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."
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
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!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
What A Year!
What a year this has been!!
January
Nicole starts taking cake decorating classes
The Pickle Family blog is introduced to the world (yeah, I know. Monumental, right??)
Phil spends a week in Virginia trying for a job at a small boat unit
February
We take orders to an HSV ship and are certain that's where we'll be heading in June
Josh turns 4 and starts writing letters all on his own
March
Nicole’s Mom and Dad visit. Phil has to get stitches from slicing open his hand
New drywall on the basement ceiling, new kitchen faucet, rip out carpet in living room
April
Josh starts soccer for the first time
We pay to have the hardwood refinished downstairs
We buy the supplies to start the siding on the garage
Phil breaks his foot playing basketball (the same day as we were doing the one above)
Nicole completes all 4 Wilton decorating classes
Find out our orders to the ship have been canceled and we’re back to square 1
Josh starts reading (before he's even 4 1/2)
May
Accept orders to Riverine Squadron 1... With much fear and trepidation!
Siding project officially starts
Jeremiah says his first word: cake! (yeah, that's my fault)
June
Phil gets his cast off- finally!
Dryer breaks and has to be replaced
Josh’s first soccer season wraps up
We finally get around to replacing the refrigerator that has leaked now for 2 years
July
Phil’s Aunt Verna comes for a visit
Nicole teaches her first Wilton course
August
Phil starts two college classes
We finally list the house for sale
Nicole makes her first wedding cake
September
Jeremiah's big birthday party
Trip to California complete with a few days in Disneyland (where Jeremiah turns 2)
Get news of an offer on the house while we’re in the park and eventually accept
Have friends come spend days helping put up the siding and remove an old oil tank
Close on selling the house on the 30th
October
Phil leaves just a couple days into this month for school in Mississippi
Halfway through the month the movers come and pack up everything over 4 days
Nicole’s mom flies out and we make a week-long road trip from Chicago to Virginia Beach
Nicole and the boys stay with friends Jim and Cheryl
A whirlwind of house hunting for Nicole and the boys
Phil graduates from his first school
Spend Halloween trick-or-treating with friends
November
Phil arrives in Virginia Beach
Spend this month between a couple of friends’ houses
Close on the house on the 21st
Move in and celebrate Thanksgiving in our new home
December
Set up the new house
Gratefully celebrate the holidays together
Overall, we have so much be to grateful for this year! Circumstances beyond our control changed so many times it was hard to know what to do, but fortunately Someone else was looking out for us, and everything worked out better then we could have ever planned for!
When Phil tried out for that small boats job in January, he was so disappointed when he didn't get it. Now looking back, he's so glad he didn't! He would not have even known about this job with the Riverines he had.
We weren't going to accept the offer on the house at first, assuming Phil would be in schools for months so we wouldn't be able to be together anyway. Long after we closed on the house, we found out there would be a large gap between his schools, so we'd be able to spend the holidays together since the boys and I were already in Virginia Beach (which wouldn't have been possible if we were still waiting for the house to close).
So with all that said, Happy New Year this year! May God be as present in your life this year as He was in ours in 2008.
January
Nicole starts taking cake decorating classes
The Pickle Family blog is introduced to the world (yeah, I know. Monumental, right??)
Phil spends a week in Virginia trying for a job at a small boat unit
February
We take orders to an HSV ship and are certain that's where we'll be heading in June
Josh turns 4 and starts writing letters all on his own
March
Nicole’s Mom and Dad visit. Phil has to get stitches from slicing open his hand
New drywall on the basement ceiling, new kitchen faucet, rip out carpet in living room
April
Josh starts soccer for the first time
We pay to have the hardwood refinished downstairs
We buy the supplies to start the siding on the garage
Phil breaks his foot playing basketball (the same day as we were doing the one above)
Nicole completes all 4 Wilton decorating classes
Find out our orders to the ship have been canceled and we’re back to square 1
Josh starts reading (before he's even 4 1/2)
May
Accept orders to Riverine Squadron 1... With much fear and trepidation!
