Counting down to Christmas.... and other things

Jonas and Maddie have been taking turns asking me when Christmas is, and it's so nice to tell them today, only one more week! It's hard to believe it's only a week away. I need to correct something I wrote in my previous post. Josh got picked as an alternate in the program, the 5th alternate. 10 were picked, and then there were 8 others I guess that were picked as alternates, but not sure. I know there were 18. Anyway, Josh being picked as an alternate I guess I misunderstood doesn't mean he necessarily won't be picked, it's just who the Navy chose as their top choices, and then the Olmstead board will be the one's who really select. So if they decide to interview Josh it will be sometime in mid-January somewhere in Washington D.C. so we should hopefully find out by the end of next week if he will be interviewed, and if so he might be returning home a few weeks earlier, which means I might unfortunately not be going over there to meet him as I'd hoped. We'll see what happens. I am just posting this in hopes that everyone out there will have us in your prayers! Think positive thoughts for us. It would be very exciting for us if he was accepted in the Olmstead program, it would mean our whole family living abroad for 2 years in Russia, and Josh going to graduate school there! It would really be exciting, but I'm not going to get my hopes up as he's just an alternate to be picked. Yesterday I got to play photographer for my friend Jenn and her family. They needed family pictures, so we went and took some, and I thought they turned out pretty good. (as you can see above!)Tonight the kids and I will be taking a drive to see the Christmas lights at the Botanical Garden, it should be fun!

Aviator Wings

Josh sent me a presnt for Christmas, which technically means I opened it up too early. I honestly didn't know if it was the present he mentioned or not, by the way it was packaged. I had an idea of what he was going to get me. When Josh got his Aviator Wings in 2003, he bought me some wings just like in the picture (as all good aviators do for their wives!) that I wore for 3 years. Well this past summer I took it off when we were going swimming and somehow lost it. I was very upset. To me, the wings were not only his accomplishment but they were mine as well. He joined the Navy, but so did I. The two years of flight school were tough for him, and they were tough for me. The wings meant that he was done with school and was a pilot, and finally felt like he was really part of the Navy! To me it represented a chapter of our lives that seemed never ending, and was finally over, but just beginning. It meant a lot to me that today of all days I got this package in the mail. It reminded me that our decision for Josh to join the Navy was the correct decision, and that after finding out today that he didn't get into the Olmstead program (for graduate school) that he really had wanted to get into; that things happen for a reason. He loves to fly, and I've loved being able to live in the different places we've lived. We've been blessed with all the friends that we've been able to make along the way. Today was a terrible day for me, I won't go into it because in the end it really won't matter in 30 years. To me these little wings of gold represent how far we've come in this Navy career, and how far we will go, and that we have an unknown adventure ahead of us. When Josh joined the Navy, the slogan on their commercials was, "Let the Journey Begin", truly that's exactly how it has been. A Journey, an Adventure.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

We got our Christmas tree the other night! It now officially feels like Christmas season to me! We went to Home Depot and picked up one of their trees with the Strickland Family, (Thanks Jenn and David!) and they helped me get my tree home and put it in my tree stand. The kids had fun decorating the tree, and are now enjoying moving ornaments around just about every day. (even though I tell them not too!) I finally got all the presents for famiy out and have begun wrapping. I'm hoping to get them all done tonight so I can mail them tomorrow. Ambitious I know. Is it possible to finish? Who knows! I'm babysitting for my friend tonight, and will have her kids overnight. It will be the first time I've babysatt any kids overnight, hopefully all will go well. We'll see.

Pictures from the past month....

Where does the time go? I've meant to post these pictures, but hadn't even downloaded them yet to my computer! The kids had their preschool Thanksgiving program, and I got some cute pictures of them. Then we went to a craft fair and saw Santa! It was so much fun! Then we went to a parade in downtown Norfolk for the lighting of the Christmas lights downtown. On a Josh update he woke me up yesterday, at 5:30a.m. They were in port for a few hours, so he gave me a call. It was good to talk to him. It will be a few weeks before we talk on the phone again. It took me several minutes to wake up and become coherant to have a conversation! But he's doing well, and glad to be on the Arctic again, although unfortunately doesn't have a phone in his room like he did before!

