Today marks our 9th wedding anniversary! In that time, we've made 3 beautiful babies, moved 7 times, been through 3 deployments, and received 3 Master's degrees between us. Shew! We've been busy...
Welcome, James!
The day Chris left for Iraq
(10 day old James)
Welcome, Henry!
Welcome, Peter!
Daddy & Peter
Goodbye, Mora...
West Point
Leaving for Afghanistan
At a Brigade Ball
There is no one else I'd rather spend my life with than you, babe. Thank you for everything... but especially our boys. There is no greater love than the one I have for all of you.
Where has the time gone? I can't believe James started 2nd grade today. Here are a few pictures of us sending him off on the bus this morning...
Nicolas and James waiting for the school bus.
Nico, Gabby, James, Christian, Jonathan
Good luck!
I have so many hopes for him this school year... that he does well academically, that he makes nice friends, that he enjoys learning new things, that he likes his teacher, that he doesn't grow up too fast. I sat next to him for several minutes this morning trying to wake him up. He looked so little. His features reminded me of the baby he once was. My heart is so full of love for him and the young man he's becoming. I can't wait to hear all about his first day of 2nd grade!
Chris's flight arrived, as scheduled, at 3:45am on Friday morning. I fell asleep around 10pm on Thursday and woke up at midnight, unable to fall back to sleep since I was excited and nervous about missing my alarm, set for 1:30am. I got ready first and then woke the boys up at 2am. We arrived at Green Ramp a little before 3am. While Chris's flight was on time, it took forrrrrever for them to clear customs and de-board the airplane. Meanwhile the boys were going back and forth and back and forth, outside and inside, inside and back outside, trying to find the best spot to see Daddy walk into the hangar.
Here are a few pictures from our special morning...
Even at 3am, Pete was hungry...
The big boys were being entertained by Petey...
Dancing
The soldiers march in...
Looking for Daddy in the crowd...
We found him.
While Pete wasn't sure about Daddy at first,
it only took a few hours until he was comfortable.
Needless to say, after getting so little sleep, we were exhausted by the afternoon. We all fell asleep in various spots around the house at the same time. I have a feeling it looked like a crime scene around here! It feels great to be together as a family again! Thank God he's back home safely.
With less than 24 hours until Daddy's flight arrives, we've been busy getting ready for his homecoming! We made chocolate chip cookies and blueberry muffins to share tomorrow morning, a red white and blue "welcome home" cake, stocked the fridge with lots of his favorite beer, marinated the steak he wants for dinner, colored a "welcome home" sign to bring with us to Green Ramp (where families greet their soldier), ironed the clothes we will all wear, and decorated the house! Oh, and did I mention that Chris's flight arrives at 0345AM... and we're supposed to get there 30-45 minutes early? So the boys and I will plan to wake up around 2am, leave the house around 2:15am to arrive at Green Ramp around 3am. Of course it'll be worth it once we're all together again...
And in the middle of all of the excitement prepping for Daddy's return, the alarm kept going off. And off. And off. And off. I couldn't take it anymore and called ADT. "There's no way that sound is coming from the motion detector, ma'am." Hmmph. "Okay...let me check it out again." I told her. I still couldn't get it to stop beeping. I decided to ask my neighbor, Mike, to come over and check it out all the while thinking, "Really??!! Chris is due home in less than 24 hours. This couldn't have waited just ONE more day? Just one??!"
Mike was getting totally frustrated with the ADT woman too. And oh... I can barely type laughing this hard because what you don't see is Mike say, "Oh. Oh... well, yes, there are two fire alarms sitting right here as well.... Oh. I stand corrected. You are right. Carry on." It turns out the fire alarms I disconnected yesterday from the ceiling-- because they were randomly beeping-- had turned into a full-fledge alarm sound and they happened to be sitting directly under the ADT motion detector. Oooh... oh. That's good. That's funny. "Carry on, ADT people. Carry on."
Henry falls asleep in the craziest spots and ways. Here are some of the best ones...
Mid-way through playing with his trains...
At an Army football game...
On the couch...
Playing on Daddy's laptop...
At the airport...
On a Dora pillow, next to Peter...
Crooked...
With his hands down his pants...
Upside down...
In the car, with a frog on his lap...
Mid-prayer...
Half-way off the bed...
With Chocolate (the dog)
On my stomach...
He must be freezing...
Watching TV...
On a walk...
And my personal favorite-- mid-bath last night...
It's amazing, isn't it? Don't worry (about narcolepsy, sleep apnea, etc). I've considered the same but all of these situations can be somewhat "rationalized" by the days' events. He tries so very hard to keep up with his big brother and his friends... I have to remind myself that he just turned 4 at the beginning of summer. I wish I could get him to slow down long enough to take a "real" nap!
I am a stay-at-home mom to 3 energetic, funny, sweet, and crazy boys. I married my best friend, Chris, and love our life together. The Army is sending him overseas soon so I thought this blog would be a great way for him (and the grandparents!) to keep up with our hectic life. Unfortunately the Army keeps us too far from family and most of our friends so hopefully this will help us stay connected.
