Friday, September 30, 2011

Slumber Party... already?

Yes Yes... Here I am with a house full of kids - 6 to be exact. All under the age of 11. Sure, let's have a slumber party on our first week of school. What better way to make new friends!! It's actually not so bad. These kids are behaving and playing together awesomely. Is that a word? Oh well.. it is now. Awesomely! Anyway, one girl asked if she could come over because her parents wanted to go to a party for a friend who is deploying. And then that turned into another girl coming over and then another girl. Good grief. I wish I could make friends that easy. Although I did meet a gal up the road who is a very seasoned Army wife. She's been doing it for 8 years (I think). And when I pass her on the way to the mail box, we'll chat for a few minutes. I think next week, I'll try and go to a playgroup at the park for William. Where there's toddlers, there are moms. So maybe I'll meet some ladies there. We'll see. It would just be nice to know a few people around here. If for no other reason than to just be able to ask where places are. LOL! I'm still lost as an Easter Egg out here.

I really wish I had something extremely awesome to tell you. I'm kinda boring today. Allison stayed home feeling a little puny this morning - although you'd never know it now. But we hung out and watched TV today. I really wanted to go on an adventure today and explore some, but oh well. We'll just wait until tomorrow.

I suppose I'll make this a quick post since I need to be herding children to bed and it is midnight. Ya'll have a good night!!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

As requested...

Before we get to the video of the house (I know I know... you've waited so long and it is just cruel to make you wait a few moments more... of course you can always skip my dialogue and go straight to the clip...but whatever) I just wanted to say that I think I finally miss home a little. I sat down this morning and watched a Brad Paisley video and just felt like going home. BUT...Now that house is good to go, as you will see in the video (unless you were rude and skipped ahead ... again ... whatever), I kinda have to find a new purpose during the day. William and I plan on making the most of our days... but everything I have left on my list of things to do require that I sit at the computer. And then Will just sits here and zones out on television, as you will see in the video (again... unless you have no patience and scrolled on down. What. Ever.). And that is just no fun. So, I'm going to start getting up in the mornings and after the house is clean and all the chores are done, I'm going to just start exploring the area. I want to find the most awesomest park for the kids to play in. I want to find a pumpkin patch that we can go to in the next few weeks. (I'm really going to miss going to Jackson's Orchard this year) I want to find the friggin post office which is something William and I failed at miserably yesterday. Sigh...
But anyway... Billy goes to his actual unit today. I'm a little nervous about this. I don't really know why. But now that his in-processing is over, he'll start doing his actual job soon. Which this just means getting up at 4 am so he can make it to PT and then being gone for who knows how many hours a day. I've decided that he has found himself a new mistress - and her name is Army. I'm the wife he comes home to everyday, but the Army has his attention while he's away. It's a little different than just having a job where you can come home and leave the office at the office. But, we'll adjust. We're Blackburns!!!
Anywho... Emma brought home a form from the school nurse saying she needed more immunizations that are required. OOPPSIES!!! So, today I got to spend a nice little bit of time on the phone with our insurance stuff. Billy switched our insurance level this week and it won't be active until Nov 1st so I was trying to figure out how to see a doctor with the old insurance and blah blah blah. But we got it worked out. I think.
Oh and did I tell you how freakin hot it is here in North Carolina. Not a fan so far. The temperature says 85 but it's like 300% humidity and therefore feels like 107 outside. It's even hotter than Tennessee. I don't like it. I THINK we're supposed to have a cool snap this weekend. So, maybe I'll change my mind.
OKOKOK... I know... You're ready for the video. I would just like to take this time to thank all the viewers who stuck with it during my stupid ramblings. You may consider yourselves true fans... because I certainly do. And for those who didn't... whatever.
So without further ado...

