12/31 - Christmas 2014

So we learned some very valuable lessons this Christmas. Let's backtrack a little and I'll take you through our past 2 weeks. While waiting for Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave to get here on Dec. 18 (Wed), Aiden and Eli decided to play their Tell Tale Story game and they made some very interesting stories for me to listen to. The boys were very excited to have Brad's parents here. On Thur, Eli had a dr appointment because his belly had been hurting him quite a bit and it was starting to effect his eating and his behavior. X-rays revealed he is really constipated and needs some help to move things along. Eli was also fighting a cold that Aiden and I already had when he woke up on Friday morning, he blew some blood out of his nose. While it was odd, he was acting fine. I then noticed lots of dried blood in his ear that still has the tube and that was a red flag for me. Needless to say we went to the dr on Friday afternoon and had Eli checked out. Thankfully Dave and Betty Jo (Brad's parents) went out grocery shopping for me because Eli and I were at the dr so long on Thursday (appt, x-ray, prescription, and driving = 3.5 hrs) and then unexpectedly on Friday. I was a ball of stress and I kept busy in the late afternoon trying to find hotels for Brad as he headed East towards us.

On Saturday morning, I decided to take the boys to Jump Zone (a local bounce house place) on Saturday morning. They had mixed feelings about this place which was funny. They ran around and bounced for a while and then Eli kept sneaking into the toddler's area and playing in there. Aiden snuck in the area as well and they played with blocks in there for a while. After I forced them out, they bounced a bit more and then wanted to wonder over to the video games. Thankfully they had a free air hockey game that was really cool because it was shaped like a u and the boys loved playing it.



Brad finally made it home on Saturday night. It was so good to see him and know he was home to stay for a bit. It was a busy mess from Sunday to Christmas Day. I've been so stressed with Brad being gone for so long and trying to keep up with everything and failing at that. I didn't even send cards out this year. I took care of presents for the boys but didn't have the time or brain power to do anything other than that. I bought enough stockings for everyone but didn't buy stuff to put in the stockings. I spent 5 hours trying to make Christmas presents snacks for teachers and ended up with nothing since I burnt the chocolate both times because I thought our microwave was under 1000 watts (according to the GE website) and it's actually over 1100. I didn't have a single present wrapped until company came to help me do it.

This year I really wanted to focus on giving to others and making the kids see the true meaning of Christmas and emphasizing Christ. However, I only partially succeeded. I had planned to do an Advent Calendar that I was working on but that never got finished and I was lucky the kids were getting fed and bathed during the month of december. Here is a picture of what the boys woke up to on Christmas Day. I will not lie to my boys about Christmas and Santa. Brad and I did not bring up the word Santa or say that Santa was even coming but we answered the boys' questions with other questions usually. I was barely hanging on this year to the idea of Santa and I think next year we might approach Christmas differently. The one thing my boys are sure of is that Jesus was born on Christmas Day and that is the purpose of Christmas. We did a minimal Christmas. Having all these crazy presents takes away the true meaning of Christmas in my world. The boys received a few presents from us, 1 or two from the grandparents and then Aunt Pat sent a bunch of stuff which we will ration out to them through the year for various holidays.


Below is a collage from Christmas day. Upper left: boys playing with a Hex Bug toy; Upper middle: Aiden looking at his cool new dinosaur book; Upper right: Daddy showing Aiden how his new toy that Santa brought works (which he couldn't play with because I didn't get D batteries); middle left: the boys opening up a box with hex bug which they were excited about; middle left below: Eli being super excited about the fake food he received as a present from Aiden; Center: Family picture on Christmas; middle right: Eli watching the hex bug crawl upside down in a tunnel; middle right below: Aiden being super excited that Eli also got a stars projector; bottom left: us opening up a family present which was the game of Twister; bottom right: Brad just built Aiden his new hot wheels track that Eli picked out as his present for Aiden yet both boys are playing with their transformers (which cracks me up for some reason)

We are thankfully in a position that if we really need something at some point in the year then we get it. Maybe because that is possible for us, I (and Brad) view Christmas and Christmas presents a little differently. Brad and I don't do presents for each other really.

