Merry Christmas

Well all, it is very hard to believe that Christmas is just 2 days (barely) away. I am getting ready to spend Christmas at my Mother-in-Law's house and then Friday I set off and the journey to Virginia where I get to see my sister and her wonderful family!! I am also praying hard that I get to meet my new little niece before I leave Friday (so hurry it up Pookie and Keira!!) or they can wait until I come back. Not sure Kara wants to do that though!!! Just think Michael should be back shortly after me so maybe she can wait for him too???!!! :0) I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year and if you travel, please do so safely. I am sure there will be enough crazies on the road!! If you think about it and are willing, please keep the boys and me in your prayers for our travel. Not sure how to post from another computer so I might not post until I get back so until then, be good and enjoy life!

Howdy

Dawson.. Silly boy! Not like he is doing any work! ;0)

The new window. Lets in great light!

The new window from the street.

A close up of the window

Hello, I am trying to update within a reasonable amount of time. Time just seems to be slipping by, I know I say that all the time but it is true. I will post a couple of new pictures of the house, it is coming along nicely!! Maybe just a couple more months and we will be in it. I am ready for that!!

Dylan getting ready to playDalton getting ready.

The boys had a violin concert tonight. They did a great job!! They played at the FWB Library and there were quite a lot of folks there, mind you they were mostly parents and grandparents!! The boys are doing really well but I wish they would practice without being told! I don't remember my mom hassling me about practicing my clarinet... It was more likely that she told me to stop! I might have erased that memory though. HEEHEE

The boys are now out of school for the Holidays and they don't go back until the 5th of January. I think it will be a good holiday, I just really wish Michael was here to spend it with us. We are planning a trip up to Virginia, so that should be really fun. I can't wait.... How long Aunt Georgie??

Well that is all for now. I think we are actually going to watch a movie tonight as a family. Dylan has been on restriction for so long, he hasn't seen anything in about 6 weeks.. Enjoy the pictures and I am sorry if you are getting bored with the house pictures... I am ready to see it done. Have a great day and if for some crazy reason I don't post before Christmas, have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy your loved ones. God bless you all this holiday season and stay safe. If you see fit to keep us in your prayers while we travel, we would appreciate it very much.

How do you scream with typing????

good to see old friends. Tamara and Richard. Haven't seen them in about 4 1/2 years Alyssa is with them in this picture

Dawson all dressed up ready to sing in Church!! He did a great job!

Dalton and his gingerbread house at school.

Man, things are going crazy right now. I feel so stressed with everything going on and with Michael gone to boot. The house is coming along and I am really starting to see some progress and the vision that I am sure Michael has seen all along. With sheet rock going up, it really brings things together.

new closet all framed and rocked. It is a great size!!

This is a look from the back of the above closet and the new entry closet. The indention there is for our hall tree.

I have been very busy with the house and then trying to keep the one we are living in in some sort of order. (I am failing miserably at that!!) The boys are keeping me busy, with violin lessons and homework. And we are all involved in Awana. I have to say that I am very thankful for the break in Awana for the month of December. December is always a very busy time of year anyway and it seems to be flying by at a breakneck pace!!

I am very excited about an upcoming trip to my sister's house.... 11 more days and I will be there!!! YEAH. I am not looking forward to the drive but I think I have that figured out as well so it will be ok. Not sure what we are planning for up there but I don't really mind anything as long as I am with my sister! I am just sad that it will only be for a week. I am sure it will all just be a memory before I know it. Isn't that how it always goes?? You look so forward to something and then it finally comes and is gone in a flash. Oh well.. such is life.. Great news is that Michael should be home shortly after we get home!! I am ready for him to come home, and I think he is ready as well.

Here are a few pictures of the house. I don't really have anything new for you to see. The house might even look the same but trust me, it has changed. Well, Until I get more photos or something exciting happens, I will leave you to whatever it is you do!!

