I'm Back...

...at least for today. It has been a very strange week and a half since my parents left. My dad has had a bit of a health scare, and I have been feeling quite helpless being so far away. Thank goodness for SouthWest airlines. This may be a bit of a shameless plug for them but they now offer "Wanna Get Away" fares and I got tickets to go home next weekend for $98 round trip. The doctor says that as long as my dad follows orders, everything should be just fine. I would just feel better if I could see him and give him a hug.
The weekend after that I will be traveling to Texas for Jesse's Air Force Graduation. I am excited because not only do I get to see my aunts but I also get to cross another state off my list working towards #28 on my 30 list and also continuing with #13. I have recently crossed off a few more so I guess I will be posting an update soon.
I will try to update again soon.

One More Shot

My mom and dad are in town and my mom wanted to see the castle lights. Shawn bought me a tripod and this is one of the first shots I tried.

Updates

I have gotten a bit behind with the pictures. I thought I would post a few things that we have been up to the past few weeks.

Christmas Morning

I may not have had a White Christmas but our sunrise was a sight to behold.

Christmas Eve

Aubrey watched Santa on NORAD. She had a ton of fun with this and let us all know that Rudolph must be real because the internet says so.

We went to Uncle Bill's house as is our tradition every year. Aubs continued to track Santa and kept the adults up to date on Santa's location.

Aubrey read part of the "Night Before Christmas" story this year. My Daddy read it to us and Aubs' Daddy tried to read it to her this year but she wanted to read a bit to him.

Cookies and Cocoa

Aubreys Pre-K class had cookie and cocoa time and invited in the kids families. They sang four songs for us, and then we watched them eat the cookies. I don't think any of the adults were brave enough to break through the wall of 4 and 5 year olds to get a cookie.

Aubrey's Gift Wrapping

Aubrey perfected her gift wrapping skills this year. The only problem she ran into was when she tried to grab some tape and realized that she would have to let go of the flap. The above picture is her solution to that problem. I just love watching how her brain works.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Okay, okay this picture was not taken for New Year's but it is the only fireworks picture I have.

May you all have a happy and prosperous 2008.

Nostalgic Christmas

Many of my gifts this year bring me back to a happy place in my childhood. It was a movie Christmas for me. Shawn and Aubs bought me some current favorites, Blu-Ray Harry Potter 1-5, and some childhood classics. I have spent the past two days as time allows watching Sesame Street Old School Volume 1. I also received Volume 2, The Secret of Nimh, The Neverending Story, The Witches, and the Secret Garden.

Merry Christmas!!

Aubrey's Hand Made Christmas

Aubs is a crafter. She loves scrapbooking, making things, and wants to learn to knit. She makes me wonder if these things are really inherited. Part of why I love decorating the tree is because my parents gave me many of our ornaments when I moved out. Decorating the tree is really a time for family history telling. I have one of the ornaments that make my mom think of her dad. I have the ornaments that my mom made out of our mobiles. This year we added Aubrey's first homemade ornament. The only problem I see with this is that it is a family tradition to let you take the ornament with you, and at this point it is way to precious.

She also made a gift for Grampy. She painted an IKEA frame and put on sparkles. We have been working on an Advent Calendar as well. I couldn't find one at the store so we made a Santa's face and she has been adding a cotton ball each day so that on Christmas he will have a full beard.

Awesome News

Aubrey can read. Yup, that's right my four year old daughter can read. It started with a word here and there aided by the picture on the page. Today it progressed to words on signs we were passing and at the gas station. I bought her a I Can Read Stage 1 and she proceeded to read to me until I "Constracted" (Distracted) her by calling my mother. I guess the days of spelling secrets have officially ended.

Feeling Better

Thank you everyone for your love and support. I am feeling much better this week. It is an uphill battle and with friends and family like you I will definitely come out on top.

