Day 160 / 37 To Go: Garage Space

Posted by: Cris

A rare treat for me as I got to stay at home this morning with Juneau and Nova. Nelson and Katy had a doctor's appt. so I cleared my schedule and laid in bed waiting for my favorite moment when one or both of my girls creeps down the hall, peeks into my room and when they see me there, get a big smile and come running and jump into bed with me. Makes my day every single time. Juneau was back to building with her tool set this morning (which unfortunately is Black and Decker - I need to keep my eyes open for a toy set of Craftsman tools). while Nova found a new coloring book and was happy as could be setting to work on it.

All 3 of us eventually ended up gathered around their tiny little table trying to color on a single page.

Even though it meant taking a bath on it, today I unloaded the piece of crap van that died on me 3 months after I bought it. A guy bought it to rebuild the transmission himself as a project car. Despite getting only a fraction back from what we paid for it, the bright side is that it is no longer a 2000 lb paperweight taking up valuable space in my garage. Almost makes it worth it.

We go through more milk in this house than you could possibly imagine. I end up making numerous trips to the grocery during the week JUST because we are out of milk...AGAIN. The addition of strawberry Quik to the mix has only made the problem worse.

So, we headed to the grocery where Juneau decided she was now capable of pushing the cart Even though we are in the soda aisle, we aren't buying any...I made a pact to not buy soda for at home while Emilie was gone and so far we have successfully avoided this aisle.

Nova completely plowed through her dinner tonight and they were having a sale on mini-blizzards at Dairy Queen at the food court so, since it had been awhile since I let the girls get ice cream, "we" decided (like the girls would have disagreed with me) that tonight was a good night for a special treat.

They are quite the pair sitting there eating their ice cream and having a conversation with each other the whole time. The little auntie's sitting next to us just sat there and watched them and smiled the whole time.

Day 159 / 38 To Go: Juneau the Builder

Posted by: Cris There was alot of activity out at the helicopter wreckage throughout the day. If you click on the picture and blow it up you can see all the poor guys whose job it is to wade around on the sandbar back and forth to the boats with pieces of the wreckage that are pertinent to the investigation I'm guessing. I didn't see this helicopter come by, just the pictures, but I'm pretty sure this is the same type of helicopter that crashed.

It did swoop down over the wreckage so I'm not sure if they were lifting a portion or what...

but by this evening there was definitely a fair amount of the remains no longer there.I actually prefer the helicopter wreckage to the mass of drunken partiers of their pontoon boats that will return to the sandbar as soon as the helicopter is removed.

Nova has recently rediscovered this Little Einstein's magnet toy and suddenely loves it again.

Juneau on the other hand has totally been into the tool set I bought the girls for Christmas.She was very proud of this "boat" she built this evening by herself. This picture isn't great but mommy captured her view on Skype a couple days ago...we're waiting for you to come home soon mommy!!

Day 158 / 39 To Go: Pink Milk!!

Posted by: Cris

A princess and her lunchpale headed to work for a busy day of bibbity-bobbitying

Juneau would prefer to be a Wild Thing...

Where the Princess & the Wild Things Are...

The girls were very wiped out and barely made it through lunch awake.

Tonight we had a good internet connection and a mommy who was off work so the girls had a great time playing on skype. We read one of the new books about mommy coming home and mommy drew lots of letters on the screen for the girls to name.

Nova filled mommy in on her new favorite drink: Pink Milk!! At the NEX yesterday they had strawberry Quik powder on sale so I told them we could try it out. Flash forward 24 hours later and I'm having a total fight on my hands getting them to drink anything else.

Congratulations to Butler and UConn for playing the absolute WORST NCAA finals game in history. They should both forfeit their champion and runner-up trophies and issue public apologies to basketball fans everywhere...just awful.

Day 157 / 40 To Go: Starting to prepare

Posted by: Cris Today was another lazy Sunday recovering from a late night of slumber partying. That didn't stop the girls from waking up at 7:00 a.m. though. Our events from the day included a SUPER long bath - Juneau and Nova were having so much fun they refused to get out - and a trip to get groceries. Yes, the day was as exciting as it sounds...try not to be jealous. Once again, I ended up laying down on the bed with the girls for a few minutes and next thing I knew, we had all been asleep for 2 hours. One of the girls favorite songs is the "teamwork" song from The Wonder Pets. And they definitely know the concept as well. They are constantly doing things like working together to move their table around while singing "What's gonna work?...Team-work!"

Juneau with her super scary face...

With today marking the 40 day countdown and lots of changes coming in the weeks ahead (Nelson and Katy leave in about 10 days then Grandma comes, then Aunt Coral, then we fly back to Ohio), I decided it was close enough to start preparing Juneau and Nova for what lies ahead. So, after bath, I pulled out these items we'd had waiting for them...new mommy dolls and a couple of books that are written for kids of deployed soldiers...one of them specifically discussing their loved one coming home and getting them ready for the change.

