It snowed again...

Friday it started snowing at about 1:00. It didn't stop until late that night. It snowed about 8 inches or so. Carintha had to work this weekend, so we all took her to work because Morgan had a swimming party to go to that afternoon. That was cancelled though. They didn't want people trying to drive in the snow. It wasn't supposed to snow today, but it did. About another 2 or 3 inches. We have shoveled the driveway about 6 times now in the last 3 days. At least it wasn't that cold today. I was about 16 degrees yesterday, but today it's only 32 degrees.

Not Approved by the Naval Safety Center!

Ok, those of you who don't know, Carintha's dad works for the Navy as a civilian. He works at the Weapons Station in Goose Creek, SC as an OSHA safety inspector. Morgan went to SC for the summer last year. I'm not sure exactly when these were taken, but I do know that we had to watch training at work, provided by the Naval Safety Center, that had pictures of people who had accepted hitchhikers while on a riding lawnmower. I just thought it was really ironic that a Navy Safety guy would be doing one of the things "they" told us not to.

http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/

The Girls at Mohegan Park Summer 2007

I was going through some things downstairs and found these pictures from last summer. These are of the girls playing at Mohegan Park in Uncasville. It's about 30 minutes from here, but it's a nice, quiet park where they can run around for a while.

Acrid Odor....

Ok, there are only a couple of people that read my blog that will get the meaning of "acrid odor..." so I'll explain. On the boat, or ship if you are one of those guys, just before a fire is called away, "Acrid odor in ________." usually preceeds the fire. Well, there was an acrid odor in the house this morning. I was in the shower and Carintha was making breakfast, but someone had left the light on in the bedroom. (Not me) We don't have an overhead light, so we have two spot lights that I used to use on the entertainment center that we use for lights. (See the first picture.) Somehow, Morgan's sweater that Carintha bought for her Christmas Musical tomorrow ended up on top of one of the lights. When I got out of the shower, I smelled an "acrid odor." I went to the kitchen thinking that maybe she had burned breakfast, but I didn't smell it there. I came back to the hallway and I could smell it again. I went to Austin's room where the computer is. Nothing there either. Then I went into our room. It was slowly filling with smoke. Since the sweater was made of wool it didn't really catch on fire, it just burned in one spot. (See the second picture.) No damage done though. Just have to go buy a new sweater for tomorrow.

Breakfast with Santa

Last weekend, the girls and Michaela went to the Oakdale Fire Department to have breakfast with Santa. Austin was taking his morning nap so he stayed with me. They got their pictures made, but my scanner isn't hooked up right now so I'll add it later. They were they for a few hours and apparently ate a good bit. Morgan came home not feeling well because of it. Everything worked out though and she still went to her parade later that day.

Austin's First Haircut?

I gave Austin his first haircut tonight. I couldn't stand the shaggy look he had, so I took out my clippers that I use when I'm on the boat and gave him a trim. Nothing major, just a little of the top and cleaned up the sides. The first two are of him chewing on the hair brush.

These are after I was finished. Carintha was holding him the whole time, and I had to snap my fingers to get him to look in the other direction so I could cut the other side, but over all I don't think it went too bad. I think he looks a lot better.

And if not, it will grow back....so it doesn't really matter anyway.

Morgan's Christmas Parade

Morgan had her Christmas parade today. I think she is about ready to stop doing them. Every year she complains about it being too cold. This year they all dressed up as snow"people". This is the only picture I have because Carintha didn't take the camera with her.

It snowed today!

I got up this morning a little after 6 and looked out the window. I couldn't tell right away, but after I looked out the kitchen window to the back yard I could really tell. It snowed about 2 inches. Michaela spent the night last night, and when Kaitlyn woke up and looked outside she had to let everyone else know that it had snowed. She ran out into the livingroom and said "Mommy it snowed!" Kaitlyn has been asking if it snowed last night for the last couple of months. It finally did. So at about 7:30 they asking to go out and play in the snow. We got them all bundled up and they went out and played for a while in the first snow of the season.

Austin's First Birthday

December 6th 2008 was Austin's first birthday. We didn't have a lot of people over, just Jamie and his family. He had a football cake. Very appropriate, I think, since it was also the same day as the SEC Championship game between Alabama and Florida. It was a great game, but Alabama lost. The first time since 2007. Anyway, here are some pictures from the birthday party. Kaitlyn had to help him blow out the candles. He didn't really know what to do. That will come in time I'm sure.

