The kids in September

A ride on a big wheel!

Playing on the train - the day John left for Kuwait

Yes, he is constantly in motion all day! He does sleep well at night though!

Joseph tries being behind the camera for a change!

It reminds me of that picture of John in Calico when we were dating many years ago. You know, the little one I keep on my dresser. I snapped a picture of you just as you took a picture of me. With that perfect blue sky behind you. Is that a U2 song coming on - Blue Sky Mining?

Hope you all like the pictures!

The garden

The garden is growing so lovely right now, but I see cooler nights coming this week. Down in the mid 40s which will turn my sunflowers to mush. Boo!

The morning glories are very pale, pale blue with dark blue stripes in the usual star pattern. They always take so long to bloom but they are so cute! We had nine on Sunday morning.

The zinnias have gotten over 6 feet tall. I had to trim them out of the driveway and the sidewalk. They looked a bit straggely after I did that, but they are filling in. If we could just get a bit warmer days, they would go crazy beautiful again.

The roses put on a small flush of blooms for fall - the ones against the house anyway. I'm thinking our chipmunk may have developed a taste for the one in the bed by the driveway since it didn't do anything. But the flowering quince suddenly has a lot of new shiny green leaves.

And we have a visitor in the garden. Pretty yellow-and-black spider, but it's almost as big as the palm of my hand so I didn't want to mess with it. I didn't think spiders that big would make a web, but it did and it hangs out there.

Home from Vacation

We are home from our vacation -- 12 day road trip from Fort Riley, KS to Orlando, FL and back!

Best thing:
Grace - everything, but not the driving
John - Turtle talk with Crush at Epcot
Joseph - Great Wolf Lodge & Waterpark
Katharine - rides! And McDonald's with a PlayPlace.
Cyndi - Magic Kingdom

More later and pictures too :o)

It's spring and it's snowing

It's Spring, but IT'S SNOWING!!!! :o(
Joseph and Katharine didn't like the cold, so they came in right away.

Katharine's Birthday

It was Katharine's birthday - hooray!
The weather was sunny and warm - Hooray!
John was here! - HOORAY!

We went to the zoo for the afternoon...

Then we opened presents....

and ate chocolate cake... (promptly followed by a bath for the birthday girl.)

A perfect birthday!

Jury Duty - over at last

For the past four months, I have been summoned to jury duty in Junction City, KS, only to have it be canceled and rescheduled. They would not even consider the fact that we homeschool and that I am the sole caretaker of three active children. So anyway, the last time in early December John was out in the field for training, so I couldn't go to jury duty with three active kids in tow! I sent them a letter, but they refused it because it wasn't notarized! And of course, it wasn't canceled, so I was now a lawbreaker! I've had nightmares about orange prison jumpsuits for months!

Well, the JC court rescheduled me for today. And then the Manhattan court (about 15 miles from Fort Riley) also summoned me for next Tuesday! And when I called them, they said because I live on post it is technically part of both counties and I have to respond to both summons! Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!!!! Fortunately, the Manhattan court was much more gracious and they said since I had been scheduled for two services in the same week they would call me back at a later date. And I finally got my service out of the way for Junction City today. I was not seated into the jury and was sent home at 10:30 a.m. Apparently JC is so rinky-dink (compared to Orange County) that they only have one trial going on. But the best part is that I can't be called back there for at least one year. It's finally over and I am not going to be arrested :o)

January

It's back to school, time to play with toys from Christmas, and keep warm until spring comes!

We're going to the Ball!

On Thursday night we attended the Distinguished Members of the Regiment (DMOR) Banquet, otherwise known as the Regimental Ball! Here are the pictures from before we left. I made the ballgown myself! Yes, really! And John is always handsome in his Class A's (or pickle suit as we call it). It was very nice and we really enjoyed the talk from the DMORs.
Pictures:

30 Day Gun Nation

I just watched this great video on Hulu.com. A liberal anti-gun activist from Boston relocated to a redneck, gun-loving family in Ohio and gets a job in a gun store for 30 days. In the end, she softens her anti-gun stand once she experiences reality.




