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!