We had a great day today. The kids were up by 7 am, with T asking if it was Christmas morning yet. When I (jokeingly) told him no, he opened the window and said, "but look, mama!" showing me the brightening sky. He and K had a great time opening presents. Actually, I opened all of K's and she just crawled back and forth between her stuff, T's stuff and the wrapping paper. They both loved all of their stuff.
Some friends came over for lunch and we had a nice time with them. The kids were all great-no fussing or fighting. Our friend's little one had a couple of potty accidents because he was so excited about everything, but it was not a huge deal. It happens.
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around and playing with new toys. C and I had to get everything in our bedroom straightened up so we can put our new furniture in tomorrow. I am so excited about it. I'll post a pic as soon as I get one, of course!
Speaking of pics, I forgot to post the Christmas card I made to send out this year.

I took some pics of the kiddos for the Christmas cards this year. I was going to go somewhere and have them done, but after thinking about it, decided not to spend the money when K is not too cooperative about photo shoots. She just looks at me like I am from outer space-sometimes I get a smile, but mostly not so much. Anyway, here are the ones I did get of them.




You can't tell in this pic, but the b/w wrapping paper on the little box actually matches K's dress. So, of course, I had to buy it and do a photo shoot. :)

That's about all that's going on around here. It will definately get busy after teh new year so I am enjoying the calm before the storm!

1. Friends are hard to say good-bye to.

2. Good health; it's invigorating.

3. I'm ready for the New Year.

4. My husband’s cologne is one of my favorite perfumes or aftershaves or smells.

5. The oldest ornament I have is a small wooden angel that I remember my mom hanging on our tree when I was a little girl.

6. Take some good friends, family, and good food, mix it all together and you have made some great memories.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing, tomorrow my plans include going to the commissary and Sunday, I want to go to the church auction and listen to the Tabb Girls Choir!

I have seen these mosaics on several blogs and finally learned how to make my own.



1. Happy Birthday Becky 2. Delicious Mexican food in Flagstaff Arizona 3. Aiken_Silo_composite_WEB 4. paint the town red. 5. Trace Adkins at the Tomb of the Unknown Civil War Soldier 6. Sweet Tea, from Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles 7. Pieces of Europe 8. coffee and chocolate mousse cake 9.Happy Birthday Princess Steph 10. Albuera Pier - Children at Play 11. The Trees of Loyal Love 12. brisinger

I made some of my absolute favorite cookies ever today. I only make them at Christmas because I would be in serious trouble if I had these all the time! They are so melt-in-your-mouth yummy!

Gooey Butter Cookies

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 yellow cake mix
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Cream together the cream cheese, butter, egg, & vanilla extract. Stir in the cake mix until well blended. Roll into 1 inch balls and roll in confectioner's sugar. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes.

Well, the decision has been made. C will be going to the war college in Newport, RI. He will be moving in late January to start classes in Feb and the kids and I will move up in June when T gets out of school. And then we'll pack up and move again in early 2010. Don't know where that will be yet, but at least the next year is planned out. ha Hopefully these orders won't change!
Just a quick update today. nothing else is going on. thank goodness!!

Leave it to the Navy to create havoc in our lives (again!). C checked out of the command last Friday for 2 & 1/2 weeks of leave before flying out. He got a phone call Monday afternoon saying his orders have been cancelled. So now, he has to scramble to figure out what to do/where to go next so that he doesn't burn up all of his leave. And then, depending on what he decides, we may have to pack up and move ourselves as early as January. He has some options open for him, but none of them are as good as what he would have been doing overseas. And believe it or not, we are both pretty dissappointed about him not going now. Not that I wanted my hubby gone for that long, but we had plans for the next couple of years that are now out the window. We have been planning on this trip since last spring so several little detail type things are now having to be re-worked in just a few short days. Its things like this that make me just loooove the Navy! NOT!
In other news... K finally got her first 2 teeth in this past weekend. It was painful, for her and the rest of us. She was quite the little grouch on Sunday. Hopefully, she will not get any more in for a bit and meybe they won't give her as much trouble. Wishful thinking, I know.
We are getting ready to head to SC this weekend for Thanksgiving. T is so excited about that. He wants us to move to SC to live all the time. If only the Navy had options for us there. Oh well...

