Update - 11/13/12

Another month down!  And we're getting ready for the holidays!

Halloween was a fun time for us....although we missed Daddy terribly.  We ended up going out with a couple other military families for trick or treating.  The girls had a blast and even Mommy got into the spirit by dressing up as Rosie the Riveter!

Rosie the Riveter with her Goth Girls

The Halloween Gang

November has brought all kinds of good, fun things!

First, Mommy had a great night out with some other military spouses for our friend, LeAnn's, birthday.  We went to Toby Keith's country bar and had a ball.  The girls spent the night with "Grandma" at Aunt Vynnette's house.  (Vynnette's husband, Rick, deployed with Marc the first time and is with Marc again.  Vynnette's mom has become the girls' adopted Grandma during this deployment!)

Me and the Birthday Girl!

Second, came Danjela's parent/teacher conference and report cards.  She scored top grades across the board and is excelling in all subjects.  She is still reading at a third grade level and is writing well ahead of the rest of her class.  Her teacher said that she is so impressed that Danjela always has a book in her hand...and is always looking for books to challenge her.  She has moved on from regular, beginner reading books to full-on chapter books.  She truly has an authentic love of school and learning and Marc & I are so proud of her!

Nadija is excelling well at school too and is making friends left and right.  She, too, is showing a love of books and reading and is often found in our little reading nook here at home.  She's always asking me to read to her and then takes the story and retells it in her own way.  We haven't had a teacher conference for her yet, but that will come after the holidays.

Veteran's Day brought much to celebrate.  We honored Daddy at Danjela's school where he had a place on the Wall of Honor.

The entire 2nd grade class (3 classrooms) got together to write letters, cards, and draw pictures to include in our Christmas care package.  And they have adopted our unit and will continue to write letters throughout the deployment.

Marc is doing very well and staying busy.  He is finally at his other location, and while he's no longer in Kuwait, living conditions are a bit more sparse.  Mail is running a good week to 2 weeks behind, so please keep that in mind when sending care packages/mail.  We still do try to Skype every Sunday.  The girls love it and look forward to it every week.  Since Marc & I chat just about every day, we give the girls that time with Daddy.  They talk about their week, read books to each other, and just be silly in general....

Marc had a fun day as well when he got to meet the cast of the TV show Spartacus.  They were there on a USO tour and flew in on one of our Blackhawks.

The FRG is going very well.  I keep in touch with our soldiers on a daily basis and have regularly scheduled get togethers with the spouses and families.  Our big project right now is the Christmas care packages.  So far, we have over 70+ boxes ready to ship for Christmas.  I'm just so excited and so thrilled by all the donations and assistance that we've gotten for this project.  The kids and the families got together to paint these Christmas trees to include in their boxes as well, along with a homemade card that the girls and I are making.

So, that's about it for now!  The girls and I have decided to stay home for Thanksgiving and have a very low-key, low-stress day.  We plan on staying in pajamas, having a small dinner, and watching Disney movies all day.  We're hoping that Marc might be able to Skype in, but since they are not on an American base, he'll probably be working....so our fingers are crossed.

Take care everyone and we'll send another update soon!

Update - 10/6/12

Hi everyone!

Here's a bit of an update for the week!  Although there really isn't much to share at this point!

*  An updated email was sent out to you earlier this week with the change in Marc's address.  If you did not get it, please let me know.

*  Marc has been flying - both days and nights.  Every time we "talk" his schedule has been changing.  The last few days I've been keeping the computer with me everywhere I go in the house because I never knew when he'd pop on.

*  Danjela's doing great in school!  She's been getting some advanced math worksheets in her homework - which mommy's not too thrilled about.  I've forgotten a LOT of this stuff over the years!  She's reading at Level 23 - which is borderline 3rd/4th grade level.  She's really enjoying ballet as well and I just signed her up for art classes which start in a few weeks.

*  Nadija is loving school as well.  Every other Monday and every Wednesday she goes to a "drop in" daycare which she calls her "other school".  She loves it there and has made lots of new friends.  Her preschool is just as amazing.  She goes 1/2 days on Tuesdays and full days on Thursdays.  She is also loving her ballet class too and loves showing off what she's learning!

*  And Mommy's holding it all together.  We're all staying busy, fall into bed at the end of the day, get up and start all over again.

Here's a few pictures of the girls.....



Danjela had to make an airport for a project at school.
 

Crazy hair before bed!
 

