Owen's birthday!

The "babies" are turning 2 and Owen is first!!!

Again, I'm late because his birthday is April 13, but I'll get caught up SOMEDAY!

My SIL (Owen's mom) Tiffany is SO talented...
I just had to share a picture of him with his John Deere tractor cake.

Happy Birthday Owen and thanks for a super fun party.

Soccer

It's official, I'm a Soccer Mom!?!?!?

Grant's team, White...later named, "The Eagles."

Grant and Sam.

The first day they had pictures in the city park. After pictures they found a creek to play in. Grant was muddy before he stepped onto the soccer field :)

Best Buddies

Wish Lee were here for this!!!


Since I'm SO behind in blogging, I'll give a quick soccer update.

1st game: Not so good. Grant did fine during "practice" (the first 20-minutes we're there) and then not so well during the "game" (the next 30-40 minutes). We had tears, anger, thumb sucking, and brief refusal to go back in.

2nd game: MUCH better! Had fun and actually chased after the ball and tried to kick it (even if it was toward the wrong goal).

3rd game: SCORED A GOAL!!!!

4th game: this coming weekend

5th game: LEE WILL BE HERE TO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Protest

The kids and I participated in our first protest. I know I'm LATE in posting this, but remember the threatened government shut down? Remember how they were NOT going to pay the military??? Sorry, I could NOT sit quietly and let them even CONSIDER doing that, and neither could a few other Army wives I know :)

We hauled our kids, strollers, sippy cups, and snacks, along with our posters to the Federal Building in downtown Des Moines (which houses both Harkin and Grassley's offices). We stood on the sidewalk in front of the building. Two local news crews showed up, one of Harkin's staffers came out and asked if we wanted to talk (we said we would, AFTER we stood out there for awhile), a lot of people honked and the people that worked in the building were watching out the window. We weren't large in numbers, but we were STRONG in spirit.

Long story, short...Harkin's staffers were rude (to a room full of mothers and children) and ill informed. Grassley's guy walked in and confirmed we knew what we were talking about (during a deployment a military spouse ALWAYS knows if something is up with the pay check) and also knew about the proposed legislation entitle, "Ensuring Military Pay Act of 2011" which Harkin's people had NO clue about.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about cutting spending and taking some pretty drastic measures to do so. However, I'm NOT AT ALL okay, with the military getting stuck in the middle of that debate.

Here are the links the news stories.

WHO Channel 13

KCCI Channel 8

Grant's says, "Pay my Daddy" mine says, "They fight for FREEDOM not for FREE" and Brynn's says, "I haven't seen my dad for 1/2 my life, now you are giving him 1/2 his pay!?!?"
Pretty good, huh???

Of course, he didn't talk but he's REALLY good at waving that flag!

Don't mess with military wives and kids :)

"50% pay but still 100% gone"

Everyone says she should be in movies...the start of a career?? :)

THIS is the group that Harkin's staffers were SO rude to!!!

For a great (and unemotional) argument for why the military should be OFF LIMITS when it comes to budget debates, click here.

Please pray.

I know, I'm way behind, AGAIN! Read Lee's blog, he's MUCH better at keeping his current.

I just want to ask each of you to get down on your knees and PRAY for the soldiers and families of the Iowa National Guard. It's been a TOUGH week because of this and this. Pray that God will comfort families, heal injuries, give strength to surviving soldiers and families at home and use this to turn hearts to Him.

"I lift up my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2

Listen to this.

Best and Worst of G and B

We have good days and bad days....

well, with these two it's more like good minutes and bad minutes :)

Sleeping is good :)

Yes, he fell asleep on his 4-wheeler magazine.

Different day, same outfit...he doesn't nap daily anymore, but often needs it,
so if I can get him to be STILL for a few minutes, he's usually out.

Getting along...GOOD!!!

SHE picked out her clothes, but she's smiling so it's all good!

She is MAD because I took the baby powder away from her!?!?!?

GRUMPY!!!!!

In all fairness, Grant has bad days too...however, when he acts up it's not quite as cute as when she does it. I know, not fair, but a 4 yr old (ALMOST 5) being naughty is a lot different than a 1 yr old (ALMOST 2) being naughty...as far as the cute factor goes.

Covered Bridge

A couple weeks ago, Grant was asking if we could go to a covered bridge. Now, living in Madison County, covered bridges don't really seem like a big deal to me...but Grant was insistent (as usual) so we went. They had SO much fun!!!!

It was close, free, and no work involved...I think we'll be going back :)

Cedar Bridge

Cuties!!!

I did have to explain to G that we couldn't take that rock (aka piece of the fire place) home.

INGOA Rec Dinner

Iowa National Guard Officer's Association Annual Retirement Recognition Dinner, yeah, that's a mouthful. Anyway, Lee and I usually go to this event each year. This year, I went with three other wives who's husbands are also deployed.

Here are a few pictures!

Nicole, Heather, me, Heather

Pretty cute dates, but I REALLY missed Lee!!! I felt like I should be wearing his uniform name tape on my dress, because people weren't quite sure who I was without being on his arm.

Thank you to Mom and Roger for staying with the kids.


P.S. My camera is HORRIBLE!!!! I can't wait until Lee gets home and I can use the good Sony that he bought. I'm currently using a Canon that I bought because it was a little cheaper than the Sony...I got what I paid for :(