gustav...

Well we're just waiting for the rain to come and to see what happens on the coast. Jeff has been busy helping to make sure that people who come up from the coast are taken care of per the base plans for housing and helping. It sounds like all precautions are being taken to keep people safe as they head out of the path of the storm. The kids and I took it easy today. i worked through two closets and the kids "fall" clothes and they spent a few hours getting in a bit of late summer slip and sliding and playing in teh sprinkler. Yesterday we took in some pool time after Heather got home from school and tried to relax in the evening. I'll update as things start to happen here as the storm comes through (although i think 90% of my "readers" are here so you'll pretty much know ;-). We're thinking of our friends and family in Houston, Galveston and closer to the MS/LS coast and hoping that they're taking precautions to stay safe.

time flies

Wow--this week has flown by. I woke up thinking it was Saturday and was disappointed to find it was Friday. It's been busy with school for Heather, appointments and running around for Charlie and I and some fun with friends as well. Charlie and I had some friends over earlier in the week and went to the park with some kids as well. He seems much happier when he gets to spend some kid time each day ;-). heather did great after school until yesterday when she had a rough afternoon. She's just so tired and just has had enough of listening. Hopefully the end of the week settles in like the rest of the week before the baby comes otherwise it could be long evenings (or short) or boarding school--just kidding. The kids can't wait for the baby to come because that means that it won't be long before grandma's and aunt Kelly come. Unfortunately for me that means it won't be long before the real packing and moving set in--UGH!!

Random thought from a pregnant woman--did anyone see the panda that was born recently? It was on the today show and it was TINY!! For such a big animal I find it pretty unfair that it gets to have such tiny babies! I suppose for some reason I'm sensitive to that right now ;-) Hopefully we'll have a nice weekend--Jeff is having to gear up with emergency operations so that they're ready for whatever Gustav sends to the coast (mostly to mobilize assistance and house evacuees from Keesler AFB). Gustav as a name is definitely out since "he" is probably going to ruin our long weekend...

baby, baby, baby

Wow a whole week since I last posted--and I was doing so well ;-). The kids and Jeff made it back from Ohio and they had a great trip! Heather madei t through the week of school and Charlie got the chance to see his classroom and meet his teacher. Over the weekend we cleaned out the shed and started making groupings of storage types, long term, azores "quick", azores rest, to mom's, with us...keep out for baby...I think my list of desired piles is approaching double digits (uh oh!!). We did some good work in that area but have a long way to go with what we could get done before the baby comes--which could be sooner than expected...

My given due date was Sept. 29 (jeff's b-day) however I think the doctor was a week off what I thought it should be based on cycles...Today at "35 weeks" the uterus was measuring 38 weeks, while the baby was 7 lbs 5 oz projected by the ultrasound. The baby is head down and is out of the way of the umbilical cord for now. The doctor said that if I went into labor they wouldn't stop me but that he didn't expect that to happen this week. He also said that the size, etc. doesn't mean maturity has been reached but that definitely if I make it to 39 weeks we should be talking about inducing (Assuming my body continues to dilate--already at 2 cm, and efface--already 50% appropriately). I get to go back next week for another apt and "update".

fun in OH and MS

From the reports I get the kids are having fun, and getting little sleep, in OH with jeff's family. They got to spend time with their "new" aunt Ashley who kindly fixed Heather's hair and go down to their cousin's birthday party which reportedly was "really fun"! They always seem to get along well with their cousins despite seeing them only for a short time a few times a year. I remember really enjoying seing my cousins as a kid so I'm glad they get to have fun while together.

Meanwhile back at the homefront I'm trying to get some things done to prep for upcoming events, consignment sale, baby, sending stuff to OH when mom comes down...nothing that will be really noticed when the crew gets back but I'm slowly crossing stuff off my list. Yesterday afternoon my friend, who was insistant that some "girl time" be had while the family was away, took me out for desert and some shopping--which is quite limited in MS. We tried to hit a few discount stores but with minimal luck with openness and quality ;-). I of course managed to buy some thins and we enjoyed desert as well. It was so nice of her to do that and while it was fun it was a bit sad b/c I won't have that many more chances between baby/packing/moving to do that kind of thing with friends here...

the single life

The single life (with the kids with dad in OH) treated me well as I slept in a bit this morning then had a late breakfast and put up some fliers around the base housing. Unfortunately that was the end as I returned to find that I locked myself out of the house :-(. I do that every time Jeff leaves!! After cleaning up a bit outside the nice man came to let me in ;-). The rest of the day I did some of my to-do list and talked to the kids and jeff on the phone as they proceeded to the "grandma's" houses. It's definitely quieter here and I've had a lot less social contact without trips to the park or school bus stop!!

The kids spent about 5 hours with my parents which included a short b-day celebration for my dad, showing off thier swimming prowess (Jeff caught Charlie off the diving board with no life jacket!!), and playing at the park. Now they've made it to the other grandma's house and are awaiting their uncle Jeremy and new aunt.