Have a great day and if for some reason I don't get a chance to tell you, please have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Be safe and look for my Christmas card in the mail. (Probably in January sometime!! :-)

can't sleep

Thanksgiving at Nana's House

My little Indian, he made this at school. Pretty cute huh??

Well, since I have been up since 4am and don't know why, and the laundry is going and the cookies are baking, I guess I will take this opportunity to post... All is going well, we have just been really busy. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and were able to really think about what you have to be thankful for. As for me, I am thankful for so many things!! God has provided for us in so many ways that I truly feel blessed. I am sad that Michael is gone for the Holidays as I am really missing him. I was telling the boys last night that I just needed a "daddy hug" so Dawson came over a gave me a huge hug and told me it was from Daddy. How sweet is that!!!

The McCoy's and Edeker with Steven(McCoy's cousin)

Susan and Christina

The house is coming along, slowly but coming along none the less. The boys are doing good and I am glad, (I am such a bad mom!!!) that they are going back to school today. I like having a routine! Dawson especially seems to get into trouble if there is no routine! I am doing good as well other than a toothache, which I hope to get in to see a dentist today!!! I can't eat or drink anything cold, or even breathe in through my mouth if it is too cold!! YIKES. I guess since I am 39 and this is my first toothache ever, I am doing pretty good but I don't like it!

Well, here are a few pictures, it was so good to see some old friends over this past week, I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of Leigh Ann and I and all the kids together!!! I was actually really disappointed about it but we will next time. Until then, have a great day, be safe and remember the reason for the season!!! JESUS!

Hello again

Here we are again and it has almost been a month since I posted. We have been keeping busy with everything. I have nothing really new or exciting to post, just pictures of what has been happening. Michael and I had our birthday dinner at Okinawa, it is a Hibachi restaurant. I think it is my favorite. It is soooo yummy. Good thing is it a little expensive, otherwise I would be eating there all the time and we KNOW the food there is not on Weight Watchers!!! It was good fun with friends and family and great food. Scary to think how old we are not though, I am less than a year out from the big 40 now.. YIKES

Now with Michael off doing his job, I am doing it alone and I hate that it is the best time of year. So many things to do as a family. Great fellowship with friends but maybe next year Honey!! Our Fall Festival at our church was great fun and a wonderful turnout. It is all free, games, huge blowup slides and mazes, food and Christian music. The kids play the little games to get their candy. I really enjoy doing this so much better than trick-or-treating. I don't have any pictures of Dylan. He worked one of the booths for a while and then I didn't see him until it was time to go.

After the Fall Festival, we drove out to Nana's house to stay the night there. We were all going up to Defuniak Springs on Saturday to enjoy Farm Day. This is held a a mans house and all you are asked to do is bring a dish, a side dish or dessert. Everything else is provided, there is so much for the kids to do and even the adults. It is a great day and we had a blast!! There was horseback riding, dancing, bobbing for apples, Home Depot was there with things for the kids to build, they were showing the kids now folks used to make arrowheads using old antlers and a piece of flint, zip lines, a hay ride, petting zoo, and food out the wazoo. There was more I am sure but I just can't remember it all right now. I really hope Michael can come next year though.

Then this weekend came the Awana Grand Prix. It was great fun and the boys did great on their cars. (thank you very much!! HEEHEE) But when it was all said and done, Dylan took home 3rd place and Dalton and Dawson didn't place. Dalton was a little upset, he had made it all the way to the semi finals and then got beat out, but he knows what we need to do next time. Dawson thought he should have received a trophy, he doesn't understand that you have to keep on winning till the end. Dawson did win his first 3 or 4 races though.
Well, that is about all for now. As you can see, no pictures of the progress of the house. I will try to get those posted in the next couple of days. We are getting the bathrooms done this week and then we should be finishing up on the roof. We will see but it is all coming together. Have a great day and thanks for looking.

more progress

Wow, we are really making some progress now. I am so excited. I was imagining what the house would look like when it was done but it was really hard for me. Now, we have done enough that it is easy for me to see it. It looks so awesome!!! I will enclose some pictures in a minute.

