England, baby!

Mark's branch manager came out today. For those not familiar with military-speak, he assigns all the people with Mark's job to different places where they are needed. And, we're going to ENGLAND!!!!

Wahooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

Next fall, we'll be Europe-bound. And the pets get to go- we were previously told Korea, where you can't take pets andwere pretty worried about leaving Cleo and Rocko.

What an awesome opportunity for the girls (and me!).

Best Christmas present EVER.

Photos from the Christmas show Saturday

Since Rowan has short hair, I couldn't do the traditional rhythmic gymnastics bun. I wassweating the whole hair thing- I am not very good at doing hair, that's why the girls have SHORT hair. But look how cute this little weave is! I am super proud of this!

Rowan did her routine in front of people for the first time- she was nervous, but did great! And now she isn't nervous about the upcoming meet, which is good.

The whole team did a darling routine to the James Bond theme.

This sport is so much fun to watch!

Rowan's Gymnastics routine!

Rowan had her "dress rehearsal" tonight, where she did the floor routine in her competition leotard to make sure everything works right, nothing is too tight, etc. I took the opportunity to videotape it, since at the meet in January I have no idea where we will be seated or what he lighting will be like. The video is not so great, because I didn't focus the camera- whoops. And, I am having a really hard time using my video editing program, got sick of it and gave up, so the first 45 seconds is pretty annoying: its me talking, moving, people walking in front of the camera, etc. But hang on- its worth it! You can get the general idea. I am so proud of her, she's only been learning it for a few weeks!

Enjoy!

December 6th photo

It was a snow day here for the whole neighborhood!

I sat around this morning, and at 10 I finally decided to go get dressed.As soon as I got upstairs, Gryphon came barrelling into the house yelling that there was a news reporter outside who wanted to interview them! I threw a sweater on over my pajamas and ran outside, where I was met by a fully-made-up, cute as a button blond reporter who wanted to tape the kids sledding. She interviewed the kids, and then ME! Sans make-up, hair crazy. If you've ever wondered why people on TV look like such morons, well, now you know!

The kids all came in for cocoa at 12, and we watched the news broadcast. Rowan's interview didn't make it to air, which was sad for her, since she is SO shy but wanted to be on TV. I have a feeling the runny nose may have gotten her axed! It was great fun for the kids to see themselves sledding and playing on TV!

December 5th

Yes, we got SNOW!! Only about an inch, but enough to cancel school. =)

We went and got a sled, but it was more mud-sliding than snow sliding!

Girls were thriled, I'm guessing you can tell that by the photos!

December 3rd Photo

OH Christmas tree...oh Christmas tree...We'll soon forget to water
How lover-ly
your branches be
soon to be brown
regretfully
Oh Christmas tree...oh Christmas tree...we should get ar-ti-ficial!

December 2nd photo

This (blurry) photo is Gryphon doing the 100 freestyle this morning. Her goggles flew off at the start, and so she did the whole race goggle-less. I was so proud, she didn't stop or break her stroke, just kept right on swimming! Shesaid her coach has them do drills with their goggles full of water so they get used to it if it ever happens. Smart coach!

Photo a Day in December

I'm trying for a photo-a-day again, for December's Holiday Happenings! Based on how crazy our months are in *general* and then adding the holidays to boot- I may be missing some days!

Here is December 1st:

Its the girls going down the stairs from the berthing deck to the hold on the USS Constellation in Baltimore Harbor. We're up in Maryland for a swim meet, and since driving alllll the way up here in the morning for warm-ups at 7 (!) am is a pain, we just spent the night tonight. Spent today tooling around Baltimore, and since Mark has never been we checked out the Constellation- he's into that stuff. Want to know something interesting? The USS Constellation is the last sail(powered) ship built by the USN, in 1854. It was used in WWII for 2 years as a flag ship for an admiral, because that would free up another (modern!) ship for use in the war effort. Hard to believe an admiral used a sailing gun sloop in 1942! I wonder if he used the Captain's potty- its a hole in a cupboard, surrounded by windows!

A few more of Baltimore Harbor: