A Little Saturday Fun

Well we had big fun last week. I posted (uncharacteristically) a lot on FB so no need to revisit it. It was good for my soul, though, to be gone from home without so many reminders about how Hubs isn't here. I got down about it last night and made a lot of people feel sad for me. But again I'm reminded about the power of prayer. Today has been pretty good, and the kids and I sorta stumbled upon some fun this afternoon. Sadie is getting ready for Pine Cove sleep away camp in a few weeks and she has dress up theme nights for which she needs costumes. One night is Night at the Museum and we've never seen the movie. I found a copy at a nearby branch we seldom visit (used to when I lived closer to the area, but haven't been in years) and they happened to have a program from Critterman there! Both the kids got called on stage. Sadie held/touched a legless lizard and Joe touched a hissing Madagascar cockroach. Gross! But a neat program. Next we spent a bit of time in a "cool" part of town grocery shopping and having a cool treat. So not too bad. Guess it's about time to pull some of those groceries out of the freezer for dinner and settle in for movie night!

Month one, done

So let's pretend we actually know a return date. I'm going to (mostly arbitrarily) choose May 13, 2017. Only 11 more months to go! Even if the Hubs doesn't return then he actually DID leave for training May 13, 2016 so either way you look at it, we are a month into this event. And it hasn't been so bad. Parts of it have even been good. It obviously helped that he was home a few days, but even so it's been OK. Which just reminds me of the power of prayer and God's promise to never leave or forsake me. Especially in the hard times. It is getting a little harder to keep up with him daily though. We keep real busy here (because I've never been good at staying home with the kids.) We start climbing the walls quite quickly. Both figuratively and Joe literally. VBS last week, sports camps this week. And playdates almost every afternoon. When we get home it's all I can do to wrestle those two into bed and nearly collapse into bed myself. Which makes for a good night's sleep but not for a lot of good phone conversations. So on to the mundane: Joe is in baseball camp for a couple of hours until tomorrow. A few of his baseball buddies are also in the camp-so watch out, next season the Panther's are bringing it O-N! This morning one of his buddies came over early bc the mom needed drop off help. Nice to be part of the village around here. We all need help, no matter where the other parent is, and there are ALWAYS times you just can't physically be in two places but you have an actual NEED to be in 3. Hmmm. Problem solving is a real skill that is honed as a parent. Joe also has a couple more lose teeth. If he looses anymore he is going to have a real problem eating. He is also doing pretty good with his reading. He is signed up for the summer reading program and I'm actually making him read books. He reads to Dixie almost every day. Sometimes I make him do handwriting and math too. Just depends. This afternoon we are having a big clean up day before we go to a friends house-because we live like pigs. I guess that just isn't going to change. Sadie is in volleyball camp until Thursday. There are a few school friends in camp with her and I'm glad for carpooling. She seems to really like volleyball. Thank goodness. I hope she continues with it so she won't do drugs in jr. hight :). When she isn't at camp she is pretty much reading. On book 3 of Harry Potter. Finished the series and started over. I wonder if it will keep her occupied all summer? Here's hoping! I've heard there is another series that Harry Potter fans like so I need to look into that for her. Yesterday she had her annual check up and all is well except for a milk sensitivity. How annoying. Her height and weight are both right at 50%. She can hear (so there is NO medical problem when she "didn't hear me!") and see. On the way home from the dr. a surprising summer storm came through and it POURED. Weird rain around here, but nice to give my sprinklers a break! After it cleared we went to friends' for dinner and even swimming. So nice to have our evenings occupied. Oh also yesterday the plumber came and removed the tree roots from the toilet. Said maybe 3 years until we need to do it again. OK-off to another day. Thinking I may continue organizing the playroom. Gonna get a workout in sometime too. And swimming. Must be summer.

Today we talked like monkeys

We are doing summer around here. One week in and we're starting out with a full schedule. We finally spent some time at home this afternoon after VBS, and Joe and I talked like monkeys. Sadie was out shopping with Grams. So you probably know that the Hubs is in the midst of a train-up pre-deployment. Which basically means he isn't living in my house but the official 9 (12?) month deployment hasn't started, so it's all the same to me. We aren't even in the same time zone. Yesterday was kinda sad. It's been a real long time since I've cried when he left. In fact I'm not sure that I ever have before yesterday. Perhaps I did during the last deployment, but it didn't make an impression on me I guess. I remember being sad, I even remember what I did the rest of the day. But I don't remember crying. It's probably too early for tears, but a few fell out of my eyes anyway. Don't worry I got over it and now it's just back to new normal. I wonder who reads this thing, if anyone. Blogging used to be a thing people did as an "online log" remember? Now it seems like blogging is a "thing" people do in order to be followed or discovered or for some other personal gain. Maybe I'll have two. One no one reads where I write about all sorts of personal angst and family happenings and one where I post updates regarding the solider. At any rate, if you've discovered this and want some info, he started train up mid-May and got to spend a few days at home in order to take the PMP test. Project Management Professional. Something like 1.2% of military has earned a PMP. Pretty proud of him. Now he is off for roughly the next 2 months for more train up before finally going overseas for what I'm hoping what will be no longer than 9 months. I'm counting on seeing him at least once, maybe more before he goes overseas. Also, if you're a military novice, there are no holidays and no weekends. That doesn't mean there isn't any downtime, it just means you might have Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon off. It also means you don't come home just because it is Christmas. And finally, I'm so thankful for the offers for help. Carpooling, play dates, and lunch dates (during school) are things that could really help. Meals if you're so inclined, and of course the occasional night out. Also emails, texts, calls just to check in. You don't have to invite us to do anything, just let me know you're thinking/praying about/for us. On that note, you can always pray. We've chosen Romans 15:13 as our verse: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.