Owen and Jer sharing a chair while they enjoyed their Krispy Kremes.

Sweet Sarah

“Me love donuts.” (Said in a deadpan Cookie Monster voice, of course.)

The anticipation!

Sorry for the unannounced leave of absence. I just realized this morning that I have not posted in five days. I have been busy and gone. Saturday morning, I got up and drove to Fort Jackson, alone, with three kids. Yep. I am crazy. The night before, as I was talking to Amy about being nervous and asking her to pray for me while I drive, she reminded me (for the upteenth time) that I am now an Army Wife…and they are Army Strong, too. Now, I don’t usually feel so much like an Army Wife, but I guess, with Chris gone for a while, it counts. Apparently, Army Wives do things like packing up three little kids and driving five hours to see their soldier for a day and a half, and then turn around and drive back. After two weeks of talking to Amy (who is both an Army Wife and a soldier), I feel like a well placed “Hooah!” goes here.

Really, it was an uneventful drive down there. I had never driven past Pigeon Forge before, so it was mostly a new experience for me. I had to stop once in North Carolina for a bathroom stop. We stopped at a rest area, and I got the kids out and we trooped to the bathroom. Me, Kyra, and Elijah all had to go. Once in there, I assigned each kid a stall, and told them not to leave it until I told them. It was then that I realized my propensity for never putting shoes on Owen backfired. He can stand up now, but, without shoes, there was no way he was standing on the floor of a public bathroom. So, I had to hold him. It was tricky. I feel I deserve some sort of medal. After that stop, I didn’t have to stop again until I was almost in Columbia, and Elijah had to go again. We got back on the interstate after that stop, and drove three exits down and met Chris at a McDonald’s. It was a really, really happy reunion. The kids and I were playfully arguing, before he got there, about who got the first kiss. When Chris pulled up, Kyra took off running and claimed the first kiss. She wouldn’t hardly share. It was very good to kiss my man again. It took a while to get used to him being completely bald. That was definitely a change. After we ate, I followed him to Fort Jackson.

While we were there, we saw where Chris is living, played on the playground behind his apartment, drove around the base looking at different things, visited the PX, had ice cream, and then we went to our hotel. After getting settled in the hotel, we went swimming in their indoor pool, which the kids loved. After swimming, we went to eat at The Lizard’s Thicket. Good food. We all collapsed in utter exhaustion that night. Sunday morning, we got up and went to church. We went to a service on base. It was actually in the Chaplain School. It was called Chapel Next, and was a contemporary protestant service. It was really cool. I enjoyed it. It was very, VERY different than what I am used to, though. But I am of the opinion that different is not synonymous of bad. It was very cool to be in a service with the military families. There were a few basic training or AIT soldiers there in their ACUs. We sat among a bunch of Chaplains and Chaplain Candidates. After the service, I got to meet the Chaplain who preached at that service and his wife. I enjoyed meeting my first Chaplain’s Wife. She seemed very nice, and I look forward to meeting many more. Amy is all the time bragging making me jealous telling me what I have to look forward to in meeting Chaplain’s wives, and now I am very excited about that.

I can’t wait to live on an Army base. It is just so cool. I am constantly teary-eyed while there, because I find everything so moving. My favorite moment there (of the non-in-my-husband’s-arms moments) was an hour or so before we left to come home. We were watching the kids play on the playground behind Chris’ apartment, and there were four little girls, ages 4-9, playing there also. As we were sitting there, the bugles came sounding through the air, as they took the flag down for the day. Chris stood up, and all the little girls hurriedly jumped down from the playground equipment. I could barely keep from crying as I watched those little girls stand straight up, hands over their hearts, one little girl saluting (which was adorable), and not making a sound until the bugles ceased. The respect and reverence was touching. I love Army Kids. If Chris had of been in uniform, I probably would have cried big time, because he would have faced the flag, stood at attention, and saluted. I love Soldiers. Shortly after that, Chris took Elijah inside, and, as soon as he left, all the little girls came over and started talking to me. They asked me if we had moved there, and told me how cute Owen was. They told me about all of the various places they had lived, and how it was being an Army Kid. One little girl said her daddy was a Chaplain and had just came home from Korea. Which prompted another girl to tell about when her daddy was in Iraq. It was like getting a crystal ball view of what my kids’ lives are going to be. I liked these kids. I think that Army Kids are good people.

