the saddest quote ever!

so, we were coming home from school pick up (oh yah, Liam is in preschool and loving it) and when we pulled onto our street Liam exclaimed, "oh yay, daddy's home ... he can do the cheat code" (something game related for their current favorite game, which is something 'Cars'). 

I said "remember sweetheart, daddy left on the airplane ..." (by this time we had pulled into our driveway, so I turned around and looked at him and continued) "you were asleep, but he gave you a kiss and told you goodbye".

the look on his face was enough to bring me to tears, then his little face began to quiver and he says - in the saddest, down voice ever "I didn't get to see him".

that was it for me, the tears started to flow and I quickly got out and got him out and had a big long hug.

and, thankfully, a little game talk cheered him right up and now the boys are out there enjoying their game and I'm trying to stop my own tears - lol!


so, yes, yesterday daddy left for his short tour to Korea.  we won't see him until March or April (for his midtour - then he goes back) and he won't be back home until next August or September.  ahhh, the military life ... we've managed to avoid this since moving to Cali, so it's been a great three and a half years with him only gone a few times and never more than a few weeks!

so, now I'll say that Annicka is homeschooling this year for sixth grade, Jericho is back to school - second grade, Liam is in afternoon preschool, and Zoey will be heading to preschool once she turns three!  wow!!!
so, there's a quick update ... and maybe one of these days I'll get around to all those photos!!!

quotes of the week ...

who knows how much I'll keep up with the weekly quotes posts, but today I marked my memory for this one! 

(8-19-2012)
we were at Target and had the boys in the seats of a cart and then Zoey in the little seat of the cart (and might I mention how awesome it was to have three out of four kids sitting while we shopped!).  I don't know where he got it, but Liam had been saying this earlier in the van as well:  "all hail Zoey" ... so, I guess (the hubs told me) that he was saying that and then Jericho chimed in: "Liam - don't tell her that!  she'll think she's a queen"!  oh. my. word.  THAT is funny!!!

Albuquerque!!!

yes, finally!!!  here are the pics from our trip waaayyyy back in June!

time to go see grandma!!!

we all went out walking - so fun!

they were fishing for crawdads - but no one got any bites!

the whole gang, including cousin Connie!

Katie on her four wheeler!

(my kids were fairly upset that we wouldn't let them have a turn)

I was the queen of catching people at weird/funny moments on this trip,

several photos reflect that!  ha ha ha ... anyway, she was just walking and getting ready

to run down the hill!!  so fun!!

this is a definite fave - and I want it on my wall!!!

and this one is just so sweet!

daddy & Liam 

(aka: daddy's little clone)

here we are at the park!

I was glad to see that Annicka's not afraid to jump into a game - even if

she's never played before!  of course, if it wasn't family - she might not be so

willing.  she had a good time with uncle Kris and daddy and Katie!

I really like this pic of grandma surrounded by grandkids!

that's my kids' cousins: Katie (in blue) and Willow!

Annicka says this is a horny toad lizard - lol!

she caught it at "peach hill" and had it for a few days

before it suddenly went missing!

(I have no idea what it actually is, btw)

Liam liked little "Horns" (that's what Annicka named it)

sissy taught him to pet with his pinky, so cute!

awww, a puppy just the right size for Zozo!!!

this is "Tiny" and it was Zoey's first real (up close) encounter

with a dog - she liked him a lot!

she liked sneaking into Katie's room and sitting on her little couch!

Zoey had her first ketchup on vacation!!!

I guess I never got pics of the girls at their swim team practice,

cause after the first day (for Annicka) I never went back!

it was just easier for me to stay home with our other three kiddos and

let the men take the big girls to their 9am, hour long practice!

but here's Liam and Jericho's first day!

(and we might note that I never went again to their class -

I stayed home and fed Zoey lunch and let her lay down for a nap)

Liam loved it!!!

so did Jericho!

(he's in red & black)

here's Katie having some relax time while the boys swim!

and, of course, Zoey had to have a turn!

she LOVED it!

that's our girl!  what a goofy goober!

ha ha!  he had raccoon eyes from his goggles!

UGH!  Annicka!!!  but, still, this is a pretty sweet pic of the cousins!

Annicka and Willow

oh my GOODness this kid!

