My little scholar

We had a crazy week! I thought I would have more time for things with Jack going to Pre-K, but NO SUCH LUCK! I spend an hour taking him back and forth for 3 hours of school every weekday. Despite the time it takes, I am SO thrilled that he is excelling like he is! His teacher instructs only 8 children during those 3 hours so she can tell me in detail how he is progressing. In the 5 weeks since he began, Jack can already write his name, without even copying it!

On Thursday I attended a Thanksgiving Luncheon with Jack. I got to sit in his class for a few minutes while the kids sang songs about the letters they have studied so far (L, I and T). Jack was not singing and as we left the classroom his teacher said "Jack, why didn't you sing? That is your favorite thing to do!" I guess he was just being bashful since I was there.

We had our meal (of course Jack only ate the rolls!) and I got to look at the writing and drawing journal that they kids use twice a week. He had several drawings in there - an octopus, fish in a pond, an ice cream cone - and they ALL looked like what they were supposed to be! This kid has been holding out on me! I never knew he was so artistic!

The other day I had him sign a birthday card for his Aunt Holly. He wrote his name and then I asked him if he wanted to write Holly's name on the envelope. I wrote it on a piece of paper for him and he copied it perfectly! Then, this afternoon, he came running upstairs to me and showed me he wrote Aunt Holly's name again - he remembered it and wrote it all by himself! Maybe it's crazy to be so proud, but I just can't help it! He's too smart for his own good! uh oh!!

Babysitting Duty

I've had the priviledge of babysitting my gorgeous 1 year old nephew, Lukas, the last few weeks while my sister works. He is such an easy-going kid and just a total HOOT!

He climbed under my dining table and got stuck the first day or two he was here. My table is a counter-height table so he can walk under it standing straight up. It didn't bother him in the least; and once he saw me with camera in hand, he hammed it up! He likes to chase my two cats, too. They aren't as excited about it as Luke is!

He's really picked up a lot of things from my boys already. He started rolling a truck since he's been with me and he loves to dance just like his cousin Joey. I play music on the way to take Jack to school and while Joey jams on his air guitar, Luke claps and bobs his head to the beat. I think we've got a rock-n-roll future with these little guys!

Last week my boys were running around the kitchen table before school and Luke joined the parade. He was screaming and laughing and having a blast! Jack crashed on the floor playing "dead" and Luke, who LOVES to wrestle, attacked Jack. Not to be outdone, Joey followed suit. I was laughing so hard I could hardly stand it. These boys are going to provide plenty of entertainment over the next 12 months!

Fun with Friends

I was so lucky to enjoy a visit over the weekend from my dear friend, Kathleen, from Hawaii who is living in Alabama now. (Her husband is also deployed.) They arrived Saturday night and, needless to say, we spent a LOT of time talking! I can't remember the last time I stayed up all night chatting with a girlfriend! Kathleen and I would spend HOURS on the phone in Hawaii. She was my lifeline over there while our husbands were deployed to Afghanistan. Her kids are Bethany (7) and Clyde (8). They all played pretty well together and they, too, had time to "catch up". Bethany was a little "protector" of Joey; when Jack and/or Clyde would leave him out, Bethany was the one who would go read Joey a book, or play cars with him (she won't even THINK about playing cars with her brother!).

On Sunday afternoon we took the kids to see Madagascar Escape 2 Africa. All the kids loved the first movie so we were all looking forward to seeing the next one. It was really good and full of "adult" humor as well! I think I got up 4 times with Jack to go to the bathroom! I don't think he goes to the bathroom 4 times throughout a normal day!! Oh well!

We took the kids to Fort Knox to see the Patton Museum. They all enjoyed running around outside looking at the tanks and other military vehicles. There was even a helicopter on display. Inside the museum were more exhibits like a piece of the Berlin Wall, and a couple tank simulators.

The evening after the museum Kathleen and I experimented with some fall cookies. They were in the shape of turkeys and pumpkins and filled with chocolate chips and marshmallows. The dough was pie crust. They were pretty easy to make but not as sweet as you would like them to be. The kids liked them. Next time I'll have bigger cookie cutters and I think it will work better.

