Our Sweet T.J.

T.J.

So I have to brag on our sweet T.J. For the most part T.J. is a great big brother he tries to help Elizabeth so much (even when she doesn't want/need his help). Today I got the sweetest letter from a lady in our neighborhood. Her daughter goes to school with T.J. (they aren't in the same class, but the know each other). I have talked to the mother on occasion and she is a very sweet lady. She was at the school today helping with "Santa's Store" which is a store where kids can spend money and buy little gifts for their family for Christmas at kid prices.... :) I have copied the letter she sent me and my response. I will tell you that I cried when I read this letter, it meant SO much to me!

LETTER FROM BREANNE to MARIA:
Hey there! I just had to send you a note and tell you want an absolute doll TJ is! I was working at the "santa shop" at the school and of course had Taryn in tote. She likes being at the school with the big kids, so she's not too much of a handful. It was really busy this morning and I realized that I hadn't checked on her in a bit and started to look for her. It took me a few minutes (I about started to panic) then I saw her sitting next to TJ and a few other kids in his class reading the books she had brought and playing with her toys. I walked over to see if they wanted me to get her to leave her alone, but TJ told me he was helping to watch her. :o) Then she looked up at me and told me that TJ was her "bestest friend forever" she wants him to come play with her at his house. It was so cute. He sat with her and played with her the entire time his class was in there and then walked her back over to me when it was time for his class to go. He is such a sweetie! I know I always wonder how my kids act when I'm not around, so I thought I would share with you. Also, if he is that nice to his little sister you need to tell me your secret, b/c my girls are Fren-emies :o) Hope your preparation for the move goes well, let me know if you need anything!


LETTER FROM MARIA to BREANNE:
Breanne! Thank you, so VERY much for letting me know about this sweet little encounter between TJ and Taryn. TJ is such a sweet boy, but sometimes people miss that because he is, well, a BOY! He can be wild and crazy sometimes, but under that is a sweet, compassionate, loving little boy. Your sweet note brought tears to this momma's eyes! It feels good to know that when I'm not looking TJ is being so good! As for the secret to get your girls to not be Fren-emies , well there isn't one.... but I will tell you this, I have 2 sisters (I'm the middle sister) and we fought better than any MMA fighter when we were growing up. It was a regular Jerry Springer show on most days... but now we are truly the best of friends!! We love each other and we call each other on a daily basis (if not MORE). Thanks again! You are so sweet!

My sweet little man

Daddy was the "SPECIAL" guest!

Last week Elizabeth's preschool teacher asked for volunteers to read to the class, I signed up thinking that it would be SO fun to come and read to the 3 year olds. The day before we were signed up to read, I asked Elizabeth who she wanted to come and she said QUICKLY and without HESITATION, "My daddy, do it!" So, it was settled, Tyler would come home and go to her school on his lunch break and read.
Elizabeth was so excited and so was I!! I think it is so awesome when dads get involved, and even better when Tyler does it. I tagged along with Tyler so that I could snap some pictures and so that I wasn't completely left out of ALL the fun!
Tyler read 2 books; 1) Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom! & 2) Clifford the BIG Red Dog. Both were big hits with the kids. In fact Elizabeth's teacher said that was the quietest the kids had been ALL day! After story time we enjoyed snack time with Elizabeth's class: applesauce, pretzels, and water. Yum! ;)
Finally it was time to go home and since the kids had been studying the letter "C" that week Ms. Rava (Elizabeth's teacher) made each child Clifford the BIG Red Dog ears & a nose! We are so proud of Elizabeth and the growth she is making in school!

Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom!
Will there be enough room for all of the letters?

Clifford the BIG Red Dog... Elizabeth likes these books and
show because the Clifford's owners name is Emily "Elizabeth"!

Elizabeth the BIG Red Girl/Dog!

Saxon & Elizabeth howled the whole drive home!

