Life as I know it...

I'm just trying to endure these long passing weeks without my husband. (2 more weeks to go!) It's harder than I thought it would be without having family all around us. It makes me worried for our future of (gulp) a possible deployment....yes, it is always possible joining the military! Our three little beauties are my life and blessings.

I caught a rare but encouraging moment of the two boys playing together.

Tub time: I do it assembly line style.

This little guy ALWAYS finds a stick to hold while he is outside. Have I mentioned how much he loves being outside? If the door is open, he has figured out how to escape by opening the screen door.

We had some trees in our yard cut down due to damage from previous wind storms. The kids have loved playing in the extra saw dust and using the stumps as drums. Who needs "Rock Band?"

Our kids love playing with our next door neighbors, the Whitings. They have 3 girls about the same ages as our kids. Our kids think they have to play with each other every-waking- free-minute! It's good to have them outdoors as much as we can before the cold hits. Our next door neighbors have a way cooler play set than us. Here Jordan is getting daring these days!

I met him down at the bottom.
"Hi, Mom!"

We set up a swing that was just sitting in storage on their playset. So that's it for now...

Back

Well we said our goodbyes to Utah and we are now back in Michigan. I feel like I've been leading a double-life. It's weird to come back home after being gone for so long. It was no welcome home though, as we are still missing Tyler! We worked it out for him to stop in for 2 days this weekend before heading off to Texas for another 4 weeks. We can't wait!

There has been plenty to do around the house to make it livable again. The spiders have seemed to have made a web around my entire house! This new place for us has more of the country feel, which also brings more bugs. I had unpacked the basics before we left, but now I can't remember where I put things. Plus, I have several more boxes still looking at me. We stepped off the plane to chilly weather! So amidst unpacking the suitcases of summer clothes came out all the fall clothes. And so this is the life of a mother.... always staying busy!

Makenzie had her first day of kindergarten today. We've been talking about this day for a very long time. She picked out her outfit and told me how to do her hair. Her elementary is just around the corner, but the bus picks her up because there are no sidewalks. I think it is quite funny, but I'll take it for her safety (and for the convenience of not having to walk her to school everyday.) Kindergarten is all day for her from 8am-3pm.

Jordan cried as we let her go. I have become his new playmate. He wanted me to play with him all day. It will be interesting to see how the sibling role changes with Makenzie gone all day and Gavin becoming more playable. It was a celebration when she got home for Jordan. He was so excited to see "My Kenzie!!!" I didn't get much out of her about her day. I asked about 100 questions though. Her favorite part of the day-- riding the bus.

The last of summer

I wanted to post some pictures from earlier this summer that my friend took and posted on her blog. These pictures were from a BBQ we had at our new place over the 4th of July weekend.

Tyler at the grill with his classmate and friend, Nick Burnham.

Gavin flirting with the camera.

He is becoming quite the mama's boy!

All the girls playing in their "clubhouse."

Leire (in red) was our neighbor's foreign exchange student for the summer from Spain.

Cute Nashelle ready to have her 3rd little girl.

She delivered Caprice a week after this picture was taken.

Playing on the swingset!

So I left for Utah in July and Tyler stayed for another week to study and take his board exams. The evening after he left, there was a storm that rolled in which included some strong microburst winds. Our poor yard got a beating. Thanks to the Whitings for watching out for us and helping with everything while we were away.

A lot of tree branches fell and took down some power and phone lines.

There isn't much left of the tree.

It all needs to come down now.

The bigger picture.

We have a big play set with swings hiding under there.

Just a couple houses down from us.