160 Days left.......YEE HAW!!!

Our official separation date is 31May07. We are excited to embark on the next saga in life.

The military has brought new & interesting things into our lives. We are grateful for the true friends that have come into our lives through the AF.

We are leaning strongly at staying in Albuquerque, NM. Billy is looking at jobs on base as a GS worker. We have a church that we love & wonderful friends to go with it. The house market is a bit steep out here but we have faith that God will provide adequate living arrangements. (boy does that sound military or what, get me out of here!)

We do realize this means giving up or Texas residency. Whatever you do, please do not refer to us as New Mexicans! We will always be Texans even if we are misplaced!

You can take the girl outta TEXAS, but you can't take the TEXAN outta the girl! :)

Gingerbread Houses...from school

Leah's gingerbread house is on the bottom & Macey's gingerbread house is on top. Both of these fabulous houses were made at school last week. I guess I will get the girls to help us pick out our next home.

31 years....YOUNG!

As Saturday draws nearer, I am getting teased as to getting older. I have come to the conclusion you are only as old as you feel. So therefore, I am 25 with 4 kiddos. Please do not try to do the math as some of you might bring on a heachache. (just kidding)

I think the matter of the fact is that I am happily married (yes, really!) with 4 beautiful children, with family & friends that love us. Life doesn't get much better than this.

Being happy, well that keeps you young. Sounds good to me!

Drunken Snowman....

I have to say we are quite sadden to fing that our snowman has had WAY TOO MUCH EGGNOG...

As you can see the snow only lasted a few days but those days were filled with snowball fights, red noses, snow angels, hot cocoa, & movies while snuggled under blankets. We had a wonderful family time!

SNOW DAY!!!

Just wanted you to meet the newest family member. His name is Jack & unfortunately he will not be staying with us very long but we definately have loved the time that he will be with us!

We want to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS as we take this time & everyday to remember the birth of our Jesus & thank God for our blessings.

love the Shipman6

Better Late than Never!

Billy took me to Phantom of the Opera for our anniversary in November. It was absolutely wonderful. It was the first time I had ever been to an opera so I was thinking I would be asleep in no time. BOY was I ever wrong. The music was awesome! We had a wonderful 8th anniversary!

New Do's

The girls got new haircuts this past Saturday.

They absolutely LOVE them. I was a bit unsure at first but that is probably just the mom in me.

Leah is 5 & Macey will be 7 in January. My babies are growing up!

The Drowner?

Did you know that according to Leah that the drain at the bottom of the bathtub is really called a "DROWNER"? Boy, I guess you learn something new every day!

Halloween 2006

LADYBUG a.k.a. Avery Grace

STICH a.k.a AJ

TIGGER a.k.a. Leah

PURPLE WITCH a.k.a. Macey

Halloween was quite fun this year.

Since it was cooler this year, we decided to dress in warmer costumes!

the Bloody Water

Leah was reading a book to AJ the other day & I over heard her talking about the bloody water. Curious to see which Bible story she was telling her little brother, I stopped & listened. The next thing I heard was, "And Moses parted the bloody water......"

An AJ Prayer

Dear God, Thank you for my Macey & for my Leah.

Dear God, Thank you for my Soren & my Keely. (friends)

Dear God, Thank you for ME! AMEN!!

(this is AJ & his friend, Keely)

Fallin' into Daily Routine....

Well, It has been almost a month since I have written.It amazes me how time can fly nowadays. The girls are in full-day school. While that is nice most of the time, It definately wears them out by the end of the week. I know that Leah would sleep every afternoon if I let her.

AJ has a Pre-school that he attends 3 days a week for 3 hours in the morning. He usually takes a nap on those days. I guess playing & learning is HARD work.

Over Fall Break, we missed Balloon Fiesta yet again to travel to Texas for some much needed family time. We stopped in San Angelo for a couple of days & were lucky enough to visit with some good friends as well as spend time with Grandma, Papa, & my nephew, Robert. The picture above is of Grandma feeding our Avery-puppy. She was so cute just poised like a sitting puppy.

