Congratulations CW3 Burns

Mike's promotion to Chief Warrant Officer 3 was this morning at Schofield Barracks.  There was a good attendance of people there to show support to him, we do however wish our families could have been there too. 

LTC Honeycutt performed the ceremony.  He said some very nice things about Mike and then switched his rank (see below)

I was given the duty of changing his hat--of which he had to immediately readjust to get the right fit :)

Afterwards it was Mike's turn to speak.  He thanked his senior officers, mentors, fellow workers and he even had some kind words for me too. 

of which we were "ordered" by the LTC to "seal with a kiss"

if you are wondering where the little ones are, our friends, Sherri and Keith De Silva were holding on to them for us!  Thanks Uncle and Auntie!

 Next there was a receiving line...

and then we took turns giving Daddy all of his lei's. 

We're so proud of you Mike/Daddy!  Love you Always!

pic with LTC Honeycutt

 and one with Herman Hoffman--Herman was Mike's sponsor when we first moved to the island.  He and his wife picked us up from the airport and got us settled on our first night in HI.  Since then Mike and Herman have continued to be close even through his retirement from CW4.  Herman has been a great mentor to Mike over the past 6 years and it was great to have him there today.  

refreshments were provided afterwards...here's Mike with his cake

the new rank!

Just a Little Update...

Well we're here in HI trying to get back in the swing of things.  The babies did extremely well.  Not one bit of jet lag to be seen.  They went straight into their sleeping routines as usual.  I am so thankful for our good sleeping children.  We are truly blessed on that account.  BUT, they have been pretty emotional since being back.  That seems to be our downfall when traveling and really who can blame them?  So much change and new things and the absence of any kind of schedule.  That's hard on a kid.  Shoot.  That's hard on us. So anyway, hopefully some of these many tears will subside in the next week.

In other news, Mike has deferred his advance schooling until next year.  He was supposed to leave this past Saturday to go to Ft. Lee, Virginia for 7 weeks.  With our move coming up really close and us working hard to sell our house it really just didn't feel like it was the right time for the school.  I'm very thankful we were able to postpone--i imagine right about now if he had left, the kids would be in serious distress as would I.  :)

Upon getting back to the island, Mike was diagnosed with a major sinus infection and 2 ear infections which took him out of work the rest of last week.  That was also when he was scheduled to be pinned for his promotion to CW3 at the Arizona Memorial.  Since we had to cancel so late there wasn't time to reschedule at the memorial (bummer) so instead he will be pinned this Thursday on base (which is the normal way to do things anyway).  We are very excited for this promotion!  Mike has worked hard to get here.

We also have some very good news....An offer was made on our house yesterday!  It's just the beginning of a long process, but we are still very happy to be getting on with this process.  The potential buyers seem to be very motivated and want our house. We realize a lot can happen between a first offer and the close of a house.  We ask for prayers that all the logistics work out and we can get this house sold before we move.

Along with this offer, means a possible shift in our timeline for moving home--at least for the kids and I.   If all goes as planned, we could close anytime between mid-March and beginning of May.   The kids and I won't stay long after that happens, since living in temporary housing/hotels is hard on the kids.  I can't believe our time is coming to a close so quickly!  I have so many mixed emotions!  and I have so many Hawaii things to get before we go!  You'd think after 6 years i would have collected everything i would want.  But instead i kept putting it off thinking there would be a next time.   No next time now...i gotta get on it!

That's it for now.  Later.

Movie Monday

He's the Best
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Saturday Sequence

New Years Eve Sillies

Set 1

more pictures??

 boo yaa!!

 settling down

 bored again...

Set 2

Silly Daddy making the kiddos laugh

 it was Knee-Slappin' funny!

Set 3

Little Smiles

 Big Smiles

Biggest Smiles 

Flight Back to HI..one last time

Flying back to HI, it hit us that this time would be the last time--well maybe not forever, but the last time while we are living here.  It was a little bittersweet as we were making our descent over the islands-i tried to take it all in, the beautiful hawaiian sunset over the clouds and the peak of Mauna Kea peaking through, the coastline lit up by a sea of lights--and lets not forget the warm sweet breeze that that blows over your skin the second you step off the plane...i'm gonna miss that. 

i have a feeling the next few months are going to include a lot of those feelings.  faithful blog readers, you might as well get ready ;) 

but for now, i'll get back to the trip home.  4 words.  It was just OK. 

first 2 flights were fairly uneventful (minus a medical diversion that caused us to detour to PHX before heading on our way to LAX) and the kiddos handled them like champs.   It was that 3 hr layover in the worst airport ever that has NOTHING to do and NOWHERE to let the kids run around and be free. Followed by the last leg, longest flight of the day--6hrs on a small 1 aisle plane with only shared movie monitors hanging from the ceiling playing one 90 min movie that no one cared to watch anyway.   Thankfully the kids slept some of it... the hours they didn't sleep were an emotional roller coaster bouncing between tears and wild pent-up bursts of energy.  i am SO glad its over.  

