Homecoming News Story Link

I haven't gotten around to uploading our pictures from Josh's homecoming yet, but I promise to soon.  We have just been holed up, trying to spend lots of family time together...transitioning back to being all together again.  But, if you'd like to watch, we were on the local news:

Click here to watch!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!
:-)

BEST.CHRISTMAS.PRESENT.EVER.

HE IS HOME!!!!!  Sorry about the image quality (took this with my phone).  I promise to post more photos of his homecoming soon...it was awesome!!!  Hope everyone has as good a Christmas as we will have!!!

:-)   :-)   :-)

Yummy, Yummy!

When I was little, my mom always did fun, crafty things with us...especially during the holidays!  Josh and I want our kids to have memories of us doing fun things with them too.  So, this year, we are starting our annual gingerbread-house-making tradition.  We had so much fun making these that the boys decided we would make more when daddy gets home!

Ty is ready to get started!

Caellum is too...although I think he is more ready to eat the candy than decorate the house! :-)

Proud of his gingerbread house

Is there more icing on the house, or on his mouth?

Their finished products!

Believe it or not, Caellum was more into this than Ty was.  Ty kept running off to watch TV, or use the potty.  But Caellum sat there the entire time putting candy on his house.  Of course he enjoyed eating a lot of it too!  Our little Chunk!  One thing is for sure...we all had a messy blast and can't wait to do it again when daddy comes home!  :-)

We are still here...

Sorry it's been a while.  We have been very busy lately!  Preparations have begun for our brigade's homecoming, and between that and getting ready for the holidays, things have been a little hectic!  I will try to catch up a little on what has been going on with us.  For Thanksgiving, we traveled back to Cincinnati to spend time with our families.  We had a great trip, even though we didn't get to visit everyone we would have liked to. Here are some photos from our trip:

I ran a 10K on Thanksgiving morning, and when I got back this is how I found Caellum...fast asleep on the floor, passed out in the middle of playing with all Meemaw's toys!

The kiddos enjoying their Thanksgiving dessert...they all chose chocolate cake over pumpkin pie!

Ty driving Papaw's boat...he is a little obsessed with Papaw's garage and always loves to play in it when we're there!

The boys got some early Christmas presents from some of our family that we won't get to see at Christmas.  Ty got a Lightening McQueen remote control car.... 

and Caellum got a Little People car set!

We put up our Christmas tree, and decorated the house for Christmas:

Caellum in his cowboy boots and diaper playing with Ty's car! :-)

Ty helping decorate our patriotic Christmas tree!

Caellum helped too...if you count throwing ornaments across the room as helping, lol!

And the most important thing that is to come....JOSH'S HOMECOMING!  Yay!!!!

I can't divulge too much information, but we are in the home stretch of this deployment.  That's all I will say for now.  I haven't posted much about the deployment in fear of giving out too much information, but I am hoping to post a bit more about our year-long journey when everyone is safely home. For now, please say prayers that our brave men and women continue to stay focused while they are still "in country," and pray that they all have a safe trip home, whenever that may be.

A HUGE thank you goes out to Aunt Kathy for giving me a car full of donated items to help welcome our single soldiers home!  Also, thank you to those who donated white towels for our soldiers!  Thanks to all of you, these guys (and gals) are coming home to a room full of nice things to get them through a few days until they can get their own personal belongings and vehicles back.

So, that is what has been going on...a LOT of exciting things to look forward to! :-)



I Can't Believe....



That I let Veterans Day pass without posting a thank you!  Sorry for the delay, but I want to send out a huge thank you to all those brave men and women who serve so selflessly in the Armed Forces.  Our great country wouldn't be what it is today without each and every one of you!  I also want to thank the "silent ranks..." the spouses, children, and family members who love and support our brave service members. 

Josh, your family is so incredibly proud of you this Veterans Day!  A special thank you goes out to you from your wife and babies who love you more than you'll ever know!  Fight the fight, and get home safely to us!  We love you with all our hearts and souls, and miss you so much!

An Emotional Week...

Well, I already posted the tragic news about Ali.  Now I have two more prayer requests...

