I

Have

No

Words

with which to describe the cold I have encountered in the last 4 days.

No

Words

Will

Do

Justice.

I thought those of us who could handle the scorching Texas heat were tough.

No.

Tough are the people who live north of the Mason Dixon Line.

Tough are those who can handle -8 degree weather.
Tough are those who have to have TWO wood burning stoves to keep from freezing.

Tough are those who can survive without power for over a week -in New Hampshire, -in December.

I tip my hat to "yous guys".

I am shaking my head right now. I have so many stories. I don't even know where to start. I'll try the beginning....

"It was a dark and cold night. Mike and I head up to Maine. 5 hours later we arrived at his grandparents house in -2 degree weather. Yes, it was cold. Before this trip I thought that anything under 45 degrees was cold, no matter how much colder than that. 32 degrees was a milestone because that meant the birdbath water would be frozen soon. I didn't even see much point of putting numbers below 32 on the thermometer. Why? Cold is cold?

Why? Because cold is not just cold. There is cold and there is -2.

-2 is when you can not go outside even to start the car without a coat and hat on.

It's when being outside without gloves on for more than 45 seconds results in burning fingers so cold that they ache. I had no idea.

We get to the mountain and strap on our gear. After a couple of runs with our "Cheapo" goggles, I told Mike I was done because I was so cold and my goggles were fogging up. (Can't see and skiing down a mountain -not a good combination).

$145 later we were back on the trail. Much warmer this time. Mike had new goggles, I had his and this mask thingy that made me look like a ninja. Did I mention it started to snow about this time?

Yes, snow, but not JUST snow. It was a Blizzard. This is not me talking, this is what the locals called it. A Blizzard.

It snowed from noon till early morning hours. Total snowfall? 42"

You should see the video of Mike uncovering our car. I'll see if I can load it on here.

Our condo/cabin was nice. It had a hot tub. We used it.

It was an amazingly cold vacation. Next time we are going to South America.

New Years Eve

Well,

I know it is a little early to be thinking about New Year's Eve. But if you don't plan before Christmas, then you have 4 days or so to decided what to do and that is not long enough to get people onto base w/o hassle.

So we need to make plans.

Is anyone in Abilene having a NYE party that the Ellis's are invited to? We have a babysitter already reserved. If not. Does anyone in Abilene want to come over to our house for a party? I hate to say this, but we probably want to keep it to adults and babies. (You know, the kind of kids that don't run around. -not like mine)

What say you?

I'll be waiting for your replies.

Christmas is coming!

"I am no longer dreaming of a white Christmas!"

It is here.

Today it snowed about 6 inches and it is supposed to continue tonight.

Jack and I played outside all bundled up in snow pants, jackets, coats, boots, gloves and hats.

I wish I had taken my camera out there!

I'm not a fan of the bitter cold or even the slightly bitter cold, so I can never justify living in the North because of the COLD. But today, seeing Jack out there with his mouth open looking up into the sky with a bed of white beautiful virgin snow out there... I couldn't help think, "this is nice."

I think scenes like that influence people to move up to the cold states. Not me, I won't be fooled. I'll take my Texas hot and dry any day of the year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm having a blast up here, but man. It's cold. Today I looked at the thermometer and it said 23 degrees.

Thats 9 unnecisary degrees -not required in keeping the snow frozen.

Shudder.

No worries tonight though. Ty is all snuggled in his bed, I'm sure with the visions of sugarplums or whatever.

Jack is being put down by Mema. He probably got her to read a few books to him before going to sleep.

Mike, Dad, Chelsey, Laura (Chelsey's friend who is staying here cause she has no power at her house due to an ice storm that came through a week -yes a week ago), Mom and I are about to play THE GAME OF LIFE.

Then we will roast marshmallows in the fireplace before watching the new batman.

I'm excited!

I hope all of you are having a terrific time with friends or family and really getting to love on your peeps this Christmas.

-Becca

Hot Cockles

Hey Guys!

