On Dec 20th our hobby horse arrived in TX from FL via a T-44 (which was already in the Tampa area). Paw Paw had given it to the kids while we were in FL for Thanksgiving. They didn't know it was coming and were quite excited to see it here! They immediately jumped on, then off to run and get their guns and hats. It was an all out horse back gun fight :-) Thanks Paw Paw!

VT-31 Children's Christmas Party 2008

On December 13th, we had our squadron's annual children's Christmas party. Santa was flown in on a T-44 by the Skipper equip with a gift for each child. They all watched in wonder as the plane taxied in and Santa and his helper got out and walked toward the hanger. Aaron ran right up to Santa but Audrey watched from afar (well maybe 5 feet away). They were very patient waiting for their names to be called. Audrey didn't cry but she didn't smile either. Aaron was so excited that Santa called his name that he jumped up on his lap, causing his shoe to come off! Santa was very helpful and put Aaron's shoe back on. Both received a movie (Homeward Bound and Lady and the Tramp) and a candy cane. There was also a T-44 static display available for all kids and parents alike to crawl in and "fly". We all had a great time!

Aaron preschool had their annual Christmas pageant on 9 Dec 08. Aaron's class was singing "This Little Light of Mine" hence the flames on their heads. Of course, my comical child thought it was funnier to wear it this way! Actually his original hat broke as they went onto the stage, so his teachers quickly stapled a new one but it was too big.

In this picture, he decided to put his shirt in his mouth...brings back memories of last years Easter pageant!

Here is Audrey's class in the finale, saying Happy Birthday to Jesus! Great Job Audrey!

I'm behind on my blogging, here are some November pictures, minus our trip to FL. Here are Harvey and Aaron hanging up Christmas lights (Aaron didn't really help, he just wanted to see from the roof vantage point).

Here are their new cold weather hats and mittens. I can tell they will be wearing them more often than not!

I caught Audrey in this sweet moment, and loving on "monkey".

Costume Parade at School

Today the kids had their costume parade at preschool. This time Aaron didn't want to wear his airplane. He said his classmates wouldn't leave the plane alone, even when he was wearing it. Audrey on the other hand, wore her costume and walked with one of her teachers, Mrs. Reyna, the whole time. Way too cute!!

Trunk or Treat -Galilean Lutheran Church

On 26 October our church has it's 2nd annual Trunk or Treat. There were a lot more kids this year, and the trunks were more decorative as well. Aaron of course was perfectly comfortable in his flight suit and airplane. As for Audrey....SHE DID IT!!!! She wore her costume for about 15-20 minutes! She even "woofed" at Pastor Mark, who by the way along with his wife and car were dressed up like Legos (great idea Pastor)!

Vt-31 Halloween Party

On Saturday, 18 October, VT-31 held it's annual children's Halloween party. Aaron had a blast putting on his now too small flight suit and donning his blue and yellow airplane (please note that there are TWO propellers that he insisted on having as daddy's plane has two). He had a lot of fun bobbing for apples, fishing for treats and running around Maren (dressed as Nemo). Unfortunately Audrey decided that putting on her costume wasn't for her, so we'll try again for our church's Trunk or Treat this Sunday :-)

Yesterday Aaron and Audrey's preschool to a trip to the pumpkin patch. It was just down the road, so the kids rode in wagons, strollers or just walked the 1/2 mile or so. I pushed two of Aaron's classmates in our double stroller to the pumpkin patch and ended up pushing two different kids while carrying Audrey :-) Aaron wanted to ride in Callie's wagon with Callie and Maren - his girls. I got my workout for the day! All the kids got to pick out a small pumpkin to take home (each child had to bring in $1). They listened to stories, were able to touch and feel many different types of gourds, pumpkins and corn and each received a sticker and info on pumpkins. We were there for about an hour or so, then we trekked back to the preschool. It was tiring (on my part) but quite fun.

We Love Karate!

Here is a video from Aaron's 3rd Karate class, quite a change from his 1st!!! He's the second boy standing to the right of the little boy sitting. Check out Aaron shouting "mom, look at me" and then watch the little boy in blue do a kick, it's hysterical!

Karate

Yesterday after school, Aaron went to his first "Karate Kids" class. It is taught by Christy Dunlop who has two black belts in two different kinds of martial art styles. Aaron has been saying all week that he doesn't want to do Karate, even though he doesn't know what Karate is, he doesn't like change at all! Daddy surprised Aaron and Audrey at pick up time, both were very happy to see him (Audrey did a dance). Aaron initially listened to Miss Christy by running over to his chosen animal (a lamb of course) on the mat and listening to her instruction on kicking. He kicked the ball as she had demonstrated, then it all went down hill! He decided that he no longer wanted to participate and instead just kept shaking his head "no" when she would ask him to punch or kick. The pictures tell it all!







Great kick Aaron!
No longer wants to participate.
Daddy encouraging Aaron.
Not gonna do it.





Seriously, get a look at his face! Pitiful! After dinner at home that evening, Aaron showed daddy and I how to do the crab walk (Miss Christy taught them to do it to strengthen their muscles) and how to punch and kick. He was definitely paying attention if not participating :-) Aaron said at bedtime last night that he didn't want to do Karate because he was scared. I told him that it was OK to be scared of the unexpected and that next week he wouldn't be as scared and then the next week he probably wouldn't be scared at all. I also told him that he didn't have to like Karate, but he needed to at least try it. We're going to attend for the rest of the month, then decide if it's right for him. We're so proud that even attempted that kick! Way to go Aaron!

