Izzy

Does this picture say A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E ?

WFPE News Crew at Freedom Park

Haley has been invited to participate in the school's news program, WFPE News Crew. The school has a news show every morning announcing, weather, birthdays, upcoming events, conduct interviews and film events. GO HALEY!

Haley will be giving her election speech this Friday on the WFPE News program. Elections will be held following the speech.

This is a photo of Haley and Bryce, her competitor for Presidency. Bryce picks Haley up for school every morning and walks her home, you may even see them out in the cul-de-sac playing a game of hoops... a perfect gentleman!

It's raining Barbie!

How do you pass up a garage sale run by 3 little boys in 90 degree weather?... You don't! These little boys had some really awesome deals, 8 leap books for a 1$ each. SOLD!
I was driving away when a mother of a smaller garage sale waved me down and yelled, "I have a ton of Polly and Barbie things!" I turned around to see Sophia clutching her seatbelt, waiting for the word to unbuckle. I have to say, I was getting rather tired of looking at her one barbie.

~Barbie's Story~

Poor Barbie, handed down through 2 older sisters who never had an interest in her. Barbie has had a turbulent life in the home of the girls.
Barbie began with Haley, stuck in a box for nearly 2 years when she finally made it out! Haley and her world of perfection, all it took was for Barbie to loose a shoe and her hair to become disheveled, the relationship was over! Barbie had lost her glam!
Barbie was then passed on to Isabelle or she was abducted (that topic is currently under dispute). How does one make it through Isabelle? Here is how; half naked, missing shoes, personalized haircut, missing hand (compliments of Bella), only to be tossed aside the minute Isabelle found the thrill of Matchbox cars.
Barbie finally landed in the loving hands of Sophia and her unconditional love. Barbie had met her happy ending.

anyhow, back to the sale...

We walked away with 2 additional Barbies, 1 bag of accessories and a bag of clothing. Score for Sophia! Just last night a friend of Haley's donated a Barbie fashion mall. This is the weekend of "Barbie"!

~Chris update~

I received a 5 minute phone call last night to let me know everything was ok. They had all personal items removed, no civilian clothing and they were not allowed to speak or was it look at people? I'll get clarification when he gets home. He sounded like he was having a good time, now if you ask him, he will deny it completely. I think it's the challenge that he enjoys. You could actually hear the thrill in his voice, its the same as when he is describing his adventures during a field exercise. I think to myself, that its these moments that make the Army worth it.

Chris and Art

Chris left a voice mail letting me know that everything is ok. Phone privileges have been revoked during the day until they earn full use of it (love the military). I'll keep posting news as I get it. I have been thinking about going out to Alabama for the graduation, I think its abouta 6 hr drive from here. Of all his graduations, I think this is the one! Meredith will be here with Oliver during that time frame, so Ill see how things work out as we get closer to the date.

This beautiful painting was done by my friend and neighbor across the street. This painting covers about half a wall in our bedroom, I don't think pictures ever do justice to the originals.

Haley did come home last night with some exciting news, she has decided to run for Student Body President! I couldn't think of a better person suited for this position. Grandma Hughes calls her, "the little politician". The elections are held next Monday. Currently we are working on her speech, I'll post it as soon as it hits the final draft.

Home Alone

Chris left for Alabama yesterday, a 5 week class followed by 5 months of training (he will be home every night) and then it's off to another duty station.
It has been nearly 2 years since Chris has left for any length of time I am starting to see how comfortable I became with him being home every night. After living in Germany for close 7 years, where he was deployed for at least 3 of them, I'm freaking out about 5 weeks in the states? What has happened to my woman of steel mentality? The girls and I used to do this in our sleep, 5 weeks was nothing! I need to toughen up here! Its time to hit the gym again!

Sophia's family portrait

Haley this week....

Haley had her orthodontist appointment on Wednesday, this was a much anticipated appointment due to her great fear of doctors. It hasn't helped that Chris has been sharing on his own experiences with braces...aghhhh!....(thanks a bunch dad!). The good news is, she can't get braces on for at least another 8 months, more teeth need to come in and others have to fall out.

Haley had a field trip with the "Richmond County orchestra" so see "The Selection Quartet".
http://www.thesection.net/

Haley has her "All-County Orchestra Auditions" on Monday, October 2. All-County Orchestra is composed of students from Richmond County Schools. Practices will be held on Mondays from 7:20 - 8:30 pm. She was able to participate in the event last year and it was wonderful! Currently she has practice at school 2x a week.

Words best to describe the week (per Haley): canker-sore, loud, homework, books, music pieces, Pork Chop- (Bryce), drama, missing recess (it sucks), popsicles, sock hop (blah, who needs it) , dentist, diaries, notes, math , metal scraping against forks, braces, dad embarrassing me ALL the time, paint, Isabelle, do these daycare kids ever leave?, grounding, talking back, remember my violin and sleep...The end!

