Sherman's Army

Peek-a-boo

2010-03-15T00:21:00.002-04:00

This is our sweet baby Zane. He has been playing peek-a-boo in his crib with us for almost 2 months now. This was just the first chance we got it on video and we wanted to share.

Cheyenne Mountian Zoo

2010-03-15T00:04:00.004-04:00

We love our new zoo. This was our second time here since moving. We bought our membership plus one guest so anyone wanna go to the zoo? The kids enjoy feeding the giraffes (ok Clare doesn't). A rare shot of Darren enjoying himself with the animals.

Lela was sharing her juice with this chipmunk. She would squirt it out and he would run up and drink it. He got a little too close to my toes though.

The kids were eating granola and the meerkats thought they might share. Don't worry they didn't.

The animals were out in force with their crazy antics. I can't remember if it was John or Nana that was not too keen on only a piece of plexi glass between them.

Lela and her new girlfriend Alexandra. They met outside of the otters and were inseparable till closing time. All 3 of the girls were hand in hand. It was pretty cute.

Zane and Clare playing on the playground.

Zane's first slide ride. He giggled the whole way down. Johnnie took him down several more times. All in all we had a great day at the zoo. Maybe next time we will actually make it up to the Will Rogers Shrine.

10th Cav Regimental Ball 3/11/2010

2010-03-14T23:46:00.002-04:00

Here is my handsome soldier for our first ball. It took him about 30 minutes to get ready and it took me 3 hours for my hair alone. So not fair. I thought that it was only fitting to wear my ball gown for the first Cav Ball. Especially since the Buffalo soldiers were founded shortly after the civil war.

We had fun at the ball. I know that this wasn't Darren's cup of tea but I was very glad he took me. I would like to take this moment to wish the 4/10 cav a successful mission and a safe return. We know a member of the 4/10 and he will be missed while he is gone. I have promised to do my part by sending jerky as often as I can.

Our New Home (part one)

2010-03-11T09:55:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the view out of our front door (ok look past the dumpster). Clare loves to look at her mountains. The kids were eating breakfast and watching the snow fall. We "camped" in the new house for a while cause I was sick of hotel rooms.

Updates......Finally

2010-03-10T15:17:00.001-05:00

I will be posting everything that happened while we were in the process of moving and after. I will make the dates a little funny so this stays on top and the updates will follow. Enjoy!

Colorado 11/12/2009

2010-03-07T09:49:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Colorado. Those aren't clouds above the skyline. Those are our first sight of mountains.

This is our Valley of Colorado Springs. The United States Air Force Academy is about 1000 feet higher than the rest of the city so we get incredible views on the drive home. Clare loves the twinkle.

Our cool history side trip

2010-03-04T17:44:00.000-05:00

Stuart, Iowa
Who knew it had such an exciting past. We also passed by the park that they had a shoot out in.
This is now the police station.

Day 3 11/11/2009 Nebraska

2010-03-04T17:10:00.001-05:00

As you can see we stopped at the zoo. Should have left the coats in the car. We had a great morning at the zoo. This zoo is a must see. This is the desert dome. Very warm and a wonderful exhibit.

John being goofy inside the dome.

Lazy lions

Is this not the cutest baby gorilla? Did you see the workers fur vest? The baby needed a little extra TLC at the moment. They have a fabulous exhibit.

Clare hugging a Gorilla.

Just outside the gorilla house. There was one teenage gorilla (of course a teen) that did not like men. We heard this loud thud in the tunnels. Well Darren and John were watching him and he did not like it. He (the gorilla) would run across the exhibit and threw himself, flying in the air, into the glass. It was wild.

We were so lucky that everyone was interested in the kids that day.

Day 2 11/10/2009 Iowa and the Mississippi

2010-03-04T17:02:00.002-05:00

We crossed the Mighty Mississippi. Wasn't scared to drive over at all. The Might Mac bridge scares me more.

We found a great children's museum to take the kids to. We tried to break the trip up a bit.
Clare went NUTS in the percussion room. We could not hear her on the outside.

Day 1 of our trip west. 11/09/2009 Chicago

2010-03-03T16:46:00.000-05:00

We could have traveled farther in the first day but we had a plan, and that plan included Fr. Marek. He used to be at our old church and we missed him. He is now at St. Germaine outside of Chicago so we stopped there. Fr. Marek was so happy to see old friends, but I think the kids enjoyed it too. We had awesome weather the entire trip out. It was sunny and 60's and 70's the whole week.

It was pretty cool to have our own personal tour guide of Chicago. Fr. Marek drove (still scared) and took us to his favorite places. We got to Holy Name Cathedral just in time for evening vespers. We only stayed for a couple of prayers cause we did not want the toddlers to get loud.

Holy Name is an Oasis in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of downtown Chicago.

We took Fr. Marek to dinner and he wanted to make sure the kids got to go on the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. The kids loved it. Even Zane got to go.

