Lucy is home!

Today was the big day for us to go and get Lucy. We ended up getting stuck in several staus so the 3 hour drive took a little over 5! She was much smaller than I thought, Zach said she was bigger than he thought! The sister and brother had already been picked up so we didn't get to see them. Lucy started out the biggest, but as of the vet visit Tuesday she is the smallest weighing in at 7 lbs 8 ounces! The brother was 8lbs 4 ounces and the sister was 9lbs 1 ounce. The family said it's becuase when he would feed them the others would push her out of the way and she was too nice to push back! He said she was by far the calmest, but the highest jumper so escaped easier. They also say she has the best color of the three. When we came to pick her up the neighbor kids all came running. Two girls were sad to see her go and said "Lucy is our favorite!" so we felt bad for taking her, but good that we got the best of the three. Now the real fun begins!

Happy Birthday Zach!

Today is Zach's birthday and so I had to post some pictures! Unfortunately it is not the birthday he had in mind thanks to his wonderful squadron so that makes three years in a row of dissapointment. At least he is not deployed this year! I have class tonight which just makes it worse for him so the boys and I have a "party" planned for tomorrow. We bought him some silly presents to cheer him up, had his mom send his favorite cherry chip cake mix, and we are making him a yummy dinner. Since he won't be home until 6 at the earliest it gives us time to set up after school and surprise him.

Now I will tell you what I know about Zach! He was born at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota in a blizzard! He was a boy through and through always into something! I guess I have three boys as payback now! He used to camp out in the backyard with his friends, but usually they would sneak inside part way through the night! He got caught jumping out in front of cars with his friends.....the car he jumped in front of happened to be a police officer! He played sports and had his dad as a coach. he said he dad was always hard on them, but he is glad and wishes coaches could be that way now. He moved to the Phiilipines, but when Mt. Pinatubo (spelling?) errupted they were moved back to the states. Part of that adventure was getting to stay on an aircraft carrier and stop in Anchorage, Alaska which sparked his interest in living there! His mom doesn't recall the adventure being so great! His love of the Air Force is what led him to enlist. He told me that the day he had to give up his military ID he felt like he lost part of himself. I didn't understand it then, but now after 10 years I know what he means!

His first loves are Ford Mustangs and airplanes! He loves, loves, loves, to biuld model airplanes! At one point we had almost 30 parked or flying in our house in Alaska! He does a really good job on them and over the years has learned tricks to build them better. Some even had working motors! He has this obsession with inventing and building things. I had the little hand vacum upstairs and he sat staring at it till I asked him what was wrong. He said he was trying to figure out how to turn it into a jet engine! Needless to say he has way more creativity then I do!

He has sacrificed a lot of time away to provide for our family. We are proud of him being in the Air Force and for the things he has been apart of. Two of the most memorable are when he took Christmas gifts to a Arctic Village in Alaska. The kids made little gifts for each of them. Zach was given a piece of moose antler the kids had painted. He also left two days after Christmas to help the people of Thailand after the deadly sunami (spelling?) and said that even though they slept very little and had no contact with family it was the best month of his AF career. He had refugees coming off the planes with just the clothes on their backs shaking thier hands and hugging them to say thank you, loaded pallets full of food and water labled the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints onto planes to be dropped in areas that could not be reached and did any job that needed to be done to get aid brought into the people.

So obviously you can see from the picture overload and all we love Zach! I think a quote from Ryan sums it up best!

"Dad you are the bestest man and dad I ever had!"

Pink Sunrise

These are not the greatest pictures, but I wanted to post them anyway. I think it was Thursday morning I was rushing to get kids moving. Scout nights always push bedtime back and with it being the pinewood derby I am sure Zach had a harder time getting them home and to bed at a decent time. So everyone got a late start! As I was telling Ryan for what seemed like the millionth time to eat and get dressed I opened the roladens and saw the pink sky! I immediatley stopped and told them boys to come look. It was beautiful!

Pinewood Derby 2009!

This was Ryan's first pinewood derby, Tyler's third and from what I hear they had a good time! I was at class so missed it, but Zach was able to so it's all good! Ryan made his car into a bumblebee and Tyler designed a hot dog! Zach had to work in the pits so most of the pictures our friend Melinda took. Ryan placed 1st for the wolf den and Tyler placed 4th for the webelos den. I love the picture of Ryan jumping after he won a race and the one of Cody cheering him on! I am sad I missed it, but it's only fair since Zach has had to miss so much. Oh they not only raced the cars forward, but backwards too! I guess the bee's tail got bent in the process!

