The year of.....

.....double hockey sticks!!!! I'm not sure how it has happened, but somewhere along this wild board game of LIFE, my little blue baby peg was plucked from my mini pink convertible and an 11 year old appeared! Thank GOD he's a sweet one. Kind, respectful, good tempered....very little tween attitude and thankfully we're still not ready to court the ladies! (Although, apparently there is one at hockey who is more then ready to make googly eyes his way, according to Dad....mental note: must throw interference with adorable, sweet little flirt at arena!) ;o)

Last pic we would ever take of our 10 year J....sniff. I get drippy eyed every year.

D's parents flew in from the land of snow, to join in our celebration.
And much to E's delight (& J's relief!) brought little man his very own Angry Bird.

Gifts galore was the theme of the afternoon for one extremely cherished young man :o)



Followed by a yummy dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory.


The following weekend we reserved the community center on base for a mysterious birthday bash. The band of pirates had to solve some intense riddles to locate and recapture their long lost treasure of fluffy angry birds...argh!
They then feasted on pizza prepared by our amazing Captain-ett Grandma and her fearsome first mate ;o)
Cake
More Angry Birds
And Wimpy Kid II in the theater, brought an end to our whirlwind of fun :o) I am not able to post more pics due to privacy, but had to end with this ever so handsome pirate.
We love you so much J and are so proud of the amazing young man you are becoming!
xoxoxoxoxo Mommy and Daddy

" I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3John 1:4

Things went a-fowl ;o)

Little man and I were upstairs, he was being attended by my digital nanny, lounging across the my bed and watching Pooh Bear. I was taking the opportunity to bathe my stinky self, at way too late of an hour to be considered morning or socially acceptable ;o) All of a sudden, I had a two-legged visitor race in holding his brother's beloved angry bird. You know where this is going, right?....well, I did. My mind screamed, "Oh NO!" while the negotiations started pouring from my mouth. Little squirt smiled at me with his devilish grin. I'm sure in his imaginative vision, I had already sprouted a piggie snout and was looking green (although the green perhaps didn't take too much imagination). His launch lever pulled back, aimed, and I heard a, "heehooooooooo," as a plush, red angry bird went soaring towards the wall, ricocheted, and headed straight for the wet zone. I reach out a way-too-shampoo covered hand just in time to save the disgruntled winglet from plunging to it's saturated doom, only then to discover that I had thoroughly coated the thing in soap suds :o( I quickly finish up, tell E NOT to say a word to big bro, and began attempting to wash away the evidence. The darn thing is now soaked and there I stand, in the bathroom, hair dryer blowing, when I hear baby bird tauntingly hollering over the landing...."J, J!!! I wet your Angry Bird!!!"...Oy veh...no!....I hear J's panicked voice moving towards me while a choked cry calls, "MOM, MOM! Did E pee on my bed!!!!" M, in my best smile-while-you-speak Friendly waitress voice: "No J! Everything is fine, don't worry." J: "But MOM, E said my angry bird is wet!?" M hair dryer still in hand, still trying to dry the evidence, "Oh honey, it's fine!" J: "But mom...." Sigh....simply busted....

Thank goodness his red tweet re-fluffed to perfection, smells rather fresh too ;o)

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139: 7-10

Mr. Giggles & His New Dig

Well if you read my previous post, these pictures will come as no surprise :o)

Last night daddy walked in the door at 7:30pm and received a very large honey-do request.
Somebody was thrilled!!!
Somebody was not ;o) Heehee....(at least not with the camera)
The only downfall was come 10:00, the ceiling above our heads was still thumping. D laughed and said, "It's a new experience, he'll tire out soon."
10:30...thumping
10:45....more thumping
11:00...pooh bear music is now pumping and upon opening the door, a very tired (and much dismayed!) mom discovered the nightlight off, room light ON, blaring tunes, toys everywhere, and a squealing with glee, jamming, little rebel!
11:15...room picked up, tuck-in take II, faint music, (a silent prayer begging for sleep!) and thankfully....
11:30...blessed silence
It was a long morning...followed by a very long nap ;o)
"In vain you rise early and stay up late," Psalm 127:2
heehee ;o)

The beautiful moment turned...

I was awakened this morning by a dull bang, quickly followed by a squeaking door and a faint thud-thud-thud heading my way, and as I lazily struggled to fully claim consciousness, the sweetest little angelic face appeared in my vision. "Mommy! Mommy, I'm awake!" The corners of my mouth started to lift into a smile just seconds before the full impact of the scenario struck. J was still in bed, D was at work, and E, E was hovering over me, sweetly (and way too proudly) declaring how he had climbed out of his crib, "All by myself!"

Oh dear....

"The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love." Psalm 103:8

Celebrating Jesus :o)

Ramblings of a tired housewife....

Everytime I turn to our blog, I am a bit overwhelmed by how much time I have left slip by and where to begin. So much I have wanted to preserve, yet so much has passed by, and even some already forgotten. Smiles and tears, laughter and challenges...it all keeps racing past so quickly!

The boys are great :o) We had a delightfully, restful Christmas. D took off a week and was able to tackle quite a large chunk of his distant learning work for the military. The boys, of course, were overjoyed and totally spoiled by all of our loved ones on the mainland. We received the outrageous blessing of four free tickets to the Hawaii Bowl game Christmas Eve with good friends (J was overjoyed and on ESPN, E was thouroughly unimpressed and slept half the game ;o). All followed by a wonderful Christmas morning and a great evening with friends.

Unfortunately, the sun eventually set on our little holiday, but life has gently ebbed back into our normal rhythm of school, homeschool group events, J's science class starts this week, hockey soon, and this mom is slowly getting re-organized to tackle it all :o)

Anyway, goodnight room, goodnight moon, goodnight cow jumping over the moon, goodnight light and the red balloon...... (M.W. Brown)

"In peace I will like down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

My Handsome Boys

"But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord's praise, for he has been good to me." Psalm 13:5-6