Siding project officially starts
Jeremiah says his first word: cake! (yeah, that's my fault)
June
Phil gets his cast off- finally!
Dryer breaks and has to be replaced
Josh’s first soccer season wraps up
We finally get around to replacing the refrigerator that has leaked now for 2 years
July
Phil’s Aunt Verna comes for a visit
Nicole teaches her first Wilton course
August
Phil starts two college classes
We finally list the house for sale
Nicole makes her first wedding cake
September
Jeremiah's big birthday party
Trip to California complete with a few days in Disneyland (where Jeremiah turns 2)
Get news of an offer on the house while we’re in the park and eventually accept
Have friends come spend days helping put up the siding and remove an old oil tank
Close on selling the house on the 30th
October
Phil leaves just a couple days into this month for school in Mississippi
Halfway through the month the movers come and pack up everything over 4 days
Nicole’s mom flies out and we make a week-long road trip from Chicago to Virginia Beach
Nicole and the boys stay with friends Jim and Cheryl
A whirlwind of house hunting for Nicole and the boys
Phil graduates from his first school
Spend Halloween trick-or-treating with friends
November
Phil arrives in Virginia Beach
Spend this month between a couple of friends’ houses
Close on the house on the 21st
Move in and celebrate Thanksgiving in our new home
December
Set up the new house
Gratefully celebrate the holidays together
Overall, we have so much be to grateful for this year! Circumstances beyond our control changed so many times it was hard to know what to do, but fortunately Someone else was looking out for us, and everything worked out better then we could have ever planned for!
When Phil tried out for that small boats job in January, he was so disappointed when he didn't get it. Now looking back, he's so glad he didn't! He would not have even known about this job with the Riverines he had.
We weren't going to accept the offer on the house at first, assuming Phil would be in schools for months so we wouldn't be able to be together anyway. Long after we closed on the house, we found out there would be a large gap between his schools, so we'd be able to spend the holidays together since the boys and I were already in Virginia Beach (which wouldn't have been possible if we were still waiting for the house to close).
So with all that said, Happy New Year this year! May God be as present in your life this year as He was in ours in 2008.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Getting Ready to Leave Again
The Christmas decorations aren't even down yet and Phil is packing up to leave. We do have a few days left and are trying to make the most of them. Hope everyone has a great New Years tomorrow!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas!
This was a good Christmas for us. No money coming out our ears, but enough to get us by. The boys got more then they could have ever wanted and Phil and I got a few fun things as well. We were able to find a church with a candlelight service last night and were even visited by Santa while we were sleeping (he must have received our forwarding address notice).
Even with all of that, this time of year tends to make me homesick. I lived 21 years of my life in the same house, following the same traditions and then I went crazy enough for a guy to follow him all over the world. I've found that my homesick-ness now is not just limited to northern California, where I'm from, but also includes all the places we've lived. I miss driving through downtown Gaeta and seeing the Auguri sign lit up above the street. I miss massive fireworks all around the Gulf of Gaeta on New Years at midnight. This year I really miss snow and really cold weather that makes you want to stay inside and cuddle up on the couch with cocoa and a good movie (in some cases even a bad one will work). I miss the smell of our old house and the friends we left behind. I miss all those things just as much as I miss the high school Christmas concert where all alumni are invited to join in the Hallelujah Chorus or how the air feels through my open window on the way to Grandma's house on Christmas morning. When I agreed to this life I didn't realize I was agreeing to a life full of missing. We've tried to learn how to "miss" well by staying in touch a reminiscing, but this time of year seems to bring to the front of my mind all of those things all over again.
And yet here we've started yet another chapter of our life together. Each chapter has had a bit of a rough start unique to the circumstances surrounding it but we're getting through the adjustments and all the missing just fine. I'm sure someday we'll be missing this place just as much as the others. In the mean time, we wanted to let all of our loved ones from all the different places in our life know that we miss you terribly and hope you had a really great Christmas this year.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
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