Rattled

Today I am feeling rattled to the core. My faith is at an all time low, it is almost nonexistent. I have lost faith in people I believed to be friends. Faith in someone that is supposed to be my family. My entire belief system is being tested and I fear I am failing horribly. I just can't believe in anything that would let all of this happen. I know that everyone says that you won't be given any more than you can handle but I am even having problems believing that right now.

Finding Joy In The Absurdity Of It All.

Christmas in Florida is a very odd time. Gwenn this post is really for you as you are about to enjoy your first tropical holiday. My air conditioning in the car is out and since it has been 80+ everyday I had take it in. I went after work to check on my car and they said that it would be tomorrow before it was ready. The lovely people at Central Florida Chrysler Jeep Dodge comped a rental for the night. My car is well past warranty so this was really above and beyond. The rental car company that has a desk at the dealership was very low on cars and had to give me a bit older model than they would usually hand out. I however managed to make do as it is a convertable. I had never driven one before and decided to put the top down on my way home since it was still 77. While driving with the top down, listening to Christmas Carols, and noticing a sign for the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party I started to laugh out loud. This got me thinking of the lengths we go to in Florida to create Christmas Cheer when many of us feel we need the snow.

- Close the blinds and turn up the AC while cooking winter favorites.
- Attempting to hang ornaments and lights on palm trees. (This is harder than one would think)
- Getting sunburned while hanging icicles on the outside of the house.
- Trucking in tons of ice and shaving it to resemble snow.
- Creating snow out of soap. Snoap lasts a bit longer than the ice so the kids can play a little longer and it is very slippery. Aubrey however is not amused and yells bubbles!
- Telling everyone that it can too snow at 32 even if you are fully aware that the only moisture in the air is what is sucked out of your hair.
- Burning Pine and Snow Angels candles so that if you concentrate hard enough you can almost feel the cold.
- Keeping a pair of shorts and a tank top next to the bed so that when at 3 AM you realize it is too hot for flannel jammies you can easily change.
- Wearing scarves over t-shirts.

Surprised by Magic

We spend quite a bit of time at Walt Disney World. It is one of my favorite places and I am very lucky that we have passes and I can go whenever I want. We have spent our anniversary there every year. We also spent the three days after our wedding in one of the hotels. During the 9 Christmas seasons I have spent here there was one thing that I had never seen, the Mickey's Holiday Parade. Yesterday we planned to go to see the castle lights, a new attraction this year, but online and the guide maps said that the regular parade was to go on. Having seen this parade many times we opted to go shopping to miss the parade crowd. While visiting with a cast member named Liz, who truly exemplified what a Disney employee should be, she mentioned that the music was wrong for the regular parade and they must have sent out the Holiday Parade. At that I ran outside and confirmed that once again Disney had managed to make me feel like a small child, the one that knows nothing but the magic of Christmas. I am posting a few pictures of our day. I hope you like the pictures.

Seven

Dearest Shawn,
I know you read this so I thought I would surprise you with a letter. Tomorrow we will celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary. With everything that has been happening lately I wanted to let you and the world know how thankful I am for you. We met as I was going through one of the toughest things I have ever dealt with. Soon after we started dating you had to deal with the biggest loss a son can go through. That was such a bittersweet moment in our story, that is the moment I knew I could never leave your side again.
On some level it was pretty much love at first sight for me, it just took a while for everything to work out. Did you know that once after hearing you say that you liked red hair I went home and dyed my hair? I was definitely smitten. Nine years later here we are. We have spent seven of those years married, and nearly five as parents. We have made it through some rough stuff and the most amazing moments of my life. I am so happy to have you by my side and am looking forward to many more years as your wife.

