November, What a Month

The boy's had their Veterans Day Program in November and were thrilled that Matt could be home for it. Last year, Matt had just left and that wound was fresh for the boys. Cody cried during one of the songs they sang. It broke my heart. This year it as so nice to see them beaming down from the bleachers singing their hearts out to Matt and the other Veterans.




Thanks boys, we know how hard you worked to make that special for them!!

In November we also starting learning German as a family, in preperation for our move this spring. I swear Rosetta Stone is a genius. Within the 1st hour of study the kids were having a blast and had learned about 70 words that they could read and say correctly. I was amazed! YAY.

Also we had a fantastic Thanksgiving with the Baker family, it was so fun having it at home and just relaxing this year, not like that last two. Last year Matt was gone and the boys were with Jon for the holiday leaving Aidan and I, we did go to a friends which was lovely however not the same as doing it your way at home. The year previous to that I was pregnant and just out of the hospital with complications and on bed rest...lol ya that goes over well when you need to cook for 3 days straight. So this year was lovely!
We went to Natchitoches to see the Christmas lights as a family the next day.

Allysha and I made advent calendars out of cookie sheets, craft paper, ribbon, lettering and spray glue..lol heck ya! So cute. I ended up making 8 all together as Christmas gifts.



Biggest news of November??? Michael had to have his appendix removed in an emergency surgery. Um....opps! Ok , so those of you who know Mikey, know he can....er....dramatic?? Is that the word? Perhaps, better phrased as, he is the boy who cried wolf. He misses school ALL the time due to being the BEST faker on the planet. A sore throat and he's "dieing".
The morning it happened he came walking out of his room clutching his abdomen and crying out in the oddest manner, again nothing we haven't seen in his previous Oscar worthy preformances. I rolled my eyes and got the kids ready for school while making him sit on the toilet, trying to rule out if he really was ill or constipated. While sitting on the toilet I even had him bend over and had me 4 peices of dirty clothes on the floor near his feet ( I know!!! I know! HORRIED MOTHER!!!!) I swear I thought he was faking. After 15 mins of squirming, crying and fussing in between moments of perfect normalcy I finally looked at his face and saw and lovely greenish tinge, felt his skin...cold, clamy......hmmmmm. He then bends over and vomits bile on the floor...AWW Man.....now I have a pretty good idea of whats going on. Ya, I've had my appendix removed...I know the symptoms and you can't fake that, for his sake however I was hopeing I was jumping to conclusions and he was just ill or constipated. So off to the Er we went. He barely made it into the waiting room before he was on the floor writhing in pain. We didn't even have to wait to have him triaged fortunatly, a friend who works in the ER saw him through the window and came to fetch him. After tests and pokeing and proding it was determined that "Yes, Mrs. Morris, it is most definatly his appendix it needs to come out, NOW". BOO!!! BAD MOMMY, BAD MOMMY!! Ohhhhhhhh can you even fathom the Motherly guilt at this point??? To top it off, Michael wakes from a morphine induced haze to say "I told you Mom, this time I wasn't faking......" OUCH! Ya...Another Epic parenting move by Mom.
This is my little sick boy only moments before surgery.

And this is him less than 6 hours later!

He felt so good after surgery, that literally as he woke from surgery he asked to see his surgeon and thanked him , "Because I feel so much better now!!"
My dear husband and friends made it all go smoothly and he had great care! Jessica even stopped by with some goodies to keep him busy...love the glasses Jess.

True Blood Themed Halloween Party

I had to add this because Allysha and I were so proud of how it turned out! We decided to have a "Welcome Home/ Halloween" party. We made "Fang Banger" cupcakes,
Blood Lollipops (which were SO good!!! Peppermint flavored pops! MMMM), Chocolate bars wrapped in a print out saying "Bite Me"


We found AWESOME blood bags at Hastings and on Oriental Trading Co. Hastings had liquid blood energy drinks, and Oriental had candy syrup. I made signs for the walls and tables saying "Welcome to Bon Temps" with the population of humans, vamps and others, or saying "Come on in, we're dead" and so on, along the theme. So easy! Puff poster board, elmers glue, glitter and white paint! Heck ya!

We used red light bubls in one room for mood lighting but it really did make it too dark so we only did one room that way, in the other room we used an inflatable coffin (SO EFFING COOL RIGHT!!!!) filled with ice for our drinks. We had all sorts of food that we did "Louisiana" themed, ie, "Lafayette's Shrimp Etouffe" and "Devilish Eggs"and "Eric Northman Swedish Meathballs" and "Gram's Peach cobbler" in cups, ready to eat.

we had beverages to match the theme as well. "Glamour Jello Shots", "Sookies Sweet Peach Schnapps Lemonade" and so on.


We really had a ton of fun planning this, it gave us something to plan for and keep us busy until the hubbys got home! It was just the thing! We had a blast! Can't wait to do it again!!!

