Halloween 2013 and an actual update!

 Lizzie chose to be a princess...do you know which one?  That's right, this is Sleeping Beauty.

 Matthew is a knight this year.  I was lucky to even get a picture of him,

he was so raring to get out there and get some candy!

 Here is Matthew wanting to chop the camera right out of my hands.  All he wants is candy!

 Doesn't Ethan make the cutest little patriot you've ever seen?  He is supposed to be a soldier from the Revolutionary War, but most people thought he was Napoleon.  He eventually gave up explaining it.  But for the Character Parade the next day, he said he was Johnny Tremain.

 Love this one of Ethan.  I need a caption for what Lizzie's face is saying in this one.  Something like, "Yup, that's a brother for you."  Any thoughts?

Okay, too cute.  Lizzie is now 6 years old and Ethan just turned 10. 

He looks younger than 10 to me, though.

 

So there, now I've updated my blog for the first time since Easter. 

I guess I can give a quick low-down.  Russ returned from Kyrgyzstan in March, and we moved back here to San Antonio in July.  We actually live in a smaller city near Randolph AFB, called Cibolo, which is essentially just part of San Antonio.  We still own our house in the Stone Oak area, and miss all our friends over there, but decided to move closer to the base this go-around.  Cut down on the commute time and all.   Of course, people are nice wherever you go, and I love the ones I've met here, but I do miss my friends in Stone Oak.  Plus, it was really nice being only 5 minutes from the temple, instead of 30.  There are a couple of old friends from Del Rio in our ward here though (Angela Anderson and Chelsea Lundberg for those of you who know them).  It's fun to see them again and see their kids grown up more.  Sven Lundberg is our home teacher now too (that is a priesthood holder from church who watches over your family and looks out for you; he comes at least once a month to check on us and share a spiritual message).  He brought his 6 year old son, Soren, with him to visit us this last Sunday and they brought us pumpkin cookies!  Yummy!

 

Russ is doing well in his new job.  He is working for Air Force Personnel Command (AFPC) doing the bomber assignments for the AF (for the B-2 and B-52 community).  People either love him or hate him, since he's the one who decides where they get to move.  He enjoys what he does and has a great time with the guys he works with.

 

The kids are all doing well in school this year.  If you are familiar with our past few years, you'll know that my including Matthew in this is a BIG deal.  He is doing fabulously.  Ethan is on the A Honor Roll and Matthew is on the A/B Honor Roll.  No significant behavior problems at all this year.  Wow.  I am amazed even as I write this.  Neurotherapy did wonders for him.  Both boys are doing horseback riding lessons as their extra-curricular activity this fall.  Both seem to enjoy it.  Lizzie likes to go and see the other animals there.  She's even gotten to ride the horse once herself.  Lizzie loves kindergarten and seems to flourish there.  She is out-going and loves making friends.  We just did a princess pool party for her birthday.  Both boys got pool parties too--hey, why not when you have a pool in your backyard! 

 

I spend a good part of my week helping out at the schools.  Just running copies and cutting and stapling--stuff the teachers need done.  I made a big bulletin board for the Kindergarten teachers to track their student's sight words that I admire every time I walk by.  Wow, who made that thing?  I'm also supposed to be helping my uncle edit a book he is writing, but I haven't been too much help in that department recently.  I do try to get to the temple once a week.  I'm going to start helping out in the laundry there twice a month.  I spend hours and hours each week helping kids with homework.  Plus, I clean the house, do the laundry, fix the meals, get kids to do their chores, etc.  So, typical mom stuff.  Can you blame me for putting off signing them up for gymnastics and piano and ballet?  I do need to do it soon, though.

 

Anyway, this is probably the most I've ever written on a blog post.  Typically I like them to look more like picture books--lots of pictures and few words.  But, now you're updated.  If you read this, post a comment.  Just a few words, so I have an idea if anybody even looks at this blog anymore.   I'll post more often in the future!  I need to get some horseback riding pictures on here!

