Check out these pearly whites!

Yesterday Nick got his braces off!

After almost 3 years of tightening, adjusting, rubber-banding, and cleaning, he is now free to enjoy the finer things in life.

Success!

The evening update:

*ice-sledding down the driveway into the neighbors' yard check

(this is the one that didn't almost get killed....)

*make a batch of muffins to enjoy with cocoa when the kids come in scratch (no eggs!)

*bake a loaf of bread for dinner tonight check

*organize my scrapbooking MESS downstairs scratch (I need help!)

*clean out Joshua's closet check

*school for the boys, much to Nick's chagrin check (chagrin included)

*watch Wake Forest beat Duke at 7 and then check-a-rooni (WF 70 Duke 68)

*stay up late watching Carolina at Florida State!!! GO HEELS!!! CHECK MATE!!!! (UNC 80 FS 77)

Another Snow Day....

Last night we got freezing rain so our 2 inches of snow has about a quarter inch of ice on top of it. Dave went into work--probably to get some work done in peace and quiet. Schools are closed, and even though Alyson already had the day off for teacher in-service, she is excited because the teachers will have their work day tomorrow and the kids get an extra day off! No AWANA tonight, no errand running, no nuthin.

On the agenda around here...

• ice-sledding down the driveway into the neighbors' yard (I'm sure they love that)
• make a batch of muffins to enjoy with cocoa when the kids come in
• bake a loaf of bread for dinner tonight
• organize my scrapbooking MESS downstairs
• clean out Joshua's closet
• school for the boys, much to Nick's chagrin
• watch Wake Forest beat Duke at 7 and then
• stay up late watching Carolina at Florida State!!! GO HEELS!!!

I do wish we had collected some firewood before it got all wet. Today is a great day for a fire in the fireplace.

And today is one of those days I really miss living on post. I do love the space we have around us here; it is so incredible in the spring and summer, but I miss having neighbors and friends just "drop by" in the afternoons for a cup of coffee, or having kids all congregating in the yard to play.

Snow Bunnies

Well, plans changed. Or, more accurately, I was informed of the plans I didn't know existed.

Alyson had plans with some friends today on their end-of-semester break so I ended up staying home while Dave and Nick went to DC. It worked out fine, though, since we had a gorgeous, snowy day and got to spend time outside with Joshua. My children, who did NOT grow up in Montana, are thrilled with any amount of snow and we have now officially coined the phrase, "leaf sledding." We did get a couple inches and tromped through the woods and all through the neighborhood listening to the quiet and throwing snowballs at each other. It was a fun day! We are waiting for the boys to get home to tell us all about their day now.

Foto Fun

Finally downloaded the photos on Alyson's camera and here they are! Just a little bit of Christmas-vacation fun.....

Best Laid Plans....

Tomorrow, Dave and I are planning to accompany Nick and his Boy Scout troop to DC. We're getting a 1 1/2 hour tour of the National Archives, followed by a meeting with Senator Jeff Sessions from Alabama, who is an Eagle Scout. We then get a tour of the US Capitol and finish up with a tour of the Supreme Court. Doesn't that sound so thrilling? I am really excited!

And here is the weather forecast:
Winter Storm Watch for metropolitan Wash DC area Tues-Wed
100% chance of snow
Accumulations 2-4 inches
high 31 Low 27

It's snowing right now--about 12 hours before they said it's supposed to start.
I hope this doesn't mess up our plans!!

Thinking...

I haven't posted in a few days for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I dropped and apparently broke my camera. :'(
The lens won't retract and when I turn it on it makes a weird humming noise. So no new pictures of my gorgeous children for a little while....unless I can use Alyson's camera....

Secondly, I have been taking some time to process recent national events. Most of you know I tend to be quite opinionated with certain issues, and this is no different. I've thought about it, prayed a lot, read A TON, and decided that this is what I want to comment on:

I am thankful to President Bush. Our country has been safer for the last 8 years, led by a man who didn't care a hoot about popularity polls or even whether or not a bunch of classless jerks booed him at the inauguration. He is a man of such integrity, high moral values, and sense of responsibility to his country and I am so grateful to have had him leading our country in one of the toughest times we've faced in my lifetime.

I will never forget Thanksgiving of 2003. Dave was 7 months into what ended up being a 15-month deployment, the kids and I were in Germany. We got word that we might want to watch the television coverage of the first Thanksgiving in Iraq so we had the tv on all during dinner. We were shocked and jumping up and down when we saw Amb. Bremmer step aside and President Bush walk up in front of a room packed with soldiers, my husband included. He spoke to the soldiers, shook every hand in the room, served up some food for a while, and THANKED THEM for doing what they were doing for our country. He said there was nowhere else he would rather be and lingered long enough to take as many pictures as they wanted, hug everyone who wanted a hug, and make sure each of them knew that they weren't forgotten.

