Engineer Ball

Thursday was the Engineer Ball for the 19th Engineer Battalion. Though it was called the "Welcome Home Ball" - I, personally, take issue with this title. There is an entire company within the battalion that is still deployed. I missed a lot of those ladies Thursday night. I wish some of the Deuce ladies would have attended. We would have really rocked it out!

But... even without some of my 'battle buddies' in attendance, I had a good time. We had a good table, the speaker knew to speak briefly, the music was loud and fun.

Fun times. This was my last real, official function with the battalion. I will certainly miss *ahem* most of these ladies :-)





Isn't this the dynamic duo {plus their wives}?!?


This was at the beginning of the night -- when I still liked him :-) Just kidding... I like him. Most of the time.


The ladies danced. I mean danced... threw hands up in the air, smacking each other on the butt... danced. Fun times with my Seahorse Sisters!


And I was a SuperStar!


I <3 my Seahorse SISTERS! {though, again, I would be remiss if I didn't add that we were missing Jennifer L, Gloria M, Mekala T and others...}


Is this a great looking group or WHAT?!?


And here's me and Rob towards the end of the night. I was SO ready to go... he was SO intoxicated... my feet hurt... he was feeling good. This is when I didn't like him so much.

A new American Soldier

For as long as we've lived in our neighborhood, Bubba has seen boys outside wearing kid sized ACUs. He wanted a pair when we saw them at the PX... he wanted a pair when we saw them at Clothing Sales... he's wanted a pair of ACUs. His own ACUs so he could look like Daddy.

Well, I didn't get him a pair. I don't think I was necessarily against them... just didn't get them for him.

Last night, Bubba suckered... ahem... I mean, convinced his daddy to get him a pair. His own ACUs. And in his words -- "Now I'm a Soldier too."

He even asked me rules.

"Can I put my hands in my pockets?"
"When do I take my hat off?"
"What are all these pockets for?"
"Mama, show me how to salute."

I guess having a Soldier for a daddy and a {former} Soldier for a mama has rubbed off a little on him. Lord help me. I can be married to a Soldier, but I don't know if I could be a Soldier's mama! But there sure are a whole lot worse things that he could aspire to become.


*excuse the mess on the mirror... Bones likes to lick his reflection.


*is that intensity or what?!?


*We'll have to work on keeping those feet together when he salutes :-)

And here are some other pictures of my babies...


*he thinks he's SO cool


*Telling about her day at school


*waiting patiently

Fun Day today

Today is the day that Bones went from saying "Wuh Woo" to "Wub Woo" -- soon it will turn into a full blown "Love you". He's got such a great vocabulary, but sometimes I'm the only one who can understand him. These words count, but it is nice when they develop into words that others can understand too!

I am certainly not ready for him to grow up, but I love these little steps.

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures

Ha Ha!



What a handsome face!



F's freckles are coming in!



Pretty G



Bubba's Soccer Pics -- Team Fire


Fun at F's T-ball Game -- Little Tigers

-isms

I've been saving these -- they happened last week when we were in GA. I texted them to myself so I would remember. So, of course, I forgot :-)

F-ism --

F: Mom, what's a womequin?
me: a what?!?
F: A womequin.
me: I don't know what that is.
F: I guess it is a mannequin that's a girl.

Haley-ism {while playing Wii with JP} --

H: It's me versus you.
JP: What does versus mean?
H: Versus means 'me verse you' and you 'verse' me.

Testing

I'm still testing the new photo uploading technique... here's a new one :-)



This was a trip to the park last month. I'm pretty sure this was the week we were waiting for Rob. We needed somewhere to go and get those wiggles out!

Georgia Visit

Bones stayed attached to Britt most of the time


Bubba -- on the move. I'm sure he was chasing JP -- his favorite person in the world right now.


Bones liked trying to play T-ball too!


F got a birthday present that was almost as big as she is!


Bones and PawPaw out for a stroll


If we didn't know where F had gone, this was the best bet!


The big girls liked hanging out with Bones -- which was a nice little break for me!


More fun...


