Homecoming...

**I fixed the video so it should work now.  Sorry!**

We welcomed Chris home on Monday evening, Memorial Day, around 10pm.  His flight was delayed and after waiting ALL day (not to mention 4 months), the boys and I were definitely ready to see him…

It feels good to be complete again.

Getting ready...

We spent the majority of today getting ready for Daddy's return!  Chris is scheduled to arrive around 9pm tomorrow evening, Memorial Day.  We are all SO excited for his return and have been working hard stocking the fridge with his favorite beer and foods, cutting the grass, cleaning the house and cars, and making pretty 'Welcome Home' signs.

I have to say, multiple deployments with multiple children have given me the opportunity to realize that 1) deployments do end and 2) babies don't keep.  I did not spend these past few months pining for Chris the way I did during previous deployments.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with my love for him.  In fact, I love Chris more than ever.  But I spent these past four months focused on what matters most to both of us-- our three boys.

On this Memorial Day our hearts are full… with anticipation of my husband and their Daddy returning.  And such heartache for all those who didn't.

God Bless America.

Terrific Kid award...

Today James was awarded with the Terrific Kid award for the character trait, Endurance.  He is such a great kid and seeing him up on stage made me so very proud.  I always have to fight back tears when I see the boys being recognized for their hard work.

After the ceremony, parents and children were invited to stay for refreshments.  Look at that smile!

Of course I've always known how terrific he is but it's certainly nice to hear that his teachers feel the same!

Totally jinxing myself...

…but Peter has taken a nap for 3 days in a row now!!!  He hasn't napped consistently for at least 8-10 months so these three naps have been such a wonderful surprise.

He works so hard to keep up with the big boys and is growing so quickly.  He NEEDS these rest breaks.  But now that I've shared this news, he'll never close those lids mid-day again I'm sure.  ;)  But let me tell you how nice our afternoons have been lately…

Saturday Fun!

It has been absolutely gorgeous here the past few days-- sunny, breezy, high-70's.  Perfect for being outside.  So yesterday morning I took the boys strawberry picking.  They loved it and we came home with three huge baskets of fresh strawberries.

 

We've already canned 5 jars of strawberry jam, made strawberry bread (which is delicious, by the way), and we still have another huge basket!  We are going to be dyed RED by the time we eat all of these berries! 

After that, we went to Henry's soccer game…

 Speed demon...

 We came home and the boys convinced me to set up the water slide...

And not too long after, everyone came over for dinner!

It was a full house!  I think just about every kid under the age of 10 was here.  After dinner, the kids rode their bikes and played this new "game"…

I'm sure the neighbors loved that nonsense.  Fortunately for the neighbors, we made the kids clean it up as soon as we saw it.  Well, not before letting them have one more run…

It was a great Saturday!

Happy Birthday...

to Henry!!  He turns 6 years old today.  Henry is smart, funny, sensitive, quick-witted, a lover of all animals, babies and bugs and is absolutely a mama's boy.  He is my steady companion and brings such joy and happiness to our family.

May 14, 2008-- the night before I had him.

8 lbs, 13.6 oz

I would give anything to
squeeze those thighs again!! 

The ONLY day Chris ever wore
any of our children in a Bjorn.

Henry's 1st outdoor concert

1st taste of cereal with my helper, James.

West Point

1st birthday in the shirt
Ms. Allison made him 

Henry and his "babies"
(otherwise known as pacifiers).

In all his glory :)

My heart literally hurts when I think of how much I love this sweet boy and I thank God every day he's ours.  Happy birthday, babe.  Can't wait to see what 6 holds!

Mother's Day...

Yesterday my good friend, Eileen, and I took all of the boys (she has 2 of her own) to Asheboro zoo for Mother's Day.  It was farther away than we were hoping (2+ hours for back roads there and 1.5 hrs on the highway back) but it was still nice to check out something new.

 Eileen and kids taking a break...

My favorite picture (and time) of the day...

 The boys all loved this misting tree...

 A group shot… (from a less-than-stellar photographer).

 Finley (in Peter's preschool class) and Max...

 Taking a break from walking and riding the train to the other side of the zoo...

 The absolute favorite part of the zoo was this "stream" the kids could play in...

 Of course Peter got completely soaked but his clothes dried quickly since it was 90 degrees!

 The boys could play with and reconfigure this dam...

 They also loved this "bug" playground...

 Appropo since Henry has on a BUG shirt!

 This new treehouse playground is going to be awesome but it's still under construction...

 Currently it stops here at this first "treehouse"….

 but it's going to weave through the trees when it's done.  How cool!

 Exhausted and ready to ride the train back to our car...

This trip was definitely the opposite of a relaxing Mother's Day :) but it was still spent doing exactly what I love most-- being with my boys.