Yep,
I am a bad, bad, bad blogger! I have neglected to update for quite sometime... and I have several family and friends wondering if we are still alive.. so, here I am! (and I see Typepad changed in my absence so I hope I can work this thing!).
September was a busy month for us! I started the school year at Fort Bragg Schools with a courtesy trip to Peachtree City, GA! - While that may not sound exciting to most of you, it was a welcome vacation for a deployment "widow" mother of 4 who just endured a LONG summer! It was also a great chance to see my work pals from Alabama! We had a great time (and I learned some stuff at the conference!)... Meanwhile, at home, Grandma Candy had to get the school year started! Hannah, a 3rd grader? (no way!), Hailey started 2nd grade and my baby girl, Holly, started Kindergarten! (Brody is never going to be allowed to go to school!)
We also had a visit from Uncle Brian and cousin Kiernan! The girls really enjoyed seeing him (they hadn't since he was a bitty baby) and Brody met his new "best friend" (in his words)
Oh... how could I forget? In September we also welcomed 2 new family members... Nibbles and Noah.. Most of you will not know the story of how I agreed to let two RODENTS live in my home, so I will humor you... Back in Alabama (yes, over a year ago) Hailey began begging to have a small pet.. hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, rabbit, something... I, naturally, said, "NO"... "those animals are dirty and nasty and what fun are they? They don't play fetch, they cannot cuddle up with you on the couch.. they live in dirty cages that I will have to clean"... but Daddy, that Daddy is a different story... he said "maybe"... and then "maybe" turned into "if you get good grades and do x, y and z".. I agreed... not because I wanted RODENTS, but because, while my girl is wicked smart, she doesn't much LIKE school and really does NOT apply herself, so I thought a straight "A" report card would be but she came home with THIS:
and so I stalled.. "We are moving" - Then we moved.... "Daddy is getting ready to leave"... Daddy left... "We won't be home much during the summer"... Summer ended.... "Get 100 on your spelling test"..... the 100s came in in droves.... finally, I was out of options (and she started having some major problems dealing with Daddy being gone and not safe - so I thought a diversion might be nice)... so we got THESE:
Nibbles and Noah (because you cannot just have ONE... unfortunately, the pet store guy didn't know or care or something that male adult hamsters cannot live peacefully together - but that is a different story)
Unfortunately, their stay with us was brief... RIP Nibbles and Noah..
As you can imagine, my animal lover daughter (Hailey) was in a great depression over the loss of her new, hard earned pet, so we got "Robo" - Robo is a skiddish, crazy little animal who the girls have deemed the "no fun hamster" because they cannot hold him.
So, I agreed we could get this:
Meet "Oreo" - He is the coolest hamster in America! I now owe all hamsters in the world an apology for my previous bad attitude and unwillingness to keep them in my home.
October had us going to the pumpkin patch, costume shopping and going Trick or Treating! This year we had quite a crew:
Brody was a pirate (again) He wanted Spiderman but we couldn't find a decent costume in his size... plus he "thought" Holly was going to be a girl pirate so he was easily persuaded!
a 50's sock hop girl
a Geisha girl (or as Hailey said a Japanese warrior princess, henceforth the mean face and craxy poses!)
and finally, Strawberry Shortcake (for the 3rd year)
Here are my ghouls!
Ok, well, I have plenty of more stories... but this post is long enough! I will just wrap up by saying, we are here, we are alive, we are busy..... and we are just biding our time until Daddy comes home for a visit (which will be in about 29 days!)
xoxo
Trish