Chrysler Museum of Art

Today we took a field trip to Norfolk to Chrysler Museum of Art and actually had a good time! I was nervous the whole time we were getting ready expecting that the boys would not get it at all and I'd spend all my time and attention there wrangling them and trying to force them to be cultured. They actually were quiet for the most part and appreciated all the different kinds of art represented there. Go figure! The first picture was Joshua's favorite. It has numbers in it, of course!

This was Jeremiah's favorite because of the toes. I don't know either.

They had a little area for you to try and draw your favorite picture. The boys didn't do so hot on copying, but I'm just fine with their original creations!

Painting Over Problems

Today since we all have clean clothes and no other major things to do, we're working on some minor repair projects. The vent in our bathroom ceiling needed to be replaced so after a round about with an aging "home repair expert" at Home Depot about how I measured the complete wrong part of the vent to find the right fit and me figuring out the right one on my own, we arrived home.
The vent needed to be replaced because it was rusting. As I was standing on our vanity with my head scrunched against the ceiling trying to remove the old vent, I realized (much to my chagrin) that not only had this vent been painted before, but they didn't skip the screws. The paint was so thick, in fact, that there was a hard dried drip coming off one of them. So with my handy screwdriver, I chipped away at the old paint trying to clear out the flat part of the screw so I could take it down. It dawned on me while I worked on this that this is much how we all face life too often. We paint over problems that should probably be repaired. Instead of quitting smoking we buy a smoking jacket and strong gum. Instead of working through marital issues that need to be address we just stop talking. As long as everything appears okay from the outside, it doesn't matter what rust lies beneath. Problem is that rust comes out anyway.
One of the previous owners of this house went as far as to repaint that rusted vent teal! There were at least two coats of white over that (probably necessary to cover the teal) and yet the rust still ate through. So instead of doing a surface job and trying to paint over it again, I took the time and extra energy to go buy a new one. Just struck me that I need to be more intentional about life and make sure that the decisions I'm making are more about what will last then about what my life looks like to other people.

A New Book

Had a couple books I put on hold come in at our local library. Wanted to share something from this book that I read over and over. I can't seem to put it down. The similarity of experience and an overwhelming relief that I'm not crazy after all wrapped up in one book.

"It happens to military spouses at different times, but eventually everyone wears her new reality--the reality of being a lone and afraid--like a cast. And as with a broken limb, you learn to function in spite of the crippling sense that you're just barely hanging on. It's only later that you look back and say, 'How on earth did I get through that?'"

Jeremiah

Just a picture I liked of Jeremiah that I took today with my phone. We got free donuts at Krispy Kreme. The boys were so excited! It was definitely a treat.

Introducing Sun and White

Today we welcomed a couple new beings into our home to take care of. We'd like to introduce to you Sun and White. They are our new fish. Sun is the gray one and White the red one. I know. In my defense, I didn't name them. The irony is almost overwhelming, isn't it? These are the fish they picked out to be their first official pets. Hopefully we can keep them alive a while! Joshua picked his because it's eyes look like they glow and Jeremiah liked the color of his. At first I was pretty certain his name was going to be Mine, but then suddenly Jeremiah changed his mind. It's interesting watching these two little boys grow up and develop their own personalities. Where do they get these things?
Tonight Joshua informed me that he needed to go to the bathroom everyday because at our old church he didn't chew his gum. He ate it and Miss Dawn told him he had to go potty everyday. I have no idea what brought that up or where it came from, but it's good to know, I guess. Hope that adds the same level of weirdness to your day as it has to mine!

Not So Good At This

There was a time a long while ago when I thought I kinda had this Navy wife thing down. That time has come to a crashing stop. We're just one week into three weeks apart. The last few days have been hard, hard and hard. We've done separation before- a lot of it, actually. Our entire engagement was spent on separate coasts of this country. We went through a 6 month deployment, many "underways" and an international missions trip during that time. Talk about stressful! We moved to another country and Phil still left, sometimes for weeks at a time, which left me in a foreign country with a newborn who cried... a lot! Then we moved to the coldest place I have ever known where his schedule changed on a whim. Somehow this time it is different yet again. Nowdays the time we're required to spend apart doesn't feel quite so romantic. It's hard on me, losing my one best friend and having to take the healm for our household, hard on Phil who now has to balance a full and very draining schedule with communication back home, and probably hardest on the boys. They have no idea why Daddy has to be away for so long and probably won't understand it until they're much older. They act out and get frustrated easily. They talk about him all the time and probably miss him much more then they say. It's been a hard week on all of us. Phil has had to spend a lot of time outside in this cold weather, even spending the night outside one night. He's not feeling well and has a whole week ahead of him still. I think the boys have a bit of cabin fever since we've been inside more with it being so cold outside and are taking it out on me, of course. Hopefully this week will bring about some warmer weather and some more peace in our little family.

This Week's Cake

I was hired to make a baby shower cake for this weekend. I just finished it! It's not perfect, but I like it. It's been a several day project and I'm still going to reposition a few things, but this is the gist of it, for the most part. The zebra is definitely my favorite of this grouping. I guess I will continue to bore you with my cake creations after all. I just end up so darn proud of them after spending so many hours on each one.
Just a side note for those interested: those palm trees took me hours to do. I did the texture along the trunk by actually layering pieces of gumpaste. I think next time I'll take an easier route!

