Conversations with Kyle

I have always thought of Kyle as the more quiet one of our two boys. This only pertains to conversing, not in boyish loudness. But, after 4 weeks with Kyle when Aiden is at school, I have changed my mind. That boy can talk! I guess he has been stifled all these years. Usually Aiden is talking a blue streak and you hear Kyle say "Yeah!" or "What?" or "Right!" And not too much else. He has been making up for lost time over the last few weeks. Here are some samples of a normal conversation with Kyle:

Mom what happens if the sun falls out of the sky? Does God have a gun? What happens if we all fall in the water? No, not swimming, if we fall. That big cloud is chasing that tiny one! It is going zoom fast like this. Mom I have to go poo-poo really bad, hurry it is almost coming out!!! Oh never mind, it is only gas. I can transform Spiderman. Mom, is this you and Daddy's song? (he takes a breath) Mom, what happens if a water tower falls down? Does it drown? Look! A horse cloud! Be quiet mom, I want to hear that airplane! Ryleigh you k? You k baby sister? Mom, look Ryleigh lovbs me. Mom, I lovb you. I lovb you 60, 200. You lovb me that much? That is a lot. I lovb you millions. Mom, how do you spell cart? Mom, how do you spell cart? Mom, how do you spell cart? Mom, I want milk and yogurt. Mom, what does 678 spell? Smell this book, it smells like candy. Do you think it smells good? He says off of this while moving in rapid motion. From doing somersaults on the floor, to standing on his head to climbing the door frame or jumping off the stairs.

I believe Kyle's philosophy in life is: "Life is short, never sit still"

"Yes, we know our children are climbing the lamp post"

I am sure once you see these pictures I will instantly be classified as a bad mom. I am letting them climb a very tall lamp post. In fact you might even think that I might be encouraging it since I am taking their picture. But, if you happen to have 2 boys close in age, you will realize that I have reached the point of giving in to the fact that boys climb EVERYTHING. Now, if you just have one boy, or boys with a number of years between them, or a boy then a girl or two and then another boy, to you I am a bad mom. I know this from experience. :) Most moms have several heart attacks each visit when they come to our house. Now, moms with boys like I mentioned above, we never even bat an eye when we see things like this. We are used to it, we have become immune to scares such as these. It just happens too often. Our hearts would have given out long ago if we let little things like this bother us. We have to save our freaked out, "GET DOWN FROM THERE NOW!" voices for very special occasions. When Aiden came in from playing outside one day and informed me he had touched the top of this lamp post, we did have a little talk. I told them I have to be outside if they are going to climb stuff like that. That way if they do fall, at least I can tell the ER doctor that I was standing right there. :{They moved to a little safer venue and started climbing trees.From lamp post climbing, to tree climbing, we moved on to baseball. As you can see, Ryleigh had to have a bat and ball too. I love the expression on her face. Like "Yeah, I am just one of the boys."After awhile she got tired of such a boy sport and decided to sit on rocks and just look cute.
I love how she backed up to sit on the rocks and folded her hands and leaned forward.

She lost her bow from climbing around in the bushes.
Dirty and happy, that is how we grow them around here.

Done, Sir, DONE!!

I have been trying to get this posted for the last few days. I had a video of Jason returning sword (his last command with a platoon), but I am having trouble downloading it. So if I get it done, I will just add it.

Jason and the other Seniors of Lima Company.

Eyes right, as they pass the reviewing stands.


Retiring the guidon. The heavy from each platoon will take the guidon from the Honor graduate, a symbol that this platoon is finished their training.

Jason with his last platoon.
Very happy to see his mom and dad!

Jason with two of his three DI's.

