Whacky, Zaney, Life Sustaining Friendship!!

Oh! There is just nothing like it! That connection. That person who gets you. That laughter generated by just a look. Silly days spent discussing dreams, planning adventures and sealing souls.

Your BFF.... she's the one you tell your secrets to. The one who knows your secret crush and your real jeans size. Unincumbered by life's impending responsibilities there is no other time when friendship can be so purely celebrated as it can be in middle and high school!
I was just found last night by a friend from my high school years! I just LOVE being found! In reconnecting with this friend I am reminded of just how precious friendship is. It is such a gift!

I do believe that God brings people into our lives at different times for different reasons. Not all of them are meant to stick around forever. Some are meant to be there to help you through something or perhaps you are meant to help them through something. The lessons learned from these people far outweigh the need for them to be kindred spirits for life. I see them as traveling angels, in and out of my life. Although these people are definitely missed, I'm left with feelings of thankfulness not sadness when I think of these people and the role they played.

Being a military wife, it has definitely been challenging in the friendship department! Having to uproot your life every few years as we've done over the past decade can leave one exhausted emotionally. Going to a new town and walking into social situations where friendships are already formed and roots are laid firm, is very intimidating. To find a place where you can fit in and start planting your own seeds can take alot of energy and personal investment.

When we move to a new place, it is always such a time of fear for me. Fear over whether or not I will connect with other women and form close, supportive friendships.

When I was younger, this was far easier because my little children were much more under my control and my schedule was their schedule. Flurries of activities always follow young mothers around and it seemed as if my lifestyle was designed for friend making opportunities. I met other young mothers easily and all of our kids would play together well. But, now at this point in my life, my kids all have their own interests and activities and in supporting those interests and activities my time is no longer my own. Getting "out there" to mom's groups, the gym, Bible study groups or things like that are much harder now. I have to be way more creative and really push myself to be in friend making situations. I have met some great friends over the past decade by doing just that, so I know it pays off.

I wish I was the kind of girl that has four or five friends from middle school still on speed dial! I have always admired those people. As much as I love to converse, I have to admit, I'm a terrible long distance friend when it comes to initiating contact. I'm blaming this more on procrastination and poor time management than lack of thought. The world wide web has definitely made it easier to stay in touch!

One thing I like to plug into in any new place we move to is Girl's night out. If I have to be the initiator, I will. This was first introduced to me as a regular thing by my friend Linda in California. If you don't do this with your girlfriends, you should! Just pick a night and go out to eat together, watch a movie, or gather at one of your houses and chat and giggle into the night! These nights have been the backdrop for some of my fondest friendship memories!

With as rocky and challenging as the road has been for me, I'm so thankful for all of my friends both past and present. Your role in my life, whether traveling angel or kindred spirit has been purposed by God for a reason and has helped to form me into the person I am today.

And for those of you in the Everett, Washington area.....I don't know who you are yet, but I'm praying for you. I know that God is already preparing some strong, Christian women for me to intertwine my life with for a season and I can't wait to meet you!

4th child boot camp AKA sticker chart rehab!

I've always wondered what it would be like to be the baby of the family. I have to admit though that I am a little smug in my position of first born. After all, I was anticipated first, cuddled first, adored first. I was the first to answer the question for my parents of what their offspring would look like. My smile was the first baby smile of their own they'd seen, my toes and fingers were the first they'd counted....it was all about me for two whole years!

But...that baby of the family runs a close second in the desireable family position arguement. While the first born can hang their hat on the fact that they were the first to win the hearts of their parents.....that baby can forever say that they filled up all the places in the hearts of their parents that were left unfilled by all previous children! Now that is a prestigious position!

Another fun thing about being the baby of the family is that the parents are usually no longer "spring chickens" when it comes to child rearing and many times prefer the "ignore and it will go away" form of conflict resolution. Let's face it, after three busy children, mom and dad are just plain tired when number four comes along!

Ever the crowd pleaser and audience hog, that baby of the family can very quickly become a monster in the making if left unchecked! She'll win your heart with her devious smile, but she'll also run you ragged if she's prone to generate chaos!