Ike

Russell/Krista Mimi/Rich(Aaron and his acorns)
(Audrey and my grandmother's hat)
(Audrey playing outside)

(Planting acorns/deer)

On the 10th, we decided to "flee" from a possible hit from Hurricane Ike. Harvey was leaving the following morning to evacuate the planes to Las Cruces, NM. So, the kids and Ruger in my car and Connie and her dog in her truck pulling a trailer with a lot of our precious belongings drove to Georgetown, TX north of Austin. My cousin Mary and her husband Roy have a large home there with a lot of land, and they graciously offered to put us up. We had a lot of fun gathering acorns, playing outside, getting chiggers (mommy and mamaw), peeing off the back porch (Aaron only), watching the deer that were EVERYWHERE, shopping at the outlet malls in Round Rock and San Marcos, going to a Central Market grocery store (awesome), seeing the movie Space Chimps (not good), playing with Mary and Roy's 3 dogs and 3 cats (one of which we never saw) and spending time with our family. We got to see cousin Mimi and her new husband Rich as well as cousin Russell and his girlfriend Krista. We had a great time and since Ike didn't affect Corpus, our trip turned out to be a little vacation. Thank you, thank you Mary and Roy! A very stressful situation turned into a lot of fun!

When we got home, Aaron made sure that he and daddy planted a lot of the acorns that were gathered all around Georgetown (and in his pumpkin hat from last Halloween no less)!

All in a Day's Work

Just a few pictures of Harvey at work. Who wouldn't love to go to work in pj's and fly through the clouds all day long.....totally exaggerated of course, but doesn't it seem like the dream job?! The first picture is of Harvey getting ready to taxi and take off. The second and third are of Harvey flying and the last is of Harvey and our great friend Bruce Bancroft (we miss you) and their students. Note the smiles on all their faces, like I said before, dream job!! This aircraft is a T-44 twin engine turbo prop for those of us whose heads are below the clouds :-) Great flying guys!

Crafts at the Workman's

On a recent weekday, we received an invitation to walk across the street to our very close friends' house, the Workman's. Aaron loves playing with Callie and Audrey is head over heals for Wyatt. For the most part, everyone plays well. There is the occasional fight over a toy, a kick or a shove (or in Audrey's case, trying to ride Wyatt like Seabiscuit). All in all, our time there (or their's here) is relatively manageable. On this particular day, the kids decided to play arts and crafts at the Workman's dinner table. Aaron loves to cut paper and apparently likes to pose as his own barber (note to self, keep an even closer eye on Aaron while he is using scissors). Audrey participated a little bit, mainly "helping" Aaron and Callie by removing the paper from the crayons, but also by posing for Charity (these are her serious poses)! Thanks Charity for the pictures :-)

Off Roading

It started out as Aaron and Harvey's "thing", going "off roading" as Aaron calls it. But we have all grown to love going for rides in the Jeep. It's usually on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon (in this picture it was Sunday, 17 August), either before 10am or after 6pm when it's starting to cool off. To the South of our neighborhood before reaching Oso Bay, there are dirt roads made by various 4 x 4 vehicles. There are mounds of dirt deposited by the front end loaders that were used in the development of this area, which make "off roading" all the more fun. Honestly, Audrey and I prefer riding in the Jeep "on road" when we need to fuel up or just to run and grab a snack, as it is quite bumpy in the dirt and she has a hard time seeing out of the Jeep because of her car seat position. Nevertheless, we all love our root beer colored Jeep and the fun times it has brought our family.

The Baker

This past Thursday was our great friends' Ryan and Charity's 9th wedding anniversary. Aaron and I decided to make them a cake. It was a recipe that I'd been holding onto but hadn't tried called the "The Ultimate Moist Chocolate Cake", so I guess they were our guinea pigs. Aaron was quite helpful, especially at cleaning the bowl. In fact, he was insistent upon making sure the bowl was in fact clean :-) Aaron has gotten very interested in the inner workings of everything. He loves to help load the dishwasher, put the soap in and press all the buttons. He keeps asking me when it will be time to replace the refrigerator's water filter as he helped me last time and thought it was a lot of fun. That's our boy!

18 Month Doctor Visit

Audrey had her 18 month check up with Dr. Go this morning. She is 21 lbs 12 oz which is the 12th percentile (tiny girl) and 32.75 inches which is the 80th percentile. Her percentile for height is going up but for weight it's about the same. Dr. Go says that she is healthy and we all know that she's happy :-)
Audrey decided to use her cereal bowl as a hat one recent morning. She had eaten most of the cereal, but still needed a bath to wash out all of the milk. She's also into crawling into things/small spaces. She was playing in the pantry and decided that the case of water bottles was a good place to play. She loves singing "ABC", "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and it seems that her passion lately is dancing. She dances all the time, including most of the sermon in church this Sunday. She's a ham!

Lipstick

I don't know what it is about lipstick, I hardly ever wear it. And if I do wear it, I apply it once and that's it for the day. Yet there is definitely some allure there, something that whispers "pick me up and put me on your face". My children heard said whisperings this week, one on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday, complete separate events each unknowing of the other. Aaron chose to gingerly try it on while Audrey went for the Marilyn Manson look, yet both looked amazingly great in the color.

Pool Parties

We've been in the pool a lot this summer....all of us. The kids have always enjoyed the pool, but it's much more fun when daddy joins them :-) We've also utilized the pool at Mamaw's apartment. The last picture is of Audrey at the apartment pool. We met several of our friends at Mamaw's apartment and had our own little pool party, complete with pizza. The kids had a lot of fun and loved the pizza!