Learning is SO hard when you are in your 30's

Therefore, I can't imagine what 10 more years of mommy brain and wine will do to me in my 40's. Ya'll talk to me while I still can.

I lost my "Cutest Blog on the Block" page set up for this blog and had to find a new one. Then nothing was working right and all my links were messed up. Hopefully I fixed them, but when you have three rears to wipe, time is of the essence.

Sooo....since August and the last pics were of Carson's First Birthday. Kaitlin started school at James Island Christian School, a private K-12 school. If you know anything about SC, you know to be weary of their public schools! I think they rank about 48th in the nation. I'd like her to read before 8th grade, so we decided on a private school where she could remain with the same friends as long as we remain here in SC. The less changes, sometimes, the better.

My parents drove all the way out from Texas in their cozy new car (NOT that I'm jealous...) in September and we enjoyed the second Charleston visit much better than the first. It's always great when you can not do all the "mandatory tourist stuff" and instead do whatever the heck you want to do and love. To that end, we shopped and ate at least 4 or 5 different places in search of Charleston's best crabcakes. So far Magnolia's is a fave all around. My kids just eat up the attention of grandparents and love any day that is different from the norm. Kaitlin had a hard time playing hookey from school, but she caught on and handled it well in the end ;)

The kids dressed up as Dorothy and the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz for Halloween--Carson did great! He is full up walking and loved eating his candy. Paper wrappers and all. Kaitlin is finally brave enough for big inflatable slides and such; she turned 5 on Nov 8th. Carson is, too. He turned 1 on August 5th. We definitely see two different personalities there. Kaitlin would be told "no" and just calmly adn respectfully obey. Carson gets his kicks out of playing the harmonica and disobeying and pulling all the outlet covers out. Nonetheless, he is a funny little guy and keeps us both on our toes and laughing. They are both healthy (well, minus little colds right now) and we are indeed blessed.

November we enjoyed celebrating Kaitln's Birthday with both school friends and old friends at the Little Gym and she loved it. She loves being five and with that has come the sillies. Full on, girlie giggling sillies. That I was not ready for but we laugh anyways. How can you not?!? We also enjoyed a beautiful Thanksgiving meal at our inlaws' home and loved being part of that big group and for the kids to see 3 of their 4 Baker aunties and also one of the auntie's fiancee and his family. Plus I had a friend join us so it was a huge group, lots of amazing food, and as always my inlaws are gracious hostesses and just love my kiddos (and us!) to death and are showing us that love all the time. Thanks guys :)

So we are ready to enter December with all of the joy and craziness it brings. I am long overdue for a trip back home and am looking forward to that. As Jesse ages in Air Force years (not much different than dog years), we know an assignment is possible anytime after the two year point, which for us, is this February. So we wait and imagine the possibilities of what could come next and still try to be thankful for where we are and the many, many, many blessings God has chosen to give us. May you, and may we, always see them as such. Happy beginnning-to-the-Holiday-season!!

Catching Up

It's been a busy few months! I'd love to tell you I haven't blogged just because I've been lazy, but alas, the life of a stay-at-home Mom doesn't always offer thrilling fodder for the reading masses.
Carson: Turned one and has seven teeth and has taken as many as three steps at a time. He is into everything. I mean, everything. People aren't kidding when they tell you that's the difference between boys and girls. Kaitlin would not walk on grass or sand until she was about three. Seriously. Carson eats it, crawls all over it, the more the better!
Kaitlin: Started 4K at a new school and wears a little uniform every day. She (we) LOVE her school so far and I can't wait for her to start reading so we can read all those books I remember from that age.
Jesse: Now the wing exec here. For you non-military types, he's the executive assistant to the head guy on base. Just got selected for a three month internship in DC at DARPA, which you can google or wiki if you want to know more about it, but a good summary is that it's the organization of braniacs that came up with the Internet (no, it really wasn't Al Gore!) and do all kinds of cool science projects for DoD that we'll never hear about and therefore never attribute to them.
Me: I'm just minding my own business and trying to maintain the house and fam! I've started running with a friend from the neighborhood (of course, my definition of running is barely beyond most of your definitions of walking quickly) but we're training for a half marathon in October. I'm always happy to have a goal on the books; something to be working towards.
That's it for the moment; we had a great visit with family recently, hopefully have another visit coming up, and Jesse & I are taking a belated 10th anniversary trip to CO later this fall. The mountains are CALLING my name. It's been too long...

