Homecoming

So I probably went to the airport about 4 times in one week. But Sydney finally made it home from her vacation and Mick made it back too. We had a great homecoming Brody and I greeted him at the airport with hugs and kisses. I really hate deployments that are more than just a few months. I know I should not complain, other branches have to deploy for a year or more.

I had to post some of the pictures from our yard. I was so proud of all my hard work.

My husband bought me 3 rose bushes for Mother's day. This was 1 of them.



I plant elephant ears wherever we live if I can, they remind me of Louisiana.

Beautiful Carolina Sky!

                     My first try at planting tomatoes, I had so many that I gave away almost all of them.



Trip of lifetime

So finally it was time for the hubby to come home from a six month deployment and I could hardly wait!
But first, Sydney was going to have a surprise trip any girl would want for their sweet sixteen birthday. Well part of it was a surprise, you can't take a girl to get a passport and expect her not to ask questions. The nerve of some people.

My mom and sister flew into Raleigh and spent 2 days with us and then took Sydney to New York city, to catch a cruise ship to the Bahamas. On there way to the Bahamas they were stopped in Orlando and took Sydney to Universal Studios, she was so surprised! She was able to go to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios for the day before getting back on the ship. Then they spent some time at Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. Once they made it back to New York city, they spent about 3 days in city. My brother graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York so they stayed for the graduation. Sydney went on a helicopter tour of the city, saw Times Square, went to the Empire State Building. And she spent 3 nights at the Waldorf Astoria! My brother and his girlfriend were great host and showed them why they love New York.

Here is just  some of the photos from her trip.

Sydney and my sister

Bringing on 2012

Once the new year arrived, I was in the home stretch of this latest deployment. January was uneventful; I passed my state insurance licensing test on my first try. I had to learn a lot of useless things that I will probably never use again, or care to use again. Once I passed that test, I was insurance adjuster.

After January,  I was swamped at work, I had no idea how stressful and time consuming this job was going to be so I guess that is why they pay the big bucks. Ha!

One of the best things about deployments are the really nice tax returns. It was really nice to have some money put away in the bank.

April finally arrived and my husband was due to come back around the middle of April and we couldn't wait!

But first, I had to plan Brody's 6th birthday party. He had been taking karate classes for a while now and I booked a party there for him and some of our friends. His theme was Star Wars...again.

Sydney and one of her best friends.

 The tumbling trampoline used for gymnastics was everyone's favorite thing. 

 And Brody's favorite part of his birthday was  having everyone sing Happy Birthday to him.

Christmas was hard

I was so thankful for my job keeping me busy while the hubby was deployed. Christmas was pretty stressful, I couldn't take any time off since I had just started my new job and that meant being alone with the kids.

It feels weird to be writing about something that happened several months ago. My kids had a good Christmas and the hubby and I were able to Skype while we opened presents.

FALL HAD FINALLY ARRIVED.

Isn't it nice to have a great friend that you may not have spoken to in months but as soon as you talk to them, it's like no time has passed. My friend Lisa is like that, she is really busy with her job and we don't get together as much like we used to, but she is still one the best friends I have. Seems like when my husband is deployed I find more time for my friends. So when I called Lisa and asked her to go to the pumpkin patch, we made a play date out of it.

This pumpkin patch is in Youngsville, NC and about an hour from home but so worth it.

The gangs all here.

My pretty daughter.

This was the coolest bouncer

Sydney's always had a soft spot for this boy. You gotta love him.

Like I said, you gotta love him.



It's about time!

It's been a while since I've posted anything. These next few weeks I'll be trying to catch up on some of the things that have happened in last year or so. Our family is about to embark on a completely new adventure and I want to be sure that I document all of it. 

So here goes...

July 2011 was not a great time, I decided that I needed to go back to work to help out with the finances. I must have filled out about 10 applications and had gone on about 4 interviews. None of them were very appealing but I kept looking. Then one day  in August we had a small cook out and I met the sweetest girl, Suzy. She was dating a friend of ours, (wish that relationship would have worked out). She told me that the insurance company she worked for, was hiring. I sent her my resume, and filled out the application and still no call. I finally called the HR director and was like "what's up?" she said that there was job coming available soon but I didn't think they would ever call me. Then in September just one month before my husband was going to deploy, she called. I'll never forget it, we were on our way home from the Seafood Festival and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Finally a job, and it  was staring just 4 days after my husband deployed. Thank you! Suzy.

What a relief to have a job and have something to keep my mind off missing my husband. The first few days of any deployment are the worse. It  hits you the first night, when one realizes that there will be a lot of lonely days and nights to come.

Here are some of the pictures from the seafood festival that year.