So Much For Spring Break!

Well, Spring Break is almost over and its been a rough one, for me any way. They boys have done rather well all things considered. They have spent hours playing with toys, playing in the back yard, computer games and LOTS of videos thanks to Netflix! I have had a tough time being a single parent while my husband is currently TDY. Four more weeks until he's home and only two more days until the boys go back to school :)

It has certainly been an interesting week. It started off with very bad news of a family member's health. Bad how my sister and I found out about it as well. Proof once again that the family is further apart than we'd like. We can't change peoples actions but we can control how we react to them. Thats tough to do. My sister can just wash her hands of these things and I tend to want to press the issue, find out more, reach out etc.

I sure would have loved to do something exciting for Spring Break but that didn't work out. No extra money with a big trip to California coming up in a few weeks. I do feel like things are falling into place as far as the planning goes. If only we could win the lottery! It costs us so much money to go home once or twice per year and with one income its becoming so very draining. On the other hand, I am more than excited to see my sister get married! She has been waiting a very long time to find the right guy and she found him! They are buying their first home and I am so very proud of my sister :)

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Okay, its been MONTHS since I've added an entry on my blog. I'm guessing no one even reads it anymore. Maybe it will turn out to be my online journal, who knows?

So its Christmas Eve and not a damn thing is going on here which makes me sad. We have friends but they all have families here and are doing their own thing. We don't have any dinners to go to, no friends to invite over, nothing happening at all. How depressing! We don't even know what we are going to make for our own dinner tonight.

It seems to be getting more and more difficult being away from my family as the days go by. I feel like I am missing so much!

I guess I'm in a funk at the moment and this is not a good time for it! Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

My New LOVE

ZUMBA!

I have finally found an exercise that I love to do. I had heard about Zumba recently when I joined the local YMCA. I started off just using the treadmills but to be honest...its quite boring and I tend to not push my limits on the treadmill. Each day that I walked down the hallway in the Y I would walk right past the cardio room and peek in the door of the aerobics room where Zumba was taking place. I knew it was an hour long class and I was so afraid to try it. I was positive that I wouldn't be able to get thru a whole hour of cardio not to mention that I have NEVER had any kind of rhythm for dance in all my life.

One Sunday I decided that I would bite the bullet and just try the beginners class. Well it didn't seem very "beginner's" to me but I jumped right in and tried. I made it thru the whole class although I felt like I didn't belong. I could barely keep up with the pace but the music was amazing. I kept trying and went back to the morning classes a few times each week. I discovered that I truly LOVE Zumba! I have found many of the songs and downloaded them to my iPod and I often wake up with these songs in my head :)

My sister wanted to try it with me while she was here visiting and she loved it too. Now she has a gym membership in CA and is going to Zumba! Its so exciting that she and I both found something we love to do.

Completely Uninspired

Its been a tough couple of months for me. I don't know if its the holidays or what. I haven't figured it all out yet. I just keep thinking "hmm, I wonder if I'm depressed". Not what I wanted to hear myself say. I really think I need to go see my doctor and address a couple of issues.

I am totally uninspired! I used to be prepared to cook dinners. I go to the store 2-3 times per week and I still can't manage to pull a meal together. I don't cook all the things that I used to cook because I have tried to be healthier however I haven't replaced those "full of fat/calorie" meals with healthy options...so I never know what to make! When Dominic is working I tend to just microwave something for the boys and fend for myself.

I used to do laundry from start to finish...now it takes me all week to get the stuff all put away and thats if I even managed to fold it all.

I feel very short tempered lately too. I'm not in a "happy" mood unless Dominic is home.

I need to snap out of it!

There's my rant!

Christmas Time!!

Its Christmas time again and about a year after I started this blog. Its unbelievable that a year ago this month was when Dominic left for his deployment. So much has happened in a year.

Last week mom's were invited to come to school to help the Pre-K kids decorate their gingerbread houses and have milkshakes. That was fun! Then yesterday Ayden's class had their Christmas party so I went to that. It was nice too.

