Back in America

Finally Austin is home from Iraq. Well, not actually "home". He is in Hawaii. I sure wish I could have been there for the ceremony! I hope you enjoy the article and the picture!






65th Engineer Battalion Soldiers Return Home
United States
Description:
Family, friends and loved ones honored more than 330 Soldiers of the 65th Engineer Battalion as they returned from a 12-month deployment to Iraq. The Soldiers marched into the Multiple Deployment Facility to the screams and cheers of loved ones as the theme song to the movie "Rocky" blared over the sound system. The engineers just finished up a year-long deployment to Iraq, where they were based in Tikrit and supported the 25th Infantry Division with general engineering and route clearance missions.

The "First in, Last out" battalion has a distinguished history, including the defense of Oahu following the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and heavy combat throughout the Pacific during World War II. The 65th Engineer Battalion also fought in Korea and Vietnam, earning Presidential Unit Citations.

Wright on Time: Arizona

"Discover all 50 states with Nadia and Aidan! First stop, Arizona! The Wright's homeschooling RV adventure starts with exploring a desert cave. Nadia can't wait to find minerals and see rock formations. Aidan wants to see bats. He finds something mysterious buried in the rock-what could it be? What was that glowing thing on the wall? Where are those voices coming from? What do you do with toilet paper in a cave? And just what is a stale egg mite anyway?" (excerpt from the back of the book)

Price: $12.99

Put out by: Wright on Time Books

Images:



Video:



Links:

http://www.WrightOnTimeBooks.com/store
http://www.WrightOnTimeBooks.com

First, I would like to say thank you to Wright on Time books for allowing me the opportunity to review this book. It is a very well written, educational book. My children, both girls, enjoyed this book immensely. I enjoyed following the Wrights on their many adventures in Arizona. The book is full of interesting facts about the state. I was especially excited about the glossary in the back of the book in addition to the pages of extra facts about Arizona. The addition of those two things made the book even more valuable educationally.

"This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by: Wright on Time books for this review."

Blog Tour, Product/Book Name: Five Star Publications- Girl Talk

Price: $15.95

Put out by: Five Star Publications

Images:

Links: http://www.fivestarpublications.com/girltalk/

Thank you to Five Star Publications for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I found this book to be a very easy read. It is full of practical advice that covers a wide variety of topics. The topics range from "Friend Talk" to "Travel Talk" and a large range in between. It is put together with little snippets from the lives of well-known women such as: Sally Struthers, Lucie Arnaz, Shari Belafonte and Jamie Lee Curtis.
I found some of the advice in the book to be somewhat superficial but over all it was a good book.

Rattlesnake Rules

As soon as this book came in the mail we were very excited to have the opportunity to review it. The colors are vibrant. The pictures catch your attention immediately. We loved the little details in the pictures such as mamas necklace, sisters hairbow, and brothers football. Loved the idea of reinforcing the "rules." A child can relate to that from their own lives of having to obey the rules.
It is always a good idea to educate our kids about different kinds of snakes that can harm them and to give them ways to tell the difference between a harmless snake and a dangerous one. I give this book a big thumbs up for this reason.


http://www.fivestarpublications.com/

http://www.fivestarpublications.com/book_detail.php?recordid=111

http://www.fivestarpublications.com/rattlesnake/index.html



Price: $12.88

*This book was given as a complimentary copy to Mama Buzz Reviewers by Five Star Publications.

The Blue Umbrella

The Blue Umbrella: A Novel

*This book was given as a complimentary copy to Mama Buzz Reviewers by David C. Cook and Mike Mason, for blog tour and promotion purposes.

The Blue Umbrella: retails for $14.99

Ages 9-12
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The Blue Umbrella (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434765261?ie=UTF8&tag=mamabzzcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1434765261)

Mike Mason (http://mikemasonbooks.com/)

Free Excerpt of The Blue Umbrella (http://mikemasonbooks.com/2009/09/08/excerpts-Enjoy a free excerpt of this book at Mike Mason's website.


The Blue Umbrella, by Mike Mason from David C. Cook on Vimeo.

from-the-blue-umbrella/)"

We were very excited to get this book in the mail and to have the opportunity to review it. My 12 year old daughter loved all of the vivid colors on the cover and could not wait to read it. She read it very quickly. She really didn't get the feel that it was a "Christian" book.
When I read it, I was impressed right off the bat that there was a scripture on the cover page and in the first couple of pages there was a reference to the story "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"; but the book quickly took a turn for me. It reminded of me of A Series of Unfortunate Events." It seemed very Harry Potterish although I was happy that there was no "spell casting". Over all, it is not a book that I would have chosen to buy for my children.

New Button!!

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A very special thank-you to Angie for making this button for me!! Visit her blog at MyFourMonkeys.com. I love the simple elegance of this button!

Patriots Day

Today is Patriots Day. I remember where I was and what I was doing when I saw the terrible tragedy unfold on the Today Show. I usually think the question, "are you sitting down?" is overdramatization. I am not a very dramatic person and can handle all kinds of stress and bad news, but I remember having to sit down for this. This event caused a lot of people to sit down. And more importantly it caused a lot of people to drop to their knees and pray to the God that they haven't talked to in a long time. Someone once said that anything that drives you to the heart of God is a good thing. This is so true.

