12/24/2004
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! |
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I've added this years picture of the kids with Santa Clause. As usual I think they are VERY cute. I set it so that when you click the picture it will take you to a close up version as well. We are all doing well. The kids and I have another week off from school and Patrick another week on leave. We are enjoying this time together as a family, especially since we know it will be awhile before we can have another time like this. Patrick leaves January 13th for 6mos and as always it's hard to deal with all the feelings that come with it. Please keep him in your prayers. We wish you the best for this Holiday season and all that you could hope for in the coming year. Love, |
11/19/2004 Well, I'm finally getting around to updating the website. Time sure does fly. Just a couple quick notes about the site. I've found a couple pictures from Easter 2003 which I've added, and a picture of the kids from the first day of school this year. Also, at the "Hinting" of a friend I've put up the Halloween pictures that we took.
As far as news goes, we are all doing well. The kids are enjoying school and Patrick and I recently had parent teacher conferences where we were able to meet the kids teachers and find out that they are all doing a great job. I'm REALLY proud of them. Timothy & Lydia will be in The Nutcracker again this year and they are excited to be doing that again. All 3 of the kids are still taking dance classes. All of them are in ballet and the girls just added Jazz dance. Timothy is still doing well in Hip Hop and has a few audition/performances with his class coming up. They will be sending in a video to possibly dance in Disneyland next year, but after finding out that Patrick will be gone from January - July 2005 I'm not sure if Timothy will be able to participate. I'll find out more tonight about that whole scenario. I'm still taking classes at Olympic College and am almost done with my frist quarter. Only 7 more to go. I keep thinking I would like to get my Batchelor's degree just for my "personal" feeling of accomplishment, but with Patrick getting out in 2yrs I figure I should go for the Associates degree instead in. So, it will be an Associates of Techincal Arts in Comptuer Information Systems the Web Development Option. hehe I still might work on the reqs for the transfer curiculum for the Transfer degree in CIS. Just will take ALOT of money. Patrick met with the Detailer yesterday and found out that he will be staying on the USS Carl Vinson until July 2005 which means he will have to go out to Sea from Jan - July 2005 which will stink. He's been gone for more than 1/2 the time since 2002. I'm sick of being alone so much, but I guess it's almost over. September 2006 he should be able to get out, and atleast we don't have to move again. OH, I'm happy about 4 MORE YEARS!!! for President Bush. :D If ya didn't guess already. I thought it interesting that the media is citing "Morale Values" as a reason for him being re-elected which I think is actually pretty cool. I don't think "Morale Values" had been associated much with the office of President since before Bill Clinton that's for sure. LOL Patrick showed me this great site that spoofs on both Bush and Kerry that was REALLY funny, it's called "Wish I Were In DC" the link might open slowly if you don't have a fast connection. Let me know if the link isn't working at all. The main site where it's from is called JibJab.com, but trying to get to their site is slow too. Must be a busy site.
Well, I guess that's about it for now. Hopefully I will be updating sooner than later, but we'll just have to see. :D
9/8/2004 Well, this Labor Day we had a great time as a family up at Mount Rainer. Patrick had been there about a 1/2 a donzen times in his life time, but the kids and I hadn't ever been and I can honestly say that I think we ALL really enjoyed it. It was the first time in a LONG time that we had been out like that in a while. So, figured can't ever be too sure when we'll get the chance again so I took LOTS of pictures. LOL! Maybe some might be tempting enough to entice family and friends up for a visit so that we could take you up to Mount Rainer. It was a really nice day and I hope you like the pictures. I added some other pictures I found also which might be related to Patrick's Birthday, or a Cheif related celebration, not sure exactly except for the picture of Patrick.
Also, today we had to say goodbye to Patrick until October 13th. Hehe Yep he'll be back on my birthday which is pretty nice considering it's better than him issing it all together. I don't get my hopes up though, I use the "Whites of their Eyes" method of excitement. I don't acutally get excited until I can see the whites of his eyes. LOL A navy wife I knew when we were stationed in San Diego told me about that technique of avoiding disappointment. Sort of works out pretty well. :D
Today was also the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL for the kids. They were REALLY excited to get back into school and see their friends and meet their teachers. Timothy is in 5th grade now, Lydia 2nd and CLarissa officially starts AM Kindergarten tomorrow. Today was just kindergarten Orientation but I think she REALLY enjoyed herself meeting her teacher and seeing the FUN classroom she'll be able to play in and start her scholastic journy (Ok I know it's a bit corny :D) I'll have to write more tomorrow about how her first Official day of Kindergarten went.
Timothy enjoyed it sooo much that later today while we were out at an appointment he said that he wishes he could be at school still. I hope he keeps that feeling all year long. I guessing it might be because he hasn't gotten any homework yet maybe???
