New books

The weather outside is pretty dreary, but we had a nice day. I took the kids by their daycare to visit their teachers and friends today. They haven't been back since I started staying home with them two months ago and they loved it. I felt a little bad because Carrie clearly thought she was going to be staying there and just had a big time with her friends. It was good to see everybody. The kids went there three years, and I also worked there over the summer, so I know a lot of the kids and have seen them grow over the years.

After that we went to Chuck E Cheese. As much as I hate Chuck E Cheese weekend parties, I love going on weekday mornings. It is empty, and for $10 I can get the kids fifty tokens and let them play away. Perfect for a rainy day!

This afternoon we hit up the Goodwill and I found a whole pile of great books to use with Beth...lots of science and social studies material. And $1 each...can't beat that!


I also got a new storage container for all these new purchases, some toys the kids grabbed, books for myself, and a little stuffed dog for Carrie. Carrie's very favorite lovey is this corderoy cat that she got from her great grandma as a baby. I have never seen another like it. This little dog is it's match though.....she was SO excited to see it! And it was only like fifty cents!


At home Beth spent some time with this workbook that her Grammy got her. I wasn't even in the room for this...she got it all out, figured out what to do, and completed it herself! Isn't she smart? It made me laugh, because she said she didn't know what the pictures of the rug or top were, so she just wrote B for both.


Meanwhile Little One #3 helped me with the laundry...she placed herself in charge of underwear as you can see. She decided to wear Beth's and stuffed all of Matt's in Beth's dresser.

TV Time!

Aren't they cute? Seeing this picture has me wondering what color the new baby's hair will be....


I had my Level 2 ultrasound with the high risk docs today. The baby looked good and was growing well. That stubborn little one crossed it's legs and wouldn't let us get a peek at the gender the whole time though. They really tried for me too...but nothing! I have to go back in two weeks, so hopefully we'll find out then. I am changing my guess to girl! Poor Matt Warren if I am right...he'll be so out numbered!

Preschool Corner

This is our little preschool area. Matt collected all of my school materials, as well as the kids' craft supplies, and moved them into this cabinet for me. Before I had about eight different places I kept them - and I was sure to shove a huge pile of posters and crafts into the garage or laundry room just before people came over. I really like this setup...Matt is so organized. At least one of us is!

The posters and things that wouldn't fit are slid in on the left side.


We do a lot of arts and crafts here...

It's Saturday!

We are enjoying the sunshine today, even though it is definitely still winter out there.

We finally got our tax return (woohoo!) so I ordered Beth's school things for next year. We went with McRuffy Press Phonics/Language Arts and Math programs. It seems pretty basic, which is just what we need with the move and new baby both coming soon. I can't believe I am going to be a mom of a kindergartner! It seemed like they'd be babies forever...

We also bought this for our three little monkeys. Yes...it is in my living room, lol. Can you tell we have cabin fever?

Family Update

I know, I know, I'm terrible at keeping this thing up to date! In any case, I always have a lot to write about by the time I sit down to do so.

I guess are biggest news this month is that we've got orders! Yes, our four years in Connecticut are coming to a close. It really has flown by sooo fast. I know I'm going to cry when we leave...which is shocking since I hated it here the whole first year, lol. We'll always have lots of fond memories of this place though. After all we moved here with one baby girl, and will be leaving with four kids! This will always be the place where we had our little babies and watched them grow. And the place where Matt worked thirty hours a week and life was good, lol.

Anyway, our newest adventure will be taking up to Keesler Air Force Base down in Mississippi. Only for about eight months though, during which time Matt be attending a weather school. Afer that (Summer of 2011) we will move on to Suitland, Maryland (right outside of Washington D.C.) where we will spend the next four years. We are excited! We are also happy that we don't have to move sometime till around October or November though, which is later than we had thought. Now we get to spend another wonderful summer in Connecticut, and don't have to make some huge move with a brand new baby.

Speaking of the baby, I am 18 weeks along now. All is going well. I feel great, getting fat, the usual! Hopefully we'll found if it's a boy or a girl soon. We're hoping for a boy to make it an even two and two. Matt is my absolute favorite boy though, he just really cracks me up and is full of cuddles. I guess it wouldn't be too bad to have just him and a houseful of girls! He loves the girls in any case and doesn't mind being with his sisters 24/7.

