Mount Vernon

Pictures from my Phone

A real life picture of our 3 little people.  This shot captures each of their personalities perfectly.

Hannah wearing her rally megaphone at Luke's football game.

Little dude got glasses!  I love this picture of him.  Can you tell he is excited to sport his new look?  So stinkin cute.

Hayley gave me a makeover one evening before bedtime. 

I was thinking of wearing my hair like this for the Marine Corps Ball next week.

What do you think?

As payment for my makeover, Hayley asked me to do her hair. 

After our makeovers! 

Hayley got a hold of the camera and took this artistic shot.

And she took this shot of her greatest love, her Daddy.

Poor Little Ladybug

We don't do scary.  For us, Halloween is all about a fun costume and CANDY.  Oh, and carving pumpkins. 

We got our ladybug, Betsy Ross, and Green Lantern all dressed up and ready to go last night and then it happened.  The fine line between fantasy and reality was not drawn for our almost 2 year old

Notice how happy she is in these pictures where she cannot see what her brother has on his face.  A mask is all it took to turn our happy little bug into...

A very sad and scared ladybug!  All she kept screaming and crying was, "I scared.  I SCARED!"

Luke and his tender heart felt so bad.  We tried to tell him it wasn't his fault and explained to him that he reacted the same way to anyone dressed up when he was two.  He still felt bad and we almost had two children reduced to tears in a matter of minutes.  Luke took off the mask until we were ready to go, and we did not torture Hannah bug and make her walk around with us.  You should have seen all the horrible, scary masks that were out trick or treating last night.  Again, we don't do scary.

L and H don't have the trick or treat stamina that I once had as a child.  I would walk until I was either frozen or my feet hurt for just one more piece of candy. 

Both kiddos asked to return home after about a street and a half of knocking on doors. 

They REALLY don't do scary and avoided many houses due to creepy music, lights and displays.

They are definitely related to me.

Everyone made out well with loads of candy.

Poor little ladybug went to bed with none. 

We did save her a lollipop.

One Fourth Down

So, we have been in our house for 3 months now.  1/4 of our time here at Quantico is done.  11 months in one place is such a short time.  I feel like we are finally settled in with everything in its place, and then Chris and I are talking about where the monitor may place us next. 

He met with his monitor (the Marine that places us at the next duty station) about a month ago.  Chris decided not to apply to the follow on school here which means we will definitely be moving in the summer.  Back to the fleet.  Back to deployment cycles.  Back to daddy being gone ALOT.  My heart immediately begins to praise God for the past 4 years and putting Chris in a job and at school where he has been able to be home with us.  I know God will sustain us as we move into this new phase of Chris's career.  This time in the fleet will be so very different from when I had a 2 and 4 year old.  We have school aged kids now and a toddler.  School aged kids with Daddy being gone will be a whole new ball game for all of us. But if there is one thing I know for certain, God knows what lies ahead and He will be with us through it all.

 Where to next you may ask?  As far as jobs in the Marine Corps go, there are some positions available in CA and Hawaii.  We will see where they end up placing us.  I will probably have news to report sometime after Christmas. 

As we head into my one of my favorite times of the year, I am so glad to feel settled and in a routine.  It makes things feel like "home" and not just a place we are visiting for a while. 

Last Sunday afternoon, the kids all wanted to draw and write stories.  We turned on some music in the kitchen.  I cooked and they worked.  Chris was busy working on a paper for school so it was nice that everyone found something quiet to do.  Everyone was content and happy and it was so blissful.  I just stood there and watched them and soaked it all in. 

  

If you haven't read Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, I HIGHLY recommend it.  It has totally changed how I look at things.  Trying to slow down and pay attention to all the gifts that God has given to me.  Even the smallest gifts.  This day, I was so very thankful for these 3 huge gifts that God has entrusted to me.  So humbled that He would allow me to be their Mommy.  To love, teach,  and watch as He makes them into the people that He intended. 



Budding Engineers

Several weeks ago, the kids were able to test out their building skills in one of our history activities. We were studying the Pilgrims move to Holland and learning about the landscape of this new country.  I just love our curriculum!!!!  This activity is one of many very cool things with get to do with HOD.  It is a very tactile and "do and see" curriculum which helps learning really stick!

They learned all about what canals are and how important the dike built by the ocean was to this little town.  Here are some examples of our very own dikes.

Just about done building...

Finished

We placed Monopoly JR. ticket booths on one side of the dike to represent the town and then poured water on the other side to show what would happen when the water would rise...

Looks like we need to make a small repair in the bottom of his dike.

A picture of Hayley's dike after she made some repairs to hers.