Sadness...

Scout passed away today. I hope she is in heaven running around and dancing with the angels... we are all so sad that she is no longer with us...
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Part I

I'm writing this just about the first half of this day... this was such a happy time...



We went to church, ran home to change clothes and rushed to the ice skating rink near the Pembroke mall. This was our first and hopefully not our last trip ice skating. Jemma had such fun! James didn't enjoy it so much, but he is still young. He did however, enjoy Mya's birthday cake and cupcakes! :)
Daddy putting on James' skates:Daddy helping James get around:Jemma didn't want to wait, so Merin (who is a great skater) took her out on the rink while I stayed behind with Piper and Scout (I'm a much better at taking care of the kids than ice skating):James was done skating, so it was Jemma's turn with Daddy:Then, it was pizza and cake time!




When open skate was over, the recreational hockey team was playing a game. So Mya stayed with us to watch. The kids were loving watching the guys play!

While Merin was out skating with Jemma, Scout grabbed my finger and gave me the cutest little half smile. I loved getting those little smiles...

While we were eating cake, Merin asked me if I thought Scout's lips looked blue or if I thought it was the lighting. I told her that it was cold and the lighting was poor, but I just wasn't sure. Merin wanted to get Scout home quickly, so Mya stayed behind with us...

Part II

After we had been home from Mya's party for about 15 minutes, Jim got a call from Kelly. He requested that we keep Mya away from the windows because the ambulance was coming for Scout. I cranked up the music and the girls were dancing in Jemma's room.

My thoughts were that this was just another trip to the hospital for Scout. I went over and got Piper, so both Merin and Kelly could be with Scout. We told Mya that she could have a sleepover with Jemma and it was like the perfect ending of the day for her! They were so happy playing dress up and eating dinner together! We even had take out Chinese because I had not been to the commissary as I had planned earlier, and they love lo mein noodles!

It was just before 7pm, when I was trying to get a very fussy Piper to sleep that Jim gave me the news. Scout's heart had just given out. Yes, Scout had been "sick" and had lots of issues for a long time, but I just was not expecting it. She had just held my finger and given me a smile a few hours earlier. She had been fighting and healing for so long... I was heartbroken for the Shekitka family. I held Piper and sang and she fell asleep in my arms... it was almost as if she had known...

Mya got ready for bed at our house and then I took her home to wait for her parents. She was on cloud 9... birthday party, presents, playing with Jemma... I knew what was about to come and I could not do anything. It was such a heartwrenching and difficult time when Merin told her about Scout. I sat with our other neighbors in a separate room and listened to her cry... it is hard enough for an adult to deal with, but entirely painful for a little girl.

I stayed with Merin for a while, along with our wonderful neighbors Dave and Kara. It was a very difficult evening filled with tears, stories, and wine. I am very grateful that Kelly was home. I am very grateful that Jim was home. I cannot imagine this with them away.

Update

We had a WONDERFUL, AMAZING, PERFECT trip to Disney. It is truly a magical, happy place. We got back just after midnight on Saturday and Jim left early Monday morning for a det out west. I did laundry on Sunday and took a nap. Jim was such a wonderful husband... he cooked pancakes, cleaned out the minivan, put all the Christmas boxes in the office (which I have yet to touch!), went to work for a few hours and made it home to give the kids a bath! I ordered our Christmas cards yesterday (it takes some people minutes to do theirs... yet, I research all the options for printing and shipping and play with pictures and wording so it takes me hours) and managed to stay home most of today getting "stuff" done today. I am finally done unpacking and the laundry is back to "normal."

I awoke at 8:15 this morning to James yelling, "Mommy, where are you?" Yes, I need to be out of the house no later than 8:45 to get Jemma to school on time! (Tomorrow my alarm is set for 6:45 AM and not PM!) So, I roused Jemma from a deep sleep and finally had her dressed and eating breakfast at 8:35. Thankfully, Merin's mom is in town for a visit so I asked if she could take the girls to school. I love having awesome neighbors!!

One day very soon I will take the time to blog about our trip and post pictures. But, for now, here are my favorite four!

At the Animal Kingdom:Jemma holding Tinkerbell:Jim and I went to the Magic Kingdom one evening for the fireworks and to ride space mountain:The best family photo during our trip in front of the Tree of Life at the Animal Kingdom:

I'm off to bed...

Crazy, busy day!

Today was one of those crazy, busy, mostly fun, days... the type of day where it is 9:30 and I'm sitting here to blog even though the dishwasher was never unloaded this morning and the breakfast dishes are still sitting on the sink!


