To the tune of God Bless America..........

I dropped Stuart off at Camp Williams on Friday for his 2 week leadership training course. I have been super busy every day since running around, working, trying to sew christmas stockings, cleaning and probably not being the most attentive mother( my poor kids). I got to feeling overwhelmed and frustrated trying to do everything myself when I remembered that not too long ago, 2 years about, I was doing everything on my own while Stu was serving in Iraq. I remember the feelings that came with his absence like it was yesterday. And I am reminded of them every time he leaves. It was a long 15 months. I found out I was pregnant with Ava about a week after he left for his deployment. So I'm sure you can imagine the emotional state I was in. I was thankful to be able to talk to him almost everyday, I was grateful to have family close, I was lucky to have chosen a husband that could still make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world even from thousands of miles away. It was hard, and frustrating, and the best thing that could have happened to us. We grew so much. We accomplished so much and we acquired more love for each other and our baby than we would have otherwise. I'm thankful for that time in our life and the lessons it taught us. I'm thankful for my husband and the sacrifices he makes for our family and country. I'm thankful for men and women that selflessly choose to serve and protect our country, and I'm thankful for the families and citizens that support them in their efforts. My brother in law is leaving for Afghanistan in a couple months, Stu also will be starting his active duty training soldiers that are being deployed, and I am truly thankful and proud of both them for the choices they have made. U.S.A! U.S.A!(thats me cheering..I know you love it Stu:})

Update-o-rama

We finally found out where we are moving...California!! Stuart will be stationed at Ft. Hunter Liggett which is about an hour south of Monterey. Im kind of excited but will be more excited when we sell our house and know for sure when we are going. They said probably February or March. Oh I love the army. They don't tell you anything. But we have had a lot of people come and look at our house since we listed with a realtor. So its going better than I thought . Hopefully someone will buy it this week. I wish. Its been hard trying to keep my house clean, I usually will clean it really good and then leave really fast so my kids dont have time to mess it up. Then we go to my moms house and make a mess.(sorry mom!)We had a good Halloween, us girls were fairy princess' . We went to my mom and dads and had chili in a pumpkin yum, and then we went trick or treating around a few blocks with cousins. After that we went back to the house and the kids ate candy and had a dance party. It was pretty hilarious to watch and I got some awesome footage. Ava loves her cousins ZZ(Kaleb) and Jonas, they have tons of fun together. Kaleb was a kitty and his dance moves consisted of crawling around clawing at the couches and other children while bobbling his head around. I was laughing pretty hard. Then my uncles little girl would bounce around snorting and laughing really loud while smacking herself in the face!It was so cute and funny. And Jonas was the most hilarious. I dont even know how to describe his dance moves.. it was like watching a interpretive dance of slow motion jujitsu fight with a snowman maybe?Im not sure but it was pretty entertaining.