Kaitlin, What do you want to be when you grow up?

Answer: A mommy like you! I want to have 10 girls and 10 boys so I want to have 20 babies (???????). But I want to name them after they come out of my tummy.

Whew. She aims high, what can I say! Watch out Duggars, your TV spot might only be good for another few years.

Carson, meanwhile, has cut his first tooth and is crawling proficiently.

Here's a pic from Easter Sunday morning at the beach. Fun!

March Fun

Whew, I cannot believe it's April already! Happy early Easter everyone--thank God for the hope we have in Him because He died for us and rose again. And Easter Egg hunts are real fun, too :)
March has been a growing month for our family. Jesse spent all but a few days away on trips, going all around the world. Some of his stops included Egypt, Nepal, Cyprus, Montenegro, and of course those countried we affectionately refer to as the "Stans"--Khazakstan, Kyrgzi- (sp?), Afgahni-, Paki-, etc. Then he came home for three days and was back out again, this time to Germany and back to Charleston several times. These times can be very trying for us as a family, but then the reward is in hearing my daughter's precious prayers upon his return--tagging on to the end of my bedtime prayer with "And thank you Lord that Daddy came home!"
Carson spent the month in and out of sleep (more out than in) probably because he was busy cutting his first tooth! He is crawling and laughing, sitting up and moving all around, and eating his solids, at long last, without spewing raspberries all over the kitchen. Thank God. The recycling zealots of the world would be thrown into convulsive fits if they knew the paper towels we went through.
When Jesse got tagged to go on his second trip of the month, I decided to up and head to Niceville, Florida with the kiddos to visit our great friends and Kaitlin's little BFF's (best friends forever, for you over-40 crowd). It was a looooong drive (10 hours for what should have been 8 hours each way because I had to stop and do all the feedings for little man!) but we got there and home safely and without a single traffic ticket so I guess that means we came out ahead. We had a BLAST letting the kiddos play and hanging out at the gorgeous Destin beaches. Kaitlin has been itching to fly kites, so she got to do that.
The best part of the whole gig is that Carson's sleeping patterns changed dramatically during the trip, and he has been consistently sleeping through the night (or really, really close to it) ever since Florida. I love that state. And the company. So, to some degree, I actually feel marginally sane again. Yahoo!
Enjoy some pics...thanks for dropping by to read!

In a Former Life

Some of my girlfriends here asked me about the whole Air Force thing. That was seriously another lifetime ago...before kids, back when we could sleep when we wanted to, eat after 6PM, and take off on a dime. I wouldn't trade it for the world! But I did have some great times and wanted to share pics in case you don't believe me ;)
BTW, No, I was not a pilot. I had an awesome Colonel that I worked for that let me have a ride in the fighter trainer airplane. Do I not look ready to kick some tail!?!? Ha ha.
Oh yeah, and in that 'former life' before I donated all my brain cells to my children, I probably could have figured out how to blog and get the pics at the end of the post...oh well...enjoy anyways!

Good thing that's one cute face

Oh, my Lord, it's a good thing this is one cute little face. If you happen to pass by our home and think you're hearing lambs being led to slaughter, never fear, it's just my daughter "going through a phase." And boy do I hope it's a short one.

Bad parental decision = letting your child have too much control for too long.
Consequence = having to set the boundaries straight in phases like this.
Complicating factors = recent sickness forced excessive indulgence. What? I like indulging her when she's sick.
Result = prayerfully, the result is a sweet, obedient child for life who knows she is loved deeply because she is disciplined.

YIKES!

Picnic Time

So Kaitlin wakes up from her "nap" yesterday (which has turned into quiet time in her room since she rarely sleeps anymore) having concocted a plan. She comes out and says authoritatively "Mommy we should go on a picnic on a picnic blanket that's white and red!"
Well, the weather was gorgeous so we thought that was a pretty great idea! She was so excited and took charge immediately (imagine that!), finding a picnic 'basket' and filling it with what she decided everybody would eat. She was very disppointed in our blue blanket, but we had fun anyways. Here's some pics: