Naval Postgraduate School Graduation

This is a back post since the took place in June but I want it down in my memories! Graduation day was a day I had looked forward to since the day we moved to Monterey! I was so excited to attend the festivities! The kids were happy Daddy was graduating and Gabriel, Annalina, and I were excited to watch him cross the stage and graduate. Grandpa J took Ross and Carson to the child room where there was a BIG screen up to watch the ceremony and those 3 had fun too. Babe was wearing my favorite Navy uniform, his dress whites. LOVE HIM IN THEM! :-) Unfortunately, they didn't have the graduates wear their hats. Anyway we had a GREAT time and it made it all the more special that my Dad came to help us celebrate. The kids had been waiting and waiting for Daddy to be done with the thesis and it was great to see the culmination of all the hard work and craziness! We're so proud of you Babe! This was a dream come true for him. He was called by someone to continue advanced education but NO WAY not right now maybe down the road but we had our fill of academics for awhile. I had new respect for my mom who made it through 4 masters degrees and 2 doctorates with my dad! Mom you are super woman!

Saturday Hike

Before we moved here we decided that it was going to be our routine as much as is possible to go for a hike every Saturday just as it is our routine to get doughnuts on Saturday morning. We've missed a couple of Saturday's but we're doing pretty well. We had a super time today and the scenery was so beautiful! We went to a place called Garden of the Gods open area so it is not part of the park. The hike started off at about 93 degrees and ended at about 80 degrees which was PERFECT!! Gabriel was enjoying using his compass and keeping track of our direction. Annalina enjoyed journeling what we saw. Ross I was very impressed with how well he kept up for having short legs! And Carson ended up falling asleep on my back. We all enjoyed the scenery and the adventure of it all. A lizard was out and a bunny rabbit and we even made it to the van before getting caught in an afternoon storm! And if that wasn't enough activity the kids came back and played for hours with the neighbor kids and had a ball. Babe and I painted in Annalina's room which was something we'd had on our To-Do list for awhile. It was a good Saturday.

Tucked Away in My Heart

Ross and Carson playing King. I could not help but laugh inside myself that this would end up the Divided Kingdom! They love each other dearly but at some point Ross is going to push the wrong button! :-)

My Ross Story: Last night I was sitting in the boys room waiting for Carson to go to sleep and Ross was talking to me a fair amount. At one point he said "Your the best lady I love in all the world. I'm a jokester but I am not joking about that" . . . "Do you know what I love about you?" I said something to the effect of "No, what is it". I was quite curious what he was going to say. he replied "That your caring."

My Carson Story: Carson is just not a talker but slowly, slowly I see his progress. Babe calls him a "gear head" sometimes because his interests are in things with motors and wheels! He LOVED going to the car lot with Daddy and looking at cars and even picked one particular car and would say "mine". Anyway, lately, he has started bowing his head before he eats and praying. He babbles unintelligible words but every so often he'll say "Baby" which is what he calls himself. Then when he is done praying he says "A" for Amen. I LOVE watching this. I looked forward to the day he chooses Jesus.

My Annalina Story: Carson was crawling around growling the other day and Annalina walked up and put his cheeks in her hands and sweetly said "Hi, Tiger!" Needless to say he loves his sissy. The other day while we had visitors Annalina walked up from time in the basement playing and he ran and gave her a big bear hug.

Vacation House Fun-Monterey, CA

This vacation house really was a God send as we were moving. A move that we thought was going to be straight forward and fairly easy turned out to be complex, botched and stressful. We were glad to have a place to unwind. The kids LOVED scootering on the driveway and watching a friendly little squirrel carry and bury nuts. The squirrel seemed to especially like Carson. Inside the kids played ALOT and I mean ALOT of board and card games. One morning the kids played about 3 hours STRAIGHT of UNO. They also played a lot of the game "Sorry" too. Despite the stress I was so encouraged to see things that only God could work out and it all came together. I love seeing those "God moments" when I know "That's you God, Thank you."

My dad called toward the end of our time there and we found out he was flying out to Babe's graduation! We were all excited but the kids were ecstatic that Grandpa was coming!! We had such a blast with dad. We had to take him to get Mrs. Delish's Cupcakes and we celebrated Babe's graduation at a Japanese Steak House (another entry). The kids had fun playing and running around with him. What was so fun was our last night there we went on a 8 person bike down by Monterey Bay. That was so much fun and is so full of memories for us all. I can't wait to get the pictures from the bike ride from my dad. I didn't have the memory card in my camera!