Patriots Day takes on new meaning for me this year because my son is fighting on a foreign land. He is fighting for our freedom and the freedom of those over there. I am thankful that he is in Iraq now and not when the war first started. I am thankful that he is in Iraq now and not in Afghanistan. Let us never forget all those that have lost their lives in the 9/11 tragedy and all those that have lost their lives fighting for our countries freedoms.

Tax on coupons?

I found a great deal at Kroger! If you buy 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal, you get a free gallon of milk. The deal is limited to two per visit. I had a lot of Kellogg's cereal coupons, so I estimated my total would be around $12.00 for 6 boxes of cereal and 2 gallons of milk. Not bad.

I had never shopped at Kroger before, so I went there and got my store card. Shopped for my items and was pleased.... Until the cashier rang up the items. Did you know that Kroger charges a tax on coupons? I have never heard of this. I was very pleased with my total of $11.75, so in the grand scheme of things the .21 that I had to pay was nothing to squabble over. But still....Tax on coupons???

Hannah and Austin at Six Flags.

This is a picture of all of us at the airport. It was so good to have my whole family together again after 7 months.

65th Infantry Brigade Memorial Day Shout Outs on ESPN!!

http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=60760
I was so excited to see this! Just wanted to share it with my friends. Well, the world actually.
From a proud Army mom

You can take the girl out of Beaufort, but you can't take Beaufort out of the girl.

Robert signed the lease yesterday. We are moving to a tiny town just outside of Savannah. The town is called Bloomingdale. I have high hopes for Bloomingdale. I am sure flowers will bloom in Bloomingdale! The town is approximately 2000 people. Autumn pointed out that our new town is the same size as our church! Interesting trivia.

I love my parents!

2009 Commodore
2009 Commodore, Wilmot Schott and his wife Julie

Wilmot Schott was named 2009 Beaufort Water Festival Commodore after serving as a volunteer for over 20 years. Wilmot began as a committee member for the Water Festival fishing tournament in the 80?s, eventually becoming the event chairperson. He has served as a Water Festival Director since 1998 and has been a Water Festival Coordinator for 7 years beginning in 2002.
Wilmot is married to Julie (Mickel) Schott, a former Water Festival Pirette. During the summer of 1974 Wilmot and Julie had their first date during Water Festival week. His entire family has been involved with the Water Festival for several years. Julie has been a Director and a Pirette Chaperone. Wilmot and Julie have three children, Rainey Stoute, Joshua Schott, and Rena Barton. Daughter, Rainey, and daughter-in-law, Brooke (McBride) Schott, have both been Water Festival Pirettes. Son, Joshua, has volunteered with the fishing tournament, kayak and raft races. Daughters, Rena Barton and Rainey Schott have volunteered at headquarters and with Children's day. Wilmot would also like to recognize his Mother-in-law, Myrtle Mickel, for all of the support she has given to help out with festival such as sewing, cooking, and laundry services.
Wilmot's memories of the Beaufort Water Festival have been everlasting. Wilmot expresses it "I would like to thank the community for all the memories of years growing up in Beaufort County and I hope I can give back as much to the community as it has given to me".
A Beaufort Native, Wilmot is the Senior Building Inspector for the Beaufort County Building Codes Department. Wilmot has been involved in the past with the Women in the Outdoors program, Ducks Unlimited, and the South Carolina Waterfowl Association. He is a 2004 Leadership Beaufort graduate. Wilmot is frequently found behind a barbeque grill or oyster steamer, volunteering to cook for many community fundraising events.

Modest Fashion Week

Please visit the link above for some interesting reading on dressing modestly. If you have been shopping with girls lately, I am sure you can relate and could use some advice.

Interesting Reading

I thought this was a great article. Once I sought advice from our Pastor's wife on some things that were going on in our home and the advice that I got stunned me. She told me that this is what happens when we allow sinful things to happen in our lives. Not what I wanted to hear, but very thought provoking. How right she was! I wanted her to tell me how justified I was in being angry, but she didn't. I am thankful for the people in my life who "Speak the truth in love". You know who your are!! Dr. Laura’s Blog » Chaos Theory

I am the mother of a soldier ~ A child who's gone to war ~ He's out there fighting bad men ~ Upon another shore ~ While he's gone I'm waiting ~ For his safe return ~ In my arms to hold him ~ Is all that I do yearn ~ I am the mother of a sailor ~ He sails upon the oceans ~ Watching o'er the waves ~ Prepared for a commotion ~ He's always standing guard ~ Above the deep blue seas ~ Prepared to do his best ~ To keep our country free ~ I am the mother of an airman ~ Who flies the clear blue skies ~ I watch each plane above me ~ Oh Lord, please hear my cries ~ Don't make my child your hero ~ And take him home to you ~ Please keep him safe and bring him back ~ Is all I ask you do ~ I am the mother of a marine ~ He is the first man out ~ To watch out for the enemy ~ To lead the convoy route ~ We know he is a brave one ~ He saved a life today ~ Please walk beside my son dear Lord ~ And keep him safe I pray ~ I am the mother of a guardsman ~ Who plays the weekend war ~ At least that's what they told me ~ He was enlisted for ~ But since this war began ~ His weekend never ends ~ He has a busy schedule ~ Protecting all his friends ~ I am the military mother ~ Who sits at home and prays ~ Each and every soldier ~ Comes home safe today ~ Let this war be over ~ Let them put their guns away ~ This is what a military mother does ~ Sits at home and prays(Tommie Bruns)