I just figured out how to play this game:

Hot Cockles.

Check it out sometime. Apparently it is pretty popular.

Christmas Auction

Christmas Auction

by Julie (Wichita Falls, TX)

Instead of getting gifts for each other, all of the adults in my family participate in our Christmas Auction. Each person brings a few small gifts or handmade items. We lay all of the items out and number them. Everyone gets the same amount of "Santa Bucks" - usually 20 or 30 depending on how many items there are to bid on. We take about 30 minutes to check out all of the items and write down what we want to bid on each one. When everyone has their bids ready, my mom "auctions" off each item. It is so much fun to see what item will be "hot" every year. We usually have a mystery gift (wrapped) to bid on. Some years it is a gift certificate and some years it is a gag gift. Christmas wouldn't be the same without the auction!

This just sounded like a fun idea. I thought I'd share. Merry Christmas!

doctor visit

This morning started off at 2 am. Jack woke up, don't know why and came crying down the hall toward our room. An hour later we had his coughing under control and he was back asleep-this time on our floor.

I woke again at 7 ish and couldn't speak. My voice was gone. I made some hot tea, which helped, but come 8:30 when I was about to call Jack's pediatrician I realized that I still couldn't speak above a whisper. I had to warm up my voice in order to be able call the Dr. about my son's red swollen eye. Ha.

Before going to the appointment Jack and I had talked about how nice doctors are and how they help make us feel better. Jack would say things like, "Yeah, the monkeys."

(Mamma called the Doctor and the Doctor said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed)

We go to the base clinic for shots so apparently this was the only thing on his register about doctors. And he was expecting monkeys to be there.

We pulled up to the doctors office at 2:30 for a 3:00 appointment. I wanted to be sure Jack had enough time to touch everything in the waiting room before going back for his appointment. Oddly enough, there was only one other child in the whole place. Wierd, for December -right after a cold front blew in. You would think every child with the sniffles would be there. Not so. I kindof felt like I was in one of those action movies where some epidemic has swept over the whole town and you are one of very few people alive. -Maybe I was exagerating, but the thought did flow though my mind.

Jack kept looking around for the monkeys.

He was not comfortable AT ALL with the doctor looking in his eye or his ears. Then things calmed down when she got done with his exam. As we were leaving I told him how nice that doctor was and that they were now friends. He says, "the monkeys my friends."

What?

I don't know.

We pulled into the house and Mike saw Jack. He said, "Hey Jack, what did the Dr. say?"

Jack's response:

"No more monkeys... [ jumpin on the bed.]"

On another note. Today was the day that we had planned to go Christmas caroling with the AWANA girls. 28 degrees.

No, that's not a music group, its the temperature, in Fahrenheit.

I was calling these old ladies today, asking them if we could come and sing. -Did I mention I had next to no voice all day. I can only imagine what they are thinking.

1. How the heck is SHE going to sing.

2. What? I ain't letting her in my house, she's sick!

Either way, I assured them that we would stay OUTSIDE and that I would be bringing young girls to sing. I attempted, but not much came out.

The girls were a blessing to the old folks and the old folks were a blessing to my girls, and I was blessed by all of them and my increadible staff of AWANA leaders. Man, God is good.

What a day.

What I like about you!

Emily Poulter

Well, I could be quite honest here since Emily (to my knowledge) doesn't read my blog. So here I go.

Emily is besides my Mom, probably my top choice for "Mom of the year". She is pretty much always on top of things and never seems to get overwhelmed or lose control. If I hadn't grown up with her -I'd think she was superhuman.

For the record, she's always been pretty much steady and amazingly strong. She is by far THE toughest person I've ever met. Emily? Yeah, that's right. You probably wouldn't automatically assume that, but get her to tell you her birthing story with Claire. It will go something like this:

"Well, I went into labor one day, went to the hospital that evening, but they said the contractions weren't close enough together so they told me to come back later. So we went home and came back the next day and had a baby. " -then she would smile and start talking about something else.

