He's BAAAAAAAACK!!

We are so happy to have Ben back home! He got home on Saturday afternoon--on time even! The kids are so excited to have him home and they've been with him every possible moment since he arrived. They both asked several times when he would be home from work today!

Life isn't the same when he's gone,
and while we're proud to be a military family, and proud of what he does for our country, I can't help wishing he didn't have to go away to do it. He'll be leaving again in a few months, but for the moment, we will just enjoy the time with him. Welcome Home Daddy!

My Two Boys

It is just too cute to see Eli and Sammy in the bath together. It makes us realize how big Eli is getting, and how fast time is passing. It seems like it was just yesterday when Eli was that small and in the bathtub all by himself!

Makes me think about making every moment count, because before I know it my little babies will be all grown up and all I'll have are the memories.

"Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” (Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11)" --Quoted by Elder M. Russell Ballard

Sammy's First Experience with Grass

The other day I was outside and I had to lay Sammy down for a minute. I thought he would be scared of the grass, but he seemed to really like it! The pictures speak for themselves:

One of Those Moments

This afternoon I had one of those moments with Eli; one of those times when you're just go grateful to have this child, and you can see so much potential in them, and you can tell that they're just going to grow up to be a great person.

A good friend kept the kids this morning while I got some things done to prepare for Ben's homecoming tomorrow. When the kids got home, around 1 pm, they were both tired and cranky, especially Carli. I had cleaned under the couch cushions and found a little blue car that both the kids really like. Eli picked it up and started to play with it and Carli had a FIT! Screaming and crying, asking Eli to give her the car. I was trying to mediate, when to my utter shock and surprise, Eli says to Carli, "I'll give you the car, because I want to be nice to you." I was so proud of him, and I told him so. Carli said thank you, and I could see that Eli was starting to cry. Thinking that it was one of those moments when the child shares, but then still has a fit about it, I braced myself for him to take the car back or something. I asked him, "What's wrong, Eli? Why are you crying?" He turned his face to me, his eyes brimming with tears and said, "Because I just love you guys so much," with all the sincerity his five-year-old soul could muster. I, of course, started to cry as well, and he came flying into my arms and gave me a long, tight hug. Through my tears, I explained to him that sometimes you just feel your heart fill up with so much love that you have to cry to let some of it out. He just nodded and we shared another hug.

THAT was one of those moments!

The Tortilla Man!

Last night, as I was sitting down to eat my
chicken quesadilla, I was a bit startled by a face staring back at me from the side of the tortilla!

I knew that no one would believe it if I just told them, so I had to take some pictures. See for yourself . . . the Tortilla Man!

I really hesitated in eating him . . . he was just so cute! Alas, my hunger overcame the cuteness factor and I gobbled him up. Sorry little Tortilla Man!

Too Funny!

Carli is such a good little girl, almost always does what I ask. Here's the result of asking her to please give Sammy a toy:




I wish she did all her chores with such gusto!

The Scariest Storm Yet

Wow, this Tornado season is really hammering us. I only remember the tornado sirens going off once or twice during the whole season last year, but this year it seems like it's every other night!

Last night around 7 pm (during bath time, of course) we heard the first siren. Whenever the sirens go off, that means tornadoes have been spotted in the area and you're advised to take shelter in the lowest place possible, i.e. a basement. I hurried everyone out of the bath, grabbed the phone and the camera and we headed for the basement. I got everyone situated and then ran back upstairs for the flashlights, some snacks, and Carli's training potty (just in case!).

Last week when the sirens went off in the middle of the night and we had to head to the basement, Carli was freaked out and Eli just wanted to sleep. This time they switched roles. Eli was really paying attention to the weather coverage on the TV and he was really scared. Carli was a little alarmed, but overall having a great time playing in the basement. And Sammy was his usual happy self!

This was definitely the scariest storm yet... made me really long for Ben to get home. We could see on the TV that the "hook" of the storm (the worst part) was headed right for us. We ended up with a lot of rain, some hail, and really loud thunder, but no tornado. Unfortunately, some places near us weren't as lucky. There were about 40 confirmed tornadoes in the area, and the Boy Scout camp that was destroyed (4 fatalities and 40 injured) is about 50 miles north of our house. They say there are more storms coming this weekend--let's hope it somehow fizzles out. The rivers and creeks around here can't handle much more rain, and I don' t know if I can handle another tornado warning!



The first video is Eli and Carli describing what's going on outside; then the weather forecast with our city right in the middle of it; and in the third you can hear the hail coming down in the background.

