Valentine's Day 2011

This Valentine's day was a lot different because my hubby is not here. So seeing all the lovey dovey commercials, hearts, red, pink, and couples made me want to puke, lol. I'm just mad my love isn't here with me :) But then i remembered that valentine's day is also about loving your kids and letting them know that. So i put together a little surprise for them. Jenna got a princess paint kit, princess chocolates, and her sweet daddy sent her a box full of cookies with a special note just for her on it...

Isn't that so cute, she was so excited about the special gift from her daddy. Frankie got some spiderman chocolates and a toy story puzzle...


Nathan also got some spiderman chocolates and some toy story spin tops which were broken within an hour, NO JOKE!! But Nathan wouldn't let me take pictures of him because he just got back from a long visit at the doctor which left him cranky and not in the mood for feeling the love. But i did snap one...

As you can see he was not feeling good, he has croup and an ear infection, so he is quite unhappy with life right now. Then it starts to get dark outside and my doorbell rings...hmmmm....who could that be my neighbor? UPS guy?? NOPE!!! It was a flower delivery guy with a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my wonderfully, handsome husband. My heart melted at that very moment and tears came to my eyes. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world and even being thousands of miles away my husband knows just how to make me feel special. This has been such a rough week with the boys being sick and keeping me up all night but that all melted away with these flowers. Thank you honey, I love you and stay safe.

How we make sure daddy is always here...

I have heard about a lot of different ways that military families try to keep their children remembering their deployed daddy. I've thought of what i can do that would work good in my house. So i decided to get various pictures of family memories (which has daddy in each and every picture) and put them on magnets on the fridge at little kids eye level.....


So I decided to do it while the boys were taking a nap and Jenna was at school because i wanted to surprise them with all the photos. We all went to get Jenna and on the way home from school, i told them that when we got home i had a surprise for them. They were so excited and couldn't wait to get home to see. So i had them walk into the kitchen and they all noticed it right away. They just stood there and looked at all the pics. Jenna and Frankie were pointing at them and remembering all of our family memories together like the myrtle beach vacation and at the pool. Nathan kept pointing and saying DADA DADA DADA. I couldn't believe how long they were there just looking at the pictures. I actually teared up, WHAT A SHOCK, because it was just so great how much they seemed to really enjoy what i did. Still til this day each one of them go to the fridge at least one point during the day and talk, point, or hang out looking at all our memories. I even catch myself doing it very often. I think its a great place to go when we are missing him. No matter what my main objective during this deployment is to keep my kids as happy as i can and make sure they don't ever forget their daddy's face. So here are some more pics of the kids seeing the daddy memory fridge for the first time...

Daddy's Special Book

First, I originally did this blog for family and friends, that hasn't changed but now its especially for frank due to his deployment. I'm going to try and write on my blog everyday, even if its just everyday stuff or just one picture with no words. I want him to see what we do on a daily basis, don't get me wrong, there might be a few days i might miss due to unforeseen circumstances like sickness or what not. So if you see a picture with no words or story behind it, its just for frank to see what we did today :) So now to my blog... Some of you might not know that before frank left he did a recordable book of The Night Before Christmas which was generously given to him by our FRG. So a few days before he left, he recorded the story for our kiddo's. Tonight I was in the living room cleaning up around bed time and i heard daddy's voice coming from Jenna's room which of course was the book. Its funny how my heart skips when i heard his voice even though i know its a recording. So anyways.. Something tells me to just grab the camera and go back there to snap a few pics and to my surprise they were all gathered around the book watching it intently,listening to every word. Usually Nathan starts to try and turn the page or steal it but today they just listened. I think at that very minute it made me realize that they miss him more than i knew and it was comforting for them to hear his voice. It was a sad but beautiful moment for me because usually daddy is really there before bed reading them a story. At first i couldn't go anywhere near that book because even just seeing it would make me cry but now it brings me and the kids much joy and comfort. We miss you daddy and enjoy the pics....

This day came too soon....

I know it has been awhile since i have blogged and i missed it. There has been a lot going on since my last blog in September I found out i was pregnant,went on vacation,moved,got settled in on fort knox, had a lot of visitors,went to Illinois for thanksgiving, got ready for Christmas, then had to get ready for the dreaded day that now has passed. You may ask what that dreaded day was.... my hubby got deployed. I think i have been in denial for a long time but now that he is gone it has really settled in. To think of spending the next year of my life without him almost seems impossible. My heart simply aches for him especially because he has to be away from the kids, i couldn't even imagine. It's hard because jenna is at an age where she understands that daddy is gone and it is affecting her, i cant replace her daddy but i will certainly try my very best to be there for her. The boys are already missing their daddy play buddy, i could tell. I guess to make a long story short, there is this big hole missing in our little family and i know i cant fill it. It breaks my heart, it truly does. He is our rock, the center of our family. I know I'm going to miss him walking through the door everyday and seeing the kids running up to him to give him a big hug and kiss, sleeping next to him at night, watching our stupid reality TV shows together,sitting down to dinner, and one big thing is having him here to go through the rest of this pregnancy with me. The only thing i can do is take it one day at a time and pray that god will give me the strength to get through this. I know I have a lot of support from family and that means the world to me, i know i can do this with their love and encouragement. Giving frank a piece of mind knowing I have family here for me is a true gift to him, he knows he doesn't need to worry about me. One thing is for sure, I am the most proud army wife there is on the planet earth. There is nothing that gives me more pride than to know that I'm married to a true american hero. This year is going to be long, hard, and lonely but frank is worth every second of it. All i can end with saying is Frank, my hero please come home safe to us. We love you so very much and we will be here waiting for you when you return.