Days to Leave

Countdown to Leave

Days to Leave

A Big Question

Last night Jacob and Naomi went to bed early, because they were fighting, which gave Micah and I some time to spend alone.

He had had a pretty emotional day-not much patience, a lot of frustration and crying. I normally read a chapter out of a book plus a Bible Story to the kids in the living room before bed every night. Right now we are reading Where the Red Fern Grows. But since 2 of them would be missing it we decided to read a different book about animal defenses together. During the reading he sat right next to me and even put his arm around my shoulder. My heart melted...

Then he asked if we could cuddle together for a bit on the couch. That was when the big question came. "Mom", he said, "Do you think that Daddy has changed since he has been gone?"

I definitely took a moment to answer. I asked him if he thinks that we have grown and changed while Daddy has been gone. He said yes. I tried to explain to him that growing and changing is a part of life. Such a big question from a 10 year old.

But if I am being honest, which I strive for, I am a bit nervous too. Darrick left in August and when he did he left a huge void in our lives. In order to survive and cope you have establish new routines and ways of doing things-that don't include Daddy. So where does that leave him when he comes home?

We have dealt with this many times and we have found that the best thing for Darrick to do is be an observer when he gets home. All families grow and change so our routines have changed, as well as our ways of doing things, the kids likes and dislikes, etc.

My life is so much richer when he is in it and I hate when I have to live without him. Tomorrow marks 10 more days! I am trying not to dwell on it because when I do I can't stop smiling or seem to get anything done. Last night I had a terrible time because I am so excited for him to come home!

Days to Leave

Super Nanny

I have always been a huge fan of the show "Super Nanny". I have learned so much from her and totally agree with her techniques.

Recently my mom emailed me to tell me to make sure I watch the next episode called "The Merrill Family". It is about a mom whose husband is deployed for a year and she is at home with their 4 adopted children.

So many times during this episode I felt like I was watching myself. The mom would say things that reflected things I feel, like her belief that she needs to do it all and be perfect. She needs to hold it together at home so her husband doesn't have to worry.

The scenes with the kids crying for Daddy broke me and let me see what we are going through as someone on the outside looking in.

Then to top it off they have adoption to deal with...just like us.

I cried when the mom dealt with disciplining them and how that affects their attachment. I am and have dealt with the same feelings. It is such a fine line.

Please watch it, if you have time, and let me know what you think!

Days to Leave

Homemade Hot Chocolate

This is the recipe we have been using to make our own hot chocolate!

1 TBSP cocoa powder
2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP water
1 cup milk
vanilla to taste (we use 1 TBSP or less)

1. Combine cocoa, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat it on low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the paste from sticking to the pan.

2. After about 1 to 2 minutes add milk and vanilla. Mix it all together until it reaches your preferred temperature.

Justin's new hair cut

Do you love it? We do!

Days to Leave

Days to leave

Spanish Rice

Tonight for dinner, to go with our Trader Joe tamales, I made Spanish rice. I found this recipe at allrecipes.com and it was a winner for us.

2 TBSP oil

2 TBSP chopped onion

1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup salsa

1. Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion, and cook until tender about 5 minutes.

2. Mix rice into skillet, stirring often. When rice begins to brown, stir in chicken broth and salsa. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.

Enjoy and let me know if you try it!

Countdown to Leave

For a few days the kids and I have been working on a countdown to Darrick's leave. We each colored different pages. So today starts the countdown!!!

Change Update

Around the middle of January, I talked about our family making changes in our eating. It has been 1 month now so I thought I should update everyone on how it is going.

First off I have to say that it was hard to change. It takes effort and thought, which some days I don't have a lot of. But going with the advice of Darcie (my sister-in-law)and a healthy eating mom from our homeschool group made it a bit easier. They both told me to make it a gradual change. If you try to do it all at once it is way too overwhelming.

