lots and lots of hats

from last winter at my mom's...."no more pictures"

getting ready to leave Texas....Texas NEVER felt like home...despite loving my house.

Christmas in Ohio, swinging on the same swing Husband did as a child

tags for all the presents going to Ohio.....sparkly "hat"

Lots of "hats" to absorb....
amd favorite hat pic of all......hands down ....whem husband reunited with the kids after 15months!

Photohunt, courtesy of TNChick

who knew leaves were so much fun?

who knew leaves were somuch fun?, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

Yesterday when we got back from gymnastics, Husband had raked a bunch of leaves into a pile. Apparently the freak snow in early March 2008
storm we got a couple of weeks ago made our trees think it was fall, all the leaves started falling off!

Since we just listed the house, we can't be having a leafy yard. Also, the kids saw the leaf piles as mounds of fun! Who knew?

Happy Thursday, y'all!

Six Flags recap

Six Flags, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

Last week during Spring Break, we took the kids to Six Flags. I went there many times as a child!

It was so much fun to see the kids ride little roller coasters, bumper cars, spinning things. For it being Spring Break, it really wasn't that busy in the kids' Looney Tunes section. Both kids surprised me how well they rode the rides. On the roller coasters, the kids had their arms in the air!

The weather was perfect! I can't imagine doing this in the summer when it is 100+ temps!

The kids lasted until almost 4 o'clock. After a short walk back to the hotel (the dang trolley was NOWHERE to be seen!) we got a quick bite to eat. You know the kids slept well that night!

Fort Worth Zoo

Fort Worth Zoo, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

I am kind of doing things out of order.....we did the zoo second, but these shots were so much more fun to edit!

We were on Spring Break last week, hence the hiatus. We did a little fun trip to the D/FW area, then to my mom's home.....otherwise known as the land of no internet....NOT even dial up.

We spent a gorgeous morning at the Fort Worth Zoo. We had a great time, had some balmy weather, and no crowds. It pays to have kids who get up at the a$$ crack of dawn. We were ready and waiting when they opened the turnstiles.

On another note: we listed our house last week. So let's begin the time of leaving the house in show-quality order! We had someone come by today (of couse it was during Livi's nap time) but Will and I just went out back. Fingers crossed that it sells before we leave in July/August time frame!

Happy Monday to y'all too!

friday fill in

Friday fill in courtesy of the wonderful Janet

1. Contact may cause irritation and itching.

2. The parties hereto do mutually agree to quit whacking each other around (I should say this to the kids and see what they say.

3. Disney parks seem like a good idea in a couple of years.

4. A nice glass of wine sounds really good right about now!

5. I positively did not get caught up with laundry today.

6. It always makes me smile :-) when I pick the kids up from preschool (after only four hours). They run towards me with the biggest smiles and open arms, yelling, "Mommy!" If I didn't think they would knock me down, I would try to take a picture of it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Husband getting home, tomorrow my plans include sleeping in and Sunday, I want to make Husband any homemade dinner! I am sure hotel food and eating out is old after three weeks. Though I do want to try that new Mexican place that opened just down the road. It is a local family who has two others in town. If it is the third, they must be doing something right.

Since no post is dressed without a pic, here are the kids enjoying some chocolate eggs. They had early out at school today. So we took their lunches to the park and had a picnic. I threw down a blanket in the shade. Some kid had left little Easter bags in their box......woooahhh is me, the chocolate rush is on at least for the next couple of weeks!

Happy weekend y'all!

Feeling kind of tired ....

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

This is how I am feeling today. Last night was a rough one with one kid or the other getting up from bed. I finally get back to my nice warm bed ( I have one of those electric mattress pads). Normally Husband's Ipod is hooked up to the Bose sounddock.....(but even last night he still had it in his ACU's <---army speak for his Army Combat Uniform). I wouldn't be in bed an hour when a kid comes in.....I walk them back, sing the 'go to sleep song', come back to bed.....ALL NIGHT LONG.

When do they sleep thru the night?

My 22nd Thursday 13.....the letter B

In keeping with the spirit of the alphabet theme I started last week.....we are onto the letter B

1. Big swing.....this big swing is in the

2. Backyard of the house Husband grew up in (whew hoo, look at me...two Bs in just one sentence) where was I? Oh yeah....the letter B

3. I use BLOGLINESto keep up with the blogs I read.....is that considered cheating?

4. I BOUGHT Husband a thingy (don't you just love my techno vocabulary) to play his Ipod in the car on our trip here. Since the kids can use headphones now, we don't have to listen to Cars for the 10,000th time!

