Oh the questions...

A sample in to the world of having a 4 year old, A.K.A incessant question asker:

Brielle: "Mom, why does everyone have boogers in their noses?"

At first I wasn't sure what to say, so I told her:

Me: "I don't know, we just do."

Then it dawned on me...why shouldn't I answer the question? So I went ahead full force with a much more informative answer.

Me: "Actually, I do know. We have boogers in our noses because they are sticky and help trap germs from getting all the way in to our noses so we don't get sick. It's one way our body can fight against germs."

I thought I was so brilliant that I was helping my daughter's brain expand and grow.

Brielle: "Do they not always stop the germs then, because I still get sick sometimes."

Me: "Uh......"

Brielle: "Why if we have boogers to trap our germs can we still get germs in us? I still get germs and get sick sometimes, were my boogers not sticky?"

Me: "Uh....well, no, germs can get in through your mouth also or other ways."

Brielle: "Why? I thought boogers trapped germs."

Me: "You know what, I don't know why we have boogers."

After examining an older person's nose she also wanted to know why old people have "spider webs" in their noses (nose hair).

Telling her "I don't know" used to work. But she now gets mad and says, "MOM! Just tell me the right answer!"

I hope we can all make it out of this phase with some sanity still in place.

Arizona Fun

Last Wednesday I packed up my van and my girls and at 6:30 a.m. I followed my sister and her family and drove off in to the sunrise headed for Arizona. Well, technically we were not driving in to the sunrise so much as had it blaring on our left sides for a while...only to be followed shortly by blaring on our right sides, but I only know that because of the geographical knowledge bestowed upon me by my father. He’ll be so proud.

Surprisingly the 13 hour trip down went quite well (10 hours driving, 3 hours of LONG stops for little bladders). I had every toy, game, movie, treat and snack imaginable on hand, as I knew I was going to be in the car with them alone and wouldn't have a back up person to help entertain. I may have suffered a bit of mental trauma from the jam packed kid filled hours...but I will recover.

We were able to spend the rest of the week at my grandparent's house with my family for a much needed vacation and reunion. There was walking down memory lane - not an actual road - Jeeping, playing, destruction - tearing down a barn can be surprisingly entertaining - and more fun.

The 13 hours home on Sunday went almost as smoothly as on the way down. Although I think we (me and the kiddos) were not quite as naïve about how quickly it would pass and all participated in a bit more whining and complaining.

Now that I've given you the extremely Reader's Digested version I will do a bit of a photo montage for my dear husband who may (or may not) check the blog if I tell him there are pictures. If you choose to forgo browsing the rest of this post, please leave quietly as to not disturb the other readers.

****

****

****

Halfway there at our lunch break...some passengers were worn out.

Others...not so much.

Blowing bubbles at the park

Such a messy face for such a fancy diva

Running through sprinklers at the Grandparents abode

Some random hitchhikers I decided to pick up...although maybe against better judgment

(My mom, Claire, Cousin Eliana, Brielle, Cousin Cadence)

Standing on a stump...just because I'm sure Marty will flip out when he sees this picture as Claire is "too crazy for her own good" or something like that.

Brielle's turn on said stump

Jeeping Girls...although not much Jeeping was happening here, they were sitting in the back of the Jeep that was hooked up to an old barn with a tow strap and was being used as the muscle behind pulling the barn over.

(Brielle, Cousin Cadence, Claire)Outside the entrance to Ghost Town...as you can clearly read. Too bad it was $5 to ENTER Ghost Town and we are far too cheap to blow the big bucks on things like that.

So there you have it...our trip in a nutshell. Looking at these pictures makes me realize that even though I may have been super stressed out (you try traveling alone with two kids) the girls had a GREAT time and will have the same great memories of Arizona that I do.

Will I do another big road trip with the kids alone? Probably...I'm just un-teachable I guess.

Reunited Part II

"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home..."

Can I just say that this is my very favorite picture!?

*

Okay, now that I've said that let's get to the details!

*

I came home from Oklahoma on a Saturday to my girls both being sick. Claire had thrown up twice at my in-law's while I was gone and Brielle threw up the next morning...4 times in 2 hours. Needless to say that added to my already feeling very sad and longing SO badly to be with Marty again.

*

Thankfully a couple days later we found out Marty was going to be able to come home for 6 days of leave! It was all I needed to keep me going.

*

Marty flew in on Thursday afternoon and stayed until the following Wednesday afternoon (missing my big ultrasound appointment by about 2 hours...bummer).

*

Me and the girls were anxious all morning watching the clock, cleaning and decorating to keep us busy waiting for when we could go pick Marty up. When the time came we couldn't run to the car fast enough.

*

We got there a couple minutes early (I couldn't wait any longer!) and were parked in the "park and wait" lot. Marty thinks he's funny (okay, usually he is) and decided to text me saying that there had been engine troubles and they were stuck in Denver. I almost started crying and was halfway through a text asking how long they were going to be and should I just go home etc. when he sent another simply saying "Just kidding". What a bum.

*

When we pulled up to the curb I was SO glad to see him but obviously knew that this reunion was going to be mostly about the girls. I jumped out and hugged him and suggested he ride in the back of the car with the girls. We opened the door and both girls just burst in to laughing and screaming at the sight of their daddy. He climbed in and mauled them both with as much love as you can give to kids strapped in car seats. He sat in the back and the entire way home all I heard was laughing and screaming...even from Marty.

*

We stopped at home to show him the wonderful poster Brielle had made for him (sorry, no picture) and the "presents" she had gotten - his favorite soda, some M&M's and some army balloons...I let her choose everything which she loved.