Dylan helping. Michael said he was a huge help this day!!

The new header for the new entrance

Me, I was pulling the nails out of the plywood so it could be removed.

The new entrance, Ken and I added the new side light and moved the front door. Man was it heavy!!!
We are all doing well, just busy as you can imagine. The boys are doing good in school, we just have to keep on Dylan, he is being really lazy and doesn't do as well as he can. We keep telling him that if he is doing this with no effort, think of what he could do with a little effort!!! BOYS!! It goes right in one ear and out the other, that is only when they are not so clogged up with wax that he doesn't hear a word we say! Dylan and Dalton are doing well in violin. I don't think as well as they were in England but it is a different method here, (they actually have to learn to read the music at this stage!) All 3 boys are doing great in Awana and we are having a great time. I am really enjoying being a leader for T n T. I do miss alot of my friends from England and for some reason, it is a little hard for us to get settled back into our church. Not sure why that is, all of the senior adults are happy to see us but I am at conflict with the reception I am getting from people in our Sunday School class and our age. Weird, I can't explain it but I just pray that we are where we are supposed to be and if not that God will lead us there.

I can hardly believe that October is nearly over. Michael is preparing to head east! He is ready to get this underway. Stinks that he will be gone for all the holidays but we have done it before and will deal with it. The 2 1/2 months will fly by I am sure. Then he plans to finish his Masters. He has it all mapped out which just means that something will happen to mess it all up right???

Well, I must run for now. I have errands to run before I go to Ironwood to work. Enjoy the pictures and have a great day. Love to you all!!

Someone's 11

Mike, Nana, Dalton, Dawson, Dylan, Zac, Kara

See I told you I would post again shortly!!! Well as you can see from the title, we had a birthday in the house!! I can't believe my Dylan is 11. He is getting so big. He is above my shoulders already. Well, for his birthday, he wanted dinner at Fudpuckers in Destin. They have alligators there so.... We invited Aunt Kara and Zac and Nana.It was a good time and the food was pretty good. Dylan got money and books for his birthday and who would think that someone would be so excited about books but by the pictures I will post, you can see that he was so excited. Michael and I got him the books of Ember. There are four in the series and he was over the moon excited about them. Yesterday the movie City of Ember came out in theatres so we all went to see it. It was pretty good but I am reading the book and Dylan already read it and it is quite a bit different than the movie. Oh well, the main plot is pretty much the same just the details are really different. Well, I will post the pictures from his birthday dinner and then I must get some things done around the house. For some reason, the laundry and cleaning does not just happen on its own!! (only in my dreams does it!!!) Have a great day.

Zac, Dylan and Dalton

Dawson
I told you he was excited to get these books!!!
Dylan and Mom

What?? October

Ok, I have been meaning to post on here for a week now but I honestly did not think it had been nearly a full month since I posted last. Wow!! As you all know, we have been busy so there is no need really to bore you will all I have been doing. The house is coming along finally and we are finally to the stage of Construction and not Destruction. I am very pleased about that. I have been at the house every day while the kids are in school (with the exception of Friday the 10th and I will tell you all about that in a bit!!) I am learning quite a bit and I love doing this kind of work. It is fun and rewarding to see what you have built. Ken (our builder) has gotten to the point now where he knows what I am capable of and will just assign me a task and leave me to it. All of the supplies were delivered yesterday for the new addition so that will be underway this weekend. Michael will be at the house all weekend I am sure since he only has 2 weeks left before he deploys. I will keep you posted with updated pictures and here are a few.

Ken finishing up the new concrete

The pantry

Ken mudding the master bath

The new pocket door going into the master bath

thanks for looking and I will be posting more here shortly. I have alot to post but I didn't want to make this post too long. There has been alot more done in the house since these pictures so I will try to take some more today.

