Year In Review

Alright it is New Year's Eve and since I didn't write a Christmas letter this year I have been asked to write a year in review. So here we go!

The year started off on a somber note when my grandma passed away on January 24th. She was my role model. She was always loving, caring and strong in her faith. Even in her death she was graceful and beautiful.

Scott has spent his year working. If he wasn't underway on work-ups for deployment he was working his part-time job. He is a supervisor for Elite, the security company that works all the Padre and Charger games. Scott loves baseball so it really isn't work for him. In May Scott came down with Bells Palsey. He has battled it since then. While he has had a good amount of recovery it looks like he will not have a full recovery. He is now deployed and will hopefully return home before his 40th birthday.

I am still working at the girl's school, Christ Lutheran School. I am the kindergarten and first grade aide. I love my job! The work itself is fun and easy. As well I get to see the girls during the day. I did give up my position as Girl Scout leader for Sami's troop this year. But now I am the Family Readiness Leader for Scott's ship. It is a hard job but worth it. This year marked 15 years of marriage for Scott and I. I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly!

Samantha just turned ten and is in fourth grade. She continues to keep her grades high and enjoys reading. Her girl scout troop is getting ready to go on their first camp out next month. She is counting down the days until Tiger Cruise. She can't wait to fly to Hawaii and join her dad onboard the Tarawa for a week. Sam is quickly becoming a young woman. She helps out around the house and as I type is helping her Grandma cook dinner.

Meaghan is six and in first grade. She loves her teacher and friends but is at school to socialize not work. However when she puts her mind to it she is very good at her school work. This year she joined a Brownie troop and really loves it. She is one of a kind. She is witty and way too smart for her own good! Life is her way or the highway. She is so stubborn she even sleeps with her arms crossed!

We had a good time this summer spending a week in Mammoth with my sister and John and my parents. We spent my birthday at Bodie exploring the ghost town. We really enjoyed our time there and hope to make another trip this summer.

I know I will soon be writing my 2008 year in review. Time goes by so fast. I wish you all a wonderful 2008!

Lions, Tigers, but no Bears, oh my!

Today we went to the Wild Animal Park. It is a beautiful time of the year to go, if you don't mind the Santa Ana's. It has changed a lot since we were last there. The new Safari Tour seems to get you closer to the animals but you have to pay extra to ride it. The best part of the day was seeing a squirrel run in front of the rhinos to get to the food. Scott you would have loved it! Only we would see a squirrel amongst the wild animals. I was a bit on edge at the lion camp. The one lion keep staring at me the entire time we stood there. At one point Sami stood in front of me because it started to bother her too. I'm sure the lion was thinking, "Ah, an appetizer before dinner!". The gorillas were anti-social. The elephants, well, their elephants. Although there were quite a few new baby elephants. And of course the meercats were a big hit. The one rhino was the last of his kind and they said the females have no interest in him. Talk about hard knocks! The giraffes were tall, 18 feet tall to be exact. Oh, and as we were leaving I was buzzed twice by a crane. All in all it was a good day, however I do think that the zoo is a much better place to visit. Besides, it's World Famous!

Christmas 2007

Wow the New Year is upon us. I hope everyone had a Christmas full of fun and great memories. We were very lucky to have Scott home for Christmas. It has been a wonderful holiday season having him home but tomorrow he must return to the ship. I know it has been hard for him. Nobody wants to come home because your mom is sick. However she seems in good spirits and we hope that the treatments are working. My parents came over and spent Christmas here with us. My Dad and I made an outstanding dinner. The girls are now taking turns staying over at Grandma's and just enjoying the rest of their vacation. They got new bikes for Christmas and living in San Diego they have had ample opportunities to ride them. And when it gets too cold and dark outside they retire to Sami's room to play air hockey. Now can I tell you how excited Scott and I are about the air hockey game? We could play for hours! It's sometimes hard to remember it isn't our toy. I will miss having him home but at least I still have to good opponents here with me. Scott will be going back to the Tarawa so his new "old" address is:

MM2 (SW) Robert S. Moore

Eng. Dept. MP2 Div.

Uss Tarawa LHA-1

FPO AP 96622-1600

Email: moorer@lha1.navy.mil

Oh, Mattie- we got an 98% on "our" mission! They also get a language grade on it for which she received 100%!

