August 2017

The first Wednesday of every month for a good part of 2017, we've down to Katy to stay at the house with GG while my Mom went to a MUD Board meeting. The kids enjoy seeing GG and Grandma, and playing with the toys at Grandma's house. Kayla really loves this barbie horse. I think my last post I had a pic of her riding it too. Lol.

Back at Grandma and Papa McConnell's house. And he's biting her butt... crazy kids!

Kayla participated in a reading program this summer. Well we counted me reading to her and her looking through the books as "reading" them. At least 15 minutes every day. She did awesome! (And I really should keep doing it. She thinks she needs to watch the iPad ALL THE TIME. It drives me crazy!!)

Oh this was a fun morning... I walked into the kids room to find his poopy diaper ripped off his bum and pee all over the floor. Ugh...

Ordered some shirts for the weekend of Jacob's BMT graduation. So happy to get them in!

So here's the story behind this pic. Jacob's parents are out of town. I don't like being the only adult when it's dark outside. I'm super paranoid about every noise and shadow. And I absolutely hate roaches. HATE. HATE. HATE. Kids are in bed, I'm done watching my down time show for the night, so I head to the bedroom. Lights out and I see a shadow on the windowsill. It's a freaking roach. UCK! But it's right by the bed. It must die, or I'm never sleeping again. So I grab a shoe or something, talk myself into hitting it because I hate these things... and I miss!!! It crawls under the side table, have to talk myself up to trying again... and I miss again!! And it goes under the bed. This is not ok. I can not go to bed or even be ok in this house knowing it's still alive. So I pull the mattress off the bed and little by little go through what's underneath to find and kill the stupid thing. It ends up going into a bag of freaking bags. I keep banging on the bag hoping I'm hitting the roach. I take out one bag at a time watching for it to crawl out. Finally get to the bottom, roach runs out, and I finally get the nasty thing. UCK!!! Ew. I wish this was the only story from those few weeks that they were gone, but it seems the roaches knew I was alone and out to get me... Also, Jacob had a few good stories to share with his buddies about this... This one ^^ was a good 2 page narrative. And in another letter, I had a good 1/2-1 page narrative. Just had to keep him up to date on what he was missing...

Sunday selfie to send to Jacob. And if we're being honest it's because it's the only day I put effort into looking decent. Totally guilty.

Aunt Laura had this bean bag sent here to help with Caleb while they were in town, and left it here when they left. The kids love it!!

She got hooked to these trains at one point, taking them every where, and being very possessive when Wilson got too close. Lol. Grandma let her keep them when we left. She loves them.

 I'll caption this... "let's put all the stickers on Mom's legs"

Oh mischievous Wilson!! One day he came out to play and never went away... (Look at that cute little smile though!)

She's not obsessed with Frozen or anything...

The door was open to the bathroom and he ran at his opportunity. Toilet paper unrolled, wet hands from playing in the toilet, and trying to see what he can do in the shower........ It's a good things he's adorable and I love him so much.

Cute baby boy on a little bike at Grandma Ruske's house. Because if Kayla has one, Wilson needs one to play with too, says Grandma. (We brought her bike with us)

Going for a little walk. She did pretty good with the balance bike all the way down the street and back.

Books. I'm a sucker for kids books. But look at them both reading!!

When did you get so big!? (I can't get enough of his smile!)

Happy in her own little world with a cardboard box and some colored pencils

Going to chickfila to play in the A/C. Lol. 

Cute kiddos playing!

She loves sticks!! (And it didn't take Wilson long to start finding them either) Jacob would spend hours in this yard playing with sticks... so I had to document her doing similar

More perfectly content with coloring. I love it!

All of my "on this day" notifications were hard while Jacob was gone. Look at this! I love this guy!!

Watching a movie while sitting in a bucket. You don't do that?

Look at those cheeks! I want to pinch them!

This is how I leave the house when I'm attempting to potty train. Lol. Diaper over panties.

Trying to climb in the toy box

Wilson LOVES bath time...

And he HATES when it's over. Haha.

Got another call from JACOB!!! I felt bad because the kids and I had gone to chickfila, and if we would have been at the house, he could have talked to his parents. It was a good call, and I shared everything with his family... and less than a week until we'd get to see him. Also I don't think he was supposed to but he sent me this quick text after the call and it melted my heart!!!!! (He got to turn on his phone and use it to make calls when he called us. When he arrived he called with a script to say he was there, a few days later he made another scripted call to give his address, Week 4 he got a 15 minute call... which ended up being like 10 because he forgot his password, still loved every second of it though, and this was his last call, week 6. Basic training starts with 0, then goes to 1, 2, 3, etc... week 7 is graduation and then theres one more week called airmen's week before they actually leave)

The kids were being grouchy, so I loaded them up and headed to Sams. Car rides always bring on the needed nap ;) Kayla looked really cute with her glasses and hat... even though she wasn't acting it ;P

Worked like a charm...