Lydia was REALLY REALLY happy about her Teacher and the friends she made today. I'm sooo excited for her. She even talked about how she liked the math they worked on in class today as a high light. (I wonder if there's anychance she'll ALWAYS feel this way?...Ok Ok I can DREAM can't I?)
9/2/2004 I am sooo very proud of Patrick that he's made chief. For the past several weeks he has been going through an initiation process which takes up much of his time. They even called him into work off the first leave he'd had in 3 years which was frustrating, but I've been told it will all be worth it. There were times when he seemed pretty frustrated with the process, but he's been working hard and will be done soon. I think the whole process is to last 6wks culminating in the pinning on 9/16 so. Patrick leaves out to Sea for just over a month this time on Sept 9th which is always hard for us all to adjust to, but I think he will be home for the kids first day of school this year just before he leaves, which will be nice. It will be hard to not be able to be with him when he's pinned Chief, but we've been told that they will have some type of ceremony party when they get back to commemorate his achievement.
The kids start school Sept 8th and they all seem very excited especially Clarissa since she will be starting Kindergarten this year. I think that she will really like Kindergarten and hopefully she won't have any problems adjusting to being at school. I wish that the Elementary schools here would offer full day kindergarten, since Timothy did so well with it when he went, his class had all been reading by December that year and it was great.
Timothy is starting 5th grade which has hit me that this is his last year of Elementary school which makes me a little uneasy. I think he is excited though for this year to begin since he'll be in the top grade of the school. "Big Man on Campus" sort of. :D He does seem a little apprehensive now to go to school though, since yesterday the Orthodontist put in this tongue crib device to help hold his tongue off his teeth and it's making him talk differently. Hopefully by the 8th he will be more comfortable with it.
Lydia as always is excited for school to start and to see all her friends again. She is also excited to ride the bus again. She is so independant that I think she's looking forward to being "on her own" as much as she can at this age. hehe It's kind of funny how she has always seemed so much older than she is. We are really proud of her independance and willingness to do what is asked of and get her homework done. I hope that doesn't change and she always keeps this excitement for learning.
The whole idea of being home alone for 1/2 the day was a little strange so I decided to take the opportunity to sign up for classes at the local college and work on my associates degree in Integrated Multimedia. At this point in time going for a 4yr degree seems like it might not really be possible since the University that is affiliated with the college here is pretty far away, we'll see though. For practical reasons I'd like to get the Associates degree right away, but for personal goal reasons I'd like to say I have a Bachelors degree. I'm really proud of my family for the schooling they have achieved and felt it was long over due for me to accomplish something. Mom graduated, received her license, and taught Cosmetology; Susan graduated from Beauty school and got her license in Cosmetology also; Sam got an Associates Degree in computer programing; and Stuart is working on his Masters Degree in Business/Accounting. So, it's about time I accomplished something I think.
8/7/2004
Patrick Made
Chief!!!! He'll Be pinned on 9/16/2004
6/25/2004
Well, let's see since I last updated
the kids finished up with school so now Timothy will be going into 5th
grade in the Fall, and Lydia into 2nd and Clarissa will be starting Kindergarten.
She's sooo excited to be going to school with Timothy and Lydia. I think
she will really enjoy it.
Timothy did really well in reading this past year in school and was even in an advanced reading class. Lydia is right on target to where she should be. I think the move during Kindergarten had slowed her up a bit, but she had a wonderful teacher and really did well this year and is now buck up to par and than some. Timothy's teachers were really great also.
Timothy, Lydia and Clarissa are all in Dance still and just performed in another show tonight. They are in "Thumbalina" it was such a good production. I was able to sit and watch the whole thing tonight, tomorrow night I will be being a backstage Mom, so I was sooo happy to watch them perform tonight. The production was sooo wonderful, and I was soooo proud of them. I have added pictures of their costumes to the photos area if you'd like to take a looksy. I think I did Clarissa's eyes a little too yellow this time, but over all you can get the effect I think. hehe
I guess that wraps it up for now on what's been going on. Patrick is due home on the 29th, Yeah!!! We are all excited to get him back here and to finally have a July and August together. He hasn't been home those months for the past 2 yrs.
OH,
Patrick and I had our 14th wedding anniversary on June 9th and this was
the 3rd year in a row we weren't able to spend it together, but we're
pretty hopeful that next year will should be together for it.
*Hugs* Hopefully I will have more pictures and info to update again soon, but sadly, "Don't hold your breathe". Maybe one of these days I can get into a routine and get it done on a regular basis.
5/5/2004
Not sure how to work in all
the things that have gone on since I last updated which was 9/2003. Some
of the big news I suppose I will timeline out and see if that helps me
figure out how to list it all.
4/2004
Timothy's Dance Champs competition. And some Funny
Faces pictures.
3/2004 Timothy and Clarissa's BDay. Timothy's
Science Fair.
2/2004 Valentines Day
1/2004 Lydia's BDay