Eli's First Day of Preschool

With his backpack on his back and flowers in his hands, Eli was ready for his first day of school... or was he?

Considering that for the past few days the mention of the word "school" has prompted tears and protest, I fully expected waterworks when we dropped Eli off for his first day of preschool. As Eli handed his teacher a small bouquet of flowers, she remarked that she had never gotten "first day of school" flowers before. Score one for Eli!


To my surprise, when it was time to say goodbye, Eli held Mrs. Green's hand and walked in the door. No tears or even a sad look. Whew! What a relief. When I picked him up, he was playing at the water table and did not want to leave. He actually kind of threw a little fit because he wanted to stay at school. Mrs. Green said that Eli was perfect. She told me about a short conversation they had before going outside...

Mrs. Green: Eli, you need to go potty before we go outside.
Eli: No, that's okay. I'll just pee outside. That's what I do at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

What?! We both laughed about it, but I felt the need to assure her that we do not let Eli pee outside. Funny, funny kid. You never know what is going to come out of his mouth.

Tonight, I received an email with some pictures of Eli working at school today. I love it that Mrs. Green takes pictures to send to the parents of her students. Stephen and I were looking at these pictures with Eli and asking him to tell us about what he was doing. He told us he was "working hard." No doubt he was. Eli is going to have a great school year!








These are two pictures of Bella that have nothing to do with Eli's first day of school. She's just so dang cute!

This cannot be happening. It has to be a mistake.

That was what kept going through my head over and over and over again as I read this sentence in an email I received from Stephen's commander, "It is my hope that the information included will assist you during the upcoming deployment of your soldier as a part of the Operation Enduring Freedom." Deployment? Did I read that correctly? I reread it again and again. My heart felt like it stopped and my entire body went numb. As I walked upstairs, I prayed Stephen would tell me this was a mistake, but in my heart, I knew it wasn't. With tears in my eyes, I asked him, "Are you going to be deployed?" and in an instant, with his sad answer, all of the happiness that has surrounded us since his homecoming dissipated. Stephen has known since we arrived here, in Ft. Hood, that he was going to be deployed. Why was I just now finding out about this? Knowing that he kept this inside and knowing he wanted to tell me day after day just breaks my heart. How could he carry this burden for two months? My sweet husband. He was trying to not break my heart for as long as he possibly could. I keep thinking of our precious children and how this is going to impact them. We always want to do what is best for Eli and Bella. Stephen being away from them is definitely not the best for them, or for us as a family, but we have no control over this. I feel helpless, but I also know that children are resilient. I thank God for that.

If there is one thing I have learned from being an "Army wife" it is that change is constant. Stephen will be leaving in July, so that leaves plenty of time for something to change. Right? If this does not change, Eli, Bella, and I will once again move to Huntsville while Stephen is away. Until then, we will enjoy this time we have together, here and now.

Bella's Bodyguard

Something happened today for the first time that I hope will happen for years to come. Eli and Bella love playing in the play area at Chick-fil-A. It's awesome if we go early because there are usually only one or two other kids in there. Sometimes we have the whole place to ourselves. Today, we went during lunchtime. I should have known better than to do that. As we entered the play area, I immediately noticed that the kids playing in there were much older than Eli and Bella. In fact, one boy was too old to be playing in there at all. They were engaged in a game of tag, a very rough game of tag. They were chasing one another up the slides, through the tunnels, and all around. Eli and Bella just watched for a while. Then we played on the bottom level. That didn't last long. They wanted to play, too. They both began to climb. As the older boy started to climb down, Eli stopped, looked at him, and said, "She's (Bella) a baby. You can't be rough with her." My precious little boy! So, so sweet. He was protecting Bella. I loved it! My little Eli telling that big boy to basically be careful around his sister. Later on, Eli came running to me and said, "Mommy, they are playing too rough around Bella." I hope he will always be protective of her.

The Beach... Finally!

It’s been years since Stephen and I have taken a beach trip. Years. We haven’t been to the beach since August of 2006. As I type that, I just can't believe it's been that long. I love the beach!

