A week with Steve

Well this past week Steve came home to be with us before he ships out. We didn't really do anything spectacular. We really like to just hang out as a family. But here are some pictures of our time as a family.

Here is Steve in the duffel bag that he bought. He was able to get in it, do you think it's big enough?









It's even big enough to pack up a couple boys... I'll keep that in mind.
James was asking for a fish tank, and Steve has been looking for a reason to get one (He just gets joy out of seeing it all together) So we have 6 new pets. This is what the boys named our fish. 'Stinky feet', 'Bala Shark' (that's the name of the one that is NOT the Bala Shark) 'George', 'Susan', 'Up', & 'Down'. I think this is why we don't let 3 and 4 year olds pick names!
Here is one that I got of James and Steve. Steve is showing where Afghanistan is on the map that James is holding.
Here is James at swim lessons. He did really well! He is fearless in the water, so it was time. I know the old fashion way is to just throw the kid in and hope they figure it out.... we'll I'M not that brave, and I've already seen James do that, and he just sinks. Isn't this a great picture?! The swim teacher took it for us.















While I was taking pictures of James swimming Tommy wanted me to take pictures of him so here are some of the pictures of Tommy.

He kept wanting me to take pictures of him laying down. So this one is for Tommy. I have to tell you that Tommy has turned into my hero! There was a fly in my hair and it wasn't flying. Tommy brushed it out of my hair while I screamed, and then got a tissue and picked it up and threw it away while I was still being grossed out that there was a non-flying fly in my hair! He has since picked up and gotten rid of the few random bugs around the house, and enjoys it! (yeah for boys!)

This is my favorite picture of my boys. The little boys wanted dad to come down and watch cartoons with them. It was really cute, and the boys couldn't get enough of him. Isn't this just priceless?

We went to the Zoo, and this time it was really good (not like the Kansas Zoo) and here is James showing Tommy the bird map to find the birds in the aviary area. This was a cute moment between the two of them.

Here is Tim while the other boys are making smooshed pennies. Which, by the way is the BEST souvenir, and you can't beat 51 cents!!! So we have been getting these where ever we go that have them.

Here is one last picture that we got at the Zoo. We were all tired (you can see it on the boys) but it was a good day!!

Here was the quote of the week....Steve and I went to get a new bed. We went after we took James to school so we had Tommy and Tim with us. Steve told Tommy that we were going to get a new bed...

Tommy: Are you going to get a bunk bed?

Steve: No, bunk beds are for kids.

Tommy: Oh, you're too big for the top bunk -huh?

It was really fun to have Steve home. It's just weird to think that I'm not going to see him again for 6 months (and then another 6 months after that)!! What comes after that? My best friend is going half way around the world and here I am... again. I guess we'll start counting down and waiting for that 2 weeks R&R time.