Flat Stanley goes on tour in Alaska!

We received a Flat Stanley in the mail from my cousin Betsy and her daughter from Vermont. We took Flat Stanley on a tour of North Pole, Alaska before we mailed him back to Vermont. We visited the Santa Claus House and Flat Stanley checked out the reindeer, Santa's sleigh, and what Alaska looks like in the middle of the winter at 11:00 am. It's almost DARK out!
















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Ava turns EIGHT!

Ava celebrated her eighth birthday on the day that Charlie had to return to Afghanistan. It was a hard day for her, but she was at least happy that he was around to see her blow out her breakfast candles and open her presents. It's unbelievable to me that she is already eight. She is growing into such a sweet, loving child of God with a big heart for others. I couldn't ask for a more lovely daughter.










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Christmas 2011

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Charlie arrived home on December 21, 2011 for two weeks or rest and recuperation from Afghanistan. We surprised the kids, as they had no idea that we were picking him up at the airport. I even got them passes to the gate and made it through security without blowing my cover! I had told them that we were delivering Christmas cookies to the soldiers that were coming home and had nobody at the airport to greet them. They tried giving goodies to soldiers and never saw their Daddy until he was crouched down in front of them.




We spent our time bowling...



Ice skating...



More bowling...



Being carried like a sack of potatoes at every bedtime...



Schooling Dad in chess....



And playing glow-putt!




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Location:Charlie's R & R

Ava raced in her first swim meet in November 2011. She as so excited when we signed her up, but then totally panicked when it was race day. Thankfully a couple of older girls rescued me and convinced her that it wasn't going to be all that bad and got the tears to stop flowing. She swam in a 25 yard backstroke for girls 10 and under. She placed fifth and earned her first swim ribbon. Go Ava!





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Location:Ava's First Swim Meet

Thanksgiving!

We joined our friends, the Nelsons for Thanksgiving. We wrestled, ate, and then wrestled some more. Six little boys, Ava, and one dad to take the brunt of the beatings! Charlie owes Scott a spot on the sidelines when this deployment is over because every time our kids see Scott, all they want to do is wrestle.











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Brady turns SIX!!!

In November we celebrated Brady's sixth birthday! My sweet, quiet, and go-with-the flow child had a rocking birthday party at the local gymnastics studio. We rented it out and had a few hours of bouncing, jumping, flipping, and turning. With turning six, I'm pretty sure that he sprouted six inches too, lost the very last of his baby fat, and is growing entirely too fast!














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