A Few Things

1. He's Home!!

 If you didn't read my previous post, know that Brian is home! Deployment #4 is done, woohoo! And what homecoming would be complete without some decorations out front to embarrass him?!

The kids have seriously been in heaven having him home

The night he got home we celebrated his birthday (the big 2-8!). Luckily we only missed his birthday by a day and the kids had fun celebrating with him.  And this picture is taken approx 3 seconds before Layla almost ate the candle but instead blew it out with her saliva. Why I thought that was a good idea, I will never know. Mom fail.

His birthday present spread. For a couple of years I've been getting him as many beers for as many years old he is. That's going to get expensive when we're in our 80's.

2. JET LAG SUCKS

 I forget this little tidbit every deployment. I dream up all of the fun things we're going to do as a family and then I'm reminded of the little biotch that jet lag is. Brian had to go into work the next morning (to in process and file paperwork after he got home at 6 the previous night, thank you Air Force) and ended up being gone an entire work day.  And jet lag has not been kind to him.  A couple things about this photo: No, Brian is not dead. Yes, my living room always looks this like thanks to children that make messes like it's their job. And yeah, that's Layla eating (per usual) some bread and Rascal watching her every move.

And not to mention the jet lag, but Brian has come down with some nasty bug. I think he brought back the plague from the desert with him. So we're not in Minnesota yet like we'd planned to be. And it usually never fails that we bring some lovely viruses to Minnesota with us (sorry in advance, family!)   And although he is physically here, he's been mostly doing this. He's going to love that I posted these photos too. Love you babe! :)

3. Christmas lights are pretty neat

Before Brian succumbed to the plague we did get to go to downtown Omaha (well, technically midtown) and see the Miracle on Farnam. 18 businesses in Omaha decorate window displays and compete for the best one.

There's also a giant tree that Brady sang "Jingle Bells' under for about 10 minutes. On repeat.

This was the zoo's display I think. The kids liked it!

4. We saw Santa!

Brady's been terrified of Santa since pretty much day 1. 

Who the heck is this guy?

The picture the year after is so horrible I can't even find it anymore. And last year Brady was so scared we didn't even get near Santa. But this year I signed us up for a breakfast with Santa (because I'm a genius, naturally). Brady's really into the big guy this year and wanted to tell him how much he wanted Thomas stuff for Christmas.  But when we walked in the door there was Brady's number 1 fear: giant blow up characters.

I took this picture from our city's recreation facebook page. Giant blow-up squirrel in the back right corner.

We have had to leave/avoid so many places because Brady is TERRIFIED of these things. I have no clue why but he will scream like he's being murdered if he even sees them. A big thing with Brady that I've been working on with him is being brave (he's my cautious man).  I told him I would never let this giant squirrel get him (or any giant blow-up character for that matter) and that no one else was afraid and that he didn't need to be either. He was bribed by the thought of breakfast so luckily we made it in the door. But Layla had to stop and talk and wave to the giant squirrel. My kids, complete opposites.

Us at breakfast.

Then Santa rolled in and we were just going to have Layla take a picture with him. But Brady was brave and sat on Santa's lap too and told him what he wanted. I was so proud of him!

And Layla wanted nothing to do with him. Like I said, complete opposites.  But the look on Brady's face after he faced his fears was priceless. He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of him too! My big boy!

And last but not least in this random post, a picture of Brady's preschool class. There he is, front and center with his arm around a kid who, because of Brady's hand, is not looking at the camera. I'm sure his mother was thrilled.

We're hoping to make it to Minnesota tomorrow and will be there through Christmas. I'll have some scheduled posts during that time, but I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and for those that are traveling, safe travels! :)