The End to a 13-year Tradition

In 13 years of marriage, I've never cooked a turkey. There has always been someone else willing to do it. I thought this was a tradition worth carrying on. This year we were planning to have dinner with the Pinsons, (let Leonard cook the turkey) but the flu bug hit and we had to go solo at our house. Now I know why there were always willing volunteers on the turkey. Put it in, wait three hours, take it out. Wow. That wasn't hard. It wasn't bad, either. The boys were really excited about the "feast" and even tried 3 or 4 things!

So here's a shot of our three boys awaiting Thanksgiving Dinner. Incidentally, next year in Memphis that number (boys that is) will be four. Five if you count Clint.

22 Months Later

This is the first piece of furniture to make it into our house since Clint put together his woodshop, but it's quite a lot of furniture! During the 22 month duration of this project, Clint did one three month deployment to Iraq, ran a marathon, and worked an average of 60 hours a week, in addition to the husband and Dad thing. We're really enjoying the upgrade to the living room. Our downstairs is currently clobbered with 20 boxes of books we're sorting through. We'll post another picture once it's filled. Next up is bunk beds for Tal and Cole. He says that project will be done by Christmas. I'm not holding my breath.

Lego Tab

These days, when Cole is not bent over the Lego box creating things, he's surfing the Lego.com web page looking for new toys to buy. We're talking hours a day. I'd removed the Lego icon from our links bar so that he had to ask us to get there. Then I got lazy one day and taught him how to type "lego" into the Internet Explorer address bar. I figured it was a rudimentary spelling lesson. So now he can get on the Lego site anytime he likes, and it's back to archaic parental controls ("Cole, time to get off"). I hope he doesn't learn how to spell 'hot babes' anytime soon.
So, we really shouldn't have been that surprised when Clint went onto the Lego site to order a handful of parts we were missing, and found that there was over $1,600 of merchandise in the shopping cart (and another $2,000 plus on the wish list). We've got to be sure Cole does not figure out what our credit card numbers are.

Lame

I'm going on 2 1/2 weeks of having a broken pinky toe. Could I have have an injury that is more...lame? It's totally put me off running, and that includes running after my 2-year old, which has caused me to sharpen my tactics in traffic areas. I feel like such a poser hobbling around because of a broken baby toe! Has anyone else had such a pathetic, but disabling injury? And the reason why is so mundane--stubbed it on the couch. I wish I had a good "Ouch! That must have hurt! No wonder you're limping!"-story. I remember when my brother Mike broke his toes. We were working on the stake farm hauling hay bales and the tow hitch from the hay trailer fell on his foot--broke several toes. You just said, 'ouch!' didn't you? Not that I envy that injury--it was gruesome. Actually, thinking about it makes me feel better about what I'm dealing with!

Haley's Birthday

Got a wonderful e-mail and pictures from my sister Katie:

"hey sarah, clint, and boys! we took some pics of us celebrating haley's birthday today. we took her some balloons (mom,edith, kate, anderson, and lissa) and then we all ate pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes that mom made and sang happy birthday. malan told me she knew haley was up in heaven. we sure love her and you and hope you had a good day."

Haley would be 9-years old today! It's amazing to think how long we've really been parents. I love to imagine her as a 9-year old girl, but at the same time I know that it wasn't meant to be, yet. The boys still love her as their older sister and look up to her I can tell. I look up to her! And I think on my frazzled days of 3-boyisms that she would want me to find the joy in it all.

It's sad to say that we didn't remember till about dinner time. But that is usually how it is for Clint and I. That's one of the ways the heart copes, I guess. But we watched Haley's video and ate Baskin Robbins birthday ice cream cake. My favorite was watching Haley stick her finger down Brick Ellis' throat then give him a kiss and crawl away. Brick was one person in the video, besides us, that the boys could relate to.

Special Balloons

Tal came back from his best friend Aerica's birthday party on Sunday with these balloons. He spent a good hour hanging them from the second floor railing. He asked me to write the sign for him. He said, "Mom, do you want to know why I did this? To make sure we don't get boring." They make me smile everytime I walk down the stairs.

Walking in Memphis

Top Ten Reasons to visit Memphis:

10) In 2007 Forbes Magazine named it the most sedentary city in the US.

9) In 2005 it rated #4 for crime in cities with more than 500,000. (It has 671,000) Experts attribute the crime to gang activities.