On Sunday, we headed to Brady where the kids & I hung out with Mom & the boys while Billy went fishing with the KWAST men. Apparently, I do not have what it takes to go on this fishing trip, so my husband took my place. :)

He claims that he "had a blast". He did comment that there was not a whole lot of fishing but he was glad for the much needed break. I have heard a few fish stories but with no pictures or fish to show, I am not so sure about them.

It is amazing how long it takes me to get back to the grind of daily life when we were out of pocket for only a few days. I think the fact that I am tired when I get home from a trip has to do with it somewhat.

As far as our job situation, it has changed again somewhat. The early separation packet that we applied for was disapproved. Apparently, the AF thought they could let people out in Billy' s career field, but then after almost 6 weeks into the program, changed their mind. Leave it to the government to be indecisive.

That changes our family plans for now. We are still looking to separate from the AF, most likely by June 2007. We are looking for a job in 2 primary locations, HERE & DALLAS, TX. There are a few other options but these are our concetrated places for now.

I will try to update this page more often with the status of our family job sitation. Pleas keep our family in your prayers as we have some exciting & scary choices to make in the next few months!

Avery's new haircut....

For the first time, one of my kids needs a haircut before they are 2. Avery's hair has been growing so much lately & I was having a hard time keeping it out of her face, we decided to cut her some bangs.

Isn't she sooooo cute????

All I want for Christmas is my 2 FRONT TEETH!!!

Macey wanted me to show off her new look. Both of her top 2 front teeth are now gone. As always, this is a great scrapbook opportunity but also school pictures are this FRIDAY!

She put her 3 teeth (we had lost one tooth awhile back & recently found it) under her pillow. In the morning, she had 3 silver dollars that had been put in a stampin' up! container.

She made it clear that the tooth fairy had gone into my office WITHOUT my permission & wanted to know if I wanted the container back.

Life with........A BOY!!

As many of you know, Macey & Leah are at school from 8:45am-3:45pm each day (Wednesdays till 12:35pm). Well, as you can imagine...AJ gets a little restless with no older sisters to entertain him.
Last week, I noticed that he had been quiet a bit too long. He had not come to me in the last 10 minutes to tell me that he was hungry again. I called his name. He answered me from what sounded like outside. Curious, I got up to see what was going on.

He had the back door open & was peeing off onto the back porch. When I calmly asked what he was doing, he told me that his tee-tee did not want to be in the potty anymore, it wanted to be outside. I carefully explained that tee-tee should go into the potty unless there is no potty. Then it is okay to go tee-tee outside!

Never a dull moment with that boy around!

Avery's first pair of shoes......

Well, Avery is walking & getting faster by the day!

I went to Wal-mart to buy HER FIRST PAIR OF SHOES. Being the 4th child, she has plenty of hand-me downs. She was give pairs of shoes as an infant but everyone knows that you have to use your shoes before the are consider real shoes, not just an accessory.

As I was trying different shoes on her at Wal-Mart, she was intently watching what I was doing to HER feet. She was peering over the basket handle after I had put a pair on. She then slowly rotated her ankle on her left foot, then her right as if to say, "do these things have a purpose?"



When we got home, I left them on to see how she would do with them on. She walked around the house for a few minutes doing high steps like she was in a marching band. Eventually, she got the hang of them & she is picking up speed every day!

AJ's First Day of School

AJ started a Mother's Day Out program on Thursdays. Every Thursday, he gets up & packs his lunch right along with his sisters. He is so excited. I am sure that he would love to go every day. He is really sad when his sisters leave for school in the morning. He looks forward to his "school" every week. Avery goes to the Mother's Day Out program as well so from 9:30am -1:30pm, I have no children. It is a very strange feeling after having atleast 1 child all the time for the past 6 1/2 years. I have not yet figured out what to do with my sacred time each week....I am still working on the possibilities!

Leah's First Day of Kindergarten

Technically, Leah first day of school was yesterday but since it was a half day anyway, She was extremely excited about today! She thought it was cool that she gets to take a nap at school. I think full-day kindergarten is going to be good for Leah. Her teacher is Mrs. Susan (yes, that is her last name) & Leah says she is very nice.

Leah has been very excited about school since she found out that she gets to go all day & take her lunch. It has been fun packing lunches in the morning.

School starts at 8:55am & goes till 3:45pm so it is a long day but it think the girls are adjusting nicely.