Bye Chicago

The hardest thing is saying goodbye.

2010-03-02T16:40:00.000-05:00

From left to right: Allison, Lela, Alecia McGill, Zane, AJ, John, Clare, and Addy.
Our neighbors surprised us with a little going away party the night before we headed out. How sweet was that? The girls still mention all of their little friends all the time.

The girls both loved Daniella. It never seemed to fail that we always ended up at mass together. With 8 mass times to choose from that was an accomplishment. She is a beautiful little girl and her parents are so kind.

Hurray Johnnie

2010-03-02T15:58:00.000-05:00

The last Sunday at SS Cyril & Methodius John got to put on the black cassock. We are so proud of him. He was slightly disappointed since all the younger alter boys got to do the work that Sunday. Oh well, we were still very proud of him.

Here he is with Fr. Libor Marek. The kids love Fr. Libor and we all miss him very much.

Halloween 2009

2010-03-01T15:19:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to post the kids pictures in their costumes. Zane wore the teddy bear that every child has been since John.

John was not too sure of his crazy mom's idea of this costume. All the adults got it so he was cool by the end of the night. This was also John's last time to trick-or-treat. I do not believe in teenagers trick-or-treating.

The Last Day of the Year

2009-12-31T17:44:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for following the blog. I hope you all have a great 2010 (has to be better than this year). We will be spending the evening with friends, both old and new, at Ft. Carson. Hopefully I will be able to get pictures of the fireworks from the top of Pikes Peak. Some crazy climbers do this every year. It takes them 2 days to climb up to set them off. It should be beautiful. Have fun and most of all be safe. Happy New Year!

AAHHH I'm Blushing!

2009-12-24T18:19:00.003-05:00

Candice Wolf gave this award to me. I do appreciate it, but I don't know how I earned it (must be nepotism).
Rules: Tell 6 honest things about yourself that your readers don't know and pass it on to 6 Gorgeous bloggers.
I am passing it to:
http://www.sandmountiangirl.blogspot.com/
http://www.adayinthelifeofamomofsix.blogspot.com/
http://www.armyknightslady.blogspot.com/
http://moonswings.wordpress.com/

Ok so I don't have 6 but these are the ones I check in on.

Now for the 6 things you may not know about me.......hmmm it's not even Monday yet.
1. I had purple hair in college.
2. I used to smoke.
3.I hate crowds.
4.I hate scrap booking. I tried it so I could spend more time with my in-laws, but that didn't work so well. Oh well at least I was able to sell all that crap. Give me my sewing machine any day.
5.I taught myself how to drive a forklift. Don't tell me I can't do something.
6.I got to sing with Jackson Berkey & his wife (Mannheim Steamroller) in college. He was great and she was a Diva that didn't direct so well. Give me Mr. P any day.

Christmas Letter 2009

2009-12-24T14:03:00.003-05:00

I am stealing this from my friend Laura's blog (hope you don't mind)

Since I have not updated this in a while I will give a little recap of what we have been up to this year. 2009 has been very busy for us.

January held a lot of big moments for us. On the 2nd we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and on the 27th we welcomed our 5th child Zane Philip to the family. By this time we had already decided to go active duty Army. We were just waiting on Zane and his baptism.

February, March, & April were a whirlwind of activity. We were trying to get as much stuff done and just spend time together before Darren left for BCT.

May, June ans July were long for me. Darren was at Ft. Benning, Georgia becoming a soldier. We left on July 6th so that we could be there for his July 8th family day and July 9th graduation. I drove 850 miles with 4 kids down to Georgia (yes I am nuts). We had a great time with Daddy. We got to drive him to Ft. Gordon and spend some time with him again till we left for home.

July, August, & September were a bit better. We could talk to Daddy everyday. We kept busy at the zoo and Greenfield village. We went to see Daddy again for Labor Day weekend (told you I was nuts).

We went down again in October to see Daddy again and it helped that Grandma and Grandpa were already moved down there. We got to see them one last time before our big move to Ft. Carson. We also had a living estate sale. I did not want to be over our 9000 pound limit for moving.

November moved so fast. We did not get a chance to say goodbye to everyone because our report date was moved up so fast. While we were driving across country we were checking the Internet at night. We saw an ad on Craigslist for a family wanting to host a military family for Thanksgiving. I though that was very nice of them. Well when we got all hooked up to the outside world they had reposted this ad. We had no place to go so we answered it and had a great time. The Zobel's were wonderful hosts and we had a wonderful time. We made some new friends and even get to go back for Christmas.

John had a rough start to homeschooling. We switched programs for 7th grade and all is right with the world now. He has made a few friends here on base already and that has helped too. He and his friend Dante are very busy building a fort. We found a parish here that we enjoy and John did not lose his black cassock. That was very important to him.

Zane has been a busy little guy. He has learned to crawl, pull up and is now motoring around the furniture. He loves his big brother and meeting new people. He is so agreeable, he just goes with the flow. He loves food. Who knew a baby could eat so many things with only two little teeth.

