Excited!

Our suitcases are slowly getting packed! We have been making runs to the store to pick up things for the cruise! We have booked our excursions! We have spent hours reading reviews and forums! We think we have everything finally figured out! We think we know what we want to do and when we want to do it! We can't wait to sit by the pool and relax. We can't wait to see white beaches and the blue ocean of the caribbean :) We can't wait to see new things! We can't wait to celebrate 15 yrs of marriage in Belize cave-tubing! We are only slightly excited to be leaving in 3.5 days! We are excited about spending 2 nights in Orlando in the Presidental Suite at Bonnet Creek thanks to Matt's parents! We are excited about having dinner at Margaritaville in Downtown Disney Saturday night! Again, we are only slightly excited!!!!

Enjoying summer!

I have neglected my blog so much over the past few months. We have been enjoying our summer though I haven't remembered to take many pictures. Matt came home on June 28th (2 days earlier than we expected) and we enjoyed spending 72 hours with him before he had to report to base in Memphis for 2 weeks. We enjoyed surprising our friends with his early arrival. And of course picking him up at the airport was priceless! And now he is home for good or until the next set of orders come. Taylor really enjoyed a week in Savannah, GA with her girl scout troop. She did all kinds of new things....zip-lining, archery, rifle shooting, scuba diving and rock climbing just to name a few. They were also able to drive over to Tybee Island and spend the day playing in the ocean. She was exhausted when she got back and spent the next week sleeping until noon! We enjoyed spending a few days in the mountains with Matt's mom just swimming and enjoying Dollywood. Madison celebrated her 7th birthday. Hard to believe she is that old. I'm looking forward to her 7 yr check-up to see how much she has grown...not much according to our scales. She has grown a few inches b/c she has moved up in band colors at Dollywood and can ride a few new things! She was so excited about this! We spent a few days at the river over the 4th. Taylor enjoyed tubing while Caleb and Madison enjoyed jumping off the dock and swimming in the river (I did not enjoy this part...I like my water crystal clear so I can see what it swimming with me). Matt and I are leaving for a caribbean cruise in less than 2 weeks to celebrate our 15th anniversary (thought it doesn't seem possible we have been married that long) and we couldn't be more excited! We are going to spend 2 days in Orlando before driving over to Tampa and catching the ship.

What we have been up to.....

It is hard to believe how quickly Matt's time in Calafornia has gone (though I don't think he will agree)....only 20 days and he will be home (only for 24 hrs but I will take what I can get). There was the occassional day where I thought the 17 weeks would never be over but for the most part it has really gone by quickly. I give the credit to our very busy schedules. I think we just stayed so busy that the days went quickly and though I really missed Matt I didn't have much time to sit around and mope over him being gone. I thought about him most mornings when I was dragging myself out of bed at 5 AM to get my day started. I know the kids are very excited. They are counting the days until he comes home. They are very excited about meeting him at the airport. We are just waiting to see when he will arrive...we won't know that until a few days before he comes home. I am expecting a late arrival though since he is coming in from CA which puts him 3 hours behind us. It doesn't matter if it is midnight me and the kids will be there. Lots has happened since I posted 3 months ago. We have celebrated Taylor's 12th birthday and Caleb's 9th birthday. Madison will be turning 7 in a few short weeks. Mother's Day came and went. We celebrated our sweet niece Quinn's 1st birthday. School finished with a bang...I now have a 7th grader (that doesn't seem possible) who is anticipating numerous honors classes in the fall based on her TCAP scores (which makes me nervous b/c I had trouble helping her with her honors classes this year), a 4th grader and a 1st grader. My, where has the time gone. We spent Memorial week at Edisto Island with my parents and Matt's parents. It was fabulous. Matt's brother, his wife and their 3 girls also came down. The kids had fun playing with their cousins who we don't get to see much since they live in China. I will have another blog post later though I didn't take as many pictures this time since I was doing everything with all 3 kids. Makes it hard to take pictures if you are the one in the water, sand, etc. We are gearing up for 2 busy weeks of VBS. This week we have a VBS in the morning as well as one in the evenings. Next week we have another morning VBS. Taylor then heads to Savannah for a week to celebrate 100 yrs of girl scouting with her troop. She is supposed to get home the same day as Matt...here's hoping their arrival times aren't the same.

One week down.....16 to go!

