Welcome Home Luau

The girls were great hostesses and greeted our friends with a little dancing!







This is a cake that Dave has wanted me to make for years. I finally did it. I see now why I had waited so long. I told Dave, "If anybody wants one, I charge $400....no joke. $400. It's a lot of work!!!! If your crazy enough to pay it, I'm crazy enough to make another one!"
These are our neighbors. Luke and Josh.

Georgia Aquarium

Dave's request was to take the girls to the Georgia Aquarium when he returned from Iraq. It is the largest in the world. Dave doesn't think it is as cool as Oregon's!







Dave was the only one brave enough to pet the stingrays!

Dave has arrived home safely!

I'll post more later...

Big Day Today!

McKenzie sat cardboard dad out on the front porch to watch the kids go to school. She posted a sign on him that reads, "I am coming home tonight." They are both very excited. I am praying that the flights aren't delayed and it really is today.

Happy Birthday Dave!

Happy Birthday Dave! Dave is 37 today. We will celebrate when he returns! But for today, we went to Starbucks and worked on homework. It is almost time for him to come home. Can you tell we are all tired?

Replacement Has Arrived!

The exciting news for the day is that Dave's replacement has arrived in Iraq! He won't be leaving for a few more days and it will take about a week for travel....talk about lay overs! I won't have an official date of return until I get a phone call from him whenever he hits the East Coast. Could I be any more vague??? That's about all the info I have. I know it should be soon :) Depending on his lay over once he arrives in the states and what city he is flown into, it may be just a few short hours of notice!

A Baby Panda!!!!!!

With having a little Randa Panda in the house, we have learned a lot about Giant Pandas. We are delighted to live so close to the Atlanta Zoo. It is one of the 4 in the US that has the Giant Pandas. We now have a Baby Panda! It was news worthy enough to get the girls out of bed to see the pictures online. We will be anxiously awaiting our turn to go see the baby (the end of December or January). The babies aren't very cute as brand new newborns. They are about the size of a stick of butter and pink! They grow quickly and should look more like a panda in not too long (I think a month or so) I'll need to do a little more research about that.

Lun Lun gave birth today at 4:51 p.m. Yeah!!!!

Alabama Sunset

Last night the sunset was incredible. It was a very bright pink. The girls were intrigued and wanted pictures. We turned around to go back and get the camera and then missed it. So tonight, we stalked the sun. We sat in the parking lot waiting for just the right shot. It wasn't quite as extravagant as last night's sunset, but still lots of fun to watch.

The weather is finally starting to cool off!! I did lots of yard work yesterday and it is even pleasant to sit on my porch in the evenings. I checked online to see what the temperature has dropped to....only 87 at 7:15 pm! Granted the humidity has dropped quite a bit too. It was only 57% We were hovering at 90% there for a while. I am going to freeze when I go back to the Northwest. Dave is going to freeze when he comes back home too! From what we are hearing, it should be 2-3 more weeks.

Cheetah Girls 2

The girls have been waiting for weeks for the Cheetah Girls 2 premier. I didn't realize that it was the same night that they were invited by a friend to go to a Dr. Seuss play. They went to the play and missed their neighbor's Cheetah Girls party. They quickly realized that the play was worth missing a party. But, being the overachiever mom that I am trying to be we tried to replicate the missed party the next night. The girls decorated their own cake....those are cheetah spots :) We went to Goodwill and picked up a few "Cheetahlicious" shirts and we had a good time watching the movie.

"We're" having a girl!

OK, so I can't actually call her "mine." My brother e-mailed and said that the baby's ultrasound looks like a girl!

I'm 32

I turned 32 today and my neighbors took good care of me! All the ladies from my Bible Study got together on Friday for a surprise party for me. It was really nice and thoughtful. Dave called and wished me a happy birthday this morning and sent a really nice e-mail. He'll make it up to me later....that's OK. His is around the corner too and I am going to make it up to him later too.

After church the girls and I went to lunch. After lunch I met up with Dallas & KC (they were Paula and Simon for McKenzie's party) at Starbucks and they threw yet another little party for me. It was really nice. They took the girls back home and I went out for a little me time. It was good....but I have trouble finding stuff to do by myself sometimes. I went back to their house and they made a really nice dinner for me and the girls. I got Dallas' chicken two times this week. I have probably eaten 10 chicken wings....not good for the hips, but let me tell you they are the best tasting around! I am working on him now for the recipe. I am expecting that it is going to be a fight to get it before we each move!

Mickey's missing Dave

We recieved a box from Dave today. It contained some fun things for the girls and I and it had a few things that he wasn't going to need. He isn't going to have as much room coming home as he did getting there, so he mailed his gortex home. I guess Mickey is missing Dave too. I threw the gortex on the floor and went to pick it up a little while later and Mickey was snuggling with it. Hopefully Mickey is this nice to Dave when he comes home. He is known to not be so nice :)

First Day of School!

Neighborhood breakfast! We all combined forces and we had breakfast at our house this morning to celebrate our return to school.


I was delighted to have the first day of school arrive. I love the girls, but I am getting worn out. One more hug before they go. Miranda was off and ready. She didn't even want me to walk her inside. She said that I could go around the front and meet her in the class if I wanted. McKenzie surprised me and wanted to walk in with me. They are all growing up too fast!



Chaplain Leonard made a visit to Miranda's First grade class. She is now a Turtle!



Mrs. Rogers and Miranda



McKenzie, Dad and Mr. Scott (5th grade)



Huge steps for Kenzie!!! A LOCKER!!!! She has talked about this all summer. She has even mastered opening it herself.

I think they will have a great year!

Braids! 108 Braids!

KC braided Kenzie's hair. Miranda gave out after just a few. It took 3-4 hours with both of us working on it and it is only going to last a couple of days. We will have to take it out on Thursday night so she can be ready for school on Friday morning. A little fact that I happened to surprise KC with....I can cornrow. I think I even surprised myself!

Chew-Chew Train

I have found a dentist!!! Now that there is only 10 more months for us to be in Montgomery. The girls LOVE it! Well, they did before all of the work.

We went to the dentist today and Miranda had a root canal and crown...poor kid. I have already released the guilt of being a bad mom, but I didn't have great teeth as a child either...still don't. I LOVE to brush and love teeth :) My Miranda couldn't wait to get in to get her teeth fixed (she is my child.) She did great and still has a couple more visits. The silly strawberry gas is a good thing for little kids!

Kenzie did well too. She had a couple of fillings and some sealants put on. She, like me has very little tongue control and somehow got it caught in the drill. She did fine until she shut the door of the car as we left and broke down. We went immediately to Target for advil and a reward. Luckily she doesn't have any more work to be done :)