15 Years Ago Today

I wed the love of my life! I would post a picture, but I can't find my camera cables in the mess of unpacking... Anyway, I'm happy to say that God has been good to us the last 15 years with many blessings and brought us through many trials and I can't wait to see what the next 15 years and beyond holds in store for us!

The new house has been inaugurated

with mud, blood, and Jack Daniels all over the floor... We've been a bit busy this past week since being offered a house in the new construction on post. We're almost done at the old house getting it cleaned out and I will say that ALL writing instruments will be in a locked box with 'Arms Room' security procedures for children who would like to color on designated paper! There are some areas that the magic eraser wasn't so magical on and will just get a layer of primer with the other two walls I need to do since I painted them a nice green last year... This is the first time we've been in a situation where we didn't have one house done before moving into the next house so it's been a little bit frustrating not being able to get unpacked and situated like I want to right away. J has been great with moving the furniture around (multiple times in some cases) and keeping things organized and clean so we can find things as they are needed and also watching the littles while I get stuff done at the other house. He even got them to nap yesterday! Probably more for his peace of mind then for them, but they did nap! Anyway, the mud mentioned above is from the yard that is quickly sprouting grass but still very muddy. BB and BG decided to run in the sprinkler last night and tried to sneak in to clean up. J caught them before they got on the carpeted stairway and made them clean up in the bathroom downstairs where they left much evidence and got in trouble again when I saw the mess! The blood is from LBs knees all skinned up and J's hands and feet from moving furniture. And the Jack Daniels is from LB pulling the (small) bag of alcohol off the table and breaking the bottle of JD and bottle of Rum. The dining room has lost the 'new house' smell and now smells like a distillery! Overall, the move has gone well. J and I have been working together really well in a somewhat stressful situation but I don't think we'll volunteer to move ourselves again anytime soon. When we retire, we're going to have to find someplace we never want to leave...

Feel Safe at Night...

...sleep with a soldier. Even if they are just protecting you from children making loud noises. J and I were living dangerously and sleeping in this morning while the kids watched cartoons and trashed the house, when we were both wakened by a loud, gunshot-like bang from the kids slamming the lid on the storage trunk in our bedroom. My reaction was to quickly sit up and see what was going on and J's reaction was to throw his arm out and push me back down! He didn't even wake up, just reacted. I thought it was pretty cool even though it's probably from PTSD from his first tour in Iraq...

It's been wonderful having him back the last couple of weeks even with all the readjusting we have had to do! We tend to butt heads a lot the first few weeks until we get back into the groove of living together and figuring out how to be a complete family again. Kids are all happy and starting to cling on me less and less (yay!). LG was watching a movie in our bed this afternoon and J walked in and she moved over so he could lay down with her, and then they both fell asleep!

Our computer situation has changed and I'm using the laptop now and haven't put all my pictures on here yet, so I'll just have to descibe the welcome home ceremony. J's never been a part of an actual ceremony so this is the first one I've gone to and we got there a little later than we should have because the gym was already packed. Luckily, someone gave up a seat for me on the bottom row since I had the twins in their big stroller. So once everyone found their seats, the band started playing and the soldiers started marching in and everyone was cheering and screaming and it was all awesomely overwhelming, especially when I actually laid eyes on my husband! Couldn't help the tears... The comments were thankfully short and soon we headed into the crowd to meet J and got stuck with the stroller in the crush, so I sent BB into the crowd to look for his daddy and put BG up on my shoulders so he could find us, and after what seemed like forever, he and BB found us and all was right with our world again!

The Best Mother's Day

present is to have my children's daddy back home safe and sound. Looking forward to breakfast tomorrow morning surrounded by my beautiful, happy children and my loving husband! To all the mothers in my life, have a wonderful day celebrating the love of your families! And a big thank you for all the great moms around me lending a helping hand this past year!

Random thoughts...

I realize I haven't been keeping up much with this blog the last few months and I kind of miss it, but at the same time feel like I was writing the same thing all the time: health, kids, I miss my husband, repeat... Anyway, I don't have anything new to add to those themes but here's what we've been doing lately.