On Friday, while trying to decide what we were going to do that day, Stephen said, “We should go to Galveston.” Really?! I jumped on that suggestion right away and started packing. I woke Eli from his nap to tell him the exciting news. “We’re going to the beach, Eli. You’ll get to see the ocean, the waves, play in the sand. . ." Eli, in his sleepy voice, replied, “Mommy, is there a sandbox there?” How innocent and unknowing. In about an hour, we were packed and out the door. Many times, we heard the classic question come out of Eli’s mouth, “Are we almost there yet?”

Finally, the moment arrived and we were in Galveston. It was late, but before going to our hotel, we stopped at the beach so Eli and Bella could put their toes in the sand and water for the first time. When we got out, feeling so excited to finally be at the beach, I asked Eli, "What do you think about the beach?" He replied, "It stinks, Mommy." I laughed. Yes, it did stink. That wonderful aroma of dead fish was in the air. As we walked onto the sand, Eli immediately kicked off his flip flops and walked toward the water. Bella, on the other hand, did not like having her toes in the sand one bit. She froze with her hands in the air, crying.

Daddy had to hold her until we left.

Stephen, being the sun lover that he is, took off his shirt, and started running into the water.

Not really. He was just being silly, but this picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Galveston beaches were different from other beaches we have visited. All of the hotels are across the street from the beach, and there was a concrete wall along the beach, hence the name Seawall Boulevard. There was still damage from Hurricane Ike, but most of the hotels seemed new.

We all woke up early the next morning and headed to the beach. Eli and Bella enjoyed playing in the sand. Bella was okay with being in the sand as long as she had her shoes on her feet. She really liked walking off and exploring (aka finding things to pick up and put in her mouth).

She tried chasing after Eli when he went into the water, but turned and ran in the other direction as soon as the water hit her toes.

Once, she did let a small wave crash onto her, but she fell down as soon as the wave went back out. We all played in the sand and built a sandcastle. Eli wanted to be buried in the sand until he figured out he had to be still and lie down on the ground. After he came to that realization, he wanted to get up immediately. It was a fun, fun day at the beach. Eli, of course, did not want to leave when it was time to go.

We ate dinner at The Rainforest Café.

It was a fun place for the kids. There was a ride inside that took us on a journey through the rainforest. Some of the animals were very life-like, but others were just funny looking, like this monkey.

There was also live entertainment outside. Eli and Bella enjoyed watching the singing. When I asked Eli what his favorite part of the day was, he said it was walking on the rocks.

This was our first family trip to the beach, and we all had a wonderful time. This beach trip was vastly different from our past beach trips. There was no partying, no going dancing, no laying out and relaxing in the sun for hours. We did have one late night... when Bella didn't want to go to sleep. I'm so glad Stephen and I have great memories of our beach trips together before having our precious babies, and I am so,so,so looking forward to the many, many more memories we will create over the years as we visit the beach each and every year (hint, hint Stephen). I am so happy Eli and Bella were able to visit the beach. I’m sure Bella won’t remember it, but I think Eli will. We will definitely go back again soon. I was already trying to plan our next trip before we left. Stephen though we should just look later.

Oh, one more thing... Bella enjoyed her very first ice cream cone...

It's Raining, It's Pouring

This morning Eli was unable to go on his morning bike ride because it started pouring down rain. We were already outside, so I thought I would let Eli and Bella play under the carport while we waited to see if the rain would stop. We sang, "Rain, rain go away..." It didn't. They both started walking out into the rain and then walking back under the carport. Eventually, they just stayed in the rain. What a fun day to be a kid...

Eli Turns Three

How can it be that my sweet little baby boy is already three years old? I wonder if my memories of him being a tiny baby will always be as vivid as they are today? If not, at least I have a gazillion pictures to remind me.


What a memorable three years it has been. A child changes so much in the first three years. It's just unbelievable. Eli amazes me each day with his personality, wit, humor, thoughts, questions, daring acts, and intelligence. He is truly an amazing little boy. I am so thankful to be his mommy. I used to tell him that when I would sing to him and rock him to sleep. I still tell him that even now when I love on him before he turns in for the night.