So, then, I drove home. Leaving for the trip home was not as exciting as leaving for the trip there. I think the difference, besides being tired, was that, on the way there, I had Chris to look forward to, and, on the way home, I had the messy house I left to look forward to. The trip was mostly uneventful, other than the two stops and the screaming, teething baby. The first stop was highlighted with a weird, scary guy parked in the car beside of me demanding to know where my husband was and trying to talk to me, which prompted me to slam the door, run around the van, jump in, and drive to the other side of the building. The highlight of the second stop would be Elijah dumping an entire sprite on him and his car-seat which sparked Elijah squalling at the top of his lungs, Owen squalling at the top of his lungs, and Kyra frantically singing “Hush Little Baby” at the top of her lungs, while I contemplated sitting on the curb to cry. I didn’t, though. I dealt with it. Then, I got back on the road, and made it safely home. Cause I’m an Army Wife, and, apparently, this is just par for the course.

Chris and I took the kids to Dollywood today. Kind of a “last hoorah” before Chris leaves. It was hot, but not unbearably so. They rode some rides, played in the water, and we all ate a lot of junk. Owen had so much fun playing in the little playground at Dreamland Forest. It’s made specifically for little bitty kids. He was so happy. All smiles. He is learning to walk, and he was doing so well there at the playground. He was taking ten plus steps at a time.

We came home, put the kids to bed, and Chris and I just finished watching a movie. We watched Flyboys. It was really good. If you haven’t seen it, you ought to. While I’m on the subject of moives, we watched The Last Sin Eater a couple of nights ago, and it was pretty good, too. I liked it a lot, but Chris didn’t like it as much. So, if you do watch either of those two, let me know what you think. If you all hate them, I might have to keep my movie recommendations to myself.

Anyway, I’m headed to bed now. I just couldn’t go to bed without blogging today. Be good, people!

Well, it feels like summer now. It’s been in the upper eighties this week, and, yesterday evening, I took the kids down to the lake where my family is camping. Nothing feels more like summer to me than camping. I’m going to take the kids down this afternoon to go swimming. I have to go buy Kyra a bathing suit, first. Hers are all too small. I don’t think we went swimming at all last summer. The kids are really excited about swimming. Me, not so much. I love to swim, but it’s hard to enjoy swimming when you have three little ones to worry over. This is one of those things, though, that you do just for the sake of happy children and good memories. A lady from church and her family are also camping with them, so, I’ve been asked to teach her Sunday School class Sunday, since she won’t be there. So, I’m going to prepare my S.S. lesson, and then slather on the sunblock and take off. I hope everyone else is enjoying their holiday weekend!

This was Kyra’s last field trip of the year. We went to Frozen Head State Park and had hot dogs and hamburgers. Everyone had a lot of fun.

Elijah played in the creek with our cousin, Punky.

With Brooke’s help, Owen played in the creek, too.

Elijah climbed a tree. (With a little help from Daddy, of course!)

He’s a cute little monkey, isn’t he?

Kyra did well at her school program last night. I took a lot of pictures, but they weren’t great quality. For some reason, my camera has not been focusing well. I don’t know what the deal is with it. You can check out some of the pictures on my photo blog. I was very disappointed that our video camera crashed after only about ten seconds of the program. Chris couldn’t get it fixed, so we have no video of the occasion. Their little skit was so cute. They did a timeline of events from American history. The older students recited dates and events, and some of the other students would act out a little thing about the event. For instance, the older students gave a date and said “The Boston Tea Party”. Then, two of the little girls came out in old fashioned bonnets and a tea set and were having a tea party, when an older girl came and told them that wasn’t what happened. She said that the Boston Tea Party was when the Indians threw all of the British tea into the ocean. Then, two little boys wearing Indian headdresses came out and threw baskets of Lipton tea packets into the audience. It was really cute and funny. When they said the date and “Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad” the kids came out doing motions and making sounds like a train, all in a line. Kyra was the last one, and, as she got to the center of the church, she said, “Toot! Toot!”. It was so cute, and funny. Kyra was very proud of herself for doing her part loud.
Kyra was really cute in her cap and gown as she received a diploma and three trophies and a medal. She had fun at the reception, too, and was very excited that some people had got her a card or a gift. She got a Precious Moments figurine from her “boyfriend”, Westley, and his family. She was very, very excited about that. (Just to be completely honest, Westley is 11 years old, and never actually agreed to be Kyra’s boyfriend. She takes after her Mama, though, and didn’t take his initial refusal to marry her to heart. She is sure he will eventually change his mind. He is very sweet to her, though, and doesn’t seem to resent her crush on him. In the photos, Westley is the boy on the far right in the red, white, and navy striped shirt.)
All in all, it was a fun night, and we were really proud of our little graduate.

