Happy Memorial Day

We ventured to our local State Park for Memorial Day and had a picnic with 2 of our neighbors. We had a perfect spot... picnic tables in the shade right by the lake.

Overall, we had a very nice day. We spent 7 hours outside and no one ended up burned, bored or in the water! Quite an accomplishment with 4 adults to 12 kids! 6 of which were under the age of 3 and 3 were under 6 months!

The kids loved the Geese in the lake.
Colt loved being outside in the sunshine.
Brodie stood at the rail to watch the geese. She would wave at them as they came close and say "bye bye" when they swam away.
Her friend Braylen was a good sport when she tried to "help" him play!

I found my tongue!
See, here it is! I can't smile without sticking it out now!
Ok Mom.. that's enough pictures. Put the camera away and no one gets hurt.

Even with all the fun, I didn't fail to remember the reason for today's holiday. I will never forget those who gave all as well as all of those who gave. I miss my grandfathers something fierce. As Randy and I placed flags at the cemetery here at West Point on Thursday in honor of Memorial Day, I said a prayer for every one and their families. Today I remember those we lost during Jason's last deployment and hope they know they are missed!

Sunday Fun!!!

Colt is 4 months today!!!

....don't I look older??

Brodie the Magician! Randy looking mature...or just hairy! Riley and his 'stache!
Two peas in a hairy pod!
Brodie LOVES the dandelions growing in the field by our house.

I love this picture of her!!!

Who can resist blowing a dandelion? Not Brodie!!!
Riley on his new scooter. The boys can FLY on them!
Randy is pretty fast on his two wheels!
And last but not least,

Colt and all his 4 month old wonder.

Tigers and Wolves and BEARS!!!

Randy is now officially now a BEAR Scout! He was advanced today at our ceremony! Notice the updates on his uniform??? Bobcat, Tiger and Wolf Patches, as well as 5 Arrowheads! Go Randy!!! He also earned the Summer Pin, Recruiter patch for recruiting 3 new Scouts!!! He has also earned the World Conservation Award and the Leave No Trace Award. He's added 6 more Belt Loops to his belt and even earned 2 Academic Pins this year! He now proudly wears a "#2" pin showing he has completed 2 full years in scouts. He's been very busy here! We look forward to continuing his Scout Path when we return to Texas!!!

WE'RE PROUD OF YOU RANDY!!

It's Official!!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!!!

We'll, verbally, at least! Jason got his orders changed for September!!! We can leave as early as mid-August!! YEAH!! I'm a little excited, can you tell???? That means the boys will be able to start school on time, hopefully...fingers crossed, we will get into base housing right away!

Jason will be able to get to know his new troops before he deploys with them in Dec/Jan. That's the downfall of going back to Hood, but we knew it was in his future anyway. Better I be around family than stuck in some state on my own!

Now it's just a matter of getting a packing/moving date so we can get outta dodge!!! I have enjoyed the new experience here on the East Coast, and I will miss the few friends I have made, but this tour just shows me I am a TRUE TEXAN and can't wait to get home!!!

YEAH!!!!!!

I saw God today

Profound, I know, but it was true. This morning brought devestation to 4 families here at West Point. An electrial fire caused a 4-plex to burn to the ground, leaving 4 families homeless. They moved 3 of the families into the empty houses next to us. Ironic thing, though, the family that moved out of the house directly next door is the family that moved back in tonight. The sad news is that one of the other families just lost their husband/father not too long ago when he was taken by a heart attack during a run. What more can this family face? Tonight showed more than we think.
As the volunteers from around the area showed up to move furniture it was like watching Extreme Home Makeover in my own front yard... except this was government issue, not Eddie Bauer! The donations were overflowing and eventually some things were turned away because they had too many to hold and store. I saw car after car pull in and adults as well as kids pile out with their arms loaded with donations... food, clothing, toys, books, TV's, beds. These were families that came from 5 bedroom homes... 2 of them had 6 members, 1 had 7 and our old/new neighbors have 9. Groceries of every kind were brought, meals were planned and God had a hand in everything.
By His grace, the fire happened when all of the 20 kids were at school or daycare. Pets were outside. Parents were at work or out. Those home were able to grab a few possessions and make it outside safely. Two homes were destroyed by fire and the others were destroyed by water damage. It was truly a remarkable sight!
God works in wonderful ways!!!

Orange County Chopper sighting!

Ok.. so Jason have been watching this show OCC for sometime now. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a family, father and 2 sons, that make custom choppers (motorcycles that are fancy) here in New York. We were excited when we found out we would live only 30 miles from their shop! We have gone to their shop in Montgomery, Palasides Mall and have watched the show pretty much every day.. here's the cool point to this post!
We had to go to Newburgh to get "dress" clothes for a cadet function Monday night. While at Taco Bell Jason and I saw one of the guys from the show. It was too cool. I saw him waiting for his order and thought, "that really looks like the guy from OCC." He had an OCC shirt on, work pants and obviously worked with grease of some sort! Jason walked up to the table and said, "I think that guy is on OCC!" We checked out his tattoos and when we got home, watched OCC on TV and low and behold it was Christian! I know for many of you, this isn't exiciting, but to watch someone on TV for a while and then to see them in person, at Taco Bell of all places, it was pretty cool! No, we didn't act like fools and go up and ask for autographs or talk to him, it was just cool enough to say "we ate lunch with Christian from OCC."
On another cool note: Jason saw the father and son (Paul Sr and Paulie (jr)) at the gas station in Highland Falls filling up. I guess around here they are just "neighbors" but for us "outsiders" it's still a famous person sighting!
They even came to West Point for some tribute to fallen soldiers, but the base here didn't make a big deal about it AFTER they came.. less crowd control!
So.. for those that are OCC fans.. they do exist! :-)

It's amazing...

Jason was gone for 15 days. The house stayed pretty clean, I have to admit. Then he comes home, and 4 days later, it's trashed!!! Now we know who the REAL messy person is!!! Now, if I could only get him to clean up after himself, which I know the kids can do, things would be spotless! :-) Yeah, ok, and then I wake up from my dream, but I CAN dream, ya know!

Anyway.. welcome home Daddy! We missed you!!

Brodie's Dance

Brodie does this "dance" whenever she puts on a new dress. I finally caught it on video.. along with her "dizzy spell" after!