R-I-I-I-P-P-P-P

Has anyone ever heard this sound whne out and about? Jeff and the kids took off to visit grandma's, uncles, cousins, etc. and because it is such a long trip over a short time and based on how uncomfortable riding in the car that long would be I opted out of the trip. Soooo....i have the weekend off!! The kids love to visit family, stay in a hotel, and gear up for a car trip. They don't necessarily love the car but they are REALLY good travelers--espeically after the DVD player is fired up.

While they headed off I went to look for a few deals that I had heard about at a few stores. As I was crouching down to look at one of the lower racks I hear r-r-i-i-i-p-p-p and realized that my jeans had gotten caught on the rack behind me (and you thought it was due to the extra baby weight I've been putting on--shame, shame) and ripped my pants. I was sure that the people around me had heard but either they were too polite to crack up or it wasn't as loud as I thought.

The kids will begin their trip with a quick visit with my parents for my dad's b-day, then up to Jeff's mom's to visit with their uncle and new Aunt (welcome Ashley!!), and then to a birthday party for their cousin. Then they'll head back to Grandma's house before coming home Tuesday. I have a lot of cleaning/organizing in mind--we'll see what happens...

charlie loves the baby

Charlie has gotten very lovey with the baby. He loves to try to "find" the baby, hug the baby, kiss the baby and wants to do so at all times. He is being really sweet and talks about the baby all the time. He especially wants to express his love for the baby when he's in trouble or I'm asking him to do something else. Of course I think it's sweet and am feeling in a stage of pregnancy where I don't want anyone to touch me or be close to me. So after a few hundred loves of the day (ok I'm not that patient) the baby "needs some space" or "needs to sleep" which means charlie just walks around near me and says "the baby needs some space, huh?" He has also taken to saying "Awright" when he is asked to do something. The tone of his voice is waht makes it really funny.

Heather's getting into the swing of school but comes home very tired and hungry.She now wants to walk home from the bus stop "by herself" bu I convinced her that I needed to meet her...

sitting in a tree...k-i-s-s-i-n-g

Heather was singing this catchy litle tune in the back after school today. I asked her where she picked it up from and she said that it was from a book her teacher read about 5 monkeys in a tree and a crocodile that tried to eat them (i recognize the book but can't place the name) and the last one sings that to the monkey. I was thrilled that she picked it up (NOT). She also was walking around singing a tune of l is for lemonade, licorice and something else...L is the letter of the week. So far I'm not sure how "developed" her reading skills will be in kindergarten--she's really past the learning letters and sounds and on the verge of reading but with so many kids in the class I don't think she'll really get to move on unless we do stuff at home. When home looks like an hour or so to wind down, dinner, game and books and bed it doesn't leave much time for anything else. She seems to enjoy school though...

Charlie has taken to making a picture for Heather while she's at school and insisting on playing tons of games and puzzles. We did fast UNO, dominoes, sorry, and a fish letter game today--and that was multiple games of each...He's fun to have on his own although today he did not enjoy running errands...He likes to walk to the bus stop in the morning and in the afternoon to meet the bus.

Kindergarten is great!!

Heather got off to a great school start today. We had gotten her a new alarm clock which worked because 5 minutes before my alarm went off in came Heather telling me it was time to get ready for school. She got herself dressed and brushed teeth while I got some oatmeal ready. She was willing to take some pictures before and on the way and hopped right out of the car. Since the ladies weren't really taking them to their classes but were just getting them out of cars I walked her to the class and she marched right in without looking back. The teacher was nice and Heather seemed fine so back to the car I went to shed a few (really a lot less than I thought) tears on teh way home. Heather did great at school, after she got off the bus reporting that they "played and watched a movie during rest time" as the highlights of her day!! She seemed very happy and said that the bus was hard to ride because there were no seat belts and they had to hang onto the seat because the bus goes so fast--GREAT!! Aside from teh day being long (on the bus at 7 and off around 3:30) I think kindergarten and Heather will do well!!

Charlie and I were also busy. We played uno and dominoes then he worked on a puzzle. We made zucchini bread (which heather had requested for her snack when she got home) and he drew for a while. I was surprised that he didn't seem to be concerned about when Heather was coming home or what he was missing out on at kindergarten but he seemed to like having his own time to do what he wanted and although we did some things together he wasn't as needy for a constant companion as I thought he would be. After lunch at McD's--really so I could commisserate with other kindergarten mom's for a few minutes--we met up with Jeff and watched the firefighters do a few activities on base including trying to knock down cones from a burned out airplane while riding in the firetruck and shooting hoses at a ball hoisted in the air. The best thing was that Jeff's friend Willy took Charlie on a ride in the firetruck and charlie got to go up a 3 story building which the firefighters simulate rescue situations.

After I picked Heather up we went swimming at the pool with some friends and the kids had a great time. Several of Heathers friends were there and everyone had fun. We then went to a friends for pizza and a movie and unfortunately stayed a little longer than we should have and ended up leaving with two very tired, very crying kids (ours). Aside from the ending of the day it was a great first day of school for everyone!!

school starts tomorrow!

Heather is so excited for school to start and to ride the bus home to "see what it's like" "i might not like it but I'll get used to it" "next week I'll ride the bus there and back and there and back..." We set out clothes for the morning, made lunch, and set her *new* alarm clock which is "loud".

