Family Christmas Pictures

Everyone Look at the Camera..Smile!


Let's Try again...don't stick your tongues out this time..smile!

"A!!! DON"T EAT THE CANDY CANE!! M!!! STOP STICKING YOUR TONGUE OUT!! D, Please just look!!" Ok "SMILE"

UGH!!! Dancing Queen, Please stand still! SMILE!


Ok let's try something different. Mom and the Girls!


Dad and D



Atleast next time we will just start out separating the kids! We finally got one of them acting "unusual"!

OH NO!! The Cooking skills run in the family!!

"M" came to me and said, "Look Mom I made Daddy dinner" Here is what she made! Diced Green Peppers!! Lucky Daddy!



Dad responded with "Do I really have to eat it?" I told him of course he did! So he took a bite gave "M" some well deserved credit and threw the rest away! He is such a sport!!

I miss You! I want you right now!!

Today before I could even get my bed made "D" came in and this is what he said:

• D: "I miss my Grandma and Grandpa"
• Me: "Do you want to call them?" (It was only 7:20am, AZ time)
• D: "YES"
• Me: "Ok, here"

D and his conversation:

Remember the HUGE sign...He missed it!

OK so I spent how long painting 208 stars...tying the curtains together...hanging the sign in a place that he would never MISS it! Well...the Marine Corps always messes my plans up! They drove in through a different gate and he MISSED the sign completely! Needless to say I showed it to him on the way home!! Next time I will put signs EVERYWHERE!!

MIA (Missing in Action)!!!

MIA has brought many wonderful times getting reaquainted with my husband!! Hiram arrived home on October 15, 2008!! We woke up EARLY in hopes that he would arrive EARLY!! I called the hotline and they said they would be here at 9:30am. I got up and began getting ready! Woke the kids up and off to get daddy bright and early only to find TRAAFIC!!

I thought are you kidding me...everyone move!!! My husband is coming home!!!
Here are pictures of the kids just waiting "in the car" in hopes that they could just stay clean until Hiram got here!!



They stayed nice and clean for a little while!! At 8am we were getting really excited...I made another phone call to find out the same information...9:30!! Then I got a call from Hiram..we are going to be late! OFCOURSE!! The one time to be on time and they couldn't do it! 9:30 rolled around...nothing...10:30 nothing! Wait here comes another phone call ...we are on our way but we won't be there until 11:30. I headed to Burger King with Athena just to have a break from all of the excitement! We hurried back..just to wait some more! Finally we saw buses! YAY! DADDY finally arrived! I was so excited that I forgot to get more pictures!! So here are the kids seeing Hiram for the first time!!
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Notice Annabelle's outfit has totally changed! No more tights, (she ofcourse peed her pants right when the buses arrived) no sweater and her hair...well that's NC!! The humidity always ruins curls!!>

One day and a wake up

I think maybe an explanation is needed for the title so here it is... we have only one more day and then when we wake up Hiram will be home! I wish you could all hear me yelling..."YAY!!!" Today we went and hung the banner for Hiram! I sure hope he doesn't miss it and if he does then he needs something better than glasses! Here is a picture of the finished project!!

He is almost here!!!

I believe that we are down to our last full week of being without daddy! I can't wait to see my handsome husband get off of the bus and we can knock him over with the force of four of us wanting the first hug! This deployment has been long and his arrival is well overdue! We are awaiting the final details on when they will arrive ... which is driving me CRAZY! I have so much to do in the mean time! I should quit complaining and get busy! Anyway thought I would update you on our good news of Hiram finally getting home. I will post pics soon of the reunion! Thanks everyone for your support through this very long 7 months!

YAY! Another week down! I bet no one counts the weeks like we do!!

Well, it has been a CRAZY week around here! We started off the week at the dentist AGAIN! We have horrible dentists in NC and I was tempted to go back to AZ to have Meridith's teeth done! Needless to say after many "rip-off" quotes...we found a pediodontist on base and they will take care of everything!! I guess Hiram is really going to have to stay in the military now!

After our adventure with the dentist...we were finally able to get the A/C checked and it is up and running again! Thank goodness! I couldn't take it anymore!



Davin and Meridith started school this week! I can't believe that I have two babies in school! Where did the time go??? We have tried to stay busy at home this week...but the time still drug on and on and on! I never thought that I would miss the sound of children fighting and arguing but during the day I really do miss it! I miss my sweethearts! Poor Annabelle...she really wants to go to school too! She cried today when we dropped off Davin and Meridith!

The week is over! YAY!

We are another week closer to Hiram coming home! We have less than two months now and we are thrilled! Now I have a question for anyone who has an answer....Why would a pediatrician make a two year old pee in a cup???? Now Annabelle knows how to do it and she has done it at home three times! Tonight she came in and I asked where her clothes were and she looked at me and said, "I didn't pee 'em." So I asked where they were again and she told me "I peed in a cup." I asked where the cup was and she told me "it's in the dishwasher!!!" So I checked the dishwasher and sure enough the cup was nicely placed in the dishwasher and there was pee all over the inside of the door! She is so funny! I am going to have to tell Hiram to never drink anything yellow in a cup or else he is going to be sorry!

it's going to be a long wait...

We went to the "shrimp Festival" in Sneads Ferry, with our friends Athena and Kari. The funny thing was I saw no shrimp! The only shrimps that I saw were Meridith, Davin and Annabelle. We had a very "exciting" night as we drove 40 minutes to get there, then we walked atleast a mile to get to the actual place. Not easy to do when you have five kids and one stroller. We walked down a two lane road with cars parked on both sides. That was an adventure. Then this nice little boy gave Davin a sword which caused a fight between the kids! Needless to say we didn't stay too long. We walked back through the traffic and to the car to watch the fireworks in the parking lot. We then headed home (the best part) and all three kids fell asleep! It was a fun adventure that we would have loved to share with daddy!

--Deployment Day--

On March 22, 2008, the United States Marine Corps decided that they needed Hiram more than we did. We still don't understand their reasoning but we are glad that he is safe and will return home soon. (the beginning of Oct)!!!



Hiram left from Camp Lejeune, flew to Germany and on to Kuwait. He arrived without any problems and has been very busy since then. We have been blessed to have been able to communicate on a daily basis unlike his previous deployment. We are thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers and would ask that you continue to keep him in your prayers.

The Beaches in North Carolina

We have had a fun summer at the beach! We have visited the Onslow Beach with daddy before he deployed...



Then again with Grandma...




and again with Aunt Wendi...



Thanks Aunt Wendi for getting them use to the water!