Welcome to the Club!

Today was a big day for the Stanford family, I paid my membership dues so I could belong to the "Mommy MiniVan Club." After much looking around, talking, and a near purchase of a crossover, Randy and I (reluctantly) decided a minivan was the most practical choice for our growing family.  Needless to say, this isn't a club I ever envisioned myself belonging as I was "never going to own a minivan".  HA!  The sacrifices we make for our kids, right??

This morning, I parted ways with our "Lexy" and in return got the"Awesome Odyssey." It was rough drive to the Honda dealership; I cried most of the way to the dealership as I believe the reality of what this minivan means is starting to set in...not only am I losing my "Sexy SUV" but soon the Stanford clan will be growing by two making the van more of necessity than a choice of auto to drive!

I am still warming up to "AO" and it will probably be awhile before I "love" her as I have been told by all the Mommies in the MiniVan club I will.  After a 1/2 day of ownership, one thing is for certain, I can already tell how much easier my life is going to be hauling all these kiddos around in the Odyssey.

And at least one member of the Stanford family was happy to meet "AO" and welcomed her with open arms into the family...Leighton! She gave it the thumbs up especially when she figured out she could watch movies in it!!

Hello "AO", welcome to your new family

Good Bye Lexy, we will miss you :(

All nice and snug in her new home

Mom, I think this car is #1!



Yep, she passes the Leighton test!



Christmas 2010

The Holiday season has come and passed and our house is filled with more toys than one little girl knows what to do with.  We had a great Christmas and Leighton was spoiled by Santa, her aunts, and grandparents!  (Thank you everyone!) The boys even got their own share of loot!

Leighton had a blast...while she doesn't understand the concept of "Santa" she surely understands PRESENTS!!  She loved opening them, arranging them, giving them out and mostly just saying "presents"! It was such a joy to watch Christmas thru her eyes and her excitement when she opened her gifts. I can't wait till next year when Daddy and the boys can join us in celebrating!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and you were able to spend it with the ones you love.

First meeting with Santa

MOMMMMMY

2nd attempt a little bettter

This Santa attempt went a lot better

Mommy and the boys -- 29 weeks



Christmas 2010



Papa and Nana with the grandbabies

Great grandkids -- Nana's side

I'm taking my loot and leaving

Hurry up Papa....Santa has been here more presents to open--Christmas morning

Nana saying "Christmas is on hold till eveyone catches up!" L didn't like that suggestion!

Oh my WEEBLES!!!

Look who is so pretty in her new "prettys"

 

Christmas 2010 = success!



A Week in the Life of Randy courtesy of "Flat Macy"

I am sure a few you, like I, often wonder what Randy's life is like over there in Afghanistan, we now know courtesy of "Flat Macy"!  Randy excitedly agreed to show "Flat Macy" around Afghanistan as a project for a co-worker's daughther who is in 2nd grade.  She was beyond thrilled he agreed showing "her" around such a far away place for her school project.

Here is Randy's letter and photos to Macy. I have to say Randy went all out on this and I know there will be a pretty excited 2nd grader when she gets her letter/photos from him this week! Enjoy!
(Christmas photos to follow later this week)

15 December 2010

Dear Macy,

I think that Flat Macy has been on quite an adventure; she has been to a very dangerous place, very far from Iowa.  Macy traveled to Afghanistan.  Afghanistan is 10.5 hours or time zones from Iowa, so when it is 10:00 in the morning in Iowa it is 8:30 at night  in Afghanistan.  I tried to take a lot of pictures with Macy in various places; a couple times I forgot to get her out, but most of the time I remembered.

Macy spent about a week in Afghanistan with the US Army, so some of the pictures have guns in them.  I want to ensure you that Macy did not touch any guns because they are very dangerous and should only be handled by adults that are properly trained on how to use them.

Macy flew into Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan which is located in the Northeast portion of Afghanistan.  I will try to explain the pictures I took in the order in which they happened.

 

 Office- is at my desk in my office, this is where I first met Macy.  I have about 90 Soldiers that work for me.  This means I have to spend a lot of time at my desk; Macy helped me get some work done so we could go out on a mission the next day.

 

Dinner- is Macy having dinner, we only have one place to eat so we eat all of our meals there; I’m sure it is like the lunch room where you eat at school only larger and with more food.  This day we had homemade pineapple and Canadian bacon pizza and a little prime rib with Cranberry juice to drink.

 

Ping pong- is Macy playing a little ping pong.  Soldiers have to have time to relax and I like to do that playing a little ping pong.

Bed time- is Macy on the top bunk getting ready for bed.  This day we had to stay in a large room that sleeps 50 people, it get kind of crowded sometimes and there is not much privacy, but we only sleep like that if we are visiting a new place.

Driving- is Macy behind the wheel of a vehicle called an MATV, it is very large and very safe, it protects us from explosions.

Rudolph- is Macy with a Rudolph the red nosed reindeer that is on the front of an MATV.

Turret- is Macy in a gunner’s turret; Afghanistan is dangerous so we have to have a Soldier ride in the turret to protect us while we drive.

 MATV riding- is Macy in the seat of an MATV getting ready to leave Bagram Airfield and visit some small  towns.

Sia Sang- is a picture if a town named Sia Sang, as you can see Afghanistan is very hilly and has lots of rocks and sand.  The houses are made very different than the houses in America

Afgh1- is a picture of a local Afghan in a small town with a couple of kids in the background.  It also shows that Afghanistan can be very pretty.

Kids2- is some local village kids that like to walk around with us when we are in town.  They are fascinated  by Americans.  We always give them candy, but they really like it when we give them ink pens.  Pens are very hard for them to get so we try to give them pens when we have extras.  Even though it looks nice here, it is getting cold and is almost winter; Afghan children do not go to school in the winter because they have to walk, sometimes 2 miles because they do not have cars to drive

Dandar- is a picture of the country side in Afghanistan.  There are lots of hills, but not very many roads, most Afghan people cannot afford cars and the roads that they do have are not very good.

 Kids1- is a picture of Army Soldiers and Afghan police handing out supplies to local children and adults.  We get lots of packages full of supplies to hand out to the local people, many people here are very poor so everything we give them really helps them to live a better life

Cave 1 and 2- is a picture if Macy hanging out in a cave.  With all of the hills and mountains in Afghanistan there are a lot of caves throughout the country.

 Kabul- is a picture of Macy driving into the capital city of Afghanistan, Kabul.

  Patrol- is Macy out in some very rugged terrain in Afghanistan with some of my Soldiers.

Poly is a picture of me when I forgot Macy, sorry..  I wanted to show this picture so you can see that Afghanistan is not all rocks and sand.  You can see the river behind me and the mountains in the distance.  Afghanistan is very green with trees in places that have a water source like a river or lake in the area, if there is no water then all you see is dirt and rocks.

I know I wrote a lot but since Macy traveled so far from home I wanted to make sure you knew what she was up to.  We were very busy and had a safe and fun time.