Letters from Santa...

Yesterday the kids all recieved letters from Santa in the mail. The real Santa. As you can see, they were even postmarked in the North Pole. It's legit. Luke's been carrying his around ever since, saying "Santa".
The girls insist that my friend Gigi must have written them, but look at the postmark? How could anyone around here do that? They're adament that someone must have paid the post office extra for that. ??? After reading Isaac's twice to him, and his sister coughing "uhh Gigi, uhh Gigi" through out the whole thing, he looked up at me w/the most sincere face and said, "There really is a Santa then". I loved it. The girls didn't believe near long enough, I'm going to enjoy it w/the boys.

Jake's letter has been most helpful. Santa told him that he needed to stay out of his sister's rooms, and it has worked! He's really trying!!! Ingenious! Why didn't I think of that?

Thanks Santa!

You'd have thought it was Christmas.... the way my kids excitedly woke each other up early Sunday morning after it'd snowed all night. I hadn't turned the TV on in a few days, and didn't even know it was coming. It was a fun surprise. Too bad it was Sunday, my poor kids spent the entire day watching it melt through the windows of the church. If 3 hrs of church wasn't harsh enough, we stayed after church for 2 baptisms and a potluck. They were sooo worried there'd be none left, but Em managed to find enough left to make this snowman---in the dark. (it gets dark here by 430 now!)

Thanksgiving at Plymouth....
We were thrilled to have my dad and Kim visit for Thanksgiving weekend. We spent Thanksgiving day at Plimoth w/the pilgrims.

Looking at "the rock". You'd expect so much more, but it's just a rock!

Of course my kids favorite part of the Plimoth Plantation was the roaming animals. Made them feel like home!

Emma caught a chicken and Sarah a goat.

My favorite part was completely grossing out Sarah while posing for this picture.

And of course, what's a trip w/out a few 2 year old tantrums?

The Mayflower II.

And finally, our Thanksgiving Feast. We stepped back into the year 1838, when Thanksgiving was made a national holiday. The food and entertainment were wonderful. (Truly the best part was that I didn't have to cook or clean anything up though!)

And I know this is going to be hard to believe, but we made it through the meal with out even one spill!!! I had forgotten a sippee, so even my 2 year old was drinking from a goblet!

So during dinner I asked for a box to take the leftover turkey on our table home in, there was a lot! I got a look from our server like I was the first person to have ever asked for one. She went back and asked, and came back saying that it was against health code. So I decided we would have to smuggle it out....way too much yummy turkey breast to get thrown out. I decided I had room in my purse, and since I didn't want to have to mail back a table napkin, I borrowed my dad's CLEAN hanky, wrapped it nicely, and tucked that steaming warm turkey in my leather purse. I was down by my feet, and a few minutes later I noticed Jacob down there pulling it out. I said, "Jacob! Put that back!" and explained why turkey was in my purse. His blue eyes got wide and he whispered, "and so we have to sneak it?" What am I teaching my kids?? I am teaching them to be RESOURCEFUL and not waste food! The turkey made it home, but once we walked in the house I got distracted by trying to get the kitchen light to work, baby on hip crying--needing to be in bed, etc, and set everything down on the counter. The dog was barking, and I yelled at Emma to feed her dog Thanksgiving dinner. I got busy putting Luke to bed, and about 5 minutes later Emma came upstairs with "uh, Mom, I think Duchess got her Thanksgiving dinner". Yes, my DOG at all the turkey!!! All that work for nothing. Just a few crumbs left on the floor. I usually know better than to leave food out, just got caught up in the chaos....

Definitely a very memorable Thanksgiving!! Thanks Dad!

Home Depot..... I threw together these much needed shelves last week out of scraps in the basement for Emma's closet. Now no excuse for an avalanch after opening her closet doors. Today we are moving Luke into "the big boys room" w/his brothers. It's a huge room, and I figure after 12 1/2 years of marriage, I deserve a sewing/craft room/guest room. The boys closets would be much more effecient w/shelves as well, so I told Isaac, "I'm going to build some shelves for your closet today". He responded w/a very animated, "THANK YOU MOM!! You're a good shelf-maker. You should work at Home Depot."

Dare to dream!

