Doing something...

I finally tore myself away from my husband's side to do something other than watch House Hunters. House Hunters is our new favorite show while Biggest Loser isn't on. Anyways, ignore the really ugly picture of me - I woke up this morning with pink eye. So, I had to wear my glasses all day and no make up, that was really hard to do! TJ went to the gym and took the kids with him, so I decided to work on a quilt.

And, the County finally gave our building permits to the builder! We have the beginning plumbing! YEAH! And, for those of you who are concerned, no there are no alligators in the pond. I keep trying to get a picture of all the turtles and fish, but every time I take my camera over there, they aren't there. For some reason that I'm not really aware of, these retention ponds are ALL over Jacksonville. We have one right now in our backyard. You really can't walk more than 10 feet without seeing a retention pond, seriously, they are everywhere. They are actually a good thing, and a coveted spot, because then you have no neighbors in the back of you.

The best Father's Day ever!

As most of you know, TJ left for Maine earlier this month. He completed SERE school on Thursday (if you don't know what that is...google it...) and I didn't think we would be seeing him until the end of next month when we closed on the house. Well....the house is of course delayed. Only our house though, no other house is delayed. Something about building permits being lost by the County or something like that. Anyways, I know there has to be a reason for all of it. One of the reasons is that TJ got to come home! Yep, he flew in yesterday. So, we got to spend Father's Day with him, and it's his 31st b-day today too. It was a pretty sweet day. And, he gets to stay with us for 3 WEEKS!!!!!! Can you see the smile on my face? :) If we had been closing next month, he wouldn't have been able to come home now and again next month. So now he's here for 3 weeks, and he'll be home again at the end of August. YIPPEE!!! He is doing great after SERE, just a few minor issues that should resolve themselves in time. He did eat a rabbit eyeball...raw! EWWW! And he is only at 17% body fat, but we'll get him beefed up in no time!

He requested his favorite, red velvet cake made from scratch...I'll have to share that recipe later.

Single Mom

WHEW! Being a single mom is not for the faint of heart! I am exhausted at the end of every day. All I can do is fall on the couch at the end of the day...I am afraid my little blog is going to be very neglected for the next year, along with any other hobby I have! Being Mommy and Daddy and raising my two babies is all I have time for now. Thank heavens I don't have to work too! Maybe once fall starts and they are both in school I will have some free time. I really, really hope this next year without TJ passes very quickly.

New dress for Brenalee

When we got back from Pensacola, all our accumulated mail was waiting for us. In the stack of mail there was a package from Grandma (my mom). We opened it and found this beautiful dress for Brena inside. Thanks Grandma for the dress and the Magic Treehouse book for Tyer! We are already on Chapter 3. Brena is getting quite spoiled with all the dresses that her Grandmas keep sending her!

I didn't even dress them - Tyler put on a green shirt all on his own to match his sister.

The back

Pensacola Blueberry Pickin'

I feel like I have been in hibernation or something from my blog. I needed to get my mind off the fact that my life is somewhat different now. So, I headed out to Pensacola and stayed with my wonderful friend Kim. We had a great time at the beach, picking blueberries, baking, baking and baking some more! Thanks for a great week Kim!

House update

Our lot finally got cleared today! You can imagine how many times we drive back there hoping to see some progress. Well, finally we got some satisfaction! 2 months to go...

Front of lot.

Back of lot

Tyler got stung by a bee...

Brena taking some pictures

5th day in a row

It has been raining basically non-stop for 5 days now. It's incredible. I love it. We have not been doing anything but lots of snuggling and movie watching. I can't believe T.J. leaves in 10 days. It seems like we are really not doing anything because we just want to spend every single second together.
If anyone doesn't believe that God flooded the earth after 40 days of rain, you should come to Florida and see how much rain there is after 5 days. The kids are starting to go a little stir-crazy. I finally let Brena out yesterday, and what does she do? She jumps in the lake, yep she jumped in. Crazy girl.

12 years!

