New Sunday Clothes

The new Sunday clothes just couldn't wait till Easter Sunday for their debut.  We had to wear them today.  (They picked out their shirts and pants and ties.  The did well!)

I can just imagine that one of these photos being the cover photo of their first album, am I right?!
And more importantly, they all love them and felt like a hundred bucks.  Hooray for boys wanting to wear good clothes!  (Yeah, that like never happens… Plus their superhero belts fit all the belt loops of their pants, which = amazing sauce.  Isaac has Captain America, Eli has Iron Man, and Titus has Spiderman.)

Also, Matt got a new calling.  He's been released from the Boy Scouts and is now Sunday School President.  

Life every changing and moving forward! 

A Year Ago…

…. A year ago Matt left for his Afghanistan deployment (OEF XIV).

It's crazy.



I had a lot of hope and gumption in the beginning.  It lasted about two days.  Then survival kicked in full swing, and just hoped that somehow me and the boys would have a good day.   And we mostly did.  I kind of over bought with toys, and over invested ice cream.

I tired not to think about what we were missing out with Matt being out of the picture.  It really didn't help when I went out West for the summer and everyone was asking me, "How are you doing?  Is it so hard with Matt gone?" and "I don't know how I could do it."  Umm… yeah… I really didn't want to think about all of that.  Just wanted to talk about bad tv and fashion trends.  Something besides about "how I was feeling," cause I really didn't know how I was "feeling" and I really didn't want to examine those emotions.
I think I got so many of those questions because that area of Idaho isn't inherently military, so it's maybe shocking to know of someone deployed… ???

But once I got back to this area of GA there were no longer questions.  So many people have gone through deployments, and I had many friends' whose spouses were deployed.  We just knew it was hard.  A knowing hug was all that was needed.

The last three months of the deployment I was just tired.  The boys were doing well, but getting ready for Matt to come home.  Sometimes they'd see me cry and say, "Mom misses Dad," then I'd buy them a toy or two… or three and have cinnamon toast crunch cereal for dinner.  Kind of fabulous in it's own special way!  There were days where I'd put the boys in the bath, read them their bedtime stories while they were bathing , brush their teeth while they were bathing, and say their prayers while they were bathing.  All that was left was drying off, new PJs, and easy bedtime!

In the last month of the deployment I started looking at the calendar daily.  It helped to visualize the last few weeks we'd go through.  (I "calendar gazed" A LOT during Matt's Iraq deployment (OIF III), and it would eat at me, so I made a very conscious effort not to do that this time around.)  
But I'd look at the calendar to the months when I KNEW Matt would be home, and think about the simple things that we could do together.  Of course Christmas was a big one, but really it was the like "watch the Olympics in February as a family" and "ride bikes together" that were foremost on my mind.

And Matt, in short, was really busy during the deployment--like, so very, very busy.  When he came home in November it basically took him a full month to recover and catch up on rest.




Matt's now been home 4 months.  We adjusted well, I think.  Thanksgiving and Christmas came with no real stressors, Matt isn't near as 'jumpy' as he was after Iraq, and we really are enjoying our family time.

We haven't had that much of it--the family time--in the last few years.  Matt was taking 18 credits a semester while in his MBA program at Boise State, so that meant very full days with a few hours sprinkled throughout the week for down time (but with homework and studying always on the mind).  So even though Matt doesn't get home till 6 or 6:30 at night, and sometimes 7pm, the fact that he's able to eat dinner with us and then help me put the kids down = WOW!   It's basically been 3 and a half years since we've had that.

There's a good chance that Matt will be gone a month or so this summer, then a month in the fall.  But we're not to worried about it.  Just enjoy then "now".  Cause the "now" is actually pretty great!


… And now a photo dump :)

Family bike ride.
Titus is on the bike trailer, and the boys are training-wheeless. 

Practicing their fishing casting in the living room.  Safe. 

FSU twins!  Watching the last bit of the Olympics.

Matt took the boys to the LEGO movie.  Loved! 

