Updates!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! Trying to wrap my head around all that is going on.  I feel it best to update you all in bullet form. :)

• We made a decision about SOS (Alabama). We decided that we're just going to pack up and go with! We're treating it as a 2 month vacation. In a 2 bedroom apartment, but hey, it's furnished! :)  Good news is that we're close to the ocean, we have other friends that are going, the weather will be nice, and we'll all be together!
• On the home front...we've decided to go ahead and try and sell it. It's been a little of a madhouse. The day after we reached that decision we had a stager come look at the property, painters come give us estimates, and had meetings with our realtor and a property manager just in case we can't sell it. We're hoping that with us being gone (along with a lot of our stuff) that with nice furniture, a clean house, and it being a good time to put the house on the market, that we will get a good offer.  We'll see! We have a lot of work ahead of us to list it in the next 3 weeks. Everyone's optimistic so I'm trying to be as well! :)
• We're all feeling better now stomach-wise. We passed it on to Gramma and Grampa though and they're in Minnesota trying to dig out of the snow while not feeling well. I'm sorry!!  We mainly all have our appetites back and are trying to get out and about since the weather has been nicer lately.

This was the zoo on Tuesday where it was 65 degrees out with a touch of crabby children.

I take really lovely pictures with my phone, don't I?

We had a baby sprinkle for a friend here that is almost due with her second child. We never got a group shot but of course I got a picture of the cake!

And we went to an indoor playground which is actually a business trying to sell their playsets but open it up during the winter as a playdate place...genius!  

• We're headed to Arizona tomorrow to go visit Brian's grandparents in Tucson. To say I'm nervous about the flights is an understatement but we are so excited to get to some warmer weather and go see the sights with Grandma and Grandpa Ross!

I'm off to go do more laundry, packing, chores around the house, and hopefully catch up on my blog reading! Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Our Weekend: Stress, Vomit, and Gramma and Grampa!

This weekend, ohh this weekend (shudder).  It started off innocently enough.

Thursday night we went to one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate our dating anniversary and V-Day. We had a great time out together and laughed like we haven't in years!

However, that night we found out that Brian is now going to training in Alabama for 2 months in March. Yeah, in like 4 weeks. Not like this spring was going to be crazy enough already! Which means I either stay here, try and show the house on my own, have the kids be separated from their Daddy again (and on their birthdays) or we go with for 2 months, stay in a small apartment but all get to be together. Not an easy decision to make.  And after that (like 3 weeks later) we move to Colorado. Stressful much?

Friday morning we went to a Valentine's Day playdate at a friends house. My children chose the date corner for their lunch.

Here's a group picture of all of the kids

The poor little boy in the green was cracking us all up with his silent "I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE A PICTURE" cries!

Friday night we watched our friends kids while they went on a Valentine's date (they watched our kids the night before).  And Layla was OBSESSED with the real live baby she got to play with. She kept saying "Baby, drink your milk, baby!"

Brady was pretty smitten too!

And then Layla had her very own Valentine's date on the couch.

They sat side by side giggling eating snacks together. Daddy was not pleased! :)

Friday night Layla woke up in the middle of the night and proceeded to throw up all night. We got about 2 hours of sleep (if that) so needless to say Saturday we were a little groggy. But Gramma and Grampa came into town and Layla, although not feeling well, enjoyed snuggles.

Saturday we met with our realtor, crunched numbers as to how much it'd cost us to sell this house and let's just say the numbers were a little higher than we wanted to hear. So now we make the decision if we rent this house out or hope for the best, sell the house now, and cut our losses.  

And then I got the sickness. Blah. Saturday and Sunday were horrible, horrible days. Brady got it Sunday night and was up a lot of the night too.

Brady and Layla with Gramma. I wish I could say I had more pictures from this weekend but umm I spent the majority of the weekend in bed, throwing up, or taking care of someone else throwing up.  It was a rough weekend and I hate that their visit was spoiled.

But for those feeling up to it, there was cake.

Cake?! I'm not sick, I can have cake!

So what was supposed to be a fun-filled, productive weekend turned into anything but that!  Luckily Brian had a 3 day weekend and we can take another day to rest and recuperate.  So now the pressure is on to get things done in the house, make a decision about Alabama, make a decision about the house, and get prepared for our trip to Arizona this weekend. So if you can spare a couple prayers for my sanity, it'd be greatly appreciated!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Love, 

Brady & Layla

13 Years, A Valentine's Party, Sweetheart Swap, and More!

First things first, Brian is home!! He made it back from his busy relay (only 7 hours later than we expected besides being 4 days late) and I'm happy to report that all is good on the home front.

