JACK (and Ty) -O-Lantern

Yesterday I bought another pumpkin. It had been marked down to 2.99 so I thought we'd have fun carving it into a JACK (and Ty) -O-Lantern.

So that is what we did this morning.

During Ty's AM nap we went out on the front porch and took a drill, a paring knife, a steak knife and some tool you are supposed to use when you fish.

This is what the process looked like:

Tonight we are having our neighbors over to eat hot dogs on the driveway (Poulter 2007) Sorry. I felt like I should site that since it was Emily's brain child. She called me and told me to do it. I think this is her third year to throw this kickin party.

Jack is going to be a train engineer tonight when he goes trick'or'treating. We went shopping yesterday for his outfit. Apparently that is a little late because of the FOUR stores we went to we only found ONE costume in his size. Thank goodness it wasn't wonder woman.

New normal.

Ahh. These last three days have been so very very nice. Jack has been so happy. You can just tell that his whole spirit has lifted. We haven't seemed to skip a beat with this transition. Sometimes returning from a deployment can be hard on everyone, but it is not the case this time. Jack started playing with and talking to Mike right off. Ty is just happy not to have to be neglected as often.

I feel like it's Christmas :-) Mike has been helping with the boys and with meals, it has made it much easier on me. I have even taken 2 naps in the last three days. -AND they got to be as long as I wanted, I didn't have to wake up after 30 mins. to take care of the boys. Wow! Life is great.

This is Mike taking Jack potty for the first time ever. We potty trained while Mike was gone.

See how Mike scooted back to make sure he didn't get shot at? He is always having to watch out for that. Here or away.

His crew will probably get the "Iraq Campaign Metal" because they were "engaged" (Someone shot a rocket at them.) Something that is not always a given for the cargo guys in the AF. Yikes! But, that's war for ya...

Enough of that. The Ellis's are heading for G-town today or tomorrow to visit the folks and Mike and I are going to the DALLAS COWBOYS game on Sunday.

Look for us in the nose-bleeds.

Here is a picture of our house and the boys out playing. I don't know if I have posted one yet.

HOME!

About to leave the house to get Daddy

He's home! I was planning on meeting him w/o the boys, because it was so early, but right as I was walking out the door, Jack came down the stairs. I asked him if he wanted to come with me to get Daddy and he said "Go get Daddy?" So He came with me. He smiled when he saw his Dad and was not very shy. He walked to him and gave him a hug.

All of us.
Mike and Jack racing to the car.
Sarah Beth finding Tim for the first time. (Sarah is a good friend of mine. We have been waiting out the deployment together.)

Ty seeing Daddy. Mike was shocked to see how much Jack and Ty had changed.

Ty checking this new dude out.

They warmed up to each other after a few minutes.

Well, it's 9:15 and we have the day ahead of us. Not sure what's going to happen, except a nap. Ty kept me up most of the night. I think I slept 3 uninterupted hours -not consecutive.

Mike slept some on the plane. He stopped in Ireland and Bangor, ME before getting home. Jack is doing very well with Mike. He showed him all his cars and then they played "Rock'n Roll All Night." They are back to being buddies.

Nothing left to do but the park.

I should be cleaning right now

But I'm not. I just put the boys to bed and I usually come into the computer room as they are falling asleep. That way if Jack gets out of bed, I can catch him. He is amazingly good at sneaking around and I usually don't hear him until he is climbing back out of Ty's crib (with Ty's passie in tow) and back into his bed.

Right now I'm just being lazy and not wanting to start tidying yet. In case you don't know...

MIKE IS COMING HOME TOMORROW!

at 0600. Yep. Early. Lindsey is on her way over here and will stay with the boys tomorrow while I go greet Mike.

I'm so excited. I'll put pictures on here if any of them are decent. (It will still be dark out).

Check back L8R

The new park is open!

The park behind our house just opened today! It is awesome. I haven't gotten to go explore, because I had to hold Ty when we were there earlier today. Jack ran around and loved it. Then he called to me and started waddling over to me. Those of you who have read the previous posts know what it means when Jack waddles. He says "Pee-pee, Mommy" I look up and he has, he has pee-peed all over. He says he has to go more. -Anyone know where this is going? I thought, "gosh, I am glad he is a boy, otherwise we couldn't do what we are about to do."

I look around and don't see anyone else at all.

Yep.

Jack christened the playground.

He had to go, so I took him over to a hidden area where kids won't be playing and let him pee. Hope no one who lives on Dyess ever reads this...