Halloween, dormers, kitties, birthdays, and surgery!
Whew, guess I need to blog more often......
Luke, Halloween day, shopping at my favorite grocery store--I love the mini-carts, it gives them a job which keeps them out of trouble. He got more than one comment on his hair.
Girls are WAY too much drama. Emma was going to be a clown and Sarah Kit Kitredge, until 4:00pm on Halloween. Sarah had been complaining for about a week that "no one was going to know who she was", but since I'd payed half on her outfit--so she could use it for halloween--I was not backing down. And Emma, bless her heart, ALL her friends were going to be clowns, but one by one, they all changed their minds, and at 3:45 I could see the disappointment on her face, the costume just wasn't coming together for her like she'd hoped and dreamed. So I said, "hey girls, how about being cheerleaders?", we headed to the attic and busted out my tub of childhood belongings, and within about 15 minutes I had 2 very happy girls. AND that is what it's all about---keeping everyone happy.

Got more use out of the Batman outfits. I made them 2 years ago for Isaac and Jacob, then Jake wore his again last year.....and yet again this year! Well, this year he wore Isaacs, passed his down to Luke, and I picked Isaac's up for $10 (w/out even asking him, just brought it home one day and said, "hey Isaac, want to be Batman for Halloween?" He was thrilled w/it. He is the EASIEST child, I LOVE HIM!! I love all of my children of course, but Isaac truly does make my life easier. )

So we had a few little things left to do on the dormers (like enclose the overhang) that we didn't finish before Adam left. Seeing that winter is on it's way, I thought I might finish up. Since I don't normally hang out on the roof while watching my 5 kids, it got put off until Jeannie was here. It's done now though! And no snow will blow into my bedroom this winter!

So we got rid of all the kittens very easily, but my kids talked me in to letting them keep one, Big Foot. He's got an extra claw on each paw, they're huge, so hopefully he'll be a good mouser!

Isaac turned 6 last week!! He was pretty excited about his new remote controlled car to drive around the yard. A little too big for the house.

And lastly, didn't want to disappoint you, so I included a pic of my new and improved leg! I went in last week for EVLT (laser surgery) on my lesser saphenous, but he was unable to get the wire all the way up (ankle to knee). He told me my next option was stripping. I always knew it would come down to this anyway, laser just seemed too good to be true. He was able to get me in two days later, which gave me 4 days recovery time w/Jeannie still here. The surgery took 4 hrs instead of 2, but went smooth. It took me a while to work out of the anesthesia and nausea, but as soon as I did, I had an older couple from church waiting to take me home. The next few days I was able to take it easy putting my leg up, napping, and watching TV while Jeannie kept up on everything/everyone else. Now I'm just wearing my support hose, and a little sore, but everything seems to be healing great. Not ready for shorts yet....but maybe by next summer.....

I finished!!!!!

Note--that's the Capitol behind me! The race had some awesome scenery! Although I had to force myself to look up from the pavement and try to enjoy it at times.... I had to promise myself I was never doing it again by mi. 23......but am already planning the next. I came in at 4:03, beating my goal time by 17 minutes! So I was pretty happy about that. Towards the end I heard someone yelling out, "beat Sarah Palin". I didn't even know she'd run a marathon, but now am a little ticked to know she beat me by 2 1/2 min. That dang Sarah Palin. At least I beat Oprah by 27 min though. And she's African-American.

I had a great time hanging out w/my friend Ellen, who moved a couple of months ago. It rained Sat. night, but was fabulous weather Sunday morning for the race. Yes, I KNOW my outfit doesn't match, but are my favorite running shorts and the only shirt I have w/a pocket on the back for my phone. I was disappointed Adam wasn't running it w/my like we'd planned, technology is amazing though---he was able to track me every 5k and called me a couple of times to cheer me on. It was great.
I saw things this race I'd only heard about or seen in mags before: 2 men w/BLOODY nipples---so gross---It gave me a good laugh though thinking about the episode of the Office when they had that race, a girl who crapped her pants--hello, she was barely in front of me---no Olympic time! I can see doing if you're running under 3 hrs or something. But truly at that point in the race you're in so much pain you don't care much about anything. And lastly, a man running w/a prosthetic leg--so incredibly humbling. And he was keeping good time. It sure made me forget about my aches and pains for a few minutes. I can only imagine the rubbing on that thing. Some people are so inspiring.

There were a lot of spectators at the race, probably covered about 1/4-1/3 of the route. Not as many as Tokyo though, where they covered about 98% of the route. There were a lot of Marines in uniform helping along the sidelines--drinks, crowd control, etc, and I decided about 1/2 way through that I was going to "OORAH" each that I passed on my side, and I did. I got lots of "OORAH" 's back. It was a lot of fun. I was wishing I'd worn a shirt that read, "My husband's a marine, in Iraq, and we have FIVE kids". Not for sympathy or anything, just for something interesting for spectators and runners to read. I know I sure read other runners shirts, anything to make the time pass. I did see one poster that read "Becky is a Rock Star" and decided it must have been for me.