After the excitement died down, we found out what he had really gone through to visit his troops during war. He snuck out of his ranch in Crawford in the dead of night, past a herd of reporters staked out in front to cover his Thanksgiving at home. He was disguised and had no motorcade, hardly any security. Even most of the secret service were kept in the dark. His wife and children knew he would be gone, but even his parents were unaware that when they arrived thursday morning for the holiday, they would be without their son. There was a small contingent of reporters allowed on the plane but they weren't aware of the destination until shortly before the plane landed. Then they were told, "if this story breaks before we get there, we're turning around." They passed within sight of a British plane at one point and the British pilot radioed, "Did I just see Air Force One?" The AF1 pilot paused, then replied, "Gulfstream 5." The British pilot considered that for a moment and must have realized he was in on a secret and said, "oh." The plane landed without its lights at Baghdad Airport without even the military air traffic controllers there knowing who it was.

President Bush flew 17 hours to Baghdad, spent 2 hours with the soldiers, and flew 17 hours back home to Texas just to show his soldiers how much he appreciated them.

That, my friends, is a man of integrity. A man who understands and appreciates that his decisions affect so many real people.

We had a chance to see President Bush the next year when he came to Germany. It was exciting-he thanked them again, spoke of what a great job they did. But nothing will compare to that first Thanksgiving. He boosted the morale and determination of his soldiers, and comforted the families in a way I couldn't have imagined.

President Bush did so many things for individuals--without seeking attention. He has stayed and cried with families who lost loved ones, spent one-on-one time with injured soldiers.
He did not make decisions hastily or under pressure from various groups, but weighed his options and chose what he thought was best for the country. Did I agree with every choice he made? No. But I know that when he did choose a direction or make a policy decision, it was because he felt, in principle, that it was the best choice for our country in the long run. He understood that we cannot just "be nice" to those who want to kill us, he respected the sanctity of human life, and he understood that the best way to "get up on your feet" is to be given a hand, not to be lifted up and carried.

I thank him for his service, for his dignity, his sincerity, his humility, and the honor that he brought back to the presidency.

There is a website that is collecting thank-you notes to send on to Pres. Bush. If you are so inclined, here is the link:
http://www.mission1accomplished.com/
I was in the 32,000's. I think it's in the 40k's now...

Not a date movie

Dave and I went to see The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on post last night.

It's about the son of the commander of a Nazi concentration camp who makes friends with a little boy in the camp. One of the most moving films I've seen in a long time. I can't get it out of my mind. It's definitely NOT a date-night movie....the entire theater was quiet when the lights came back on and we all walked out to our cars in silence.

I don't know if I recommend it--because it wasn't "enjoyable" on any front and I'm still sad a full 24 hours after seeing it. I can promise you, though, if you do see it you won't soon forget it.

The one thing I would say that struck me as "odd" is that they all speak with british accents. It was a little off-putting at first. I did find out that it is a British-American film, whatever that means but I'm not sure that they didn't keep their accents British in order to make things seem a little less sinister. For some reason, the British accents softened a bit of the horror that you know is occurring behind the fence beyond the garden....

We made it

well, we made it back in one piece. And with hardly any traffic to contend with! God obviously decided I needed a break from the last time.

Joshua went with me and we had a dandy time. We (well, HE...I was driving...) watched The Princess Bride, listened two 2 Adventures in Odessey stories on CD, and watched a new movie about a turtle (I can't remember the name but I have the song stuck in my head) twice. Of course, this was just on our way home. While we were there it was QDR on the radio the whole time. :)

For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, we took a little trip to a place that has a lot of this:

where I enjoyed a biscuit, some chicken, and two big glasses of this:

and a bunch of this:

and, of coure, this gorgeous thing:




Yes, we took Jarrett back to North Carolina yesterday. I think he was ready to go--he already had dinner plans with a friend for last night! We were sorry to see him go, but glad to be back in our beloved North Carolina, where the sun always shines (I'm serious--we even had a sermon on this once....), everyone is friendly, and life is goooooood.......

It was funny because we stopped by the mall on our way out of town to get some Tarheel tattoos for our faces (be quiet, Gina...) and as we were walking through the foodcourt we heard a voice call out, "Josh??? Hey, Josh!!" We looked around and there was Nick's good friend, Ryan, and their youth leader Todd hanging out with a couple other guys! It was great to see them and I told Ryan it was a good thing he recognized Joshua because I never would have recognized HIM. He'd grown so much since we saw them last!