Have a great day. Suse

where is the time going?

Wow, where does the time go??? Things are going by so fast, I can hardly believe it is the middle of September already. Well we have been very busy indeed so I am sorry for the lack of updates. Not that I think anyone really looks at this anyway!! HEEHEE Here is what has been going on with us. Michael has finally finished getting re qualified in the plane and he tested last week for Chief so there is no more studying for him right now. Which is good because we have so much else going on. Well, we finally agreed on some plans to renovate the house and we got the prints last Friday and I was able to get the building permit and notice of commencement Tuesday. So as you can imagine I have been at our house helping our builder doing what ever I can. I expect I will be there most days for a while. I think it will a month or two before we have it all completed. It will be awesome when it is done and we are so excited. One bad thing before all of this was able to take place was that we found a leak in the main water line that came into the house from the pipe straight off the main. I happened to go into the bathroom and I heard running water. Well since the only thing in the two bathrooms combined was one toilet, I knew something was wrong. Well, about a week and a lot of digging and busting of concrete later, we found the leak about 10 feet under the slab. We are lucky though, we only had to bust up part of the bathroom floor and a small hole, (only considered small if you take into account how big the side of the house is!) in the side of the house. We were able to run a new copper pipe in through a conduit we made of PVC that we had water jetted in around the old copper pipe. Well, sure enough we found the hole in the pipe. All the plumbing was finished yesterday and we have no more leaks. YEAH We even had to replace the PVC that ran from the meter to the house because there were 10, yes I said 10, different connections. When whoever put that together, they must have used all the leftover bits they could find. It was ridiculous!!! Well, now there is only the joint where it plugs into the meter, one in the middle, and the one where it is plugged into the house stuff!!





Not that you really care what is going on with my house, I really felt the need to explain all of that. I will now post a couple of pictures and leave the rest up to you since a picture is worth a thousand words right?? Thanks for looking and have a great day.

This is Mike looking from the master bath into the hall bath.

See? A hole in the front of my house!!

The hole in the hall bathroom floor. (and my toes!!)

The front yard dug up since we had to chase the leak for a while.

We are really still here!!

Mike and I on the boat for the 4th of July Fireworks

The boys at Sea World
Wow, I know it has been a long time since my last post but I just never seem to have enough time to sit down with no distractions. Well, here it is 2:37am and while everyone else is sleeping, (since I can't seem to) I will update you. We have moved into Fort Walton Beach although not our house. We are living in Michael's Mom's house for the time being. We still have not had our household goods delivered so we are still sleeping on air mattresses (the kids) and Mike and I are on a mattress on the floor. It is really starting to get old but we do what we have to. I thought we had decided what to do about our house here in FWB but Michael has yet again changed his mind. So I think the plan now is to replace all the flooring, have the house repainted inside and then fix the other minor things and move in. Hopefully this can be done in a couple of weeks. I will be over there tomorrow to strip some wallpaper off and then start scraping the popcorn off the ceilings.

The kids start school in just over a week and I feel like a horrible mom when I say this but I can't wait!!! They are going stir crazy right now and need some social action with other kids and a break from me. We have had a good summer I think but a busy one. When we flew into the US, we stayed down south and visited relatives and visited Sea World, the zoo and went on an air boat ride to see alligators. We made it up north here to find our house looking like complete rubbish from the tenants. I am not cut out to be a landlord!!! I don't understand how people don't take care of things.... I won't bore you with the details.. We have been to the Zoo here, we go swimming all the time at our house and we have been to many movies trying to stay busy but man, I sure do miss the prices of the movies on base in England. The prices here are ridiculous!! I am not used to paying so much.

Michael has been busy studying to get re-qualified on the plane. He is done with that so now he is on to studying for Chief. He tests next month. One exciting thing for him is he finally got his Harley. He has wanted one for so long and for one reason or another has never done it. Well, on our last night in England, everything came together and he was able to order one. He is loving it!! He hasn't taken me or the kids out on it yet but he has his safety class next week and then he will have his Motorcycle endorsement on his drivers license and then he will take us for a ride. He needed to get used to it anyway, it has been a long time since he has ridden.

