Crusin..

Now I need to talk about Morgan girl! Ain't she sumtin! (sorry had to write that for my last post)

She came out of the house with her bag packed full of play food and her shades on! She let me know she would be back in a bit - she had to go out for a while. She has a blast in her jeep. And we love watching her! What a hoot! She has had many adventures on her jeep.

Once she got mad at us and decided that she was through with us and wanted a new family. After packing her baby and her PJ's she took off. When she was about 3 houses down when we all went in and started to close the garage door. As it started to close - she turned that jeep around so fast I think it may have been on 2 wheels! We were laughing as much as we could without getting caught! She has not tried that again.

Hooked on Phonics...My soapbox...

Okay - the one thing I like about blogging is having the forum to brag on my babies. So let this be one of many to come!

LOOK AT MADISON'S PAPER!!! There is more on the back - but I didn't want to bore you. I am so proud!!

I have long been an advocate of phonics based curriculum's. No we didn't use the Hooked on Phonics program, but I have always taught phonics to my girls while they were learning the alphabet. Many argue that site words are the best way to prepare a child to read, I firmly disagree. If the child has a firm grasp on phonics then site words will be a breeze along with many other words. Madison has been reading up a storm for a while now, I know that it is largely due to her understanding of phonics. Now I will admit she is not perfect. While learning the books of the New Testament she had no problem reading the words Philemon or Ephesians, but did stumble a bit on the word James. I am not sure why - but she's got it now.

Reading is SO important. If you can read than many things are possible. It saddens me that there are Kindergarten children that barely know their alphabet, and can't even tell you the sounds that the letters make. Recently I was asking Morgan to tell me a sound that a letter made. She asked "why mom, are you writing a letter?" "no" I said "I just want to know" She says "but why, do you see it (the letter) somewhere?". After a few of these questions I learned that Morgan will produce information if there is an immediate need. If no purpose is indicated, than please do not bother her. She is a busy woman after all!

Splashing in the Rain...

"mommy, daddy, can we put some boots on and jump in the puddles?"

These were the precious lil words coming out of the sweetest lil voices as the rain began to fall. Boring parents would have said - no, but seeing as we are so cool, Daddy was the hero and said "you don't need boots - just jump in what you're wearing!" Madison didn't hesitate or ask twice - she knew better than to allow an opportunity for us to change our minds.

Morgan was confused, the poor dear. "Jump in my socks?, in my pants?" After we convinced her it would be okay - she was off and running back and forth. I know that both thought that the day had come, that Mom & Dad had lost their minds. Not only were they jumping in the puddles, but they were jumping in puddles in the road!!!!

Mark and I sat back in our Cracker Barrel rockers like a couple of old folks and took pictures. Ahh - this is the life. I am starting to enjoy the freedom from being held captive by activity! The clean laundry was sitting nicely in the washer and dryer, the dinner dishes could wait...(not long though), and there was nothing that NEEDED to be done in that exact moment. So it was to just sit back and embrace the moment of watching our girls live and laugh! The days go so quickly - and before you know it you grow gray hair!!

Okay, out of the sentiment for a moment -

Last night Mark was looking for some shorts on line. We looked at the sites that we have enjoyed shopping over the years - Old Navy, Gap, AE, Dilliards... we always thought that we were somewhat stylish - not trendy, but not geeks either. Well, after looking at the options for men's shorts last night, I think it has happened. Everything that Mark saw was plaid!! Crazy plaid, with striped shirts! Then when we finally found a pair of regular Khaki shorts - they were pictured on an OLD MAN!!! What has happened!?!?! Forget the mall scene - we are headed straight to JC Penny - to the old dude section. I can hear us now "excuse me miss- where are the active support tube socks... knee high, with stripes at the top?" YIKES! "will these fit in your ortho support shoes honey?" "Mark - didn't I tell you to put in your teeth before we went out in public?"