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sweet and Sour

Well, first two days of school are under our belts. It's for sure going to be a change. I'm not really even sure where I am on it yet. I know that they have both made a ton of friends - some of which live right next to us. So, that is awesome. The girls come home and immediately want to go back out to play. Unfortunately, it is the homework that's got everyone tied to the house. It's a bit more than we had back in TN. Well, Emma's is a LOT more. I'm super nervous for her. There is a lot of stuff she'll be doing online and her teacher would rather her type up her assignments and email them to her. WOW! I'm having flashbacks from earlier this year when I was doing all my homework online. Nuts. Just nuts! But as far as teachers go... Emma's seems pretty nice. A little more relaxed than I'm used to, but hopefully that will not be an issue. Allison's seems a bit strict. Like I'm sure she keeps a ruler in her sleeve and goes around slapping wrists every couple minutes. Allison was telling me about snack time. Apparently a kid brought a blueberry poptart and the teacher yelled at the kid for not bringing a healthy snack. To which the kid that sits next to Allison whispers, "And that is why I just don't bring a snack." UM... wow! So, today I let her bring some carrot sticks, but she didn't even get a chance to eat them. I'm just trying to figure that one out. So... there are some great things going on and some things I'm going to have to figure out if they are issues or not. But considering how the kids are happy with the amount of friends they've already made...I'm not going to rock any boats. Well, not that I would anyway.

Speaking of rocking... guess who can ride a bike now?? ALLISON! She started to do it early this spring, but would only ride on the tiny tiny bike. I got rid of that tiny tiny bike and made her ride one her own size and it scared her. So she gave up and hasn't ridden in a long time. Well, now that every kid on the street has a bike and rides up and down the street all afternoon... she felt the need to get on the thing and try. And low and behold... it's amazing what a little peer pressure will do. Now we'll have to buy her some new tennis shoes because she wouldn't use the pedals to break... she used her toes. Yeah... I swear I saw sparks coming out of her Nikes once.

So... that's all I know for now. Billy's still doing his in-processing and hasn't done anything real exciting yet. And same goes for me really. I'm just trying to take in all the good and the bad with the girls' school and figure it all out. The sweet and the sour. Man, now I want Chinese Food.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Oh Television... how I've missed thee!

Today I discovered the most awesome thing ever!!! Primetime On Demand! I never get to watch television because I've always got dishes to wash or kids to tend to in the evenings. However, today during a bit of quiet time, I found a channel on our new cable called Primetime On Demand. It is AWESOME! I got to watch all the shows I'd missed (all the season premieres) this week. So today I kept my nose in the television until I ran out of shows to watch. It was great! Plus, we needed that kind of lazy day. Yes, I still have a few boxes to unpack. But it's mostly my stuff - like clothes or pictures to hang. Since I'm OK with wearing the same couple outfits over and over and I'm not going to hang pictures until Billy starts working... I allowed myself a day off. (By the way... new favorite show is "A Gifted Man" - so GOOD!)

This evening we took another walk. From my door step to the school front door is 7 whole minutes. Walking. I LOVE THAT! So, we mapped out the quickest route to get the kids to school in the morning. I think they are super excited. I know I am! Emma already told me this morning that it is imperative that she looks incredibly cute tomorrow for her first day. Of course, I think she's always cute. But she's ten and well... I get it. Allison wouldn't eat anything for dinner tonight. She said she felt like she needed to throw up. This is the same thing that she went through right before Billy left for Basic and before we left TN. She keeps her nerves in her belly apparently. But I think she's going to be fine once she gets there and meets some new friends. I have no doubt they will both do extremely well.

And Billy was going to report in tomorrow, but they are off tomorrow. So, he gets one more day off. Once the girls get to school, he and I and William are going to head back to Fort Bragg and try the whole drive around post one more time. Gonna dig out the map this time. =) And Billy said he needs a hair cut. He just had one last week, but he says he'll get one every week... I think I'm going to have to find the old clippers and try and learn how to do a 'high and tight' because that is ridiculous!

