House for Rent in Kaneohe, Hawaii

Our renters are moving out after Christmas, so our beautiful Kaneohe home will be available January 1st!

If you know anyone who is heading that way soon or are there and looking, please help spread the word!

http://www.militarybyowner.com/homes/HI/Kaneohe/Lehuuila_St/MBO229873.aspx

Sweet 16!

Today  is Kenzie's 16th birthday.

As I'm typing this I am still in complete denial that... A) I am a mother of a teenager, although I'm noticing I've starting getting a few grey hairs to prove that.... and B) That she is, in fact, (pause) 16.

Now, most 16 year olds would be waking up to skip school and get their drivers license.  However, due to our untimely move from VA to NC this past summer and the discrepancies in driving laws, our daughter 'got the shaft' there... so she has been patiently waiting for a drivers ed class that has not been filled up since last year to open up.

Lucky for her, I was able to get her in the December class when they announced the class dates back in the fall on the first day of school.

So, if you would all like to pray for us the first week of December.... and every day after! Thank you.

Knowing I wouldn't get up early enough to bake monkey bread, I decided to make one last night so it would be ready for Kenzie to grab as she makes her usual rush from her bedroom to the front door to catch her ride to school.  (she uses every last milisecond to get ready for school)

Monkey Bread with Pink Glaze

So then, late last night, after my then 15 year old went to bed, I stayed up late blowing up balloons secretly in my newly organized master closet as to not wake up the children AND to hide from the bulldog also known as Lilly, who would most likely cancel out all my attempts at inflating any and all balloons.

Carrying each balloon by hand to the hallway (by fours), while closing each door behind me so no dogs would follow, I successfully executed a Pinterest idea... a balloon attack with McKenzie's bedroom door.

I set my alarm for 0630 so that I would be up and ready with camera in hand to record the whole thing... when she emerges from her room at 0649. However this morning, I was awakened at 0615 by a loud "Oooohhhhhhh!!"

I ran into the hallway to find balloons floating all around McKenzie, standing in her doorway, laughing.  "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"  Her response... "I almost peed my pants!"

#SUCCESS #WISHIGOTTHATONVIDEO

While she was at school, Tyler and I picked up even more balloons, and a few of her favorite things so she would have a surprise when she returned from school.

Tyler, being the sweet talker that he is, managed to also leave with his own balloon in his favorite color.  Look out ladies...

 We tied down candy and fun things to Kenzie balloons while we waited for her cake to bake..

 

Then it was time to decorate the cake... and some cupcakes....

 She arrived home with flowers in hand, and another arrangement waiting for her that had been delivered today.

 

Flowers that Nick had delivered to the school.

He's in the field all week and was bummed he was missing her birthday.

These flowers were sent by Grandma & Grandpa Bob

Kenzie and I went to Wilmington last weekend for some early birthday shopping to get some winter clothes for school.  So today was full of little things that make her happy.  But there was one little thing that I had been waiting a very long time to give her....

This ring was given to me on Valentine's Day just before MY 16th birthday.  And I knew that this was something I would give to her on HER 16th birthday, I just didn't know it was going to be here so quickly.  It's been in it's original box for a really long time.  I figured more than 13 years... so with a quick little cleaning, it looked good as new!  

I wrote in her card where it came from and hope that it will remind her of all the people who love her and care about her... and that we are all cheering her on as she continues to grow and be a good example to everyone around her, including her three little brothers and sisters who are always watching...

Happy 16th Birthday to our beautiful McKenzie!

We Love You!!!

Anybody still out there??

Hello??  Are you still out there?  I thought I'd do a quick test. test. 1. 2. 3. It's been nearly a year since I posted on here last. And I've sprinkled in the posts before that.

With Nick stationed at HMX-1 the past four years, and not being able to post what he was doing or who he was attached to, it kind of made it hard to update on what was going on with lots of things in our life.

But... not that we are settled, somewhat, in North Caronlina, with another (our 4th actually) deployment coming up, I thought it might be a good time to get into this whole Turner Mountain blogging thing again.  I'll share more details about his upcoming deployment soon.

You can fill in the gaps on our facebook pages if it's been a while since your Turner Mountain fix.

Friend Kimberly here.

Friend Nick here.