But.

Here is what really happened.

41 excrucating hours of labor with NO DRUGS and NO SLEEP. -did you catch the almost two complete days with no sleep part?

Ok. Are you convinced? I can go on, but I'll stop here for the sake of keeping this post short enough to read in one sitting.

Emily is someone I'll call when the boys are cranky and I'm cranky and no one is getting anything done. After I whine for 3 or 4 minutes. I will stop and ask her what she has going on. She will say that she's just had exercise time with the girls, and that they are coloring a picture now, later she will teach Ava her alphabet -in Spanish and Claire will work on writing in cursive. She will have the floor picked up and have a wonderful healthy supper on the table for Tommy when he gets home.

Good grief. Sometimes I think I would feel better about myself if I had a less "superhero type" big sis. But here are some of the things I like about Emily.

She laughs when I try to make a joke -funny or not.

She can always come up with a good meal when I call her asking "What should I make for supper"

Emily is the calm in the midst of my stormy up and down crazy life.

She calls me when she is frustrated (twice) and makes me feel like I have something to offer her.

She is always coming up with creative things for her children to do, and I steal her ideas.

She knows her neighbors and often organizes events to be around them.

She teaches Sunday School.

She has worked herself ragged trying to figure out Ava's food alergys and is now an expert on the subject. -which makes my life easier cause Jack is alergic to the milk protein. (without Emily we wouldn't know that Jack can still eat cheddar cheese)

She always opens her home to me and my two sleep psycho boys.

No amount of chaos can cause Emily to yell at anyone.

She respects her husband.

I feel like I'm listing off Proverbs 31.

But you get the idea. I guess you could say she's one of my heros. I didn't intend for this to get so long, but I guess there's just a lot to say about this stay-at-home mom.

Ty's crying again so I got to go.

TY is walking!

Tonight our youngest took his first steps into manhood. Ok, that was a little bit of an overshoot. But, he really did takes steps toward me. Unfortunately, Mike was out of the room when it happened. I immediatly called him up and tried hard to reenact the moment. He took a few steps but nothing close to the two or three that he had already demonstrated.



I am going to try to upload a video here. See if this works. Looks like it is going to.

The video should be pretty self-explanitory, Ty trying to walk, Jack trying to steal the show, the dogs... in the way as always.

What Is Christmas all About?

Today Jack and I went out on a mission. To buy a book about Baby Jesus.

First stop: Hastings. No Baby Jesus book. Hastings had about 20-25 other books about various minor characters in the Christmas scene, but none about our Savior's birth. Odd.

Family Christian Book Store had several to chose from and we picked out two, used a coupon and still probably paid wait too much.

We also were looking for a kid-friendly nativity set. Couldn't find one. When I was growing up Mom and Dad had a plastic set that we played with all Christmas season -for years. Can't find anything like it. Apparently there is a "Little People" Nativity -made by Fischer Price. The girl at FCBS said that they sold out of that instantly.

Why can't we find sets for our children to play with?

How else (besides reading books) am I going to teach him and let him become familiar with the story of Jesus? I supposed I could get a DVD, but then that's more time spent watching TV.

What's the deal people?

If anyone knows where I can get an indistructable nativity set, let me know.

-Mom, the set you got us is good, but it doesn't have tons of characters and I've already had to rewing and angel.

What I like about you!

Susan Pride.


Do you know her? You should. She's awesome.

She's my aunt. Mom's younger sister.

Aunt Susan makes me beautiful. Any time I need it, I can call her up and say, "Aunt Susan, I need a haircut, can you do it?" Know what she'll say, and she'll say it every time. "Sure! When do you want to come?"

Now just saying something like this, anyone could do it. But Aunt Susan really means it (I think). She never acts too busy or put out that I (and all my sisters and some cousins) take advantage of her. The other part of this is that Aunt Susan is the best beautician ever. She does what you ask and then improves on it.

