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The Dollhouse gets another lease on life!

The kids went bonkers today with the “new” dollhouse.  They stopped playing with it only long enough to watch Imagination Movers - but as soon as the closing song started they were immediately back at the dollhouse again.

 

And in the “I cannot believe this thing still works” category, the winner is:

 

The tiny electric table lamp!!  This thing is classic and sturdy, I guess!!

Dance Photos!!

While I don’t have the real professional ones yet, here are my admittedly amateur photos of the kids in their dance costumes. 

They could not have been better behaved!!  Their timeslot was supposed to be from 1:30 to 3:00, but another parent, apparently, had a birthday party for their child with several kids from another dance group and asked if they could go first.  I maintain that was a cleverly played rouse – one I intend to remember and possible use in the future.  But the end result for use was another delay – we didn’t get the photos taken until nearly 2:30 and didn’t get the kids to sleep until almost 4:00!! 

And these kids weren’t rammy or miserable or anything!! They were patient and quiet and all smiles when they got their pictures taken.  We are so proud of them!!

I’ll pass on info about the real photos when I get it.

A before and after of our garage

Today’s goal of finishing the garage was accomplished!  I even have enough space to possibly fit the van!! Later in the week, that is – tomorrow that space will be filled with leftover moving boxes…

Tomorrow, I hope to start hanging things up!

Visit to the Firefighter Museum

The kids absolutely loved this excellent museum dedicated to Firefighters and American LaFrance (who have been making fire trucks since the 1830’s). 3yr old boys and fire trucks – a combination that CANNOT go wrong!

They climbed a ladder and slid down a fireman's pole, and John drove a firetruck simulator. At the end they each received a fireman's helmet (which they continue to wear after their nap).

Today I went to the HMS Surprise (the ship they filmed "Master and Commander" on), a Russian Foxtrot submarine, a Steam Yacht, and the USS Dolphin test submarine, with my good friend Rob and his daughter Clara. The ships were all very interesting, thought I am absolutely certain that Sarah is glad I went without her!!

My Counter Piracy Brief at EDO School

Here is the brief I gave as part of my EDO coursework. It is in two parts because YouTube has a 10 minute time limit and the presentation was 15 minutes. The quality is poor because it was recorded on a really old VHS tape, and then digitized by my video camera - but hey, it got done.

Ultimately, I didn't really like the way it turned out. I did some things very well but others very poorly. From my perspective:
Goods - excellent transitions between slides, organization of the brief
Bads - way too many verbal ticks (umms, uhs, ahs, etc)

What do you think?

EDO School, so far

We are in the second day of school now, and so here are some photos of where I am and what I'm doing.  The first photo is the schoolhouse (note the propeller and Terrier missile), the second is my desk with monster study material, and the third is the cool rental car I’m driving (a Chevy Malibu)

Very Cool Video

This is an amazing bit of linguistic art!



H/T: Daryl

Triplets Play in the Snow

We had our first real playtime in deep snow yesterday! The snow here is roughly 10 inches (almost thigh high on them!!) and nicely powdered for play! They have never seen anything more than light dustings before.

Detached...

I have said my last goodbyes to those on LABOON, and now head off into the unknown... But first - Christmas!!

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia

Hilarious and Blasphemous all at the same time!!!

h/t: Bostonmaggie

Wrapping Presents with Daddy

Probably not my smartest idea, but one I’m glad to have had – especially after the fact. These are those roses I keep being told to “stop and smell” along the way…

I got the house!!

Yesterday evening I signed the lease on the fantastic home in Charleston that we will be renting while I'm down there. Two days of house hunting down there and I found the location of the YMCA, the Walmart, Barnes and Noble, Indoor Gun Range (no word yet on if they rent guns or not), and the Lowes. I'm very happy with the house and the location just 10 minutes from work!! Here are a couple of photos:

Deployment Summary

I'm back from deployment and would love to post pictures of it but my laptop died before I could backup the photos. I have a couple options to get them back, but it'll take some time. Anyway, it was a busy 7.5 months with both diplomatic support and Counter-Piracy Operations as a part of Standing NATO Maritime Group TWO. Laboon visited
Sigonella, IT
Alexandria, EG
Haifa, IS
Thessaloniki, GR
Lisbon, PO
Malaga, SP
Souda Bay, GR (at least 10 times; it's a logistics hub)
Taranto, IT
Split, CR
Muscat, OM
Djibouti, DJ

I'd recommend any of them except Djibouti; that's a hellhole. The counter-piracy stuff was fascinating, as we were among the first on station, so we were developing the tactics as we learned. Very interesting interactions with many other nations, including a conversation with a Russian task group that would not have occurred if we were operating as a US ship rather than NATO.

I'm glad to be back!! And even more glad to be on vacation! I'll post some pics if I get my laptop harddrive back up and running.

We're Surviving...

It's been a week and a half, but we're surviving. Much of the time has been so busy I don't have much time to think about John, but I know we all miss him. Daycare twice a week has helped immensely. The time off doesn't always mean I'm sitting at home doing nothing, but it means I am getting things done in a day that would normally take me a week to get done.

Our sitter is a lovely Scottish woman, and she loves the kids. They stay well fed, and have a few other kids their age to play with. It has really helped all of us, not just me...but I think I like it just little more then they do. : )

Heather is being much more girlie every day, John is as "helpful" as ever, and William is as happy as ever. We are doing surprisingly well. We hope you are all doing well too. Cheers.

Heather

Heather is slightly below the growth chart, but I have to keep reminding myself that she has always been small, and will probably always be small. She is able to push my buttons, but not as much as John can. She has found that she likes to be in front of the camera, and is as much of a drama queen as ever.

John

John is growing right on schedule, and driving Mommy crazy. He's aggressive, stubborn, and hates to listen to me....I don't know any family like that. : ) But, I couldn't think of ever not having him. Although sometimes... : )

William

William is growing right on schedule, and his speech therapist says we may be able to ween him out of the program soon. He's very...very expressive now, even if his words aren't always there. What makes it all good, is that he is still able to go and play by himself, while his sibilings fight in the other corner. : )