Happenings and Pics

I have something I want to write about, but I don't have much time right now and I really want to take the time when I write my next post. So, for now, I thought I'd share with you some of our family happenings.

Josh was promoted to Lieutenant Commander on June 1st. The girls and I went to his promotion ceremony and I got to pin his new oak leaves onto his uniform. We had to wait out in the hall for about ten minutes for a meeting to be over before we could go in and do the ceremony. It was everything I could do to keep the kids quiet. They just wanted to jump off the chairs over and over again, run into all the offices and explore, and basically make as much noise as possible. Thank God the military understand families and they love kids. When we walked around the corner, I was shocked! What I thought was a small office ended up being a huge conference room. There had to have been at least 30-35 officers in there. The kids were quiet for about two blessed minutes, then they decided to put on a show.

Here we are, standing in front of the two-star admiral who is trying to prepare Josh to be sworn in and the kids are climbing across the row of chairs lining the wall behind us. Then, Sarah found out that one of the chairs that was against the wall was an office chair that spun around. Hailey proceeded to jump into the chair and Sarah started spinning her around shouting, "Wheeeeee!" I was so embarrased, but everyone was laughing quietly and whispering how cute they were. They were so gracious and I was so thankful. The admiral had only good things to say about Josh and I was so proud of him. I was so proud of all of our military at that moment. They are truly amazing men and women.

So, as the kids continued to climb around and amuse themselves, Josh was sworn in and it came time for me to pin the oak leaves on. The admiral pinned one side and I pinned the other. I thought I was doing a pretty good job. I had the new pin lined up with the old pin holes, the leaf was facing upward, I thought I had it; until the admiral said, "Oops, the stem is pointing in the wrong direction. Let me fix that for you." He had to unpin it and turn the leaf so that the stem faced the outside corner of the collar. He was very nice about it, and made light of it, but I felt like an idiot. He said to my husband, "Hey, I should have left it that way. That would have been funny." I said, "Well, at least he really could have blamed it on his wife." It wasn't as bad as I thought it was but I still felt stupid. I've gotten over it now but, in the past, that would have devastated me. I've come a long way since then. Anyway, it was a very proud moment for us and I was so happy to be there and take part in it. Here is a picture from the ceremony:

Funny things my kids have been saying/doing lately:

Sarah: Every time she knows she's in trouble, she says, "My tummy hurts," and sticks her little lip out. She's such a faker!

Hailey: "Mom, I think you really need to take a time out now. You're getting kind of crazy."
Sarah: "It mines! It mines!" whenever you try to take something away from her.
Hailey: "Mom, I want to listen to the other virgin of the song" (instead of 'version'.)
Sarah: calls helicopters "pea pocters" and coffee "copy."
Hailey: insists that she is going to have her own unicorn when she gets to heaven. Who knows, maybe she will?
Sarah: has started licking us; our arms, legs, hands, bare skin, clothes, doesn't really matter. She will lick us and say with a cheeky grin, "I lickin' you. Lick me, lick me!" We're really hoping this stops soon. We think this started when Hailey showed her how to pretend she was a puppy. At least it's not the biting phase anymore.
Hailey: loves to sing around the house, in the car, in the store, wherever she is. Her song of choice lately has been, "I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it." I love to hear my kids sing.
Sarah: loves to give kisses. Whenever she wants to kiss us, she puts her pudgy little hands on our cheeks and pulls us down to her level for a giant smooch. Love it!

I'm sure there are many more, but I've drawn a blank. They do so many funny things every day that I either need a video camera around my neck, or a notepad and pen in my pocket to capture everything. Here are some of my favorite recent pictures:

This was on one of our walks to see the ducks that live in the pond across the street.

This is Sarah at Josh's promotion ceremony.

Hailey loves to lie under the coffee table, without a shirt on of course.

My little Sarah Bean.

This is how Hailey helps me with the laundry. Who knew underwear could be so much fun!

This is when we took the kids bowling together for the first time.

So there you have it. There has been much going on that I will write about later. Right now, the kids are getting very antsy and are hungry for dinner. I must cook quickly because we have to leave for the evening service at church in less than an hour. More soon...