We had a Baby Dedication Day at church for 2 of the babies who were born in the last year at our church. K did wonderfully, not that she had anything in particular to do except stay in my arms. the other little guy, who just learned to walk, wanted to do just that-get down and walk around. HE is pretty cute and everyone was good-nautred about it, of course. I think his parents were a bit embarrassed but I'm sure he will provide many more embarrassing moments for them in the years to come. I know this from experience. I won't go into details on that one... lol
Anyway, here is a pic


Not a lot going on here, as usual. C is still trying to get a few projects done around the house before he leaves. That is coming up faster than I care to think about. He found out last month that he will only get one leave period instead of two as we had previously thought. I am going to have to buy a huge jar for our "Daddy kisses" this time. I think I am going to do enough for the first 6 months and then do enough for the last 6 months, instead of counting down the whole year. I think that will be easier for T and I won't have to count as many kisses at once. lol

T-man is doing very well in school. He has learned enough letters to start making words. He has a word list of around 50 words that he can actually read. So proud of him! I think once he realized how to sound out the letters and then blend the sounds together to form words, he thought it was pretty cool. So now he is practicing more at home and wanting to send "messages" to T-pa and Papa. Those are mostly just him typing out the words he can spell.

K is finally starting to crawl around on her hands and knees more, although she still prefers the commando crawl when she going "cross-country". She is also pulling up to her feet all the time. She hasn't started cruising anywhere yet, but I'm sure that is coming soon. I think she is finally starting to get her 2 bottom teeth in. I can see and feel the little bumps on her gums, although they are not red and inflamed looking yet. I hope they aren't too rough for her.

That's about all that is going in our household. That's about all I want to be goign on right now too. :)

My kiddos for Halloween:

K, the "tired baby" lol

T, the pirate

Not a whole lot is going on around here. We are just gearing up for C to leave in a few weeks. He is trying to get some stuff taken care of around the house before then. He is finishing up the garage and is going to restain the deck. He is on leave this week to work on that stuff and we are going to SC for a friends wedding this Saturday. We are leaving mid week to visit with his sister and kids because that's the only time they will get to see him before he leaves.
T is still loving Kindergarten. I had my first parent/teacher conference last week. He is doing well, according to his teacher. He is doing well with his letters and even learning some words, which is making a big difference in his eagerness to learn. He can actually see/understand what we mean about needing to know his letters to read.
K is just growing like a weed. She is still just scooting around, but she started pulling up/climbing on me this weekend so I'm sure she will be doing more of that soon. I'm so not ready for that yet. I guess it will happen anyway. lol
I've been working on Christmas cards lately. I am thinking about doing an album for Christmas (pre-made pages) and/or an album like this one. I'll have to go back and take a look at how she put it together. Since C is leaving before Christmas I decided that I would stay home with the kids. Mostly because its just too much effort to drag 2 kids, all their junk, as well as Christmas presents for them and for(and from) family all by myself. I also think that keeping things as routine as possible will help, especially in the beginning.
That's about all for now. Here's a couple of pics of the kids playing outside a few days ago.

I have been a little slack on getting my camera out the last few months, which is not a good thing since I have an 8 month old who is constantly moving/learning/discovering and has a ton of fabulous photo opps every day. I have seen this flyer on a couple of different blogs lately so I think I am going to try it out. Maybe it will get me motivated.

I read about this site in a magazine that I subscribe to and I checked out the site. It seems pretty straightforward. I am going to dig through some of my old books to see if they will take any of them. For anyone who may have college kids/friends/etc, this could be the way to get rid of the unwanted textbooks.

I was doing so well there for a while. I have just been to busy to update the last couple of weeks. T is loving school and baby K is just about ready to start crawling. she is scootin' around here like she owns the place and is rockin' on her hands and knees a good bit. I can tell she wants to move that knee forward, but is unsure of exactly how to get just one to move at a time. So she either moves them both at the same time or just flops back onto her belly and scoots to where she wants to go.
Not a whole lot going on around here. I got a couple of pics of them playing outside together. K just loves riding on this little digger with T. We bought this for T when he was about 18 months old and even though he is way too big for it, he still plays with it. I think its probably the best $35 we have ever spent on something for him. He has played with it just about every day since we bought it. And now she loves it too.

I haven't posted anything scrappy in a while so I thought I would share this one. I did this last night and love how it came out. It looks much better irl!

This was so simple to make since I used a transparant overlay from Fancy Pants. I just stuck my photo and mat down and then put the overlay on top and added a couple of rub ons and the glitter hearts, also from Fancy Pants. I think this one is my new favorite of her. I'll have to get a frame for this one for sure! Good thing I just got a coupon for Michaels!!

One more day of school and the first week is over. T seems to be enjoying it. We live close enough that I can walk him to and from school so that is what I did this afternoon. We may not be able to tomorrow, depending on the storm(s) that is/are heading our way. Hopefully, we won't get anything too serious, but we'll have to wait and see.

