Dirty Little Artist

Andrew absolutely LOVES to draw with sidewalk chalk.  We pretty much do it at least once, if not twice a day.  Today, he must have rolled in his masterpiece, because when he was finished, this is what he looked like!

Chiquita meets Koa!

My next door neighbors are out of town and I volunteered to watch their 5 month old puppy, Koa.  He's part Jack Russell Terrier.  Andrew loves him and always speaks to him when he sees him outside, so he's excited about our new house guest.  Chiquita, however...not so much.   Her only dog friend was Sara's cockier spaniel, Maggie.  They've been gone about 2 years, but anytime I mention the name "Maggie" Chiquita gets all excited.    She was all beside herself when Koa came over.  Here are a few not so good pictures of their first encounter.

Chiquita is normally a cute, playful thing!

Here she is napping with her old friend, Maggie.
And here she is trying to eat Koa!

He says, "Please play with me!"

Still...no dice.

Finally last night after an hour and a half she started to "tolerate" him.  Of course this morning she still hates him.  Koa has been misbehaving since he arrived.  I've had to mop my kitchen and shampoo my carpet.  Koa has been in his crate today and I think that's where he'll stay!

Thanks Mandy

My friend, Mandy, of Mandy Owens Photography, came to my parents house while we were home for Christmas and did some family portraits. She does amazing work, so for all of you Alabamians, call her next time you want your pictures taken!
Here are just a few of my favorites:

Thanks Mandy...I LOVE them!

Andrew gets a COKE!!

As most of you know, we've been trying the potty training thing again. Andrew has been doing so well. He wears pull-ups during the day and on some days it will stay dry all day long. Most of the time he'll start to go in his diaper and then realize what he's doing, stop, and then go potty. He can even go potty by himself. Sometimes he even prefers it that way. As well as he was doing with #1 in the potty, we could NOT get him to go #2 in the potty. So, in order to encourage that I told him that if he would go poo-poo in the potty, Mommy would get Andrew a coke. He doesn't get coke at our house. But now, his Granna has been known to sneak him one from time to time, so he knows what they are and he LIKES them!

Every time he goes potty I'll ask if he needs to go #2 and he says no. After he goes #1 he'll say "Mama I get a coke." I have to explain that he has to go #2 for a coke. Then he proceeds to strain and grunt with all his might. Then he stands up and says "See Mama, I go poo-poo." But of course, there's nothing there...but he sure tries!

This morning after breakfast, Andrew said his tummy hurt. I asked if he needed to go poo-poo. He said "No, I go tee-tee." So we went...and he went, but no #2's. About 3 minutes later he asked to go potty again. This time...we hit the JACKPOT!!! I threw a party in the bathroom and we went to get our coke! I put it in a sippy cup for him, but it kept fizzing out the top.

So I put it in his shamu cup with a straw.

After a couple of sips, he says "I no want Coke, I want milk!" So, after three weeks of practically begging for a coke, he decided he'd rather go for the healthy choice...milk! :) I'm so proud! Let's home this is the start of something beautiful. I look forward to life after diapers!

FROM DREW: It's like I never left!

Hey everyone,

We made it safe and sound to lovely Al Asad, Iraq. The trip this time around wasn’t too bad. We only made two stops this time instead of the four that we made last time. We stopped in Bangor, Maine where we were greeted by Vets from WWII, Vietnam, and Korea. It was really cool. Much better than stopping in San Francisco or New York like last time where no one cared. We then made a stop in Liepzig, Germany just like last time. From there we made it to Kuwait where we spent about a day before getting a flight up here to Al Asad. We’re working and living in different areas than last time but it’s a pretty good setup overall. I’ll start flying in a few days on the night schedule. It’ll be good to get things rolling. The areas where we’re flying are a lot safer than two years ago, so much so that we flying farther east making stops into Baghdad. The parts of the city that are secure of course. I haven’t been to Baghdad before so it’ll be cool to see something different.

Email back when you get a chance and include email addresses of folks who you think would be interested in receiving emails from me.

Hope everyone is doing well back home. Hopefully this trip will go quick and I’ll be back home before you know it.