There is nothing else that has been really exciting here, we have only been to the ER once when Dalton tried to cut his thumb off with a brand new cross cut saw!! 7 stitches from that whew hoo!! He now has a really nice scar on his thumb. I think that is a record for us.. I should knock on wood, I know I will be off to the ER tomorrow if I don't. Dawson is not feeling too well himself. He had a 104.1 fever last night and that is probably why I can't sleep. He is in my bed and between worrying that his fever has spiked again and him kicking and laying on me I can't get to sleep.

On a note about me, by some miracle, I have only gained 5 pounds back since leaving England. It has been just over 2 months since I kept track of anything so the fact that it was only 5 pounds is amazing. I have however decided that losing 44 pounds was huge and I was not going to mess up what I worked so hard for. I found a Weight Watchers here in town and I have already lost 3 1/2 of my 5. So I am back on track and ready to get to my goal. I asked Mike when 5 lbs looks and feels like 20? He of course didn't know but my answer is: when you have lost 44 and gained 5 of it back. I will keep you posted on my accomplishments there. I know you are cheering for me Marybeth!!

Well, I will try to post a couple of pictures and then I really should try to go and lay down. It will be a long day tomorrow otherwise! Thanks for looking.

Susan

Contact me

Hello, I don't know what is going on with my email Rhonda, We are in town but we are staying in Santa Rosa Beach so it is a pain trying to get to FWB everyday, not to mention the gas prices..... I do have the kids in VBS this week and they are having a blast. Not sure we will make it on Sunday's for a while, we will cut down the trips in as much as we can, but we will be moving in (not sure where yet) hopefully pretty soon. Hope to see some of you soon, it was nice seeing some people, almost like we never left!!! Have a great day and I will post some pictures of our trip home soon. This computer doesn't always work!!! UGH God bless everyone and have a great day!

We made it!!

Ok, we finally made it across the big pond to Florida. It has been a crazy couple of weeks. We flew into Orlando and stayed with family there for nearly a week and then drove up to (Mike's) Mom's house on Monday. We went on Tuesday to look at our house in FWB and the tenants were not very nice to it.... We will be a little while moving into it but I think we may do some renovations before we move in. We haven't really decided yet. We have been having a great time on vacation but like all vacations, I am really starting to want to be on a schedule. We will probably be at the house everyday next week doing what needs to be done but there is no help for it. I will post more later along with some pictures from our trip. Until then, thanks for looking and keep in touch.. Susan

FUN

Mike rocking out.

Dawson Playing

Hello everyone, we are still just chilling out over in England. The phone company has decided to cut our phone off almost 3 weeks too early and they say the internet is going to be cut off any day now. We should still be online every once in a while, we will just have to take the computer to the library or the community center. We will make due for the next 2 weeks..... YES.... I said 2 weeks and we are out of here. I am really excited. Michael's replacement got here yesterday and I think he is really getting excited now too.



I went to the BX (the base store) yesterday with my friend and they had a Karaoke set up. If you sang a song, you could get a coupon and save up to a max of $100 on any one item. Dalton, Dawson and I sang 'I Had a Bad Day" and we got a coupon for 50% OFF any one thing. We decided to buy the Wii Guitar Hero III. It is sooooo much fun. We were having a blast last night. I am not sure who had more fun, the boys or Mike and I after they went to bed. Here are a few pictures of them rocking out. If you have a Wii and don't have this, I recommend it, if you don't have a Wii, well I can't believe it!! HEEHEE You can come to our house and we will share. (Just to let you know, I am kicking Mike's butt on the Guitar Hero!!!)

We will keep you posted on where we are and what is going on but until then, some of you have our cell or email us. Thanks for looking!!