I knew this day was coming....I felt it looming on the horizon. Time to lasso the wild and carefree calf. I anticipate lots of dust stirring up, lots of bucking and throwing around of the torso. I even expect to be pulled from my own horse to get a mouth full of dirt from time to time. But, I've got a firm hold of my rope and I'm in it for the long ride!

Life for our last child has been anything but structured. With a house full of the unpredicatablility that teens and pre-teens bring, Bren has always been a go-with-the-flow type of kid whether she wanted to be or not.... but with Kindergarten coming for her next year, we thought it was time to implement some sort of schedule for her so that she will be used to a routine when Fall gets here.

So, we started a sticker chart for her where she earns stickers for unloading our silverware, putting her clothes in her basket in the laundry room, picking up her toys before bed every night, learning a word of the day and letter of the week and learning a bible verse of the week. From the moment we put the chart on her cork board Bren became a sticker earning machine! The girl is driven!


This weeks letter was "A". We made an Apple tree and taped it to the plastic that covers one of our drafty windows. Bren wrote lots of "A" words on the apples and put them on the tree. She was so proud of herself!!


Next week we'll do some fun things with the letter "B".
This weeks Bible verse is Phillipians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who makes me strong." This is her brother Michael's favorite verse so there was alot of excitement going around when she quoted this from memory for him.


We've already had to refer to this verse several times this week as we faced our biggest challenge with Bren....sleeping in her own bed. She has slept with us or with her sister since birth, so this is a big mountain to climb.

Her's is the only bedroom downstairs, so we moved an extra twin bed up into the dressing room off of our bedroom to help lessen her fear of being totaly separated from the entire family at night.
These old New England houses are so cool in that alot of the master bedrooms have rooms off of them used for dressing or a study or even a nursery. We put Bren's princess quilt and sheets on the bed and put a vase of roses that Daddy got her for Valentine's Day on a side table beside her bed. She is so excited about her new room!

Her bedtime routine starts at 7:30 with a bubble bath, teeth brushing, sticker rewards, a bedtime story and prayer.
She's very excited about everything up until the last kiss goodnight. That's when she's not so sure about any of this new stuff and I can see her weighing in her mind whether or not putting a sticker on her sleep chart is really worth all of the uncertainty she feels in her heart over sleeping alone.
I've reminded her every night about what her bible verse says. I ask her if it says, "I can't do anything through Christ because I'm so weak and scared." She giggles and says, "No, it says I can do everything because he makes me strong!"
So, I remind her that "everything" includes being able to sleep in your own room. Not totally convinced, she will try to lay down at this point. We've had to resort (since our Spring Chicken partenting time is long over and I've only got one working leg right now!) to playing a short movie for her every night so that she will stay in her room long enough to fall asleep. I know it's another crutch that we'll have to break her from, but so far, she's fallen asleep in her own bed which I'm chalking up as progress!
Sadly but not totally unexpected, she ends up in our bed or Madison's bed around 5:30 each morning, but I'll take that for now!



My older kids came home and saw this Apple Tree and said it brought back so many memories for them. I used to do all kinds of things like this for them. I had charts for everything and little crafty things that we did together all over the house.
Bren leads a much different life than they did. It's not wrong, but it's just way different. She doesn't get to have her life revolve around pre-school interests like the other ones did because she's in a family where pre-schoolers are the minority! LOL! She holds her own well though, but I'm determined to guard her special little girl time even though the majority of our kids are busy with more grown up activities which usually pull me in as taxi driver or party hostess.


Here's to turning over a new leaf!
Here's to spending as much time as you can with your little ones while they are little!
Here's to schedules and apple trees and sticker charts and princess sheets!
Here's to the letter of the week!
Here's to being able to do all things through Christ who makes us strong!!
Here's to homes filled with the drama of tweens, the angst of teenagers and the laughter of pre-schoolers to drown it all out!

Confessions of a TV junkie!!!

There is no way I am ready to pick a favorite or even a top five yet!

I think this is the best season so far, and I'm really looking forward to seeing who makes it through tomorrow night!