You're Cordially Invited...

to the wedding of Mr. Q & Ms. U!
This past week at school the entire first grade studied the unique union of the letters "Q" and "U" and how they always seem to appear together in words and normally make the "kw" sound. In order to illustrate this concept for the kids the teachers, staff, and parents put together a wedding. We even received an invitation. T.J. was one of the ushers and his sweet little friend Brielle was a flower girl. The wedding vows read something like this, "Do you (Mr. Q/Ms. U) take (Mr. Q/Ms. U) to be your friend and promise to always be together in words?" The happy couple even exchanged "quarters"!!
It was TOO cute.
Enjoy the pictures of the Q & U wedding.

The official wedding invitation!

Our little man T.J. and a friend as ushers at the wedding!

The P.E. coach officiated over the union of Mr. Q & Ms. U!

The entire wedding party. (Each bridesmaid and groomsman carried a sign with a "qu" word. Our favorite was "quintuplet")

The happy couple! (doesn't that bow-tie just kill you?)

As with any wedding there is ALWAYS cake! In this case... cupcakes ;)

First Day of 3K!

First Day of 3K!

This morning Ms. Priss started 3K... she has been looking forward to going to school since T.J. started! She was so excited she didn't even want a special breakfast, and she barely touched her cereal. On the drive to school she talked non-stop (don't know where she gets it from?) about what she was going to do, and what she was going to play with. I felt a great peace inside knowing that she was excited and that we had made the right choice to put her in school. When we walked into the classroom another side of Elizabeth came out... the shy side (I know! Hard to believe!!). She wouldn't talk much or make eye contact with the other kids or her teacher, but finally the dreaded time to go came, and she got a little panicky. I reassured her that I would be back and that she would LOVE school. She waved goodbye without even a single glance back to me! Whew! When I went to pick her up I took Tyler with me and she was so excited! She talked about how fun school was and that she gets to come again tomorrow. Cutie patootie! We capped off her 1st day of school with lunch at Chick-fil-a with one of her classmates Mr. Saxon, and then a playdate at Saxon's house... I think we better watch those two! ;)

Hangin' with Saxon!

Happy 70th Birthday, Keesler AFB!

This past Saturday Keesler AFB celebrated its 70th Birthday! AND what better way to celebrate than to have a GIANT birthday party for the ENTIRE base!! There were TONS of activities, food (FREE Girl Scout Cookies & Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream), music, games, FREE goodies & crafts! It was the best party (and I didn't even have to clean anything up!) Here are a few shots of our two celebrating!

The Arts & Craft Shop on base provided ceramic trinkets for the kids to paint!

The Home Depot provided wooden kits (T.J. made a tool box).
He got to glue & hammer it all together and then paint it!

There was face painting...

Elizabeth chose to be a Kitty! Too bad the weather was so
HOT & HUMID, her Kitty soon melted away!

T.J. chose to have a "tattoo" painted.
He chose a power button-- but we never figured out how to turn it OFF! ;)

Elizabeth even waited semi-patiently in line to ride one of the three ponies!

Elizabeth's New Do!

Our Elizabeth!

A week ago I had my sweet neighbor Josie come over and cut Elizabeth's hair! Elizabeth was so excited to have her hair cut, she talked about it ALL day and she even sat relatively still for her haircut! When we were done I took her straight upstairs to style it and she couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror and saying how cute her "new" hair looked! Elizabeth is growing up so fast and it seems like sometimes I am missing it! The other night I was reminded that I need to cherish every minute and second of my sweet little girl. After a very emotionally draining day (for me) I walked into my bathroom to get ready for bed and as I looked down I found two sweet little footprint indention's on the towel lying on the floor. I wish we lived closer to everyone and that you all got to enjoy T.J. & Elizabeth as much as Tyler and I do, but since we can't here are a few snapshots! Enjoy!!!

Elizabeth LOVED being pampered by Ms. Josie!

New hairdo!

The Sweet Feet of an Angel!

U.C.T. is O.V.E.R.

UCT Graduation Certificate!

The Class!!!

Me pinning Tyler's Cyber Wings on! (I even got a punch in!)

