I tell ya, life is busy busy these days--it's insane, really, and I don't expect anyone to read this simply because it's taken me so long to blog.  I'm sure everyone has given up now. 

Where do I start, though........well, we met my parents in Williamsburg and had a great time in Old Colonial W as well as Jamestown and Busch Gardens.  Being active military we get one free trip to BG every year so we took advantage of that.  We had such a good time, though and it was good to see family again.  We were home for two weeks and we packed up to head on our annual road trip up to MO and IA.  We had family on both sides that we wanted to see before Carl left on deployment in Feb.  Unfortunately my grandmother passed away two days before our trip started and we missed Carl's aunt by about 2 hours.  They were both very elderly but we were still sad just because we'll miss them.  As for both of them, though, they are in a heck of a better place than we are here on earth so I'm really happy for them.  The trip to MO and IA was pretty good for the most part.  There was some family tension but I suppose that's standard.  We were able to school consistantly, though, and that was really good.  The kids loved having something somewhat normal so that was helpful.  Carl and I left the kids with my folks one night and headed off on an overnight get-a-way to our honeymoon b&b and had a wonderful, wonderful time.  This is the place: http://www.lakecliffhouse.com/sunset.html  I tell ya, it is truly a beautiful place and the owners are wonderful folks.  We just loved it.  Carl and I needed some time to catch up with each other and this was the perfect way to do it.  We talked alot about life after the military and what we wanted to do and I think he wants to run a business together and that sounded just wonderful to me.  This seperation is really so hard sometimes.  I just want him home.....

The deployment is still on for February, BTW and it's still for one year.  We're preparing......  So, after we got home from our trip it took about 2 weeks to become readjusted to our normal routine and, to be honest, we're still working on the kinks but that's just how life is. 

Kiernan is reading at a 3rd grade level now and has finished all 5 of her HOP boxes so we're excited about that.  Math is a bit of a struggle for her but we're plugging through little by little and we're thankful that we CAN do that at our own pace--we learn to excellence.  She is also in her 1st grade handwriting book and Tirzah's finished up her pre-K book so I need to get her a new one.  Thea is starting to learn her letters, shapes and colors and she's proving to be a little to smart for her own good!  ;)  Jayslyn is cutting teeth and busy learning to crawl and get into things.  She's a riot.

I honestly need to update more often

Blessings to all