Macey's First Day of 1st Grade

Macey started First Grade on yesterday! Boy, was she excited. She goes to school ALL DAY (8:45am - 3:55pm). She gets to take her lunch & eat in the cafeteria. When she came home from school, I asked her what she did at school today! She got this really big grin & said, "We have 3 recesses!" I guess I know what is really important.

Happy Birthday BIG BOY!

AJ turned 3 on July 22nd. Yes, I am a bit slow but you would be too if you were chasing this many kiddos...HA!HA! Anyway, we had a simple party for AJ at the park behind the McDonalds on base. Hencem the reason the kids call it McDonald's backyard.
He had his friends, Hayden,m Noah, Andrew, & Scotty come to his party. Scotty' s older sister Molly got to come too. Everyone had alot of fun!

By the way, did I mention AJ was potty-trained before his 3rd birthday? Way to go buddy! Mommy & Daddy are so proud of you. Now Mommy only has to buy one size of diapers. Happy Birthday BIG BOY!

Starting a New Life......

Well, We submitted our AF separation paperwork on August 4th, 2006. We have a job in the works for Billy to stay on as a civilian here at Kirtland AFB so I guess that will make us New Mexicans....boy that sounds strange! Guess we'll just be misplaced Texans. That is much better!

Anyway, due to our family plans changing ....I am not home schooling this year. It has been an emotional roller-coaster over the last few years & I think I have about all I can handle on my plate right now. I am thankful that we will no longer be on base & I can separate myself from all of the duties I have acquired as an officer's wife while living on KAFB. For the last 2 years, I have felt as though I have a double-life. My military life & my church life.

We are planning on moving to a suburb of Albuquerque (Rio Rancho) & Billy will be able to ride the train into work. It will be some travel time (30-45 min) but he can work on the train. He will not be stuck in traffic. Yea!

The school district comes highly recommended in Rio Rancho & there is an elementary right down the road from the sub-division we are looking at. Hopefully, things will transition smoothly. The girls are really excited about staying here in Albuquerque. They still talk about their friends from our last base & miss them. The good thing is we have a year to transistion.

The plan is Billy will walk out of work on 30Sep07 as Capt Shipman & walk back in 01Oct07 as Mr Shipman. It is not set in stone for a civilian position here but we are not worried. Billy is very good at his job & he is very marketable (he sounds like a car, huh?) & has made some pretty good connection. We are both excited about the new opportunities that lie ahead in our lives. We believe that God is in control of our future & that we need but to listen to his directions.

We did however, make a list of pros & cons when we first started entertaining the idea.

Pros:
1. We love our church we are at.
2. The weather is great for us. Not much rain so not may allergies....except for lately. :)
3. The city has many attractions for young kids & for the adults.
4. We are only 8 hours from San ANgelo, Billy's folks.
5. We are 12 hours away from Waco, my folks, brothers, grandparents.
6. We are 7 hours away from Denver, Co...Billy's grandparents & extended family.
7. The mountains are beautiful to look at.
8. Balloon Fiesta EVERY YEAR! I love hot-air balloons.
9. We have a Rudy's BBQ & Whataburgers & an soon to be Eddie Bauer & Kohls....YEA!
10. We do not have to move around every 3 years. We can grow roots!
11. We can buy a house & paint it whatever color we want! (We live in base housing...They have strange rules)
12. Billy has more & better job opputunities than he did if we stay in the Air Force.

Cons:
1. It not TeXaS.

Well, that about sums it up.

We will always be Texans at heart, even if we are driving with New Mexico license plates on our vehicles.

And if you are wondering, YES those are my toes painted with TEXAS flags!

Birthday Girl!

Well, as you can guess I am a bit slow as of late. Our sunshine, Leah turned 5 on July 18th & BOY! Did we have fun! Leah had a princess birthday slumber party. Yes, I said slumber party. Most of my friends thought I was nuts but seeing as we have 4 kids in 5 1/2 years...Most people think I am already half-way down that road. :)

We had 5 girls come for the party that evening & 3 were able to sleep over. They watched princess movies & ate popcorn & played Barbies & really had fun! We were going to paint toe-nails but most of the girls already had their toes painted. Leah got lots of really great princess toys & she is loving every minute that she gets to play with them!

