Kites, Flowers and a Tired Mommy!

Today was the 44th Annual Kit Festival on the National Mall sponsored by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Of course, we HAD to go be a part of that! (Besides...who really needs their house unpacked if you never stay home long enough to use anything??)

We did decide to take the metro to town since we knew there would be a TON of people! The kids absolutely loved riding the trains!! When we lived here before, that was Stevie's favorite part of going to DC...and 12 years hadn't changed him that much! Even Missy will have some sore cheek muscles from smiling so much--my little girl who "doesn't like to smile"!

It was insanely busy in DC, but it was such a beautiful day it was SO WORTH IT!! We got to fly our kits, watch other people fly their kits, have a picnic in a beautiful flower garden by the Smithsonian Castle, go to the National Gallery of Art, watch more kite flying, ride trains, explore Union Station, have pretzels from a street vendor, listen to the violinist in the subway, shop, ride escalators, look at the cherry blossoms...

...I guess you can just pretty much sum it up by saying...it was an AWESOME day!

Oooh...let's do our nails!

I guess I just had a case of cabin fever today...I just could not get my brain into the school mode! Kimmy had decided to make a goodie but we didn't have vanilla, so I was MORE than happy to decide we needed to run to the store (shhhh...I know she could have made a different goodie, or even not make a goodie, but I wanted OUT!!)

We took a very scenic route to the grocery store...we drove around the base, stop and dropped off some books at the library, dropped off recycling, stopped at storage to pick up more boxes to unpack...I wasn't in a hurry *grin*

Next door to the grocery store was a Dollar Tree store, so in my "I-don't-want-to-do-school" mindset...of course it was important we go in to find something I couldn't live without! We bought a few more toys for our free sandbox (now up to $44), a container for the paintbrushes, and then I found this awesome blue nail polish and some silver and gold eyeshadow. Well...I was bored while Kimmy ran into the ID card building to get her ID fixed (more school avoidance errands) so I painted ONE fingernail blue just to check the color (which was very cool) but then she came back out and we headed out to avoid school some more! It wasn't until I started getting weird looks that I remembered "Oh yeah...your thumb is bright blue" that I decided maybe I should either paint the other nails blue or take off the polish *grin*

So...in true avoidance of all things school...Missy and I decided to paint our fingernails. We tried to involve Stevie--but unlike years past when he was a toddler and his dad would freak when he came home from work to a pink sparkly nailed son--he wouldn't join us. We even offered to paint his nails black for him. So, he got to work on his science semester final and we girls (well, minus Kimmy who was making chocolate chip cookies) decided to paint our nails!

This is Missy's final result...blue and sparkles! I decided to be boring and just go with a pinkish color *smile* My time of being the blue-fingered sluffer was enough! Stevie was more than happy to take photos for a few (and therby postpone his science test) and Kimmy was super cool and brought us YUMMY cookie dough to eat! It was a fun afternoon...though not very productive! Imagine that *smile*

Where Did My Baby Go?

Last night, the Young Women in our ward held their "New Beginnings" program at church. This is for girls in the Young Women program and those girls coming in during the year. WOW!! I had to attend for MISSY becoming a Young Woman. I am pretty sure she is not that old yet is she? And I am definately sure "I" am not old enough for my youngest child to be leaving Primary!! Where does the time go? It was just a couple years ago we were anxiously awaiting the birth of her...Steven had just deployed to Korea and I had moved home from Maryland with the two older kids (Kimmy was 10 and Stevie was 3) to be closer to family when she was born. I was pregnant at the same time as two of my nieces--we were about six weeks apart in due dates. Amazingly enough--all three baby girls were born within 24 hours of each other though--in fact, I was in the delivery room next door to one niece! Not knowing what each was naming their child, we all names them M&M names: Melissa, Marissa and Mattea. I think there were three beautiful little girls in Heaven who didn't want to be separated when it came time to be born--they must have been the best of friends! I love you Missy girl...it will be fun to see the young woman you become!

Our New Project!

