90% Chance

Keep praying for us because Jeff said it is a 90% chance of him coming home early! My hopes are so high...its bad...I know...if he doesn't come home early now, those hopes will be shot down and won't hit the ground for days...I won't feel it for a while, but then when I do, well you know. Praying and hoping!

Fingers Crossed

Jeff has mentioned the possibility of coming home early but I've tried to put it to the back of my mind and not get my hopes to high. Here recently though the possibility has seemed more real and we will find out Friday if he will get to come home early. I guess there are 9 guys there, 8 get to go home early. Jeff is the unlucky #9, of course, but there is a guy who wants to stay. So now it is up to the NCOIC to decide if he will change them out and I guess we will know Friday. Please keep this in your prayers because I would love to see my husband next month!

#6

I completely forgot to do a blog about Gaber when he turned 6. I was looking at my blog the other day, after I had blogged about Tara turning 2. I went back to November and noticed I didn't do one for Gaber. I feel so bad for forgetting to do that. So here it goes...
Gaber turned 6 in November. For his birthday he really really wanted to go to Chuckie Cheese so that is where we went for his birthday lunch. I really wasn't too excited about going, but in our house you get to pick where to eat on your birthday, so Chuckie Cheese it was. (Chuck E. Cheeze? Not sure how they spell it out.) So we had a fun lunch there with his cousins and grandparents and it was on a school day so it was practically empty...one of the many benefits to homeschooling! :) That night we had all the family over for deli sandwiches, chips, veggies, cake and icecream. This year Gaber had a scooby doo cake, which he LOVED. The other thing he loved was all his new bakugan toys he received...and that is all he got was bakugan. Yep, every last present was bakugan. He was thrilled! So it was a great day, we had a lot of fun and my little man is not so little now. *sigh*
Gaber's fav foods:
-chicken nuggets
-soup
-pizza
-burgers
-bacon
-ham
-ketchup :)
-apples w/ pb
-strawberries
-yogurt
Gaber hates green stuff (lettuce :). He has recently decided he doesn't like grapes and mac 'n cheese.
Gabe's fav activities:
-playing outside with friends
-playing with Tara
-running
-brushing mommy's hair (which I love)
-reading
-playing with Bakugan
Gaber is a great kid. He is very sociable, he loves being around people and doing whatever they are doing. He really doesn't know what to do with himself when he's alone, unlike Josiah who would rather play by himself at times...most times. :)

We had a good weekend, on Saturday we had a Christmas banquet at the church. During the dirty santa game (not sure they call it that, but that's the only name i know of for that game), I so happened to pick the one present, the one out of at least 30 presents, that was an angel with a poem on it about war and comforting you while your loved one is gone. Seriously...how did I pick that one? And of course I teared up. *sigh* I.Hate.Crying. AND, I HATE crying in front of people, and there I was all weepy. I've been handling this deployment well, not too many tears shed, but there in front of all those ladies, I pick the present with that gift in it that caught me off guard. I mean, who would think I would pick THAT one. Weird huh? I was thankful for it and I will probably hang that angel in Tara's room when we get back. :)

What We've Been Up To

I check my blog every day to see who had posted a new blog, but I haven't been in the mood to blog myself. Not sure why. I decided to sit here and do it, finally, so this part of my year isn't lost.
The big event that just past on Sunday was Tara's 2nd birthday. Ask her how old she is and she will stay say one. She holds up her hand with her pointer finger and thumb up to show two. We had her party last night, Monday, here at my mom and dad's house. Lulu and lula came, uncle Tom, Aunt Alicia and their 4 children, mima and papa and of course me, Siah and Gaber. I made her a Dora cake. It was one of those white confetti cakes with cream cheese icing. I don't think she liked the taste actually. (note that for future cakes). I made nachos, tatertot casserole and chicken fries for dinner. We also had a veggie tray and juice. Everyone had a great time. Tara loved her new boots from lulu and lula. They are blue and have hearts on them. They light up when she stomps. :) She also got a shopping cart full of food and a stroller. She loves everything! When we get back to GA I plan on buying her the kitchen set. I will post some pictures of that later, my mom took a lot of great photos for me since Jeff took my camera to Afghanistan.
Tara's fav foods:
-icecream
-cake (not white with cream cheese icing)
-cheeseburgers
-fries
-apple juice
-eggs
-bread
-toast with pb and jelly
-cranberry juice
-candy :)
-cheese pizza
-apples
-grapes
-strawberries
-and just about anything that is on mommy's plate.