We are about done with our Christmas shopping. We always have to focus on getting our families stuff done first since we have to ship it all to CA every year. That was a major process again this year. It takes a lot of organizational skills to get all the gifts for all the right people in the right boxes, packed, labeled and ready to ship. Its a lot of work! We managed to get it all done and shipped off last week. Then I got all the Christmas cards ready and mailed yesterday. Today we got three packages from family in CA. So now it really feels like Christmas :)

We don't have any plans for Christmas at the moment but I think we will invite a friend and her daughters over. Her husband is deployed and will be back the first week of January. She and her daughters just moved back to town this week to get settled before he gets home. I think we'll have them over for dinner. We're going to cook a turkey with all the fixin's. Dominic will be off of work for 8 days but will have to work 8 days over New Year's.

Today was the boys last day of school for the semester and now begins winter break. They go back to school on Tuesday the 5th! I will be so ready for that day to come by then.

I joined our local YMCA a couple of weeks ago. Its been fun to go a few times each week to work out and take a class. I have a friend that teaches a toning class which I have really been enjoying. My next adventure will be Zumba I think.

We have all been battling forms of colds and sicknesses over the past several weeks. Last weekend Dominic, Christian and I managed to get food poisoning of some form. We were sick the entire day and night then okay the next morning. I'm glad it was just a day. Now we have head colds, coughing and runny noses. What a pain! I just hope that it all works itself out by Christmas Eve!

I made 6 batches of my aunts recipe of Almond Roca this year. Its such a easy recipe but its all about execution and it can be a hit or miss kind of thing. I managed to only mess up one batch this year so I consider that a huge success. Everyone loves this candy and looks forward to it each year. Maybe its a new tradition.

It feels like home!

The new floors are finally in and done! Its been a very long few weeks between going to flooring stores, scheduling estimates and picking out flooring. We chose a great local flooring company to do our floors and we are completely satisfied with their work.

We wanted carpet in all the bedrooms and part of the living room with laminate in all the high traffic areas. I am so happy with how the house looks. We've also taken this opportunity to do some rearranging of furniture. Hopefully that will help make the house not feel so cluttered.

The Living Room

Laminate and Carpet

We are completely overjoyed at how awesome the floors came out. I can finally feel proud of our house. We've done so much work in the 4 years that we've been here but this, by far, feels the best.

I am anxious about getting the house put back together. The garage is packed full of household junk. I was able to get a lot done already and I will work much more efficiently once the boys go to bed.

Proud Parents

It was time for our first parent/teacher conferences at the boys school. The first 9 weeks of school are over as hard as that is to believe.

I met with Ayden's teacher last week. She was very nice and for lack of a better word, normal. She wasn't one of those Pre-K teachers that talks to EVERYONE like they are 4. That was refreshing :) Anyhow, Ayden is doing great. He knows all of his colors, shapes and can count to 14. My big question was "is he taking naps?" She said that most of the kids are not sleeping during their one hour nap time but by law they have to have a rest time. They must lay quietly and still for a whole hour which must seem like all day to all those 4 year olds. The only problem that she has with Ayden is that he is a little "handsy". He likes to push and hit however she did say that its not just him. There are several boys who are doing the same thing and what I liked the most is that she didn't make a big deal out of it. She acted like it was completely normal for boys at this age which I agree with.

My conference with Christian's teacher was yesterday. His report card looks amazing! He has four A's and the one B is only one point away from an A. He's doing so great! His teacher shared with me a composition that he wrote. He did a great job and had very few spelling errors. His teacher was very complimentary about Christian and said several times that he is a very hard worker. It was an absolute relief to speak to one of Christian's teachers and have a positive response. From the time Christian was four years old and started at a British school in England we have been getting nothing but negative comments from teachers. Its been a very long road but we are now at the point where we have Christian on track with his medication and he is excelling in school. Its amazing and Dominic and I are absolutely proud beyond belief.