My dad flew out with Ross, Carson, and I on the plane which was so nice and helpful. Babe took Gabriel, Annalina, and our dog Sonja by car. We found it hard to be away from each other even for this short time. Carson wanted to know why Annalina wasn't on the plane with us and one night in the middle of the night he asked me where daddy was. Annalina said when we were all in Colorado "It is good to be all together again". Ross one night said "I wish Gabriel and Annalina were here . . . especially daddy." The day before Babe and the kids arrived Ross and Carson we shall we say challenging to say the least.

When we got to Colorado it was so fun to see my brother Quentin and his family. It is what we having been looking forward to is time spent with them!

Listing Memories before they get lost!

I am having to majorly back track since I haven't blogged in so long! I want to get these little stories down before they are forgotten or lost! I should be doing a gazillion other things but oh well!

*In the vacation house probably our last night there or close to it Grandpa was in the room with Rosser Boy and I was with Carson and Carson kept saying "Daddy, Mommy, Baby" over and over and over again and then sometimes he would grab his middle finger for Daddy, ring finger for Mommy and pinkie for Baby. It was so sweet to listen to. He likes us all to be together.

*The day of Babe's Graduation there was a lady passing out free tattoos. Babe was with Ross when he was offered one and Ross said "I do not wear permanent tattoos!" and turned it down. The lady thought that was just great and said you are the second kid today to turn it down! We found out Grandpa had been with Gabriel and it was Gabriel that was the first kid to turn it down. We thought that was so funny. Of course, Annalina accepted it! :-)

*This move although an exciting one was our most stressful move yet. In CA we were trying to get things done and were running around here is how different kids handle it . . .

"I know your stressed right now but when you can . . . " Annalina as we are packing. I told Gabriel about her maturity and he says to me "When you have your head back on can you . . ." Too funny. Ahhh, leave it to a boy to say it the way it is!

*Back when we were still in CA Carson said "little bubby" and patted himself! He is little brother! and a cute one at that!

Here are some things since we have come to Colorado . . .
*Ross and I were sitting at the table one morning eating breakfast, just the 2 of us, everyone else was sleeping. I said "I have lots of work to do Rossers." To which he replied "I have lots of fun to do. Just the opposite! That is a typical Ross.

*We were in a store and Babe had repremended Annalina and Ross for the way they acted in the store but decided that Annalina wasn't really at fault so when we got to the car he apologized to Annalina for repremending her. Ross was listening to all this (who was at fault!:-) and said "You need to say I'm sorry to me too Daddy!" Babe was putting Carson in his car seat and said to Ross "You are fishing." and he shut the door to walk around to his door. As he was outside walking around Ross said "I had good bait!" I couldn't help it I had to laugh! That is not typical 4 year old thinking!

*I pulled Gabriel aside the other day to give him instructions on how he should act in a certain situation and when I was done and we started walking away he said "Thank you Mommy for giving me instruction." That took me off guard. Our Proverbs People book and other reading in Proverbs is showing! He has worked so hard lately on being mature and it shows. He has not always taken instruction quite so well.

Work is calling to me. I know I need to answer!

Vacation House Fun--Red Light Green Light!

The kiddos have really enjoyed being in the vacation house. Babe and I are so thankful for it to as we move out of our other house we have a place to relax and the kids can still run and play and get their energy out! This was Carson's second day to play the game Red Light Green Light and they all had a great time playing it!

Thrilling Western Stories Devotional

My parents gave us this devotional book by Dr. Bill Rice. He tells a story and then makes an application at the end. I was skeptical when I first started reading it. He was an evangelist and writing was obviously not his gift (as it is not mine! :) . . . anyway as we got into it the kids really enjoyed it especially Gabriel and Annalina. Ross did find them long towards the end. One day we even read 2. There were a number of things that I appreciated about this book . . . One, he had some very challenging applications (a fair amount were on salvation but there where other challenges too for those already children of God). Second, it showed the kids a time in history and a way of life they are not familiar with. Childhood was MUCH different then as was his way of life. When he was a YOUNG boy they would go off camping out in the wild with his friend on their own. He talks about saving up for his first gun and going out shooting with just his brother. He does have pretty neat stories. I did skip one devotional as it seemed pretty heavy for the kids but really over all we enjoyed the book. I may have the boys read this one their own sometime later down the road. He does an excellent job of encouraging to be a Christian set apart for God and not getting entangled in the snares of the world. I was really thankful to have read this.