Happy 10 months Parker!!!

My sweet Parker. Everyday I am thankful for you. You have brought so much joy into this family.

Right now you are walking everywhere. You almost never crawl now! When you learn how to do something, you never look back. You are into everything. It amazes me how fast you figure things out. If the cabinet locks aren't tight, you know exactly how to get in there and quick! I love to watch you dance. You are not a big TV baby but you love Cho-Cho soul and the I-pad commercial. Something about the beat. You will only eat your baby food if there is no real people food in sight. :/ And if we feed you before dinner, you still expect to have plenty of what we are eating too. Momma is not a word you are even considering. In fact for a month or more now you think it is the funniest thing to say Da-da when we ask you to say Momma. Not nice. Up side is that you LOVE your momma. Very much a Momma's boy and I love it. Your brothers adore you and you them. They will tickle you while you just laugh and laugh. You are such a happy boy. Always smiling, laughing and making faces. My favorite is when you scrunch up your nose, show your teeth and snort! My little entertainer. You play well by yourself but you love having an audience too. You still HAVE to sleep with Gordon, the puppy that your brothers made before you were born. You get excited and laugh everytime you see him.

I am sure I have left out tons of the things you do. Every smile, every laugh and every funny face lights up my heart. I love you Parker. Can't believe you are getting so big!

First real week of home schooling.

So far I have to say that home schooling is going really well. My biggest challenge is trying to figure out exactly what Blake already knows and doesn't know. Everytime I think I have it figured out and start to teach...he already knows it :/ When I ask him if lessons are too easy, he says no. We will figure it our eventually. I found a great online program for him and Hunter to do. He works on the computer for about an hour a day (3 20 min blocks). Then we reinforce info taught or branch off the lessons. I love the flexibilty of the day. We take several breaks and also ride/walk to the park just about everyday. Yesterday was great because Ben actually got to go with us.

I am very thankful for our family time. I believe that is one benefit of being a military family. We are shown on a regular basis just how precious family time is. It is so easy to take advantage of the time with the ones you love.

Parker is walking EVERYWHERE!!! Didn't take him long to get his balance going and take off. He is just amazing. Growing up so fast but will always be my baby. :)

We actually unpacked the final box in the house yesterday! Almost everything is in its place. I bought a couple bar stools yesterday and stuff for the 1/2 bath downstairs. We keep finding more things we need though. I REALLY need a new vacuum. A futon or pull out bed/sofa is a must for the loft. And I need some kind of color for my living room. I'll figure it out eventually though.

Right now my biggest struggle is Ben working the night shift. Like I said earlier, I cherish him being home so I feel bad for even complaining. But, I seriously feel like a single mom again. He tries to stay on the nights schedule so that his body doesn't keep flipping back and forth. But it just makes it feel like he never has a day off. He is always sleeping during the day and doesn't get to go to bed with me. :( I am a big cuddler and I don't sleep well without him.

Ben is off Sat and Sun so hopefully we will head to the beach again. We did get tickets to the Pro Bowl!!! They aren't the best seats because we waited so late to buy them but we will still be there :)

It is past my bedtime...so the rambling will pick up another day :)

FINALLY settled!!!

A lot has happened since my last post. We decided to stay with the house that we signed the lease on. I was so unsure but once we got everything moved in and were able to get out in the neighborhood a little, I am VERY happy with our choice. I feel at peace here. The house is perfect for us. Just a little info on cost of living...our house is $2700 a month!!! Luckily the army gives us a housing allowance and cost of living allowance. :/ Here is a picture of the house.

Now here is a picture of a house for $2600 a month. I feel like we got a good deal!

I thought it was crazy the range of houses you could get within a $300 price difference. Ben has to drive a little further to work but we have a beautiful home that is only 5 years old. It is 2002 sq ft. Love the floorplan. The neighborhood is awesome. There are bike trails everywhere. They are building a park within walking distance. And it is only 5-10 minutes to the beach. :)

Speaking of the beach...while we were there last weekend a seal swam up on shore to sun bath and take a nap. I spoke with the life guard and he said this guy was a regular. They have named him Benny. He said that Benny likes to pop his head out of the water to scare someone and then will swim away. Playful guy! I just loved him!

Ben tried out surfing for the first time! He got up a few times but unfortunately I missed it :( We were distracted by the seal. But here are a few shots of an awesome attempt.

And here are my adorable boys enjoying the beach.

We are about 95% unpacked which is awesome. Blake and I are going to restart home schooling Monday. Starting with everything in chaos was not a good idea. We finally had the internet hooked up Thursday, so I feel like I can plan much better.

Today we went to the Dole Plantation. The boys loved the maze. I personally felt like the train and the garden was a rip off! The food was great though and the pineapple ice cream was even better!

I really miss all of my friends and family! Some good girl time is much needed!!! I am sure we will make good friends soon though. Ben started back to work last week, so hopefully we will start getting into a routine.

Puzzled

I apologize for not posted for such a long time. When we came here, I thought I would be so blown away by the beauty to worry about the little things. unfortunately...I am a CONTROL freak!!! I need MY space. My orderly space. Being in this hotel room is driving me crazy. I am cranky, moody and impossible to live with.

We have been challenged with a very difficult choice. After signing a lease last Thursday, we received a call Monday from the housing office. They have a house available in Feb. Now we have to decide what to do.

Pros and cons:

House we already have:
pros: Love the floor plan, wonderful neighborhood, bike trails galore, new park being built within walking distance, nice yard, and away from Honolulu.
cons: distance for Ben and work, and we have to ask owner for priviledges for the pool.

military house:
pros: military community, pool, skate/bike park, playgrounds, and really close for Ben and work
cons: no idea about the floor plan, from heresay the yard is almost non-existent, only one car garage

I would love to have the military community but there are just so many unknowns. I don't know what to do. I know we would be very happy in the house we already have. But what if we would be happier in the military community? I hate this.

The boys have had a great holiday in spite of the hotel circumstances. We went to the North Shore for New Years Eve and had a blast. Then we went to our "house" and camped out to ring in the new year. There were insane firework displays everywhere. We just sat in our driveway and say at least 5 shows!!! GOOD shows!!!

Here are some pictures from the North shore trip.

Parker LOVED the fireworks!!! They didn't bother him at all!!!

I will let you know about the house as soon as we know :/