~Drew

Deployment Day

Wednesday was D-Day. We had to have Drew at the hangar at 4 pm. They were busy getting all their last minute gear together, assigning firearms, and making sure everything was in order. We had a couple of hours to hang out with the other families before the buses came to take them to Hickam Air Force Base.

Andrew slept the whole way to the hangar and was still pretty sleepy when he woke up. He hung out with Daddy for as long as he could.

Some one on one father son time.

Our last family photo...It really was a beautiful afternoon at Kaneohe Bay!

One last "blow kiss" for Daddy.

Julie like the idea of a blow kiss, so she gave one to Mike!

Soon the buses came and all the smiles were soon replaced with tears. (I always hate the part when all the wives and kids start crying...breaks my heart) All the wives have their own "moment" when they lose it. One friend has hers just before leaving the house to drop them off. Another friend loses it when she pulls back into her driveway. I, on the other hand, have to try really hard to hold it in on that lonely walk to the car just after the last kiss. And my "moment" happens when I get in the car....alone! It's like when I shut the door, it just clicks and I lose it. I cry like a baby for about 15 minutes. It was especially bad this time because we hugged for as long as we could and then he kissed me goodbye as he was getting on the bus. I walked to the car, put it in reverse and took one last glance at the bus. And there he was, sitting in the front seat...waving. I'll hold on to that image for 7 months until he comes back to us.

Last Days With Daddy

The past week was a lot of fun. Drew had short days at work, so he came home with plenty of daylight left to enjoy. We spent lots of quality time together and had fun doing it.

We played with sidewalk chalk.

Helped Daddy get his gear together. (This is a very heavy bullet proof vest)

We played peek-a-boo.

And we even watched Daddy fall asleep on the couch! Daddy had too much fun!

We couldn't have asked for a better couple of weeks. Just typing this post makes me miss Drew even more.

Butterfly #2

Our second butterfly hatched on Sunday. He looked just like the first, only bigger. We started seeing the cocoon wiggle and jiggle inside the cup.

A couple of hours later....out he popped!Andrew and Chiquita slept through the whole thing!

When his wings were extended I put him outside in the tree. (Did I mention it was a beautiful day?!)

Finally he opened his wings completely.Then he just hung out here all night long. (I was a little worried about him)

No worries, because the next morning I went out to check on him and as I walked toward the tree, he climbed to the top and flew away!

Friday's Favorites

Yes, I know I need to be updating you all on the deployment and sharing pictures from our last moments together, however this is more of a friendly distraction! Plus, I've been sick for the past 3 days and haven't really felt like blogging, but I'm much better today and therefore I should be able to catch up. BUT in the meantime, a couple of my blogger friends have posted their "Friday's Favorites" and I urge you to do the same!

Even though it was a bittersweet week, here are some of my favorites:

1) Quality Family Time The day before he left, Drew and I walked Andrew and Chiquita to the beach in the wagon. It was a nice, leisurely walk (though 3 miles in total). We sat in the grass with our backs against a palm tree and watched Andrew chase the dog through the sand.

2) Sleeping In As a mom that doesn't get to happen very often, but Drew had the day off on Wednesday until it was time to leave that afternoon. He knew I was sick so he let me sleep in. I didn't even hear him get up. He took care of Andrew all morning. It made such a difference to get to "rest" for a change. (Thanks Drew)

3) Great Neighbors We were recently blessed with next door neighbors who are absolutely wonderful to us! They have a little girl 2 months younger than Andrew so it's nice for him to have a play mate. They shared their deployment tradition of reading a book together with Drew and myself. They gave us both a book and a sweet note. Then last night she invited me to dinner. I know that God sent them to us at the most perfect time!

4)Bedtime with Andrew I love bedtime! It's a nice quite ending to a crazy day. We read books while rocking in the recliner and say night night prayers. Then I whisper in his ear, "I love you Baby." And he whispers back "Love you too Mama." It doesn't get any better than that!

5)Care packages Andrew and I are sending our first care package to Drew today. I love sending care packages. We fill them with all of Daddy's favorite things (and some things that he left behind) and mail them with love. I'll be posting his address soon so you can do the same!

