Moving right along...

This week we celebrated Denver's 30th birthday. He is officially in a different decade than I am, and has forever left behind his roaring twenties. It's sort of strange getting older; I don't really feel any different than I did when I was twenty, but I can look in the mirror and see the aging that has taken place. It's as though part of me is on fast-forward while the other part is stuck on pause. A great friend of ours offered to watch all three of our children for us so we could go on an actual date - the first one since the baby. It was very nice to get some alone time, although for the most part we just sort of enjoyed the sound of silence. This is what bliss is post-children.

Our Anniversary is also coming up next month, so to celebrate I signed Denver and I up for a 5k and 10k race. (I will be doing the 5k in case there was any confusion...) This will be my first competitive race since track in middle school, so I am pretty excited. Of course my last race involved me tearing my ACL on the hurdles, so I am a little nervous, but I think it will turn out all right. If nothing else, I get a free t-shirt!

Libby started a children's theater class which is so perfectly up her alley. She informed me after class she no longer wants to be an artist when she grows up: she wants to be an actor. She's been playing the dramatic part well at school by bossing everyone around (including her teacher) and at home bursting into tears over the tiniest inconvenience (i.e. little sister in her personal space). I'm not so sure this is actually something we want to encourage... on the other hand if she does become rich and famous I can have her buy me a mansion on a tropical island here in a few years. What a dilemma...

Mikaela will be starting her first dance class soon and has been practicing a lot at home in Libby's old ballet leotard and slippers. It mostly involves her wiggling her shoulders up and down and making up songs. Today she was holding up her kitty cat pajama pants singing "cat, I'm a kitty cat, and I dance, dance, dance..." from the youtube video. I'm not sure where she gets all this hilarity from, but I enjoy watching her.

Baby Jefferson is getting to the flirty stage; lots of smiles, coos, and little songs. I love watching him looking up at me with his adoring little blue eyes. I wish babies would stay babies foreverrrrrrrrrrrr.

2011 is gonna be heaven (or hell)

Wow.

Almost a full year this time with no blog post.  Does anyone still check this blog? I thought it had been a few months or so, but last March! I say this all the time, but this year I will be better. You'll find out why soon.

First I've selected a few bests of 2010 pictures:

That pretty much sums it up. I'm not going to dwell on it - out with the old, in with the new kind of thing. 

We didn't end up going to Ft. Bragg, instead we are at Ft. Lewis, Washington. Our orders were changed a few weeks before the move which created a lot of havoc, but we made it.

The big news for this year... Denver is deploying to Afghanistan for 12 months. We're not sure when yet; it will be either April, May, or June. But we know for sure it's happening. We have about a million things to take care of between now and then and no time to do it. So, I'm procrastinating by blogging, hehehehehehehe. 

Remember last July when I blogged like 3 times? It's because Denver was gone, and when he's gone I have a lot of free time, which is why I think I will be a better blogger this year. I would rather he were just here taking up all my time, but at least we have modern technology. I'm happy I don't have to send him a telegram to communicate. Or go 6 months with no communication. He will (hopefully) have internet access so we should be able to keep in touch pretty well. I honestly miss the bootcamp days a little bit - the days of handwritten letters. Those were fun.

So it looks like the kids and I are headed back to home-sweet-home-Boise-Idaho.  I'm happy we'll be close to family, and beyond grateful to get out of the constant rain and lack of sunlight. I understand why the vampires all hang out in this state, there really is no sun.

Libby is in pre-kindergarten and starts real-kindergarten this next fall. We are trying to get her into an arts magnet school. It focuses on drama, music, and art, while still covering the basic math and science concepts. I think this is right up her ally, because she is just slightly dramatic and likes art a tiny little bit.

Mikaela has fully incorporated the terrible-two temperament. She can be the cutest little girl in the world, very loving, sweet, and cuddly, and two seconds later the demons come out and we are throwing holy water on the child. Is it possible for two-year-olds to be bi-polar?  Just asking.

And last but not least, we added #3 to our family on November 24, making us a party of five. It also ended our all-girl running streak, that's right, Denver got his son. Jefferson Dante Lee is now two months old and trying to catch up with his sisters, he's already at 14 pounds. He looks just like his Daddy, but he is a momma's boy. And I love my little man.

That's all for this Lee family for now.

Spring Springing but not yet Sprung

We FINALLY know where our permanent station is! We will be heading to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina sometime early July, and will be spending the next 2.5 years (or more) there. I know you all are dying to go see us there, so make travel plans now. We have a twin bed you can sleep in. Any takers? ANYONE???