Clare is Clare. She is still as crazy as always. She loves to help feed her baby brother. She is also starting to go on the potty like a big girl. She is so very proud of herself. She loves the mountains and seeing all the twinkling lights in the valley. She is always first to greet Daddy at the door when he comes home.

Ms. Lela is just as shy as ever....yeah right. She loves making new girlfriends. She loves to learn and spell her name. She is the first to say hi to anyone that will listen to her. She also loves to help out with her younger siblings. She loves to feed and help to dress them and she even wants to change diapers (we help her with that).

Keep your eyes here as I will post pictures of what was happening in greater detail of what was going on during our whirlwind before the move. We are looking forward to the New Year. Darren is getting settled into Army life. He has a few people under him. Merry Christmas everyone.

We Made It.

2009-11-18T14:39:00.002-05:00

We are here safe and sound. We got in around 2pm on Thursday and went right to our new house. We chose the 4 bedroom over the 5 as the rooms were larger in the 4. We got our household goods yesterday so I have been very busy unpacking.

We had a great time on the trip out here. We saw lots of places and some special people too. Once I get some more boxes emptied and put away I will post more.

Our new address is:
4511C E. Juniper
USAF Academy, CO 80840
719-375-1411 (home)

We will be getting new cell phones soon. Verizon drops like crazy out here. We have been told Sprint works better on all bases.

Semper Gumby!

2009-10-27T00:42:00.003-04:00

This is our new motto. Darren got his orders today. We were very excited. Then he read them. Then I got that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. They moved our report date up to Fort Carson. We now have to be there November 14th. That is 12 days sooner than we were first told.

The house is for sale and we had our first showing on Saturday while we were at Mass. Not sure how it went, but at this point I don't care.

This week is going to be busy. I am trying to get the rest of the stuff out of the house that didn't sell during the estate sale. I told the company I needed stuff gone and they priced things for the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

I want to get stuff done by the time Darren gets home on Saturday. I will be picking him up Saturday morning from the airport. I am so excited. I can't wait to have him HOME. So if you are reading this you will have about 9 days to see us before we leave.

I called housing at the Academy to get the ball rolling on getting a house reserved for us. They had one 5 bedroom house left. We will keep our fingers crossed, but I won't be disappointed with a 4 bedroom. As I learn more I will keep you all posted.

I know I am a little behind.

2009-09-26T00:44:00.003-04:00

I am so sorry to be this behind. As most of you know we will be heading to Ft. Carson, Colorado in just under 8 weeks. It really sounds like a short period of time when you put it like that. And it is. We have been very busy around here.

We went to the Toledo Zoo. That was a great time. We went down to Augusta again to see Daddy. That trip was an adventure. We had a 4 hour lay over in Lexington because after only 10,000 miles I needed new breaks. We will be going to see Grandma & Poppy (Daddy too) in less than 2 weeks. While we are gone there will be a living estate sale here. We also started school.

I am not sure how much I will be here. When Darren gets home (here in Michigan) I will be shouting from the rooftops. You will all know. I will post when we leave, hopefully from the road and when we get to our new house.

I did get some good news form a yahoo group of Ft. Carson Wives. We can not get housing at Ft. Carson. They have an 8-12 month wait for housing. The good news was we can get housing at the Air Force Academy. They should be able to get us right in. I will be sending our app in tomorrow. The Academy will result in a 30-40 minute commute for Darren, but this will also be about $400 per month in savings. It also means we will probably get a 5 bedroom house. Since the girls can't sleep without each other that means we will have a guest room. We are now taking reservations.

The Wait is almost over.

2009-08-15T11:30:00.002-04:00

The book part of class ends on Tuesday after Labor Day. The next part of the class has a graduation date (aka an end). I am so excited that there will be an end to this separation. There are 2 different classes one is longer than the other. Not sure what the differences are but it all depends on what type of unit he is assigned to.
ECB graduation is October 20, 2009
EAC graduation is November 25, 2009

These are just rough dates. When he graduates he will also have to do a week long field exercise. From his roommate, Sgt. John Wolff (great guy), he found out that it wasn't all that fun. He said the highlight was coming home to find Carmel corn and cookies waiting for him. Glad I could help.

That is another thing I have to do this weekend, bake. I have to send stuff to Darren and have some on hand for the sailors and soldiers that will be to the house on Tuesday. I am listing the house and trying to move some of the larger items out of the house to make it look bigger. I doubt I will sell it in less than 2 weeks like mom & dad, but I can try.

The ERB is all filled out

2009-08-05T13:05:00.002-04:00

Darren will find a computer later to get our requests in. He has been looking them over carefully. We asked a few of our friends what their choices would be. Good thing because we don't know a lot about some of these bases. We learned that Ft. Drum, NY is the most deployed and to only go there if you want a divorce. We took that one off the list. We also learned that Ft. Polk, LA is in the middle of a swamp and has man eating mosquitoes; no thanks.

