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.

The Kiddos in their Easter finery. Kyra’s Easter dress was sleeveless, so she had to wear a shirt under it, since it was COLD. It was almost too cold to hunt Easter eggs.

The kids with their cousin, Keinzie.

Kyra looking sweet and pretty.

Elijah was saying, “Cheese!” He didn’t get that it defeated the purpose when he barked it out with a hateful look.

In pursuit of the easter eggs!

Sorry about the lapse in posts the last few days. I’ve been really busy. Between you and me, I’ve been pretty occupied in finishing that book I told you about. I just couldn’t put it down. I justified it by telling myself that the sooner I finished it the sooner I could concentrate on what I should be doing again. Whatever lets me sleep at night, huh? Look for my thoughts on the Memory Keeper’s Daughter soon in my What I’m Reading section.

Seriously, though, I have had a lot of schoolwork lately. I have less than a month left of the spring semester of school. For those of you who could care less what I’m doing in school, just skip down to the next paragraph. I had a reading to do in Speech class Monday. I think I did well. I read Hooway for Wodney Wat, which is an awesome children’s book. I get nervous before getting in front of the class each time I have to speak. It’s not fear. I’m not afraid to speak in front of people. I don’t even get nervous till it’s almost my turn. Once I’m up, though, my heartbeat speeds up and my hands shake. My voice wasn’t shaky when I read, but I hands shook, thus making the book I was holding up shake, for about the first four pages. I got my grade for my last speech the same night, and her comments on my speech were “Calm down. You look nervous. You’re a good speaker.” So, I guess I wasn’t hiding my nerves as well as I thought I was, huh? I did get a 97 on the speech, though. Next Monday, I have to give a persuasive speech. I haven’t picked my topic yet. I’m also getting my honors presentation ready to give to Kyra’s school a week from today.
I had been working on a paper for Comp class, too. It was on advertising. I turned it in last night. I think I did a really good job on this paper. I proofread it a dozen times and had Mom proofread it for me, too. I am hoping to get a really good grade. I was shooting for a 100. I haven’t made a perfect score on any paper. Chris told me yesterday that he wishes I was a perfectionist in everything like I am in my schoolwork. Alas, I’m not. I am also steadily working on my short story, which is my honor’s project. I am making pretty good progress on it. I’m shooting to give him a first draft by next Thursday.
In music, I am planning on writing my concert report today on the opera I went to. I should have already wrote it but I was worried that my first one wasn’t right. I got my grade on it this morning, though, and I made a 97 on it. So, now I’m not worried. I will write the second one and turn it in, as well as the one I wrote for extra credit on Oklahoma. I have a test in Music on Wednesday.
In Math, there’s nothing exciting to report. I have another test in it on the 16th, and then the final test a week after that. Nothing pressing right now.
So, I’ve got a lot going on with school, but I’m still doing well. I am getting close to the end of the semester. I have already registered for two classes this summer. I am going to take the next developmental math class over the summer to get it out of the way. I don’t get credits for the math I’m taking now or the next one, because they are not regular college math classes. Math is not my strong suite, so I’m going to take them all one right after the other, while they’re fresh on my mind. I have registered for my fall classes, too. One of which is College Algebra. Ugh. Hopefully I’ll do well enough, though, and get them all out of the way. I have registered for five classes this fall.

Okay, enough about school. What else has been going on? Well, Chris has been busy with, of course, school. He’s also working a lot of overtime now. Another site is fixing to strike, so they sent some of the guys from Chris’ site out of state to work the strikers’ jobs, so Chris is working overtime to cover their shifts. They haven’t actually went on strike yet, so I’m hoping they won’t. Once the other guys come back, Chris will go back to his regular work schedule. If they do strike and stay on strike for a while, Chris won’t get to take his scheduled vacation. That would totally stink. His vacation is scheduled for the end of May, and he has to report for duty at Fort Jackson on June 3rd. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take a family vacation before he leaves. So, that’s what he’s been up to.