So... with Thanksgiving coming up, my parents are making a trip down here to spend the holiday with us!  My mom was down here the week we moved in, so I'm hoping she will enjoy the improvements we've made. Which reminds me, I still have a few boxes to put away! lol

Nick's preparing for a week out in the field (brrrrr) and I've got to finish getting the house ready for company next week!

Until next post...

Christmas in Iowa (Wilson)

Part 2 of our adventures in Iowa over Christmas lead us to central Iowa.

On Christmas Eve, my family gathered to celebrate and open gifts.

That night, Christmas Eve Night, my dad read

'Twas the Night Before Christmas'

to all the grandkids like he used to read to use every single year.

 

There were makeovers...

 and baking...

(me and my little sis)

 Uncle Danny showed the kids how to make chocolate milk with the very last few drops of chocolate in the bottle by pouring milk INTO the chocolate syrup bottle and shaking. 

No cup or stirring spoon necessary.

On Christmas day we had our Wilson Christmas with my entire family. It was so great to see everyone as we usually don't come home for Christmas.  

Grandpa Bob and Tyler with their matching hats!

 

McKenzie and Meridith

  

The Saturday after Christmas, we had another big Christmas with my mom's side. 

I don't know how we all managed to cram into the  photo.

 My dad is a New Year's Baby, so he was turning 60 on the first, so weeks ago, my sisters and brother and I started planning a big surprise party for him.  I think we pulled it off, but we still don't know what mom had to tell him to get him in town to the party.  It was a great night, and I was able to see some family friends I hadn't seen in a very long time!

 One night I managed to make it up to my brother's house to play a very inappropriate card game.

Cards Against Humanity.

It was very entertaining and super fun to hang out with my brother's friends!

 

New Years Eve I spent with my big sis and her husband and some friends.  We went to a dueling piano bar in Des Moines called Blue Moon. Awesome.

 

 It was a long trip home. Two days of driving. And what's a road trip without someone puking in the back seat just a few hours from home? Yup. Tyler tossed his cookies (raisins actually) coming out of the  mountains. That delayed our arrival time by a good 30 minutes due to clean up. Ick.

That definitely changed the mood, and the smell, for the remainder of the trip.  And to top it off, just 10 miles from home. We hit traffic.  Thank you I95 for never failing to be backed up at random hours of the day.

 We made it home safely and was very thankful for the time we spent with our entire family. The only thing that would have made it complete was to have Nick with us. 

Christmas in Iowa (Turner)

Since Nick was "out of town" for most of December and would be through the new year, the kids and I decided we'd road trip back to Iowa for Christmas. No sense in staying home 'alone' when we could spend it with Grandmas and Grandpas and cousins, right?!

We left in the afternoon after school and headed West! After about 8 hours of driving, we made it to Columbus, OH

We woke up to our first sight of snow! Woooo Hooo!

(if you don't count the 10 minutes of sudden sleet/snow/ice/fog that we hit up in the mountains)

We went from 70mph to about 10 in a matter of seconds.

 

We had a long day of driving and potential snow storms ahead of us.  When we left that morning we had about 9 hours to SW Iowa.  

14 hours later.... after a stressed out and tired Kim called her husband to so kindly get his family a hotel room booked in Des Moines because there was no way she was driving any farther that day through ice and traffic and .... more ice... and more traffic. 

I'm pretty sure he could tell by the sound of my voice that... I. WAS. DONE. And I'm sure the crying was a big clue too!

So he did. 

And we did. 

And the next morning we got up and drove the last 90 minutes to SW Iowa to Turner Mountain... safe and sound.

The kids immediately dug out their snow gear and sleds and spent most of the daylight hours out in the snow. Even if it was 9 degrees.

 

 Tyler was overjoyed at the sight of the train set Grandpa put together for him. It is usually around the tree, but there was so many presents under it this year,  it had to go in another spot.

Addison bonded with Grandma and Grandpa's new puppy "Libby".  

In fact, they were inseparable. Libby even followed Addi up to bed each night and laid at the food of the air mattress all night.

 

(Libby in the bottom left of the photo)

 Turner Mountain was full of adventures...

 Some more exciting than others...

But we had a great time with everyone and it was over before we knew it... and it was on to the other grandma and grandpa's house for more Christmas adventures.