Yes! Tyler has officially graduated from U.C.T., Undergraduate Cyber Training!!! We moved to Mississippi in December 2010 right after Tyler's graduation from Officer Training School. Tyler had to wait until March 2011 for him to start this intense Cyber training here at Keesler AFB. To say that this training was intense is an understatement. Tyler wasn't able to take leave and had class every day from 6:30am until 4:30pm or sometimes 7:00pm!! He was studying a ton and trying to make sure that he didn't get "washed back" (when you fail a course of study in your training you have to join the group that is behind you and re-do your class again). BUT... today was the day, and he did it!!!! Graduation!!!! I was so happy to be there and celebrate. There were 4 awards given out at his graduation, and well folks, it was a Franklin Sweep!

Award #1:
This Certificate of Recognition came from Tyler's classmates!

Award #2:
This is the Distinguished Graduate Award!
This is ONLY the 4th time that a student has
received the Distinguished Graduated Award during UCT!

Award #3:
This is the Sadler Award given to the Honor Graduate!

Award #4:
This is the LAST award! It was for ME!!!
The class voted me the Most Valuable Anti-starvation Contributor!
I even got a certificate and a professional military handshake with picture! ;)

One last laugh!

Typhoid T.J.

So when T.J. was just a little guy he was ALWAYS sick, or so it seemed! He just couldn't catch a break, but what he could catch was every stinking little bug. We use to tease that his name was "Typhoid T.J." because no matter what we did he was always sick. It was frustrating, and so he finally had surgery! He had tubes put in his ears that fell out 2 years later, adenoids removed twice (did you know they could grow back?), and his tonsils removed! After those 2 surgeries he was WELL and it was amazing! It seemed like the Gods were smiling on us for a while, then we got here to Mississippi and he hasn't been "sick" per say, but he has been picking up things that are contagious! Like Molluscum Contagiosum (google it people!). It showed up on his upper right buttocks/thigh area (which is why I don't have a pic of it to share) and at first glance I thought it was chicken pox. My sweet friend Tiffany, diagnosed it for me and after I took a trip to the medical clinic here they confirmed Dr. Tiffany's diagnosis! The stinky part about Molluscum is that it is contagious and it can last up to 18 months! BOO! We are in the process of dealing with it and it seems to be under control and we haven't, knock on wood-- someone find me some REAL wood please, seen it spread to anyone else or any other part of his body! Next issue we are having is Ring Worm! Ick! When I was a little girl I had ringworm once! I thought it was a REAL worm living in my skin, but now that I am a grown up I just know it is a fungus that is gross and contagious! We have been treating it now for 2 weeks and it is looking better but we were told it could take up to 6 weeks to fully treat it! DOUBLE BOO! So, folks he is cute and sweet and oh so huggable, but beware his laugh isn't the only "Infectious" part about him! ;)

Uninvited Guest

In our house we have a "NO KIDS IN BED RULE". It's pretty self explanatory, so I won't bore you with the details. But we have this sweet little princess who wakes up early in the morning (around 4-5:30am) and wants to "nuggle" her daddy. She is so sweet and so persuasive, that sometimes in his incoherent state her daddy will pick her up and put her in the bed with us. I usually have to get up and take her back to her room, that way at least we aren't breaking the aforementioned rule! This morning was a little different though. She came in around 5am and wanted in the bed, I told her she could choose to lay on the floor or go back to her bed. I heard her leave our room and I figured she had made her choice. When I got up at 6:45 this is what I found at the foot of my bed.

She made her choice!

It's Gonna Be A Good Life....

This is the corner where it all started!

Our first home!