It's been awhile since I've updated this blog (I'm not apologizing anymore, what's the point?) so I will catch you up on the past six months. Denver made it through OCS (yay!), he did amazing and got into Signal Corps, which is the IT/Communication branch of the Army. We are now in Augusta, GA for advanced branch training. I am loving being able to live with my own husband full-time again and feeling like a real family. We have an amazing apartment here with great neighbors and a pool which we are insanely excited about swimming in this summer. Augusta is a very old Southern city with lots of awesome old Civil War era houses and a sweet Riverwalk on the Savannah river. We are two hours away from everything here - Savannah, Charleston, Atlanta. We are planning on making a lot of weekend trips.

Last weekend we had four days off and decided to make a trip to Disneyworld. The military gets a great deal on tickets - free for service members and $100 four-day passes for up to 6 other people. We stayed at the Holiday Inn for only $31/night (gotta love Priceline!) and even got the room with the bunkbeds, which was one of Libby's favorite things about the whole trip! I was worried about the age of the kids, but this trip was truly a dream come true for Libby. She absolutely loved it. She got to meet a ton of princesses and got their autographs, and told me that at Disney "dreams really do come true!"

This trip affected me in an unexpected way - I have been to the parks a million times and after three years of working there I thought I had done it all and seen it all - but then I have never gone with kids before and got to see the park through "new eyes". We went on rides I have never been on before (spent a lot of time in Fantasyland - teacups, peter pan, dumbo, etc), spent a lot of time meeting characters, and other activities I wouldn't normally do. Seeing the parks though my kids eyes made me realize that this place really is magical for them. It was a very cool experience. Libby was the perfect age I think for going, I definitely want to go back when Mikaela is 4 years old. Anyway, enough of my Disney mushiness...

So Denver finishes class June 24, and then we're off to North Carolina. I am so tired of moving I am having trouble motivating myself to think about it. I am excited because we are only an hour away from Duke University, so I will be spending the rest of this year preparing an application for the PhD program at Duke, hopefully I will get in! If not, I am applying to the University of North Carolina as a backup.

I think we will be coming home sometime this summer, I hope we get to see everyone! I am a little homesick and missing my friends and family. I hope everyone is doing well.

Because I am blogtarded I am not going to upload all my pictures on here, so just follow the links below to see pictures if you're interested.

Disneyworld 2010 photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=161133&id=538410939&l=b8ba46f8e2

OCS graduation/cruise photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=144197&id=538410939&l=149fc96f0f

Hawaii January 2010 photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155061&id=538410939&l=be04cd1243

The Army Life

I realize it's been awhile since my last post, but I have said many times that I am not a very good blogger. You have been duly warned!

We made it down to Georgia on October 2 and are now happily situated here in Columbus. This city sits right on the Chattahoochee River and it's where the last land battle of the Civil War was fought. I love being somewhere with so much history. Not only have people been here since the Civil War, people were here during the American Revolution! We went to Savannah, Georgia recently and saw lots of historic monuments, including some cannons that were a gift from Mr. George Washington, the first President himself! I really enjoy it. (Pictures to come soon... hopefully!)

The best part about living here is being so close to Denver. We get to see him every weekend, and he gets to call me every night. I love being so close. Last weekend he got a four day pass for Columbus Day and it was so nice having all that time together. It makes the move and everything else totally worth it just to have those few days. He will have Halloween off and the weekend of Mikaela's first birthday off. Libby's birthday happens to fall on a Saturday so we'll be together for that as well.

Denver graduates from Officer Candidate School on December 10. After that we are going on a three day cruise, and then coming back to Idaho for a few weeks. After that we have no idea! We find out at the end of next week what branch Denver will be in and where we'll be living for his training. We should also find out where our first PCS (Permanent Change of Station) will be. I will blog again after next week to let you know!

All is well here! We miss our family and friends but will hopefully see everyone in December!!

Larissa :)

The August Rush

August is halfway done and fall is officially in the air. We've been able to open the windows at night the past few nights which has truly been amazing. There is nothing like fresh air at night, I love it!

Denver is now in the second phase of bootcamp. There are three phases altogether: red, white, and blue. Red is the most difficult and it gets easier as the phases move along. He's one week into the white phase.

A few weeks ago he worked on administering and receiving IVs. He did well and got it the first time on his "subject". Unfortunately, the person giving him one went clear through the vein on BOTH arms! Poor Denver!

Last week Denver was able to work on Basic Rifle Marksmanship. He has an M-16 that he carries around everywhere and finally got to practice some shooting! He really enjoys this although the live fire from his platoon-mates can be frightening sometimes.

