Birthday Party

Before you had kids, do you remember those things you said you would never do once you did have kids? Well, one of my things was I would never have a birthday party for my children. I think that with family, it's fine, but I swear getting invited to 5 birthday parties every month is just ridiculous. I was only allowed birthday parties when I turned 5, 8, and 12. I think that's what I am going to do with my kids. Anyways, we had our very first, ever, birthday party today. As you know from my previous post, Tyler turned 5 on Wednesday and he had been really wanting to have a birthday party, so we had today set up for his party. If you can't tell from the pictures, it was a Pirate Party. It went well, he had a good time and I think all the kids did too. We made mini pizzas and then we had a treasure hunt, that was a blast. The treasure at the end of the hunt was a pirate ship pinata. So then we took turns hitting the pinata. After the collection of candy we went in and ate our pizzas. Then did cake and presents. It was fun and I am sticking to my decision to only have parties at 5, 8 and 12 years of age - so I don't have to do another party for a couple of years :) Here are some pictures of the day's events.

The Invitations

Me pretending to decorate cakes again.

Mini pizza making

Pinata, pinata!!

Blow those candles out!

Presents for the birthday boy!

Happy 5th Birthday Tyler!

The night before the big day!

He's finally here!

I took naps with Tyler every day until he was about 6 months old, oh the joys of just having one baby and not working!

Looks like TJ took a few naps with Tyler himself!

My happy boy!

I can't believe my sweet boy is 5! Time sure does fly... It seems like it took forever to get pregnant with Tyler, I remember lots of nights crying because it just wasn't happening. We got put on the waiting list for the fertility doctor and the day they called to get us seen, we found out we were finally pregnant! It was a very easy pregnancy, I don't get sick and I love being pregnant, until I was pass my due date! Tyler was due on March 17, I couldn't be induced until March 26, so that is when he came. We have never found out the sex of our babies before, so we were surprised (well as surprised as you can be) to have a boy. We had Isabelle picked out for a girl and I had a unisex outfit in my hospital bag. He has been such a blessing in our lives. He was the perfect baby, no I am serious - he never cried, he slept through the night at 2 months old, he was just such a joy to have. He still is. He is such a laid back little guy, so easy going (he must get it from his dad). He is such a big helper, he does all his chores without complaint and he is so good at cleaning up his room and picking up toys. He rarely complains and he is always telling me how pretty I am and how my hair/face/toes/clothes are beautiful, he is such a sweetie.

Easter Sunday

I would love to have posted a picture of the kids in their new Easter outfits, but poor Brena got sick. She had a temp of 103.5 all Saturday evening and night, and Sunday morning. So we didn't get to go to church on Easter! Here is the picture I did get of her, poor baby. She keeps saying "I'm sick."

Preschool Party

On Saturday night we had a party for Tyler's preschool teacher. It was fun and there were lots of classmates that got together. We didn't think to take a picture of the kids until a few had left already, so we are missing quite a few in the group photo. We love you Ms. Kyle and Ms. Kurtzke! And Ms. Kurtzke your flips were awesome on the tramp!

Easter

Happy Easter!!

The kids came running into our room at 6:30 this morning asking if the Easter Bunny came last night. The Easter Bunny does come to our house the Friday night before Easter because we do not want the kids thinking about all their candy/toys they just got right before we go to church. I want to keep the Easter Bunny and Christ separate, so that's why he came last night. They were so excited to see all of their presents from the Easter Bunny. Tyler and Brena saw the "Easter bunny" in our yard last night, thank goodness TJ didn't get his gun out and shoot him! I think I still have the last bunny he shot in my freezer, anyways I am getting off the subject here. These are some photos of the kids with their Easter Baskets. Happy Easter to everyone!

Just another day at work...

