Nate's Deployment, Day One (10 October 2015)

This sucks.

Nate drove away this morning, marking the first day of his six-month(ish) deployment. To Florida. Which is why Meagan has started calling it "Daddy's Work Vacation". As deployments go, it could be much worse. He could be somewhere where he's being shot at, for example. But for this one, he'll be in the same time zone, making communication easier, and we'll even get to go see him at Christmas. But he'll still be gone for six months. Blah.

As I told him, I have been intentionally not processing the whole thing. Even watching him leave this morning, it didn't feel all that different from him leaving for a normal day at work. It will start to set in tonight when he doesn't come home, and I go to sleep in an empty bed. (At least, the bed will start out that way--I fully expect Sean to come in during the night). Even then, he's often been gone for a week or so at a time for conferences. But several weeks in when he's still not home...well, I think that's when it will really start to get me down. There are lots of little things that I will have to remind myself to start doing: taking out the trash on Sunday nights, checking all the locks at night, winding the cuckoo clock (it's already stopped), and feeding his fish to name just a few. It will be difficult for Nate, too, just in different ways. On the one hand, I have the kids with me, but on the other hand, I have the kids with me. I won't be alone, but I'll get to deal with battles over homework and chores all on my lonesome. Oh, and suddenly enjoy the more frequent need of babysitters. Yay me. Even so, I'm not sure who gets the short end of the stick here.

So for the first day he was gone, we went out and partied. Ok, no, not really. We did go out, but it was more of an attempt at distracting the kids (they were all crying this morning when he left). We went to Windmill Farms, a little place down the road that's got quite the racket going on every September/October. They have some really cool playground equipment, in the shape of a pirate ship and rocket and train, etc, and even a teeny tiny petting zoo, which is all free. But then they also have a hayride where you get to get out and pick a pumpkin in the middle, which is ridiculously overpriced. We met up with some friends, and I shelled out for the hayride. It had two large hay-filled wagon beds pulled by a tractor; we rode in the second one. The meandering path through the woods was something else. It was muddy and had massive ruts. In places they were so deep that the bottom of the wagon beds scraped the section in the middle. In other places I thought we were driving through a river. It was bumpy and in a few places quite dusty. One little bit was called "Suicide Hill". It was steep and the tractor went down it so fast that it felt like a roller coaster. We had a blast. Here are some of our favorite pictures:

We were at the front of the second wagon, and so got a great view of the rivers of water we drove through. The kids' reactions were priceless.

A great picture of some of the ruts we drove over and through.

Meagan must've picked up fifteen pumpkins before she found the "perfect" one.

Is that a pumpkin or a baseball bat?

In the wagon just after selecting their pumpkins.

Gotta love those dimples!

You can just make out Shrek in the distance. The driver actually stopped here and asked if anyone wanted to get out and roll around in Shrek's mud puddle--it even smelled here, too--and Meagan was quite shocked. A couple of the other kids also thought he was being serious.

Self explanatory. Really.

All the kids in our group of friends showing off their pumpkins.

We almost had fights over this horse-shaped tire swing.

We didn't see the signs asking guests to keep hands away from the fence until the kids had petted several animals. Oops.

This pirate ship was just one of the awesome playground sets at the farm.

I don't think sliding down while standing up worked out so well.

Meagan discovered that this peacock loved grass. They sat there for at least fifteen minutes pulling up blades of grass that the peacock snatched out of their hands.

The night before Nate left, we drove to Young's Dairy and ate dinner, played minigolf and enjoyed some ice cream. Just before we got to the dairy, we saw this amazing field of sunflowers. I was kicking myself that I didn't have my good camera with me, because I'd been planning to take individual pictures of the kids with Nate. Meagan had asked for one to put up on her wall right by her bed. The field was a perfect place for it, so I just had to make do with my camera phone. They turned out well enough.

The Build-A-Bear Racket

For Christmas, we got Meagan this fun little art projector.

You put a little slide in the top, and it shines a picture down on the paper below, where the child playing with it can trace it. Meagan had a great time with it...all three time that she used it before it broke. I ended up returning it, and to stave off Meagan's tears, told her that I would take her shopping instead, and she could pick out whatever she wanted.

I finally was able to take her out shopping today. I told her I'd take her to the Mall, so Nate sat her down at the computer and showed her all the different stores in the mall, and the kinds of things she could look for. The store she zeroed in on was Build-A-Bear. Now, normally, Meagan changes her mind with every new shiny thing she sees, so I didn't really pay much attention. On the way to the mall, she kept saying that she was going to get a Hello Kitty at Build-A-Bear. I tried to tell her that they might not have Hello Kitty there, but she insisted that she could tell them to build whatever she wanted. Sometimes there's just no changing that girl's mind, so I let it go. I figured she'd find something else before we even got to Build-A-Bear anyway.