I swear, when we hit the Virginia border, the skies opened up and the heavenly choir began singing. It's that great. Really.

It was a fun -and long- day.

The countdown is on!

We already have the trailer memorized. I think we may have to make a countdown calendar to mark the days. You can be assured we'll be there on the first day. You'll know who we are--we'll be with the 5-year old who's jumping up and down and wearing a huge grin!

Why have winter??

**ok, my kid told me I am making too big a deal out of it. I mean we're ONLY ranked number 6! And it's not like we're out of the playoffs or anything.....so fine. But I still hate winter.


I teased my good friend Lori the other day when the Titans lost. I gave her no sympathy and then told her to move on....and let's get on to some ACC basketball!
Then this........

No. 3 Tar Heels Fall to No. 4 Demon Deacons
North Carolina now stands at 14-2; 0-2 in ACC play.

And now I'm feeling her pain. Why oh why? Yes, the hype was ridiculous....the idea they would go undefeated was unrealistic, especially given this conference. But 0-2??!!

It was a sad night last night. Everyone just went to bed after the game. Alyson even slept in this morning because she forgot to reset her alarm last night. No one is looking forward to Thursday's game.

And I ask, "Why have winter?"
It's cold and gray and dreary and looooong.
Look, I've been putting up with this whole winter thing the last couple of years because it was necessary. It was the break between Nick's baseball seasons, I needed to some things indoors, I have some really cute coats from Germany, etc. But mostly because I didn't mind staying inside because there was Carolina basketball! We planned our schedules around it, turned off the phone, made sure we were all dressed accordingly. And then sat back and watched "our boys" take it to whatever unlucky team got in their way. Ah, the beauty of Lawson streaking down the court, leaving his competitors in his dust, the gorgeous arc of Ellington's 3-pointer swishing through the net, and the sheer out-muscling under the basket by Tyler Hansbrough, which almost always resulted in the basket AND the foul.
This is their last season together.
It was supposed to be "the season."
I suppose it can be still....but it's certainly not as much fun to watch them when you EXPECT them to win....and then you're just hoping they don't lose....

I think next year we should move to Florida. That way when the game is bad, I can just go to the beach....

Peter Pan

Last night we had the opportunity to go see Peter Pan at the Children's Theater of Annapolis. We have a friend who played a Lost Boy. It was Joshua's first "real" play and we took a long his friend, Xander. The boys were just delighted by the show. They were laughing and clapping and turning around to see if we were laughing, too. We went up to check out the orchestra pit during one of the intermissions. It was a really fun evening. I think Joshua may want to get into something like that at some point. He LOVES to dress up and play different characters, he has a great memory, and the kid can sing! He already knows most of the songs to Wicked...(ok, that may be because we are playing the soundtrack night and day....but still......)

Does these two look like trouble or what?

Crop till you drop....

Today I decided it was time to get started on one of my goals for the new year. This year, rather than looking at the enormous pile (I actually bought a piece of furniture to store them in) of photos I have and crying, I am going to put them in books as the events happen--or soon after. I'm releasing myself from the guilt of not archiving the most precious moments of my children up till now and am going forward!

Unfortunately for my family, that meant they had to deal with THIS all day:

I spent the entire day working on them, but I am very happy with the finished products. I decided to start with our trip to New York, since that seemed a little less intimidating than Christmas.
Something you can't see in the photos is the dimension on the pages. I used brads, and thread, and chipboard, etc. to give texture and dimension to the pages so in person they look even better!

This one is so cute. See how I put a little picture of Alyson on her 5th birthday on the Wicked page? She was smack in the middle of her Wizard of Oz phase then. :)

5 pages in one day! Does that rock or what??

One more field trip...

Today we took a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We went with the homeschool group we belong to. I won't write a bunch about it....but we had a great time. The dolphin show was great and we got to touch an African millipede and the rostrom of a sawfish. Very cool.

And Alyson missed the trip....again. Here is a picture of her diligently working on homework just in case you were beginning to wonder if she had been abducted by aliens.....

Homeschooling at its finest

Today was the first day back to school after Christmas break for most school kids in America. To celebrate we went on a field trip! I say "we," but unfortunately Dave and Alyson had work and school and couldn't go. We had a great day, but definitely missed them!