That boy who lives in his car who kinda bombed his last song really has my heart, but I also love the Austrailan who rocked out Queen, and the Irish girl who nailed Heart's song. I don't bother learning their names unless I know they are sticking around. I learned that lesson with Sundance!

Somehow not learning their names keeps an element of detachment for me, and keeps me from really pulling hard for them. When I start cheering for them loudly by name as they perform, I know it's too late...I'm in! And so, this season, with all the talent that has been cut already, it's way too early in the game for my heart to get broken! So, I will refer to them by their "story" or some other descriptive term until we are on far more solid ground.

Were any of you able to pick solid favorites yet?

Now, since we are talking about TV, which sadly has become a MUCH bigger part of my daily life since I broke my ankle, but understandably so since I'm on day 41 of doctor's orders to sit and ice my elevated foot........I've got to bring up LOST!!

Any other Losties out there?

You know, I never really understood the brotherhood of Star Trek fans and their conventions and secret hand signs....but I gotta tell ya, if there was a hand sign for Lost, I'd be doing it! I really enjoy the intrigue of this show. It's smart, it keeps you guessing, it has multi-layered elements that are like a puzzle to figure out and it has an insane amount of message boards full of fanatical fans with crazy theories as to what it's all about! I've only been to the boards once or twice and was a little freaked out by just how fanatical these fans are, so in order to keep from going completely over the edge, I've decided that it is much safer to adore this show from my couch!

What more can you ask for in weeknight entertainment?

My husband and I have watched it from season one and we really love the anticipation of each new episode. We love the mind game of trying to figure out all of the elements of the show. It's addictive and fun and something we like to share together.

So far, he's not thrilled with the new season. I, on the other hand, know that this all must lead to something. Something mind-blowing! JJ Abrahms is too great a producer to let this fizzle out or become some stupid island of pergatory or something lame like that. I know he's got something up his sleeve, and although he didn't really deliver a strong ending to Alias, I've got faith in him for an incredible culmination for Lost!

There are some pretty interesting theories going around out there. If you follow the show, what are your thoughts on it? Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear what your opinions are.

Ok...so back to reality.......and Survivor!!!!

This is another show that David and I love to watch together. Zach likes this one too and we make a point of sitting together on Thursdays to root for our favorite cast-a-way. This season, much like last season, we are fans of James. We also can't count Ozzy out as we feel like he was robbed of a win in his season. So far none of the survivor fans have caught our attention, so we are pulling for the favorites right now.

Farewell Fairplay! That elimination could not have gone better! Go be a great dad and stay off the reality shows, man!

Ok, at the risk of sounding like a TV junkie, I better stop now. Truth is, I probably am a bit of a junkie when it comes to certain shows...but thanks to the magic of DVR, we are able to fit them into our schedule when we want to and hey, it's cheaper than a movie!

Pass the popcorn!!!

Favorite Commercial....

I absolutely LOVE this commercial!!!
If you ask my husband about the day we met, the visual picture he paints is much like this commercial. We met in a dance club in Pensacola, Florida called Rum Runners. We were both dancing on the dance floor when he saw me. The way be describes it, he says that when he saw me it was like those cheesy 70's movies where the glossy lipped girl is spotlighted and everything else is in slow motion. When I saw this commercial, it reminded me so much of our meeting from his perspective. In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share it with you!

Self Portrait........

Reflections from the vanity mirror in my van.

I think I might start posting self portraits more often. I found a group that is dedicated to self portraits and they post themed self portraits as a community. It seems interesting and artsy to me.

If I can figure it out, I'm gonna join them and start getting in on the fun!

www.selfportraitchallenge.net

Back in the saddle!!!

Well, sorta. At least I've got the camera back in my hand and am aiming it at something other than the things that are accessible from my bed!

I was soooo incredibly happy to be able to shoot my best friend's little boy, Matthew as he explored the beach of the Atlantic ocean in Newport, Rhode Island.

I still had to stand in one place leaning up against the front of my van for balance, but thanks to my lens, it appears as if I was playing on the beach right along with him!

I just love this picture of him and his mom Linda. She found the skeleton of a crab and he came running to see what it looked like.

