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!