November 2017

Shenanigans at Grandma Ruske's house while we stay with GG. 

1. Grandma can't go out without buying things for her grandkids (new princess toys)

2. I love Kayla's imagination!

Our last check-up at Texas A&M Physicians in Bryan. So sad!! I first went one time when I was sick and needed a doctor's note for school, when I first moved up to CS to attend Blinn. My mom saw it was listed on the accepted providers list for our insurance, and so she told me to go there. I kind of just stuck there, seeing whoever was available (it's a bunch of residents). Right before Jacob and I got married, I went in for BC and they threw me in with Dr. Eggleston. A little over 5 months later I was back for being pregnant (lol) and just stuck with him. He was amazing! He delivered Kayla (barely, bc she came so fast. He walked in the door, suited up, my mom walked in, and I pushed her out.) And then he continued to be mine and Kayla's doctor. I started seeing him when I was pregnant with Wilson, but he finished out his residency and moved out of state before Wilson was born. I ended up seeing his recommendation, Dr. Hansen, for the remainder of my pregnancy with Wilson. She has also been absolutely amazing! She saw me for my OB appts, Kayla's check-ups, she delivered Wilson, and then saw him for his check-ups. We love her! So sad that we said good-bye when it was time for us to move. The front desk ladies, and all of the nurses always recognized us and knew our names when we'd go. Also note that Jacob was never mentioned. He does not go to the doctor. Haha. Although he has gone twice since we've been together... until he was in the Air Force. Once because he burst his ear drum when he was sick. And then back a few weeks later for an annual exam preparing for the Air Force. Now he does what they tell him.

Dropping a load off to the storage unit. I don't know how we can accumulate so much stuff... I also don't know how I'm going to fit it in our already full unit.

Somehow I did though.

Jacob saw a chin photo of me the other day while I was blogging and asked where his was. Here it is. Pretty impressive... Not gonna lie. Lol.

Brave little boy!

So cute and proud of climbing all the way up!

20 minutes into the regional conference meeting at church and we're in our own room. Sigh...

Cousins ended up joining us a little later. Not the most reverent activity... but pretty dang cute!

Look how happy he is! These sweet cousins will do anything to make that boy happy!

I'm a sucker for sweet talk. Love my sweet husband! Making me feel 100% while I battle cranky, tiny humans...

Kayla and Wilson shenanigans. Pushing baby around in the laundry basket. Wearing cousin's cleats and shin guards. Toys everywhere (story of my life! I clean up way too many times a day...)

Cuddles! And Alyssa joining in for a pic!

Sleepy baby! I love when my babies fall asleep on me!

I had to take a pic to document my LAST TIME driving from Dallas to Wichita Falls!!!! Heading up to pick up Jacob, and go to Oklahoma for the weekend to celebrate Granny's birthday.

Uncle Greg let us take the golf cart out. We tried some fishing, but didn't have much luck.

So we drove around the neighborhood a few times. The kids loved it!

Wilson especially loved driving. He was so determined to do it himself! He'd get mad at Jacob trying to help.

Granny's birthday party was the next day

Happy birthday, Granny!

My favorite guys!

Love him!! <3

Jacob's truck...

Jacob likes to stop by the farm while we're in the area. The cows were hoping so bad that Jacob would have food for them. The followed closely behind. Lol.

After Oklahoma, we took Jacob back to Sheppard AFB. We decided to get a room and stay to see him graduate tech school the next morning. They ended up giving us one of the houses (for like $2 more a night than the normal hotel rooms). It was awesome!

Poor baby had been fighting fevers all weekend, and then theses little bumps showed up everywhere. I'm pretty sure it was roseola. Kayla had it at about that age. Although her rashes lasted about 2 weeks, and Wilsons were gone with in a day or two.

Not even being sick can stop this boy, though!

Jacob graduating

His class and his instructor. He got along really well with Mr. Brady.

Fought this kid the whole ceremony. We were the only family that showed up. And he was fussing and crying most the time, I wanted to cry. One of the other instructors was so nice to us, and Wilson let him hold him and rock him. It was a lifesaver in the moment. Or more like stopped me from bawling my eyes out...

Proud of this guy!!

2 things Kayla loves... Her Daddy, and the American flag. Seriously, she's obsessed with the American flag. Lol.

We were originally going to go back to Dallas and stay until we had permeant housing arrangements in Louisiana. (Jacob drove there the day after he graduated tech school.) But we ended up going down to Bryan. Here is one of Wilson's typical tantrums. Happens too often... Kayla was an angel baby at this age. The best part though is he toots in the middle of it and calms down... then goes back to screaming. Lol.

I finally got sick enough of his hair and shaved it myself. He had just had a bath that morning, and then he ate and his hair was greasy and nasty looking all of a sudden. I didn't mean to shave it so short... but it's just hair, right??

