Thank You!

Today I want to give a shout out to all my wonderful family and friends and neighbors for supporting us in this time. As a family, we are not ones to ask for help. Even if things are hard, we just don't feel like anyone owes us anything. We feel responsibility for our choices and actions, so we take care of it ourselves, you know? As the hubs is gone now, and we are here at home waiting patiently for his return, there are things that don't get done. Like yard work. Enter Doug, our neighbor. In the 100+ heat he mows his yard and our yard and then asks if there's anything else. Know what Doug? Yes, there's something else- don't ever move. Thank you. Sometimes it's lonely. Enter Danni, my sister. She drove over an hour with my adorable niece to come swim with us. And she packed lunch for us all! Adult conversation AND food? Too much! Thank you! BTW- Clara is growing up so fast, she's a beautiful little lady with the cutest little voice ever. Love you Clara!


Sometimes it gets to be too much just for me to do everything with no breaks. No "Hey, babe, will you change Cams' diaper?" or "Hey, I need to run to the store real fast, will you watch the girls?" Enter Dayna, another friend and neighbor. She actually takes A to bible school and brings her back home and then also will stay with the other girls so I can run to the grocery store to get milk. Awesome! Thank you! My parents and The hubs's parents are also so supportive. I know that if I needed anyone to come up here and help I know that I'd only have to wait 17 hours, which is how long it takes to drive here from their houses. That kind of support is priceless and so valuable to me. I thank each of you for helping us. I wish I could pay you back for what you are doing. I know it helps The Hubs to know we are being taken care of so he doesn't have to worry about us and he can focus on what he's doing. So, thank you , thank you, thank you!

THE scarf

A's first attempt at accessorizing went pretty good! I recently tried my hand at wearing a summer scarf, and loved it. A wanted to have one too, but all we had for her were the winter ones, which would probably not do you well in 100 degree heat. We saw this scarf on Friday evening while buying the coveted water shoes and A immediately fell in love. In. Love. Crying, whining, begging, and even trying to sneak it up to the register; she really wanted this thing. I told her that she could buy it with her own money but we'd have to go home and see how much she had in her piggy bank first. So, all weekend I've listened to her say how much she still wanted this scarf. I totally expected her to forget about the thing after an hour, but she is a very determined little girl. So, today we go back after opening her piggy bank to get the money out, and there it is... THE scarf! It's exactly how she remembered it, hot pink, sparkly and with Hello Kitty on it. Smiling from ear to ear, she practically runs to the register to proudly announce she has got the money to buy it. Of course she wears it the minute we get outside and here's the result:


Happy A!

Got teeth?

A finally lost her second tooth that has been loose for atleast 4 weeks now! She actually let me reach in and pull it out. She's so excited to get her next "grown-up tooth" and see what the tooth fairy brings tonight. (me too) Yay A!

It's Always Something

We haven't been doing much here at home. Just the usual swim lessons, VBS for A and we stayed away from the pool for a few days waiting for E's toe to heal. Today was the day! We went back to the pool-finally! It was a hot one too, perfect for the pool. It was crazy busy when we got there, but after about 30 minutes it started thinning out due to people going home for lunch. Ha Ha! We ate before we came and we packed a cooler- smart us. I was prepared to stay until someone was ready for a nap, and that could've been a while since they LOVE the pool. New friends everywhere and so many toys, and, oh yeah- cool water! So. Much. Fun. Two hours later I hear E go "Uh Oh." Me-"What?!" E- "It's fine. It's fine. It's fine." Me- "Um, No ma'am, what's wrong? Your toe?" E- "yeah" Yep, her toe is extremely red and looks to be just about ready to start bleeding again. At the pool. Again. "Ok! Time to go!" I can't believe it! Poor E. She was a champ though and let me put a band-aid on it and slip on her shoes for her without much of the scene of last time. New mission for tomorrow- Water Shoes. And you better believe that I'm getting them all a pair. It's always something, right?

Pics from last post...again

Avery's "All Aboard!"

Cams and Daddy being the conductors.

Living the dream!

