Merry Christmas

Here is a before picture that we took on Christmas eve after we placed all the presents under the tree.
Matthew got to be the present giver and handed all the presents to everybody and opened the presents for them too. I think that this will be the only year he gets to do that since Corinne will probably want to open her own presents next year. This year she was content just to play with Matthew's presents or whatever happened to be lying nearby.Grandpa Medford received a Navy shirt and a USS North Carolina hat from Santa. He was so excited he couldn't wait to put on his shirt.

USS North Carolina

Jeremy is finally back from sea trials. If you look closely at the pictures you may be able to spot him among the sailors on the sail. Jeremy was one of the few selected to be on the sail as the boat goes in and out of port. It is supposed to be an honor, but Jeremy wasn't thrilled about it. It just means he has to stand up there in the cold wind. The link http://www.nn.northropgrumman.com/news/2007/121407.html has more information about the boat and pictures and videos of the occasion.

My Sailor

For those of you who don't know, Jeremy is in the navy. This picture is a little outdated since it was taken at boot camp. All he wears now are his "utiliies" which aren't as traditional, he is a higher rank, and has 4 additional ribbons/medals. I am writing this entry as a tribute to my sailor husband. Sometimes I don't enjoy being a "navy wife" and enduring the many many long hours that Jeremy spends away (it has been more than 80 hours a week for the past 7 months), but as I think about it I am very proud of his choice to serve the country. For the past 4 1/2 years that he has been in the navy, he has advanced quickly and has received numerous awards and commendable letters from the captain and even the admiral. There's so many that they've ended up in a pile under his nightstand. We're trying to figure out a place to put them that doesn't look tacky or boastful (as perhaps I'm being right now). He continues to receive the highest possible level in each of his evaluations which helps him continue to advance the ranks. He has become an invaluable member of his current boat (submarines are called "boats" in the navy) the USS 777 North Carolina which will be commissioned at the beginning of May. Recently Jeremy has learned more about his naval heritage with the passing of his grandmother 2 weeks ago. He learned that his father's father was in the navy and was stationed at Pearl Harbor on the USS Pennsylvania when the Japanese bombed it. Jeremy's father also was in the Naval Reserves. I am proud that my husband loves our country so much that he is willing to spend 7 years of his life to serve it and to sacrifice some time away from his family for our freedom. Thanks Jeremy!

Fun in the leaves

Matthew and I had fun cleaning up the leaves today. Sometimes Matthew was more of a hindrance than a help, but at least he had fun. After I cleaned it all up, the wind blew and a whole new batch of leaves blew onto the back porch that I just swept. I guess Matthew will have another opportunity to play in the leaves.

A Day at the Park

Every once in awhile we'll have a nice warm winter day. Yesterday was one of those days with a high in the 70s so we decided to take advantage of it and spend the afternoon at one of our favorite parks--Fort Fun. We started off by feeding and watching the ducks while on the pier and enjoyed the swings for awhile.
Fall came a bit later this year and this is one of the few trees left with all of its leaves.
The park sits right on the James River and this is the sun setting over it.
Here's the fort part of Fort Fun. If you look closely you can see Matthew ducking inside under the "65" right when I decided to take the picture.

Missing his cousins

Since we've been home Matthew has been missing his cousins tremendously. He was so used to having so many kids around to play with especially his fellow red-head, Will, and Tommy. So, Matthew has resorted to making Corinne be his new playmate (we hoped this would happen with the two being ony 19 1/2 months apart). However, his version of playing isn't exactly what Corinne expects. He likes to lay on top of her, steal her toys, bury her in pillows or his blanket Sometimes he is very sweet to her and hands her a toy to play with and gets her to crawl around the house with him. Those are the sweet moments that happen less than I'd like. I usually hear a scream and a cry and look over and see Corinne crawling out from under pillows or Matthew throwing his letters at her. We're still working on getting along and sharing.
Here's Matthew watching "Super Why" with Tommy and smelling his favorite blanket. No matter how often I wash that thing he makes it smell a certain way within a few hours. It was so nasty after our plane ride home with being dragged around the airport and being thrown up on that it went straight to the washing machine when we got home. But don't worry--he had it smelling like normal by morning!