Anyway, we've got a big week ahead of us. Once I get my pictures on the wall and my clothes put away... I plan on making a little video of our new house to share. I kinda love it. Tonight when we got home from our walk, there was about 12 kids of all ages playing outside in the street in front of our house. It was just like something out of 60's sitcom. Parents sitting on the porches and the kids playing ball in the street. Of course, there was the kid who yelled, "Car!!" and the streets would clear out. But soon enough, the street was full of kids and bikes and balls again after the car was gone. Just kinda neat. I think we're going to like it here.

Friday, September 23, 2011

I guess we'll need a map

So today we registered the kids for school. If everyone in the school is as nice as the lady at the front desk, we'll be happy happy happy. She was just such a nice person. The only thing we saw in the school was the front office, so I don't know how awesome the school was. But it was pretty neat just the small part we saw.

After we left the school we headed for Fort Bragg to see if we could find anything. On the way there we made a wrong turn because the world's stupidest intersection is right there in the middle of Spring Lake, North Carolina. (Aren't we lucky??)  It is a four way stop for five roads. I'm serious. If you want to turn left, you have two choices... left or more left. And then when we realized we were in the wrong lane and made the wrong left... well you get the idea. It was stupid. SO.... We finally get inside the gate at Fort Bragg and see a sign for the PX. So, we head over there first. After getting in the wrong lane and ending up going into the Commissary parking lot, we ended up having to turn around and go back across this bizarre street to get into the PX parking lot. Finally there, we walk around and realize that we have made it to the PX that is under construction and that the better one is somewhere else on post. OH well.. We pull out of the PX parking lot and we both thought that turning right would take us back to the main road so that we could find the welcome center. Nope. Turning right sent us right back through another gate and right on out of post. By this time, we were both so frustrated we just left and went back home. LOL!!! I guess we'll try again tomorrow.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Paper angels

Well, this is probably the craziest thing. But the other night while we are trying to unpack a few things, I kept hearing what sounded like a baby giant stomping through the woods. (think Hagrid's little brother) Anyway, I thought perhaps the kids were banging on the furniture or jumping off the beds upstairs. However, when I went outisde, I felt and heard it even louder. It wasn't very often, but maybe every thirty minutes. So, I asked Billy what it was. He says, "Oh that is just artillery." OH. MY. GOD! That is just artillery. Really? That IS JUST artillery??? I kinda laughed at him, but when he didn't really laugh back, I guess that meant he wasn't kidding. And then the next day on Facebook, the neighborhood wives who have a page, were talking about how their husbands got to play with the big guns and make all our houses shake. Wow. Just wow!

But things are slowly coming together here at the new house. We had a little mishap last night with the washing machine. It is upstairs, which I thought was going to be the coolest thing ever until the dang thing somehow wasn't connected right (my fault) and water dripped all over the floor for the entire night. Woke up the next morning to a nice little puddle in the downstairs bathroom and some pretty intense water marks all over the freshly painted ceilings. UGH! So, on our second day there at the new house, we already have the maintenance man come out. Now, we have an industrial size fan "The Tornado" upstairs in the hallway blowing on the carpet trying to dry out the water. Sigh.

Anyway, the funniest thing about the whole moving thing so far has to be the amount of packing paper we ended up with. Our living room is rather huge. And it was full - wall to wall and about waist deep - of packing paper. We filled an entire box of Glad Force Flex garbage bags, that's 30 bags, with packing paper. It is hilarious! Billy feels like white trash putting 30 bags of garbage out at the street. I find it quite amusing myself. We may have to find a dump somewhere. LOL!! But imagine if you will that much paper in the living room. And then imagine three children playing in it like it was Christmas morning in the pile of wrapping paper. William was making "paper angels" in between jumping off the couch in to the massive mound of paper snow. It was a FUN afternoon!!

CANNOBALL!!!!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

We made it!

Right now, I'm sitting in a living room with about a gazillion boxes of our junk. This has been a wild experience, let me tell you. I wish I could just explain all the many wild thing the movers did. However, I'm just totally exhausted to the point that I can't hardly sit here and blog. So, I'll give you a list of highlights.

