Day 172: Homeward bound

After 172 long, long, long days, I'm thrilled to report that Dan is officially out of Afghanistan and on his way home! He left this morning and now begins working his way back to California via stops in Manas, Germany and Baltimore. Words cannot begin to describe our immense relief that Dan is safe, healthy and in good spirits. Our prayers have officially been answered!!!!

Day 171: Rainy days

We're officially taking a stand against these on again/off again rainstorms. We're going to go to the beach to play regardless of the weather forecast!

Day 170: 'Scream time

One of our favorite LG traditions is ice cream at the Dairy Ripple. We've been going since we were little and now we take the kids every summer. In true Wisconsin tradition, the "kiddie cone" is the size on an adult small. It took awhile to eat but that's okay because we're operating on lake time these days!

Day 169: The little things

In all the hustle and bustle and crazy of the past few weeks I sometimes forget to stop and say thank you for the little things. I'm busy trying to take care of the house, the kids, the car, the bills, the laundry, the shopping - the list goes on and on as any parent knows. And playing the role of single parent for the past eight months has definitely driven this point home. But once in a while I catch myself pausing, breathing, observing and remembering that all of this beautiful chaos is a gift. What would my life be without two crazy towheads? Absolutely nothing. Perspective - it's one of the best gifts this gal has ever received. And I am one blessed and lucky, lucky, lucky Mama.

Day 168: Unhappy surprises

It's been raining like crazy all night in Chicago and I woke up at 4:30 this morning to a very unpleasant noise - the sound of the sump pump alarm in my parent's basement. I woke up my Dad who quickly ran downstairs to find their entire basement flooded. And I'm not talking a little puddle - I'm talking boxes floating away on a river of nastiness. Turns out there's flooding all over the region and even the trains to the city are shut down. Looks like we'll finally be cleaning all the junk out of the basement that my Mom has been bugging us about for years!

Day 167: Happy surprises

I got a note from Dan last night with some amazing news...he's going to be home a week earlier than expected!!!! I don't know what magic my husband was able to work but he'll now be back the day after we get home!!!! Now we're really counting the days - 13 to be exact!

Day 166: Hawks win!

Okay, total truth: I am not a hockey fan (aside from the fact that I actually really enjoy watching the games.) I am officially a bandwagon fan guilty of pinning my hopes and dreams for the Cubs onto any other Chicago sporting organization that seems mildly successful. I am thrilled for Chicago and for Chicago sports fans everywhere that the Blackhawks have now pulled off another championship. Cubs please take note: It's still possible to actually win games in this great city! Forget the goat! Focus, people, focus!!!

Day 164 - 165: So long, Salerno!

We just wrapped up a wonderful weekend complete with a beautiful wedding for a dear friend, boating, Bloody Mary's and sunshine. I'll share more about all of that later but for now want to focus on the single biggest thing happening in our lives - Dan is about to officially leave FOB Salerno! He's not completely out of country yet as he's flying tomorrow/today to Bagram but in a few days he'll be out of Afghanistan for the first time in 7 months!!!!! Please, please continue to keep Dan in your thoughts and prayers as he begins his journey home. We're close but we're not out of the woods just yet! To my husband - be safe and know that we are very, very anxiously awaiting your arrival! XOXO

Day 161 - 163: Vacation update

Hello from (somewhat) sunny Chicago! We're enjoying our vacation and have already had so much fun in a short amount of time. The weather has been iffy but we managed to sneak in a few nice days this week to play on the water. It rained all day today so we decided to take in a movie - the first one ever for M&P! I don't know what made them happier - getting to watch a movie or eat mounds of junk food! More updates to come soon!

Day 160: The songstress

We made it safely to Chicago and are settling in for a nice long visit with Nana and Papa. The kids were fantastic on the plane - no complaints. The only problem we had was that P wouldn't stop signing the entire flight. She LOVES to sign, which is absolutely adorable most of the time and wildly annoying some of the time. Poor M - he just rolls his eyes at her now. At least she has good taste in music. Yesterday she was signing along to F.U.N on the radio. Thank goodness we've moved on from our obsession with Rihanna!

Waiting for Papa to pick us up at the airport



Day 159: And...we're off!

Chicago here we come!!!!

Day 158: Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband, my amazing Dad and our dearest Bubba. We love all of you so much and are thankful each and every day for the gift of all of you in our lives. We are truly blessed in so many ways!

Day 157: Bath time

Everyone is getting ready for Dan's homecoming - even our car, Ruthie! She got a head to toe makeover today complete with vacuuming by M and tire scrubbing by P. All set to pick up Dan at the airport one week after we get home from Chicago!!!!

Day 156: Happiness is...

Let the summertime fun begin!!!

Day 155: Paradise found

It's definitely been a labor of love but I'm pleased to report our backyard is officially (almost) done! I give most of the credit to our landscapers who were able to take our vision of "English garden meets contemporary SoCal comfort" and bring it to life!

We've ordered some furniture and still need to have the pergola built but overall we're in good shape. We even had our first night out with friends at the firepit this past weekend! The adults were able to sit around and enjoy some cocktails while the kids roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. I can already tell we're going to love spending time out here once Dan gets home!!!

 Patio off the house and future home of a sitting area

 Patio in the back and future home of our dining table and pergola

 Finally! We have our own garden complete with blueberries, herbs and tons of veggies!!!

 Side yard pathway

Our beloved firepit

Day 154: Superstar

P had her performance last night and I just couldn't be prouder! She had to get up on a huge stage without her teacher and dance in front of an audience of strangers. That's a lot for an adult much less a three-year-old! All the girls were adorable and best of all P had fun! Looks like my little Buttercup is all set to turn into a Butterfly!