So I decided that as I ran out of something in the kitchen I would replace it with a better choice. I have really started to read labels. If I don't know what the ingredients are I don't buy it. But this left me feeling confused about what to eat and feed our family. My time allotted for grocery shopping is limited and I was feeling completely overwhelmed in the "normal" grocery store. So I have started shopping at Trader Joe's. There is one in Everett and I am in Everett 5 times a week so that makes it easy.

So my first month has been that: replacing all the food when used up with food that is preservative, chemical , additive and dye free.

I have also been trying to buy only what I need for a week. I don't need to stockpile 20 cans of soup or mac and cheese.

The kids have adjusted well. I really am so proud of them. They have tried a lot of new things. This week we tried polenta and hummas guacamole. We read labels a lot together.

Right now because of my lack of time and knowledge I have been buying ready made stuff from Trader Joe's. Some of our favorites are their chicken chili, BBQ chicken pizza, taquitos, orange chicken and tamales.

My goal for the next month is to start gathering a collection of recipes of things I can make from scratch or homemade.

If you have any to share please pass them my way!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Day! Just in case you did not know, today is my favorite day of the year! It is my favorite holiday, red is my favorite color and I love hearts. It is very important to me to tell those I love, how much I love them and how much they mean to me. Yes it is something to do everyday but it is really fun once a year to say it in some extra special ways.

Naomi and I were surprised on Saturday when we got 2 boxes delivered. They were from Darrick: a heart bamboo plant for me and pink roses for Naomi.

One tradition that we started last year was that Darrick gets the girls presents and I get the boys presents. Nothing crazy but just a little something to say I love you and you are special to me.

I started out today attempting to make heart shaped pancakes for the kids. I first tried pouring the batter into cookie cutters on the griddle but that was a huge mess. So I went with pouring them free style. I also whipped up some mango, blackberry and banana smoothies.

At lunch I made PB&J sandwiches with heart shapes.

And dinner marked our 2nd annual Candle light Valentines Day Dinner. The kids were super excited!

What would dinner be without Flat Daddy?

I served bow tie pasta with a choice of Alfredo sauce or marinara, salad, homemade bread and a choice of sparkling apple cider or grape apple cider.

For dessert we had some awesome homemade treats! Chocolate covered strawberries or frozen chocolate dipped banana slices.

After dinner we played two rounds of kids Cadoo. It was really fun.

Darrick was able to call today. It was so good to hear his voice. I miss him so much today. I miss him more today then I did at Christmas. But he had good news. He booked and purchased his ticket to come home on leave. He will be here in 3 weeks!

Some Organization

Here are two ideas I have incorporated into our family lately. I found these cool colored cube boxes at Target. Micah is blue, Jake is green and Naomi is purple. As I am picking up through out the day, if I find anything that belongs to the kids I put it into their cube. They are responsible to put the stuff in their cube away by the end of the day. It has been working awesome and saves me a lot of picking up. Naomi's is always the fullest.

Second idea is cups. I cannot tell you how many cups the kids go through a day. It seems like every time they want a drink they get a new cup. We found these cool cups at Bartell Drugs. They are BPA Free and have straws and lids. The only down side is they cannot go in the dishwasher. They each have a color and they use that cup all day. Then I wash them at the end of the day and they are ready to go again for the next day.

Never Say Never

This afternoon the kids and I went to see the Justin Bieber movie "Never Say Never" in 3D! We got there early which was good because it was pretty full.

Naomi was all decked out in her finest: Justin Bieber T-shirt, Tutu, purple tights (Justin's favorite color) and silver sparkly shoes. She fit right in with all the other girls. There was a good amount of boys there too.

Naomi has never seen a movie in 3D. It was so cute. She would giggle and then say "Justin is looking at me" or "Justin is pointing at me" but the cutest is when she asked "Why can't I touch Justin? I keep trying!"

If you like Justin and his music you will like this movie! We all did!

Celebrating Micah

I can hardly believe that Micah has turned 10! We started the morning cuddling on the couch while I told Micah about the day he was born and how much he means to our family. Then I prayed for him and his upcoming year.

