Family Photos

I wanted to get some family photos before Jereme left since I think the only ones I have that might have all five of us are from when kori was born and I am in the hospital bed... not my most gorgeous shot! :)

So my wonderful sissy took some fantastic photos for us! I love the way they turned out. If anyone wants copies let me know which ones and make sure I have your email address. Or I can get some printed when I get ours printed.

Strong Like Daddy

"I'm gonna kiss you daddy"

"Cheese"

"We love you daddy! Be safe and come home soon!!!"

Who made you?

"Mom look!" Malaki exclaimed excitedly from the back seat, "the MOON!"

"Yes, I see" I said glancing at it as I drove, "who made the moon?" It was 9:45 and we were heading back to my parents for bed after spending a fun evening with his family.

"God made the moon!"

"What else did God make?" I asked

"God made the stars!"

"Who made Malaki?"

"Oh God make Malaki!"

up to this point Lillie was pretty quiet... then she pipes up "My make myself!"

"No" I laughed a little, "God made Lillie too"

At this point she went on to argue, being rather silly, that she made her self and she made the moon and she made the stars... I think she was more than a little tired, she normally agrees that she is indeed not a god. *sigh* I think she may be a tad difficult as a teenager! :)

Here we are

Well we are moved out of the apartment now. The kids said goodbye to it as they will not be going back. I still have a few things to do there, which I will do next week while Jereme is at MEPS and after he is gone. I will stay there Monday - Wednesday and then come down here and head back up to do the final cleaning on Thursday.

It is almost time for us to say goodbye. We have talked to the kids, and I know they don't really understand right now. But hopefully later when they are missing him they will remember how we talked about daddy will be back.

We are excited and scared about the changes coming our way, but for now we are just enjoying the little time we have left together before daddy leaves to "learn how to be REALLY strong!"

A quick update

It is amazing how fast the time has come. Tonight is our last night in this apartment together. Then a few nights at my parents, and then he is gone. I am having a hard time, because I know I need to pack, but every time I come across something of Jereme's I have to put it in the pile of storage stuff... which reminds me that I will soon be sleeping alone.

However I am also excited. I am looking forward to good times with family and friends before I go as well. I am excited to learn where we will be living, and scared at the same time.

Jereme is doing great, I know he will miss the kids and I, he has told me more than once. But he has also told me he is excited to go to basic. I am excited to see him when he is done.

I forgot how much I love it when he works out, till he started working out again... :)

His bag is pretty much packed, I just need to get some stamps to put on the envelopes that I preaddressed for him, and some pens to go with the paper so he can fill the envelopes with letters for me and the kids. When I get letters for him I will be sure to update everyone a little on how things are going for him. And I will also try to keep up on all the fun the kids and I are having here.

Once he gets there I will get his address and post it so anyone can write him letters... he may or may not write back, we aren't sure how much time he will have for things like that, and his main priority during free time will be making sure he gets enough sleep. So don't feel bad if he doesn't write back, I had to force him to promise to write me every now and then... :p

I have gotten both bedrooms packed and ready to go, now I just have the living room and bathroom, which will both be really easy, and the kitchen, which I think will be a little harder.

Tomorrow after Jereme's physical fitness test we will come back here, load up the car and move the kids and I down to my parents. We will stay there till Monday. Monday we will spend a few hours with the kids and then he will say goodbye to them.

I will drive him to MEPs (by the Portland Airport) and stay with him till curfew (I think it is 11pm). I will sleep at the apartment that night, although it will be empty probably... and then meet him at MEPs at 9:30am on Tuesday. We will go back and forth getting all his orders and everything, which means a lot of sitting and waiting... when he is done we will go out to a nice dinner, and maybe a walk or something. He has to be back to the hotel by curfew again. Then Wednesday morning I should be able to see him for a minute or two before he goes to the airport, so I can say goodbye one last time. And then I will head back to Lebanon and try not to be an emotional wreck for the day. Thursday my friend Breanna is going to come up to the apartment with me to help me get it all cleaned and turn in the keys. Then we will go out to lunch or something and maybe do a little shopping since we will both be kid free.

Ok that was a little long for a "quick" update.... oh well, that is where we are at right now! Keep the prayers coming please. Thank you!

Boys and Girls... oh what to do

So Malaki comes to me today and tells me that his "Penuh" hurts... I will let you clever people figure out what that means. :)

Of course I have to check him and make sure he is ok, nothing wrong with him... Well Lillie, who was in another room, apparently over heard us, and for those of you who know Lillie anything that is hurt on her brother is hurt on her.

Example:

Malaki is running really fast and trips and hurts his knees. A real injury, but we make it through. Lillie, seeing her brother has fallen and is being asked if he is ok, quickly imitates his run and fall (although falling very careful as to avoid real injury) and then insists that she to is hurt.

So once I find that Malaki is ok and will just have to wait it out and then be fine he decides to go sit in his room in self pity....

In walks Lillie "hey Malki"

"No Lillie, it's just got hurt my penuh, leave me alone" he says somewhat crossly.

"OH" Lillie replies cheerfully, "I got my penuh hurt too!!! See it is SO BROKE!"