We get to hear from him today and are sitting by the phone waiting for the call. One week can really feel like a lifetime when you are away from your spouse :( but we are thankful we get the one call a week! The letter writing has been kind of fun and will be nice to have to look back on someday.

As for the rest of us, we are doing pretty well. Mikaela has a cold and a flu right now, but she is amazingly still a happy little 9 month old baby. She is trying so, so hard to walk. She can pull herself up to standing and walk around using a mixture of furniture for balance and crawling. She is so much fun!

Libby is having a blast still playing with her little Aunt CeCe. They entertain themselves all day long playing games, going outside, and everything else. I feel like I hardly see her anymore! She will be sad when the kids go back to school, but she will be going to preschool on Tuesdays and Fridays, so it shouldn't be too bad!

That's all for now. More to come, probably in September!

Oh, Oh those summer nights...

Hello!

I apologize for not keeping up with my blog. For a few weeks we didn’t have the internet and then we moved so we haven’t had a lot of time. Before I forget, here is Denver’s bootcamp mailing address:

Lee, Denver
BTRY C 1st BN 19FA 3rd PLT
402 S Boundary Road
Ft. Sill, OK 73503-8012

This address will be effective through September 18th. We finally heard from Denver on Sunday. He called after he first arrived in Ft. Sill, but then I didn’t hear from him for a few weeks. He is doing well. He said it’s very HOT down there, especially in all the military attire. He was extremely excited at first about the food (Steaks, burgers, etc) but has since had to change his diet because of the heat. He said he now eats a lot of fruits and veggies and even has a SALAD with mealtime. I never thought that joining the military would give Denver healthy eating habits, but it has!

So far he has made it through Hell week, repelling, and the dreaded gas chamber. He hasn’t done any artillery training yet, just a lot of marches and not a lot of sleep. For his first PT (physical training) he had to get up at three in the morning and run two miles. At the end of it they told him his time and he was kind of discouraged because it was 16 minutes. He was later told that it was actually a lot longer than two miles, they just wanted to mess with them.

He has a battle buddy which is basically someone that you have to go everywhere with whose name is Mark Lee. He is from Arizona/New Mexico and related to Robert E. Lee. Denver thinks they may be related which would be pretty ironic. They get along pretty well.

As for the rest of us, we are doing great! We are all moved in to my parents’ house and slowly unpacking all of our stuff. Libby loves living at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and hanging out with her little Aunt CeCe all the time. She will be sad when school starts in the fall. Mikaela grows a little everyday and is very close to walking. She will be nine months next week.

That’s all for now, I’ll try to write more soon!

Larissa & Family

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye…

We have made it to day 3. It has been quite an adventure so far. The first day Denver left, we went out to my Mom and Dad’s to drop Julia off and hang out. Chelsea was over and wanted to go to this drive-in in Emmett really bad. So we agreed and got some food and sat outside on a metal picnic bench to eat our food. Libby kept trying to run off and I kept getting after her. Well, we got all our food out and just started eating when Libby (who had been jumping on the bench) lost her footing and fell over the edge and fell right on the corner right smack on her face.

Immediately she had blood gushing from inside her mouth and her nose. It got all over the concrete, all over her clothes, and all over me. We took her into the little bathroom and used a whole roll of paper towels soaking up all the blood. I kept trying to look inside her mouth to see how bad the tear was but it was hard because her upper lip swelled up HUGE! Anyway, I confirmed there were no missing teeth at least, and her nose didn’t appear to be broken.

So we went back to Mom and Dad’s for a little while to get her cleaned up and put some ice on. I was debating taking her to the ER (it was too late to go anywhere else) but nothing seemed to be broken. So then we left the parent’s house and went and picked up Daynera at the airport. We took her home and got everything inside (Lib was asleep by this time) and it was 11:30 p.m. I had a very long day.

The next morning we got up early and called Primary Health Pediatrics and told them what happened. They said we better come in and get it looked at so we did. Dr. Overy (ha ha) said that she looked good, the cut in her mouth was healing well and wouldn’t need stitches (phew!) and her nose wasn’t broken. She still has a huge upper lip though. (See picture to the left… this was taken the next day!)

Anyway, so we took Libby to school yesterday (she still really wanted to go!) And then Daynera and I went home and cleaned up around the house. Then we ran some errands and picked up Libby, then went out to Mom and Dad’s again for some dinner and fun. By last night I was really, really emotionally and physically exhausted, and I am very happy to have such a great family to help me take care of the kids when I really just need some sleep. It is very hard having Denver away because he is such a great help and a great support for me.

So I woke up this morning early, feeling great and ready to go! We're not sure what we're going to do today... we are thinking of going swimming somewhere... it's a rough life, I know!!!

Larissa & Family