Mommy got a free afternoon and the girls had a playdate at Aunt Cindy's!
 

First snowfall - 10/5/12
 

Skyping with Daddy!!

Update - 9/28/12

Just a short little update this morning!  Also - I don't know if, with the new settings I've set for this blog if you are getting these updates.  If you are reading this blog, please take a minute to shoot me an email and let me know!


*  There really hasn't been much to update as he has not started flying yet, but is hoping to do it today. There really wasn't much for him to be doing over there since the aircraft were not cooperating.

*  You should have received my email with his address.  You can go ahead and start sending packages.  We're finding that it can take anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks to get there.

* He had one night with no air conditioning, but it was fixed within 24 hours. 

*  We have been able to chat online every day since he's been there and Skype once.  The girls (and Zoja) were thrilled.  I haven't gotten an actual phone call yet.....but that's ok.

*  The girls are I are doing well.  We've all been extremely busy with planning our Fall Festival and Christmas Party for the deployed families and soldiers staying behind.  We've been at the base 2-3x a week with planning meetings and activities.  We had a potluck dinner last weekend with some other spouses and it was great to get together and laugh.  The girls have found their own little "battle buddies" too -- the kids of other soldiers deployed with Marc.  It's cute to see them sitting together and talking about how they miss their daddies....and then seconds later, they're off playing Barbies.

*  The girls are adjusting very well.  Of course they miss Marc terribly, but they're tough and strong little girls.  I'm so proud of them for handling themselves the way they do.

*  We're also being very well take care of.  Military friend come by to cut our grass, check out the cars, and help with some minor things around the house.  It's great to know that I have an army behind us here -- just a phone call away.  I know that makes Marc feel better too.  We love our Army Family!!!  Our "civilian" family of friends is just as kind!  We've received care packages, gift cards, meals, and the big thing for mommy -- babysitting!  We are just so blessed to be so surrounded by such wonderful people!

*  That's it until our next update!!  Any questions, please let me know!

*  Marc is in Udairi, Kuwait at Camp Buehring.  Here are a few photos:

KFC in the "Food Court"
 

Marc doesn't drink Starbucks, but it's a good place for internet connections
 

Overall look at the area
 

Tent living quarters for E5s and below.  Marc is an E6 and is in a 4-man "hootch" - which is like a cabin
 

"Coffee Bar" and MWR lounge.  It has TVs, the movie theater, internet connections and more

PX - Clothing side.  You can see that they do have access to a lot of things over there.
It's like our PX back here.
 

PX - Food/Snack side.  Always available and always stocked with snack foods, etc.

Update.....

After 2 days in Delaware and 2 days in Germany, Marc is FINALLY in Kuwait.  I got a call from him around 5:30am this morning.

He is not settled into a room yet, so please hold off for about a week before sending any care packages over.

As I hear more, I'll let you all know!

~ J

My Crazy Kids

And THIS is what I'm living with for the next year.....

 

 

If you're reading this in email and can't see the video, click here

Update!

Hi everyone!

Just a quick update!

On Monday the 17th, Marc and 2 others took off with the C-5 from Ft. Hood.  That night, his C-5 and the second one landed at Dover, DE - broke.  It was to be expected.

They ended up staying for 2 nights.

At 5am this morning, I got a text from Marc that they were loading up and heading out.  After a few hours, I hadn't heard from him and hoped that they at least made it off the runway

I was correct.

About 2:30pm, I got a quick phone call from Marc.  He's in Germany.  They don't know how long they will be there, so I couldn't tell you any of that information.  Once he gets settled and gets in touch with me, I'll let you know.

This evening, I will be emailing you his address.  Please remember if you are sending him care packages that you will still need to fill out a customs form, even though it is an APO address.

Any questions - please let me know!

On Their Way

There really hasn't been much to share lately since Marc's been on leave and they've really just been sitting around since they got the aircraft ready to fly over.

Last night, the girls got to talk to him one last time before he left and today we texted a few times and had a few quick phone calls before he finally headed out around 4pm Colorado time.  He did send me these few pictures from the departure of the main body of the Battalion earlier this morning.

It will be a couple days before they get over there because they will have a few fuel/rest stops along the way.  We anticipate that it could be anywhere between a few days to a few weeks before I actually get any communication from him at all.  As soon as I hear something, I will post it here.

