Disneyland

Well, I guess it's time for me to get back to blogging... I've been busy getting everything back in order after our trip to California, and didn't have time to post anything while we were gone.

We spent April 27-May 6th in California, spending time at Disneyland and many of the attractions in San Diego. Since I have thousands (literally, I'm afraid) of pictures, I'm going to cover one venue per blog...

Happy Birthday to Me!

We spent my 36th birthday at Disneyland - the happiest place on earth, indeed! What a great day! The kids thought it was pretty special to be able to take Mommy to Disneyland for her birthday. We spent 3 days there, and could have easily stayed a few more. No one wanted to leave. The kids (all 4 of us) rode on everything from the mild "It's A Small World" to the wild Space Mountain (for those of you who've never had that joyous experience, it's a high-speed roller coaster in the pitch black dark with "stars" all around you, and you never know what direction you're headed next until it happens). Here's some of the highlights:

At Mickey's house

Saying "Hi" to a bunch of the characters in the parade

A couple of jail birds trying to escape

The kids loved the roller coasters - now they put their arms in the air for everything (including in the stroller at the Zoo)!

Flyin' in Dumbo with Daddy

Our Prince Charming

Grace with Princess Ariel and Cinderella - she was beside herself when meeting these lovely ladies

Cinderella was great - she took both of the kids aside and talked to them, even showed Grace how to take a picture like a "real" princess.

Mid-day two. A lady walked by and asked if we had a camera so she could take our picture... she thought the kids napping in the middle of Disneyland was a classic shot.

Sleeping Beauty's castle

Grace using her new pose that Cinderella taught her.

Disneyland/California Adventure is truly an experience not to be missed. David was not keen on the idea of this trip, but after walking into the park the first day he changed his mind, and even he can't wait to go back!

An Update on the Update

Well, I've been on the job almost 3 weeks now, and so far am loving it! Something touches my heart just about every day. It is such a pleasure to work in a place where the children are taught to love their God and their country! Every day Grace says 3 pledges and sings 3 songs as part of her morning routine: The Pledge of Allegiance/The Star Spangled Banner, The Pledge to the Christian Flag/Onward Christian Soldier, and The Pledge to the Bible/Thy Word. I was able to sit in on the school's chapel time today, and was about moved to tears to be standing there listening to about 250 students say/sing these things and realized that most schools don't even say the Pledge of Allegiance these days much less allow prayer or anything outwardly Christian into their halls. I am so thankful that both of our children will be attending this school next year. I know we may not be able to put the kids through private school forever, but I hope to keep them in there as long as possible so they can arm themselves with the Truth and be able to stand firm when faced with difficult decisions and peer pressure.


Grace is loving her new teacher and her new class. She is such an adaptable child, I know I worry needlessly about how she will handle change. I think she enjoys the different variety of activities they do during the day, and I know she loves the Bible stories she hears, because she listens to them! She is able to tell me so much of what she learns during the day - the Thursday before Easter, it was the crucifixion story, yesterday it was the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors. And the details she remembers! It just blows my mind!! Today she came to me and said, "Mommy, we need to pray for Flutter our little butterfly. He fell off the paper, and we need to pray to God and ask Him for Flutter to live." (They have several caterpillars in jars, and when they make their cocoon, they transfer them into this mesh "treehouse" and wait for them to hatch from their cocoons) I like this school a lot better too - every day she brings home a paper that shows they actually did some school work instead of just doing art or playing all day. The teachers love her too, and keep telling me how good she is - and I just want to ask them "Are you sure you're talking about my kid?"


Tristan has been having a great time at "school" the last week and a half - I think he likes seeing and playing with other kids. About the only time he got to do that was at his gymnastics class and at Sunday School. Guess I shouldn't have been so selfish with my baby the last 10 months! He always comes home with some sort of art project, and is so proud of what he did that day. "Mommy, look what I did today!" "See?!?!" I think he'll really enjoy going to preschool in the Fall.


David is doing well also. He is recovering well from his surgery on his eye socket - is still a little black and blue, but looks a lot better. He went to a doctor today and is in the process of getting some x-rays to "make sure they got it out and there's no metal in his head" so he can finally get another MRI done and we can see what the next step is in treating his back. Hopefully that will happen this week.

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In other news, after David's follow up last Monday, we took the kids to the zoo in Tucson. They are so tolerant when we go up there, and we have never done anything for them while there (its always doctor appts and shopping), so we decided that we needed to let them have a little fun. Here's a few pictures from that day:







There were some monkeys there that were absolutely entertaining - speed swinging around their enclosure! The kids loved it.

























Then there were the giraffes - you can actually feed them at certain times of the day (which we had to promise to do next time, since David and I didn't have any cash on hand).

Finally, there was this really odd two headed tortoise:

Happy Easter

This was a rather busy weekend for us. It all started Saturday with an Easter egg hunt:

Then Grace had her performance with her ballet/jazz class at the Celebration of the Military Child event here on Fort Huachuca, in honor of Military Child month.

While there, they got to meet Elmo and the Easter Bunny.

Then we came home, baked a cake, and decorated Easter eggs (after a nap, of course).

Today began with church, then David and I helped out in Tristan's Sunday School class for the 2nd service. While the kids napped, David worked on supper, and I decorated the cake.

The kids went for an Easter basket cake instead of a bunny cake... Which was fine with me - lots easier to decorate!

