and spend the least amount of money, we opted to use the landlords artificial tree out of the attic and make all homemade ornaments that we can toss after Christmas. We had a pretty good time making them, though the kids aren't quite at that stage where they could do it all themselves. Justin came home and saw my basic snowflakes and had to out-do me with his fancy and ornate ones, that he ...