Summer in Albany

This summer it rained a lot. Which is great because it kept the gnats away. However, 21 days in a row of rain can be a major pain!  Luckily it only rained in the afternoons and mornings were devoted to play. All summer, David and his bf Brayden would play to their hearts content! I love that they are able to go outside and we don't have to worry about them getting snatched up. One of the benefits of living on a small base. You know everyone on your street.

Best friends

Some rainy days were delightful (without lightning)

Fun at the splash pad

Panama City Beach 4th of July vacation with cousin Emily. It rained a lot for a few days but that didn't stop us from beach time! 

Then there was girl's weekend in beautiful, historic Savannah...and the beach. We went on a ghost tour. See that big blob of light? That's a...street lamp. Nope, this girl saw no ghosts. I remember at one point looking at the tour guide and thinking that she must have a blast rolling around in tourist money and laughing hysterically at us. Oh well, we got a good historical tour out of it. The dolphin tour was much more successful so that evened it out. 

So as summer draws to an end, we prepare for kindergarten. School starts Aug 5th. Not so sure I'm ready. Oh,but here's a list of what he needs for school 

And that's just kindergarten. I don't remember needing this much in elementary but I guess teachers are tired of paying for supplies out of their meager salary. Onward to the school year!

A November to Remember

In Albany, summer months are hot and humid. On top of that, we have to deal with these pesky gnats that love to repeatedly fly into your eyes, ears, and nose. They love you even more when you're sweating and like I mentioned, it's hot and humid. If you didn't sweat much before, just visit Albany in August and you will be sweating from places that you never thought you could sweat. Since summer lasts pretty much from March to mid-October, a lot of activities are bunched into the few months of winter (laughable) that we have.

First was the Kid's ball. A celebration of the Marine Corps birthday, but with kids. It turned out to be such a success, even if my son didn't want to dance with me :(

Handsome boy

Dancing with balloons

Let's not forget the Marine Corps ball

Then there was the Thanksgiving luncheon at David's school

My little turkey

Boy student of the week!

For Thanksgiving, we were invited to our friends, the Blech's home (sorry, no photos, just lots of cooking). It was a fun time and David had a blast running around in their huge backyard. We were very thankful to be around good friends when we weren't able to travel home and see our families.

Decking the halls in November. Unusual in my family, but a tradition in Billy's.

Photo courtesy of David. He was so proud of putting his dog ornaments together, he had to capture the moment :)

Another reason why we have kids, to send them into the small niches.

MCLB 1st annual mud run before picture. No after picture because we were too cold to think about taking a picture. Why would we have a mud run on one of the few coldest months in Albany? Because we had to wait until the creek was too cold for the Water Moccasins. So glad someone thought of that. We had a blast and are looking forward to next year. David will get to join us.

So, there's our November. Now for December...

Halloween 2012

(I had this done a while ago, but saved it to upload pictures. Oops...I guess I forgot)

I'm afraid to say my little guy is slightly obsessed with Star Wars. I blame my sister, who likes to have Star Wars marathons on her birthday. She did babysit David for the first year of his life so who knows what kind of brainwashing she was doing while I worked. I mean, this kid dreams about Star Wars! If he's having a temperamental moment, all I have to do is say, "How about we talk about Star Wars" and he immediately calms down and starts talking about Luke, Anakin, Darth Vader, etc. So, imagine my surprise when for Halloween he wanted to be Luke Skywalker and asked his reluctant father to be Darth Vader. I guess asking isn't quite the right term. More like demanded. Since I hardly ever pick up a lightsabre and fight with him, I got away with just being a mommy for Halloween. Here are our pictures for this year...

David and his pal, Brayden

You say mommy, I say mummy

David: Mommy! Guess what we saw today?

Me: What did you see?

David: A pumpkin that looked like a mommy.

Me: A pumpkin that looked like me?

David(looking at his dad): No, like a...mama? It was wrapped in a white thing going round and round.

Me: Oh, a mummy!!

Lol. How has he gone 4 years without knowing about mummies? I must be a bad mummy :-)

First Day of School

It came a year sooner than I thought. The first day of school. My son started Pre-K the other day, which goes every day from 8-2:30 and loves it...well, he loves it when he gets there. Here are a few pictures:

Eating breakfast before his big day. I made him a nice breakfast of...yep, you've got it! Cereal! Mother of the year award to me!

Sporting his new backpack and shoes. He's so proud...and he even picked out those shoes himself.

I fear I've created a star wars fanatic of him. You should see his lunch bag and cup...At least, Aunt Gracie will have a buddy for her annual Star Wars marathons.

Last, but not least, his super happy face on the first day. Sad to say, I did not have that same look on my face. If anything, I was a bit weepy, and boy, did I miss him that day. All summer long, I'd been looking forward to him being at school, but the big day comes and I was a bigger baby than my baby.

This day marks his third day and this is what I've heard from him so far.
2nd day:
"Mommy, I don't want to go to school. It takes you forever to come get me!" I guess there was not such a smooth transition from a couple of hours here and there to every day for 6 hours :/

3rd day:
David: I want to go back to bed!
Me: You can't. You're a big boy now. You've got to go to school.
David: No, I'm not. I'm 3.

I have 14 more years of this?!! I can't wait...

He really does enjoy school once he gets there. His teacher tells me he's such a sweet boy and on Friday, he came home and told me that he helped his friend button up his pants after they had their potty break, lol. Such a big helper!