Simply Satisfying Sunday

Can you guess what I made today?

 

I made some super yummy cake pops if you didn't get the picture hints. My super sweet friend Hillary sent me this nifty cake pop pan so I decided to conquer my fear of cake pops and give it a go. The decorating/dipping part of it was still a tad challenging, but never-the-less we got through it and they turned out yummy. Phillip was my handy dandy taste tester. 

I also made a delicious pot roast with carrots and potatoes for dinner which my whole family loved and was a perfect meal for a cold day like today. 

The rest of our day was filled with laziness, watching Megamind, a little online shopping for some Easter basket goodies, and rides in our new radio flyer wagon. Bradley starts working nights tonight again, so we spent as much time as we could together before his schedule becomes hectic.
And with that, our SunDAY has turned into night, Everley is asleep, and Phillip is about to be. Bradley is off to work and I am going to relax on the couch and watch a movie. 

P.S.
This week is supposed to get into the 50's!!!! I am SOOO excited and it gives me a reason to get out the wagon and take the kids to the park! 

Have a great week!

Our Deployment Story

As I sit here and look at my good friend Ali's blog (Check her out over at Souriant Designs ) about redeployment's, I can't help but reflect on the deployment my husband and I went through. March 10th will mark 2 years that Bradley has been home...and even now pictures of redeployment ceremonies immediately bring me to tears. Our deployment admittedly weighed on our marriage, as it does any. We were a newly married couple being forced to spend 1 year apart, who WOULDN'T that affect? There were arguments, tears, and happiness many times through out that year. Bradley left Fort Riley on March 8th, 2010 and I pulled outside of the gate with intentions to drive home to Texas to stay with family. I drove outside the airfield gate, pulled over, and cried for at least an hour before I actually gathered up the courage to continue on my venture to our new home. I spent the next 4 months living with my cousin and her family before I went to stay with my parents.

 Bradley came home that October on his mid-tour leave. We spent that 3 weeks together cherishing every moment we had together. We did a little "mini-vacation" in Fort Worth visiting museums, eating yummy food, going on the train, visiting the stock yards. Bradley and I actually got to go on our sushi date! We squeezed in any holiday events we could by visiting pumpkin patches, carving pumpkins, and celebrating Phillip's 5th birthday a few weeks early. His R&R was so intense for me, I knew that he was leaving again, and this time I was fully aware of what to expect. So while I was so glad to see him, I often was equally as sad knowing what was so quickly going to return. Before Bradley came home for R&R we decided we were going to try for another baby, and with God's amazing grace, we were blessed enough to give Phillip a sibling.

And then the time came for him to leave. While I thought telling him goodbye the first time was hard, the 2nd time was so unbelievably much harder. Phillip really understood what was happening this time and he was equally as sad. We watched Bradley board the plane, then Phillip and I walked hand and hand out of the airport with tears streaming down our face.

Waiting on his plane, for him to leave.

The remainder of the deployment seemed to go faster than the first half. We had Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then I moved back to Kansas in January to get a house ready for Bradley to return. 
Thanks to amazing technology, Bradley was able to "be" there to hear the heartbeat for the very first time. I brought my laptop into the doctor's office and Skype'd with him and the doctor talked to him as if he was there, so it was a really neat experience for everyone. 

March 10th, 2011, Bradley returned home. I remember Bradley text me and told me to swing by the area where they were being "held" until the ceremony and I drove slowly by a fenced area and he waved. It was pretty funny, given that it felt like we were going to get in trouble! Ha! Anyways, so that evening we went to the redeployment ceremony, and a multitude of emotions were felt that day. To be able to run and hold onto the person you love with all your heart and know they are home for good, to watch your son wrap his arms around his daddy and hold onto him so tight, and to feel your husband rub the baby belly you didn't have last time he saw you...all of these emotions don't even have words to describe the amount of happiness we all felt that day. 
So on the days there are his dirty socks on the floor, he's driving me crazy, and I just want to scream....I have to remind myself to stop and remember what we made it through. I will always be forever grateful that he DID come home, and we are so much stronger. He's mine, and he will always be.