Bones and Rob


Thanks Andy and Lindy for letting us fill your house with a whole BUNCH of kids!

Birds

We have some beautiful visitors every day here. Bones always comes running, with his fingers pinching away from his mouth (the sign for bird), yelling "Bud. Mama. Bud." Unfortunately, I am not a bird watcher. Let me clarify, I love to *watch* birds, but don't know what any of the names are. There are a few names I know. I know a Robin and a Cardinal, but beyond that -- well, I'm clueless.

We used to have an Audubon Bird Book, but it got destroyed at the hands of two handsome gentlemen that I love. I would love looking birds up to figure out what they were. Maybe we'll have to get another one.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures of our visitors -- our "Buds".

We call this one the "Brown Headed Black Bird". I know, we are SO creative :-)



I'm assuming this is a pigeon of sorts?


We have a lot of these little guys.


I like these guys. They look a little bit mean, though.

Anybody know what they are?

Ears

For F's birthday, she wanted her ears pierced. Here is the journey...

She's a bit nervous


Getting marked


The face says it all


Trying hard not to cry


*So I'm testing out a new method of uploading pictures. Takes a bit more time, but they are bigger. Okay, so they are a LOT bigger... I'll keep working on getting it right :-)

Nightly thankfuls

1- As we began our camera upgrade experience, we got out our old 35mm Canon. I forgot how fun it is. I am definitely an instant gratification/digital camera kind of girl, but it has been great zooming and focusing again. Now... to see if the pictures match the fun -- well, we're going to have to wait until they're developed to see!

2- Raleigh is watching the Discovery Channel program we're watching. Like, really watching! He's tracking the wolves as they run across the TV screen. Hilarious!

3- We went for two walks around the neighborhood today. There is a construction project going on in our neighborhood and there will be trees cut down. I was glad to see the same look of disgust {at the thought of these hundred year old trees being cut down for a parking lot} on at least half of my kids' faces tonight. I don't mind raising tree-huggers. Not one bit.

4- Rob was off work today. After I got the big three on the bus, with Bones still asleep, I got back in bed. I woke up at 0930, with Rob and Bones relaxing in the living room. I got to sleep in!!

5- Bubba's new favorite word: Serious. He says it for everything. "Mom, today we had a different teacher. I'm serious." "Mom, do I have to eat this brussel sprout? Serious?" "I *was* listening to that book. Serious." Makes me snicker inside every time :-)

Girly stuff... beware

**warning... this post deals with 'girly/womanly" stuff. It may contain TMI, though I will be keeping it pretty low detailed :-)

Okay... so here's my story.

Yesterday, I was grumpy. I am fortunate that when I am pre-time of the month, I don't suffer with a week of PMS. I get grumpy for one day -- and that's it. Not too grumpy either, but grumpy enough that I tend to try to separate myself from everybody so I don't fuss unnecessarily. {I tend to do loads and loads of laundry on this day -- just to have a reason to go downstairs a lot.}

Anyway, that's not really my story. Since having so many babies, I have gone from moderate cramps to oh-my-goodness-I'm-doubled-over-in-pain cramps.

They're bad. They remind me of uterine contractions you get AFTER having a baby, especially during those first few days of breast feeding when the contractions tend to be more intense (and somehow your uterus is directly wired to your milk let-down). I never sleep well the day of starting. The lack of sleep doesn't help the grumpiness, either...

So, I never sleep well... until last night. I slept like a flippin' baby! What was different?

{Here's more information than you may want to know...}

Rob and I spoon to sleep.

But he doesn't just spoon up behind. He does what we call "The Lock-In". Imagine his arm across me, wrapped around and his hand then locked under me. It's like an old-school lap belt in cars.

Well, this combination of warmth behind and around my tummy was like a sleeping pill. Amazing. I have my own human heating pad.

Now... why did it take me this long to figure this out? Well, I started thinking this morning. In our {nearly} eight years of marriage, between pregnancies, breast feeding {sans-period} time and deployments, I think I have probably had less than 10 periods while Rob has been here. Pretty sad!

But now I know the trick to sleeping with cramps!