I felt like I might puke for about the last 10 miles of the race. Then again later that afternoon it hit me and I had to throw my head between my knees, but still never did. But I got a nice delayed reaction on the metro on the way to the airport the next morning! Luckily I had my race drop bag handy. And it was clear, so nobody around me missed a thing! Actually, not too many had to endure it, I was trying to switch trains--but because of the puking I didn't get off in time--train ended there-- so doors shut, lights out--but someone heard me yelling thankfully, and the doors opened back up. And after a little more puking by the garbage can, I felt much better and was able to move on. Better the train than the plane I figure.

A HUGE thank you to Jeannie, my mother-in-law, who flew in to watch the kids for me. It was so nice having the break, and knowing I was coming home to a clean house and laundry done too!!!

If anyone's interested in seeing more stamp-sized photos of the race, you can check them out at:

http://www.marathonfoto.com/order_assigned_photos.cfm?BFI=rz2mix9u7s&OID=13692008F1&BibNumber=19822&CustomerNumber=S03J99&Currency=USD&Language=en

Church shoes?

Emma was a little extra helpful this morning w/our Sunday morning rush. After getting herself ready, she dressed Luke, and gelled all three boys hair. I had told the boys they could watch TV for a few minutes after the were ALL ready, including shoes and socks. The TV motivation worked as I'd hoped, and all got ready quickly. Emma got the boys in the car for me. And we were off and on schedule to be on time. Yeah for us! After I pulled in, I walked around to the back of the Volvo to let Jacob and Isaac out, and this is what I found on Jake's feet:"What on earth?!?" I asked him.

"I couldn't find my church shoes", he replied. "Why didn't you ask me?" I asked, "because" was the best answer I could get. Apparently when you're in a race to watch TV, there's no time for finding the right shoes, and slippers will work. I was a little jealous though, the shoes I wore to church were anything but comfortable.

Hopefully he'll forgive me one day for putting a pic of his crack on the blog....I just couldn't resist though. All 3 boys were desparate for haircuts, so while the girls were at Faith in God, I got out the clippers and suckers. Luke was first, he was excited, although it didn't take long to wear off and the wiggles set in. Adam really wanted me to trim the sides, so I did. I miss them though!!!

My day started dark and early this morning...3:40 am! I had to run my 20 miler, the marathon is three weeks from yesterday, and I taper from here on out--yeah! We (duch and I) passed three skunks, but were able to avoid being sprayed each time. That is my worst fear, not breaking an ankle, not blowing out a knee, but getting sprayed 10 miles away from home. So, this morning's run was a success. That, and I made it home in time to get the kids off to school.

Adam's doing well. Things were a little slow with Ramadan last week, and he was happy to be back in court this morning.

Eight + weeks down!! We're staying busy as ever w/school and activities and so time is passing, which is good!

It has really cooled down the past few days--I refuse to turn on the radiators yet though, the winter will be long enough. So time to bust out the sweaters and put storm windows down today.

They're finally here...Glenda finally had her kittens last night! The girls discovered the first kitten right before the went to bed, and met the other 3 this morning. It has been very exciting for them to say the least. She had 2 grey and 2 black ones. Being a teenage pregnancy, so I have been a little worried that she might not take good care of them, but so far she's done great! We're not keeping ANY of them though, so if anybody wants a kitten....

XC has started at PMS...
Nice acronym for Portsmouth Middle School, huh? Funny. Emma joined the school Cross Country team this week, and we're taking a break from swim team for a season. I'm very pleased, she's made new friends and it's right after school for only 1 hr! (much easier than swim 4x week for 2 1/2 hrs!! and on the other side of the island) She had her first meet on Tuesday, and came in #7 out of 95 girls from 3 schools ages 6-8th grade. She e came home very pleased w/herself. Sarah has gone back to gymnastics instead of swim for this year as well.
Finally some pics!!

The kids were all very pleased to finally get some pix of their Daddy yesterday. Luke went into repeater mode with: "muh dahee, muh dahee, muh dahee" all morning.

This pic below is Jakes favorite, because Adam's 9 mm is so visable. He was pretty impressed with it. He's our one that is sometimes a little too facinated w/guns. He asked this morning, "Daddy has a gun so he can shoot monsters?"

Weekend away... This weekend was our "fun thing in September" to help the time pass. We drove to Plymouth Fraday after school. Our hotel had this fun pool, which we swam in all night and all morning till check out time.

