Merry Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas!  The boys were excited about all of it which makes it that much more fun.  They loved reading the Advent calendar and learning exactly what happened the night Jesus was born.  I'm proud that they have taken to the real meaning of why we celebrate.  They're still kids though and a huge part of why Christmas is so exciting to them is coming down the stairs Christmas morning to see what treats Santa has left.  I think they'd both agree that Santa was generous to them this year.  The only real request from the boys was a "gator" like Cousin Trey has.  Well, they don't deliver gators to Okinawa like that and believe me, Santa searched high and low.  BUT Santa mentioned that since he couldn't swing a gator, he might be able to pull off a dune buggy and the look on the boys' faces when they saw it was priceless.  They were showered with gifts from back home and I hope they realize just how blessed they are to have all this fun stuff.  After we opened gifts and had our Christmas breakfast, we cooked and took food up to Camp Hansen to serve the single Marines.  As a mom, it's so humbling and a little heartbreaking to see these guys alone on the biggest holiday of the year.  Most of them were in good spirits and all were super grateful to have a homecooked meal, but I wanted to hug each and every one of them on behalf of their mother back home.  I have to mention that the weather on Christmas day here could not have been more beautiful.  It was in the mid 70s with lots of sunshine.  We left Hansen and went onto have Christmas dinner with our dear friends, The Fergusons.  By the end of the day, Fletcher and I were beyond exhausted.  I don't know how Santa does it.  I was in bed by 8:00 pm and I'm still recovering.

Christmas Eve 2012

It's Christmas Eve and I have two excited little boys all snuggled up in their beds sound asleep.  Fletcher and I are as excited as they are.  We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as we always do.  Seems like last year we had to read it from an IPad in Singapore, but we read it nonetheless.  Tonight we had the actual book and the boys enjoyed it.  We said our goodbyes to JoJo for another year.  Bennett told JoJo goodbye and said, "well, we'd better get going"....I think he's ready to get this show on the road.  I can't wait to see their big smiles in the morning and hear the giggles.  Merry Christmas Eve!

Officially 6!

I admit it!  I'm sad!  Every year as the boys turn another year older, they get more and more excited.  I get more and more sad.  Right now, I pack their lunches, pick out their clothes, help with their homework, listen to them sing in the car and the list goes on.  I love it.  How can it be that Bennett is 6?!  What I don't understand is why sometimes time seems to go so slow....like deployments.  But when it comes to my boys, it seems to be flying by.  My precious Bennett turned 6 yesterday and he couldn't be more thrilled.  We celebrated our morning at church and in the evening with his favorite spaghetti and meatball dinner.  He finished off the day with Spiderman cupcakes and the finale was he got the gift at the top of his wishlist.  Bennett is now the proud owner of a DS which is now permanently attached to his hands.  We're excited for our bright little guy.  We pray that God continues to lead him and blesses him with good health and good friends.  We are so honored to get to love this little guy.  Happy Birthday, Bennett!

Christmas Party at School

I'm combining two posts because the days were back to back.  Thursday I brought a snack to Bennett's class in honor of his upcoming birthday.  He wanted the chance to celebrate with his classmates.  Beau got to come upstairs for the cupcakes and singing.  Bennett was a happy camper.  Friday was the Christmas party at school and the boys have been anxiously awaiting it.  I thought it was Santa that had them excited, but it turned out to be the magician the school director had brought in to perform.  He stole the show.  When I picked up the boys, this wonderful magician was all they could talk about.  We left their school in a rush to get to Fletcher's work Christmas party.  We were all over this little island today, but all in good fun.

Brunch with Santa

The boys have been really looking forward to having brunch with Santa.  Bennett has been more excited while Beau has been working on his courage to face the big guy.  Not his fault....Daddy made a poor choice in showing Beau the scene from A Christmas Story where Santa pushes the kid down the slide with is foot while yelling the scariest "ho ho ho" in the history of the world.  I can't say I blame our Beau, but he's working through it. :)  Today he did great.  He walked right up to Santa and even told him what he wanted for Christmas.  The boys want a gator like cousin Trey.  Even Santa knows that's a big gift, so his response was "let me talk to Mommy and Daddy about this"....Thanks, Santa, for holding out on a definite "yes".  It was a great morning spent with dear friends and topped off with a visit from Santa Claus.  I LOVE this time of year!

December - The Bday Month

December is our birthday month.  It's Beau's, then comes Bennett, and then of course, Jesus!  We love it and we celebrate all month long.  The boys both wanted a pirate party this year, so when I said we can't have two of the same party back-to-back, Bennett had a brilliant idea to do it together.  There might have been some strategy on my part in letting them think they came up with the idea, but I was really hoping that's how it would go down.  My type A personality usually has me running in circles when I'm planning something trying to coordinate everything from when the sun goes down to when it's coming back up again.  It's a sickness really and I was born with it.  (ask my mom for confirmation)  "We" got organized and planned it out with the only thing left to worry about being the weather.  We were blessed with a beautiful beach day with sunshine and temps in the high 70s.  The boys had a blast running around in their pirate costumes.  They gave their guests pirate hats, eye patches, and spy glasses to use on their treasure hunt.  Fletcher put together a great treasure hunt with clues all over the beach that sent the kids running from spot to spot looking for the next clue to find their treasure box goodie bags.  The best part of it all was that the kids were happy, the grownups were visiting, and overall it was pretty simple.  After waking up to such terrible news from the school shooting in Connecticut, I couldn't help but feel extra lucky to get to watch my babies run around and enjoy their day.  We celebrate these boys today and everyday!

Beau Turns 4!

Beau is growing like a weed!  I can't believe he is now 4 years old.  He's a blast to be around and continues to challenge me on more levels than I can list.  He has the best sense of humor.  Beau is my snuggler, he's my wrestler, my little exhibitionist, and my giggle-box.  We're so blessed that this little guy completed our family of four.  Here's a look back at our precious Beau over the past 4 years.  Happy Bday, Sweet Beau-handsome!

USMC Ball 2012

Well, I'm a little behind on posting, but it's not entirely my fault.  After almost 6 years of posting on the blog, we ran out of storage space.  SO I had to figure out a way to continue this blog without having to purchase storage.  We're continueing on with a slightly different blog name.  Now back to my post....Fletcher and I attended the USMC Ball this year, our first one in 3 years since he's been gone quite a bit.  We were excited to get to go as it is always a great night celebrating the Corps.  We got all dolled up and enjoyed a fun night watching the young Marines REALLY celebrate.  We even made it out on the dance floor.  Of course, we were missing our old party buds like the Daigneaults, Stewarts, Howells....and the list goes on and on.  Fun was had in their honor.