Week 4

This week has FLOWN by. I swear it seems like just yesterday was Black Friday. I am very thankful for the days and weeks that fly by. I can NOT believe that we are already 4 weeks into the deployment. He's already almost been gone a month. I'm sure after the holidays things will slow down and communication with him will not be as frequent but for now I am just enjoying the holidays and the times I DO get to talk to him.

This week hasn't been a very exciting week. We haven't really gone or done anything. But we HAVE decorated for Christmas. It took 3 days alone to do the tree. Day 1 me & Lisa put it up. Day 2 me & the boys put on a box of ornaments and Day 3 I finished it off. I'm loving it. It's pretty bare, especially if you compare it to our last trees but its about 3 times the size of our other tree so I'd say its well worth it.

The night we decorated the tree we also watched An Elf's Story, and had some snacks with Hot Chocolate. Such a fun & cute movie! Well, the next day the boys got a Package from Santa. Its was their VERY OWN ELF!!! The were beyond excited. Named him Chippy like the one in the movie. :) I know they are VERY original. LoL. Nathan kept tellin me he wasn't real but he changed his mind VERY quickly when Chippy brought snow covered donuts and cool Christmas cups for breakfast the next day. Seems like Chippy is a very nice elf. He has yet to do anything naughty. So far we have found him hanging out in my stocking and hanging from the ceiling fan. :) The boys are soo excited every morning to find where he has landed.

Like I said, not too much has happened this week but man has it flown by. Ready to start another week. And we are ALMOST 1 month down.... WOO HOP!!!!

And to finish off like every week, here are some pics of our week:

 

 

Week 3

Well this was a very hard week. The hardest week since we dropped him off. I didn't sit around and cry like I did the first week but in some ways this week was harder. I had to put suck it up and put on a happy face. I absolutely HATE holidays without him here but when you have little ones you have to still make the best of it. This was also an extremely busy week! Since I hosted Thanksgiving this year I had LOTS to do to get ready. It was a lot of work but OH SO WORTH IT!

This week I:

• Cleaned a LOT. Like I said had to get ready for Thanksgiving. I don't think it would have taken me near as long to get everything done if I could have just stayed focused.
• Cooked and ate a TON of great food.
• Enjoyed time with my family. We were missing my husband and dad this year but it was still nice to spend good time with my mom, brother, sis-in-law, sister, nephews and of course my boys.
• Celebrated my mom's birthday!
• Went Black Friday shopping. It was a BLAST. It was also probably the EASIEST thing I did all week. I got to text with the hubby on and off while shopping and it wasn't really something that he was missed during. Yes I miss him ALL the time but he refuses to go black Friday shopping with me, so he wouldn't have been there anyways.
• Watch Polar Express twice. Well I more slept through it while the boys watched it. I was EXHAUSTED from all the shopping and getting up early too cook after going to bed late.
• Went to Rise & Shine at Mills. Harley's class did it this week so of course I had to go watch my amazing big guy. You would NEVER know it buy lookin at him but he is one shy lil boy. When he has to get up in front of people he just kinda whispers. Definitely gets that from his Mama. His Daddy makes friends with people EVERYWHERE. I don't think he has a shy bone in his body.
• Had a girls night in with some AMAZING ladies. It was a TON of fun and yes it helped that I got to text the hubby on and off all night. It kinda reminded me of high school. Spending the night with friends and I spend all night talkin to my guy. LoL. No bigs they understood and it made the night all the better.
• I also send out the 2nd care package. Loved making it as I always do. Spent a TON of time on it but it will be well worth it when he gets it.
• Had a Supernatural marathon with my seester. Got all caught up on the new episodes which was great. Well I got caught up. She fell asleep. What a weenie. ;)
• And found ONE good thing about Dick not being here for the Christmas season. I found a radio station that's ONLY playing Christmas music all season. So I get to listen to as much Christmas music as I want whenever I want. Me and the boys are LOVING it. But Dick HATES Christmas music so we don't get to listen to it all that much when he's home. He WILL tolerate it while we put up the tree tho. Cuz he loves me. :)

All in all it was a really good week. Very difficult but I stayed really busy so that helped. We are now 3 weeks down with the deployment and according to my countdown (don't think its that accurate since we actually DON'T have a return date I'm just going on a year after he left. Could easily be more or less, so no OPSEC violations here. Lol) we are 6% down. It makes me beyond happy to keep seeing my "done" portions of the percent countdown keep getting bigger and bigger.

