A Week of Firsts

I have been on a bit of a blogging break. We had a few non-eventful first few weeks of August, and then suddenly, we were busier than we have been all summer. Like most sports loving people in the World, we have been glued to the Olympics every night. We joke that Sophie will be the next Shawn Johnson, with her small, powerful body. Ben has trouble pronouncing Olympics, and instead calls them the Olymfics. He isn't super interested in the sporting events, but he did check out an 'Olymfics' book from the library that he and Nick read every night.

So, I am going to do my best and play catch up for the past ten days or so.

We have had a lot of 'firsts' here in the last few weeks. I recently signed Sophie up at the Armed Forces YMCA, which is an hourly watch care place for military kids. She has been twice now, and has a great time playing with all the other one year olds. I was worried that she would cry when I left, but both times she has been so busy checking out the toys and kids that she hasn't even noticed that I am leaving. It has allowed me to have a few hours of free time and do some things that aren't easy to do with a child in tow.

You all know that Nick has a new job, and with that comes lots of changes for both Nick and I. Last Sunday we attended our first Hail and Farewell with his new unit. This is a time where the unit says goodbye to departing families and hello to the new ones. The only difference this time is that we are among just a handful of Captains (four I think!), and nearly everyone else is either a Colonel or General. I was very intimidated to attend, but we had a nice time. This week I also attended my first Ladie's Coffee for Nick's new unit. This is the group that consists of just the wives of the soldier's who work with Nick. Again, I was scared, but it all turned out ok. And finally, for the first time here at Fort Riley, I decided to join the Officer Spouses Club on post. I have done it at other posts in the past, but never here at Riley. Most of my friends have moved or are moving, and this will be a way for me to meet some new people.


Last weekend we had the pleasure of having the Murray family visit a few times. Many of you know that they stayed with us for a few weeks last fall, but this was the first visit for Alexis, now almost 10 months old. The kids had a ball playing, especially Ian. Ian was nearly beside himself with excitement at how many cars Benny has to play with. At one point, I think we were all a little worried that he might hyperventiate saying "Cars, cars, baby car, truck, cars, cars, cars!" He was especially thrilled with a magnetic car that Ben has that will race up the fridge or metal doors. I tried to get a video of him, but he was just too excited to hold still. He kept saying "Car, door, car door, door car, car, car, car!" Needless to say, Ian slept well that night after playing with Ben's cars, and sure enough Julie said he woke up saying "Car, car, car!"



A few days later, Julie brought the kids over to play again while Brian was at work. Ian was sad to find out that most the cars were "Night, night", as Ben was sleeping in an abnormally long time that morning. Luckily, Ben woke up a little bit before they had to go pick up Brian, and Ian was able to get some car time. Meanwhile, Ian and Sophie played, and Sophie showed Ian one of her favorite spots to hang out-inside our leather ottoman. We had a great time visiting with the Murray's, and we look forward to seeing them again in November when Brian comes home from Iraq for good!

Last Wednesday was the much anticipated first day of preschool for Benny. He wore his favorite camo shorts and new tennis shoes and was so proud to carry his new red backpack. He is really into the color red lately, which is a nice change from brown. (What other four year old loves brown?) However, he decided to wear his favorite brown polo shirt, a compromise since I wouldn't let him wear a t-shirt on the first day. He is making lots of new friends, and I am having a hard time keeping them staight. He goes to school every afternoon, so there are different kids on MWF than there are on TTh. So far he is friends with a boy named Bryce who also goes everyday, Nicky Hogan and another 'new' Emma. We know four Emma's now, and Ben has a different name for each of them to keep them straight. On Tuesday's and Thursday's Ben is friends with "the twin in the purple striped shirt". I will have to learn what his name is tomorrow when we see him again. Funnily enough, Bryce told his mom that Ben was his twin and his new best friend. It looks like they are going to have a lot of fun this year.

Here are Benny and Nicky Hogan. They know each other well, but this is the first year they have been in the same preschool class.

Finally, to finish up this week, Benny had his first sleepover! In a previous blog I had mentioned that our neighbors John and Wendy had moved, and that Ben really misses their kids, Jordan and Anna. On Saturday they came back for a visit! John and Wendy had a wedding to attend, so we volunteered to take the kids for the night. Benny was so excited to have his favorite friends spend the night. They all insisted on sleeping together on the floor-with Benny in the middle. We kept them up late with the idea that they would be really tired and crash and hopefully sleep well. Luckily, we were right! At 10 we laid them down, read a story and said goodnight. There was about 5 minutes of chatter, and then silence until 7:30 the next morning. All the kids had a really great time and look forward to doing it again.

More first moments to come!