Please pray for my dear friend, Amy (Livingston) Fallis.  Amy is a "cheerleading friend."  I met her while cheering for an arena football team in Cincinnati, and even though we don't talk nearly as much as I would like, I still consider her a great, sweet friend.  Amy lost her mom on Thursday, Nov.10.  Please remember Amy's family in your prayers.

Last night (Friday, Nov. 11) our dear brother-in-law, Jay, lost his dad.  Terry, Jay's dad, holds a special place in our heart.  He not only married Josh and I, but was like a grandfather to Ty and Caellum.  He even bought Ty a coon-skin hat when he was a born.  We love the Williams' family so much, and pray the Lord comforts them during this time.  Please remember them in your prayers as well.

I am praying this is the end of what has been a very sad week.  Thank you for all your love, prayers, and support.  Thank you for remembering to pray for these special families.  They all need the Lord's loving arms wrapped around them right now.

These Two Are Gonna Be A Handful!

I think we may be in for it when these two start tag-teaming in the near future......

                                     

Prayer Please

The world lost a beautiful woman last night.  You can read about Ali's passing here.  Ali is leaving behind a devoted husband, a gorgeous baby girl who just turned one, two sisters (one of whom I went to high school with), her parents, and many other friends and family members who loved her so much!  Please pray for Ali's family, that the Lord will comfort them during this time of pain and suffering.  While my heart breaks for Ali's loved ones, at least she isn't in pain anymore, and I know she is in a far better place than we can imagine.  Thank you for your prayers.  

Our B-boys!

I just thought this video was too funny not to post.  Every time I ask Ty to dance, he break-dances. 

 :-)  Then it's "monkey-see, monkey-do" for Caellum, who tries to do everything his big brother does.  So, here are our b-boys in action!

Fall Fun

We have already done some fun Fall activities, and can't wait to do more!  So far we have:

Tried on our Halloween costumes to show Daddy (Transformers, Bumblebee (Ty) and Optimus Prime (Caellum))

Went to a local pumpkin patch (Roberts Family Farm...local readers can go to this website, you will find it listed under Meade County...I highly recommend this one, thought it was great!). The boys had a blast feeding the goats!

            

We went trick-or-treating at the "World's Largest Halloween Party" hosted by the Louisville Zoo:

Meemaw, Pawpaw, Aunt Michelle and cousins Maddie and Monrowe went with us to the Zoo!

We got to meet Buzz, Woody, and Jessie!

We went on a road trip with mommy's friend, Kircia, and Ty's "girlfriend," Kaylee to Huber Farms:

They love their pumpkins!  Caellum calls his "baby pumpkin!"

We have had fun so far this October, but have missed Josh so much!  Halloween is one of his favorite holidays, and he loves Fall!  It just feels like something is missing without him here to be part of it all...especially since both boys are finally old enough to understand and get excited about everything.  On the bright side, we still have pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating to look forward to!  Yay!  Happy Fall, everyone!

God is Great!

On this rainy, dreary Thursday here in Fort Knox, I received some awesome news that immediately brightened my day!  A family friend, Ali, has been battling a rare form of cancer.  You can read about her story here. Ali is a young, new mother (her baby girl just turned 1 recently) and her story just touches my heart.  We have been praying for her so much, and got an update today that she has had a 40-50% reduction in her tumors from her chemo treatment.  This is huge news for the family, and we are elated! The main reason I am posting this today is to ask for prayers for Ali and her family.  While this news is incredible, she still needs all the prayers she can get!  So please, if you have time, read about Ali's story, and remember her in your prayers.  Thank you all, and thank you, dear Lord, for answering our prayers for Ali thus far!

Afghan Josh

So I woke up this morning to these photos emailed to me from Josh:

Afghan Josh

Josh with some of the other soldiers

Josh and 1SG Selph

Apparently the soldiers constructed a really nice outdoor deck that has a fire pit, flat screen TV, coffee shop, kabob grill, and tailor shop all rolled into one at their COP.  To celebrate the "Grand Opening" of this area, the tailor handmade these Afghan outfits (the soldiers call them "Man Jams") for some of the guys.  I think it's hilarious that Josh is wearing a purple scarf!  Never would I have imagined him wearing the color purple or in a scarf!  He's usually too tough for those kind of things...lol!  So I got a good laugh out of these pics, and had to post them! 

