I guess I just don't know where the time goes...except into parenting 2 very energetic little girls and growing a very active 26-week en-utero baby girl that should be here to meet us in late May.  Brandon has been consistently gone again so far this year, but we're hoping that once baby Kyleigh arrives that that will slow down for a few weeks as we prepare to send him off on his third deployment at the end of this year.  It will be a bummer of a deployment since he will miss all the big end of the year holidays and it will be my first one with 3 children and one in school so no long 6 week trip to family for some help, but hopefully it will again be a learning experience.  This will be our trial to figure out if we try for #4...can I handle being alone with 3 5 and under for 4 months and no extended help or will it really be more than I can sanely tackle?  So...lots going on here to say the least...

Hannah did start a 2-day a week preschool program back in October.  Since we were late in registering we didn't really think she would make it off the waiting list so we had started homeschooling with the ABEKA program and it was going well, but I was getting a little overwhelmed with Daddy being gone so much and finding quality time for both girls at such different stages.  So needless to say, we were both happy when we got the call that a spot had opened up for her to attend "real school" as Hannah calls it.  It really is helping her to be in a structured program with more kids as she's learning to focus on a teacher when there are lots of things going on around her (difficult skill to work on when it's just Mommy and me in the classroom) and she gets to work out a lot of her energy when Mommy's too tired for much physical activity at home.

Unfortunately, we spent most of the month of October traveling so Hannah missed most of her first days of school, but we were fortunate to get to spend some time with my Grandpa in PA during his last few weeks with us on our earth.  Hannah got to have some great quality and memory-building conversations and learned that she doesn't have to afraid of dying.  It was very sweet to see her sit for long stretches of time by his hospital bed just holding his hand.  We also had the ability to make the drive from PA to AL to pick up Brandon from SOS and bring him back to see Grandpa...whom he hadn't seen in more than a year.  We also had the privilege (and EXTREME surprise) of finding out that we were expecting our 3rd baby while we were on this trip and were able to share the news with Grandpa while he was lucid enough to understand.  And even though we weren't able to be there when he did enter the Pearly Gates to be with his precious Saviour, it was a sweet to share the time we were able to in Bible readings and long talks.  He even gathered up enough energy on some days to bark with Hannah as she was pretending to be a puppy and even to play a little bit with Alayna.  We are sad that our Kyleigh will not get to know personally this awesome man of God, but we pray that she will one day get to meet him on the heavenly streets of gold.

Okay...I know that only updates us through the end of October, but hopefully I'll be able to get back to the computer and update a little more.  I am again fighting gestational diabetes with this pregnancy, but always seem to battle low blood sugar around lunch time and that's the case now...I NEED FOOD!

Joining the land of the living once again...yes, we are! 

I know it has been forever since I posted and I'm still not home yet.  I am sitting up typing in a Memphis hotel as we make our way back across the country from our extended stay in OK for some upgrade training for Brandon.  We have been gone since the 31st of May and are eagerly looking forward to getting home in our own space again!  In the last 2 days alone we have put over 1000 miles on our poor van!  Who knew that in less than a year and a half, our little family could put over 30,000 miles on our new car!? 

Anyway...back to the title of my post (I'll have to save an update of the last month for another night).  I am waiting for my hubby to come back with our oldest from the ER as she seems to have developed an allergic reaction and has been itching all day and despite numerous doses of Benadryl, it just seems to be getting worse.  What the way to spend an anniversary right?  Well, at least I can be so happy that I am with the one I love on our anniversary.  We are finally starting to have more anniversaries where we're actually together...even if we aren't at home and able to actually go out.  We got to spend the whole day side-by-side talking!  We have reached the 7-year itch, people!  I can't believe it's been 7 years already!  I can't believe that I am more in love with my sweet hubby than I was on this day 7 years ago, but I most definitely am.  He has become a fantastic father and continually works each day to become an even more wonderful hubby.  I'm glad that we both see the need to keep working on our relationship (an continually reap the benefit of that work).  I tell him quite often that if God had allowed me to design (create) the hubby I would want to marry, I couldn't have fashioned him any better than the man God has given me to be my spouse.  This year is going to be rough for us.  He will be gone A LOT and people often wonder how we can do it.  But it's been amazing that God has really fashioned us to function pretty well with this type of schedule...it's like a mini honeymoon every time he comes home and every time we're apart, we realize that when we're together it's the little things that matter.  I think a lot of times, those that have spouses home all the time can forget how special it is to have someone in bed next to you when you wake up in the morning; or someone to hold hands with when you walk into Wal-Mart; or to have that one special person that is always looking for you when you're in a group of people or sitting at church.  I'm made aware of those little things every time he leaves and make sure that I savor them for whatever time he may have at home. 

We figured it up the other night...if we had not gone with him this last month to OK, we would have only seen him for about 2 months out of 11 months of this year.  We tried to focus on how happy we were that we could travel with him during the times that we've often felt cramped and trapped on top of each other as we lived in a tiny hotel suite for the past 4 weeks...especially during the 3 tornadoes and lost power in 100+ degree heat! 