Aunt Pat bought both the boys this star projector thing which is really cool. Here is a picture from Eli's room. It shines these green stars onto the ceiling that float/move around. You can then add this hint of blue in to the scene if you want.



Below is another collage from Christmas day and the days leading up to Christmas. Upper left: The boys playing Don't Break the Ice and Eli pointing to Grandpa Dave since he just broke the ice. You can see Aiden in the background all excited that the ice just broke; Upper right: Nana and the boys while they were on a walk; middle left top: Aiden and Eli walking outside looking at ducks while with Nana and Grandma Jo; middle center: Eli getting a ride in Grandpa Dave's truck and enjoying the view; middle right top: Eli sneaking in to a picture of Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave with Bronco; left lower middle: Grandma Jo with the boys on a walk; right lower middle: Nana opening her present from Eli which was a craft she has to do; lower left: Grandma Jo and Aiden coloring a Christmas picture; lower right: Aiden giving Grandpa Dave his present of a sudoku puzzle book.

The boys have had a blast playing with the grandparents over the past week. Aiden was able to play the game of Sorry at least once a day I think (that's his favorite game). They were also able to play lightsabers quite a bit which has probably been a highlight of the holidays for them.









We kept ourselves so busy that we didn't get around to finally making our ginger bread house until after Christmas. Here are the boys decorating their house. Aiden was really in to it and telling me where he wanted the icing and carefully deciding where to put his candy decorations. Eli wanted to eat the candy and had a hard time putting the candy balls on the house (they would fall out of his hand and onto the floor). They worked hard on it and made a beautiful house. I've even let them eat some of it!!

I've been a bear for the past few works because of being so stressed and tired of Brad being gone. I've been short with people (my mom and Brad's parents) so we have definitely learned that we need a bit of a buffer period after Brad has been gone for a while for us to gather ourselves and then be social as a family. My friend had a good analogy for all of this. I'm this little wind-up toy and everyday I get wind-up more and more with everything that needs to be done. By the time Brad comes home I'm about to break from being wound-up so much; my little eyes are about to pop out and my feet are sprinting. Adding family and Christmas onto that wasn't a great formula because rather than starting to un-wind (not even sure how to do that at this point), I was still continuing to wind-up. We did have a good Christmas and enjoyed seeing Brad's parents but we also continue to learn about Brad being gone and how it affects me and the rest of the family and how we can deal with it better in the future.

Brad's parents left on Friday and then Brad headed in to work to check-in to the squadron and see what was going on. Here is a quick picture I snapped before Brad left. My little boys have missed their daddy so much and Eli kept asking if Brad was going to come back this same day. It is heartbreaking to hear him ask those questions but so cute at the same time. 

On Saturday, Brad took the boys and Bronco out for walk in the morning. Nana found a really cool path the other day when she took Bronco for a walk so the boys went to find the same path. They explored back there and had lots of fun running around and being Ninjas, which is their newest obsession. Brad took pictures of both boys doing their Ninja poses. Eli's picture cracks me up. He's the not-so-secret Ninja waving hi and wearing yellow and red. Aiden, serious as always, had no problem showing his ninja moves.

So a few days after Christmas we gathered the boys and told them we are re-doing the way we do electronics in our house. On Black Friday, Brad and I waited outside Best Buy in the freezing cold and it totally paid off getting $99 Kindle's for the boys. So now I have my original iPad back and we have 2 kindles in the house. This is great because it reduces setting the timer and taking turns with the iPad. Aiden is reading a lot more and we can check books out of our public library (electronic versions) and then he can read them on the kindle as well. I love the FreeTime App because we give the boys a limit to using the kindle and then it just turns off. They are learning to manage their time better and by now are not even using all of their allotted time. It does crack me up that while they have apps that are different, they also have a few that are the same. I don't even remember what Toca game they are playing in this picture but it was so cute to see them playing right next to each other and talking to each other about what to do next and where to go. 