I took the girls to school, then James and I went to MyGym for Art class at 9:15. I had to run home to grab the reusable shopping bags before dashing to the Aquarium for Toddler story time at 11. It was puppet show day and James loves the puppet show! Then, we headed to the base to pick up some paperwork at the clinic after stopping at McD for a quick lunch. We are out of bread, fresh fruits, and just about everything healthy at home, so James and I went to the Commissary. We arrived home and I unpacked the groceries and put them away. Then, we loaded back into the car to get the girls from school. We made a brief stop at home to get the girls into pants and zoomed to Sandbridge to see the barge. It is big and impressive and certainly something that you don't see everyday! The wind was cold and strong... we only stayed a few minutes! There was a jetski going out to check on something...These are two of the three tugboats that they are hoping are going to tug the barge out at high tide tonight: Can you see how close it is to the fishing pier?We made a brief snack stop at home, then proceeded to MyGym for free play. MyGym was followed by a birthday dinner at Red Robin (Jemma's choice) with friends. Jemma, Mya and James enjoying a sundae:Stephanie, Caleb and Evan:The kids all loved Red Robin!When we finally made it back home, it was 7:45 and both kids needed bed!! I never made it to the gym today. Yet, I feel the need for rest, too! However, a load of laundry and stack of dishes are calling my name... plus, I have got to get us ready for our Disney trip!! :)

PB & J

James loves peanutbutter and jelly sandwhiches! He asks for them all of the time... breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner... and it does not matter the type of peanutbutter or jelly or bread! Here he is enjoying a snack. :)
Granny's birthday is today... Happy Birthday!! :)

Finally, the SUN!!! :)

What a glorious day!! We woke to sunshine!!! :)

We went to church, then ventured to Sandbridge to try to get a peek at the barge that got stuck ashore during the Nor'Easter. There were just too many people for us... maybe we'll get to look tomorrow. Besides, there was a birthday party to attend this afternoon! Food (nuggets, mac-n-cheese, Doritos and juice boxes... perfection for kids!), ponies, ducks, a rabbit and goat followed by cake and ice cream! What a wonderful party!! :)

When we returned home, James said, "I'm tired. I want to go to bed." So, he took a late afternoon nap while Jim and I worked on getting our poor little pine tree stood back up. We are truly hoping that it survives after toppling over during the storm!

More rain...

No school again today... there is more rain and more wind... it has got to be better tomorrow! Thank goodness this isn't snow!!!

Here are Jemma, James and Mya "crafting" again. At least they love drawing and coloring and doing stamps.

Friends at Sandbridge had no power, so the were our guests for the evening. Jim read to the kids. Their Dad (a Navy officer, too) is still in CO and they really enjoyed cuddling with Jim!It was so wonderful to have guests... we love visitors!!! :)

Nor'Easter

There is no school today because of a Nor'Easter. I was explaining this to Jemma over breakfast. She asks, "Can we hide eggs?" Not Easter, the holiday. Nor'Easter... the weather system. Cute thought, though! So, I think that today shall be pajama day...

I did make a pumpkin pie from one of our Halloween pumpkins... Nanny's recipe! And it is yummy...

The power has blinked on and off several times... here is hoping that we keep power! :)

And yes, I'm stayed in my pajamas all day! The kids dressed up in every outfit in the house, but I'm still in what I started the day in. What a lazy day.

I Collect!

Today was a wonderful day. James and I met a friend, Carol and her little girl, for breakfast at Panera. After being there a few minutes, I invited Carol back to our house because the kids were restless. They had such fun playing and we had such a wonderful time chatting and "catching up" on life!

After lunch, James wanted to go to the park. It is a quick trip... usually. We can see the park from our house. We spent 1 1/2 hours this trip and only about 15 minutes was spent at the park. We had to stop every few feet, with James saying, "I collect, Mommy." He collected twigs, acorns, leaves. We even watched a group of ants for about 15 minutes. Thank goodness he didn't want to collect those!!! The little yellow bucket on the back of his tricycle is full even though I would toss items out while he was distracted with "collecting" something else!

Mya joined us for dinner. I had made tomato sauce this summer with yummy green pepper and tomatoes from my parents' garden (something that I will truly miss when we move!), so I defrosted the sauce and added zucchini and squash from the produce stand. Doesn't this just look yummy?!? When Mya came in to wash her hands, she put her hands on her hips and said, "Miss Jen, do you have Parmesan cheese and olive oil? That is how I like my spaghetti." I informed her that dinner was already made and on her plate. If she didn't like it, then she could return home and eat with her family. She cleaned her plate... as did Jemma. In fact, Jemma had a second plate! Yippie for being able to feed the kids healthy stuff!!

After dinner, it was homework time. My goal is to get homework done on Tuesdays since Jemma has martial arts on Monday, Pioneer club at church on Wednesday, and dance on Thursday! James wants to do homework, too. So, I photocopy Jemma's homework and James does the same thing. It is really quite cute and makes it easier not having to worry about what James is getting into! Jim was supposed to go to the boat yesterday, but the boat didn't pull out on time. So, he was supposed to go today. I was pleasantly surprised when he came home a few minutes ago... wonder if he will go tomorrow?!?