So, all that to say that despite eating at Mickey D's and traveling for over 9 hours in the car today, I couldn't have had more fun spending my anniversary with my hubby!  And maybe one day down the road, when our paths cross again, we'll be able to spend some special one-on-one time together.  I did ask him if he would pencil a date with me into his calendar for sometime in August.  Hopefully he won't be sent out of the country for the whole month and we can at least get in one great dinner out just the two of us!

And, I even checked my hubby's laptop...and he's got a few wedding pictures on it!  Keep in mind, the weather was in the 90s with 80%+ humidity that day...very unusual for NY...and we had NO air conditioning!  So, we look a little melted! :)  But enjoy the pics anyway!

This picture was actually after the wedding and was outside and down by the lake...so at least we were able to cool of a little bit!

Great food...even thought I think I only had one bite besides the bite of wedding cake.  I at least had fun planning the menu!

And last but not least, great frends!  From left to right...Anne, Shannon, me, Brandon, Shelly, and Paul.  The girls and I all graduated from high school together!

Okay...I'll leave you with a pic or two from today.  We have been trying to get the girls' picture taken in each state that they visit.  We've hit up a lot of states on this trip...9 to be exact!  So, here's some from today!

And of course, just a cute pic of each girl...just to tide you over!

And of course, my fantastic Love!  Happy Anniversary, Babe!

(A pic from last year's anniversary dinner cruise)

So here's the story...Hannah and I had originally made a chain starting the countdown until Daddy's return home at 25 days.  We were counting down until Monday, May 5th...the latest day we thought he would arrive home.  But I had known for sometime that they're anticipated arrival date was actually the 3rd of May.  But I didn't want to tell Hannah because I know that something ALWAYS changes at the last minute.  And deep down Brandon and I were praying that he would at least make it home in time to see her participate in her 1st Cubbies' Award Program.  I had it all worked out...he was to get home at 4pm on Saturday afternoon...I would wake Hannah up from her nap with a surprise that we were going to have a picnic supper and play at "Daddy's park" (the park on base).  But instead I planned to take her to Daddy's office and surprise her by telling her that Daddy was actually on a plane right behind his office building.  The girls had outfits they planned to wear...Alayna's said "I love Daddy."  And Hannah and I had made her t-shirt that had a picture of the two of them on the front and said "Hannah's Hero...Daddy."  I even had my hair appointment scheduled for that morning so I would have a fresh new look...I even had new clothes and had gotten a pedicure earlier that week.  Our Sunday School class had also scheduled a celebration breakfast in class the next morning to welcome Brandon home.  But, wouldn't you know, due to weather the plane was delayed getting into their location to even pick them up.  So, instead of coming in at 4pm, they were now going to come in at 2am Sunday morning!  Now I had to decide whether it was best to let the girls sleep and let Daddy surprise them in the morning or wake them up and take them with me.  Brandon even suggested that I should coordinate with someone to drop off his car during the day on Saturday and leave him a key and he'd just come home himself when he got in.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!  No one to meet him when he got off the plane?!?!?!  We haven't seen this man in four months and he thinks I'm going to be able to sleep a wink while I wait for him to come in?!?!  No chance of that!!  In the grand scheme of things...what is a few lost hours of sleep compared to greeting Daddy when he comes off the plane so excited!  So, I put the girls to bed a little earlier and I woke them up as late as I could.  I woke Hannah up first and told her that Daddy was coming home.  Her answer was groggy and kind of like, "yeah Mom, I know...in a few more days."  I said, "No, we're going to get him right now!"  I carried her out to the van and strapped her in and went back in to wake up Alayna and get her packed up.  By the time I made it back out to the van, it was finally sinking in with Hannah that it was still the middle of the night and we were going to get Daddy NOW!  She could hardly contain herself on the way down to the base. 

The reunion was awesome!  Alayna seemed just as excited as Hannah while we were waiting...like she knew we were waiting for somebody important to show up.  And both girls did remarkably well for only having a few hours of sleep...and they stayed awake the entire time.  The only downside was that this time the plane pulled up near the passenger terminals for Space A passengers (those military people who want to hop on a cargo plane and fly to Europe free of charge and free of any luxury or comfort!).  So, it was right on the other side of an active road down the runway so we had to wait for the guys to come to us...no Hannah running clear across the tarmac and throwing herself into Daddy's arms like she did last time!  And I was impressed...Hannah actually did stay put and waited for Daddy to come to her.  It was pretty dark so we couldn't see him from across the way...we didn't realize it was him until he was pretty close.  Hannah had her sign held up trying to make it high enough for him to see that it was her!  I don't have great pictures of the wait because it was so dark and there were reflective beacons everywhere that made bright white spots in the middle of some of the pics I did take, but here are a good sampling of what I took.

Here she is waiting patiently...this is after a cookie and Capri Sun helped the staying awake process along a little bit!  Thanks to those who provided the snacks for the kiddos!

Her sign! (Mommy helped with the spelling a little!) 

Daddy and his GIRLS!

Hannah's mode of transportation at the end of the hour long (yes, only hour long) inprocessing line.  This was expected to take upward of 2+ hours and they finished in record time! 

We got to bed around 4am and Brandon decided that he wanted to get up and at least go to Sunday School.  So, we did...then we all came home and crashed until it was time to go to Hannah's award ceremony that night!  At last...our wonderful Daddy!  Home safe and sound!  Even if it is for less than a month!  At least when he leaves again for his next month long training we'll be going with him!