A friend of mine...

My good friend Kathy, who I met while at Wright-Patt has been blogging for a while but I forgot to put a link to her page on mine. She's an amazing mom, homeschooler, and friend. Check out her page "Joyful in Hope".

Cooow Cake

We celebrated Josiah's 2nd birthday on Saturday with a barn themed party. I made a cow cake and the best part of the entire thing was hearing Josiah say, "coooow cake"! He kind of stretched out the -ow part of cow and it was really cute!!!! It was a great time with friends and the kiddos all had fun. The only thing we were missing was daddy!!!!!

Oh the farmer and the cowman should be friends...

We went to a costume party on Friday night and the boys went as a farmer and a cowman. The girls were princesses of course. It was fun but included too much junk food for the mama!
You get serious bonus points with me if you know where I got my title!!! :)

Good Night Moon

The moon was beautiful tonight. It was full and looked so huge as it rose above the mountains. My picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice; it had that mysterious moon look. There was a touch of pink in the sky and on the mountains...wish you could have seen it in person.

Little Individuals

Chloe has discovered her inner diva...this could be trouble!



Abigail has been sporting the do-rag look.

Joshua's taking young ladies out for a spin.


and Josiah's just trying to keep up with them all!
Then again, so am I! :)

Happy Birthday Dear Baby

Two years ago today my little guy was born. It seems like it was yesterday he was my not so tiny baby and now he's talking and riding bikes and climbing on the counters and jumping off the couch. But no matter how big or how old he gets he'll always be my baby!

Misadventures in Mommyland

It all started around 4 pm yesterday. I was babysitting the neighbor's kiddos so I had 2 extras in the house. Chloe, who is wearing panties these days had an accident (the more unpleasant kind of the two) so I was just walking to the laundry room with her clothes and Joshua and Abigail walked in the house covered in mud. You see the other day we got a new kids magazine in the mail and it had a story about how animals use mud for sunscreen, to keep the bugs away and to keep cool. So Joshua decided he needed some sun screen too and Abigail "massaged" him with mud. I shewed them out of the house and hosed them down. I sent Abigail to the tub and decided that I'd give Joshua a haircut before I sent him to the shower. This is the boy who sits like a statue at the barber shop and never makes a peep...he cried and fussed the entire time I was clipping. While I was doing that the neighbor came to pick up her kiddos. Then I came inside and put Joshua in the shower. Josiah was wanting to get in the tub with Abigail so I put him in to play. Then a different neighbor came over for a few minutes. While we were talking I was hearing strange noises from the bathroom where Abigail and Josiah were. I went to check on them and they were dumping cups full of water out onto the floor, something a 6 1/2 year old should know is wrong!!! Well there was about an inch of water covering the entire bathroom floor! And I don't have a shop vac that can suck up water...so I had to soak it all up with towels. Thankfully the bathroom is not that big. By this time it was 5:30 and the troops were getting hungry. I finally got some dinner started. Things slowed down a bit after dinner and we finished the night with a story and a pretty uneventful bedtime.
So the afternoon was pretty crazy and a little stressful but now that it's all over it's quite funny. It's strange how life works that way....once you are out of the moment you realize it wasn't really as bad as you thought it was while it was happening.

Lest you think we're not having any fun...

Last weekend we headed to the pumpkin patch with neighborhood friends whose daddy's are also deployed. It was great fun. We all especially liked the "Jumping Pillow" even though a few of us got yelled at by the worker guy who was supervising. He shouted at me for jumping while holding Josiah...I know it's a safety thing but he needed to lighten up a bit. It was still fun. And hard not to giggle as soon as you get on. Overall a successful field trip! :) Today we headed to the zoo, no pics of that but it was a good time. Weekend adventures are definitely a good thing!

Remember that roller coaster...

Yeah, I'm still on it. The last week and a half has felt like a really long time. I got to see my husband and it was wonderful. He surprised me at the airport and it was like a movie. I saw him and squealed and ran to him. He hugged me and lifted me up and we did the spinning kiss thing. It was fabulous. We had a great time being together again. We talked and laughed and ate our favorite foods and watched baseball together (you wouldn't expect anything less, would you?). All the things we've been missing....
But then on Sunday we received shocking news that a friend from church passed away unexpectedly. I'm glad that I was with Bob when I found out, he always knows how to put things in perspective for me.
The next day we said good bye. Seeing him was so bittersweet. To be together again but for such a short time....
It was good to come home to my babies. And I was glad to be home because I felt as though I needed to do something for my friend who had just lost her husband. But what can one do? For now we're praying and waiting to help in whatever way we can.

So here we are, trying to get back into our normal groove. But something just seems off. Maybe I'm feeling that aloneness again because of my visit with Bob. Maybe I'm just feeling sad for my friend. Maybe it's both. Put them together with the daily challenges of parenting, homeschooling and potty training and there are times when I feel I just can't do it....
But there is hope...
Psalm 91:4
"He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler."
I'm covered and I have a refuge and I am protected; and in case you're starting to wonder, I'll be okay.

Momentous Occasion

Today Abigail lost her first tooth! It's been hanging on by a thread for days and she's been too scared to wiggle it because she thought it would hurt. FINALLY she pushed it back and forth enough with her tongue that it just came right out! It didn't even hurt. It's the first of many teeth that will be carefully placed under a pillow to be "traded" for something special....My babies are growing up so quickly!

Up, up and away

Today I'm leaving to see my husband. He's back in the states for training and it worked out for me to meet up with him! It's been over 3 1/2 months since he left. We are both really excited and even though we only have a few days together it will be great! Then he's headed back to the war zone and I'm headed back to the kid zone. :) I'm looking forward to a most FABULOUS weekend!!!

My first video

I tried to put a video on my blog before and it didn't work. So here's my first successful post with a video. My mom sent this to me today and even though I've seen it before it made me laugh again.
I wonder what it would sound like if I tape recorded myself for an entire day and then sped it up and put it to music??? Actually that probably wouldn't be a good idea...I hate hearing my own voice recorded!