Pre-Thanksgiving

Alison and Eli went to a workshop on base for kids of deployed parents.  It was perfect.  I got an afternoon with just Colin and the kids got some special time with other kids going through just what they are.  I was really impressed with the workshop.  They helped the kids make crafts to send to their parents and talked with them about what they may be feeling and gave them special gifts.

It rained a couple of times during the week.  When it rains here, you stop to soak it in.

 

We dug out jackets and umbrellas and drank hot chocolate outside.

 

The boys were pretending to be pirates and the umbrellas turned into swords and ships.

Sunday night, Elizabeth, Kent and Jordan came to visit for the week!

Elizabeth had each of the kids help her make a dish:

Making cheesecake

Nonny sent us fudge and a game.  It made for a perfect afternoon!  Alison quickly caught on to Qwuirkle and beat us!

They did an excellent job in spoiling me.  Elizabeth and Kent did all the cooking and Jordan was quick to play with the kids.  

One afternoon, while dinner was being prepared, Jordan and I took the kids to the park.

But first we stopped by Arizona Donuts so Jordan could experience this unique place.

This week

My photography skills are going down hill with my cooking.  I can't seem to get a clear picture for the life of me!  We attempted a picture with the supermoon.  At least it's documented that we saw it.

Life is always busy and entertaining when you have Colin around.

When you live 3 miles from the border, visiting the border patrol station is something intriguing to do.  Our friend is an officer and set us up with a private tour.  I'm pretty sure I learned more than the kids, but they had a really fun time.

We made cookies for Ben.  Alison helped mix the dough and Eli rolled them out.  Colin helped her and there too, but mostly just wanted to eat them.

 

Alison asked me to print off Holy, Holy, Holy the minute we got home from church.  She worked hard on figuring it out and has practiced it every day.

Okay, so the big thing this week.  I was cooking dinner when this happened:

I said to Eli, "Um, I haven't taught you anything (like not a thing. have not sat down once with him at the piano).  How in the world do you know how to play Holy, Holy, Holy?"

Eli says, "It's easy momma.  It's tells me how right here (as he points to the music that I've never taught him how to read).

Then today, I was working with Alison in the schoolroom, when he brought me this video and asked me to send it to daddy.

This and that

The day after going to the Children's Museum, Eli worked hard to recreate the grocery store.  First thing in the morning, he was making signs and filling old boxes with pretend food (lucky for him, I missed recycling last week, so we had lots of empty food containers).  By the afternoon, the store was open for business and we used shopping as our math for the day.  Eli was the cashier and Alison and Colin had to pay him.

I wished we still had our little grocery carts, but Eli handed out pillow cases for everyone to fill with groceries.

A lot of piano playing has been going on around here.  I love how simple things can turn into big things.  I just left the piano open and labeled the keys and the kids have really become interested in learning.

I could be wrong, but I believe Alison learns music more like Ben does.  I sat down with her one evening and played a simple song with her and she had it memorized in just a few minutes.

Eli continues to learn so much just by observing what Alison learns.  I've been teaching Alison some basic music theory and then I caught him writing his own song!

We've been trying to go to the park each day now that it's nice and soak up lots of fresh air.  This season is short, so we're hoping to live it up.  We spent one afternoon down by the river.  November in swimsuits=Arizona living.

River day was not Colin's best day.  While there, he was holding Maya's leash and she ran after Eli and made him face plant in the sand.  Then we went to the Y and Colin tripped on the sidewalk and face planted again.  He got a giant goose egg on his forehead and scrapped up his forehead and nose.

Then he fell off the stool while washing his hands for dinner and hit the back of his head.  It was a rough day for him and unfortunately, his face looks even worse now.  So much for cute Thanksgiving pictures, huh?

From Ben:

He ran another race on base and place 3rd!

Trip to the Children's Museum

I began my text to Laurel about the San Diego Zoo trip with, "I promise I'm not crazy."

Sunday, she came up to me at church and asked, "Do you want to join my crazy train and come to Phoenix with us?"  They were planning on going to the Children's Museum for Aline's birthday and wanted us to join them.  It made me laugh and I'm SO thankful for the crazy trips we've begun.  It has certainly helped the weeks go by faster and helped break things up for me.