Love Always and Forever,
Missy

Seven Thanks:
To Mom and Dad, thank you for loving Shawn unconditionally.
To Aubrey, thank you for making us parents.
To Granny, Poppy, and Grampy, thank you for treating me as if I was always a part of your wonderful family.
To Dad B., thank you for being the father-in-law most people wish they could have.
To all my Siblings, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins thank you for accepting Shawn without a second thought.
To Bill, thank you for being our Best Man a job you have continued with long past our wedding ceremony.
To Shawn, thank you for loving and accepting me and my family for who we are, this means so much more today.

I love you, Daddy.

This picture is not from my happiest day but I did learn a very important lesson that day. Our family is strong and loves and supports each other and we will get through this.*

* We are all healthy just facing some tough stuff.

Conversations With My Four Year Old Christmas Edition

Aubrey has been about to explode with the anticipation that comes along with Christmas and a birthday that falls a few weeks later. When she sees something she tells us to put it on the Birthday or Christmas list. About a week ago she changed from lists to the following:

Me: Aubrey, what would you like for Christmas?

Aubs: Everyfing. (th in the middle of the word tends to sound more like f at the moment)

She asks to put money in the Salvation Army buckets every time we walk by and I am happy to oblige. I thought this would be a good way to start very simple conversations about charity.

Me: Since you want everything for Christmas and you already have quite a bit, what do you think of giving some toys to little boys and girls who don't have any?

Aubs: Like Lily and Joss?

Me: What?

Aubs: Lily and Joss are little so they don't have as many toys.

Me: No, I mean kids who don't have any toys.

Aubs: Well, I still want to get them presents. How about Kiera, Aunt Kristen said she needs toys.

Me: We will get toys for Kiera. I mean for kids whose Mommies and Daddies may not be able to get them toys.

Aubs just kind of stared at me at this point and I decided I needed another approach.

Me: We could give the toys to the Marines.

Aubs: Oh, yes! The Marines. We could give toys to the Marines. Why do the Marines need toys?

Me: They collect them to give to the kids who need them.

Aubs: But I thought we were giving them to the Marines.

I give up.

Sorry and Belated Thanksgiving Wishes.

Once again I am behind on blogging. Here is the rundown of what has happened in the last ten days.

- The day after Ikea opened I woke up and realized that the cold I had for three days had become much, much worse. I actually headed to the doctor's office hoping they could help me catch my breath. It turns out that since I had not gone to the doctor when it was just a slight cold it had turned into a full blown case of the itises. Sinusitis, Bronchitis, and ear infectionitis. (I know not and itis but I was on a roll.) Ten days of antibiotics later and I am still a bit stuffy with a slight cough but definitely way better than I was.

- Aubrey discovered how to make hand turkeys. She made them with frosting, markers, crayons, and any other writing untensil she could find. The markers were the biggest problem and I called my mother to see how to remove markers from my daughter's fingers. She laughed at me and told me to call my aunt.

- We spent last weekend resting.

- I had Jury Duty. I had heard how it is just a lot of sitting around and then they may call you to a panel but you usually don't get picked. I was pulled withing the first 30 minutes and actually picked to be a juror. It was a very interesting case and I was picked as foreperson.

- Carly is the manager at one of my favorite stores and they needed help for the Black Friday weekend. Her store opened at midnight so I worked the overnight with her. I had a ton of fun and will be going back tomorrow.

- We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Shawn's father and sister. We are very thankful for our family.

- We started some holiday shopping today. We procured some more lights for the house, Aubs' Christmas outfit, a few gifts, and some new Christmas movies. Shawn has never seen The Santa Clause.

Today Was All About Me.

I took a day off of work today to go to the grand opening of Ikea. My manager and I have been planning this since we found out they were coming to the area. It was my first trip to Ikea and well worth the wait. I have grand plans swimming in my head for the future of my house. I just need to figure out which room is first. Ikea's grand openings are unlike anything I have ever seen. The employees cheered as we walked inside, that was not unusual to me as we did that at FAO every morning. What was neat was the golden envelopes they handed out to the first 2500 people. I had decided that I would not be a recipient of one of these because I thought there were a lot more people in line. I did not rush to the store but still managed to arrive just before the log sawing. My golden envelope contained a voucher for a 4 piece cookware set. I also bought a new duvet for my bed, I am really into bright colors and needed to get rid of the pastels I had in there before. Thank you Kim and Mark for sharing in my very first Ikea experience.

