Saturday, July 18, 2009
Game Time!
Dave received an email at work telling him that the 5-time AF chess champion was on base, taking some classes and that he was going to play a sort of tournament for a week with whomever wanted to show up. Well, that is all Dave needed to hear! He and Matthew showed up all week, and got to play various people. Matthew beat the two guys in the top photos. The bottom photo shows the "chess guy", as Timothy called him, helping Matthew learn some moves. We also invited him over to our house one night, and he helped Matti some more. It was great fun for Matthew and we got some good tips. We were encouraged to look for a chess club when we get to our new assignment, and get Matthew to play in tournaments.
Invaders!
One rainy day, I had set a nice, big, tent "house" up in the living room for the boys to play in. All of the sudden, Stephen came running to me, yelling, "Mama! There is something DISGUSTING on the floor!!!" I asked him what it was. "Something Dis-GUSTING!!" I had to run and look, and it freaked me out, too. It looked like a small frog, but it also looked like a spider... What WAS it?? We captured it in a glass jar to get a better look. It was some sort of CRAB. After that incident, we have had quite a few more make their way into our house, sidling along, evading capture. We will never run out of "odd creature" experiences down here in Florida, I am afraid!
The Reader
When the latest "box day" from Sonlight happened at our house, Stephen was the first one to run to the box and look through all the books. He LOVES to read!
Matthew's Birthday- May 15th
We DID celebrate Matthew's birthday ON his birthday! :) He asked for a "rainbow bear" cake (the ears made entirely of frosting and Skittles-aiiieeeeee)! We got him an official chess set as his birthday present. He was very, very happy and said it was the best present we could get him.
Washin' Toes
Timothy's latest thing is to run into the bathroom and wash his feet after playing outside. At least he has initiative! He must want to get REALLY clean, too, because I've had to talk to him about his generous use of soap...(Ahem!)
This time, I grabbed the camera and snapped a few photos. A large mirror in front of the sink is too great a temptation-we must make faces! Timothy then noticed me, but couldn't resist at the end making one last face. :D
This time, I grabbed the camera and snapped a few photos. A large mirror in front of the sink is too great a temptation-we must make faces! Timothy then noticed me, but couldn't resist at the end making one last face. :D
Grammy and Grampy's Visit!
It was a whirlwind of activity when grammy and grampy came to visit us in late April-early May. I don't seem to have many beach photos, but we went there almost every day, collecting shells and enjoying the (halfway) warm water. We really enjoyed our week-long visit, even though it seemed too short!
Grampy and Stephen.
Grammy with the kids.
How hard is it to get 4 kids and two adults to look at the camera at the same time and all smile? Don't even ask! This is the best one I got of the crew. :)
Grampy and Stephen.
Grammy with the kids.
How hard is it to get 4 kids and two adults to look at the camera at the same time and all smile? Don't even ask! This is the best one I got of the crew. :)
Homeschool Co-Op End of Semester Show
The kids have been participating in a homeschool co-op for the past year, and they really enjoy it. Unfortunately, we won't be doing it this fall since the baby is set to arrive right in the middle of the semester. Rats! Matthew took Spanish and botany, Stephen took unit studies and Heart of Dakota, Timothy was in a preschool class, and Rachel was in the nursery. I am so glad I found this group after moving down here. Every Friday, we'd go to this for a couple hours and it really changed up the pace of the week!
Matthew and his botany class explaining phototropism and other really large words. He was a sunflower... Can you guess which one? :)
Stephen totally overwhelmed onstage...
Matthew singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Spanish.
Matthew and his botany class explaining phototropism and other really large words. He was a sunflower... Can you guess which one? :)
Stephen totally overwhelmed onstage...
Matthew singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Spanish.
Playing Outside
I have been horribly behind in posting photos lately... Here are some from mid-APRIL! :)
Our neighbors have a couple of nice dogs that they let out back in a chained-in fence area. The kids LOVE it when they see "Coco" and "Lucky" outside. Rachel tries to feed them grass and they lick her. Whenever one of our balls or another toy makes its way over the fence, the dogs are so excited and run around like crazies. You can't see it in the last photo, but the dog is practically begging Rachel to toss the ball over!
Our neighbors have a couple of nice dogs that they let out back in a chained-in fence area. The kids LOVE it when they see "Coco" and "Lucky" outside. Rachel tries to feed them grass and they lick her. Whenever one of our balls or another toy makes its way over the fence, the dogs are so excited and run around like crazies. You can't see it in the last photo, but the dog is practically begging Rachel to toss the ball over!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Happy 5th Birthday, Stephen!!