Then it was finally time for the kids to see what was in their Easter baskets and find all those eggs the Easter bunny hid around the house and yard.

They are pretty patient kids - they saw the Easter baskets before church, and waited to tear into them until three or four o'clock!

They did have a couple of gifts from Grandma to hold them over though!

It turned out to be a pretty good weekend, and we finished it with delicious ribs for supper, followed by cake and ice cream and a movie for all to enjoy (not to mention the delighted looks of surprise and excitement on our children's faces). We hope y'all had a wonderful Easter as well.

Hallelujah, He is risen!

He made me mad...

...so I hit him!

Well, that wasn't quite the case... But I sounded tough, didn't I?

Almost 5 years ago, David was out turkey hunting with his cousin Matthew, when some shot went astray (or so Matthew says ;-) ) and entered into the area around David's left eye. I was resting soundly in bed - after all, it was my birthday - when David comes in and says look at my eye! I begrudgingly rolled over and said "What about it?" Frankly, I didn't see anything wrong with it. After looking at it a bit more closely, there was just a tiny scratch near his eye, but there was a piece lead shot that had lodged in there too. We saw several different doctors, but none were able to remove it, and the plastic surgeon that said he could said that there was no need to remove the shot if it wasn't bothering him. So, along with life we went...

Fast forward to this year. As most of you know, David suffered a back injury when he was in Iraq, and has been seeking different kinds of treatment for almost 2 years now. His pain management doctor finally referred him for a new MRI since none of the treatments they attempted worked, and if they did, the effect didn't last long. We went for the MRI months ago, and the radiologist refused to do the MRI because of this tiny piece of shot in David's face (nevermind that he has already had 2 open MRI's and lead is not magnetic!!!). Sooooo, we've been referred to doctor after doctor after doctor to get this darned thing cut out of his face, and we finally got it accomplished yesterday. This is what he looks like post op, and a picture of this tiny little piece of shot that has been causing this big trouble these last few months:

Hopefully we will now be able to get that MRI done so we can fix his back!!

Just an update

Just wanted to fill all of you in on some things that you may or may not know:

First, Grace took a Kindergarten placement test before we left, and did well enough that she will be starting school in the Fall. She will be a little bit younger than most of the kids in her class, but we felt that with her level of intelligence (not to sound "snobby") and socialization skills, she would do well. My fear is that if we waited until she was "supposed" to start school, that she would be bored - she can count to 150 now, knows the majority of her letters (upper and lower case) by sight, can write words if you spell them for her, and is beginning to read. So, that's my proud momma story about Grace...

Second, I was hired on as the School Nurse at the First Baptist Christian Academy (where we attend church). Although I had no intentions of working until both kids were in school, the opportunity caught my eye in the church bulletin one Sunday, and I decided that God was trying to get my attention. So, I applied, and thought that if it was His will, I would get the job - and sure enough, I got a call about 30 minutes after I got home from my interview. I was not supposed to start until the new school year started in August, but while we were in Nebraska, some changes occurred, and I was asked if I could start April 8. So, since we've returned home, it's been a whirlwind of trying to get childcare lined up for Tristan, get all the paperwork done to get Grace into FBCA next week, instead of in August, and get my Arizona Nursing License paperwork finalized! Both of the kids will be attending FBCA beginning in August - they were kind enough to find room for Grace immediately, but Tristan can't go until he is 3. I am very thankful to have been selected as I have thought that being a school nurse would be the ideal job while the kids were in school so I can be on their schedule and still be available for all of their activities. It also gives me a little income to pay for their tuition!

We're home!

We arrived home from Nebraska on Monday, and I think we've been running ever since. The kids, once again, travelled very well. They are such troopers! I think they tolerated the trip home better than David and I did.

Here's a few things that the kids enjoyed while we were gone:

It may not be a real tractor, but they didn't care! Their Uncle Dana offered them a ride when we were out at the farm, but it was just too cold...

Sharon came over to see us before she had to start her bus route after school and offered to take the kids for a ride. They had an absolute blast. For those of us who have ever ridden a bus it wouldn't seem like a big deal, but for a 2 and 4 year old it was the best!

A little role reversal:

And, now that we're home, Tristan is back to his old tricks:

The animal train

Nebraska

David's Grandma Naomi passed away last week, so we travelled back to Nebraska for her funeral. The Lord blessed her with 94 years on this earth before He called her home - but it's still hard to say good bye. Or as the pastor said, "We do not say good bye to Naomi today, but good night, as we will meet her again some day."

We stopped in Denver and stayed overnight with David's Aunt Katie and Uncle Johnny. It is always good to visit with them. There was just one problem with our visit:

I don't think my kids need any encouragement to be race car drivers...

The kids travelled really well, and we didn't hear "are we there yet" every 5 minutes. Thank goodness for movies and DVD players!!

The kids have enjoyed playing with their cousins: Here's just a few pictures of what we've been up to the last few days.

Cousins: Macy, Chase, Chad, Emily, Grace, Tristan, Erik, Emma

(it was impossible to get these 8 adorable children to sit and look at the camera at the same time)

Dancing with Emma

Choo-choo train!

Yesterday we had a high of about 74 degrees - with rain, hail, and a tornado warning (it wouldn't be Spring in Nebraska if we didn't), and today we had 34 degrees and snow...

The kids were terribly disappointed that it didn't stick. I however, am looking forward to tomorrow's high in the 50's!