Hurry Up and Wait

So I haven't posted in a few weeks in hopes that I would have big news to share.

I thought for sure by the last day of February (Happy Leap Day) we would know where we would be headed this coming summer.   But the USMC has decided to keep us in suspense.  Waiting and waiting and waiting.  Ah, the waiting.  God is working on me with this waiting.  His timing always proves perfect, but my humanness says "but I want to know now." 

 This move will be a big one if we are headed to CA or Hawaii (which are the most likely places for Chris's next job).  I am a planner.  I like to make plans, make lists for the plans, check off the list, and then plan a little more.  But I can't plan when I don't know.  And you know what, I am finding much freedom in the not knowing.  Instead of spending my energy on tomorrow or the next day, I am spending time and energy on today.  Yes, I drive Chris crazy asking him, "So any news today?"  But I actually sigh and almost feel relieved not to know. 

So while we wait, we enjoy our time left here in VA.  We celebrated Valentine's Day with a special breakfast like we do every year.

Chris and I had dinner together after all the kiddos were tucked in tight.  We have had this Valentine tradition since Luke was born.  Since we can't really go out to celebrate, I make something special for us here at home.  While the kids were upstairs taking showers and getting ready for bed, I was busy preparing our steaks, spinach casserole, and loaded potatoes.  Yummy!

Hayley made her way down to check things out before Chris tucked her in and she saw the candles lit and the dining room decked out for our special dinner.  She grinned and said, "Oh, Mommy it's beautiful!  I hope you and Daddy enjoy your special Valentine's dinner, you love birds."  It was so cute. 

And we have had company come to visit with us.

My sister and brother in-law, niece, and nephew came to visit us for 5 days.  We had such a wonderful time I barely broke out the camera.  It was one of those visits where I just enjoyed every moment and now I could kick myself for not pulling out the camera more.

Here is one of the only pictures I took of the cousins (minus Hannah) at the USMC museum.

Oh, my heart be still.  I can't even fathom my baby boy really standing on those yellow footprints at Boot Camp.  But if he chooses to serve his country in this way, the Marines would be lucky to have such a wonderful young man.

Reading has really taken off for Hayley. She was so into reading EVERY word at EVERY exhibit.  So exciting to see the words come to life for her.

And Aunt Holly came to visit us too.  We had a great time playing, going to Target (of course), and just hanging out.

Here are the girls just being silly.

Holly and I even got to sneak away one afternoon and head to Sephora where we had our eye make-up done and we made some fun purchases.  We spent a couple of hours just playing with make-up.  Such a fun treat.

Maybe sometime soon I'll be able to fill you in on our adventure for this summer.  But until then, I will enjoy and relish in the moments today.

She Makes Us Giggle

Little Miss is such a ham.  She loves to make us laugh.  She has got silly down pat.  The other night at the dinner table, she had us all howling (never mind the lack of manners).  Luke insisted that I get the camera out and take a few pictures of our Junior Ranger.

Please take note of the healthy dinner I served this night.  A slice of bologna, boxed mac and cheese and cucumbers with ranch dressing.  I would like to say I only do this type of meal once a month, but really it's more like once a week. 

But hey, it's better than fast food, right?

And no one complained about the meal.  Hallelujah!!!

Nice ranch dressing soul patch, HB!

Hayley joined in on the silliness and asked that I title this picture Cucumber Mouth.

And here is Luke, aka Macaroni Man, right after his 3rd helping of mac and cheese.



What is a Sister?

What is a sister?  She's someone more special than words; someone beautiful and unique.  And in so many ways, there is no one who is loved so dearly.

~ by Douglas Pagels



Happenings

Time again to download some of the fun things from January and February that are on my phone.  So here are some random things for you to enjoy...

So proud of Luke and Hayley for receiving Clubber of the Quarter at AWANA!  This year is the first for them to participate in AWANA and they are doing such a fantastic job. 

Hayley received a medal at gymnastics for her achievements so far this year. 

Luke and I had a special date to the Lego store.  This boy was in heaven.  He had $15 to spend for himself and he spent $10 of his money on his sisters and $5 for himself.  His heart and thoughtfulness amaze me.  Such a sweet boy.

Luke standing next to the Lego Star Wars Death Star.  A dream come true!

Hayley asked me to take a picture of her pizza she ordered for lunch one day when we went to downtown Fredericksburg to eat.  She ordered the smiley face pizza.

I think she got the scary face pizza.

Yikes!

Homeschool Lesson #37.  When all else fails, give the two year old some stickers and let her go to town.  Unfortunately, poor Ruby was a victim to her stickerness this day.



Rewind

I completely forgot to post pictures of our trip to the VA Science Museum back in January and didn't want to leave them out of our book.  So, here they are!



The Unexpected

Thankfully, my husband is spontaneous.  He doesn't have to plan for weeks and months like I do before we go on an excursion.  He does some research the night before (sometimes the morning of) and we are off. 

This past week, his school schedule allowed for Wednesday off.  He came home and told me on Tuesday night.  "Let's go do something," says Chris.  I, of course, starting thinking, "but we have Bible Study, school, and Hayley has dance."  But then I remember that this wonderful school schedule that Chris has will soon be replaced with a job that takes him to work from 5:00am to 10:00pm most days and then away for a 7 month deployment.  So, the other "stuff" can wait until Thursday.  And we loaded up and headed out Wednesday morning.

Up the road just a few hours, and we were in PA at Liberty Mountain Resort where we did this:

We had a blast!!!!  The weather was beautiful and actually warm.  I could have stayed all day and gone down that hill a thousand times, but after an hour we headed out and drove over to Gettysburg to see the museum and tour the battlefield.

Luke read the entrie Gettysburg Address outloud to us.  Very cool stuff.

What an awesome, spontaneous, fun family outing!!!  I love my husband and how he balances me out.