Today, we have been having a nice, lazy day. We asked Stephen what he wanted to do today.
"Want to go to the beach, Stephen?"
-- "NO!" (The kids don't like having to walk the boardwalk, as well as walk down the beach 50 yards or so to get a nice spot past the fishermen, other people, etc., so they will always say "No!" at first. They love it there, though!)
"Ok... What DO you want to do, then?"
-- "Play boardgames!"
They have already played Monopoly (which Matthew won! I think he has won almost every Monopoly game they have played), and now they (Dave, Matthew, Stephen) are firmly ensconced in a game of Axis and Allies. Even I don't like that game! Blah. Matthew asks me why, and I tell him, "It's a man's game, Matti!" heh.
Stephen also requested "pizza store" pizza, otherwise known as Little Caesar's takeout. I made a tiger cake since he has a little stuffed tiger that he totes everywhere, and we had raspberry chocolate chip ice cream. All of our kids think that they do not turn the age they are turning until AFTER they eat their ice cream and cake. It is so funny!
We got him a Play-Doh "picnic" set, which has a bunch of toys to make all sorts of picnic foods. The boys busied themselves with that for over an hour after lunch.
In the morning, I set out Easter eggs around the house as they were playing Monopoly. They then took a break from the game and we all went out and battled no-seeums to find the eggs filled with candy, Goldfish crackers or MONEY. Rachel ended up getting the most money (thankfully not the candy!) Timothy decided to help her out and popped a large jellybean into her mouth which she chomped on for a long time, orange sugar juice drooling down her chin and all.
We've had a nice, relaxing day, and thank the Lord for yet another year!
"Want to go to the beach, Stephen?"
-- "NO!" (The kids don't like having to walk the boardwalk, as well as walk down the beach 50 yards or so to get a nice spot past the fishermen, other people, etc., so they will always say "No!" at first. They love it there, though!)
"Ok... What DO you want to do, then?"
-- "Play boardgames!"
They have already played Monopoly (which Matthew won! I think he has won almost every Monopoly game they have played), and now they (Dave, Matthew, Stephen) are firmly ensconced in a game of Axis and Allies. Even I don't like that game! Blah. Matthew asks me why, and I tell him, "It's a man's game, Matti!" heh.
Stephen also requested "pizza store" pizza, otherwise known as Little Caesar's takeout. I made a tiger cake since he has a little stuffed tiger that he totes everywhere, and we had raspberry chocolate chip ice cream. All of our kids think that they do not turn the age they are turning until AFTER they eat their ice cream and cake. It is so funny!
We got him a Play-Doh "picnic" set, which has a bunch of toys to make all sorts of picnic foods. The boys busied themselves with that for over an hour after lunch.
In the morning, I set out Easter eggs around the house as they were playing Monopoly. They then took a break from the game and we all went out and battled no-seeums to find the eggs filled with candy, Goldfish crackers or MONEY. Rachel ended up getting the most money (thankfully not the candy!) Timothy decided to help her out and popped a large jellybean into her mouth which she chomped on for a long time, orange sugar juice drooling down her chin and all.
We've had a nice, relaxing day, and thank the Lord for yet another year!
Cabbage Heads
Lately, Stephen's favorite snack, the one he asks for the most is CABBAGE. I have no idea why... All I have to do is hack off a huge chunk of green cabbage, put it in a bowl, hand it to him, and he is happy as all get out. :)
Witness this recent photo of our last shopping trip. There were graham crackers hiding in a bag, too, but Timothy was overjoyed with a bag of spinach and Stephen with his enormous head of cabbage. Matthew had to jump in the photo with something on HIS head, too (checkers).
I am very thankful they aren't asking for Twinkies and Ho-Hos! :D
Witness this recent photo of our last shopping trip. There were graham crackers hiding in a bag, too, but Timothy was overjoyed with a bag of spinach and Stephen with his enormous head of cabbage. Matthew had to jump in the photo with something on HIS head, too (checkers).
I am very thankful they aren't asking for Twinkies and Ho-Hos! :D
Monday, April 6, 2009
First Midwife Appt.
Friday's appointment went well. Dave's dad is here visiting, so he watched the kids for us and Dave came along. We got to see the baby (no twins, and I am okay with that!) dancing around so much that the ultrasound tech could hardly get the needed measurements. :) We got a bunch of little pictures to take home, too.