She always gives of herself. Know the verse about God loving a cheerful giver? I love a cheerful giver too. It makes you feel good.

Thank you Aunt Susan for always making me feel important and for allowing me to sit down and visit with you every couple of months. Thank you for serving me.

Abilene Community Band

presents

A Christmas concert

at the Paramount Theatre

7:30 PM

Thursday.

Look for the Ellis's

It's FREE

Leno

What's the difference in Plexico Burress and toys made in China?




Drum roll please....




Toys made in China have less lead in them. bada-boom-ching!

The parade

Ok, so I just thought these pictures were too funny. Check em out.

Notice Ty's focus.

Mission accomplished. Good job Agent Ty.

This is us at the Abilene Christmas parade tonight. FYI.

Partys

This was the third weekend in a row that we were out of town. 1. College Station, 2. Austin, 3. Greenville. For those of you from South Side who read this: "No, we are not looking around for another church."

Claire and Ava -my sister's girls had a joint party in Austin. Jack and Ty couldn't miss it.

Chrissy, my sister, had a SUPRISE birthday party in Greenville. We just got back last night, minus one child. Jack stayed back in Greenville with his cousins/aunts/uncles/gigi/pop. We will come back on Wed. night after Mike gets off work. I hope he doesn't miss us too bad. I miss him some. Makes me feel bad for Mike who has to be away for months at a time. It is just three days for me. Goodness.

Today I am going to decorate for Christmas. All but the tree and the stairway, that will come later. Ty is sleeping right now so I think I might get started. Here are a couple of pictures of Claire and Ava's birthday party. I don't have any of Chrissy's yet. But boy was she surprised!!

Why I dislike blogging

It is true. I don't like blogging.

I am thinking of quitting.

It has become a little bit of a creative outlet for me to type on this blog, but I don't like what has become of you since I have started.

What has become of you?

Yes, that's what I said.

Because I DON'T KNOW "What has become of you."

No one calls me to see what is going on because they can read it all right here. You can think things like: "I'll call Becca and see what she did today. No! Wait, it would save a lot of time to just see what she wrote on the blog."

Yeah, are you guilty?

Think about it... Mom. Mema. I don't know who all reads this, but you too may have stopped calling me.

I have been guilty about it as well. So sorry Ashleigh. I need to call you. I have no excuse but laziness. I love you and want to talk to you but I'm lazy. It will stop. I will call.

Blogging is a one-sided conversation. There is no fellowship, there is no encouragement (unless you post -which you don't), there is nothing about community which is VERY important for believers. Especially those who are without a husband half the time. (or in my case, 2/3 the time.)

So I don't think it is Biblical for us to get in this rut of only reading about other people's lives. Heck, they have novels for this. And there are MANY more interesting stories of people's lives than mine. So maybe a novel is for you. I hope not. I hope you will instead get up off the computer and call someone you love. Ask them about their day and live in community with them. It doesn't have to be me. I can just call a sister when I'm feeling like nobody wants to talk to me. -They don't have a choice. I just keep calling and bugging them till they answer (right Caroline?)

I asked for accountability for Scriptures that I have been memorizing.

No one has asked me to quote it to them.

I can. I've gotten it down and am working on another set of verses from Ps. 119.

I said that I wasn't going to get on here unless I had already spent time in Scripture. I have done it. Mike left this morning (5:30) for a week. I'll see him next Thurs. So I got up and did my quiet time early.



Here is the passage I am working on memorizing.

Blessed Lord, teach me your rules.

I have recited your laws,

and rejoiced in them more than in riches.

I will meditate upon them and give them my full respect.

I will delight in them and not forget them.

Ps. 119:12-16

I am hoping that someone will ask me to quote it for them. I am not done with it yet. I just started this morning and my head isn't what it used to be. (I am sure some of you are saying 'Amen' to that one)

I will decide on the fate of "Becca and the boys" don't know yet.