Well we have survived the 1st week with only a few bumps! For the 1st time since school started in August I had to get all 3 kids to school and myself to work. I was very nervous but it went smoothly though it did require me getting up at 5:00 AM and let me tell you I thought 5:30 was bad, it is nothing compared to 5:00! The kids have coped well. Caleb has been a little more arguemenative then normal but is fine at school so I can deal with the at home stuff. Luckily we are so busy during the week we barely have time to miss Matt. We have tennis on Monday's and Tuesday's, church on Wednesday's and scouts every other Thursday and Friday! This will definitely help the weeks go by quickly! I talked to Matt on Tuesday and he was settling in on base. The kids won't get to talk with him much during the week as they are already in bed when he can finally call (thanks to the 3 hour time difference). The kids did get to talk with him on Saturday. That made their day :) 3 of their cousins are here from Nashville (as well as one from Cookeville) for a few days so they have enjoyed playing with them this weekend.

Taylor and I went to see Big Miracle on Friday night. It was a movie we wanted to see and she had the opportunity to earn some extra credit for her Honors Language Arts class. It was really good. I don't remember the event actually taking place (it was in 1988).

We are busy trying to plan something fun for Spring Break. Trying to decide between the aquarium in Chattanooga or the zoo in Atlanta...anyone been to either place and lend me some feedback? We got Dollywood passes so maybe we will make it up there sometime. I also plan to paint the entryway and hallway as well as work on Taylor's new bedroom furniture. The week will go by too quickly I am sure!

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been so busy! It seems like things never slow down for us. Girl Scouts for Taylor and Madison has picked up b/c we are in the middle of cookie sales! Madison has started tennis up. She is loving it! And I have to admit she looks so cute out on the court :)


We enjoyed spending last weekend at The Glade with all of Matt's family. It is the only time we will be together while Matt's brother and sister-in-law are home from China since Matt will be leaving. We enjoyed just sitting around talking, playing cards and swimming! I didn't get a lot of pictures b/c I was busy enjoying myself! Here is our attempt at a group picture...pretty good considering there was 10 adults and 12 kids ranging from 17 to 21 months!


We have been gearing up for Matt to leave again! He will be gone for 17 weeks this time. Skype will be our best friend! We have been trying to spend as much time as a family as possible but it is really hard with everyone's busy schedules.

Taylor attended her 1st Winterfest in Gatlinburg this weekend...13,000 teens from many Church of Christ all gathered together for a weekend of worship. Taylor said it was wonderful. She came back very tired though. Now she is gearing up for a girls weekend with the youth group in 2 weeks. I love that Taylor is involved in a wonderful youth group. We are really excited that our new youth minister will be here next month.

The kids were out of school today and neither Matt and I had to work. We took the kids to see The Secret World of Arriety. It was really good...the kids loved it. It was their first anime. Then Caleb went over to Will's house to play for awhile. All in all it was a very fun day :)

Madison's Sayings

While cleaning out a few boxes last week I found a list of Madison's sayings that I had written down. She was 2/3 when she said most of these but there are a couple she still says. I wrote them down so I wouldn't forget but thought I should write them here on my blog in case I lose the sheet of paper (which is very probable) LOL

slushie...flushie
binoculars....nokulars
surprise...special
webkinz....wekin
feather...feeder
heater...feeter
sweet dreams...happy dreams
happy birthday...happy cake
polka dots...pokey nots
trampoline...jumpoline
cot...cotton
comfortable...constable
marshmallow...smarshmallow
elevator...alligator
hand sanitizer...hansitizer
cold...chilly
yesterday...last year (this one was one of my favorites)

Christmas Stockings

The stockings are the best part of Christmas I think. Everyone buys everyone else something for their stocking (less than $10) so you have lots of little things to open. The kids really get into this because they get to pick out something for everyone. Since Madison loves penguins we were on the lookout for penguin things, Chris was needing pocket squares for his suits, Nana collects snowmen so she normally gets snowmen ornaments or decorations. It is always lots of fun!

Madison loves Holly Shiftwell (Cars 2) and had been wanting a little one...we finally found one so she was a little excited!


This year we played a joke on Caleb. We had told him since he was having surgery right after Christmas that all he would get in his stocking was gatorade, jello and pudding. He didn't believe us so what did we do...wrapped up 9 things of gatorade, jello and pudding! He thought it was the funniest thing! When he got done opening those we pulled out his real gifts!


He also got some shampoo and bodywash that looked like car oil...he loved it!


Taylor got a new Bible...she had 1 but it is kinda big and she wanted a slim one that would be easier to carry to church.