Playtime and Everyday Moments

The greatest thing about Ross's time off was him just being home during the day. To pick the kids up from school, to play in the daylight hours, to help with homework. All the little things...

He also played himself a bunch... Here he is flying one of Max's helicopters (Christmas present)... He had a lot of fun with this...



And then they were doing some sort of experiment... Ross and Zoey built this scale a couple of years ago, but today Max was weighing Sponge Bob and Patrick...

I think they were using coins first, though...











Spongebob apparently weighs more, contrary to popular belief.

The kids have been into the show Cupcake Wars on the Food Network, so we have been visiting all of our local cupcake bakeries. We would go and pick some up before picking the kids up for school and having our own judging at home. Funny thing is, the kids aren't big fans of cupcakes (crazy, right?) So, basically I just ended up eating them all... mmm.... I saw this shirt the other day that said, "keep calm and eat a cupcake!" I love it. Too bad it was in a store for Zoey.


Ross waiting to eat his cupcake while I photograph them...


And here is Max during homework time...



I love this one... Helping Zoey with homework after school... something that Ross is so good at and loves to do and just doesn't get enough opportunities...

dinner out

We will continue with Ross's coming home story... but don't want to get more behind...

Once Ross came home, he got some down time to just hang out with the family and then he took some more vacation time as well. It was so so nice.

One thing Ross missed about being home was just a variety of food. He ate authentic Afghan food (not so great) and dining hall food. When we would Skype with him, I knew he just missed things as simple as our Panera Bread outings or going to Chick Fil A! So, I made a list. One of our family favorites for special occasions is The Melting Pot! And this was definitely a special occasion...

We enjoyed every minute of our night. And I think we were all just soaking it all in. It is too dark for pictures in the restaurant, so I took some of Ross and the kids before we left...

Couldn't stop taking pictures of this face!


So happy to have Dad back...


And they don't look alike at all... I love her hand on his head!


And Max is sometimes still a stinker with pictures. He just doesn't want to stop what he's doing to take one... But he was totally willing to take these. I love that.




And just because I couldn't decide between color and b/w...

Thoughts... on coming home

This is part II of a series of posts. Continued from this post

And finally, January came and a serious countdown could begin!! We got within a week, and got the news that Ross would be delayed. Now, a week more when you've already gone almost 30, doesn't seem like it would be a big deal; however, we were pretty bummed by the news. So much so that Max's teacher wrote to ask what was going on because Max was so upset at school.

You could look back on every January in this blog and see how I think January is the longest, cruelest month out there. Well, I had to laugh at how this year, it coincided with Ross's return home. Never was January longer!! And this delay... sent me over the top!

He sent me a message that said he had a flight out of Kyrgyztan leaving on Monday, January 30. Because of the time change and everything, he was set to arrive on that same Monday afternoon into Baltimore. This was all tentative, however because, a lot of stuff was going on in Afghanistan that caused a safety concern. Thus, the military had travel restrictions, which meant Ross had no way to get to the airport. He had to go to two different airports before the one in Krygyztan. Because Ross left his camp 5-6 days a week, he was very good at getting in touch with me daily to let me know he was safe. It was comforting when I heard from him and nerve racking when I didn't, as you can imagine. Internet connections are spotty at best, even in the military camps, so once he left his camp and his room, our communication was at a minimum. He made it from one airport to the next and then was stuck. For days... He would write me a quick message about once every 24 hours saying he didn't get out on a flight. While he was stuck I talked with someone who said they had a similar time getting back home. He reassured me that although internet was bad where Ross presently was, once he got to Kyrgyztan, he would be able to communicate much better. I was thankful to hear that bit of info, and kept it in the back of my mind.

Since I knew Ross had started his long journey home, I had the kids start on a welcome home sign!

I was careful to not do this too soon. I wanted the kids to be excited to do it and eager to use it as well!



Max doesn't enjoy crafts too much, but was eager to join in on this project.





So, while in transition, I heard from Ross at about 5 a.m. my time. For a couple days in a row. His last e-mail said he was hoping to get on the next flight, but at this point, it was so late that the chance was slim that they would make it to his original 30 Jan flight out of Kyrgyzstan. All I was hoping for was safety out of Afghanistan. And then, I didn't hear from him. I kept calculating the time over and over again. (I have to mention that I had my world clock on my phone set for all the places he would be, as I was both curious and anal about his time/location) I hoped that the silence meant he made it out of Afghanistan, but because they said he would have internet in Kyrgyzstan, it meant I would have heard from him if at all possible, so I really didn't know what to think. I was even searching the news for anything that might have happened. 24 hours passed with no word. Again, in my head I knew that I shouldn't worry too much, but it just wasn't calculating right. The flights and the timing of it all basically meant he would almost need a miracle to make the flight he was supposed to be on and to get him back to the US! It was Monday morning, 30 January. I checked my email almost every 30 minutes... On his way to Afghanistan, he had multiple stops and e-mailed me from different locations, so I was waiting to hear something. I knew he didn't have a direct flight from the other side of the world, but I didn't know anything else. I figured (and hoped!) I would hear from him by 3 pm, if he was on the flight since he said he had an early afternoon arrival time.

