31 Cent Night

Today was 31 cent night at Baskin Robbins! And you can bet that any time I can get ice cream for 31 cents, I'm there! The PX was packed but they had activities for the kids along the line so no one got bored. The kids learned how to stop, drop, and roll, talked to firemen about fire safety and got hats and balloons. We were in line for about an hour but it was a pretty neat experience - and we got ten scoops for $3.10!

Aidan and Rachel with the little fire engine.

Rachel's Mini Soccer - Week 2

Rachel was ready to play today with her new cleats, soccer socks (pink of course!) and shin guards. She did really well in the drills and really enjoyed playing with the other kids. At the end of practice they played a little game and she had some performance anxiety but she still did good.

Look at that concentration!


While Rachel played, Aidan did his homework.


Rachel doing her dribbling drill. She's a natural!


Video of Rachel during the game at the end of practice - she had a little stage fright =)

Dole Plantation

Monday morning we went to Dole Plantation. It's ALL pineapples, all the time! Aidan got to skip school to spend some extra time with Nana and Grandpa before they head back to North Carolina. We rode the Pineapple Express train through the pineapple fields, went on a garden tour, fed some koi, and ate pineapple ice cream and chocolate covered pineapple (yummy!).

The kids love the koi pond - the fish go crazy when you feed them!



Kim, SkyAnn, Nana and Grandpa on the Pineapple Express.


Aidan and Rachel as pineapples.

Camp Warrior

This morning we went to Camp Warrior - it was set up for the kids to do different Army activities. Aidan and Rachel both got their faces painted with camo - according to the Army "Everyone looks good in camo!" LOL. They both had a good time getting a little taste of what Daddy does.

Another Friday

This morning we drove up to the North Shore. Paul (Charlie's dad) is going on a ridiculously long bike ride (over 60 miles, I think) Sunday morning so we went to show him around a little. It's always nice to go up there and see the ocean and little shops in Haleiwa. I'm not sure why we don't do it more often.

A nice picture of Rachel, SkyAnn, Nana and Grandpa.


And Rachel eating her "Killer Taco". I love that place!


This afternoon the mailman brought three big boxes for Aidan and Rachel from Grandma. They were loaded with Transformers, clothes, Dora dolls and a big Strawberry Shortcake. Rachel was so excited when she saw her name on the box - she carried it home!

Tonight was another blue star card event - bingo. Lori and I left after just one game because we were infiltrated by civilians and children - oh the horror, LOL. I guess what makes it frustrating is that these events are specifically for spouses of deployed soldiers and to see a civlian there was annoying and disappointing. Childcare is provided so I have no idea why three kids were at our table - we're just lucky I guess. We came back and played pool and air hockey instead. Then I got a call because Rachel said she had a tummy ache so we picked everyone up 30 minutes early.
At least I got one good pina colada out of it.

Nana and Grandpa Are Here

Charlie's parents arrived Tuesday from North Carolina. Aidan and Rachel were very excited to see them again. Yesterday afternoon we went to Ko Olina. Aidan and Rachel always love the beach and were very happy to be back in the water after a long rainy winter.

Aidan found a rock or shell or something...


Rachel spent some time playing in the sand with Keegan.


After the beach, they came over to our house for dinner and then we made use of our new air hockey and pool table.

Kim and Paul playing the first round of air hockey.


And Kim and Janet playing pool.

Mini Soccer

Rachel started mini soccer today. It's a program for younger kids that teaches them soccer basics with the help of parents. There were a ton of people there - way more than when Aidan did it - but she had a great time!

Always time for posing =)


Action shot!


Taking a water break with her big brother...

Under Construction

Our garage to game room transformation is almost complete! This morning after dropping the kids off at school Lori and Kim came over to help assemble our pool/air hockey table. We finished within about 2 1/2 hours and then played a game of air hockey and pool to break it in. The table was originally $599 but I caught it on sale at Toys R Us for only $150. The only thing left to do is some decorating with Georgia posters that are coming from home. I can't wait for Charlie to come home to see it - only five more months until R&R!

Doesn't it look awesome?!?


The table flips from a pool table to air hockey...


Aidan and Rachel both loved playing air hockey.



Our Aidan sized mini fridge that I got for $30. What a great deal!

Nine Long Days

It feels like forever, but it's only been nine days since I've posted anything on the blog. To recap:
Saturday 12th - Yard Sale Mania! Woo hoo!! It's basically a post wide yard sale and tons of people are set up to sell their stuff. Army families are constantly moving so you can usually find great deals. This time I found stuff for our game room: I got an awesome mini fridge with a freezer (it's as big as Aidan) for $30 and a 27" TV for only $5 because it didn't have a remote. Charlie's game room is going to be awesome!
Sunday 13th - Another stomach bug started making the rounds. I was sick until Tuesday and Rachel even had a mild case this time. Aidan has been lucky and seems immune to everything!
Monday 14th - Rachel had her first home visit with her HeadStart teacher. She was here about an hour and did some work with Rachel and gave her homework to do over the next week. Their classroom should be ready in May and then she'll start going every day again.
Tuesday 15th - Thursday 17th - Nothing too exciting that I can remember, mostly hanging out at home, having insomnia and watching Deadliest Catch marathons. What an exciting life I lead sometimes!
Friday 18th - With a lot of help from Lori, Kim and Megan we got a start on the game room. Lori gave us her shed (thanks again!) so after we got that put up in the backyard we cleaned out the garage, put down our astroturf carpet and got the pool table / air hockey table out of the box. And all of this was done with no men and 11+ kids. We are awesome!
Saturday 19th - Time for Rachel to go back to dance class. It was her first class since the recital last month.
This month is tap dance and tumbling, here is Rachel crawling like a crab.