  • The first thing the movers touched, they broke. It was my great-grandmother's dresser mirror. I don't think I was too terribly upset more than just in absolute shock. I think they were shocked as well. There was a lot of pacing back and forth and saying things like, "Oh no!" and "Oh this is so not good."
  • The movers were about 12 years old. No not really... but they looked it.
  • Once we got all the stuff on the moving truck and it drove away... we had about three days of camping out in the house. But it was fun! William loved hearing his voice echo in the empty house.
  • The drive to North Carolina was extremely fast. Well, it took every bit of 12 hours, but it didn't seem long. Which is amazing, considering I had the two young kids and the cat in my truck.
  • Fluffy  (the cat) HATED HATED HATED riding in the car. When we finally got to the new house, she went and hid in the kitchen cabinets for most of the day.
  • When we got to the Fort Bragg area, we found our neighborhood and since we couldn't check in until the next morning, we tried to find a hotel. Did you realize that there are very few hotels that will allow pets? OMG!
  • We ended up staying at the Knights Inn in Fayetteville... AKA Hotel California. It was beyond horrible! I wouldn't let anyone sleep under the sheets or take off their clothes. Billy woke up about every three minutes and went and looked out the peep hole to make sure no one was breaking into our cars. We barely slept at all.
  • After spending the night in the scariest place on Earth, we woke up before the sun and went and hung out at IHop until time to go to our new house. Oh and did I mention that the man who checked me out at the hotel desk was a police officer??? Yeah... it was that bad.
  • Movers brought the stuff to the house and as they would bring things off the truck, I sat there on my front porch with a clip board in my hand. They would announce the box number and I would check it off. It was incredibly odd to sit there like some princess and have men work around me while I sat in the cool shade. I almost think I could have had some tiny children fanning me with ginormous leaves and I would have felt more normal. But anyway...
  • Ok... so now we have our house. It is awesome!! Tons of space and just soooo many closets! The kids are loving their new rooms. Billy loves his way much bigger living room. I love having three bathrooms and actual water pressure!!! But there are some things I do not like about the house. For one, they were built for 6'3" Army Strong men. EVERYTHING is so high up. I'm a very short person, but come on! I mean everything is like a good foot higher than most houses. The cabinets, the windows... it's just weird. But the best thing I love about the house is that it is less than a block from the school and the pool!! The location couldn't be better.
  • It is a little weird having to show your ID every time you want to get into the neighborhood, but that's the way it is I guess.
  • We've not been to Fort Bragg at all. We drove by it once. I think we'll go there tomorrow and explore so that Billy will know where to go when he checks in.
And so that is a recap of the past week. It's been fun! I'm getting things unpacked as I can. Slowly. But it's getting done. And now that I'm back online... I hope to do updates more often. I think we are just now getting to the good stuff, folks. We're for real in the Army now!!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Better hold on tight

So what was going to be a mid week move next week has quickly turned into a "hey let's move tomorrow" kinda move. Long and ridiculous story... but we got a phone call today and looks like the house will be packed tomorrow and loaded on the truck Friday. So, we'll be homeless for about 4 days. But this has moved our moving date up a couple days. Apparently the moving company thought Monday was the delivery date... not the pick up date. OOPSIES! And of course, nothing can be changed now on their end. So, we're scrambling around like loonies trying to figure out what the crap to do.
All I've done this morning is talk to utility companies and other various people trying to get all our ducks in a row. I guess the only thing I can do now is go around and make sure everyone has at least one tote box of stuff. I gave everyone a box. If you can fit it in the box, you can bring it. For example, you can not fit a television in the tote box, therefore, you can not bring the television. So, this will be interesting.
But the best news ever is that we acquired a new vehicle this week. It was a gift and could not have been given at a better time. We have been truly truly blessed!!!! And now we have just a little more room to carry our much needed stuff with us.
Anyway... too much to do and no time to blog. I'm just about to box up the old 'pooter here and wanted to let you all know that if you don't hear from me in the next few days... just pray for us. We'll be back online eventually... and from North Carolina. HOOAH!!!