I decided the family needed a service project to work on. Since we have started playing the coupon game again AND my mom keeps me so thoroughly flooded with good coupons (Thanks mom!), we decided we would start collecting pet food for the local pet shelter. We did this for a Girl Scout service project when Kimmy was in Brownies and the shelter LOVED it. We are going to spend about $10 a check and see what $10 using coupons will get us. Today was a good day...we got 3 bags of cat food, 4 Meow Mix cups, and all those cans of dog food in the second bag! Not too shabby...and the kids were excited about the project. We'll have to see how our pile grows--I figure we can drop off every 4-6 weeks. It teaches the kids about sharing and money management too (Love those life lessons *grin*) We did have a pretty funny moment today when Stevie was helping put away the groceries and came across all the pet food (He and Missy didn't know about the project yet). We told him that groceries were getting too expensive and I was going to try to save some money by using pet food to cook with LOL! I think he even believed me for a second...silly boy!

Did I Forget to Mention...

I know I skipped over a BUNCH of stuff we did after Steven got home from Iraq {sigh} but it was crazy chaotic! Hopefully I can catch up a few things...but we will see *smile*

One thing I DIDN'T want to skip over though was this story! Steven had been home from Iraq MAYBE a week or so and his team he had been with in Iraq decided to have a family dinner. Steven and I were sitting on the couch the night before the dinner cuddling and he comes out with "Maybe I ought to tell you this before we get around all the guys I work with..." Well, that is not really a good statement to hear...makes you wonder huh?

He goes on with..."Remember there were two badges you didn't want me to earn in Iraq?" I had to think about that for a minute...one was the Purple Heart and the other? I made him type up WHAT he earned and WHY! What I can't believe is that he didn't tell me about this until almost 10 months later!!! Ugh! Anyways...here is his story (and the badge is in the picture just above the "US Army")

"February 22, 2009: My team was on a patrol from the 2-7 Cavalry Battalion. We had left our FOB (Forward Operating Base) Garryowen, about 8 am and were heading into the city. I was in an armored Humvee in the second place in line. An EFP (Explosive Formed Projectile) exploded between the truck in front of me and approximately 10 feet in front of my vehicle. I felt the concussion and the noise of the explosion was quite loud. The vehicle in front of me got hit by a few pieces of shrapnel, damaging one antenna and puncturing a spare fuel can mounted on the back. My vehicle was not damaged. This was the second IED (Improvised Explosive Devise) attack during one of our patrols. I was awarded the Combat Action Badge for this action."

As proud as I am of this handsome man...HOW COULD YOU NOT MENTION THIS TO YOUR WIFE??? {grin} I know...I know...worrying wife...it would have stressed her to know! And he is probably right!

House...Tree...Yard...Picnic...

I know I've mentioned it before, but just a reminder {grin} This isn't our first time in this area! We used to live here in the 90's and LOVED it! Anyways...in the 12 years we have been gone, things change...hmmmph...imagine that! I think it should stay EXACTLY the same...just for my benefit LOL!

Well, one of the biggest changes is that the house we used to live in is now a big open park area. They completely tore the entire housing village down. I admit...they were OOOOOLD...but they were MY oooold! We had these HUGE red brick building houses. They used to be 6 apartments in one building, but then they combined them to be 3 apartments--so you had the whole floor to yourself. It was the longest house. Stevie used to love to run up and down the hallway.

Every time we go past the old house (which is often--since it is just outside the gate), I tend to say "We used to live there. There's the big tree that used to be in our backyard. We ought to go picnic there someday." Well, as we keep going past...and going past...and going past...it has progressed now to "House...Tree...Yard...Picnic" and everyone knows exactly what I am saying. {grin}

Today Steven and I decided to stop and check out the old homestead!

This is about where my house would have been. The houses behind Steven were built about a year before we moved. He actually tried to save a guy's life who leaned his ladder up against a power line and was electrocuted during the building of those houses. The guy didn't make it unfortunately. Always look before moving ladders!

This is the big tree that was in my backyard. We raked LOTS and LOTS of leaves from this every year! Kimmy had a Little Tykes swing hanging from the bottom branch that she used to love to go swing on. We spent lots of time under the shade of the tree in the summer just enjoying life...whenever I would quit volunteering long enough to remember I had a life! (I have learned since to enjoy my slug mode time!)


This is the view of what used to be LOTS of red brick buildings. The whole thing is just grass now. No trace of them at all. Kinda strange to me!

I did manage to find one red brick left--I say it's from my house...a souvenir left just for me! Steven asked if I wanted to bring it home...but a picture is MUCH lighter and easier to move!

The only part left of our housing area is the driveway that led into our parking lot...and even that is only about 8 feet in before it hits grass. I guess that part of our life is gone...and all we have is the memories...but I have to say...they are some GREAT memories! And now we are back to make all new memories!