We have spent the last week and a half going to flooring stores and having measurements done to get all new flooring in our house. Today I'm getting the last estimate. I am anxious to decide which company to go with and set a date. We are going to put laminate in the majority of the living area and carpet in the bedrooms. I am so excited about this because I feel like it will make me feel proud of our home. I currently hate to have guests over because the carpet is beyond horrible! Its thoroughly embarrassing. To have new flooring makes me feel like I will be proud to have guests come over.

I'm an Auntie!

On Monday, October 5th my niece Eleanor Paige was born! My sister labored very long and hard for 35 hours before they finally decided (after dilation stopped) to do a c-section. Kara worked so hard for so long with lots of discomfort and pressure and was disappointed to have to end up with a c-section. The surgery itself turned into "the worst experience of my life" in Kara's words. Hearing her describe it was heartbreaking.

Of course the end result was nothing less than a miracle...a beautiful, healthy little girl! Elle was 7 lbs 6 oz and 21" long. Her daddy is Mexican, giving her long thick black hair, dark skin and eyes. What a special baby she is. Her mommy and daddy love her to death and Elle has lots of family and extended family who are completely in love with her. She has lots of adventures awaiting her.

Me giving Elle kisses before I had to fly back to TX

Sweet baby Elle!

8 days old

I am so happy that I was able to fly home to be with Kara, Julio and Elle for a week. I cooked lots of meals for the freezer and helped wherever I could with other housework. I know how amazing that help is after having a baby and I didn't even have a c-section.

I am excited to see how Elle grows and I hope to be a big part of her life although being so far apart makes that tough. I think that our family has proved that its possible though with our boys...so I'm determined!

Losing My Mind!

Its Sunday.  Dominic is working nights this weekend and its my job to "try" to keep the boys civil and preferably quiet so that Dominic can sleep.  I bought him ear plugs but doesn't wear them.  

Ayden is a major handful!  He is currently sitting in time out for the 5th time today!  He wrapped a belt around Christian's neck at one point.  Then less than 5 minutes later he spit in Christian's mouth!!!  Ugh!  I thought I was going to loose it.  He's been climbing over the back of the couch all day after being told to stop a thousand times.  I just don't know what to do with this kid sometimes.  I guess I need to re-read my new parenting book.  

I'd like to go to Target today but honestly, leaving the house with all three boys in tow just doesn't even sound slightly appealing to me right now.  I'll wait until tomorrow when I can just have Mason and Dominic will be off.

We're inviting a potential new friend over for dinner on Tuesday.  Our good friend Zach who is currently deployed, announced several months ago that he's getting married.  We've met his fiance, Megan a few times and had lots of interaction with her online.  She's a sweetheart and we are excited for Zach.  They are planning on having their wedding and reception out at Zach's Papa's land.  She asked us if we would take her out there to sort of talk about where the best place would be for the wedding.  Then we'll pick up the boys from school and come home to have some dinner.  I'm looking forward to getting to know her better.  

I'm finding that I have much more time on my hands now that two of the boys are in school.  I would love to meet some new people preferably some other stay at home moms but I just suck at being social.  I wish I weren't so timid all the time.  Maybe I need a new hobby.

Back to the kids...

Just Stuff

Its been a fairly calm weekend.  We expected Saturday to be busy...it turned out to be busy for Dominic.  He got up early and headed out to "the land" as our family calls it.  

The land belongs to our friends Papa and Grandma.  They have been so kind in letting our family use it whenever we want.  Dominic takes the boys camping, fishing and hunting out there and they always have a blast.  Papa (Jim) used to have some cows but he sold them all this year.  There is a nice barn out there and the rest is all just mesquite trees and a few tanks or ponds with catfish.  Jim absolutely trusts Dominic and thoroughly enjoys his help out at the land. 

So early Saturday morning Dominic and the boys headed out to the land to fill the deer feeders with corn and were meeting up with Jim to help put up a new feeder.  They got out there around 8am.  Jim let the boys ride in the tractor with him and even let Christian drive it.  Jim said they were full of questions.  Christian had a Cub Scout car wash at 11am.  Dominic brought Ayden back home after filling the feeders then took Christian to the car wash.  They got home at about 1 o' clock then we had a bbq to go to at the Deason's house at 2pm.