In recovery... kind of...

I know I haven't written in a week, so here's what has been going on in our little corner of the world. Last week, Wednesday the kids got out of preschool, it rained so much that it flooded and you literally couldn't go anywhere since the streets were so flooded, and I did try to take them, and then when we got there they had decided to cancel school. So we went home and got some dry clothes on as we were soaked! Thanksgiving day we slept in. Eliza was up a lot and had a runny nose and cough. No fever, but was very congested, Maddie had a cough no fever, but seemed fine. By the end of the day Maddie was running a fever and actually fell asleep with her head next to her Thanksgiving dinner. We were at a friends for Thanksgiving, so we layed her down in a spare room and she went to sleep. So since last week we've been dealing with a lot of runny, snotty noses, coughs, and all that comes with it. It has finally come to me. (which after being coughed on a gazillion times I'm not surprised!) Thankfully (and I mean it!) my head is just stuffy and I'm a little runny in the nose. Nothing major. So for a second time this week, both Maddie and Eliza are taking naps. Thankfully the girls are over their fevers which were only one day. But I'm ready for them to be snot free! =) You may wonder, what about Jonas, well he's been fine the entire time. (knock on wood!)My dad asked me if I put anything on my blog about Josh... and I guess I haven't for awhile. We did talk twice the day before Thanksgiving. They should be going to the ship they were supposed to be on before it broke, The Arctic. Josh says he's been reading a lot, and flying not so much. Hopefully he'll stay busy so he doesn't get too bored! I do get an e-mail every day, and have gotten some letters. I know I'm so spoiled! I love it! Here's a picture of Josh with his mustache... I don't like it... and he knows he'll have to shave it off before returning home!

Raking Leaves

There must be something in the air that makes kids want to get out and rake the leaves. I was reading my sister-in-law's blog and she said her son Jeffrey wanted to rake the leaves, and got his Dad out there to help him. Since I'm the sole parent in charge, that left leaf raking up to me. So we did, and after awhile I realized even though we have a tiny yard, we have a ton of leaves! So I took up an offer for help with yard work from our friend Ethan. (who also mowed the yard when I was prego with Eliza when Josh was gone, so give him a call if you need your lawn mowed!lol, just kidding!) We got the leaves raked, and it looked great for about a day, and now it looks exactly the same as it did. And we had literally 12 bags full of leaves! Jonas had a good time though as you can see from the picture. Maddie isn't big into yard work, she mostly supervised from the side (aka played in the leaves we raked, and just played around). Eliza well, she just thought it was great fun to go up and down the front and back stairs on the house, which I enjoyed (said with sarcasm) getting her down! I have more pictures to post, we went to a craft bazaar on Saturday and the kids saw Santa! Jonas has informed me he only wants Age of Empires 3 (which Santa is Definately bringing him!), but nothing else... so I guess that means I can return everything else I got him. lol! Maddie said she wanted Little Mermaid stuff. It's funny when we're at home, every commercial is "I want that" but when they see Santa they get shy, it's so funny! Saturday night we went to the annual parade in downtown Norfolk, where they turn on all the lights that decorate the buildings for the Holidays (it's kind of cool), and they have Santa at the very end of the parade. It was fun, and a very busy day! I will post those pictures later!