Halloweenies

I don't think you know how thrilled we all were to have Matt home in time for Halloween! It was our "count down holiday" as we called it. The holiday the little ones could could down too. Time is hard for a 6 year old and 19 month old to comprehend, but saying "Daddy should be home around Halloween time" is easier. There were days when he was stuck in transit and it looked like it might be weeks and weeks more and well into November before he would be home, so him being there for Halloween was amazing!

This year Michael decided to be a washing machine again, as it as such a hit last year, Cody wanted to be an appliance as well and went for an oven. So we spent a few weeks making his over, functional door and turkey baking inside and all. The candy had to be shoved through the turkey's bum, through the stuffing into his candy bag that was attached inside, just like Michael's washing machine door. LOL makes me giggle. They were a huge hit! Their buddy Kameron was a toilet! His Mom did an awesome job! They were defiantly the highlight of costumes. Everyone made sure to stop and take photos of them as we went around...lol too funny!

Matty wanted to be Agent P or Perry the Platypus, now this took some real thinking. How on earth to make my child a teal colored platypus? A jumpsuit of sorts is sort of what happened..lol. Craft foam for feet and beak, quilt batting and orange fleece for the tail, a hat with ping pong balls hot glued on for eyes. Turned out rather cute!

Aidan was my favorite costume! King leonidas from 300! Or for those of you who haven't seen the movie, he was a Spartan Warrior. HEHE!!! I hand painted on Abs, made a leather diaper, used faux leather for arm bands and legs, a plate with craft foam and elastic for the shield, and some cheap red material for a cape. I did NOT make the hat. I had it made special on ETSY. So cute! Thanks Jess and Sherry for the shoes!

Halloween was a huge hit. We went as a group with the Dyer family. The highlight for me was Aidan wanting Daddy the entire time. Sigh, happy family! Halloween was a hit if I do say so myself!

Welcome Home Surprise For The Boys!

After our blissful reunion it was time for the boys to get to see Dad! I was so excited!!!!! Just happy my love was home and thrilled at our kids getting to be surprised by him!
Now, when you see these videos, this is NOT how my kids usualy are dressed at school! This was "book character" day at school and my friend Mary's kids, who had them sleepover, helped them dress up and spray paint thier hair and so on. Michael was Harry Potter, and had black hair spray, and his face painted with glasses, Matty was a football player (had no book idea..lol) and Cody was also a football player, from one of his favorite books. So by the time we got to the school to surprise them the hair spray and makeup had worn off to the point where my kids now looked like orphan childnren..lol. Which also is why Matt couldn't recognize Cody in the video surpriseing him...lol it was pretty funny.
Went room to room, surprising the kids youngest to oldest. Matty's class was at Library and I couldn't get the video rolling fast enough, Matty saw Matt before I could even click start and was in his arms by the time the video began, Poor boy just held on for dear life, quietly crying in his arms. Sad day!!!!


Off to Cody's class, where Matt couldn't recognize Cody at first..hahaha.

I had been very frustrated with his teacher, who had also been waiting for her Soldier to get home the same day as Matt, not only did she tell her class of 5th graders what "chalk" (flight) her Soldier was coming in on but had it on the board in class, which is an OPSEC issue. So she almost ruined our surprise on multiple ocassions, I had to lie around her to convince Cody Matt was coming in later.

Here is Matt surprising Mikey.

Awwwww. All of these videos just make me want to tear up. I was definatly a slobbering mess by the end, gathered up our son's and went home to spend the afternoon as a family.
The kids got to open a box of football/halloween stuff from Nana and Grandaddy, then gave Matt their welcome home present, a dancing bear in camo singing Ice Ice Baby...lol
Matt gave the kids each a set of Afghani money.

Why We Needed Daddy Home

We all wanted/needed Daddy home. He's the glue, the fun, the laughter in this household and while the three older boys are old enough to wrap thier brains around "deployment" the little guy isn't. I forgot to blog this, but it has to go in here. This photo is a huge tear jerker to me, even now, months after Matt's home. A year ago before Matt deployed, my friend, Amy, the amazing photographer took the family photo's we posted, my favorite being the one of Matt walking away, carrying his duffle bag. We had a small version of this in a frame on the end table in the living room while Matt was gone.
During the Parish Fair, Amy had a booth up for her amazing photography business where she features some of her work, in very large sizes. like giant peices of art. The photo of Matt walking away was one of them. When we went to the fair to see her booth, I raised Aidan up to see the photo's and this is what happened.

He saw Daddy and started sobbing, banged his head and hands on the glass and cried out "Daddy". I thought my heart would break! The older boys were in tears, not knowing how to console Aidan, and I of course had to pretend to be strong and tell them how soon it would be, before Matt came home. Breaks your heart huh!!!

Matt's Homecoming!!!

This blog post has been a long time coming, however, since he came home we've been so busy, and I for one have been soaking up every second with him that I could, totally ignoring the house and the blog!

