Henry Can Read!

Henry is now learning to read in Kindergarten and we are so proud of him. It's amazing how fast he is learning. His teacher sent home these sight word flash cards last night for homework and he's gotten them all down already. We'll move on to page 2 tonight! Yeah for Henry!

NEWS FLASH!

JENNA IS LEAVING THE CHRISTMAS TREE ALONE! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Jeff loves my Little People Nativity set. He played with it ALL DAY LONG today!

Jeff, Jenna, Henry, and Dad with their special ornament gifts.

This year it was Jeff's turn to put the star on the top of the tree. He was so proud.

Today we set up our Christmas tree. This is one of my favorite days of the year! Usually, we do it for FHE the Monday following Thanksgiving but this year Henry has a special family activity at school on Monday. We decided to do it today. I put up all the decorations earlier today and then we decorated the tree together, as a family. Every year, everyone gets a new ornament that commemorates something special that happened over the previous year. This year, Dustin got a photo frame ornament with a picture of him surfing on it. Henry got a little Fisher Price School Bus ornament because this is his first year going to school on the bus. Jeff got a super cool Go, Diego, Go ornament because that's who he's really into right now. Jenna got a Tinkerbell ornament because that's who she was for Halloween. This is something that I do for them every year and I LOVE it! I also got an extra photo frame ornament for myself and I hope to put one of my dolphin photos or another photo of Hawaii in it. Now I just have to teach Jenna to leave the tree alone. It went okay tonight but it's gonna take a little while!

Just in Time!

They made their last trip of the season just before our first big snow, and I mean just before! Dustin took the boys to Idaho this past weekend to visit his Uncle Johnny and cousin Travis and his family. I was worried about the roads before they left and even more worried for their trip home as the snow started to fall last night. They made it home safely after traveling at about 30 miles an hour for about 10 hours. They were due back at 2am and didn't get here until 4am. Needless to say, I was a bit worried. They had a wonderful time and I'm sure they're glad they went. Jenna and I had a great girls only weekend with plenty of shopping, movies, and crafting. Hopefully Dustin's travel bug will go into hybernation for the winter and we can spend some time together doing absolutely nothing!

The Card is Done!

Here at Malmstrom there is a Giant Holiday Card contest. I really, really wanted to enter last year but with Jenna being so new and family coming for Thanksgiving it just didn't happen. This year I was determined to get it done. So, here it is. I think it's pretty clever but who knows what the judges will think. The contest is open to squadrons, units, youth groups, and base housing residents. The top prize is $150! Second is $100, and Third is $75. It's due into Outdoor Rec by the 26th. We still have to drill holes in the corners and turn it in. I can't wait to see it displayed at the Club!

I'm Dreaming of a White Thanksgiving?

This is a photo of our first real dumping of snow for the season. We got about 6" last night. It will probably stick around until Saturday when our temps head back up into the 40s. It looks like another snowy Thanksgiving for the Douberlys. Happily the roads are safe today but after it freezes tonight and the slush turns to ice I will probably be spending a lot of time at home!

Jenna Took My Toy!

So, the ladies at my mom's Weight Watcher's class have started buying "athletic" hula hoops and they're losing a lot of weight- like 4 lbs. a week. Mom said, "You gotta try it!". So I went outside and grabbed Henry's dollar store hula hoop and brought it inside. I can see why they lost 4lbs in a week- it's a workout to keep that thing up. Since I am down to just 6.2lbs and I'm free again at Weight Watchers and since I am struggling with those last few pounds, I will try just about anything. I'll let you know next Wednesday when I weigh in again. Oh, and Jenna likes it, too!

Henry's New School Shirt

Here is Henry this morning in his new school t-shirt. They get to wear these every Friday. He's pretty excited about it. We bought it for Henry this week after we had a great parent-teacher conference with Mrs. Hart. Henry is doing a wonderful job in Kindergarten. Henry really enjoys school and we hope that continues throughout the year.

It's powdered sugar, right?

Here's a photo of our house I just took this morning. Notice anything different? I think, in the night, a jet carrying thousands of pounds of powdered sugar must have lost it's load! Ok, so we had our first snow. It's a little disheartening but at least this is November and not September like last year. It'll all be gone by later this morning and we have weather in the 50sF for the rest of the week. I promised Dustin that I would have a good attitude about Montana winters if it at least stayed snow-free until my birthday and it gave us almost a month after that. Ya'll will have to keep me in check with my winter weather whining!

Who Says Government Employees Don't Have Any Fun?

Ok, so the Base has had this banner up at the gate check for about a month now. I shake my head everytime I pass under it. Luckily, today I had the camera with me and I quickly took the picture before any of the gate guards, with large guns, thought I was up to something. So, do you get it? It reads, "Chip Says..." and it's a buffalo. Like Buffalo chip? Anyways, I thought it was pretty funny. I'm just surprised it passed inspection...

TRICK-OR-TREAT!

Happy Halloween from the Douberlys. We had a great time trick-or-treating last night. The boys were so excited. Jeff especially had a good time as this was his first year where he really got into it. We went around our little neighborhood and then hopped on the hay wagon and had a ride around the base. We got off at the Base Commander's house where she and her husband had hot dogs, chili, and hot chocolate. We ran into Henry's friend from school, Colton, and his mom, Mel. We had heard so much about Colton. It was nice to finally meet him. He and Henry both sit at the yellow table, which I hear is a pretty happening place!