Caleb turns 6 and lost tooth

Our first born is 6 years old. Pretty crazy.  We had a birthday party for him in our TLF room with some friends here.  Yes, we have met friends here amazingly and had a little party with them.  It was a lot of fun.  We ordered Papa Johns pizza and I made a chocolate cake with white frosting.  Caleb decorated his cake with sprinkles also.  We were originally going to have the party at the playground in the evening...but it got a little chilly here so we did it inside.  We played some balloon games to entertain everyone and the kids had fun with that.  I don't think it would have mattered what the kids did cause they just like to hang out and play together. Caleb got the game Boggle, some play handcuffs(Thanks to Kevin) and some blocks that came with paints for him to paint.  He loved it all and has already painted on the some of the blocks!!!

Caleb lost his first tooth last Friday night.  It had been loose for a week or so and we couldn't believe he actually had a loose tooth.  Then, I checked it one day and noticed that his adult tooth was coming in behind it...crooked I might add. Yes, braces will be in our future I am sure.  All of my poor children got my small mouth and will probably need braces.  He has another loose tooth on the bottom so we might have another one out soon. 

TLF, Abigail, and snow

So, TLF stands for temporary living facility...yes, that's where we are living right now.  Life can get very interesting when you are living in a temporary place.  As I mentioned in the last blog post, we are doing quite well and feeling very blessed.  But, we do have a few fun pics so I thought I would share them.  We brought a bin of playmobil and our adventure men for the kids to play with while here...we visit the library about 2 or 3 times a week and the playground daily.  We also go to the gym and I workout while the kids play in the play area...oh and we do our homeschooling.  So, what else do the kids do? 

They play "sleepover" in Abigail's pack n play. Thankfully, they don't actually have to all really sleep in her pack n play at night. :   )  We have been making some blankets for some of our friends...they are fleece tie blankets and I have to trim the edges of the fabric...therefore, it leaves some great ropes for the boys to play with.  I think these were used to roll a ball under...maybe have prisoners.  Not quite sure.  Other ropes have been used to tie around the doors and make some interesting booby traps. Thankfully, the fabric comes untied very easily. :  )

I just thought Abigail was cute in her Jessie dress. So, I took some pics.  She is getting so big. Almost 2 and 1/2,

The other night they had a special event to celebrate the Christmas season.  They brought in 50 tons of "snow" for the kids to play in.  The boys played for almost 2 hours in it...having snowball fights.  They loved it...and they went to bed very quickly that night.  Abigail was not so sure about the cold snow.  She enjoyed the cookies and hot cocoa much more!! :  )  She is definitely her momma's child! They also had a wagon ride and ice skating.  We did the wagon ride and Abigail jumped up and down when she saw the horses!!  It was a very fun night!

Arizona adventures

So, we have been in Arizona for 2 weeks while Kevin is in training.  We are doing well and enjoying our time with him.  We have been trying to see some of the sights.  We found a good church here and have met some friends as well.  We have been so blessed to meet some people to hang out with.  The family has a 6 year old boy and a 3 year old girl.  Our kids have been having a blast playing with them. Thank you Lord!

So, we went to a farm that a family from the church has.  We loaded up 6 kids and 2 moms and went on a little road trip to the farm for the day.  The kids had such a great time.  They held little chicks, rode a horse, and pet some cows. Abigail LOVED all of the animals and had a blast riding the horse. She did not want her turn to end. 

Then, today we went to a cave.  I have to admit I wasn't very excited about this adventure at all.  But, Kevin and Caleb wanted to do it so I decided not to be a party pooper.  We bought some lunch and headed to the caves.  They had some hiking trails and camping spots as well. We drove around and found a picnic table.  Unfortunately, the bees were out a whole lot and so we ended up eating the rest of our lunch in our car.  Then, we went to the cave. It was a 45 minute toured walk through the cave. The kids did pretty well and I did not get too claustrophic. Yay! It was a good adventure for our day!

Enjoy the pics!

Soccer

I have a few videos of the boys playing soccer at their soccer class.  They had class on Saturday mornings at 8:30 am.  At first, I was not a big fan of having class so early on a Saturday morning, but it ended up being good.  The boys loved it. 