Then a friend from church, whose husband is out of town, met us w/her two little girls and we hit the Plymouth Plantation.

Some of the "villiagers" were pretty convincing that we really were in the year 1647. I asked one of the first ladies I talked to, "so when was this villiage replica built?" to which her answer was, "I don't know what you're talking about, for we've only been here seven years!" I finally gave up and just played a long. The girls thought it was pretty funny.

Perfect weather, I am LOVING New England right now. If only I could bottle some up to pull out in a few months....

Jake was pretty impressed by all these pelts. Emma was upset by the bullet holes in them.

The best part was that the kids were allowed to wander through these villiage homes and touch whatever they pleased. No ropes, no signs, it was great. Emma is still convinced she was born at the wrong time. Pilgrims, pioneers, it's all the same to her---just must have been a way better life than she leads here in 2008!

Adam's staying busy spending most mornings in court doing hearings and afternoons/evenings preparing for the next day. I sent him a camera that he should be recieving any day, so hopefully we'll start getting pics soon! 5 weeks down! (and I'm still not thinking about how many more to go!) Next fun thing to look forward to: Grandma Jeannie's visit in October for marathon/ Halloween/ and Ike's birthday!

First day of school...

We had been so completely off any schedule this past summer, that I was pretty dang proud of myself when I got the boys to bed by 8:30 and the girls in bed by 9:00. Due to the first day of school butterflies, they both didn't fall asleep until 11:30!! Then When I got up at 5:45, they were both up!! Sarah had been up since 4:30! And Emma 5:30! It was a big day for all of them, Middle School for Emma, a new school for Sarah (she switched schools for me so that her and Isaac would be in the same school--don't even get me started on that one!!), and Kindergarten for Isaac.

After school, Isaac came home still undecided to whether he liked it or not, he said he missed me. He's so sweet, I missed him too! Sarah came home ecstatic w/her teacher, Mr. Smith. I'm thrilled, I really wanted her to have a good teacher, she's seems a little emotionally fragile lately. (or better described as a bomb waiting to go off!) Emma was SO excited to start middle school, but came home realizing that it's way overrated. She was bummed there was no recess, no time to talk w/all her BFF's at lunch, and all her teachers "just talked". I told her, "welcome to the first day of school till you graduate from college honey".

The mystery of the missing shoe: solved.
This church shoe of Jacob's has been missing for the past 4-5 months. Every Sunday morning we search for something to put on his feet: cowboy boots, crocks, cleats, and sometimes even flip flops (looks great w/tie). I refused to buy him more shoes though, because I knew the second I did, the missing shoe would be found. Peter, our Septic contractor, solved the case after removing a huge shrub....

Adam's starting to get settled in Bahgdad. He's working in one of Suddam's Palace's. It's pretty fancy: marble floors, nice pools, colorful tiles. He works in a cubical set up in a huge ballroom. He'll be doing criminal litigation. The JAGS stay pretty busy, in the courtroom almost every morning. I'll be sending him a camera this weekend, so hopefully we'll start getting pics soon!

Another week down! Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself that I survived another week flying solo. And only 2 more days till school starts!!! But who's counting?

I took the kids swimming 4 days in a row this week, and the boys all improved vastly. I am totally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. For the past couple of years, swimming just seemed like too much to handle for our family, even w/Adam and I both. But we have finally turned a corner, I gave the boys swim lessons all week and they improved a ton and I actually had a lot of fun! They all improved a lot, but Jacob definitely gets the most improved award.

Still no yard. We're having to fight hard to get anything more than just a little seed sprinkled down. I want hydroseeding instead of just seeding, and some bushes/shrubs put back in places where they were removed, and some tall grass planted around the coffin (filter) and electrical post they put in. Reasonable?? I think so. Especially since our contract says that "the appearance of the yard will not be altered in any way". When I called the son-in-law of the woman who we bought the house from, our middle man through all of this,, I got an earful. He misjudged me for some helpless housewife who's huband's in Iraq and thought he could treat me like crap, telling me, "listen honey, we are done here, it's over", and telling me I would have to get a lawyer to fight them for it. Honey? Hello, don't call me honey. Anyway, I called the lawyer who has their 40 grand in an escrow account to pay for all of this, and he reassured me that I wasn't asking for anything unreasonable, that no $$ was going to be released till the job was done, and to direct them to him. Adam also called him as soon as he got my email about it, and of course he was a completely different person w/Adam. I hate that!! Although I'm sure it won't be the last time that someone tries to pull one over on the helpless husbandless housewife.