Working with kids....

It never ceases to amaze me the things I see and hear when working with kids. To be honest it's one of the reasons I enjoy it so much! This week I was working with some 3-5 year olds at the CDC and we went out to play. The teachers were not playing with the kids, just standing up by the building so I decided to go play. Isn't that a perk of the job! Of course I am the new person so everyone wants me to come play with them. I was in playing house with a few kids when the little girl leans over and says "My mommy likes beer. She likes it a lot!" I did my best not to laugh and said "Well there are other people that like beer too, not me personally, but that is fine." Then the boy next to us says "Of course you don't like beer. Only men drink beer. Not moms." Of course this sparked a bit of an arguement with the girl arguing that her mom likes beer a lot so yes girls can like beer too not just men!

It has been a very tiring two weeks, but I really am enjoying my time with all the different kids. I am getting the hang of names and faces which is not easy considering I rotate between six different places! The principal said she would help me get variety and that is exactly what I am doing! I get a kick out of some of the things that go on. I had a cute little red headed four year old boy kiss my hand. He smiled and said I like you. It was very sweet. And of course I am a little partial to red heads!

"H"

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it looked like fun! Anything to get a break from homework! If you would like to play, here's how: tell me by leaving a comment on this post, and I will assign you a letter. Then post ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter on your blog. Explain the rules with your ten things and when others comment requesting a letter, assign one to them; thus, the chain continues.

Jody assigned me the letter 'H'. Here are ten things that I love that start with the letter H!

1.Hot Chocolate! I love love LOVE to have a nice warm cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day!




2.Helping others! It is so much easier to lend a helping hand then be helped myself! Being in the military I have had to learn a lot of things the hard way so if I can save someone else then trouble then I am all for it! This picture is when we made cookies and other goodies to send Shane Terry and his crew down range although I hear he didn't share very much!



3.Home! I love being at home when it is spotless (less distractions) and I can sit and enjoy my family.



4.Homework! and I don't mean my kids'! I know this is odd, but going to school full time for the last two years has gave me a great appreciation for homework. I love seeing the list, feeling like I can't do it, then as each assignment is crossed off I feel like I did something great! I love it even more when my papers come back with great comments from my instructors telling me how good I did. I often feel like the underdog not being employed and having the experience that many of my classmates have.



5.Horsing Around! Boys doesn't start with H so I had to improvise! I love having boys and horsing around. Life doens't have to be serious all the time and my boys really keep me grounded. Even when I don't feel like wrestling, playing football, tackle basketball (every sport is tackle in this house) my boys manage to get me involved. The simple things they do, and make me do for that matter, are what matters!



6.Havel! Again I am stretching it, but I love being a Havel! No I have not abandoned being Fitzpatrick, but I love that Zach and I are sealed together for time and eternity and I get to have his last name! And hey it's less letters than Fitpztrick!



7.Holidays! Even though we don't get to be with extended family we still have a lot of fun during the holidays. Of course we are hoping to get home for one this year!



8.Homecomings! Deployments and separations in general are not fun, but the homecoming is the best! It means I survived again!



9.Hockey! I never watched sports growing up, but I love hockey now! It is so fast paced and just amazing what those guys can do on the ice! And yes I have Datsyuks's jersey! I think he is awesome!



10.Heat! I would rather be warm than cold! I love cuddling up in a blanket or being out in the warm sun! and I have no idea what picture to put so I guess this will be the only one without one!

Health and Wellness Night!

The school held a Health and Wellness night this last week. Ryan had been reminding me for days so I knew even if I wanted to I was not getting out of it! So we went and I was able to take a few pictures. It was very caotic, Cody was unhappy after he had his turn in the bouncy castle. Tyler played ping pong most of the night while Ryan ran from place to place trying to do everything! Each person had a "passport" that they had stamped at each activity and then they could turn them in at the end for prizes. Well we didn't stay for the prize part, but Ryan's class won for having the most kids participate for K-2! They earned an extra day of PE for winning! His class is also neck and neck for the box tops competition. His teacher said they had just under 1400 they turned in so they think they won. If not she is giving them an ice cream party anyway for all the hard work and getting moms and dads to cut box tops off everytyhing in the house! All of our cereal boxes have holes along with many other things, but Ryan was so excited I couldn't let him down by not finding more to turn in!

This week is pinewood derby and I have to trust that Zach will take pictures so I can post them. I will be at class so it's all on him! The cars came out great so now we will see how well they race!