Easter, Mountains and fun!

We spent Easter in the Mountains with my friend and her kids. We had a great time. WE found a sweet little church for Easter Mass. We had a big Easter bunny visit. We also adopted 2 puppies ( to help ease the separation of daddy deploying in a few weeks...oh fine, we did it because we are crazy and they were cute)!

While we were coloring eggs, Cam decided to try to grab the blue dye. He is faster than me and the result was Cam Smurf...

Happy Birthday Cameron!

I am enjoying Kevin's last few weeks at home. We had my parents up for some little home projects and a visit...and CAMERON's FIRST BIRTHDAY!
Cameron was a trooper, he even ate his cake with a fork. He is so fun and loves to play games. I cannot believe he is already a year old. That may have been the fastest year on record!
Collin is trying very hard to be a 'big boy.' He dresses himself, goes to bed most nights without a complaint and is generally making my life easier.
Kyle has started Gymnastics. We found a boys' class and he is already loving the high bar, parallel bars and horse!
Carrie is still a book worm and lives in a fantasy world of characters. She is a great big-sis and helps me so much. She is playing soft-ball right now. It is Fast Pitch and she is working hard at making the transition from co-ed baseball!
Kevin is working for another week or so and then he is on leave. We will take a little trip for a week to our friend's family cabin in NC and then just veg out and enjoy each other's company. The kids are all pretty much in the know about his trip now and it is causing some ripples in behavior. Carrie a little more cranky (or it could be pre-teen drama), Kyle a little more likely to burst into tears and Collin just wonders every time Kev goes to work if he is going to come home.
Overall, we are happy and healthy. We are currently together in one place and life is as it should be....
More to come as soon as I load the darn birthday and sports pics! :)

Well, the saying is 'when it rains, it pours,' and this is the case at our house.
This past weekend was a lot of fun seeing my friends. Kevin managed to squeeze in almost 2 days at home because of a weather related flight delay. Christy and Jim stayed for a long weekend. The kids were all pretty good and the weather stunk!
It rained the whole time!
Well, this was all fun, but somehow, my ability to have things go terribly wrong always sneaks in! The main water line to the house busted. It was a weekend and the repair was an emergency $$$ cha-ching!
Then the very nice big screen tv we have decided it no longer liked functioning....cha-ching$$$...Kevin will enjoy getting to pick out a new one though!
The toilet in the kids bathroom seems to have lost it's ability to work properly! I am sure that as soon as I call the plumber another cha-ching$$$!
Then Cameron lost my car keys. We thought maybe Kev packed them by mistake, nope...the search took 2 days, digging through the trash and a lot of swearing under my breath...finally, Christy found them. Good thing, because I could not find a spare and I am pretty sure it would have been a disaster!

So, needless to say, I am trying to cope with no hubby and things keep falling apart. Maybe God is trying to help ease me into the long deployment by making this short seperation so bad! :)
See I AM looking for the silver lining!

Let's call this post 'WHAM!'

Well, life is living me again (insert eye-roll here). The kids are all fairly healthy. Cameron is walking a bit and into EVERYTHING.
Carrie is the only reason I ever get a break. I think I am finally getting the hang of this phase of 4 kids and WHAM!

Kevin is deploying. Sigh...guess I should never actually let my thoughts go to life being 'easy or too good'!!! :)

He will be leaving in May and returning for Christmas (we hope). Not as long as it could be, but plenty of solo mommy time for me.
We have not told the kids yet, so don't spill the news please.

Cameron is a little tyrant and loves to get into everything and get his way about it all.
Collin must be growing because he spends half the time falling down and getting hurt.

Kyle is to wrapped up in his own world that I am beginning to think he needs to take classes in computer programming (he tries to live plugged in to a device and this is seriously getting on my nerves).


Carrie is starting soft ball. Because she is older now, she had to try-out for the teams. She went to get the first grounder that was in her range and the darn ball popped off the tip of the glove and hit her square in the eye. She did not even flinch, but grabbed the ball and threw it to first base. The whole time this is happening the coaches are running out to check on her and trying to get her ice. She would not accept any help and kept right on playing. I hope at least one team noted that she was one tough cookie!

Kevin is gone a lot right now, trying to get ready for being gone.. isn't that ironic? Guess I needed to have more practice on my own. He is in Kentucky this week and Texas next week. Somehow the army knows when to send people away, because these two weeks my best friend's hubby is home for his mid-tour R&R. So, needless to say we are trying to squeeze in one day where they are both in the same country.


So while trying not to whine...I am asking for prayers, as the rest of 2009 is going to be a challenge for us. Keep us in your thoughts, prayers and hearts!

Big Bro Visits!

My big brother, Tim, was in town for business and managed to come eat with us a few times. I hope our 4 rowdy kids didnt scare him too badly! (he has 1)
We sat around, drank some wine and even watched a bit of TV together. It was great to have a visit that was just hanging out. We have not done that since before Japan and Colorado! So 5 yrs or so...Good to know he is still my brother and a great guy!

Snow Finally!

This week we finally had snow. The kids were so excited to see it and play in it! IT did not stick around long because it was warming up, but that made it better for playing outside!


Carrie has been a great helper recently. I have gotten over tired trying to teach Cameron to sleep at night. I have probably not slept for more than an hour at a time in 2 weeks! The circles under my eyes are definitely beginning to look SCARY! Today, I was trying to trek through some school work with Kyle while Carrie played with the little boys. Cameron was fussy and really just a grump, but this is what I found a few minutes later!

Holiday Visitors and Fun

FRIENDS AND FUN!

This weekend was full of friends, family and fun! On Friday night, my bestest forever friend, Christy, came to stay. Her dad and 2 kids too. We made smores, exchanged gifts and visited for hours...

On Saturday morning Chirsty and her family left for Florida. At noon Cameron fell down while standing at the coffee table. I was sitting there and was happy he did not hit his face on the table, only to realize he hit his face on the toy he dropped.... a first black eye is normal for learning to walk, but still breaks my heart.

A few hours later a large black Suburban pulled into my drive with 5 kids and a long missed friend! Becky was a dear friend to me in Japan and we had not seen eachother in over a year. She too is headed to Florida for the holidays, so stopped in to see us. We stayed up late and visited. The kids played hard. Sunday we spent the day playing, visiting and keeping order to 10 kids in my house! Becky has 5, my 4, plus the little girl from next door.

It worked out so well though, because EVERYONE had a playmate and got along perfectly! All day, 10 kids, 2 moms and no fights, not one spill, and a GREAT TIME! The only real mess was when Luke pushed his nose against the fire pit screen which was NOT hot, but VERY messy from smore the night before!!! How cute is that?

It really made me happy to be back in the USA this holiday when I saw my family for Thanksgiving, Kev's family for an early Christmas and then friends for Christmas too....

I am even more thrilled, as the fun continues in the New Year when all of these friends come back by on the way home!!!!