happy thanksgiving!!

While feeding Cameron I had a chance to get online and thought I would just say "Happy Thanksgiving!!" I'm happy to be at my parents home with my brother and sister and grandma and her husband to give thanks for everything!! Mostly this thanksgiving I'm thankful that we've gotten to see all of my family and most of Jeff's and the kids got to play with cousins and aunts and uncles. We miss Jeremy and Ashley but hope that a holiday soon we will share with them as well. Soon we will sit down to stuff our faces and try to get the kids to behave at the table!! I am also very thankful for all our friends who have helped us out in many ways as we make this transition and land in the Azores altogether again after Christmas.

five nights...five beds

When Jeff pointed out to me yesterday that we were headed to spend the night in the 5th different place in 5 days I couldn't beleive it! We went from a night in MS, TN, my mom's, his brother's and finally his mom's in 5 days!! I am so amazed that the kids aren't just falling apart and really have handled the chaos we are calling their life really well. It helped that they got to see grandparents, cousins, and a mouse called Chucky cheese along the way ;-). Of course even though we've left MS we're still relying on friends to do various things I forgot to do before we left, mail, bows...I just didn't want anyone to think we were really gone...It really feels like we're on vacation and when my friend who is getting our mail called today I almost said just to hang on to it until we get back. I saw things in stores that I was going to pick up to bring back to friends' kids...I'm not sure when it will sink in that we're not going back. I keep telling the kids to hang on to things so that we can have them when we get home--but I'm not even sure what I'm referring to as home. Such is the life of a military family I suppose.

mississippi to ohio

After a stressful last week in MS including an ER trip for Charlie, a Fifths disease diagnosis for Heather and a Sinus infection for Sara (why now?!) we set off in the car yesterday with my mom to drive to OH. To step back I did get to do a few fun things including a dinner out with friends, last lunches at McDonald's, and some last playdates for the kids. I don't know how we're going to get by without our MS friends--who were called on for pretty much everything including cleaning my microwave (ICK!!). The kids said good bye to their friends but didn't really get sad although they seemed to understand they wouldn't be at their house or playing with them anymore. I of course cried a lot--sometimes when I didn't expect it and not others when I thought I would saying good bye to a few of my closest friends. The week was filled with packing and moving piles from place to place. It was much more stressful then I thought it would be and took MUCH longer, pretty much down to the time we drove off to get everything done. I am happy that I got to do a few things with friends for the last time because I won't miss the things I packed in the wrong place but I would be really sad to not have had that last lunch, trip to wal-mart, or time with friends. A bright note to the leaving was the end of soccer which culminated in a game for the 3-5 year olds sooo cute and charlie stopped a goal!! and a few for Heather where she did pretty well and then the "banquet" of pizza and trophies. We left right after that so it was a good opportunity to say goodbye to a lot of people at one time. The kids were AMAZING in the car on the way to OH so I do have that to be thankful for :-)

spots and lots (of boxes!!)

We had a lot of excitement the last 2 days!! Yesterday jeff and I tried to finish up packing for teh packers to come (what a concept!!) With 3 shipments we had to catagorize things into multiple "groups" which was at times difficult with limited space. Hopefully we never have to do quite this kind of shipment again. My friend brought Charlie home around 3 and he had red splotches ll over his body--like a sunburn on his arms and legs and the chicken pox on his torso. It wasn't bothering him but Jeff took him to teh ER (for like 3.5 hrs) to make sure it was nothing. They said allergy but we have no idea to what and gave him some steroid treatmet to take for 5 days--yeah!! I guess he'll be a buff 3 year old now.

Today the packers came and whew!! Who knows what will be shipped to teh azores that we weren't planning on bt we'll find out when we get there. They are like a whirlwind of boxes, tape, and men (4) flying through the house. I'm just hoping nothing gets broken as I hear them bounce a "fragile" box off the door step...yikes! I guess there's nothing we can't live without but it would be nice to have a working computer and tv's and some dishes to eat off of...this weekend we re-sort for the Monday and Wednesday packing, Tuesday loading, and thursday off we go--whew. It's all going so fast. With a few going away "celebrations" and last days of school we'll be off in no time...

the water works that is Sara has sprung...