Carpet Update

We borrowed a steam cleaner from our neighbor and the carpet is like new! :) James did not like the extensive time out. He also did not like his Daddy's firm negative reaction. I do not think he will color the carpet again...

Young artist

James loves to draw. I try to encourage by providing markers, crayons, paints... all kinds of things. I always say, "Paper. Paper is where we draw. And the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk." I know that he understands because he repeats and says this all by himself. Today he tested the boundary...

Yes, he drew on EVERY step... I have borrowed the neighbor's steam cleaner and hope that it comes clean! He is quick... very, very quick...

Tailhook

The beginning of our trip was Wednesday, Sept 9. I had planned and packed and worried (just a little). The planning included having Jim print directions to school, the pediatrician, dance lessons and even my parents house in the event of a hurricane or any other emergency! It also meant letters to the teachers notifying them of our trip and contact information. I had not updated our home emergency/babysitter instruction sheets in over a year, so I prepared those with all kinds of contacts. I had a tear in my eye as Jemma hugged my neck at school. James was so excited to be at school that I didn't even get a hug!

When I planned the trip I thought the Tailhook events began on Thursday, so I had us departing Wednesday. It worked out great because Mary's flight was scheduled to land just after 11 and we were scheduled to take off just after 2. So, after having lunch with Mary in the airport and writing notes to our kids on cocktail napkins, it was time to go through security and begin our journey! As it turned out, Tailhook events didn't begin until Friday. So, we had Thursday just for ourselves. Thursday morning began with massages and pedicures for both of us at the hotel. It was wonderful to be pampered after the long journey! It was Jim's 40th birthday present and just a special treat for me! After being pampered, we put on our sneakers and hiked around Spooner Lake. Of course, my husband had to climb a big rock!

Although you can't see it in the picture, you could see Lake Tahoe from this vista.After hiking, we went to an amazing restaurant in Incline Village. We sat on the patio with a view of Lake Tahoe and had an especially wonderful dinner. There was a guitar player who strolled around and sang, too. I had cucumber soup with mint and smoked salmon. Jim had soup, too. Then we split a steak special... yummy! :)

Jim and I sat on the dock and watched the sunset over Lake Tahoe... beautiful! :) Can you tell that we were relaxed?!?

On Friday, we travelled to Fallon to see the Blue Angels perform. I wanted to go to Fallon because Jim spends so much time there for training. We could see the hot air balloon races every morning from our hotel. We got an even better view on our drive. It was so neat to see all the hot air balloons!You can see the pink Energizer bunny balloon if you look really close!

A scenic stop just before Virginia City on our way to Fallon... yes, we took the long scenic route!
Random "art" along the highway:

Jim gave me the grand tour of NAS Fallon, but only after stopping to get a monster burrito from one of the guy's favorite local spots in Fallon. We were very fortunate to be able to spend some time with "Woogie" and chat before heading into the airshow. Amy "Spur" was absolutely wonderful to give us VIP passes for the Blue Angels show in Fallon. Here she is making sure that everything is done right on cue!

The Blue Angels performed such a good show!
Jim wants to fly one of these. It is a retired aircraft and this one is privately owned.

Ken and Karen flew in Friday afternoon. We met them for the flight suit mixer Friday night, which was tons of fun. At least until about 10pm. It was then that the jet lag and time difference hit me! I had to say goodnight and head to bed. It was so convenient that we were staying in the host hotel and Jim could continue to mingle and have fun! On Saturday, Ken and Karen were at the awards luncheon with us.Jim accepting the award... NFO (Naval Flight Officer) of the year!Back at the table with his award:After the luncheon was over:This is Jim's current CO, Daniel Dwyer:After the luncheon, we drove to Squaw Valley for dinner. Squaw Valley is where the brothers went for their bonding weekend, so they were able to tell stories and show us around!

After dinner we stopped at a park near Lake Tahoe and there was a beautiful rainbow!

The same beautiful rainbow over Lake Tahoe

We were driving back to Reno and Ken said, "Look a helicopter." I was looking up and all around and then noticed a helicopter coming up from down a ravine. He was carrying water and went to dump it on a fire. Jim pulled off on the side of the road and we watched him circle back, lower into the ravine, scoop water and fly back to the fire. It was pretty neat! :)

After dropping Ken and Karen off at their hotel, it was time for us to go and pack for our trip back home. We had such a wonderful, wonderful trip but we both missed the kids! I am so grateful for GrandMary watching the kids. It was my first trip away from them and everything went wonderfully. In fact, the kids rarely wanted to talk to us when we called (and I was good... we only called once per day) because they were so busy having fun! It is nice to be home... although, I am quite tired from the travelling!