D is for Deployment

Today was the day. We took John to the airport this morning. The man at the ticket counter gave the kids and me a pass to get in to the gate area so we could wait with John. That was really nice--I didn't know that was allowed.
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JT helped carry John's pack. It was about a third of JT's weight. Whew!The boys got along most of the day--getting rid of corn syrup has been such a big key! (JT just told me that when I took this picture, he was hitting Bryan! Yikes! They look friendly.)

Awwww.

Guess who?

Waiting and watching the Weather Channel.

After John boarded the plane, the kids and I went to Cracker Barrel. It's become a tradition. We all did well today. I'm sure we'll have our moments of upset, but today was good. Luci is our shot of hilarity all the time. I'm sure the people in the boarding area were very happy to see that the 4-year-old Energizer Bunny was not getting on the plane! Ask her, and she'll tell you her Daddy is going to "Affana-affanistan."

Wonderful Thanksgiving!

We spent the day in Jemison, where John's folks live. Cindy and Frankie invited us to spend the day with them. Cindy, Jeanne and Ona (Cindy's mom) cooked a fabulous feast. I brought some things for JT that were without corn syrup, and there was just too much for everyone to possibly eat in one week. John's brother David was also there. It was a fun day, and could nearly be counted as a field trip since the kids got some lessons in Civil War history and reenactments from Uncle Frankie, and we got to visit all the animals (chickens, goats, horses and llamas!).

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Some favorite photos:

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Gran-Je and Luci

John with his Dad
Bryan, JT and Luci showing some love

They really did get along all day!

They are just showing off for the camera.

John, David and Luci



The Whole Day

Boys! Mom wants to take your temperature!

That's what Luci said after I measured her. She knew I wanted to measure something. We measure the kids on important dates: Birthdates, Luci coming home, John's deployments. The boys both have grown a whole foot since John's last trip to Afghanistan! Wow! And Luci is exactly the same height that JT was at the same age. Neat.

Merry Christmas!

We had a Little Christmas today for John. The boys really wanted to do this for him...or was it for the presents? Let's hope they had Daddy in mind.
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Luci can read our names now, so she delivered presents.You know John picked these pellet guns out. Luci got this ladybug habitat. Fitting, since we have a lot of ladybugs this year. We put a bit of banana, a drop or two of water and a celery leaf inside and the ladybug has been very happy today. Not really what the mother of a Princess wants to see. Maybe she'll grow up to be Princess Leia instead of Cinderella. That pink shopping cart is Luci's favorite gift.Now it's New Year's Eve! We do a puzzle every year and try to complete it before the New Year is rung in. We made it with time to spare this year!

A Wonderful Weekend

This has been one busy but wonderful weekend. Our friends Barry and Diane watched the kids for us while we Christmas-shopped (and wrapped and hid) gifts for the kids. That's Rachel with Luci, above. Rachel pretty much babysat Luci all by herself, according to Diane. Thanks, Rachel! And thank thanks to our good friends B&D.

John and I went out to eat at this wonderful little Italian place here in town before hitting the stores. It was so nice to be a grown-up in a grown-up kind of place, and not wipe up spills or sticky hands. John and I had nearly an hour at our meal, then the fun began. We went to several stores, and found most of what was on our list. It was a quick 3 hours of shopping. It almost counted for exercise, since we were nearly jogging through some of the stores. John was sweet and held out his arm for me to hold, but I suspect that he was just trying to make me keep up with him. It took another hour to drive home, unload the car and then get out to B&D's house. I wrapped and hid presents while John picked up kids. They had no clue that we'd gotten anything. (hee hee hee--evil laugh!)

The best part of shopping (well, the second-best part, since the best part was just spending time together) was that this year the kids have gifts that Daddy chose just for them. The other two Christmases when John was on military trips, everything was picked out by me and had Daddy's name on them. This time, the gifts really are from Daddy.

At church, a special prayer was said for us as John's trip begins. Our good friend Kelly led this, and I was glad that he didn't say anything that made me cry. He can make you laugh and cry all at once.

Heath and Shanna and their girls joined us for worship and lunch. We had a long lunch and a good visit. It was such a good day today! (I'm sorry I didn't think to bring my camera to lunch. The girls were so cute playing together, and Sara was a hoot--she has a great belly-laugh!)