I was okay thinking that my man was getting old - but then today I was reminded that I was not as young as i think. Now let me back up and say that I did okay with Mark pointing out that I was about 20 years older than our baby sitter. Well, not so okay at first, but I survived. Then Monday night I attended a deployment briefing for the MXG and looking out into the crowd I commented to Mark that they all looked so young. He said it was because we were getting older. But then today I was reading another Blog and saw that my friend had given credit to a 'Ms. Jen' for getting her started Scrap booking. MS JEN?!?!?! You would have thought this 'Ms. Jen' was a sweet lil ol' granny down the street!! This cracked me up! Surely my peer was not calling ME 'ms. jen'. I couldn't be but a few short years older than her. Then I went on to read that she and her hubby were 21 & 22. That isn't that much younger... than I... a few years ago!!!! Where did the time go? Don't get me wrong - I like being over 30, 31.. the age where 40 looks cool. I quickly scolded the young thing about calling me "Ms". Honestly! Madison & Morgan's friends call me Ms. We'll stop there! :-) Christa is a sweet young woman - who I am proud to be getting to know! And I am still laughing, that in her scrapbook the pages of her dogs come before her man! :-) Christa - you are amazing! I am honored to be getting to know you!

Well it's almost 10pm - better get my house coat on and take my meds - take out my teeth and put my hair in rollers! Night all!

Take a Dip!! in the ice!!

All week long Madison has been asking "Can we go swimming today?". You would think the temp was in the 90's and we had no a/c. We tried to convince her that the pool was too cold which then resulted in a lesson about reading thermometers. Mark told her that the outside temp was to warm up this week so maybe by this weekend we would be able to get in. HA!!

Just let me stop here and ask why we tell our children 'maybe' when what we really mean is "there is no way in God's green earth that we are getting in that frigid water!" Why can't children just be logical and say "you're right mom, i didn't think about how the outside air also needs to be warmer so that my bones don't knock together trying to spark some sense of warmth in my body as I plunge into the sampling of ARCTIC water we have in our pool". But no, we continue to play the game I like to call the Maybe Later game. You know it well. Don't pretend you don't. When you dread the sound of disappointment and disgust from your child so much, you give them a glimmer of hope by not saying NO but saying, (say it with me now...) Maybe Later. I know I am not alone on this one.

So with the temperature being a big fat whopping 80 degrees today Madison reminded us, again, that today was Saturday and we did tell her that the weather would be warmer and that we did say that we could go in the pool this weekend. Funny how we say maybe and when they follow up that word disappears from the conversation. As though maybe we wont remember that it was a promise based on circumstance, but that it was just a flat promise. Well as I reminded her that it was still a bit chilly out for swimming she checks the temp of the pool water. 77 degrees. Better than 58, yes...but still cold! She assures me that we would get used to it after we are in there a while.

I throw out the olive branch and offer for her to put her feet in and sit on the ladder. WE HAVE A COMPROMISE!!! I am winning!! Then she works her magic on me... "Please momma"... those sweet lil eyes looking up at me..."just for a minute?"...my mind is racing...what's the big deal...she'll see it's cold before her booty hits the water..."OKAY" I say to her. next thing you know she is in. Not just a little but completely - in- the pool. "see momma, it's not bad!".

Morgan wakes from her nap and joins Madison in the pool. "THIS IS COLD!!" she calls out, however she didn't back down - couldn't be out done by her sister!

Then I thought to myself, why not...The next thing I know I am climbing the ladder praying that no one is looking out into our yard - and I am waist deep in ICE! Just as I am smacked back into reality and see how I have lost my mind - I lost all feeling in my legs!!!! The coldest South Dakota storm could not have been this cold! Mark was the smartest of us all - he stood there laughing at me! Madison was right - I got used to it - numbness does that - I stayed in until Morgans lips were blue and chattering strong like a machine gun. Madison persevered- she stayed in for a while - in her glory, she finally was able to swim!

In the News...

Saturday Madison and I went to get the mail and as soon as I handed it to her to hold she dropped it all and started squealing and jumping up and down holding the paper. Yelling "It's me and Daddy! We're in the news!!!"