So far though, they slept through the first night back, woke up happy and went right down for nap...they really do seem to be the best 2 year old travelers ever.  We are SO THANKFUL for that :)

ready to go ...waiting at the gate for our first flight at 6am EST

 Wendy's Bfast on the plane!

 

sharing with Woody 

 Daddy why do you always take pics of me?

a little nap on the second flight of the morning...all snuggled with her animals

 HRB on the second flight...he's a bit more finicky...we've learned to build him a fort and he sleeps much better!

 

Daddy sitting my himself :(

  third flight... a little timeout corner for a brother who didn't want to share

Woody (Toy Story) ALWAYS does the trick. 

 and then when we got home it was like Christmas all over again...TONS of Christmas Cards in our mail pile...as tired as we were we opened them all before we went to sleep.  Now i gotta find a place for 'em all on the refrigerator!

2012 Bookshelf

I love to read. This year i started off strong, made a list for the year and tried my best to stick to it.  For about six months i did pretty well, and then Mike came home.  STOP.  NO MORE BOOKS.  Embarrassing kind of.  Except not really, because what's better than busy with the ones you love.

I'm getting back into it though--i've been feeling the itch--  and I've made a less ambitious list this year.  2011's list was pretty extensive and considering our move coming up in a few months, i believe i may be quite busy with things other than reading.

So here's the new list:

Parenting
-Shepherding a Child's Heart, Tedd Tripp (i'm already halfway thru it)
-The Mission of Motherhood, Sally Clarkson
-Don't Make Me Count to Three, Ginger Plowman


Pleasure Reading/Novels
-the Millenium Series, Steig Larsson
   Girl with a Dragon Tatoo
   Girl who Played with Fire
   Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
-Sing You Home, Jodi Piccoult
-Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card
-The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
-Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
-Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese

Non Fiction
-Kisses from Katie, Katie Davis
-Growing Up Amish, Ira Wagler



Classics/Books of Note...the everyone should read these sometime in their lives list
-The Faraway Tree Collection, Enid Blyton
-Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
-Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
-Life of Pi, Yann Martel
-Emma, Jane Austen (the last half)

To keep up with my progress just check the 2012 Bookshelf Tab at the top of the blog.  I'll mark them off as i read them.

and if you were wondering what i read this year...

-His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
   Golden Compass
   Amber Spyglass
   The Subtle Knife
-The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood
-The Curious Incident of a Dog in Nighttime, Mark Haddon
-The Color Purple, Alice Walker
-The Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
-Emma, Jane Austen (the first half)
-Memoirs of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
-Rescue, Anita Shreve
-One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
-Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
-Testimony, Anita Shreve
-The Help, Kathryn Stockett
-Unplanned, Abby Johnson
-Water for Elephants, Sara Green
-A Cup of Friendship, Deborah Rodriguez
-The New Dare to Discipline, Dr. James Dobson

First Haircuts with Pop Pop

Holden's turn first...he was a very good boy!  

 Nora watched Holden's haircut with Daddy

 "PopPop, you sure you know what you're doing?"

 Nora was a little unsure at first

 but then she warmed up 

 Holden read books in the waiting room while Nora got her hair cut, just like a big girl.

 Pop Pop multi-tasking

 Then Daddy and Mommy got their haircut too...

 and meanwhile Nora peeped over at Tommy

New Years, the Extended Version

Our New Years Eve was very good this year.  We were in Fayetteville visiting the Sweatlands again, and that morning, our friends, Mark and Carrie Davis (also from our Hawaii gang) came to visit for a few hours on their way back to their home in VA.  We haven't seen Mark in over 2 years and Carrie I haven't seen since last New Years.  It was good to catch up as always.  After they left, Mike and I went neighborhood shopping preparing for our big move in a few months.  Then that night Hillary invited some of her friends over to have dinner out and play games while our kiddos slept soundly in their beds.

Heres some pics of our day.

Aunite Hill reading to my kiddos

 Uncle Mike/Daddy playing Trains

 we made a real stellar parent move and put a DVD on while we ate dinner .  it worked well, yes?

 bath time--the regulars plus Channing.  Jack didn't want to join in for the picture

 Hillary and Jackie's New Years Picture--with Daddy Doll Jake

 the cutest 2 year olds on the planet

 my favorite people in the whole world--Last Family Pic of 2011!

 After the kiddies were in bed we played games, including our favorite--Gimp.  The Gimp hat this year was Jack's toboggan.  Mike rocked it. 

 

like i said, we had a good day and we did stay up till midnight--watched the ball drop live on the computer and even had some champagne, all in our PJ's.  Low-Key and Fun. 

 Woody on the other hand, his night must have been a little more rough...he wasn't looking so good this morning.