Making cookies

Last night the kids and I decided to spend some quality time together making cookies. I've never seen such a mess in my life! Fortunately I only had to break up a couple fights between Matt and Jacqui, and Cadence only dumped 1/3 a cup extra sugar into the batter so things went better then I expected.

I can totally see how you'd need to throw a gang sign in the middle of baking cookies with your mom and sisters!!!!

Jacqui reminds me of my Aunt April here - trying to get her big old head in there and take charge!

They had a little "flour fight" (which I started) How cute are those white powered faces????

"Hells Kitchen"

You always have to taste the batter!!!

Cadence trying to share her cookie with me. She's just happy she didn't take after her Aunt Megan and burn them!!!!

Just some pictures of everyday life!

Not too much to report down here in the South. There's nothing like having a blog and having nothing to write about! That's some good quality reading right there!!!
But I thought I would post some pics anyway. It's what I do best - just be thankful I got smiles instead of the usual "Hurry up and take the picture!" look. Such sweet kids...

Even if Jacqui and Matt can't stand the site of each other, I'm glad they love their little sister!




And Cadence...lately she loves Peanut Butter. Her dad decided to just give her the entire jar and let her eat it with her hands. He'll go that extra mile for his daughters nutrition!

Oh and friends, THIS is what we had greeting us outside our front door the other night. I wanted to step on it. Ski had other plans.

He wanted to catch it and look at it under the microscope at work. Have fun with that one!

Punt, Pass, and Kick competition

Did I mention that there was nothing to do in this town??? Well, honestly that is an understatement. However, I'm actually enjoying not having anything to do. Life is slower here. But it was nice to get the kids involved in something. Havelock had a Punt, Pass and Kick competition. You know you can't keep my kids off the football field. Especially Jacqui...

Well, they did their best and...

Matt placed third!!! Great job buddy! Maybe next year we'll be here to sign you up for football in time!

And because Jacqui is the luckiest girl on earth when it comes to winning things, she got first prize in her age group...for pretty much just showing up. She was the only girl in the whole competition which automatically gets her first place in the girls 9 and 10 age bracket.

She'll be moving on to sectionals next month. We have a lot of work to do on her punt, pass and kick abilities!

Playing in the rain

Not sure if any of you paid any attention to the weather but we had tropical storm Gabrielle come through yesterday and after 3 years of seeing VERY LITTLE rain in San Diego, it was great to see some thunder and lightening. (Of course this was also when I cleverly chose to do my grocery shopping and proceeded to get wet as I loaded bags to and from the car! I planned that one well!) Apparently our street floods pretty bad when it rains so we all decided to go play outside in it. Cadence was so confused about why we were all out there getting wet but we had so much fun!


I was so excited when I saw that blogger put video capability on here! Here is a video of Ski and the kids playing football in the rain. Our neighbors across the street joined us too - ironically we knew Amber in Japan when we were stationed there! What a surprise to find her living across the street from us too!

Welcome to North Carolina Y'all!!!

Well we are here! North Carolina!

The big question I keep hearing is "Do you like it?"

We do! Although it's WAY different from San Diego! I can't begin to tell you how nice the people are here. People on the street - people I don't even know - WAVE to us and make EYE CONTACT with us! Where I'm from, they just don't know that kind of friendliness! I've had more conversations with strangers then I've ever had in my last two trips to the grocery store over the deli select ham and which brand of diapers are the best.

The kids have started school and like it very much although they get more homework then they ever have. Their bus shows up to pick them up at - get this - 6:35am! Seriously - 6:35am. I wouldn't joke about something like that my friends! The last few days they were running out the door as it was driving up. Matt was in the middle of brushing his teeth today!

We have pretty much settled into the house and have unpacked with the exception of hanging a couple pictures. Cadence is learning how to talk more and more everyday and when we pull into the driveway she yells "HOME!!!" Here, I'll give you all a tour of the new place:

The living room!

Yeah - we thought it was kind of weird that we had to put our TV on the fireplace too!

What we like to call our "I Love me" wall!

The kitchen!

Ski is going to build us a table with his own two hands!!! This one is a little small now that Cadence can sit at the table with us.

Jacqui and Cadence's room. Yes they have to share again but it's worth it because we all love this house!!!

Matthew's room. He's so excited that we let him put the PS2 in his room. I don't think he's come out of there for the last couple days.

The kids bathroom!

Me and Ski's room. Not all wives would let their husband put a Dale Earnhardt Jr bedspread on their bed. I was such a catch!!!!

Our bathroom - double sinks!! No more fighting over sink space!

In "Ski" news - he is finally back with a Marine Command and is loving it! He is one of the SNCOIC's in charge of his work center and makes sure the shop and all of the Marines in the shop are doing what needs to be done. Next year sometime he is probably deploying to Japan again. I can't tell you how jealous I am! I would give anything to go back there! We are entertaining the idea of me, Jacqui, and Matt going to visit him while he is there for a week or two so that the kids get to experience what it is like in Japan.

The best part - I get to see him in Cammies again. Back in San Diego he changed at work everyday!