The Party and Cake

Because Josh is gone, I got the idea from my friend Marie (thanks Marie) who when her husband was gone when her youngest, Ivan turned One, she had a little party with friends to help her celebrate. So, that's exactly what I decided to do. I had several friends come over with their kids. We had a fun time. They brought presents, which was nice, but I really didn't expect it, so Eliza got a lot of fun stuff. It was a fun time, and good for me to not think about how Josh was gone, although I did think about him a lot. I had Eliza's pictures taken at the picture people yesterday, she is just too cute! Let me know if you want to see them and I will e-mail you the link to check it out! I e-mailed it to almost everyone I thought would want to see, but I could've left someone out unintentionally! My friend Jenn made Eliza a sweet little Bear cake, and then cupcakes for everyone else! (Thanks Jenn) It was so great to have that part of the party taken care of as I ended up being really busy yesterday! Eliza is our winner of the messiest 1st birthday cake eater. As you can see from the pictures! You'll see her before and after!

Happy Birthday Eliza!

Eliza is officially a year old today. At 6:14a.m. one year ago today Eliza (finally, and I really do mean finally!) made her presence into the world. Eliza has grown and changed so much in this year of her life. I can't wait to see her growth in the next few years. She is going to have a little birthday party tonight with friends, so I will post the cake pictures either tonight after the party or tomorrow! Happy Birthday Eliza! Here are some random pictures of Eliza.

The sweetest thing...

She's so sweet isn't she? Underneath it all, she has me wrapped around her cute, tiny little finger! She is getting to be more and more independent every day. Today we went and saw Flushed Away, and no matter how many different tactics I tried to get her to just walk around our little area, it didn't work! She just wanted to walk all over the entire theater! She's such a little busy body!

The deployment meal plan....

For those of you that have never had a spouse deploy, there are definately changes in your lifestyle that you don't realize until you go through an actualy deployment, and something people just don't really come out and tell you. One of the things that changes when the othe spouse deploys is the quality of meals. The days of nice dinners in the evenings, are but a fleeting thought. Breakfasts and Lunches are about the same, because usually Josh wasn't home anyway for those. Dinners are the big change. Sure every once in awhile when Josh was home we'd have homemade pizza (homemade as in: using the pillsbury crust, a bottle of ragu pizza sauce, and mozzerella cheese), or hot dogs with mac and cheese, or chicken nuggets with mac and cheese, or fish sticks with mac and cheese (notice a trend), or ramen noodles. But mostly dinner with Josh was pork chops, meatloaf, spaghetti, casseroles, baked chicken, fried chicken. Well I am going to confess once and for all that I do not intend to cook anything of that sort until Josh returns. Not because I don't miss it, I really do. I tried to cook a chicken casserole last week because the thought of eating macaroni and cheese more times than I can count already didn't appeal to me. Did my kids eat it, the answer to that is No. They both professed to not like chicken (which they do), or rice, cheese, or broccoli. (which was all in it!) So I ate it, and realized I am not wasting my time or energy on a meal that only I will eat, and end up preparing two meals.
I have stocked up on mac and cheese. Thankfully they had it for 50cents a box, and I've stocked up. I'm sure the check out lady thought I must really like mac and cheese, or maybe she just knew my husband was deployed and I have three kids. =)
Another change, remembering to put out the garbage on trash day. Josh teased me before he left, by "showing me" how to take out the trash. Not only do I have to take out the trash, but I have to remember to put it out on the side of the street, and have to remember if it's the right week for recycling that picks up every other week. (usually I check and see what the neighbors are doing, and then wonder if they check to see what I'm doing? Hmmm.) Last time Josh was gone I left the trash can out on the curb too long, and got a $50 fine, but got it taken back because they forgot to pick up my garbage so that's why it was out. I hate putting the trash out.
Yard work. I don't like it. It used to be fun to rake leaves, but I decided its not fun anymore, and trying to get a 4 and 3 year old to help along with a 11 1/2 month old who insists on climbing up the concrete front stairs to the porch is not fun. We did manage to get some done yesterday and today, but I decided, I need help, even though we will have more leaves that will be on the ground soon, we need to get these leaves cleaned up! So we'll be getting help from friends. Its sad when the 6 year old neighbor kid is helping, and it is a huge relief to get the help!
Well I think I've babbled enough... another thing is adult conversation is missed. I do get it, but obviously I need some more or I wouldn't babble so much on my blog.