Happy Birthday USMC

Conversations With My Four Year Old

Aubrey has been on fire lately, she has been disclosing all sorts of wonderful information.

Aubrey about comedy:
A: Two drums in a truck.
M: What?
A: Two drums in a truck. It is a joke it is funny.
M: I don't quite get it.
A: Ok, ok here is another joke. What does Spongebob say to Patrick?
M: No clue.
A: UHHHH. Why because they are friends. (laughing hysterically)

I then told her Michaela's cow joke to try to give an example of jokes and punchlines. The response was:
A: Why did the skeleton say boo?
M: Why?
A: To scare you. (more laughing)
M: We may need to keep working on this one.


Aubrey about Marines:
A: Did you know that it is mean to call a Marine a Sholdier? (Soldier)
M: Hmm?
A: Sometimes people are mean and call Marines Sholdiers. It just isn't nice.

Aubrey about Music:
A: Can I play your kapiano? (Piano)
M: No. (It is bedtime, I wouldn't usually squash an interest in music)
A: Well you know I am taking a music class in school and Mrs. Pate says I should practice. She said that we are almost big kids and should start doing big kid things.

Monday Musings

First, I want to apologize. I will catch up with tons of pictures this weekend.

Second, please send lots of happy thoughts towards the ladies in my office. We are going to start training for a half marathon in May. We are all of varying degrees of athletic skill. I am privately struggling to rid the house of candy with Aubrey not noticing and myself not eating it. Since we have seven months I am first attacking my eating habits. I figure if I try to do them both together I may get discouraged.

Third, today was one of the most bizarre drives home I have ever had. I passed an armadillo waving people into a new restaurant. Half a mile later I passed the "Bad Ass Coffee Ass" waving people into the coffee shop. Here is a question I came up with: Aren't air mattresses made to be deflated, folded, and easily moved? If your answer is yes then please explain to me why I saw a car driving down the street with two of them inflated tied to the roof.

10/22 to 10/28/07

On Monday Aubrey decided to learn how to snap. By Friday she had taught herself how and has not stopped snapping since.

Tuesday was Aubrey's first Picture Day. I will post those pictures as soon as I receive them.

Friday I took a Hot Yoga class with Carly and Jenny. I loved it, but I still can't move my arms above parallel with the ground. Next week we are planning on stepping back to beginner for a few weeks.

Yesterday Aubs and I had a regular Saturday and Shawn had a Band Competition. His percussion line got some great comments so that was good for him. For those of you who don't know Shawn is teaching the percussion line at the local High School.

Today we went and got Aubs' first haircut. For a long time she had been opposed to having a haircut so we let her go at her own pace and decide when she would get it. The stylist applauded us on that decision. This may have had something to do with the child a few before Aubs who just kept screaming and kicking. The pictures above are from the before and after. Disney really makes the first cut an event complete with Pixie Dust, Certificate, and Mickey Ears that say "First Haircut" on the back. The most surprising thing about that it is only cost $14, they don't charge anymore for the "First" package.

10/21/07

Last Sunday I got to see my Mom preach in her own church for the first time. Aubrey and Papa spent some time gathering some Fall leaves.

10/20/07

Rock And Roll Hall of Fame was the destination of the day. Aubrey wanted to wear her Marine Corp gear so that everyone could see how much she loves Jake. I also discovered that Aubrey has learned to climb trees. It is also a proven fact that the earth may open up and swallow my daughter and nephew if they should ever both look directly at the camera at the exact same moment.

