I am very patriotic.  I love America.  To be more precise I love the United States of America.  I believe that this is the greatest country in the world.  Hands down.  Nothing anyone could say will ever convince me otherwise.  I proudly sing and shamelessly cry every time I hear two songs: Proud To Be An American (by Lee Greenwood) and American Soldier (by Toby Keith).   I put my hand over my heart and swell with pride every time a soldier carries a flag.  I thank men and women when I see them in uniform.  I am an Air Force brat and I am proud of it.  I have so many things to be grateful for every single day of my life, but on this Memorial Day it is appropriate to be most thankful for the countless men and women who are serving and have served this country. 

My thanks go first and most of all to my father.  I don't know if my dad wanted to join the military or if he joined because it seemed the only option at the time, but at the age of 18 my dad signed up to join the Air Force.  (Good choice dad!)  He served his country for over 20 years.  My mother deserves my thanks as well.  My dad was gone a lot.  We were lucky that he was never TDY for a year straight, as many of our friends' fathers were, but there were many times when he was gone for 6 months.  Often it was a month or two at a time.  My mom kept the house running.  She kept our lives going.  I know she missed my dad like crazy, but she was so, so strong.  She made sure that we wrote letters to dad.  I still have the letters my dad wrote to me.  My dad spent a lot of time in the middle east.  He lived in a tent with hundreds of other men.  There was no air conditioning and temperatures often swelled to well over 100 degrees.  My dad would joke about how hot it was in his letters.  I am so proud of my father.  I am so grateful that he never actually went into battle, but he did serve during war time and it was still scary for us.  We moved a lot, but still not as often as some families.  We lived in Texas, Okinawa, Nebraska, Japan, South Dakota, and Texas again.  My dad has been to many, many countries.  We received presents from Korea, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, England, and many other places.  I still have all of those.  (Except for one, which will haunt me until the day I die.  Or find it, which I am still determined to do.)  I loved moving.  I loved living in new places.  My favorite was Japan, but that is probably because I was incredibly popular there. :)  Of course I claim Texas as my home, and I always will.  So thank you dad.  You missed a lot of our childhood, and a lot of important milestones for us.  I know you hated that part, but secretly I loved it because man did I score when you missed my birthday!  The presents you brought me to make up for it!  Thank you for serving.  Thank you for sacrificing.  You are an American soldier.

Thank you to my grandfather, my dad's dad.  He served during World War 2 under General Patton.  He received a Purple Heart.  I would have loved to have known this man.  He died when my dad was 2, leaving behind a wife and 12 children.  He was an American soldier.

Thanks to a few of my uncles, my dad's brothers.  I'm honestly not sure how many of them served, but of the 7, at least 4 did.  They have all since retired from the military, but they are American soldiers.

Thanks to many of my cousins who have served or are still serving.  They are American soldiers.

Thank you to my husband's grandfather.  Grandpa Backus.  Red.  He served in the Marine Corps.  Oh the wonderful stories he told!  He has also passed on.  He was an American soldier.

Thank you to the men and women who serve today.  It is not easy being an American soldier in this day and age.  But the things you have accomplished, the people you have saved!  I am so honored that you have chosen to join the military and fight for my freedom.  Thank you.

And last but definitely not least, thank you to the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country: their lives.  I believe this country was saved by God for people to come here to be able to live without fear of oppression.  To be able to decide who and how they wanted to worship.  To have a say in the way their land would be governed.  And thousands of men died to ensure that would happen.  Countless more have died since then.  World War 1, World War 2, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, both Gulf Wars, the War on Independence.  And I know I'm missing some, but forgive me.  To those who joined the military of their own free will and choice, and to those who had that choice made for them.  Thank you.  To those who became POWs or were declared MIA and never heard from again.  To those who suffered, thank you.  Thank you for doing what you did so that this world could be better.  Thank you for helping and saving people you had never met, in a country that you didn't even know existed.  Thank you for giving your life.  It was not in vain.  It means something to me.  I will never forget what you have done.

I.  Love.  America.  On this Memorial Day, please give thanks for the men and women who have served and are now serving.  Freedom is not free.  What we are doing today we are doing because someone gave their life.  Thank you.

May?  We are in May already?  Kara is going to "graduate" from preschool in a couple of weeks.  She will be starting kindergarten in the fall!!!! I can't believe I have a 5 year-old!  Sophie will be turning 3 next month.  What is going on?  Why can't they stay my sweet little innocent babies?  Instead they are turning into this:

Sophie: "Mom, can we get a dog?"
Kara: "Sophie, we can get a dog, but you know dad is allergic to dogs, so if we get one we will have to get rid of dad."
Sophie: "Ok.  Mom, can we get a dog?"

Um.... that's logical...

Anyway, we have been really busy this spring.  We had our roof replaced earlier this year and will be getting our new vinyl fence this week.  Evens had surgery on his thumb a month ago and will be in a cast for another 2 months.  But that hasn't stopped him from doing things!  We've been hard at work on the yard and building a new shed. 

The girls have already pulled out their swimsuits and swim nearly every day, even if its cold.  I can't stop them!  They come in with teeth chattering, warm up for a few minutes, and run back outside.  It's pretty comical.  Crazy kids.  Well, time to head back out to the pool.  See ya!

Today Kara has been walking around saying, "tricks of the rabbit, tricks of the kid".  I have been so confused about it and keep asking her if that's something she learned at school.  Evens, in his drugged-up state, understood exactly what she was saying and helped her say it right: "silly rabbit, tricks are for kids!"
oh.  Makes me wonder what else she's getting mixed up...

This morning the girls had a quarrel.  It went something like this:

At this point I am rolling on the floor laughing so hard I'm crying.  I finally had to break it up before they started throwing punches!  By the way, they were both singing it right, but Sophie had to have it her way!  Hilarity!

The girls and I left for Texas December 14th and I seem to have taken a voluntary leave from all things media.  I haven't checked my email or even surfed the web since probably the beginning of December.  I'm just starting to get the desire to hop on the computer and see what has happened in everybody's lives since the last time I was on.  Evens flew down to Texas the 22nd and spent 10 days with us (I know!!!! Evens and I FINALLY took a vacation together!!!!!!!). I guess I will start to play catch-up.   Here are some Christmas pictures.

Kara as Mary for our traditional Christmas Eve program

Sophie had to be Mary too.  Like her baby Jesus?

Uncle Tyler as the donkey (and later he'll be a shepherd)

Kara's letter to Santa

Kara got some make-up and decided to put some on Sophie.  Unfortunately she put the lipstick on her eyes.  It wasn't easy getting it off.

A few months ago my sisters-in-law and I decided that since we would all be together for Christmas this year we should have a surprise party for our parents.  They both turned 50 around Christmas and we thought it would be a lot of fun.  And it was!  Of course we had to have the party at their favorite BBQ joint.  Here are some pictures of the fun:

This is the book that we worked on for months!  It turned out beautifully and as you can tell from my dad's face he thought it was pretty fun.

Get a room?

The girls were able to have some fun too.  Since the weather was generally absolutely gorgeous (it did get down to the 50s and rained, but mostly it was in the 60s and 70s) we took advantage and took the girls to play.

We also took them to an amusement park specifically for children 12 and under.  It was seriously the coolest thing the girls have ever been able to do!  They got to ride every single ride and had a blast.  Unfortunately the pictures are all on my camcorder so I'll have to get those off and post them.