One Little Word 2011

Last year, I tried to choose a word to give me some inspiration. One little word that would help me through a difficult year. I totally lost sight of it because it was an ill chosen word for my particular situation that year. When my friend, Christine, mentioned OLW again, it was without hesitation I knew my word.

FOCUS

I am choosing to focus on our little life when there are so many distractions. 

Focus on my children, individually.

Focus on my marriage while we have the time to do so. 

Learn to focus on the projects I want completed. 

Focus on myself, in time. 

By just reminding myself to focus, I have made progress in just three days. I was able to organize

my one measley pantry by Mod Podging some boxes with fabric.

From this...

In to this! 

And I turned an old black picture frame in to this pretty awesome white board!  

 I'm excited to see what the year holds and I'm positive that this word will help me remember to just 

focus on what's important to me. 

Right now the important stuff is right in front of me 

(well, at least the aftermath is). 

Auld Lang Syne

(Don't worry I had to look it up, too!) 

I should have known that when we started out the year alone, it was going to be a long one! 

No amount of talking to myself could have prepared my mental state for what we went through and accomplished this year. It was a known fact that I was absolutely freaked about having three kids. I was nervous about John's deployment (for all normal reasons), afraid of leaving yet another place, scared of how the kids would react to all the changes, did I mention absolutely scared shitless of having THREE KIDS?!?

Guess what? We survived! The boys and I thrived while John was gone, we survived his crazy schedule after his return...and all while juggling THREE KIDS. Really, it wasn't that bad. Chaotic, yes. Bad, no. 

That being said: I'm happy to see 2010 go. I'm excited about the next seemingly easy year. We're going to finish up preschool and Turner has decided to go to a "real school" this fall. While John goes to school in Rhode Island, the boys and I will spend some time in New Jersey. After that John just sits and waits to take command in December. No crazy schedule, just a full year with him (or close to him). I'm excited to turn 30 and move on to the next season in my life. I LOVE watching these kids grow and develop. If they would all stay two, I'd be a happy camper! 

I hope this year brings us much happiness, as all the other years have. 

Wordless Wednesday

Snowpocalypse

Christmas this year ended up being a white one! The white stuff started falling later in the evening and continued through the day Sunday. 

 

Right at 12.5" (we got about another inch)

Turner had SO much fun. He immediately fell down to make snow angels.

I opted to stay inside and made syrup to make the snow tasty.

This child hasn't left the house in days and refuses  to go out in the white stuff
(or change out of these Star Wars jams for that matter)!

My Most Favorite Christmas!

I've had a few Christmas mornings in my day, but this one takes the cake. Maybe it was my family finally being complete or maybe it was Turner's expressions as he opened gifts. Whatever the case, this was my absolute favorite Christmas, to date. 

Friday night we brought this hand made botique style tutu and wand to our friend AJ. She celebrated her second birthday Christmas Eve. 

 My sweet little reindeer has begun to sleep on his own, in his crib, for naps and a few hours at a time at night. He takes a baba and just coos himself to sleep. He's started sitting up and is just a delight. 

 Really, he's the ABSOLUTE reason I'd have 10 more kids. 

 Turner was SO excited to put the cookies out for the fat guy. 

 The tree and loot before the morning destruction! 

 Turner when he first spotted the stockings! 

 Eli is really not a morning person; especially when he's woken up.

Our family of five!

 These kids would have been content with their stockings. 

 My heart and my life! These crazy ass kids make my day. 

 Eli was quite overwhelmed and preferred to play with just a few toys. 

 Mainly, he loved the truck Turner picked out for him! 

 Light sabers were the popular toy. Along with the "Good Night" helmet and Star wars toys.

Deacon was kind enough to wait until after gifts to present us with an explosive diaper.

After he was all changed I sat him up and he he was able to balance for the first time!

 The sun in my shine and the happy in my ness. This little boy puts all my fears of three kids to rest.

 He is such a doll!

We had such a great morning watching the boys rip open gifts and really enjoy themselves!

A Glimpse of What's to Come

This little blog of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Or neglect the crap out of it. Either one.

I used to love journaling all the little details of my pretty normal days. Having kids has made me focus on day to day house tasks and family care-taking. Even more: having three kids, a husband and a nomadic life style have put my desire to chronicle our life at the bottom of my list. The thought of forgetting those memories makes me cringe! It's like losing digital pictures because you hit the wrong button: terrible!

I love the idea of being able to click around and remember different things on different dates or even to print out pages for my kids to see later. By the way, the kids' phrase for yesterday and/or last time is "lasterday." See? Will I remember that next year?

Tonight was a glimpse of what's to come. The kids went to bed (if they stay there past 4am is a COMPLETELY different story), the baby is sleeping on his own (I'm miraculously not typing with one hand while he's nursing), my hubs and I had some time together and I feel oddly refreshed for 10pm. Even after being awakened at 4am for the second day in a row, being up with the baby all night, dealing with a breast infection, taking care of a sick Eli... 

And so, I'm promising myself a little "me" time to write/plan/think. My mind is SO full of ideas and things that need to get done. John can only take so much of "see how cute this pattern is? Does this stitch look crooked? Do you think the kids would like these Montessori sensory crafts or should I just stick to a letter/number thing today?" Ya know? He's a dude. It's like when he talks football or politics to me: in one ear and out the other!

With that, I'm off to see what else I can get done in a night!

Month In Review

I start this off by saying "I can't believe it's been a whole month!" but I'd be lying through my teeth! It's been a long month but we're all here: healthy and just fine.

Our last week in Jacksonville was insane, to say that absolute least. The Boone was going to suck every last drop out of John that it could. He worked incredible hours until the very last day. Thankfully, my parents took the kids for about a week while I had the pre-move inspection, packers and then movers. 

We drove down, separately, very late on a Friday night and then spent just a few days in Land O'Lakes with my family. Thinking we were going to meet our shipment, we started our drive on a Tuesday to get to Virginia (with a stop in Charleston, SC) on Thursday. While in Charleston -actually, we were loading up to finish the drive- I received a call from the truck driver. He informed me he was ready to deliver. Fantastic, I'm eight hours away with three kids so that's like 12 hours. I hung up the phone, crying, as I had just thrown out my back and can barely move...and now I have to drive. It was painful on so many different levels. 

Here is the trip, in pictures. I've tried to remove the painful parts and just remember the fun stuff! 

 Stopped in Georgia. We did it old school with picnic lunches. 

Checking out the "shooter guns" at the 'Del.  

Walking in to Daddy's old barracks.  

Lunching in North Carolina 

 Pumpkin pickin' the first Saturday here. 

Since we had no furniture, we took little trips. This doughnut place was in 

Duck, NC in the Outter Banks.  

 Brotherly love in Kitty Hawk.

Eli found a fishing lure and thought he had found a friend

for life.  

He loved that little fishy!

 Of course, he loved it to death...

Baby Deacon, of course, was a trooper; he nursed and fell asleep on the beach.  

Our friends, Dan and Joy, helped tremendously. One night Joy prepared and packed an 

entire meal. The boys had fun fighting...I mean eating on the floor.  

Fall in our neighbor's yard. Our was filled with boxes and paper.  

The truck, finally! 

What is that white, powdery, substance? Oh, why, it's a 10 pound (OPEN!) bag of flour that was packed. Thank you Sir Mover, but I'd rather buy a new bag when I arrive.