The Bits!!

The Bits is such a stinker. Today she found her very own hiding place in one of the kitchen cabinets. She really is growing but I hope that she will stay this sweet until her Daddy comes home!

Passover

Passover dinner on Saturday night. My neighbors, the Starr family and another family from church, the Lopez family joined us at our home for what has become an Easter season tradition. Passover Christian Style.

Cole and Ashley played the violin to the tune of "Take My Life and Let it be" as we sang Psalm 113. We ate Lamb chops and ribs, brisket and went through the motions of a traditional seder (as best we could). The children enjoy it, I think their favorite part is when they have to eat the horseradish.

We only took this one picture as we were too busy with guest and food:) Maybe Next Year!

Good Friday

The credit of these pictures goes to Ashley Lind who is staying with me for the next month. She is helping with the children and household duties. Added bonus...she likes to take pictures and needs practice. Such a hardship for me to lend my children. They seem to enjoy it.

Home Sweet Home

We bought one of these in October. I hope we can use it this year for hunting season. Cole is finally old enough that maybe he can go with. I still have Nora running around but last time I went camping with Tim I slept on snow and froze my rear off. This has prompted the purchase of this.

Everytime Tim takes me hunting it just gets more expensive. One year up in Salmon ID I toted my 7mm mauser around. Tim had asked me to help him out and hold his gun for a bit. His Kimber Montana weighed on 6lbs and it felt great. I could walk around in the hills all day with that. So I told him I better have one of those next year. That he supplied. Diamonds, Tim has never been a huge fan of but guns....take your pick.

So this next purchase is to keep me warm. My Hawaiin bones can't handle the chill of ID in early October. Bunks in the back to sleep 4 kids and still room 4 more if we needed it. I cannot wait to have the opportunity to use this. Just don't want to haul it.

I was kicking myself for buying such a long one. One day I was talking to Grandpa Kenneth and telling him I was afraid I had bought one so big that I didn't think I could drive it without Tim. He says, "Well maybe so but when its parked and you have four kids, your going to be happy you bought big!"

My EOD Tech

Everyone wants their picture taken with an EOD Tech. The movie "The Hurt Locker" may have made them known but it is not what makes them famous. They are famous for blowing stuff up and disarming IED's. Most of you all know that I married this man who does this crazy stuff and he is one of the best. The stripes on his shoulders are stacked a little too high and keeps him behind a desk a lot but if I know Tim, he weasels his way outside the wire when he can.

This is Tim's seventh tour. Some of those include Kosovo, Iraq, Jordan, Africa and now Afghanistan. We have always been proud of him and what he does. What is really cute is when the children yell "fire in the hole" from behind the couch when playing without giving it a second thought. They miss their father very much but knows that his job is very important and some body's got to do it.

Miss you Tim. See you when its hunting season.

Hawaii

Slow down Nora!

Nora loves the water. Most of my time is spent trying to keep her from getting blasted by a wave. I think by the time I can sit and enjoy a book on the ocean, Tim will have me so far away from an ocean it won't matter. I will have to settle for a babbling brook. That will be ok too:)

Normal

What is normal. I thought I was normal but am starting to think I am abnormal. Without airing dirty laundry I just want to say that my eyes are being opened to others lives. I don't want to know these things but they keep coming at me. How people live, what they think is good and bad/right and wrong. It is heartbreaking to know some of the turmoil people in the military deal with on regular basis on top the average stress that just naturally comes with military life.

I am thankful each day for my husband and family. No we are not perfect but believe that God keeps up from falling off the deep end. Do we screw up?....sure we do, however when we put our faith in Christ, we trust him to sustain us.

What ever happened to the people who stood by you, told you that you were stupid when you needed to hear it. Our beliefs have become so vast that we have no common ground with others so when things do happen that are bad in our eyes, we just say to ourselves "well they don't believe or hold that value so who I am to butt in their lives".

Number 7

This will make Tim's seventh deployment. Cole and I have endured all of them together. This is Nora's first, it is hard to see her wonder where her Daddy is and learn that the only place she can find him is on the phone or computer slide show.

We are into our second week of Tim's 7mth deployment. He has not yet reached his destination, he is still in training. These next few days he gets to sleep in a hotel instead of bunking in a shack with 8 other guys.

So far we are all alive but have been better health wise. It started with fevers and viruses the day after Tim had left and coughs and runny noses continue to linger. My car battery has died, and the computer monitor went out, so far these are the only disasters. I have several deployment theories. 1. It takes 2 weeks to get into a new groove. 2. Things will break when they leave. I don't know why, I just know it happens.

