Fabulous Army Life

At Mom's house, the boys made super-simple 'turtle' candies out of pretzels, Rolo candies, and pecans. They were delicious! Nate was also able to give my family an updated on what he had been doing in Iraq for the past six months. We were also able to visit with Brian and Leandra, Ariel and her new boyfriend, Wesley, Kristin and Jacob, and my cousin Lori and her husband, Greg. It was great for Nate to be able to see everyone again and we had a great time.

Our Christmas trip to see family looked a little different this year. Because Nate was still on block leave from this most recent deployment, we really made our family of four a priority in planning how we would spend our time. In the past, we have done reintegration really well ... and really poorly ... and have learned that our nuclear family requires some time to get back to the 'normal' of having Dad home. We also love that we are in Texas, and close to ALL of our immediate family members so taking a trip to see them was an absolute must. The time was slightly more brief than other Christmas trips, but the time spent was just as valuable. Our first stop in my family was to see my dad. He has been through some serious health struggles this year and it was great to see him feeling good for our visit. The boys filled him in on their lives and we spent a great afternoon together.  As a former US Air Force airman, my dad is always interested in hearing about Nate's A...

Tonight, we experienced the 'red carpet,' complete with paparazzi, photos, and gourmet theater fare. It was a fun addition to watching "Puss in Boots" and the boys really seemed to enjoy it. After the movie, we went to the lobby's "Riverwalk" and had dinner at the Mexican restaurant there, The Riverwalk Cantina. A wonderful last night for our stay here at the Gaylord Texan.

Trey's one-man band contraption We had a wonderful day of nowhere to be today.  We spent the day getting all our Christmas loot put away and catching up on laundry and other around-the-house stuff.  It was a blissfully uneventful day.  Part of Trey's activities included concocting a crazy system of carrying his new Paper Jamz guitar and amp plus a voice changer on his body.  Love this kid. Joshua, for his part, accomplished great feats in the land of Lego today.  He and his daddy completed an entire vehicle of Legos while Trey worked on a Lego U-Build-It Pyramid game.  A few new Wii games, a little time on the DS, reading new books, and watching "Despicable Me" and "The Guardians of Ga'hoole" rounded out a lazy, rainy day. A highlight for me was playing a new version of U-Build-It Monopoly as a family.  My sons crushed me in this game and I was easily the first one bankrupt.  My oldest was gleeful about my destitute position but my sweet ba...

Trey, Joshua, Ali, and Madi One challenging aspect of Army life is leaving behind friends when you move to a new location ... and being the ones left behind when good friends leave you.  My children have experienced the loss of best friends moving across the country -- and sometimes across the globe! -- and although painful, oftentimes they are more resilient for it. One such family became dear to us starting in 2005.  Trey and Madi were in Kindergarten together and quickly became good friends.  They maintained and built upon that initial friendship, enduring the teasing and taunts of their classmates as they got older.  Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?  Are you getting married?   It was (mostly) in good fun and the two of them did a fine job of ignoring the jabs.  They were simply great friends.  They both have a love of Pokemon and played it endlessly on the playground, after school, on their DS games and with the Wii system.  They s...