Hard Workin Man

So last weekend things didn't go exactly as planned. The goal was to get a majority if not all of our new deck and railing finished over the 4 day weekend. Of course, it had to to rain nearly the entire weekend. Not to mention David had to go on a search and rescue most of Memorial day. I truly believe God is always teaching us lessons. Most of you know that David is usually not very happy when the plan doesn't go according to what it is supposed to. I have to say that he really has had a pretty good attitude about the whole thing. So needless to say David has been getting home from work scarfing down some dinner and heading out to diligently work on the deck until 11:00pm or so. Oh I forgot to mention we are also learning that home projects never go according to the plan....or budget. We were going to just replace the surface with some composite and redo the railing. Well when he pulled up the old boards he found that the joists were completely rotted. So, of course he had to build a complete new foundation. Fortunately, David has had help with this whole project. Our amazing neighbor has also come over the past 3 evenings to help David do the project. We are very blessed with awesome neighbors that have become great friends. I actually think that David secretly doesn't mind one bit that he has had to this project in the evenings. It's good to see him having some guy bonding time. It's really a win win situation because I get to have a new deck that doesn't give my kids splinters and he gets to be a man and marvel at his work. It really is a vast improvement on the junkie old deck. I am very proud of my handy dandy husband.

Nathan...Discovering the world upright

I just knew that it would happen when David was gone. Nathan at the ripe old age of 16 months finally decided to take a few steps. We were at my friends house....and she being a military mommy too knows the perils of having your hubby gone for those special moments. She was quick and grabbed her camera. And thanks to her we have the cherished memory of the first official attempt at walking. Nathan continues to periodically try some more. I don't think he will be a full time walker until he realizes he can get places just as quick as if he is crawling. I love my little baby....but really I can't wait to have a full time walker. Sorry it's sideways....we can't flip video.

Dadddy's Our Hero!

Daddy is finally home! After being gone 4 out of the last 5 weeks we are all ecstatic to have him home. The day after he got home the base had their annual air show. And daddy got to be a part of the act. He got to demonstrate a rescue operation for someone lost in the mountains. Flying in the helicopter is the "fun" part of his duties. He gets to fly once a week...and is on call for rescue flights. After his little demonstration they had security forces faked a little combat confrontation with "the enemy" complete with fake ammo, smoke grenades, and the big tank. Although it's always exciting to see daddy in action....the best part of the show is the 9 Canadian snowbirds that fly. They also let the kids hang out on the tank, and in the helicopters, oh and also the fire trucks. I think this was Elijah's favorite part. He is such a tactile kid. I just told him to not break anything.....because we didn't really have an extra 400,000 lying around. The kids were pretty excited about the free stuff too. They gave out baseballs and basketballs bearing the logo of the National Guard of course. The only bummer of the whole day is that my dumb camera was out of order. Every we try to use the camera the batteries don't seem to have enough juice despite the countless times we recharge them. I think we need to invest in about 5 more just to be safe. Nothing is more frustrating them missing out on amazing pictures of family outings ( that I have to blog about) that only happen once a year. Thankfully another Air Force wife hooked me up with a few pictures of the day.

Another One Bites The Dust!

So I am sure you are all wondering why would I post a blog about mere pieces of broken butter dish. Well, in our household we have a little problem with broken butter dishes. This happens to be the third broken butter dish in the past year or so. I know, I know you are all saying why don't you get a new "PLASTIC" butter dish. Well....I refuse, because I like the look of a nice white one that matches my dishes. I have to say that at least I was proud of the way I handled it. Realizing that this was an accident....on the part of Elijah who ran into the house seeking scissors to cut the tags of his new tennis shoes( I know Boppa your thinking Elijah shouldn't be using scissors....I agree)....and in his great excitement knocked the cherished dish onto the tile floor. Normally, I would have not been to happy....but because it was evident that his little heart felt so sad that he broke yet another one of mommy's butter dishes, I had no choice to be calm. A friend gave me her words of wisdom....you can buy spreadable real butter that stays in the fridge. We will see if I can part with my obsession for butter dishes.

My little Ballerina

So we had the first official ballet recital for Gracie on Saturday. She was absolutely stunning walking onto stage with her little ballet girl bun and flowing costume. She danced to "Edlwiess". It's amazing to me how exciting it is to see your little girl on stage....and how quickly it goes. So much preparation for two minutes of fame. She did awesome....although of course she was a little confused at times about what the routine was. All I know is that she absolutely loves it....and wants to continue on......so I am sure it will be the first of many recitals to come.

Fabulous Moment of the Day!

So in any given day a number of funny things can happen with my active children. Today I scheduled an appointment for the sprinkler people to come by and check out are little system. Supposedly, it's necessary to have them "checked out in the spring." Note to self....all they did was turn them on. As you can imagine my kids thought it was pretty cool that we had sprinklers running in our yard. They have never seen them....because they are set to come on early in the morning. It didn't matter to Elijah that it really wasn't warm enough to go running through them. Nor, did he care that he was dressed! I had to just laugh....and I am so mad because our camera battery was dead. Sorry no pictures. Oh and for those of you who were wondering what the item that David is carrying on our little hike. It is Flat Ben. Maybe you have heard of the book "Flat Stanley." Well this is a cut out of our little friend Ben who sent it to us to take some fun pictures and mail it back for his school project. I keep reminding myself to let my kids be kids.....well every once in awhile.

Finally some fun!

So after being busy and painting all week long....literally.....we are finished. So, finally we had all day on Saturday to have nothing but pure, uninhibited fun with the kids all day long. We decided to go for a picnic and a little bit of hiking. We went to the Giant Springs park....which is right by the Missouri river. We had a great little hike....and then saw the Rainbow Trout Hatchery that is there (Boppa's fishing heaven). Then we tried a little fishing of our own at a pond near our house.....unfortunately it's not quite like Minnesota and we came up empty handed....but still managed to get a little sun and have some fun. The kids didn't want to leave. I guess we will have to wait till we get to go out on Boppa's boat to actually catch something. It was a great day!