Excitement is in the Air

There is much excitement in the air, after all we have much to be excited about...

Our deployment chain is down to just one last link. Clara wanted the last link to be a yellow one, I thought it fitting.

Even Jonathan shares in the excitement!

And I tied a yellow ribbon around our tree. For just a moment, it was fun to see myself through Clara's eyes as she proudly told all her friends, "See the ribbon my mom tied on the tree. She made the bow all by herself. It's for my dad, he's coming home soon!" Why do I stress myself so, when making a bow is all it takes to impress her?

So, yes, we are very excited and very ready to have Chris home. It will be nice to have my partner back, to be able to talk to him when I want to, and not just by email. It will be nice to have the 'fun' element he brings to the kids. It seems I get so task oriented, esp. while he's gone, just to make it through. The kids need their Daddy. He brings the energy - the fun. He shows the kids it's OK to break the rules once in a while and reminds me it's okay, and even expected of me to relax and be goofy once in a while.

I'm looking forward to cooking real meals and not just ones I know my kids will eat. Looking forward to having help with bath time and bedtime routines. Looking forward to someone to spend my evenings with after the kids have gone off to bed. Looking forward to snuggling and feeling his arms around me. Looking forward to just having a break.

I know, soon, the excitement will give way to adjustment. Adjustment to having someone else in my space, adjustment to having to share my children's affections with someone else, adjustment to someone else in my bed (I've been sleeping in the middle of our queen size bed for 6 months now). There will be more laundry, TV shows I don't want to watch, sports on the TV (I am PROUD to say, there has not been a single sport shown on our TV for six months!) I'll be tripping over size 13 shoes in the living room again, and he will find it necessary to leave the contents of his pockets on the kitchen counter every night.

I can't wait!!!!

Portraits of a Cat

Hopefully I'll find some more interesting things to take pictures of soon, but since I'm only messing with the camera right now after I've put the kids to bed...the pets will have to do.

I still haven't read/learned anything, but I had the camera out to take some pics of the full moon tonight. (Those pics weren't so spectacular). I was having fun messing around with the camera and Clemson just gave me that 'Oh no, not again' look.

The cat, on the other hand, was giving me the 'Yeah, you know I'm pretty' look...

Portraits of a Dog

So apparently, my husband has really enjoyed reading the blog and seeing the pics while he's been gone on this deployment. In addition to that, he knows I've always wanted to take a photography class. So as a gift he purchased a new high-tech camera for me, a Nikon D80 Digital SLR camera to be exact (with extra lenses and tripod). He ordered it online and had it sent to the house. I received it today and was afraid to take anything out of the box...I haven't actually taken a photography class yet :)

I did eventually get it out of the box and put it together just long enough to take a couple pics of my only available model at the moment, Clemson (it's nap time for the kids).

As you can see, Clemson was really in to this photo shoot. Poor Clemson is in need of a bath. He has an appointment with the groomer Friday.

I don't know what I am doing. I simply took a few pics and got a few dirty looks from the dog. It seems I have an instruction manual to read...at a minimum. Still, I thought I'd share my first pics with my new camera, so you can appreciate how much I hope to improve after learning a few things about how a camera actually works!

I have the battery charging now...Maybe Clemson and I can do a new photo shoot after his date with the groomer, and after I've had a chance to read a little of the owner's manual!

Thanks Baby!

Deep Thoughts by Clara Stein

Clara: Mom, do you want to hear what I'm thankful for?

Me: What?

Clara: Music and you!

How blessed am I?

Preschool Pics

We just got Clara's school pictures from preschool. For some reason, the photographer decided to do a holiday background, though this information was not passed along to the parents so that we could dress our kids accordingly. Protocol was to pay before the pics were even taken, which was odd for me. Many parents opted not to pay when they learned what the background looked like on the day of. Still, I couldn't pass up Clara's 1st school pics...so here they are.

It was warm that day so Clara's not even dressed in winter clothes...doesn't really fit with the snowy Christmas scene, but she still looks pretty cute!

Here's the class pic taken on their playground. The teachers (L-R) are Mrs. Lorraine, Mrs. Tiffany, and Mrs. Christy. I'll have to get Clara to tell me all the kids' names sometime.
Hard to believe Clara's old enough to be getting school pics done already!

Trick or Treat

Last night was a night full of tricks and treats. The kids dressed up as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan. Unfortunately, we were running a little behind trying to get ready to meet all the neighbors to get the festivities started, so I never got a good picture of just the kids in their costumes. I thought I was going to have problems with Jonathan. As I tried to get him into his costume, he started pulling on it and crying, so I figured it was best to leave off the hat and boot covers :)

All the parents on the street decided we'd relive our childhoods and dress up in our best 80's outfits. While most of the other women went with the 'Madonna/ Cyndi Lauper' take on the 80's, I chose to go in a different direction.

Here's me with the kids...Jonathan refused to stand with just Clara. I had planned to try again after Trick or Treating, but that never happened.

Peter Pan himself...if only he really wouldn't ever grow up :)

After Trick or Treating, we all came back to a neighbors house for fun and drinks. After a few drinks we were all ready for some fun. One family had gone in for the night a little early because they had a big day planned for today...TPing their house was their punishment.

If you look closely on the ground, there's a guy laying on his side. He dressed up as Officer Dangle from RENO 911. If you've seen the show, let me tell you, David was an excellent 'Dangle'. No one could look at him without laughing all night. I wish I'd gotten a better picture of him.

'Officer Dangle' left his mark.

The line-up of prime suspects

Thankfully, the neighbors whose house was TP'd have a great sense of humor and only responded that they expected a better job next time!

I guess some day when Clara goes out TPing houses for Halloween, I'll only have myself to blame :)

Dancing Princesses (and Fairies)

For Thursday's dance class, the girls were allowed to wear their costumes. So Clara went to class in her Tinkerbell costume, complete with wings.

On the barre

Battement tendu

Releve`

They even put together a little dance to show us. We were invited in at the end of class to marvel at their skill! (I apologize for the poor audio).

Haley, Clara, and Jenna

Clara, as Tinkerbell, the tap-dancing fairy!