Right Here, Ohh, Right Now

One month ago today. He came home. Alive. And we quickly slipped into a new routine. I often get asked, "How do you do it?". My usual retort is I'm not quite sure, but we do what we need to do. Some days I do it MUCH worse than others. There are many, many days where I swear that I can't do it for even 5 more minutes, let alone X # of months. But, each new day I put my big girl panties on and carry on. Why? Because Patrick would be a bear to live with if he was flying a desk somewhere. Because, he has a job and so do we. AND, because we have days like this...

Woke up at zero dark thirty and got showered. Woke up the brood and got them going. As we were headed to the already packed car, I checked facebook one last time. I notice a status update from a friend that the highway, my route to hubby's homecoming is CLOSED. Thank goodness my stand-in hubby Chris hadn't left for work yet. I battled my GPS and my nerves and we safely arrived on base. I squirmed around the long line of cars and pulled into a spot on the flight line. We went inside and waited. And waited. I nervously met some of the other wives I had chatted online with , yet never met face to face. The media was there and I was interviewed several times. And we waited. Sometimes we were good...

Sometimes we were just plain silly...

Oh my did we wait. Then we heard over the radio they were nearby. We lined up at the hangar doors. And we waited. and then one of the kids, I think it was P.J. thought he saw the E-2's over the horizon.

He was right. They were almost home. We still had to wait through the pretty formations and breaks. And then one by one. Each E-2 landed, taxied, folded it's wings, and taxied to us led by Daddy in 600.

Hugs, tears, kisses, and more interviews.

She would not leave his side. The twins had grown up so much while he was away. But, they didn't hesitate this time. They ran straight for him. And never left him.

All of them actually...

He was home. They were playing and he was grilling.

Until next time.

Proud Mama and Scrappy Heavy...

If you only look at one photo here, you must scroll down to the fourth one. Thump. Even Donk took a second look. It's THAT perfect. It is SO them. She with that mischievous smile and he with his sweetness showing through. Sigh. We did survive. What a day. To say it was monumental in our household, would not be an overstatement. Just one month past their third birthday, they went to "cool". "My cool and Puppy's too."...

Yep, he is that adorable...

So excited... And, not JUST about the pink glitter light-up Stride Rites.

A little nervous,

but not that nervous. THIS IS IT!!

Running off some nervous energy...

Oh yeah, nervous... No, you go. No YOU go first.

Ok, proud Momma moment over. Now onto some fun scrappy stuff. A little somethin somethin all available in the shop at Croppin Paradise!

Another project I created for Croppin Paradise's Camp Paradise...

And, the stuff I put together for Simply Obsessed and my Scrap That Vacation Crop...

New favorite yellow paper here. Studio Calico. sigh.

The latest Scrap That Baby prompt Step By Step and a Studio Calico kit with more OA love.sigh.

hope to be back soon. thanks for listening. sigh.

Scrap That Baby Blog Hop

Welcome to the Scrap That Baby Sweet Summertime Blog Hop! Thank you so much for hopping along on our first blog hop EVER!! If you didn't come from Sara's blog or you popped upon this blog another way and would like to join in, please go to Scrap That Baby and start the hop! You will need to comment on all of the blogs for a chance to win one of the grand prizes listed at Scrap That Baby. Plus many of our fantastic designers are giving away RAKs of fun on their blogs, as well. You don't want to miss out. There are MANY MANY chances to win!

Our theme for this blog hop is the Sweet Summertime! Our designers will be sharing fantastic summer projects, stories, tips, or ideas for keeping cool and having fun in the summer with a baby in tow.

For my project I made a cheery layout to document all the little things I did to keep my wee ones busy this summer while we waited for my hubby's return from Afganistan. My favorite part is that trail of 6 planes up top (representing the 6 of us at home) and the one solitary plane below symbolizing my hubby. Man those babies missed their Daddy!