*

Marty had told his mom that he was going to be coming in late at night rather than when we had originally planned thanks to some complications with getting the final signature on his leave papers...there really were complications and there really was a chance he was going to have to delay his flight, so it wasn't REALLY a full on lie. So we went up to his parent's and he snuck quietly on his hands and knees across the floor next to the couch she was on and popped up at her while me and the girls hid out of her sight. He was very proud of how much he surprised her, I don't think she could have reacted any better. :)

*

After surprising his mom and visiting with some of his family for a little while we went back home to do some hanging out. Marty was gracious enough to bring home all his dirty laundry to do while he was home...so considerate. :) He started unpacking and the girls were instantly curious about his AWESOME army glasses, so they tried them on.

Pretty stylish huh?

For the 24th of July we participated in the annual Ridges 24th of July water party celebration, which is always a BLAST and was made even more fun by having Marty around.

The rest of the 6 days went far too fast and was over before we knew it. There was swimming, bbq's, playing games, laughing, eating, playing, relaxing etc. It was absolutely fantastic. The girls were in heaven with daddy being home, to the point that Claire would even cry if he went to the bathroom and was out of her sight for even a moment.

Brielle may have broken his heart the morning of his departure by telling him, "You can't leave! I don't want you to be a soldier anymore, you can't live in Texas, you have to live here with us, you're our daddy!" Claire overheard that and added in, "No, not Texas daddy, you're my daddy!" That's the first time either of them had begged him to stay...even army strong isn't strong enough to handle those kind of things.

After getting back in to his uniform and a very quiet morning (me and him both get quiet when we're anxious/sad/nervous) it was off to the airport to say goodbye again. The girls both said goodbye easily and only asked a couple times on the way back home why daddy was staying at the airport. I may not have taken it quite so well...but I did compose myself before we got all the way home.

This goodbye wasn't quite as painful as the last two because I KNOW that I can move to Texas when I want. It's in my hands now. The waiting list for military housing is about 9 months and with us being there only a year, it's not worth it. So now it's up to me to find somewhere to live, whether that be a little apartment or a little house I'm not sure. I'll be working on that and we hope to be reunited within a month.

We're excited, nervous, anxious and a little scared about the path ahead of us, but ready to get going with the rest of our lives!

Reunited Part I

This is going to be long, and very fact filled rather than fun and entertaining. My sister wanted details, so details I shall give! At least I have warned you.

Two Wednesday's ago, all by my lonesome self, I began the adventure of going to see Marty for his boot camp graduation. I was a little nervous about taking on this trip on my own, but more than ready to see Marty again after the long 2 1/2 months apart.

*

Once I was safely in Oklahoma City I rented a car and with my sidekick "GPS" took the 1 1/2 hour drive down to Lawton, Oklahoma where the military base is located. GPS and I had a rocky relationship. She kept trying to get me lost and didn't respond to me yelling "that road is under construction, I can't turn there!". She gave me a bit of attitude, but I ultimately had the upper hand with having a volume button and all.

*

Once checked in to my hotel I HATED knowing that I was only a couple miles down the road from Marty at that very second and I couldn't see him until the next day.

*

Thursday morning I went over to the base for family day. After a brief class about "what your soldier has learned" and stuff, we were ushered to some bleachers and sat there in the heat for 30 minutes before the "presentation" (marching, demonstrations, awards etc.) began. When the soldiers marched on to the field this is all I saw:

It drove me nuts wondering if I had seen Marty or not in that crowd and not being able to run over to him. When we were allowed to finally interact I felt as though I was on a first date...wasn't sure how to act or what to say. I mean, we have been married 5 years so it should have been easy but I was not sure he hadn't been brainwashed and turned in to a psycho while he was gone.

*

I was happy to find out that he wasn't however and that being with him was quickly effortless and as wonderful as it had always been. I was AMAZED at how skinny, tan and buff he was also. Makes a big old pregnant lady feel a bit self conscious that's for sure.

(I made him pose for a "skinny shot" to show his mom....he was thrilled about it.)
*

We had from about noon to 8 p.m. that day to spend together off base. He seemed unsure about relaxing and finally admitted that it just felt strange and he was worried that someone was going to burst in at any moment and yell at him for not doing anything.

At 7:45 p.m. I had him back to the base, per their orders.

Friday was the actual graduation ceremony. I felt a lot more strange about this day, hearing them do the yelling and sitting stone cold in their chairs not able to smile or look around. I started to get teary during a video showing some of the things they did in boot camp, wondering what I had let my husband go through.

(He's the second row, three people back...just in case he looks so hot and skinny it was hard to recognize him.)

After the ceremony was over we again had from about noon to 8 p.m. together off base. This day Marty finally gave in to my coaxing and his exhaustion and took a much needed 2 hour nap. He wouldn't the day before, he was too worried he'd sleep past when he needed to be back.

Dropping him off that night was very hard. I cried all the way back to the hotel after leaving him. I wasn't sure when I'd see him again, when we'd get to move out to Texas with him or anything at all. There were so many unanswered questions that I just felt overwhelmed.

I flew out Saturday morning to head home and he took off on a bus to Texas for his next training. I only cried on one of the flights as I got further and further from Marty. But I was able to compose myself before people noticed. Seeing him was SO great but coming back to what has now become our reality was very hard.

There are definitely a lot more questions that have been answered since then and a lot more optimism as well.

Part II - Marty's 6 days of unexpected, but GREATLY appreciated, leave.