2:30 pm... I had picked the kids up from school hoping to have good news but nothing.

3:30 pm... still nothing

4:30 pm ... still nothing and at this point I was having a little anxiety. I couldn't occupy myself enough.

5 pm I decided to make dinner, and just do what we normally do... eat and head to Tae kwon do. I didn't know what to think as I was certain I should have heard from him by now... and that all I did know was 5 pm was not considered AFTERNOON! by me, at least.

5:16 pm I get a text message on my phone...

Just landed at bwi... crazy story, call soon.  love you!

Remember that thing about not crying so much? I must have let out a huge noise, some sort of sigh of relief or something for the kids to notice, and the tears filled my eyes! I turned to Zoey, who came to see what was happening and said, "Daddy is back in the US!! He is almost home!" And I can't write about it now, or even think about it without getting teary eyed. I replied that it was the text message I had waited SEVEN months for!!

And as for that crazy story... to be continued...

Thoughts...on being gone

Ah, yes, my big deployment post... I've debated about writing this, but I know there are lessons to be learned and things that I need to remember, so here goes...

It is a given that when you are married to someone in the military, your life will be a little different. You and your family make sacrifices that others don't, you ask a lot of your children, and you rely on friends and strangers even, when family is far away. None of this was foreign to me. I grew up as a military child, moving every couple of years, and loved it. I think my parents took the opportunities given and made the very best of the situations so that as kids, we really only saw the good, and a lot of it was very good. So, when Ross and I started on our journey, it was exciting for me, and a little bit like coming home. Plus, when I met him, most people in his job didn't get deployed and the world was a little different (pre 9-11). As time marched on, things changed, of course, and friends and families lives all around were interrupted by deployments.



Now, it was something looming out there for us. On this side of things, I am very thankful for the short notice we had. I would not have liked this thing hanging over our head for months and months dragging it out. It was a quick notification, details given, and two weeks later, bye bye.

In those two weeks, I cried a lot. I was really overwhelmed. When I would sit down and calculate the time Ross would be gone and the things he would miss, I couldn't breathe. We had a trip planned out to Arizona, so the kids and I went, while Ross went on to training. We had to drive away from Ross, knowing that when we came back home, he wouldn't be there. Zoey and I were crying. Max told us, "you guys, we need to be tough!" I had to smile at that. And so, after two weeks of crying, we kind of stopped.

The kids were amazing. Children are so incredibly resilient and strong, and I don't think we give them enough credit some time. Mine certainly were through all of this. And the crying... well, if you know me, you know I cry pretty easily. I have some serious heartstrings! But I didn't cry a lot while Ross was gone. Almost to the point that it was weird. I know, and realized at the time, that it was God. I knew if it was up to me, I would have been hyperventilating in a corner. I also knew that I was being given so many graces and blessings through it all that I could be nothing but thankful! I learned really quickly that even though you have family and friends, no one but the four of us was directly affected on a daily basis by this. Every.single.day. I ached from missing him and that was along with a layer of anxiety because of where he was and what he was doing. And yet, most of the time... God took care of me. Again, how could I be anything but thankful...

I didn't completely stop crying either. It would happen, at the most random times... I would be driving along and could picture us waiting at the airport and seeing him again for the first time, and tears would just flow. It was the goose bumps all over feeling, you know? I could feel him and see it all happening. And it was both wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. And I wasn't the only one who kept thinking these thoughts. Zoey and Ross both shared the same thoughts with me.

Although we tried to enjoy our days as much as possible, we all felt like we were in a little bit of a holding pattern, waiting to be together again and to start living life like normal and not with a countdown.

Mardi Gras

The kids and I went to a friends house for a Mardi Gras dinner... Zoey and I wore some fun and funky glasses!!



And Max was being silly with the camera... this is out of focus, but I think this shot makes me laugh...

Creative Play

January was dark and cold, and since it was our last month waiting for Ross to come home, it seemed the days and night dragged on... We had to come up with ways to entertain ourselves.

The kids did great keeping busy. Max decided to take an old United States wooden puzzle and turn an atlas into a 3-D map. I thought it was cool, because the sizes matched up well.





And Zoey was on a little bit of an American Pickers (a show on the History Channel) kick. She decided to make posters for the show.

