Home Sweet Home

Brighton's 6th Birthday!   It worked out really well that we were in Georgia for Brighton's birthday since he had so many friends living on our street that he played with on a daily basis. We threw a little party for him after school on his birthday and invited the neighbors. The most anticipated item on the activity list was his pinata. Brighton is a joy in our lives. He consistently surprises us with his thoughtfulness and we've come to expect his many notes and pictures telling us how much he loves us and our family (we usually get at least one a day). He has theories for everything and wants to know everything that he doesn't know! When I wake him up in the morning for school I have to remind him even in his sleepy state to concentrate on putting his clothes on rather than talking to me about the most random of subjects (he can't talk and dress at the same time). His name is perfect as he is a very Bright boy, but he is also incredibly loving. Brighton is ALW...

Back Tracking... Here are a few (okay a million) pictures of our final weeks in Georgia. The kids and I flew home last Sunday and Justin finishes training and will start his drive home on the 9th. We drove down to Saint Augustine and visited two Spanish forts from the 1500s. The first was Fort Matanza. It looks like a small square fort but in the picture below you can see Brighton and I in the bottom right hand corner and it's three stories tall! It was pretty cool since it was free admission including a ferry ride to get to it. It was a living history day so all the volunteers were dressed in Spanish uniforms depicting that time period. Best of all was the cannon firings, our favorite! The second fort was Castillo de San Marcos. This one was pretty dang awesome. Not only is it right on the river making it as beautiful a backdrop as Fort Matanza, but this one is huge and has also NEVER been taken over by force. "Upon their arrival at St. Augustine , the British laid s...

Signing Off From Georgia This is probably our last blog post in Georgia. Our laptop has completely kicked the bucket and I can't exactly blog from the library with a baby on my lap. Fortunately my brother Don is here and he brought his laptop with him. He's leaving tomorrow so I'm borrowing his computer to post a quick update. For a quick recap of the fun we've had since out last post, I realized that we only had a few more weekends to sight see so we planned for the places we wanted to go before our stay here is over. The first of which was Jekyll Island. Sad to say, this island is right next to us and beautiful, but we never made the time to visit. It was the popular playground for the mega-rich back in the 1800s and early 1900s. The likes of J.P. Morgan, Rockefellers, Carnegies, etc. all had mansions on the island (which back then was only reachable by boat) and the island itself is now a state park. We only spent a few hours there but we rented this surrey bike an...

Valentine's Day I have one of the sweetest Valentine's around. I am lucky to have a husband who is so caring and thoughtful. Justin is always thinking of special things like this to make me feel special. In day to day life he is always quick to tell me how appreciative he is of me and how satisfied he is with me in all the roles I have in our family. He is respectful and thoughtful. He definitely is my best friend and together we've really grown to be a lot like each other these past nine years. We don't really ever argue about anything and we see eye to eye on pretty much everything. We have a lot of fun together, and I have a lot of fun teasing and razzing him whenever I can. I also let him beat me at wrestling sometimes so he can feel like a tough guy...;) This was one of my Valentine gifts yesterday, and Justin got the kids in on it as well which was really sweet. I love you Justin!

Havin' a gay ol' time...  I had to catch the kids in action jumping on our bed. They wanted to show me their Kung Fu moves. Shortly after taking these pictures Adaira bounced herself off the bed and got herself a huge egg on the back of her head. I could literally feel it swelling up as soon as she fell (the floors are wood, no carpet). That was the end of the fun that day.      Dale was really content to lay on the end of the bed and watch all the action. Recently Justin taught the kids to play crazy 8's with him and it's been nice to have a game that isn't totally boring that we can all play together. I love Dale in green, I couldn't help but take a bunch of pictures of him in his new green onesies.   Dale is just the cutest boy in the world. He has starting growing hair all over his head now so he's got a nice downy top. He still has a few of the original long hairs he was born with that fly around (they are about 3in long!)  He has a pretty ...

Mothering Overdose Audra is a real trooper and I am very grateful for her. Last week I had a test on Thursday and I didn't come home Tuesday or Wednesday evenings so that I could study on base. I was home Thursday night then Friday I flew home for my Grammie's funeral and was gone until late Sunday night. Normally I let Audra sleep in on the weekends to catch up on her rest but this past weekend she was already running short of rest because I wasn't home for two nights then she missed her weekend repreave. Possibly the worst time to be a parent of young children is the nighttime routine. Dinner, pijamas, baths, and cleaning up becomes a true battle of wits but with no iocane powder or death involved - though severe injury may cross the parents' mind. I had a nice weekend at home visiting with family and Audra was dealing with sick kids and no sleep. Thanks babe. I couldn't do half of what I do without you! That is just one of a million reasons why Audra is the best ...

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...