The Deason's are some wonderful people.  Zach used to be one of Dominic's troops which is how we met them.  Zach and his family are from here so he is so lucky to be near them.  Zach is currently deployed but will be home before Thanksgiving.  His mom and dad (Laurie and John or JD) are so great.  They have babysat the boys for us a few times and are always so good to us.  They have a beautiful house here in town with a gorgeous backyard and pool.  Laurie's mom and dad are the ones that own the land outside of town.  The whole Deason family has been so kind to us and the boys...they treat us like family.  We had a great time at their house on Saturday.  They made great brisket and sausage, beans, salads and tons of desserts.  It was a blast!

We didn't have any plans for the rest of the weekend so we mostly just hung out at home yesterday.  Dominic got some wood split and stacked for the winter.  Today we ran a couple of errands and had some lunch.  Dominic is working tonight.  The boys are back to school tomorrow and we will get back into the routine.

Cub Scouts is going well so far.  There is a new den leader this year who seems determined to fix everything.  Part of that refers to not having siblings running around at the meetings which is a great idea but not for those of us who have more than one child.  He plans on having siblings sitting at a table during the meetings coloring or something.  That just won't work for us.  How do you make an 19 month old sit in a chair for an hour?  It just won't happen.  Dominic and I are committed to being more involved in scouts this year so Dominic is going to go to the meetings every other week which is when he'll be off anyway.  I will have to drop Christian off at the meeting on the other weeks.  Dominic is also doing some woodworking projects for the group that will help them get their Handyman badges.  I'm happy that he is more involved and anxious to help this year. 

Week in review

We made it through the first week of school!  The boys did great!  I have to get a picture...every morning Christian walks Ayden to the back of the school (where his classroom is) holding hands.  When school gets out they are walking holding hands to the car.  Its about the cutest thing I've ever seen.  I told them to hold hands because I was afraid that Ayden would walk through the crosswalk without stopping.  They really seemed to get the routine down in the first week.

I got a phone call from Ayden's teacher this afternoon.  She wanted to give us an update and let us know how the first week went.  She said that Ayden did great and is picking up the routine rather quickly.  She said that he's a little "handsy" meaning that he and the other boys can't keep their hands off one-another.  That doesn't surprise me :)  She was very understanding about it and said its completely normal for the boys and they they will work on that during the school year.  I asked her about nap time.  She said that some days he slept and some days he didn't but when he didn't he laid quietly on his mat.  That was great news!  I was truly concerned about how nap time would go and I was especially pleased that he slept even if it was only a day or two.

Christian's teacher seems great and I am looking forward to this year.  I think he will do great.

Cub Scouts started up again on Monday.  Christian loves scouts and since he's not particularly into sports at least he has an interest in scouting.  Dominic promised to be more involved this year and is hoping to have Christian's troop over to build tool boxes to help them earn a badge.  The popcorn fundraiser starts next month again.  We did great last year and still have some extra money to update his uniform for this year.

Mason and I had a great week together at home while the boys were at school.  We went shopping one day which worked out great.  Mason took almost 3 hour naps all week!  How wonderful that was!  I even had some time to read a book!  Its been a very long time since I've been able to read.

I'm anxious about this coming week and excited to see how it goes.

Great First Day!

Today was the first day of school!  Christian started 4th grade and Ayden started Pre-K.  It was a great day.  They got out of school early so we'll see how tomorrow goes though.

Ayden said that they played.  I asked if they had circle time, music time and story time and he said yes.  He ate breakfast and lunch at school.  I'm anxious to see how nap time goes.  He hasn't taken naps in way too long.  I know that once he gets into the routine of school he will do what everyone else is doing so we'll see.

Ayden LOVES his backpack!

Christian said that he met a friend named Ethan today.  He's new to the school this year.  Hopefully they will develop a good friendship.

Off to school!

Christian starts back at Cub Scouts tonight too!  Busy day!

Busy week

Whew its been busy but not too crazy.