Our choices for CONUS (continental US):
#1 Ft. Gordon, GA (45 minutes from my mom & dad)
#2 Ft. Stewart, GA (we will have friends there & 4 hours from mom & dad)
#3 Ft. Carson, CO (just heard it was an awesome place to live)

Our choices for OCONUS (outside cont. US)
#1 Germany
#2 Alaska
#3 Hawaii (not too keen on this but it was better than Korea)

Hopefully we will hear soon where we are going and when we do I will let everyone know.

Not Me Monday

2009-08-03T00:05:00.000-04:00

This is a first for me. I got this from my cousin's blog. She mentioned I should give it a try so here I go.

I talked to Darren last week and told him I wanted to get the girls ears pierced. Well he said no. I did not go out and do it anyways. I knew how cute the girls would look and they were so excited. Lela was so brave. Not even a whimper.

Here she is getting Clare ready. She offered to hold Clare's hand while she had hers done. Too Cute!

Clare wasn't as brave as Lela. You can see by her face and Lela's hand over her ear. Granted she didn't scream either. She is pleased as punch now. She happily shows off her new pretties. Daddy doesn't know yet. I'm sure that will be another blog post. I am hoping for him to see them and fall in love when we go for Labor Day.

Clare's 1st Dentist Visit

2009-07-30T23:52:00.000-04:00

Well we all had dental appointments on Tuesday. We got to use our new insurance (thank you Darren). The only bad thing is our cousin Paul does not take it. So we had to find a new dentist. I think we did pretty good. An online friend, Sue, recommend them. Everyone was done and they were going to give Clare a chair ride to get her used to things. Well Clare decided that just wasn't good enough. She wanted the full treatment. Here they are counting and cleaning.

She loved having them polished. Yes we know she is a little off.

She loved "Mr. Thirsty".

Here she is goofing off with Dr. Apsey. He was great with the kids. He said everything was great. We just have to try to get her to stop the thumb sucking in the next year. That might not be so easy.

Dinner & Dessert

2009-07-29T23:02:00.006-04:00

We had dinner at the Mellow Mushroom. Here I thought it was a one of a kind place, but it is a southern chain. They have awesome pizza and a beer list as long as your arm. I didn't let the girls run around the restaraunt I just wanted the picture. We asked the waitress were to go for dessert and she was spot on when she told us to go to the Boll Weevil. OMG! They had desserts to die for. It is visited by Paula Deen if that tells you anything. Clare and Lela wanted ice cream. Something tells me Clare wasn't going to share.

Here are pictures of some of the cakes. Darren had the Strawberry, I had the Raspberry Rhapsody, and John just had Carrot Cake. Everything was incredible. So much so we went bake the next night. Darren likes his sweets and after 10 weeks of BCT he deserved a treat or two.

The next night we had Peanut Butter Pie, Canary Cake (lemon and oh so good) and Perfect Chocolate (little too much). They were all very good.

Saturday - Ft. Gordon

2009-07-29T22:33:00.002-04:00

We didn't do much on Saturday. We went and got Darren checked in. We checked out the mall on base and had lunch.
We went to the uniform shop to get his unit patches and such. We were coming out of the store and I hear this huge voice say, "Shermanator". All of the sudden my husband is doing the handshake with someone and chest bumping him. That was a strange sight for me. Told you he was coming out of his shell. The guys happened to be from his basic unit. I only know him as Taylor, but before he was a fuzzy (E1) he was in the NFL.
We didn't end up getting Darren completely checked in. His orders stated 0800 on Monday and that's what they told him. By this time our day was shot. So we found a place for dinner in the shopping district. See the next post would not want a TLDNR (too long did not read) post.

Friday - Zoo Atlanta

2009-07-28T23:08:00.004-04:00

I guess I took too long making sure we were all packed up. I came back in and they were "resting". Today we were leaving Ft. Benning behind and going to Ft. Gordon by way of Zoo Atlanta. They have a beautiful zoo. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend it. This was the first animal to greet us. He saw all the kids lining the window and decided to say hello to everyone.

This is Zoo Atlanta's pride and joy. This is the ONLY baby panda in the country. He rolled over but never woke up to show us his cute little face.

Here is his mama takin' a drink from her fountain. We got there just as they were getting fresh food and biscuits. The biscuits are their vitamins and they think they are a treat. The baby has learned to hide them in his cheeks from his mom. The zoo may loose their panda's and they are very sad about this. Please visit their website to see how you can help.

They also have an interactive exhibit with budgies. Darren knows how much I love birds so he didn't even have to ask if I wanted to do this. The kids loved feeding the birds.

No, that's not a tree that's Daddy. Don't worry the birds didn't fall for it either.