The good things are that we do have more time to do school, watch the Olympics, and read. The weeks that build up to a deployment are really stressful. We are cramming in all the "lasts". Last dinner with friends for a while, last phone calls, last sit down and explain how the bills go, last trips to the BX to pick up socks, underwear, etc....It can be exhausting but it must be.

Tim lost his camera and something else (I don't know what it is). Pray that he finds these. He was going to take a picture for Nora to have a daddy doll made but can't.

Nora asks everyday about her Daddy. She now has a laminated pic of him and her to tote around. Cole is his normal self who keeps his thoughts between him and him, Sydney has pitched in like she always does and is Nora's second mother.

Mack had the most emotions of all. It hit him the night before Tim left and he stayed close to Tim for the rest of the time. Mack even gave Tim every bit of money out of his piggy bank. Tim assured Mack that he didn't need any money and wanted him to keep it to buy an ice cream one day.

Now that the sickness is subsiding and the silence of Dad not coming through the door no longer seems strange we are trying to keep ourselves busy. I do have my college classes to keep me busy and I am grateful when Tim returns I will be down to 2 maybe 3 classes left in finishing my BS. Nora and Mack have a new sand/water table to play with and the older two are trying to raise tadpole for a science projects. I hope they don't die before they have a chance to grow legs!

Well Facebook has taken over the blog but I still would like to keep this thing going if possible. I haven't really been able to get into scrapbooking, heck I cannot even finish a baby book. So, I am going to attempt to keep up something.

After we got back from Idaho, Tim's parents came to visit. A first for them to see Hawaii. We went as many places as possible. Dole Pineapple plantation, Polynesian culture center and a small tour down the strip of Waikiki.

Still doing school. Most likely going to get a B in this class I am in. Cultural Diversity. Guess I am not too diverse.

Tim tested for E8 in Dec. It sure would be nice to see him promoted although its still early so I am not holding my breath. Thinking about him having to study again next year when he comes home from his deployment is not the way I want to start off the holidays next year.

Going to take down the Christmas tree before New Years Day. I need the space and Nora is going to ruin the ornaments.

Cole went to his first ever campout this week. It was hard on a mom to see her boy go. I hope he showers atleast once:)

2 classes down, 2 A's and 11 more to go. I will be finished with my BS by this time next year hopefully. If not atleast by the turn of 2011. So far so good. I have an instructor now who is a father of seven....he and his wife homeschool. I like this class....Critical Thinking. I am sure I could use an extra dose of that but mostly it is applying common sense and things I already know then putting a fancy term to it!!

We had another space A experience that turned out quite well. On October 5th we started our journey from HI to CA. We finally made a flight out on a C5, Tues afternoon that was headed for San Diego. When we landed at this little Marine Corp base it was a shuffle to make it to the ertz rental car in time to grab a minivan and get on the road....a 13 hour journey to Inkom, ID. We did not know where we would end up. It could have been WA state, Sacramento but San Diego was an unusual route for the AF.

We were in luck. Becca Clemmons now lives in Vegas and we were driving in her direction. We made it to Vegas by 1130 that night and drove down the strip just to say we have been there. The kids liked it but they weren't impressed with their version of the Roman coliseum. Been there done that.
Found the cheapest hotel around, which is not hard to do in Vegas. Tim was please with our $59 dive. Up at 0530 to see the Hoover Damn and the sun rise. Then it was off to see Becca's new house and eat at the IHOP with Gabrielle, Isabelle and Becca. It was great to catch us and lay eyes on the kids.

We made it to ID without any issues. Utah, Arizona and Nevada made the drive beautiful. Time to have some deer stew. Deer, the reason for the season. More later on our trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house and hunting season.

Nora in Idaho

Nora's first cold weather experience!! She loves it. Having fun at Grandma's house playing on the farm, loving on the horse Bumpy.

Online School

Last night I found out I made an A in online class. I have not been to school in over 8 years. I have been raising children as most of you know. Tried to go back to school when Sydney was a baby but Tim kept getting put on TDY and I would have to find a babysitter until 11pm at night.

Then online became popular. Sceptical at first because it is so new.....Could one really get an education that the workplace would recognise. Sounds familiar to you homeschoolers out there? Well it is good to question things. I spent my time questioning possibility, looking for the school that would give the most credit for past classes and then give a good price. Online classes are expensive.

Thankfully the military gives me an edge in the financial area. MyCAA is a program where spouse's are given money to go back to school. Its probably from Obama's stimulus but to all those taxpayers out there-your money was going to be used whether I took it or not so I promise to do something worthwhile even it is just being a better homeschooling mom.
The first class was easy but this next one is a little harder. None of them will be easy. I spend a lot of my time staring at this computer. Not doing FaceBook though.... researching, writing papers, figuring out the APA style and learning to maneuver in these online classrooms.
I hope to emerge from this stress in about a year. Tim says that there will never be a time that is good for going back to school. He is probably right.

