He's Home!

My husband completed his journey home to us today! He even got in 4 hours before he was originally scheduled and I was thrilled to meet him at the airport along with Aaron. Aaron was a little hesitant about his daddy, but he's starting to warm up. I was able to bring Bill home for a nice shower while Aaron took a nap before heading to Logan's for lunch. We then hit up Walmart before going to Ian's school to pick him up.

Ian was sitting at the table working on his "E" worksheet when Aaron and I walked in. Bill followed, but stood in the doorway. Sweet Ian looked up at him in disbelief and said very hesitantly "Daddy?" He then asked again looking for a little more reassurance, "DADDY?" Bill then smiled at him and Ian's face lit up and he screamed "DAAAADDDDYYYYY!!!" It was so awesome! He ran over to him and gave him a big hug and then all the boys in the class proceeded to do the dance of joy as Bill chased them around the class. I'm sure the teacher appreciated that one. (She's a military wife so she understands!)

Ian has been on Cloud 9 all day. He can't get enough of Daddy and Aaron is starting to follow in his big brother's lead. We've spent most of the day resting and trying to let Bill just take it easy.

Tomorrow is my "mid life crisis" birthday. That's been the joke at work, at least. (It's only #35!) I have no big plans except to enjoy my complete family! It's been a long six months and I can't think of a better gift.

We did receive word today that our initial home study was accepted as passing and we are now ready to go for fingerprinting. They are forwarding the cards and we both should be able to get that done while Bill is home. I believe we both have to have physicals done, too.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Somehow I think you've got your signals switched and you've made us Seattle or London because "it never rains in Texas in the fall." Yeah, right! It's raining cats and dogs and has been for weeks on end it seems. CRAP. Are you sure that we aren't in England? I mean this is what I expected in London, but this is Central Texas! Did you hear me? CENTRAL TEXAS. We have an outdoor party planned for Thursday. I am formulating Plan B and it seems that it will likely become an indoor affair. ARGH. Oh the joys of the Mother Nature!

Messy Marvin *and his sidekick Messy Melvin!

Pumpkin Patches and Parties!

We've been busy the last couple of days!

On Friday evening, I rushed home from work and got the boys dressed in their costumes to go to a Halloween party for one of our playgroups. It was a fantastic time. There were all sorts of great treats, friends to play with and a pinata. The costumes that each child wore were adorable and the boys and I really had a good time!

Saturday we got up and went to the Silo Pumpkin patch. Well, it was okay, but the boys had a good time. It's times like these that I do wish I was back in the Midwest where the soil actually grows things like pumpkins, etc. Here it is more like a pumpkin pick because they truck in pumpkins and then just lay them around. I guess I should be thankful for that, but it's a total bummer when you know what a real patch is all about. This place was also overpriced, in my humble opinion and it was also one big sales pitch for their Christmas trees. Needless to say, I think we will skip this one next year. I am not going to pay 9 dollars for you to sell me a Christmas tree and I certainly think it's funny that I paid you 3 dollars to feed your animals. *shakes head* The kids had fun so I suppose that is really what counts.

Saturday evening we had a Halloween themed birthday party to attend. It was fun. It was going to be outside so I opted to dress the boys in their monster costumes. (I got them for a steal. I paid 5 dollars for Aaron's and Ian's was free with a coupon I had. This is the only reason they have 2 costumes each.) Anyway, Tommy the birthday boy is 4 days older than Ian and Tiffany, the birthday girl is a few months younger than Aaron. We have a great time when we are with them! Their party was super fun. They had all sorts of fun outdoor toys to play with, a cookout for dinner, cake and best of all a candy hunt! We came home with full bellies and were super tired!

I have a Headache

And for whatever reason. This Texas headache is worse than any I've had in a long time. So tonight when I got Aaron out of the tub and in his pajamas, I was stupid enough to put him down and think that in 1 hour my life would be all about the TV and the sounds of the dishwasher working its magic. I thought that for all of 2 seconds because before I could even get to the thoughts of the lovely snack that I would enjoy while watching my show, I heard a "THUNK" and then screams of rage. UGH. This is what I saw:




The 4 year old is banished to his room until tomorrow morning since he thought it would be funny to pull his brother into the water while clothed head first.

The baby is screaming his head off, mad as a hornet since he was dunked on top of cutting molars and all other number of things that kept him from napping today.

Did I mention that I have a headache?

Super, Secret Adventure!

I told Ian on Thursday that if he was good that we would go on a "super, secret adventure" on Saturday! He was so excited and had no idea what was up, but if he started to act up I would remind him and he would immediately straighten up his attitude.

So Saturday arrived and we drove over to Burnet, TX for A Day Out with Thomas! We met some good friends, the Moody Chipernos and we had a great time! We picked up a map from the ticket booth and went around to different stations collecting stamps so that we could get a prize. We started in the Imagination Station where Ian and Stevie got Thomas tattoos and colored some Thomas pictures. We walked around checking things out and stopped for a hotdog before going to the Storytime building. The boys got to hold the storybook for Mr Topham Hatt's assistant! How cool is that! There was also a petting zoo and a large inflatable slide to climb and slide down. Then we went and got in line to get our photo with Thomas before boarding the train for our 25 minute train ride. On the train we learned how trains operate and also had a little Thomas trivia thrown our way! Ian was in heaven! He was thrilled just to be out with a friend, but the icing on the cake was definitely riding on Thomas! He received his Jr Conductor certificate and talked nonstop on the way home about his super adventure!