Pizza Night

Last night, spurred on by a good idea from my sister-in-law, we decided to make pizzas together. The boys had a blast! I'd like to point out Joshua's idea of cheese moderation...I took a small handful of cheese off of both before they hit the oven, and they still came out like this! These boys would eat cheese for dinner by itself if I let them!

Josh: Santa's Breakfast

This morning Joshua decided he wanted cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Since I was not going to do that, we compromised on pancakes. When getting his all fixed up our conversation went like so:
Josh: "What do you think Santa eats at breakfast?"
Mommy: "Huh. I don't know. What do you think?"
Jeremiah: "Cancake."
Josh: "Um... fried chicken and broccoli and broccoli and syrup in long pieces."
Really? What??? We don't even really eat fried chicken, let alone talk about it, so where did this come from? It's going to be a weird one today...

A Weekend with Daddy

Phil was able to make it home this weekend. It was well worth the 8 extra hours of travel for just the boys alone! Jeremiah has been having a hard time with Daddy leaving this time. Phil will be working the next couple of weekends so we won't be able to see him for a few weeks.
In the mean time, the boys had a lot of fun playing and wrestling. I do this with them too, but obviously I'm not as much fun as Daddy!

This last week I was able to get the boys bathroom fixed up some and the wet bar changed a little. This time I have a whole list of things I can work on as well. Hopefully that will make the time pass more quickly.

This coming and going definitely has it's downsides, but it does make us value our time together that much more. Now to start the new countdown!

This is what I really needed today. I'm one chapter away from finishing the 2nd military wife book that Phil got me for mother's day last year. It has been a very helpful book with advice and ideas on how to still get the life you want even when dealing with the unique lifestyle of the military family. Part of it has been discouraging, though. It has made me remember all at one time the frequent moves, the unique places we get stationed, the distance from family, the fact that Phil cannot be at my beckon call when he's also committed to the Navy and so much more.
All these things can be see as positives, trust me. I love trying out new places and learning new cultures. Moving every few years gives me a chance to start over again when a lot of people never leave the town they were born into and have a much more difficult time if they decide to reinvent themselves. Still, even with all this positive thinking, being so fresh off a PCS move, there are a lot of negatives. I have to find a core group of friends for myself all over again every time. Emailing old friends helps, but can only do so much. I have to find people I trust to watch our boys every now and then so I don't lose my mind. I have to re-figure the balance of my entire life with every new job Phil takes on. It's a lot of work.
Phil will be home to visit this weekend, only to have to return to school for several more weeks with no weekends home afterward. I am so grateful for this visit, don't get me wrong. I have just been frustrated lately with how much work this lifestyle requires on my part. I'm okay when that. I knew that going in, but seeing things like this movie trailer help me remember that there is a reason we live this way and that deep down people do appreciate it (even if they do scowl when I'm in the checkout stand with a 5 year old who won't keep his hands to himself and a 2 year old who wants to be everywhere else but the shopping cart.)

The Latest Cake

I know, I know... no more cake! But still... I haven't gotten to do this in a while! I made this for Tyler's birthday a couple weeks ago and just got the pictures from it. Had a great time making this and the kids all seemed to like it. Kinda hard to go wrong with buttercream and Kindergartners, though!

I Can't Make This Stuff Up

This morning I noticed Josh was now too tall for this particular pair of jeans so I said to him, "Josh you are getting so big! What are we going to do with you??"
He smiles and replies, "Um... just hug me and kiss me."

Worse Before It's Better?

Within the first 24 hours of Phil being gone the boys and I finished our wallpaper project in their bathroom. They both helped a lot, actually!
With how this bathroom looks now (think cheap, yucky hotel) as it waits for the next steps in it's transformation, I decided to put off taking down the wallpaper in the master bath. I couldn't handle the thought of not having any nice looking bathroom to shower in. For now the wallpaper is off in it's entirety and it's good enough for the boys to bathe in. We're waiting to be able to replace the vanity, redo the floors and paint. Maybe I'll paint soon. We'll have to see if I can find our painting tape!
So that's us lately. The days seem to be passing very slowly. I need to be more grateful for this slow time of life. 6 months ago I would have really appreciated having this kind of time with the boys. I'm sure given enough time our schedule will be full and bustling again.

Gone Again

It's 2:30 and the boys are just now having lunch. We dropped Phil off at noon and have been piddling around doing a whole lot of nothing but procrastinating going home. There's something about coming home and seeing his bags missing in the living room, the medicine cabinet empty on his part, mostly empty drawers where clothes used to be that is so sad. We hear rumor we might get to see him this weekend, or it might not be until the next, but it will be soon. Theoretically I should be good at all this goodbye stuff with how much practice we've gotten over the years. Maybe we are better at this then other people who don't have to go through it regularly; I don't know. All I know is today is sad and we're trying to make the best of it. Some of the piddling we did was getting supplies so I can start working on tearing down the wallpaper in our bathrooms. I've got a list of things to do to keep me busy (which I find to be the best weapon against depression) and a couple of things on the calendar to go to. I'm still adjusting to this whole in and out thing, so please be praying for all of us. Jeremiah broke down in Lowe's today. I thought it was that he didn't want to be in the cart, just to have him say, "Daddy...". How do you console that? With a hug and a shared tear was the best I could come up with. Time for the boys to try and take a nap and for me to start working on the bathroom. Do me a favor and hug your hubby for me today!