The Start of the "See You Later" Parties

The time has come for some of my closest friends and I to start moving away. Our good friend Kresta and her family are headed to a new home and another great friend Carmen are headed away too. I have many great memories with these 2 ladies. It has been a great 3 years!!!


The kids eating up Hot dogs and potluck dishes. (Yes, they are wearing winter jackets- It was about 45)

The kiddos making a make believe camp fire. They were even singing songs.

All the kids heading into the woods to find twigs and limbs for us to put in the bon fire.

Maple Syrup Breakfast and Farm Tour

This morning we braved the cold and headed to Croghan New York for the Maple Syrup Festival and Pancake Breakfast. Every year around this time I hear about it but we have never went and thought we better go this year. So out we went in the 32 degrees it was. These things are pretty popular. So we stood for 45 minutes outside waiting to get into the building. Once inside and seated with our good friends, The Horrigans, we enjoyed home made Pancakes and fresh syrup with Sausage, YUMMY!!. After breakfast we headed to the farm where we enjoyed a tour of the factory and learned how they need 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. We saw all the pipes and hoses and boilers before we climbed in a wagon lead by horses to show us all the maple trees. The kids had a blast!!

3rd BCT Ball

Tonight we had our last and final Ball with 3rd Brigade for this year. We had a blast. We started the evening with the kids helping me get dressed. After they did my make-up and Emma zipped my dress we posed for a few family pictures before Matt and I went to a Good friends house for a little pre-Party. The ball was incredibly fun. They usually start with about 2 hours of cocktails followed by the presentation of the colors and explaining the table set for 1 lite by candlelight to represent those Soldiers that lost their lives for our Freedom. After the special speaker and Colonel speaks we eat dinner and the dance floor usually opens right up. Last night Matt and I danced for about 2 hours before we decided we better get home!!

Major's List

We are super excited to report Matt made the Majors list. He should be promoted within the next few weeks. He has been waiting for this for a while.

I also had Emma's Parent/Teacher conference today and am very proud to report she is doing well in Kindergarten. We are gonna have to take Emma out of school 4 weeks early so we can move to Georgia. The kids do not get out of school here until the end of June and the kids get out in Georgia at the end of May. Emma's teacher said Emma will be good to go onto the 1st grade and will give the school the recommendation. My fear had been that Emma would have to repeat Kindergarten and I really did not want that. SO I am very excited to learn Emma is doing great. She is ready well and is writing 3 sentences in her Journal. When I went to Kindergarten in was all about play and learning the alphabet!!!

Final Snack Day Craft for School

The final project for the "butterfly" snack turned out adorable. After the clothes pins were all crafted and done. We filled snack size bags with fruit loops. craisins, vanilla yogurt raisins, and banana chips and places the clothes pins in the middle to create the wings. Emma thought this was rather cool and I am rather amazed at home cute they turned out:)

The Ball Pictures

The picture above is from the 2/87 Battalion Ball

This picture is from the BSTB Battalion Ball

Jazz Competition

Emma had her first Jazz Competition today. The girls did a great job, and looked liked they really had a lot of fun until the Awards Ceremony. Emma and another 4 year were a little scared from all the music and loud screaming. AND they were throwing monkeys and balls and Emma wanted one but did not. In the end she had a blast and they received a Gold. ( About 3rd place.)

Daddy Daughter Dance

Emma was so excited to attend her first Daddy Daughter Dance. We picked out a special dress and shoes last week. And did a test run on the hair earlier in the week. This afternooon, we curled her hair, painted her toe nails and fingernails, and added a little glitter and lip gloss to the final touches. She was ticked!!

Snack Day Craft for School

I receive one of the best magazines from my Mom. She sends me Family Fun. This is the coolest magazine ever. I have taken a TON of fun recipes and craft ideas out of this inexpensive family magazine. I have been on the look out for a "healthy" fun snack for Emma to take to school when I found this one for butterfly mix. So we started the other day by taking clothes pins and painting them with Glitter Glue. Today we put small googly eyes and used Pipe Cleaners for the hair. (I think that is what it is). And tomorrow we will make a trail mix with fruit loops, banana chips, craisins, and goldfish before sealing snack size bags and placing the clothes pins in the middle to make a butterfly. This has been a fun little craft that we will do in 3 phases.

2/87 Catamount Ball

Matt and I had another really great night at the 2nd Ball we attended. When we went to check into the hotel we learned we actually had a 1 bedroom cottage waiting for us. When we got to the cottage we realized my good friend and her family are staying there until they leave Fort Drum. Matt and I were able to hang out and get ready and then Sarah was kind and gave us a ride to the location. We really enjoyed getting a chance to see and hang out with the Soldiers and families that we had spent so much time with before Matt changed jobs last April.

BSTB Ball

Tonight was the BSTB Ball, the 1st of the 3. For this ball we decided to go all out. We dropped the kids off with friends and checked into our hotel to get ready. And then had a limo pick us up and enjoyed a 90 minute ride around the area. This was by far the cooliest part of the night. The Ball was great. We enjoyed more laughs and got a little crazy on the dance floor. For whatever reason Matt and I never got a picture of ourselves together. So we will have to wait for the professional one to come back and will post it.

kids splashing

So the snow is quickly melting and leaving HUGE puddles. Every afternoon after Emma gets home from school we have been walking to the mailboxes to fetch our mail. Logan looks forward to this all day. He loves to splash and jump into every puddle along the way!!!

Buffalo Wild Wings with Logan

Tonight Emma went on her first over night sleep over with a school friend. (that was super hard for me to leave my little girl) So we decided to take Logan out shopping and then to eat. It is so different only having 1 kid. Logan was great. He really entertained himself for more of the time and then when he got board we let him play with one of those coin machines. So, the kids normally eat chicken tenders and french fries. I ordered ribs and wings and gave Logan one rib to try, He LOVED it and ate 2 of them. We are so excited that he will eat something other than chicken nuggets.

Syracuse Crunch Jazz Dancers

Emma had a blast at the Syracuse Hockey Crunch game with Daddy. The girls danced 3 times and she got to eat a hot dog and cotton candy. Aside from the dancing she said the best part was playing kids games on Daddy's ipod. Matt was a great stage dad and rode the bus with all the girls, glitter, and hairspray. Emma then was able to cuddle up and fall asleep on his lap on the way home.

Click on the video below, I don't know why it is not showing the main picture.

Playtime with Logan

So this week I decided that is was time again to try the limited TV thing. And what I mean by that is 2 or 3 programs a week when Mommy needs them. Like when I am on the treadmill or need a shower. So the first couple of days were okay and then I about lost it all by Thursday. I really wanted to have a lazy afternoon and since Logan thinks he does not need naps anymore, I set him up in my room to watch DoodleBops so I could watch some DVR. Above is a picture of Logan playing with her trains, we set them all up and then he lost interest in about 10 minutes.