spend time with family and friends

Jeff and I went to a memorial service on base for the two pilots who were killed last week here at the training base. It was very moving and both wives spoke eloquently about their husbands and what they would want for us to do as their legacy. It was a good (but very sad!!) reminder to appreciate what we have and live for each day, celebrating famiy and friends and religon (as one wife encouraged)because you never know what might happen or what is to come. The strength of the two women in the face of tragedy was amazing and I think I shed more tears than I saw them shed. So in light of the sadness here please remember that no one ever wished they spent more time working...

busy weekend

We had a busy weekend full of friends and fun which was a nice change of pace. We got an extra kid for about 20 hours which worked out really well, had a cookout after Jeff's office moved one of his airmen from her dorm to a house, attended a birthday party for my friend (with plenty of kids to play with) and that was all Saturday! The kids friend spent the night Saturday while her parents enjoyed a night to themselves. They all fell asleep watching Peter Pan after a busy day. Sunday we just took it kind of easy, Jeff built the kids a big tent in the living room, took a nap with Charlie and they all played in the rain together. Showers, movie, and bed just might top off the night before we have two more kids for the day tomorrow!!

plane crash

Things are very solmn around here following the crash of a T-38 plane and the deaths of the two pilots involved. The names have not yet been released although I know of both families and their situations make the deaths even more tragic. Lots of people are asking for prayers for the men and their families as it is too soon to really provide help. We're all taking time to think about them and the sacrifice they made in their dedication to the air force.

Our kids are kind of working through the fact that there was a crash. Heather asked if someone fell asleep and that's why the plane crashed. We haven't really gotten past the plane crashing with the kids and at this point there's no need to go further. Jeff was very busy yesterday making sure that the CE groups were doing what they were supposed to be doing and helping to man the control center.

Tonight we get to have our first "pubic school" parents meeting as Heather's school is having an open house and registration for new students...whew that must mean we're old ;-)

last soccer update

Since soccer seems to be going well I'll chill on the soccer posts. Heather finally seems to be enjoying herself although she says that she needs dad to 'tell her where to go'. He's been coaching the goalie/defense area so when she's on defense he tells her when she should go get it and when she should wait in her position. Yesterday was hilarious b/c Heather and another little girl were playing center and the first two goals the other team scored one of the girls kicked off and then the ball wizzed past them. For whatever reason they didn't chase it and were still in the circle to kick the next two balls off ;-). At one point one little girl turned to her friend and said, "we're beating you so bad. it's like 9-0!" In this league they don't keep score officially but obviously the kids do although I'm pretty sure that most of the kids on Heather's team don't get that it's not good when the other team scores it's not a good thing.

During the whole game Charlie wanted to play soccer--pass for a while then I kicked it and both of us ran after it...He played really hard and one guy thought he played better than some of the kids on the field!!

Duper the 13th reindeer

I have no idea why we were ready a christmas story but that's what one of the kids picked out a few days ago. When reading the story we were naming the reindeer and Heather called out her new favorite reindeer "Duper" I think he came after Donder. It is now our favorite word and will evoke peals of laughter even in the grumpiest situation. They laugh so hard that it makes me laugh and it just keeps on going--maybe you have to be there...anyway "super duper" is a hit too...

We had a great weekend full of sun and playing outside! The kids each had a birthday party and Jeff and I enjoyed a wedding shower on our own Saturday night. Yesterday we rode our bikes out to a lake to throw rocks in. On the way we passed a HUGE snake slithering across the road and also saw one in the lake slithering across--UGH!! I guess there aren't supposed to be snakes in the Azores so I'm pretty excited about that!!

soccer part 5

Success!! Heather ran out to stretch with her team and played defense, offense, and goalie! She kicked the ball a bunch of times, ran around a lot and although she was a bit intimidated by running right up to kids and kicking she really did great! She paid attention to the coach and Jeff (he helped out this time since one of the coaches was gone). She had big smiles on her face when she came to the sidelines and chattered all about the game the last quarter when she sat out.The stellar performance almost ended when Heather reached down and stopped the ball with her hand...