I mean, for the most part. The kids still like to test me daily but that's a whole 'nother post!

Today is also our 13th dating anniversary. This is us back in 9th grade going to our 9th grade formal. We were just babies! We're going out tonight on a nice little date to celebrate 13 years together and V-Day and hopefully beat the crowds. I love you, Brian!! :)

Today Brady also had his Valentine's Day party at preschool. Nice smiling faces, optional.

Brady couldn't choose so we had Applesauce Valentines

and Cars ones too with suckers. Because of course.

This is what Layla thinks of all this Valentine's business

I was in charge of snack for the 16 cutest preschoolers you've ever seen so I made some Valentine's fruit pizzas.

Here's Brady seeing us after his recess time. He didn't know Brian was coming so he was really surprised!

Snack time!

Thumbs up and deer in headlights eyes. Why must you embarrass me, Mom in front of all of my friends?!

With Daddy at the party today I've never seen this little boy happier. He just kept meeting our eyes and looking back and forth at us with the biggest smile.

Playing some fun Valentine's games

Bingo!

Fishing for Valentine's

I told Brady to smile nicely for a picture with Daddy and this is what I got

Much better! :)  When we walked out to the car he said, "Daddy, thank you so much for coming to my preschool party. I love you soo much!" Melt. My. Heart.

In other news, I participated in a fun blogging swap that Kristin and Meg put together. I was paired up with Maria from Little Miss Cornucopia.  We both sent our packages to each other 2 weeks ago, but sadly it must take longer than 2 weeks to send things back and forth from Nebraska to Canada since neither one of us has gotten our packages yet!  So I will post next week what goodies I receive. I love doing these swaps because it's fun to get to know another blogger and shop for and receive fun goodies!

We also met with a realtor this week and are getting ready to put our house on the market. YIKES!!  We still have a lot to do before we do that but it's crazy to think we actually are moving! I am soo sooo sooooo not looking forward to having to show the house, especially with 2 youngins who love to make messes. If you have any tips on selling your house with children and a dog, I'd love to hear them!

Hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day!! :)

The Future of Hollywood

Ok, not really, but my kids love to dance and sing so I thought I'd share a video or two of them doing what they love to do best. Cue the "not more pictures/videos of her children" groan.

Watch out Beyonce! This girl doesn't get distracted by her crabby brother while she's shakin it.

And watch out Frank Sinatra! This is Brady's favorite song right now and he sings it pretty much constantly. His favorite place to do it is Target and all of the older ladies think it's hilarious that he's singing Fly Me to the Moon so I thought I needed to catch it on video. And there's Layla video-bombing him from the couch too so don't miss that. Nothing but good times here! ;)

Happy Tuesday! :)

A Long, Long Week

Ever have one of those weeks? Well for whatever reason my number was up this week. And I'm not proud of the way I responded.

This week I lost my patience. With my kids. The dog. And the Air Force.

This week I yelled. At my kids. At the dog. I yelled.

This week I hid in my room more times than I want to count. Not because we were playing a game but because I needed a minute to myself without someone needing something, whining, or crying in my ear.

This week I cried. Not only by myself but in front of my children, but over Skype with my poor husband who wants nothing more than to be home.

I wasn't my best self and for that I'm not proud of.

See, although I like to keep things lighthearted on here I am at the point where I can admit when I was wrong, when I didn't do my best.

This week Brian was gone. He's only gone for a week but things were a little crazy. Layla was sick.  I pulled something in my back and was barely mobile for a couple of days. We had a snow day and were trapped inside. We were extra, extra crabby for some reason and were testing my patience at every hour, every minute of every day this week. I kept telling myself just make it through the next couple days and then he'll be home.

And then his jet broke down (of course) and he gets "stuck" in Greece. And sends me a picture of his surroundings.

This was his view. Rough.

And this was my view. Not sure what's worse. Layla crying her head off or Caillou on tv.

And then the jet gets fixed but they have to stay in England a couple extra days. So he gets to go sight-seeing in Scotland. To which I couldn't help but think that I sure get the short end of this stick.   

Or maybe not. I mean, what's more fun than cleaning up spilled milk? 

Sometimes I have to take a step back and cut myself some slack. Military life is hard. Life with small children isn't always easy. I solo parent more than I wish to. We're away from family and this life is stressful. 

I got a break today for an hour to get some errands run and I had some time to reflect, regroup, and refresh.  Not all weeks can be perfect and although I didn't act the way I should have this week, I know that tomorrow is a new day, the start of a new week, and I can and will do better. 

Because these sweet angels,

(most of the time)

They deserve it.