We gave him his own cupcake at the table, but then we decided he should probably put it on his highchair, so we moved him. He cried a little, but then when we gave his cake back he was ok.

Joseph had to put the cupcake in Austin's mouth before he would try to eat it. I'm not sure what the problem was. He eats anything else you put in front of him with no problems!

He eventually figured it out.

Then it was present time. He made a mess, so we striped him down to his diaper.

At first all he wanted to do was beat on the boxes. We had to help him unwrap them. He was happy with the boxes. That would have been cheaper anyway.

Grandma and Papaw sent him a Little People AIRPLANE.

Morgan got him a stuffed Panda bear, and Kaitlyn got him some bath toys. He also got a Leap Frog centipede from Jamie, and a walk-behind thing to help him start walking.

Morgan's Poem

This was Morgan's Black and Orange poem that she had to do for school.

Austin can stand up

This is Austin after I gave him a bath and got him ready. He has been standing up by himself for about a week now, but every time I tried to get a picture he would just plop down and stare at me. He's not walking yet, but I'm sure that won't be far off.

The Girls "Sleep-over"

We where all downstairs a couple of nights ago and appearently I mentioned having a sleepover. So the night before Thanksgiving, the girls all moved to the livingroom and watched movies. Carintha slept on an air mattress and didn't sleep very well.

Ashley's funeral

I took these in 2005 at Joseph "Cooter" Ashley's funeral. He was the guy on the San Fran that died after they ran aground on their way to Austrailia. I had known him ever since he got to the boat and we were good friends. He was buried at the family plot in West Virginia. Of the 26 crew members that showed up the this funeral, only 4 were still stationed on the boat. The rest of us had been stationed on the boat with him and we travelled from CT, VA, GA, and a couple of other states I'm not sure of. We just started calling each other and met there the day before the funeral. I was supposed the be on the boat at that time, but thank God, I got off six months early!

This was what the San Fran looked like after it hit the mountain. Cooter flew about 30 feet forward and hit the propulsion lube oil tank. He didn't die directly from his injuries. It was actually when they tried to do the medevac through the bridge hate that he suffucated.

In Austin's room

I took these in Austin's room earlier tonight. He doesn't spend much time in there unless someone else is in there. He likes to be in the middle of everything. Carintha just got him a toy box for his room. I'm sure that will get filled up after his birthday and Christmas. He likes to play with cars so that gives me and him something to play with. I still have my "Dukes of Hazzard" cars, but they are replicas. I used to play with them so much that I rubbed the paint off of them.

How Kaitlyn spends her evenings, most nights.

This is how Kaitlyn spends her evenings, and sometimes her afternoons. I log into Netflix.com and she watches "Caillou" on the computer. She climbs up on the back of the couch and lays for about an hour and a half until it's over. I don't remember when it started, but she's been doing this for a couple of months at least.

Morgan at Spanish Steps in Guam

Strange looking picture of Morgan when we were coming back from the beach in Guam. She looks a lot older than she was for some reason. She was about 4 and some change.

No surgery for me. (Yet)

After driving 6 1/2 hours to Bethesda, MD, only getting 5 hours of sleep in a strange bed with hard pillows, and getting up early to have my eyes examined, I was turned away. Apparently my cornea is 50 microns too thin to do either the LASIK or PRK surgery. 500 microns is the minimum. I came in at about 448. They said they could do it, but if they messed it up, there was no possibility that they could fix it. Not good enough odds for me. Not a big deal, I can still get the toric implants later if I want to, but I think I will keep wearing contacts for a while. Maybe next time I am on shore duty I will try again. I left about 1100 from MD and made it back to CT about 1800. Not bad time considering I drove during the day through NY.

Austin's Bump

Austin was playing in the living room with the girls and he found the candlestick holders that sit on the window sill. Well, he grabbed one and pulled it over on himself. It's hard to see in the picture, but the reddish circle above his left eye is actually a pretty big bump. I couldn't get a profile shot because I can't get him to not look at the camera. Carintha and the kids on on their way to the doctor's office just to make sure he's okay. I'm still getting ready for my trip to Maryland, but should be leaving about 1200 or so.