When he turned one, I remember reflecting on the year and just being so shocked at how quickly that first year passed.


Then another year passed. He was two. TWO?! Seriously? Already?


And now? He is a full blown three-year-old. Happy Birthday My Sweet Little Boy.

As Our Year in Huntsville Comes to an End...

This time last year, I honestly did not know what to expect. Thinking about Stephen being gone for an entire year was just too much to handle; it weighed heavy on my heart and my mind. Besides knowing that we would miss each other like crazy, what upset me most was the fact that he was going to miss an entire year of Eli and Bella's lives. A year. That is a long time. At their young age, how would this impact them and their relationship with Daddy?

Would Bella even know Stephen when she saw him? How was Stephen going to feel not being able to see us and the precious things Eli and Bella do each day? He, after all, wouldn't have any family there. How was I going to manage all that needed to be done for Eli and Bella? Would the house ever get cleaned? How would I bring myself to kill a bug when one appeared in the house? Thinking back, this seems like this was just happening a couple of months ago, but it was actually one year ago! I could not imagine what this year would have been like without Mom and Dad.


They are awesome parents and grandparents, everyone knows that, but they both really stepped up, went above and beyond. If I needed them, they were there. If I didn't ask, they were still there, doing what they could to enrich Eli and Bella's lives and make mine a little easier. I can't tell you how many times Mom did my laundry or my dishes, took the kids to playground, played with them in the floor, took off work to watch one so I could take the other to the doctor, rocked Bella, read to Eli, fed them dinner... .
Dad gave numerous baths, got in workouts throwing Eli in the air, bounced Bella on his shoulder I don't know how many times trying to get her to go to sleep, took Eli to Lowe's to build things, read books, made snacks for Eli, went to all of Eli's t-ball practices/games, ... and the list goes on.

I am so grateful to them for all they have done for us this year! Eli and Bella have grown close to them, and I know they will miss Grandma and Grandpa just as much as Grandma and Grandpa are going to miss them.

Aunt Kathy has also been a great help this year, meeting us during her lunch hour (or two) to eat lunch with us, or just coming over to play with Eli and Bella.


Just having someone here for just a little while so I could get dinner started, check the mail on a cold day, or even pee without an audience was a great help. I remember when Stephen first left, Aunt Kathy told me, "This year will go by fast. It won't feel like it, but when you get to the end, you'll think it has gone by fast." What? That made no sense at all, but now that I am "at the end," I know exactly what she was talking about.

When Uncle James was here, and not traveling the world or in T-town, he would play with Eli and Bella and spend time with them. That was always nice to see. James plays with Eli the way Stephen does. Between Dad and James, I'm so grateful Eli and Bella had such positive male role models in their lives during Stephen's absence. I guess you could say they had a second mom in Mom. Heck, they both call her Mom.


Being here this year also allowed us to spend time, or more time, with those we would not have normally been able to see. We were able to see Momma every Sunday,

visit with Mamaw and Papaw a lot more than ever before,



play with cousins,




attend birthday parties,


reconnect with family we had not seen in a long time (Eli and Bella met Jeni and family for the first time.),


eat at Rosie's :-) ,



hang out with old friends,




and make new ones.


Yes, Stephen and I missed each other like crazy, and he missed Eli and Bella so much, but having the webcam and knowing we would be able to see each other a few times gave us something to look forward to. Eli and Bella loved Stephen as if he had never been away. I took tons of pics and videos, and those helped Stephen get a little taste of home, and it turns out he made some great friends there. Somehow I did manage to do all that needed to be done. At times, a lot of times, the house didn't get cleaned, but that was okay. It turns out that I was able to kill bugs. I wouldn't want to do this over again, but I thank God for getting us through this year.

Here's to the next chapter of our lives and our whole family being together! Watch out TX, here we come. I wonder if this means Stephen will have to be a Cowboys fan now?