Beach Pics...Our First Attempt

I have been wanting to get a family beach photo since we moved here. We finally gave it a try last Sunday even though Dustin wasn't feeling all that well. I have a remote and a tripod for my new camera so we gave it a shot. I am happy that we are all looking at the camera. That, to me, is a miracle! We may or may not try again. I am thinking this one is a keeper!

Henry's Thanksgiving Program

Mrs. Davis and Henry

Henry had his Thanksgiving program last night at North Bay. At North Bay they divide the programs up throughout the year by grade level so last night was just the third graders. Jeff will have his turn later in the year. I like it this way since there were fewer people trying to get parking places and seats in the gym. Henry did a great job. In fact, it was his best program ever!

Like Father, Like Son

I hate learning lessons the hard way.

About 3 weeks ago, the school nurse at North Bay sent home a note to tell us that Jeff didn't pass his vision screening and that we were then required to have him evaluated by an optometrist and return a signed form. Honestly, I was a little annoyed. Jeff had always passed his vision screenings at school and his well check-ups and I thought, maybe, he was just messing around. Now, Dustin is very serious about his glasses and his eye check-ups. He stays on top of things. I, on the other hand, haven't been to the eye doctor since 1994 and that was for an injury, not an eye exam. I have never taken my kids in for real eye exams. Boy, have I learned my lesson. We get one free a year per child. I should have been taking them in! Jeff has Amblyopia. It means one of his eyes is lazy and isn't working while the other eye is picking up all the slack. Someone should have caught it a long time ago, but it's been left unchecked. Now Jeff gets to wear a patch and glasses until he is 8 years old. He is excited about the patch, but about the glasses...not so much. The glasses came in yesterday and I think they are pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself. We all fasted last week for Jeff's eyes and we are hopeful, while knowing the true limitations, that Jeff's eye will improve throughout this treatment. Lesson learned: use the free eye exam every year for every child! It's definitely worth your time!

Our First Camp-out in Mississippi

The weather is finally cooling down around here so Dustin and some friends from church planned our first Gulf Coast camp-out. There were three other families with us and we all camped out at Davis Bayou, a part of the Gulf Shores National Seashore. Who would've known we'd have a cold spell and we'd be out there on the coldest night of the season so far! It was in the 30Fs! Jenna and Kelsey did not want to sleep and I spent half the night driving around the park with Kelsey in the van. Everytime I would stop she would start to cry again. She finally fell asleep at 5:45am and slept until about 7:20am. We had a good day anyways. Everyone else had slept so we jumped right into the day with a BIG group breakfast, followed by a visitor's center visit complete with a movie, a short hike, seeing a huge alligator, and then breaking camp. It was a fun time. Now the weather is back to normal with nighttime lows in the 50Fs and 60Fs. Too bad we didn't go this weekend!

Henry's First Rank in Cub Scouting

Henry was awarded his first rank in Cub Scouting at last week's Pack meeting. We are so proud of him. He has also finished three of his requirements a for his Wolf rank and earned his first of four beads. He's also completed 10 electives already, but can't sew on that award until he earns his Wolf Badge. Way to go, Henry!

Jenna's Write-in Candidate...

Today is election day!

As we were driving back home from dropping off the boys at school I told Jenna that later this morning we were going to go over to the community center to vote. She asked what that meant and I told her that we get to go and say who we think should be leading our country. She then said, "It should be Jesus." I told her that, yes, it should be Jesus, but that I couldn't vote for him. She asked if she could...

Halloween Night

Soooo...here are my darling little ones last night. We handed out candy and took a quick trip down our street. I was against trick-or-treating on Sunday and was really hoping that either our neighborhood or base housing would be doing it on Saturday. No luck. I found out on Saturday that the mall was hosting trick or treating that night, but we were carving pumpkins and there just wasn't time. So we trick or treated with our neighbors on our street. Not everyone was out but it was nice to see the neighbors that we already knew and meet a couple of new ones. We hit about 10 houses and the kids were done. It was actually a nice evening visiting with our neighbors.

Trunk-Or-Treat

Here are the kiddos all dressed up for the Ward Halloween Activity. I love Halloween and getting all dressed up. Dustin's costume earned him lots of attention at the party. He picked it up on his deployment earlier this year. One of our teenagers kept calling him a terrorist and at the end of the evening I overheard Dustin tell him, "Be nice to me or I will charge you $4 a gallon again!" I thought it was pretty funny.

Pumpkins!

We carved our pumpkins on Saturday night and had a fun time as a family working on them. I really enjoy carving pumpkins and love to see the jack-o-lanterns all lit up. Henry was old enough this year to work on his all on his own. He needed some help at the end, but he was dedicated to the project and didn't give up even when it got hard. Jeff did not like the scooping out process. He asked Dad to do it. Jenna, however, liked that part. I am with Jeff! After they were all lit we stretched some of that fake spider web stuff and the house looked pretty spooky. The kids loved it. Once we were back inside and the mess was cleaned up, we watched "The Private Eyes". It's an old 80s Don Knotts & Tim Conway flick. It's one of my absolute favorite movies from my childhood. My sister and I have watched that movie it seems like a million times. I found it on netflix and got it just in time. The boys really enjoyed it and I loved watching them laugh (out loud!) at all the parts we used to laugh at. It was a great evening!