10/19/07

This is a little game of Blog Catch-Up. This is last Friday when Aubrey was a Flower Girl and Michael was a Pillow Boy. Just ask Aubs she will tell you that is what they were called.

Sorry

I have tons of pictures and stories to post. I promise I will try to catch up soon. This week is shaping up to be another busy one. Tomorrow we are going to get Aubrey's first haircut. I will post pictures as soon as I can. There will also be some very cute Halloween pictures headed everyone's way.

Pumpkin Spice Latte and Random Musing

I am a big fan of Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte and have been so for a few years now. When I am in Florida they remind me of fall at home. Today I realized that drinking one while feeling that chill in the air that comes with a Northeastern Ohio Fall is an entirely new wonderful experience.

Also I noticed that "Hot or Iced?" is a question they seem to only ask in Florida. I ordered my coffee today and it was given to me without a second question. Usually my coffee order, even the holiday drinks, is followed up with the temperature question.

Fall

I had forgotten how much I love fall. Even with all the other CRAP going on today, I am thankful that I was able to just enjoy the beauty of the changing leaves. Shawn and I agree that the red leaves are our favorite. Spring and Fall are the most difficult times for me to visit home. I really miss seeing the changes that these two times of year bring with them. As we were driving down the street I grew up on Shawn mentioned that he could see us living up here, however we agreed that after too many days of snow that novelty could quickly wear off. When we visit in the winter it is very easy to remember why we choose to live in sunny beautiful Florida.

I hope to get some good pictures tomorrow. The weather was not very cooperative and the sky was gray most of the day.

Spirit Week

The first is from Mis-Match Day, I think she really got into this one! We also had Pro/College Team Spirit Day, that was tough because Aubs is not properly outfitted for her mother's Ohio Roots. I also could not go and buy her any Tribe items because it is a proven fact in the Morgan Family, that if you buy T-shirts for the series you are watching, your beloved team will lose.* I just couldn't take that chance. Her favorite team is the Red Sox, I know I have failed as a parent, and there was no way I could dress her that way. I thought of going and buying a Boston Shirt so that they would lose but I was afraid that would backfire. She ended up wearing Gators items, which is why there is no picture. I am still a bit upset by the whole basketball/football thing but it was all I could find on such short notice. (Translation: I remembered she needed something Sunday night and had to go on my lunch hour Monday) Today was Favorite Character day. She was going to be Belle but decided at 6:45 the costume was too itchy. Thanks to Uncle Brian we were able to switch to Hannah Montana in moments and the day was saved.

* Mount Union seems to be the only team immune to this phenomenon. I believe that has something to do with their immunity to losing anything.
By the way this is my 300th Post!

Crazy Weekend

Wow, this weekend has been crazy. Aubs and I even had time for a well deserved nap this afternoon. Here is the rundown of what we did:
Saturday
- Ballet
- Fire Station Open House
- Haircut (Me)
- Target Trip #1 for Birthday Gift
- Michaela's Birthday Party. Happy 5th Birthday!!!!!
- Target Trip #2 for Vacation Supplies
- Stop at Library to drop off books.
- Finished my shrug for Bob's Wedding
- Learned to play Guitar Hero, a seriously addicting video game.

Sunday
- Laundry
- Finished Aubrey's shrug for the wedding
- Worked on Joss' Blanket
- Took a nap
- Baked 5 loaves of Pumpkin bread
- Laid out Aub's Spirit Week clothes
- Started Packing for the trip

First Attempt At Photoshop Magic

Maury asked that I give this a try. I hope you like it. Aubs is going to die when she sees this tomorrow. I know this is a very obvious Photoshop but I think it isn't too bad for my first try. I tried to do what it said to blur the edges and I just couldn't get it to work. I will keep trying and show you all my progress.

Family Resemblance?

Nope, I just don't see it.
This was our first time meeting Zachary the youngest member of the family. Lisa and Mike he is really a beautiful boy.

Introducing Zachary B.

Mikey and Aubrey B

I took a bunch of these two kids. This is the only one that really turned out and I just noticed you can totally tell their mouths are full of food.

My little Rock Star

I am a bit behind with my posts so I thought I would put up some pics of the family to share.

I Was Definitely Not Ready For This

Aubrey went to her first slumber party last week. She of course had no problem, I fared slightly worse crying as I drove away from the house. I have to thank Miss Courtney, you really made Aubs feel like a big girl inviting her to stay the night with all of your friends. Also thanks to Mark and Dawn for being such great family members that I had no worries knowing that my only child was in your care.

During the time we were visiting with Mark and Dawn, Mark showed us some of the things that Poppy had saved. We found some letters from a Virgina to her Dearest Husband Edward. They had a postmark of 1924. I contacted Cille, Helen's sister-in-law, because her family and Poppy have a common last name and geography. Virginia and Edward are her Great Aunt and Uncle. We just need to figure out where Poppy fits in and why he would have their letters. We now have an official "Family History Mystery" on our hands. I will let everyone know how this turns out.

I am not ready for this...

This will be our first Princess Free Halloween. Aubrey has been a Disney princess for the last three Halloweens. This year she has chosen to be a Marine. As much as my heart is sad that we may be officially out of the princess phase, my heart is happy that she feels the need to show her love for her Jakey in such a visible way. She has such an amazing capacity for love and choses to show it in so many ways. We are living in a camo world right now. Next on her list is the galoshes at Target she has two shirts, pants, and now a hat.

For Carly

We got to visit with Carly last night. That is always a treat because we don't get to see her very often and she is an important part of our Florida Family. While we were chatting she expressed her disdain for viewing the blog without an update. So Carly here is one just for you!

Library Lessons Learned

1. Make sure the book is in English. Our local library has a large Spanish section. While I think this is a great idea, I think the people sorting the books need to pay better attention to where they shelf these books. I wanted Aubrey to get the book Olivia. I grabbed it off the shelf and put it in the library bag. Last night I was watching television when Shawn came out and asked if I had ever read the book. I answered "Yes", he replied "This book" and handed it to me. I opened the front cover and sure enough it was in Spanish.

2. Read through the books before putting them in the bag or do not make fun of Joshua for picking the "Dead Mommy" book. This is really more of a lesson that involves many jokes between Joshua and I. There is a bad habit of every time I make fun of Joshua for something silly that he has done it comes back around. Another example of this is the $10 cherries. Well I did it again, except that I picked the "Dead Grandma" book. I picked a book by Tommy DePaola called Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs. I knew he has some very good award winning children's books that is what I thought about when I chose one of his books. It is about a Great Grandmother and a Grandmother dying. If I had known this I never ever would have picked this book. Aubrey is very sensitive to death since Poppy passed away. It took a little over an hour to get her relaxed and to sleep.

We will be going back to the Library this weekend. I will be much more conscious of what we put in the bag.

Parris Island #2

After the Moto-Run is a portion of the day that is much like torture for the families. You have had a quick glimpse of your new Marine but we are going to make you wait six more hours until you can spend time with them. Right before they send you off for quite a few hours they march the Marines in front of you as they line up for graduation practice. It was at this point we caught our first glimpse of Jake. This resulted in copious tears and screams from the women in our family. We saw Jake a few minutes before he realized we were there doing our best to get his attention. I am sure if we were the only ones yelling and screaming at our Marine Jake would have noticed us quite a bit earlier, however there were about 100 other families doing the same. Soon after Jake noticed us the DI gave the order of "Left" at this point they all turned and looked at the families. I caught some great pictures of Jake laughing. I would like to say that he was smiling at the sheer excitement of seven family members standing close by but I suspect the crass comments from the DI were really the culprit.

Picture #1 Jake is smiling just a bit, he has just realized we are there.
Picture #2 Maury so very excited to see her boy.
Picture #3 These are the smiles that the DI got for his comments.

