okay, so i'll get to the photos...there are so many posts i have missed, not the least of which was warren's third birthday party!!, so i'm overwhelmed by the catch-up. thus, please excuse the manner in which i'm going to post them. i'll get back in the swing of things here soon...
but why have i been absent? seriously, who knows. i think i reached a turning point at the end of september (about the time when the heat finally broke - and for those of you who know me well, you'll understand why that's important!), and i've decided i like it here. i've decided i am going to MISS it here when we do finally come home. not that i don't miss home still, and not that i don't fully intend to move back for good someday...but i am happy now. i.e., i've stopped wallowing in my thoughts (well, as much as is possible for me, that is) and have started living life again...and the blogging just fell to the wayside. we have our routine, and i feel like i'm actually part of a world i am familiar with again. so, of course, since i'm starting to appreciate the beauty of this place, we'll be sent home next week. ha!
anyhoo, hope everyone is well, and i'll see you soon! here's the catch up...
happy birthday Warren!!!
we had planned for a big party outside on warren's new present from his parents, his maternal grandparents AND his paternal grandparents, but wouldn't you know that the day dawned a misty, rainy gray...and steadily progressed to a downpour. sigh. so the outside party quickly became an inside party. i won't bore you with the details, but let me mention that we arrived home that thursday night to the joyous smell of a dead rat inside our house. correction, inside our WALLS...my bedroom wall, to be exact. so the smell was lovely. i probably burnt through 4 of those fancy candles to try and cover the smell, so the rain was not the only hurdle...my HOUSE was a hurdle! but we survived, as you can see:
the mama's had a good time visiting:
the kids adored the ball pit...
and the men enjoyed the ball game on TV...
and the Cake!!! oh, the Cake! Kroger made this amazing creation, and i could have cried i was so happy when i picked it up. sorry i didn't get a shot from the front, but this was the most awesome Thomas the Train cake ever!!!
Warren loved the blue icing...
correction, ALL the kids loved the blue icing...and their teeth were the proof!
and (thank goodness) our front entry could accomodate the demolition of warren's birtday pinata! i admit it...i was a little dubious when i saw the first child walk up with the plastic golf club in hand, but my walls (and all the children!) survived!! i'm afraid the same can not be said for the golf club, unfortunately...
the birthday boy steps up to bat...er, i mean...drive??
little lily shettles makes her approach...
now mamie shettles...
and gray "demolition man" shettles takes his first shot...(note: we would NOT have broken through this pinata without this child's talent!)
now hannah...
and adam...
and emma claire!
ah, the spoils of war...
it ended up being a party that could not have been better, dead vanilla-rat smell not withstanding! it was such a joy to see everyone, and see warren literally overwhelmed with all of his friends was a gift beyond gifts, rain or shine. and his family present will be there for years to come, even if he didn't get to have his birthday party playing on it!
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as to that cryptic last comment...warren's gift was a playset. you know, the clubhouse/jungle gym/swingset/slide thingamajobbie that takes over your backyard (or in our case, ben's putting green...hallelujah!)
this was the #1 construction man at 9am friday morning. please note that he has been working 7 days a week since the beginning of june, and this was his very first visit home. and i put him to work the very first morning. uh-huh. i'm that wife. sorry to have ever made you think otherwise.
whatever!
he loved it!
this was the progress by lunchtime. i was impressed, and he was still a happy construction-hero daddy...
hmm. but this was 6pm. apparently these things get VERY detailed, cause he only took a half hour break for lunch. hmmm. wasn't loving it too much at this point...
and he was cursing me and the world in general by this point...it's about 9pm now...
so i decided to help out. only fair, right?
but in truth, this was the main extent of my "help"...
i had the cushy job of filling the pinata with candy, all in the comforts of a recently de-spiderwebbed chair that's been in our vacant garage for a while. still! i have the good life, i must admit...
so. it's 10pm now, and the garage is looking much better. amazing the progress one makes under pressure...
and look! 11 pm! woo hoo!!
oops. well, there was a minor catastrophe...the slide just refused to line up and connect properly (and quickly), so ben used a little too much elbow grease. i thought he had hurt himself he exclaimed so loudly! oh well...nothing a few clamps and some gorilla glue won't fix!!
and just to let you know, sweet birthday boy brought his tools out earlier in the day to "help" daddy. i discovered these resting beside the wood screws and lug bolts, and almost teared up i thought it was so sweet. i am SUCH a sap!
so i AM sorry i didn't take a final picture of the swingset...ben got up so early to make sure the thing was finished enough for the kids to play on, and then the rain turned our backyard to a mud pit, so it was fruitless anyway (for the party's sake, at least!)
he finished it up in a leisurely fashion sunday morning, and warren had the BEST time playing on it. i'll post a picture of it when we return home in November. it's the best!!!
and i even think that ben would agree that it was well worth the effort...though i don't believe he'll be volunteering to help anyone anytime soon!!!
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so. we actually cut our trip short by 2 days due to the dead vanilla-rat smell (i use this term because of the candles i used...in addition to my fancy favorite candles, i was advised to buy vanilla candles as they were the best to rid oneself of a dead animal smell. yeah. didn't happen for us!!!), and headed out Sunday afternoon to my mom and dad's house in West Point, and then continued "home" to Pensacola the next morning.
and promptly put one of Warren's birthday presents to good use!
here's the little man hauling his new wagon to the beach, full of excellent sand-castle making supplies!
good times!
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now, this was pretty cool...a triathalon! it was really neat to see all the swimmers dive into the ocean and struggle through...
it was a little LESS fun trying to get to the grocery store a bit later, but oh well! nifty to see!
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now THIS was the turning point, quite literally. the weather dropped ALMOST to the 40's at night (hallelujah, praise God, GLORY hallelujah!!!!!), so the days were quite delightful. and warren and i took FULL advantage of the gorgeous days, taking his train set outside to play while i wrote notes in the glorious weather!
and even better? daddy came home that night with a KITE! it had been quite windy, so ben took off an hour or two early and came to play with us!!! here are my men, hard at work putting the entertainment together!
and we're off to the beach...like father, like son. still can't believe how tall wee man has gotten...
and i must say, i think this is one of my favorite shots...just because it's the three of us, all together. sadly, doesn't happen often enough...but it does make one treasure the moments that we DO have.
another joy that the onset of cooler weather has wrought is a change in the depth of the shallows...there are several sandbars now that appear each afternoon, and we took full advantage of their fun this afternoon!!
for some reason the men decided to take a deeper path back off the sandbar, but no worries!
it was an amazing afternoon, and we have had some really good times since.
we still don't know when we are coming home for good, so hang in there with us. i treasure each and every one of our relationships with you. my heart is with you.
see you soon.
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