Happy Anniversary honey! 12 years ago today I was barely 19 and T.J. was 18. We were married on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I can't believe how much I love this guy. I can't believe how much we have been through together. I can't believe the things we have coming up to go through together, but not together (does that make sense?), but I know we will be able to handle it. T.J. will be missing Thanksgiving (probably), Christmas, all birthdays and our 13-year anniversary. Because of the change of plans that have happened in the last few weeks, I have to take a rain check on our trip and I'm trying to be ok with that. But, I'll really be looking forward to it next year! After a year apart, we will really deserve it!!

Wicked

Last night T.J. took me to Wicked. I am so happy that T.J. enjoys going to these plays with me. If you don't know what it is - it's the Broadway musical of what happened in Oz before Dorothy dropped in. It's a story about Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda/Glinda (the good witch). It was SO good. I love going to musicals and we have seen a few. We saw Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, and The Phantom of the Opera all in San Diego. This ranks up there with the all of them. It had some really funny parts too. My favorite part was the ending, but I can't tell you what it is, I don't want to spoil anything for you!

I love the logo for the play.

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week has been crazy. I am the room Mom for Tyler's class and it was Teacher Appreciation week with something going on every day. I finally finished the teacher's quilt and today we gave her the gifts today. I really liked this quilt. I wanted to keep it, but that's how I feel about all my quilts. It measures 70x53. I am a bad quilter - I never named this one.

Sad Day

It's so hard to say good-bye. I think I should be used to it by now, but I'm not. I thought that because I was not moving, no one else should either. I will miss you Kendra! I will always be indebted to you for all you taught me! Good luck in all you do.

Not the best picture of us - but hey, it was early in the morning and you had just gone to bed when I came ringing your door bell! I hope you get to catch up on some sleep.

Belle Dress

I don't know how I am so blessed with such an awesome family. My sweet mother-in-law heard that Brena has been whining for a Belle dress. She has all the other Disney princess dresses - except Belle. So Carol made Brena a Belle dress! It is gorgeous! Needless to say - Brena was in HEAVEN when she opened the package. And Carol didn't want Tyler to feel left out, so she stuck in a toy for Tyler - how sweet is that? Thanks Grandma!!

Hurry Tyler and open it - what's in the package??

Patiently waiting for Daddy to cut the tape.

Green quilt

I haven't been able to sleep well in a week. I am so tired, but the good news is I finished the quilt top for Tyler's teacher. It doesn't have a name yet, poor baby.

Yes, things changed. TJ will be going to Maine and I will go visit with the kids, but we will not be moving to Maine. I was dead set that I was moving to Maine in June and back here next May. But the more we thought about it, we (I - because TJ already knew this) decided it was best for the kids and I to just stay put. I think I mentioned that the base in Maine is being closed down, and the squadrons are all getting moved down here to J'ville. So after TJ's deployment, he will come back here. I have the best church family here, they are awesome and a huge support to me and I didn't want to leave that. Tyler will stay at the same school. I didn't ever want to settle down this early. I wanted to move every 3 or so years. But I guess the economy changed that plan. They shouldn't advertise "Join the NAVY and see the world" anymore!

Foil lining

I don't think there is any silver lining in having your husband gone from you for a year. So I'll call this a foil lining. I have been digging in my heels on this, I still am not 100% sure I wanted to do this, but T.J. was 110% sure and kept wooing me with granite counter tops, wood flooring, 4.5% interest rate, etc. So I took the plunge and did it. The building on our house will begin next month and we will close on it on July 26! I will be doing all the closing by myself. I don't even know when T.J. will see the house. I hope he likes the colors I choose :)




We will have no houses behind us. We are at the very end of the cul-de-sac. I don't think you could ask for more. And oh yeah, it's our first home so we get that $8,000 next year on our taxes. That swayed me a little too. And T.J. talked the NAVY into coming and packing us up and moving us too, which is a huge relief. I'll post more pictures as the house goes up.

Thanks

Thanks guys for all the nice thoughts. I am still very sad, mad, crying, upset... Still wondering why this happened to us, and wondering where that "silver lining" is. It seems like things are getting worse than I originally thought. I don't know what in the world is going on with our lives, but once everything is figured out, I'll let you know.