Tuesday morning, we were up bright and early and drove to Phoenix.  Ben teases me that I'm now an expert on the drive.  We've lived in Arizona 9 months and I've been to Phoenix 6 times!

First stop in the museum was a giant jungle gym.  It was 3 stories tall, with different paths and climbing structures.  

 

Alison and Aline at the top

 Colin needed help up, so I ventured up with him.

Then we went through the car wash.

Eli made a craft in the art room:

 

And the kids played hide and seek in the noodle forest:

 

The boys painted their faces:

 Colin drove a race car:

I think the kids' favorite part was the grocery story and kitchen area:

We had a picnic lunch outside. 

 

Alison and I riding a motorcycle:

 

The museum was definitely worth the drive and the kids are already asking when we can go back. 

After the museum, Laurel's husband found a really cool ice cream place for us to check out.  It was called Creamistry and uses liquid nitrogen ice to make the ice cream.  It was super fun to watch them make the creations, but it was SO expensive. We justified it as educational and hope they always remember that experience.

The ice cream also came with spoons that changed colors when it touched the ice cream.  We noticed that the ice cream melted really fast, so we chose to eat outside by the fountain.

It was a fun day with some really great friends. 

#crazyfieldtrips...next up, the Border Patrol Station.

Ben's race

These are pictures from a race Ben ran on base.  They give you a little better look at his current living conditions (it's still very hot and humid there).

Start of the race:

You'll notice some men not in PT gear.  There are marines and navy on base there and the navy is allowed to wear civilian clothes in more situations than the marines.  They are also allowed to leave the base and have 2 beers a day.  It's caused some tension on base between the men, which I can understand.

Ben trailed the leader the whole time and almost caught up to him at the end.

Coming into the finish:

Ben came in second!

He ran the 5k in 16:58!!!

 

Falloween Party, part 2

As crazy as it sounds to have a party during deployment, it really was fun.  The kids helped me with everything; from planning to cleaning the house to scooping the poop and taking care of the dog to prepping the food.  It ended up being a really great day and I'm so thankful for church friends to come to our little shindig.  My goal for the day was to enjoy some treats and be done with the sugar.

The kids jumped right into the games.

The boys face painting:

Ben painted Colin's face:

 

Alison, Aline and Alison:

Alison was the most excited about bobbing for apples.

Meredith and baby Katherine:

All the kids eating dinner:

 

So, remember how Fourth of July was HUGE in Michigan?  Yea, Halloween is HUGE in Arizona.  I did not know.  I was unprepared.  I thought our neighborhood would be quiet since there are no kids and our light was turned off.  Completely wrong.  All of the sudden, Eli came to me and said that he opened the door for some trick-or-treaters and gave them some tootsie rolls.  Then, all of the sudden, the kids were handing out all of our candy, plus the fruit snacks in our pantry, to the swarms of kids walking down the street.  SWARMS. When Ivan picked up Alison from the party, he said that he could barely get down our street and informed me that this is the neighborhood everyone comes to because it's safe and they give out good candy.  Yea for safe, not yea for swarms of kids coming to my dark house.  My Alison finally put a sign on the door saying we were out of candy.

All of our kids passing out candy: 

My other goal was to party instead of trick-or-treating but once they saw the massive amount of kids in the streets, it was too hard to resist.  So after a major safety talk, Brian took all the kids around the block and I enjoyed every minute of quiet while they were gone.  Colin came back and said, "Look at the candy I got!  AND I didn't get lost!"

The kids each got about 20 pieces of candy and spent the rest of the time sorting and trading candy.  It was enough to be fun and be gone quickly, so it still met my goal.

Tolson and Colin lined their candy up to count and compare:

 

All the kids:

The success for me came with Eli that night.  He struggles with talking, it's true and Brian will consistently try to draw him out.  Before trick-or-treating, Eli had to agree that he would talk if he went with Mr. White and he did.  Then, before leaving, Brian took his hand and asked him to look him in the eyes and asked if he would like to come to the station (he's a border patrol officer) and see all his weapons.  Eli answered him while looking in his eyes and when the door shut, Eli said, "I did it! Can I really go?!"  He was so proud of himself and I am so thankful to have people in our life that will help our kids in ways that we can't.

And, guess what?!  It's November!!!