San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo

The best thing about 4th grade is California history! Or at least in my opinion. I am a huge California history buff!!! This weekend was full with Christmas parties and what not. Rosie, our little girl kitty, spent the weekend in and out of the vets. Luckily she will soon be a happy kitty again. Okay who am I kidding? I don't think she is or ever was happy. But by far the best part of this weekend was finishing our mission project. And as any parent knows it really was "our" project. Sami is a very creative girl. Give her paper and tape and she will make you the Taj Mahal. She wanted to do the Carmel Mission as did two other kids. They had to draw for it and she won. Being that she is the only kid in her class born near that mission I think it is perfect that she gets to do the report on it. By Friday her church was built and the report almost done. We have done some alteration though. We added to the church and the report. It is amazing how the details completely escaped her this time around. I hope she is as excited to turn in the mission as Scott and I are. I can't wait to see "our" grade! April, any ideas on which mission we should start building for Meaghan? I think we proved that it wasn't Mission Impossible like Scott and Dad thought it would be.

She's a big girl now!

Today was a big day for Samantha. Today she got her military ID. You have to be 10 before you can get it. She has waited for this day for at least a year! She can now buy things at the exchange without an adult. She can go to the rec center and check out equipment. And all the other great perks that come with the ID. I have not seen her so excited in a while. Well, there was the day at Disneyland when she saw Miley Cyrus! Anyway, she went into the office with her Dad and not even 10 minutes later returned showing off her new ID. She promptly put it in her wallet and displayed it with great pride. Of course now Meaghan is miffed because now Sami can do things she can't. Only 3 1/4 more years Meaghan!

You Say It's Your Birthday!

Well I don't know when it happened but Samantha turned 10 today! Wow! That was a quick ten years! She took all her girlfriends to get manicures and then went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. The day has been full of phone calls, cards, gifts and well wishes. Oh how much fun it is to be 10. She was really glad that her Dad was her to celebrate with her. We still don't know when he will have to go back but are hoping for some time after Christmas. Exactly ten years ago I was going in for an emergency c-section. I was scared not because of the surgery but because I was about to be a mom. Looking back at it I wish I could do it all again. Samantha- I know that growing up isn't easy and that sometimes we butt heads. However I hope you know how much joy you bring to our lives. I couldn't have asked for a better first born. I am so proud of all of your accomplishments and look forward to watching you grow into a beautiful young lady. Happy Birthday Goose!

Birthdays, Anniversary & Disneyland - Oh My!

Okay I am really bad at blogging. Almost as bad as Pat is at typing. Mattie, when do you find the time to do this? Well I will start by wishing Aunt Sharon a very Happy Birthday! I'm glad your birthday follows our anniversary so I never forget. And yes yesterday was Scott and I's 15th anniversary. We exchanged very loving emails. You have to love Navy life! It has been a fast 15 years. I feel like we just got married. Now if only we looked like we did 15 years ago! I look forward to the next 15. Oh and let's not forget that today is Oscar's 10th birthday. Happy Birthday Oscar! I guess that means I only have 2weeks to plan Sami's party. Well last Sunday we went to Disneyland for our annual Christmas trip. Even though we do it every year there is always something new to do or experience. This year the girls were beside themselves because Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana, was recording a performance for the Christmas Day special. This year we saw the lights go on at Small World. As you can tell Small World is not Samantha's favorite ride. Every year they do "snow" after the fireworks but this year they have decided to do it throughout the night. So shortly after watching the lights go on they went off and after a little conversation between a child and their grandma over the speakers it started to snow. It caught everyone by surprise. It was magical. Then while waiting for the parade to start we saw a guy propose to his girlfriend in front of the castle. Lucky for him she said yes. And as always the fireworks were great. I love going at Christmas because it isn't about standing in line and riding all the rides. It is about seeing the reindeer and decorating cookies and just sharing the spirit of Christmas.

FYI

Just a quick post to let everyone know Scott's address. One of the most valued things while away from home is mail. Email is great but snail mail is wonderful too. Especially with the holidays coming up. It is always nice to get Christmas cards from the people back home. As a matter of fact Scott has already requested a care package. I hope you all have a chance to drop him a letter or card.

MM2 (SW) Moore, Robert S.
USS Germantown LSD 42
Eng. Dept. Div. Oil Lab
FPO AP 96666-1730

