Photo Captions and Thankfullness

I'm so behind on my Thankful posts, I've been posting to facebook but here's the recap.....

‎11/7/10-thankful that I was able to get so much done today! Thanks to the "extra hour" we were able to go to 9 am mass and then we still had the entire day to get things done!
‎11/8/10--Thankful for coffee time with a friend!
11/9/10--Thankful for Olivia's therapists! They are fantastic with her and we're blessed to have found them!
11/10/10--Thankful for the quality time that I got to spend with Peter while Olivia is at school.
‎11/11/10-Thankful that Gamma Phi Beta was founded 136 years ago! Love, Labor, Learning and Loyalty. Love to all my GPB Sisters.
‎11/12/10 thankful for the beautiful day spent exploring Pennsylvania Dutch country
‎11/13/10-thankful that we are able to be in Pennsylvania to see Larry and jenn say "I do"
‎11/14/10-thankful to be home! Scranton, PA to Fayetteville, NC with a stop at Ikea! Great day and discovered that Ikea may be the best place ever to stop while on a road trip. Clean bathrooms, quick food, plenty of room to stretch the legs and the kids loved it!
‎11/15/10--Thankful that everyone finally seems to be recovering from their colds! We're ready stop going through an entire box of tissues every day!


And now for some photo caption explanation. I got quite a few comments and questions of the picture of Mike from the Veteran's Day post. The picture on my Veteran's Day post is of Mike as he's completing his Jumpmaster duties. Mike can't really give me much information about the picture as he doesn't know when it was taken, he cannot even tell me if they were in the air or on the ground. In any case the photo scares me a little. Maybe "scare" isn't quite the right word. Every once in a while I will see Mike doing something related to his work that makes me look twice, I have this weird "I can't believe that's my husband" reaction. Every time I see him with a gun I have this reaction. How can the guy I meet at a frat party over 10 years ago be this guy? How is this the same person who dances around in the kitchen with our daughter? This is one of those pictures, he's so focused, he looks like a completely different person to me.

Veterans Day

I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died,
Who gave that right to me.
-Lee Greenwood

Veggie Tales

Last week we were given tickets to a local VeggieTales performance. Mike was unable to attend but I knew that the kids would both love it and I didn't want to miss the opportunity just beacuse Mike wouldn't be there. I decided that I could handle taking the kids to the concert by myself but I knew I'd need some moral support so I asked a friend and her son to join us. Our entire day was structured around attending the 7pm concert....late naps, early dinner, etc. We got to the concert and I decided to put Olivia in the stroller and have Peter walk with me. We met up with my friend and her adorable son,
J', and got our seats. Olivia stayed in the stroller and had the best view since she could see straight down the asile to the stage. Olivia started giggling the moment the lights dimmed and the concert started. She LOVED it! I wish I'd gotten better pictures of her but whenever I'd take her picture the flash would distract her from the concert so I just gave up and let her enjoy it.



Peter and 'J' had a blast! 'J' is about 6 months older than Peter, but they look so much alike!






Seriously, they could be brothers! They really are too cute for their own good! They shared snacks with eachother very nicely and I know that there are plenty of playdates in our future!





Towards the end of the concert Peter and 'J' were getting a little sleepy.



Rather than risk having to carry two very tired little boys all the way back to the car we decided to head out a few minutes early and miss the traffic. I'm rediculously pround that I was able to take both kids out by myself so that we could share this experience! I know it'll get easier as Peter gets older but right now it's a challenge just to leave the house!



If you're not familiar with VeggieTales here's a link to a video of one of our favorites!

Organizational Day

A couple of weeks ago Mike's unit here at Ft. Bragg had an Organizational Day for the families. Olivia had school but Peter had a blast and we were able to learn a little more about what Mike does everyday!



They had one of their M777 155 Howitzer Guns on display. Peter was quite confident that he knew exactly what to do!







Mike's unit now is the ONLY Airborne 155 MM Battalion in the world. They throw these guns out of the plane and then they jump out of the plane after.



Later on in the day they shot several rounds from this big gun but it was so loud! I was too busy trying to protect Peter from permanent hearing damage that I wasn't able to take pictures of that excitement.

Mike showed Peter how to work the MK19 Grenade launcher.



I got to shoot an M4 rifle.



Mike took Peter for a ride in his Humvee.







All in all it was a fun day. It was interesting to learn more about what Mike does.