Bryan and JT have gotten along wonderfully all weekend. Such a good weekend!

Cain and Abel are at it again...

Anyone with two boys can relate...well, most of you, anyway. My kids are not perfect. Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Lion and Matey (rhymes with Bryan and JT) were arguing over something--doesn't matter what because it probably was nothing!

Lion comes and tells me that Matey had hit him and told him "you suck." (Sorry if that offends you; I don't like it but I don't think it's the worst word in the world.) Matey admitted to the sins, and part of his discipline was to write an apology to Lion, "and it better sound like you mean it." The apology made me laugh.

Here it is:

Dear Bryan,
I'm sorry I hit you and you do not suck.
J.T.

Think: "Old MacDonald"

Luci has had a lot of fun marrying her princess dolls to G I Joe. She has her own name for the action figure:
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G-I-G-I-Joe

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The boys and I came up with a little song...so sing along with us!

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Uncle Sam had an army

G-I-G-I-Joe!

And in that army he had a troop

G-I-G-I-Joe!

With a HOO-AH here

And a HOO-AH there

Here a HOO

There an AH

Everywhere a HOO-AH

Uncle Sam had an army

G-I-G-I-Joe!

Build a Bear Workshop

Today I took the kids to Huntsville and we met up with John. We all went to the Build-A-Bear Workshop, where the kids picked out a bear. John made a message for each child, for them to listen to while he is on his trip. It was really sweet!

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Two hearts are in each bear, one for Daddy's heart, and one for the child. Luci was very happy to be there and do all the "heart magic." Here she is putting the hearts into her bear.

Two other children were with us besides Luci. They made me promise to not mention them on the blog. So I won't tell you that two male children, who happen to have the same last name as us and are ages 12 and 16, were there, too. The 12 year old had some fun but the 16 yo made me pick out his bear and put the hearts into his bear. If they see this, I don't have any idea where the photos came from!

Loving her Daddy Bear.

We got the idea from stories like this one.

Good Friends

Last night Rachel and Bradley brought their parents over for supper. We all had a great time. The boys played video games, Luci and Rachel played princess, John and Barry talked about household projects, and Diane and I gossiped (I mean, we traded information). Lots of fun!
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Luci and RachelToday Luci loved on JT. He wanted a picture because this is a rare event. And a very sweet one!

They Finally Got Married!

I've waited for this for a long, long time...43 years, to be exact. I was about 5 years old when I first asked my brothers to let one of their G I Joes marry my Barbie doll. They always said no. Mean ol' Buddy, Tommy and Sammy.

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Bryan and JT are nicer...they found a G I Joe in the basement and freed him so that Luci could hold a wedding for her Cinderella Barbie and G I Joe.

What Shall I Wear?

The boys had quite a few costumes made by me when they were younger. I felt like I was falling down on the job for Luci. Today I cleared out her closet and got a pleasant surprise as I hung up some of her costumes.

Luci has the requisite princess dresses, of course! And even a purple sequined dress made from a remnant she fell in love with. But there's also a batman costume, Blue Angel pilot's costume, and a NASA space shuttle costume is in there--made for Bryan and JT when they were Luci's size. There are a few other costumes she plays in, too--they are hiding in a dress-up box in the living room. She prefers princess dresses, but will play rough and tumble with the other costumes occassionally, too. I felt pretty good seeing the homemade costumes and don't feel guilty anymore.

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Mom, do you remember making Janet and me tiger and leopard costumes 'way back in Del Rio? Luci wears a cute little tiger costume I made for JT and I think of the costume you made for me every time she puts it on.

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See how much Luci's grown since last November! Comparison pics:

2007 and 2008

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the doorknob's the key

to seeing her growth :)

What We Are Doing Today

Honoring our heroes. . .John's getting a pecan pie from me, the boys are playing Army in the backyard, and Luci's being Luci, playing dolls with Daddy. Luci's way of playing with her dollhouse depends upon with whom she is playing--Mommy or Daddy. With Mommy, she plays the whole Cinderella story, and we must try the slipper on every female doll within sight. When Luci plays with Daddy, the dolls climb onto the roof and try to catch the baby before she falls off. The differences in her playing styles had me laughing!Today we are adding to our Thankful Tree. It's a tradition every year. Luci is really enjoying doing this. She tells me every day something that makes her happy, and she signs her name. The boys were not signing their names at age 4, so that is another thing I am thankful for. We save the leaves every year.