Miss Beth is 5 now (and Carrie is 2) so we are thinking about kindergarten. Wow, when did that happen?? I'll be teaching her at home, while we move all over the country, so I've picked out some materials to get her started. She likes sitting and working quietly, and has always loved books, so I think teaching her is going to be really easy. As for Matt...look out world! We'll get to him next year, lol. He's very bright though, which is a plus since he's a wild and crazy guy. He often runs around jumping on the furniture and racing his cars while I work with Beth, and then later on I realize he has in fact listened and learned a lot of her lesson.

The last decade...

Happy New Year!!!! I can't believe it has already been 10 years since we rung in 2000. Here's a little flashback of how our family has evolved.

2000 - We were still in high school! I was a sophmore at Fike, and I was on the swim team and played the flute in the band.

2001 - I was still in high school and Matt graduated from Beddingfield that year. By the end of the summer we were dating and he was off to Ft. Sill, OK to begin his Army training. Of course September 11 shocked us all, and drastically changed the way his time in the Army played out.

2002 - I graduated from high school, started college, married Matt, and headed off to our new home at Ft. Bragg, NC. We adopted our kitties Romeo and Juliet, and within a few weeks he was off to Afghanistan.

2003 - Matt came home from Afghanistan, but only to repack his bags and head to Iraq.

2004 - Matt came home, got out of the Army, joined the Coast Guard,and we headed to our new home in Cape Canaveral, FL. We picked up our third kitty Jack along the way, and were also expecting our first child.

2005 - Beth was born in sunny Florida! I was also expecting baby #2 by year's end. Matt was gone a lot that year, but life was great on the beach in Florida. We lived in Air Force housing, and had lots of friends, beautiful weather, and just an awesome time.

2006 - Matt went up to Yorktown, VA for a CG school. When he flew home in March, it was to collect me, Beth, and the three cats and make the 25 hour drive up to our new home in Groton, CT. We moved into Navy housing when we arrived, and a few weeks later Matthew was born.

2007 - I went back to college in January and the kids started at the CDC (the CG's daycare center.) We lost our first kitty Juliet to cancer this year. :( By the end of the year we were expecting Carrie!

2008 - Carrie was born on my Grandfather's birthday of January 30th. I stayed home with her for seven months, and then headed back to college while she joined her brother and sister at the CDC. The week Carrie was born we also had to move to a new house (ugh!) due to housing renovations...at least the new one was very nice.

2009 - I graduated from college!! We lost our kitty Jack in September, so on Christmas Eve we brought home a new baby kitten named Eric. I feel like we are onto our second generation of cats. At nine, Romeo is the last of the old guys. He's looking good and I hope to have him for many more years. Beth is 4, Matt is 3, and Carrie is 1, and they are all coming up on birthdays. We are also waiting for our new pcs orders, which will take us to a new base in summer 2010.

Summer Fun

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted...and I can't believe that we are well into August either! It is almost time for me to go back for my final semester of college. I am so not ready to go either, I wish summer could just stretch on and on. We have had such a good time this year. The kids are all getting older, and it just seems so easy to pack up and take them anywhere these days. We have been busy busy this past week. On Monday we went to Sesame Place in PA with some friends and had a blast! It's four hours away, so that made for a long day, but it was worth it! Friday was Coast Guard Day so we once again went to a Water/Amusement Park - that one was right here in Connecticut though. We saw lots of friends and coworkers there, and a good time was had by all. And on Saturday we went to a party at Beth's preschool teacher's house, which was awesome. She lives a little ways out into the country and has a huge yard complete with a pool, big sandbox, cats, dogs, and even two horses. The horses belong to her niece who was nice enough to take Beth out to pet them. Beth is obsessed with horses these days so that was pretty exciting for her.

Anyway, next on the agenda is another week of work and daycare. After that, we are all off for a week, and are headed home to NC to visit all our friends and relatives! I can't wait - even though I am sure it will be HOT! "Hot" here in CT is anything over 80 - I'm sure I'm going to melt when I get back into the South's version of August. As soon as we get back from vacation I'll have only a few days left before starting student teaching. Better enjoy summer while it lasts I guess!

A few pictures...

Sesame Place



Cutie-Pie Carrie...she was such a trooper!


The BIG roller-coaster that Beth and Matt both went on. They are fearless!


This was a favorite...of course.

Beth and Matt