Touchdown!!

That's exactly what we watched a plane do at Volk Field carrying 250 soldiers from the 32nd Brigade. The plane that was carrying our soldier, our hero, Nate! He landed around 6 pm this evening. Though they still have to complete several days of demobilization we got to spend a little more than an hour with him and are looking forward to having him home, for good, in a few days!!
The unfortunate part is that most of the pictures taken with my camera were distorted as somehow it got bumped on a different setting. All of the ones where we first met up with Nate are pretty hard to make out - we look like we are on fire in some of them!! All said it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. We still have a few photos. The totally ironic thing is the same thing happened four years ago when Nate arrived home from his deployment. The pictures at the welcome came out all distorted from another camera error so I guess we are just following tradition?
Myself, my sister, Nate's mom Patti, my friend Erin and Finley all headed up to Volk to see they guys fly in and see Nate. It was COLD!! Combo that with waiting on a tarmac and a little boy who doesn't understand the necessity of mittens or hats? You can't hold onto cars with mittens on!! Geesh. Finley did good for the circumstances but wasn't the happiest camper.
The whole 32nd Brigade has been coming in for a little over a week now and the rest are to follow till all 3200 are home safe and sound. It has been a long, sometimes difficult year and I am so grateful that this deployment is over.

Waiting on the Tarmac...it was COLD!!





First hug from Daddy

Weird Family picture...

My sister and my friend Erin (whose boyfriend comes in with the Torch party in a few more days!)

Awww... bottle baby... OK, I know. We are working on it. Poor Finley was on a napless bender and very tired.

Together again

Patti, Nate and Finley (pitching a fit)

Boys!!

What Finley did for most of the hour

There was an ambulance and buses outside..need I say more?

Passing Time

Just the things we do counting the days till Daddy is home!!

Oh Boy...

Yep, It's a hat

Fits pretty well...

Opsec's turn

How about you Howie?

Nope, guess it's just right for Finley

Saturday Visit

Erin, Jason and Lauren came over for a little visit today. Actually it was to exchange Christmas gifts for the kids so I guess it was our little Christmas! While I only snapped 2 pictures I just thought I had to share them with you. Here is Lauren in the Coupe, Cheetos in hand. Precious! Both Finley and Lauren were enjoying thier Cheetos from lunch.
We had fun, the kids played well and I was able to catch up with Erin and Jason. Thanks guys for the company and the great gifts too. Finley loves his Little People Farm and new book!!

Cozy Coupe!

Finley got a Cozy Coupe for Christmas from Nate's parents. Since it's freakin' cold out I am allowing the use of the Coupe indoors (though we really don't have room for it!!). He really enjoys it. See for yourself...

Good Morning!

What morning typically looks like these days!!

I may blog again some day...

NO really...things have just been kind of crazy since Nate left and honestly will all the holiday shopping and such I haven't had a lot of spare time unless it's late at night when I am too tired to write anything coherent....let alone upload photos successfully. Really I am spending those wee hours Christmas shopping online or mind numbingly catching up on my DVR'd shows :)
So.. be sure to scroll down periodically as I am back posting as fast as I can ( I really honestly mean that). I plan on playing catch up for a while so be patient young grasshoppers and you too will be rewarded.

ps scroll down to see Finley and Santa....

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Nate flew out early this morning headed back to Iraq. He is actually staying the night in Atlanta before heading on his international flight(s) tomorrow. Long story short he got very sick these last few days of his leave and as of last night we weren't even sure he was healthy enough to travel but we tried everything in our power to postpone his trip back and also to get him to in to the doctor and nothing worked. If you know anything about the Army you know that everything is ass-backward (for lack of a better term??) and that things just don't happen without as struggle. I'm just saying.. not trying to dis the Army but geez. The good thing is that Nate was feeling a little better as of 6 am today (no more fever) and when I talked to him this evening he had regained some of his voice. I just hope the long flights don't take more out of him.
Anyway, we had a great 2 weeks despite of the sickness and Finley and I already miss Nate a ton. We know it's only about 5 weeks or so before he should be heading home for good so that is keeping our spirits up. More later as I am pretty beat from our early morning and heading to bed!!

Santa Claus...

One thing Nate and I decided to do on his R and R was take Finley to see Santa. We took him to East Towne Mall here in Madison, the same place we took him last year. In fact, it was the same exact "Santa"...ok, I know there is only ONE Santa...duh :)
Anyway, I will let you all be the judge of this one.

Who is more scared? Nate and my vote is for Santa... like a reindeer in headlights...




Every time I look at this picture I can't help but laugh. Figures our child would scare Santa and not vice versa. I will say I was proud of Finley for doing so well. The kicker was when Santa handed Finley a "digger" to hold. Finley then knew Santa spoke his language. It all went bad when I walked 2 feet away because the photo lady asked me to come preview the photo as she would take it. Then Finley started to melt- you can see a little trepidation forming on his face as the picture was being taken... he was thinking I might leave him there with Santa and Nate. What can I say, I have a momma's boy!!