Spring is a coming!

So, its February...which means it is about that time to get the girls spring and summer wardrobe together. I always do it way in advance, because otherwise you cannot find anything. Emily will hopefully fit into a good chunk of Allie's old clothes, and I slowly started shopping for Allie. My mother in law went out and got the girls a few things the other day, and always gets them plenty for their birthdays, which is perfect because Em gets summer clothes and Allie gets fall clothes. Tomorrow I plan on digging out the giant bin of Allie's summer clothes from last year to see what still fits. Some of her things SHOULD still fit, and I hope they do so she won't need to much more.

With spring coming, this also makes me want to make a few recipes that I won't make in the summer. I found an easy recipe for chili that the girls would probably love, its called kid chili...so hopefully they enjoy it. I also found some soups for Adam and definitely want to make chicken noodle soup as well. It is funny how certain recipes are related to the spring or winter. Once it gets warm out, we grill quite often. So, I need to make a solid list for the grocery store tomorrow with all of the things I need to make the recipes I want to make.

Spring also means a visit to NJ! I cannot wait to take the girls back for Easter. I am excited for us all to go to church as a family and celebrate Easter with everyone. We have a lot planned for our week in NJ, but I am beyond excited about it. We are going to look at houses, hopefully go to the zoo, go to the shore, go to the Franklin Institute and so many other things. I have to remind myself, that next summer we will have access to all of those things!

Spring also means Emmy's birthday at the end of it. I cannot believe my baby girl will be TWO. Everyday I almost cry at something new she says or does. She is so smart, its ridiculous and talking so much, I cannot even keep up. She is talking in a lot of sentences and can go thru one of her little baby books with 100 pictures and name at least half of them. She knows a lot of her body parts and can even sing twinkle, twinkle (well, to the best of her ability). When did all of this happen? I wish that I did not essentially wish away a year of my kids life while Adam was gone...even though I enjoyed and embraced those days, I feel like that went even faster with him gone. So for now, I hold on extra tight to them!

We're going to be civilians!

It is such a crazy and scary thought. For the past almost 7 years of our life, it has been committed to the US Army. Every decision, every thought, every movement has been centered around the Army. We knew his ETS date (the date his contract with the Army is up) was coming up this year, and we had talked about getting out, but the other day the Army said we had to re enlist that day or not at all. We chose not at all because he would of been sent to Korea, which meant ANOTHER year apart. Now he is hearing he can still re enlist in the fall again, but we are very much focused on getting out. We already told our families, we told his parents we will be moving in with them in October and we have already started talking about job opportunites. He should have almost 60 days of terminal leave, probably more like 50, so we will be living in NJ before Halloween. This is ALL so crazy to me. It is everything I (and we) have talked about for a long time, but it is SO scary to think about. We have been essentially taken care of by what the Army provides, financial stability, health insurance and housing. By December, poof, it will all be gone. I KNOW we can make it, I have faith in us. The problem is making sure Adam keeps the faith in us too, because so many people tell him horror stories of the outside world, that he thinks we will never survive without the Army...and I feel as though, we can't survive much longer in the Army (deployment wise). So here goes nothing. We have stopped hanging pictures and decorating the house, and started making plans for how things will need to be packed already. We head home for Easter, and thats our last visit before we MOVE home. Wow. So crazy to think about!

So my kids have to be growing, right?!

I feel like alllllll my kids do is eat anymore! Like, Allie has always been bad with snacking, she is definitely more of a grazer than a meal eater...but the girl can also clear her plate. My girls are fantastic eaters, they aren't picky in the least. Allie knows what she likes, so she can be a little hard to please, but Emily literally eats anything. Lately, they both want to eat all day everyday. Today after a discussion with Adam, I feel like I really can't even keep up with their eating and they go thru certain snacks so fast anymore. So I decided, I am going to attempt to make some snacks for them instead of buying everything. I have an endless, well not really, supply of flour and plenty of baking things left from the holidays. So I have found recipes for gold fish, cheez its, oreos, pop tarts, pretzel bites, and graham crackers. Tomorrow, I plan on trying out of the pop tart recipe and maybe the pretzel bites. I also need to work out some new lunch recipe ideas for them. I planned our meals for the next week, and am planning on a good food shopping trip to further meal plan and make more homemade snacks. Hopefully it all comes out yummy!

Meal Planning...Here I Come!

Well, after a very expensive food shopping trip...I have realized, I really need to meal plan. Last week, we ate out two nights in a row, very not the norm for us. We were just "out of food". Well, I didn't have any meals to really create. Then I got creative and I found one or two things I could make with what we had...then, finally Sunday we went shopping and spent TOO much money. However, it should give us meals for at least week...and we also stocked up on things like "sides" you know, like rice and noodle sides that you make in a crunch. I just really need to get real with the situation of meals. Sadly, I still have to go food shopping AGAIN this week, but I am working on finding some meal planning resources and I will shop with a LIST instead of just buying what I see. It's also hard, because we have still only been in our house for a little over a month now, so we still do not have all of those essentials that we normally have. So, I am going to attempt to meal plan and see if I can't cut some of these food bills down a bit and also make my life a teensy bit easier! I am enjoying the process of looking for recipe ideas and finding resources online with the process. I just wish I was as good as some of these moms!

