Fabulous Army Life

Nate and me with Brad and Jen It was a wonderful treat for us to have both of our alma maters playing in Bowl games this year ... Baylor in the Texas Bowl and Army in the Armed Forces Bowl.  Even though both games were played relatively closely to us, we decided we weren't quite up to making both games (within 24 hours of each other, one in Houston and the other in Dallas). We cheered for the Bears from home and were sad at their loss to Illinois, then headed to Dallas for the Armed Forces Bowl at SMU's stadium, hoping for a better outcome.  Nate's best friend from high school (and best man at our wedding), Brad, graduated from SMU and lives in the Dallas area.  We were excited to visit with Brad and his wife, Jen, before the game at their tailgate party ... but participated in NO cheering for the Mustangs, we promise!  Ready for the Game!  Go, Army! We were happy to visit with Nate's West Point classmate, Jack Strother, at the game.  Go, Ar...

 Christy and me with adorable Matthew  We were thrilled when we found out some great friends were in town, visiting from their current home of London, England.  Rich and Christy have been friends of ours since 2005, a friendship solidified during our shared 2006 deployment.  Nate and Rich worked together on the 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division staff while Christy and I got to know each other back at home. They recently adopted a beautiful little boy, Matthew.  They are wonderful friends and amazing parents and we were thrilled to be able to catch up with them -- and meet their precious son -- on their Christmas trip-across-Texas. Nate and Rich enjoy catching up.  Matthew enjoys lunch with Mom. Matthew meets Leo, who is not concerned at all about his face being baby-smashed.  Trey enjoys reading with a new friend! Matthew wrestles his dad for the camera.

Trey's one-man band contraption We had a wonderful day of nowhere to be today.  We spent the day getting all our Christmas loot put away and catching up on laundry and other around-the-house stuff.  It was a blissfully uneventful day.  Part of Trey's activities included concocting a crazy system of carrying his new Paper Jamz guitar and amp plus a voice changer on his body.  Love this kid. Joshua, for his part, accomplished great feats in the land of Lego today.  He and his daddy completed an entire vehicle of Legos while Trey worked on a Lego U-Build-It Pyramid game.  A few new Wii games, a little time on the DS, reading new books, and watching "Despicable Me" and "The Guardians of Ga'hoole" rounded out a lazy, rainy day. A highlight for me was playing a new version of U-Build-It Monopoly as a family.  My sons crushed me in this game and I was easily the first one bankrupt.  My oldest was gleeful about my destitute position but my sweet ba...

 My family at Mom's house

Trey, Joshua, Ali, and Madi One challenging aspect of Army life is leaving behind friends when you move to a new location ... and being the ones left behind when good friends leave you.  My children have experienced the loss of best friends moving across the country -- and sometimes across the globe! -- and although painful, oftentimes they are more resilient for it. One such family became dear to us starting in 2005.  Trey and Madi were in Kindergarten together and quickly became good friends.  They maintained and built upon that initial friendship, enduring the teasing and taunts of their classmates as they got older.  Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?  Are you getting married?   It was (mostly) in good fun and the two of them did a fine job of ignoring the jabs.  They were simply great friends.  They both have a love of Pokemon and played it endlessly on the playground, after school, on their DS games and with the Wii system.  They s...

Joy Magic Story Christmas 5x7 folded card Click here to browse hundreds of Christmas card designs. View the entire collection of cards.

 Our (extremely handsome!) battalion commander stops by to visit his gift-wrapping elves.  Busy, busy, busy! These ladies can wrap ANY gift ... any size, any shape. Big thanks to these wonderful gift-wrapping volunteers! 

Wonderful group of ladies at the Christmas Coffee More wonderful ladies gathered in the holiday spirit. Molly and Elena worked together to host the December Coffee for our battalion spouses.  It was held at our Elena's house and was a total blast.  We had an amazing meal, shared homemade cookies, and participated in a very fun ornament exchange.  I am very thankful for this amazing group of ladies!

Red Dragon elves ready to wrap gifts at the Clear Creek PX Day One of wrapping gifts for donations. We had a wonderful day of fundraising today at the Clear Creek PX on Fort Hood.  Six Red Dragon ladies served as elves helping wrap gifts for donations.  We had a great time together and enjoyed the shoppers who stopped by for help with their gifts during the busy holiday season!

 My Red Dragon wreath for the battalion front door.  The battalion CSM's wife's wreath I love our battalion CSM's wife.  She's pretty private so I won't name her here, but she's fantastic.  She and her husband have been a part of the battalion for over two years and will be with us through the upcoming deployment ... a fact that I am very grateful for.  She's fun, energetic, and has Soldiers' well-being in her heart. Recently, we were together for one of the myriad of meetings and events that we attend and decided to pick up a few things at our local Wal-Mart.  While we were there, we came up with the idea of creating a couple of wreaths to hang in the battalion headquarters.  My two boys were with us so the four of us had a ball picking out all the red and gold glittery ornaments we could find.  The boys even agreed to temporarily donate the use of their stuffed red dragons to the cause.  She and I each took our goodies home and crea...

 The Red Dragon Christmas Tree 2010  Merry Christmas!  Our wonderful decorating crew! Several ladies from our battalion gathered to decorate a tree for the battalion headquarters.  We had a great time together and loved providing a little holiday spirit for our beloved Soldiers.  Note the cluster of gold ornaments on one tree limb ... courtesy of our youngest elf - the three-year-old son of our battalion XO.  So cute!  

Today at Legacy Church, we were encouraged to spend less and give more. It was a good message for me to hear and one I plan to take with me into the holiday season.  Instead of trying to fill my kids' closets with more and more and more toys, I want to try more meaningful gifts for them.  Instead of counting how many toys they each receive, count the joy they show when they receive them. The point was illustrated by forgoing the usual bag of goodies for each child at church and instead, providing a bunch of empty boxes for the kids to play in.  It was a point well-illustrated.

Christmas Tree Breakfast Nook Christmas Cards Kitchen Tabletop tree Front Entryway  Snowman corner Dining Room Study Boys' Nativity Collection Boys' Bath Santa Bath International Santas Mantle