We received a VERY generous gift of a membership to the neighborhood pool! When I found out, I felt like I had won the lottery! I envisioned the girls playing quite happily, making new friends and playing with old friends while me soaking up the sun...and oh yeah...playing with them too. Yes, I was so excited! So, we went to Walmart and stocked up on sunscreen and a float for each girl and a couple of more towels. That night after the girls were in bed, I quietly blew up each float and hid them away for the next morning when I would surprise them. That night I actually had dreams about going to the pool. Morning came and the girls had swim lessons at a different pool, so off we went with plans for lunch at home after lessons and then our first day at the club as members! We packed snacks and juice boxes in a cooler along with three different sunscreens (gotta be prepared), towels, cell phone, and floats, etc. We walked right up there and proudly announced we were there as MEMBERS! "Go right on in." I felt like I had just gained access to the mothership. A choir of angels sang "The Hallelujah chorus" as the pool came into sight. After spraying everyone from head to toe in sunscreen, they were off! Floats in the water, girls too. I sat down in the shallow end and played with Cams for a bit until she found someone more exciting. It was bliss. Everyone was happy. Let me tell you, that is rare with these three girls. I sighed with contentment as my offspring were filled with pure happiness. Nothing better as a parent, right? Then it happened. The age old problem of sharing reared it's ugly head. E wants a toy someone else has. Uh oh. "Ok", I think, "I'll tell her to wait her turn". Ha ha, that didn't work. She gets louder and louder and the other kid isn't giving in. And why should he, it's his toy he brought from home. E finally gets a time out and I sit her in a chair to calm down and cool off. I look back every few seconds to make sure the sneaky girl isn't leaving her spot. Then I notice blood spots under her chair, the blood gushing from her big toe! Oh No! I rush to go get help and three lifeguards and a man-in-charge-looking-guy come over prepared with gloves, peroxide and gauze. A huge screaming fit and an even bigger scene later, I'm informed she just has "pool toe". It's where the bottom of toes rubs on the surface of the pool bottom and deck and form a blister until it starts to bleed. Very common. I break out the juice boxes and snacks hoping to distract her and afterwards she tells me she's all better. So, we go home. No pool for a few days until her toe can heal. *sigh* So much drama and all on our first day! What a great first impression of us people must have now. Awesome. Remind me to wear a hat and glasses for awhile.
So, after a good night's sleep the girls decide today will be movie theater day, which is fine with me because there are free family movies during the Regal Cinemas Family Movie Fest. (google it, it's awesome) We saw "The Veggie Tales Movie: Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". We, of course, brought our own candy from our Halloween basket, yes we still have a whole basket of Halloween candy, please come get some. Afterwards it just wasn't quite time to go home, so we walked around Bowie Town Center and the girls played on the train there. It's Cams' day again to tote Daddy doll, so he watched the movie with us and then he was the conductor on the train. A wanted a picture too, shocker, so she's yelling "All Aboard!" So far we've had a couple of people comment on Daddy doll. I got him made 5 years ago for A when Josh went to Iraq. Not sure if the people still make the dolls, but I'll look it up and post it if I can if anyone is interested. It's good for kids when their parent is away for any length of time, soldier or not. Let me know if you want the info.

Just another day living the dream!

Happy Father's Day!

It's hard to believe that last Sunday The Hubs was still here and we had a great day going to church and out to lunch afterwards. This Sunday, I had to do it without my main support guy. The girls were good though, and I even got to take a shower before church! Pastor Bob, I'm sure, appreciated that. I even had it together enough to make sure all the girls' matching dresses were clean for them. We started having a rotating "person of the day" who gets to be line leader, door holder and also gets to carry and sleep with Daddy doll. It was C's day today, so in a sense Daddy did come to church. See Cams below holding on tight to Daddy.

It's also Father's Day today. I'd like to say Happy Father's Day to The Hubs for being a wonderful father. You set a great example to our girls, we love you and miss you. Happy Father's Day also to my Papa! Thank you for being a great father and Papa! We love you! Also, Happy Father's Day to my Father-in-law, Mr. Brown! Thank you for being a wonderful father and GDaddy! We love you! And lastly, I wanted to say Happy Father's Day to all the father's who can't be with their children for one reason or another. A father's love doesn't stop when he is separated from his children.

Give me a jingle...I'll catch you on the jangle

I forgot to mention that The Hubs called tonight! Yay! First time hearing his voice in a couple of days, like since Tuesday. He's doing good, just tired. He just wanted to talk about the girls and what we did today. He is not settled yet where he will be working, so I guess he's moving soon to that place, wherever that may be. You know, if he told me he'd have to kill me, that sort of thing. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Which arm and leg would you like?

So, yesterday we got a yellow ribbon to tie out on our tree until The Hubs comes home. Support our troops!

Today, we went to A's school friend, Natalie's birthday party. It. Was. Awesome! They had a huge blow up water slide that all the kids had a blast on. It was hard to tear them away for food. Natalie's moving away and I know A will miss her. See cute pic below.