We Love You Scott

Well after months of work ups and thinking about this horrible day it is here. We got up at the crack of dawn and headed down to pier 6 to see Scott off this morning. I did surprisingly well myself. The same cannot be said about the girls. Meaghan started crying almost as soon as we got out of the car. Samantha wasn't any better. As a matter of fact she cried almost non-stop for 2 hours. It is never easy to say goodbye but at least I know what to expect while we are apart. I was reminded several times today of that first time Scott left. To see all of these really young women, a lot with babies, standing on the pier sobbing and scared really pulls at my heartstrings. They really don't know what comes next. The lucky ones will go home to their families. However at the end of this deployment they will all have grown and become extremely strong. Being deployment number 4 doesn't make this any easier for me. It actually makes it harder in some ways. While I don't look forward to the challenges ahead I know that I am strong enough to handle them. I too will soon start counting the days until my husband returns. Some things never change! Scott has already called home a few times and is doing well. He has asked me to pass on his email to everyone - MOORER@lsd42.navy.mil . He is settling into his "new" ship but can't wait to get back to the Tarawa. Hopefully in a few months he can say goodbye to the Germantown and return to his ship. We just want you to hurry home Scott. On a happier note - we want to wish Jade a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can't believe you are ten already. That means Sami is soon to follow. Would you two stop growing up? We hope you had a great birthday and hope to see you soon. Oh and for Mattie- you wanted to know about Meag's bangs. Well I have been trying to even them out as they grow. Right before school started she thought she would try and cut them off because she was tired of having bangs. A picture really is worth a thousand words!

This is Halloween, This is Halloween

Okay I know Halloween was days ago but I just now have the time to do this. So consider it a late treat. The night before Halloween Scott and I stayed up until 11pm to finish all the outdoor decorations. Being that he won't be home for Christmas Scott kinda went over board on Halloween. But it was great! The girls had a great time carving their pumpkins. Samantha did most of hers by herself. I don't know why but I still can't believe she is as old as she is. Meaghan drew hers out and I carved it. As always Halloween was big deal in our neighborhood. We had sooooo many people come to the house. We gave out over 400 pieces of candy and could have given out at least another 200. We had lines going from the front door to the end of the driveway. Even after we ran out of candy we still had people coming up and taking pictures in front of our house. After taking the girls out trick or treating Scott dressed up and scared the people coming to our house. The girls had fun trick or treating but would rather stay home and give out the candy. As a matter of fact Meaghan said she just wants to hand out candy next year and bypass the whole trick or treating thing herself. I was glad that the costume debate ended up without any major meltdowns. Meaghan decided to be cheerleader again and Samantha went as Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean. All and all it was a good night. Now if only I can get Scott to put away the decorations he took down before he leaves on Monday!

Halloween is here!

This past weekend was filled with Halloween activities. Friday night Scott and Meaghan started putting out the outdoor decorations. In our family outdoor illumination is a big deal! And now the tradition is being passed on. However I think Meaghan was more interested in using the ladder to do her Sharpay (from High School Musical) impression. Notice Samantha is nowhere to be found. The moment the decorations came out she went to her friends house. Smart girl! Scott is still working on the decorations. There are certain items that can't go out until Halloween but the pre-staging has already begun in the garage. We also attended Jazlyn's Halloween themed birthday party. For this event Meaghan went in her Mulan costume. Sami was a gypsy . Somehow we didn't get a picture of that. Sunday after church we took the girls to Sea World for Trick or Treating. Meaghan was a Chargers cheerleader and Samantha changed her mind at the last minute and decided against the baby outfit she had brought. So she kept on her church clothes, grabbed an old cell phone and told people she was an agent. That was my doing because I jokingly gave her the idea not thinking she would take me seriously. While at Sea World they had a chance to feed the dolphins. However I think Scott enjoyed this activity the best! This month has been full of different activities for which my girls believe they need a different costume each time. My favorites are still Pippi Longstocking and Fern from Charolette's Web. I hope the girls know how lucky they are to have a Grandma willing to make these costumes every year. Thank you Grandma!!Thanks again April (Ito) for letting us borrow your pink pig! Somehow with all of their different costumes they still aren't sure what they are going to be for Halloween! And they are still trying to talk me into getting them something new. So now we are back at school after a week off due to the fires. It would have been more fun to drop them off and go rather than stay and work. But all the kids were good today and anything beats being stuck at home wondering if you'll be the next to be evacuated.

In the Beginning...

Well I have finally done it. I have my own blog. I get hours of enjoyment reading everyone elses so I guess it is my turn. First of all we have survived the fires! They have made a mess of San Diego and I feel so terrible for the hundreds of people who have been impacted by them. I can only hope there will never be a fire this bad here again. Now on to happier things. We spent Sunday at Disneyland, "The Happiest Place On Earth". It was however the first day of the Santa Anas and even Winnie the Pooh could not have imagined a more blustery day. Still it was a great day. The lines weren't too long and the parks were all dressed up for Halloween. Meaghan was happy she got to ride Tower of Terror. And Sami got to ride the Orange Stinger which made her day. I can't wait for Christmas when it becomes "The Merriest Place On Earth". Of course by the end of the day when you have been beaten up by the wind and have walked all over both parks does anyone really live happily ever after?