Mason woke up at 2:30 am on Sunday morning screaming his head off.  It was the kind of scream that made me think someone was in his room.  He was scared which scared me.  I went in there and he was grabbing for me as I went to pick him up.  He must have had a nightmare or something.  I'm not sure.  He was warm but not so bad that I thought he had a fever.  I rocked him in the recliner until he fell back to sleep then put him back in bed.

In the morning he woke at 5:30 with a high fever.  We started with Tylenol and did the typical switch between that and Motrin every four hours.  His highest fever was 103.5.  I decided to see if we could make it thru the night and would take him in for a same day appointment at the clinic on Monday.  He didn't have an ear infection and his fever finally broke yesterday evening.  He was attached to my hip for 3 days!  Poor baby.  I know he didn't feel good but he's doing much better now.

Christian had a check up for his ADHD meds today.  He has a new doctor.  I really liked her.  She asked lots of questions and was very thorough.  I told her that I had a few concerns but that I wanted to start the school year on this medication with his new teacher so that I can compare the teachers thoughts on the matter.  We will go back in a month and might make a change at that point.

Tomorrow the boys have a dentist appointment in the morning then we have Meet-the-teacher night at the school in the evening.  Ayden is so excited about starting school.  He even knows his teachers name already!  School starts on Monday!  I might cry when we drop off the boys.  Its a huge thing to have two kids going to school.  I can't believe it.  

Christian's 9th birthday is Friday.  We are going to take Christian and Ayden to the local water park for part of the day and Mason is going to stay with a friend.  I'm looking forward to that.  We might do a special dinner and dessert that night.  Then on Saturday we are having Christian's party.  He wanted a pizza party this year.  We'll have some pizza and salad.  We will put up the big inflatable water slide for the kids to play on.  That's always a big hit.  

REAL Family Photos

Erica M Photography

ericamphotography.com

These are just a few of our favorites!

Macias Family Vacation - 2009

First off,  is anyone even reading this anymore?  I know, I know...its been FOREVER since I've posted.  Sorry!

Its been a busy and very eventful summer and I can't hardly believe that its almost over.  We started our vacation off by hitting the road and driving to California.  We gave ourselves too much time to get there so we added a night to our hotel and took the boys to the beach.  It was Ayden and Mason's first time to see the ocean.  I have missed seeing the ocean living in Texas.  Being from California, we were only a few hours from the ocean.  It would take us a whole day to drive to the ocean now.

We met up with some family in Anaheim and had a nice dinner together.  The next morning we hit Disneyland hard.  It was very exciting to be able to take the boys there and also to be able to share that experience with our family.  We rode lots of rides.  The boys loved it.  My sister who is very pregnant wasn't able to go on many of the rides so she was the designated kid watcher.  She hung out with Mason and Ayden when he didn't want to go.  Most of the rides didn't take that long to go thru so that was good.

Family all left the next afternoon after we met for breakfast.  Dominic, the boys and I hit Disneyland one more time then made it over to California Adventure for a couple of hours.  After that it was time for us to hit the road and head to Las Vegas.  Its about a 4-5 hour drive, so not too bad.  Mason slept almost the entire way there...poor baby was whooped!  We arrived at our friends house late and they were in the garage waiting for us to pull in.  The boys made themselves right at home.  Its always great to see them.We were able to get a babysitter one night and go out with JR and Amanda to Margaritaville on the strip.  Great food, great drinks and great company.  We had a blast...while it lasted :)

Amanda and I

Amanda and JR watched the boys for us for 4 nights while Dominic and I stayed at the Luxor.  It was the first time we had spent an extended period of time alone together without the children since our honeymoon.  It was so great.  We saw Carrot Top perform and also went to a Cirque de Sole show called Zumanity.  It was H-O-T!  We ate at great restaurants and shopped.  The walking got old quick though.  We decided that our next vacation...whenever that may be...will be more relaxing.

The day before we left Vegas to head home we were able to visit and spend time with one of our best friends that we met when we were stationed in England along with JR and Amanda.  Laurie and her sister-in-law flew into Vegas the night before and we got to spend some time with them the next day.  We haven't seen Laurie since before we left England almost 4 years ago.  Her husband, Ben and their new baby boy, Liam stayed in Montana so we didn't get to see them.  We are hoping to plan a England reunion trip next year though.  We had the best of friends there and its just not the same without all of them.