Dancing With The Stars

I have said before, I love to dance, and I love to watch dancing shows.  So, of course, I am a "Dancing With The Stars" fan (although SYTYCD is my fave).  My favorite contestant this season is J.R. Martinez.  What a brave man, with an amazing story.  His positive attitude and the way he persevered through his injuries is so inspiring.  His dance on Monday night had me in tears, and I just had to post it on the blog.  It had my heart breaking for those families who will never get to welcome their soldier home, and reminded me of how blessed I am, and how proud I am of my soldier, hero, husband, and best friend.  Love you, Josh!

Well done, Karina and J.R.

Newport Aquarium

My fellow Army wife, and good friend, Shannon, gave us free tickets to the Newport Aquarium (thank you girl!) in Cincinnati.  So, while Josh was home, we made the drive up there to take the boys.  We had so much fun looking at all the "fishies."  While we were there, we got to eat lunch with one of Josh's best friends, and we spent some time with his family.  We took the boys to see Cars 2, and to Chuck E. Cheese.  We had so much fun!

Caellum would not hold still for a picture!

Ty is such an ornery, little thing!

Ty and Mommy posing with Nemo!

Caellum loved climbing on these froggies!

Daddy and his buckaroos

The Kinsel Family (Mamaw and Papaw, Brandi (Josh's sis), Chris (Brandi's hubby), their girls, Gabrielle, Ellie, Josh and the boys)

This is how Ty and Josh fell asleep every night while he was home.  Ty is definitely Daddy's boy...he wouldn't even let Mommy get him out of his car seat while Daddy was home...Daddy had to do it! :-)

It was very difficult saying goodbye to him again after those two awesome weeks!  On the bright side, he will be home for good soon...and it can't come soon enough!  We were blessed to have a wonderful two weeks with him, and we will never forget them! 

We Heart FL!

First off, I'd like to apologize for all the photos in this post, but it was the beach...can you blame me?!  We were fortunate enough to be able to take a FABULOUS vacation to Okaloosa Island, FL during R&R.  The Lord blessed us with gorgeous weather, and a beautiful condo right on the beach!  It was our third time to the beach as a family (you can read about our other beach vacations here and here), but only our second with Caellum.  The boys loved the beach!  Ty had a blast swimming in the ocean with Daddy, but Caellum was a little more reserved about going into the water.  Caellum had more fun digging in the sand and chasing the sea gulls than anything!  We saw dolphins every day, and on our last day, we even saw a shark (and jellyfish) swimming in shin-deep water...yikes!  Good thing we didn't see that shark until our last day!  Looking at these pictures make me wish we were still there!

Caellum playing in the sand

 Trying to get a good pic of both boys together...it's nearly impossible!

Good pic of the four of us...even more difficult!

Ty buried in the sand

Tried to spell their names out in the sand...didn't do such a good job at that!

Daddy and his boys

Fishing off the pier with Daddy

Aunt Kathy (who lives near Orlando, FL) made the 7 hour drive up for one night just to see us!  You can read about the amazing things she's doing for our military men and women here.  She is awesome, and we love her!

Me and my man!

The four of us in the pool

I could wake up to this view every day of my life!  This was taken from our balcony.

Eglin Air Force Base was right on our way, so we stopped there to do our grocery shopping at the commissary!  And we also took the time to visit their museum.

Caellum was conked out during our museum visit.

They had a little jet simulator you could sit in .  Ty was in heaven!  He asked us where the keys go, and where he could put his snacks. :-)  He had a blast pushing all the buttons and levers.

If you are looking for an affordable, two bed/bath condo to rent for vacation in Okaloosa Island, FL (about 10 min from Destin, FL) let me know!  The owner of this condo is super sweet, gave us a great deal, and I would highly recommend her to anyone!