dawn is visiting!!

My friend, Dawn, is visiting us! She drove 11 hours from PA to come see us (along with her wonderful dog!) Dawn's husband is in Tyrone's brigade, and he is deployed, as well. She got here yesterday, and we are having a blast. She even brought us a box full of presents. We are having lots of fun, and more pics and posts about this visit will be up soon!!


The last time Dawn held Shiloh, she was less than 2 weeks old!

awesome rocking horse from Ms. Dawn! (her favorite thing is picking its nose...who knows?!)

Gabe, in the box that was holding all the presents!!

More on sno-cones, tye-dye, hotwheels, and more later!!!

God is with us...

...there really is no other explaination. Do you remember back in December when Tyrone was on the phone with me and he got to hear her laugh for the first time? And when he was able to hear her say "mama" and "dada" on the phone the very first day she was talking? Well, today Tyrone and I were chatting via webcam and in the background, what does Shiloh do for the very first time?!

THIS!

It is a big deal. There are a million and one ways that deployed soldiers and their families can start to feel disconnected, not the least of which is children growing up "in the meantime." We have truly been blessed by our Lord to have been allowed to find so many ways to stay connected.

gabe's project

Gabe has a new project! He is growing flowers, and we had lots of fun getting our hands dirty this morning! We will be sure to post an update with Gabe's flowers once they start growing!!!

Happy Mother's Day

We had a lovely Mother's Day weekend, starting with a picnic and playtime at the park with Mom, Jeanie, Tyler, and all of my crew. This morning we had a very nice church service, despite severe weather. My husband arranged for me to get this beautiful corsage, which was unexpected and completely wonderful.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

8 months old

My baby girl is now 8 months old. We commemorated the day with her very first time ever feeding herself!! Shiloh is officially a serious fan of the banana flavored puffs! You can see in the pic how hard she is concentrating on this!!!

water!!

We went to an awesome park with...oh, i don't even know how to describe it. But, it's cool! I used to play here when I was little! You can see in the pics, it's kinda like a giant sprinkler...and we had it all to ourselves (maybe because I went and bought a water key....we turned it on!!) :) K, of course, was at school, but Gabe and Shiloh had an absolute blast!

GABE

SHILOH

I had to throw this one in, because you can see her tooth! You might need to make the pic bigger, but it's there, on the bottom!

And, this is video evidence of Shiloh seriously LOVING the water!!! Make sure your sound is on :)

mother's day at k's school

Kaleb's class put together a little brunch for the mom's today. My wonderful mother took off of work for a little bit so she could watch Gabe and Shiloh for me, and I was able to go just enjoy my oldest son! The kids had planted sunflowers and made us cards, placemats with handprints and a poem on them, bead necklaces, and a book! The book that K made for me tells reasons he loves me...these include me being happy, liking the color pink, and liking the park :) I'll admit, I got teary....but my mother sent me with a travel pack of tissues, informing me that they like to make mom's cry at these things. I will still be getting great bits of useful wisdom from her when I am 50!

wildlife center at gsu

On Sat., we went with Melissa & Co. to the wildlife rehabilitation center at Georgia Southern. It was lots of fun, we got to see the bird show, and lots of snakes, baby alligators, skunks, etc. up close. Kaleb and I even got a improptu mini-class on one of the Bald Eagles by an off duty employee! (Those suckers can fly at speeds up to 235 mph, and dive at 250mph!!)

Anyway, lots of neat stuff!

our sunday

A few sweet together moments.....

My handsome oldest son, getting ready to play!!

Clover makes the rounds.....

Everybody's happy!

shiloh can...

...do this all by herself, just as of today!!!




And, she can do this with some assistance!!



AND...little missy has her very first tooth! I found it on Sunday, when I had just gotten home from the hospital!

kaleb's singing debut!

This post has been delayed by my medical issues, but here it is! Last week, all of the Kindergartners at Kaleb's school put on a PTA program. They were adorable and did a wonderful job! Here are a few pics and a video from their performance!

The double stroller is very handy for keeping everyone corraled!!

There they all are!

Sing!

a great present

I just received an e-mail from Tyrone with pics of him and his living space in his tent (yes, no more cozy, stinky converted storage container thingy...he now lives in a tent.) He isn't allowed to use his webcam over there, so the last time I saw him was when he was using the webcam at an airport en route back to Iraq from R & R. This was too cool. So, I thought I might share.

I would like to point out one thing...see the many wires running up the back wall? This is the trademark of my husband rigging up something to work fabulously in a manner in which it was never intended :)