Thanksgiving

So, I hope everyone is over their tryptophan induced turkey comas, shopped to your hearts content (or wallet limit) for black Friday, and now look forward to Christmas time. I'm sure you've had a couple of turkey or ham sandwiches too.

We have family in town that we haven't seen in quite a while so it's been very nice to see them and visit. Doesn't hurt that my cousins happen to love to play with the girls! We went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Yesterday, all the girls (7 of us) went to the movies, and today we are off to DC to see the monuments. And it's cold. This could turn out good or bad- tune in later.

The Hubs won't let me put up the tree yet, but I'm dying to. When do you typically put up your tree? Day after Thanksgiving, or do you wait?

We are Alive!

It's been awhile, huh? All I can say is that with the Hubs back, it went from busy to busier around here. I will have to do better at making time for you! We are still alive and here are some pictures to prove it!

Avery at her school's Thanksgiving feast last week.

The Hubs and girls in DC taking time out for an ice cream break.

Ella and Daddy

Me and Ella and Avery

Daddy and Campbell

I Don't have a "Case of the Mondays", Do You?

There are a few things I want to talk about tonight, here we go!

Number 1- I HATE grocery shopping with a Passion! Capital P! It's such work for me as I fight everyone who can't seem to follow proper cart driving technique and drive it on the right side of the aisle. RIGHT SIDE people! Not in the middle, not on the left side- RIGHT SIDE! And why are you pushing your stroller AND a cart? Come on! I try and go either during the week or right after they open on the weekend. This weekend I was so completely unmotivated that I procrastinated until this afternoon. Big mistake. It was Sunday after church and it was payday weekend and it is about time people are trying to stock up on holiday stuff. As soon as I pulled up in the parking lot I knew it was gonna be bad. Awesome. But, now we have food and we can eat this week! Yay!

Number 2- Is it bad I hate weekends and LOVE weekdays? I thrive on having a planned schedule. I like to know what to expect and when. You already know this- you read my momAgenda post, right? Weekends mean that everyone is here at the house and no one has any purpose to their day. You've heard the saying "Idle hands are the devil's playthings"? Yeah. The girls get bored then cranky, then I get cranky, then Hubs gets cranky. It's a whole cranky cycle. Weekdays means we all have stuff to do, somewhere to go- yay! So- here's to Monday mornings! Raise your "I hate Mondays" coffee mug and clink them together people!

Number 3- Wait, I don't have a number 3.

Have a good Monday!

Leaves, Family and Being Thankful

When The Hubs got home we spent a few days couped up inside our house just us. Then we got to the Ohmygoshwehavebeeninsidewaytoolong phase and we had to get out! Lucky for him, there were leaves to be raked.

Ella and Cams had a blast playing in them.

On another note, have I told you that I could not have gotten through this deployment without all the support from our family and friends? Well, I couldn't have gotten through this deployment without family and friends. Seriously, I have the best support system. There are too many too name here, but you know who you are. I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart and tell you that without you I would have surely gone bananas- wait- did I? Ok, well, more so. You were there listening to me ramble on about how hard it was and complain about the girls. You took my phone calls even though you were pretty sure I was having a crisis, but you always talked me down. You were also there making sure the girls had exactly what they needed. In an attempt to keep us busy I may have over scheduled us and you were there to help take the girls where they needed to be or helped me get to the store or helped dish out ice cream at the girls' birthday party. All of the help, big and little, was HUGE! I thank you a million times, but I know that's not enough. I hope to be able to help you like you have helped me. So- for you I am thankful!

Which brings me to our Thankful tree. The holidays are full of traditions, right? We have one in our house which I started maybe three years ago. I make a tree out of brown wrapping paper and cut some leaves out and we put it up on the wall in our kitchen. Every day I ask the girls what they are thankful for that day. Some are silly like spongebob while others are serious like friends and family. We put up our leaves after we write on them and at the end of the month we have a very full and pretty Thankful Tree. We just started this years tree, so there's not many leaves yet and it looks kinda weird to me for some reason. BUT, I was in Pottery Barn Kids when all the fall stuff came out and they have their own version of this tree. How cool is that? They must be spying on us!

What Thanksgiving traditions do you have in your house? Did you start them or is it something you grew up with?

He's Home!

This deployment is officially behind us! It feels incredibly good to finally say that. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off me. My husband,best friend and babies daddy is safe and sound and finally home.

He ended up getting home a little after 1:00am on Saturday. The girls were sleeping soundly so we didn't feel the need to wake them up. We waited until the next morning when he walked into the kitchen and surprised the two little ones. They ran to him and gave him big hugs. (I, of course, captured all this on video, however, I have no idea on how to transfer it to the computer- duh! Should be easy, right? No!) Avery was still sleeping so he decided to open her door and go wake her up. She was already out of bed by the time he opened her door and she ran and jumped in his arms. That's when I snapped this pic below. (yes, the girls have bedhead and may or may not have pants on- don't judge-Also? I know the picture isn't the best quality, sorry.)

