Caught

I emailed David to remind him about my blog and that there are new pictures up if he gets the opportunity to check it out.



Well. He did and he didn't think my picture of Dale was the best one, so he sent this for me to post for you all!

He also gave me a hard time for posting a picture of a red car. I am told that he now drives a black car...

All I can say is the pictures I posted were straight from his website...it just proves that I know nothing about NASCAR.

David did think the idea of him becoming a NASCAR driver was a good one. Come on, like HE didn't think of that before me!

I guess I will have to be more careful about what I say about my wonderful husband!

Just in case you check the blog again, know that I love you and miss you! Come home soon!

My Little Man

Ian was invited to read in to Mrs. Harrison's preschool class. This is the class that he was in last year. She wanted her students to see what they will be learning to do in the next year. She asked us to come in at a certain time so we had a little time to kill between when we dropped Isabelle off to her class and when we needed to be back there. When I asked Ian what we should do, he had a very cute answer...

"Maybe we can just go grab something at Starbucks!"

I thought it was so cute I couldn't turn him down.

So, off to Starbucks we went where he got his little hot chocolate and a chocolate donut! He looked so grown up sitting across the table from me drinking from that little cup!

Then it was time to head back to the preschool for our reading time! The students are studying about bugs, so he had brought a book all about bugs. However, he thought it would be way more cool to read this book called "Gross Out" because it had some neat facts about bugs too.

We discussed which portions of the book he would read to the kids. He settled on the silk worm, praying mantis and some sort of beetle. I thought these were fine selections. You can see how engrossed the children are as they listen to Ian's book. That is because he completely diverted from the original plan and started reading about some fish that captures other fish with its slime and eats them and then ties itself in a knot in order to wipe the slime off of itself. He then proceeded to read about an owl and the "barf balls" it produces, a bird that makes other birds vomit and then eats their vomit, and finally, about the cannibalism of the praying mantis. Somehow, I don't think this is what most parents expect their 4-year-olds to come home talking about.

Mrs. Harrison was a good sport and tried to turn it into a lesson for the kids, but I think she was even having trouble trying to explain "barf balls" and cannibalism!

Oh.Dear!

Let me just say that he had shared a few parts of this book with me, but I had not read it all! I now know that I will be checking a little more closely into what he plans to read before he shares it with the whole class. That is, should we ever be invited back, which I believe is highly unlikely at this point!

Isabelle's teacher found out that we were down the hall reading and wanted Ian to come in to read for her class. Ian was happy to oblige! I, however, quickly grabbed that wretched book out of his hands and suggested that he borrow one from the teacher that the little kids might enjoy more!

Isabelle thought it was great that Ian shared a story with her class. They listened very attentively and only complained once or twice that they couldn't see the pictures very well! We may have a chance of being invited back to that class...unless the teachers talk (which I am sure they will) about what he read in the other class...

As I walked out with a red face and laughing to myself, Ian walked out tall and proud. He was thrilled that he got to do that and that the other kids enjoyed his book. His only regret was that he didn't share with them about the scorpion and bats!

House update

When I got home last night I had this picture waiting in my inbox! How exciting! The cabnets are in, driveway is poured, grass is started, screen porch is done and we are only 5 weeks out from moving! Hooray!

Glory at the Gardens

Yesterday we spent most of the day up at Busch Gardens. The kids and I drove up to Williamsburg with my friend Andrea.



Andrea's family drove down to meet us there and we had a great day together. Her parents ended up taking Ian and Isabelle on all the rides that they like while we "big kids" got to go on some of the roller coasters that we wanted.

The main reason that we went up there is because Busch Gardens is doing a really awesome concert series this month. It is called Glory in the Gardens and it is a bunch of wonderful Christian bands. While we were having dinner we realized that they had shut the gates to the amphitheater because it was so crowded! We were afraid that we were going to miss the whole thing! We realized that we were going to have to wait in line outside the gates. They were slowly letting people in as others were coming out.

Andrea's brother, Dustin, didn't have much desire to wait to get into the concert so he offered to take the kids on some more rides while us girls waited to get into the show. So off they went and it wasn't long before we had made out way into the concert! There were no seats to be found, but we found a place to stand in front of the sound booth and we had a great view!

First we got to see Matthew West. He did a great show and had such a great sense of humor! Then there was an hour long break before Third Day started! The kids managed to make it back to the show before it started. By the time they got back, Dustin and Mr. Dennis had gotten them ice cream and let them pick out their own bags of candy! They had no interest in the show...they were definitely more concerned about if I was going to let them keep eating all their candy! Holy sugar rush!!!

