A Winning Hand (or Not)

Crazy Uno

We played a rousing game (or 3) of Uno tonight. It got a little crazy in the middle. I think Dan was a little annoyed at me for interrupting the game for photography, but you've got to be ready to take pictures wherever/whenever! Right???

Meet the Teachers

Today was open house at the elementary school so we got to go, drop off supplies and meet our teachers. Jaelyn has Mrs. Mason. She's new to the school, but not new to teaching. Several of Jaelyn's friends are going to be in her room including the little boy she got in so much trouble with in kindergarten. Hmmm...I warned her teacher to keep them separated.

Allie's teacher for first grade is going to be Mrs. Young. Jaelyn had her last year for a short time for reading. She seems very nice and all the parents I've talked to love her. The problem, as you can see from the picture, is that Mrs. Young is pregnant, due in January, which means we'll get to experience a long term subsitute for Allie's first grade year just like Jaelyn's first grade year. Allie was excited to see several of her friends in her room. Sadly, Alex will be across the hall :(.

School for the girls starts on Thursday. Caden won't start until September 9th.

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I've worked hard to update the blog today...scroll down...there's a lot!

Another Day at the Park

I am so loving our lazy mornings. I finally decided to take the gate down permanently at the top of our stairs; so the kids have free reign when they wake up to go to the basement and play. I have no clue what time they are waking up, but I'm not waking up until 7-ish. Once Dan and I rolled out of bed, we had breakfast and then did nothing. I'm not much of a "nothing" person, but every now and then it's really nice (especially after the work we did yesterday - cleaning, working in the yard, etc). About 10:30, we walked up the hill to one of our neighborhood parks. It's been a while since we played at this one...I got some great shots.

Jaelyn's smile is getting brighter and prettier everyday. She's getting braces next month to go with Cranky!

Tell me he doesn't look like me. Everyone says he is Little Dan, but I think he has a lot of me in him too!Me and my precious girlsI hope and pray the girls will always love each other as much as they do right now. I always wanted a sister growing up.My favorite picture of the day! It's going to require a frame for sure!

Working Down My List

Question For You

If a man says he vacuumed and no one sees or hears him, did he really vacuum?

Lazy Days

We've had a few lazy days at our house. It is so wonderful having Dan home. I told him I'm going to dedicate an entire entry to how he's jumped right in with the house and children (a lady in the airport told Dan "kids" are baby goats so we will be referring to them as children from now on ~ insert eye roll here). We went to the school this afternoon so Allie could show off her bicycling skills. They rode over to the library, checked out the monster turtles in the pond and then played on the playground for a bit.
It's been hot out today, but not more than usual. I don't think we've noticed the heat as much because we've spent so much time at the pool (which is closed for the summer now ~ boo hoo).

I have so many posts to type out and pictures to post, but honestly, I just don't feel like doing it. I promise to do some back posting next week, maybe Thursday when the girls start school!!! I can't believe it's already that time again. I must admit, I'm kind of ready!

Data Destroyed

Where Am I?

Being Prepared - My List and Grocery Store Bingo

Moving In

Dan went to work for a little bit on Wednesday to pick up the gear he shipped home. He took Jaelyn with him while I took Allie and Caden to run errands with me. I need to stop and admit that I do not like taking all 3 of my children shopping. It's hard work and not fun at all. Taking 2 and even 1 some this week was soooo nice. Anyway, Dan brought home 5-6 HUGE foot lockers filled with camouflaged stuff! I'm sure there's a more technical term than stuff, but to me, that's what it is. I was really impressed with Dan. Normally, he's not into work and would have brought the boxes home to leave them in the basement, unpacking them slowly over several days, leaving me a huge mess that would drive me slowly crazy. This time, he unpacked all of the stuff the first day and I didn't lose my house to a sea of camouflage. The kids had fun helping him unpack and looking at all of his treasures he brought home. Our favorite by far is the Aladdin lamp.
Caden carried it around all day. The girls wanted it so badly. Eventually, I had to take it and put it in my locked cabinet. Dan did give it to me after all.

I think Dan needs to work on his Iraqi yashmagh (aka turban) wrapping skills.

A Soldier's Gear

Fringe Benefits

Showing Daddy We Can Swim

We took Dan to the pool today. The children were very excited to show him how well they've done. He was impressed. We only spent a couple of hours because it was kind of hot and well, Dan's not into hot these days after spending 270 days in a desert. His poor white as can be skin couldn't take another minute of sun. While we were there, though, Dan had fun throwing the kids around and they had fun climbing all over him.

We had a little couple time too while the kids swam. I posted this on my 365 blog, but it needs to go here as well! :)

Relaxing By the Pool...Together

Dan's Homecoming

Yesterday was a crazy day as we were waiting in excited anticipation for the phone call telling us what flight Dan would be on. First, it was a late night flight landing at 10 pm. Disappointing. Then, we rushed out the door when he called to say he got an earlier flight and would be to Baltimore in 2 hours! We still had to buy our balloons and hang our banner, you know? We did everything we needed and were heading to the interstate when the phone rang again. Stand-by...and no one had given up their seat to a soldier returning to his family from Iraq. Pathetic. Majorly disappointed that time. In the end, we set out for the base about 8:30 to ride with Sgt. M who had to drive Dan back to the base because of his weapon. We made it to the airport a little before 10 ~ perfect timing as his plane was scheduled to land around that time. Sgt M dropped us off at arrivals and we ran in to the airport. We passed the luggage return flashing Dan's flight so we knew he had already landed. We got up the escalator and the area was empty. We looked around and there was Dan with a luggage cart piled high with stuff looking for us. All my plans of having the kids lined up with their signs and "American Hero" balloons were dashed, but I guess it really didn't matter as the kids rushed into his arms!

We made it home about midnight tired and very happy to be a family together again.

Welcome Home

Tomorrow is Today!!

Two hundred seventy days is a long time. That's 6480 hours and sometimes we survived literally hour to hour. Deployments, encase you haven't figured out, are all about survival and just getting through them. I'm so glad this one is finally over. Dan called this morning with his flight times...landing 10 pm tonight after a layover in Boston (crazy). I was disappointed and a little unhappy about the late night with the kids. Then he called and said he got on an earlier flight and he'd be home by 4. We hurried to hang our sign and balloons and jumped in the car. We were so excited. We were 10 minutes from our house when Dan called to say he was stand-by and hadn't made the cut. Talk about deflating happy hearts. We are now back to the 10pm landing.

Tomorrow is the Big Day!

Dan just called and he'll be home Monday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He won't know his flight until the morning, but he thinks it'll be late afternoon. We are obviously so excited and ready for him to be home. It's been a long 270 days. Thank you to everyone who has supported us. It's meant a lot to us.

The kids and I spent a few hours this afternoon making a sign to put on the house and making posters for the kids to have at the airport.