Wordless Wednesday

(Because, right now, wordless posts are all that I'm capable of...)

(Must find time to blog again!)

Duct Tape Really Does Fix Everything

This post could be alternatively titled "How I Broke my Child's Finger Sucking Habit with Duct Tape."

Before anyone reports me for child abuse, let me explain...

Leila and Sarah have had this finger sucking habit since they were babies. It used to be cute, but by the time they turned five it was not so much. They both wanted to stop but couldn't because they sucked their fingers during their sleep.

One day Sarah saw my roll of Hello Kitty duct tape and asked me to tape her fingers. I loosely wrapped a small piece of tape around her 3 "sucking fingers" and it prevented her from sucking in her sleep. I did the same for Leila. Within a few weeks, Leila had stopped sucking her fingers and we never used the tape again. After a few more weeks, Sarah had stopped too. Now both girls are very proud that they have ditched the habit and we haven't used tape in months.

These girls are growing up! They both have their first loose teeth right now and I'm finding it impossible to believe that they're old enough for that. Of course, they look younger than they are because of their size, so in my mind they are still my babies.

A Fresh Start

A new year, a new place, a new home... 2012 holds a lot of promise.

We are getting settled in our new home and it already feels like we have been here forever. The moving truck arrived just 4 days before Christmas and I think I beat my old unpacking record. By the following evening, I had almost 75% of the boxes unpacked.

It's almost hard to believe that just one month ago we were RVing in Washington.
While I certainly won't miss the rain, I will miss the Puget Sound and the beauty of the surrounding area. We were blessed to call it home for awhile.


We've traded the shore for the desert. We've traded wet and cool for hot and dry. We've traded cloudy skies for the clearest view of the stars imaginable.

We enjoyed our Christmas dinner seated around our own table, in our own house. We even had a (very last-minute) Christmas tree! Our tree went up the day before Christmas Eve and while we usually take it down right after my birthday and New Year's Eve, this year it is still standing.

Don't let the winter coats or the fire in the fireplace fool you. It's warm here! Although there is snow on the mountains outside our back door, it's been a blissful 70 degrees for the last week or two. We had a bit of snow on the ground one night, but it warmed right up the next morning.

The view from our front porch is particularly beautiful at sunrise and sunset. I love it!

And, like Washington, we have some neighborhood visitors. Unlike in Washington, they have not pooped on our driveway yet.
I think 2012 is going to be a good, good year.

Merry Christmas!

We made it safely to Arizona and found a house. There aren't many rentals available right now, so we will be in a very small house here, but we are moving in this week. The moving truck will arrive just in time for Christmas!
Below is a copy of our Christmas card this year. By some small miracle (and little bribery with chocolate) I was able to take our Christmas pictures before the move. It's the little things that make me smile!
It has been another CRAZY year in our house (camper?) this year. I can't wait to get unpacked, get settled, and get caught up with all of my blogging friends. Until then, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Too Good To Be True

After making some tough decisions about moving, things are now falling into place. I had to pinch myself this morning when we got a phone call from our property manager in Georgia. After listing our house for rent on Thursday, we already have a family moving in next week! This is much better than we could have hoped for and is a huge relief for us. To find another military family moving at this time of year and have our house rent immediately after being listed? It's a little miracle that we are so thankful for today!

Now we just need to find a house for ourselves.
(These are pictures from our trip back from Colorado. In just 2 days, we'll be on the road again!)
(A familiar sight: the shadow of our van across the open plains.)

(Garden of the Gods)

(Ryan and my dad's wife, Kathleen)
We have been insanely busy for the last few days. We took a trip to the mountains to get a Christmas photo of the kids in the snow, a trip to Seattle to go up into the Space Needle, multiple visits with Santa, driving around looking at Christmas lights, a trip to an enormous car museum, and we've been packing up.

On Wednesday morning we will leave for Arizona. Jason will drive his car and I'll have the "partymobile"-aka the van with all of the kids, the dog, and towing the camper. Watch out, Southwest! Here we come!

What Month Is It Again?

Despite the fact that we cut down our (very tiny) Christmas tree today, I am going to post Halloween photos. Because apparently I have no idea what month it is anymore.