Is that a bad thing? If so, someone tell me so I don't let him ever do that again. But, to my knowledge, guys just kind of go when they need to go. Right? I have very little knowledge in this subject.

Well, we played some more, then Jack said he had to go "poo-poo." I have my limits... some of you were about to get panicky. We left. Jack didn't understand why we couldn't just take care of that business at the park as well.

One day he'll understand.

Time out

When I went upstairs to check on Jack after a nap, this is what I saw. He had all his cars lined up.

Why do boys do this?

Grant did it all the time.

Do girls line up their toys? If Boys do it because they like order then why are their rooms so messy? Any ideas?



Here is a close up.


Mike has gotten on this site and started reading about life back in the Good 'Ole USA.

"Hi Mike!" So I am going to post lots of picture so he will be able to see what his kids are doing. Oh, Mike, while your here. We need to talk about Jack. He got in trouble at MDO today and Mrs. Amy had to put him in time-out. Then, he wouldn't stay in the chair for her, so she had to go get Mr. Guy. (this is like going to the principal) Mr. Guy talked to him and then he went back into the room and sat in the time-out chair. Amy said she had no more problems with him. He also went right to sleep at nap time so maybe he was "just tired."

Mr. Guy and I talked and he thinks that he is missing his Dad. He needs someone to put the fear into him. I kiss him too much for him to be that afraid of me ;-)

Well, talk to ya'll all later!

Paid out

Well, I've got two things to say today.



First: Ty and I went on a date this morning to the Dixie Pig (best breakfast joint in Abilene) and a nice man paid for our meal! No, he wasn't creepy. He walked up to Ty and I and who were both eating a pancake and said that he had "enjoyed watching the wrestling match." (Ty was a little active and very excited about getting to eat a pancake...) We got to talking and I told him that Ty and I were getting some alone time before Daddy came home in a week. I went on to explain that he was deployed and all that. We visited for a few more minutes and then he thanked Mike and I for our service to the country. Then he went up to pay his bill. As he left, another waitress came by and told me: "You are all paid out. That man just paid your bill and he even left a tip for the waitress!"


How kind was that? I even looked a mess! We woke up late again and kind of ran out the door to get Jack to MDO before we were embarrassingly late.


Ty ate a lot of breakfast, so much that he went to sleep on the way home and is still asleep on my bed. See picture below.





Next thing I wanted to say is:


Check out my garage! Yay! This is the first time I have put the cars away since moving to the "new house" -as Jack still calls it. Yesterday I scrubbed the inside of both of them to get ready for Mike's return. I want everything to be nice for him.

I wanted to add a couple more pictures that I like. Here is Ty learning to maneuver down steps.

Soon

My favorite joke of all time:

" Q: What did Henry say when he put his pet snake into the food processor?

A: It won't be long now "


I don't know why that tickled me so much when I heard it, about ten years ago. I think it was on a piece of laffy taffy...

But that's how I'm feeling today "IT WON'T BE LONG NOW!"

Mike told me yesterday that he would be coming home (he thinks) a week from Monday... at... 6:00 AM

I told him to collect his bags and I'd be there after I woke up. :-)

I am hoping that doesn't throw off Jack even more, because it can be a hard transition for children to see Daddy again after a long period of time. At 6 AM it is still very dark. It doesn't even start getting light until 7:15 ish. Trust me, I know I'm up every morning to greet the sun. (Thanks Ty!)

So I don't know how he'd do being whisked off at 5:45 to go meet Daddy in the pitch black. I'm hoping Lindsey will come stay the night with us and keep the boys home while I go greet the heros.


Today the boys and I went to the Walls house and told Jared and Regina "goodbye". sniff sniff.

I am sad that I won't see them for several months. We sent them off with muffins, cookies and fruit for their long long long plane ride. They will report in tomorrow at 5:30.

Why does the Air Force make everyone get up so early. Heck, this ain't the marine corp! It's the "chair force". (no offense).

But really, that was a joke. These guys and girls work hard to keep you and I safe. There is much sacrifice going on to preserve your freedom, and it ain't just the active duty member.

I have just posted the word "ain't" twice. Wierd.

I guess that's all I've got.

If you were planning on bringing dinner to my house to help me out while Mike is gone, then you need to hurry.

Only 9 more days!

That hadn't happened in a long time

I fell off my bike today.

Yes.

I did.

I was pulling my kid trailer at the time. The boys didn't tump over with me. I assume the trailer was designed to not fall over when the bike does.

