Homecoming pics??

So I need ya'lls advice...

I can't decide if I want to have someone take pics of Nic's homecoming...  We'll be at the commercial airport and he'll be the only Marine coming home from a deployment.  The kids will probably be in bed sleeping because it'll most likely be very late... Although if I can't get them to sleep before I leave, I might have to take them... Lots of variables involved here.

Anyway, I'm a very self-conscience person and I think I'll feel weird having someone take our pictures - I mean, everyone will probably be watching as we make a spectacle of ourselves!  So is it worth it?

Especially you ladies who have pictures of homecoming - what do you think? And all you nonmilitary folks too - I'd love opinions to help me decide!

And, I can't say when Nic is coming home... but soon :)

ah, quiet.

I just want to share with ya'll how amazingly relaxing it is to be awake before the kids.  I'm enjoying some coffee, internet headlines and live Olympics (tennis - would prefer probably anything else but ah well).

I can't tell which is better: sleep or a quiet hour before the kids wake up??

Dates with Elora during VBS

We had a fantastically busy week - those are the best.  The boys had VBS in the mornings.  Elora and I had coffee/chocolate milk dates and cleaned the house while they were gone.  It was nice, since it was on Kinser and literally a five minute walk from our door.  I got about half of the house scrubbed down and organized - and the best part is, it's stayed that way so far!  Elora's been real good about letting me get stuff done - and I think I've done a great job of leaving a task half finished if I need to (oh man, that is so hard to do!!).

This week we have a birthday party on Tuesday, but other than that we have plans to stay busy cleaning (while Elora is napping of course), going to the beach and watching the Olympics.  Colton was sick all today with a fever so I don't think we'll make it anywhere tomorrow, but the kids are really loving the Olympics so I think we'll stick around the house watching that.  I love how much Maximus is becoming like Nic - he'll just sit and watch whatever sport is on.  And he gets into it too - and explains to me what's going on, animating and using LOTS of hand motions.  If America isn't playing, he picks a team and cheers them on... although he's known to switch sides, LOL.

Maximus starts football camp in two weeks - it's basically two hours of drills and conditioning for a week.  I'm excited for him, and he can't wait.  Soccer was fun, but it was very low key: practice was 45 minutes and included more goofing off than running.  He needs to get some REAL exercise.  He has some new spikes that he's excited to use.  He's been slowing breaking them in over the past few weeks.... this kid grows out of shoes faster than any other kid I know!  So hopefully they last him all season! :)

"Stay Busy"

Stay Busy.

That's what I keep telling myself. Before Nic left I remember feeling sick to my stomach just thinking about him leaving.... and now that we are approaching the end I'm experiencing the same ... anticipation.  Different, but the same.  If I'm not careful, the anticipation will wear me thin.

So for now, we stay busy.  And in an effort to not be driven crazy by my children, I'll be denoting most chores/homework (yes, I'm taking another class) to nap time/after bedtime.  Nothing drives me more crazy than being in the middle of something and Elora throws a fit because I can't hold her! So, if I'm never in the middle of something, then I can always hold her and she won't throw fits :)  Yes, not an ideal way to live - but for short-term sanity, I will sacrifice :)

I'll never forget my dear friend Ellie's sage advice to me a couple years ago - as long as my kids go to bed loved on, who cares if the house isn't clean? My friend Heidi reminded me, as she was going through a year long deployment, that I need to take care of my own sanity - frazzled moms yell at their kids when they don't deserve it.  And I do not want to be a frazzled mom.

So I let things slide and we stay busy .... and happy :)

Soveig to leave us :(

At this time tomorrow, we'll be driving Solveig to the airport and saying goodbye.  I honestly don't know what I would have done this summer if she hadn't come to stay with us.  We've had so much fun and it's definitely helped the time fly by - I can't believe she's heading home.  That means this deployment is close to ending.  I would always tell the kids all the things we get to look forward to and at the very end it was always - After Solveig leaves, then Daddy comes home!  So although we're so sad to see Solveig go back to America, it means we're one step closer to Daddy coming home :)

Yesterday we went to Tropical Beach and enjoyed a nice "cool and breezy" morning at the beach.  Maximus spent much of the time exploring the shallow water at the net - catching strange looking fish, or at the reef with Solveig (who knows what all he found).  He literally spend hours looking and catching fish.  Colton and Elora like to swim with me and Solveig in the shallows.  Those two are so sweet together :)

I would post a pic from yesterday but apparently Blogger has a limit to how many pictures you can post... and I haven't looked into how much it is to buy more space.  So there may be a lack of photos for a while :)

Shuri Castle

I realize the majority of my posts have been on the boring side - mostly just pictures.  Sorry - I'll try to write more, probably once Solveig leaves.... :( Sad. But we've had a nice lazy week. It rained on the front end, so today we finally ventured out to Shuri Castle.  The whole park is pretty magnificent - the foliage is beautiful and the boys had such a great time finding gigantic grasshoppers and cicadas.  They have stamp stations where kids can stamp their map to show where they've been.  We really didn't take the time to read much and learn too much - we were on a 2 hour time frame (Thats how long we were allowed to park for)... but after about an hour and 45 min we were all beat.  Solveig was carrying Elora and I had Colton on my back in the ergo.  And Maximus was barely dragging along!  But it was fun and I'm proud of myself for being able to find it (with only ONE U-turn!) :)

Maximus was uber proud of his map.

The ergo is my best friend.

I startled a passing Okinawan family and begged them to take our pic.

Not sure what these were, we pretended they were the 10 commandments. hehe

Massive stone wall.  Some of which is probably REALLY old

Magnificent view.

Colton on my back.

I need this on canvas.

The restored Castle.  I think the original burned down in WWII???? 

Where the "king" (emperor?) would sit.

Finding bugs on the way back to the car.

In my spare time