5. Though this shot looks like she has a deer-in-the-headlights look, the Princess is sporting her new pink BOOTS.

6. While in OH this week, it snowed. For some warm weather loving kids, they are loving making snowBALLS...

7. Bubba (note the new name for my little boy)

8. put his BOOT through the little pond Grandpa has! Yes, I screamed like a crazy woman....this is the same pond I had to dive into while wearing a dress to save the Princess a couple of years ago! ***Edited to add: The POND is just one of those decorative ones in a garden...maybe three feet by five feet. But it was deep as my thigh! The Princess fell off a chair and it tipped her into the pond. She was maybe a year old at the time! ***

9. I really need to go by BED BATH AND BEYOND to get some new toothbrush heads. I should just order them online and be done with it!

10. The Princess is loving it that she can BOSS around ......

11. the BABIES......she has two little cousins and one big cousin here in OH.

12. My favorite wine right now is BAREFOOT Pinot Griogio.

13. I'm a Sooner BORN and a Sooner bred

And when I die I'll be a Sooner dead!

Go Oklahoma, Go Oklahoma,

Go Oklahoma, O-K-U!

****Yes, I am a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma!***

Happy TT

Weekly winners.....

Hosted by Sarcastic Mom.... The basic idea is that every Sunday bloggers post their best/favorite photos from the previous week.

Here are my Weekly Winners:

1. Kind of a given......greeting Husband on the parade field.

2. Livi could not quit smiling!

3....trees in our back yard

4.....relaxing with a cigar....no, I did not partake.

5...the boonie cap Husband brought back for Will.

6. a bag in front of me I saw while we were waiting for Husband to get there.

Merry Christmas all!

Getting back to our normal......

Will has always been the lovey-huggy-touchy kid. From day one (he is actually about a year old here), he would much rather nap ON you, rather than in his crib.

There is lots of sleeping going on around here. I knew to expect this. When he come home on R&R, it took almost three days to get back on Texas time. He was nine hours ahead when he was in Baghdad. Since he left on Sunday, until we picked him up on Wednesday, he had only slept a handful of hours here and there.

So yesterday while Livi was SUPPOSED to be napping, the boys were SUPPOSED to be having quiet time. I guess it got so quiet they fell asleep. This is the four year old who has napped MAYBE once in the last year and a half!! Oh well, they were too cute to wake up. Of course Livi never napped...... but this is our normal for now!

Yesterday the kids had Caroling in the Courtyard at their preschool. They sang songs in both English and German. Then we got to have lunch with the kids. We made the faux-turtles. They were a huge hit! "Hey, what you lookin' at?" ........Will thinks if his jacket has a hood on it, you should be wearing it. Even if it is over 70 degrees and sunny.....silly boy!

Best wishes to all traveling this weekend.....Merry Christmas!

Thursday 13.......#20.....Our heros homecoming

Here is our story in pictures of the events of today! Husband came home after being deployed fourteen months, one week, and four days.....we couldn't be happier.

1. Welcome to the ceremony....find a seat in the bleachers.....We told Husband we would be in te upper right (his right). With over 200 soldiers coming in in today's ceremony, we didn't want to get lost in the crowd.

2. Of course we had to use glass chalk to do up the car. You should have seen the smiles people gave us as we drove the 30 minutes to post.

3. A flag from every state of the Union is represented here....the other 25 were on the other side. Texas is the very first one. I tried to get the kids to take pics here, but it didn't go that well!!

4. This is a Cavalry division....these guys come out to every ceremony. Ours was the second of three they would do before the end of the day. The first one was before 6AM.

5. They shut down the street so they guys can get from the plane to the parade field as quickly as possible. Here is where I got weapy eyed. Five white buses pull in on the opposite side of the field......just waiting because you know your man is back there!

6. I like this woman's style!

7. Finally the last bus pulls away.....there they are, in formation. By now I am wiping my eyes as fast as I can, and still tyring to focus the camera.

8. They march across the field, and retire the unit's colors (the battle flags). After a very short speech, they are released.

