First Snow

Woke up to it snowing and it didn't stop.  We got a couple inches or so.  Brenalee was out the door by 7:30am making snowmen!  She was sledding down the road on the boogie board, too.  Her sled broke last year, so she is making do with what she has I guess.  That kid is CRAZY!  I had to go teach my gym class and I told the kids to stay in the house.  I got home and knew they had not listened because there was a new snowman in the yard :)

2014-2015 School Year

Writing 2014-2015 just seems like it should be in some sort of science fiction novel - is it really almost 2015?!  Weird...
After a very, very short summer, the kids went back to school.  Tyler started 6th grade and Brenalee started 4th.  Tyler is at the middle school and Brenalee now walks to school by herself.  It's so sad they are separate now!  Tyler rides the bus and it comes at 6:56a.m.!  Lucky for me he is very responsible.  He sets his alarm and gets up at 6am.  He packs his lunch and makes his breakfast and the rest of us roll out of bed about 6:30am to say good bye.  His first day was a little rough.  He forgot his schedule, so he didn't know where he was going.  He also had lots of locker problems and ended up missing his first period class.  But, it all got resolved and even though I thought he would tell me he was never going back, he loves it!

Brenalee got home and I asked her what her favorite part of the day was.  She said lunch.  She has Mrs. Pleasant - the same teacher Tyler had - so I was thrilled about that!  As usual, she wouldn't let me touch her hair.  I hope she looks back and says to herself "I should have let my mom do my hair!"

Here's to a great school year, and our last here in VA :(

Shooting

Tj had Thursday off, so the lieutenants from the unit planned a shooting event.  The kids wanted to go too, so they headed off to the outdoor shooting range while I went and taught BodyCombat.  The kids have been shooting a few times before, but this time they got to throw some clay pigeons up and they had a blast!
Here is Brena with that big arm of hers (at least there's no windows nearby...)

 Gorgeous day!

Tyler throwing his.

S'mores

There was some leftover s'more stuff from the campout last night, so we made a fire and had some s'mores!  Besides, we needed to use some of that wood Tyler has been splitting all day long!  Bristol goes to bed early, so she missed out on the fun.

Cooking

Tyler loves to cook.  His specialty is breakfast.  He really enjoys making yellow pancakes (our name for a family favorite oven baked pancake), waffles and breakfast sandwiches with eggs.  He made chocolate chip waffles this morning.  I thought I'd let Bristol have some.  What a mess!  She had to go straight to the tub when she was finished!  Tyler is such a good boy and a huge help!  I'm so grateful for him and his sweet little spirit!  The other day we were running late in the morning and I was trying to finish getting lunches packed.  The phone rang and it was a mom of a friend of Tyler's.  The kids really needed to get out the door, but I didn't have their lunches ready.  I couldn't get off the phone!  Tyler came in and noticed I was needing help and without even being asked he finished chopping the strawberries and getting everything in the lunch boxes.  I feel so blessed to have such a sweet boy!

Easter Sunday

I saw the kids for just a little bit Sunday morning before I headed off to BodyCombat training.  Tj did a good job at getting Bristol ready - especially her hair!  I should have had Brena get her dress approved by me before I left.  Oh well. 

 Tyler's pants are too short again - I swear that kid is growing like a weed!!

Happy Easter!  I'm so grateful to know that our Savior died for me and my sins!  That he was resurrected and someday I will be too.  It is such a comfort to know that death is not the end!  I can't imagine not having my family for eternity.

After church Tj had a little egg hunt for the kids.  He is such a good daddy.  I fail miserably at doing holidays up! 

Easter Bunny

After the kids went to bed Friday night, I noticed Brenalee had taped a note to the counter for the Easter Bunny.  That kid cracks me up! 

Saturday morning, the kids woke up and saw the Easter Bunny had come.  Unfortunately, he forgot Bristol.  Oh well, she'll never remember.

Bike Ride

Tj never took the baby seat off his bike from when the older kids were little.  They loved riding on the bike with daddy.  Today was a nice day, so when TJ came home, we put Bristol in the bike seat!  She had a good time.  She points at everything!  That's why her little finger is pointing, she is just constantly pointing.

And Tyler in the bike seat about 10 years ago!  Obviously we were better parents then because he has a bike helmet and Bristol does not...whoops!

Lazy Winter Days

I'm loving all this time hanging around the house staying warm and cozy while there's a million inches of snow outside!  We stay in our pajamas most the day, too.  It's great!

Footie Jammies

We heard a big snow storm was coming.  We really haven't had all that much snow this year, so we hadn't bought any snow gear for the kids this year.  Why buy it if we won't even use it??  Well, the night before the storm we decided we better go find stuff for the kids.  We went to every store (which isn't that many in our neck of the woods) we could think of.  The only place that had anything was Wal-Mart and it was all on clearance.  I found the last pair of snow pants in the store I think.  They would do for Brena, but just this year.  I also got lucky and found snow boots for her.  I couldn't find a single thing for Tyler.  Poor guy.  There was nothing in the boys or men sections of all the stores.  But, we did find footie jammies and apparently they had both been dying for some.  So, we did get those.  These are my 3 "little" kids in footie jammies.

Veteran's Day Assembly

The kids' school had a Veteran's Day Assembly today.  Tyler & Brenalee were invited to give a little talk about their dad and his career in the NAVY.  They stood up on the stage and spoke to a gym full of their peers and adults.  There was a pretty good group of veterans there that were honored.  The VT Core of Cadets came and presented the flag.  We had a couple talks and a few of the kids then spoke about their guests.  It was very touching and I was brought to tears a couple times.  What a wonderful country we live in!

Waiting for the program to start!

 Daddy and Brenalee

 A star to remember those who gave their lives for our country.  A paper came home asking for names, and I sent it back with Landon's name.

 Thank you veterans - thank you!