So, the concert started and it was wonderful! I have always enjoyed Third Day and this was no exception! They put on a great show! But while we were enjoying this:

The kids were working on their bags of candy:

Ian had gotten Lego shaped candies and they were quite entertaining! We had run into one of his buddies from church and they enjoyed "playing" with the candy together! We didn't have actual seats, but we were hanging out right in front of the sound booth and we had plenty of room to move around. Ally took full advantage of this opportunity to show us some of her moves. Dustin, however, acted like he was not very impressed! I think he was just trying to restrain himself from pulling out his best moves and completely embarrassing her!
The show was awesome and I am really glad we went. Next week is Natalie Grant and Mark Schultz...should be another great show!

Good news is next week's show is earlier in the afternoon, so it probably won't end up looking like this at the end of the day...
both kids were passed out on Mr Dennis and Mrs Terri! Doesn't it look like they are ready to be grandparents??? Justin and Andrea, just look how happy they are! For now, my kids will be happy to adopt you for another day! Any time you want!
Thanks for sharing your family time with us! I am so glad we got to spend the day with you! (and sorry there aren't any pics of you on here Andrea! I will fix that when you share your pics with me!)

A day at the campground

One of Ian's good friends from school invited us out for a fun day! His family is staying out at an RV park for fun and they wanted us to come hang out for a little while. So the kids and I went out on Saturday for som fun.

The kids shared a picnic lunch together. And we took a ride on the golf cart over to one of the playgrounds.
The kids took turns pushing on the merry go round.
Isabelle decided to be a brave one! Sometimes I wonder why she has to be so daring!
When we were done at the playground we went back to the RV site and Ian tried out his skills on the hula hoop. I wish you could see how he shook his booty to keep the hoops up! I had tears in my eyes, I was laughing so hard.
Isabelle tried one out too.
Then they tried to make up their own game of baseball. They took turns throwing the ball at each other and trying to swing!
I love this picture of Ian pitching. I also love that he hadn't bothered to take his bike helmet off before he started playing baseball. There was just too much to do out there!
One final lap on the bikes and it was time to go. We had a great time with our friends! Thanks for inviting us out!

Fun with Friends

Last week Isabelle and I got a chance to have a picnic at the park with some special friends!

Kylea and Isabelle have gotten to know each other pretty well over the last several months as I was watching her a few days a month while her mom worked. They are fairly close in age and both love all things girly...dressing up, My Little Ponies and Dora being among the top few! Kylea hasn't been to our house in a while as her mommy is taking a little time off to prepare for her next little girl to be born! So, we decided to get out in this beautiful weather and enjoy some time together. The girls had a great time running and playing together. They even managed to play a game of hide and go seek. They just pretended that the other person couldn't be seen. It was pretty cute! As the afternoon went on, both girls started to get a little tired and weren't interested in getting their pictures taken. But once they found the right pose they allowed us to snap away!
We are so glad that we got to spend a little time with friends before we head out of town! Hopefully we will be able to squeeze in a few more playdates before then! Kylea and Kristina, thanks for meeting us at the park! We had a great time!

Poor hubby

Do you know this guy? Come on...take a good look. Do you know him?

I know the picture is small...but that is no excuse!

Does this picture help?

Give up? Or did you guess?

I know that I shared with you all in February that David got the privilege to escort the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders around the ship. Since then he has given tours to some big wigs from DC, some Detroit Redwing executives and a few other "important" people.

When I had not heard from him in the last couple days, I figured he must be doing some tours (some job, right?). When he has someone onboard, it keeps him very busy and he doesn't get much time to email. So this morning I finally got an email from him sharing with me that he had been escorting Dale Ernhardt Jr. around the ship. We aren't the most avid Nascar fans, but we do live in the part of the country that is completely submersed in the Nascar religion, err, sport. I think this tour wins the "coolest" award as far as tours goes!

Who knows...maybe they became fast friends and we will start hanging out with him! I know Ian would sure love a ride in that shiny red car of his! Who am I kidding? I think I might even like a quick ride around the track! Wishful thinking, I know...

More than likely all that will happen is my husband will come home with some strange obsession with this new sport (religion) and be convinced that this is what he should do when he gets out of the navy. To which I will reply with my classic roll of my eyes and a quick change of subject!