Post to a friend and some thoughts

So a friend of mine posted about feeling like everything was a test...and I couldn't agree more, especially about this past year of our life. So I responded because I wanted her to realize she could totally handle whatever was being thrown at her.

Just God trying to make you stronger ;) Go with the flow, show Him you can handle it. I felt like this past year of my life was a giant test, I tried to stay positive about everything (and I mean EVERYTHING, including a lumpectomy) and really, I came out better because of it. My kids were constantly sick, Adam's leave was switched because of his bad back (big emotional thing to handle since he would miss Allie's birthday), my grandmother passed away, I found a lump, he had to come home for my surgery (which messed with Allies head), more kid sickness, moved half away across the country with my kids and unpacked half of the house on the own, way, way (2 types in the month we waited for him) more kid sickness (including throwing up on the way to his homecoming ceremony!) and patiently waited and prayed for my husband to make it in time for Christmas, and God delivered. I felt like most days I couldn't handle anymore without Adam by my side, but each day...I proved myself wrong. So whenever you think you can't handle anymore, dig deep, you can!! Believe in yourself :) After this past year, I firmly believe God does not and will not give what you cannot handle and he is just trying to show you just how strong you are! So whatever is getting you down, don't let it! ;) You got this.

A lot of times during this deployment, one a certain wife and I would talk to each other, and we would often say to each other "You got this". It's the truth, we did. We handled anything thrown at us, especially when we thought we couldn't. Sometimes I feel like I took the easy way out by going home or, because Adam got sent home on emergency leave for my surgery, that like things were easier for us. Then I need to remind myself of how far we have been as a family in general, his first deployment was FIFTEEN months, I gave birth WITHOUT him, raised Allie alone (while yes living at my moms) but I did it without assistance, every feeding, every diaper change, every time she cried during the night, I did it alone without any even emotional support from my husband being with me (other than phone calls, computer IMs and letters). He missed her whole first year of life, he met her at 4 months old and had the strength to leave her and came home 2 weeks before her first birthday and was an amazing father. We had another baby 2 years later and he managed to have the strength to leave us all again (after packing our home up for 2 weeks straight to send us back to NJ so we would be happier). In that year, he dealt with so much physical pain left over from his last deployment, lost two friends over there, had to handle everything going on at home and miss his kids. I can't even comprehend that. Then again, I don't think he could sit home and wait either. How I don't think we've been thru enough, I don't know...but when push comes to shove, I guess I look at what other families have been thru. My mom kept saying to me after I moved back here, I don't know how you are doing it all alone with two little kids and then the girls got ear infections and nasty colds. That cleared up and they both got the stomach virus, days within him coming home, Em even threw up on the way to his ceremony. I prayed and prayed I wouldn't be sick for his ceremony...and I wasn't...but at midnight on Christmas...it hit me! However, God answered my prayer, Emmy didn't get sick at the ceremony and either did I!

I will say, I never prayed harder than I have in the past year and my prayers were answered. When it came down to my lumpectomy and Adam possibly coming home, at first I prayed for him to come home...but then I thought, how selfish of me to pray for that. So I prayed for God to take care of our family how He saw fit, let him lay out the route we would need to take. If Adam didn't come home, I was waiting until after the deployment to have the surgery and I would just get the biopsy done. Sure enough, Adam arrived the day before my surgery, enough time for me show him the ropes with the girls and with Allie's school schedule before he had to take over the next day and for a solid week or more after before I could attempt to lift the girls again. Thank God he did, I was not expecting the pain meds to not work after my surgery. I was not expecting to be so miserable, or have to have him lift me out of bed because I couldn't even do that. So God knew him being home was a huge blessing and he made it happen.

End my rant on my thoughts on this past year and how much my prayers were answered. I'm not one who goes to church every week, but this deployment has most certainly renewed my faith and instilled some more in Adam. He has even discussed becoming Catholic. We also know going to church as a family is something we want to start doing, hopefully our kids will behave. It's amazing, how when you think the most challenging times of your life, you would think God is challenging you or maybe even punishing you, I promised myself to stay positive and I found a blessing in almost each challenge. It made this past year much more bearable, when it could of just been miserable.

He is HOME!

Finally, our hero is home! We prayed and prayed he would make it in time for Christmas...and we got our prayers answered. We picked him up at 4:30 am on Christmas Eve. Talk about just making it in time. What a blessing. I still can't believe its over. It's weird as the days pass, to not dread them passing, like it's ok that its already late in the week because he isn't leaving us again anytime soon. The girls are just so happy to have daddy home. It is still an adjustment with him here, but a very welcome adjustment. We so look forward to this next year of family time, although he has 2 months of school ahead of him down in Benning, so that stinks...but we will handle it, just like anything else. Right now, we are just happy to be normal for awhile, it feels so good.