Woohoo! T is in school all day now! I do miss the little rugrat, but the house sure is nice and quiet and peaceful during the day now. Well, it's just easier to drown out the ga-ga, goo-goos from baby K, than T's random dinosaur/monster/wild thing noises. I can only handle so many of those in a year and my limit is quickly being reached. It's probably better for him that he is in school, otherwise I'd have to lock him in his room or something.
Anway, here are the pics. He just had to have one taken by the mailbox. Don't know why.

This is what he looked like when I told him he had to go to school ALL DAY. He had just asked me if we could go to Chick-fil-a for lunch after school. Last year, he got out of preschool at 12:30 so we would sometimes go get a little something then or meet friends for lunch. So he likes to eat lunch out. He was a bit disappointed.

So when he got home from school, he promptly asked if we could go to Red Lobster for dinner.
(No, we did not go out to dinner either.)

It's been awhile, I guess. We have just been busy with the end of summer and getting ready for school. T starts Kindergarten next week. I can hardly believe it! We get to go meet his teacher tomorrow morning. He is excited about that. We have to cart his pile of school supplies with us tomorrow. I don't remember having this much stuff when I was in school. I still want to know what they are going to be doing with FIVE packs of 8 count cranyons AND a 24 count pack of crayons?? My son just doesn't like to color that much.
Anyway, we went on a little camping trip a couple of weekends ago. It was a nice relaxing time. Except for baby K. She didn't enjoy not getting to sleep in her own bed. She was a pretty good sport about everything else. She absolutely loved being outside and playing with T.


On the way to the campsite, we stopped to see this:
It was really pretty. The campsite was called "Hidden Valley" and it was truly hidden way out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Virginia. We woke up to deer eating out in the field beside the campgrounds every morning, which was really neat to see. We went on a little hike to this swinging bridge that crosses the river close to the campground. T had a great time playing on that. I did not. I don't like heights too much and I don't care for bridges of any kind too much either.
That's about all I am motivated to write this evening. This whole "practicing getting up early for school" thing sucks. I never did like getting up for school-just ask my mom.

These are pics from last week:


Can you see the difference? He is NOT wearing a life jacket this time! He is so proud that he can "swim underwater now"! C says it is more like drowning with style, but hey, he's trying at least! SO proud of him!

And here is our little fishie. She LOOOOOVES the water! Any time she sees T in the pool, she tries to jump out of my arms & in with him.

I've had a cold for several days now so C has been taking her in and she loves every minute of it!
That's about all that is going on here. Getting ready for school to start. T starts Kindergarten in about a month or a little less. I can hardly believe it! He is ready and so am I. It will be a good thing for both of us, I think.

T-man had some big boy moments and now K has her big girl moment too! I got these this afternoon.

She's a total cutie, even if I do say so myself! I can't believe she will be 6 months old this weekend! It seems like I just had her yesterday! She is scooting across the floor to get what she wants, which is usually something that is not hers. She kicks her feet like a frog swimming and pulls with her arms to move herself forward. I am sooo NOT ready for her to be mobile yet! It won't be long before she is zooming all over the place. T will get a fast lesson on keeping his toys put away and out of her reach! Guess I need to buy those baby gates for the stairs sometime soon and get all the cabinets locked up. She is so bad about putting things in her mouth. T almost never put anything in his mouth, other than the teething toys he had, but she puts EVERYTHING in hers. She is one determined baby. She sees what she wants and starts scooting toward it, then fusses because she still can't reach it, then keeps scootin' until she gets there! I better start resting up because she is going to be into everything!! lol

T-man had not 1, but TWO big boy moments today. First, we had this:

Then, we had this:




I'm probably most excited about the swimming moment since he has been soooo scared of the pool for the last 2 summers. He would always refuse to get in and when we did manage to drag him in, he would hold onto our necks so tightly we could barely breathe. But today, he put on his life jacket and after a little protest (and a big push off from C), he was on his own. Once he realized the jacket really would keep him up, he started to relax and enjoy it. He is already talking about swimming again tomorrow. I am so proud of him! Great job, T-man!!

of the kiddos. They happened to be dressed in coordinating outfits so I grabbed the camera for a photo shoot. Baby K has not figured out how to "work" the camera yet. Her big brother has, obviously. He is such a camera hog! lol







And then I made this altered cd case for dh to put on his desk with these 2 photos, as well as the individual ones I took. It was cute and he didn't seem to mind that it was a "crafty" kind of thing.

from Susan. hahaha

What Becky Means

You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous. You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things. Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

I was inspired by Susan's list earlier this week so I created this layout. It only took me 3 days to get it done. lol I miss just being able to sit down and scrap for hours on end. I guess I have to give up something (partly) to enjoy this little bundle of goodness.

