THE BOYS ARE BACK!!!!

I meant to post these pics the other night but totally forgot (this is what happens when you go to a welcome home ceremony at 1:30am!!!!!) Main body 11 comes in today and just makes my heart swell to see so many of our guys finally home. 2 more flights and thats it! then everyone will be home!!! but for us, all our "boys" are home. its incredible. I had to share the pics of main body 10 because well.... you will see. ;)

Riley, Simon (my <3), and Dutton before the ceremony

Formation. I can see the Lt!!!!

Riley was just a little excited to see Carman

the Lt and his minions this pictures makes me so happy!

so there you have it. our little army family is finally all back together. I am so super excited for my friends that are getting their husbands back today and in the coming week. SO glad this deployment is over!!!!!!!!

March for Babies 2012

MARCH FOR BABIES 2012 IS HERE!

WOOHOO!!!!!  This is the 2nd year (and prob last) that I have the honor of being the captain of "Fort Drum Moms" in the annual March for Babies walk to support March of Dimes. I LOVE my team. We raised almost $800 last year right after our husbands deployed. We were (surprisingly) a top 5 team for our walk in Oswego, NY!!!! AMAZING!!!! So we up'd our goal this year. I have a personal goal of raising $1,000 and our team goal is currently set at $2,000. We SOOOOO got this!!!! ;-)

But here's the thing, I NEED your help. I cant do it alone. To start let me tell you a little bit of why I support this awesome cause. They helped save Brooklyn from being born too early. Ok not them IN PERSON but because of their life saving research and information that they put out to the community I knew I was in pre-term labor and got medicine to have my labor stopped twice. She tried to come at 33 and 35 weeks. Thankfully we were able to keep her safe and snug for a couple more weeks and she was born at 37 weeks. Our story is one that is so good, so easy. But I know too many moms with heartbreaking stories. Ones that make you believe in true miracles. Like little June who was born at just 27 weeks while her family was vacationing in Orlando. Her birth and story of survival is nothing less than amazing. If it wasn't for some of the research that March of Dimes has funded, she probably wouldn't be here. She is a beautiful testimony to why we do this. Head over to "Sweet Tea and Sunshine" to see more about this AMAZING family that I am so blessed to have as friends.

With all that being said could you please do me a HUGE favor and hop on over to my March for Babies secure webpage (CLICK HERE)and donate? PLEASE?! It would mean the world to me to have your support. EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS! Thank you all so much! Please feel free to share the blog or MFB link with all your friends!!!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Welcome home!

What an AWESOME St Patricks Day!!!!!

Yesterday was amazing. So great in fact that I felt called to share it with y'all! It started with an early wakeup call so that we could go help out some friends while they ran in the annual Watertown YMCA shamrock Run. I am so thankful to have such amazing friends that help support our local community. It helps that our kids are best friends! Makes it easy to keep them all happy together! I am proud to say that my bff ran the entire 2.2mi "fun run" and her hubby came in 2nd during the 5mi! WOW! So proud of you both!!! We had many other friends who also ran it and I am so proud of all of you!!!!!!!!!! The community up here is one of the reasons I am going to be sad to leave Ft Drum.

Jenny, Me, Jess, and Jess

Jess & Kell before the race.  Mr long legs came in 2nd!

Next we picked up another bff's darling daughter so they could go shopping for a new vehicle. She is seriously one of the easiest kids to take care of! So glad her daddy is finally home! ;-) 

While she was here, Jeremy and I worked on cleaning out the garage (still tons of work to do in there but we made a dent) while the kiddos played in the front yard. Nothing like 60+ degree temps to wear out the monkeys!

After our "other" child left we headed out for some ice cream. I cant believe our fav local place is already open for the season!! It was so nice to just hang out and watch the ice cream melt down the chins of our amazing children. I should have taken pics but I was in awe watching Jeremy push them on the swings and just thought how amazing our life here is. I was partly in awe because I knew what our next adventure for the day was....

We got to take the kids to welcome home another flight full of 3rd Brigade Spartans! And one of the soldiers on this flight is very special to us. You see PFC Bryce "Doc" Kampwerth was the medic who took care of Jeremy when he was first injured. In my opinion he may have saved my husbands life. It was an honor to finally get to hug him tonight and tell him thank you.

