Christmas Eve 2009

We spent our Christmas Eve here at home in North Carolina.  It was quiet and nice.  The kids got a few things and ENJOYED each and every one of them. 

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

                    Our own lil Santa...haha.

Also our own lil Mrs. Clause, who passed out the Christmas gifts.

Neat, a puzzle with a picture of the kids on it.

Cool, we can be the Patton Family Band now...haha                                                                                                                                                             

The new luggage will come in handy, since we travel so much.

By the look on his face, tells me that he loves that gift...  :)  That makes me so happy for him.

No, that is not my Christmas gift.  That is Miss. Dixie, one of my parents little Yorkies. 

                   

Renee starting up the band...haha.

Casey is the best singer so far, she got 99%.  Way to go Casey!  Maybe she can support us oneday, when she is a professional singer. 

Why does the boy need any gifts or toys???  He loves the boxes they come in just as much.  :)

When he got out of the box, he thought he would give Band Hero a try.  It is hard, but maybe we can all learn to use it. 

VERY Happy Patton Kids, with their gifts.  Just a few, but that's enough.  They know that is not what CHRISTmas is all about anyways. 

Christmas at school!

Casey's class had a Christmas party and exchanged gifts.  It was nice!  Here are a few pictures from the event. 

Mrs. Doleski's 5th Grade classroom tree,she let the kid decorate it. 

Casey opening a gift from a classmate. 

Mrs. Doleski opening her gifts.  We got her a pack of printer paper, I know she needed it.  The school only provides a little bit, so I gave it out to 9 teachers. 

Turkey Recipes

Turkey Recipes by Kindergarters...

Justin Patton

-Go to Sam's Club and get a turkey.  You will need to fry it for 30 minutes.  Let it cool off and then eat it.  It is good!

Steven (Justin's BEST friend from Pre-K)

-My Daddy and I go to the woods to get the turkey.  Cook it in the oven for 30 minutes.  Put hot sauce on it for mama and daddy.  I will serve it to my family.  It taste good!

Nakirah

-I get my turkey from Dollar Tree.  I will eat it and serve the turkey to people.  It taste good!

Madison

-Go to a turkey field, find and grab the turkey you want and then take it home.  Cook it in a pot in the oven with salt and pepper for 20 minutes.  Put the turkey on a plate, cut it, and then serve.  It will taste good and juicy, kinda like chicken.

Destiny

-I will get a turkey out of my tree.  Then you cook it with sausage, ketchup and biscuits.  Cook it all day long.  Eat it all up.  It tastes good!

Skyler

-You get a turkey from Wal-Mart.  Then you cook it outside for 30 minutes.  Take it out with gloves.  Put hot sauce on it and serve the turkey on plates.  Ring the bell when it is time to eat.  It will taste hot!

Maddie

-I get a turkey from Wal-Mart.  I cook it in the oven for 6 hours.  Then I put sugar on it and cut it up.  I serve it to my family.  It tastes good!

Liam

-You get a turkey from Wal-Mart.  Cook it in the sun for 100 hours.  You set the table while the turkey is cooking.  When it is done you eat.  It tastes chewy!

Stella

-You get the turkey from outside.  You cook it at Wal-Mart.  Then I serve it outside and do a turkey dance.  My turkey tastes delicious!

Ian

-You buy a turkey from Wal-Mart.  Put it in the oven for 10 seconds.  Then let it cool off and bring friends over to the house so they can eat it.  It is tastes good!

Friday Night Bowling!

On Friday nights, I (Renee) bowls in a league at Northwest Annex (the base Luke was stationed at).  While I bowl the kids have to entertain theirselfs and so far so good.  There are other folks there with kids and they all seem to play well together. 

Here is how they entertain theirself most of the time...

Casey, Chester (beside Casey), Justin (across from Casey) and ?

...by playing their DS's.  I know, it isn't the greatest way to spend time together, but if they are happy, then I am happy.  HAHA!

On this past Friday night, Luke was teaching Justin how to play a new game he got for his new DS.  I am happyy that he knows now, so next time, he can be happy playing with the big kids...haha.

The Sailor

It is the sailor, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the sailor, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the sailor, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the sailor, not the lawyer, Who has given us a right to a fair trail.

It is the sailor, like Luke, who salutes the flag.

Nor'Ida

I'm sure most of yall know by now about the bad storm we had last week.  Well, when I was able to get out, I took a few pictures to share.  We didn't get it as bad as a neighbors in Virginia did. 

They called the storm Nor'Ida, since it was an Nor'Easter mixed with (Hurrican)Ida.  I don't care what you call it, it took the kids out of school for 2 days and damage for some folks.

*One of our trash cans had the lid left off and I it was filled almost half-way with water.  I had to lean it off to dump it out.