Easter Fun 2013

 Gotta love little girls in their pretty Easter dresses!

 You have no idea how many pictures I have to take to get one genuine smile out of Lizzie!

 Ethan, Lizzie and Matthew

 

 The loot!

 Ethan spies another egg...it wasn't hard, since this yard has almost no hiding spaces.  The eggs were just everywhere on the ground.  They each picked up two of their own colors.  Lizzie had purple and pink, Matthew had orange and blue, and Ethan had green and yellow.

 

Just think of all that candy inside those eggs.  Good thing there is no school this week!

 Eggs are a traditional symbol of Easter, representing new life.  Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and lives again!  Because of his resurrection, all of us will be resurrected one day!

Russ' last week at home...

 Russ with the kids camping at the Joint Base San Antonio Recreation Park at Canyon Lake.

 

The kids playing around near the campfire.

 Lizzie enjoys swinging with Dad.

 The boys dig in the sand.

 Lizzie playing on the beach of Canyon Lake.

 Lizzie watches Dad skip rocks and tries her hand at it.

 

Ethan building things in the sand.

 We went to Sea World on Thursday, Russ' last day with us.  Check out Lizzie's face--that is her idea of a smile when requested to do so.  She looks upset, though really she wasn't.  Who could be, when they know they'll get to ride around in a stroller from place to place and have no need of walking.  I assure you, the boys would have gladly traded her places.

 Here we are, about to leave Sea World.  Everybody good naturedly gives in to another picture request from Mom.

 On the way out of Sea World, you are obliged to walk through a gift store, and the kids couldn't resist playing with the swords.  Of course I declined to buy them any more swords, as they have an entire arsenal of them at home.

 Ethan and Matthew holding Shamu the killer whale!

 

 Ethan and I rode the Steel Eel together.  The first drop was more scary to me than it ever has been in the past, and I felt that feeling of helplessness as we neared the top and were without hesitation about to go over.  Ethan felt like he was lifting out of his seat.  I put my hand across his lap to assure him that he wouldn't fly away.   After surviving it the first time, Ethan insisted that we venture to do it again.  In fact, those were his first words at the end of ride, before we had fully come to a stop.  "Again!  Again!"

 

Here is Ethan exulting after his two rides on the Steel Eel.

 Lizzie gives Dad a big kiss as we waited by the play area for the boys to reappear.

 Russ and Lizzie playing together.

Here Russ is asking Lizzie to guess which Disney princess he is thinking of.  After a great many guesses, she finally hit upon Tiana (from The Princess and the Frog), and he let her escape.  Lizzie surely loves the attention paid to her by her daddy.  It's sad to think of her missing them for a whole year of her childhood.

 Here we are at the airport saying goodbye.  This is Friday morning, 16 March.

 Everyone wants lots of hugs.  Lizzie, as you may notice is eating her cinnamon toast with apparent unawareness of what is about to take place.  She doesn't fully realize what it means that Daddy is going away for a year.  I don't think Ethan fully understands either.

 Matthew knows what it means, though.  He is most needing of hugs. 

A kind lady stopped and offered to take our picture as we said our last goodbyes.  I did cry, after all.  Russ told me that since I was crying I might make him cry too.  His eyes were a bit red...  Luckily I got it together enough to be able to drive.  We left and I took them to Denny's for a late breakfast, and then to Pump It Up (an air bounce place) for a playgroup with some other kids in our ward.  I meant to take their minds off of Dad leaving, and it seemed to work.  They had fun.  I was the most upset of the bunch, though I didn't let them see it.

Now (late Saturday night) I have word from Russ that he has arrived safely in Kyrgyzstan and is exhausted from many long flights (San Antonio to Virginia to Germany to Kyrgyzstan).  He is sleeping and trying to readjust his schedule to being on the opposite side of the world.

I have used his absence as an opportunity to get some cleaning done.  I cleaned the bathrooms, the garage and the whole front yard, patio and driveway (getting rid of leaves).  Keeping busy helps me not to feel so lonely.