Our plan was to take the Metro into the city to go to the recently renovated and reopened (I love alliteration...) Smithsonian Museum of American History. We haven't been there since we've lived here because it's been closed for a gazillion-dollar makeover, to include a state-of-the-art room for the Star Spangled Banner. It was definitely worth the wait--the Banner's exhibit was beautiful and very high tech. The flag itself was in a darkened hallway-type area, enclosed in a climate-controlled glass chamber to prevent any more deterioration. The words to the song were hanging on the wall behind the flag, and the song itself was playing in the background. There were little lights on the floor to guide us as we walked, and benches to sit on as well. In the immediate area outside the "flag room" was a series of pictures, documents, and memorabilia, describing the flag's beginnings, the story behind the national anthem, the seamstress, etc. Just beautiful. I don't have any pictures of it because, of course, no photography is allowed in that area but trust me-it's definitely worth seeing.

I have to backtrack a bit and remark about how perfectly empty DC was today! I had hoped going today would pay off in smaller crowds due to the holidays being over, and, boy, did it ever! The place was nearly ghostly! No lines anywhere---and it wasn't too cold or windy, either, as it has a tendency to be (remember, Danna?) which was great!

Here are the boys, getting ready to head inside:

What's a trip to a museum without a little Star Wars memorabilia? This costume was from Return of the Jedi. Some of those "wires" on the stomach are actually just little elastic cords...

The museum has two fun rooms for kids--this one concentrated on inventions and kids were free to explore and "invent" all kinds of things. Both Joshua and Jarrett had fun. :)

My favorite exhibit showcased the inaugural gowns and other personal items belonging to the First Ladies over the years...

We could have stayed all day in the exhibit devoted to military history. Even though we've been there before, there were so many new things to see and the familiar things were just as moving as before.

Service Stars exhibit

The entrance to the Vietnam War part of the exhibit was entitled "Television War." It was marvelously done with plastic-covered green sofas, velveety wallpaper, and a bunch of old, analog TV's. I am sure most of you can remember that same set up in your own homes or the homes of your friends! I know I did! :)

After we had finished looking at everything inside the American History museum, Joshua delightedly asked, begged, cajoled us to run over to the Natural History museum, "just for a minute!!!" We expected it, because Joshua would go to that museum every single day if we let him. Anyone who comes to visit us is "treated" to a visit there, whether or not they want it! :)

In an unexpected turn of events, the long-planned Oceans exhibit was finally opened!!! Our plans of just visiting the dinosaurs and insect exhibit were scrapped as we had to spend most of our allotted hour exploring the new hall. It is REALLY COOL. There is a huge whale hanging from the ceiling and video screens of schools of fish wrapped around the upper half of the walls. They have actual angler-fish preserved in little jars, several aquariums with live fish, and there is a neat film on the floor of the ocean. Oh, and a 36-foot long giant squid in a huge case. For those of you who have known Joshua for some time, you understand just how monumental this opening was to him. And if you plan to visit us any time soon (which we hope you do!) just know you will get to see this exhibit in person.

And that was our day. Yes, biology will come tomorrow. Geometry proofs will need to be written. Phonics books are waiting by the loveseat. But precious time with family can't wait.

I want to be just like him.....

A couple weeks before Christmas, Nick's Scout troop went camping not too far away. They spent Saturday afternoon teaching the younger Scouts about shooting rockets and Joshua and I went out to spend the day with them. Joshua had a blast following his big brother around, and Nick even let him push the ignition button once!

Joshua can hardly wait till next year when he can be a Tiger Scout and follow in his big brother's footsteps....

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family scattered across the globe! We pray this year is full of love, peace, and opportunities for you to grow.



Last night's New Year celebration was a bit muted for us. We had planned on going into Annapolis for their celebration but it was reallly windy (40+ mph gusts) and cold and Joshua was still running a fever and coughing constantly. The Middles were going to an all-nighter at the church and Jarrett decided to stay home with Joshua so Joshie wasn't stuck with the "old people."


We played a game, had a "toast" of Fresca in champagne glasses (Joshua thought we were really supposed to make toast), and at 10:00 he led us on a parade on the house, banging on pans with spoons. Afterwards, Jarrett read him a book, we gave him some children's Nyquil (next best thing to the brandy a friend recommended.....;-) ), and he was out like a light.



The rest of our evening consisted of watching the Tarheels hand a defeat to yet another team....this one Nevada. GO HEELS!


Not too exciting, but it was a nice evening. Today, after sticky buns for breakfast, and a quick look at the Rose Parade, the Middles are asleep, the J's are downstairs playing with the guitar, Dave is finishing some work in front of a football game, and I've got a cleaning thing going on! Hope the rest of you are enjoying a nice day at home, too!