I have tried to explain that she is a girl before, but so far she doesn't get it.... this time I just sat and laughed while they went back and forth about their 'owies" and wondered how I am going to get Lille to understand the difference between boys and girls... and this is only the beginning!!!! Yikes!

Say a little prayer

Hey everyone, after Jereme is gone I will try to update all my posts, right now with just 2 weeks left we are spending as much time together as possible.

Right now though please take time to say a little prayer for us, While camping over the weekend Lillie got a flu and started throwing up, so we headed back to my parents a day early.

On the way home last night I started, and then Malaki in the middle of the night. Lillie who had stopped is back to throwing up again, so all three of us are miserable. Thankfully Kori is still sleep this morning, because I feel terrible, and am having a hard time keeping up with my other two kids.

Apartment kids

So we love the apartments we are, sure they are small, but small can be good. One thing that I find interesting though, the kids around here.

Malaki has made a few friends, not sure of most of their names, but for the most part he has learned who the bullies are, and who the nice kids are. Lillie has a little friend named Vanessa, she is a little hispanic girl who is 4. Her brother Abraham (age 5) and Malaki have a lot of fun together as well. Their parents don't speak english at all, Abraham is pretty good at it because he goes to school, Vanessa does ok, but she is shy on top of not speaking english very weel, which makes things hard.

Anyhow Lillie and Vanessa both have Ponies that they like to play with. They gather all their ponies together and play with them outside, switching ponies, sharing, and always managing to bring their own ponies home.

Today as I was in my room hanging up a few clothes the kids were outside playing. I came out and was playing with Kori when I heard Lillie go in her room and close the door. This is pretty normal for her lately so I thought nothing of it. I could here her talking on occasion, also normal... I just let her be because Lillie sometimes needs uninterrupted quiet time to just be on her own, otherwise she can become a bit of a grouch. About 35 minutes later she and Vanessa come walking out of her room with all their ponies.

First I find it strange that children just walk in and start playing, but what I found the most scary, is that I never heard a frantic mom wondering where her daughter was. I was outside several times checking on Malaki, and not once did I see a mom wondering where her child was.

I personally would not be happy if my child went in to someone else's house without telling me. They tried that once, they were in there for under 2 minutes and we had a long talk about how that is not safe and not ok.

I don't mind Vanessa and Abraham coming in here, I just wish I could talk to their mom a little so she knows where I live and that her children are safe... I told Abraham he needs to let him mom know where he is if he wants to come in... he says he did and she said it was fine, but I am still uneasy about it and encourage them to play outside.

We also have a boy whom Malaki is NOT really friends with, who will walk in, go to the kids room, grab a toy and take it outside. I sat on the couch with my jaw in my lap the first time it happened. I have talked to him a couple times now. Telling him it is not ok to come in without asking first, and that he can't take the kids' toys outside... also that he can't take their bikes without talking to me first, especially when we are not at home. Most of the kids around here share outside toys, but only when the child is outside playing as well...

We like it here, and the kids love all the "friends" to play with, but there are times when I am very puzzled about how parents have no idea where their kids are or what they are doing... :)

The hardships of one car

Since Jereme is leaving soon we sold his Geo. He was sad to see it go, he loved his little car, but it made sense to sell it, so that is what we did.

This means we now have one car, no big deal really. With three kids it isn't like I go many places anyhow. And if I really need the car I can take him to work and pick him up.

Well last night we ran out of diapers in the house. Jereme called me at work, I had walked, and I told him to go out to the car because there were some in the diaper bag.

This morning I discovered that he only brought in one diaper, not the diaper bag... of course I didn't discover this until he was gone. I had thought I would have enough diapers to get me through tonight, and then I would go to the store when he got home... but with the diaper bag in the car and the car gone, we were OUT of diapers. I found a smaller size (just 1) to put on Kori, but I knew it wouldn't last anywhere close to the whole day.

So I loaded all three kids up in the double stroller and we headed for Safeway. It is exactly a mile one way according to google maps. However it is not a flat mile... it is a mile with some pretty good hills. Had it been flat I would have let Malaki ride his bike (which he begged to do) but I was picturing him flying down the hill on the way to Safeway, scary enough... and then having to drag his bike up the hill while pushing the stroller, on the way back. So I opted to have him just ride in the stroller with the girls.

2 miles is really not that far, a mile there a mile back, a few annoying hills, no big deal... 2 miles pushing around 120lbs up and down hills with no water, lets just say I got a good work but it wasn't much fun! :)

It only took me about 25 minutes each way (that includes taking time to stop and rearrange children to make sure everyone is comfortable, not kicking each other, and not whining... I think I did pretty good! :) And the lesson I learned is that with just one car I am going to be watching the necessary things in life a little more closely than normal, and not allow myself to get anywhere near running out again!

Free Lunch and things yet to come

So I have a TON of stuff to post, I just need all the pictures and the time. but hopefully next week I will be able to get up a whole bunch of stuff about the kids and the wonderful birthday weekend they had at grandma's house.