There's a new ninja in town. Keegan joined Aidan's tae kwon do class. Don't they look cute in their uniforms - this was a breathing/relaxation exercise:


Here's a video of one of my favorite things they do - lion push-ups.


And a video of Aidan kicking:


Today (finally - this is the longest post ever, lol!) - After missing last week because of being sick, we went back to church. On the way there and back Aidan and Rachel asked all kinds of questions about God and Jesus: Does God have a last name? Does Jesus have a car? Is Noah old - like as old as when you and Daddy got married (thanks Aidan, lol!)? What does God look like? The list goes on and on. It's so great that they are so curious and interested and even better that we have found a church where they can begin to learn!

This afternoon, we were invited to help celebrate Austin's 4th birthday. Lori made the coolest graffiti banner for the kids to "spray paint". You use food coloring and water and it washes off so they can paint it again - best idea ever!
A group shot of all the kids...

Muchos Gracias

Thanks Grandma!
Aidan and Rachel had some new pictures taken today at Sears courtesy of Grandma. They did a great job and I can't wait to get the pictures back and send them out to everyone!

Thanks Laura!
I got a surprise today from my friend Laura - an edible arrangement. It is (actually was, it's gone already, lol) the coolest thing - it was a bunch of strawberries covered in chocolate, and some had coconut or nuts on them. So yummy and cute and yummy. Basically it was heavenly ...
Here is Rachel checking it out.


And me restraining myself long enough to take a picture, lol.

Four Months Down

As of today, Charlie has been deployed for four months - and there wasn't much to celebrate. Unfortunately, there is no longer a chance that he'll be home sooner because the shorter army tours take affect for those deploying after August 1. I have been expecting that he would be gone for the full 15 months but hoping and praying that he would benefit from a shorter tour. That combined with all the new fighting has me and a lot of other wives on edge. Please always remember all of our guys there and keep them in your prayers. And pray we'll get a new president who can get us out of there soon.

I did get to talk to Charlie today and he's been working really long hours but is doing good. Here at home, we're still doing our best to keep busy and pass the time. One of my projects has been to find new furniture for our downstairs and this week we got an awesome leather couch and chair (thanks to Lori for her ever-attentive watch on craigslist!). Now that I'm done with the downstairs, I guess it's time to work on the game room.

The new couch and chair - incredibly comfortable!


The new look of our great room. Much more spacious.

Rachel's First Haircut

Rachel had her first haircut today and it looks great. If you like it, thank my friend Lori. If not, it's not my fault, Lori made me do it.

She did really good and sat all by herself the whole time.


Her she is afterwards with her bribe - a giant cookie and balloon.

Gotta Have Faith

For the first time since we've lived in Hawaii we went to church today. We visited at Cornerstone Fellowship in Mililani where Lori and her family go. It is so cute and Hawaiian but it is actually a Southern Baptist church. In Hawaii. Amazing! It felt nice being back in a church after such a long time. I really enjoyed the sermon; it was about faith and it seemed like it was written just for me, lol. Rachel went to the preschool nursery and Aidan loved children's church. He talked about it the whole way home. We'll definitely be attending regularly.

When we got home Aidan wrote a letter to Daddy to ask him to come home and go to school with him. He's getting really good at sounding out his words and making sentences. He even addressed the envelope and took it to the mailbox himself.

April Showers!

And when it rains, it pours! I am so glad the week is over. It must have been army wife endurance training or something - let's see how much you can take while your husband is deployed before you jump off the roof, lol.

One of my friends has a child with pneumonia, another who got sick at school with a stomach bug, and a dying grandma. Another found out her husband was truly in the line of fire. We all know they are in danger over there but to find out that he is in the midst of battle, that others around him have been injured, that he's not getting out of it any time soon; it's a very scary and helpless situation.

Personally, I've got $1800 being held hostage by two separate airlines, with nothing to show for it. That should be cleared up Tuesday morning, we'll see. And after mellowing for a little while, Aidan's attitude is back with a vengence. Things in Iraq are also not good right now and even though I haven't been told to what extent Charlie is involved - thank God my husband doesn't share war stories with me, he knows there is no reason for me to know exactly what he does because I would worry myself to death - I do know where he is and what his basic job is and that is enough to keep me up at night. I wasn't able to talk to him at all from Monday afternoon until he finally got online late last night and we chatted for about 20 minutes, but any contact to know he's okay is very relieving.

Last night we did get a little stress relief. Kim, Lori, Megan and their kids came over for movie night. The kids were really good and it was nice to have adult conversation.

And I learned how to work Dance Dance Revolution. Turns out I just needed a 10 and 11 year old to show me how to use it, lol. They had fun dancing...


They didn't watch the movie for long but they were all really good!

A Piece of Cake

This afternoon Aidan, Rachel and I met up with our pal Duncan (Hines, LOL) and made a cake. They both like to cook so this was fun. The only part they didn't enjoy was waiting for the cake to cool!

Here they are taking turns with the mixer.