We got to the mall, and walked in through Burlington Coat Factory. Usually, Meagan loves new, pretty clothes, and especially dresses. Everything we saw, though, she just looked at and said, "It's nice, but it's not what we're here for. Let's go to Build-A-Bear." So I gave in, and we went to Build-A-Bear.

Can I just say that they have quite the racket going on there? They draw you in with this HUGE display window of all the animals you can choose from, with very reasonable prices posted next to each one. Hah, but that's where they get you. We went in, and luckily (and surprisingly to me), they actually had two different Hello Kittys to choose from. While waiting in line to get the thing stuffed, I saw a display where you could choose different songs or sounds to be put inside your animal. $4-$8 per sound. I redirected Meagan when she asked what all those songs were. Then, you could also get different scents put inside, or a special heart that could give it an actual heartbeat. For even more moolah, of course. And then, there are all the accessories. My goodness, do they have a lot of accessories. Skirts, pants, hats, shirts, dresses, sandals, slippers, shoes (but no socks, oddly enough), and even underwear. Then there were the hats, purses, headbands, bows, bathrobes, pajamas, brushes, hairdryers, dogbeds, Hello Kitty sleeping lounges, wardrobes (to put all the crap you just bought in), and on and on.

Admittedly, Meagan had a great time. The lady who stuffed her Kitty made a big deal out of it. She had Meagan jump three times for joy--to give the Kitty a happy life, and do a bunch of stuff with the heart Meagan got to put inside the Kitty. After Kitty was stuffed and sewn up, then there was a bath station where she could wash and dry her Kitty. But then she wanted to get clothes for her Kitty. There were a few "helpful" displays of possible ways to dress the Kitty, and Meagan had to get an outfit that was just like one of them, which equaled a dress, shoes, underwear and a purse. I should have stopped there, but then I let her get a brush/hairdryer set, pajamas and slippers. Hey, at least I said no to the wardrobe, robe, bed, extra purse, dresser and leash (??) she asked for. (Don't know what she'd want a leash for). I didn't really pay attention to how much each separate thing cost, and was a bit unpleasantly surprised when the total came to about $85. Guess I shoulda watched those price tags, huh? And get this, the original cost for just the Kitty was $24. Wow. I didn't say anything to Meagan, though, because she was having a blast. The whole way home, she talked about how she would put Kitty's new clothes on her when we got home, and change her into her pajamas every night, and put her back in her dress every day. She must've brushed Kitty's fur about 20 times tonight, and opened a little shop to do the fur of the other stuffed animals in the house. Sean's Little Kitty was the first customer. Meagan refers to Hello Kitty as her daughter, and put Kitty to bed a little earlier than her own bedtime. She made sure everyone was quiet because her Kitty was in bed. And when she went to bed herself, she curled up around Kitty and went to sleep.

So, yeah, Build-A-Bear's got quite the racket. But Meagan's joy through the whole thing? Priceless.

Dreamnight at the Zoo

"Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is once again throwing open the gates for hundreds of critically ill children and their families for the fifth annual “DreamNight at the Zoo” on June 1. The event provides a no-cost, worry-free evening exclusively for families with youngsters struggling with serious medical issues.

Families will be able to experience up-close animal encounters, munch on their favorite fun foods and experience interesting occupations at a dozen different “dream stations.” A child may dream of being a cowboy, firefighter, TV reporter, magician, race car driver, policeman, soldier, dancer, animal keeper or super hero – and he or she can experience them all at the dream stations.

DreamNight started in 1996 as a partnership between the Rotterdam Zoo and Sophia Children’s Hospital in the Netherlands. Since that time, DreamNight has grown to become a worldwide event involving 82 zoos, wildlife parks and aquariums in over 23 countries around the globe. And it happens all over the world on the first Friday evening in June."

So read the invitation we got to go to the DreamNight at the Zoo. We got the invitation because of Meagan's cleft lip. Nate was TDY, but I decided to go ahead and take all three kids by myself. It was amazing! They shut down the zoo to the regular public, and you had to have an invitation coordinated through a physician to be able to get in. Everything was free: the Skyride, the carousel, pony rides....they even had a free hot dog dinner and cotton candy, plus there were tons of booths with lots of free stuff for the kids. Meagan even got a stuffed unicorn. We watched a hippo show and a lion feeding. There was so much to do, we ran out of time. We had a blast and are truly grateful to those who made it such a memorable night!

"I love you anyway"

"I hate you!" The dreaded phrase no parent wants to hear from their child, but one that every parent can expect at some point. Or some variation thereof. For me, it's been, "I don't love you anymore."