October visitors

My Aunt Caz and Uncle Gary visited us at the end of October.  We had a really fun time.  They arrived on Wednesday evening and we picked them up at the airport.  Then on Thursday we played at the house and then went to the playground.  Caleb played Skipbo for 3 hours with my aunt.  He loved it!  Then, my aunt and uncle played baseball, soccer, and football at the playground with them. 

Friday, we went to the Children's museum and had lots of fun playing there.  Then on Saturday we went to the boys soccer class in the morning and played at the playground afterwards.  Then, we came home and watched some football. We did get to watch the Florida game even though they lost. Bummer. 

Sunday, we had a busy day. We went to church, watched football, (Caleb likes to cheer for the Giants cause of Eli Manning), and then went to Awanas in the evening.  The church also had a little Fall Festival so we went to that afterwards.  We had a great busy day!!

Then on Monday, we went to the base and showed them all around.  We went to the Thunderbird Museum again and the Threat Facility as well. It has a bunch of old planes, helicopters, and tanks.  Caleb and TJ played and stayed busy for almost 2 hours having missions and saving people everywhere. They had a blast.  It gave my aunt and uncle a chance to actually read the signs for each thing.  They went back to Florida on Tuesday morning. 

We are so glad that they could come and visit us for a few days. We had a great time.  They also brought the infamous Baby Ruth Bear with them and left it with us for a little while. We'll return the next time we see them.  The kids have had some fun adventures with him. 

New swingset and my birthday

So, we got a new swingset for our backyard here.  I love having a backyard and a swingset.  I just love when my kids play outside and that they can go out there by themselves.  We left our old swingset in Maryland and sold it to the people who were renting the house next. That was a nice deal for sure.  Our friends in Utah that we visited had a great swingset.  We really liked the brand they had. So, we order one for ourselves from Costco.  It came in many many boxes and Kevin had the privilege of putting it all together. He did such an awesome job.  I mean I only helped out a tiny bit...he put it together by himself!  What an awesome daddy!!  Of course, the boys helped as well. :  )  And Abigail hung out.  It was perfect timing now that the weather is getting a tiny bit cooler...I mean its a high of 95 instead of 115.  So, that much a huge difference in playing outside. 

Here is the work in progress.

 And finished!

So, for my birthday, the kids woke me up singing Happy Birthday to me at 8 am. I got to sleep in. : ) And Kevin was home for the day so that was nice. Caleb helped me make whoopie pies for dessert.  Yummy!  Then, I watched a movie during nap time.  It was quite the wonderful birthday.  I received a package from my friend Rachel and had some yummy chocolate to eat during my movie.  We then had pizza for dinner...(no dishes) and whoopie pies.

A week home with Kevin

Kevin needed to take time off because he had days to use up before the end of September.  So, he was off all week.  We were very glad to have him home!  We went hiking at Mount Charleston on Monday.  Kevin carried Abigail in a hiking backpack that we borrowed from our neighbor and the rest of us hiked.  The boys did quite well and we had a nice hike.  It was about a 35 minute drive to the bottom of the mountain.  Then, we hiked straight up for about 45 minutes, then had lunch, and hiked down the mountain.  We didn't make it all the way up to the top of the mountain...I'm not quite sure how far we went, but we had a great hike.  I got to carry the backpack full of our lunch and heavy water bottles.  It was beautiful up there and a whole lot cooler than where we live.  About 20 degrees cooler..we'll have to remember that for next summer as well!

We did school for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and the boys were very glad to have Kevin do school with them! Then, Friday we took the kids to one of the childcare places that the Air Force provides for people who just move.  So, Kevin and I got a few things done at the house and had a lunch date.  After that, I got a massage for an early birthday present from my in laws.  Ahhh....that was awesome! I'm pretty sure we will be in withdrawal on Monday when Kevin goes back to work..especially the kids! They love their daddy! Abigail and TJ had some fun times playing firefighter this week as well. So, I put a few pics and video of them being firefighters. TJ has found a new person to help him fight fires and the two of them are pretty cute playing together.  Abigail loves her brothers and loves to be a part of the gang! She doesn't like to be left behind! We also started potty training Abigail this week. She is doing pretty well.  She's had a few accidents, but is doing well so far. 

The boys joined a soccer class last week...that is on Saturday mornings and they get to do the class together...which is great!  They look forward to it each week!