Friends...

I forgot to post this picture before. It's of Jonas and his buddy Connor. I thought it was fitting that Connor was Woody and Jonas was Buzz. They are best buddies. When I see this picture it makes me want to sing the song from Toy Story, "You've got a friend in me."
It's too cute.
We've made it through our first week without Josh. It was a busy week. Hopefully this week will go as well as last week. Josh has e-mailed and is doing well. Sounds like he's had a lot of time to read, and write me of course! =) If any of you family members would like his address, or his e-mail address just let me know.

Trick or Treat and Field trips!

It was a beautiful night last night! It was so warm compared to last week! It got up to 75 degrees and I know it had to only have been 65 because it was still warm! It was awesome! The kids and I went trick or treating with Marie and her kids. I didn't take any pictures last night because I took some the other night when we went to the trunk or treat. Maddie was Snow White, Eliza was a bumble bee, and Jonas was Buzz Light Year. We had fun going around the neighborhood. Because our church Halloween Party didn't fall on Halloween this year, it was our first time actually going around the neighborhood. I have to say I was mighty impressed with the neighborhood, there were lots of people out, and it was fun to see the different decorations on the porches!
Today was Jonas' first field trip to the Fire station, and when the put the big 100 foot ladder up in the air Jonas said, "Mom the ladder touched the sky!" It was too cute! Too bad it didn't last, he apparently had a bad day at school after that. Hopefully he'll be better tomorrow. I also heard from Josh via phone Monday night and then e-mail this morning. They made it to the ship, and were only two hours late in arriving, hopefully he got some sleep. He said he only slept 11 hours since he left us on Sunday! UGH! Hopefully my pictures will work here, if not I'll post later!

The countdown has begun...

Josh left yesterday. It finally happend. After weeks of rumors of when they would leave, and dates being told, and then taken back (this is very typical by the way!), he was given the date a week ago that they would leave yesterday morning. They were supposed to leave at 11:30a.m. We had to be at the airport (one on base that does all the Military hops and what not) at 9:30a.m. so when the plane they had was broken, they said they would get them out of there by 12:30. It didn't happen. They ended up leaving at 2:30p.m. Thankfully they had a large room that was for the kids to play in, had a computer for older kids to play games, and a t.v. and a large supply of Disney movies. They also had a place to buy food, and a nearby bathroom. We were set. It was for me a very long emotional day just waiting. Once they finally announced they were to leave, the whole process was quick. I think we got about a 15second final goodbye, and then Josh had to do his job which was to get the rest of the 22 enlisted folks, and the other officer with him to the plane. After all the wait, I was dissppointed in a short goodbye, and I know the other wives were too. Especially the enlisted folks, as I'm sure their spouses will be gone a full 6 months. As we watched them get on the bus that took them out to the plane I finally let myself cry, as cried a little before we left (I cried in private), but now I let it go freely. And I wasn't alone, as there were several other wives and some kids still there. This military life is a difficult one, and I hate to say goodbye to my husband, but as we tried to explain to Jonas and Maddie why Daddy had to leave it reminded me that Josh is going to protect our country. He has an important job to do, and not everyone can do what he does. We are so blessed to live in our country and enjoy the freedoms that we do, and Josh is doing his job to ensure that our country is secure and free. Now I'm not saying I will enjoy being the sole parent, the one who has to take out the trash all the time, change all the diapers, give the baths, get the car cleaned out, and make sure our bills are paid; I know that he is coming back, and this is only just a small fraction of time in our lives that he will miss, and he will be home soon.

Some of the outtakes of our Family Pictures... but they're good!

Hopefully this works... I've been trying all week to get these pictures on-line!