And to finish up here are some pics of our week:

Care Package #2

Well Dick FINALLY got his first care package and is FINALLY getting released from Med Hold. Which means he is gonna be back with this unit. And what does this mean for me? TIME FOR MORE CARE PACKAGES!!! I absolutely LOVE making care packages. Which is good cuz he LOVES getting them. I know this. I asked.

Anyways. I put a lot more effort into this one. I think it turned out REALLY well. I cut the paper like I did last time but this time I used the Scotch double sided adhesive roller to put the paper on the box. LOVE IT. So worth the money, but it wasn't that much. A few dollars maybe? Anyways as long as it holds up that's what I will be using to put all his stuff on the box.

I used the scotch double sided tape to put the stuff on the bottom of the box and I would NOT recommend it. For care packages i feel like it is a waste of money. Its only a lil bit cheaper than the roller and SO much harder to use. I will use mine up since I'm not gonna waste but I wont be buying it again.



Anyways. I added the paper to the sides and then decorated it with a quote I love that is perfect for the military. I then printed out our song on some white card stock and put that on top of blue construction paper on the bottom of the box. Our song is Warmness On the Soul by Avenged Sevenfold in case you were wondering. :)

As I was decorating hubby called. Totally made my night. :) And since I can't concentrate on crafting AND talk on the phone I moved on to making his cookies. Hope he loves em.

In this box I included:

• Some protein powder he left here.
• His protein shake mixer bottle thingy. (It's late... don't judge me)
• LOTS of beef jerky from his AMAZING Uncle Mike and Aunt Teresa (LOVE THEM)
• 2 dozen double chocolate chip cookies
• A drawing from Harley's Class about soldiers
• A letter to him from Harley's class... his teacher seriously rocks!
• A CD full of pictures and videos of the boys learning to ride their bikes.
• A letter from me
• A letter from Harley.

I then sealed it up and got it ready to go. Literally. I did that right after. Without remembering to take a picture. :( TOTAL BUMMER! So you'll just have to imagine how awesome it looks all filled up with his goodies. :) But I DID remember to take a picture of it after I taped it all up. I'm still loving using the fun different duct tapes to seal it. Yes I said still. Even tho this is only the 2nd package. Again its late. Don't judge me. :) IF you do the duct tape thing I would suggest taping over it with clear packing tape too. I feel like it holds better than duct tape. And they DO make patterned packing tape. I may use it SOME time during the deployment but for now I am perfectly happy over taping stuff and being wasteful. :)





Week 2

Well this week was easier than last week. I stayed pretty busy and we are getting into the hang of things and back into our routine. We had a few rough days this week but MUCH better than the first week. And that's a good thing. Right?

This week I:

• Went to McTeacher's night with the boys, nephews, Lisa & Mom! That was a FUN night!
• Watched Nathan and Alex perform a Veteran's Day Program.
• Went to the 10 PM Premiere of Breaking Dawn Part 2! Loved it!!! But it was kind of bitter sweet since Richard wasn't there. First one he has missed sine I started going. :(
• Watched a LOT of Supernatural. It sure does make the nights fly by. I don't know what I am gonna do when I get all caught up and can only watch it once a week. :/
• Did some cleaning. Still trying to get back into the daily routine I was on before he left.
• Found out about a job opportunity being a court researcher. Or maybe that was last week? I dunno. Either way I haven't applied yet. Kinda nervous about it. But its time to get my butt in gear and get on it. So that will be top priority this week!
• Worked out EVERY day and ate healthy! This one was one of the hardest since I tend to eat my feelings. But I did good and am proud of myself. Now hoping to see the results on the scale. :)
• DID NOT send out a care package. :( Really want to but Dick hasn't even gotten any of the letters I sent. He's on Med Hold right now so not with the rest of his unit so we are thinkin they may be holding it. I dunno. He's supposed to check on it soon. I'm already missing doin it weekly. :(

We are now 2 weeks down which means we have (approximately) 50 weeks left to go! It also means we are almost 4% down! I have a feeling this next week will FLY by with Fall Break for the boys, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Bedlam and putting up Christmas decor. I'm gonna be a BUSY lady! Hope everyone has a GREAT week and a GREAT Thanksgiving!

