Our First Navy Assignment...

We just found out tonight. It is somewhere very far away and very exotic. You will all be jealous! You want to know where it is? Wait for it...

Fort Gordon in Augusta, GA!

Now, you may be thinking, that is an army base. You would be right. There is some kind of navy communications thing there also. So, that is where we will be moving around the middle of August.

What's Up?

Not much here. No baby, obviously. Not too much excitement on that front. I guess I will almost definitely be having another May baby since there are only 9 more hours left in the day! There are lots of days coming up that the baby could come on. Luke's birthday is May 3, Mom & Dad's anniversary is May 6, Mother's Day is May 10 (this year), Mom's Birthday is May 18 (please don't let me get this far!). So, what day do you think this baby will be born on? Keep in mind my mother had both of us on Sundays and so far Ruthanne and John were both born on Sundays. Weird huh?

In other news, Luke is getting commissioned tomorrow so we are going to Atlanta for that. We are guessing he will likely leave on May 15 to drive to training in Rhode Island. So, please send lots of prayers that this baby comes SOON!

I took the kids to the Indian Mounds the other day and will have to post some pics once I get them off the camera.

Strawberry Pickin'

I took the kids to Lane's Friday to pick strawberries. Some of you may remember last year John got stuck in the mud while we were strawberry picking. Well, not really stuck, but fairly covered with clay like mud. We rinsed him off there in a sink outside but he was a little traumatized. He would talk about it for months afterward. Well, when I mentioned the strawberry picking, he remembered the mud! He wanted me to carry him while we were there. I said no way! I guess the kids decided that they should wear their boots to stay away from the mud this year. No mud this time though.
Leaving with our loot!

The kids played on the playground for a while after the picking.

Easter Pictures

I finally downloaded my camera with pictures from Easter. My mom has more pictures on her camera (send me the good ones mom, well, really get dad to). We didn't take pictures Easter morning, I guess I forgot my parents had church at 9 and we wound up scrambling around that morning.

Ruthanne hunting Easter eggs. I don't know how she found any, this girl can't find something if it is touching her!
John finally got to hunt some eggs too.
Ruthanne and John with Aunt Kathy. She took time away from doing taxes to hang out with us!
Four generations of women. I can't believe I allowed a picture of me eight months pregnant, but there you go! Mamom was worried about her shoes, but I said don't worry no feet or ankles will be shown in this picture! My ankles were HUGE after our trip to Utah.
John enjoying looking at his basket goodies. And, if you ever want to make my kids happy, just give them $2 . I guess people generally give them checks and then I let the kids spend my money and I deposit theirs into our account, so to actually have some bills, although smaller than typical check amounts, was very fun. We still haven't spent them yet, just waiting for the Easter stuff to disappear first!

Going to Utah for a Quick Trip!

Anyone in Utah still read my blog? We are going to church headquarters there so that Luke and I can be set apart because he was accepted as a chaplain. We were barely able to squeeze it in before I was too pregnant (well, ok, maybe I'm too pregnant now, but I feel good about the trip). We leave on Thursday, April 9 and will come back on Saturday. Really the only time we will have to do something is late Friday afternoon/evening. Most of Friday will be spent at the church office building. So, if someone wants to hang out, give a shout out!

Oh, and say a little prayer that my parents will not let the kids drown down at the river! They agreed to watch the kids while we are gone, but the kids have to go where they are which is the river that weekend!

Congratulations Luke!

He was accepted to the Navy to be a Navy chaplain. It seems he will be going for Training and Chaplain school on May 17th (unless something changes) and will be gone for 12 weeks. We are happy that he will finally get to do what he has been working towards!

Kite flying, the circus, and more!

We went to Brunswick last week as the last trip before the baby comes. Ruthanne drew this picture of herself. It was really remarkably good of her dress. I will have to get a picture of her wearing the dress soon to ya'll can compare. Enlarge it and look at the pink flowers and hearts and bow on the black dress.Lucky for us, the circus came to town! It was a little cheesy, but we had front-row seats. The kids liked it. Ruthanne at the circus.
John at the circus.
We decided to fly kites. We were going to go to the beach but were a little low on time and remembered the empty field next to the church. Here is Ruthanne with her kite in the air. She had a hard time remembering to keep her line taut. The kite is Barbie, just fyi.
Mimi helping John get his Spiderman kite up in the air.
John got tired and went to play in the dirt, and the ant beds.Just before we left Ruthanne found a pinecone that she really liked (and kept calling an acorn, silly girl!). She wanted her picture taken with it and put on the blog.
I have a few more pictures from my mom's camera that I need to get off the online storage, but I'm a little irritated that I have to download them individually. So, it will have to wait until another day. I'm going to go enjoy my peace and quiet while it lasts!

Wish Luke Good Luck!

By some miracle he has actually made it to DC today for the Navy board. He wound up buying his plane ticket at the airport because they hadn't actually purchased it (lets just hope they actually reimburse us like they are supposed to!). He is about to have dinner with the other chaplain applicants and learn more about what the board will be like tomorrow. We've been saying lots of prayers around here.

Since Luke is gone until late tomorrow night, perhaps I will actually get some new pictures up on the blog a little later (that way Aunt Kathy won't have to look at the same ones!).

Top of the Chest

So, I painted the pieces for the top of the chest today. I think I like how it turned out. The first picture has the flash turned off and the second has the flash on. It is probably somewhere between the two colors in real life, but you get the idea. Whatcha think?

Oh, and can I add that this is a lot more work than I thought! So, beware if you start this project!

Snow Day!

Can you believe it snowed today, in GEORGIA, and it stuck to the ground. It must have started snowing while we were in sacrament meeting at church. The kids were so excited that we all decided to let them go out for a few minutes before going to Sunday School. I mean, you know, we were all thinking there was no way it was going to keep snowing! But, it did and it started to stick. It is very slushy and wet, but snow nonetheless.

When we got back home there were a few areas around the apartments that had a good bit of snow so we took the kids out for a few minutes to make snow balls and a snowman. Check them out!

Ruthanne making a snowball.

John getting ready to throw the snowball Luke made for him.

Luke and Ruthanne making the snowman. Luke was making the bottom and Ruthanne was making the top.
See the finished snowman? Look closely!
Luke with the little snowman before it died a miserable death in the parking lot.