We had an awesome day for Courtnee's birthday.  As in tradition in our house, we had cupcakes for breakfast-hey, they have eggs and flour!

After breakfast, we open presents from family.  I started this tradition when the kids were little since Daddy missed alot of birthdays.  It made up for him being gone a little bit.

Here's me and Kailyn watching in the chair.

Courtnee received a call from Grandma, Papa Dick, Aunt Erika, Uncle Chris, and her cousins.  Here they were singing happy birthday to her.

For her party, we had a Candyland cake.  I had help decorating it so it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but the kids didn't care.

Then we pulled out the pool and the slip and slide and had a really good time with a few friends.

Here's Trey at the end of his slide.

Happy Birthday my dear Courtnee!

This week is full of excitement in our house.  The fourth was our second annual picnic, which was a blast.  We had a nice day, which was great since I couldn't fit everyone in my house!  The kids had a blast playing in the pools and then we had an awesome water balloon fight.  That's always the best.  I think I got wetter than any of the kids!

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After the fourth, starts our weeklong celebration of birthdays.  Courtnee's is first, and I'll post more on that later.  Daddy's is next and Trey's is later this week. 

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Daddy's was gone for the third year in a row for his birthday.  This year was the 40th though, so I couldn't even celebrate with him.  No black balloons, flamingos in the yard, none of that.  I was disappointed.  I shouldn't have worried.

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Last year for Valentine's day the kids that worked for my husband did this:

The lines in the picture are from the paper.  Each piece is an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.  I can't even imagine how big this thing ended up.

For his birthday last year, they decorated his workspace with pink balloons and Hello Kitty banners (its hard to find stuff on a ship).

That's my dear hubby in the pink tiarra.

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This year for his birthday, they went all out.  Fifty balloons were filled with helium and they filled his workspace.  One of the guys (the leader) even managed to get some chocolate ice cream to celebrate.  And of course, here's his birthday crown:

Now, I'm not a big fan of tv, but I do watch it.  I love the History Channel, National Geographic, and Animal Planet, which I watch with the kids.  Funny, how overseas, you have to pay extra to get PBS.  We do pay the extra-only so hubby can watch grass growing, I mean golf, on tv.  I used to desperately miss HGTV, but I'm kinda over that now.  Food Network is cool too, but I don' t miss it much either.  We don't get many channels with being overseas-the last two aren't even options.

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I do sometimes veg in front of the tv late at night.  Its the only quiet time I get and frankly I need some distraction sometimes.

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That being said, my kids like to watch tv, usually a little before bed.   We are outside, weather permitting, almost all of the time.  Really hot and really cold or rainy days have us watching maybe a couple hours worth.  Or actually the kids watching-I try climbing over the mountains of laundry to find the washing machine.

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We have invested in several tv series that we watched when we were kids.  My kids love them-Brady Bunch being the favorite.  Who doesn't love that? These old tv series give my children a glimpse into a past they have never known.   Another favorite, is the Waltons.

Mom, what's that thing they're carrying into their house?

Its a radio.

That big?

That big.

Where' s their tv?

They didn't have tv?

Why didn't they have a tv?

Because it wasn't invented then.  They only could listen to the radio. 

Oh.

But, mom?  How did they watch cartoons?

This conversation then moved into the whole explanation about televisions and how far along they've come.  I had to explain rabbit ears, only having five channels, and standing there for twenty minutes turning the dial around the five channels while my father decided what he wanted to watch; only to sit down and the have to get up to adjust the rabbit ears. 

I feel old.

Tomorrow we're starting Happy Days.  Can't wait to see what questions that brings up.

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We received word today that dear hubby made Senior Chief.  I know, what on earth is that?  In the Navy, its E8, meaning enlisted 8th rank.  There is only one more enlisted rank higher-Master Chief.  It also means that now instead of wearing an anchor-he gets a star too!!  Seriously, its an anchor with one star on it. 

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I have to tell you how proud of him I am.  He works so hard and I try really hard to support him at home.  He's deployed about 7-8 months a year and he works long hours-on average of 12-15 a day.  When he is home, those long hours remain the same, yet somehow, someway he manages to get enough energy to come home and be a wonderful father and husband.  I can't tell you the countless anniversaries, birthdays, father's days, and kids activities he's missed.  He comes home and the kids have all grown an inch, are involved in different activities, and has to readjust to all of us. 