It was so nice to catch up with Kathleen. I wish we still lived close to one another. There you have the up and downside to being "married" to the Army - you meet the best friends you'll ever have but you eventually have to leave them! But you find out how true their friendship is when you stay in touch even though you are far away. I am so blessed to have a few of these such friends! I look forward to visiting with Kathleen and kids again soon!

Can the weather just make up it's mind already?!

I hate the way the weather changes so drastically from one day to the next! It was 70 degrees last week and now dropped to 40s this week! No wonder we're all sick. Jack had the worst of it with the sinus drainage, coughing, etc. No antibiotics necessary, but that mucus stuff is just gross! I'll be glad when he learns how to "take care" of it properly; he just swallows the junk and it makes him throw up - not fun, for him OR me! Then Joey started with it. I had it the whole time, but at least I know what to do to take care of myself. We were all doped up on Robitussin, Sudafed, Mucinex, etc. (not all at the same time, of course!) Both kids wouldn't sleep all night and would end up in bed with me or on the living room couch because they got up coughing their heads off.

One night Jack even fell asleep sitting up. I told him how laying propped up would help with the coughing. The exhaustion overcame him and he was OUT! Hopefully this isn't a sign of the rest of the cold weather season! It will be interesting spending an entire Fall and Winter with traditional weather! But with Joey's tubes in his ears now I'm hoping we won't have ear infections to deal with. Guess we shall see!

Election Day

It's official - Sen. Barack Obama is the next President of the United States. I am certainly glad the election is over. Now the commercials and annoying recorded phone calls can stop! Whew!

When I took Jack to school this morning, I got to watch his class say the Pledge of Allegiance. They were so cute, all standing there with their hand over their heart. One of the kids holds the flag and they all recited the Pledge with minimal assistance from the teacher. By the way, do public schools still do this? I just don't know....

Today my Mom took Jack with her to vote. They are really encouraging kids involvement in the election process. Jack's teacher told Mom when she picked him up from school that all he talked about all day today was going to "vote with Grammy". lol! Mom even made him a ID card so he could show it at the booth! He is so proud of that card! (He even insisted on showing it to the Wal-Mart cashier!)

When Jack was "voting", Mom was reading him the selections. One issue on the ballot was whether they should require helmets for motorcycle riders (it's currently not required in Kentucky). Jack said "oh yeah, they should!". That's my boy! ;)




In any case, this is a day Jack will remember forever! God Bless America!

The Chill of an early Fall...

Fall has arrived! I can feel the chill in the air and see the frost on my lawn. Brrr.. I forgot what this felt like after all our time in Hawaii and Arizona! Welcome back to the East Coast! Not to mention, we get to set our clocks back Saturday, something else I've not done in 5 years! (FYI - Hawaii and Arizona don't practice "daylight savings") It's going to take some getting used to, that's for sure! Jack already wakes up in the morning saying "Mom, it's still dark out!" Poor kid is still getting used to the school routine. I told my Mom the other day that I now know what she went through getting me up every morning for school. I have to LITERALLY drag Jack out of bed some mornings! I remember my mom turning my bedroom light on and continuing to yell at me for another half hour before I would come crawling out of my room. She tells me she would carry me out of bed to the living room until I was 7 years old (when she was pregnant with my sister) and get me dressed. I have to say, Jack is a little better most days. It takes some poking and proding, but he does EVENTUALLY get his clothes on!

Speaking of Jack, he is doing such a great job at school. He's been there less than three weeks and is already writing his name on his own! I was so surprised when he brought home some work this week and I noticed his name on the paper and HE wrote it! Yeah Jack!!! My baby is growing up! Tomorrow his class is having a Fall Festival in the afternoon so I've signed him up to stay all day at the CDC. He is excited about that. He should be thoroughly exhausted tomorrow night! I am taking Mom tomorrow afternoon to pre-register for her surgery next week. It'll just be me, Mom and Joe-joe. He's usually so good when we have to spend the day in hospitals. What a trooper!