And, we are enjoying our Christmas tree. The kids put it up last night. We were going to wait until after Thanksgiving, after John's trip started. John said the month was too busy already to have an early Christmas. But the kids really want Christmas with Daddy (or maybe they just want the presents), so the tree's up.

The rest of the decorations can wait until December. Diane (mom to Bradley and Rachel, and friend to me) has volunteered to babysit for John and me so we can go Christmas shopping the Saturday before Thanksgiving. We may make that a real date for us, too. It'll be a special day, certainly.

Thank You, Veterans!

My favorite veterans: My husband John, my father Charles, my father-in-law Olen, and son-in-law Thom. John and Thom are still serving.

Our Backyard

Some of the photos are repeats, but they are so pretty (and JT's handsome!) that, as Martha Stewart says, "It's a Good Thing." All from our backyard.

Camping

How John takes care of my babies.... My Men



I love the perspective on this one.
It's looking down from the tower on Clingman's Dome,
the highest point in the Smoky Mountains.





Why they are called
The Smoky Mountains

Done with a flashlight and the night setting on the camera.

Jumping off the picnic table.

About 10 of the 69 photos were of this activity.

Silly boys!

Smokys!

Here are some pictures from John's camping trip with Bryan and JT. I have a few more to show, but the doggoned computer won't upload them to blogger. They had a great time even though it rained/drizzled for much of the afternoon and evening on Friday. JT did great going camping without the added agitation of Corn Syrup. That meant mom making cookies from scratch instead of them eating Oreos--the homemade stuff was a big hit; plus finding a particular cocoa mix and John having to change his menu some (that is a big deal because for at least the past 18 years John has fixed the SAME menu!).

At one point in the camping trip, JT called me on his cell phone, saying he couldn't find Daddy or anyone else in their group. After my heart re-started, he said "oh! there they are!" Apparently John and group didn't wait where they said they would when JT went into the bathroom. Thank goodness for those Trac phones! I make sure the boys keep them in their pockets on trips, turned off. They are instructed to turn them on if they ever get separated. JT did exactly what we asked them to do. Best money we've spent in a long time. Daddy got an ear-full from me.

Double click on the collage to see the pictures. John did better--69 photos plus one very short video! I'll put some other good pictures in another post. Wonky computer!

This Is Bryan!

She's a Republican!

This puzzle was put away on Wednesday afternoon.
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Luci was just about asleep for her nap today when she asked, "Did the red side win?"

No, sweetheart, the blue side did.

Oh. Okay.

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Which has been the attitude around our house--Oh. Okay.

I Was Wrong! ... and other stuff

Gasp! How often have I said that?!

Every time I have taken the kids to the doctor, I have pre-diagnosed them. I've gotten it wrong only once. Until today. Today makes twice. Luci's been so congested for the last month or so. It got much worse over the last three days. She spent last night crying and not sleeping. An ear infection or sinus infection for sure, right? Wrong! I was so glad to get it wrong. The nurses worked Luci in this afternoon. The doctor (who also has a Lucy at home) gave us a steroid nasal spray and right now Luci's taking a much-needed nap. He even got Luci to quit crying and smile, which was a miracle in itself. Any kind of medical person terrifies her.