 

Iccckkyy Sicckkyy

This past week at my house has been madness. In a long string of what I consider complete and utter stupidity a poor choice in decisions by some others, but family has now been infected with a nasty stomach bug. I can't stand vomit, like, AT ALL. It is atrocious, disgusting, icky, gross, so on and so forth. ICK. So the second my husband got sick, I told him to go to our room and stay there. He was not happy that I quarantined him, but hey, a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do. I then cleaned the bathroom like he was infected with the Ebola virus and washed everything he touched in the house. My poor husband spent his entire night on the bathroom floor, this virus was kicking butt and taking names. The next day, Everley got it....which only further infuriated me. My poor sweet girl did not understand anything that was going on and was really upset that mommy would not give her milk or regular food. Ugh, the joys of motherhood. I love being a mom, don't get me wrong, but seeing your babies hurt, makes me heart so sad. When Phillip got home from sick, I condemned him to the playroom with orders to play with toys, play the Wii, watch netflix, and veg out on whatever he wanted as a bribe to stay there so maybe he wouldn't get sick while I finished decontaminating my house. Today is day 3. Bradley is better, Everley is still a little sick, and I felt a little bit of it coming on but I have hopes that I have fended it away...Phillip is still unscathed...I'm hoping to keep it that way. I have done more laundry in the last 3 days than I have all month, I have been puked on, cleaned up nastiness, and probably should take stock in Lysol and bleach. On that note, I'm off sleep and hope that day 4 will be nothing like the last 3.

And they called it bunny love

When Phillip was younger, he never grew attached to a "lovie" so when Everley developed a love for her bunny, it was definitely a new experience. 

In my desperate attempts to get Everley to sleep through the night, I picked up a stuffed animal and put him in the bed with her. At first, he just kinda hung out there, but after a week or so, she started to pay more attention to him. Eventually it got the point where I would lay down him down with her and now here we are about 10 months later and bunny LITERALLY is a member of our family. 

I spend my days dressing "bunny" while Everley showers him with kisses, hugs, shoves him in strollers, feeds him food and drinks, throws him around, and overall shows her abounding love for him. She can't go anywhere without him, she can't sleep without him, she can't LIVE without him! haha! 

There is something so pure and innocent about the love she has for him. It really is amazing to see a 20 month old feel that much love for essentially an inanimate object. But, through transitions and for a substantial part of her life, bunny has always been there, so I can understand why she feels the way she does. It's such an awesome thing to watch your baby love.

In other news, we got Phillip's report card. And essentially he's a genius, he's doing fabulous! He is testing way above his grade level in his reading, he made 100% on all his assessments,  and they are putting him at an almost 4th grade math level! As I read the reports, I was almost in tears, thinking about how amazingly well he has transitioned to Germany and at his accomplishments. I am such a proud momma. 

And one last thing,

This really is all that needs to be said, other than the fact that I can't wait for this timer to run out so that we can go home and see some of my absolute most favorite people ever. I am so excited for this trip, and even typing this right now, I am overwhelmed with such an amazingly blessed feeling.

 

Germany.

I often wonder if this place will ever have feelings of permanence. While I know that we will be here for quite some time (until Fall of 2015), it still just feels temporary. I find myself thinking things like, wipe down the walls so that when we move its not so much work, I wonder how Everley will do on the flight home (Phillip always does great on flights so I'm not worried about that), I tell my husband we should ship the car even earlier than we did on our way out here, and so on and so on. Germany is just such a different place. Until I met my husband, I was REALLY under-traveled. I had been to Texas (home state), Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. I had never been on a plane. Fast forward to now and I have added a few more states to that repertoire in addition to another country, and by the time I leave here it will be several more countries. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful for this experience. The fact that we are within 5-9 hours of a TON of beautiful countries is amazing, for that matter, Germany itself is GORGEOUS. But at the end of the day...its just not home. The good ol' US of A. I miss it so much. I miss the little things. I miss family, friends, stores we're used to, not having to convert to Euros, understanding signs and people. But, I am not unhappy here, I guess just home sick. I love that I am here with my family, I love that my kids are getting to experience this, I love the friends we have met here. I think in time, it will all become a little less temporary...and a little more permanent. I hope. 

