6 Links of Time Gone By

6 links have been cut from our chain.  

6 Ice Cream breakfasts have been consumed.

 

 6 whole weeks of time has passed and it's been a pretty crazy start.  

The bright side of crazy? The time is flying by!! Currently, Sunday, October 14, the board says 229 more days until Daddy comes home.  That means he's been gone for 47 days.....not that any of us are counting :-( We miss John but life is settling into a nice routine and the girls and I are doing great!  I decided to skim over my facebook page to remind me of the last six weeks....I will fill you in so hang on and here we go!!

     After we came home from Charlotte's house we were treated to a rare Saturday rain storm here in El Paso! The best part of that day was what we filled it with: board games, yummy treats and making forts.  The sisters had a great day together and I was blessed as a mommy!  

      That same week, I had the pleasure of watching Emma receive Student of the Month for September at her school!! I'm so proud of her - I know I took a picture but I can't find it anywhere ( a hazard of deployments...I misplace everything!! ) It was amazing to think that this precious   child of God so beautifully handled her first month of school - real homework, a new schedule, adjusting to John being away - so much so that she was named student of the month! God's work in her life and heart are so evident these past few weeks.  She jumps to help and serve me any chance she can.  She treats her sisters so lovingly.  She prays for her Daddy each night - she is pure joy to my heart!

     Another rare occurrence.....

I went out for a night of Kid free fun with my friends!!!  My neighbor and amazing friend Anne is from Germany and convinced me to purchase my very first dirndl for Oktoberfest this year!!  We had a blast, enjoyed some great food, great beer, the very best company and too many giggles to count!!  Here's a picture of us!!

     God's given us so many cute little laughable moments last month - I'm going to share one about Em.  We won an ipod touch last year and John gave it to her for her games and things.  With the upgraded iOS 5 you can now do iMessage, so I decided to give Emma a go at texting a small group of family and friends....The following is a snap shot of a text between my cousin and Emma...the picture made my cousin Serena and I laugh for days!! Pay careful attention to the emoticons Emma chose LOL! We had to have a little chat about that.... live and learn!! As Serena said at least the church made it in to the mix!! 

    Of course it wouldn't be a deployment without a major health issue and a trip to the E.R. Both Jana and Lily got the Flu - the BAD kind.  The sick-for-9-days-with-high-fevers-aches-fatigue-lay- on-the-couch-making-Mommy-worried kind.  It landed Jana is the ER with croup.  I'm so grateful for my Army family who stepped right in to help me.  Shelby watched the big girls and Anne did my grocery shopping. God has us well cared for - we give Him all the praise!!  We got well and then the month raced on!!

    Lily and I are working on "Lily School" a few days a week.  This is very simply teaching her to read and write as well as work on basic math and fun crafts!  We do this when Jana goes to bed and its one of the best parts of my day. My little Lily LOVES to learn and makes it so much fun! We do lots of giggling and there is lots of chocolate eaten!! She is on lesson 20 and can read and sound out most any 3 letter word!  She also enjoying her Pre-level 1 Gymnastics class that meets twice a week!  She is doing great, working on balance beam, vault jumps, bar flips and conditioning - she's an amazing little athlete and sometime soon, I will dedicate a whole blog JUST to this! Of course she's still dancing too - she's a shining little light of creativity and joy!!

    The girls and I are trying hard to do a few fun things to make time pass.  We had a BLAST going to see Finding Nemo in 3D on the big screen as well as Disney on Ice Dare to Dream at the El Paso County Colosseum two weeks ago.  We were certainly missing our Handsome Prince Daddy. 

     The best part about being a stay at home mom is being able to go with Emma on her class trips! This was the hottest trip to a pumpkin patch/corn maze I've ever been on - it was 95! But we had so much fun! Em is in the middle of this picture - she has a rainbow of awesome friends!

   

 Pop Pop rounded off our 6 link period of time....but he deserves his own blog don't you think?

Thanks for allowing me the indulgence of a newsy blog - we love sharing our lives with you!!

God is so good!!