 This year's Blue and Gold Banquet had the theme "Safe on the Sea".  The fathers and sons are supposed to decorate a cake according to the theme.  Well, Russ couldn't get off work early enough to decorate with them, so mom was left to do it.  This is what we came up with, after much searching for ideas on the internet.  After we made Ethan's cake, "Safe on the Sea", we decided to make Matthew's cake very similar, only opposite--hence, "Unsafe on the Sea".  It's also a slight commentary on their personalities as well.  :))  Their cakes ended up taking FIRST PLACE!!  Unfortunately, they only had one first place ribbon, and two boys, neither of which would give it up for the other, so they ended up pinning the ribbon on me (Val) instead.  I just looked at an old blog from 2010 and Matthew's cake had also won first place that time as well.  It looked like cars on a Pinewood Derby track.  Russ did that one.

 There are a few sharks chasing a marlin and a sea turtle, and headed toward a boat with pirates in it.  There is also an octopus down in the corner.  The seaweed is actually licorace.  The rocks at the bottom are made of jellybeans, Jelly Bellys, and Nerds.  There are a few Swedish fish on there as well.

Ethan and Matthew preparing to serve up their own cakes....Everybody had a blast and way too much cake!  We still have too much cake left over but we're making it disappear.

Rodeo Day

 Lizzie got dressed up for rodeo day at preschool.

 Isn't she adorable?

 She borrowed her pink hat and boots from her friend, Talia.

This is Lizzie with her friends Talia and Cooper.

Russ goes TDY

 Ethan is wearing Russ' helmet.  Notice Russ' new Major's insignia.

 Matthew takes his turn with the helmet.  Russ left the next day to go TDY to Ohio for some training for 3 weeks.  Then he'll be back for a month before he deploys for a year.

Little Lizzie in her BDUs with Dad.  Aren't they cute?

Kid's Birthdays in 2011

Well, since I haven't blogged since last May (other than the wedding blog), I sort of missed out on the kid's birthdays.  So here is a quick run-down.  In June we celebrated Matthew's 10th birthday with a pool party.  He invited a bunch of his friends, and it was a lot of fun.

 I did not make this Transformers cake--it came from the store.

 Matthew polishes off a big piece of birthday cake.

Matthew is the one wearing the goggles.  They had a blast splashing and warring in the pool.

Next, in September, we had a fantastic princess party for Lizzie, who turned 4.  We had six other little girls come over in their princess dresses.  It was a hoot!  They were all so cute in their princess gowns.  We did some crafts, like princess photo frames, and played a few princess games, such as musical chairs, complete with princess music.  Then before they went home we loaded them up with a bagful of princess stuff.  Stuff like blowers, beaded necklaces, bracelets, etc.  I bet their moms were thrilled about that.

 Lizzie the morning of her party, holding her balloons.

You would not believe how long it took me to make this cake.  The towers and windows come from a kit.  The towers kept falling over and messing up the cake, and then I'd have to reset them.  But, it turned out nicely for an amateur I think (as long as you don't look too closely).

The girls coloring their princess pictures while waiting for the party to begin.

 Lizzie is dressed as the Princess Tiana, and she is holding a picture of Tiana that she colored

 Charly, Lizzie S., Talia, Lizzie B., Sari, Ruby, Emma

Princesses!

 Lizzie and Talia, holding the movie and Barbie Talia gave her.

 Lizzie and Ruby, holding the dolls Ruby gave her.

Lizzie tries out her new princess bicycle

All in all it was one heck of a party!  I think they all had fun.

 

Then in October, Ethan turned 8 and he chose to have a small party and get a big present.  So he had one friend over, also named Ethan, and he got the Nintendo DS that he's been wanting so badly. 

 Matthew, Ethan and Ethan check out one of the new Nintendo DS games he got for his birthday.

 Ethan F., Ethan B., Matthew and Lizzie

 I made the Jack-o-Lantern cake!

That's it for the birthday run-down for 2011.