Charlie and I had a good morning while Heather was at school--we played 3 games, did 1 puzzle, and went grocery shopping. He watched Heather's game impatiently because he wanted to kick the soccer ball himself. He loves it and would probably do better than some of the kids on Heathers team at paying attention and kicking the ball! He's not afraid of anything and will just bounce back up if he falls down trying to stop or kick the ball!!

early to bed...soccer part 4

So last night the kids fell asleep on the way home from dinner around 6:30. They've been refusing to take naps and are dead dog tired by 7 and showing signs of it well before that. They actually slept until 7:30 this morning and we had a nice easy morning at home only interrupted by charlie's screams of "tissue" to wipe his poor runny nose. From trying to do it himself his nose is chapped red and he's not a happy camper ;-( I guess it matches the sunburn that he got a few days ago when he wore a sleevless shirt and I wasn't paying attention to how strong the sun was. That's the first sunburn either of them has had ever so I felt pretty bad...

The day was great until I tried to put heather's shin guards on for soccer and that started a huge fit of not wanting to go, it hurt her leg...we got to practice and I stretched with the other kids while Heather stood behind me and refused to participate. I almost left but we went to sit on the bench and Jeff pulled up (in his full military cammo from work). After charlie kicked with him for a few minutes he got Heather to participate and they even ventured onto the field to kick the way the other kids were. then they did passing in front of the goal and a kick to the goal but she was not into it so they watched. The last half hour they were to scrimmage and Jeff played goalie and at first Heather just stood in front of him. the ball came to her and she actually kicked it. Then she took a few steps forward, and a few more, and by the end of about 15 minutes of playing she ran all the way down the the other side of the field and also did a throw in!! She was so excited when she was done and said that it was the "best soccer ever!!" She's gung ho to play in the game and wore her shin guards to the park after dinner. Yeah!!!

rough start...satisfactory end

Today at school...oh wait, Heather refused to get in the car with her ride to school this morning so in one brilliant moment I ruined my morning (really charlie's) by saying, "if you don't get in the car with your ride you won't be going to school." BRILLIANT to many kids this my be great but for her this was a disaster--she loves school. Still she refused to go with her ride so we all spent the morning doing not fun things...grocery store, cleaning rooms, laundry, dishes...by lunch we had agreed that next week she will go with her ride and i will pick her up at the end of the day...

I almost had a nervous breakdown at how my child won't do anything on her own--soccer, MOPS childcare room, dentist, ride in a car...anyway I was totally stressed out about all the changes that will be taking place, kindergarden, new baby, new house, new school and how she will deal with that if she can't handle the familiar...anyway my poor friend called me and had to deal with crying..it felt better just to get it out of my system but my poor friend!!

Soccer started out OK. Heather kind of stretched with her team, and mom, dad and Charlie...she wouldn't go out for practice and started out sitting on the bleachers on the other side of the fence from her team. My goal was to get her to sit with the team on the sidelines which she did on her own the middle of the second quarter. It took the whole second quarter for her to make it the 20 feet around the fence to where they were sitting, one painful step at a time, but she did it and gave me a big grin when she sat down with her teammates (neither of her friends were sitting there at the time which was kind of an accomplishment). When the coach actually wanted her to play at the beginning of the 4th quarter I thought we would have major meltdown which we almost did but she made it through without running to my side of the fence...She did shake hands at the end and was third in line for snacks at the end of the game. I don't think I mentioned that she wears #4 which is her uncle's number so maybe she gets the snack line thing from him...or maybe riding the bench (ooh low blow)

peace like a river...

