Forgotten War

That is what the war in Afghanistan is...a forgotten war. I know that the incidents there don't even make the news. That is why I am making a point of putting it here. It helps me to deal with my feelings and also lets you all know what is happening over there. It is so sad to me that deaths don't even warrant mentioning in the news--these are real people. Yes, our unit has once again suffered casualties. We have had 4 more soldiers lose their lives and 1 more injured seriously. It absolutely breaks my heart--there are children being left without fathers and wives being left without husbands. Please pray for all of them, as well as all of us who have soldiers fighting over there. We need all the support and prayer we can get. These soldiers are heroes--they should not be just number and they certainly shouldn't be forgotten.

More prayers needed

Our unit lost another soldier yesterday. It is really hard to deal with this and it is happening way to often. Please pray for all the soldiers and their families.

I thought this was fitting....

Volksmarch

We did our first Volksmarch in Italy today. We have missed them from Germany. The kids had a great time and impressed some of our friends with how much energy they have. We did a 6K walk. It was up in the mountains and it was beautiful!! We definitely plan to do more of them. I may have to start putting Dillan in the backpack though--we used the running stroller today--as these aren't exactly stroller friendly. We had a couple of places where we had to carry him and the stroller. Thank goodness I had a couple of friends along to help with that!

The kids start swimming lessons again tomorrow so we will have 2 weeks of being busy again. That's good though. The kids are tending to fight and argue a little too much with all of their free time.

Well, the kids want ice cream bars and a story so...(TTFN) ta ta for now

Harry Potter

Well, we just got back from the PX and getting our copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We just couldn't wait!! It's now 12:46 and Brendan has stolen the book and is up in his bed reading. I'm hoping he will fall asleep soon so I can get my hands on it.

Tomorrow will be a reading day and then he and I are going to the movie and the 3 little ones are going swimming. Should be a nice day.

Happy reading!!

It's been a while

I haven't been up to much, thus I haven't really had much to talk about. I still don't really, but thought I should update this some.

The kids are going to be starting swim lessons again on Monday--2 more weeks--this time I only have to sit for 2 hours instead of 3 though since Katie and Meghan's classes are at the same time. The week following that, Brendan starts a soccer clinic for a week. He's really excited about that.

We are also going to do a couple of Volksmarches--one this Sunday and one the following Sunday with the Cub Scouts. Those should be a lot of fun--and will rack up my miles. They have them almost every week around here so if we have a good time we can keep doing them.

Brendan is having a buddy spend the night tonight so that should be fun.

We might hit the Harry Potter party at the PX on Friday night. They are going to do one of those things to promote the book and start selling at midnight. Brendan really wants to go so we will see. Katie informed me she would be ok that late and that we could take 2 strollers so both the little ones could sleep. She is so helpful.

Anyway, on Saturday I have a babysitter coming so that Brendan and I can go to the movie. Our own little Mom and son date.

I guess that's about all that is going on around here. Like I said before--nothing exciting, just thought I'd get you all updated.

Little Piece of Good News

It is a small thing, but we are happy with the small joys lately. We have just been informed that the R&R Leave times have been extended. Now instead of 15 days of leave, Shane will receive 18 days of leave. It may not seem like a lot, but that is 18 full days of having Daddy home. We still don't know when this will occur--we are thinking maybe February--but it is still something we know we can look forward to.

Please pray for us

Please take a moment to pray for our soldiers in Afghanistan. We have once again lost 2 soldiers and have had others wounded. Please pray for their families and strength for all involved.

4th of July

Around here the 4th of July lasted for 2 days!!! We had so much fun!!! There was a carnival on post that we went to on Tuesday--I thought we would go for about 3 hours or so and we ended up staying from approximately 3 in the afternoon until it closed and the MPs were telling everyone to go home at 10!! Unfortunately, all I have is video of everything we did and I haven't figured out how to post that (my still camera is being repaired)

Anyway here is the rundown of our 2 day celebration.
We hit the carnival and the kids had a blast--there were little kiddie rides which Dillan absolutely loved!!! It was his first time on any rides and he was "driving up a storm" in the little cars. Every time we walked by he pointed and yelled "car car". He was a riot. Kathryn and Brendan took turns taking him on the rides and Meghan was loving them with her friend Abby.

Then our next highlight was Brendan.

They opened up the jumptower to the public--including the kids which surprised me. The jumptower is a 34 ft tower that the airborne soldiers use for training. And yes it is just what it sounds like--they are hooked up to a harness and jump!! The first time Brendan went up he got to the top looked down and chickened out--he came down one flight of stairs and I hollered up that if he was going to do it, do it while he was still geared up. So back up he went and 5 minutes later they finally coaxed him out--Did I say coaxed?? I should say Mama yelled up at the soldiers to pick up him and drop him out so.... By the harness he was lifted and out he went. Was he traumatized---I think not!! He insisted on jumping 2 more times!! He would have done more, but we had other things to do.

Like...

Listen to Meghan sing karaoke!! Except that Meghan doesn't know any of the songs they have so I went up and asked if she could have the mic and just sing with no music. They said sure and Meghan entertained everyone with singing the chorus to "Tomorrow" from Annie about 10 times in a row. In the end I had to tell them to take the mic away or she would have sung for an hour I think. She did a great job!!

We ate brats, watermelon, cotton candy and just enjoyed carnival junk. Then we listening to everyone sing, hung out with friends, let the kids run around and generally had a great time.

On the 4th, we went to some friends' house for a BBQ--of course it stormed so we had hotdogs inside--but that was ok. It cleared up after a bit and we all went outside in the yard and then to the park to play. That was fun and finally we went back on post for the fireworks. They had a great display that the kids really enjoyed--not just the kids I was impressed too. The older ones had all seen fireworks before, but really enjoyed these. Dillan was really cute though.. every time there was a lull for a couple of seconds he was yelling "more more" He really thought they were neat... for the first 15 minutes-- then he just wanted to run around in the dark.

We had a couple of really late nights, but it was a great time for all of us. Now, it's time to get back into our routine.
Hope everyone enjoyed their Holiday!!