For my husband that is. One of his classmates made a video of what they have been doing. It is kinda long, but if you like seeing people rescued from water by helicopter and dunked under water, you might enjoy it. It was interesting for me to see him and what he has been doing every day. This is my husband's actual class and he is in the photos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc6_p3aXFCQ

On a sad note, two pilots were killed last week in their T-34 (what all the students train in). Here is a write up from the paper about that:http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/NEWS01/80314041/1006 TJ came home with the standard paperwork that had some very hard questions that I had to answer. It wasn't fun and I don't really want to think about it, but I guess it has to be done. They were very specific questions (and a lot of them) about who I want to come to the house with the person who will be telling me the bad news, or if I don't want anyone to come at all with the informer (don't know his/her specific title). If I want the NAVY to inform our families or if I want to be the one to do the phone calls, and many others. It was very hard and I had to think about it a little. I will be always praying that I won't be a wife who gets that knock at the door....

One year anniversary

I can hardly believe we have lived in Pensacola for one year. In some ways the time has flown by, in others it's seemed to drag - I am sure you know what I mean, right? I thought I'd post some top reasons I know I am living in Pensacola. Please, if you get offended easily, don't read this! This is just for fun, it is my opinion and I do NOT mean to offend anyone who loves Pensacola. I have to say I have LOVED all the people I have met here and I have enjoyed living here immensely, it is just a tad different living in the south than out west :) Ok, here goes, you know you are living in Pensacola when:



There was a Semi-truck parked in a gas station off of a local freeway for a couple of months that professed to be an actual church! It had meeting times posted on it, and there were actual stained glass windows painted on the sides to make it look like a church. There was also Luke 14:23 posted on the back of the semi trailer, indicating its true purpose for being there.



You can get a free Bible on most any side of the road you choose on most any day.



You pass (literally) a church on every street corner, all representing different denominations - some I have never even heard of.



I think it is usually at the end of the spring semester, but there are always people on every corner yelling and crying repentance unto you



Most people say "oh, bless her/his heart" - does that mean the person has a heart condition???



I have heard a few people complain about "dumb Yankees" - what???!!! I thought the civil war was over?



I see lots of bumper stickers that say "American by birth, southern by the Grace of God" I actually called my sister the first time I saw this bumper sticker, I was laughing so hard.



There is a Baptist Church in Pensacola that I believe is bigger than some Football Stadiums I have seen. At one of these mega churches, there is a sheriff posted at an intersection, controlling the signal box, making sure these poor souls don't wait too long at their stop light. Must be nice to be a part of that church, and to have the local sheriff in your back pocket!



It's not called a shopping cart, it's called a buggy.



If you don't like the weather, just stick around for a day. It will change. And it will change drastically... heck it might even change drastically in the same day. I've seen more thunderstorms here in one year than I have in my entire life. It sure can rain here!



"Fixinto" is one word




If your not careful the fire ants will have a picnic with your skin - my kids can attest to that, there are more fire ant hills here than churches - and that's saying something!



One year down, who knows how long to go :)

Testimony meetings

I got this email forward from TJ's cousin, it cracked me up and thought I would share it.

If you've ever wanted a child to NOT bear his/her testimony, you’ll appreciate this one!!

At a recent testimony meeting, a five-year-old little girl stood up and bore her testimony.
After mentioning everyone and everything, she was thankful for,
she ended with this: "I am especially grateful that our house has been much happier since our family stopped using The "S-word" and the "F-word." As the little girl proudly walked back to her seat, nobody could say a word. Needless to say, they were a little shocked by what the stake president’s daughter had just said. Quickly, the red-faced stake president stood up, smiled shyly, and went to the podium.
"I feel I should make a clarification as to what my daughter meant.
In our house the "S-word" is S hut-up and the "F-word" is Fart."