She got to have a fun day today when we went to the store to pick out her alarm clock then had lunch at an indoor playplace with friends. We then went to watch Jeff get some of his group awards for last year and a few quarters. Charlie said, "dad was really lucky today!!". Then we came home and got ready for school. We are all going to drive her in the morning and hopefully meet her at teh bus stop in the afternoon. She's looking forward to gym and meeting the new girls that are in her class :-)

last few days of freedom

heather got to pick what she wanted to do the last few days before she started school. Thinking she was starting tomorrow we had some friends over (because what else would she want to do?! this child is happiest doing anything if it involves one of her friends) to slip-n-slide, jump in our little pool, and play in teh sprinkler. This of course was followed with inside play, lunch, and a few episodes of the magic school bus before her friends left. Tomorrow we're going to go to lunch with the same friends just to max out friend time before school starts on Fri.

Because Heather's getting up earlier we have to also get her to bed earlier. it is really hard to do since the kids love to play games in the evening and HAVE to read books before bed. We were shooting for getting them into their beds at 8 (reading books around 7:45) but they were in the middle of a game and Jeff had only gotten home about 2 hours earlier. So by 8:30 they were snoozing mid-book.

Heather and I walked down to the bus stop this morning to check out the bus situation. She gets to ride the "dinosaur" bus along with a TON of kids grades K-12. Those high school kids sure look big when your child is 5!! She should have some friends who are riding by the time she starts on Monday but whew!! it's a crowded bus with BIG kids...All the kids are base kids so they *should* be well behaved as high schoolers...we'll see what kind of words heather is asking about at the end of the first week :-).

school open house

We got to go to see heathers teacher and her class. Her teacher seemed nice and although Heather was shy I think she'll warm up pretty quickly. Upon entering the classroom she was a little nervous and tried to shy away from the teacher's aide for the class but was willing to give her name and a shy smile. We walked around the class and looked at a few centers and Heather found her "cubby". She didn't know any of the kids in her class but some of her friends are in neighboring classes and she will also ride the bus with them so she will get some "friend" time. School starts at 7:50 so it will be an early morning on Friday! Then the next week she'll probably start riding the bus--leaving the house around 7 :-(. Charlie wanted a picture by Heather's cubby also--I think he wants to go with her to school even though he says he's going to be in the 3 year old class at preschool...

the great outdoors...

This weekend we went camping with another couple who has a pair of girls almost exactly our kids ages. The kids get along great (as do the adults) so we thought we'd really put them to the test. Our friends picked out a camping area called Dismals Canyon which advertised being 14 degrees cooler than the areas nearby--it didn't mention that that was in the canyon and not at the campsites. Watching the paper and seeing 99 degrees highs was not encouraging, nor was the bathroom being an uphill walk no matter which way you were coming from! We parked "near" our campsite and hiked down and up with all our stuff. It wasn't exactly roadside service but it meant taht we were off the beathen path a bit and had a REALLY cool spot with a "waterfall" and an overhang (fortunately--read on). We set up camp and the kids helped carry stuff and explored the puddle and the waterfall. Once we had all the tents set up we had lunch and decided to explore the canyon.

Off we went on a 1.5 mile hike through the canyon, really pretty along a stream/creek, over bridges, and by caves, overhangs and a "fat man's misery" which was pretty fun--and almost made me stuck...the kids did a pretty good job taking turns "leading" although there was more than one outburst as someone tripped, pushed, or was too far ahead--what do you expect?! As we hiked we heard thunderclaps and began to get nervous. On the way back we decided to stop at the "pool"--a natural water hole at the top of the waterfall (no way to go over as it was blocked) which was FREEZING. The kids got in anyway with a lot of coaxing--as did most of the adults. They enjoyed swimming back and forth to the dock but it was really cold. Even Jeff thought so! After hearing some more thunder we decided to head back to camp for dinner.

We moved the tents under the overhang (yeah!!) and pulled everything out of the way in case of rain. I started a nice fire and everyone helped keep it going. We had hot dogs, silver turtles, and corn for a delicious dinner (at like 8!). It did rain but not too much. It was worth moving the tents though. We went on a night hike to see the dismalites--bugs that only live in 3 places in teh world de to weather conditions. They were kind of cool--but the kids liked hiking in the dark better. We got back and made s'mores and banna boats. Heather was so tired she asked to go to bed and Charlie fell asleep in one of the chairs. The adults played cards for a bit and we all crashed for the night.

We got up and had a breakfast of eggs, pancakes, bacon, hashbrowns, and juice--tastier than our usual breakfast. After cleaning up camp we headed to the longest natural bridge and did another hike. The kids had a great time and even got to wade in the creek a little to look for salamanders and crayfish. overall everyone had fun and the kids got along great for so much together time. I think we all wish we had done this earlier in being here so that we had more time to do it again. With a new baby coming soon and then leaving shortly after I think this will be the end of our camping for a while. The kids did have a GREAT time though!!

Now it's prep for school to start this week and the daunting task of cleaning up all the sleeping bags, blankets, towels, clothes, etc. from the one night of camping. I think camping for a week would have been a bit more clothing but not much more work overall!!