Like the dentist. This morning I had a regular check-up, and had to take Luci. She sat in the visitor's chair in the exam room, with a blankie over her head the entire time. It made her invisible. I wish I had my camera! She's had two trips to a doctor's office in the same day. Horrible mama! After the pediatrician visit, we hit Wal-mart and got a Barbie. Perfect reward for surviving quite nicely two traumatic doctor visits.
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John's off on a three day camping trip with the boys, and my camera. They are in the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg. Two other guys are going, two of John's long-time friends. They go to the area around Cades Cove. He is under strict orders to bring back lots of pictures (the man usually takes 5 or 6 total for a 3 day trip!) and two boys completely intact (ask JT about a bike ride in the Smokys when he was 7 years old). My idea of camping is going to a hotel and eating in a restaurant. I don't understand the thrill of roughing it. Hikes would be nice, but not the whole tent thing. Watch him come home with the whole 1 gigabyte card filled up. As long as the boys don't have any boo-boos, that's okay with me.
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Pirate's Cove, the gas station that I reported for gouging before Hurricane Ike even hit shore, now has gas for $2.22. That is a whopping 3 dollars and 15 cents lower than it was in September! They now have the distinction of having the lowest gas in our part of the county. Next time I need gas, I'm going there.
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The leaves here are absolutely gorgeous! This is the best year for leaves that I can remember in all of the 18 autumns I've lived here. Really makes you feel wonderful just looking at them. Even with all the emotional stress of John's upcoming trip, I feel totally happy just looking at the incredible show of Nature.
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P.S. to the previous post: I don't care what my Dad says, or how much I like the man--SPIDERS ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS!!!

Guess What the Kids Found in the Yard Today?

You'll have to click on their blog, The Man Cave OR Sports.com OR Pretty Princess to see what it is. It is too, too icky for this blog. (I will bet you a donut that Papa knows what it is without looking!)

Can you tell they couldn't agree on the name of their blog?!

A New President

Here's our puzzle--did anyone else do one? I know my parents did. I could imagine Nana whooping with joy. :) If you worked on one of these puzzles, leave a message to let me know. I was surprised at the one who actually worked the most on our puzzle: Bryan! He understood the electoral college pretty well, and kept checking the internet news last night for updates on blue and red states. Talk about painless learning! Next presidential election, JT and Luci will be putting our map together. How to order a political puzzle here.

Did You?

Vote Tuesday! -- But Remember This...

The world will not be healed and restored because we elect the right president. We live in a great country, with the best political process I know of, but our country is not the light of the world. Our president may be the most powerful person in the world, but he's not sitting at the right hand of God. Our military is full of brave men and women willing to die for their country, but they are not able to eradicate the world of evil.
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Christians should understand these things better than anyone else. Yet the anxious, fearful, and sometimes mean-spirited qualities demonstrated by many Christians at election time betrays just how little faith we have in King Jesus.
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The ascension is more than a cool special effect at the end of a Passion play. It is a dramatic political statement made by God himself about how the long-awaited King of the world has been enthroned in heaven. Slowly but surely news of his reign will spread through the world until someday the curtain separating heaven and earth will lift and the two realms will become one. Until then, our challenge as followers of Jesus is to live in such a way that demonstrates who the real King of the world is. This will be seen in our acts of service, stands for justice, and exhibitions of grace done in the name of Jesus, rather than in the name of partisan politics. In fact, every time we gather to worship and celebrate the risen, ascended King Jesus we’re participating in a political party of a different kind.
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It may just be that the most important political statement Christians can make this election season is to publicly declare that we’re putting our hope, confidence, and trust, not in any one particular candidate or party, but in our ascended King who will someday return and transform our world into a place where the streets have no name.
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By Wade Hodges, from this longer article in New Wineskins.

Tagged!

I don't like being tagged, but this one was pretty easy. I'm glad it's not a "100 Unique Things About You that the World Should Know But You Don't Really Want to Share" tag.

Here are the rules:

* Go to your sixth picture folder then pick your sixth picture.

* Pray that you remember the details.

* Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they've been tagged.

Katie-Bug's mom tagged me.

Here's my 6th picture from my 6th folder. It was the Disney trip folder, so whoopee for you, it is a picture that hasn't been posted yet. As if you really care. :)

We had just gotten to Disney World and stopped at Downtown Disney for Luci's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointment. We were eating lunch at McDonald's, and Luci was telling us how the Fairy Godmother would paint her fingernails. This was before the Princess Breakfast Fiasco and two days before what we now call "The Dumbo Incident."

The trip did start out happy.
Tagging
Denna
Lily Mei's mama (private)
Scarlett (private)
Buffi
Melanie

Worrisome Phone Call

Today after church, my cell phone rang. John almost never calls from drill, and no one else ever calls me, so I thought it was John telling me something about his upcoming trip.