Adam spent the past week in Kuwait training, and waiting. Yeserday he was finally sent to Camp Bucca, a camp kind of in the middle of nowhere where about 20,000 detainees are being held. When he got there though, they decided that's not where he was suposed to be, and sent him back to Kuwait, to then go to Bahgdad. He should be heading there tomorrow. Sounds so organized. He's trying to keep a good attitude about it all....hopefully they'll get him busy soon.

Well, that's all that's new around here. Thank you for all remembering us in your prayers, I truly feel it is making a difference.

I totally impressed my five year old this morning when after I finished the last page of "Breaking Dawn" he asked me with eyes the size of quarters, "Wow Mom, are you proud of yourself??" It is a little thicker than most books I read, but I didn't tell him that it was a totally fast, easy read about bloodsucking vampire lovers.....he thought it was a book about chess (or checkers as he kept calling it).

Last night Luke came to the couch for his bedtime story looking like this, he'd put the hat on himself. I cracked up, and had Isaac grab the camera and take this pic, more for Adam than anything. Adam finished up training in Georgia (USA) this week and left for Iraq yesterday. I heard from him last night when he arrived in Bangor, ME, where a line of old veterans had greeted as they got off the plane. I wish I could have been there, I got a little choked up when he was telling me about it. We talked while they refueled in Bangor, and then they left for Germany. He should have arrived there this morning, and flying to Kuwait sometime today. And I'm not sure from there....or when we'll hear from him next, hopefully it won't be too long.

We survived another week, so 2 weeks down and I'm trying not to think about how many more to go. The new septic was finished up on Thursday, now I'm just waiting for my yard to get put back together. Hopefully next week, I can't take much more mud and dirt tracked in the house!

Em, Sarah, Isaac and I went school clothes shopping yesterday. That was our 2nd time out and I think we've pretty much finished! Yeah!! I can only take so much of that. Em still needs a few more things, but we're going to finish up after school starts, in case there's some new fashion out this year that we don't know about yet.

That's pretty much all around here, other than I'm still trying to get my dose of prozac every day so I don't lose my sanity and am ready for the marathon in Oct. I've been having to go early in the morning before anyone wakes up (and if they do, they know to wake Emma--and I have my cell w/me, don't anyone freak out, she is ELEVEN now).

Forget Dad, we've got a new kitten!
Last Thursday was Luke's 2nd birthday.....
We actually celebrated w/Jeannie before she left, and Emma had made his cake while we were gone--I love it! Anything that will simplify my life.....

We snapped couple of quick pics before leaving for the airport Sunday morning. Normally it takes a good 2 doz pics or so before getting one where everyone's looking at the camera, no bunny ears, and smiles, but it must have been meant to be, because Adam was a little stressed about leaving and only giving us 3 shots, and 2 out of 3 turned out!

Adam spent several hours on Saturday fixing our dishwasher--a mouse had chewed through ALL of the hoses. Glenda (our cat) is doing a great job earning her stay, she's always leaving mice or rats on the grass to show us, she just can't keep up on it on her own. So, I decided we needed another cat. The kids found one that was free and near the airport. I thought it was a perfect plan, I am a firm believer in distraction. It worked great, they were sad to say goodbye to Adam, but they were thrilled to get a new kitten!

Still working on a name, we can't all seem to agree on one.

The night before Adam left we went blackberry picking. We actually went to pick raspberries at a secret spot we found last year, but we were about a week too late on the raz's, but there were a ton of blackberries ripe! I had a few blueberries and raspberries in the fridge, threw them all together and yesterday I made Jumbleberry Jam (remember Jumbleberry pie?). I also have too many cucumbers to eat in my garden, so decided to try to pickle a few. I think it worked.....we'll see how they taste later....

Monday morning we woke to the sound of tractors and trucks. We are getting a new septic system put in this week, so our yard is a mess.

Look closely at the left side, that is my treehouse!!! The treehouse tree had to go. Boo hoo. I worked so hard on it! Oh well, better that than septic backed up in the house I guess.

If only I could keep the kids and dog out of the mud....hopefully I will have some sod down by the end of the week, I can't take much more!

This week Adam's in San Diego, and Georgia next week. So far the reality hasn't really set in since I can talk to him on my cell pretty much whenever I want. He's doing well, just getting all his medical things out of the way this week. He got his 1st out of 6 Anthrax shots on Tuesday--he said it was a fun one. He also was told on Monday that he was going to be wearing an army uniform for the next 7 months---he put up a pretty good fight though until they finally agreed to let him drive to another base and get the Marine cami's he needed. Other than that he's doing well, just ready to get going.