This was in the reptile house. I couldn't resist the picture. Darren was on orders till he checked in at Ft. Gordon so he had to go in uniform. I am please to say that Darren is coming out of his shell. I have never seen him talk so much in my life. He was thanked no less than 10 times while we were there enjoying our day. It was very touching.

Sweet Home Alabama

2009-07-28T22:48:00.003-04:00

This one's for you Mom & Dad. We were so close to Alabama when we were at Ft. Benning we decided to have dinner there on Thursday night. We saw the sign and asked around and decided to give it a shot. It was pretty good. Traditional Georgia Mustard sauce and some yummy buttermilk pie. They thought we were a little weird takin' pictures inside. Then I explained the name and they were all about the pictures. One of the girls came out of the kitchen to play with the girls. It was a great place for dinner.

After Graduation

2009-07-28T01:54:00.003-04:00

After graduation they had a little show-and-tell with their equipment. It was very neat. One of Darren's letters home mentioned his "battle rattle". I had no idea what he was talking about. Well this is it. There is a belt, helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, bullet proof vest, and I am sure I am missing something. Oh yeah, the M16A4.

How's this for a scary sight? John just had the M16A4 (yes it's real Grandma), but the guys said he needed some of the battle rattle for the picture.

One of the soldier's mom had baked cookies for the guys. Well Clare saw him. I was too busy chasing her, chasing him for a cookie to get a picture. It was pretty cute. It was also kinda funny how the Drill Sergeants got nice all of the sudden. Darren had introduced me to DS Maldanado. Very nice man. He asked if I was the perfume. I told him, "No, I am the lipstick." I put on my brightest red lipstick and kissed the back of Darren's letters. It was the only way I could send kisses. Well for each kiss he had to do an extra 10 push-ups for the letter. I did know this when I did it. DS Maldanado asked if I liked what he had done. Yes sir I do.

Thursday - Graduation Day 247th

2009-07-28T01:37:00.005-04:00

Can you see the excitement? The girls are ready to go. Their dresses were the hit of the day too. This day started at 0900 as well. I was complaining before we got to Georgia. I now know how smart they are. At 0900 we were roasting. They really go all out for graduation. They had a soldier from every war. Ft. Benning is home of the Infantry. So they focused on infantry. This also means that BCT was geared towards infantry too. Not an easy thing at all.

The marching band did a great job.

Here are some practice maneuvers. Anything o keep us waiting for our soldiers...lol.

They had several soldiers with different weapons show the skills that were learned during BCT.

Here is Darren's Platoon. He is in the second row, second soldier in.

Here he is with the kids. All graduated.

Wednesday - Family Day

2009-07-28T01:14:00.004-04:00

Well this is the day we had been waiting for. Darren told me to aim to get there at 0830 for the 0900 start time. He knew I run late and sometimes get lost. Well I wasn't late, but I got lost. Ft. Benning is a very large base and there are multiple check points cause of all the different entries for the base. It is very confusing. Then they started late. Here are some of the drill sergeants. All fine and dandy, but I want my soldier! After introducing the soldier of the cycle, the physical over-achievers....blah, blah, blah......where is my soldier? Finally they released them. I just stood on the bleachers and didn't move. There were 240 soldiers and their families there. It was a little crazy. There he is. A little skinny, but handsome as ever.

I didn't know who was happier to see who. Darren isn't crying (not allowed in uniform). It's allergies, yeah that's it, allergies.

Gettin' hugs from everyone.

Clare is showing Daddy Zane's t-shirt. It says, "Daddy is my Hero"

We had a great family day. We had him till 2000 hours. We just kinda hung out. We were going to go to Andersonville Prison, but I did not realize it was 2 hours away. We were not allowed to go that far with him. We took Darren to Texas Roadhouse for dinner (thank you mom & dad) and he finally got some decent food. It was a great day.

We are home.

2009-07-17T00:23:00.003-04:00

Well our 9 day adventure has come to an end. We put on over 2000 miles and I was in the car with the kids for 4 days. They did really well on the trip. I was very proud of them.

Clare decided the long car ride was the perfect time to start potty training herself. She has done really well.

We left early on Monday morning and we hit Fort Benning by Tuesday afternoon. We visited with a girlfriend that I have there. She has kids about the same age as mine. The kids had a ball.

Wednesday was Family Day.
Thursday was Graduation.
Friday we went to Fort Gordon & Zoo Atlanta.
Saturday & Sunday we just kinda hung out in Augusta.
Monday we dropped Darren off at his new digs and left for home.

I will start tomorrow on writing separate post for all the fun stuff that we did. It was so nice to be together again. Being a military family isn't easy. The separations are hard, but NOTHING beats when you are together again.

Kid Radar

2009-06-15T19:12:00.003-04:00

I swear kids have a built in radar. I couldn't hear anything but they told me they could here the music. They were armed with "big pennies". They waited here for almost half an hour. Her it comes, wait for it.........

And here he is. Turns out they were right.

Here are the kids in the backyard enjoying their treats.

