soldier boy...

Our favorite NAVY dude is home for a few weeks on leave.  WOOHOO!  We knew that once he graduated "A" school, he would have some time off, but he wasn't sure when or for how long.  This completely drove my sister nuts.  She did not do well with not knowing what was going on.  I found it very comical.  A few days before his leave was supposed to start, she barged into my house before going to work and was all freaked out...

 

Kathy (pacing my living room)- "Jon still doesn't know when he can come home on leave.  Who knows when he will find out.  I don't even know if he is going to get to come home at all"

Me- "uh huh...it's ok...it'll all work out" (insert eye roll).

She left and I immediately sent Jon a text

Me-"So what's the 411?  Still don't know when you're coming home or is your mom just being overly dramatic?  Again."

Jon- "Overly dramatic"

Me-"Should have known"

Jon- "Of course.  I'll see you tomorrow"

 

My sister?  Overly dramatic??  Noooooooooo.  I had to lecture her that Jon is no longer in elementary school where teachers keep parents up-to-date via agenda books...he is in the United States Navy and she needs to back off and let him figure things out.  Yeah, that went over well.  Like, in one ear and out the other :)

 

Anyhoo, we were all so excited to find out that he would be home Nov 14-30...home for Thanksgiving!!!  He arrived home at 10:45pm Wednesday night and my sister and brother-in-law left for Las Vegas for 5 days at 6am the next day.  Which clearly means she was just putting on a "concerned Mother" show and didn't really care that he was coming home.  Ha!Ha!Ha!

 

We didn't give the kids specific details about  his arrival date because we didn't want to get their hopes up, so they were SUPER surprised to see him with me when I picked them up from school Thursday!!!

Cate was soooo excited that she ran right past me and into his arms.  She loves her Jonny!

Reunited at last!

"Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful.  I am thankful for Jonny"  Ironically, she had just made this in class that day :)

 Jon being home to celebrate Thanksgiving is definitely something we are thankful for this year!  When he leaves next weekend, he will be heading to Norfolk Virginia and will be stationed on the USS George H.W. Bush and heading to the Persian Gulf in February. 

 He will probably be deployed for 9+ months so we will rely on technology to keep us connected while he is gone.  As for now, we are going to soak up all the Jonny we can :)

Catie Bug

"Girls are so different"

I wonder how many millions of times I've said this in the last 5.9 years.  I'm not sure a truer statement could ever be made.  And sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it's not.  I remember hearing her cry for the first time and thinking oh hell, her cry is so different than the boys...what have we done??  Sometimes I still ask this question.  Last week one of Scott's friends asked him what it's like having a daughter after 3 sons and he said "Oh man, it's awesome.  Best thing in the world but so very different"  Amen. 

 

One thing that makes Cate different from her big brothers is her love for reading, writing, coloring, and generally anything and everything related to school (minus her first two weeks).  When Carter was in kindergarten and had to color a picture before going outside for recess, he would take a crayon, draw a huge "X" on the paper, and run out the door.  Cate colors the entire page, using every color in the box, and probably misses half of recess to finish it.  And then when she comes home from school, she plops down in her desk and colors some more.  She also LOVES to read.  Crazy, I tell ya.  We spend a lot of time at the local libraries (our town has two) and she reached her 100 book IRP goal a few weeks ago!  Last week she got to read a book to her class and then was sent to her Principal's office to read to her.  She thought that was really cool :) Every night before bed, she reads two books to me and I read two books to her and we are just finishing Charlotte's Web.  We rent between 10-15 books per week because she does not like to re-read anything.

 

  I LOVE that she LOVES to learn :)

EVERY inch of paper colored EVERY time

On Monday nights, our main library has therapy dogs available to read to.  This dog was obviously very impressed with Cate's reading skills :)

More pictures for Cousin Jon!

She attended a dance clinic at the high school and had a great time but refused to wear her camp shirt because she "didn't want to look like everyone else".  (she also told one of my friends that she is so happy she doesn't have a sister because she would be embarrassed if I dressed them alike. Ha!  Ain't nobody stealing her thunder!)

Worthen Girls

 Cate is a Daisy GirlScout!  She loves loves loves it!!  They meet once a month after school and do all kinds of fun stuff.  All of her favorite friends are in her troop and her leader is her soccer coach.  They have the best time at their meetings.  I can't wait for the first Father-Daughter Dance...bahahahahaha.

Thank you GS for making the patches iron-on



friendship squeeze!

Troop 939!

