Soccer Saturday

Today was a full day of soccer and with Darrick gone it was all up to me!

It started with getting to the field at 8:15 am for Jacob's soccer pictures. It looked cute but he has the hardest time trying to smile.

Then it was off to Jacob's soccer game. They played the Warriors. Jacob got a total break away and scored a sweet goal. He was so proud.

After Jacob's game it was my turn to ref a game for Jacob's division. The boys sat on the sidelines while I ran up and down the field. I made a few mistakes but the parents and coaches were very gracious to me.

Then at 11:00 Micah had his soccer pictures and then his game. Micah took a really hard kick in the gut. He cried a little and came out to sit but then jumped right back into the game the next quarter.

Now we are home again and all showered and clean. We are getting ready to watch Stars Wars-Episode 1. May the force be with you!

The Big 5

Today is Jacob's real birthday and now he is 5 years old! I can hardly believe it. But you know I have found 5 to be a hard age to parent. I loved when both of the boys went through the 4's and so far 6 almost 7 for Micah has been great-but 5 stinks!

They are starting to try to be their own person and try to do more things and things they know they shouldn't. Darrick and I have both learned that 5 year olds know EVERYTHING and we know nothing. They also tend to be very dramatic and moody. And at late 4 and 5 they both picked up the word boring. Everything is SO Boring!

Thank goodness it is only a phase!

Also now that Jacob has turned 5 we put his special blankie into his memory box. He was fine with it and has only asked for it twice. But I have no idea how we are going to get him to stop sucking his thumb. The dentist and pediatrician both told us he needs to stop. Right now we are just not going to worry about it. Any thumb suckers out there?

Happy Birthday Jake! We love you so much! You are still our cuddler and love to be cozy. Somehow you are just cool, you don't try to be but you are one of those people who are, and people tell us that all the time. You make us laugh with the funny things you say and do and cry with frustration. May God continue to bless you and give us strength to parent you!

Marriage on the Rock

Today Darrick and I started a marriage series called "Marriage on the Rock", not marriage on the rocks :) by Jimmy Evans. We opened up our home so we are hosting and another couple are the shepherds or leaders and then there is one other couple. There are 52 couples in our church doing the study.

We will be meeting every Sunday at 5:00 pm for the next 10 weeks. For part of it Darrick will be in San Diego so we have to do via email. We are both really looking forward to it.

Happy Birthday Micah and Jacob-a little early

Today we celebrated the boys birthdays. Darrick is leaving this week with the ship to go to San Diego for about a month and will miss both of their birthdays. Jacob will be 5 on January 23 and Micah will be 7 on February 8.

Micah was thrilled and surprised to get a Nintendo DS! Jacob loved his puzzle from Nana and Papa and his first big boy scooter!

We had chocolate cake and ice cream and spent the day together. It was a good way to celebrate.

Goodbye Old Friend

Yesterday our dear Pepsi passed away. Darrick's mom bought Pepsi for him about a year before Darrick joined the Navy. When Darrick joined my parents agreed to take over the responsibility of taking care of Pepsi. Jeff was young and really enjoyed having Pepsi as a pet. These pictures are from this summer when we were visiting my parents. Thank you Dad, Mom and Jeff for giving Pepsi a loving home.

Another day of subbing

Wednesday morning at 6:30 am I got called to sub again. In order for me to get to school in time we have to leave the house at 6:45! So we had to get ready quick but we made it.

I was in a 3rd grade class, my favorite age! It went well. It is also nice that other teachers are meeting me and they really like the fact that I am an experienced teacher. One teacher already asked me to sub 2 days for her in February!

Today I did not get called, which was nice because I could get some errands done.

There is also a terrible news story that happened here today. A man threw a toddler off an overpass into the freeway traffic below. The child died and they are still trying to figure out why this happened. Also a woman was murdered the day before. Things like that never happen here so everyone is in shock.

hiho, hiho, it's back to work I go

Today was my first day as a sub in Hawaii. I actually got the phone call last night, which I like so much better then getting called in the morning. The assignment was for First Grade at Iroquois Point Elementary-Micah's school.

So the boys and I had to get up much earlier then normal and we had to be out the door by 6:45 am. Then we dropped Jacob off at before school care and then Micah and I headed to school.

I signed in and got my key and headed to the classroom. To my surprise there were NO lesson plans! Yikes! So I winged it the best I could. But later in the morning, the teacher's roommate brought the lesson plans. Then things went much better. The day went really fast and everything went smoothly.

Since I have my teaching degree, I am in the highest pay category, which means I get paid $147.00 a day! When I subbed in NJ about 10 years ago I got paid about $70.00.

So all in all, it went really good. But one funny thing happened. All the classrooms have really big windows. A couple of times I saw Micah pass the window and peek in. Then his teacher told me at recess that Micah went to the bathroom about 4 times this morning and was wondering if he was ok. I said he was and that I think he was spying on me!

Some ladies also came by because they were checking the students in the school for headlice. One of my students have to leave because they were infected. Oh dear!

Jacob's hair

From the time Jacob was born, he has had very challenging hair, as you can see from the first picture. Darrick wanted to cut it right away, but I told him you cannot take a little baby to the barber. So we dealt with it for many months. I finally gave in and we got Jacob a haircut. Soon after that his hair grew very thick so we started to get him buzz cuts. It looked cute on him and he has had his hair like this for about 4 years. But now he has decided that he wants to grow his hair out, I think because Micah is growing his out. This morning was the first time we could style it since it finally got long enough. But all his hair grows forward so I had to but gel in it to get it to stay to the side. What do you think?