If you look close, you will see a white thing sticking up out of the water.  Well that a tool box that is on the back of a truck.  Yes, there is a truck under that water.  The man is lucky to believe alive.  After he went off the road (here on Fire Tower), his truck wasn floating down stream and he got out and grab a tree limb, until someone driving by seen him.

This is where the man, went off in to the water.  Usually that water isn't very high at all, but as you can see it is coming out of the river banks. 

This is up a few roads from us.  Oh yes, we are VERY thankful that we didn't get any damage at our place.  The day I took this picture was 2 days after the storm was over and they still couldn't park in their drive way.

This truck sets at the back of the property of the picture above.  Even if the truck was a junk, I am sure they had other stuff back there that was good.

This house sets right beside the one I just showed you above.  I think the pond across from them overflowed a bit and came over the road to their yard.

Look where the leaves line up in that yard, that is where the water line was.  Yes, it flooded this whole road.  It was closed for a few days.  I drove down it just 2 days after the storm and it was still half covered.

This is the same road from above.  They had to put poles with (flags) on the end, so everyone knew where the road was.  That is just too crazy!

Hatchet

The 5th grade class that Casey is in read/listened to this book together. 

It was a good book.

Well after it was over, they had to do a project on a part of the book. 

Casey did her project on the lean-to that Brian stayed in, while he was in the woods for 54 days.

*Don't forget to notice the hatchet he has in his hand!

Here is another view of the lean-to. 

Notice his shirt laying there.  It was used to collect berries in.

What is that smell?

The other day, we had a BAD smell in the Laudry Room.  I thought maybe a field mouse had gotten in the back of the dryer, so I moved the dryer.  I didn't find any dead anything back there, but I did find a lot of other things. 

If you look close enough, you will see many hairbows and maybe a few other things - besides lent. 

I was glad I didn't find anything dead and also glad I moved the dryer, since it looked like it needed to be cleaned back there. 

Did you know that the #1 cause of house fires is too much dyer lint clogged in the dryer?

After washing up all the clothes, we figured the smell came from the dirty clothes, but we have never had a smell that bad from them before. 

Happy 6th Birthday Bubba!

In class today, they same 3 songs to him.

-Happy Birthday to You

-How Old Are You?

-God Bless You

Happy Birthday Justin!

Waiting on birthday dinner at Pizza Hut, watching TV.

At school, he had mini cupcakes and at home he had a mini cake and regular cupcakes.

*Look at what all that sugar did to him...haha.  If you look close enough you will see Luke on the computer screen. We had him online, while celerbating Bubba's birthday.  That was really neat!

We love you Justin! 

*If you can't see the pictures good enough, all you have to do is click on them for a better view. 

Pensacola Pelicans

No, I'm not talking about the baseball team in Pensacola FL.  I am talking about statues-like the Mermaids they have Norfolk, VA and the horses they have in Outer Banks, NC.

Dewey D. Pelican (library)

United States Marine Corps.

United States Coast Guard

United States Army

Jeremiah Pelican Lighthouse Keeper

(Pensacola Lighthouse)

*They have many many more, but we didn't go sreaching for them, these are just the ones we seen as we where going places.

Dinner at Luke's

What is this?  A bucket of ice or bread?  Well the bucket is suppose to be for ice, but Luke used it for bread to use for the Fondue. 

Since Luke's table doesn't have 4 chairs, we all gather around the coffee table and just sat where we could and enjoyed the dinner Luke made for us.

Reunion

Today, we got to visit some of Renee's cousins that we haven't seen in 10 years.  Yes, you are right, they do not remember meeting Casey and have never met Bubba. 

Left to Right...

Matthew (11), Tyler(14), Casey(10) and Justin(5) - missing (Robert -17)

Military Heros (Kids)

Before Luke left, I was starting to look for things for the kids and I to do to keep us busy and also some things for kids that has their military parent gone.

While searching the net, I came across a site that gave military hero packs to kids and so I emailed the lady and told her our story and here is what she sent the kids...

You are looking at the backpacks and everything that came in them.

Here is one of the jounals that the kids got and I gave it to them, right after we got back from Florida.  I wanted them to write in them everyday, so they can let their Dad know what has been going on, in case there is someting they forgot to tell him on the phone. 

Here is the backpack that will be for Justin, when I give it to him.

Here is the bigger backpack that will be given to Casey.

The first jounaling for Justin.

Casey's jounal is a little different, then Bubba's, but she likes it anyways.

Casey's jounal already had something written in there for her and she loved it.  She wants to write the person a Thank You note, but I don't know who it is.  This package of stuff came from the 4-H club in Northern Virginia.

Casey's first entry.

*I didn't give all the things to the kids at once, I am saving them for when they have 'down' days and need a little up lifting.