Today at school the kids had chapel with pastor Tom. They love this time to sing and hear bible stories with the minister of the Presbyterian church. At lunch Heather started singing "I've got peace like a river..." so we went through some of the choruses and she showed me some of the motions that they did with the song. After no naps, mom losing patience, and trying to get Charlie to stand still and put his shoes on I was about at my wits end with him (and he was cranky b/c he didn't take a nap). Just in the nick of time I heard him singing...and he busts out in "peace like a river..." it was pretty fortunate for all of us that he chose that moment to sing a "calming" song ;-)

soccer part 3

At practice tonight it was just me and the kids. Heather started off by announcing that she did not want to play soccer any longer (had she played I might have accepted teh "any longer part) but I told her she had to go, had signed up, was part of the team...so off we went, to sit on the bench. We were the first ones there so Charlie and Heather shot a few on goal with me, then we retreated to the bench. She did stretch--standing by me and watched and listened. Together we ventured to mid-field to learn abot positions and spreading out andpassing. The coach did a good job but Heather was still not sold. While the other kids scrimmaged (actually it was more like a mass running to the ball at all times) Heather danced on the sidelines wanting to play, but not...she eventually did stand with both feet on the field of play and kind of leaned in the direction teh ball was going.I suppose that's progress. At the end of practice Heather proudly announced that "she was interested".

spring cleaning

We've got some spring cleaning going on here and it was actually going pretty well. The kids were helping out by planing nicely together and not making too big a mess while we tried to clean another one. Heather was good about getting rid of a few things and throwing out some of her "masterpieces". She even was willing to take the number of stuffed animals on her bed down to about 10 as opposed to the 25 that she'd been sleeing with (but she was sleeping all night with them!). Satisfied with some good work I went to get lunch together. As I went back to tell the kids that it was time to eat I noticed that all the animals had migrated back for a picnic and in addition they had brought friends!!!! Oh well..it was a good try while it lasted...

big news in the works...

Bloggers get to read it here first...aside from family and a few friends..you get to be the first to hear...we should be going to the Azores in December, all 5 of us :-). So the other big news is we're adding another baby hughes to the family. I had my 13/14 (depending on if you go by my estimate or the doctors size estimate) week check up and everything looked good, heartbeat, size, feeling, etc. I feel much better sharing now and it has been hard to keep it under the radar when we really wanted to share the good news with everyone. We haven't really told the kids but haven't kept conversations quiet or tried to not talk about it when they're aroud. Heather drew a picture for my grandma that had the four of us and a baby in it so maybe she's picking up on things a bit. We'll probably tell them soon but I know the question will just be when, when, when...so i'm not sure we're ready to tell them yet.

On the Azores front it should be sometime in December that Jeff gets his start date and we will all go shortly after if not at the same time. The Azores is a chain of islands "off the coast" really a 3 hour plane ride to Portugal. We will live on an island that is about 11 x 14 miles wide and long and is a 4-5 hour plane ride to Baltimore, MD. It's not tropical and goes through a 3 month (min) really rainy period but othewise is supposed to be beautiful and despite not warm enough to swim have at least 1 beach to play on. We're excited and sad at the same time...

soccer part 2

Heather jumped right into the soccer practice yesterday and was the leading scorer in the scrimmage they did...april fool's :-(. She actually started the practice by my side while Jeff tried to entice her to go out and play. She was having none of it even after her two friends got there and joined right in. She really was skeptical and seemed more reserved than the first time. Jeff tried to get her to join in and at one point she actually ran across the field to get a ball with a few other kids but the joining was short lived. She spent most of the practice upset but played some with Jeff--but not what the other kids were doing. I'm not sure if it was a step forward or just a non-step. Not sure how next week will be handled...

We had a housing meeting because they are building tons of new houses. Sounds like the situation will be great...for anyone moving in right about the time we are planning on leaving :-(. All officers will be in new housing and the old housing will be renovated for some of the enlisted. Bummer for us. I can't say I hope we ever come back here once we leave to take advantage :-) I'm mostly hoping that those around us who will be moved to new housing will not move before we do.