Nova was beyond giddy about these new presents and we read these books several times throughout the day. She also was adamant on carrying her new mommy doll not only along in the truck but also into the NEX. After reading these 2 books again at bedtime tonight, I told them all about the crazy schedule that lies ahead and I think they actually understand that a bunch of stuff outside the norm is coming but how they handle it all remains to be seen. They definitely know that mommy is coming home soon and that Nova's birthday is the marker for when mommy arrives!!

Day 156 / 41 To Go: Slumber Party

Posted by: Cris This morning, I loaded up the truck with 2 little girls and some stuff I had to return and headed to Home Depot. A couple minutes after leaving, Nelson called and said Denali and Summit had come up the hill to the front door. This has been the times when Denali has been escaping - after he hears me up at the top of the hill at the front of the house. He busts out trying to get up there to see me. So, the whole gang spent some time in the house today. Denali and Summit are like little kids with each other...constantly picking at and playing with each other.

Denali gets a bit wild and will smother Summit or put his jaws around her whole body and she'll yelp at him to stop but then she jumps right back for more.

Sherpa is too mature for all their shenanigans usually.

I was at a loss because I haven't been able to figure out how Denali was escaping. So, I went out in front of the house for awhile and made noise and made sure he saw me then ran back in onto the lanai and watched him from above. He had been jumping over the short fence even though it is quite a drop down onto the steps down to the lower yard. I had blocked the short fence down part of the way until it dropped off farther than I thought he'd jump but apparently not far enough. So, we blocked off the short fence a bit farther and then did the test again and this time, he looked at how far he had to jump and retreated. The bottom line is I'm going back a couple steps and changing plans for how much redesign I'm doing on the upper yard fence...no husky is going to outsmart me!!

While I was working out in the garage for awhile today, the girls prepared for any possible tsunami's that might be approaching.

They actually asked if they could pretend these were their climbing harnesses...I'm so proud!

Tonight we got back to our new tradition of Saturday night slumber party...I'm going to get as many weeks of snuggling on the couch in before next fall and I'm laying on the couch on Saturday nights by myself :(

We are watching Toy Story 2 right now but based on how tired Nova looked during the opening credits, I'm not sure she'll make it through the whole thing tonight.

I have no doubt Juneau will still be wide awake at the end of the movie.

It is hard to believe that if things go as planned, Emilie will be leaving Afghanistan in less than 1 month. We are hoping that she doesn't get delayed any...so far so good...but some of the other people from her unit who were supposed to be leaving in the next couple weeks have already been pushed back a bit because the unit who is replacing them, who just so happens to be coming from here in Hawaii, has been delayed in starting to arrive in Afghanistan.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that even the military units from here are on "Hawaii time" (...for those unfamiliar with that term, it basically means "I'll get there when I get there.")

Day 155 / 42 To Go: The Longest Day...

Posted by: Cris Last night at 9:30, I figured out that the float switch on the sump pump wasn't working - luckily before more than the tiniest bit of water overflowed. So, I pulled the pump out but it was too late ot make it to Home Depot. I needed to be to work early so luckily, I found out Home Depot opened at 5:00 a.m. so I got up at 4:30, drove over the mountain to Honolulu, ran into Home Depot and grabbed a switch, back over the mountain, fixed and reinstalled the pump by about 6:30...quick shower...saw the girls for a few minutes then headed off to work. The girls had a fun day at home...Juneau with the crossed leg thing going. My cute princess in her favorite princess nightgown. The last few days I've been in a containment battle with a couple of dogs. Summit has found a couple of holes to wriggle through and today, ended up at the front door scratching to get in. Denali has figured a couple ways to get into the lower yard and tonight Nelson actually had to carry him under one arm up the ladder from the lower yard to the upper yard. So, Summit spent most of the day inside today, much to her delight. Definitely...much to Summit's delight to be inside for naptime. The morning for me was extremely busy and I was rushing down to the Med School for my 1:30 lecture. I got out of the lab at 4:30, raced in rush hour traffic back over the mountain to our house to get the girls who were ready and waiting. I didn't even shut off the the truck but threw the girls inside and headed back over to Honolulu for dinner with Melody and the gang (minus Aunt Wallie and Oma this week :( at the Ala Moana Center. The top floor of the Ala Moana Center provided the best seat yet for watching the fireworks. By the time we stumbled back home tonight at 9:00, the girls were tired and Daddy too. The girls are super excited that tomorrow is finally Saturday because all week they've known that Saturday means slumber party with sleeping on the couch and watching a movie with daddy.