Spring Break!  I had told the kids about all of the housework we were going to do over the break, including cleaning and decluttering their rooms, and I realized that it was starting to sound like a punishment.  I told them to each think of something (within reason) that they would like to do during the week.

Day 1 started with Tyler's birthday portraits.  They were horribly late, but I was hoping to do them when Ben was in town, and that never worked out.  I had packed lunch so we could head straight to Zack's requested activity:  Sonic slushes and playing at the air park by the old chapel on base.  You can't climb on or in any of the aircraft, but my kids managed to stay entertained there for and hour and half while I hung out with C. S. Lewis.

Because we had a good breeze, we decided to do Sydney's activity, which was kite flying, that afternoon.  Good thing I didn't insisted on taking the rest I so felt I needed since that was the only day with any decent wind.

Tuesday morning, we attacked the girls' room.  It took two hours, but it looked great when we were finished.  We then went to Chuck E. Cheese (Tansy's pick), where I bought 50 tokens for each of the kids.  Do you know how long it takes for kids to use 50 tokens?  We were there for two hours.  Sheesh.  We went out to lunch then played at home for the rest of the day.

Wednesday was story time at the library, a birthday lunch for me with my friends, then swimming with some other friends in the afternoon.  After everyone got cleaned up, we needed a quiet evening.

Thursday got off to a much needed slow start, then we cleaned the boys' room.  That only took and hour and a half, but they have less stuff than the girls do.  That afternoon we went to see Mr. Peabody and Sherman then took the boys to their first session of Start Smart soccer.

Friday, March 14, was Tansy's birthday!  We started the day with gifts after torturing her with several minutes of waiting because I couldn't find the camera.

That girl brought in quite the haul.  We had dinner at Burger King then headed to the base for the family preview of the airshow.  The kids hit the bounce house first (of course) but I managed to coax them out to look at some the aircraft on display.  There was a stunt team performing and when they landed they parked not far from where we were.  The kids were so excited to talk to the pilots and got to take their picture with one of them.

And who doesn't like to end the day with cake?  It was really the best way to finish up Spring Break.  Happy birthday, Tansy!

Since the beginning of the year, Ben has been in and out of trainings to prepare for his deployment to Afghanistan.  The plan was that he would go to his last training, come home for a couple of weeks, and then deploy.  A few days before leaving for that last training, he was informed that he would not be coming home for that time.  That left us scrambling to finish all of the things we thought we still had weeks to do, and next to now family time.  By sacrificing nearly two full nights' of sleep, he was able to finish almost everything so we could spend some time as a family the day before he left.

After running an errand at the base, we decided to treat the whole family to lunch at Red Lobster.  Apparently it was not meant to be our treat.  When one of the managers asked if the kids were out of school early, we told him that it was our last day together before Ben left for training and deployment.  Word really got around because another manager took down our names so she could buy us dinner when he got back, the restaurant gave us free dessert, and two ladies at another table paid our bill.  On the way out, the first manager caught up with us to thank us for bringing our family in and gave us $40 in gift certificates.  You can imagine how much crying happened in the course of that lunch.

Of course, Ben had to show off his weapons before we sent the kids off to bed that night.  Although the entire episode had a running dialogue on gun safety from Ben, I was still somewhat uncomfortable with the whole thing.

We were at the airport early the next morning.  I think Sydney was the only one who really understood what this goodbye meant.

We miss him a lot already, but the last couple of weeks have gone by so fast, I'm praying that's how the whole time will pass.

Zack and Tyler's preschool teacher was unable to continue teaching in January so they started at another preschool taught by a sister in our ward.  At the end of January, they took a field trip to the fire station.  I don't know why Tyler hates having his picture taken so much.  He had a really good time since he wants to be a firefighter when he grows up.

Tansy was student of the month for her class in January.  She was so excited.  After Sydney got it, she worried for months that she never would.  Sydney and Tyler were both sick that day, but I ran out really quickly with Zack to see her and was that jerky parent who leaves right after their kid gets their award.  As we walked past, she was asking her teacher if I was there.  She was so worried I'd missed it and so happy to see me.  Tyler was still sleeping and Sydney was busy with Netflix when we got home so it all went well.

In February, I noticed that Tansy was having trouble seeing and took her to the eye doctor.  She was worse than Sydney!  Glasses for that girl.  Isn't she cute?

And Zack has extended his five-year-old independence to the kitchen.  He wanted to make chocolate-covered strawberries for FHE.  By himself.  I showed him how to do one, and he was off.  They were tasty.

Zack and Tyler participated in Start Smart Basketball together.  Since Ben could never make it, I had to work with both of them at the same time.  It was challenging, but they both learned a lot.

On January 25, Tyler turned 4!  Since Ben is preparing for deployment, he was at a training.  I don't know why I have no pictures of his presents, but know that there was a lot of Mickey Mouse.  The kid's a fanatic.  Happy birthday, Tyler!

Christmas!  We happened to be at Chick-fil-A while Ben was doing some stuff at Lowe's, when this Santa came in.  I thought it was great how he took time with all of the kids who were there.  That is until he made my kids promise that they would leave peanut butter blossoms (the cookies with the Hershey's Kisses on top) for him on Christmas Eve.  What the heck, Santa!  We don't make those for Christmas.  But this year we had to.

Later that evening, we were at a Christmas party at the base chapel where we saw this Santa.  You would think my kids would have raised an eyebrow, expressed some skepticism after having just seen a different Santa at lunch.  Nope.  Magic.

We got to go to Utah for Christmas and spend it with my family.  So many presents!  But so much fun.  We even got together with Ben's family during a break in the weather, which had caused us to reschedule our previous plans with them.  I think everyone had a good time.

We were home for the New Year, and I had plans.  However, I had also brought Dad's cold home with me, and it had made plans for its own party in my lungs.  I was so sad that that I wasn't able to do any of what I had hoped, but things actually turned out okay.

When bedtime rolled around, everyone was having so much fun that I just left them alone.  Near 10:30 that night, things had started winding down when the neighbor kids came to see if we wanted to watch their fireworks.  While Ben took the kids there, I continued to hold down the couch.  They were pretty wired when the got home, so we stayed up, got out the party favors, and rang in the new year at midnight.

 

Ty was almost too tired to blow his horn.

Zack stepped in with some encouragement.

Happy New Year!

Fall in Arizona, like all other seasons, was warmer than we were used to.  However, we still had a great time.  Sydney was student of the month in October for her class.  She is dressed at Morgan Lefay from Magic Tree House since they were supposed to dress like a book character.

And no Halloween is complete without posing with Grandma and Grandpa Halloween!  Seriously, they kind of look like my parents.

So much candy!

And our traditional dinner of worm sandwiches and monster mouths before the trick or treating began.

In November they had Literacy Night at the school.  There were lots of fun games, but this was by far the cutest thing all night.

And, yes, Sydney was riding this bike until March 2014.  Somehow, she suddenly outgrew it.  We had planned to get her a new one for her birthday, but we got it the day before Ben left since he wanted to be there for that.  I'll need to get a picture of the new, properly-sized bike.

Ty wanted to make sure everyone's tires were properly inflated.  Giving Mom a break here.

I was also called into the Primary presidency.  There I was, minding my own business, teaching Valiant 9 with Ben, and then this happens.  I love those kids, but this has been a challenging calling.  Over Thanksgiving break, I was the only presidency member available to attend a baptism.  Ben had to work, so I took all the kids.  Zack didn't want to wear his tie.  After he threw it on the floor a couple of times, I told him that tie needed to be on his body and not come off again.  This is what I got:

I said nothing because he was technically obeying me.  Pick your battles, right?