And on top of that, I'm going to post a bunch of photos in random order. This way when I look back in a few years and see this blog post, I'll be completely confused about what happened and when it happened. I plan these things, can't you tell?
We actually picked our pumpkins in Washington and they rode in the van with us all the way to Colorado. Then the kids insisted that I carve a goomba pumpkin. I wasn't sure that I could, but I did!
Our costume choices this year were also pretty random. We had planned to do a Mario Bros. theme, but after the movers packed up our costumes we had to go buy new ones. (Again, the planning thing! See a pattern here?)
We ended up with Matthew as a skeleton, Joshua as Toad, Leila as Cinderella, Sarah as Snow White, Nathan as a monster, and Ryan as a pirate (complete with one-eye glare.) The kids actually picked out their own costumes and I did not offer any input this year, which felt odd.
Our pumpkins came from Roloff Farms again. We really like their farm! The little ones felt even littler in the tall chair.
We saw giant pumpkins.
Matthew even gave birth to a pumpkin in the field, unassisted. Just kidding. Leila helped!
Hey, look! There's me! Now my children will remember I existed when they look back at old photos one day and see the (rather creepy) picture of Mommy in the eye of the pumpkin. (Am I the only mom who never gets in the pictures because I'm always taking them?)

One thing I love/hate about Washington... moss. It's so pretty but it grows on just about everything! We even had it growing on the roof of our house! But it's especially pretty when it's growing on an old stone wall.
Leila, Sarah, and I trekked up to the bridge at Multnomah Falls. It was so beautiful! All of the boys waited down below and the girls were so proud that they were brave enough to go look out over the edge of the bridge with water crashing down below.
See those people on the bridge? That's where we were.
We saw several other waterfalls that day as we visited the Columbia Gorge. It's so beautiful there!
Kids are so fascinated by water!
We found several frogs at the base of the waterfall. All six kids scrambled to be the one person hovering right over the poor, terrified frog. Well, I imagine that the frog was terrified but it didn't move, so maybe it was sleeping. Or maybe it has a half dozen froggy kids of its own and it just ignores the chaos.


It's hard to believe that we are leaving Washington next week...

...leaving the rain behind and taking some fun memories with us.

So Very Thankful

He's home!

Jason is back after what felt like the longest month. How could a month feel so long after spending many months apart? Well, I am pretty sure that being in the middle of a big move has something to do with it. We are just so happy to have him home, just in time for Thanksgiving!

When we picked Jason up at the airport, the kids were all excited. We pulled up to the curb and I jumped out to run and tackle him. We shared a long embrace and kissed like a couple of teenagers. Then I opened the van door and Jason was greeted with a chorus of "DADDY!" Even Delmar (our sweet dog) was excited to see him. Just as Jason was climbing into the van, a stranger came up to the door, slipped some money into Jason's hand, and thanked him, wishing us a happy Thanksgiving. In that moment, we both felt so grateful that someone else was grateful. Military families sacrifice a lot and there are thousands of service members that won't be home for the holidays this year. For a perfect stranger to acknowledge that... it was a beautiful moment.
(The picture above is an example of how creative kids can be when they are left to use their imagination. Leila made a princess out of rocks and seashells!)
We've been spending a lot of time at the beach again lately. The kids and I discovered a new secret spot and we've been there almost every day, combing the shore for sea glass, pottery, and pretty shells. The beach has a perfect view of the Olympic mountains, which are covered with snow right now. The leaves are changing and the sea lions play in the water near the island. The kids like to watch the ferry boats and trains pass by and I am just happy to get out of the RV park.
We have been on a lot of adventures in the last few weeks. There have been new parks discovered and we have a little list of the things we want to see before we leave here. There are only days left now before we head out.
When Jason was gone, I took the kids on a lot of adventures. The picture above wasn't taken in Colorado, or even Montana. This was when we got back home to Washington! We took a day trip up to Mt. Rainier again and got to drive through a fantastic snowstorm.
It was really coming down! The kids wanted to stay up there forever, but after I watched a pickup truck drive off the road I decided we should probably head back down the mountain.
This little guy was obviously looking for food. He came right up to our van and watched me as I took pictures of him. The kids were thrilled!
And in between the snow and rain, we even had some sunshine! We hit the park behind our old house and burnt off some energy.



Of course, sometimes we just need to get out and go somewhere. Target is a favorite stop for us and Matthew had a few birthday gift cards to spend, so we have been there a lot lately. The other day we were stopped by a couple that just adopted their seventh child and have four toddlers. We chatted for awhile, right there in the housewares aisle. Sometimes adult conversation is such a blessing and this husband and wife had no idea how much they made my day. After we left, I wished that I'd gotten their names so I could contact them. It's not often that I come across other big families around here!
(Can you believe the size of this leaf? Matthew was finding leaves bigger than his head!)
It feels strange that this week is already Thanksgiving. We've been so focused on the move, the TDY assignment, and handling the houses, that we almost forgot to pause and be thankful. As I watch things work themselves out, the way they always do, I am very thankful. I let myself worry too much about things I can't control and when I just finally relax and give it up to God, it always works out better than I could have planned.

2012 is going to bring some big changes for us, and I'm going to do my best to write more, worry less, and just enjoy life.

To anyone who is still reading my neglected little blog, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you spend the day with those that you love and that you are able to count your blessings. To my friends with loved ones serving overseas, I'm praying for you.