Monday, September 12, 2011

It's crunch time

I'm tired. I'm just completely tired. But I've managed to accomplish so much in the past few days. So that's good. We've cleaned out the basement - completely. We've gone through each room and collected another couple truck loads of junk to take to Goodwill. The movers will be here tomorrow to do an inventory. And then come back later this week to pack. And if all goes according to plan, we'll be headed to North Carolina in one weeks time.
I've been so busy, I haven't had much time to think about what's going on. We did have a little farewell party this weekend. And we had a great turn out. So many good friends came and the kids just had a blast. I'm so glad we did that. There were so many people that showed up, I barely had time to talk to them all. But it was still just so nice to see everyone. My mom and aunt drove down from Kentucky and it was nice to sit out on the porch and enjoy each other yesterday. I was proud of myself for not having a meltdown while she was here. I waited until she got down the drive way to shed my tears. But I know this isn't permanent. It'll be the holidays before we know it, and I'm praying we'll get a chance to come back home to visit.
The girls only have a few more days of school left. And Allison has been scared to death that we'd move before her best friend's birthday party this weekend. So, I'm glad the movers aren't coming for our stuff until Monday. She'll get to go to the party after all. That was her only concern. I've been trying to "talk up" our new house for William. So now every time we get in the car he asks if we are going to our new house. Maybe I should have waited... LOL! And Emma is... well she is Emma. Ready to get to our new house and yet not really ready to leave her friends. Which really, is true for all of us.
Cute William Story... tonight he had his plate at the table. Wait... a little background info here. He won't eat anything I prepare. He tries to talk me into giving him a yogurt about an hour after dinner time since he didn't eat a good dinner. But I've learned his little trick. So, I leave his plate on the table until he is in bed asleep. And if he comes in to tell me he's still hungry, I just direct him to his plate. Well, tonight he leaves his plate on the table. After we'd all left the table, I see him in the kitchen sneaking across the floor, plate in hand, headed toward the trash can with a huge grin on his face. He must have felt my glare because he looks at me and when he sees my face, he stops dead in his tracks. He gives me a little shrug and "I'm totally innocent" smile, but when he realizes his plan has been foiled, his face turns from happy grin to completely defeated frown. He turns around and stomps back to the table where he puts his plate down, sits on the chair, puts his face in his hand, and grumbles a few words as he takes another bite of food. I don't think I've ever seen anything as cute as that in my life.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Remembrance day