Family Pictures

Several weeks ago we asked our friend Ethan if he would take some family pictures of us. Its been a busy few weeks for him and for us, and we finally had a few hours free to go and take some pictures. He took a lot of pictures, and its amazing how everyone can look good, and then one person has their eyes closed... grrr! I think we have at least 3 winners. Although towards the end we took one of my favorites which is all of us making funny faces, and EVERYONE is looking at the camera. We won't send this in our Christmas cards so I'll post it here. We are now down to just a few more days until Josh leaves. I'm ready for him to go so he'll be back that much sooner. I'm so glad this is the last deployement for us for a few years! YEAH!!
Pictures will come soon... the blogger is being funny

Helloween Ball

Last night was the Helloween Ball for all the Helicopter pilots at the Squadrons. It was at the Sheraton Hotel downtown Norfolk. Even though I had to get a new dress, which had three layers of hemming, and had to be altered to fit me in the shoulders, and altered so I could wear my under garments, it looked nice. Josh also had to buy a kilt. Most everyone in Josh's squadron wore one. It was very amusing to see them all in them. Unfortunately my picture of all of them didn't turn out, so I'll have to acquire one from someone else. It was one of the best we have been to so far. I'm glad that Josh was home so we could go. Here are some pictures of us. I got my hair done at this salon called About Face Hair Design. The lady Janelle that did it was amazing. My hair is short, but what she did to it made it look long! It was cool! I loved it! I am including that picture of my hair too!

Hallow-scream

Last night my friend Jenn and I FINALLY after 2 previous tries, got to go to Busch Gardens. The reason we wanted to go is because they have a big Halloween thing every year called Hallowscream. Okay that's not the only reason we wanted to go. We wanted to be able to go on the roller coasters together too! But the Hallowscream also has some things that younger kids would be too scraed to see, so that's the other reason we wanted to go. It was sooo much fun! The whole park is lit up with orange lights, and scray decorations are all over the place! They have several places around the park where there are dummies hanging on trees, then at night they added to them with real live people dressed up, and you don't actually know they are alive until they move and jump out! The train becomes instead of transportation, its own ride, we heard went past scray cemetaries, some coffins without bodies, and so forth. They had several rides that were haunted houses, and several different shows. Did I mention it was a lot of fun! Through all of the haunted houses we linked arms because we didn't want to walk through not holding on to something! And we did jump several times, and then laughed about it.
We did ride roller coasters, and ate way too much at dinner! It was exactly what I needed! Josh finally got his dates to leave. He'll leave at the end of this month. I'm sad, but am glad he'll be able to deploy so he'll then be able to return home that much sooner!
Tonight we are going to the Navy Heloween Ball, and Josh has to wear a Kilt. Don't worry I will be posting pictures!

7 Years

7 year ago today Josh and I were married in the Washington D.C. temple. I can't believe how fast 7 years have gone by. 7 years ago Josh and I were still in college. We got married over our fall break, skipped classes the following week to take a honeymoon down in North Carolina where we stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast! (which we returned there for a visit on our 5th Anniversary) In our 7 years of marriage we have finished college, Josh has joined the Navy, had 3 children, and we've moved 5 times. It has been an adventure for sure!
It has truly been a great 7 years of marriage! Josh is my best friend, and more. =)
I love him so much, even saying that doesn't seem to be enough. He is honest, caring, thoughtful, understanding, smart, funny, cute, and sexy. (of course you might not care about that!) He is the whole package! I thank my Heavenly Father every day that Josh came into my life. I know that together we are better than apart. I know that sounds a little corny, but it's true. Anyway, here's to us, to many more years, and at least one more child! lol!

Pumking Patch

Every year the church where the kids go to Preschool sells pumpkins. And they have a TON of pumpkins in MANY MANY sizes! I love when they sell them because the entire front lawn of the church is covered in pumpkins! They just put them out on Tuesday and I finally remembered to take my camera to school. Maddie didn't have her preschool class today so after we dropped off Jonas and Connor in their class we took a few minutes and took some pictures! Enjoy and have a happy Fall day!

Some more pictures of our trip and with my parents!