The tech put the due date at October 17th (as of now). Dave graduates his school the end of October. Two of my babies have been about a week overdue. We will see!
The tech put the due date at October 17th (as of now). Dave graduates his school the end of October. Two of my babies have been about a week overdue. We will see!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tyndall Air Show
The air show was slated for this past weekend, March 28th and 29th. On Friday and Saturday, there was soaking rain, booming thunder and lightening streaking across the sky. The bay out back was slowly creeping in for a "visit". We decided to stay put, even though we were quite disappointed. We heard some people actually ventured out that day for the show, and we heard a few planes zooming over.
On Sunday, we decided that after church, we'd head home for a quick lunch, change, and drive to base to see some of the show. This was the first show that the kids and I had ever been to! As we were waiting in line for the bus to drive us to the flightline side of base, we could see planes high in the sky, dropping out army guys with parachutes. Maybe it is because I am now a mother, or maybe I am older (and wiser?!), but seeing them freefalling for what seemed to be too long made me silently screech, "Open you chute! OPEN YOUR CHUTE!!!!" When they did let their chutes go, they drifted peacefully to the ground, followed by trails of bright red smoke. One of them even purposely let go of his first chute to give us all a good fright. :D
Sunday was a much nicer day weather-wise. It was sunny and warm, but still cool enough to be able to wear light jackets, which helped with sun exposure. We checked out all the planes and watched a lot of demonstrations. The Blue Angels were excellent! I can't believe they can get so close to each other without crashing, but they've been doing it for years.
We got to the air show around 1:30 p.m. Around 4, country music star Darryl Worley was to perform. Dave had to set up the stage on Friday, and he wanted to be able to help Sunday after the show. He was going to bring us to the buses so we could head home, but the lines were ridiculously long, so we decided we'd just stay for the concert. The concert was good, even though I only knew a few songs and we were all wiped out from standing around in the sun all day. We ended up staying for Dave and his class to take down the stage, which meant that we didn't leave until almost 8 p.m.! The kids were really well-behaved, all things considered. We checked out an F-15 and F-22 that were in the hangar and the kids found things to play with to busy themselves. Dave also said we'd get pizza for supper, so I am sure that helped! :D
Here are some photos from yesterday's show:
A nice and quiet F-22!
F-22.
A screeching F-22 Raptor.
The boys posing for a photo by a little recruiting plane. Notice Stephen with the one hand over his ear... He spent most of the time with both hands over his ears. I don't think one will cut it, though! :)
Rachel was NOT impressed with the F-22s!!
On Sunday, we decided that after church, we'd head home for a quick lunch, change, and drive to base to see some of the show. This was the first show that the kids and I had ever been to! As we were waiting in line for the bus to drive us to the flightline side of base, we could see planes high in the sky, dropping out army guys with parachutes. Maybe it is because I am now a mother, or maybe I am older (and wiser?!), but seeing them freefalling for what seemed to be too long made me silently screech, "Open you chute! OPEN YOUR CHUTE!!!!" When they did let their chutes go, they drifted peacefully to the ground, followed by trails of bright red smoke. One of them even purposely let go of his first chute to give us all a good fright. :D
Sunday was a much nicer day weather-wise. It was sunny and warm, but still cool enough to be able to wear light jackets, which helped with sun exposure. We checked out all the planes and watched a lot of demonstrations. The Blue Angels were excellent! I can't believe they can get so close to each other without crashing, but they've been doing it for years.
We got to the air show around 1:30 p.m. Around 4, country music star Darryl Worley was to perform. Dave had to set up the stage on Friday, and he wanted to be able to help Sunday after the show. He was going to bring us to the buses so we could head home, but the lines were ridiculously long, so we decided we'd just stay for the concert. The concert was good, even though I only knew a few songs and we were all wiped out from standing around in the sun all day. We ended up staying for Dave and his class to take down the stage, which meant that we didn't leave until almost 8 p.m.! The kids were really well-behaved, all things considered. We checked out an F-15 and F-22 that were in the hangar and the kids found things to play with to busy themselves. Dave also said we'd get pizza for supper, so I am sure that helped! :D
Here are some photos from yesterday's show:
A nice and quiet F-22!
F-22.
A screeching F-22 Raptor.
The boys posing for a photo by a little recruiting plane. Notice Stephen with the one hand over his ear... He spent most of the time with both hands over his ears. I don't think one will cut it, though! :)
Rachel was NOT impressed with the F-22s!!
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