He opened gifts from us through out the day. In the late afternoon my parents watched him open the gifts from them over skype. In the afternoon Kayla and Hendrik came over to play and then Josh, Jenn and Logan came over around dinner time. We ordered some pizza for dinner and then Micah opened a gift from the Timmermans.

While we waited to have cake Darrick played with Micah's new toy.

I forgot to buy candles but Micah was a ok with that. He just pretended to blow some out.

We made a chocolate cake from Trader Joe's, with a pudding middle and chocolate ice cream. It was delicious! I highly recommend it.

And our homemade ice cream was incredible!

Happy 10th Birthday Micah!

Willow Smith - Whip My Hair

Second try at Veil Style

Last night I tried the veil style again. I LOVE the way it came out this time. I left the back in box braids because they were still neat and I just redid the front. I used smaller rubber bands this time and did more braids at the end where before I just did one.

Naomi loves it and so do I! In the morning after she wakes up sometimes the braids are going different directions depending on the way she slept on them. Sometimes we wet them but I just found this new product that I LOVE.

A lot of the ethnic hair products they have for kids smell way too sweet to me and I don't like them. This one smells minty and fresh.

Many people ask me what Naomi does while I braid her hair. Lately she has been watching you tube. She loves to watch Willow Smith's new song "Whip My Hair". We listen to it over and over and over. It has grown on me.

Making Birthday Ice Cream

Micah's birthday is coming up and since we are trying to eat chemical and preservative free we thought we would make his birthday ice cream. He picked chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cups.

We have a Cuisinart 20 qt. Frozen Yogurt-Sorbet and Ice Cream Maker. We really like it and have had it for a few years. It came with its own recipe booklet so we used the recipe for Simple Chocolate Ice Cream. We went to Trader Joe's and bought organic ingredients: cocoa powder, sugar, brown sugar, whole milk, heavy cream and pure vanilla extract and peanut butter cups.

You add the peanut butter cups the last 5 minutes. You can eat it right then but we are saving it for his birthday so we scooped it into a container and stuck it in the freezer! We actually made 2 batches. It should be good!

Women's Retreat

I am leaving in a little bit for an overnight Women's Retreat...can't wait!

HALF WAY!!!

The beginning of February marks the half way point of this deployment! We have made it. When Darrick left in August, the year ahead of me seemed to stretch on for miles. I give all the glory to God for arriving at this point because there is no way I could do this in my own strength.

It has been a crazy six months. I had times that I laughed so hard my side ached and times I was face down on the floor crying and asking God to help me. The kids and I have traveled along the roller coaster of emotions from one extreme to the other. I am so proud of each one of them. I know what it is like to have my husband deployed but I have no idea what it is like to have my Daddy deployed. It is interesting to see how they handle the stress. Micah is emotional. When he misses Daddy he cries. Jacob and Naomi are fighters. When their feelings of missing Daddy get too big for them to handle they explode. They stomp, throw things, yell, they do physical things. And every time I am right there to pick up the pieces and love them through it.

I am so proud of Darrick. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be the one to leave for so long. As hard as it is for me, I would rather do my job any day. He deals with loneliness, missing special events, missing daily things, worrying about us and much more. He has a job to do and he needs to do it well.

So we are now on the downhill slope and heading to the finish line. We are no where near done but at least the end is in the distance.

I am so blessed to have amazing friends local and far away who support me however they can. And our family holds us up and keeps us strong during this time.

Last night at Bible Study on the video we watched Beth Moore said "after every death comes a harvest". That really struck me. God is always calling us to deny our self, pick up our cross and follow Him. I believe God uses times like these in our lives to clean the stuff out of our lives that does not need to be there and takes our focus off of Him. It is hard and painful to let those things die but God promises us that there will be a harvest in our lives.

I don't know why this year long deployment is happening to us but I have faith that God knows and He sees us down the road and knows how things will turn out and He is preparing our family for something He has planned ahead. What will it be? Only God knows right now but by going through this time I believe we will be prepared when we get there.