We got rid of the boys last Saturday and per Cate's request, celebrated her 100 books at Steak N Shake

We all thought this was very funny.  She slept like this for over an hour.  How??

 This year she is starting the pneumonia crap early...usually it's late February before she gets sick.  Bennett had pneumonia a few weeks ago and she is starting to show symptoms. Fever, terrible cough, runny nose...the usual suspects.  I took her to the Dr. today and her right lung sounded off so they sent us for x-rays.  Turns out, pneumonia hasn't settled in yet, but her lung looks hazy so we have to check back in with them on Monday.  Apparently having right-lobe pneumonia three times by the age of five is rare and could mean there are underlying lung issues that cause bacteria to "stay and play" so they plan to have us see a pulmonologist at Children's.  Eh.

"Red Carpet" runway in the Dr's waiting room

Werk It

waiting on strep results.  Negative..yay!

Waiting for x-rays

Overall, things are great in Cate's World.  She's super excited about Christmas and our January trip to Disneyworld.  Five is such a fun age and although I realllly miss her toddler years, I find the 5.9 year old Cate Smallie fascinating. 

Sky's The Limit Catie Bug!!

 

lake...

We took our 8th (or 7th?) trip to the lake mid-October.  I think we've only missed two months so it was probably our 8th trip.  Anyway, Friday night, Bennett had his first school dance, so Brady and Cate rode with Scott's family and the rest of us made our way there Saturday morning.  It was a perfect chilly fall weekend and we enjoyed a few boat rides, lunche at our favorite restaurants, and lots of fishing! Summer is fun at the lake, but fall and winter are just as purdy!

No one was home when we arrived so I decided to nap on the couch while the boys watched tv

Of course it was VERY short lived and before we knew it, Cate was running down the stairs and super excited to see us!

Short morning boat ride.  It was cold!

Pretty much the way it goes

I am a better fisherman than Scott.  I try to give him pointers but he does not listen to me.  So... I just continue to catch WAY more fish than him.

This was our first ride on the new boat!  Lots of comfy seats and a very smooth ride.  Boys are looking forward to skiing behind it next summer!

"My first car is going to be a boat!"

Hyvee had a great fall festival area in their parking lot.  Cate enjoyed a personal hayride

And as always, we ended our trip at the PuppyStop store.  We love holding all the babies!  That white one Bennett was holding wanted to go home with us! (no thank you)

Another great weekend and we can't wait to go back this winter!

homecoming

Two days before the Homecoming Dance, I sent Carter a text with a picture of  this outfit...

He sent me a reply with the "thumbs up" sign, and that concluded our shopping.  I'm going to bet Cate's future dance shopping will be a tad bit more complicated.

 

Homecoming week is filled with lots of fun stuff but for some reason the only picture I have is one I stole borrowed from someones instagram page.  Carter was chosen to be on top of the pyramid during the pep rally.  Obviously, skinny jeans were not meant for this.  And I feel sorry for the poor guy who is on the receiving end of Carter's knee in his back.  A cheerleader, he is not.

 

The dance was Saturday night and the weather was perfect for pictures at the park.

Great group of boys!

Brady's outfit was my favorite of the day! 

Remember when Maris lived next door?  Those were the good ole days :)  She and Brady have a love/hate relationship!

My two oldest sons.  I think I see Greylin more than I do Carter. And since I get lots of information and gossip out of him, I don't mind feeding and housing him!

I still remember Logan crying in the middle of Niedringhaus school lawn on the first day of kindergarten.  It was the first time I had ever seen him and he made me so sad that day.  Who knew that he and Carter would end up best buds and remain that way 11 years later?!  Carter has been very blessed with some amazing friends.

Sibs. 

Cate loves Alina and she reeallllyyyy loved that purple dress!  And yes, I gave in and let Cate wear Barbie high heels to the park. 

Carter's tie was all messed up and it's always good to have a good Catholic boy as one of your closest friends

Things started to get a little hairy here and finally a random dad walking by jumped in and saved the day

After about an hour at the park, the bus pulled up and off they went....headed to Tony's for dinner and then back to the highschool for the dance.

Jake and Trent on the stripper pole?!  Yeah, that's about right.

After the dance, Carter had plans to go to a friends house for awhile.  We told him he couldn't have anyone spend the night because the basement was under a major reorganization and a mess.  The next morning, Scott and I were sitting in the dining room when a train of boys walked up the stairs and out the front door.  Oops, we totally missed that.  Parenting fail. Thankfully they were all boys that are always more than welcome at our house and there were no girls :)

Hard to believe Carter has just one more Homecoming before he graduates.  Aaacckkkk!