The September Update (LATE!)

September flew by and I never got a chance to blog about all of our adventures! It was a crazy busy month filled with lots of fun, friends and family. We had a little sickness scare and are still taking some meds. Bear with me as I recap September in 1 post. :)

Well we started September out going to a birthday party at a splashpad and spending Labor Day at the Killeen Water park. Ian loves it there. We were glad to spend one last day there before it closed for the season. We look forward to going again next year.

We spent many mornings meeting up with our friends Jennifier, Jordyn, and Ava at the park so that we could exercise and play before going to work or completing our daily tasks. The weather was still pretty warm so the earlier mornings were the best times. We really need to get back to that so that we continue to do healthy activities that include exercise outside.

On the 14th, we met our friends Katie, Tommy and Tiffany at the Mayborn Museum on the Baylor University campus in Waco, TX for some hands on learning fun. I can't rave enough about this place! Aaron and Ian both loved it! We have been to the Children's Museum in Austin, but I actually think the Mayborn is better for my kids. Aaron is able to run around without being cooped up in the stroller and there are things that are appropriate for him to do in most of the rooms. Ian and Tommy had so much fun! They race water boats, played recording studio, had tea, dressed up in clothes from countries around the world, played pioneer, looked at fish and other animals, and any number of other things that I can't even list. It really is a fantastic place and military families get in for dirt cheap prices! We will definitely be making more trips to Waco!

Here is a picture of Aaron playing in the tea room. LOL


We went to another birthday party on the 17th at the Main Food Court on Ft Hood for 2 of our friends. That was loads of fun and Ian and Aaron enjoyed pizza and cake and playing with their friends.

We hosted a playdate here on the 21st. It was an All About Animals Craft playdate. The kids really enjoyed it and it was really fun to have everyone over. The kids made animal finger puppets and bookmarks and the biggest hit was definitely the animal balloons. I think the adults were as amused as the kids at the balloons. One of them deflated and it looked like road kill. Of course the poor kids whose balloons didn't make it had a hard time with the outcome, but we had some extras to send home with them to make new ones!



The evening after the playdate, Aaron came down with croup. We felt horrible that we had exposed our friends to this nastiness. Aaron had a terrible night. He was struggling to breath. I watched him closely all night and got Ian up for school the next day and decided Aaron needed an emergency trip to the doctor after dropping Ian off. We got to the doctor's office and Aaron's pulse ox was only 84 which is extremely low. The doctor wanted to send us straight to the hospital for admission, but he knows me pretty well (since I work as a pharmacist) and also knows that my husband is deployed. He agreed to let me give Aaron an albuterol nebulizer treatment in his office. It didn't help immediately, but we were able to get his pulse ox up to 92 in office and were sent home with oral steroid treatments. We thank God for our wonderful doctor!

The 24th Grandma Paula came for a visit. We were excited to see her since we hadn't seen her since Christmas. Ian and Aaron warmed right back up to her and we had loads of fun while she was here. We made a trip to Waco on Friday. We spent the entire day there. First we went to the Mayborn Museum again since that seemed to be Ian's favorite thing that we mentioned we would do. It was just as much fun the 2nd time as it was the first.

We lunched at Wendy's and decided to head over to the Cameron Park Zoo for an afternoon of fun. It was great weather and the boys both enjoyed the outdoors and fresh air. We really liked the new orangutan exhibit, but Ian's favorites this time were the giraffes. We were all exhausted by the time we got home, but it was worth it!

Saturday morning we slept in and in the evening my mom and I went to see The Producers at VLA. It was great! My friend Liz was one of the "old ladies" and she was awesome and hilarious! We really enjoyed the show and it was great to spend some time with my mom.
Sunday we went to church and then to Cheddar's for lunch. Cheddar's is one of those great places that I loved to eat at in college in Indianapolis, but it burned down my sophomore year. When I saw that we had one in Killeen, I was so happy! The chicken fingers are the best!
My mom had to leave on Monday and I was sad to see her go, but we will see her next month in Florida. She and my dad are flying down to meet us in Orlando.

The boys have continued to run low grade fevers and have goopy eyes and snotty noses so I decided to take them back out to see Dr Ricky. He says they are allergic to Texas! I guess the allergy symptoms are bigger here, too. Both boys are now on Zyrtec and Pataday eye drops and hopefully this will keep the worst of the symptoms away.

I have been working a lot lately and it's been exhausting. Flu shot clinics through the month of September have run into October and it doesn't appear that the flu/cough cold season is going to be mild this year. It seems like everyone is sick. I pray for my family's health since I am the sole caregiver right now and I can't afford to be super sick all the time.

Looking forward we have many plans for October. The boys are super excited about their Halloween costumes and we are all especially looking forward to Bill coming home for R&R around the 27th. My birthday is the 28th and we are most certain he will make it home for that. Then we will all be going to Florida to our timeshare and will be visiting Bill's family, too. Ian will celebrate his 4th birthday at Disney World. How fun is that!!

In the meantime, enjoy our Halloween preview and please keep stay well! Please wash your hands at every opportunity. That is the best way to ward off the germies!

Peter Pan:

Captain Hook:

(Ian decided he was going to be Captain Hook on Nov 1st last year! And "baby brother" is Peter Pan because he is so cute!)