Isabelle the art critic

Hmmm....what kind of moving violation would this be?

Augusta, Arts In The Heart

Georgia has an annual celebration, "Arts in the Heart". http://www.artsintheheart.com/index_flash.html The local artists come here to display their craft. It reminds me of the "Saturday Market"in Oregon. One of the features they had was food from around the world. Isabelle saw the German food and it was hands down for her. Chris had one whiff of the curry and it was Indian for him. Haley seems to have a new affection for the Greek cuisine and I had Philippine food. Sophia was the world traveler and had a little from everyone!



One goal that I had while at the festival was to find a piece of art from a local artist. I try to bring art from a person we have met from every place that we have lived.
A woman had a booth full of "fun" art. I had a very hard time picking out just "one", so hard that the first piece we brought home wasn't the "right" one and we had to go back. Funny thing was, we ended up bringing the one I looked at first. I think we spent about 2 hours in her booth.
We put the picture up while the girls were asleep and in the morning Isabell was the first one to notice the change (as usual). She mentioned how it brightened up the kitchen and she had to walk through the kitchen over and over because it made her happy.

http://www.allthingspainted.com/

The festival also had artists working on a piece of their own art. Isabella took to one large piece. She pulled me aside to tell me how much she liked it, I said, "why don't you tell him, I'm sure he would love to hear it". She, confidently walks up to him, taps him on his shoulder (he is sitting with his back to her),"excuse me... I like it..it looks really good". He looks at her with a huge grin and thanks her. I was shocked she went up to him and demanded his attention. I don't think he completely understood how rare it is for this little girl to walk up to a complete stranger and give a serious compliment. I asked her if she would like to take a picture with the artist, without hesitation she walks up to him, taps him on the shoulder again and says, "could you turn around?" and there he sees me crouched ready to take a shot and the little girl standing with the confidence of an official judge to a competition. It was awesome!

Future kindergarten cop... or not?

Food for thought...

Chris and I were talking during lunch today and I was admiring how good he was with the daycare kids. I got to thinking...so... I asked him, "would ya ever teach kindergarten?"... Calmly, he said "yeah" ((((( GASP))))) has he lost his mind? We are talking about Mr. GI Joe playing kindergarten Cop. If only there was a way to describe the scene, every single chair at the table (7 seats) , was occupied by someone under the age of 5! Then he tells me that he had brought up the idea of us doing our own daycare in retirement. **passes out** ( I knew there was a reason why I had mentally blocked that statement).
After I collect myself, I actually start to consider this as an option...It might be kinda fun! We could be ...Starsky and Hutch... Ponch and John...Cheech and Chong (lol)...BJ and the Bear...

New Found Glory

I have made attempts at blogging, in various locations, but none have been this rewarding.
It puts the word "addictions" back into my vocabulary. I have a voice that isn't cluttered with ad-ware, unwanted music and lack of better terms...doesn't feel like a meat market , unless the market is selling jerky;>
I try to walk away but as I do, new thoughts insist on being posted, is this the new found glory of blogging?...If I were a voice... I would be standing on the top of a mountain, in the alps, twirling, arms extended, singing, "the hills are alive with entries".

So, this is where it begins...

...And this is where my life becomes a trail of confessions, random thoughts and attempts of organized efforts.

This weekend was an OCD dream come true.
Saturday:pruning closets, running around looking for consignment shops to take in clothing that has survived our third child. I will have to say, I don't think Augusta is a big marketplace for the "sweater" industry... Perhaps there is someone out there who suffers from poor circulation and finds the Esparza wardrobe a dream come true.
Sunday:dedicated to re-organizing the pantry and bookshelf. Amazingly, everyone left me alone. Not many treasures were to be found, but work that had been strategically buried. Once the salvaging was complete (good, bad and shriveled), I busily played the game of..."What? This is due? When? How many months ago did this expire?". Against all child labor laws, I had my 4 year old working diligently, feeding our 6th family member, "the shredder, God Bless the shredder! In seconds, reminders of things you could have done, missed or ignored, can be deleted without any chance of recovery (unless you are totally insane and thrive on puzzles).
There was one movie we watched that is worth mentioning, "Water", yes, its a read-a-movie (are there any other kinds when you have children in the house under the age of 3?". It was a beautiful movie to watch and a thought provoking theme. I did leave the movie with a greater appreciation for my father (don't ask). I am always amazed that someone is willing to marry someone from another country (outside of my comfort zone). Isn't that the key to all movies, leave with more questions than you came in with.

Do these children look overworked?