Jackson in awe of how big Kampwerth is!lol!

This is an AWFUL picture of me but who cares. I am so thankful that THIS soldier was with my husband on Sept 20th.

I am so blessed that my kids finally go to enjoy the chaos that is a welcome home ceremony. It is such a priveledge to get to help welcome home so many of our amazing soldiers. The love you feel in that room is electric. There is nothing like watching a daddy get to hold his baby for the first time in months, or a soldier kiss the bride he had barely begun a life with.... Not many flights left to come in but they are not all home yet so I ask that you please help us continue to pray for their safe return.

Moving on before I totally start bawling (oh the emotions of homecomings!!!)....ok so for dinner I decided to play up St Patricks day with a "wee little dinner". This is what happens when you are trying to make sure your kids eat all their dinner!!! We had little smokies wrapped in cresent roll dough, corn, and what I call sweet peaches (sliced peaches with some cinnamon and sugar all warmed up). Ok so not the HEALTHIEST meal I have served this week but it was still fun. For dessert I made some Rainbow cookies. I had decorated the table with gold coins so I thought it only fitting that we finally have some rainbows! They didnt turn out as nice as I had hoped but I was in a hurry ok! ;)

As this day comes to a close I am again just marveling in how awesome today has really been. I give God all the glory for this one. I cant believe that He has blessed us to live on such an amazing journey.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok So as I was waiting for the video the upload last night so I could publish this post (it was taking too long! i will post the video later!), I got a text that required my full attention. An awesome friend of mine needed a ride to the ER because she had injured her arm. Because ya know stuff like that just doesnt happen when your husbands are home and not at JRTC right?! I was so blessed that I could be able to just leave right away and go take her to the ER, while another friend watched her kids. I love it when God gives you awesome opportunities to get to know someone better through the most unique circumstances! Im so glad you are ok K!!!!!! It was fun to stay up late and laugh at the crazies at Carthage ER!

When I got home, my daughter decided it was time for her to try and get up. See she fell asleep on the way home from ceremony (this is what happens when you have no nap!) at like 6pm. So when I got home at midnight she was WIDE awake. We spent the next 3 hours putting her back in her bed every 15 min or so. Needless to say there is a lot of coffee being served in my house this beautiful morning! No matter what I dont think I would have changed a thing about yesterday at all. God has truley blessed our family. Now off to get everyone ready for Church! Later y'all!!!!!!

St Patricks Day decor for $5!

So since I no longer have a fireplace and now the kids toys are no longer in my antique pie safe, I have started using the top of the pie safe as a place to decorate for each holiday. I just finished my one for March. The best part is I did it for about $5!! (Sorry I forgot to take pics of my valentine one and it was cheap too!)
The basket, candle and glass container I already owned. The gift bag, "grass", bow on the basket and small bucket were from Target and all $1 or less. I used scrapbook paper from the sets I bought for organizing closets to decorate the inside of the glass container, the candle holder, and the banner. All the ribbon I already had as well. I literally used the last of each one I had and these were ones I bought on sale on Black Friday!
So here is my ode to St Patricks Day. I plan on getting some gold coins to place around too but since its been snowing here all morning I think I will leave it as is for now. Happy Decorating!

Operation Family: Part 1

As many of you know we have been planning a surprise for the kids! Well it started Thursday! We left at o-dark-thirty for the airport and had a pretty decent flight to the most magically place on Earth. So far my only complaint has been the cheer moms. Oh yeah, its UCA National HS cheer competition down here this weekend. But let me tell you my 5yo is loving it. He has already been grinning about the cheerleaders! ;-)