As of now, we do have an address, but the FRG is waiting for approval from the Command back here at Buckley before we can release that to the families.  As soon as I get it, I will be sending it via email only.  If you share it, please do so via email only.  I attended an intelligence brief for FRG leaders this past Saturday and was surprised to learn that Facebook is more infiltrated than we believed.  So none of that information should be passed through Facebook.   

I am working on another post where I can share some of the pictures of where Marc will be stationed for the next 10+ months.  We've had an advance team there for about a week now, and we've been lucky to have an A Co. soldier as part of that team....so I've been getting a lot of good information that way.

Any questions.....please let me know!

Daddy's Girls

While making our deployment playlist for my iPod, I came across this song by Jessie James called "Military Man".  She wrote this song about her dad - who was in the military.  It's such a beautiful song -- and the girls have now adopted it as their "anthem".....always asking to hear the "Military Man song".  I put together this little slideshow for them and Marc using this song.

If you get this blog through email, you'll need to click here to go to the actual slideshow.

First Day of 2nd Grade!

Well, the first day of school arrived!  I now officially have a 2nd Grader!!!

The Back-To-School Fairy paid a visit during the night and left Danjela a handwritten note along with some very special 2nd Grader pencils for homework!

Then we had our special "First Day of School Breakfast" - funny face pancakes!

Then before we left for school, we took our pictures outside by the tree.  We've been taking school pictures every year since Danjela started preschool.  We'll do the same thing for Nadija next week when she starts!

Nadija tried to sneak her backpack out of the house too.....packed with her new school shoes.....

After school, we got home and had a snack.  I found this awesome "After School" printable and loved the idea behind it.  Instead of printing off multiple copies, I just put it into a picture frame and added a dry erase marker.  This way, every day she can share about her day....and every once in awhile, we'll take a picture of it to send to Daddy.  Today's was all about doing math drill and playing with her new friends.

Overall, I think she's going to have a great year.  Her teacher is absolutely wonderful.  When we met her at orientation, Danjela told her that her daddy was gone for a year.  Ms. Watson took her by the hand and pulled her over to the side and I heard her tell Danjela "Why don't you tell me more about that...."  Right there, I knew she was going to have a great teacher and that I didn't need to worry.

And I still can't believe I have a 2nd grader!!!

One Week.....

Well....we're one week down!!!  51 to go!!  Last week at this time we were saying our goodbyes.

Marc has been doing well.  We talk just about every single night.  Skype hasn't been cooperating with us since he's in an open squad bay and is sharing an internet connection with 30-40 other soldiers.  So he really hasn't been online much -- maybe posting a picture or two before he loses the connection.  If you've sent him a message on FB or an email, it may take him a bit to get back to you.  He is hoping to start flying this week which will break up the monotony a bit.

The girls and I have been somewhat sequestered this week - snuggling, adjusting to Marc not being here.  I did sign Danjela up for an art class which took up the mornings.  I took Nadija to a drop-in preschool which she LOVES.  And mommy got mornings to herself - which I used to clean up all the stuff Marc left behind in the garage and start some home improvement projects. 

Nadija still doesn't quite understand that Daddy's away....always saying something that involves Daddy.  I bought them both a special pen and notepad so that they can write to Daddy whenever we want.  We've been saving them in our special box so that when we can mail stuff to him, it's ready to go.

Marc said that he did have an address there, but hasn't gotten it to me yet.  As soon as I get it, I will pass it along.  But please keep in mind that he's still in Ft. Hood and big care packages are not recommended because either the stuff will be shipped home, trashed, or left behind.  He still has only his seabag to take with him and not a lot of room.

Until he leaves Ft. Hood, I'll try to update on a weekly basis (more if I hear any new information).

Please Be Patient.....

Dear Friends and Family -

As we count down our last hours together as a family, I ask that you please be patient while waiting for news and/or photographs to be posted.

Contrary to popular belief, I do not spend 24/7 on the computer....LOL!  Between getting Marc ready, spending time with the girls, and my duties as the Family Readiness Group Leader to 33 families, my time is spread thin. 

I understand that not everyone is on Facebook and not everyone has access to our blog -- which leads me to have to post the same photos or information 3 or 4 times....on my personal FB page, on this blog, on Marc's FB page, and at times through email.....which means that it may be a day or two before everyone is able to see any updates and/or pictures.

So I ask that until we get into the swing of this deployment and I get a better rhythm for passing information, please bear with me as I try to balance everything and update you all as quickly as I can.

Thanks!

Deployment Ceremony

Here are a few pictures from the Deployment Ceremony, which was yesterday (7/15)