We learned today that the park right next to us is serving healthy (ish) free lunches courtesy of the local schools ever Monday - Friday for kids 1-18. We went over today, they help the kids properly wash their hands and then go through a little line. Today that had burgers, baked beans, watermelon, and a little carton of milk. After lunch they will have a game or craft everyday as well. The kids ate a great lunch, Malaki and Lillie each ate half of their burgers, and Korinthia at the other 2 half's. Yes my not yet one year old can out eat my big kids...

The kids were playing kickball after, but Malaki and Lillie are a little young, so they just found a bunch of "friends" to run around the park with. They had a blast, got completely filthy, and I didn't have to make lunch! Woohoo!

After we were done we came home, took a bath, and then a 2 hour nap. Well I took a 30 minutes nap, but the kids got in 2 hours... They are already asking if we can go again, I think I like this park thing.... :)

The Cruelty of Children

It is sad the way children pick at each other. My son is a bit of a backwards kid. He can count from 7-1, but can only sometimes go from 1-7. He almost always has his clothes on backwards... underwear, pants, and sometimes shirt. And he puts his bike helmet on backwards as well. Today he came in from playing quite upset. It seems that some of the kids around here are heartless to my 4 year old. His pants were on backwards and he was crying to me as he came in to put them on right. I told him it was ok, he could wear them however he wanted, and to just ignore people who are mean. He got his pants on the right way and went back out to play. About an hour later he came in and showed me the proper way to put on a helmet, "NOT THIS WAY" he said rather loudly and a bit upset as he showed be the wrong way. Then he told me the kids outside are "neam" which I am pretty sure means mean. It is sad that he is getting picked on, I will have to watch a little closer. At least physically they don't hurt him, and they do play really nice with him. They just don't think I guess. I guess it is good in the sense that he now is wearing his helmet the right way.....

Pow Pow Power Wheel "GATOR"

Our apartment Manager Mindy is a very nice young mom, she has a 2 1/2 year old daughter named Emma, and a baby who is right around 2 weeks I think. He was born 4 weeks early, was 6 lbs 13oz, and finally makes Kori look like a big girl!

Anyhow, Mindy's is the only porch without railing around it... and they have a ton of outdoor toys that they share with all the kids when they are outside.

Day before yesterday her husband (I don't remember his name) was outside and gave Malaki a squirt gun to play with, which he was shooting in the air and laughing when it got him wet. Then he asked Malaki if he wanted to drive the "Gator" which is a John Deer Power Wheel type toy. I was way off in thinking that it would be scary to Malaki. He took his sister and Emaa cruising for about half an hour before it was time to come inside.

The next day Emma was outside with another little girl, she is a littl older, I don't remember her name. And they were driving the Gator.... so Malaki and Lillie waited and each got a turn driving. I got my camera out this time and got some pictures and Videos.... here they are.

Malaki and Lillie hold on tight in the back

Changing drivers, everyone moving around

Lillie drives like she walks, without paying attention to where she is going.... thankfully she didn't get mad when help was offered. This also worked well since the little girl didn't want to share, and so she let the other kids sit in the driver seat while she still ran the gas pedal and the steering wheel.

When it was Malaki's turn she still didn't want to give up control. Malaki wasn't to upset with it though, and she eventually got bored and let him do it on his own. really he was just so glad to get to be riding that it wasn't a big deal.

Now he really IS 4!

Well it was something we couldn't stop, Malaki is now 4 years old. And inspite of the early morning "birthday" he did on his own, the rest of the day went well.

While it is true I told Malaki on his birthday we would open presents, he has been getting into things way to much without asking, so he had to have a timeout for opening without asking.

While he was in timeout I rewrapped his present.

Jereme decided we needed ice cream to go with the cake, so I went to the store and got some. While there I stopped by the dollar store and picked him up some new crayons and a coloring book. He has been very into coloring lately, and since he already knew what his present was I felt bad.

When I got home I made lunch (spaghetti with broccoli and Cheddar sauce, one of his favorites) and the cake. I had planned to do blue frosting with white clouds and the airplane Lillie and I picked out for him. However I didn't have food coloring as I thought I did, so I just did the white frosting and sprinkles, I still but the plane on, and Malaki was quite concerned telling me not to light it on fire.

After lunch he asked, for the 100th time, if he could open his presents. We told him he could, but that he had to wait while I got the camera ready. As soon as I was ready he eagerly opened, and reopened his presents. He was very excited to play his new computer game. I told him we would have cake while we waited for it to install.

Lillie had a hard time watching and not helping.

Kori was more interested in attacking the camera than watching the presents get open.

We sang happy birthday and he started to blow the candles out, so I re lit them and made him tell me how old he was and then blow them out while I recorded.

His game was ready shortly after, so he lost interest in the cake very fast. He ate a few bites then put it on the counter so that he could play. Lillie finished her piece and his piece though. And Korinthia was not at all shy about eating her piece as well.

I can't wait to see how she handles her own chocolate cake for her birthday!

Malaki shows me how big and strong he is now that he is 4, he then insists that I take a close up picture of his strong arm....

The next day Lillie asked if it was her birthday and wear her cake and presents were. I did say her birthday was after Malaki's, now daily she asks me about her birthday. Another month or so to go!