Operation Purple

2009-06-15T18:30:00.004-04:00

Well we dropped John off at camp on Sunday. He is at the YMCA camp in Jackson, MI. Operation Purple is a camp just for military kids. It is totally free to the families. Darren found out about this before he left. Compared to the camp John went to a couple of years ago this is the Ritz in the Woods. This is his "cabin". It has air. His last one had a resident bat. Here is John on his bunk. All the boys chose the top.

Her is the foyer for his "cabin". Clare was having too much fun running in circles and squealing.

Here is part of the gang one last time before we left. Clare was having a fit so she missed the picture. I will post more when I pick him up on Saturday morning. Yes I have to be there between 9 & 11 on Saturday and it is 2 hours away. Ugh.

News from Sgt. Darren

2009-06-13T11:05:00.003-04:00

We got a letter yesterday from Darren. He got a new Drill Sargeant (DS). His name is DS Paris. Well he is a bit tougher then the others. He was not happy when he saw how things were going. When he first arrived at the platoon he gave them an hour long smoking. When Darren first mentioned smokings I thought he was talking about them yelling at them. Well that is NOT it. A smoking is; jumping jacks, knee benders, mountain climbers, ski jumpers, up downs, and a few 2 minute hydration breaks. DS Paris said some had been disrespectful and he wanted to put fear in them. It worked!

DS Paris also did not like how things were being run. He fired the Platoon Guide, the Assistant Platoon Guide, and all 4 of the squad leaders. Guess who the new Platoon Guide is? Yup our little Darren. They also appointed a new Assistant for him and together they chose their new squad leaders. All of whom are helping Darren.

He is also working on his marksmanship on the M16A4. So far he is doing well. At a 3am march he managed to get a 33 out of 40 so he knows he can do better. For a medal he only has to get 36 out of 40.

Please keep praying for him and writing him. I am so proud of him, and he needs to here it from everybody right now. He misses everyone and says hi. He also wants to send prayers to Bob at the office who is recovering from a procedure for his heart. Get better soon Bob.

Hog Picnic 2009

2009-06-08T09:38:00.002-04:00

No not Hogg as in family, but hog as in motorcycle. I have a friend, Linda, that is a biker. Last year she invited us to her picnic for Operation Quiet Comfort and we had a great time. This year they joined with another chapter and it wasn't what we were expecting. The kids had a great time.

Lela and Clare had no fear on the playground. Clare was the one that started up the HUGE slide. Clare also decided to make sand angels (lucky me).

The picnic was cool. It was only $10 per adult and kids 12 and under were free. It was all the picnic food you could eat. The girls were happy sharing their ice cream.

They even had a visit from Harley the puppet. Clare was her normal cute self. I had lost her on the playground and found her in some biker chics lap. She was going through her vest looking for money, cell phone, and sunglasses. She thought it was funny (lucky me again). She took her around and had her begging for change for OQC. Pretty funny to see all those big bad bikers cave to my 2 year old.

They also had a raffle of prizes for all the kids. Everyone walked away with something. As you can see Clare really had a good time and enjoyed her winnings. I even won a raffle for a car emergency kit. I thought that would be handy for the trip to Ft. Benning.

Letters Home

2009-05-30T15:30:00.002-04:00

I got not one, but two letters from Darren yesterday. It is so exciting to get the mail now. It used to be bills until we went paperless. Then it was all junk mail, and now I look for my husbands' chicken scratch in the box.

Darren was also able to call home on Sunday and Monday. It is always so nice to hear his voice. He misses everyone and asks that you keep praying for him and his family.

He started an IV on his battle buddy. The Drill Sargent (DS) said he had done this before he did such a good job. I can't picture this. Darren also said that BCT isn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. It is physically demanding but at least he is enjoying it somewhat. DS Young said he may be able to wear his rank soon too.

He really looks forward to mail call so keep those letters coming. Thank you all so much for the support. It is wonderful to have such awesome friends and family. A day hasn't gone by that someone hasn't called to check on us. It really does mean everything.

Greenfield Village 2009

2009-05-27T14:38:00.001-04:00

The weekend started off a bit rough. I really missed having Darren there. Granted everyone stepped up to help get us set up. I would like to say thank you to Randy, Darryl and the USSS (Berdan's Sharpshooters) for all their help this weekend. As you can see by the smile on Lela's face they had a great time. These boys were too cute. They went around to each camp to sing to us. They were Tators (spectators) too.

Here is Clare wearing all her fun. They had way more fun than they should have playing in the dirt.

I know why there were no pictures of John. Usually he is gone as soon as breakfast is over with. His friend, Mr. John, is with the Cavalry and they are camped on the other end of the village. Granted I don't know why I didn't get any of Zane. He looked adorable in his little gowns. So much so that he is in no less than 100 scrap albums. One Tator just had to hold him. Her boyfriend told me she was a pediatrician and just couldn't escape the cute babies. I think we will all miss this event.