9. Oh my! We found him...he was one of the few that wore his Stetson. Livi was so proud to reintroduce bunny!

10. Will just couldn't stop grinning!

11. A boy and his daddy, together again.

12. Oh, what is this? Did you bring home presents? From the desert, what could it be?

13. A chef's hat made from ACUs (Army Combat Uniform).....she looks so cute!

Well, hope you enjoyed the ceremony....every one is home and settled in.....Happy Thursday

**Click on the Flickr badge to see more....***

final count down.......1 of 3

walkin along the parade field, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

Without a doubt I am looking forward to Husband's return. We can finally start to get back to our normal. I wonder if it will be happy, stressful, strained, difficult. I really do want to make this transition as easy as possible.

I think first and foremost, I am thankful he will be back safe and sound. (I stopped reading the paper early on because every single day the front page was filled with the story of some soldier who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Tear-swollen eyes are not the best way to greet the day. ) I know Husband is ready to have the normal day to day creature comforts.

One of the hardest things about these last 15 months was about in month 5.....Husband had already come home on his R&R. We thought we were almost half way done. Then all of a sudden I felt like I had the air knocked out of me.....we found out we weren't half way done, his 12 month deployment was EXTENDED to 15 months. So, from the time he came home in late february, early March.....it would be ten months before we saw him again. Oh well, what can you do?

This deployment has definitely shown me I am much better WITH him than I am without him. We celebrated (or didn't celebrate) our 10 year anniversary while he was gone. (actually it was the 9th and 10th) . I feel like we are in that early dating stage all over again. I have totally forgotten all those annoying little things that he does. I am in the honeymoon faze of life.

there is never one thing you can prepare for and that is fear. no on can explain it....but all we can do is trust that men and women like my Husband are doing their jobs. all we can do to stop the fear is to live, to go on with our day to day lives and live our lives. When the guys at the front gate select my little cute Volvo wagon to do the 'super-inspection', I shouldn't get all pi$$ed off. I just pull over and let them run their mirrors over and under my car.

Our first challenge will be the time of his arrival....right smack dab in the middle of nap/quiet time. But don't think for one minute that I am not going to have the kids there. We are 'suggested' to be there an hour before arrival. Okay, reality check, do you know how hard it is to keep a 3 and 4 year old entertained while in a mongo tent (if it's cold) or blechers (is that even spelled right0 if it is warm? yeah, right,that is what I thought. I better take some bribes.....oops, I mean snacks!

Remember this pic from our last VTC.....

this is where we will be on Wednesday or thursday.....

Weekly winners

Hosted by Sarcastic Mom....( with the new and improved updated link) The basic idea is that every Sunday bloggers post their best/favorite photos from the previous week. Here are my Weekly Winners:
Is it a flute or a candlestick?

It is a candlestick.

part of the greenery on the mantle

Friday was red and green day at the kids' preschool. Livi won for the girls! She got some book. She has been sleeping with it every night!

We are just busy getting ready for Husband. In his last email he said he was leaving for Kuwait that evening. So hopefully he will be on his way soon. This puts getting back here on Wednesday OR Thursday. I was really disappointed it was being shoved back a day. But like he said, what is one day compared to the last 15 months?

Happy Sunday, y'all.

Wanna see how I get wild and crazy??

I feel like I am nesting ....like the mad-woman cleaning I did just before both kids were born. There are little to no surfaces that have been left untouched. Okay, maybe the wooden blinds...but I HATE dusting those!

My big project was this room that had become a dumping ground.

When we moved here, we combined Husband's office and my craft room into one area. The kids also had a little desk in the office. Once all of that stuff was crammed into this room (which is supposed to a formal dining room), well, it was kind of crazy.

So, enter this awesome organized wall system. It is made up of nine mini sections. The lower part (you can't see it in this pic) just has some pull out baskets that hold big stuff. All of the stuff in the blue and green cubbies are activities the kids can do. The white three drawer things on the bottom are construction paper and crayon books. The other one has some threading thing, and some foam things. I wanted to be able to make everything in their reach, so they can get things independently.

The cabinets on the right are where I consolidated all my scrapbook stuff. Stuff was just randomly thrown in there on the shelves. Things were getting lost. Last week those boxes were on sale half off at Hobby Lobby. Now things are in properly labeled containers with like things. It does drive me a bit crazy that the long blue boxes don't match the black ones. But PBK is the only place that made boxes to fit that long narrow shelf. The black ones are just cheapo ones from HL. But once those doors are closed you can't see the black, so I can deal with it!

Just because we all love a little brotherly love, I leave you with this....Happy Tuesday, y'all