Aggieland

"Mommy sing Aggie song"

No more Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, no more Jesus Loves Me, no more Uncle Donald (Old MacDonald). Now Jack wants to hear me sing the "Aggie song" (Aggie War Hymn) before bed.

So I start with Hullabaloo Kaneck Kaneck, Goodbye to Texas University... and Jack starts grinning. He is in love with this song. He heard it at the game last weekend and can't get enough.

It seems odd how Texas A&M alumni always have kids that are big-time Aggie fans. Other schools don't seem to have the same loyalty from the next generation as Aggies do. Sometimes it can go too far and look like a religion. So for all of you who are thinking this is what Mike and I did: take the weekend to brainwash our two-year-old. We didn't. We didn't take him around the campus and point out all the big new buildings and tell him about the prestigious science departments or about the reputation of the college. We didn't take him to tour the dorms or to yell practice. We simple gave him a freebird and a ticket to the game. -Yes, Jack had to have a ticket to enter the game.

That was all it took.

Mmmmm. So good.

Ty didn't come to the game he stayed with Grandma Sandra. Amanda Holley and her roommate Laura were gracious enough to let us have their entire livingroom for the weekend. And thanks to the Feldman's for the air pump! What a fun trip. I wish we had had about 3 more days to soak it in. Looks like there is some good shopping in Bryan and College Station now. Wow. Can't wait to go back and retire down there. We had a wonderful time visiting all our old friends at Living Hope. I was so glad when they recognized us. I was afraid that most of them had forgotten us. I got lots of hugs was blessed by the service. I love that church!

Dirt pile

Jack is always wanting to play in my potted plants. What is it with boys and dirt? I'm all about building forts and sand castles but I don't see the draw of the dirt in the pots. I have aranged 5 plants in various sized pots next to my front door. See picture below. Yesterday morning was no different from many other mornings. I let Jack go outside and play by himself. Yes, he is two. No, I wasn't keeping a close eye on him. More of a semi-close eye. I may hear about this from Mom and Grandma later...

Well, I went out to check on him and he had dug up some of my flowers. I scolded him and made him come inside since he had done something he knew wasn't allowed.

Then I thought of a quote my friend Candace had told me, it was from the book Bringing up Boys by Dobson. The quote was: "If you allow your boys to get bored, you deserve what you get." I don't know if he backs this up with scripture or not, but it did seem like it could make since that boys need to be entertained. So I tried to think of a way to let him get his "dirt fix." Being city-folk like we are, and living on the base, we can' t just go dig a hole in the backyard. There aren't many spots that have dirt that don't also have front-end-loaders and men with hard hats working.

But here is something we do have! Self Help. We have this little building that gives us free house matanence stuff (mulch, solar-powered lights for your driveway, lightbulbs, rat traps, and DIRT). I get Jack's attention and tell him, "Jack let's go to the store and get you some dirt!" Huh. He is going to grow up thinking you get dirt at a store, not off the ground. I am shaking my head and rolling my eyes right now... but hey, what am I gunna do?

We went to the store and got 10 bags of top soil. Below are the pictures I took of Jack playing in "Jack's dirt"

Notice Ty isn't getting to play. It's because he eats the dirt.

Jack will also grow up thinking that dirt comes in bags like flour does.

Mom told me today that Judy reads my blog, "HI JUDY!!!!" and that she takes it home to June, her mom. "Hi June!!!"

I hope I'm not getting too boring. I haven't had much else good to write about. Oh well, there was the 14 hour period when both of my boys ate poop. But I've already got a poop story on here so I don't want to gross all of you out again. Yeah, now Jack talks about eating poop every time he goes to the bathroom. It will go something like this:

"Jack, are you all done going pee-pee?"

"Not all done, Mommy, not eat poo-poo huh Mommy?"

"No Jack, we do not eat the poo-poo, that is gross."

"Eat the pee-pee Mommy?"

"Sure Jack, go ahead, knock yourself out."

(Just kidding. I tell him not to eat the pee-pee)

But besides that, it's not that interesting around here. Oh, we did go to College Station last weekend. I'll write about that later.

