What a Week!!!

It was quite a week around here last week. Dad and I went to Palmer on Friday to get some long term food to store for them and some people from church. We left here about 8:00 Friday morning and didn't get home until around 8:00 Friday night. It was a LONG night. We took Jesse with us and he did pretty good until the very end when he was getting too tired.

We saw Chris Smith there and he took us out for lunch and we had a nice visit with him. He is doing good these days. I took some pictures I will post later. We stayed home Saturday and just lounged around for the most part since Dad's back was killing him. Sunday was church until the afternoon and then Mom and I played Scrabble. I have actually two of the ten games we've played. We had a lot of fun last night.

We got up this morning and went to the gym. I forgot my shoes so I couldn't run like I wanted to. I did some other stuff and then we had to get back home. Dad and Micah went to Homer to get the sheet rock lift and we are going to sheet rock the lid of the garage today. I think between the four of us it won't be so hard. It will be chilly out there though. I don't know what else we're doing but Mom is making a meatloaf for dinner and getting it ready. The boys are working on school. Not much else going on today. I think tomorrow will be a town day. I will take some pictures today and get some posted.

Oh, we also found the marshmallow shooters last night and had fun chasing each other around the house and shooting each other. Jesse and Roo can even do it and I think the boys have found something new to do.

We should hear something today about Dad's surgery so I will know better when I am going home. We will be going home Sunday afternoon/Monday. We are going to stop and stay at some friends cabin Sunday and then head the rest of the way Monday. If Dad is having back surgery in the near future we will be staying to help out. It all just depends on what we end up hearing. So, that's been our trip in a nutshell.

The Love Of My Life!!!

I never thought it possible to love someone so much until I got married. As the years pass.....I find I love him more in a deeper, more meanigful way. I miss him, there isn't a moment I don't think of him, but I know he's doing what the LORD wants and that makes me love him even more! We are halfway through our being apart this time and it's getting a little easier. In some ways. I love you Baby and can't wait to see you!!!

Saw this the other day and fell in love with it! I am going to have to get this at some point!!!! Love my soldier!!!!

The Chewy Dog!!!

Here are some pics of the Chewy's haircut and the boys new hats. They look so cute in their new hats and we all love how soft Chewy is now. She is doing so good. No pottying in the house and she's been going everywhere with us! She is turning into quite the family pet!!!

Papa's Surprise 2.....

Papa's Surprise!

The boys had SUCH a good time today playing on the new kid four-wheeler that Papa bought! I even had a nice little ride on it before Papa lowered the governor. When they first got on it and started going Jonathan was driving FAST and Papa was chasing him with a rope on the back of the wheeler. He got his workout and we thought he was going to have a heart attack. Mom was definitely about to have one if Dad didn't!!!! It was a BLAST!!!

Snow Men!!!

Mr. Allen was sweet enough to help the boys make a Daddy sized snowman. They took pictures and Davy and Roo weren't helping since David had gotten hurt and Reuben didn't have any snowgear. These are for their Daddy who couldn't be here to help them! They said it was Phil sized!!! We love you Daddy!!!

Update.....

SO, as you all know we are Daddiless for now. Things are going really good but we do miss him. The boys are excited about leaving for Nana and Papa's on Saturday! We are working on getting school done so we can pack it up tomorrow and get everything ready to go! It takes a lot of packing for 5 people.

We heard last week that Phil's deployment got pushed back until August which was a blessing!!! That will give us about 8 months instead of 4 months to get settled in. They said it could possibly get pushed back even farther! We have been enjoying the time wtih everyone that we have this week while my parents are here.

I have gotten a lot of things packed this week so when we get home from my parents it shouldn't be as overwhelming. The next couple months are going to go by really fast! Phil got my ticket to fly down to see him so my Mom will fly up here the 8th. and I will leave VERY early the next morning to see him! She will be here watching the kids the whole time. I am sure they will have a great time! We are finishing school up the first week of December...,..well the 2nd of December. Then I will have the last week to goof off with the kids and get some last minute moving stuff done.

So, anyways, that is our life these days. I downloaded all my pictures off my laptop to disc so I will have to take some more pictures to post. I will try to post some pics every night at my parents house of all the cool things we're doing. Road trip pictures are first on the list!

So see ya later for now!

Random Pictures from this week.....

Angel's   Baby Shower Pics~

                                                           Cutie!

                                                  Really good pic of Mom!