8) It is the birthplace of the Blues and R&B.

7) It is the deathplace of Martin Luther King, the day after he delivered his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech. (He is one of my most-admired heroes. I'm looking forward to really celebrating Martin Luther King Day--no more of this watered down human right's day stuff.)

6) It is home of the world's best barbecue (Clint and I tried it in May and I have to say, it is Sooooooo Goooood!)

5) Graceland - home of Elvis!

4) Shelby County Schools are ranked in the top 100 school districts in America, with a 95% or higher in all subjects county-wide as tested by No Child Left Behind testing. The schools have outstanding special education as well (Millington is the world headquarters for the Navy's Exeptional Family Member Program, so the schools there have to be good at special ed.)

3) $180,000 buys you a 3,700 square foot, 5 bedroom, 3 bath house with a 1/2 an acre and a pool.

2) The Memphis Temple is on your "temples we haven't visited yet" list.

1) The Cresaps will be there starting June 2008, and will have plenty of room for visitors!

So, we've accepted orders to Memphis, TN (Millington, to be precise, which is 20 miles north). Sarah sighs a HUGE sigh of relief because the suspense has been killing her. Those itchy military feet. Clint can sigh a huge sigh of relief because Sarah will stop bugging him.

Good Things for Tal

On Monday Tal was honored in his class for having 10 star days. Tal said this took him 87 days! For this accomplishment he got to pick these sunglasses out of the class treasure box. He was pretty much stunned and thrilled about it. We sang "Talleluiah!" And he did a victory dance for about an hour.

Tonight Tal had his second Karate class and got his Gi. This is about the best thing imaginable--pretend fighting for an hour. That's what he does all day anyway--now it just has a lot more structure. And costumes are good too. He demonstrated for Dad: horse stance, the hammer and positions 1-8. Jack wishes there were a 2-year old class. Cole said, "Don't even think about it, Karate Boy!"

Mutant

Pam says that Jack gives a whole new meaning to the word 'mutant.' Why would she say that?

October Catchup--Halloween

Tal-Skeleton Phantom; Cole-Knight Ghoul; Jack-Pilot al Femme (Says Dad. He wasn't a fan of the daisy).

Grammy and Papa Cresap came down for the day. It was a good thing as the last of our Halloween decorations got broken and we had no Halloween spirit at all. Cap was a bear of sorts and most trick-or-treaters thought he was a dummy. So we heard lots of screams throughout the evening.

October Catchup--Miramar Airshow

After eight+ years in San Diego, we finally made it to the airshow! Granted, Clint does get quite enough of the miracle of aviation in his day job and we've had a perfect view of the Blue Angel's show from our balcony. But as it's our last fall in San Diego, we thought it was about time we showed up. It turned out to be a lot less hassle and a lot more fun than we thought. Which just proves my theory--if you have a crappy attitude--you're always pleasantly surprised. :) We visited all the aircraft that Clint has flown--the H46, the jet trainer (don't hold me responsible for all the model names!), and the coast guard's H60 (I don't remember if it was the B, F, H, or S, but Clint's flown them all. You might ask--what happened to the A,C,D,E etc.? Who knows--Navy logic). We also saw the Harrier--which was really wild to watch. And as we walked back to the car, we saw the Golden Knights parachuting to the ground.

October Catchup--Abby's Wedding

The first weekend of October I flew solo (passenger, not pilot) to Rochester, New York for my friend Abby's wedding. Abby and I were reporters at Guam Business magazine and Sondra was our editor. Abby is 38 and Dave is 40--their invitation said something about them being nuptially challenged--so cute. Sondra and I were thrilled with Dave. He is different in Abby in many ways, but identical in the most essential--they love people, they're facsinating to talk to, and they are passionate about making the world a bettter place. They are trying for a honeymoon baby! Have fun trying, Abby and Dave :)!!!

Sondra, Allison (also a Guam Business editor) and Allison's daughter, Alex, and I had a blast. We loved the gorgeous Upper State New York fall scenery. We loved Abby and Dave's families and friends. I especially enjoyed Abby's Grandpa, and Abby's friends Alice and Wendy. We loved the dance which was the best mix of dance music from the 70s and 80s (and a little from the 90s) I'd ever heard. Sad, but I think it's been since college that I danced like that!