Zane's 3 Month Photo Shoot

2009-05-21T14:13:00.000-04:00

As you can see Zane is a rock star. We were going for the Magnum PI look for this shoot. You can really start to see his personality now. He is a flirt. He is always so happy and ready to just tell you all about it.

When your happiness depends on the mailman.....

2009-05-21T12:47:00.003-04:00

They are keeping Darren so busy that he wants to sleep or something for his 1 hour of free time. Go figure! Last Wednesday they did the gas chamber. He said it was nasty. It burned your eyes,nose, skin, lungs, but on the bright side it cleared his sinuses. They took pictures of their reactions. Darren thinks he may make the graduation video. We'll just say it had something to do with clearing his sinuses....yuck.

On Thursday they did the Eagle Tower. This consisted of repelling down a wall (about 85 feet), climbing a 2-rope bridge, crawling down a 1-rope incline, climbing a 3-rope bridge, and down a cargo net. Darren said it was pretty fun. Who are they and what have they done with my husband? This is a lot since when they did their first training a couple of weeks ago he told me what they had to do. It was a lot and he couldn't do a couple of the tasks so he had to do push ups. I am so proud of him for getting into the swing of things.

He also got my first letter. I was wondering how many push-ups he would have to do to get it. The answer is 30. 10 for the letter, 10 for the lipstick kiss on the back of it, and 10 for stepping on some mural. Just what are they going to do to him when he gets the other letters? One has perfume, and the others have pictures of the kids.

This is our big weekend at Greenfield Village. Our first one with out Darren. We will still have fun though. I will post pictures of GFV and of Zane's 3 month after the weekend is over. I am almost done sewing. Need to get back to that. Hope to see you at the Village.

The Price of Beauty (aka I think I'm creating a Monster)

2009-05-13T00:30:00.005-04:00

Our little Lela is a trooper when it comes to humoring Mama. I tried to curl her hair with a curling iron for her 4th birthday pictures. Well it didn't work. The curls would fall right out. Well I do not accept defeat! So we tried the rag curlers below. That took 40 minutes of Lela sitting still. The curls were awesome, but they only lasted a day and a half. Well that just wouldn't do. One day I get home from running errands and Lela tells me, "Mama I hate my flat hair.". Where does she come up with this stuff. So I asked her if she wanted to be curly all the time and she got so excited. So off to Ms. Linda's we went. Thank you to Grandma for her help. Lela was getting her hair done at the same time John was getting his braces off.

Lela sat so patiently getting her hair rolled.

Lela on her way to process. I walked in on the end of this. She was sitting sipping on a juice box when I walked in.

Yeah! I'm almost done.

So what do you think. Lela sure liked it.

FREEDOM!!!! (must be yelled like William Wallace)

2009-05-13T00:16:00.002-04:00

The day John has been waiting for has finally arrived. After 31 months in a spreader, head gear, and then braces they were finally taken off. Dr. Bridgette tried to tell him it wasn't going to happen, but John read Dr. V's notes on the screen and he couldn't be fooled. This is John getting fit for his retainer. Not sure how long he will have to wear this for. He will need another round of full braces later in life but this one is done. He is planning a feast of popcorn, ribs, and chicken wings. Chicken Wings are #1 on the list.

This one's for Candice

2009-05-13T00:04:00.002-04:00

Candice had asked for pictures from Darren's going away party. So here you go. Below was one of his super yummy cakes. As always we had way too much food. I ended up taking a bunch to Darren's shipmates the next day. Chief Alm was very happy when he heard there were lemon bars. Word travels fast up there.

Here is the hall before everyone got there. Who knew you could decorate so well out of a dollar store? We really did have a great time. That is why there aren't any pictures from the party. We were too busy having fun. That and I wasn't in full paparazzi mode. Don't worry I will get there.

Idle Hands, Not Here

2009-05-12T00:54:00.000-04:00

I am so grateful that I know how to sew. This is what I have been doing after the kids go to bed. I thought that this would be the hardest part of my day. I was right. So I sew to pass the time. This is the quilt that I made for Zane. I have also made a couple of skirts,, and I have to get going on a couple of gowns for Zane for civil war. Below is a full front view of the quilt. Here is a close up of the center square. I nice woman in Ohio did the center embroidery for me. I bought a rocket bib with his name on it from her.

Here is a sample of the back of the quilt. Zane's nickname is Rocket Man. I thought he needed a Rocket Man quilt. This is the first quilt I have ever finished. I enjoyed it and I think I will do it again.

Do they not have Mothers?

2009-05-11T20:11:00.002-04:00

I was waiting for a call on Mother's Day and I got nothing. Just a little disappointing. Well I got a 20 minute call today. Yippie!! Darren said that they forgot it was Mother's Day. How do you forget that?