On a sad note we had to say goodbye to one of Heather's friends who we won't see again. They made us an awesome "going away" celebration complete with a tent set up in the middle of the "ocean", islands and fish surrounding it, Portugeese (sp?) music, and a pasta dish with shrimp (seafood) in it--did I mentino there was a pineapple in the middle of the table?! it was really nice--except for the part where we had to say good bye to Ariana--it's much harder for adults than kids and it was the start of much sadness and tearing--OK crying--for me. Up until then I had been OK but now the mention of "good-bye" or moving sends me to the brink (or past) of tears! :-( It's going to be a long week+ for me I think!! on another note Cameron went to the doctor today and he weighed in at 15 lbs. 6 oz. I knew he was growing fast but WHEW what a chunker!! He's smiling now--but not for the camera. Every time I get it out he just looks at me...I guess he spent too much time with his aunt Kelly while she was here (she actually frowned for the first 8 years of pictures!!)

captain hughes

Jeff's mom and brother arrived on Thursday night to celebrate his promotion yesterday to Captain. They had a nice "presentation" at the fire station with his commander finding only his age and undergrad choice of colleges to make fun of him with and lots of praise for Jeff and his accomplishments. The kids, myself, and his mom helped pin his rank on and put it on his shirt. We then had some cake and a little lunch at his office with some of his friends and co-workers. It was nice to see people recognize his hard work and dedication to the job. Charlie asked what we were doing that day and his grandma explained that Jeff would be a Captain instead of a LT and charlie's response was a great 3 year old quote--"but we can just call him dad."

patriotic days

After fun playing tennis and at the park on Sunday we put her on a plane yesterday. Charlie was funny when the plane took off he was waving to it saying, "bye kelly. see you in ohio. i hope bryan is there!" We saw the plane all the way into the air before we could go home ;-) Later that day we went to Tops in Blue, the air force singing/preformance group which was really fun. Heather and I love the music/dancing and Jeff, Charlie and Cameron seemed to enjoy it as well. It always ends with "proud to be an American" which gives me chills as they sing it so emotionally. It was a great preformance as usual. Then today of course the election and voting. Heather had elections at school and informed us who was running for president. I had to explain to Charlie what the president did...

fun and football

Today was a busy day--no wonder we're not getting any packing done or organizing anything! We headed over to a park on base to do a "monster march" which had us walking to a variety of places on base and doing some "obstacles" such as sliding down a jumpy slide, putting a golf ball, bowling, and some hoops. We walked with some friends (who also survived trick or treating with us) which made it more fun! After the walk they had a cookout. Since we were done by 11:30 we decided to all go to the Mississippi State football game. We were in luch and ran into a very nice gentleman who provided us with tickets and we enjoyed the perfect football weather and a close game. It wasn't very pretty at times but it was a lot of fun. Cameron slept through the whole walk and was awake through a good part of the game but happy. The other two did well through about the middle of the second quarter, moved on over to where Jeff's KY friends were and made it to the end of the game. Kelly was also well behaved and enjoyed the very fun day!

trick or treat

The kids had a really good time trick or treating last night! Heather had wanted to be a bat but decided when Charlie was going to be a firefighter and cameron a dalmation she wanted in on the "group" action. We suggested a fire truck and Jeff created an adorable fire truck complete with headlights, flashing tail lights and a red siren light in addition to hoses, ladders, and pictures of Heather and Charlie in the passenger seats and sitting on teh bumper of a real fire truck. It was sooo cute and she put it on and it was...waaaay to heavy. Jeff took out some of the batteries and left the "look". We started out with a group of 8 then added 4 more along the way then ended the night with 6. Along the way the cute little firetruck was dropping parts left and right, hoses, ladders and headlights were a casualty of quick walking and constant bumping against the other 8 active trick or treaters. Needless to say it was a good time, with to much candy, and a lot of entertaining comments from the kids.