He's Home!!

James came home quite early one cold cold morning last week and I arrived just before he did. It was an awsome sight to see the soldiers marching in formation onto the field to the beat of a drum. The family and friends were all goin crazy. After a very brief ceremony, they released the soldiers to their families. We stayed on the bleachers so as not to get trampled and very soon saw James walking towards us. Oh what a feeling, to know that it was finally over. I don't know how military families deal with multiple deployments. I'm so grateful to be together again. Jonas ran to him and James caught him up in a big bear hug then came over to hug us. I hope I never take family together time for granted again. I feel like I've already received the best Christmas present I could wish for.














Gettin ready for Christmas



Ready for church

waiting.....

We are counting down to the day when we can bring James home. Time seems to have slowed waaaaay down. I'm sure as soon as he gets home it fly by again. Especially since we are looking forward to birthdays and Christmas. We haven't been up to much other than the usual, hanging out, enjoying the nice weather, and the kids coming with me to mutual activities.







my cute neice Mckenna made a necklace for me. Thanks girl! Can't wait to see you!




more flowers from J- I'm a lucky gal.




The following are just the kids bein funny








with their dogtags from papa. Did I mention we are excited? I am wishing it was December tomorrow.

We had a wonderful visit with Granny and Grandpa! They came to see us for a week and they came at the right time (mom was needing a bit of a break):) They were nice enough to set up our bunk beds which Jonas has been dreaming of for quite a while now. Needless to say both of the kids were very happy about their new sleeping arrangements. They also babysat for me while I had my loong dental appointment and chauffered us around to places like an old Fort, the beach at Hilton Head, a wildlife center, and olive garden where we all- especially Jonas, sure did enjoy those breadsticks. Their visit meant a lot to us. Jonas asked them every night if they were going to be there the next day. He said their going away was going to be horrible, then he was reminded about the trunk or treat happening that same day and felt much better about life. Jonas dressed up as a knight and Savannah was a pretty princess. Later in the evening she found Jonas' helmet and added that to her costume. I didn't get a picture of it though.

Good Times

We've had a chance to hang out with some friends lately and even got to go camping for a night. Jonas informed me that he wanted to camp for 3 days and was very disappointed to learn that it was only overnight. We gals were proud of ourselves for putting up our tents, building a fire, and taking care of the kiddos without without our skilled husbands around to help us. Well okay I did need a little more help than the other women with my tent, I also had to go all the way back home when I discovered that my tent poles and stakes were not in the tent bag, and in the midst of trying to put it up when it kept falling back onto my head, I did decide that really camping is a lot more fun when James is with us, but we still had a good time. I have been grateful to have some good friends here to hang with during this deployment who are in the same situation we're in. We've also aquired a couple of new fish. This is our 3rd attempt at keeping fish as pets. We'll see how long these ones last. I have learned a few things to I think they'll be okay for a while.

















She LOVES her pj's cause unlike her regular clothes they have fun animals like monkeys and frogs on them. She gets very sad when it's time to take them off for her boring clothes.

Flowers

I am officially a SAHM again. I miss the kids that I worked with but things do feel more manageable now. Before I quit my job, a couple of weeks ago, I came home from work to a big flower box. Jonas didn't believe me that there were flowers inside. I think he was hoping for something else. James had sent me the most beautiful flowers which I loved seeing on my table.







Jonas making faces




Pretending to be an old man


Getting bigger



Current favorite toys-she calls them ducky and dude


A shot of Jonas at his gymnastics class

So Darn Cute

Just look at this face. Here is a girl who really enjoys her popcorn or kacorn as she calls it.















She is also trying to grow up too fast.







She was unable to reach her goal of putting both shoes on and walking around so she settled for wearing one and holding the other.



Here is Jonas with the biggest frog of the summer.He is also darn cute- Jonas that is, I guess you could say the frog is too as far as frogs go. He's got a pretty cute big belly.