I don't think you can really explain what it's like, to someone who hasn't experienced a Soldier's homecoming for themselves. It really is one of those experiences that sets your soul on fire.

Matt deployed in October of 2010 and fortunately got back in October of 2011. I've done longer deployments with my ex (which is why I say fortunately). From the moment he left back for Afghanistan from R&R, it's as though you can't breath again. Like an elephant sitting on your chest. A worry. Less worry of "How will I do this with 4 kids, alone" (because you don't have a choice, put on those big girl bloomers and deal) and more of a, "Please Dear Lord send him home to me safely" sort of a worry. Him being Cav didn't exactly set my mind at ease, but send him back we did, and we waited, very impatiently, for his homecoming! I have to say, I was rather a petulant child when it came to my friends reunions with their Soldier's. Matt was to come in a little later than my friends spouses and so I went to their Reunion to take pictures for them. This is my best friend Allysha reuniting with her husband Evan.

Which I have to say, was HARD! lol I know it shouldn't be, and believe me I was thrilled for them, but man a live it was hard to sit there seeing them cry in the arms of their Soldier, safe and sound, while I knew I still had a week or so to wait. A week? Was I really making a big deal over a week? Yes, yes I was. LOL. A day literally feels like months, I swear it does, when you are that close, time all but stops! I wanted to stomp my feet an say "my turn, my turn, my turn!", well, maybe not THAT bad, but it was bitter sweet for me for sure!
My friend Sarah works for the local post newspaper and was at the airport when this group of our Soldiers came home and caught this photo for me and Matt getting off the plane!

Which she took while I was sitting in the gym 2 hours early waiting for our turn!
This time with Allysha there with me (and my friend Molly) to help with the baby and take pictures!
Our time came though! Finally! I have great friends, and one took our older three boys for the night, so I could go to the homecoming ceremony and then go surprise them at school. This picture is the moment we saw them come marching into the gym!

You know how sometimes things just fall into place? For us this usually does NOT happen...lol if you remember the murphey's law filled day we went to get him from the airport for R&R. Nothing but blunders! Well this time it happened!!! It was all perfectly in place! Usually your hubby is at the back of the formation, hidden behind some 8 ft (possible slight exaggeration) giant of a man, where you can't see him and sit impatiently craning your neck to see if you can finally catch a glimpse of him. Unless your spouse it super short or super tall it's hard to pick them out. I tell ya what...they blend together!
Your heart is pounding so hard you are sure the thudding is interrupting General so and so during his speech. This time....where was Matt?? Right in front of me. LITERALLY! I am talking about 10 feet! I could have tackled him were it not for all the ceremony we had to stand through.

Even though he was supposed to hold a straight face, I loved, loved, loved that he couldn't. A few times I could see him sneak a peek at me and crack just the tiniest grin. My heart all but melted. The tears started, my knees almost buckled and Aidan wanted down to run to Daddy. I was actually shaking!

Any second now, any second now, is all you can think. Hush General so and so! You know what he had to say was brief, it was important, but you can't hear him! All you hear is your pulse pounding in your ears and your mind racing.

........and then..........."You're dismissed!" the two words that make you all but implode! All mayhem breaks loose and everyone runs for thier Soldier, and I do mean runs! Once those arms wrap around you, and your lips touch, it's as though that weight were never there, the best high in the world, you are in euphoria! Nothing could go wrong now, you are all but invincible! How could you ever worried he wouldn't be safe? How did it ever feel like a year, now it only feels like few months.....God he looks good, ohhhh how he smells like an airplane and 2 weeks of travel but LORD how good does that man smell next to you. My brain didn't stop running until we kissed and then..............silence. Peace. My brain hushed for a few moments and THAT is bliss! He's my peace, and he's back!!




Once again, there is that worry that the little ones might not remember Daddy but with us, there was nothing to worry about. I mean look at at that smile!


Now it was time to gather up Matt's multitude of bags and head home. You imagine these reunions to be something from a movie, running smoothly, romantic kisses, happy children..lol when in reality you are stumbling around in 4 inch wedges,helping gather tons of bags, a whiney child as it is bedtime, standing in fire ant piles unbeknownst to you as your wedge clad feet are now numb from all the standing around and baggage lugging, which now means you are squealing in a most unattractive manner attempting to take off the worlds most secure shoes off your fire ant invaded toes, in the dark..lol this did not add to the "hollywood" scene I had in my mind...lol. No worries folks, my feet were fine, the evening was salavged..lol
The next morning, this was what I woke too..

Father and son in bed, happy. Sigh. Matt had to run down the stairs for 10 seconds and in the time it took Matt to get up from the bed, jog down the stairs and head back up, Aidan ran from the bed to the stairs and cried! He was freaking out! Ahhh, seperation anxiety, what fun.

I'm going to call it quits here for a moment and break this into two parts, the homecoming ceremony and the surprises!