Update Operation Walk 4 Freedom

I haven't been doing so great with keeping up with this and it is something I really want to do. So, I have decided to add a ticker here to hold myself a little more accountable.

Relaxing for Mom!

Only one of the boys ended up spending the night with Brendan and the 2 of them were "in their own world". They were up late, but just playing computer games so they were no problem. They played more this morning and then his Mom and sister came and picked up all three of my older kids and took them to the pool. Dillan has been napping the whole time they have been gone. So you would think I would have used the time productively right??? Nope! I have been relaxing!! I guess I have needed that too. I've been reading and just not doing anything. Considering I NEVER get a break right now, I took the time I got. And you know what? I think it was the right decision and I will be better for it. Hope everyone enjoys their day!

Just stuff

The kids finished up the first session of swimming lessons yesterday. Meghan advanced to level 2, Katie advanced to level 3, and Brendan will be staying in level 4. He is doing really well, but they do breast stroke and butterfly at that level--he needs more practice on both. We will be taking a break from lessons for session 2 though. They have a limited number of spaces available and level 3 was full already so we are going to wait and try to get into session 3 later this summer. They will still be going to the pool about everyday so they will get a lot of practice between now and then. I'm kind of looking forward to having the downtime right now anyway.

I feel like that is about all we have been doing lately. Today we stayed home and didn't really do anything but relax and it was nice and needed. I feel much more refreshed. Good thing too--Brendan is having 2 friends spend the night tonight so ask me how refreshed I feel in the morning:)

Just a short note

Today is the last day of the first week of summer vacation--did that make sense? We spent the week in the pool mostly. The kids had swimming lessons Mon-Thurs. (next week too) and we spent the afternoons either at the pool or on the Slip N Slide. We had one bad day where Meghan was sick--yesterday--she had a fever of 102.7 so obviously no pool. She's fine today. We are going to clean the house this morning--let Dillan have a nap--and then probably head to the pool in the late afternoon.
Oh and one bad thing that happened around here--I'm not going to be able to post pictures for a while--my camera quit working. It's still under warranty, but I have to send it back to the states to have it fixed so I'm sure it will be like a month or so before I get it back! What a pain. I can use Brendan's camera until then or the still shots on my video camera--the quality just won't be as good.

School's Out For Summer!!

Today was the kids' last day of school for the year. I now officially have a 4th and 1st grader. Unbelievable!!! They are growing up too fast! I am so excited to watch and be a part of every moment of it though.
Brendan is thrilled beyond belief that it is summer--he wishes the vacation was longer than 10 weeks.
Katie on the other hand, is very upset that school is over. She loves it so much and is going to miss it. She's excited about starting 1st grade though--Actually today she told me "No, Mom, I'm not a first grader, I'm going to be in high school!" She's so silly.

Meghan is finally getting excited about school again--when we were talking about the grades of the kids, she proudly told me "I'm going to preschool!" YAY!! Now I just have to decide how many days a week to send her--she can go 2, 3, 5--1/2 days or a Pre-K that is 5 days 9-2 and they eat lunch. Decisions, decisions. I can see pros and cons to each--I guess I need to write them down and see it on paper to decide. Meghan, of course, says she's 4 so she wants to go 4 days:)
Well, we are going to have a movie night for our first night of vacation so I better get off here and make sure the kids get their chores done.

Things have Finally slowed down

We did a unit "we miss you" spot to be shown on AFN (American Forces Network) and this is a picture we had taken of us that day to send to Daddy as well. The balloons the kids were holding were red, white, and blue, but as you can see they had trouble getting them in the picture.

We survived all of our busyness. It actually ended up being better than I expected. I love when I have people around me who really care and help out. On Friday, Brendan's baseball coach--who is also a friend of ours--called me and asked if Brendan could spend the night at their house and he would take him to his game on Saturday morning! No turning that down! I went to his game (ok a bit late, but he had 2) and then he continued on with the coach to the pool for a team party. Finally, the coach called again and asked to keep him one more night and they would take him to Mass on Sunday. (we went Sat. night) Brendan finally got home around noon on Sunday AND he served Mass--he had never done that before! Now I know what he will be doing frequently.

Katie's dance recital went really well. It is so much more laid back here than the BIG productions we had in Brainerd.

We ended up not going swimming at the Villa--we were disappointed, but there was the threat of rain so the Italian who owned the Villa cancelled us. They just seem so overly cautious with the weather. No it didn't rain by the way.

Finally, was the cub scout pool party which was a lot of fun. I had to drag the kids away from the pool after 3 hours. You wouldn't think summer was going to be here in 1 1/2 days and they will be going almost daily. I swear I have a school of fish.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of baseball. And there are also just a couple of pictures of the kids being cute. I would love to put up a picture of the recital, but all I have is video and I don't know how to post that on here. Sorry.

SOO BUSY!!

This week has been and will continue to be busy. We are finishing up all sports this week and school next week.
Last night Katie finished T-ball. She had her "Jamboree" which means she played her final 2 games and then had hot dogs, cupcakes, and got a medal.
Tonight Katie has her dance recital--she's so excited.
Tomorrow Meghan, Dillan and I are going to a Villa to swim with Moms Club.
Saturday Brendan has his Baseball Jamboree.
Sunday we have a Cub Scout Pool Party.
Finally, we will have some rest and only 3 1/2 days of school left!!
I can't wait for summer vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will post some pictures of all these activities next week when they are all over.

Pray for us

Please take a moment to say an extra prayer for our soldiers in Afghanistan and their families. We can really use the extra strength and peace right now.

This and That

Insane week--well I guess really just the past couple of days. My computer somehow got all messed up from Spyware!!!! It was really frustrating. It took me 2 days to get it all figured out. Of course, I'm not that computer savvy. It's all ok now though and I can finally check and send email and whatever else I want to do on the computer. It was really hard to not even be able to communicate with Shane-- since that is basically the only communication we have right now. I have everything set up to be able to scan and delete the spyware stuff so hopefully I won't have that problem again.

Katie was supposed to have her last baseball games today, but they got rained out--I hope they plan to replay them. I would feel really sad for her if the season ended with no "Jamboree". Brendan still has one more week.

Katie also has her dance recital this week. She is really excited about that. Basically, we won't have any activities left after the next 2 weeks--well I guess swimming lessons will start then, but that is all. School will be out, no baseball, no dance... Whatever will we do???

We just finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory so now the girls are watching the movie. I would like to get the old version for them to watch too, so they can see all the differences between the 2 movies and the book. We are going to be starting Charlotte's Web tomorrow. Meghan has been begging for it for the past week, but I had told her we couldn't start it until we finished the other book.

Well, I'm going to join the kids for the rest of the movie. I will try to blog again soon.