Life on the Hamster Wheel

Hellllooooo Sweet Friends. I'm not even going to begin to try to explain my absence from this little blog.  It's just LIFE, I guess.  A lot has occurred since we last spoke, my biggest graduated elementary school, my littles graduated from preschool, Hubby finished up his crazy workup schedule, and deployed aboard the USS Eisenhower, and summer vacay is in full swing around here.


In July the Bigs went away for the very first time.  All three attended bible camp for an entire week.  What a crazy experience for all 6 of us.  They had a great time, and the babies and I enjoyed some serious quality time as a teeny tiny family of 3.  We attended VBS, bowled, enjoyed the local libraries' reading programs, went to the pool, and saw a movie.  I can't begin to express just how wild it was for me to be caring for and cooking for JUST 2 kiddos.  And the laundry and the dishes... or lack there of.  Totally crazysauce!  Now don't even start me on the laundry that was to be done when the Bigs returned from their week in the great outdoors.  And the GIGANTIC ants that were swarming when I opened one suitcase, ugh!!  I will divulge that the clean laundry piles were indeed taller than I.  Just the thought of getting all of that laundry put away.  Double ugh.



The following weeks schedules include another wonderful Lincoln (housing) event, the waterpark, more movies, the beginning (ALREADY!?!?) of Fall football for 2, and lots of library fun.  What are YOU doing to make these dog days of summer pass quickly?

I do have a few layouts to share...

As If

As if I needed yet another reminder of my everyday life. As if Donk isn't already MONTHS into his pre-deployment workup schedule. As if our squadron family group hasn't already had it's last get together in anticipation of this summer's cruise. As if the investigators aren't still working their tails off in aVirginia Beach neighborhood just down the road from my own to find out what brought down that Navy F-18 just 60 seconds into its last flight. As if a friend returning on a MAC flight from an overseas visit with her hubby didn't just share a flight with a soldier who made THAT ultimate sacrifice. As if I wasn't reminded just yesterday on the tball field nonetheless, that the last two squadrons we have been attached to both suffered casualties. As if, when reading a favorite military wife's blog this morning, I got yet another reminder of just how perilious and REAL this all is. As if my kiddos aren't already naming and loving on their new stuffed animals graciously donated by the Comfort Crew and the USO.

As if my hubby, my kids' Daddy isn't leaving for war in a couple months. As if.

As if.


More Studio Calico and Dear Lizzy goodness. Thanks for sto

pping. Be back soon with a fun little award for me and maybe for some of you too.

Here We Go Again

April?!? Seriously, it's April already? I don't know about you, but I still have a couple of unfinished Christmas projects taking up space in my scraproom. I prefer to consider those projects as me getting a jump start on next year!! Yay ME!! How did it get to be April? The Brood continues keeping me on my toes with Scouts three times a week plus Sullivan in T-ball and the Bubba starts Spring football on the 29th. I can't think of anything better than teaching 3 and 4 year olds about the Bible every Sundaymorning than dragging ALL of my kiddos out to the football field for THREE HOURS immediately afterwards!! Yikes. What was I thinking?

Donk is getting ready to deploy with the Eisenhower battlegroup this summer. What does that mean? That means we've been busy fitting good quality family time in on the odd occassion he is actually IN town. The crew had Spring Break last week and Reagan & Sullivan enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon at the Norfolk Tides ballfield. Oh my, did my little mini baseball player LOVE that! The kids are all looking forward to next month when they each get a Daddy Day all to them selves. They even get to play hooky from school. It's not every day you send your Daddy off to war. there has to be SOME consolation...

Last month when Donk went out to do some pre-deployment training on the Ike, he brought along a little stowaway. Meet Donk Stanley, Flat Stanley's brother. If you look closely at the picture above you can see the aircraft carrier in the distance as Flat Stanley "took controls" from Daddy.

Proud first grader here...

Love the details here from the oxygen mask to the flightsuit patches...

Still playing with paper & glue whenever I can steel away... I absolutely adored Studio Calico's Daydream Believer kit. My favorite one in a long time.

Hope you are taking some time to enjoy your special ones...

Squishy is Good, Just Slightly Overrated

It feels like a million years ago, it REALLY does. Five weeks from tomorrow I finally went in for one of those dreaded yearly recommended mamograms. I suffered through the cluelessness that was I as I had never done THAT before, and moved on. Until I was standing on the playground at the twins' school a few days later when I noticed a voicemail on my phone. Uh oh. I called the breast center back as soon as I could wrangle the littles back to the car. I scribbled some notes as the nice lady spoke. Something about my left breast and another mamo and a set of double doors. Huh?!? WTF?!?