He is doing ok. Darren is a little homesick. I may not be able to send him the book from his party. I do have an address for him now. I am trying to get used to OPSEC so I will not post here. If you would like it please email me at amber_joyful@hotmail.com and I will send it to you. I know it would be great if we flooded him with letters. He can only get letters and cards right now.

I finished Zane's quilt. I will post those pictures later. Tomorrow is a big day for the kids. Stay tuned to find out what happens on the next episode.

The Fun Begins

2009-05-08T00:24:00.002-04:00

Darren will be shipping to his new unit tomorrow. That means no more phone calls for us. It also means that he will be starting his training. They have credited him 2 weeks for his prior service. So his graduation date was 7/09/2009 and it is now 6/25/2009. So we get to see him 2 weeks sooner.

This past week was spent doing paperwork. Getting all of us put into DEERS (insurance). That was funny. They were teasing him because he had so many kids to enter. They didn't believe him till he showed them the family photo. He also got his Class A's and his battle rattle (helmet and bulletproof vest).

Please pray for him. He is getting a little homesick. He misses the kids. He talked to all of them this evening. Clare kept saying "home", but they are all handling this really well.

The Phone, The Phone is Ringing

2009-05-05T23:35:00.003-04:00

Darren is still able to call home at night. It has been pretty nice to be able to talk to him every night. Granted all good things will come to an end. This good thing ends Thursday night. His Staff Sargent said they will all be shipping out (aka starting BCT) on Friday. This is a good thing. We want him to get started so we can be together again.

He does have to take care of some boots tomorrow. I sent him special band-aids for his poor feet. The entire base was out of blister patches. They had mentioned to the prior service guys that they might be able to skip some weeks of BCT based on their service. This would be very nice. Keep your fingers crossed and pray that these guys get a break.

Darren has Arrived

2009-04-29T20:53:00.000-04:00

Darren is at Ft. Benning after a long day of travel. He and a few other are still at reception battalion. They separated them because they are all prior service. He still has his phone and has managed to call a couple of times. He was also a sweet heart and sent me tulips to get here on his first day gone. How wonderful is he?

I will let everyone know when he actually has a graduation date and when he gets an address.

Please raise your right hand.

2009-04-29T18:31:00.001-04:00

It has already begun. Hurry up and wait. We were told that if we got there at 10am we would be too late. Well this is about 10:15. For once I wasn't the one that was late. Make a note of it cause I can not guarantee this again. John found a better way to pass the time. As the recruits had to leave for paperwork or interviews John would fill in for them in the Euchre game. He was holding his own and got 5 points for his team. He's better than I am. No one has the patience to teach me.

Here is Darren's moment. Since we would pretty much take up the whole room they gave our family our own ceremony.

"I, Darren Philip Sherman, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

We are now an Army Family. Let the adventure begin!

Family Day 2009

2009-04-27T17:10:00.000-04:00

The animals were out and about when we got to the zoo. It was very windy as you can see in some of the pictures. Lela was very happy that her polar bears were out to see her.

Lela and Clare visiting the Tiger statue. I have pictures of all the kids here (except Zane, but we will fix that later this year).

This wasn't a rare shot. This tiger paced the whole time we were there.

Lela loves the reptile house (just like mom). Here she is checking out the baby siamese alligators. He saw Lela and came right up to see her.

We had such a great last day together. We took lots of pictures for the girls' Daddy books too. We got a membership to the Zoo and to Greenfield Village. My job is to keep the kids so busy that they don't mind Daddy being gone. So far so good.

The Last Day at the Office

2009-04-24T15:07:00.002-04:00

I'm a bad blogger. I had the camera but did I use it.....no. The kids and I went into the office to see everyone (cause everyone loves my kids). Darren finished up a few little things at the office. The most important of these were saying good bye to everyone. His office has watched him become the man he is. He started at ACS 9 years ago. He was single with no kids. Now he is married with 4 children.
Dennis took everyone out to lunch (thank you). It was a great time. Clare and Lela got to sit with all the ladies in the office for lunch. They felt pretty special. Now he is home chillin' with his little man.
To answer every one's questions:
Darren leaves us on Tuesday night. He leaves for Georgia on Wednesday.
Basic training is at Ft. Benning.
Graduation is set for July 9th at 9am.
AIT is at Ft. Gordon.
He will be gone till mid November. I am not sure when we will get to join him, and I am not sure where we will be stationed, but Ft. Gordon is a favorite.
As soon as an address is available I will let you know that I have one and he would love to get cards and letters.
We have a busy weekend of good bye's planned with friends so I will post all the fun later.

Under construction

2009-04-21T23:21:00.000-04:00

I decided to start a blog. Not that we are terribly exciting people, but because we will be moving and going thru a few changes. Darren leaves for the Army in a week. We will be waiting here at home for him till we get the call to move.

I decided to start this so that our friend and family can keep up with all the changes. Darren won't be able to see or talk to us for a while so this is how I can let you know how he is doing. Thanks for reading and hopefully I can do this as well as my cousin Candice.