Another Homecoming for a Friend

Waiting 

 Searching

Happiness 

 Relief

Love

Family

Congratulations to the Dudley Family being reunited after a very long year

A day in the life of Chase

A cupcake after breakfast....in his underwear. 

Picture at his request.

A meltdown because his sister was playing with his toys.

A hug from Buzz after the meltdown.

And when I put him to bed, I found his countdown to his daddy coming home with all of the days in March already crossed off.

It's tough being three years old.

New Christmas Tradition

So I'm having a bit a a problem getting into the Christmas spirit with Justin being deployed this year. We will be spending Christmas in Ohio with my family, so I had the temptation to not even put up the tree.  But, that's not really fair to the kids...this is Asha's first Christmas and Chase will be super excited to cause chaos put it up.  

I realized that we do not have any family traditions for our young family.  We have never spent a Christmas morning at home since Chase was born, as we always travel to either Michigan or Ohio to spend Christmas with our family...just another oddity of being a military family. At some point, this may change...I think the kids should wake up in their own beds on Christmas morning...but for now, we take every opportunity to visit our families that we can.

Anyway, back to family traditions.  Thanks to Facebook...I waste so much time find so many new things on there... I have found a way to start a family tradition...The Elf on the Shelf.  

DISCLAIMER: Should you decide to get your own Elf, READ the book first. If Ollie is touched by a child, his magic disappears.  We found this out AFTER I gave the Elf to Chase...oops!  I had to call Santa and ask him to please give Ollie's magic back.  :)

I am hoping this little guy will help to bring my spirits up in regards to Christmas. He gives me an excuse to be creative, take pictures, and possibly blog about Ollie the Elf's adventures. And more importantly, he is a start of a family tradition.  I'm sure next year (and hopefully a few years in a row for a change) Justin will have lots of fun ideas for our little mischievous elf.  And the best part is that no matter where we go, whether Ohio, Michigan, or stay at home, Ollie will be able to go with us.  

Veteran's Day

As Veteran's Day comes to an end, I am enjoying the quietness of the house.  It's been a busy day of running around with the kids to get Christmas presents for their daddy so we can get them mailed off.  Most people may not have even started their Christmas shopping yet.  But with a husband who is currently deployed to Afghanistan, shopping has to come early, so we can ensure he gets his presents on time. 

There have been posts all day on Facebook from friends and family thanking those who have served.  It got me thinking about what Veteran's Day means to me.  I spent 12 years serving and sometimes the day came and went as not too much more than an extra day off from work...I know, sounds terrible, but prior to 9/11, I was in the Army, but it felt more like a job than something special.  

Now, as a military wife, this day is even more special to me.  Don't get me wrong, I realize I'm a Veteran, and that's something very special, but my time in the Army, I was single.  No husband, no kids, just me running around the world on different adventures.  So I have done some thinking about my time served and the wonderful people that I served with.  But today, my thoughts are mainly about my husband, and the things that he has experienced.

He has:

Held onto his two kids for as long as possible before saying goodbye before heading to Iraq

Reintroduced himself to his son

 Wished me Happy Anniversary through a picture

Introduced himself to his son AGAIN

(Photo courtesy of http://ballisticgypsy.blogspot.com/)

Been cautiously greeted by Chase...only to be fully greeted with an urgency only a thankful, not even two year old, can show to have his daddy back...again.

 Met his daughter 3 hours after she was born

And said goodbye less than 48 hours later

Made three kids very, very happy to have their daddy home

 And experienced the most heart wrenching goodbye yet

My husband is an incredible husband, daddy, and soldier.  And when I see these pictures, it shows me just how strong he, and our family, is.  I love you Justin.  Happy Veteran's Day.

Scavenger Hunt #2

So I totally cheated this week. I pulled my pictures from my archives.  I know, totally against the rules, and that's not normally me, but I wasn't feeling super creative this week (which I realize, creativity is one of the main reasons for this blog) BUT, I enjoyed going back through pictures trying to find something that fit.  And I edited them (also a new thing for me) so that counts for something, right?

Macro:

I love this photo.  I took it in the Detroit Zoo Butterfly exhibit in June.  I could have spent the entire day in there taking pictures.

Texture:

Another Detroit Zoo picture.  This guy has some serious texture.

Home:

What's special about this picture is my hubby is in the corner and my son is by the steps.  Right now home just isn't the same with my husband deployed.

Cover:

Syracuse Zoo this time.  Maybe a bit of a stretch, but the hat is covering his curls.

Tree:

This was a tree in Vermont for our Fourth of July vacation that we take to a new place every year.  I edited to get just the tree, but decided I liked the picture better with the fence it in.

Linking:

My little shutterbug

Entertaining a rambunctious three year old with a deployed daddy can be very interesting at times.  The things that come out of my son's mouth sometimes makes me what to scream, but more often than not, make me laugh.  Yesterday he informed me he wanted to pretend to be a mommy.  And to him, what does a mommy do? Take pictures!  I entrusted him with my small point and shoot camera and he has entertained himself quite well the last two days.  I have to remind him to not put his fingers in front of the lens, not to drop the camera, and to actually LOOK at the screen to see what he is taking a picture of.  He's probably taken 200 pictures in the last two days.  Here are some of his awesome shots.  

Still learning to use the frame to see what he is taking a picture of:

Much better shot buddy:

Kind of cute if he hadn't cut off my head 

She knows what she is supposed to do when there is a camera

Lots of pictures of the dogs, but usually he was standing behind them because "I'm taking pictures of the dogs BUTT!"

 MESSY Bedroom

 His idea to put the thing on Asha's head.  :)

The ONLY bathroom shot that could be posted.  At one point, I stepped out of the shower to hear "Say Cheese, Mommy!"

His Thomas Light 

These are SUPER cute...trying to take a picture of himself 

Still trying 

Some people pay good money for pictures of cups, right? 

This reminds me of teens (or some adults) take pictures of themselves.

Not too bad of an aim.

Not sure how he pulled getting this one off?

 

 SUPER CUTE

 There were about twenty pictures of Iron Man

 I take a picture of the day for my Facebook page of Asha for her Daddy.  This one was our picture of the day.  :)

Boring Day

So my day was pretty unevetful.  Spent the entire day winterizing the house since snow is in the forecast already.  Covering nine windows in plastic while still caring for a three year old and a seven month old made for a very long, tedious process. And did I mention that's just the first floor! So I needed to do something special to unwind and I spent some time editing (a new thing for me) some of my favorite macros.