I was biking up to the BX (department store on base) and was on a long stretch of sidewalk. I stood up to pedal harder because the wind was against me -the trailers aren't very aerodynamic... when all of a sudden...

my left pedal broke

Came right off. When it did, I obviously lost my footing (it was on the ground.)

So I fell. Scraped up my foot and my leg.

Embarrassing.

Two cars were driving by. Neither stopped. I'm glad, but if they had stopped I would have been able to explain the pedal malfunction and that I am not a huge klutz that shouldn't be transporting children.

I got up quickly before anyone else saw me.

Then I sat back down to try to fix the pedal. Jack and Ty, neither, have said a word. Finally Jack says:

"Ready to go Mommy?"

His tone told me that he wasn't as concerned for me as he was bored that his ride had stopped.

Kids. Isn't that typical?

Every time I get a response like that I want to go back to my Mom and beg her forgiveness for all of my inconsideration when I was little and self-centered. God bless that woman. She amazes me. I hope to be much like her one day.

It's like we are dating

All you old married folks remember what it was like back in high school (or junior high for some of you) when you would talk on the phone with your boyfriend for hours?

I do, I used to talk for hours to this guy, Mike, that I dated. I shared a room with my older and later, my younger sister. It would get so late that I would get under the covers to be quieter so as not to annoy Emily (then Hannah). We would talk about all sorts of things, what we'd done that day, mutual friends, sports, what we wanted to name our kids one day... things like that.

I had such a conversation last night. But this time it was to a troop off at war. (How romantic is that?) We had mostly the same topics of conversation that we had back 10 years ago. We talked for 2 hours. That's right, two hours!

The boys were asleep. -This time we did not discuss what we would name our kids. I had just gotten into bed and all was quiet in the house. It was one of a handful of times since he's been deployed that I have gotten to talk as long as I wanted to without being interupted. It was so nice.

Here are some things we got ironed out:

-Where we will eat during our date to Dallas when Mom and Dad have the boys: Cheesecake Factory

-We will be throwing a Christmas party

-I am not going to tell Jack that Daddy is coming home until the day off his arrival

-What to do about the termites that visited the old house: kill them...

I thought my list was longer than that... I guess we didn't get as much accomplished as I thought.

But really, we did accomplish a lot. Communication is a vital part of any relationship, especially marriage. Without it, your relationship tends to fade. We haven't had the opportunity to converse much these last 4 months, so it was good to catch up. I am looking forward to all the new 'inside jokes' that will appear in the following weeks as we spend lots of time with each other.

Ready

I was so blessed this week and want to tell everyone. Brianna Bond, one of my sitters, just spent 3 days with me and the boys. Her sweet mom loaned her to me to help with the boys and just to have company. Brianna is a pleasure to be around and lots of help with the boys. She is over so often that she knows where everything is and can take care of things without a lot of instruction. Something else that is a little uncommon with a 2-year-old "Mamma's Boy" is that Jack, really feels completely relaxed around her. Just sort of interesting. He doesn't talk much at Mother's Day Out -- I have recently learned. He talks lots for me and LOTS for Brianna. I got to observe today as they played legos.
Only about 2 and a half weeks until Mike comes back to me! I am getting excited as I think about how we will spend the first few days. Jack and I talk all the time about "When Daddy comes home". Jack is expecting to play trains, go to the park, read books, and play "Rock 'N Roll All Night". I hope it is an easy adjustment. I know it could be rough for a couple of days. I'm not at all sure how Jack will react.
Mike probably won't recognize Ty. Well, yes He will. But Ty has started crawling and sitting up and standing up and walking around the coffee table and all sorts of smart things like that. I think Mike will be very impressed with his youngest son.

Me, well I just can't wait to have my 'Rock' back. I am ready to not have to be in charge any more. I don't want to have to make all of the decisions on everything. I kindof want to be bossed around (not that Mike is bossy). I want to be the helper and not the master of the house. I really like the helper role. It works out well. I think God is on to something.

I still have some things to get done before the heros come home. I want to clean out the garage. Finish Mike's birthday present. Have both of the cars spotless. It seems like it would be nice for him to come home to order. Especially since he has never been here before. I moved while he was gone, so not only will the house be new, but (and this dawned on me today) he won't know where ANYTHING is. If I ask him to go grab me a diaper for Ty. He won't know where to go. He might have to open 5 cabinets before he can find a glass to get a drink of water with. I think this will be a first for him. Usually when you move into a house you unload everything and put it in a spot, then you know where EVERYTHING is. Not this time buddy.

Maybe I should schedule an afternoon of training.