Live hard, love harder!

Kids...and a little bit of life.

The sweetest thing happened yesterday. Everley saw the nail polish sitting on the table after I had finished painting my nails, picked it up and said pitty (pretty)? So, I pulled her up on the couch and she sat patiently waiting while I painted her nails. She smiled as I blew on her hands to help them dry faster and tried to help dry a little herself. It was such as sweet moment with her. My husband always tells me I have made her into SUCH a girl..and I suppose he's probably right. But hey, that's the fun of it all right?

 And then, I remember in addition to that sweet little girl, she is also 19 months old and you probably shouldn't leave nail polish not tightly shut or this may happen.

And this:

So for the next 30 minutes, I sat on my hands and knees scrubbing the life out of a Mr. Clean magic eraser with some cleaning sprays and a towel desperately trying to relinquish my once unstained floors and rug. Everley sat on the couch peering over at me like a spectator watching a game. I then moved onto clean off her hands, her socks were stained on the bottom, and magically she did not have ANY on her outfit. I was grateful for that. 


On another note, I attempted my own "dobbers" with Everley as an art project. I realized that I don't do nearly enough art with her, so she decided to paint my house in nail polish I found a pretty neat round spongy paint brush in my collection and gave her a plate with paint and let her go on her merry way. She seemed to enjoy it. 

Phillip has turned into quite the artist, if I do say so myself. It takes a lot of persuasion for me to actually get him to sit down and devote a lot of time to an art project though. So, I was pretty proud when he brought this home to me. He was pretty proud too and wanted to hang it on the fridge. 

And I have to mention a proud accomplishment of my own. I have officially completed my first "professionally printed" purchase to a client from White House Custom Colour. It's a pretty big accomplishment for me and my photography. It was really neat to see it in print on an awesome artboard and is even more neat that someone has it hanging in their home! 

Have a great week!
Live hard, Love harder!

Clean, clean, clean. 

Do you feel as though your house never ACTUALLY gets clean? Geez. I sure do. What is that saying, cleaning the house while your kids are awake is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos (or something like that)? That certainly holds to be evident in this household.With 4 floors in my house, by the time I get all the way to the top, the bottom 2 are a mess again. Between Bradley's PT uniform (that consists of shorts, shirt, underwear, socks, tennis shoes, pants, fleece cap, jacket, and pt belt), Bradley's work uniform (that consists of acu top, bottom, new underwear, new socks, acu shirt, boots, patrol cap, and gloves), then any other clothes he may chose to wear in a day LOL, Phillip's school clothes and pajamas, Everley's minimal 1 outfit a day, plus pj's, and my clothes (whew I'm tired from just writing that)....my laundry CONSUMES my house half the time. So I've learned to  just come to peace with that. I always keep my common areas clean, mop and sweep at least twice, and try and get at the very minimum 2 loads of laundry done a day and do the rest as often as I can. I've added a new goal for myself...organize one thing a day that I normally wouldn't even do until a huge cleaning day. So, I have accomplished that lately. I started with my pantry and bagging things that were easily left open and wasted, throwing out old boxes, etc. Day 2 I organized my junk drawer and day 3 my shoe closet. 

This girl, she doesn't have ANYTHING to do with these messes I clean up LOL.

On another note, I've really been trying to start taking my photography business more serious. There are so many hoops to jump through here, I have to get registered with the HBB (household based business), but I really want to start pushing it. Before I started doing this...I never knew I could. And while I know I still have miles to go, I have learned from some of the greatest people and been blessed enough to find a talent within myself. It really makes me happy to take pictures, I love capturing memories. I have a maternity session next weekend, my first. And let me tell you, I am nervous! I've done other kinds of sessions, just not maternity. I want these to be so special for her...I will update soon on how it goes! In the mean time, feel free to check out my page if you care to follow me there at Paper Airplane Pictures . 


Here's a picture from my last family session, how adorable are they??

 And some oldies of my kids, just because!

Live hard, love harder!

Tchus!! <3