Homecoming!

We love being a military family. We really do. It is not a bad life at all, but it is not for the faint of heart :) We are THRILLED to put this last deployment behind us for sure. In part, it was easier for me this time around. I knew what to expect, and I knew it wouldn't be as long. On the other hand, Henry was old enough to understand, he had a HORRIBLE time when it came to sleeping for the past 4 months, and he started to worry about things a 3 year old shouldn't have to worry about.
We weren't expecting Rob until November 4-7th so when I woke up last Sunday CONVINCED he was on the move it was hard to look at the calendar. I called my good friend, Arlena, and told her "He'll be here in 3 days. I can FEEL it." She told me not to set myself up and not to do anything out of the ordinary. Just go about your life. Such a typical military spouse!! Monday I felt like I was going crazy all day watching the door. Our count down said 11 days, but I couldn't shake this feeling and literally would stare at the door. By dinner time that night we had to get out of the house. I was making us both anxious! I took Henry to Sonic and came home, sat him down at the table, then heard 'knock, knock' but no one was in the window (our front door is about 1/3 window and is flanked by 1/2 windows so I can definitely see out). I got up from the table and looked down and there was my sweet Rob! Crouching down with a dozen roses! It was so very exciting!! Rob's boss and his wife picked him up and brought him home and were standing in the yard taking pictures for me. It was the most fun! After a minute I called Henry out to see who was on the porch. He was a little unsure with the strangers in the yard and the unexpected Dad in a baseball hat so he pretty much held on to my leg, but once Rob came in and the Salems left he started getting more and more excited! Every few minutes he would look up and say "Daddy!! You're home!!" When he woke up the next morning the first thing he said was "Is my Dad still home?" and then took off down the stairs to find him! Nothing in the world is better than having us all together again. And now we have 2 weeks of R&R to fill with a lot of hanging out, movie watching, and book store trips!

The Beach

This is is year 3 of our Aunt Emmy and Aunt Kasey beach trip! The kids are so excited when we start planning things and the past two years Papa has gotten to go with us, which gets them even more riled up! Though, next year he may want to take his own car...

This is actually a little backwards, but that's fine. We always have a 'super fun ice cream party' on the last night of our trip. The two big ones count on it! They are already planning which kind they are going to get before we ever make it to the hotel.

Lore found this guy and played with him for a solid 20 minutes. She named him "mist-o cwab' and kept dragging him out of the water! So funny!

I love this trip so much. Galveston is not the most attractive place on earth, but to the kids its paradise! Here's to many, many more Texas beach vacations!

Texas

Henry loved getting to play at Grandma Terry's for the 4th!

Getting a picture of all of them is almost impossible!!!

These two couldn't love each other more. It's so adorable!

This is kind of a 'dump' post! It was all taken before Rob left, so it's been a while. It's hard to believe he's been gone for over 2 months!! We are so ready for him to come home.
This post is about our Strode 'babies'! All of the Strodes came and stayed with us for a week on their way out of the country. We had so much fun with them!! This was Henry's first time to bowl, and it was HILARIOUS!! Every. single. time he veeeerrrrrryyyy slowly rolled his ball down the lane he would dance and jump and say "I am a CHAMPION!" Clearly, self esteem should not be an issue with this kid!

Irene.

We have been busy! A lot has happened since our last post, but I'm not going to pretend that I am actually going to catch up so I'll just start with the most recent. And then if I do catch up, we'll all be surprised!
Most recent was our run in with hurricane Irene. What a witch. In the week leading up to Irene, we experienced a decent sized earthquake one afternoon. I have been working on a project and thought I was just so nervous about it I was going to pass out... until I realized the plates were rattling too! Then came Irene. It wasn't a big storm by the time she really swung by, but you would have thought she upended the entire state. Over 300,000 people lost power for days. In our neighborhood it was SIX days. Six days with no tv, no internet, no hot water, no ice. You would think my house would be cleaner than it is. We were fortunate enough that one of our friends did not lose power, and graciously insisted that we stay with them. We already thought we loved the Dickensons, but after living with them for a week and waking up today a little sad, because we weren't going to be hanging out with them, I know we REALLY love them now!
One of the nights I decided enough was enough, and Henry and I needed to get out and give them some family time. Especially since Zack just got home from a 6 month deployment! We headed to the Westin for the night and had a great time swimming in the cold and 'hot' pools. Henry thought it was the best thing ever!! After that night we stayed at home one night in the dark, but ended back up at the Dickenson's for the last night. While it sucked to not have electricity for so long, we are so grateful that there was no damage done to our house, we were not hurt, and we have an amazing group of friends that kept us busy!

Long time, no post.

This may be the longest we have been MIA from the blog! Especially since Henry's been born! SO much has gone on that catching up would take a week, so we're just going to do the highligts of Spring. Below is Henry's 2nd O's game! Last year he went with Daddy while I went to Philly to meet Julie Teague, and had the best time. Really he just liked climbing the stairs and eating cotton candy! This year we went a little earlier, because they were playing the Rangers and it was CHILLY!

The funniest part about the whole day was Henry cheering! He started off with this soft, little voice and we kept telling him "Get loud! You're outside!" the whole game and finally with about 15 minutes left in the game he started yelling "GO O's!" so loud it almost sounded frantic! It was so cute!! We are looking forward to next season :)

Dada's birthday!

So I'm way late on this one.... Earlier this month we celebrated Dada turning 29! It was a pretty low-key affair with yummy hamburgers, sweet potatoe fries, chocolate covered strawberries, and ice cream cake! Oreo cookie ice cream cake is Rob's favorite of all time. Like if we redid our wedding cakes his would be Oreo cookie ice cream cake! Here's our little dinner celebration!Henry REALLY enjoyed Rob's cake! For several days :)

Presenting...

Our THREE year old!! I can't believe how quickly the last three years have gone by. Really, super, incredibly, wildly fast!! Which is actually a good way to describe Henry these days! When he hit three, he hit "boy" hard. He's completely infatuated with building towers out of everything. Blocks, legos, cups, the can goods at the grocery store... He's also into gross out stuff now. Burping is hilarious. Stinky tooting gets just as big, if not bigger laughs, and talking about eating disgusting things is now regular conversation at the dinner table! He is so funny, and so smart, and just so amazing. I haven't done his 'official' birthday photos, but I'm crossing my fingers this will be the week. It's doubtful, but I'll cross none the less! Here is a little bit from our little boy's big day in Texas.

Papa did all the flipping (again!) and everything turned out yummy!

I kind of love this :)

It was definitely present overload! Next year he's just getting socks :)

Henry has been talking about this present for months! He would tell me "Hey Mama. Know who rides a scooter?? ME!! Well, at least when Papa gives it to me." Now he has it and rides it all around the main floor of our house! Hopefully when Dad goes TDY at the end of the month we're going to do some major basement overhauling and set up a cool new place where scooter riding is not frowned upon!

My two monkeys!

On Henry's actual birthday I told him I would make him anything he wanted or take him anywhere he would like to go for dinner. He said he wanted mac and cheese and brownies, which are his two must have items, so Panera it was for birthday dinner!

Happy birthday my sweetest love!

Thank you to all of you that made it out to Henry's party! I know a lot of you party animals weren't feeling a morning party on New Year's Day, but we appreciate you being there to love on our monster! And Nita, I don't know where you got that blue car, but stock up! You got MAJOR points. He still makes me nuts driving it all over the house ALL the time!!