daddy daughter love

hangin' out over the weekend

What did you do this weekend?

This little princesses Daddy came home for a visit.

We took her to the park for a little play time.

We cooked out burgers with Bat Girl and the Shadow.

We just chilled and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine.

I hope your weekend was beautiful too!

Saturday favorites...

It's Saturday round' these parts and this kid is spending every single second she can with her long lost Daddy! They are out getting the oil changed as I type. She will be attached to him till he puts her to bed Sunday night and leaves again. Oh' this is so hard on her…

I hope your Saturday is full of your favorite things too! (in her case, her favorite thing is Daddy!)

him...

Kid4 is having a REALLY HARD time with her daddy being gone. She misses him something fierce! We had dinner with him Saturday night and she cried and cried on the way home. I'll write more about it later when I can put it into words. She drew this today. I hope this means she's dealing with it… poor Kid4… she's such a daddy's girl.

Daddy...

WE are really missing Daddy around here lately.

His bright smile and warm laugh...

The way he reads the best bedtime stories- better than ANYONE else...

And all those special things that only Daddies can do the right way…

Daddy hugs, kisses and snuggles.

We miss you Daddy

Love, everyone!

teenagers, car trips and growing up boys...

While Mr. B. is gone, Im trying to spend alone with each of my kids to connect with them, to remember that they are human and not just my children, children living in my house. Sometimes I get caught up in giving them money, feeding them, making sure they are safe, worrying about them and I forget to ask them about themselves, I forget to talk to them like they are people, my little people that I adore so much.

Yesterday I took Kid1 to visit my brother. It's an almost 3 hour drive up there, and I thought this would be a good time to do some real talking about life ahead of him, some things he needs to work on alone and some things we can work on together. I have to keep reminding myself that 18 is not grown and he still needs my advise.

We talked, we ate a nice lunch together, we visited my brother and we stopped at a revolutionary war cemetery on the way home. It was nice to reconnect with him, hear his thoughts and fears. I'm not the best advise giver, I just want to take it all from them and make it all better… but it doesn't work that way. Why can life be so brutal? When did these kids grow up enough to make their own life messes?

Will we make it through these next few years with 3 teenagers?

Stay tuned!

a fiery date night….

Kid4 and I had a little date night Thursday night. She has been DYING to eat at a Japanese restaurant called ZEN. They cook in front of you and she had these visions of perfectness. So off we went for a perfect and very girly date, just her and I.

She used chop sticks like a pro. She ate everything with chop sticks! Trust me, she DID NOT eat this onion, she was posing! It was such a fun date!

Heres how she REALLY felt- she was nervous about the fire and unsure about sharing a table with strangers- but SO WAS I! We ended us really enjoying each other and have lots of nice talks about how she loved the food, how she loves first grade, how she misses her Daddy, how she loves animals SO SO much and how we HAVE to go back really really soon….

…..and I agree….

my little wild thing...

let the wild rumpus begin!

Little kid4 is really enjoying her Daddy being home. She has mostly just enjoyed hanging out with him, writing him little notes and just enjoying being a daddies girl again. Her little feet hit the ground running when she hops off the bus in the afternoon and she bursts in the door to see her Daddy.

Mr. B. leaves tomorrow night, she will be really sad Friday, I just know it… I'm sad for her but proud that he is serving our country. It's kind of a tearing feeling… it's all part of being a military wife, but it doesn't make it any easier.

I'll blog more soon, I promise.

satisfied

satisfaction |ˌsatisˈfak sh ən|

noun

fulfillment of one's wishes, expectations, or needs, or the pleasure derived from this : he smiled with satisfaction.

Kid4 felt completely satisfied Sunday afternoon when Daddy came home from being gone 2 weeks. He is only home for 4 days and he's off for a VERY LONG deployment, but she is glad to see him if even only for a second. Her face tells the story of satisfaction, trust, feeling complete. Her lips were pressed tightly closed, she was pressed against him as if to say "never let me go again, let me stay in this moment for as long as he will let me"… I love this picture, I love my girl and I love how she loves her Daddy!

the last goodbye

A friend of our family took a few pics the minute before Mr. B. left for the first leg of his deployment. I love last and first pictures… they capture moments that people often forget to capture. Look at my kids- oh my how they have grown…!