So, we are now officially done! What a feeling on Friday! It was such a mix of emotions. When you have invested so much into something, even when it is difficult, a part of you is sad to be done. Friday evening, though, we realized we were still attached to Parris Island when the phone continued to ring off the hook for Jason. I guess they just can't function without him. :) They tried to get him to work all night Saturday, but he was able to get out of it. He did have to work most of Saturday, but he had ALL day Sunday off and the phone didn't ring all day!!! Unless you have lived with us, you have no idea how strange this really is! :) Usually the evening phone calls went something like this: "Who did what Drill Instructor??" "OK, put him on the phone.......what were you thinking boy? Are you really going to make me come in and straighten this out? I didn't think so. Put my Drill Instructor back on the phone." Or "Does he really need to go to the hospital? OK, fine I'll call so and so. Call me when you get back." Or "Who ran away? Don't worry, he will be back when he gets hungry and the bugs start biting." Always something, several times a night. Occasionally a recruit would have to be really "talked to" and Jason would have to go in another room and put on his DI voice and get it straightened out. Inevitably one of our kids would go in the room Jason was in and start whining at his feet. :) One of the feelings when we were done that I didn't except to feel is guilt. Guilt that other DI's are working like crazy and Jason gets to come home. Guilt that other wives made dinner and dealt with the kids all by herself and her husband didn't come home until 10 pm., or not at all, and mine made it home by 6 pm. Jason said he was feeling the same way, of course him even more so because he was watching the other DI's work (he is still with Lima Company, he is just working in the ops office right now). So when you have dinner with your family tonight, or all go the park as a family this weekend, think about the military families. Because somewhere a lot of moms are eating dinner alone again with the kids and many dads are wishing they were with their families. Yes, we all choose this life, but that does not make it any easier to do alone. As the days go by I am dealing with the guilt just fine and enjoying the fact that Jason is coming home!!! :)

Weekend visit

Jason's mom and dad made it down for his last graduation over the weekend. I didn't get many pictures (so unlike me!! :), but I caught a few. We had a really good time. Jason and his dad got to go fishing a few times, they got to see a pick up (when the recruits meet their DI for the first time) and there was lots of game playing with Grandmom and time on the swing set with Granddad. Aiden was so upset when they left Sunday afternoon that he cried for over an hour. I guess you guys better come back soon! :)


One morning Ryleigh led Granddad into her room and patted her chair. She wanted to be rocked! It only lasted a minute, but it was sweet! :)

There is that tongue again! She must be really concentrating on reading her book. :)
A war broke out in our kitchen.
Ryleigh chasing Granddad. Don't mess with a little girl who has two big brothers and who's father is a Marine, for more than one reason.

Cutest knight I have ever seen.

Thanks Mom and Dad P. for coming down! We had a really great time and wished you could have stayed longer!

Last Training Day

We made it to the end. We survived the hardest duty station in the Corps. We did it. We didn't drown, even though we felt like we were going to on more than one occasion. We wondered many times if we were going to make it through these last 3 years, in some ways it is hard to believe that it is over. Yet, it seems like we have been here a lifetime. We have learned a lifetime of lessons here, we leave here stronger because we survived something tough, together. Today is the last training day. Tomorrow is family day, then graduation on Friday. Saturday we get Daddy back. After 3 1/2 years we will get to spend weekends and evenings together on a regular basis. I am not sure I will know how to act. But, I won't get too comfortable, January brings another 3 - 9 month separation. So is life in the military. So is the price of a free country. Thank you to our family who has supported us through this time. I don't know what I would have done without someone to talk to on all the lonely nights and weekends when Jason had to work.

And thanks to Jason, he never lost sight of what was most important, family. Even though he was "god" at work to hundreds of recruits, he immediately became husband and daddy when he walked through our door. He understood that he could make grown men jump with one word but it didn't work at home! :) I thought this day would never come.

Goodbye DI cover. You will not be missed.

Happy 18th Birthday Sarah & Megan!

Happy Birthday girls! I can not believe that you guys are 18! I remember when you were brought home from the hospital and we had the room all decorated with balloons. We now had 2 babies in the house, no more fighting on who got to hold the baby! You girls were only 9 when I left home and I often feared that my relationship with my younger siblings would not be very strong due to living long distances away. I am so happy that is not true with us!! I love that we have a strong bond. I know that in the coming years that bond will only grow stronger. I love that our kids adore you and that we all have so much fun together. I am so glad you guys are my sisters!! We love you!!

Love, Erin, Jason, Aiden, Kyle and Ryleigh