Catching Up

Sorry for the absence! We spent the rest of last week trying to get as much quality family time in possible so the blog basically got neglected. Let me take you through the last few days.  It may be a bit all over the place but here we go:

On Wednesday we celebrated my birthday a week early. One of my favorite places is Noodles and Company (I am fancy, I know) so we made the drive there and had a wonderful family dinner.

It was a beautiful night out too!

Then Brian surprised me with a double fudge cookie dough (my favorite DQ blizzard!) cake.  It was delicious!  And probably super healthy too.

Brady helped me blow out my candles. See how fancy I am? My candles spell my name.

Happy Early Birthday to me! :)

For my birthday I got a new pair of running shoes and OHMYGOODNESS they are amazing. Such a difference to have a good, fitted just for you, running shoes. Now I just need to get my butt back out there and running!

Thursday night we just spent the night together snuggling and enjoying our time together.  We seriously had the best week together before he left.  

That night I saw the ugly green bags by the door, the tan flight suit hung up in the closet, and knew it was going to happen. He really was going to leave.

I did a lot to prepare the kids and wanted them to have something special. I made all 3 (Brian, Brady, and Layla) of them photo albums of us all together.

I made kisses from Daddy jars with approx the number of nights Daddy will be gone.

I made a chain link countdown so we can take a chain off every night. It's wound up on the cabinet, I swear he's gone for longer than 15 days.

And I got them special deployment presents that were from Daddy. I went to the Airmen and Family Readiness Center on base and they gave me these blankets for the kiddos. They're Project Linus blankets made for kids with a deployed parent or guardian among other things.  

I also ordered this book online (for free!) from Military One Source for the kids thanks to the lovely Jenn's suggestion.

And I put a giant picture on the wall of Brian. So if you come to our house, don't get too creeped out. He is always watching though....

And then Friday morning we said goodbye. I'm not going to sugarcoat it..it sucked. It's our 4th deployment and it never gets easier. The goodbye is one of the worst parts for me, probably the worst. I'd had a pit in my stomach for a week knowing that it was coming.  I'm a super sentimental person so even the littlest things can bring me to tears.  Like this song by Maroon 5 I heard on the radio the day before he left.  It's so surreal that as they walk away after saying goodbye that you won't see them for months. 

I snapped this picture on my phone just as we were about to head out the door to drive Daddy on base.  We had to wake the kiddos up and I know Brady knew what we were doing. There were tears all around and it just wasn't fun.

We came home and the kids found Daddy on the wall and seeing their faces light up was just priceless.

They talk to Daddy all of the time, even brushing his teeth and playing ring around the rosy with him.

Here's Layla (and Rascal's tail) getting ready to open her present.

Brady got a "Buzz Buzz" to take care of while Daddy is gone. The crackers were not a present, just a hurry and grab this box before Layla gets the crackers!

Layla got her very own Daddy Doll.

Layla looking at her photo album

And Brady looking at his too

That night our squadron and the other recon flying squadron had a deployed family dinner at Chick-Fil-A. Here's Brady with his best friend Judah. Their Daddy's are on the same crew together and this is our 3rd deployment together!  It almost brought me to tears the amount of young children and babies, some newborns that had to say goodbye to their daddy's that morning.

The weather has been 50 shades of crazy since he's left. Crazy storms, crazy cold, and now today back in the 80's.  

I figured since I don't have Brian's help right now I had best get the kiddos to work right away. Or  basically have them undo the window cleaning I'd already done.

We went to a bounce house where I took more bad photos on my phone.

And we're still doing the potty thing. This time together before baths.  This one is a future blackmail picture for sure.

And we Facetime with Daddy as often as possible.  

Life goes on as normal. I'm determined to not wish the days away while he's gone but to live them to the fullest. The first day was tough but since then it's just back in deployment mode again.  We've been busy doing things with friends, getting out and about, and just doing our normal schedule. I can't thank you all enough for the kind emails, messages, texts, and phone calls from everyone the day Brian left. It really means so, so much to know we're being thought of.  Well that really turned into a marathon post, I apologize! Have a great week everyone! :)