I'd love to give away a little scrappy something to one of you. just leave me a comment AND become a follower, if you already are, just tell me that and I'll enter your name for a RAK from one Baby Momma to another.

************Our Blog Hop runs from today August 18th through the 22nd at midnight EST. Remember, to be eligible for one of the prizes at Scrap That Baby you must comment on all of the DT's blogs. Sarah will be drawing the names of the winners on Wednesday!! Good luck!

Now go see the uber fabulous Maya HERE for the next stop on the STB Sweet Summertime Blog Hop. Thanks for hopping by. Hope to see you back here soon.

Sittin On a Suitcase, Waitin' for a Ride

All of my Scrap That Vacation Crop challenges are up at Simply Obsessed here. Please come play with me this weekend. I put a ton of work into it and would love some company. AND, you can see what I've been keeping from you all these past weeks. Lots of new eye candy for my challenge samples.


Kept my last Camp Paradise challenge layout pretty simple. Wanted to keep the focus on those JB Playdate papers and the photos of Miss Sassy. Camp is wrapping up this weekend with a Talent Show. Hope you can join us...

Happy 3rd Birthday Simply Obsessed!! C'Mon & Hop Along

Welcome to my Party of Five blog & Simply Obsessed's Blog Hop to celebrate it's 3rd Birthday. I'm one of the designer's over there. It's a totally fun place to hangout and chat and Heather creates some amazing kits. You should have reached me from Andrea's blog, if you arrived here another way and would like to join in on the fun you can go to the SO blog here to get started.

As soon as I heard we were going to be doing this blog hop with a birthday theme, I knew just what I wanted to make. My youngest kiddos just turned 3 and I knew I HAD to make a shadowbox to commemorate the big day. I picked up a cheapy little box at Mike's and started playing with some favorite goodies of mine: October Afternoon K & Co Handmade, and Girls' Paperie diecuts. The key to creating a cool shadowbox is to add layers at varying depths. Some of my stuff is even added to the outer frame and the glass within. Hope this will inspire you to make a little crafty something yourself.

**** Ok, now that we are done here, head on over to SO member Brianna's blog to continue on the SO 3rd Birthday Blog Hop. Don't forget YOURS TRULY is hosting the Scrap That Vacation crop this weekend. We've already started the fun with signups and a game. Look for a Pre-Crop Challenge later today in the forums. The rest of the scrappy craziness will start bright & early tomorrow. Can't wait to "see you" over there. Hope you enjoyed my project and will come back and visit Party of Five again.

**** Leave me a comment and tell me what you're most looking forward to with Fall quickly approaching and I'll draw a name for a little RAK O Fun.

Still Here... I Swear

These last 2 weeks seem like a whirlwind to me. I still want to re-cap the Big Day (Donk's homecoming), just not yet. We're back in our rhythm, a new one at that. As much as I look forward to hubby's return, it always takes some getting used to. We have OUR way of doing things, and he certainly has HIS. It like a weird kind of tango as we put it all together. Tonight will surely test the balance as we have 3 events on the schedule... football, cheerleading, and soccer. We shall see.

Switching gears, Croppin Paradise continues it's month-long Camp Paradise. I love this layout I did as a sample for my Camp Spirit challenge during Week 3.


Scrap That Baby's newest prompts are up. The linkie is on my sidebar, as is Croppin Paradise's. STB's was to scrap something nursery-themed. The current prompt is "How I Met Your Father". Such great stuff has been added already and you still have until the 15th to add yours!

Yep, another banner. I need a 12 step banner program. Can you hook a girl up?!?

And one last kit for Simply Obsessed. I've enjoyed my run there and look forward to my next scrappy adventure. Simply Obsessed is lots of fun due to Heather's great kits and all the fun girls on the boards. So, here ya go. Pink Paislee's lovely Queen Bee...

Wonder who this is for...

Check back here Thursday as we kick off Simply Obsessed's Birthday celebration with a Blog Hop. That is if you'd like a peek at my latest shadowbox creation. Teehee, such a tease.