I love this thing she does, where she bends and gives me a big, giant cheese face!

grandma's pool - Liam got in on the action too, but he did do a lot

of standing on that ladder!!

this was just spontaneous - don't know why he made the face

or how I caught it - but it's funny and I'm sure we all could come up

with some fun captions for it!!!

Annicka and Willow sound asleep for a nap!

she made a little accessory for "Horny"!

playing with grandma's new screen!

one outing was to Explora - the children's museum that is

full of all sorts of cool stuff to explore!

here's Zoey watching the water "fountain"!

just for memory sake, I want to note that boy

in the green shirt.  why?  because Annicka just happened to

be wearing the same shirt! 

(which, I might also note, she picked out herself - from the boys section)

there was all sorts of silliness going on,

including her turning her shirt around - ha ha ha!

anyway, love ya Annicka - and you might not want to remember ...

but mama does!

drawing some "movies"!

Liam really loved this part!

Annicka & Katie

bubble fun ...

he loved the bubbles!

the cool part of the fountain is that you can control it!

Zoey liked pushing the button!

ha ha - I love when she does this!

(sidenote - when we got home I finally was ready, yes - mama, to say good-bye to

the "bah-bahs"!  within our first week back I got stocked up on cups and

began the transition ... it didn't take more than a few days before she was having no

bottles at all and has been using her straw cups ever since!)

cousin Katie was deciding how brave she was and got offered a bit of cash to show

us she could do it (you'll see what in a minute) ... here I caught a pic of Annicka trying to

convince daddy to give her some crazy amount of money if she'd do it too,

but really I don't think any amount would have done it!  lol!!

can I get a WOW!!! 

we see this, of course, every time we go to Explora -

but this trip was the first time I remember seeing anyone actually do this!

there was actually a few kids who went before her!

 she went almost all the way before heading back!

one afternoon the hubby's mom, aka: grandma, went through her hope

chest with me ... of course, I love this sort of "activity" and I was in heaven!

I loved the old pics, the old yearbooks, the old artwork -

pretty cool!!!

since the hubby took these pics, I'll use the captions he's been saying since he took them:

"awwww, sound asleep"

 "who took my picture?"

 awwww, isn't our little Liam just adorable?

 got ya!

(if you fell for that, anyway)

this photo literally amazed me, it's my hubby when he was little -

but I honestly think that I could have even been fooled by this pic!!!

so sweet - two of my guys!

she's two.

need I say more?

peek-a-boo!

more than once Zoey managed to reach things and pull them onto her tray -

as you can see, this day it was the box of donuts!

and once she even fell asleep in her chair!

with her baby, no less, making this photo uber adorable!

Zoey with grandma - I love this pic!

and this one cracks me up with Zoey's little face! 

I think she was probably talking, but she just looks like she's

full of sass ... which, she is - lol!!!

have I told you all about all the "tricks" Zoey can do?

she can high five and I love it when she puts out her first and says "bih buh" -

that's fist bump!!!  but, of course, I especially love two things I taught her:  pageant face

and pageant kiss!  anyone who's watched 'Toddlers and Tiaras' likely knows

just how insane those kiddie pageants can get, but as a sort of joke I taught Zoey some

of the "moves" those little girls do!  she's just brilliant and I think her

cuteness could win her a pageant ... but I don't plan to put her in one, so don't worry!

"pageant kiss"!

I was trying to be sure I got a pic of grandma with each of the kids!

my photographer-ness was fairly lacking, I didn't even manage to get a photo of the

kids with Nana (their great grandmad) which is just awful and I feel so bad!

but here's Jericho with grandma!  sweet!

I love Liam's face!  apparently I don't know how to focus either, lol!

sorry, I warned you I wasn't a great photographer this trip - lol!

and, before we headed out, I wanted to get a pic of "everyone"!

but, alas, Willow & Liam had fallen asleep ... and I wasn't gonna make either

of them wake up.  so, we did a quick pick with everyone who was awake!

and that was our trip, in a photo nutshell!

we were in Albuquerque for nearly three weeks and we had

a great time!  it's always fun to see everyone and have some time together!

thanks again Mom G. for all the yummy food, for the swim

lessons, and for a fabulous visit!

p.s. we miss you!!!