Tara's fav activities:
-playing with babies
-playing outside
-playing with Gaber
-riding on backs
-peek-a-boo
-reading
-helping mommy in the kitchen

Tara also loves loves shoes. She loves to help. She loves to talk. She will be a good story teller someday. At the age of 2 she gets different stories all jumbled together, which is adorable, but some day I think she may be a great story teller. :) She loves her daddy and loves seeing him online. She tries to get hugs from him through the computer and tries to give him a drink of her juice. We both can't wait for him to get the real hugs.

Other than Tara's birthday, we haven't done a whole lot. The kids and I moved from Jeff's parents home to my parent's home this weekend. We are still busy with school. Josiah is working hard to get ahead for Christmas break. Gaber is almost done with his reading binders. In a couple of weeks we will be working on his advanced lessons in reading.
Yesterday mom and I took the kids to the library. They had a lot of fun playing on the computers and Tara had fun looking at books and toys. Mom and I picked out good books for them to read this week. Gaber already read the 5 books we checked out for him. :)

That is pretty much it here. Just preparing for Christmas and enjoying our time with family. Counting down the days until we see Jeff again. Ready to get back to our home and our normal again, for sure!

See Daddy!

Its been about 3 weeks since I've seen Jeff on the computer. At his "home" base we get to skype almost everyday. But he's been away at some French base where it isn't allowed or maybe he just can't access it. Not sure which. Tomorrow he will be "home" and we will get to see each other! I can't wait! I haven't heard his voice in 3 weeks now. I can't wait to hear it and see him! :) We are actually going to try something called oovoo. I guess its like skype, but Jeff was told by some other guys out there that oovoo works better. Better video and less of the choppiness. So hopefully it will work good for us. I told Tara tonight, while I was putting her to bed, that we would get to see daddy on the computer in the morning. She smiled so big and yelled, "See Daddy! Hug, kiss." So sweet. :)
So tomorrow, on Thanksgiving, we will have something extra to be thankful for, we will get to See Daddy! :)

Bathtime Sayings

Tara: bubbles!
me: yes, bubbles.
me: don't eat the bubbles, Tara.
Tara: ball!
me: yes a ball
Tara: a frog
me: yes a ball and a frog.
me: keep them in the tub, Tara.
Tara: I wet
me: yep.
Tara: I pay (play)
me: don't make a mess!
Tara: cup!
me: don't drink the water, Tara! Yuk.
Tara: yuk.

So these are just a few of our bathtime sayings. We do have many more. At the time it isn't funny to me, but then tonight, after her bath, I sat down and thought about our "conversation" we had during bathtime and decided I had to blog it. :) Too cute to pass up and a great memory.

Update

I am sitting here waiting on Jeff to get online so I can chat with my hubby, while I wait I decided I would try to blog since its been a while. There hasn't been a lot going on with us. The boys are doing good in school. Josiah is making some good grades and some ok grades. He doesn't seem to like history class but he loves math. He will ask for extra work just because he thinks its fun. Gabe is doing good as well. He is more that half through his reading class. After we make it through this last binder he should be able to read, with the help of the marks over the letters. He doesn't love writing, that is the one thing I have we have issues with. He gets grumpy and lazy when it comes to writing. It is usually so frustrating for me but I try to think of new ways to motivate him. Tara is doing great. Her speech improves each day it seems. She can now say lola perfectly. Tonight she yelled, "LULA!" For those who don't know, that is grandma in tagalog (Philippino). She also says, at night time when she knows its time for bed, "I pay (play), no nigh nigh."
Jeff is doing pretty good too. He has been at a french base for a week or more. He is the only American there and so he's pretty lonely. I guess the french there don't care for us so they don't talk to him. He is alone all day at work and eats by himself. I'm ready for him to leave there, he is ready too, and ready for him to get back to his normal base. Please keep him in your prayers for safe traveling around there. We get to chat online in the am and pm right now. When he is at his other base we also do skype, its so nice to see him! Its also nice that Tara gets to see her daddy, since she's the only one young enough to maybe forget him. I was so worried about that, but she remembers him well! She prays for him every night and talks t him on the toy phones at church. When we talk about daddy she says, "daddy work".
I better go check to see if he's on!