On Monday late afternoon, I took the boys down the clubhouse area and we played around for a while. They were being Ninjas and deciding who could see them and who could not. I was having fun watching and listening to them and then I jumped in on the action as well and became a ninja for a bit. In the upper right, the boys were seeing if these 2 older boys (ages 9-10 playing putt putt golf) could see them. In the upper right, Eli was telling Aiden the coast was clear and they could run and hide behind something else. The middle circle is what happened when I said, "boys, give me your ninja poses." Lower right you see the boys hiding behind the bushes so they wouldn't be seen and the bottom right cracks me up because it's Eli hiding by just laying on the ground. In his defense, he was low enough not to be seen by the group of people they were hiding from. Unfortunately the group of people had no idea that there were 2 little ninja's around because they did a relatively good job hiding from them minus the one or two screaming streaks from Eli.

We celebrated the last day of the year with Brad doing errands, Eli at daycare, Aiden and I at home taking down Christmas stuff in the morning. Early afternoon we had a visit from our friends Mike and Grace and a long playdate. We ended the evening with trying to get this blog done in time to put in the book for 2013 and watching HGTV and watching people buy houses.

2013 was a challenging health year for me but thankfully we are figuring things out. I'm so thankful for a supportive family, traditional and modern medicine, and God continuing to show His hand in our lives.

12/15 - Yes we are alive

I've never been away from the blog for this long. Brad has been extended out in San Diego and things got really crazy here and I'm just now recovering. Recovering isn't even the correct word. I can breathe now at least. Recovery will happen once Brad is and the holidays are over. So what has happened in the last month?

Well, my mom and I took the boys to the fair. We went on Veteran's Day around 1pm and got in free and then we also bought some wristbands and then just went wild. Aiden loves the fun house with mirrors and did a great job navigating us through it. We all went on the giant ferris wheel which was great because then the boys could see all the other rides and we knew where to go. Eli just made the cut-off for many of the rides so his world was great. He needs to grow really fast next year so I don't have to go on so many rides. The boys had a ton of fun but we left around 5:30ish because it was starting to get completely crazy with hundreds of people showing up and we were tired.

Aiden has had a few events at his school over the past couple weeks that I've been able to go in and help with. He is doing so great in school. His teacher just told me he has a few first grades sight words to work on and then he can go to second grade. I had no idea he knew so many words. My mom and I were able to go to Aiden's class one day and help make rice krispie treats which I had never actually made before. It was fun and the kids did a good job following the recipe. Aiden really wanted Nana to help at his table and that was cute to watch. Aiden's teacher invited the parents in for Thanksgiving for Pumpkin Pie which was fun. Aiden started off crying because someone gave him a slice and I ate a little bite and then convinced him to try a bite and he liked it. He then proceeded to have a second piece of pie. They even sang a few songs for us and they looked adorable in the attire they made for themselves. Aiden has earned a V (very good) for his behavior everyday this year. His teacher said an 'E' would be extremely hard to get and if you saw one or two during the year then that was really good. Aiden finally got an 'E'! He was so excited and had no idea. I called him over and then took his picture when I showed it to him (middle right picture) and he was so excited and then held up his paper to show me. 

Eli's daycare invited the parents to come and have Thanksgiving lunch. We signed up to bring mac and cheese and green beans. It was cute and the kids made their own place settings. Eli ate a ton of food which doesn't really surprise me. We were able to read a few books together while the rest of the parents showed up. Nana and I didn't get the memo that we would be almost the only women because all the dad's came (there was one more mom). It was a bit shocking but warmed by heart too. Eli's daycare is going okay. It was touch and go for a while but we are just trusting in God that he is in the right place and with the right teacher. I used to get things from his folder almost everyday and when he moved teachers, there was nothing in his folder ... for weeks so I eventually stopped checking it. I finally did check it last week I realized that they have started to doing things which is great and that he missed a birthday party (boo on mommy for not checking his folder). 