Sure enough, there they are! This picture was taken after the egg hunt that she had at school. It had absolutely nothing to do with the article in the paper. The article was about school overcrowding in the north Bossier area and the plans for new schools in the next few years.

I thought the picture was sweet. Daddy in uniform holding hands with his daughter. Taking time from his day of Saving the World, to enjoying the simple innocence of an egg hunt. Mark thought that maybe the paper used this picture with the over crowded school article to show a negative side of our Military families making small town schools crowded. What ever the case, it's a sweet picture.

Since it was the last day before spring break, the students were having a Spirit Shirt & Jeans day. With the weather being in the 80's that day, we skipped the jeans option. Which made me wonder...If it is $2 to wear both the shirt and jeans, do I only send $1 since we didn't do the jeans? Hmmm...

Happy Easter!!!

Today was a nice sunny day if only the temperature could have been warm also! When we left for church the temp outside was in the low 50's!!! Hard to believe that on Monday we were in shorts and running the AC and now the heat is on and we are snuggled up in blankets!

Our neighbors, Jon and Julie, delivered a beautiful little girl on Monday. Today Kaitlyn Marie was our special guest for Easter dinner! We were so excited to be able to share her first holiday with her! She is absolutely precious and such a content baby! I miss the girls being at that stage, where you can spend the day just admiring their beauty. Now we have to wait till there asleep or they ask us whats wrong with us and why we are staring at them!

When we were all relaxing after dinner and trying hard NOT to fall asleep, the phone rang with news that someone wanted to come and see our house. I kept saying "are you kidding me?!?!" Our house has been immaculate all week and the one day I let it go someone calls!! But since we have made this house God's house to sell, we are in no position to say no. We had an hour to get ready - and just as we finished...Ding dong!! The realtor was EARLY!!! We have not heard any feed back from the visit - but more importantly our house has now had some exposure!!!

Now I just need to remember to get the dirty dishes from their hiding places and pull all the last minute items out of the dryer, oven, hamper, van, freezer, and all the other spots one finds last minute.

Home Sweet Home

This is our home here in loverly Louisiana!! We feel blessed to be in such a great house with fabulous neighbors! It's a bitter sweet time to put our house on the market. It seems like we just arrived and are only now getting settled in. We have made some great friends and the girls have picked up on "speaking Louisiana-en" as Madison says.

We love living in a neighborhood with other military families who have children the same ages as ours. Many hours have been spent riding around the circle first with Madison learning to ride her bike and now with all four of us on bikes doing our best to keep up with each other! Our big driveway has served as a fabulous blank canvas for our little sidewalk chalk artists to create and decorate! And when our driveway is full, we have our neighbors driveway to decorate.

We are excited for our new adventure to Europe. The girls are at a great age to travel and are excited about seeing REAL castles! They will have their own rooms and have already began to talk about why they are thankful for them. Madison is thankful that she will be able to go to sleep and not listen to Morgan singing. Morgan is thankful that she will not have to have all of Madison's nightlights in her eyes. She likes it dark like her momma.

There are about 11 weeks for us left here and we plan to make the most of every moment!

So this is blogging?!?!

So here we go...with preparing to move to Germany, I thought about how to best be able to keep in touch with everyone with out the high cost of long distance bills. After seeing successful blogs from others at church, I decided that this would be the best way to go! Now whenever our friends and family want to know what is going on with us - they can check us out no matter the time difference!

Also this will be a great outlet for me to brag about my angels (using the term loosly) and share the many adventures of the Parrott home!

Please be patient as I figure this wave of technology out! Am I reaching THAT age? Where things like blogging don't just come naturally but have to be learned!!! Pretty soon I will have to have my children teach me how to use Tevo! Which we seem to be among the few that still use a VCR to catch the shows that we miss!! People look at us like we are cave men and don't have cell phones!

So stay tuned and pretty soon I will have this baby up and running!