Paperwhites and playtimes

The two subjects are unrelated...

I'm making one blog post out of it, however...

So I kept reading about these paperwhite flowers everywhere. Plant them! And you will smile in January! So, when I saw a complete kit for the plant at Trader Joe's in December, I decided to give it a try. I don't know anything else except that I planted the bulb in the pot it came with (dirt included, just add water) when we came back home after New Years and for two weeks I watched this bulb sprout up into a crazy tall, scented white flower! And it did make my January self smile to see the flower in the cold of winter... So, I just thought I'd share.



Still in January, keeping ourselves occupied on the cold winter nights without Ross home, we came up with creative ways to play or entertain ourselves. Here's Max studying the atlas. He loves maps and atlas books. He took an old states puzzle we have and turned his atlas three dimensional!





And Zoey loves the show American Pickers on the History Channel. Ross started her watching it and she recorded them all to watch when he got back home. She couldn't wait, so she watched them by herself first so that she could share the best ones with him. She made a little poster for the show!

Jenga!

On a cold January evening, the kids decided they wanted to play Jenga. We have had the game for a while and even played a little bit, but it never lasted long before we would crash the tower and have to rebuild. Their attention spans didn't last too long after a couple of rebuilds. Anyway, I was actually amazed and pleasantly surprised at how different this night went! I guess it really had been a while since we played because both kids were very good with their fine motor skills and patience in working to get the little pieces out. Anyway, we actually seriously played a bunch of times. And it was fun!

We even played on the carpet!


And Max would RUN a victory lap after each one of his successes...



With both of these "obstacles" I was surprised by how far we got each time before...

Ten on the Tenth

The idea is to take ten photos on the tenth of the month and share it, documenting a day of your life and the ordinary moments. There is beauty in the ordinary.

So I have obviously taken a little blog break. We have been just hanging out a bunch and enjoying lots of family time. We have enjoyed each moment. Ross and I have spent days together just hanging out and it has been so fun! So, I do have to play a big catch-up game soon, as there are things I still want to blog about and not forget. But for now, I will just do my 10 on the 10th...

We went out of town last weekend and part of the week for a waterpark adventure, so this Saturday was pretty low key.

1. Woke up to a sleepy boy... We always go to bed and tell the kids that they can sleep in in the morning! We never make it past 7! Zoey gets up and hops right out of bed. Max slowly wakes up. It is a perfect time to get in some snuggles with him!


2. Ross usually does breakfast on the weekends if we are just hanging out at home. Zoey was helping, making some croissants...



3. A little later in the morning I wanted to make my self a coffee house treat!!



4. Max recently got a haircut and we convinced him to try some "product." He wasn't liking the application, but the end result was good!



5. And who doesn't get excited about a package? Thanks Mom and Dad!



6. Zoey is getting prepared for soccer. She and I have been doing a little conditioning! She runs so hard and so much in her soccer games, and she is so competitive that she goes until she exhausts herself (and hasn't quite learned how to pace herself), so I figured we could do a little running to help her out. It is fun! Ross got this picture of us being silly as we ran by...



I'm still in denial about how big she's getting. Her legs look long here.

7. After our run, we joined the boys in the backyard. I think Ross definitely missed some of the yard duties while he was gone. And me, well, I just did enough to survive... We enjoyed getting in the dirt and feeling some sunshine. (60's and 70's even this coming week!!)



8. Just a shot of Zoey in the yard...



9. After playing in the dirt, we got cleaned up and headed to church...


Two funny stories about our church adventure...

Max: As we were walking out, Max was just strutting along... We have pictures along the wall for the Stations of the Cross, and one of them is when Jesus falls for the second time and shows him carrying the cross and kneeling down and there is someone behind him. Max looks up at it and just yells, "CRASH". And then elaborated a little about how the other guy almost fell on him, too and he fell because that cross was just too heavy! That is typical Max. He knows what is going on, knows the story, but just puts his humor into it.

Zoey: We were singing a song and it talked about how tender God's love and mercy is. She started giggling and asked, "why are they using THAT word to talk about God?" (meaning "tender") So, I started to answer, but stopped and decided to ask her if she knew what it meant. She said she did, "It means that the steak is GOOD!" HAHA!

10. And nothing like a little Chick Fil-A for dinner! Not necessarily my favorite choice but at 6:30 on a Saturday, we don't have a lot of choices that don't require a huge wait... This kid is satisfied, however:



We made a list of places we wanted to go to and restaurants we wanted to eat at since Ross didn't get anything while in Afghanistan. One of the kids requests was to get in PJ's at night and head thru the drive thru of a local ice cream/custard place... We ended our fun night with that! Too dark for pictures.