I am going to do one for T as well, but I have to get some pics of him first. I have been pretty busy this week, running around. His last day of preschool is next Wednesday. He starts Kindergarten in the fall! Kindergarten!! It seems like she was just born yesterday and he was born the day before. Time flies when they are little. I am trying to remember to embrace the miracles of everyday because they only happen once and time is too short.

ps-Susan, I got the magazine! Thanks! I paid it forward by offering to watch my friend's daughter while she took her other daughter to the doctor.

Well, what used to be his dog. C decided to try his hand at quail hunting this past year and bought a puppy 2 summers ago. The dog, a Brittany, was a beautiful dog and very sweet and loving (even when T kicked, hit, chased, and fell on her). The major problem was that she required LOTS of exercise, and I mean LOTS. And since I was pregnant and then had a baby to take care of, I could not walk her everyday. C never had time to walk her when he got home in the evenings, which means that she had to find ways to relieve her boredom. That relief was usually in the form of digging up the flower beds that C worked on all day to make them look nice. I honestly had good intentions of starting to take her for walks when the doctor ok'ed exercise for me (post c-section). Then we found out that C is probably getting orders for a one year unaccompanied tour overseas with follow on orders (hopefully) to Germany. I am not about taking care of a high maintance dog in addition to 2 kids, one of which will be miserable without his daddy around. Plus, I did not think it was fair to her that she wouldn't be able to go out and hunt/train on a regular basis, which she absolutely loves to do. So, C and I decided to give up the dog. We contacted the breeder to see if he wanted her back and he said he would take her back. C and T drove down today to drop her off. C called once they had completed the task and said that T was very upset about it and cried for a while. He thinks that we got rid of her because she was digging up the flower beds. He keeps telling C that we could get another puppy that would not dig up the flower beds. I feel so sad for him. He aggrevated the dog like crazy, but he loved her to pieces. I guess we will have to get him a rabbit or something. lol Those don't require LOTS of exercise, do they?

I can hardly believe that my little cutie is 3 months old already!! I took her for some professional photos last week. She didn't do as well as T would do for the camera. But I still got a couple of good pics of her. I came home and took some more of her and some of T, but could not get them together because she was ready for a nap. Next time, hopefully!




While we were at home in SC, C and T went to a minor league baseball game with C's dad and uncle. T had the greatest time! When we got back home, C bought him a baseball glove, and then I got him a bat and a hitting tee. He is pretty good. He can hit the ball when it's pitched to him even. I think it would be funny if he loved baseball instead of soccer! lol C would not be too happy about that though.


That's all I have for now.

They are not great pics. We didn't get to the mall to get T's hair cut so it was just wild and K just can't sleep without her pacifier so that ruins any good pics of her. Oh well. At least I remembered to get some shots of them. I did almost forget because K was sleeping when we got home from church and T wanted to change clothes to go out and play.

T has spring break next week. So NOT looking forward to that since C is still out of town. It's been crazy with him gone. Mostly because the dog is depressed and driving me nuts. Hopefully, she will be gone soon so that will be one less stress factor in my life! This is a short post this time. I have things to get done before K wakes up.

got to use the new tripod this week. I got some really cute pics of both kids. Then I edited them in PSE to this:






I love the little basket K is in. I received that with a wedding present and have had my wedding bouquet with it until now. I thought it would make a cute prop and it did! That's all I have time for tonight. It's been a long day.

here is the finished announcement:

those first smiles. They are so cute! And they just get cuter and sweeter as she gets better control of those facial muscles. I think she melted C's heart the other day. She had been smiling at me for a couple of days, but had not specifically for him. Then one morning, he got up with her to change her diaper and she did smile for him and he got the biggest grin "Awww, look she's smiling!" So now he tries to get her to smile for him all the time. And she was smiling at T this morning too. He thought it was great too.

She is trying to laugh too. All she can get out though is a grunt or something along those lines. Its pretty cute. Every once in a while she will let out a "coo", but its purely accidental.
T is looking foward to going to SC next month. He wants to go camping and fishing with his daddy and papa. He loves to go camping! He told T-pa (my mom) that he wanted the camping set from Bass Pro for Christmas and of course they got it for him. He plays with it just about everyday. He even takes his Star Wars figures camping-Storm Troopers included! So then he told Nannie (C's mom) that he wanted to boat to go with his camping stuff so she bought that. Now all the Star Wars guys go fishing together too. It's quite funny to watch him. At least he is using his imagination, I guess. lol