Preview of #3 Coffee, Slobber, and Danish.

In My Daughter's Eyes

I will get back to "The Barrieau Boot Camp Adventure" tomorrow. For tonight I thought I would leave you with a photo from our aspiring photographer the Divine Miss B. She took this all by herself. Some of our best pictures this past weekend came from Aubs. She really has quite the eye. I will make sure an point them out as they are posted. This weekends pictures amaze me because every now and then I catch a glimpse of the Alaburda side of the family. I did not realize until some of her pictures with Jake how very strong the resemblance can be.

9-11-01

Our lives were forever changed in a moment that day. I took this picture at Jake's graduation. This year my thoughts are different. Last week I met many Marines who do their job without a second thought. These men all volunteered knowing what may lie before them. There were heroes created on 9-11 that woke up thinking it was just another day. Those moments inspired many men and women to join our Armed Forces, creating heroes for our future. This past weekend I had the honor of meeting some of these men face to face. This year as I reflect on the events that have left us forever changed I want to say "Thank You" to those who have volunteered to protect my family and country.

Parris Island #1

The first event of Graduation Weekend is the Moto-Run or Motivational Run. This is the first opportunity to see your recruit. After waking up at what Aunt Kim lovingly refers to as 0-dark-hundred we departed MCAS Beaufort for Parris Island. When you first arrive to Parris Island you are routed around by barricades. I think that they purposefully have training happening at every course so the families catch a glimpse of what their Marine went through. When we finally arrived to the run course, you could actually feel the excitement in the air as 400 some families caught their first glimpse of their Marine. When I saw the 2nd Battalion flag coming towards us I started to cry. I managed to keep it together most of the weekend but when I saw those young men running towards us was overcome with emotion. We saw the Guidons for every platoon but Jake's and were a bit upset until we saw the Recruit Photographer and he told us that Jake's Platoon was the Honor Guard. They were the ones carrying the Battalion Flag. Jake is the Marine that you can see between the shoulders of the two Marines on the outside in the top picture. The second picture is what we saw when the Run came towards us.

For Maury

Aunt Maury has requested I post this picture. We have returned safely from Parris Island. It is going to take a few days of posts to go over everything we did in two days. Those Marines bring a whole new meaning to efficient. Our two days were packed with tons of information and many chances to get a first glimpse of our Marine. I will do my best to explain the experience, but I will not do justice to the feeling of being there. By the time we were done I was ready to find a recruiter and sign myself up!

Flashback Tuesday...

Today was one of the best nights I have had in a while. When I got home I spoke to someone I hadn't spoken with in way too long. I made one of my favorite family recipes to bring to Jake. That is where the flashback comes in, I was standing in the kitchen, eating a family weeknight classic, and wearing my leotard and tights for dance class. It has been twelve years since I had that experience. I went to my first tap class, it was not nearly as bad as I thought. There is another mom in the class who took her first class tonight, so I was not alone! The teacher is an old friend that I have known since I first moved here. I will go to sleep tonight knowing that when I wake up I will be on my way to spend a weekend with my moms side of the family. All in all it was a night of old and new friends with a promise of seeing family tomorrow. It just doesn't get any better than that for me at this point in my life. I have to say it is a great place to be.

Operation Watch Our Baby Boy Become A Marine

We leave on Wednesday for Jake's graduation. Aubrey is so excited to see him that she has already packed her suitcase and put it by the front door. In her suitcase she has a snack, pink pants, red shirt, and the plug for the portable DVD player. I am going to try to convince her that other clothes are needed for the trip. Wish me luck.

What I Learned In School Today 8/31/07

The Pledge Of Allegiance

I think they have been learning this since the beginning but on Friday she was finally able to remember enough words to tell us. In true Aubrey fashion she finishes with "AMEN". She hasn't explained why she does this but I do believe it has to do with the word God being a part of the Pledge.