I think we all felt this way afterwards(Grandma McConnell was there, too)... "What did you do, Mom!?" (But really Wilson was just making that face because of the hair stuck to him from eating the lollipop and slobbering)

Like I said, we had intended to go back to Dallas until we got housing figured out. But once Jacob got there and realized he'd just be stuck in a hotel until we found a place, we decided we'd join him. So begins the start of our hotel life. A terrible time... but we all survived I guess... And maybe there were a few good moments mixed in there...

Wilson brushing Kayla's hair. He's so sweet!!

Family cuddles!!

Kayla wanted a house so bad!! Lol. Half a week before Jacob graduated, he finally got his official orders. He had known he was going to Louisiana for a little while, but until we got those orders, there wasn't much we could do. (Mainly because even though there was a high probability we would be in Louisiana, there's always the small chance that something could change. So we couldn't sign any leases or start seriously house hunting until we had those orders) So he finally got those orders and I immediately got in touch with a local Realtor. We had already decided we'd rather live off base. And since we qualified for a VA loan, we wanted to see if we could buy. Chessica Harville was one of the Realtors that was highly recommended from other military spouses, and she's a spouse herself, so I got in contact with her. (She was absolutely amazing the whole process!! And I find it funny that I chose her off of a recommendation. And ended up using Chessica's recommendation for a mortgage lender, Tamra Wichelns, at NOLA Lending. And then for home & flood insurance, I ended up using Tamra's recommendation of Jeanell Snipe at American National. Funny how it all works out. They have all been absolutely amazing in helping us with every little thing through the whole process!!) We had already had about 5 houses picked out to look at by the time the kids and I got there. We ended up looking at 3 or 4 of them within a few days of being there, and decided to make an offer on the first house we had looked at (and that we had been looking at online since we first found out we'd be in the area). We got there on a Wednesday, and by Saturday afternoon we put in our offer! The day before we had found out that GG passed away. We knew it was coming, but it was still hard. In a way, the timing worked out. Her funeral was scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving. So Tuesday morning after Jacob was done with work, we headed to Houston. Over the weekend we had the sellers counter, and then we countered back. We got a call from Chessica on our way to Houston that they accepted our offer!!!

^^She fell asleep with the frisbee around her. Lol.

After the funeral and celebration of life. Timing really worked out. Jacob was given 10 days for house hunting, and it started the week of Thanksgiving. He got approval to go down to Houston for the funeral, and we were able to stay for Thanksgiving. We even made a quick trip to Bryan before heading back to Louisiana.

Ruske family. (Just missing Bella)

The grandkids. (Except Michael who had to go back to work, and George)

Kayla was playing on Logan, so I went to snap a pic.

And then Alyssa jumped in.

And then Elizabeth.

So I got all of the littles to take a pic. (all of my mom's grandkids, except Bailey, who was there but not in the pic. And Bella who wasn't there)

Sitting on Papa Ruske's dishwasher. He gets away with this with Papa and Aunt Missy... Mommy is mean though...

Playing at Aunt Jenny's house Thanksgiving day

Happy boy climbing the stairs!

Beautiful sunset! The sunsets were beautiful all week!

Jacob's first time back in Bryan since he left for basic training. Cruising around town in Ruby. ^^This is truly Jacob's happy place. Look at that genuine smile on his face. He was even happy to take a pic, and that's saying something!!!

Another beautiful sunset!

Hotel number 2. The first 10 days of lodging are reimbursed when you PCS (permanent change of station). Since the TLF (temporary lodging facility) on base was full, we stayed at an approved hotel off base. Once we got back to Louisiana we found a cheaper place since it'd be out of pocket. Cheaper and smaller. Much, much smaller. (We can laugh about it now. Especially at the fact that our master bedroom, not including the bathroom, is bigger than the entire hotel room we stayed at.)

Meeting with Tamra at NOLA Lending. Kayla had fallen asleep on the way there (and stayed asleep until we were walking out of the office). Wilson had fun pushing her around in the stroller. He loves anything with wheels... He MUST make it go! Lol.

ALL too familiar with this song over here. Haha.

Exploring our new city a little bit. Kayla called this the "Daniel Tiger trolley" and kept asking to go back for days. And now anytime we go, we have to avoid seeing it so she doesn't throw a tantrum about wanting to ride the "Daniel Tiger trolley".

At the Louisiana Boardwalk. It's just like an outside mall. Lots of stores and restaurants all in one fancy little area. Brick roads and fountains. And it's next to the Red River, with all of the casinos on the other side of the river.

The extent of our Christmas decorations. Wilson is playing with our fisher price nativity, there's a tree advent calendar on the wall, and a few Christmas books not pictured. Also, can someone tell me how to do this advent!? The number 1 is on top and is a star, and all of the rest of the numbers are squares. So I don't know if I'm supposed to start at the bottom and go up, counting how many days until Christmas... Or if it's all just supposed to look like a tree, and that's why the 1 is different, because it's at the top and the star of the tree. So should I start there and mark what day of December it is?? I switch the way I do it every year. Lol.