yesterday we spent the ENTIRE day at Magic Kingdom. It was a really long day but full of wonderful memories. Seeing B get to light up to see her favorite princesses was priceless! i think j's favorite was space mountain. he has had so much fun being able to ride all the roller coasters. and seeing them both just in awe and happy was exactly what we needed. I was in tears for sure during the nighttime show with the fireworls. They actually cover the castle with pictures from the day from around the park. The projections onto the castle were so beautiful and it ended with the lantern scene from Tangled. It looked like the castle was covered in the lanterns going up. SO beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was spent at Hollywood studios. trying to fit everything in was really tough but we got the main points done that we wanted to hit. i doubt i will get j back on tower of terror but thats ok. poor kid is never ready for the first drop. he LOVED the aerosmith coaster though. B had a blast doing the shows. she got to see beauty and the beast and her favorite friends at disney jr live on stage. the worst moment for me though was at lunch. when jeremy was getting food inside pizza planet a girl from a table next to us ran off. i spent the next 10 agonozing minutes trying to help this mom find her daughter who had gone inside pizza planet to try and find her dad. the cast members were great but it was still very very scary. we had just all been sitting there while the hubbies went to grab the food (it was very busy), and then she was gone. i was so proud of my kids who when i suggested praying for her they were all for it. she was found safe and sound but not without giving her mother a heart attack first. it reminded me that i need to take of a pic of the kids every morning so if they get lost i can pull out my phone and say "they look like THIS, in THIS outfit". ok its time to go grab the clothes out of the dryer downstairs ( i know, i should stay down there....). There is just something about this place that is so magical. And even though we are so tired and sore and actually COLD its been amazing so far.

(ps: more pics after we get home! and yes the house is being watched......  ;)  )

Operation Organize this house!

About a week ago I made a command decision that we had to invest some money to get the house organized. I did spend a bit more than planned (hey Target had great deals!!) but its been so worth it. Best part has been the closets. I found the easiest, cheapest way to get them organized AND look awesome! 12x12x10" cardboard boxes from wally-world with a piece of 12x12" scrapbook paper on the front. My laundry room is so bright and colorful now! I dont mind being in there nearly as much as I used to! ;) And the ones in here cost me a whopping $8.60! That includes the 42 extra pages of scrapbook paper I have from the pack I bought!

I also did the kids' closets. My kids are SPOILED!!!!! This is after getting rid of quite a bit of stuff! Its been great though because now it takes all of 5 minutes to get their rooms clean.

Oh yeah thats a LOT of dress-up and baby dolls! The shelves are the only big addition. I put in the dressup clothes hooks at Christmas after I figured out she needed a better place to put ALL her dress-up stuff.

The best part is the boxes on the top shelf match their rooms. his room is baseball and hers is becoming pink/purple butterflies. I was shocked to see how well the shelves fit in his closet. All three shelves are the $15 ones from wally-world.

Im sorry I dont have before pictures but lets just say it was a HOT mess before I redid it! I have also redone our linen closet based off a blog on Delightful Order

Here is the link to the post about linen closet.

I will post pics of it after I finish the tags for baskets.

I just wanted to share what we have been up to while getting ready for our big trip to DISNEY! Trust me there will lots to blog about during that trip!

 'Til then enjoy the journey!!!!!!!

New year, new start

I cant believe its been so long since I have posted anything!!! IM SORRY! I would love to say its been because I am so busy sipping mimosas and eating bon-bons but alas its been the exact opposite. Holidays, Jacksons school, Brooklyn starting school,  everyone getting sick, doctor appts, laundry, dog(s), and of course the never ending dishes and and and and and....... my list could go on forever.  I am pleased to say though that we are finally starting to feel some kind of normalcy in this house again.

Jeremy is (finally) with an actual company at WTU and has started more intense physical therapy. He has a new goal of running a half-marathon (no time frame yet). The doctors originally told him he would NEVER run again due to the nerve damage in his legs. When I reminded him of this fact he told me "have faith...". That I have, especially in what abilities God has given him. I am constantly amazed by the fact that he is even here, walking, breathing....   The excitement is building here as we prepare for his unit to come home from Afg. I cant wait to welcome them. I cant wait to have extra soldiers to feed again.

With all of this "new stuff" going on for us this year, I hve decided to expand this blog. More family stuff, crafts, more of our LIFE now that Jeremy is doing so well. I am forever grateful for the prayers and help the last 5 months as we have gone through this journey of his recovery. We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family supporting us. So I hope you enjoy the "new" blog and its a little late but HAPPY NEW YEAR!