And I enjoyed some pizza while they slept ;)

How cute is that face?!?!!!

The both sat there and I'd speed up and they'd catch some wind. It was kind of precious!

Playing with Bella!!

I grabbed one of my old barbies from my parent's house that she had taken a liking to, and got her another one. She loves playing with them and it makes me super happy/brings back memories of all the time I spent playing with them.

They both love sitting on this little shelf!

Ordered a banner to hold during some of the graduation events.

So we got to San Antonio for the graduation. Michael, Kiya, and Sage were already there. We decided to make a quick run to the store for some things. As we're walking down the aisles, grabbing what we need, both of my kids are sitting in the big part of the cart, and somehow Kayla falls forward and out onto the floor. It's like this terrible slow motion video that's stuck in my head. I think she dropped her glasses and was trying to catch them, or she was just leaning too far forward... I'm not really sure. But she fell on her head/face. It was a terrible sound (a lady told us she heard it a few aisles away). And my baby's awful cries! We walked around the store a few more minutes, even grabbed some frozen peas to put on her (we paid for them ;P) It was not looking good, and since it was her head we were all especially concerned. So Michael and Kiya took Sage and Wilson back to the house we were staying at (I'm pretty sure Kayla thinks they live there. Lol. Even recently, 6 months later, she's said something about "Michael's house") and Kayla and I headed to the ER. My parents got there not too much later, and my Dad dropped my Mom off at the hospital with us. They made her wait in the waiting room though. After like 4 hours, LOTS of waiting around, talking to a few doctors, two CT scans (the first one she moved too much), we finally got the all clear! Thank goodness. I was so worried for my girl. It sucks that she looked like Quasimodo (kinda harsh, but kinda true... poor thing) but I'll take that any day over what could have happened with a fall on the head.

Jacob's Uncle Greg in also in the Air Force. I think a Major General. I'm honestly not even sure, because to us he's just Uncle Greg... but anyways, him and his wife Kathy were able to come and he was considered a distinguished guest. We were able to reap some benefits to that. Awesome parking (literally at the front door) and great seats for all of the ceremonies. It was really neat. We're really grateful for everyone who was able to come and support Jacob that weekend!

I also lucked out that Jacob's brother, Michael, had gone through basic himself, just a few years previous. My nerves were out of whack! From Tuesday night as I was packing our stuff until we finally got to spend some time with him on Thursday, my stomach was in knots!! Anyways, Michael took the banner from me, and Kiya took my camera, and they told me to just enjoy. This was our first glimpse of Jacob, during the airman's run. He's in the second row (not including the girl holding the flag) and the second one from our direction. You can see his lime green shoes! Lol. They're supposed to keep a straight face, but as soon as he saw our group... he was grinning ear to ear! ...Crying again right now... it was so good to see his face!!

I had a few meetings to go to before the next event, the coin ceremony. Kayla came with me, while everyone else went to Greg and Kathy's hotel to wait.

For the run, we lined up along where they'd be running. For the coin ceremony, we had seats behind all of the distinguished guests. It was perfect because Jacob's flight was right in front of us. We seriously lucked out with where he was, and getting to sit by his uncle. (He's right in the middle of the pic, the second person in his line.)

BEST HUG EVER!!! FINALLY REUNITED!!

I missed him soooo muchhh!

Wilson took some time to warm up... but not too long!

He saluted his uncle and got a handshake... and then hug.

Kayla was thrilled to see her Daddy!!! One of the first things Jacob asked was what happened to her... Lol.

My heart could burst!!!

(Poor Quasimoto Kayla :/ and tired baby Wilson!) This was the closest we got to everyone looking. (From my Dad's phone)

These 2 were the next best ones. (From my camera that Kiya was using)

After this we all went back to Greg and Kathy's room, where they graciously had lunch for everyone. Jacob had to be back to his dorm by like 5 or 6 or something...

Looking better!

These pics all make me so sad!!

Some of our views on Friday. Again, we had seats saved for us behind all of the distinguished guests, and it ended up being some of the closest seats to his flight.

Kiya got some great shots all weekend! Thank you!!

When the ceremonies were complete each day, the airmen stand in formation until someone "taps them out" (touches their shoulder) The first day, Kayla and I did it. The second day, Mike and Janice did it. It would have never even crossed my mind to ask if they wanted to, but someone had mentioned something on one of the Facebook groups and I figure I should let them do it. I think it ended up being a really special moment for them all. I'm glad it worked out that way! I mean look at that pic ^^^ and all those red eyes!