Accountability

I have not been very disciplined lately when it comes to memorizing Scripture. So here is what I am going to do. First of all. I will not get on here and type meaningless things about my life until I have spent time reviewing and memorizing Scripture.

Fair enough?

Second. I am going to put the verses I am memorizing on here and let you all hold me accountable to knowing the verses.

For example. I type out my verse (as I will do in a moment), you read the verse and call me on the phone or email and ask me to quote it back to you. If you email me then I will email you back with the verse WITHOUT looking at it. If you call, well I am on the spot right there and will try to quote it back.

There is no prize for anyone who can stump me, and my hope is that my prize for memorizing the scripture will be life changing.

I am counting on you to help me. If you want to play along and memorize my verses too. I will happily call you and ask for your quotes.

I have decided to start in Ps. 119 as it is full of verses about how important the Bible is and how useful it is to life. Here I go!

I am memorizing the verses in the Living translation. This is how I will quote them.

Ps. 119:1-5

Happy are all who perfectly follow the laws of God.

Happy are all who search for God and always do His will;

rejecting compromise with evil and walking only in His paths.

You have given us your laws to obey

--Oh how I want to follow them consistantly.

*

Bummer

Well, I voted for McCain. I am disapointed that he lost.

I am a very black and white person. It's either good or it's not. An activity is either dangerous or it's beneficial. Either you discipline your children or you don't. When you play a game, you either use the rules provided or you throw 'em all out the window.

This can sometimes be a good attribute but can other times be a stumbling block. In the case of our president-elect my reaction will either be:

FEAR -for my husband's job future (new commander in chief), for our country's security, for healthcare for my extended family and maybe even my imediate family and on and on. (Not that McCain had all the answers.)

OR

Indifference -I can just say "whatever" and go on with life, not think about it again. Every time the thought enters my mind I will just say "God's got this" and quickly change my thoughts.

I don't think fear or indifference are right ways to react to a new leader. Instead I should let the thoughts enter my mind and every time they do I need to be begging our God to heal our country, to not give us over to our depraved thoughts and our godless behavior.

I need to examine my own actions to see what they say about what I believe. Do I make little of disobedience to God? Do I react in love when I see someone sinning? Do I judge then go on with my day feeling good about myself? I have learned recently that when you raise children, every interaction with them teaches something. If I ignore a disobedient behavior, I am telling them that disobedience is sometimes ok. If I let them throw fits, I am teaching them that self-control is not necessary. I think the same is true whether we are raising children or not. We are training ourselves every time we let sin in our lives go uncorrected. We should always be on guard to sin. Don't let it breed in your life.

So. I will watch my conduct. I will pray for our leaders. I will love.

Or at least I will try.

Go Vote!

Besides being Hannah's 22 birthday, today is election day. Everyone get out and vote. People today still die for our right to vote. I often have to raise our children alone because my huband is out securing our right to vote.

We won't realize how valuable this right is until we one day lose it. Let's not let that happen.

Besides, if you vote today then go to Starbucks they will give you a Tall coffee for free. Just tell 'em you voted. I am about to take Jack to MDO then Ty and I will go check it out. If it's not true, I'll get back on here and correct this post.

Happy Elect YOUR leaders day!

Halloween on base

Jack is trying to make the same face as our Jack'O'Lantern. He is holding onto his "Gigi Pop's house pumpkin" which he loves (Thanks Gigi)! Jack dressed up like Mr. Conductor from Thomas the Tank Engine. At first he was aprehensive about the outfit, but then he decided he'd try it.

I left a jar of babyfood down low and Jack picked up the spoon and started feeding Ty! What? Why hadn't I thought of this sooner? He got Ty a little messy, but hey, it was his first time. I think Ty got fed half the jar. Awesome.

This is when a swarm of kids came by to get candy. Mike took care of 'em. I was cleaning up from our neighborhood party. Which was a success. I think 7-8 couples stopped by. It was a very short party though cause the kids started coming at 6:00!