I'm pretty proud of my little guy too. He had tubes put in his ears on Monday and after the anesthesia finally wore off (which he screamed thru for an hour!), he was his usual self. I could almost swear he's talking even better now! He had so much "gunk" in his ears, he must feel so much better now! He keeps himself busy while Jack is at school by watching "Cars" and playing with his "cars", dancing to the music, and - here lately - smashing matchbox cars with his new Monster Truck. After our trip to the Monster Jam last Friday, he and Jack are both pretty into the whole Monster Truck thing now. They can re-enact it pretty well! It's amazing what they can pick up!

Jack and Papa Joey being silly - love them earplugs! Waving their flags Papa bought them. A little of the action we enjoyed.

From the "Sandbox", hubby emailed me from Baghdad. They arrived there around 8am today and left tonight for their next stop. He is hoping to see the old gang from Hawaii while he's doing his 8-day training there before heading to his assigned location. He should have pretty good internet access from there so I hope we can get together via webcam soon. The boys are really missing him. Everytime Joey gets hurt or upset, he wants "Daddy". Breaks my heart...!

Well, it's after 1am so I'd better try to catch some ZZZZ's. It will be a long day tomorrow!

I'm a New Blogger!

It is my hope to maintain this blog as both a venting tool for myself and to chronicle our lives to share with my soldier in hopes he will feel more a part of our daily lives while he is away in Iraq.

That being said, October 2008 has been a very emotional month for me on SO many levels:

• 
  Jack started Pre-K at the CDC on post.
  

I was determined to get Jack started in school to help pass this next year more quickly and get him used to the idea of school. He was very excited about starting and has done really well his first week. His class consists of about 32 kids and he has one teacher that is in charge of his group of 8 kids. He never faltered once about going into class and me leaving him. It's only 3 hours but it was new for him regardless. Funny thing is, the first day we took him (Steve was here for his first day which was really cool) he asked us as we all got out of the car to take him in "what are you doing?" "Taking you into school," we replied. "When are you leaving?" he asked. We cracked up! And I was worried he'd be upset if we left him alone! As we went back out to the truck, Joey kept asking "Jack, where Jack?" Joey cried nearly the whole way home because he wanted Jack with us! I tried to tell him to enjoy the time alone while his brother wasn't around to bother him. Joey has since gotten better and DOES enjoy the quiet mornings at home. The first week they learned the letter "L" (uppercase and lowercase as Jack will tell you). This week they worked on number 2 and 3 and on cutting with scissors - not sure if that is a good thing or not - LOL!

• Joey and I took Steve to the airport for his trip back to Kansas and then deployment to Iraq.

On Jack's second day of school after dropping him off, Joey and I took Daddy to the airport. Jack said goodbye to his Dad as I tried to explain to him as I had several times before that Daddy was going away for a long time to the desert to work. He doesn't really have a concept of the amount of time. Eventually he'll get it. Joey said bye to his Dad at the airport as we pulled up the the departing flights driveway of the terminal. Neither of us wanted to prolong the inevitable by going inside the airport. I held onto Steve for dear life and cried my heart out. Thank goodness for Joey keeping me entertained in the car with his "air guitar" and singing to his "Cars" music!

• Mom's cancer that she BEAT last year is back and has metastasized to her lymph nodes.

My Mom fought and won the battle with breast cancer almost two years ago. After a follow-up PET scan, cancer was found in her lymph nodes. Mom struggled with whether she should tell me while Steve was still here or after he left. She told Steve and I together in her usual always positive manner. She had a biopsy of the largest lymph node the day after Steve left for Kansas, October 16th. This news was pretty upsetting as you can imagine with every thing else going on in my life. I was very angry to begin with and have now come to accept that if Mom is positive and will not give up the fight, then I won't either! She's my hero and has a lot of life left in her! She's not going anywhere for a LONG time!