I'm Back!

My head's spinning a little but I'm here!  We had a wonderful party this weekend with a ton of family and friends but I'll post more about that later. For now, I"ll rewind to about 2 weeks ago. 

Layla turned 2 and it was such a bummer time-wise because we were packing up to leave Alabama so I couldn't do too much to celebrate her birthday. But she's 2 and at 2, sprinkle donuts are pretty much the best thing ever.

And everything had to have candles in them.

Even chicken salad sandwiches (from Chicken Salad Chick, Jenn!).

And there were some presents.

Her reaction was, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Caillou!!" But her favorite present was the one Brady picked out for her: her own LeapPad. He knows her well.

That night we had a last dinner with our flight from SOS. We brought cupcakes and of course we sang again for the 3rd time that day.

And got as much cupcake on our faces as possible.

The hill was open this time so the kids played on that and got themselves nice and dirty. 

The next day Brian had his SOS graduation.  We didn't actually go because they don't allow kids so instead I was busy packing up the car, cleaning the apartment, and checking us out. It's such a treat though seeing him in something other than his green onesie aka flight suit.

Last picture near our apartment!

The car was seriously PACKED.  Thanks for the wonderful smiles, children.

Our other car was stuffed to the brim too. Not sure how or why we have so much crap. Ridiculous.

We started out our drive home (I got the car with the dog, woohoo!) and drove through Alabama one last time. So pretty.

We made it to Tennessee.  We got stuck in some mega oh-my-goodness traffic in Nashville and I used my phone to re-route us and happened to go through Brentwood, TN. Holy mega mansions. Looking it up after the fact I realized that a lot of famous and rich people live there.  Of course I didn't take any pictures though, darn it! We stopped for dinner there and then got back on the road.

We made it to Kentucky

and then I took this beautiful picture at the Illinois border. Wonderful.  We stopped for the night at this brand new hotel near Scott AFB near St. Louis. It was really nice and a welcome break from the car. I of course took no pictures there.

We hit the road bright and early and made it to Missouri (wonderful picture again) and got to see the St. Louis arch as we drove past.

We drove all. the. way. through Missouri. So long. And we stopped at this cool McDonald's with a cool gazebo. Thanks for the nice pose once again, Brady.

We made it to Iowa but I'm pretty sure I was on the phone with my mom so I didn't catch a picture of that.

Still with me? Good. And then we finally made it to Nebraska!! Only like 16 hours in the car in 2 days.  

And home! And it was crazy to see this SOLD! sign in our front yard.  Funny thing is some neighbors moved while we were in Alabama so when we pulled up they thought we were the new people moving in. Pretty sure we confused the heck out of them. "Hi. No we're the original owners. But the new owners are moving in in 5 days. Oh we were just in Alabama for 2 months."  But nevertheless it was good to be home. We didn't have furniture, cable, or internet, but we were home.  It was nice to sleep in our bed again, even if it was only for 6 nights. We tried our best not to break anything or get anything dirty.

We fixed a couple things, mowed the grass,

and played outside a ton, I mean a ton! 

It was like Christmas for these guys being able to play with their bikes and cars.

We also went to the cutest 4 year old party where Brady got reunited with all of his preschool friends. He was in heaven!

We also played at the park with friends (well, mostly snacked, but played too)

And had snow cones too!

We signed all of the papers last Monday to close on the house (although the actual closing wasn't until Friday) and then the movers came Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This was us at our storage unit hanging out while the movers packed it up.  They drove in this car in circles for no less than 3 hours.  The kids were awesome. Those were some loooong days watching movers pack up all of our things, especially the day we sat at the storage unit all day. 

Just hanging out with Teddy and Monkey while they pack all of our things.

Thursday the movers put everything in the truck. Brady kept saying, "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" Right there with you bud, right there with you.  I have to say though, my kids have been absolute troopers through everything. This has not been an easy couple of months stability-wise but my kids have just been rolling with the punches.  We have 3 more weeks of this and I just pray it continues!

And on Friday we closed on our house. We packed up the cars (yet again, sigh), cleaned the house for the last time, and drove away from our first home literally 5 minutes before the final walk through!  Nothing like cutting it close! And now we're in the TLFs (temporary living facilities) at Offutt.  They're not too bad. We have 4 bedrooms and internet, cable, and tons of playgrounds nearby.  Only a couple more days here though and then it's on to a hotel, and then Minnesota for 2 weeks. I'll blog more later about our fun weekend with family and the kids' pirate birthday party! Aaargh!