He ate it.....

independently! AND it wasn't yogurt or oatmeal! Liam ate chicken with peas and carrots and gravy. I put it into the food processor and heated it up and he ate it! Why I am so excited? Well, when Liam came home, he would eat some foods that I put into the food processer, but then after a few weeks, he refused everything except yogurt and oatmeal. Occasionally, he would eat some mashed potatoes or refried beans, but it was rare. The last few weeks he has been showing interest in other foods, so I tried a few things like soup and cereals with banana mashed in. He has even ate chocolate ice cream a few times in the last week or so. :) YAY! Now, if I can get him to stop spitting out everything he has to chew, we'll really be making progress.

 

 

 The bib came off before the meal was finished. LOL!

Too Funny not to Share

This family photo was taken at Ft. Lackland AFB while we were visiting Benjamin. The photographer was not a professional and was okay with every shot he took. I asked him to take a few more because I wanted everyone to be looking at the camera (mostly Liam) and for Caleb to have his tongue in his mouth! The photographer would show me each pic on a very small screen on his camera. This is the last one he took. I looked at it and thought, Liam's facing the camera and Caleb's tongue is in. Yes, we will take this one. Imagine my surprise when it arrived in the mail and I noticed Elijah. OMG! How did I not see that tongue of his?

Lil stinker!

So far....

Well, we are a week or so into Summer Break and we've been enjoying our time. I'd like to say that we've been sleeping in, but Liam gets up at 6:30am no matter what time he goes to bed. Oh well, makes the day last longer, right?

Papa shortened Caleb's seat so now he can ride his bike. He loves it! It's so cute to watch him ride. This bike used to be Jimmy's many years ago and I used to walk behind Jimmy as he rode. I thought I could do that with Caleb too, but it's more of a jog. He likes to go fast. I would ride my bike with him but he still takes a few corners too quickly and I want to be ready to make the "save".  :)

Liam's new swim "diaper". Isn't it hilarious? But it fits and despite it's flashy appearance, it does the job. :)

 

Painting is one of the boys favorite activities to do.

Elijah making one of his famous rainbows using his favorite color yellow.

Hello Summer!

The boys are officially on summer vacation!
Caleb just finished the fourth grade. He came off the bus today saying, "It's summer! The waterpark?" (He doesn't waste any time)  :) Then he started asking about Hornet Camp which is a program that runs for 6 weeks in the summer. He has been going for a few years and he absolutely loves it! It starts in July. Soon buddy soon.

Here he proudly shows off his autographed page from all of his friends.

They wrote notes on the back too.

 

 

My two little kindergartners are kindergartners no more. 

They had such an awesome year!

 

We will continue to work on reading and math and other skills through the summer. I already have the summer school basket on our table where it will reside all summer.

 

The calendar and schedule are going up tonight. Hopefully I can stay organized. It's not a strength of mine. But I absolutely love teaching and teaching my children is a bonus :)

 

Happy Summer everyone!!

 

Our Family Field Trip..........

as Caleb called it. We took a family field trip to San Antonio last week to watch Benjamin graduate from the Air Force. It was quite an adventure and we had a great time. We flew out on Wednesday morning.

Jimmy thought it was pretty funny when Elijah fell asleep on him.

 

We arrived in San Antonio at 4:30pm. And after waiting for our damaged suitcase to be replaced, standing in line to get our rental car, leaving a suitcase at the airport, going back to the airport to get it, and getting lost, we finally arrived at the hotel at 6:30 pm.

 

We ordered Papa John's pizza, got baths done, and went to bed by 10:00pm.

 

The next morning, we got up early to get ready for Ben's graduation. I prayed that we would find Ft. Lackland Air Force Base on time, and off we went.

 

We made it to the base a little early and excitedly joined all of the other families waiting, to watch our family members graduate. And what a ceremony it was. When the troops came in (all 759 of them), I teared up. It was just so moving. When the song America the Beautiful came on and they were passing out the soldier's coins, I cried. I have never been so proud of Benjamin as I was that day.

My handsome son, Airman Benjamin Lucas.

Jimmy is so proud of Ben. :)

 

Poor Liam, by this time we had sat very snuggly in the bleachers, for about 3 hours. He had, had it! The shoes came off after the second time he kicked someone (not intentionally). He perked up soon after this picture was taken though.

 

 

The ceremony continued the next morning with the

Graduation Parade. The Airmen "Pass In Review" and reaffirm their "Oath of Enlistment" at graduation parade

 This made it official. I don't think there was a dry eye in the stands.

 



There's Benjamin in the middle.

Reaffirming their Oath of Enlistment.

 

Soooo proud of Benjamin!

Benjamin and the Three Star General who was the keynote speaker.

Elijah liked that he could touch the airplane. :)

 We spent every day with Benjamin. Then I would take the little guys back to the hotel to swim. Ben spent the evenings with his Dad and his family.

Caleb, Liam and Elijah were so good on this trip. We had a great time and it was so much fun to go to the pool each afternoon/evening.

 

The boys loved staying at the hotel. Caleb keeps asking to go back and see Ben and stay in a hotel. I wish we were closer, but hopefully after Tech school, he'll get stationed close enough for us to be able to drive and see him.:) We miss him so much!

 

 

 

On Sunday, our last day with Ben, we went out to eat and then back to his base. It was so hard to leave him. But I am so excited for his future and am very confident that he will do great things!

 

We love you Ben and we are so proud of you!

The Airman's Creed

 

I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN.
I AM A WARRIOR.
I HAVE ANSWERED MY NATION'S CALL.

I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN.
MY MISSION IS TO FLY, FIGHT, AND WIN.
I AM FAITHFUL TO A PROUD HERITAGE,
A TRADITION OF HONOR,
AND A LEGACY OF VALOR.

I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN,
GUARDIAN OF FREEDOM AND JUSTICE,
MY NATION'S SWORD AND SHIELD,
ITS SENTRY AND AVENGER.
I DEFEND MY COUNTRY WITH MY LIFE.

I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN:
WINGMAN, LEADER, WARRIOR.
I WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AIRMAN BEHIND,
I WILL NEVER FALTER,
AND I WILL NOT FAIL.

We are so PROUD of you Ben!

Love, Caleb, Liam and Elijah :)

Airman Benjamin Lucas

My Hero

My Son,

Airman Benjamin Lucas