Look at my beautiful girl and her sad smile. She is always smiling but I can see the agony behind that smile. She will miss her Daddy. She already does. Her Daddy was smitten by pink and girly things the minute she was born. They have a deep respect and understanding for one another.

Kid4 wanted a picture of Daddy kissing her to remember him by. I thought this one turned out perfectly. This Daddy daughter pair is so lovely. I have loved watching them together from the minute she was born, he adored her.

This is the last self portrait of Mr B. and I right before he shipped off on to his new adventure… Don't worry Mr. B. we're keeping things all picked up and taken care of around here… We love you and miss you! See you SOON! (but not soon enough)

stress with a little side of spinal tap- YAY me!

(me ready for the spinal)

So I have a weird illness- when I get REALLY stressed out, I get a high pressure in my head. It's a spinal fluid thing. It's weird and it's terrible. I get a low grade headache that lasts for months until it gets unbearable and then Bat Girl drags me to a neurologist…

This time it was a little different, I had my routine eye exam and the eye Dr. was a nervous wreck, stopped the eye exam and sent me straight to a neurologist… it all happened very fast. I didn't leave with the cute glasses I wanted, I didn't leave with contacts… I left with a huge nervous feeling knowing it was back.

(The actual procedure)

So today I had a spinal tap… I did indeed have a high pressure and I am home recovering. Bat Girl is taking great care of me and the kids are taking care of themselves with Bat Girls assistance of course! What would I do without her you ask? I have no idea!

(This is the fluid they pulled off my spine)

So apparently the stress of the deployment, and possibly a mouse sent me straight over the edge… Im better now. Ready to move on without a headache and face this deployment head on!

the sun has set on the murderous muck...

We had a visitor.

He was cute.

He was small.

He was soft (or he looked soft, I didn't touch him)

but

I had to plan his demise.

I felt sad about it, but THIS particular visitor just isn't safe to have around.

SO the plotting began.

Kid2 went to the store to buy the murderous materials…

(I CANNOT bear to glue something to a glue trap so a glue trap was out)

(I CANNOT bear the smell of rotting tissue so poison was out)

(I CANNOT bear to snap the head off of a little mouse… but…..)

meanwhile…..

Kid1 planned out the murder…

and we waited…

and waited….

Yesterday morning the murder of a small and probably sweet hearted mouse was carried out. I felt sad, but I don't like mouse germs. I keep telling myself that THIS particular murder was necessary… and thankful that there are not human sized mouse traps because I have certainly been a pesky rodent to a friend or two… what if they set a trap for me?

family pics

nothing much to report…

we got family pictures before Mr. B. left.

These were taken two days before he left.

Little Kid4 is taking it the hardest, but we knew she would.

He comes back in 10 days for 4 days, and then is off again.

I think it might be harder for her to see him for such a short time… we'll see.

I still need to write a post about having my Kid3 back…

SO GLAD TO HAVE HIM!

This year is going to be an exciting year… YOU won't even believe it!

EEEEEK!

Well he's gone.

Let the deployment start...

So in the first 6 hours I heard a REALLY LOUD noise in the basement….

I saw TWO spiders.

AND THEN

a mouse

jumped out of a drawer

RAN

down my shirt

AND hopped onto the floor

AND

all along I screamed like a 6 year old girl.

I jumped up and down like a baby throwing a fit

and shouted NO NO NO!

(because you know how mice respond to the word "NO")

I finally was able to actually move while jumping and screaming

and

Kid4 figured she probably should be scared too.

SO

we both jumped into the chair in the living room.

She said "let me guess…...A spider?"

I struggled for words… I squeaked out "yeah" (I mean- WHY scare the kid?)

she said "OH WOW, gimme your shoe and I'll take care of it"

I laughed because she is SO

CUTE

HELPFUL

PROTECTIVE

and

WONDERFUL.

I put on shoes, I finished making dinner, I checked out the basement ALL by myself and then I finished what I started… because after all… Mr. B. is gone now and I have to be able to take care of everything… errrrr…. most things….

but can I just say that we have NEVER had a mouse in this house? WHY WHY WHY did he decide to move in now?