Mother-in-law

Ok, so my mom and my mother-in-law's birthdays are only 3 days apart, it makes things pretty simple in remembering dates of birthdays. I just have to do a quick post on my mom-in-law. I have known Carol since I was 14 years old. I have gotten to know her pretty well in the last 16 years and I am so grateful I have. Carol is such a wonderful person and will do ANYTHING for anyone. She is always putting other's before herself. She is a great cook and an awesome grandma. And I have to say I know I have the best husband in the world because his mom taught him how to be such a wonderful man. I am grateful for all she does for us and am looking forward to her visit in June. Happy Birthday Carol!! (your card is probably late :)

March 13

I didn't have time to post this on my mom's birthday - March 13, but I wanted to do a post about her. My mom is an awesome lady. I have never known anyone as smart, talented or creative as she is. I wish I could have inherited just a little bit of those genes. But, because I didn't, she is always there for me when I call and say "mom will you make..." "mom can you help me with..." I remember from the time I was very small thinking she was the prettiest woman I have ever seen, and I still think that. I really miss not seeing her as often now that I live in FL. I enjoy the times we do get to see each other and am looking forward to summer vacation and staying there. My mom has been such an important example to me in my life, she taught me the importance of doing what's right, cleaning (yuck!) and keeping commitments that I make. I saw all the little acts of service she did and learned from her the importance of service. I could go on and on, but I truly believe that because of my mom I am the good (hopefully) person I am today. I love you mom!

Envelope Scrapbooks

I have been making a ton of these cute scrapbooks made with clear envelopes, they are so easy and fun to do. Here are a couple I am doing for an upcoming class I will be holding in April:

The inside is just clear envelopes, which fit pictures perfectly:

The class will be held at my home on Friday, April 11, at 7pm or on Saturday, April 12, at 10am. Cost is $5 per scrapbook. I am asking for RSVP's and prepayment by April 1. Contact me with any questions.

Found it - update

So our first geocaching experience, obviously we weren't experienced enough. If you missed the story, just scroll down a little and look for the caption Geocaching!!! We went back again today to the first geocache we couldn't find. We looked and looked and then TJ saw it under the gazebo. It was pushed up under the steps up to the gazebo, you can kind of see the steps in this picture:

It was a relief to find it! I couldn't stop thinking about it and I had logged on to the site and saw someone found it there on March 1, so I knew it had to be there and I had to find it! It was a rather large container and Tyler got a hot wheels car and Brena got a furby. The really cool thing today was before this find, we found our 3rd geocache and it had a geocoin in it! So we found our first geocoin and are excited to move it along. Really, if you haven't tried geocaching yet, you must try!! Lots of fun and the kids are loving it.

Check out my Slide Show!

Disney World Vacation!!!!

We just got back from a wonderful family vacation to Disney World! And what's the first thing I want to do - blog!! I have mounds of laundry and unpacking to do, but it will wait - right? I have hundreds of pictures and I don't know how I will decide which ones to post! We had such a good time, a nice break from the stress of life. We went with two other families from church with kids the same ages as our kids, it was fun! We went to Magic Kingdom, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We had never been to Animal Kingdom before and we were thinking of skipping it to go to Magic Kindgom again, but Animal Kingdom was our favorite next to Magic Kingdom. Tyler is a roller coaster junkie and there is no roller coaster he wasn't scared of. He went down the Everest roller coaster like 6 times I think, he did Tower of Tower at least that many times, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, you name it, he did it. We had so much fun! Here is my very favorite picture from the trip - Brena had fallen asleep and we found Sleeping Beauty, so since Brena was sleeping, we had Tyler take his picture with her. He loved getting kissed by a princess (this boy is girl crazy I tell you!) and he had lipstick marks on his cheek for a couple of days, even after washing and scrubbing that stuff wouldn't come off!





This was another funny one, the picture is just a normal picture, it's what was said that makes me laugh. Tyler: "mom what is this?" Me: "it's a telephone booth." Tyler: "what's a telephone booth?" Ah, the new generation isn't going to know about life before cell phones!


Tyler was seleted from the audience to participate in the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom, that was pretty cool. Here are pictures of that.