Here's a few pics from our week:

Week 1

The first week is FINALLY over! Its been a busy and very emotional week.

This week I have:

• Said goodbye to the love of my life.
• Watched my kids say goodbye to their Daddy like brave little men.
• Watched a TON of Supernatural. I figure if I can't have my hubby at least I can have my boyfriend. Right?
• Cleaned a ton.
• Sent out the FIRST care package of this deployment.
• Written him 4 letters.
• Heard about a great job opportunity.
• Eaten lots of junk food.
• Dealt with crying kids.
• Baked 3 dozen cookies
• Spent time with my Twin & Nephews

Like I said a very busy and emotional week. I finally went an entire day without crying. No I haven't sat around and cried all day every day but I had broken down at least once a day until yesterday. We are finally a week into this. I've made it this far I know I can make it the rest of the time!

1 WEEK DOWN 51 TO GO!!!

Care Package #1

Well I went out and got all the stuff for Dick's first care package of deployment #2 today. Came home, baked 3 dozen cookies and put it all together. Heres what I did:

Layed out all my stuff:

As I was baking my cookies I got busy decorating the box and making up an address label. I also wrote him a letter and after the boys put their letters in in the morning I will be sealing it up and sending it out! Not themed and not really anything special but it lets him know we love him and are thinking about him! Also the black paper I glued on and it bubbled and ran like crazy. i will be investing in some sort of tape runner. The blue I used my packing tape but still seems kinda like a waste. So we'll see what works best.

Here's what I put in it:

A new Ipod & Phone charger

2 Big packages of Beef Jerky (First thing he asked for)

A DVD

Some military stuff he had forgotten

3 Dozen cookies

Travel size face wash

Travel size deodorant

Travel size Qtips

New thing of Toothpaste (he didnt take much with him)

A box of poptarts

A box of breakfast bars

Some oatmeal to go bars

And a letter from Me & the Boys

Can't wait to send the next one and start being able to send themed ones!!!

Kisses from Daddy

So since Dick deployed today I thought it was time for my first deployment craft. I made a "Kisses from Daddy" jar. I bought pretty stickers but didnt double check there were enough letters so they didnt work out but oh well. I had some on hand. Not sure how well they will hold up and took FOREVER digging through the bag to pick out my letters but here it is.

Materials:

Large jar with lid. (I used a $7 glass jar from Walmart)
Hershey's Kisses
Stickers (or you could write it with paint)

Just put the stickers on the jar, fill it with kisses and you are DONE!

I think the boys will love it. They will get a special treat every night after showers instead of their goodnight kisses from Daddy. It won't be able to make up for it but it's better than nothing and it may give them something to look forward to each day. If you do a countdown style jar you can count out the kisses but I don't think we will be doing that. I dont think my jar is quite big enough since I am only doing one jar. It's not perfect but good enough & I love it!

Day 1

Let the countdown begin! Today was the day I have been dreading for MONTHS! Today was the day I said goodbye to my husband for a year. I am very proud of myself though. This time I did NOT drop Nathan. So WOO HOO for that one. I also didnt dwell on it the entire week before or the entire time we were waiting. That made our time we had left together MUCH more enjoyable!

My heart broke today. As we said goodbye at the airport Nathan was crying and begging to be able to get on the plane with his Daddy. I ended up having to pull him off Richard becaus he just didnt want to let go. Then my big tough guy Harley broke down and started crying. You could tell he was trying to hold it back so bad but just couldn't stop it. It breaks my heart to know that my boys are hurting and there is nothing I can do about it.

Today my heart broke.
Today I watched my boys lose their Daddy for a year.
Today we had donuts, pizza & candy & don't feel bad about it one bit!
Today we have watched a TON of TV.
Today our countdown began.
Today, tomorrow, and everyday until he is home we miss our Soldier.
Today I keep going back & forth between mixed emotions. I am either breaking down because he is gone for a year. Or I am fine because at the moment it doesn't seem any different than the other training situations.