There's a pizza place with a giant IronMan!  

Took the boys to the Mighty Eight Air Force museum.  Pretty cool stuff, man. 

We had an epic play time at the "soft play area" in the mall.
The boys pretty much were the only one's there, and of course Matt recorded the wrestling…
They were all very sweaty afterwards. 

When Isaac was Titus' Age:

When Isaac was 3 years old and 9 months, the age Titus is now, Isaac had just become a big brother 2 times over! (Eli became a big bro at 14 months, and he was super jealous of Titus.)

Wow, did we really have 3 kids in less than four years?  

St. Patrick's Week 2014

St. Patrick's Day is epic in Savannah.  It's like a huge deal--days of partying, making it one of the worlds biggest celebrations.  

We didn't do anything amazing for St. Patrick's Day, however we did get a 4 day weekend!  What a fun little break.  (The boys get a 3 or 4 day weekend every month.  It's pretty sweet.)  

I'm the "room mom" for Isaac's class and I got a message on Monday from the teachers asking if I could bring something fun in.  Sure, of course I can.  I was already planning on cupcakes, but decided that two more projects would be appropriate.  

Wednesday at 11pm when I was still in the middle of it all I promised Matt that, "I'll never volunteer to be 'room mom' again!"  I'm still sticking with that promise.  It's a lot of pressure/work! 

(FYI, Isaac had ANOTHER throat infection thingy--he missed 2 days of school on the 4 day week. But was well enough to go Thursday for the St. Pat celebrations.)

On Friday me and the boys chilled till Matt got home.  Happily Matt got a half day from work, and so we took the opportunity to go into Savannah and see THE GREEN FOUNTAIN.  A week or so before the 17th, the city turns Forsyth's fountain green.  (Me and the two little boys went last year, didn't make it this year since it was a cold and misty day.)

It's always fun to go into Savannah.  The party wasn't crazy yet, but there were A LOT of people, and most decked out in green.  (Luckily no crazy drunks yet.)  

After the fountain watching, playground playing, we then headed to Chipotle for a family treat.  

Once we got home we watched Princess Bride and the boys LOVED it.  Matt promptly got on the piano and figured out the main melody--then continued to play it through the weekend.  

Saturday our lived were dominated by baseball practices (yes…. it's started…. ugh).  Eli had one in the morning and Isaac had on the late afternoon.  

*Between the practices we took a crazy fast trip into Savannah to try and find some dressers for the boys--major fail.  Still trying to figure out that situation with dressers.*

We were also able to enjoy some fanatic company from one of Isaac's class mate buddies.  I mean, basically Saturday was play, play, play!  

But of course the boys still woke up early on Sunday.  Why can't they sleep in?!  

I actually taught the Relief Society.  It went really well.   About the significance of the sacrament with Christ's atonement.  It's always a special privilege to talk about Christ.  (Oh, and Matt is now the president of our ward's Sunday School.  Responsibilities!)

After church we just chilled.  Watched Mythbusters, built LEGOs, took naps, Facetimed with some family.  Really good.  

I think we needed all the rest for our Monday.  Wow-wow, what a day. 

We went up to Hilton Head to check out the outlet mall, and picked up a few things.  Then came back down to Savannah and the boys met up with Isaac's friend and play really hard a jungle gym place.  Like, almost 2 hours of non-stop play.  Super fun.  The boys started to hit a serious "I'm tired" wall, so we headed home close to 4pm.  BUT we DID make a quick stop at WalMart to get some fishing rods, since we promised the boys 2 months ago that we'd get some for them once spring came.  

At home Matt got all the fishing gear together and because of the it was still raining, the boys started to cast in the living room.  But I noticed that our back yard area had become a crazy pound, and suggested that they go outside (in the rain) and practice.  What a great idea!  40 minutes of pure casting joy.  (I ran.  Yay.)  

And that was our St. Patrick's Day week/weekend.  I'm exhausted, the boys are tired, and we all have to get up and go to school/work tomorrow!  Hooray!