The boys had doctor’s appointments last week. Everything was great. I’ve already forgot their stats, though. I think Elijah weighed about thirty-six pounds. I forget how tall he was. The doctor was unconcerned over the lump on his forehead that is still there from where he hit his head in January. He had to have blood drawn, which stunk, and it took four of us to hold him down. Owen was doing great, as well. He weighed nineteen pounds.

In other kid news, Owen has cut all four top teeth. They are just barely sticking through his gum, but they are there. Elijah is making some potty-training progress. Not as much I would like, but he’s getting there. Slowly. Kyra is doing well, too. She is on spring break from school right now, and is enjoying that.

We took the kids to Knoxville Tuesday. Get a load of what great parents we are. First, we took them to Chuck E. Cheese’s to play. Then, we took them to Steak and Shake for lunch. After that, we went to the movies, where we watched “Meet the Robinsons” in 3D. The movie was so cool. Chris and I both thought it was a great movie. Really funny. The 3D aspect made it super cool, too. After the movie, we went to the used bookstore, which we all love. I got three more books to add to my “to read” pile . . . as if I have time to read. By the time we got home, the kids were worn out and happy. It was a really fun family day. Don’t you wish I was your mom?

What else? Oh, my friend, Joy, is moving back to Tennessee! I am really excited about that. I don’t know how long she will be here. They are in the ministry, so they could move away somewhere else. If she does stick around at a church in this area, then I will probably be moving in a few years. So, we are not likely to live out our lives in the same area, but I fully intend to enjoy living close to her for as long as it lasts.

One last thing…remember my brothers in your prayers. Aaron left to go overseas again today, Jason is still out in Caliornia, and Malachi is probably traveling home from Kansas this weekend. So, pray that the Lord would keep them all safe in their travels.

That’s all for now. Be good, people!

Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains!
Ok-lahoma where I laugh and laugh about the crazy antics on the stage!

Me, Stephanie, and my mom went to see Roane State’s production of Oklahoma last night. It was great. I had no idea what it was about. I had never seen a theater production nor the movie version. It was really funny. Just to give you a little insight into my personality, my favorite character…by far…was Ado Annie, the boy-loving, good time having, Persian goodbye/Oklahoma hello receiving floozy. She was hilarious. It was all good, though. Other than Laurie’s singing and speaking voice…she drove me up the wall. Curly was great, though.

I left my three small children in the hands of my two cousins, Punky (Tiffany) who is 15 and Kiah who is 12(?), as well as my brother Seth. We were only fifteen minutes away at the college, and I told them to call me if they needed anything at all. I just turned my cell on vibrate. I checked in on them at intermission, and they were fine. After the performance, Steph shared with me as we were walking to the car that in the middle of the second act she received a text message from Punky that said, “How do you make him quit crying?” Steph texted her back and said, “Bounce him.” When we got home, all three of my kids were sound asleep. Can’t beat that.

Now, I just have to write a little bit about the Oklahoma experience for my Speech class, and then I am going to write a concert report about it for extra credit in my Music class.

I’m finally getting around to writing about our weekend. I posted some pictures already on my photo blog. Make sure you check them out.

Elijah’s party Friday night went well. He had fun, I think. He got lots of superhero presents. I had a good time, too. The guest list was really small, since we were going to Alabama the next day, so that took most of the stress away. We just ordered pizza, so, other than making his cake, I didn’t have to put much work into the food. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, Chris had to take a test before we could leave. So, I hurried up and packed our stuff before Claire, my friend and neighbor who has been acting as proctor for Chris’ tests, came over. Chris took his test while the kids played with Piper and Collin and Claire and I visited. Once he finished, Mom came to stay with the kids, and we hit the road. My cousin, Ron, had given us excellent directions to Huntsville, but I was too busy talking to Chris to follow them, apparently. I let us miss our exit, and we went about fifteen miles out of our way before realizing it. So, we pulled out a Tennessee map, and followed a different route. We ended up getting there about forty-five minutes behind schedule. On the way there, I realized that I had forgotten to pack Chris’ belt to hold his suit pants up. We checked into the hotel, and were going to go and find a Walmart or somewhere to buy Chris a belt. Not wanting to have to do that, Chris was going to try on his suit pants to see if they would stay up without a belt. The only problem was, when he looked on the hanger, there were no pants. I nearly burst into tears right then and there. It was my fault, because I packed for him. I grabbed what I thought was his suit out of his closet, but it turned out to be just the jacket on the hanger…no pants. So, we took off to a mall, and got him a pair of dress pants and a belt at Sears. He went without a jacket, and everything was fine. In all of the rush, though, we didn’t have time to eat. We got to the concert hall right on time. Unfortunately, since we were running behind, I didn’t have a chance to get one of my aunts to take a picture of us. Sorry, Joy, but I have no picture of me in my pretty dress.