                                                    Love this one of Ang and the one of Dawn and MOm!

My Boys!!!

I absolutely LOVE this picture!!! It turned out really good. I just ended up hanging a piece of fabric on the wall behind them! I will definitely be doing this again in the future!

Rearranging

So, I decided that I had HAD it with the whole potty training situation. I put Reuben in my room last night which was a transition. He kept me up A LOT but he didn't pee the bed all night!!! Jesse is in Jonny and Davy's room for now. Jesse and Reuben do better separated but it seemed my only chance at getting Roo past his, " I miss Daddy so I'm going back to acting like a baby, peeing and pooping my pants, stage".



I ended up cleaning that one room totally and putting all the church's things back in there so it is TOTALLY taken care of! I have been VERY busy today cleaning and packing and organizing. I have certain days where I feel more motivated to get things done than others. The house is looking nice today and it makes me happy. The boys are doing school, I did the morning dishes, ran some laundry, folded some laundry, we're going to get showers done today, clean out the new freezer( I've been avoiding that), packed all my sewing stuff away and decided I'm not going to get a chance to use it so I might as well pack it, working on a wedding gift for Shannon and Ty. It's turning out cute!

Anyways, busy busy. It keeps me from pining for Phil. it seems to be getting easier though. In some ways. I guess maybe just getting used to not having him around. He has been so busy the last couple of days I haven't talked to him much. I still get a text every morning and I am thankful for every little thing I get. So, that's our life in a nutshell these days!

Sickness...UGH!

So, Jonny ended up getting a high fever Saturday and had it until Tuesday. He is doing better now except for a bad cough. Jesse hasn't been feeling well and Roo has a snotty nose. Jonny ended up missing school on Monday and the other boys could tell I wasn't feeling well. They ended up being SO bad! Needlesss to say it was a VERY bad day for Momma. Tuesday morning started out rough but the day ended up being okay.

Another struggle since Phil left has been Reuben and potty training. He has been up several times almost every night. I have taken away his favorite blanket, his Pooh bear, I am making him wear potty training pants and plastic pants again, and he STILL pees the bed ALL night. Now, it's not a matter of him sleeping too hard. He wakes up and cries but refuses to get out of his bed and go to the bathroom. I have even tried spanking him.

I am running out of ideas. I can tell you one thing......NONE of my other boys were this hard to train!!! They were all FULLY trained by three! He isn't that much older than three so I'm not too concerned about it. My Mom said that when my Dad went to basic Josh quit potty training....but he was only 18 months old. Reuben knows better! So if any of you have any off the wall ideas and have prior experience with potty training boys!!! I'm ALL ears!!!

Updates on Us!

Well, I had every intention of doing the 31 Day Challenge like Bek but I couldn't decide on ANYTHING! I also figured with being gone for two of the weeks at my parents it would prove VERY challenging indeed. AKA....I would write at all.

So, I decided to not do it right now. My goal is to write everyday as a type of journal on here. It helps....to write out what happened in our day and how we are coping without Daddy right now. It is all so new to us! As of today Phil and I have officially never been apart this long. It is weird. I thought it would get harder as time went by but it seems to be getting easier. I know it's only been two weeks but it HAS gotten quite a bit easier. We are settling into a routine and it is definitely helping.

I had thought of doing something like just posting a picture of what I was wearing each day to improve my appearance. That seemed kind of silly. I might do it anyways....just for Phil! I have been crafting and working on getting things packed so we will be totally ready when Phil gets home.

I am flying to South Carolina to be with Phil the last week of school. I will leave here on the 9th. of December and fly home with Phil. It will be the first time we have been somewhere alone together in quite awhile. We did go to Hawaii once by ourselves but stayed with friends so we aren't counting that. There are a bunch of Conferences and such for us wives to attend that week. It is spouses week. We will also be attending a banquet. I get to buy a new fancy dress and some heels. It should be fun! I also get to be there for Phil's graduation!

So, that was exciting news! I am going to pick Kluane up in a little while and she is going to watch the boys for me for awhile and then stay the night! It is pretty exciting for me. I am going to a girls game night with a friend whose husband is also away at Army training. Anyways, not much else going on around here lately. Just the usual!

Oh....I almost forgot. We found out this week that Phil is getting sent to Afghanistan next year for 9 months. It was a blessing to hear that it wasn't for a year. That was an answer to prayer. I will continue to keep everyone updated as soon as we know more. We don't know exactly where he will be over there yet!