Mr. Baby Frog

Over the weekend I was doing a little weeding in the flowerbed out front, and a frog tried to give me a heart attack. I was moving the mulch around trying to get out the little weeds when he jumped out right onto my hand. I screamed. Really loud. Actually, the truth is, I probably gave him a heart attack! The poor thing was probably taking a nap down there in the cool dirt and I messed everything up! Carli happened to be standing right next to me when I screamed, and she became pretty alarmed. I had to assure her that the frog was harmless and nothing to be afraid of. He hopped around in the flowerbed a little bit, and after a few minutes she warmed up to him.

I called to Eli to come and see the frog and all of the sudden Carli was the resident frog expert! She introduced him to Eli as "Mr. Baby Frog" and told Eli that he lives in our garden and that he likes to eat bugs. And that he does... as we watched, he hopped up to the corner of the flowerbed by the porch and started in on some ants. It was fun to see his tongue dart in and out as he ate. Eli was soon bored and went back inside, but Carli sat and watched him for quite a while. Once, when he paused in eating ants, Carli said that she thought he was waiting for his friends to come from the pond down the street so he could share the ants. Too cute!

We've seen Mr. Baby Frog a few times since then, and I think it's true that he's taken up residence in the flowerbed. I don't mind really, he can eat all the bugs he wants out there!




(Okay, so it's a toad... But don't try telling Carli that. This "Frog" will never be Mr. Baby Toad!)

This Storm Came Outta Nowhere!

Last night after I got the kids in bed I stepped outside to check on my garden and lo and behold, there was a huge storm rolling in just behind our house. It looked sunny and wonderful in front of the house, but in the back it was getting serious! Check out some of the pictures and video I got.



It didn't end up being a very big storm for us, but north of us it poured pretty hard. It rained for a little while, but the lightning and thunder stayed behind us, thank goodness. I didn't want Carli waking up again. I definitely don't like Tornadoes, but watching a storm from a safe distance is a lot of fun!

Eli's New Haircut

I realize now that I should have taken a "before" picture. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, this is my first attempt at cutting Eli's (or anyone's for that matter) hair. I think I did a fairly good job, if I do say so myself. He was looking pretty scraggly! I had been meaning to get over to Supercuts and have it done... he likes it there because he gets a sucker, but I just never got around to dragging everyone over there (and I didn't want to use time with a babysitter for a haircut! Selfish, I know. =) ) So, after looking at him yesterday, I knew it had to be done. He was really good while I cut it, hardly moved at all. That is in sharp contrast to a few haircuts that Ben has given him before. The look on Ben's face in the middle picture just cracks me up!










After I was done cutting his hair, I told Eli to look in the mirror and tell me if he liked it. He took a look and said, "Yeah! I like it. It makes me look like a rock star!" My thoughts exactly. =)

My garden!

Now that we have a house, I no longer had an excuse not to have a garden. My mom told me about this new way to plant a garden, called Square Foot Gardening. It seemed like an easy way to start. I'm glad she was here visiting to help me put it together. It actually only took us about two hours from start to finish. Ben made the nice box for me just before he left on deployment. It turned out perfectly--I think it's a great looking garden.

First we laid the box down on top of a double layer of cardboard. That way the grass underneath will die and it won't be able to grow up through my garden. Yay! No weeds! Then we mixed the soil: 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost. That's supposedly the perfect combination for growing things. I planted four types of tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, carrots, zucchini, sweet peppers, basil, cilantro, and some marigolds to look pretty (and they supposedly keep the animals away, we'll have to see about that). I also planted pots of parsley, mint and chives up on the porch. Oh, and some lettuce, but I don't have pictures of that. The purple pots are the mystery peppers. When I was shopping for vegetable plants (I had to go to four different stores to find them!) at one place there were a bunch of pepper plants that weren't labeled. The clerk said they had no idea what they were, so they put them on sale. I decided it would be fun to plant them and see what they end up being. They'll probably be habaneros or jalapenos or something crazy hot like that! Or, they'll be green peppers and I'll have enough to feed all of Nebraska. =)

Baby Sammy Einstein

Nana bought this Baby Einstein exersaucer for Carli when she was about 8 months old or so. It wasn't very successful with her and it ended up gathering dust for three years. Boy, am I glad we kept it around because Baby Sammy sure loves it! He spends time playing in it each day, and it's a lifesaver for me. He just sits and has a party, kicking his feet and swiveling around to play with each toy. He especially likes the sun and the stack of blocks because he can pull them down and chew on them. It is turning out to be a great gift... thanks Nana!

