a day at the beach...

this weekend we went to the beach.  nora wrote me a note in the sand.  it said, "i love you mom".  sweet girl!!!

my view on saturday morning.  

james was swimming in the ocean.  he never does that!  i really had to watch him!!

then, nora had a birthday party.  at the mini golf place!!!

yes, that's a club.  way too high!!

and yes, i should have worked on her swing more!  but, i had a baby and another boy to keep track of!  (i did manage to get her to put the putter facing the right way!!)  she wanted to play croquet with it!

and this one... would walk his ball up to the rim of the cup and just tap it in... tap, tap, tap it in!!! 

(name the movie...)  

my lioness!!

sweet boy, enjoying his cupcake!

playing with lowly worm...  yes, he smiles like his daddy.  no, i'm not sure what to do about it.  no, he is not always being tortured in pictures...  yes, he ASKED me to take this one!!

we are getting close.  and yet so far away.  my kids are starting to really feel it.  they are clingy and sad.  emotional.  i can't talk about daddy coming home, because they think it's going to be tomorrow.  their concept of soon and mine are totally different!!  soon to them is before this weekend.  (and that's SO not it!)

i laid with nora in bed tonight, because she had been crying for almost an hour.  

and james gets so sad anytime he's not with me.  he cried for the babysitter i had this weekend.  that he wanted mommy and daddy, several times.  

and then i think of the ship that just left for 10 months.  or the guys that are gone a year.  (and, as someone pointed out today... not to get all political on ya...  the less funding for the military, the worse it will get, cause there will be less to go.  that's how it's been for a lot so far.  a deployment a year...  okay, off my soap box!)

me, i'm doing okay so far.  i am not getting my hopes up yet.  getting ready, however!  (and i have spare jelly beans in case our countdown gets delayed!)  but i know how easily his ship can turn around.  for some threat that you and i will never know about!  it won't make the news.  but, he'll be there.  

and i am so thankful for david.  and what he does every day.  (and night, because, in addition to his "full time job", he is up through half the night two out of every four nights...  but doesn't get to sleep in to compensate.  he just gets up after minimal sleep and works.   hard.)  so thankful for the man i married and all that he does!

i am doing a study on marriage and communication with some wives.  we were discussing it today, and i commented on how it's so easy to ascribe meaning to david's thoughts and actions while he is deployed.  but, then, when i ACTUALLY remember that he lives in a metal box on a ship in the middle of a desert and their air conditioning was out for quite a bit of time this summer and it was 90* on a cool night and he sweat himself to sleep every night and works through the night two out of every four and works through the weekends and eats the same meals on rotation because that's what gets delivered to them by package drop and you pray the good food doesn't fall in to the ocean and he's missing every moment of 8 months with our children (first day of school, crawling, first tooth, bike rides, swimming, etc), and sleeps (when he gets to) on a mattress that is thinner than the desk i am using to type on, and has no privacy or place to stretch out...

and remember that he is not going out for mai tais on the beach, it's so much easier to think about how much better i have it.  and not "he dropped me here on this deserted isle in the middle of the pacific with three children".  (not REALLY my mentality, but you see my point!)  it's easy to realize that i have it easy.  i am surrounded by family and friends and an amazing ocean that i can go sink my feet in to any day.  i have a good life.  and i love it!  and i really pray hard for my husband on those days.  because i know that he is working so hard!  for me.  and for you.  and i am so proud.  

pumpkin patch...

picking out his pumpkin...

all our pumpkins.  it was a little heavy for him.  but he can't smile in pictures.  it's genetic!

playing house.  he was talking to miss carley about their lemonade...

me and my boy.  (i'm the farmer...)

up on the hay!

the pumpkins... (chris was sleeping near the mouth area!!)

jamey wanted miss carley for this one!

he loved just watching from the hay ride!

and this one loved his nap!!!

the island in the background...

so intense... so serious.

i love this boy.  and i had a blast with him today.  miss carley got a very important phone call just as the hayride was starting, so she stayed behind.  i had my arm around my boy (so he didn't fall out) and just watched him.  

(side note here...  last night, jamey asked Jesus to be his Savior.  it was a great day for this mommy!!!  we have been talking about it for awhile.  nora has been encouraging him for awhile.  but he has always been adamant that he didn't want to yet.  last night, we were talking about adoption and who was adopted.  and i told the kids that i had been adopted.  and so had nora.  into God's family.  james asked if he had, and i told him not yet.  not putting any pressure on him, but not making any bones about the fact that it is a CHOICE we make, and God doesn't grade on a curve.  we sin, we fall short of his test.  so, we have to believe that Jesus came, died on the cross for our sins to take our punishment, rose again and lives in Heaven.  and ask Him to forgive our sins and be our Savior.

so, james said he wanted to.  it was so sweet.  we had brownie cakes to celebrate later!!)

back to the story.  so, we are on the hay ride.  and james looks up at me and asks starts a confusing conversation.

j-are you going to bring my clothes?

m-what clothes?

j-clothes like these (pulling at his shorts)?

m-i can bring more tomorrow.  you already have them on and i didn't pack extra.

j-i don't want to be naked.

m-i think you are good.  we have more at home.

j-no, are you going to bring me clothes to heaven?

sweet thing was so worried about being naked in heaven!!!  love it!!  anyway it was a special time with him.  

love to you all...

a new gymnastics class...

eating their cucumber that our friend grew in her garden!

sweet boy told me he wasn't tired.  i had told him to nap, then took a shower.  he had wanted an apple, so i thought he was downstairs eating and then playing.  when i checked on him, this is how i found him.  

