Time to get off the mountain....

Offender #1

Wire Mountain I that is. The critters are out to get me!! We have found 2 scorpions in less than 24 hours. Both in the front yard. Nice, huh? And the kicker was tonight as I was taking clothes out of the WASHER and found a centipede! So in one 24 hour span, 2 scorpions and a centipede. I am so ready to move. Luckily we just moved up our TMO dates, so that is in the works and right around the corner. I am starting to think it can't come soon enough. I really am a very level headed person, but this is too much. I am not a big fan of anything with more than 4 legs.

Offender #3

Offender #2

Just to prove I am not being a drama queen. Well, at least not in a factual sense.

Summer Synopsis

Here are some pictures to get you caught up after all my neglect. They are mostly chronological.

Vaughn won 3rd place in the Oceanside Unified Spelling Bee.

A car show we just happened upon.....yes, I'll take one.

Although Steven appreciated the high end cars along with myself, Vaughn and Garrett preferred the military displays.

Steven was in the Jefferson Middle School Brain Bowl. Doesn't the teacher look evil? Steven is the one at the far left. I know, not the best picture ever.

The annual Santa Margarita Dance Festival.
Seth was way into his dance, good job Seth.

Vaughn, not so much.

Seth finished his Awana Sparks class.

While Vaughn was "moving on" from 5th grade.

Tim reached double digits.....woo hooo!!

And he had a jumpy....always well received. What a bunch of hooligans.

Garrett brought me a "soda". If you know me very well, you know I do NOT drink beer. What Garrett wanted was for me to have a "soda" so he could snitch some from me. Try again little man....

The boys went to an honest to goodness YMCA summer camp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, courtesy of Operation Purple.

Vaughn and Steven, don't they look thrilled??

Seth and Tim, at least they really were excited to be at camp.

Buzz came by for a visit.

Daddy was promoted and then took command the next day. We are very proud of him. We know the Marine Corps is lucky to have him, maybe they do too.

The Captain and his company, well the 2 platoons you can see, there are 2 more to the left.

There was A LOT of Guitar Hero played.

Another car show discovered.....gotta love SoCal.

Jerry's dream car, we agreed he could get one as a Captain, oh sh*t, now I'm screwed. My how time flies.

The boys had to get cleaned up to go to a wedding...

because Daddy was in the sword detail.

We found a lizard....well, Lynn found it in her house, she was more than happy to let Garrett take it away.

The boys attended another summer camp, but just a day camp this time. This was at the end of camp party for the families at Lake O'Neill.

Garrett and Kaybra became best friends. They are so cute. Unfortunately, Kaybra had to move just last week. Welcome to life in a Marine Corps family.

Goodbye to our friends, we will miss them.

So long summer......what a whirlwind.

Feel the love.....

I was given this award from one of the coolest women I know, my friend. Thanks Khris. Check out her blog (it really is one to love, she is immensely talented) Lily Winthrop.
Thanks Khris, I miss you everyday.

So, there are rules to this award:
(1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.
(2) Link the person you received your award from.
(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
(4) Put links of those on yours.
(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

I have a fairly small number of blogs I visit, but I do love them, so, here goes:

Flynn Family
The Fischpond
The Life of Liz
Morgan
Dave and Lisa
Bring the Rain
Crockpot Craziness

I like all of them for different reasons. Some are friends, some are inspirational. I don't get to all of them everyday, but whenever I get the chance, or remember to visit. I am not a comment leaver for the most part, just a stalker. Morgan may say that is called karma. You know what I mean Morgie.

So, thanks again Khris. And to all those I nominated, now you know that I really am looking at your blogs, even though I rarely say much.

Neglect and Growth

Talk about neglected. Jeez! It is embarrassing how long it has been since I last posted. I don't neglect the kids, so I guess that counts for something.
It has been a busy summer. Now it is practically over. The school shopping is done. Our two (yes, two) middle schoolers got their id cards and books. I cannot believe Vaughn starts middle school this year. That is so crazy. It is so funny everybody tells you they grow up too fast, and you can see it happening, but every so often there is just a milestone that smacks you in the face. Steven and Vaughn are just so BIG. We really do not have very long before they will start leaving. Seriously, it is scary. I have issues if I don't know where the boys are at a given moment. How will I get along when they no longer live in our house? After all, I am the first parent to deal with this....
There were a lot of things I have not shared with all of you for the last few months (ouch). So here are some highlights:
Vaughn won 3rd place for the fifth grade in the Oceanside Unified School District Spelling Bee, Mommy was SO proud.
We got orders to Okinawa, Japan. We are leaving in October. The process is NOT fun. We have moved and moved and moved again, but this is a whole new ball game. Talk about a learning curve. There is so much I should do, too bad I keep ignoring all of it.
Steven, Vaughn, and Seth all had the opportunity to go to summer camp. They were gone a week to Camp Gaines in Miramonte, California. It is in the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and was a really long drive, but they had a good time. Thanks Operation Purple.

****Edited*****I admitted how embarrassing my neglect was.....I started this post 4 days ago! It is amazing I ever get anything done.

Today is the first day of school. Vaughn is kind of petulent, Steven is Steven, Seth is excited, and Garrett it pissed the boys are not home. Daddy drove Steven and Vaughn this morning, hopefully that helped ease the transition for Vaughn. I drove Seth, as we were headed to the school Seth said "I can't wait for the last day of school." Wow, it's going to be a long school year. Good thing they get that October vacation (aka moving).

Okay, I am going to post this so Khris knows I am still alive. I will get some of the many pictures posted I have managed to neglect for so long. I will try to get myself a teensy more organized. At this point if I don't there may be little hope of making it to Oki with all four kids in tow.

I will apologize now for this post being so rambling, better than another month going by.

Just Perfect

Jerry got home about 8:30 on Sunday. Garrett was with me going to get him, but the other boys stayed home and were still clueless. Garrett had fallen asleep on the ride over and Jer woke him up. He didn't upset or really excited. He was more dazed and confused. I think he no idea what the heck was going on. I had all the boys go into the kitchen and told them I had brought home a surprise for them and then Jer walked in. They may have thought they were on Punked.

Someone was on Daddy like glue.

We are having lots of fun reuniting. Hey, get your minds out of the gutter, you bunch of pervs....this is a family blog. It was perfect timing since the kids are out of school, and they go to camp all next week. Just perfect.

The Waiting Just Might Kill Me!

Okay, so hopefully the kids are not checking the blog. Their Daddy is on his way home right now, but they do not know. Talk about a hard surprise to keep. Luckily it has been less than 2 weeks that I have known. Going from thinking he would be gone for months still to just weeks, is way harder than you would think. It's like trying to change gears without a clutch. And I have to pretend like nothing has changed to boot. I think it will be a really great surprise, but the waiting is horrendous. Right now it looks like the boys will get a BIG surprise for Father's Day. And Jer will be getting the one thing he was most wishing for, home.

The Invention Convention

The 5th grade class had their invention convention. Vaughn made a new card game, Carbunkle. He did a great job. He received an A+ on his project. The kids had some really great ideas. I was very impressed.

This is Vaughn's friend Cody. He invented the Pen-in-cil.

Rebecca and her school supply holder that attaches to your desk. No more excuses about lost pencils.

Jonah and his "All in One Cat Tube".

Garrett was SO ready to go by the time we were leaving.