Life as we know it.....

Forgive me readers for I have sinned. It’s been three weeks since my last update.

What can I say? Life is leaving me in the dust.

Well, that and I’m old. Time seems to fly.

Especially when your clock decides to change the time every thirty seconds.

That one really blew me away. I couldn’t figure out why it was so dark outside when the clock read 9:15am.

But I digress…..

Daddy left us two weeks ago for a six week business trip to Asia. Yep, you read that right. Six weeks. But it’s nothing like our military who are deployed for months….

Speaking of which, my brother just returned two days ago from a six month deployment as the commander of the USS Arleigh Burke. We’re hoping my brother in law will return from Iraq in the next two months, so all will be right with our world.

Oh, oh, oh, and my sister took her boys to Europe for a month to tour and meet up with their dad (who is stationed in Iraq) and just returned home as well.

For those of us stuck stateside, life continued along its usual enthralling path. With a few diversions, of course.

Diversion 1: Abby

Abby had the great experience of Turning Five. Oh my. She talked about it for days, weeks, even months. The magic day finally arrived. The smile on her face said it all…





We celebrated at home with all six of us……although two of the six were via Skype. But we did our best! Our sweet baby had a wonderful day.

Diversion 2: Anna Grace

Anna Grace always leads us to questions…..Where did you get that? Why didn’t you eat lunch? Did you pull any sticks today? Did you lose any points? What do you mean you are making money? Who did you call? What did you do to your sister? You said what??

Yep, every day is always interesting.

But the look on her face is always so angelic.



Don’t let it fool you.

Diversion 3: Alex

Alex is our “be all you can be for the minimum amount of work” kind of kid. Don’t get me wrong. He has good grades but….he’s the kind of kid who will calculate the lowest grade he needs to get on something and still get an A in the class. He’s going to push me over the edge one day.

But he is giving his all to soccer….even if some of the other kids are not. He had a game the other day in 49 degree weather with a strong, steady wind. The girls and I were in attendance.

To answer your question, no it was not fun. Although the pictures may say otherwise.




When I downloaded the pictures and compared them to last season, it hit me that he has really grown up. Such changes….




Diversion 4: Katie

Katie has been struggling to find her place in this world. The best laid plans tend to go awry at times. We’ve hit that point. She is pursuing a change in schools for the spring semester. Living in the Big City isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. So, a change is in store. We are hoping for spring semester but are realistic that it may not happen due to housing shortages.

We’ve seen both she and Catlan several times since August. But when they arrive in the driveway, who do the girls go running to see? Katie? Nope. Catlan.



Toss in the flu, two broken cell phones, Celsius to Farehheit conversion (ugh…math), a huge texting bill (if we didn’t have unlimited texting…whew!), Nick Jr. and all that it entails, no sleep, lunch twice with friends and no kids (!!!), issues at school, Smurfs, college tours, first grade boyfriends, and so much more.

And life continues……

Let’s just hope I survive.