Our trip was long and exhausting but we had a great time.  We made lots of memories for the boys and our whole family.  I am still excited that we were able to take them to Disneyland.  

Now we are getting into the mindset for school to start.  Ayden starts Pre-K this year and will be in school 5 days per week, all day.  Christian is going into 4th grade.  I can't believe that I have a 4th grader!  It goes fast.

I'm going to try to post to my blog a little more often now that things should be settling down...I hope!

Surprise Weekend

My sister and her boyfriend, Julio had planned their baby shower for Saturday afternoon.  I wasn't planning on going since I knew we would be seeing them in two weeks time for our family vacation to Disneyland.  I just couldn't justify spending a whole bunch more money right before our vacation.

My sister and I

When my sister called me crying and upset the week before her shower it broke my heart.  I just felt for her because she wanted mom to be there and sort of felt like there wouldn't be much of our family there.  I was crushed and I know she was too.  

Dominic was very insistent that I fly home to CA for the baby shower while I was still not able to get past the money issue.  We spoke to a family friend and she reminded me that its not about the money....its about the memories.  From that point on, I knew she was right.  I had to go.

So I bought a plane ticket and reserved a hotel room and rental car.  I figured that if I am going to surprise my sister I might as well surprise everyone!  How fun would that be?

Me, my brother and sister.

So I flew into Sacramento on Friday evening, rented a car and drove to my hotel.  It was already very late and I was not feeling well from traveling.  I grabbed some food and and crashed for the night.  The next morning I woke up and got ready but still had to wait until 1pm for the shower to start.  I was ready to leave at 10 am and I was so anxious to get on with the day.  I couldn't wait to see the surprise unfold.

I drove to the mall to kill some time and did some shopping for our Vegas trip.  After that I drove out to the Edible Arrangements store where I had ordered an arrangement for the shower.  I picked it up and headed over to Kara's house.  As I pulled up to her house I saw my dad's truck parked on the street.  I was so happy to see that he was there.  I was hoping he would be there.  Then as I came up to the corner I saw Julio tying some balloons to the street sign and I covered my face as I turned into the court so he wouldn't see me.  I parked the car, grabbed my purse and started walking towards him.  As I approached I yelled "can I help?" to him.  He looked up and smiled as if he was trying to figure out who I was and as I got closer his jaw dropped.  That was a great feeling.  My whole body was trembling as I hugged him.  He was shocked and surprised and hardly had any words.  

I followed him to the front door and while he went inside to get Kara I stood outside.  She came to the door and opened it.  She immediately started to cry as did I while we hugged.  It was really great.  After we hugged for a bit Kara asked if dad knew I was coming.  I said no and just as he was coming into the house from the backyard we were walking right towards him.  He hugged me so tight and was really happy to see me.  I felt very loved in that moment.  Dad helped me bring in the HUGE fruit arrangement and as we walked to the car he said "when I was taking my shower this morning I just wondered if you might show up".  

As the day went on I was able to surprise our Aunts, and lots of family friends.  It was like the gift that keeps giving.  I really had a great time and I was happy that I could be there for Kara and Julio.

The baby shower was beautiful, very well done by Kara's closest friends.  They got lots of great gifts and are so loved.

Whirlwind!

We have had a very busy week but its been so great to have Dominic home.  He's been very helpful with the boys while still learning all the new things about the boys and our routine.  It has been so nice for me to have help getting out of the house.  I used to make 2-3 trips to the car before we could actually leave.  Now, we are out the door all together.  That is nice!

We have done lots of shopping lately.  Dominic wore his tennis shoes out from walking in the sand so much over there.  We got him some new shoes and the boys too.  Dominic and I took the boys to daycare on Thursday so that he and I could spend some time together.  I took him for his first pedicure.  His feet were a mess from being in boots or tennis shoes all the time.  He said that the pedicure tickled :)  We had lunch together and went to see a movie.  It was a really nice day.  We also took the boys bowling one day.  That was fun!

