zzzzzzzzz.....

After Jim's birthday celebration:

Birthday cake: $12.99

Candles: $0.99

Gift of love: priceless

Having your sister catch you and your spouse crashed in the living room after the party: embarrassing!

goofing around

Jayce kills me with these poses he's been doing lately - lol

These are just some random shots of the kids taken throughout the summer...... we had so much fun with Kris and Kammie this summer! (oh, I forgot to mention that my sister-in-law and niece came down for 7 weeks --- we had a fantastic time!)

Happy 37th Ssgt Eckert!

Are those peace signs or are you trying to give your brother rabbit shoulders?

Wax on

Wax off

Wax on

Wax off

......yeah, they don't listen...... it's all about the hose......

Addison and Kammie

hello mr. gator - respect mr. gator

The dark lines you see above and below this gator's face is actually the end of the dock and it's rails. This gator was no more than 5' from where I was standing. I would guess that this guy is a good 8' long.

Now I'm not sure if I'm brave or stupid, but the kids and Jim would NOT get on the dock to save their lives....that is until they saw that I wasn't being threatened....that's when they decided to check things out (I say I'm brave and they are chicken... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

We think this was the female gator. She was a little smaller than the other gator, who we thought was a male.

Yup, this is the lake that sits about 200 yards from my backyard.......

sisters

How beautiful is my sister? Can you tell that there's a good 16 years difference in our age? (please say no!) Julia came down for a week in June to spend time with us and play with the kids. I tried to talk her into moving down here, but she's got Chicago in her heart and I can't compete with that in this hick town.......but I won't stop trying! I loved having her down here and I miss her so much!

new digs

Alas, after a long respite, I have returned to Blogspot! My summer has been very busy as I hope you will soon get to see (how long can I stay up tonight? lol).

We finally moved into a bigger, four bedroom house and we LOVE it! As you can tell, it's a stand-alone home, unlike the duplex we were in previously. We actually have a garage! That is a first for us -- ever (gosh that's sad!). Although the garage is still full of boxes, totes, junk, etc. it's just nice to know that I will be able to park a car in there....someday. It's serving a great purpose as a storage area for the time being and that's okay with me. We are taking it one thing at a time.

When did we move? Well, we've actually been in this house for over a month now. We moved over the Fourth of July week/end.

We heard from the neighbors that we have 'animals' living in our backyards (as you may be able to tell, our house buts RIGHT up against the brush that separates us from Felix Lake (abundant with snakes and gators.....to be shown later). I won't say too much about the wildlife living behind us until I can get some 'proof', even though I know it's true......stay tuned! And pray that no one gets eaten!

where have you been?

I realized just the other day that it's been over a month since my last post! Where does the time go?

For starters, I have to admit that I have a new addiction....it's called fanartreview.com (and I have no idea what happened to the html link that I used to be able to put on here). As I have mentioned in the past, I have fallen in love with my new camera and I have been taking pictures like a crazy woman! I have been playing with the photo manipulation that my current photo program offers (although I SO want Photoshop!!). I never realized the time it took for photographers to get the "perfect" shot, or to even create that perfect shot after the fact. I am going to try to get better at keep you all up to date on here from now on. For now, here's a little synopsis of what's been going on lately....

I finished up my last course and have decided to take a (well deserved) 6 month break from school. I have been getting so burned out with school and it finally occured to me that I was putting my family LAST - which is a big no-no for any parent, in my opinion. It feels great not to have the pressure of going home and getting online to see what new homework I have to do for the night.

My sister is in town!! If I had a picture with me now, I'd post it, but since I don't you'll just have to take my word for it....Julia is my 17 year old beautiful sister. For those who know me, you will know that I never lived with Julia and haven't spent too much quality time with her. But I have to tell you....we are definately sisters! Having her here with me is so great! Dispite the age difference, we are having such a great time enjoying each other's company (not to mention she's a photo finatic as well!).

Jim is recovering from a laproscopic surgery to repair an inguinal hernia. He had outpatient surgery yesterday morning at Eglin Air Force Base (which is 2 hours away....sometimes the Air Force makes me so mad, but that's another story). Jim is doing fine and he seems to be recovering well. He won't take pain meds, though. I personally think it's a man thing. :) He will be back to work next week.

WE ARE MOVING!! We were finally offered a four bedroom home here on base. It's in a neighborhood that actually looks like a neighborhood! I'm so excited. I feel comfortable letting the kids ride their bikes around the neighborhood over there - where we are at now I am very nervous about letting them out of my sight. Our current neighborhood has too much traffic and is just plain untrustworthy (I'm probably being too protective, but such is a mother, right?). We will be moving in during the week of July 4th. I will post some pictures when we get settled in.

My sister-in-law and niece are coming down! Sadly I will have to say goodbye to my sister Julia on Friday; but the upside to that is that I will be picking up my sister-in-law, Kris, and niece, Kammie, the same day, from the same airport. Ironic, huh? (ok, so I planned it like that :). Kris and Kammie will be staying with us for seven weeks! Whoo Hoo!! I told Kris, if she would come down for the summer and watch the kids, I would fly her down and take care of her while she's here -- it's a win-win situation if you ask me :)

I think that about covers the jist of my life lately....I promise to be better at blogging. I know lots of you look forward to the pics and stories - now, if I could just get you to COMMENT on them!! :) You know who you are...dad, carol, cora.... :) I love you guys anyways!

play ball!

Last week I dedicated my time to watching one entire game - typically Jayce and Tyler play at the same time, and I find myself running from one field to the other so that I make sure to support both of my boys. This night, however, Tyler had his game held off base so there was no pressure to run from one field to the other. I also dedicated this night to taking pictures of Jayce's game and each of his players "in action". It was so much fun! Jayce is really doing great in baseball this year. He is awesome at hitting the ball, running the bases, and being a team player! He has the best coaches this season and the positive impact it has had on Jayce is so cool! Any ways...I'll be taking shots of Tyler's game tonight :0)