Makin' Cookies

Last night the boys and I made sugar cookies. I actually got out our play dough cutters and the boys had so much fun making all kinds of different cookies. We used a sugar cookie recipe from my sister-in-law, Laura's mom-yummy!

Then today we all got in on the action of decorating them. Darrick and Jacob seemed to have less, they said the cookies kept jumping in their mouths. It was a lot of fun!

And here I am wearing my sweatshirt

It is actually on the cool side today so I am wearing my sweatshirt.

Well, it is cold for Hawaii.

OK,OK, here is the picture

So here is the picture of our awesome HAYS sweatshirts that Jennifer gave us. We love them, thanks again, Jennifer!

We also put a picture of Luke with his fourth cast and his cone. He kept chewing his casts and so now he has to wear this.

Start of the soccer season

Overnight Guest

Yesterday our friend, Jennifer Homesley, came to stay with us overnight.

She is from Texas and is staying there, with family, and her 3 year old son Brayden while her husband Jeremy is deployed for 6 months. Since they would be gone so long before her husband left they moved out of housing. Well in order to get back into Navy housing and on the waiting list, the housing people told her she had to be her in person.

So she found a military space A flight, the kind we took to Japan, and flew to Hawaii. The only thing is that the flight was returning to Texas this morning at 8 am.

So she left her son Brayden with family and hopped on the plane. Her flight was to arrive at 1:45 and she made her housing appt. for 4:00 because it closes at 4:30. Well her plane ended up being late and didn't come in until 4:00.

Micah and I had arrived to the terminal at 1:15 to pick her up but were quite entertained by all the airplanes and helicopters landing and taking off. We were at the Marine Core Base. So when she did land we called housing right away and they said they would wait for her. We booked it over there and made it there at 4:35. Thankfully they saw her and she got on the list!

We had such a nice time hanging out and talking. She is 5 months pregnant and I got to feel the baby move! She also brought Darrick and I cool sweatshirts from the Hays store! I absolutely LOVE them.

This morning Darrick and Jennifer left at 4:45 am so he could drop her back off at the Marine Core Base terminal and then Darrick could get to work by 7:00.

Leave is over

Today Darrick had to go back to work because his leave is over. It was so great to have him home. We did not really do that much but hung out at home a lot which we all needed.

On Saturday, we did decide to go out and do something. We decided to drive up the West coast and take a little hike. We had never been up the west coast that far and it is so beautiful. We have had some rain lately so there were some pretty big mud puddles since it was a dirt trail. To the right of the trail were the mountains and to the left was the ocean. There were some points on the trail where you could go off the trail and explore.

We saw some tide pools and decided that would be a good place to have lunch. After we had our picnic lunch the boys explored. They found baby hermit crabs and five sea cucumbers. We did not have our camera so I found a picture on google of one. Of course, the boys ended up in the water. Whenever we are near the ocean they end up in it, they can't stay out. After awhile we hiked back. It was a really fun time!

I also got all my paperwork back from the state and so when school starts again on January 14 I can start subbing!

Rememebr them in prayer

This is an article from CBS.com Our friend Jeremy is on the Port Royal and all Darrick's old shipmates from the Hopper. Please keep them in your prayers.

Pentagon: Iranians Harassed Navy Ships

(CBS/AP) In what U.S. officials called a serious provocation, Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessels. U.S. forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats in the early Sunday incident, when the boats turned and moved away, a Pentagon official said. "It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. Iran's Foreign Ministry said Monday that the confrontation between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships over the weekend was "something normal" and was resolved. It suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. The incident occurred at about 5 a.m. local time Sunday. CBS News has learned from Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman that the three ships - the guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal, the guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper and the guided missile frigate USS Ingraham - were transiting the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf when they were approached by 5 Iranian fast boats, some of which were assessed to be visibly armed. The small boats began charging the U.S. ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the Navy vessels and forcing the U.S. ships to take evasive maneuvers, the Pentagon official said. CBS News Correspondent Vicki Barker reports that, according to Pentagon officials, the Iranians reportedly radioed something to the effect of "We're coming at you and you'll explode in a couple minutes," although there was no precise transcript of communications that the two forces exchanged available. There were no injuries but the official said there could have been, because the Iranian boats turned away "literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire" in self defense. Whitman said the Iranians' actions displayed "wreckless, dangerous, and potentially hostile intent." He also said that the U.S. ships followed "appropriate protocols" and were in international waters. The entire incident took about 15-20 minutes duration, according to the Pentagon. At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said he was not aware of any plans to lodge a formal protest.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said the weekend incident between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz was "something normal" and was resolved."Without specific reference to this incident in the Strait of Hormuz, the United States will confront Iranian behavior where it seeks to do harm either to us or to our friends and allies in the region," McCormack told reporters. "There is wide support for that within the region and certainly that's not going to change." Whitman said the Pentagon will work with State and National Security Council officials to determine "the appropriate way to address this with the Iranian government." Historical tensions between the two nations have increased in recent years over Washington's charge that Tehran has been developing nuclear weapons and supplying and training Iraqi insurgents using roadside bombs - the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. According to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, White House spokesperson Tony Fratto said the Bush administration urges the Iranians "to abstain from such provocative acts that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future."

Sugar Bowl!!!

Today is the day. The University of Hawaii Warriors has made it to the Sugar Bowl. They were the only undeafeated college team in America, 12-0!

We, along with the whole state were in our living room at 3:30 for the start of the game in New Orleans, decked out in our Warrior gear to support. It took 3 shots to get Jacob to cooperate.

But we are sad to report that Hawaii lost 10-41. But we are so proud of the Warriors for making history in Hawaii and for their coach June Jones for his open discussions about God and his faith!