But No! It was our home alarm people telling me we had our alarm go off! Yipes! Since no one was home who could set it off, I authorized her to call out the sheriff. (Which was worrisome for another reason--we were 20 minutes from home but we beat the sheriff there. The response time is lousy!!) I spent the drive home praying, not knowing what we would find. Fire? Burglary? What?

We got home and nothing, absolutely nothing was wrong. We think ladybugs (we've had an invasion!) got on the red light on the motion sensor and set off the interior alarm. I canceled the sheriff.

So, this is what the boys did for me this afternoon while I sprayed all the exterior doors with bug spray to keep the new ladybugs out:

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Bryan sucking up the ladybugs while JT holds the vacuum cleaner high enough so the hose would reach. The ceiling is 10 feet tall at this point and Bryan is on a chair. Luci hid out in the master bedroom, covering her ears.

Trunk-or-Treat

We had Trunk-or-Treat last night at our church. We've always lived in the country, where trick-or-treating just was impractical. (We've never had anyone come to our door.) Trunk-or-Treat at church is the only Halloween thing our kids have ever known. I'm not real crazy about Halloween, so this suits me. Show up, give out candy, let the kids play, go home...and you don't have to decorate your house for Halloween.


Bryan went as Indiana Jones. The hat and whip were birthday presents. He was a great hit, and even got hugs from a couple of youngsters who are fans of Indy! One teen girl made a big impression on Bryan--she said, "Hey! I know who you are! You're hot!" John and I about died laughing. He does look good, doesn't he?

Luci found a big character she could actually love without crying first. Bryan's friend Josh was Sparky the Fire Dog, and Luci knew it. The fire department's chief goes to church with us, and brought the Fire Safety House to the big bash. This one is not from our community, but you can get an idea of what a Fire Safety House is here.

Rachel and Luci.

It took me a while to figure out that this is Jay, Josh's dad. All he added were the glasses and teeth, but it was such an effective disguise!
It was cold for us! 49* by the time we left. Luci and JT hung out in the car for part of the evening. Luci has sweats on under her princess dress (they're pink, of course!). JT was the Karate Kid.

John and I had a corny "couple's costume"--we were Black and Blue.

Luci got her face painted...

and got a pretty shiny necklace from this lovely lady.

I love that everything at our festival is free. The food is off-limits for our Feingold kids, except for the soda pop and water given away. I made sure that we had supper before we left home, and brought food for us just in case. (Martha Stewart's Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies are better than any candy! Recipe follows.) I confiscated what little candy Luci actually got. Most of the time she played little carnival games and won happy meal prizes, played on the moon-walk toys, and hid out in the van when scary people came by for treats. Scary to Luci is anyone not in a Princess or Tinkerbell costume.

We brought Feingold acceptable Mary Jane peanut butter kisses and plastic bug toys and pencils and magnets (from Walmart and OrientalTrading.com) to give away. We passed out nearly all of our stuff, 2 items per child, so that means about 650 kids came by! Add in the parents, and we had a multitude!

We've already made our Walmart run this morning to buy all the leftover bugs and pencils they had at half-price for next year. You can see I also got half-priced silly string for the kids.

Martha Stewart's Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 cup flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick butter

8 oz milk chocolate (4 oz. coarsely chopped, 4 oz cut into 1/4 in chunks) --(NOTE: This recipe works with any combination of chocolate--I have even used up to 2 oz. of unsweetened baking chocolate. Semisweet, milk, and dark chocolate work very well in this recipe. Using chocolate chips is fine, too.)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325*. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. Melt coarsely chopped chocolate (4 oz) with the stick of butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. (I just melted mine in a small saucepan over very low heat--but watch it so it doesn't scorch.)

2. Transfer chocolate mixture (butter and chocolate melted) to the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. (NOTE: a regular mixer would be fine, or use your own strength to stir it by hand--Martha Stewart always puts in such exact directions--don't let her stuff intimidate you!) Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla, mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks.

3. Scoop batter using a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop; place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. (note: I didn't use parchment--I just scooped out dough with a spoon) Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces begin to crack, about 15 minutes. Transfer on parchment to wire cooling racks. Let cool 5 minutes. cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.