12 YEARS

August 10, 1996Today

Pete and I will have been married for 12 years this Sunday. In the twelve years,we have had three children and lived in numerous homes. Some of which were in another country. I can honestly say I love him more today than the day I married him.

Pete I'm so proud to be your wife and I can't wait to see what another 12 years bring us.

I LOVE YOU!

CW03 in the house!

Pete was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 3 this morning. There was an informal ceremony in the wardroom of the ship. Not what we're used to. What can I say it's the Navy. I'm so proud of him!

The Brown's came to visit

I'm so thankful for good friends.The kind who would drive 3 hours to see you. We had a great visit from the Brown family. They were our neighbors in Okinawa. Our kids played together just about everyday. It has been a year since we have seen them and in that year they haven't changed a bit. Mason really took to Ryan. It could be that he misses male attention,since Pete is gone. Emily and Jacob were very sad to se them go. We'll see you all again.

Coming Along

Painting the undercoat. Gluing the tissue paper.

Crafts

This is our summer art project. Pinatas. Today was the messy paper mache' part. In a few days they will dry and we can begin to decorate. Emily is making a pig and Jacob is making a dog.

I'll post pictures of the finished pinatas before they get wacked.

Blah

Summer just isn't as fun when your husband is deployed. All the family activities are missing one main component,Daddy. Although I try to keep the kids entertained and having fun. It just isn't the same when Pete is gone.
I sometimes get overwhelmed at all the responsibility of being a temporary singe parent.

Funny Things

Mason and I were sitting on the couch reading books and looking through Parents magazine. I was asking him to point out things like trees and babies. When we came to this ad in the mag Mason points and says"Dada" I said "no, that's a soccer player". He just kept pointing and saying Dada.
Funny part 2
Jacob is playing legos and brings me the latest thing he built. "Look mom it's the Yahtzee thing from the Indiana Jones movie"
Kids!

HA!

I was just surfing the net and found this cute saying on a t-shirt site. Ladies we all know it true.

Had to do it

Before
After


Today was the last straw for Pete. We were shopping and a lady said how cute "she" was with "her" flip hairdo. So we took Mason for a hair cut. I'm not used to it. It's shorter than I had envisioned. I liked his long locks,but it's just hair it will grow back.

CELEBRATE!

The True Grill Man

Ladies, what we have here is the will to survive and eat red meat. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays this grill man from the swift completion of his appointed grilling.
Now that's dedication.

Busch Gardens

So Much Fun! That's what I have to say about Busch Gardens. We took turns going on some of the bigger rides with Emily and Jacob. I took them to the 4-D rides,which were great. Mason rode on the carousel for the first time, and absolutely loved it. It was a long day and we were pooped when we got home but we had a blast. We're going back soon!

Brothers

Follow me!
I'll help you up.

Helpin'

Weekend Project!

We spent this past weekend putting in a new floor in the dinning room and the living room. The country blue carpet is finally gone. The new floors look so much better. Pete did a lot of the work but I did as much as I could. We finished the job in a day and a half.

Neighborhood watch

On Friday,there were two attempted child abductions in and around our neighborhood. One of them was only two streets over from ours. Luckily, both of the children got away unharmed.And were able to give a pretty good description to the police of the car and the man. I'm scared to let my kids play outside now. They are not allowed to leave the front yard. And I'll stand on the porch and watch them walk next door. I prayed last night for the families that this happened to. I know I'm freaked out but can you imagine those families fear.

I tried to call everyone I could think of around here to let them know.And to call the police if they see anything suspicious. And to my surprise they had not heard it happened. Where is the neighbor watch? Aren't they supposed to let us know of such things? I guess my neighborhood does not have one. My neighbor told me,he is one of the local boyscout leaders. He heard it from one of the parents in his troop.

I thought my neighborhood was safe but I guess your never as safe as you think.

Schools Out!

Schools out for summer break. YEA! I have no idea what we will do. Probably the usual, the library. I have all good intentions of getting to the zoo,children's museum, and a pool if I can find one.I miss Oki and my house on the hill. The pool,the beach and a park were all just across the street. I've had to cancel Gymboree for the summer :( Emily and Jacob don't want to hang out with babies. I plan to go back when school starts back in Sept:) If there are any suggestion for Summer fun I'm listening.

Emily will be going into the 5th grade and Jacob will be going into the 3rd grade next year. Can you believe I'm the mother of a 5th grader. Time passes so quickly. She'll be in middle school in only a year. Then, high school. Somehow is doesn't seem possible.

Air and Space Center

Again I'm the one taking all the pictures. I was there, I swear. It was a good way to spend the HOT day, inside in the the AC.

Granny and Papaw

My parents came for a visit this past week. The kids really enjoyed having them here. We had a good time, we went to the Air and Space museum, the botanical gardens and Virginia Beach, for a short time. It was way too hot. Thank you for the new bicycles. They will be riding them all summer.

SO HAPPY

I have a lot of pictures to share. But this one deserves its own post. I've never seen Mason so crazy with excitement as he was here. We were at the botanical gardens in Norfolk. The children's section has a huge water fountain play area. I tried to keep him out of the water because I didn't have a change of clothes with me, but I failed. I just gave up and let him have at it. He loved it. The big kids had school that day. I plan to take them back and I'll remember to bring changes of clothes. Better yet I'll just bring them in their swim suits.