#4 HAS A #1

I don't know but I think she is delighted with the candle...Just a guess

Card from Grandma Rose

Busy Bee

Sit down Bits!

Nora AKA "Bits"because she is just a little bit. Still under 20 pounds at her first birthday she is small but mighty. Steals the show where ever she goes.

Pictures from this summer

Sydney Smiles

Nora likes the tutu, I think someone took something from her. This is MAD!

Cole got to deploy for a day. This is his flight the FALCON

WHO RULES THE SKY? WHO FLIES HIGH?-THE FALCONS

Summer is finished. Soccer is over and we have already begun school. Mack hasn't really embraced school with enthusiasm as the others did. Oh well you gotta have one that bucks the system or life isn't interesting.

Mack loved the Parent tunnel. I don't think he really enjoyed the soccer part of soccer but the trophy, snacks and seeking out friends on the other team to tackle were fun.

Beach Girl

Nora is just too cute. She is the life of the party....all my children seem to be very lively babies. She loves to pose and have her picture taken. I didn't have a camera on me at the time and thankfully one of the mom's did. It was a great day to capture happy faces.

So much to do

Well Facebook has taken over the blogs. I still want to keep this thing up though. It is the closest thing I have to a family scrapbook.
We have had a busy summer thus far. Still catching up from having baby last year and Tim's deployment. He has been home 8mths now. I don't remember having him here this long before and with just one tdy thrown in the mix. Yes this should be a good thing however, it just makes the deployments that much harder to endure when you get too use to having them home. It is best just to keep coming and going.
Tim is doing well. He has been taking a class here and there. Hopefully he will finish a degree by the time he leaves the Air Force in 5 years. He has 2 years 5 mths left to this tour. Hawaii is nice. Weather just about perfect all the time but we still long for the seasons. Drinking coffee when its cold and having an excuse to sit indoors and read because weather doesn't permit would be nice. I sure have struggled homeschooling this year due to the want for outside pleasures.
Cole will be in 6th grade this year. He swims and still plays the violin. Sheryl Shohet his violin teacher has been great for our family. She plays for the Symphony in Honolulu and is a very serious teacher who knows her stuff, makes it fun but demands good work from Cole and myself.
Sydney takes ballet and swims on the swim team too. We took Sydney to an audition for the Missoula Children's Theatre on base yesterday. She didn't get picked for a part. Tim called 3 times during rehearsal to see how it was going. We left and walked back home with tears in eyes. A very quiet walk with not much to say. She did her best and was crushed. Hard lessons. Nothing like Dad at the end of the day to give little girl a hug and tell her he loves her. It does make things better.
Mack....Well what do you say about him. You know, you give a kid a name like that, I guess you should expect him to live up to it. We struggle daily. He sad he can't help being bad he just does it. This brings us to a lot of biblical discussion. I hope the Lord continues to pierce his heart as he grows into the man God will have him be.
Nora makes everyone smile. All my kids have. They just seem to be magnets to the rest of the world. She is a show stopper in the grocery, beach and all around. I do get sad that she cannot share her joyfulness with those we are closest to. In Germany, Idaho, and NC we always have folks who genuinly want to see the children and can't wait to shake hands, hug or love on them. We don't have that here in Hawaii. We really haven't formed close relationships with anyone particular here.
There are seasons for everything I guess. I have begun to get more involved with Tim's squadron and the deployed spouse program. It involves calling and talking to others, checking in on families and finding out if they have needs that are not being met. Sometimes I get grateful folks who are thankful for the call other times, I get hung up on. I have pondered going back to school. Online is making that more possible. I hope that I can accomplish this while we are here. Like I don't have enough to do but here goes it needs to get done sometimes.
Time to start school again. Still need to order books and such. We are using Tapesty of Grace this year with Veritas for Bible and Teaching Textboks for math. I don't want to speak too soon but I think I may have found my groove with my curiculm.

New Member of the Family....Chubs the Cockatiel

That is what the lady in the pet shop gave her. (We are saying a "she" for sake of argument)

Today we got her out of the cage and let her play. Up until then we were wondering if she liked us but I think we just needed to learn how to handle her properly. She was a bit scared at first. Everyone hates change. She really likes Mack.

We are looking for a Hawaiian name. So far we have Maui, Koa, Shaka....Any ideas.

The kids painted pictures for our new wall. Check out Cole's blog for his painting.