Tyler and I had the opportunity this past weekend to visit Charleston, SC. This beautiful city is where we started our married life. While we were there we stopped by the Air Force Base which is no longer Charleston Air Force Base but is now known as Joint Base Charleston! As we drove through the gate, things didn't appear to have changed much. We enjoyed our drive around the base and decided it would be fun to check out our FIRST home! We pulled into the neighborhood and noticed immediately that things had indeed changed. The neighborhood looked run down and was pretty much empty. Our little house on Miller Ave. was still there, but looked so sad. We got out of the car and peeked into the windows. As we stood there together looking at our old house I was overcome with emotions and thoughts. So many "FIRSTS" happened in that house. In fact as Tyler said it, "I just made the first mistake of our marriage!" At least that is what he thought. He picked out this house and I think he was scared I wouldn't like it. But I LOVED it! We established our first "home", we made our first "renovation" (thanks to Uncle Donald & Big D), we bought our first car, we had our first Christmas together,Tyler made his first rank advancement while we lived in this house, I had my first ambulance ride from this house (they are highly overrated!), we had our first child while we lived in this house... it was a great house and it truly became our HOME! I think we knew that our time in Charleston was just a foreshadowing of the truly WONDERFUL, BLESSED life that we have!

There use to be a name plaque there that read A1C Franklin,
then SrA Franklin, and then finally SSGT Franklin... now look at him!

Summer 2011 in Pictures

1) Maria & the kids spent a week with Opa... we were joined by the Bright Cousins!

2) Jessica had this sweet baby boy, Joshua & Maria got to spend an entire week ALONE with Jessica, Josh, and Joshua! It was heavenly!

3) While Maria was helping Jessica, Elizabeth got to hang out with the Lynes Family!

4) While Elizabeth played with the Lynes, T.J. got to go to Lego Camp with his Aunt Rosalind! He was in HOG heaven with the Bright Family!

5) This little princess turned 3!!!

6) Maria got Publix Cake! Oh! How I have missed you!

8) The kids and I were gone for 2 1/2 LONG/FUN weeks, but we got back just in time for this guy to turn 6!!!!! (thanks to a sweet daddy he had the Cars 2 cake he wanted!)

9) We weren't home 24 hours before we had visitors from the East! The Bright Family came to stay... it was so fun! Elizabeth loved having "sisters"!

10) We got dressed up and met Tyler for "Drop Night" We found out our next duty station: Lackland AFB!

11) So what do you do when you find out you will be moving to Texas, why, go to Texas that is what!!! We headed to College Station for the 4th! Tyler tried Rudy's for the 1st time & I think he liked it! We spent time on the lake and both kids LOVED Mr. William taking them out on the tube!

12) After our trip to College Station, TX we returned to Biloxi with 3 stowaways! (this was the first annual Franklin/Westbo kid swap!)

13) The five kids LOVE LOVE LOVE each other and they were wonderful! We spent our days playing on the water-slide, drawing with sidewalk chalk, eating for FREE @ Chick-fil-a, and much, much MORE!

14) We were so busy that Mr. Danial passed out sitting up! ;)

15) ALL good things must come to an end and so we packed all 5 kiddos up and headed to LA to swap!

16) The Westbo's made it to the TX state line just fine!

17) So what do you do with an entire week without kiddos! If your Tyler you go to school and if your Maria you shop, sleep-in, read and wait for your honey to come home! You also see 3 movies, eat dinner at restaurants that don't cater to kids, and ALL in ALL remember WHY you love each other SO much!

18) While in TX, Ms. Tiffany taught our T.J. to swim! GO T.J. GO!

19) Elizabeth didn't want to be out done by Danial so she too fell asleep sitting up! I guess TX was just TOO much fun!

20) When the kiddos got back from TX we had 7 visitors from SC! Maria's sister KT and her twins (Ben & Alex), plus KT's friend Sarah and her three kids (Anna, Carlos, & Katie) joined us for a week! We had SO much fun! We went to craft time @ Michael's, saw a movie, played outside, went to story time @ the library, visited the Children's Museum, ate Snowballs, and went to the beach! It was FUN, FUN, FUN! T.J. even found himself a little/LOT sweet on Ms. Anna! ;)

21) Our last trip of the summer was to Dothan, AL! WHY? Well duh!!! Elizabeth's best friend Coco lives there!

22) It was also a chance for Maria to see her BeStIe Joanie-Joan! (Tyler was so excited to see his BFF Joe the Pilot... but the picture we captured was a little too risque!) We love the Lasura Family and we have missed them so. We celebrated their warm weather arrival with a trip to the beach! It was a simply MAH-VELOUS weekend!

So, what did you do this summer?