7/16 - Brad's Home - Homecoming 2011

The day that I've been anticipating for 6 months has finally come ... Brad is home!! On Tuesday night, I got his sign up and yard decorated. Aiden got pretty excited when I got his poster out and was giving daddy kisses on the poster. He didn't know when daddy was coming home but I did say it was sometime this week.

I dropped the boys off at daycare and then went on over to the squadron. I took a picture of a picture. It is all of HS-11 on the USS Enterprise flight deck.

Besides the sign that I put up at the house, I had another to hold. Ms. Ferguson (an awesome friend from church) met me at the squadron and took most of the pictures you will see at the hangar.

This is Ms. Ferguson. She has a grandchild between the ages of Aiden and Eli and we've had a playdate before. It was great to have someone there to talk to and pass the time by so I didn't explode with excited. I didn't really realize it until later that the pictures she would take would be so treasured and tell such a great story.

Pastor Edwards from church came out as well as Randy, our sunday school teacher. It was great for them to show support for Brad and I.

Watching the 7 helo flyover was awesome. I got a video of it and posted it on Facebook. The helos then came in and landed and it was difficult to see the numbers on the side of the helos so I could figure out what helo Brad was in. Thankfully, Randy and Ms. Ferguson were watching for that. I took off running when they said it was okay to go out. That wasn't a great idea because my wedges (shoes) started to come off so I had to fix my heel strap and then just walk fast.

It was so great to see my man again. He was as handsome as I remember and if felt fantastic to be wrapped in his arms again.

It was hard to believe it's been 6-months. I made it alive and the boys are alive too. That was my goal!

This was also the first time Brad got to see my new haircut and me looking all snazzy. I actually had to go get new shoes the day before because we were told we couldn't wear heals and that was what I was going to wear. I found some really cute red wedges at Payless and wore those and they worked perfect.

It was crazy hot and sunny out on the flight line even at 9:45am.

We went inside and were in the hangar for a bit. As you might imagine, not many people wanted to hang around and just chat but we were actually some of the last ones to leave. I love these pictures at the end that a friend took. They had a huge flag hanging in the hangar.

Being with my hubby almost felt like it did on our wedding day. It was so great and awesome and perfect. I am so blessed.

Brad liked the house although he said he didn't like the picture I chose for his banner. I'm still not sure if he was joking or not. Either way, he was happy to be home.

We hung out for a few hours and had some lunch. I had already told the local news station about Brad surprising Aiden and they wanted to meet us there to film everything. We showed up right at 2:30pm and the news station was already there and had been taping Aiden. His daycare put up decorations and made sure they were playing in the very front area so there was extra room. It went great. Aiden was SO SO SO excited to see his daddy and just kept saying, "daddy" like a broken record. It was like he was convincing himself. He had a smile glued on his face. So did Brad. It was just perfect.

We grabbed some little flags off the kids' tables at the squadron and that ended up being a great idea. Aiden loved the flag. Aiden finally got down from Brad's arms and got his lunch bag and his art work. While he did that, the TV station interviewed Brad and even asked me a few questions.

It went great and they aired the story on the 6:00pm news, right at 6:15pm. I'm including the link so I can go back later and watch it.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/28536610/detail.html

We then went over to Eli's daycare. The news station was invited but got what they needed at Aiden's daycare so did not come. That was fine. I wasn't sure how Eli would react. I got it all on video and as soon as I figure out how to get it off the camera, I'll post it. Eli's daycare teacher made the room and door so cute. She took pictures of all the 1 yr olds saluting. Eli is such a ham!

Eli (in the middle under the window) was at a table coloring when we got there. Brad said hi to Eli but it wasn't until Aiden ran over to Eli and asked him to say hi to daddy that Eli realized who it was. Eli tried to get up from his chair and he ran over to his daddy and showed him his picture. Brad gave him his flag too and then Eli got really excited. Eli gave daddy big hugs then Eli and Aiden ran around the room with their flags.

Both reunions with the boys went great. Eli was really excited to see Brad after he figured out who he was.

We even managed to get a family shot before we left. That is one happy family you see right there!

On the way out, I had to get a picture of Eli and Brad in front of the door to his room and next to his absolutely adorable picture.

We got home and boys had so much fun playing with all the flags in the yard.

Eli was giving Brad a show of how cute he can be.

Aiden has been a little clingy to daddy and has talked his ear off. Brad has been amazed at some of the things Aiden has said and how much he knows.

We spent all day Thursday together and enjoying each other's company. We also found out on Thursday that the video that aired on the local news here on Wednesday night also made it to the Tampa Bay area. By the afternoon, we found out that CNN was airing the story as well as on CNN.com as a feature story. It was so amazing and crazy. By Friday, Brad's hometown had gotten news of it and they aired it. It's so amazing how far a story can go. For us, surprising the boys was a great decision. I know Aiden would have liked to see the helos fly in but I'm not sure how he would have done with the noise and I wasn't sure how Eli would react at all. Bottom line, God had the perfect plan for us. Today we celebrated Aiden's birthday and I'll post pictures of that soon. It is great to be a family again.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/07/14/dnt.pilot.son.suprise.return.WJXT?iref=allsearch

7/11 - Zoo and my birthday

We had a pretty good week last week. As Eli gets a little older, things get a little easier for the most part. He loves the camera and loves for me to hold him and let him see himself in the screen of my camera.