On Wednesday we went to the squadrons welcome home bbq on base.  The food was catered and it was AWESOME bbq.  They served brisket, sausages, bbq pork, buns for sandwiches, coleslaw and potato salad.  It was the best bbq I've had in a great while...Dominic too :)

We got Mason some cowboy boots.  They match the boys that they got at Christmas time.  Mason loves them!  He ran all around the house in his diaper and boots the other night.  It was so fun to watch him.

Dominic installed our new dishwasher yesterday.  Oh man!  I have been WAITING to have a dishwasher back.  I have been hand-washing dishes for close to 3 months now.
Yesterday we went over to John and Laurie's house.  The boys swam and had a blast.  Mason LOVED the water.  He's a little fishy without gills.  We put arm floaters on him and he was so comfortable in the water.  He absolutely LOVED the pool.
When it got dark we were able to sit in their backyard and watch some fireworks from the country club.  It was amazing!  We had the perfect view and didn't have to fight a crowd or find a place to park.  Laurie and John made some homemade ice cream and we sat and talked.  They are such great people and we really enjoy hanging out with them.

We didn't do much today.  We did some more shopping then we came home and made some dinner.  We had some steak, bacon wrapped scallops, zucchini and squash and fresh corn.  It was a lot of food and we came to the realization that we just don't eat like we used to.  None of us eat nearly as much as we did 6 months ago.  Dominic lost fat and gained quite a lot of muscle, I lost 53 lbs (so far), Christian doesn't eat as much because of his medicine and Ayden has his on and off days.  We need to start cooking less :)

I hope everyone had a nice 4th!

Happy Homecoming!!!

He's finally home! The homecoming was so great. It was an unforgettable moment.

The boys have their daddy back!

We were interviewed for the local news channel.

We're down to hours!

Its surreal.  I cannot believe that in only a couple of hours my husband will be back from his 7 month long deployment.  

I have stayed very busy so far today which is perfect.  I bathed and dressed the boys.  Mason is taking a nap and the big boys are watching cartoons.  I showered, did my hair and makeup.  We hung the "Welcome Home" banner outside on the porch.  Now we just wait...only a little while longer and I will have my husband back.  I'm so excited, I could burst!

2 More Days!!!!!

My baby is comin' home!  I'm so excited and that doesn't even begin to describe how I really feel.

Dominic and the rest of the guys went on lock-down today.  They won't have access to anything and they can't leave their designated area.  Its all for security and customs.  I got one last email from him this morning.

Tomorrow they will fly out and I should hear from him sometime really early in the morning on Saturday.

I can't believe its finally here.  Its been way too long.  So much has happened since December 1st.  Many people said that it would go fast and in some ways it probably did.  Overall, I would say that it did not go fast.  When I think back about that time I realize how much I accomplished.

Sylvan twice per week

after school math tutoring

LOTS of doctors appointments and immunizations

getting the house painted

having some electrical issues fixed

having the washing machine fixed

Dad replacing lighting, electrical sockets and switches and a new toilet

starting and trying new medications for Christian

dealing with Christians teacher this year

staying on track with my weight loss

getting the cars in for service, oil changes and inspections

finding a dependable person to mow the lawn for me

finding a babysitter then losing her :(

holidays and birthdays

family drama

meals, naps, baths, bedtime stories

crying, yelling, screaming

smiles, laughs and special memories

Its been a rewarding time for me because I learned that I can live without Dominic if I have to.  I hope I never have to again, at least not for this long.  I did gain some much needed independence.  I also know that I couldn't have made it through this without so many people.  My sister has always been there, online, all day for me to talk to or vent if the need was there.  She has helped me find confidence in myself.  My dad was always a phone call away if I needed help and boy did I need help :)  Thanks dad!  Jim and Patty (my in-laws) have called lots of times to check in on us.  They helped make birthdays special.  My friends, you know who you are, have been amazing support.  Two of them have done this before and offered lots of encouragement and understanding.  I love you guys!

Its almost over :)