Sorry, it's been a while I will try not to make it too long!
Grammy Visit
Grammy was so sweet to plan a trip to come out and see us for a week the end of Sept. beginning of Oct. We had such a great visit and enjoyed the time together. We got a lot of sightseeing in while the kids were at school and Tim was a work.
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| We saw the Peabody Ducks |
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| Riverboat tour on the Mississippi |
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| She got to go to one of Simon's marching band competitions and it happened to be the one they won all the awards for including Grand Champion. |
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| Making her famous snickerdoodles! |
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| We toured the Alex Haley Museum. He is the author of Roots and also did a 20-year career in the Coast Guard. |
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| We went to the top of the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid! |
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We also toured the National Civil Rights Museum which is built around the Lorraine Hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
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Fall Break
The kids had a week off in October
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| We took them to see the Peabody Ducks march in |
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| And a day at the zoo |
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| I taught Nixon to play Chess and now I created a monster I just can't beat him!!! |
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| Paige had a rare Friday off so she went to one of the High School football games with us. Of course sorry I am not there for the football I am there for my son in the band! :) |
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| In case you have never seen it, this is a cotton field in full bloom! |
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| This is what it looks like harvested and all baled up! |
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| Simon turned 15!! |
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| Just can't believe he is 15 already! |
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| Birthday picture with Piper LOL |
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| Halloween, time to carve pumpkins |
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| Paige's is 3.14 so pumpkin pi ha ha I love it! |
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| All dressed up! 2 pieces of bacon, Jughead (from Riverdale), Ron Weasley and Kim Possible. |
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| Tim was in charge and ran the CCTI (Chief's Call to Indoctrination) this year! It was new for us to be seated at the head table for the dinner! |
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| I have to admit I shouldn't have been at the dinner I was very sick and almost had to walk out from a coughing fit. But no way was I missing the dinner to celebrate the new Chief's that Tim put 8+ weeks worth of hard work into. |
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| Warms my heart these two were practicing together!! |
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| Simon marched in the Veteran's Day parade in Covington |
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| I had a birthday :) |
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| We got a tour of the Kankakee, the river tender stationed here. |
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| Out to celebrate Tim for finding out he is making Master Chief! Huge huge accomplishment and career goal! 23 years of hard work and lots of studying and now he made it to the top! Yep, that means we move this summer. |
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| Thanksgiving day |
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| Nixon and I had our own little Thanksgiving dinner since we didn't have leftovers because we ate with friends this year. He planned it all and it only took 10 mins to make. Rotisserie Chicken (because it looks like a little turkey), stove top stuffing, microwave mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, Hawaiian rolls, sparkling cider and a mini pie for dessert! I love this kid!! |
2 days after Thanksgiving Tim deployed to Florida to help with Hurricane Irma stuff. He is gone for at least 30 days. We are hoping he gets to fly back on Christmas Eve. Murphy's Law and the Grinch are both working hard against us! Tim will miss the whole Christmas season and the day after he left Simon woke up very sick and with pink eye. 4 days of missing school and two trips to the doctor we found out he also has Mono. He is much better this week which is awesome that he pulled through the bad part of it so fast, some people are really sick for weeks. Paige has a cough that just won't' go away and Nixon is now coughing and losing his voice. Did I mention we had a couple trips to the dentist? And that was all in just week one! It's also the end of the semester so mid-term testing time! Emotions are high with missing Dad and knowing we have to move this summer and waiting to find out where. It will either be Washington D.C. or Petaluma CA. Probably D.C. but we are waiting to get the final word. The boys obviously don't want to move and start over again. Paige will probably stay here to make use of the free 2 years of community college. We have a friend who offered for her to live with her. Neither she nor we were thinking she would leave home this coming year. So yeah emotions are all over right now for all of us! Tim is really busy down where he is and they have already moved him a couple times. It's hard for him to be gone right after we found out we will be moving and miss all the Christmas stuff like the kids in parades and band concerts. He is doing some good much-needed work down there though! We will make it through God is in control. Sometimes you have to hang on with white knuckles but He is still in control!
Oh, one more thing a bird flew in our house last night! Yes at night, a bird! Tim just can't leave town crazy stuff happens when he does! It was actually pretty funny and a fun adventure to catch him, the poor little guy was spooked! He flew in the front door up the stairs bounced himself in a panic around the hall then flew into Nixon's room. Took a while and him flying all over the place and bouncing himself against the walls but we finally caught him in a towel and carefully released him outside and he was fine. Here is a picture of him, he landed on the moon Nixon has on his wall!
