Cowboy Up & Yah For Me!

Shane & I recently took a little trip to Reno, Nevada for The Californios(a buckaroo rodeo). It was great to spend some time together before he had to go back to work. When I say buckaroo, I mean it was a "real cowboy" rodeo. I felt a little out of place, Shane bought me some cowboy boots before we left and told me I better bring them. I'm glad I did! Everyone there was wearing flat brimmed hats, cowboy boots, scarfs, and snap up shirts. Shane loved it! This is the only pictures we took of ourselves the whole trip, the rest is of cows and horses and ropes. Go figure!
So the Yah for me, is because I've reached a 30 lb weight loss this year! Normally I wouldn't blog about something like this, but I'm just so danged proud of myself for keeping up with it and actually reaching my goal! It's been tough and took alot of self control!!!

Welcome Home Shane!

We finally got Shane home just in time for Easter! He made it home Saturday night. There was alot of switching things around saying he would be home at this time, then an hour later a new time, then the next day it would all change again. Needless to say we are just so so grateful he is finally here, even if he was supposed to be home weeks ago. Tate wasn't sure what to think of his daddy at first, but he quickly warmed up to him. Madelyn has hardly wanted to leave his side, and Bricker's just thrilled to have a nintendo partner! It was the best weekend for all of us!

Still waiting for Daddy...

Like the title says, we are still waiting for Shane to come home to us. His term has come and gone, and yet he is still in Afghanistan... I pretty well expected it to go this way. We do however expect him home soon. I can't say when, and he can't even tell me exactly when. They do this for security purposes. He is doing well though, but he is more than ready to come home. The kids & I feel the same way.

I recently finished my first leather project to give Shane when he gets home. He missed our anniversary, this is what I made for him. They have taken me over 2 months to make! I had lots of help from Shane's friend Jason who had all the leather tools and such to put them together.

I've actually really enjoyed learning to work with leather and plan to make our kids each a pair. The only part that was hard was that I had to stitch most of them by hand. It took forever!! I had to pound a hole for each individual stitch before hand since the leather was so thick and heavy the needle couldn't push through. I got a couple blisters and cut off a chunk of my thumb with a razor blade making them. He better like em'!!!

Every Little Boy Needs a Sister

Especially a BIG sister, otherwise we wouldn't have pictures like these! I wonder what I will find on him next. I've already found him smoothered in chapstick, in her dress-up clothes, and even her shoes!

St Patrick's Day

We started off the day with green 4 leaf clover pancakes and green milk. The kids always get a kick out of the green milk, and they actually drank it this year! This year Madelyn asked me what St Patrick's day was for and what do you do? Well I thought about it. What really is St Patrick's day if you aren't Irish? I was afraid to tell my kids you pinch people if they don't wear green, they already have a hard enought time keeping their hands to themselves!!! Seriously they don't need an excuse to go around pinching people! So... I told them we wear green and eat lots of green treats! Speaking of treats here's what we made, chocolate covered oreo suckers with green clover sprinkles or green swirls. They were yummylicious!!

Tate's 1st Haircut

Beforeand AfterI finally broke down and gave Tate a haircut. The back was getting long, but not much on top. So now it is evened out. He didn't want to sit very still and wasn't sure what to think of the clippers.

We have been staying busy. I have tried to keep a constant project going to help the time pass while Shane is gone. I love to decorate the house, so I've been working mostly on home projects. I finally finished our room. I've never really spent much time on our room. The kids rooms are the fun rooms to decorate. I decided it was time to jazz up our room. I made some curtains for our windows and my awesome father-in-law built me a little table. It all came together great. and the new table, hopefully for a new TV in the near future :)

Happy Birthday Madelyn & More...

Let's start with the good stuff. Madelyn turned 4! And there is a funny story behind this picture. She couldn't get the candles to blow out, and no they weren't the trick kind that don't blow out. I'm not sure what her deal was. I finally lifted her up so she could get closer and it still took her a couple tries! We had over some family & celebrated her "big" day. Shane was actually able to call her on the morning of her birthday. It was the first time we have got to talk to him over the phone since he left. It was great for all of us!
As for Shane, I'm sure some are wondering how he is doing. Well he got there safely with no problems and seems to be getting settled in. The internet connection at the base he is at is the pits though. It cuts out all the time and is down sometimes for hours. So we haven't communicated alot besides email which has made it a little hard, especially for the kids. They just don't understand the concept.
Since Shane left everything has happened that wouldn't have happened if he were here. I hope that made sense. That's how it seems to happen though, my husband leaves & everything falls appart! I got a flat tire(thanks dad for fixing it), our computer crashed and I had to give the lady my sob story so she would hurry & fix it without taking a week, got a terrible tooth ache & went to the dentist come to find out I am grinding my teeth at night-Go Figure! (he didn't blame me with everything going on!), our family dog died (that was the hardest), lack of sleep, trying to juggle all the kids at church alone, that's just a few of the things going on here. I really want to thank all of our family & friends who have helped me lately. The phone calls, visits, dinners, etc... I've really had so much help. I'm so thankful for all of you! I like to think of myself as an independent person, but I've realized in times like these, that's what friends are for. I have a lot of service projects to repay everyone! So for now we just keep tugging along. Thanks everyone!!