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Thank you honey, for all you do!!  I'm so proud of you!!

Hello everyone!!  We have been so busy here the last few weeks that I thought I'd bring everyone up to date.

First, Courtnee has learned to ride her bike on two wheels!!  Yeah!!  Don't tell Daddy as he comes home next week and this is a surprise for him.

Little shaky, but good to go.

Next, is that Kailyn has started to sit up.  We're still a little rocky, but getting there. 

Here's she's showing off her raspberries that she loves so much.  I have

constant drool and spit on me!

Lastly, Courtnee is playing t-ball.  Hallie was playing but is now off the team, due to her broken arm.  Trey's also playing, but his game was rained out his past weekend.

Here she is as first baseman.  As you can see, there's not alot of action going on on first base, so she laid down to rest a while.

Here we are bored to tears and rolling up the base.  Sitting up to roll it up is easier to do, but at least we look like we're more involved in the game. Hopefully, no runner comes around and tries to step onto first base.  I'm sure that a tug of war would have happened-Courtnee defending her base and all.  Just look at that concentration on her face.  It looks as though she spies something off in the distance.

Ah, yes, a spy glass, would make seeing far away much easier!!  "Aye, captain, I spy the treasure off in the distance!"

Thank goodness daddy wasn't home or he would be having a heart attack.  He absolutely loves baseball and wants all of his children to play well, from an early age.  I just hope she doesn't pick flowers during the next game when he's home!

Well, we woke up this morning to a little drizzle and almost no wind.  It was completely calm.  We've had drizzled a little breeze most of the day nothing to worry about.

The kids were disappointed.  They wanted the power to go out to use the lanterns and flashlights, needless to say, they've been tent making all day long.  Apparently, since it was such a slow moving storm, the sheer winds off the mountains had a chance to totally break it up before it hit Tokyo and the surrounding area.  

On a good note, I got some scrapbooking done, watched a chick flick and lounged the rest of the day.  It was very nice and relaxing and wonderfully needed.

Now the lawn will be growing and growing and I'll have to cut it again.  I don't mind really, except that it so blasted humid, especially after rain.

Take care all and thanks for your prayers!!

Michelle

Well, I do have some of my goals done.  Curriculum has been ordered.  History has been planned out, the Australia unit has been planned out also.  Hopefully, my box from Rainbow Resource will be here soon with the rest of my curriculum. 

I have started working on Trey's quilt again.  I actually had to take some rows apart because I put it together wrong.  I should have it back together this weekend and basted to quilt. 

I, of course, has since added on two projects to my to do list.  First, clean off the dryer.  Why does everything seem to end up there?  Second, get rid of the pile of papers on my printer and microwave.  And last, straighten out the school room/dining room.  I still have April's calendar up.  Its been hot during the day so we've been staying in.  I can't handle the heat too well and Trey's allergies have been really bad.  Plugged up nose, sore throat and ears-not fun to be outside in the heat-even at the pool. 

I hope to have most of my cleaning projects done this weekend if all goes well.  We'll play outside in the am and pm when its cooler.  Plus, two movies are playing this weekend that the kids would like to see. 

My prayers go out to all of you suffering in the heat in the west and the rains in Texas!

This week has been loaded with swim lessons and doctor's appts.  Trey has his eyes checked, both hubby and I wore glasses at an early age, so we're starting to get his eyes examined early.  All good there, no problems.  Courtnee has a dentist appt this morning.  I had my check up this week, everything looks good, baby seems to be doing fine.  They wouldn't schedule the csection until mid Sept, so I can't plan where to keep the kids.  I'm a planner so this is challenging for me.  Swim lessons are going well.  Trey was complaining of a really bad earache the other day after lessons so we took the 3rd off and go back today.  I'm not sure how he'll do.  We'll see if he even wants to go.  If not, I'm taking him right in to the doctor to check for swimmers ear.

Last night was the fourth here!  Happy Independence Day Everyone!  Unfortunately, its the raining season and it rained all day long.  The smoke hung in the air making the fireworks hard to see, that along with the drizzle forced us in the house early.  Luckily, we can see the fireworks from my house, except for the lower ones.  We had a nice little cookout with some friends and a family a few doors down.  We had lots of yummy food and good company.  I'm tired today though, and I need to get cracking on cleaning up.  Maybe later....