Home Stamp Home!

Well, I have returned from yet another AWESOME year at Stamping' Up! Convention! It amazes me with all the new ideas & techniques that I learn each year.

I have recently signed 2 new stampin' fanatics so I am really excited about this next year. I have been a glorified hobbyist for some time now, but with a team under me, I am really pumped!

Many of you asks what I do with the kids when I am gone......Well, that is where their daddy comes in! Billy took off work to stay with them all week. Man, can I just tell you.........

I arrived back home on a Sunday. At the bottom of the first set of escalator, my family was there holding this huge sign that said, "WELCOME HOME MOMMY!" I started crying right there. They were dressed to the nines as they had come from the 8:15am service. We we got back to the house, it was clean. Oh thank goodness cause I was not really looking forward to cleaning & unpacking!

The kids told me about all the things they did with Daddy....park, swimming pool, 2 birthday parties, walks & bike rides. Man, did they have fun!

Oh yea! Did I mention that we have 4 kids between the age of 6-1? My husband is AMAZING!!!

Potting Training.....a boy! :)

Well, we have been thinking about potty-training AJ.

Keyword: thinking!

AJ has decided that he want to go in the big boy potty.This is a good thing as far as I am concerned, less diapers to buy, less diapers to change, you get the picture.

Wednesday we were at the zoo & we decided to take a potty break. We all went into the girls bathroom, (Billy was at work) & I announced that EVERYONE needed to go potty. AJ said that he did not need to go. I explained that we were not leaving the bathroom till everyone went potty. "Okay" he relunctly said!

As he is sitting on the potty he announced, " Mommie, it's not working!" Ladies in teh bathroom look at me & I explain that we are potty training. All the sudden, AJ yells "It's working now, Mommie!" He was very proud of himself....

We have been 8 days with only one accident...not on my watch, though...:)

Hopefully we will soon be only buying diapers for Avery!

Yea!!!!!!

Avery's 1st Birthday!

Tuesday was Avery's 1st birthday! My baby is 1! We had her party yesterday with a few friends.

Her friend Joey from church was able to make it along with his folks, Josh & Laray. Tisha, Hannah, & Ian came as well to celebrate the day with us. Alana, our babysitter, was back in the USA so she came along with Miss Lila, Gillian & Sage.

We had hotdogs & brats & then, CAKE!

Avery ate a hot dog, bun, & some chee-tos....by the time we got to the cake. I think she was a bit full! Joey decided he could help her out..... betweent the 2 of them we had cake all over the place!

After cake, she open presents! She loved opening her presents. I think she enjoyed the wrapping too. She got some really cute outfits, a talking piggy bank, an extremely soft plush lion & a book, and some little people animals. She has spent the morning playing with all of her new toys.

Avery is standing & holding onto things now & taking a few steps. Before you know it, she will be walking everywhere. She loves her sisters & brother & they play well together! Even AJ is really gentle with her. (thanks goodness!)

PRAISES!!!!

In April, my dad was diagnosed with melanoma, skin cancer! To say the least, I was a bit caught of guard. See, my Dad is the healthy, strong guy who very rarely needs a doctor. I am so thankful that it was caught early!!

My dad is currently at Shannon Hospital in San Angelo recovering from a second surgery. The outcome: lympnodes were clear. He has some recouping to do at home for the next few weeks but he will be up soon chasing the grandkids all over the yard!

Thank you God!

Easter Sunday

Sunday morning started out with the surprises from the Easter bunny. Each kid had their very own basket protecting their very own chocolate bunny. Little did we know at this wee hour of the morning, that a bunny snatcher was among our midst. We headed out the door for services, followed by class, & then on to hunt Easter eggs...The kids had a lot of fun. After that, we meet some friends at the park on base for a cook-out & another egg hunt. By time the weekend was over, we had 3 Easter egg hunts...Boy, do we have lots of candy!

Dying Eggs

While we were coloring eggs on Saturday evening, the kids were really getting into the whole process.
While AJ diligently balanced his egg on the "spoon" to dip the egg into the coloring dye, it suddenly slipped off & plopped into the dye. He exclaimed "Whoop-ee!!!"