Happy Mama's Day 2013

To the little ones who made me a mama: 

It is hard to imagine what my life would look like without you.  You bring me so much joy, laughter, and adventure.  You are my biggest challenges, and my greatest blessings.  

It is an honor and overwhelming responsibility being your mama, and I am so glad God entrusted you to me.

I adore you three to pieces, and love who God has made you each to be.

To my own mama: 

Thank you for being my mama.  I would not be the woman I am today, if it were not for you.  

You have encouraged me, supported me, laughed and cried with me, and taught me so much about life. 

Because of you, I am a better woman, mama, and wife.  I love you!

Happy Mother's Day!

The flowers I will always remember.

Max has gotten me many presents over the past few years we've been together - antiqued coffee tins, bird baths for my garden, candies and chocolates, vintage steamer tins, a long-anticipated iPad, books and trinkets - but in all the time we have known each other, he has never gotten me flowers. 

Until last week.  My mom opened the door last Monday, the day after my birthday, to a woman holding a huge vase of the most gorgeous bouquet. Full of tulips and roses and lilies.  In an array of purples and whites and yellows and pale pinks.  For me.  From my dear husband.

I don't need gifts.  I feel celebrated when I get to spend quality time with those I love.  But I must admit my heart skipped a beat when I saw and smelled those lovely flowers.  They were, and are special.  

My first flowers from the man I love.

Hanging out in the AZ sun

We are still hanging out in AZ, with my parents.  Max got the keys to our base house yesterday, although all of our stuff is currently in storage and won't be delivered until next week.  The kids and I, along with my parents, are going to drive up to CA the day before our stuff is due to arrive.  That means we have a few more days here in AZ, soaking up the warm sun and watching for javelina. 

 So thankful that we have been able to stay here - it has been a huge blessing, and my kids are getting super spoiled, getting to play with their Babu and Bibi all the time!  I am so glad we've been able to be here during this transition time, as it's made it so much easier on the kiddo's.  I am trying to embrace this  "vacation" time we have, and the extra hands and help with the kids.  But I'll be honest and say that I am eager to get to CA, to get settled into our house, and to be together as a family again.  I like my routine and my normalcy and concrete plans - so this transition, the "hurry-up-and-wait", the flexibility and unknown, has tested me - God is definitely teaching me and working on my heart, that's for sure!  I am learning about patience and embracing moments here and not getting so caught up in planning and details, since it seems that everyday there is something different or the plan changes!  Military life sure has taught me a lot over the past 4 years - and continues to do so!  

Here are some photos from our first few days in the desert:  

 Oh, you know, just wearing a huge bike helmet to sweep the patio.  No big deal.

 My children spent most of their first time here moving rocks around and then sweeping them back.

 Pool time!

 They could spend all day outside if we let them.

A tired Evie, resting with her Daddy.

Final days in NC & our Roadtrip

For the sake of remembering, I wanted to share about our last weeks in NC, and our roadtrip from NC to my parents house in AZ.  The packers came to our house over a week before Max's last day at work.  This meant that all our stuff was going to be packed up long before we planned to leave.  So, we loaded our road trip stuff and headed to our friend Amy's house, to stay with her the entire week before we left.  She graciously opened her home, pantry, and washing machine up to our crazy little family, and we enjoyed our last few days in NC with her.  

The packers packed up all our stuff in a day, and then the moving truck came a few days later.  They loaded everything on the truck, and headed off.   We spent the last week hanging out with Amy, doing last-minute moving things, and getting everything ready for our big trip.  Max checked out of his unit Friday, April 12, and the following day, we woke the kids up super early and hit the road.  

We planned for 8-hour driving days - this meant, with all our stops included, that each day ended up being 10-11 hours in the car.  It was the perfect amount of time for us - just long enough to want to get out of the car by the end of the day, but definitely doable, with the kids.  The kids did fantastic.  They read books, looked out the window, sang songs, watched a few movies on my iPad, slept, and chatted about monsters and whales attacking our car.  There were definitely some meltdown moments, but that was to be expected, and overall, our trip was great.  The first day, we made it to Alabama.  Day two took us from AL into Texas.  Day three found us making our way from the east border of TX to the west.  And day four was our final day, and we ended at my parents house in Tucson that evening.  

Every night we would get to the hotel, and try to burn off some of the kids pent-up energy.  I usually let them bounce around on the beds a bit, which of course, they thought was a blast.  There was a pool at each hotel, and most of the nights, we took them down to splash around in the water.  Max would go find dinner and bring it back, or we would find a fun restaurant to eat at, depending if we wanted to try and wrangle the kids out and about, after being in the car all day.  We were way glad to finally make it to my parents house, knowing we were done in the car for awhile!  I didn't take an overabundance of photos during those few weeks, but here's what I got:

 Pretty much the only picture I took of packing/loading/cleaning/emptying our house in NC!  

 Hitting up the park by our NC house one last time.

 Playing "airplane" with Miss Amy.

 Windchimes on the porch.

 "Taking off", lol!

 Packed into the car with all our stuff!  Yes, L COULD get out!  It was a little bit snug - but we had to pack stuff for a few weeks, and for different climates, plus all of Max's uniforms for checking in/school/etc!  Ezra is behind the blue backpack on the left, right behind me.  He didn't want his picture taken, ha!

 Kisses for Daddy, at a rest stop/feeding for Evie.

 Getting out of the car for lunch, at a rest stop.  Enjoying the sun shine and stretching our legs.

 Run Ezra, run!  Wear yourself out!

 Lunch stop!  

 Mama and Evie.

 L thought the pigeons were so beautiful and was throwing her breadcrumbs at them. She was in love.

 And then Ezra came, and ran at them, trying to "catch" them!  I was laughing so hard.  He takes after his Daddy.

 At one of the hotel pools.  The kids loved splashing around in the water.

Getting out of the car on the last day felt so good!  We were so glad to be at my parents house!

Sabino Canyon

 All ready for our tram ride/picnic lunch/hike!

 On the tram!

 Babu and L quickly got rid of their shoes and waded in the little stream.  

 Silly Babu, it was a little chilly, and a little deeper than he realized!

 Such a gorgeous day!

 Picking rocks out.

 Can you see Evie peeking out?!

 Where's Max?!

 Daddy and his boy.

 Bibi and Eliana.

Hey look!  We see a snake!

A couple of weeks ago, shortly after arriving here in AZ, we decided to go to Sabino Canyon for the morning.  We slathered ourselves with sunshine, packed a picnic lunch, and laced up our shoes.  It was a gorgeous day and the canyon was beautiful.  There is a tram that drives up and down the entire way, so we hopped on.  We went up to the top, and then came partway back down, before getting off and finding a spot for our lunch.  After lunch, we walked a ways, finding a pretty little stream.  My dad and the kids quickly kicked off their shoes and waded in the water, picking up rocks and splashing around.  We hiked a little ways down, then caught the tram the remainder of the way.  We saw lots of little lizards, birds, and even a few snakes.  A lovely day, for sure - and after all that fresh air and sun, we all slept good that night!