Erin's Wedding

 

 

These pictures were taken last month, while Dean was home for R&R. This was my very best friend of all time, Erin's, wedding. And it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. We danced, we drank, we celebrated togetherness. Her awesome photographers captured these beautiful moments, and I will cherish them forever.

Edited to Add: Please take note of the large BullDawg in the Football uniform in the background of the first picture. He was a special guest that evening from UGA, courtesy of Erin as a suprise for Chris. And let me tell ya, the man in the dog suit could dance circles around ALL of us!

Chocolate Attack

 

Mental Note: Shopping with PMS may be hazardous to your health.

These are no ordinary donuts my friends. These are chocolatey-chocolate donuts with chocolate on top. And I have eaten two already.

Anyone else want a donut? No? Ok....I guess I will just have to eat them all myself.

More Peas, Please!

 

 

If you take a look at Hannah's plate, you will see a sight not normally beheld by mothers of young children.

Peas. Lots of them.

Now, of course any one can put peas ON their child's plate. That in and of itself is not amazing whatsoever. What is truly amazing is that Hannah is in fact eating the peas. And enjoying them. Quite a lot in fact. Hannah likes her peas so much that when they are on her plate nothing else is touched or tasted. She has eyes only for those little green veggies. This is why you will notice there is a rather large pile o' peas on her plate. She had pieces of hotdog and some goldfish crackers, but I really just put those on there to make myself feel better because I know she is only going to eat the peas but I want her meal to look well rounded.

It is a curious thing to me. When I get the little pan out to boil them, she starts to get excited. I have to pick her up so she can watch me put the peas in the water, and then we have to stand there until they are ready. She says "P-Peas! Hot! MMMMmmm! P-Peas! MMMM!!!" Luckily for us, peas both cook and cool down pretty rapidly. I put a bit of salt and pepper with some butter on top, and she starts insisting "Chair! Down! MMMMM!" The second she is in her highchair and the plate is down, she goes at it with both hands, grabbing tiny fistfuls and shoving them in her mouth as if they were candy and not in fact...you know....peas.

Soccer Monsters

 

 

 

 

Yet another soccer season has come to a close. Its time to look back, and reflect on what we learned.

First, we learned that Hannah seems to have more interest in being out on the field than either of her brothers. Its not that they don't enjoy the game. Its just that the game isn't really their top priority, shall we say. The boys like being part of a team, they like wearing their cool uniforms, and they REALLY like the post-game snacks. The actual game, with the running and all of that kicking and whatnot, they could mostly do without it seems.

Jude did seem to get the general idea of cheering when his team scored and giving a hearty frowny-face foot stomp when they did not. At the beginning of the season he would attempt to kick the ball if it rolled directly in to his foot (I say attempt because even when the ball did roll directly in to his foot he was not necessarily successful in then kicking it in the desired direction). By the end of the season though he was quite often seen running towards the ball in a proactive attempt to make contact with it before it made contact with him. The focus of his gmae however remained water breaks and half-time orange wedges, but overall I was very impressed with his progress.

We also learned that Eden liked playing defense. It required less running,which meant less sweating, and there was the added bonus of getting big cheers for stopping an on-coming goal. This initially made me terribly nervous, knowing that if it got past him he could be singled out as the kid who caused the team to lose. Luckily for both of us, his teammates were not those kind of kids. And even more fortunately, he turned out to be a darn good little defender! I still encouraged him to play up front once in awhile, but he refused. He found his niche, and he was staying put. Plus, he liked to strike these "I'm a big scary goal defender" poses, with his arms and legs spread wide and a growly-grimace on his face. I am fairly certain this did not have the desired effect on the opposing team, but it did make me smile.

I spent good portion of every game scooping Hannah up just before she ran on to the field. She felt very strongly that she should be allowed out there to play with her brothers, and she made this known. Loudly. During half-time I would attempt to appease her by ketting her loose to run around the field, which made her gloriously happy for those ten minutes.

Perhaps we should take these lessons to heart before registration in the fall......both the boys have already expressed an interest in taking karate instead. Still some kicking involved, but much less running. And its indoors.

And Sammy makes.....four?

 

This is a photo taken by my sister in law, Mary, who was just here to visit. She came with me to Field Day for the boys' school. In case you hadn't noticed, one of the kids in the photo is not actually mine. I said to Mary "Here, do you mind taking a photo of me with all my kiddos?" She says "Sure!" And I say, "Ok, come on boys over here, Mary is going to take our picture!" We all get together, and I crouch down. And then I realize Sammy is crouching next to me. I laughed and said "Sammy, are you one of my kids?" and he said "No, but I wish!!"

Best. Compliment. EVER.

Sammy is a very cool kid. He is Eden's best friend, and he lives in our neighborhood one street down and then up a few houses. They ride the bus together, and this year they were in the same class which is how they came to be "best friends" instead of just "bus friends". In the past few months Sammy has come over to our house usually once or twice a week after school. He and Eden play really well together, and since they are in the same class they can do homework together. Sammy often eats dinner with us on these nights, which I love because no matter what I make he will eat it, and he will LOVE it, AND he will tell me its delicious! I swear the boys eat more when Sammy is over as well, its that whole competition thing. They don't want to be out done, but they don't have a prayer because Sammy can easily eat more then both of them put together.