MORE Extreme Weather

Man, how much longer will this go on? Most every night for a week now, we've had severe thunderstorms. The weather was overcast and windy when we went to bed last night and we were under tornado watch. I wasn't too worried about it, but at 3 am, I heard the tornado sirens (anyone seen "War of the Worlds? It reminds me of the sound the Aliens make when they come to Earth). I ran downstairs and checked the TV. Sure enough, the emergency signal was on, so I ran back up and roused all the kids and we headed to the basement. It was definitely scary! Why does all this weather have to happen while Ben is gone? Elijah was super sleepy and kept telling me, "Mommy, it's the middle of the night. I should be in my bed!" Carli was totally freaked out and just curled up in the corner of the couch. Sammy was happy and ready to play. He was just glad to be out of bed!
The news was reporting a tornado about 15 miles west of us that had destroyed a couple of houses and this morning there are more damage reports coming in. So far, I don't think there are any injuries, thank goodness. My friend whose husband is also deployed called this morning and we both lamented that this stuff has to happen while our husbands are gone! It's really scary to be alone with kids when something goes wrong! I can't wait for Ben to get home! AND, I HATE TORNADOES!!

Red Wings Win!!!

I nearly forgot to update the post from earlier this week... It's no surprise, because I knew they would, but the Red Wings did take home the Stanley Cup. It was awesome! Unfortunately, the last game was the same night as the tornadoes (see Extreme Weather post), so I saw most of the game in split screen with the weather coverage. It also would have been nice for the Wings to win at home, but the Penguin fans were mostly good sports. Ben was flying during most of the game, but he told me he got to see the last 15 minutes. How lame that he was in the desert during this finals... but, he probably got to see more games there than he would have here, as we don't have Versus channel in our cable package. Hopefully they'll keep it up next year so Ben and I can enjoy the games together!

So Proud!

I got this lovely picture just this morning from my cute husband (although he's not so cute with that UGLY moustache!) I just had to post it to let the world know the caliber of men we have out fighting for our freedom... if I saw that moustache coming I would definitely run!

I miss Ben so much, I'm really glad his deployment is almost over--only a couple of weeks left. Carli has cried at least once a day for the past few weeks asking when Daddy is coming home. It has been hard without him, but on a serious note, I am so proud of him for doing this job. The work he's over in the desert doing ensures all of us back at home the daily freedoms that we take for granted. Where would our country be without men who volunteer to put themselves at risk... all for the greater good? I thank the Lord for this country and for our wonderful military, and I'm proud to play a supporting role.

Extreme Weather

CRAZY weather last night!! Starting at about 7 pm, things got a little crazy outside! It was the biggest electrical storm I've seen yet, and we had some good ones last year. I did manage to get some video of it, but I haven't figured out how to upload the videos yet... you'll have to wait for that one. Carli was pretty scared, and ended up not going to bed until I did around 11 pm. Eli and Sammy both slept through the entire storm. The rain got here around 9, but it wasn't too bad. The lightning strikes were several per second and it seemed almost like daylight at times. We heard the tornado sirens go off at one time and we were under tornado watch for about an hour. This picture is of a tornado that touched down in Iowa, just across the Missouri river from us. There were a total of about 10 confirmed tornados across Nebraska and Iowa last night... and guess what?? They say more "extreme" weather is coming tonight! I was scared for my garden which I just put in a few days ago (my garden post is coming soon!), but it came through all right. The lightning/thunder and rain lasted most of the night. I woke up several times waiting for the kids to run into my room, but miraculously no one woke up. On the way to drop Eli off at school we saw that the Papio creek is very swollen and the golf course is flooded, but that didn't stop the early morning golfers!
As long as the tornados stay well away from us, I'm all for extreme weather!

Go Wings!!!

Well, I guess it's official... our son Eli is a Red Wings Fan. At 5:30 am this morning, I felt a soft tap on my shoulder and turned over to see Eli standing in just his underwear whispering my name. I automatically thought, "Oh, no! He's thrown up or got a bloody nose or something. What happened?" He just whispered, "Mommy, can you come help me get my Red Wings Jersey down? I want to wear it to school today." Even at 5:30 am I had to laugh as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and helped him find his jersey. I really wish that Ben had been here to witness this one, since he is the Red Wings #1 fan. By the way, for those of you who are not hockey fans (how sad!), the Stanley Cup Finals are going on right now and game five between the Wings and the Penguins is tonight, 8 pm eastern. The series is 3-1 Wings, so if all goes well, the Wings will be skating with the Stanley Cup tonight at the Joe.