I cannot believe how fast time seems to be flying this month!  We are half way through December!  I realize it’s been a while since I’ve updated this webpage and I apologize. It seems that I am MORE busy now then when I was working!  I’ve been actively searching for a job but there isn’t much that pays well around here.  I’m also tying to get this house cleaned out but it seems to be more of a task then I had planned - but I’m trucking along. We went to Ohio to visit my mom for Thanksgiving and it turned out great! We were in Ohio for the biggest game of the season for OSU (Ohio State vs Michigan) and of course O-H-I-O prevailed and I won the bet - pay up Geno!

DERRICK

Derrick has been doing pretty well.  He enjoyed being in Cleveland for Thanksgiving. He started basketball after a short break from football. He is really talented in basketball and I really enjoy watching him play.  He received his grade card for the 1st grading period and he got ALL A’S!  We are really proud of him and hope he continues to keep up the good work.  He got his interim report for this grading period and he had all A’s and 2 B’s.  The B’s were in Reading and Social Studies.  I picked him up early from school this past Tuesday. He had a slight fever, headache and sore throat.  A little after 1am Wednesday he was throwing up and was having a hard time swallowing.  I woke Xavier up and we all headed to the ER.  Turns out the poor child had strep throat.  Surprisingly we were in and out of the ER in 30 minutes!  By 9am Wednesday his fever had gone up to 104.8 and we tried motrin before going back to the ER.  Luckily, an hour after the motrin his temp was down to 103.6 and it continued to go down from there. He ended up staying home from school the rest of the week.  School is out on the 19th and he won’t return until Jan. 3rd.  I told him that his dad is coming home soon and he’s going to have to help me get this house in tiptop shape.

XAVIER

Well, what can I say about this little man. He is a riot. His favorite thing to do is “wrestle” or “fight”. It’s really cute - he will come up to you, put his hand up and ask “Do you want to wrestle?” or “Do you want to fight?”.  Then he charges at you and jumps full speed ahead so watch out. I can’t believe how smart he is. I caught him counting in spanish to five while watching Go Diego Go.  He also does very well with all his colors, his shapes and of course his animals. In fact, on a daily bases he pretends he’s a cat or dog. Complete with crawling on all fours, panting like a dog or purring like a cat. He has also asked if we could call his daycare “school” so he can go to school like Derrick.  He is really excited about Christmas and he did REALLY well with Santa (as you will see at the end of this blog).

SARAH

It’s been about 6 weeks since I stopped working and like I said in the beginning busier then ever. It’s 75 days until G-Day and I want to make sure this house is in perfect order so when he’s home we can just relax and enjoy being a family again.  I’ve been doing some selling on ebay getting rid of odds and ends. Anything that doesn’t sell or I can’t sell is going to the Salvation Army. Since we are at the end of this deployment there is a chance Geno (and in return us) will receive PCS orders and have to move.  I am hoping for a country overseas (sorry Mom) but Geno has said the 1st SGT has talked about moving him to the 82nd or SOCOM - both of which are here at Fort Bragg.  I still wish that we come across Italy orders again - but those, as Geno says, are “once in a life time orders” - I’m crossing my fingers and praying every night that they become TWICE in a life time.  I’ve also finally transformed my resume and looking daily for a job.  I am really trying to find a stay-at-home job. They are hard to find but I’m hoping that with some hard work and a lot of dedication I will find it.

FAMILY

We are pretty much ready for Christmas. The house is decorated - inside and out. The trees up and decorated - thanks to Derrick and Xavier. Our neighbors, Brandon and Tonya, decorated their house like we did last year so they are like mirror images on the outside.  Brandon was even brave enough to get on the roof and decorate the upper awning. I’ve even done all the boys’ (Geno, Derrick & Xavier) Christmas shopping!  I just have a few gifts to finsih and mail out and I am good to go. We have decided to stay here in Fayetteville for Christmas. We were thinking of going back to Ohio to visit the Lolli gang and Columbus gang, however, the boy’s and I are just going to wait until Geno comes home - which I mentioned earlier is 75 DAYS!

Last weekend we went to the Toys 4 Tots Fun Jump at the Sicily Drop Zone. That was a lot of fun and Xavier loved watching the planes and soldiers jump.  Here are a few pictures from last weekend along with some pictures from the last few weeks.

Toys 4 Tots Fun Jump

Derrick and Xavier

Our Tree 

Our House

JCPenney Pictures

with Grandma Incorvia