I look forward to reading your "Friday Favorites" as well. Now we're off to the post office!

Play Day with Trevor

Drew and I watched the National Championship game at the Turners last week. Andrew and I went over a little early so the boys could play. Andrew and Trevor had a blast as always. They spent most of the afternoon playing in Trevor's house. (A nicely decorated stove box)

Addi enjoying a cracker.

Later, Trevor tried to teach Andrew how to do a back bend. (He never quite caught on)

But he sure had fun trying!

My New Ride

Grammy got Andrew a wagon for Christmas and he loves it! We picked it up a few days ago. He was amazed that there were cup holders! Every night he wants to take Chiquita for a ride in his wagon and sometimes during the day we'll ride it to the mailbox. Here are a couple of pics I took the other day after a trip to get the mail. Andrew says "Thanks Grammy!"

As I'm working on this post, Andrew is sitting in my lap. He just looked at the screen and said "Theres me Chiquita ride in wagon!"

Chiquita loves to ride too!

Outdoor Fun

Andrew loves to play outside. (That's no surprise) We've spent more time outside than in lately, which is fine by me because the weather has been perfect! Not too hot and plenty breezy. We've even cut off the A/C and opened up the house. It's nice all except the mosquitoes and flies. (Anyone have any sugguestions on how to rid of them FOREVER?) We spray ourselves with bug repellent before we go out, burn citronella, and have a bug zapper,but we still get eaten! Andrew's bites swell up so bad that they feel like golf balls under his skin. The mosquitoes get crafty and search for areas not touched by the bug spray. One day poor Andrew got a bite IN his ear! Here's a picture of my sad lil man with a big red ear.

He doesn't let it stop him from having fun! The other day our neighbor Mackenzie came over to play. They took turns pushing each other on the Mickey airplane before heading into the bouncy house.

Andrew likes to lay on the outside edge as you can see here. He's demonstrating that ever so famous "cheese" face again.

After the big cheese, he gave me a nice sweet smile.Is he not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Now that I'm finally finished with the Christmas posts I can catch you up with the past 2 1/2 weeks. We got back to Hawaii on Sunday, December 28 around 3:30 pm. As soon as we got home Andrew and I went into the back yard to see how the plants, which were still in their pots at this point, had fared the weather for 2 weeks alone. We had some storms in Hawaii with gale force winds while we were away, so I was worried. They were all there, just turned over. When I picked up my tangerine tree, it looked AWFUL! Something had chewed it to pieces! The whole top half of the tree was all twigs. So I started searching for the culprit. I found him!

I was mad at whatever had eaten my tree until I saw how cute he was.

Then I started thinking that this little guy couldn't possibly be responsible for eating that much, so I continued my search and found that one very hungry caterpillar had already made himself a nice cocoon.

I didn't want to disturb him, but I thought it would be a nice science lesson for Andrew if we captured the other guy and watched him go from lil green worm to a big beautiful butterfly. He loves the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and I love butterflies so I scooped him up and put him along with a few twigs from my tree into a clear plastic cup. We covered the top with foil and poked holes so he could breathe.

That night I had to do some research because I couldn't remember how long they stayed in their cocoon. (2 weeks) They pig out on leaves and totally gorge themselves until they can't eat anymore. Then they make their cocoons. I didn't know how long this lil guy had been eating, but when we woke up the next morning, he was already a cocoon! Two weeks to the day later, I happened to walk by and notice that we had a butterfly. When I first saw him, his wings were all shriveled up like he had just hatched. Before I could get back with my camera, they were already filled out this much...

I didn't want to hinder his progress, so I carefully helped him to a branch, where he continued to dry his wings.
Here he is opening his wings for the first time. Isn't he BEAUTIFUL!
I read that it takes about 30 minutes before they'll fly away, but we were in a hurry and had to go, so we missed that part. But I did see him flying around the yard 2 days later. So he hasn't flown too far from home!

The next day we were in the yard and I noticed that my tree looked even more destroyed. I looked around and found yet another caterpillar. So we captured him too! That very hungry caterpillar ate my leaves for 5 days before he finally made a cocoon. He is scheduled to hatch on Sunday. I'll keep you posted on that!