I held this little boy within hours of his birth....I just can't believe how big he is now!

I love this one of Scott, Linda and Matthew at the entrance of Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. I can't wait to do some photos of them with their other three kids too!

Matthew climbed a tree for the first time in my back yard! Check him out! He was a natural!

He also was quite the "tree swinger" with the help of his mom!

We were so blessed to have Scott, Linda and Matthew here for 8 days to help celebrate David's commissioning. Linda helped so much around the house doing all of the things that I could not do. She even mopped my floors...now that's true friendship!! I met Linda in California and we became fast friends. She has since become one of the most treasured and adored people in my life.

Scott gave the innvocation and benediction at the ceremony and did a wonderful job.

The four of us were able to get out on their last night here and go see the movie 27 Dresses. We all had such a good time and were so sorry to see them go.

We are so excited to move to Washington state where we will live only 4.5 hours from them!!

We are looking forward to weekend visits, camping trips and being close enough to spend some time together!

Introducing Ens. David Cleary..........

It's OVER!!!!!!

The ceremony was just beautiful and everyone was so happy to be there honoring David. The kids did awesome during their part and the whole thing went so smoothly.

Zachary removed David's Chief jacket.

The girls removed David's chief shoulder boards and the boys replaced them with the officer shoulder boards.

Then Zach put on David's officer jacket.

I put on his officer cover and of course planted a kiss on him!

We were all given plaques and gifts during David's speech.

David honored a few of his friends who have been influential in his life.

And then the photographer spent a half hour with us getting family shots.

(David and his mom)

( me and my mom)

(My mom, David's mom, my grandma, me and David)

You know how something can seem so bad and then suddenly work out perfectly? For weeks I have dreaded the end of the commissioning ceremony celebrations because it meant that I would have to fend for myself on one leg in a three story house with four busy kids. David was supposed to start his school on Monday. It is a five week school where he would live on base and not be able to return home until the forth weekend of the school. We were beginning to make provisions for how I was going to cope here at home. A local grocery store delivers groceries and my mom was going to make a bunch of casseroles before she left for the kids to heat up. I was having a ton of anxiety over how I was going to do all the things that a mom is supposed to do like get Michael to his orthodontist appointment in February and how I was going to keep up with the household chores and moving preparations so that we'd be able to move the day of David's graduation on March 7th.

I was prepared to just do whatever it took to make it work, but God had other plans. After talking with his detailer, the instructors at the school and his commander, it was decided that it would be in David's best interest to start school on March 10th instead of February 4th! This means that David will be able to stay home with me to make sure I have every opportunity to heal and to make sure that the kids and the house are taken care of while that happens.

I'm overwhelmed with gratitude over this! I feel like I can finally exhale and rest my body and mind knowing that everything is being taken care of.

This means that we will be leaving Rhode Island for Everett, Washington on April 11th, 2008!

Commissioning Day!!!!

Today is the day!!! All of the preparations have been made, family and friends are here, the new uniform is freshly pressed and ready for it's debut....Let the celebrations begin!!!!!

David will be commissioned as a Submarine Electronics Officer through the LDO program this morning at 10:00 am. We have a meaningful ceremony planned where my husband will be honored and will in turn honor all of those who helped him get here.

I am so proud of him! He has worked so hard and has made a big difference at every command he's been a part of. He truly deserves this selection for his leadership and administrative skills and his ability to inspire others. He's an amazing man and I am so blessed to call him mine!

While he still takes great pride in his selection as chief, David will be a Mustang now!
Not only will being a part of the "Officer World" be a big change for us as a family, but temporarily being a part of the "surface world" onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in Everett, Washington is sure to present new and exciting challenges.

On behalf of our entire family, we want to thank those of you who have played a role in our lives over the last 15 years. Some of you have encouraged us to new adventures, others have supported us during disappointing times, still others have taken us in like family when our own family was miles and miles away. All of you have shone your light in our lives and have helped us to realize our potential as individuals, as a couple and as a family. For that we are forever greatful!

Congratulations, Sweetheart!!!!

I love you!