The Hubs had massive amounts of hair. The man has never had that much hair in. his. LIFE! It was everywhere! The beard the man grew acted as it's own armor! Nothing could have penetrated that thing!

Obviously, I needed to take pictures and we had some fun while shaving it off.

We had a great weekend of laying around and getting everyone back to what we call normal. The girls didn't leave him alone all weekend, poor guy had them all over him at all times fighting over who got to sit beside him or on his lap.

Today, there's school and work. The girls were really anxious this morning as he announced he had to go to work. Ella even broke down crying after she watched him drive off. She calmed down as she got to school though. Poor girl. I really hope for their sake he gets some time off. Abandonment issues here we come! Great, another thing to have guilt for!

Wordless Wednesday

This was taken last summer, but I feel that it is very relevant today. Hubs is coming home soon and we are all waiting impatiently!

Help!

It seems I have forgotten. Again. "What now?", you say. How to cook. For a family, I mean. (Wow, fragmented sentences anyone?) When the Hubs is home I cook, we never go out to eat. I grocery shop once a week and plan out the meals. I try and make enough for dinner so there is some leftover for him to take to work. Whether he chooses to eat it or let it rot, I mean, sit in his truck, that's up to him. *sigh* Whatever.

I hate cooking. There I said it. I'd much rather someone else do it. The whole process of planning, making a grocery list, going to the grocery store, going up and down those aisles, putting groceries away and then actually preparing meals is not fun. So, while he's been gone I've eaten what the girls eat- not pretty. The hubs isn't gonna go for mac and cheese and hot dogs or chicken nuggets every night. He's pretty easy to please- but not that easy. I've gotten out of the habit of doing this and now as we look forward to him coming home I must start this process again.

I need your help though! Any and all recipes are welcome, especially any that are fast and family friendly- oh, and economical. What are your favorite family dinners? Please share!

Happy Halloween!

My Two Kitties and my Chef!

The Beginning of the End

So, it's the beginning to the end of this deployment. SoldierMan has begun his journey home. No telling how many flights, miles and time zones he'll have to go through to get home, but once he's home, these girls are not gonna let him go.

When we found out he was being deployed, there was a certain mental switch that got activated. You tend to start thinking of things and cherishing every. single. moment. Going to the grocery store? Ohmygosh, this might be the last time I go to the grocery store for him. Making Sunday waffles and sausage? Ohmygosh, this is the last time we get to eat this before he goes. Even routine stuff provided a countdown reminder- Cleaning the bathroom? Changing the sheets? Laundry? We fit in special family time too. We took a brief, but very fun filled trip to the mountains (could this be the last trip together?) Counting down the days before your loved one is sent to war is not a fun thing. This time around, I actually was in pre-mourning, if there is such a thing. I stayed up at nights with all the bad things that could happen to him running through my head. I could not stop thinking about what the Chaplin would say to me when he knocked on my door, or how I would tell the girls Daddy wasn't coming home, or what I would wear to his funeral. We actually talked about his funeral and what songs or poems he would want included. There was a long debate about where his would be buried. Would I take the girls? Are they too young? Do they need to say goodbye to him? We did all this with an eerie lack of emotion. I guess we had to. If I really had time to stop and think I simply could not go on. I watched special documentaries about Arlington National Cemetery and how the Iraq and Afghanistan war widows would visit. Some came everyday. Others would come for special occasions. Some would bring a cooler with drinks and some food and a chair and stay all day. Some would lay down beside the grave of their dear departed and take a nap as if the only relief from the exhausting grief was right there. I prayed I would never be one of them. I searched and found blogs written by war widows and would stay up at night and read how their soldier gave their life and how her world came crashing down. I would sob and my heart broke for these women. It still does.

After the Pre-mourning came the actual deployment. I made sure our schedule was jammed packed with activities. The girls and I did not need any time at all to stop and think about what was happening to our family. We went to swimming lessons, spent 4 -5 days at the pool every week, soccer practices, parks, back to school shopping, back to school, dance lessons, etc. Everyday we had something to do. And now? I'm exhausted. I don't think I could've kept that up for too much longer. How in the world did we ever do the 16 month deployment?! I hope I never have to do that again.

While my soldier is not home yet, I can feel that worry of him not coming home slowly disappear. I do not have to worry about getting that dreaded phone call, or hearing a knock on the door and seeing a Chaplin waiting for me. It's like we've won this game of Russian Roulette. You never know what can happen. I am hopeful and that feels great.

Dear Deployment,

You suck. That is all.

Sincerely,
Nicole