Then we went to another friend's party for their little boy who turned three. Ok, I was excited for Natalie's party, don't get me wrong, but I was really looking forward to Jake's party. Why you ask? Because they had it at the neighborhood pool. I have been wanting to go for a long time, and now was my chance. I was promised a kiddie pool and Oh. My. Gosh. did it deliver. I Love this place, with a capital L! The kiddie pool was big enough that all the kids didn't have to squeeze in and there were toys everywhere that seemed to just be community property. Those kept Cams busy as she went around to all the unsuspecting parents in the water and would talk and talk to them. And as long as they stayed in the water, she was there with them. I guess it's a good thing how out-going she is, but it worries me a little too. A had a blast with her friends and E was a busy girl floating and playing with the water guns. Singing happy birthday and having cupcakes (2 for each, oh yeah, they got lucky) seemed to be an interruption of the swimming. They did not want to get out. Now, I remember never wanting to get out of a pool when I was younger. I mean, I understand it's so much fun. But now as a parent, I understand the frustration of getting the kids out. The whining only lasted until we got home where the mood was sleepy. YES! A quick bath and 30 minutes of laying watching TV and E was OUT. Poor girl, she played her heart out for sure. We had a blast and now I'm trying to figure out which arm and leg to sell to buy our membership to the pool. Ah...I can dream can't I?

Tire swing

We walked to the park this afternoon and discovered the tire swing and I succeeded in getting all of them on it together with no fighting! Go me! After about 10 minutes, E was pale and started screaming to get off bc she was "going to fro-up", she didn't, thank God. She's ok now, but they had fun while it lasted!

Day Five

So, it's day 5 of 120. While that seems a little overwhelming, I mean One Hundred and Twenty days, we're just under a week through. (Hey, trying to be optimistic here) We've kept busy with swim lessons and running errands and getting ready for 2 birthday parties we have on Saturday.

The girls are missing Daddy, but we have a daddy doll that A wanted to sleep with last night and today brought him on our errands. Daddy doll went to the post office, Michael's and Safeway. Tomorrow he'll probably tag along to the birthday parties with us. I'll try and get some pics of the girls with him to post. I think bringing him with us helps the girls feel closer to him and feels like he's included in what we're doing.

Heard from The Hubs twice today! He's doing good, just trying to get his body clock adjusted. He says the people are taking good care of him and he hopes everyone is doing good. While I'm worried that some act of violence can come his way, I know I'm not worried about him eating. They've got a chow hall that's almost always open and has about any and everything he could possibly want, including protein supplements and energy drinks. Not every chow hall is the same, but I know some have shrimp and steak nights! Yes! The military may not have everything down, but it seems like they take good care of the soldiers food wise. Heck, they're probably eating way better than us!

Just a note- please leave comments if you want, I'm not even sure anyone is reading this! Thanks!

Swimming!

So, today was the first swim lesson for A and E. A was so excited she basically came in and took over the class and had to be first to do anything... including be first in line. She was ready!







E, on the other hand, was not ready. She was very nervous about the water and wanted to know if it was "deeper". I told her several times no, it was a little pool.







She watched the class from the side of the pool for about five minutes before easing her way in s-l-o-w-l-y.











But when she finally got in, her teachers were awesome and paid special attention to her and were very patient with her. (you could tell they don't have kids yet, lol) In just a short amount of time she was floating on her back! A of course got in on that too and both did great! I'm so proud!

Movie

I made a movie for The Hubs, Enjoy. We love you Daddy! Love, your girls

One day down...

So, this morning was very rough. It felt like we were waiting for the impending doom to come take The Hubs away from us. When I watched The Hubs say goodbye to A as I took her to school, it was all tears down our faces. And when E and C and I had to say goodbye, well, it was maybe the hardest thing in a very very very long time. I considered wearing my sun glasses to my gym class to hide my puffy eyes, but reconsidered. The instructor kept telling everyone to "Smile! You're burning calories!" Yeah, right, ok...not. I ended up leaving early and came home to an empty house, which on any other day would be normal, but today there are things missing. A toothbrush in the bathroom. His laptop in the kitchen. Dirty clothes all over the bedroom. The sound of his Blackberry going off every 5 seconds. The dinner time rush. All of these things make up our house and family and with The Hubs gone it's just not us. I pray for his safe and swift return. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you so much for your support during this difficult time. We are one day down.

New Blog!

So, I thought I would start this blog so The Hubs could keep up with the girls and me while he was deployed. On second thought it would be a great way for everyone to keep up with us, so here it is. Welcome. I'm still learning about this thing, but I hope to share day-to-day goings on with you and post pictures too. Feel free to leave me comments or email me.