Day 153: My little buttercup

 P and her beloved teacher, Miss Corina

P has been working hard to get ready for her spring ballet recital, which is taking place tonight at the Poway Center for Performing Arts. She had her final class and rehearsals this weekend and it looks like the girls are ready to steal the show! Of course she's not the least bit nervous and keeps asking me when she gets to go on stage again.

 Getting ready to go on stage with Sophie and Lily

 Buttercups all in a row

 

And her absolute favorite part was getting to wear red lipstick AND mascara (oh my...) I love our fearless little superstar!

Day 151-152: Packing up

We spent most of this past weekend getting ready for our big trip to Chicago. Since we're going to be gone for a bit there are just a million 'to do's' on our list. Definitely the most exciting 'to do' is that Dan will be home exactly one week after we get back from vacation!!! Even more exciting, he's officially leaving Afghanistan in 21 days! With the recent news stories about increasing violence, we can't wait to have him officially out of country for good!

Day 150: A little (more) faith

And so the faith talk continues.

Today in the car on the way home from ballet -

M: Mommy? Can I go to heaven?
Me: Someday, honey. But not for a long time.
M: Is it nice in heaven?
Me: Yes, it's beautiful in heaven.
M: Can I play with my trains in heaven?
Me: Yes, I'm sure God has Thomas the Train in heaven.
M: Do I fly to heaven?
Me: [Thinking...] Well, when you die your body stays here but your spirit flies to heaven.
M: So I disappear?
Me: Well, yes, you kind of disappear.
M: Disappear under the carpet, right Mom? Like crumbs?
Me: [Confused, no more ideas] Ummm...sure, sweetie.

Day 149: Time to scoot

We still have one more week of school to go but M&P got their end of year gifts a little early. In all honestly, we needed a little bribery to get a certain someone on the stage for the play. I'll let you guess who was shy and who was jumping up and down to perform...

I wanted the kids to have something they could play with outside so we decided on scooters. I was a little nervous for the first ride but the kids took to them right away. Best of all, they're helping us get to the park a lot faster. Added bonus - after 2 hours of riding them around, everyone was asleep in 2 minutes flat last night! Looks like the scooters are a nice gift for Mommy as well!

Day 148: Super stars

Tonight we had M&P's big end of year school performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla. The theme was dances from around the world. P's class did a dance around the maypole and M's class danced to "Thriller." It was adorable all around and I was so proud of the kids!!! No video to share yet but should be getting a copy soon!

 Getting ready to go on stage

 Dancing around the maypole...

 

...and "Thriller" time!

Day 147: A little faith

I swear every parent I know goes through a phase where their kids have a million questions about God. It really is a very complicated concept to explain and for a child (and even an adult!) to understand! Exhibit A - our car ride home from school tonight...

M: Mommy? Where is God?
Me: He's everywhere, sweetie. In the sky, the clouds, the trees, the flowers.
M: But why I not see him?
Me: Well, because you can't really see him, honey.
M: He be hiding?
Me: No, he's not hiding. He's just in heaven now.
M: In heaven? I'm going to heaven?
Me: Yes, but not for a long time.
M: When?
Me: I don't know but not for a long time. No one knows except God.
M: Can I call him on the phone?
Me: No, but you can talk to him anytime. You can talk to him now. That's why we pray, right?
M: When we say the prayer for Daddy, God tells our Daddy?
Me: Yes, baby, God tells our Daddy that we're saying a prayer for him.
M: And then Daddy be safe?
Me: Yes, and then Daddy is safe. 
M: [Silence] Okay. Can I have some applesauce?

Day 146: Chugga chugga

 Braving some serious sun for a ride on the train!

Chugga chugga - that's a perfect metaphor for the final countdown until Dan comes home. The toughest parts of any deployment are the weeks right before you leave and the weeks right before you come home. The rest of the time you go into "shutdown mode" where you kind of turn off your emotions as a self-defense mechanism. It sounds terrible, I know, but living in a state of constant fear/terror/panic/sadness is crippling. It's "easier" to keep your feelings at bay (and to give up reading the newspaper and watching CNN!)

In honor of our final push, we took a train ride this weekend on the Poway Railroad in Old Poway. It's a simple little two loop ride but the kids loved it and I love the feeling of knowing we're THISCLOSE to putting all of this behind us!!!

Day 144-145: Summa summit

This weekend I took the kids to hike up Cowles Mountain, the highest peak in San Diego. It's 1.5 miles up very rocky terrain to reach the summit with 360 degree views of the surrounding area. Since we've been practicing a lot of trail hiking over the past few months, I figured it was worth a shot. The ascent was definitely challenging but the kids did a fantastic job and actually had a really good time. We made it down with one skinned knee, a bit of a sunburn and a lot of pride that we can do anything if we work really hard together!

 We did it!

 View from the top

 Summit buddies

Day 142-143: Disney drama

Friday night is movie night at our house and we usually watch one of the movies the kids and I have already seen a zillion times. Last night I thought it would be fun to watch something new so we decided on Disney's "Pocahontas." Well, I guess I should have given a bit more thought to the fact that this movie is all about the Native Americans fighting with the English settlers. Lots of arrows and guns, which of course leads to lots of conversations I don't want to have with 3 and 4-year olds.

[Spoiler alert!] At the very end of the movie, Pocahontas bids farewell to her love, John Smith, as he sails back to England. As Pocahontas stands on the cliffs waving goodbye, P bursts into tears and proceeds to sob for the next 15 minutes about, "Why Pocahontas has to say goodbye to her Daddy?!?" Not entirely sure how we got this interpretation but whatever, we won't be watching that movie again for a bit!