PDA is a no no while in uniform, except for quick moments like when getting tapped out, or a reunion after a deployment. Even though his parents tapped him out, I got my moment again, too. ;)

The weekend that Jacob graduated was the same weekend that Hurricane Harvey was making landfall. Even all the way up in San Antonio things were crazy. Stores were packed and shelves were empty. The whole city apparently floods really easily, so there were lots of reminders and cautions all weekend. On Thursday, Jacob just had base liberty. He was supposed to get a town pass on Friday and Saturday. Because of the storm and expected flooding, he got half of what they typically allow on Friday, and Saturday was changed to base liberty only.

^^^All weekend... and pretty typical the last 6 months or so... Lol.

Kathy, Greg, Jacob, Mike, and Janice

(Kathy and Mike are siblings)

All of Jacob's siblings were able to make it!

Stephen, Kristy, Jacob, Kimberly, and Michael

A neat little throwback... This was from Michael's BMT graduation in Dec. 2014. All of the siblings made it then too, Kimberly just wasn't there at the time for this picture. Look how different Jacob looks. Lol.

The whole group! I can not truly express my gratitude to them for coming to support Jacob and our family.

Our family with my parents

Greg and Kathy left after the graduation ceremony on Friday. The rest of us headed to downtown San Antonio to take advantage of the little time Jacob could be off base. After walking through the market, and getting lunch, everyone headed back to the markets while Jacob, the kids, and I had some just us time. We grabbed a flag he'd been wanting from the mall, stopped by the Alamo for a quick pic, and then found everyone still at the markets before we all went back to the cars and to the house we were staying at.

^^This is why I cropped this kids out... Lol.

Looking better... except bruising getting more black and purple. ...And that Mac n cheese face! Haha.

Jacob played some games with his family. I packed up all of mine and the kids stuff. (We stayed at the house with everyone Wednesday and Thursday, and got a hotel room on base for Friday-Sunday morning.) Then we took him back to his dorms and checked into our room on base.

The sleeping situation worked out really well. I can not tell you how many times over these past 6 months or so I have constantly been reminded that Heavenly Father has a plan for each and every one of us. And that it is always so much more than what we could imagine for our selves. Including things both big and small. It just all works out exactly as it supposed to!

Saturday morning everyone came to our hotel room on base. Everyone was leaving that day except the kids and I and my parents. Jacob actually had a friend from his flight, Cooke, hang out with us the rest of the weekend. His family had to hurry home before the hurricane hit. Jacob's family said their goodbyes, and the rest of the day we mostly hung out in the hotel room. Except for a quick trip to walk around the BX both days. Jacob and Cooke were both happy to have honey butter chicken biscuits for breakfast both days, too. Haha. The kids loved being with Daddy again! I loved every second, too! After we said our final goodbye to Jacob on Sunday afternoon (He still had one more week of basic after the graduation weekend), we decided to let the Hurricane ride out and stay another night. I was just going back to the Bryan/College Station area, but they had had some flooding all along those back roads to get back. My parents had to go back to Katy, which had really bad flooding itself, so they stayed with us in the hotel. All of the hotels in the area were booked because people had evacuated to there. Somehow I was able to extend my stay another few nights though. So I gave my parents the bed, and I slept on the floor next to the kids in the pack and plays. We had the room though Tuesday morning, but ended up leaving around lunch time on Monday, because things to College Station had cleared up. (I've recently realized that I interchange Bryan and College Station a lot. Its basically the same place to me... although I think some Bryan natives disagree. I refer to either for both. Lol.) Mike and Janice offered a room to my parents to wait for road to clear up to get back to Katy. So they came with us.

Kayla wearing the shirt we had made^^

The A/C went out at Mike and Janice's house the night before we went to San Antonio. It wasn't an issue though, since all the rain had cooled Texas off (compared to what August is normally like. Lol.)

Making a grocery run with Grandma and Grandpa Ruske, before they go back to empty stores in Katy. They stayed the night on Monday and Tuesday, and went back to Katy on Wednesday.

Kayla loves American flags! She asks me to draw them all the time. And she gets so excited when she sees them!

Crazy to think that this is the stage I walked across for my high school graduation, and now the building was under water. This hurricane really hit home, literally. So many of our friends and neighbors in my home town were flooded.

Cooling off with some ice cream!

We spent a few more days at Grandma and Papa McConnell's house... but that no A/C was rough once it started warming up again. I knew Jacob would be heading to Wichita Falls, TX for his tech school. So, I decided to move the kids and I up to my sister's house in Dallas, since it was a closer drive to him and we'd be able to visit him on the weekends.

Kayla reading "Red Hat, Green Hat". She's like her Daddy, she memorizes things quickly. And her "oops" cracks me up.

Wilson's laughs make me laugh! I love a happy baby!!

This was the first time I had ever seen him so invested and interested in a book. It's precious!