Here is Kyra standing with all of the students while they sang and quoted Scripture.

Kyra right after she received her diploma.

The whole family.

Proud Mama! (I know this one’s blurry, but I really wanted to post one of me and her.)

Kyra was very proud of her trophies. She got one for attendance, one for Scripture memorization, one for completing the targeted number of Paces, and a medal for being voted “Friendliest”.

It’s completely gray outside today. It has been raining all night. Well, I think it has. Every time I woke up during the night, I think I heard it raining. Even with the blinds open, it is dark in the living room. Gloomy, gloomy.

Yesterday was nice, though. Chris had someone work for him yesterday, so he had an extra day off. We went to get his and Elijah’s hair cut. Elijah looks so cute. I was going to grow his hair out, but it was driving me nuts. I had to cut it. I might try to let it grow out again this fall, but, for the summer, I think I’ll keep it short. Chris only has about four weeks of having hair left. When he goes to Fort Jackson, they will shave it all off, just like they do in regular basic training. I have a feeling he may stay bald after that. Poor little Owen was the butt of several bald jokes at the barber shop. I never knew how cruel a barber shop could be to a baldie.

After our haircutting adventure, we went to Knoxville and did a little shopping, and then ate at Famous Daves. I love BBQ. It was really good. I got four new shirts for me at Old Navy, and they were all on sale. I also got the kids both a pair of flip flops. Elijah loved his. He has never had any before, and he kept putting them on to walk around the house with a big grin. I also got some good deals on a few clothes for the kids at Once Upon a Child. I love that place with a passion. At Sam’s, we got a few things, including a memory foam pillow for me. It is so squishy-soft! I love it.

Today, amid the rain, we are going to a birthday party for two little girls from church. That should be fun. Chris is working today, so we may go by my parents’ and grandparents’ house afterward, since we’re going to be up that way, anyway. It is so nice having a short break from school. I had forgotten what it felt like to not have deadlines looming. I remember, when I was working full-time at Food City when I was sixteen, I was also a high school senior. I always thought what a luxury it would be to get off work and just go home and do whatever. Instead, I had to go home and do my schoolwork. Sometimes, I did my schoolwork on my lunch break at work. It was such a heavy load. When I finally graduated, it was like having a heavy burden lifted. While I’m still enjoying college so much right now that I haven’t felt at all like it is a burden, I do appreciate a short break. However, I imagine Chris will feel like he has had a burden the size of a small planet lifted from his shoulders when he takes his last test on Tuesday. He has had a workload that is far beyond what most people could handle. People ask me how he can work such long hours at his job and still put in such long hours for school, in addition to his familial duties and the jobs he does for the church, and I have a very short answer. He rarely sleeps. I will be glad when he gets a break. It’s a little sad when you consider the Army…getting up at 4:30 a.m. for PT, running all the time, and sitting in long classes for Chaplain related studies…a break.

Well, my blogging time is up. I need to get some presents wrapped, and get us all ready to go to the party. Be good, people!

Owen with his great-aunt, Angie. He was trying to take his hat off.

Kyra rode the flying elephants with Angie. They were having a ball!

This is the look Elijah gave Chris when he tried to take a picture of Elijah and Mamaw Velvet on the elephants.

He got a little more excited about playing in the water!

Silly Kyra! She liked playing in the water, too!

Owen didn’t get to ride much more than the stroller. He did get to ride the carousel, but I was holding him on the horse and didn’t get to take a picture.

Elijah drove Mamaw Velvet off into the sunset. (Don’t worry. He brought her back in one piece.)

Kyra took Angie for a spin!

And, finally, we have the obligatory “hold the camera out to take your own picture” shot to prove that Chris and I were actually there. He wasn’t cooperating and I had no make up on. I had also been wet at one point. So, it’s not a great picture. But I was there! I have the picture to prove it.

Kyra went to Emily’s birthday party today. They had so much fun. There were ladies from church there who did their hair, make-up, and nails, and they all wore princess dresses. Kyra had a ball.