July - BEACH DAY!

 back in July we took a little trip to a beach not too far away - it was awesome!  my friend told me about it and we met for lunch and then headed to the beach to have some fun all together!  the kids had a blast!  I may have posted some of these pics back them, I can't remember?  anyway, here's our fun at the beach ...

 she loved the sand!  I was happy to see she had no reservations about

walking, sitting in, or playing with sand!

 the boys!!!

 see that tub Annicka is carrying ... you'll see why in a bit!

 Liam loved it too!

 oh how my little LOVED splashing in the water!

I had to hold them tight when the waves came in!

(oh yah and I mislabeled some of these pics - oops - obviously if I'm in them they're by my friend)

 the four big kids - doin their thing - being independent!

 and there's why the tub!!!

she was catching these little creatures!!!

 there's my friend and my littles!!!

 see - she loved the sand so much she even laid down in it!!!

that day it was confirmed - she's definitely a Cali girl!!!

let's go back, shall we

ok ... for once and for all I am determined to catch this blog up!  I am going to do as much as I can today and get some blog posts set to publish!  I've decided to just edit the pics as minimally as possible - so many of them are getting cropped and that's it!!!  oh, and getting my little "photographer stamp" put on them!

my goal is to get the blog up to date by this weekend and then maybe I'll pull the camera out more often!  yes, it's true ... I've barely been taking photos, because I know how far behind I am with them!  isn't that terrible!!!

so, no more excuses!  it's gotta get done!  hang in there for just a bit longer and hopefully the blog posts will be rolling in again!

happy birthday!

so, my hubby left August 29 ... the day before his birthday!  and the way it works out is that he'd be spending his birthday in an airplane - or have no birthday at all, since he left here the 29th and got to Korea the 31st!  it was really a bummer for him.

but, honey (he reads the blog) we did have a little celebration for you!  sorry I'm so late to get this pic on here ...

we lit the candle, sang, and blew it out - just for you!  we love you so much and miss you!!!

saying see ya later ...

so I can't sleep. it's been a hard week. but that's for another time of pouring my heart out.  tonight, I'm going to finally get these "saying see ya later" pics up (daddy has been practically begging, and - yah - I feel guilty) on the blog!

I wanted to be sure I got pics of my hubby with each of our kids before he left for his short tour to Korea!  I plan to get them printed and put them on the wall, so the kids can look at them ... but for him, they needed to be here, so he can see them!

it will be fun to take pics again when he comes home, and see how much they change.  and in the meantime, it's just a little reminder (or will be, once I get the project done) to each child of the silly, loving daddy that is missing them and can't wait to be back home!

wow - he even wanted one with mama!

hoping that this one will be quite different (me) by the time he gets home too!!!  ;-)

 and the funny face "out take"!

the fourth of July!

argh. these photos are in majorly random order because blogger is being a pill!!! boo blogger!

anyway, for fireworks on the fourth of July we met up with some of our friends!

I didn't break our parking lot tradition, it just works too well ... why

ruin a good thing, right?  (if it ain't broken, why fix it?!)

it was lots of fun!

the kids especially had fun devouring all sorts of sugary, snacky foods ...

I was on day three of my "take shape for life" journey (btw, today marks 10 weeks

and I've lost 38lbs) so I had a soda and one of my bars - and, of course, water!

here's the pics:

watching the fireworks! 

... and eating!

Jericho is being silly, hiding behind his candy!

and Mady is being silly too!

there's silly Gaby ...

I think that concludes the silly face pics - lol!

Zoey was iffy, initially she seemed excited and like she like the fireworks ...

but then later she seemed like maybe she didn't like the noise!

here's a pic of all the kids but Liam, he had fallen asleep on the way!

fireworks ...

and friends!

(Traci & Josh)

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!!!