not to late to jump on the bandwagon of thanksgiving

I have been having a bloggers block lately and never seem to remember the camera so my posting has been irregular and lame at best.....so, I decided to do posts about what I am thankful for. It may bore you all to tears but it is a good exercise for me and will copy nicely into my journal!

Here goes:

1. Days without school. Now, I'm not goonna lie. I am grateful for school too and it is the #1 reason I will possibly make it through life without a long stay in an insane asylum, HOWEVER, it is nice to have a break in the routine and enjoy a day without the traffic, waking up kids to get to school on time, a mad rush to find shoes and backpacks, etc!

2. the beach. It is so beautiful and so fun. It wears out all the kids including the dog.

3. Dave. He should have been #1. Of all the choices I have made in life, marrying him was definitely a wonderful one. I am extremely lucky to have him, as he has reminded me on more than one occasion. He is devoted, loving, kind to me and the kids.

4. Veterans. I saw a bumper sticker that said, "enjoy your freedom? Thank a veteran." I have thought a lot about that and think that it is important for us to remember the veterans. I am thankful for veterans and current military who sacrifice so much to ensure that we enjoy the safety and comforts that we are so privileged to have here in America.

5. Babies as they learn to talk. I love how Alexey calls anyone her size and smaller "baby," how she has to point to every airplane that goes by and her joy in seeing "dog", cat "meow" and bunny ("sign for bunny ears").

cutest monkey on the block

We borrowed this darling monkey from a friend. Alexey was too much of a moving target so I didn't get a perfect picture, but you get the idea.




Calvin and Clare both have monkey costumes so I was hoping to get all 3 kids in monkey costumes together but we never really had the chance. Here are Calvin and Clare a couple of years ago.

Also, here she is after Halloween (shirt removed due to over-heating), a very happy camper<

Samson is my Dad's dog and she loves to chase him around and give him a good workout!

a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWIA4QjgZI8r26puWwiXNnKFlStkP5aTvEuRdL8mTFSl0ijx4-hTqYSDHRnWPcTPOFW4igfxakszAzdONfg1TSv8T7tLarlenGyW7k0N46LRYcQIXVUwam8v_ZvBgSqT86POdw2x-xMkE1/s1600-h/016.JPG">
(don't ask me why those crazy letters and numbers are there but I don't dare erase them for fear I'll lose the pic with it. sorry!)
Clare with a friend at our church party and then the next night in full makeup compliments of Shianne.

PS. I do love Calvin too, but he was off with friends on both nights and we never got a picture. He said he might put his costume on one day so we can get a picture of him as optimus prime.

darling Clare

Clare has been asking for a haircut for a while now. I have been meaning to call but never got around to it so about a week ago she took matters into her own hands and started trimming her own hair. She didn't do too much damage but it did help me remember to make an appointment for a real haircut! (she cut bangs herself and that is why she has bangs now.) My friend Lindsay does hair in her home and does a wonderful job. clare requested "hair like Mommy's so I can look beautiful too." She is so sweet.


She was very happy to come home and get ready for Halloween. She choose her purple dress and says she is Jasmine.


She wanted to show the back of her hair and just then Alexey jumped in the picture!


And a few more for good measure.

with pictures that I stole off the internet

Yes, I know the blog is lame and lacking in pictures. I sent the camera to New Orleans with Dave last week and he took no pictures of his trip. He still hasn't unpacked and I haven't used the camera at all so I am sorry to say I have nothing good to share.photo of new orleans' famous Bourbon street during the day. I am told it is very different at night!
Today I took Alexey to the wild Animal Park for the first time. It was so fun. She loved the birds and was pretty fascinated with the other animals. She kept making cute animal noises since she didn't know what else to say about all these animals she had never seen before. I was thinking that next year when Clare starts K I'll have to get us a pass to someplace fun and spend our mornings exploring the zoo and wild animal park or sea world together. Clare had fun too. It was the birthday of one of the gorillas so there were presents and confetti and lots of edible treats for the gorillas today. They were very active and fun to watch.

Tonight we went to see the President's Own Marine Band. Calvin listened to the 1st song and then laid on the floor under our feet and fell asleep! The rest of us survived 'til intermission. It was really fun and VERY good!

cute kids

Calvin only misspelled one word on his spelling test this week. It was of. He spelled it uv. He is getting better at spelling but I do enjoy the cute way that he spells words. My favorite used to be osum (awesome)!

During FHE I asked the kids what their favorite body part is (while silently saying a prayer that nobody would choose a part that is used for going to the bathroom). Clare said her favorite body part is the brain. Dave recently got brain and skull models so he can teach the kids all about what he does! I guess she has been paying attention!

Alexey is talking more and more these days. If you say, "Hi, Lex, how are you?" she says "good"!