We're getting excited and stressed at the same time about J coming home soon. Excited that he'll finally be home and stressed that I have a lot that I want to get done before he's here. And then there's that underlying stress of the reality of being together again and the irrational fear that J won't love the 'new' me after a year of change and growth and independence. The Army teaches 'reintegration' classes for soldiers coming back to their families and honestly, I think that's a great thing! So, what have I done this week instead of getting things done in my house... procrastinated in the form of shopping. All legitimate stuff, but didn't really need to do it this week! So that leaves me a lot to get done this next week and I'll be very happy to see J get off that plane! The post is having Welcome Home ceremonies in the gym for each group that arrives home, which we've never been to before so we're looking forward to that!

I finally got some allergy medicine prescribed and more allergy eye drops. Lots of pollen floating around as stuff is finally starting to bloom. Spring used to be my favorite season, but around here it's not all that pleasant. It comes so late and is windy and chilly with a few warm days interspersed to tease us. Looking back on lasts years writing, I was so happy to have a yard with a fence and now I'm malcontent because that yard is full of mud. Guess there's no making me happy... But, difficult to send the kids to the back yard to play when it's so muddy!

And with spring comes the longer days, so BB and BG have been wanting to stay out later and later! I know it's not Alaska or anything, but we still have 7 or 8 weeks of school left... I could tell BG was lacking sleep this afternoon with her constant crying over everything. Early to bed tonight...

Other than playing outside a lot when it's not raining, the big kids are doing great in school. BB is still very interested in drawing and making up stories and BG is reading everything she can! It's so exciting to see the world of words open up for her and she's not afraid to try and is excited about reading new things. The littles are happy going to hourly care still and LB will ask if we are 'going to school-today?' He calls it 'school-today' because I always ask them if they are ready to go to school today on the days we go. He's talking a lot more and asking questions and telling people to 'stop it.' LG is talking a lot more now too and getting a little easier to understand. She calls all girls, princesses and all things pertaining to girls are princess things. Like her flower pants are princess pants and if she wants to wear a dress she says she wants to be a princess. I blame our princess overloaded society... And she and LB both call boys, guys, because that's what LB calls his action figures. And don't call him a boy! He's a guy also. He's started wearing various items around his neck for a cape, the most interesting being one of my bras, and says he's 'ooper-guy' or 'black ooper man,' aka Batman. BB used to use a dishtowel until I made him a cape.

I'm too lazy to download my pictures, so I'll get to that sometime this weekend and post a few pics next time I bore everyone with the same old stuff...

Nothing too exciting

going on around here! Which is probably a good thing. We're just kind of hanging out, waiting for J to get home in a few weeks and keeping things going. We had a very nice Easter at church and then a wonderful dinner and egg hunt spent with friends and then the last week the kids had off from school. We didn't do a whole lot but the weather was great and the kids spent a lot of time outside. I took the big kids out for breakfast one morning and we got some cleaning and organizing done. Seems to be a constant around here!

I also had to explain abortion to my 7 year old which completely took me off guard! He heard about it (incorrectly) from a friend and came in and asked me about it. I'm so glad he talks to me when he has a question, but I was really not expecting to have to talk about abortion until well after he knew about sex. The thing that struck me most when we talked was how he immediately made up his mind that ending a pregnancy is not a good thing before I even told him my view on it. He wanted to know why and couldn't understand any reason for someone to get rid of a baby. I think by the time we were done talking he understood the basics and knows how I feel about it and that if he has anymore questions he should definetly ask me and not another kid! It's times like this that I feel so inadequate as a parent and really feel the burden of doing this by myself. I am so ready for J to get home! He can answer the next 50 questions or so...

Today I went to Syracuse to do some shopping and went to Wegmans for the first time. I wasn't disappointed and it's a good thing there is not one close by because our grocery spending would be even more out of control! The produce was wonderful and I can't wait to use it for some food I'm making for bunco tomorrow night! I also picked up some flowers and have been trying to make arrangements using wet foam instead of just plunking them in a vase. My mom always made it look so easy... well, she made everything look easy! So, I'll be busy the rest of this week with bunco and more doctors appointments and dinner out on Saturday and then next week more appointments and the kids start spring soccer practice and another week closer to J coming home! And we're still waiting to see when we'll get into one of the new houses...

Blessed Day

I am the Living One. I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! Rev. 1:18

Christ the Lord is Risen today! Have a Blessed Easter!