 

On 4th of July, I decided to take the boys to the zoo. Aiden had been asking to go for a week or so and I found out they extended this Dinosaur Alive exhibit they've had for the past few months. Aiden said he wanted to see the dinosaurs so that is what we set out to do. We went in the zoo and headed straight for the dinos. Aiden was pretty excited .... until he heard and saw the first dino. They were big dinos that moved and there were speakers hidden that made loud noises. I think the loud noises really threw in the towel for him. He wanted NOTHING to do with it. Eli was okay just looking around. I  moved the stroller close to a dino so I could take a picture of the boys in the stroller with the dino in the background and Aiden had a complete meltdown. He was screaming and crying. Eli then started screaming and crying (even though he had been fine) and then tried to climb out of the stroller. That is the story behind this first picture at the zoo. You can barely see the dino in the background on the right because this one happened to be green. 

After we left the dinos, all was great. Eli loved sitting on the pretend merry-go-round horse. You can see Aiden's feet in the background but he didn't want to sit on it. It was much easier going to the zoo with just one mission. After the dinos, Aiden said he wanted to play at the playground and see the elephants and giraffes. We did all those things and then left. It was the first time I've been to the zoo with both of them by myself but it went pretty well. 

Aiden even wanted to stop on the way out and have his picture taken with the turtle. 

To continue our 4th of July celebration, we went over to our friend Sarah's house. She was having a group of people over from church and was nice enough to invite us. After we ate, the boys played in the water. It started just in the little pool but then Eli really wanted to go in the big pool. The main problem was I didn't bring a suit!!

Aiden didn't want to get his bathing suit on at first but then saw how much fun the other kids were having and changed his mind. Heck, Eli got in the baby pool with his normal diaper on and didn't even give me a chance to put him in a swim diaper (I eventually caught him).  Sarah got Aiden is own watering can and he enjoyed that very much. The ground and cement were very well watered thanks to Aiden.

Aiden was scared to try goggles on but he did put a mask up to his face.

Mr. Jeff was nice enough to take Eli into the pool with him. Eli had tons of fun dumping water on Jeff's head.

They then got in to playing a game where Jeff put Eli up on the side of the pool, Eli looked to Sarah's mom who would then count to three, and then Eli would jump to Mr. Jeff. He had so much fun doing this for an hour! Jeff was such a sport about the whole thing. Eli must have jumped off the side 20 or 30 times.

Aiden eventually wanted to go in the water too. I sat on the steps with him for a while but then he wanted to go out into the water. He didn't want Mr. Jeff, but he wanted his wife, Ms. Amanda. I was surprised. Aiden doesn't normally go with just anyone in the water if he even goes in the water at all. Unfortunately, I don't think Amanda had all that much fun because Aiden kept bossing her around telling her what to do and where to put him. She was a great sport too though.

We left at 7:45ish (way past Eli's bedtime) and headed home. They had a great time. The girl you see in the picture to the right is Sarah. Her oldest daughter, Sydney is there too.

The fireworks kept Aiden up until about 9:30pm. I was shocked. He still woke up at 7:00am though. The boys enjoy being "half-naked" at home with on days we don't go anywhere.

I think Eli is just about ready for his own pillow. He's been carrying around Aiden's lately. As you can imagine, that doesn't go over so well.

Little Aiden is so cute. He's got such a big heart but is so particular about how he wants things. Also, he is so smart. He hears something one time and commits is to memory. He understands much more than I would have ever given credit for a 3 yr old (especially a new 3) to know.

My birthday was on Friday. Two friends (Stephanie and Tiffany) went with me to Dillards and I got a makeover at the Clinique counter. It was fun. I've never done anything like that before.

After the makeover was finished, we went to PF Changs. We had to wait an hour to get in so we didn't sit down until 9:00pm. We left at 11:15pm from the restaurant and headed home. I tried on my Homecoming dress for Steph and figured out the final details of jewelry and stuff. My neighbor's daughter babysit for the first 2.5 hours and then my neighbors actually came over and watched the boys (they were sleeping by then). I didn't get home until 12:15am. I am so thankful for my neighbors because without their help, I could never have gone out on my birthday. Jen even did laundry and dishes while I was gone. I had a blast with Stephanie and Tiffany.

He is not so fond of his new Sunday School situation. He has graduated from the nursery to pre-school. It's a bigger class and they have more curriculum and structure than before. Normally structure is great for him but right now his world is still being rocked since he does NOT like change. At night he gets to go to a sports camp at church and even though it's fun and he knows some of the kids, he cries when I leave because he's just not used to it yet.

The boys wanted to get the tents out the other so we did. Eli has been having a ball in them. He loves to play peek-a-boo in them.

Aiden decided to draw on the chalkboard yesterday and then wanted me to write his name (he know his full name and Eli's). I wrote both of their names up on the board and then Eli picked out Aiden's and kept saying "Eli" and drawing over it.

This last picture is Aiden wearing his new shirt. I got it from Target and it says, "I want to be strong like daddy." Too cute.

When Eli was playing in his tent and then I heard a loud thump and then a very loud cry. I ran over and picked him up and didn't see any blood anywhere. It sounded like a skull on the tile. He was very upset but I didn't see anything. He eventually calmed down and then I saw his nose was bleeding some. Poor guy.

He obviously wasn't too upset because he gave me a big ole' cheesy smile.

Tomorrow is a big day for our family because we get daddy back. The local news station is even showing up at Aiden's daycare to film the reunion. I'm hoping they go to Eli's too because his daycare provider really put in some serious effort to decorate and do something special. The next time I post will be Homecoming pictures!!!! Yeah!!!!