Thanksgiving 2007

Here is a peek at our holiday! This was the first Thanksgiving we celebrated without our family. We put a lot of thought into how we could make Thanksgiving special, since family was not near. We decided to start the day off with initial pancakes. Definitely a unique start to our day.

My son isn't up for dressing up, no matter how mild. He has no desire to accomodate my hopes for a cute picture in our paper hats.
The kids had fun making their turkey's.

The kids always enjoy rough housing with Daddy. They constantly tackle one another and we had a casualty. HC hurt her lip. It was bleeding so badly but it was a small knick. Poor sweetie!!
We played a few games. The kids had a blast playing charades!!!! Connect 4 was a hit too, they enjoy blocking one another and both forget to make 4 in a row. Oh well, at least they had fun!!
We had our Turkey and fixin's. The kids were allowed to eat on plates like us. No plastic plates on this special day. The sippie cups filled with water were pushed aside and they were thrilled to drink tea out of our coffee cups.
And that is what we did for Thanksgiving!!! It wasn't the same as Thanksgivings past, but I think we did fill our day with fun memories!!

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Wednesday Hero

Sgt. Antwan L. Walker

22 years old from Tampa, Florida
2nd Forward Support Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division
May 18, 2005


Sgt. Antwan Walker was excited about coming home from Iraq to celebrate his 23rd birthday with his family and friends. His mother, Andrea Pringle, was busy planning the party when an Army official unexpectedly came to her house.

She said he told her Thursday that her son was killed the previous day by a bomb blast in Ramadi. The Department of Defense hasn't publicly confirmed his death.

Sgt. Antwan Walker, known as Twan to his friends and family, joined the Army in 2000. Pringle said her son joined to earn money for college.

"Twan had a lot of goals in life," She said. "He was very ambitious and very smart."

Sgt. Walker had been in Iraq for about a year. He called his family often but didn't want to talk about war. Instead, he talked about starting a real estate career and his three children.

"He was such a good dad," his mother said. "All he wanted to do was make a good life for his kids."

In April 2005, Walker wanted to talk about the fighting. He told his mother five soldiers he was traveling with were killed. His phone calls became more frequent after that.

Pringle said she had days when she couldn't eat or sleep because of her worries. But she never forgot to give her son her support.

"I always told him I'm proud and be safe".

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.

Reading

HC was growing a little bored with our reading process. Thanks to Tad and Mr. Quigley (in the Letter Factory) HC knew her letters, and the sounds they made, before we began. We were going through a different letter every day but she still wasn't challenged. Neither was I really. As we approached the end of the alphabet, I decided to speed up the process by 'teaching' her 2 or more letters/sounds on our school days. We finally were free to explore reading. Here are the words HC reads now:

We've also added a few consonants in front of 'at'. (P, B, C, M, R, S) She is having fun again and so am I. I think HC enjoys a little challenge in her day, just like me. I love to learn and to be stretched. I get so bored with the same thing over and over again. I guess Motherhood was bound to suit me, I never know what lurks around the corner each day! :)

Another First

HC attended a birthday party a few weeks ago and received this cool kite as her party favor. Cool party favor, don't you think? She anticipated flying her kite and our little family had a blast sharing this fun time together.

The Kite.
Daddy showing HC the basics of Kite flying.
Up, up and away!
JB running to catch the kite and HC ready for her turn.

What a care-free moment!! Go HC! Go!!! You are doing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Daddy and JB playing a little 'hutball' as JB calls it. JB tackled Daddy!
Hut Hut!
Flying high!

HC had so much fun!! What a great afternoon we had!
A little swinging.
Some climbing.
A pose. And off we go - home sweet home!!

I Don't Want to Talk About It!!

My stomach hurts. I don't want to talk about it! Really!! I don't!!!!!!!! I have nothing nice to say.

Geaux Tigers. LSU. (sigh)

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all

Here's hoping your Turkey Day is fantastic!!
Our Pilgrim Daughter sends her Thanksgiving wishes!
Our Pilgrim Son sends his too, he just prefers to do so with his hat off! :)
Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!!!!!

Wednesday Hero

Spc. Roger G. Ling
20 years old from Douglaston, New York
Company C, 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team
February 19, 2004


When Spc. Roger G. Ling's Humvee was struck by a homemade bomb in October of 2003, he survived the attack and he worked to keep his superior officer, Lt. Matt Homa, alive. Spc. Ling was riding in the backseat of the Humvee when it was hit. It destroyed Lt. Homa's door.

"It almost killed me. From what I've been told, Roger helped keep me awake until my medic arrived." said Lt. Homa. "Ling was a good kid. You could count on him to do anything."

Spc. Ling was killed, along with Second Lieutenant Jeffrey C. Graham of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, when their unit came under fire from insurgents in Khalidiyah, Iraq. Only two miles from where he'd survived the attack just four months earlier.

Leona Ling said she was grateful her brother came home in August of 2003 just before leaving for Iraq.

"He had to have his tonsils taken out," she said. "It was a blessing in disguise because we got to see him again."

In phone calls home, the soldier spoke wistfully of returning to New York and going to college. "He wanted to hear about what was going on at home and all the latest family gossip," Leona Ling recalled.

Survivors include his father, Wai Ling, a U.S. Army veteran.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.

L00K at what I made!

I have been teaching HC to read and when she sees the upper case alphabet she quickly identifies each letter. There were a few letters that led her to ask me "What letter is this Mom?" with a few lower case alpha. The fact that b,d, q and p can be tricky when they are seen alone. Don't forget the similarity between u, n, and h to a learning 4 year old mind. So like a good Mommy/Teacher I decided to test what she new. I made a game for HC to play.

She has to match these upper case alphabet to the matching lower case. All of our Alphabet Cards have both the upper and lower case on them. I think HC is focusing on the upper case alone as we use those cards.
Tada!! I am sure there is such a game at a supply store for teachers, but this works just as well. She is really getting better at recognizing her lower case letters now. Not to mention all the fun she has upon making a match!! I was surprised (on our first go at this game), when HC would search for a matching lower case to a few upper case letters, that JB would chime in "There it is stister, wook. Right there." And he was right too!! He's actually played the game (with some coaching) and loves it!!! Home learning is fun when you hit a win!! Times like these make me feel like a competent teacher. I can make learning fun for my kids; I can find my creative side when I need it. :)

Day of the Penguins

I thought I would share a fun little story today. A co-worker gave these two penguins to my husband for the kids, along with two penguin movies. A co-worker did this!! She is too nice to say the least, thinking of my kiddos like that! Anyway, hubby brought home the movies and the penguins but didn't want to give it to them right away. I told him they would find them but he still hid them. As you can see, that was no easy feat. These penguins are HUGE!

So one Sunday afternoon we were getting ready to eat and changing the kids clothes when we hear HC squeal and then the following chant "I found some penguins I found some penguins I found some penguins!!!! Thank you Mommy!! Thank you Daddy!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!" JB then says "I want a penguin too"!!! HC "go see brother, it's in Daddy's closet!! You have a penguin toooooo!!!!!" The celebrations were divine!! They were thrilled, to say the least, and toted these two fellas around the house.

So thank you Mrs. Joyce!! Your precious gift was MUCH appreciated!!!