Bethany was the first to come up with this one. She started off with the guilt-inducing "You just broke a piece of my heart." That one really affected me the first time I heard it. By the fifteenth, not so much. Then she started in with the I-don't-love-you-anymores, mostly when she was mad that I wouldn't give her something she wanted, or I wouldn't let her do something she wanted to do. It never really affected me all that much. I mean, I have friends who take it really personally when their kids say horrible things like that to them. Maybe it's just because she's only seven, and I know she doesn't really mean it, but it doesn't really crush me. That being said, I didn't really like her saying it, either.

For the first several times, I just ignored it. I figured if I didn't respond, she'd stop saying it. That didn't really seem to make a difference. Then one day, I had an idea. After she told me she didn't love me, I just said, "Well, I love you anyway. Even when you're mad and screaming at me." That's all. No real lecture or anything. It only took about three times, and she stopped saying that to me at all. It was pretty amazing.

Sean kind of picked up the habit from Bethany, though, but coming from a three-year-old, it's almost funny. Especially when our conversations run like this:

Sean: (angrily/defiantly/whatever)I don't love you anymore.
Me:Well, I love you.
Sean: I don't love you.
Me: I love you, though.
Sean: (contritely) Mommy, I love you.

"I love you anyway." Pretty powerful words.

Family outing--iPod photos

I've recently discovered the camera function on my iPod. It's kind of fun. It can take pictures of what's in front of it, or what's behind it. They're not super high quality photos, but they're good for candid shots...and entertaining kids, as I found out today.

We went out on a family outing this afternoon, mostly to run errands. We'd been in the car about two minutes when Nate and I noticed that both Meagan and Sean were asleep. I guess they were tired.

Yes, Sean is holding a sparkly, silver purse. Legacy of having two older sisters, I suppose. When I bought them purses to carry their money around, he had to have one, too. Hey, at least it's not pink.

Our last stop of the day was Target/Petco. I went into Target with the kids, while Nate went fish shopping at Petco (he loves this Petco, says they have a great coral selection). We finished first, obviously, and were sitting in the car waiting for Nate. The kids were getting restless. Sean wanted to leave without Nate. He said Daddy could just ride home in someone else's car.

So I started taking pictures to keep them happy. They loved it. When we got home, I was surprised to fnd that I'd taken 62 pictures. They kept pulling funny faces or doing silly things, just to see the pictures of themselves. Here are some of my favorites:

Sean's holding his new piggy bank he bought with his own money. It's a pig/race car bank. You can't see the front, but there is an actual pig face and it has the general shape of a pig, but then there are wheels instead of legs. He loves it. He passed up a Lightening McQueen pillow to buy it.

I love Bethany's smile in this one.

Sean's expression here is pretty funny.

Towards the end, the kids wanted me to take an upside down picture of them. When I told them it didn't really work that way, they decided that they would be upside down instead. That was the best Sean could do in his car seat, and Meagan was still buckled up, too.

It's all about perspective

I was sitting in the front seat of the van.  All three kids were buckled up behind me. We were waiting for Nate to finish up in the fish store, and the kids were getting restless (Sean even suggested leaving without Daddy). So to keep them entertained, I pulled out the iPod, and turned on the camera. The first sight to greet me was a horrible image of my fat, double chin. It was disgusting. I felt like a bloated toad. I almost turned off the camera. But then I lifted it higher, so the kids could be in the picture, too. From a different angle, I suddenly didn't look so bad anymore. Not runway model material, for sure, but heaps better than before. I guess it's all in how we look at ourselves that matters.

I was feeling a bit down this week, because I've hardly lost any weight this week (only about 1/2 pound vs. six pounds last week). I wasn't even doing anything different. It was enough to make me want to give up and go eat some cake...or that chocolate bar the RS gave me for my birthday...or something. But then I could see in the picture that my face does look a bit slimmer. So again, it's all about perspective.

My first wedding cake

So here are pictures of my first--and likely last--wedding cake. It didn't turn out quite the way I'd wanted it to, but still, I learned from it, and I'm confidant I could do better next time I work with fondant. Maybe I should've practiced more before I made the actual cake. Oh well. The bride liked it anyway.

I did this much of the cake all by myself. I've used fondant before, but not on a circular cake. I had trouble not having creases in it, especially near the bottom of each layer. And Valerie warned me about the frosting between layers of cake bulging, but I did went ahead and did it anyway. And yep, you can see bulges in the middle of each layer. In spite of all my mistakes, though, I was amazed at how many people loved it and told me it looked great.

Here's the final product. Another sister in the ward added the flowers on. The table looked so empty, I wanted to add a little extra greenery along the back, but got voted down.