This is where Jack stayed when the scary costumed kids came by. He's his mother's child... I actually hid inside during most of this. I had Ty take the picture.

When I finally came back outside. Mike told me that Jack had seen Bob the Builder! I asked Jack about it and he looked up at me bright eyed and said he had indeed seen Bob. He then pointed down the street where Bob was walking. I asked if he wanted to go see him again. He said yes and started sprinting across the neighbor's lawn. I had to walk fast to keep up. We found Bob (aka Benjamin) and asked if we could get a picture with him. He (and his parents) agreed. Jack was in awe.

Other characters Jack saw were: Panny Mandy (Handy Manny) a clown and Superman.

JACK (and Ty) -O-Lantern

Yesterday I bought another pumpkin. It had been marked down to 2.99 so I thought we'd have fun carving it into a JACK (and Ty) -O-Lantern.

So that is what we did this morning.

During Ty's AM nap we went out on the front porch and took a drill, a paring knife, a steak knife and some tool you are supposed to use when you fish.

This is what the process looked like:

Tonight we are having our neighbors over to eat hot dogs on the driveway (Poulter 2007) Sorry. I felt like I should site that since it was Emily's brain child. She called me and told me to do it. I think this is her third year to throw this kickin party.

Jack is going to be a train engineer tonight when he goes trick'or'treating. We went shopping yesterday for his outfit. Apparently that is a little late because of the FOUR stores we went to we only found ONE costume in his size. Thank goodness it wasn't wonder woman.

New normal.

Ahh. These last three days have been so very very nice. Jack has been so happy. You can just tell that his whole spirit has lifted. We haven't seemed to skip a beat with this transition. Sometimes returning from a deployment can be hard on everyone, but it is not the case this time. Jack started playing with and talking to Mike right off. Ty is just happy not to have to be neglected as often.

I feel like it's Christmas :-) Mike has been helping with the boys and with meals, it has made it much easier on me. I have even taken 2 naps in the last three days. -AND they got to be as long as I wanted, I didn't have to wake up after 30 mins. to take care of the boys. Wow! Life is great.

This is Mike taking Jack potty for the first time ever. We potty trained while Mike was gone.

See how Mike scooted back to make sure he didn't get shot at? He is always having to watch out for that. Here or away.

His crew will probably get the "Iraq Campaign Metal" because they were "engaged" (Someone shot a rocket at them.) Something that is not always a given for the cargo guys in the AF. Yikes! But, that's war for ya...

Enough of that. The Ellis's are heading for G-town today or tomorrow to visit the folks and Mike and I are going to the DALLAS COWBOYS game on Sunday.

Look for us in the nose-bleeds.

Here is a picture of our house and the boys out playing. I don't know if I have posted one yet.

HOME!

About to leave the house to get Daddy

He's home! I was planning on meeting him w/o the boys, because it was so early, but right as I was walking out the door, Jack came down the stairs. I asked him if he wanted to come with me to get Daddy and he said "Go get Daddy?" So He came with me. He smiled when he saw his Dad and was not very shy. He walked to him and gave him a hug.

All of us.
Mike and Jack racing to the car.
Sarah Beth finding Tim for the first time. (Sarah is a good friend of mine. We have been waiting out the deployment together.)

Ty seeing Daddy. Mike was shocked to see how much Jack and Ty had changed.

Ty checking this new dude out.

They warmed up to each other after a few minutes.

Well, it's 9:15 and we have the day ahead of us. Not sure what's going to happen, except a nap. Ty kept me up most of the night. I think I slept 3 uninterupted hours -not consecutive.

Mike slept some on the plane. He stopped in Ireland and Bangor, ME before getting home. Jack is doing very well with Mike. He showed him all his cars and then they played "Rock'n Roll All Night." They are back to being buddies.

Nothing left to do but the park.

