The Big "E"

That's what they call the Enterprise, Christopher's aircraft carrier.  The kids call it "Daddy's Big Ship".  Pretty soon it will be his home for seven months.  A few weeks ago we finally made it on board to take a look around.  Fascinating.  Harrowing.  Grey.  Impressive.  Claustrophobic.  Mils and Si climbed the ladders like pros.  Hannah and I brought up the rear but managed to get all the way up the 9th deck...what a view.  I am so proud of Christopher.  He's doing a difficult job that will get exponentially more intense when they go to sea.

On the flight deck.

Check out my death grip on ALL the kids.  I didn't even realize I was doing this!

A beautiful little chapel on board that is nearly impossible to get to...the way in there involves climbing through a 3x3 hole!

On the top bunk in Christopher's state room.  This is his crazy face.

Christopher's office.  Millie is at Christopher's desk and Simon has one hand on the legal assistant's desk.  This room is TINY.  I cannot fathom spending seven months in these quarters.

The Admiral's chair on the flag bridge.

Snuggly

It's slipper time!

Birthday Girl

Our sweet girl is 5.  Gulp.  In typical Greer family style, we celebrated for days and days.  Yammy and Papa came down and Aunt JuJu flew in from LA (incredible side note...Julie has been with Millie for every single birthday, which is not an easy feat with our constant moving around) so we spent all weekend doing fun stuff together:  gifts, cake, fancy lunch, favorite dinner, even a group outing to get pedicures together.

On her actual birthday (Tuesday the 25th), she was giddy about wearing her special crown to school and having a little celebration with her classmates.  Unfortunately, Daddy was gone for all of this fun, so we celebrated again as a family when he got home.  And just last night we finished it off with a Mommy-Millie date to see the touring production of Beauty and the Beast.

Millie gives us much to celebrate.  She is a daughter beyond my biggest dreams...compassionate, kind, sensitive, curious, funny.  We are right on the edge of "big-kid"-ness and I find myself staring at her and wondering how many more days we'll have to hold hands for no reason, how much longer she'll carry around her favorite bitty baby or dress up in tutus and wings.   Although I'd often like to, I know I can't keep her little.  But I can't wait to see what she's going to be like as she gets bigger.

Birthday morning, birthday crown.

Heading to school on the big day.

Our very first 'school cupcakes'.  And to add to the craziness of the week: we got home on Monday night to find that Casey had once again jumped on the counter and eaten almost ALL of the cupcakes I had made earlier in the day.  Being burned by Casey's sweet tooth before, I just had to laugh and be thankful that I had the good sense to make cupcakes from a box instead of some kind of fancy concoction.  Ooohhh Casey!

  

Painted toes!  JuJu even let Millie choose the color(s) -- eight red ones, two neon yellows.  Wow.  That's love.  Julie took this look straight to Honduras where she was headed for a TOMS shoe drop for a week.

On our way to Beauty and the Beast. 

She thought the whole thing was magical.  So did I.

Three Months