Brad was able to take leave and come have Thanksgiving with us which was great. We did a low-key dinner here and were just excited to be together. The night that Brad came home, a group of guys from church came over and helped do a bunch of random stuff like change lightbulbs, get all my christmas stuff out of the closet and put a ton of boxes in a closet, trimmed a hedge, and then put chrismtas lights around our house on the roof. It was so helpful because they did almost everything on my to-do list for Brad which enabled us to have family time together instead of Brad is here to work. I actually had A TON of grading to do so Brad played with the boys quite often so I could grade. I did take a solid couple hours off and we went to Wild Adventures in Georgia. It was about 2 hours away and I was nervous after driving that far and not seeing one sign for it. You then pull up and it looks like it's in someone's backyard and I got really nervous. It ended up being awesome for the ages of the boys. They were able to go on about 70% of the rides which was great. Military got in free which is why we went in the first place. We had a blast there and it was much colder than we were hoping. We were there for 6 hours I think and I was certainly worn out. 

 After church on Sunday, we made a stop to Home Depot on the way home to get a Christmas Tree. I wouldn't be able to get one without Brad so if we were going to have a tree we needed to get it now. We even put it in the stand and in the house before Brad left. I put lights on it after a few nights and then the boys wanted to put ornaments on it so we did that for a bit one night. I never actually went back to "fix" anything so we have a ton of ornaments from hip height and down and few from me that are up higher. I also added a few lights on the house as well. It's not in the picture below but we also have our blow-up train and my 3 spiral christmas trees. Our house looks quite nice. I blew the circuit the first night so I had do some creative plugging in so that everything wasn't going to the same circuit (the garage and outside outlet are on the same circuit). I haven't really decorated inside because well, I would have to take it down and if I don't have time to put it up, I surely won't have time to take it down. :)  It can stay in the box and hopefully next year will be less hectic and I can properly decorate.

We were on base twice last weekend for Christmas stuff. Last weekend the squadron that Brad is checking in to had their children's christmas party and I took the boys to it. They had blast watching Santa fly in on a helo and then just playing in the bounce house and watching a magician/comic for a bit. Aiden was obsessed about participating in a cake walk (I didn't even know what it was). Well, he had a complete breakdown after his second time walking because he still didn't win. They let him participate in the last one (they had 4) and surprise, he won. They totally let him win because he was crying after the other one from not winning. My kids seems to do that alot and I told them I am tired of it. I told them I will be a better mommy and make sure they are disappointed more often because clearly they need practice in how to deal with disappointment and loosing. So, we have been practicing that lately :)  

So the rest of this is just some randomness that I wanted to include: 

I never thought I would see the day where Aiden would peel an orange but here it is. I'm so thankful for all the therapy he has gotten and how much it has transformed him. He hasn't received any on-going therapy since we have been here in FL and is doing great and his food choices are coming along so well. 

Little Eli had some testing done the other day and we had to stop by the store so I could get some cold medicine. We found these santa ears and Eli tried them on. He' facial expressions just crack me up most of the time. He did well on his testing but is very weak in fine motor skills but also scored much higher in cognitive thinking skills than I thought which is sorta troubling for me. He can be smart if you make it fun and a game but usually doesn't want to put in the effort to have to think. I think this child is going to test me so much when it comes to school and academics.

 We were able to help a friend celebrate her birthday a few weeks ago. The day before this and the day after this had highs in the 60's and this one day it was about 80 degrees in Florida at the end of November. It was crazy warm at the park and the boys were seriously sweating. They had lots of fun celebrating Jordyn's birthday and seeing some of their friends again though.

 This is Brad and I when I dropped him off the the airport after Thanksgiving. He really does balance me out which is why it's so hard on me and us when he is gone.

We did do our Thanksgiving tree again this year. It wasn't the same without Brad here though. I have a before and after picture but Blogger isn't letting me access to those so I'll have to post them next time. I love our Thanksgiving Tree and it's so neat to see what the kids have come up with every night. It's great when I've had a stressful day where everything seems to have gone wrong because it also puts everything back into perspective for me and I realize how truly fortunate and blessed we are.

In mid-November I was blessed with tickets to see Toby Mac in concert. I invited Arin along we had a great time. We were shocked to find out our tickets were floor tickets, just one section back from the stage. There were lots of awesome artists there too. Our friend from Maryland, Cindy, sent the tickets to me about 2 months before the concert just for fun. How awesomely nice that was. 

Things are going to be busy here over the holidays as Brad's parents come to visit us. It will be great to see them and it will be an awesome Christmas present to get Brad home before (or on) Christmas Day. Merry Christmas everyone!!