Click here to see a full-screen version of the video from www.hulu.com.

Vacation wrap up

What did we do on vacation:
- Grace sang in a children's choir for Christmas Even mass
- We read "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" by Beverly Cleary (very cute!)
- two virtual fieldtrips! The dinosaur sites were so cool for Joseph to see!
- watched lots of movies (Love the new Scooby Doo!)
- library trips - lots of books were read!
- Grace learned all about Webkinz and has been playing online every day. She now has two fully decorated online rooms and a garden for her two pets and has learned about 25 new games and answered lots of trivia questions.
- Joseph and Grace have been learning all about gun safety and playing a gun game (play gun and plastic targets) in our upstairs hallway.
- baked lots of bread and cookies
- went shopping in Kansas City
- played outdoors and in with new toys
- John fixed the statue of St. Francis and started making the drawers for the sideboard.
- Several musical shows and plays were performed in our living room.
And we had such a great time.

Next week is the formal military ball -- look for pictures coming soon!

Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!

It was mayhem, madness, and paper flying everywhere!
The kids are all now playing with their new toys all over the house and are as happy as can be, except when Katharine tries to play with Joseph's toys and Joseph tries to play with Katharine's toys.

Merry Christmas everyone! Here are some pictures....

The Snowman

Isn't it a great snowman? Us kids made it ourselves! We did this today. We made the snowman because it was a lot of fun. It was Daddy's idea to make a snowman. We used carrots for the eyes, mouth, and nose. For the arms, we used Christmas tree branches from the Christmas tree that were cut off so we could fit it in the stand. Daddy helped us by shoveling snow for us. Joseph got snow for Grace, too with his small green shovel. After we built the snowman, we had a great big snowball fight. Mommy even came out to play! And, Katharine came out to play in the snow too! After we played in the snow, we had hot cocoa and cookies. After we ate and drank, we played with playdoh.

Love,

The whole family

Us kids & a snowman

This is a very cool piture of Joseph.
He is sitting still!

Rocking around the Christmas Tree!

We got our tree today and even got it decorated. Only 2 strands of lights (sorry Mom!). The kids put on all of the decorations. Katharine got the "hang" of it very quickly -- now to keep her from undoing it all!

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures:

Grace's Birthday

It was so great! I'll let the pictures tell it...

Preparations for Grace's birthday

Preparations are underway! Grace's birthday is tomorrow! Hooray!

Grace is :
eating Cinnamon Crumb Muffins for breakfast and opening her presents!

joining the Children's choir rehearsal at church. She'll be singing in the mass on Christmas Eve!

attending mass, then we'll be going out to lunch, to the library, and other errands in town.

For dinner Grace requested fried shrimp and corn on the cob.

And her birthday cake is Chocolate-Peanut Butter!

I'll post pictures next week of the festivities :o)

Thanksgiving and Christmas

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at home. John had 4 days off!! And even a little sprinkling of snow the next morning.

And now it's on to Advent and Christmas. We've put our Advent wreath out, but we decided not to put out our china Nativity set (Katharine!). So Grace and I made pictures of the Nativity and taped it onto the wall. Creativity!!

Our 2008 Christmas greetings are being written and mailed this week. Our letter goes like this:
2008 was a year of memories for the Densons. Our favorite memories are John's re-deployment from Iraq in April,

and our trip to Disney World in May!!

Since then we've been busy and quiet. John is very close to finishing his Master's degree in Business. (Could Dr. Denson be next? We'll see :o) We'll be staying at Fort Riley for another 1-2 years. It's very likely that John will deploy again, but we don't know where or when.

Grace is turning 7 this weekend. She loves home schooling! And she'll be receiving her First Communion next April.

Joseph is 4 and loves trucks, trains, and tractors. He'll be starting home school kindergarten next fall. (Already?!)

Katharine is 21 months, growing fast and into everything. I am managing home school lessons and our household, along with whatever the Army throws our way.

Love and wishes for a beautiful Christmas and a joyous New Year!

Cyndi, John, Grace, Joseph, and Katharine Denson