I was sitting at the bank getting my vaults ready for the day. A customer came through the drive thru window and told us a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I didn't have a clue what the WTC was or even where it was. So, I was a little confused why this was such a drama. Man, I was so clueless back then. Anyway, we took turns watching the news on the break room television all day. I remember I could not get home fast enough that afternoon. I was working part time back then because Emma was only a few months old. And we had just moved into our brand new house and still didn't have TV. So I listened to the radio all night and when Billy got home from his class that night, we both just sat there amazed at how crazy the world was. We didn't say much. Just sat and held our daughter.
Looking back, I feel like a lifetime has transpired since that day ten years ago. I remember Billy telling me that Jonathan was getting deployed into the war. We both just got so scared for him. But now we realize our fears were only a result of our own doubts. What if Billy had listened to his friends and joined up instead of listening to his uncle and taking a construction job? Where would he be? Would he be over there with Jonathan and his other friends? Who knows. I guess at the time, he thought he should go to school and get his electrical license and do the whole family thing. My own selfishness was glad he hadn't taken the Army thing any further than just a dream. I was scared. Terrified. I was so worried about Jonathan being in the war zone, I couldn't even watch the news anymore.
And so life went on. We had more babies. Played house for a few years. But every time Jonathan would come home, I could tell Billy was completely absorbed in what Jonathan was doing. I seriously think he wished he could have been with him on all those tours in Iraq. Billy would talk about everything Jonathan told him for weeks. But he never actually said those words... those words that I think somewhere in the back of my mind I would one day hear.
Then one day back in 2009 our little world kinda crashed. It's a long and personal story, but this was a moment that changed everything. When he got laid off of work for the fourth time in six years, he started talking about the Army again. He was [---] this close to signing up when he got offered a job he couldn't refuse. But even that job wasn't meant to last. So ten months later, we're back at square one. Billy decides enough is enough. He was going to do what he had been wanting to do for so many years. His words to me were, "Maybe there is a reason everything I've done has failed. Maybe I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing." At this point, I knew he wasn't happy and hadn't been for a long time. So if enlisting would make him happy again, I knew I had to stand behind him. And so I did. And here we are. Gone full circle. Better late than never. Ten years later, we are still at war. We are still over there fighting. Billy will be deployed. My fears are not as potent as before, as I have matured over the years and understand now that I know for sure God is on our side no matter what happens.
It's really strange how that one day in September 2001 changed everything in our world. If that had never happened, would the job market have been so horrible? Would construction have made such a turn for the worse? Would Billy have eventually made a successful electrician? Would he be somewhere fighting for his life rather than over here fighting to keep some job? Who knows? It's almost like what he said is true. Up until now, everything he had worked at had failed. And now he's done nothing but succeed. So it makes you wonder if maybe he shouldn't have joined up years ago. I guess we'll never know. But I mean, everything has a way of working out. Life is meant to be lived. Not feared. So let's go live!!!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Dock You Mints!

The past two days I have done nothing but stare at this computer and fill our forms and whatnots trying to get us prepared to move. The Army REALLY likes to do paperwork. Lots and lots and lots of paperwork!! Just to pre-register the kids for school took me about 2 hours. First, you have to enter all your information on an electronic file - you can't save it to your computer Heaven Forbid!!So then you print it. Sign it. Scan it. Save it. Save it again in another place on the computer. Then email it or submit it to the respected party. This wouldn't be a big deal except there were 8 documents per child. Some documents were 3 pages long. That is a lot of documents!!! I'm sitting here thanking the Lord for my scanner. I don't know where I'd be without it right now. So BIG BIG BIG shout out to Billy's mother and step-father for giving us their left overs. God knew we'd need it and there is yet another amazing blessing!!
I've also decided to go on a job hunt. I kinda just jumped into this. I found a job I would really like to have and it is a Fort Bragg job, so there are lots of hoops and ringers to go through when applying for a government position. But thanks to my brother who tweaked my resume and my kids for cheering me on... I now have a little confidence in this procedure. I may not get the job. And that's fine. There is still a fraction of me that would rather just stay home for the rest of my life. But then there is another more dominant fraction of me that would actually like to do things like go on vacations and eat at restaurants every once in a while. When I told the girls I was trying to apply for a job, they literally cheered!! It was cool!! Or maybe they're just tired of seeing me in my 'comfy' clothes all the time. But anyway... the whole application process made me a nervous wreck. There was a 12 page document on "How to apply for this job." Wow. And then lots and lots of supporting documents and more documents plus a couple more documents. I was fussing about it to Billy. He says, "Is this a military job?" I said, "yup." He said, "well that sounds about right."
So yeah... that's what I've been doing for the past two days. Between the school, the housing office, the transportation office and now the employment office... I've been up to my eyeballs in documents.
But in other news... we have a moving date set for a little over a week away. We are having a Going Away party tomorrow night. I gave the kids a big bunch of invitations to hand out. I'm thinking we're going to have about 50 people. I'm getting really excited about it. I just want to hug a bunch of people!! I even bought a bag of Dog Tags to hand out!! Kinda fun!!

