Boo!

This weekend was the Cheeze family's annual Pumpkin Carving extravaganza. You see, we love Halloween here at the Cheeze household. And by love, I mean build a coffin, plant a cemetery in your side yard, carve more than two pumpkins each, scare the neighbors kind of love. Bubba is always coming up with new ideas to turn our otherwise tasteful front yard into a den of spooks and goblins. This year it was the coffin. He got almost giddy when he came up with the idea and then maniacal laughter ensued when his creation was finished. BoyBoy has his very own fog machine - and not one of those wimpy ones you can get at the Target - an industrial, movie quality, timer activated, special juice fog machine. Add to all of that a green light bulb in the outdoor spots and folks, you have yourselves a good ole-fashioned fright fest.

Pumpkin Carving extravaganzas are our yearly excuse to pimp our house and (force)(trick) invite the neighbors over for a little carving fun.

Guts were coming out everywhere...

and creative pumpkins were emerging.

Some were spooky:

Others were kooky:

The hit of the evening was the uber-creepy graveyard after dark...

Happy Halloween!!

Foto(s) Friday

A House Divided...

It just feels right...

There is always a period of adjustment whenever you move...getting to know the area, meeting new people, finding the fastest route to Target. I usually enjoy this time because it is a time of relative anonymity. No one knows you yet and everything is strange and new and exciting. The longer we live this military life the less I have enjoyed those "getting to know you" times. If I couldn't remember General Whachamajigger's wife's name, I worked hard to come up with some catchy word association so that the next time I saw her I remembered her name rhymed with salmonella...Carmella? And that is what it became - work. It was hard work. The older my brain became and the more filled with names from previous places the harder it was to remember the names I should have remembered. Bubba was always great about introducing again..."You remember Mrs. Salmonella Whachamajigger, don't you, Wheezer?" I am always thankful for name tapes on uniforms, but they (and usually Bubba) aren't there when I run into someone at the commissary or the PX or, Heaven forbid under the dryer at the beauty salon. My old and feeble brain was tired of remembering all that stuff....

It is all different here. We are back in my hometown, in a home two blocks from my sister's home. BoyBoy has walked over to her house a million times (and I am NOT exaggerating) since we moved in here. This past weekend we were collapsed on the sofa after a long day of hanging blinds, unpacking boxes, moving furniture and all that other stuff when there was a rap on the window. BoyBoy said, "It's Cousie! Wait, its Cousie, Aunt S, & Uncle C!, Wait, it's everybody!!!" They had ridden their bikes with their neighbors to get ice cream and stopped by on the way home. How cool is that? How many times in this military life do we get to live that close to our relatives? (Whether we want to or not is another post for another day) As we all sat around our living room talking over the kids, I looked over to see my sister with her hand on the pregnant belly of her neighbor, my nephew talking about sports with Bubba and BoyBoy and my niece talking about the camp that she is going to this week. A warm glow came over me. This is why we are here. This is why we moved all those other times. This is why Germany the second time was so worth it. We deserve this and it just feels right.

Marathon Day

Whew! Yesterday was a marathon family fun day.

During PCS season, after living without a schedule and our stuff for a while, we get bored...bored, bored, bored. Bubba didn't have to go to work since the person he is replacing won't be back from TDY until Monday. So, we decided to get out of the house. The weather was beautiful, but HOT so that limited our choices. We had gone to the Mariner's Museum here in Newport News last week and noticed that they had paddle boats. They were cute - two pirate ships, a gondola, a Loch Ness monster, and the African Queen. We grabbed Nannie (my mom, who we are staying with) and went. We took the two pirate ships - complete with Jolly Roger flags and off we went. It was wonderful! We saw many, many turtles sunning themselves on logs. We saw a beautiful blue heron, who took off right in front of us. A pair of osprey were flying overhead fishing for their lunch. BoyBoy had a map of the lake and made sure we didn't venture outside the boundaries. Nannie instigated an epic naval battle when she stripped a gum tree of its gumballs and fired a warning shot across BoyBoy and Bubba's bow. A splash fight kept us all cool. We moored our galleons and went to pillage the cafe for drinks and cookies.

We weren't finished yet! Bubba and I are always challenging BoyBoy to step outside his comfort zone. He is cautious almost to a fault. Doesn't like to take unnecessary chances. He might have fun! So, we donned our swimsuits and headed to Water Country, U.S.A. We climbed the stairs to the first slide and after learning the ropes from the three boys in line in front of us, we chose our slide. BoyBoy chose the green one, I chose pink (of course!) and Bubba followed BoyBoy down the green one. At the bottom, BoyBoy was hooked. We slid on every slide in the place (except one - it was in total darkness - even I have my limits) and closed the place down. We might have to get season passes. It was a great time! BoyBoy can't stop talking about it....he dreamt about it last night.

I love days like this...I love being back in the states!

My Sister

Do you ever get the feeling that the only way to communicate with your family is through confrontation? I had such a conversation with my sister last night and realized that the best conversing we do is at the beach under the slight influence of some type of Anheuser Busch product. She and I are at the best of times the best of friends and at the worst of times our own worst enemies. I have looked up to my sister since the day I was born and it has taken me 39 years to realize that she is human just like me. We had a conversation last night that can only be described as cathartic. She is the Cancer survivor, larger than life, can do no wrong older sister. I have always lived in her shadow, wanting to be more like her, and struggling with my identity in our family. Last night, we solved all of that. She showed me that she is as vulnerable as I am and that she needs my support as much as I desired hers. We realized that as sisters we are in this together. We are lucky to have each other to navigate this life together. We can talk about our parents and how they drive us crazy and we are the only ones who understand what we are talking about. We realized that the sisterly bond is what makes us stronger. Our Husbands try to understand and support us but don't get the reason why we give each other so much slack. She is, at the same time, my hero, my inspiration, my straw that breaks my back, and my favorite soul. I am so glad to have her. I am sad that Boyboy will not have a sibling to commiserate with. She, whether she knows it or not, has shown me how to be strong, independent, and compassionate in the most dire of circumstances. I love my sister...she is the bomb.