One evening while at dinner Sammy randomly chimes in with "Eden's Mom, did you know Eden likes a girl in our class? Well, actually, we both like her." I did not know Eden had a crush, but I was also not suprised he hadn't told me. Eden is....an internal child. Jude will verbalize every thought and feeling that crosses his mind but Eden seems to delight in the fact that his thoughts are his own and no one can make him share them against his will, thankyouverymuch. So I said "No, Sammy, I did not know that. Whats her name?" At which point Eden turns bright red and begins waving his arms frantically in a very emphatic "STOP TALKING" motion in front of Sammy's face, since he can't speak to silence him because his mouth is full of chicken nuggets. But Sammy says "Jennifer! Just like my mom!" and starts laughing. Eden puts his head on the table. He is trying to look mad, but he is also laughing. I said "Eden! Tell me about Jennifer!" He sighs and says "Tell you what?" in that sort of Ugh-I-can't-believe-this-is-happening kind of way. And I said "Tell me what she looks like first of all." He says she has brown hair, usually in a ponytail, and braces. But he says it with this goofy, love-struck grin and blushing cheeks that I have never seen on my child before. He really DOES have a crush! It was a very big moment for me, as a Mom. Then Sammy says "I can't believe you didn't tell her already. I tell my Mom eeeeeeeverything." Maybe some of that open-mindedness will rub off on Eden. But I doubt it.

Speaking of crushes, Hannah seems to have an itty-bitty-baby crush on Sammy. When we go pick him up and he climbs in the car she exclaims "MAMMMMYYY!! MAMMMYYY! HOOORAY!!!" and the top of her lungs. When we get home she wants to follow the boys around. If he leaves the room she says "Mammy? Uh oh! Ohhhhhh no!" and we have to go looking for him. She wants to hug him and put her head on his shoulder. When he says "Hi Hannah Banana!" she shrieks and laughs and turns away. At Field Day she was so excited to follow Eden and Sammy around. I told Eden's teacher I thought Hannah might have a crush on Sammy. She said "Well, at least shes got good taste. Hes a great kid."

Oh, and I got to see Jennifer too. But Sammy had to point her out to me.

 

 

2nd Half (except its more like 2/3)

R&R is over. We had so much fun, I can't even write about it all. To sum up, we went to the beach, went on a fieldtrip with Jude's class, went to my best friend's wedding, and spent lots of time just hanging around the house being a family. Oh, and we got new carpet, which was a huge production. Overall though, it was just tons and tons of wonderful.

There is not really any way to tell someone what it feels like to have such an essential part of our family basically missing, then returned, then gone again. When he left at first there was this void, an empty space that I felt around me. The house had a silence where his voice should be. And then when he came home, it felt so loud, so full, so bright. Now the empty space returns, but it seems almost more defined in contrast with his recent presence. Sharp edges where he should be. The empty space feels heavy. Maybe that makes no sense, but its the only way I know how to say it.

There are way too many pictures to post, so I just picked two. One of all of us, and one of Hannah with her Daddy.

We have about 7 months left in the deployment, but we still like to think we are half way done. That makes it easier to deal with.

I think Patches is Gifted....(Or:So what can YOUR cat do?)

 

 

 

Our cat Patches has apparently taken up a new hobby.

Reading.

So this is what is really going on when we are out of the house! I had always wondered what the cats did in their spare time apart from sleeping and making obscene amounts of poo in the litter box. Now I know.

I hope that her little cat friends don't tease her and call her a "nerd". How will she cope with the pressures of being labeled "gifted" at such a young age?

On his way Home!!!

 

Dean is his way home for 2 weeks of R&R!!

*Lora does a Happy Dance*

POP! (Or: A Sad Day for a Judah-Pudah)

 

These are the remnants of a big pink bouncy ball.

I was at Target with Hannah two days ago, and she simply REFUSED to leave without it. "Ball! Ball! BALLLLL!" She kept saying (and signing!) until Mommy caved in. She was so excited, she carried it around the store showing everyone who would listen "Ball! BALL!". She held on to it in her carseat all the way home "Ball! Ball! Ball!" At this point I am beginning to worry she will never say any other words ever again.

We got home and she played with it, rolling it in the hallways, kicking it like a soccer ball, patting it and even hugging it.

Then.....her big brothers came home.

Jude really really REALLY wanted to take the ball out in the yard and play with Eden. I told him he had to be extra careful because it was Hannah's ball, and we didn't want it to pop. So we all went out in the front yard. The boys tossed it back and forth, rolled it down the hill, even rolled it to Hannah who shrieked with delight when it bounced off her front. Eden tossed it to Jude, but he didn't catch it and it rolled down one side of our yard in to the neighbors yard....where large prickly pinecones loomed,sinister and sharp, just waiting for the opportunity to pop something. Jude ran after it as fast as he could, but when he caught up with it and tried to pick it up it went "POP!"

Jude picked up two sad,floppy pink pieces, and started wailing. Hannah, on the other hand, started laughing and clapping as if she had never seen such a great trick. The ball had become flat! Awesome! Jude ran over to me and crumbled in to my lap, a heap of tears and sobs "I...didn't.... MEAN TO....mommmy!!!" I told him it was ok, it was an accident, and we would get another ball another day. Hannah, meanwhile, is shaking the big piece of what was once her ball, and laughing hysterically.

We collected ourselves and what was left of the ball, and went inside. Jude insisted that we could not throw the ball away, because he said "Mommy, I want to remember this really special ball FOREVER!" I told him it was no good now, it was trash, and we couldn't keep it. But we compromised by taking his photo with it, so he could remember those glorious five minutes when this ball was a part of his life. That made him very happy.