Thankfulness 2013: Day Seventeen

Six years ago I was bawling my eyes out.  I was doing pretty well at not crying until I saw my dad that day.  He was tearing up a little and that set me off.  I cried for the next half hour off and on.  Lovely pictures that makes of course.  It was my wedding, well, it was just before my wedding and during.  I was a very happy watering pot that evening.

I am so very thankful for my husband.  He has been an amazing partner, friend, supporter, shoulder, rock, father, and every other role he has played in our lives together.  I could not imagine a better man for me.  He sees me at my weakest and loves me.  He shows so much support when I am excited about something (he even looks over my cards and enthuses over them without my asking him to).  He knows me, quirks and downright oddities.  I am thrilled to have been with him through two deployments and two kids in our eight years together.  I can't wait to enjoy the evening with him when he gets home from drill...

I should really consider looking back over the last 6 years and see how many he has been away for though.  I think we are about half of them!  Oh well, army doesn't get put on hold for anniversaries.

Bachelor and Wedding Cards

Mid-October we had a blast with my buddy the night before he got married.  We all went to the pool hall (very nice place called Billiards that has about a hundred tables and also a minor-friendly area so that your teens can have a game going while the party is swinging along.

I've been having fun with ribbons and that is a near-3-D glass.

We had so much fun and honestly I couldn't be happier for the couple.  I've watched my buddy go from happy, to domestically happy since meeting his other half.  I also had fun making the card for his bachelor party and their wedding card.

Tri-Folding needs some practice still...and more math.

I love this card! It was such a PITA to get the trifold to line up where I wanted it to but eventually my 'adjustments', which were total guesses after a while, began to come together.

My buddy (the groom) was impressed as he totally knows my lack of a creative ability in all prior arts.  I didn't get the bride's take as she was busy doing the important hostess work.  (We were invited to the gift opening the next day.)

It is hard to see but the suit's details are drawn on.

I'm not going to lie though, I was awfully excited that my buddy drew attention to his card at his bachelor party.  He overheard me telling another person that I had made it when they were asking me about it.  It made me feel pretty damn awesome.

On another note...we got to do all this celebrating over a child-free weekend.  Score another big point for the event!

Dating

Hey there...come here often?  Oh yeah, I'm usually the one chasing a little blonde girl and pushing a handsome little babbler in a monstrous double long stroller...We mostly stick to the Barnes and Noble lego or train table.

Don't you love meeting up with someone you so rarely get to see out of certain contexts?  You know, people like your siblings away from your parents.  Girlfriends without the kids.  HUSBANDS without kids?  That is the novelty that we had.

We get the occasional trip to a store without the kids.  Valentine gifts (tickets to a comedy show) that require driving 4hrs to get to--luckily with a set of grandparents in between to drop off a couple kids who would not be appropriate audience for said show.  A Christmas party for his company...Oh, there was the hospital stay while Wyatt was asleep in his newborn state of nearly constant unconsciousness too!

Typically our 'alone time' is filled with schoolwork, crafting of greeting cards, catching up on the latest NCIS or NCIS LA, or apart altogether doing errands of sorts while the other is home.  If we are both home, we are lucky to only have to remind Alyssa that bedtime is required or 'tomorrow' doesn't come and if she doesn't sleep NOW...a handful of times.  If we have a miracle night, there aren't any tears coming from behind a gated toddler's door.

So while our friends are tag-teaming our kids alongside their own toddler, we celebrated still being adults with tastes that run more mature than My Little Pony or chicken nuggets and french fries.  (Well, maybe not much more mature than french fries...)

We highly recommend Iron Man 3....but stay until after all the credits have run through.  Now back to the standard parental lifestyle of attempting to remember to NOT pull our hair out, we'll go bald naturally eventually anyways from stress hormones.