the next day, i told the kids they had a choice.  they could either pick up the play room or take a nap.  both kids chose a nap.  and then i told them, no reading, no playing.  just sleeping.  nora rethought her choice and decided to clean.  james still chose a nap.  and took a great one!  

aloha...

i forgot the double stroller for a run the other day... so we made do.  it was better than running with all three in the double!!!

sweet boy... he's loving this table right now!!

shave ice... same place, different friends!

we wore the boy out the other day...

surfing...  nora catching a wave!

saying "aloha" to our friend!

i love baby c's face!!  

and then the way he looks at mrs. c!  

a busy weekend.  some girls' time, some birthday parties.  a skype date.  it's been fun!!  and busy.  and i have a boy who has been missing his daddy.  

a thursday...

i've posted from this beach before... but i love it!  there are cottages here that i am dying to stay at.  the water.  the view.  the ocean.  waikiki in the distance.  diamondhead even further.  i just love it!

the kids playing at the beach today.  so much fun!!

we had a whirlwind day.  we started off with a trip to target.  to buy two birthday presents.  and james SCREAMED for a good 10 minutes (if not more) through target, hitting and flailing in the cart as i finished my trip, because i would not ALSO buy him a lego.  

i told him no, and once he threw the tantrum, i MOST CERTAINLY was not going to buy it.  at the end, he really also wanted a princess play phone.  that was a no for SO MANY reasons!

but, as people stared, and nora turned in to the most gracious shopper and helper ever (does any one else's kids do that...  one goes all dr. jekyll, and the other goes all mr. hyde?  i mean, one crazy and one the sweetest, most polite child you almost don't recognize him/her?  like they are trying to balance out your crazy???).  anyway, i check out.  the sweet cashier offered him a sticker.  nora sweetly looked up and said, "please may i have one?".  (bless that girl!!!)

we get to the car, and he and i have it out.  and he's not any happier.  and then, we hold hands while i drive.  (unsafe, yes.  but holding my two kids hands... cause all three of us have to hold hands.  nora even asked today, "can i get in on the hand?")  for just a minute.  and i tried to do something a minute later and i look in my rearview and realize that nora is comforting him and just sweetly holding his hand.  and does so for the next 10 minutes.  just holds his hand.  and loves on him.  bless her heart!!!

THEN, it's only 9:30 am!  and we are off to a playdate.  and he is a different child than the one i had in target!  we have a fun play date.  and pack up and eat lunch in the car while we go to the beach.  to meet our friends.

we spend a WONDERFUL afternoon just laying at the beach.  and playing.  and nora just lets herself get tossed around by the waves.  and then we pack up.  and head back to the house.  for a quick skype date with grammie and grandpa.  and 20 minutes after arriving at the house, we load BACK up and head off to our first gymnastics class.

the kids had a BLAST!  james got to do the bars and some tumbling.  and the trampoline.  that was his favorite!  all day, he told me he wanted to do karate.  i asked him to try one class (i am cheating, cause both kids can do two different classes.  AT. THE. SAME. TIME....).  he agreed, and loved it.  after, i asked if he wanted to try karate, and he said he just wanted to come back here!

and nora got to do the bars.  and the balance beam.  and some tumbling.  and she loved it.  when we signed up, she got a "free" leotard.  and she picked a super sparkly one.  cause that's what the olympic gymnasts wore!  

then, i threw dinner at them and threw them in bed.  fun day!!!  but they are TIRED!!!

what we wore wednesday...

a pink wig...

and an old lilly shirt... and (wait for it...)  pre-preggers jeans!  (a little tight, but they were on!)

girls night was wig night...  so there you have it!

after face painting at school... j wanted to try it on!

and nora loved it...

nora got a new dress this weekend.  she loved it so much she wore it saturday, and again on sunday (i washed it first!)

she also got a hand me down from friends... it's red and stretchy and sparkly!!  she also loves this one!

kids went to a party with a photo booth a few weeks ago...

it's sad that they have no idea who these characters were!!

the kids and i said "see you soon" to a good hawaii friend tonight.  she is moving away and we were all quite sad.  (kids cried FOREVER!)  and whenever people leave/move since daddy deployed, it always turns into a "why does everyone leave... i miss everyone" moment.  or hour.  

so, in desperation, i sent an email to my hubby.  who hasn't "talked" to the kids in awhile.  and asked if he had 2 minutes (which i KNEW he didn't have today... he's CRAZY busy and backed up this week) to say "i love you" to his girl.  and he did.  he called and talked to her for a few minutes. 

i want to cry as i write this, because she doesn't totally understand the sacrifice he made to call her.  but i do.  and i know how much it meant to her that he called.  she was a different child the rest of the night.  there were no more tears (and there had been tears for 4+hours).  she was a happy girl.  she needed her daddy.  

and i get it.  their world is upside down right now.  daddy is gone and a whole host of visitors have been in and out of their lives this summer.  and a HUGE constant in their lives is moving.  and they are just beginning to grasp that.  

and it's hard.  we can't just pick up a phone and call daddy.  we get a phone call when it works for him. and it's usually when the kids are in school or bed, and it's usually 10 minutes, and there are crazy delays in the call, so it's frustrating for an adult, let alone a 3 or 5 year old who doesn't understand the delays.  they just want their daddy.

and today, when they needed him, he was there.  i know he worries about being an "absentee dad" because of his job.  but it's times like this that i KNOW he won't be.  (and i also know that WAY TOO soon, my kids will be able to use email and email him all by themselves!!  i won't have to read daddy's words to them!)

kids...

sweet, big, baby boy.  

my girl.  

silly, middle, three year old boy.

my kids make me so happy.