Donovan's 7!!!!

July 12th was Donovan's birthday. I went over to Ken's parents to celebrate it with them. Donovan asked for a Beatles cd!! I thought it was funny, but he loves Yellow Submarine, and who doesn't!!? He had a party earlier with his Mom at Chuck-e-Cheese. He got a crown and a medal for being the birthday boy. We had yummy cake and icecream and Donovan had fun opening presents. He wanted to lick the candles :) Ken's family have a strange way of eating their cake and ice-cream, they mix it all together. Ken loves it!!! So I took this picture and sent it to him to torture him ;) Aren't I the best wife ever!?! Happy birthday kiddo we love you!!!

Freedom

So I stole this header from my friend Tiffany's blog. I was going to ask her but didn't get a chance but I am sure she won't mind. I saw this picture the other day and was hit so strongly by it. Sure they are nice words, no freedom is not free, but there is so much more to this picture. See the sweet little boy is Tiffany's son Kaden who, along with his baby brother Preston, is one who pays for such freedom. He was without his Daddy for a year while Dad was away with the Military, had to leave the only home he has ever known and move across country away from all his family and friends, and then just had Daddy gone again for 6 weeks I believe and just got him home a few days ago. Now I have huge respect for the men and women of our armed forces who put their lives on the line everyday and share that cost of freedom, but today as we celebrate this wonderful country and it's independence I just want to acknowledge the little tiny everyday soldiers who perhaps pay the biggest price of all for the freedoms we enjoy. Ones who are too small to where a uniform and who's struggles often go unnoticed. Take Donovan for instance, who despite all my explaining and reassuring as it isn't true, spends everyday thinking that Daddy's job is to kill suicide bombers. Who one day asked what Daddy's armor is made out of and when I asked why.. because he needed to make sure it was bomb proof. Who worries about what if Daddy turns into a suicide bomber. Who, even though he plays and laughs and seems to not have a care in the world, when he has a crayon in his hand is drawing soldier Daddy shooting the bad guys. Who innocently said one day after not hearing from Daddy for quite a while that he figured it was because he was dead. Who got a new t-shirt with a jeep on it that reminded him of Daddy's jeep and he said, "oh good now when I am playing and having too much fun and forget, this will help remind me that Daddy is at war". What a unimaginable weight these little children carry around with them everyday. Such a heavy reality they live and barely comprehend. Though they know more than we think and more than they show. Yet they do laugh and play and disguise their fear and uncertainty everyday. So again I remind you that Freedom is not Free and today I want to thank all the little children who pay that price for us. They don't have a choice but they pay anyway. They smile and laugh and love and pay it anyway. To Kaden and Preston and Donovan... Thank you. You are braver than us all!!!

Syracuse Heritage Days

Last weekend Syracuse had it's festivities. I forgot about them but remembered in the morning when I could hear the sirens from the parade. So the kids and I got dressed really quick and ran around the corner for the parade. Luckily it was just on the next street :) The kids had fun getting all the candy. Donovan and Michael really loved the Eagle float. They really are nerds!! Michael was so funny when the Highscool officers float went by. They had music playing really loud and it was the song from Night at the Roxbury... what is love, baby don't hurt me. Well Michael can't resist a beat and was shaking it up in his moon boots! (Again we left the house in a hurry so that's what you get ;) )

Crash!

I'm behind in posting but the next day Donovan crashed on his bike and scraped his knee. You would have thought that I chopped his leg off. I finally got him settled and fixed up with bandaids and he was just fine. But I decided for my sanity we should probably take some precautions... So we got him fixed up with elbow pads, knee pads, and a helmet. Much better ;)

Burning rubber!!

A few weeks ago my brother Andrew was so kind and helped Donovan try to loose his training wheels. I had tried once before and it was pathetic (both on my part and Donovan's) and so figured he wasn't quite ready and we would just have to wait until Ken got home. He was pretty nervous and was really unstable but did really well for the first try. But it was before school and he was going to his mom's right after so he didn't get much practice in. So today Donovan's asks if he can ride his bike. Andrew wasn't here and the training wheels were off so I told him he could try but might not be able to since he hadn't practiced. WRONG!! The kid was tearing it up!!! He just hopped on and off he went. He wobbled quite a bit but he did awesome. He even mastered turning around on the driveway. We emailed the pictures to Daddy so he wouldn't miss out. Way to go kiddo I am so proud of you!! :)

SINGLE DIGITS!!!!

Isn't he such a sexy soldier!?! Yesterday marked 9 weeks to go until Ken is home. I am sooooooo excited. Time has really gone by so fast. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was saying we were halfway and that was 16 weeks and here we are at 9 already! I am so excited to have him home I can hardly wait. Though I am a little worried as we get down to the wire how it will be. I have two theories. One time will slow completely and it will take forever to get to the actual day, or it will move at record pace and I will be crazy stressed trying to get ready for his homecoming. Knowing me it will probably be both!! Either way it means Ken will be home soon and I couldn't be happier!! Ken I love you and miss you like crazy!!!

Dear Tooth Fairy

So Donovan came over this weekend and I immediately noticed something different. He lost his first tooth sometime this week!!! I was so excited for him and asked what the toothfairy brought. Sadly for some reason she didn't come to his house plus he said he lost it somewhere in his house. I was shocked and upset and explained to him that we can leave her a note and I am sure she would still visit. So we sat down and Donovan wrote her a note all by himself. He learned in school that you use two fingers to make the space inbetween the words :) I told him that his fingers are big enough that he could probably just use one finger now ;) Then we put the note under his pillow and he went to sleep. I wondered if he would remember in the morning but he checked first thing and there was a crisp one dollar bill under his pillow! He was so excited and came running into my room to show me what he got. I am happy that the good ole Tooth Fairy came through in the end :)