We have been loving having our Billy home. Life just fell right back into place. Even tripping over his big boots in the kitchen makes me smile. I'm sure in about a month, I'll be cussing them like I used to. But for now... it's a bit comforting to see those boots there.
OK... I'm about done with this computer. My eyes are watering. But I've submitted my application for that job... so wish me luck.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The chicken or the egg??

I can hardly believe it's been almost a week since I posted anything. I'm terribly sorry!! But it's been the most incredible week! So much has happened, and yet not really that much has happened. LOL! Kinda hard to explain.

First, I'll let you know how things went for Billy's AIT graduation. It was Thursday morning. It was one of those very small and intimate ceremonies. I don't think there was more than about 20 family members, 40 soldiers, and about 5 important people. Very small. So small, I felt really strange with my big whoppin camera out. But they showed a couple videos. The mother in front of me (whom I like to call King Kong because she was so friggin tall and I had a very hard time seeing around her) cried like a looney toon. It was a very touching little video, but I'd already seen it and obviously wasn't seeing it this time around her big head.... but whatever. Anyway... moving on. They read each of the soldiers' names and they got to walk across a stage and get a "diploma" and their Sgt put their Transportation Pin on their uniform. Oh and by the way... Billy didn't lie. He does look AWESOME in his dress blues. After the ceremony, we had to wait for everyone to get signed out and released. Only took seven and a half hours. Yup. Only.

Friday, we stayed in Virginia and did some sight seeing. Well, if you can call Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2 sight seeing. But we did got to a local beach and had a nice long conversation. It's funny after all these years, we can still talk about things that happened when we first got together that surprise each other. Not sure if I said that right... but it was just good to talk about some stuff. Anyway, Friday night we spent about two hours sorting through all his paperwork and getting things organized. Lots of paperwork! LOTS of paperwork!!

Saturday, we wake up way too early and go to the airport. Flying home was fun. It was wonderful just being together and cracking up about stupid things. I almost didn't get sick on this plane ride. But we get to the airport and our children were there waiting for us with their signs and big grins. It was a nice homecoming! Once we actually got home and unloaded the car, Billy couldn't sit still. He was so used to moving constantly, he didn't even sit down in his recliner until later that night. It was kinda funny.

Sunday, we went to church and got to see a lot of people we hadn't seen in a while. It was super nice. Plus, that evening we ended up going over to his friend's Jonathan's mother's house since Jonathan was in town for the four day weekend. It was really great for Billy and Jonathan to just talk. I sat in between them and got 'tennis match neck' from trying to keep up with their conversation. Geez! And the kids had the best time running around with all the other kids there. It was a very noisy but fun day. Oh and I left my phone at home ALL day and never missed it once. Now that I don't have to worry about missing a call from Billy, I can leave that dastardly device at home!!!

Monday, we did nothing. NOTHING! Well, Billy took a four hour nap in his recliner. I knew it was coming, just took him a couple days to feel at home enough to have his good nap. While he slept, I finally got in William's room and packed up four more boxes of toys and books. I can actually close his toy box. Mission accomplished!!

And that brings us to today. Billy reported in early for his HRAP (hometown recruiting) duties. I went to my weekly prayer group. I am really going to miss those gals! I couldn't hold back the tears when a friend said our group would certainly have a hole once I am gone. But we prayed that my new home would find me another group of Godly women that I can become a part of. And now I'm here at home... trying to figure out which comes first... the chicken or the egg. Or rather the house or the movers. Do I try to get a house first and set up a lease signing date without knowing if the movers will be able to pick up our stuff on time? OR do I try to set up the movers and chance our house being ready?? It's very confusing. But I'll figure it out. Maybe. Too bad the two departments aren't run by the same people. That would make things much easier. Oh wait.. we're talking about the Army. Ain't nothing easy.

By the way... did I mention how terrifically wonderful and marvelous and glorious and awesome and exciting and relaxing and amazing it is to have my husband home?? Love it!!