Fast forward to the second mamo and the dark room with the two giant computer screens of what I just could. not. believe. That was my breast. Some kind of atypical calcification. Something about a biopsy and me being fine. Huh?!? A hundred phone calls later, two appointments made and no referral, followed by an angel sent from God in a doctor's office in Suffolk, and I finally had an appointment. To see. a breast surgeon. Gulp. Huh?!?

Oh yea, did I mention Donk was gone for the first mamo and the second?!? I managed to see the breast surgeon while he was home for less than a week. And, the day before he left. I had a biopsy. Yep, me. The one with five kids. The one with the hubby who is never home. The one who is going to be gone for the better part of the next 2 years?!? Do you have ANY idea of the horrible things that filled my mind 7 hundred billion gazillion hours of each day? As I waited for the next step in this process. How could this happen to me?!? Who would take care of my kids?!? How ould I undergo treatment?!? How would they go on?!? How could I leave them?!? What would Patrick do with 5 kids all alone? How could my parents survive losing a child... AGAIN?!?

The day of my biopsy was here. It was excruciating. Not the procedure. The unknown. The waiting.

But I waited. I sent my husband off to the Ike. And I waited. Three to five days. I could start calling Friday.

And so I did. And another nice lady from my journey answered. Just like she said she would. Yes, my file was on her desk. She was going to call me.

And it was over. Just like that. Just like it had begun.

As I sat crouched behind a friend's garage (out of sight of the brood), the radiologist said the word we had all been praying for, the word I had been praying for, but never totally believing I would hear...

benign.

And now, with my new lease on life I enjoy days with Sullivan discovering a sport of his own...

my littles growing up to be Bigs on two wheels apiece...

memories made in small moments together (Shepherd's Pie for St. Patty's Day/Hubby's Birthday)...

silliness with my boys...

And getting these memories of ours down on paper...

Here's to many more years of squishy girls...

The One with the "Momma You Make My Heart Super Happy" Ditty

Sitting here on my neighbor's front porch supervising a couple of mine and a couple more playing Mommy Daddy Kitty Cat. Pondering why it's easier to take apart and repair a washing machine then it is to deal with two head strong four year olds. Yep, the best part of my day was repairing a neighbor's washer. Those things can't whine and say, "Noooooooooo!". Sigh.

Here are a few more shares...

Biting the Bullet

Oh the silly things I do to get a little time off from my day job. Started feeling a little crummy on Thursday. Fast forward to Saturday and I find myself in my local er. Nothing like a little bladder and kidney infection to land a girl on the couch. OUCH. Hubby took the brood to Awana/church this morn, Steph took my own Awanas class, and I'm at home resting & drinking mass quantities of cranberry juice patiently waiting for all of my rx to kick in.

With that said, it's been a busy time in the Dziekan household these last couple of weeks. Hubby is home for a few and what does that mean?!? Major Honey Do lists. Living a military family life means we do things a bit differently than most families around here. I spend the majority of my days as a "single momma" raising the brood on my own counting down the days until Daddy returns. When he does, we do glamorous things like get work done on Momma's car (can't have something happen when he is away), work on other Daddy only jobs, like feverishly building Pinewood Derby cars, and plan and execute much postponed birthday parties. Once all of that is done, we say our goodbyes, and then then hold on with both hands until he makes it back one more time. Only to do it all over again in another few weeks. Oh yea, this wife of a Naval Aviator stuff is oh. so. glamorous. not.

Just because my days aren't already filled to the brim, I thought this would be a great time to jump back into teaching with both feet. Or, at least start that proverbial ball rolling. I don't know where or when this trip will take me, but, I have started the process of becoming licensed in Virginia. I have renewed my Illinois licenses and requested my college transcripts. Two important to dos in order to complete my VA application. We shall see.

To keep my sanity, I do this...One of the many reasons I really love CHA time and spending countless hours at my computer screen perusing all of the new crafty wares is rediscovering my love for some of my older, read "hoarded" products. Note the yummy vintage Sass frames...

love the old Sass Felties, CI felt words, and Sass edges... Oh how I miss my Sassafras.

a new SC kit and some fun oldies...

A little instagram Heart Day love...

The Twins' Tea...