I should be cleaning right now

But I'm not. I just put the boys to bed and I usually come into the computer room as they are falling asleep. That way if Jack gets out of bed, I can catch him. He is amazingly good at sneaking around and I usually don't hear him until he is climbing back out of Ty's crib (with Ty's passie in tow) and back into his bed.

Right now I'm just being lazy and not wanting to start tidying yet. In case you don't know...

MIKE IS COMING HOME TOMORROW!

at 0600. Yep. Early. Lindsey is on her way over here and will stay with the boys tomorrow while I go greet Mike.

I'm so excited. I'll put pictures on here if any of them are decent. (It will still be dark out).

Check back L8R

The new park is open!

The park behind our house just opened today! It is awesome. I haven't gotten to go explore, because I had to hold Ty when we were there earlier today. Jack ran around and loved it. Then he called to me and started waddling over to me. Those of you who have read the previous posts know what it means when Jack waddles. He says "Pee-pee, Mommy" I look up and he has, he has pee-peed all over. He says he has to go more. -Anyone know where this is going? I thought, "gosh, I am glad he is a boy, otherwise we couldn't do what we are about to do."

I look around and don't see anyone else at all.

Yep.

Jack christened the playground.

He had to go, so I took him over to a hidden area where kids won't be playing and let him pee. Hope no one who lives on Dyess ever reads this...

Is that a bad thing? If so, someone tell me so I don't let him ever do that again. But, to my knowledge, guys just kind of go when they need to go. Right? I have very little knowledge in this subject.

Well, we played some more, then Jack said he had to go "poo-poo." I have my limits... some of you were about to get panicky. We left. Jack didn't understand why we couldn't just take care of that business at the park as well.

One day he'll understand.

Time out

When I went upstairs to check on Jack after a nap, this is what I saw. He had all his cars lined up.

Why do boys do this?

Grant did it all the time.

Do girls line up their toys? If Boys do it because they like order then why are their rooms so messy? Any ideas?



Here is a close up.


Mike has gotten on this site and started reading about life back in the Good 'Ole USA.

"Hi Mike!" So I am going to post lots of picture so he will be able to see what his kids are doing. Oh, Mike, while your here. We need to talk about Jack. He got in trouble at MDO today and Mrs. Amy had to put him in time-out. Then, he wouldn't stay in the chair for her, so she had to go get Mr. Guy. (this is like going to the principal) Mr. Guy talked to him and then he went back into the room and sat in the time-out chair. Amy said she had no more problems with him. He also went right to sleep at nap time so maybe he was "just tired."

Mr. Guy and I talked and he thinks that he is missing his Dad. He needs someone to put the fear into him. I kiss him too much for him to be that afraid of me ;-)

Well, talk to ya'll all later!

Paid out

Well, I've got two things to say today.



First: Ty and I went on a date this morning to the Dixie Pig (best breakfast joint in Abilene) and a nice man paid for our meal! No, he wasn't creepy. He walked up to Ty and I and who were both eating a pancake and said that he had "enjoyed watching the wrestling match." (Ty was a little active and very excited about getting to eat a pancake...) We got to talking and I told him that Ty and I were getting some alone time before Daddy came home in a week. I went on to explain that he was deployed and all that. We visited for a few more minutes and then he thanked Mike and I for our service to the country. Then he went up to pay his bill. As he left, another waitress came by and told me: "You are all paid out. That man just paid your bill and he even left a tip for the waitress!"


How kind was that? I even looked a mess! We woke up late again and kind of ran out the door to get Jack to MDO before we were embarrassingly late.


Ty ate a lot of breakfast, so much that he went to sleep on the way home and is still asleep on my bed. See picture below.





Next thing I wanted to say is:


Check out my garage! Yay! This is the first time I have put the cars away since moving to the "new house" -as Jack still calls it. Yesterday I scrubbed the inside of both of them to get ready for Mike's return. I want everything to be nice for him.

I wanted to add a couple more pictures that I like. Here is Ty learning to maneuver down steps.