Breaking the silence

I know my readers (all three of you) have been wondering if I fell off the planet while trekking across the country. No. I didn't.

But, I have been unpacking an insane amount of brown boxes and wondering why the heck I have some of their contents. Nothing like having a semi and a half pull up in front your house to make you realize that you have far too much stuff.

So, for the past few weeks, I've been unpacking, rearranging, and dreaming of ways to make this new house a home.

Nathan started class and spends most of his 'free time' reading about political and military policy ( I know you are jealous).

The kids are enjoying running around and playing with the neighborhood kids (there's a total of 18 kids in our immediate vicinity). They start school next week. I am one nervous momma.

I have taken exactly zero pics of the new house or the kids. Oops. But, for my three readers (or is it two?) I will do better! I promise!

Here are a few from a photo shoot the girls were in!

photos by: kristinraephotography.blogspot.com

I

Start the countdown...

10 days left here in MS. I am sad, excited, nervous, and curious about this move. We will be moving back to VA. We lived there for 6 months almost 6 years ago. We were newlyweds, pregnant, and Nathan was newly commissioned and in school.

This time we will be plus three kids, 3 deployments, and 7 years of marriage.

Alot has changed in the past three years here in MS, and leaving here will be rough. This house was our first real home together. We made some life-changing friendships here. We have seen first days of Kindergarten, first steps, and first missing teeth in this house.

I find myself tearing up as I go about my daily routine and think about what this place has meant to me personally. I can hardly believe it is time to start another adventure!

See you all on the other side (I promise to be better about updating once we settle in!)

Some Recent Projects

I am on the last leg of my first photography class. It was cheap and only lasted 6 weeks. I was the youngest student by a good 25 years or more. But, I learned a thing or two.

1. I love this stuff!

2. I have a loooong way to go.

Here are a couple of the projects I did for the class.

Life in Death

My sweet friend Sandy entered Heaven's gates last week. She was one of those people that everyone loved and wanted to emulate. She was classy, sweeter than pie, and had a heart for her Jesus. The stories told at her memorial service testified to the life that sweet woman lived.

Brooklynn has been especially affected by Sandy's death. She has cried more than a few times over the loss of our friend. The amazing thing about it is that she has asked so many questions and has said some very profound things in the past week.

I have a hard time with how much she can understand at her tender age, but we try our best to navigate the questions with Truth. It has been a very eye-opening experience for me as a mother.

The other day we were praying for Tom, Sandy's husband. Brooklynn was crying and looked at me and asked if she could write a letter to Mr. Tom to let him know that she 'is here for him'.

When she was finished with her letter she brought me in to see it.

The note read, "I am here for you. I love you."

The drawing was a huge house and God holding Mrs Sandy like a baby. I was floored. She told me that she drew God really big because....God's just REALLY big!

Preach it sister!

All I Want for Christmas...

is my two front teeth!

Brooklynn lost the first of two loose teeth tonight! I can't believe she's old enough to be visited by the tooth fairy! Thankfully the tooth fairy had some cash tonight or we'd be in trouble!!! :)

She was eating at the time it came out---she swallowed her tooth along with her poptart! I'm kinda sad we didn't get to put it under her pillow this time, but I know it won't be but a couple of weeks before her sweet little smile has a larger hole!

Regardless, she is one happy camper! She feels so grown up! It happened right before bedtime and the kid was about to burst with excitement. My only saving grace was the promise of the Tooth Fairy's visit.

What's the going rate for a tooth these days?

My Sweet Kylee

She fell asleep in her dress up clothes...made the perfect dreamy effect!

Recess for Mommy

I have very quickly discovered that there is a whole sub-culture of Photoshoppers! I am having so much fun playing with my new program. I thought I'd share a couple of treatments I've done on Brooklynn's pic. I am using the same picture over and over again bc, well....she's the only kid I could pin down long enough to take a picture. :)

This is the original photo...

I love this vintage effect...

I love those baby blues...

Such a sweet little face....

I am still learning the whole process, but it's so much fun to play around with! Now if I can just get my kids to sit still long enough to take a few more pics! :)

She may talk too much, but...

She's pretty dang gorgeous huh!

My super-awesome in-laws gave me a super-awesome camera a couple of weeks ago. I am finally learning a few things about how to actually use it (thanks to P-DUB)! I took this one of Brooklynn yesterday. I can tell that they are going to get sick of me following them around with a camera :)

I played with this one in PS, and I think it turned out pretty well. It doesn't hurt that the model is stinkin' gorgeous!

More to come as I get them uploaded!

Chatty Cathy and Harry Houdini

So for several days in a row now, Brooklynn has come home with 'sad faces'. This means that she has been in trouble ALOT during the day! The first time it happened, she had a substitute. I thought (okay I hoped) that it was just because the sub was being overly stern in order to keep 24 kids quiet all on her own (there's usually an assistant in the room too). But, no....she's come home with them regularly since then.

I am not a happy momma, I can tell you! We are practicing not talking---she has to sit in her room for a while when she comes home with a sad face. I am praying this will be all it takes for her to learn her lesson!

I hate for my little one to be in trouble!

Speaking of little ones in trouble---

Caleb has a new trick! It's a 'disappearing act'. I only get to see it when he's in trouble. If he sees me with 'the spoon' he makes a run for it. No matter where he is in the house, he will always run to one place. He high-tails it for his bedroom. You see, in his bedroom and nice velvet curtains that make the perfect hiding place!

It's really hard to discipline your child when you are trying to hide your smile!

Now you see him! Now you don't!

The More you Know...

Brooklynn continues to come home with a wide array of things she's learning in her new class.

In addition to the life lessons I posted about a few days ago, she also learned that:

1. You can't wrestle like bears or jump like frogs in the library.

2. When you sit next to kids named Tommy, he will teach you to make farting noises, and will also bring you presents to school (more on that one Monday).

3. A 'little line' (hyphen) means you need more room.

4. It's always nice to be a bucket filler.*

* Bucket Filling has something to do with being nice, but I'm still working on getting a better understanding of what the heck she's talking about! :)

Learned in Kindergarten

We have had lots of changes in our family over the past few weeks. One of them is Brooklynn starting Kindergarten at her new school. She is working on her second day there, and so far she is having a blast!

When I picked her up from school yesterday, I promise it was like she had grown up a bit since I dropped her off! It was fun to listen to all her stories on the way home.

I listened to all the things she'd learned in school, and decided to start keeping track of what she says she learns. Should be interesting--here are the first lessons she learned in Kindergarten.

1. Two rows of three makes six.

2. When you wear a Gator hat, no one is supposed to talk to you. (Her teacher wears

one during 'quiet time' when the kids are not supposed to get out of their seats?

--at least that's what I gathered)

3. "One, two, three! Eyes on me!" is really fun to say over and over and over and over!

4. One can't be bothered with eating pasta for lunch when Mom packs cookies and

Cheez-Its too!

I'm anxious to see what she learns today!

In the meantime, here are some pics from her first day!

Christmas in Pictures

Here are tons of pictures that cover our Christmas vacation in Texas. Enjoy!