We got to the concert hall, as I said, right on time. We met my Aunt Bobbie (Ron’s mother) and my Aunt Sue at the door. We found our seats, and I told Bobbie that it was like “Ma and Pa Kettle Go to the Opry” for me and Chris and our series of unfortunate events on the way there. The opera itself was fantastic. I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much. I was fully expecting to enjoy the experience of getting dressed up and going, but I didn’t know how much I would like the opera itself. Going with an open mind, though, paid off. I really enjoyed it. They had supertitles above the stage translating what they were singing into English for us. (They sang in Italian.) It was great. It had some really funny moments. Ron was great. Who knew there was such talent in my family! He sang the tenor role of Arturo. He was hillarious. It was great.

After the performance, I got to meet all of the singers back stage. Susanna Phillips, the star of the show, was great. She is only two years older than me. She was phenomenal. We all walked over to the Art Museum afterwards for the gala. It was somewhat amusing to see Ron in his element. These people were just falling all over themselves to tell Ron how great he was and how proud they were of him. He is a celebrity among the theater people in Huntsville. I was really proud of him. He introduced us to everyone. We ducked out after about forty-five minutes and walked with my aunts back to the hotel. We never did have a chance to eat, but decided to just go back and enjoy our hotel room.

Speaking of our hotel room, it was great. The bed was awesome. It was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. I think that was the first time I’ve slept completely through the night in like five years. The comfortable bed combined with no kids in the bed was the perfect formula for the most restful sleep I’ve had in a long time. We had an awesome view of the park out our window.

Sunday morning, we met everyone downstairs for breakfast. Our breakfast came with our room, and it was fantastic. It really was! We had cooked to order omelets, plus lots of other good stuff. After not eating since breakfast the day before, Chris and I were ravenous. We ate and talked and laughed with everyone for a good while. It was so much fun.

After checking out of our hotel, we visited Redstone Arsenal. It is an Army base there in Huntsville. Chris was actually sent there after basic training for his AIT school. Now that he has a military i.d., he was allowed on base. NASA uses the base as well. We saw lots of cool things. We stopped at the PX and looked around, and he showed me the barracks that he stayed in years ago, where he played basketball, where he ate, and where he did PT. It was really neat.

After Redstone, we headed home, stopping briefly in Chattanooga to drive by the Tennessee Temple campus. Chris saw where the Seminary was located. Now, he knows how to get there when he goes for a modular class.

We got home about five o’clock Sunday. We were really tired, but so glad to see the kids. I can’t tell you how much I missed the baby. I missed the other kids a lot, too, but I knew they were in good hands. All of you breastfeeding mamas know how much I missed Owen, though. I’ll just leave it at that.

Yesterday, we had doctor’s appointments in the morning, and after that I tried to do schoolwork. I didn’t get much done, though. I took a three hour nap with Owen, and then spent the rest of the day feeling tired. I have lots of schoolwork to catch up on today. Mostly Algebra. I hate this graphing stuff. It’s so not my thing. Lori, could I pay you to do it for me? Just kidding!

I need to find a babysitter for this weekend, because I need to go to the Roane State production of Oklahoma. It’s required for Speech class to attend a Roane State event and write a paragraph about it. I would much rather go to a play than to a ballgame. So, I need a babysitter. Any volunteers?

Well, gotta go. Don’t forget to check out the pictures I added to my photo blog! Be good, people!