When you're the Best of Friends

A couple of weekends ago, my best friend came to visit with her family. It's the perfect friends for us. They are our "couple friend". We both consider them our best friends and our kids are close in age and seem to get along great. They said good-bye to military life and moved to Ohio about 2 years ago. It's been hard for me to not have her here. We did most everything together and she was my go-to babysitter last minute, no notice. And I was hers. Lots of my military friends have moved away but this one effected me most. It's the same one I drove from Alabama to North Carolina via Ohio in January to meet her newest daughter.

We were so happy to have them visit and the guys were especially happy to see one another because they had not had time to hang out in nearly 4 years. Overlapping deployments and their move led to little time outside of phone calls.

While they were here, we had a chili cookout and invited some of their other friends over to visit. We cooked smores got sticky and let the kids stay up wayyyy to late. Our oldest are pretty cute together as Jackson is convinced that they got married in Alabama when she put on a big white dress and she is now his wife. He knows you can only have one wife and apparently she's IT! He didn't know what to say about her having a "boyfriend" but I guess the long distance thing would be tough on 4 year olds! Ha! On Sunday, we went to the pumpkin patch. We did the hay ride, picked pumpkins and of course had a photo shoot. Please, do not underestimate the time and effort it takes to get 2-4 children to make just ONE good photo and Never ever expect them to all make one together, it's just NOT happening!

I was sad to see them go, knowing it will probably be another 6 months or so before we will see them again. It'll never be enough but Renee and I keep our cell phones hot so there isn't much that gets by us! I guess that's what happens when you're the best of friends!

The Daily Grind

I figured the best way to feel caught up with the blog was to spend some time catching up with everyone. He's easy so we'll start with...
Jason: The big news is he's making Major! On November 1, he'll be promoted to Major which means...well, to us, A PAY RAISE! Since he's getting out, all the "field grade officer" jargon matters very little. Otherwise, he's STILL in command of HHT troop and most of his days are spent in a game a lot like whack a mole. He stomps out one problem only for another to arise. Some days, I'm more ready for him to be relieved of this command and other days, I'm sure he is. Either way, I'm certain, he's not regretting the decision to get OUT.

Jackson: Can ride his bike, NO training wheels! It's still early but he can do it! He also had his first friend sleep over on Friday night. He was in the neighborhood and as well traveled as we are, I had no doubt he would stay all night. He's enjoying school especially this week. They are having spirit week and dressing inside out, having crazy hair day and such. They will also have a fall party on Thursday. He's thrilled about Halloween as it seems to be his favorite holiday. He likes everything scary. We have been listening to a Halloween CD since August. He even wants a scary themed birthday party.
He's still an avid Alabama fan despite their seasons downturn. He's just like his father, die hard. No loss will stop him from cheering on the tide.

Lincoln: Boy, oh boy. This little guy is on the MOVE. He's fast and furious. Emphasis on that last part. He still does his fair share of crying on us. For whatever reason or if he thinks he's not getting his way. He's headstrong and determined and if he's told no, he LOSES it. It's full on drama. It can happen anywhere, anytime. Recently it's been at the unit's Trunk or Treat event when I didn't open a rice krispy treat fast enough. While other kids collected candy around us, he had to spend some time in his carseat "getting over it." He also had an episode in Jason's deli that took me away from the table for about 15 minutes while I took him outside again, to "get over it." We are pretty firm with about his episodes. My philosophy is to stay in control and tell him firmly that he's cried enough and to stop. No it doesn't really work well with an 18 month old but he never wins and I don't leave what I'm doing because of him.
He also decided his drink of choice. Wait for it..........
Lighter fluid. We were outside cleaning up from our weekend cookout and I turn around to see him place the bottle back on the ground. I swoop him up, sniff him and simultaneously google poison control. When I was connected with them, they ask how long ago it had happened. I said, "Oh, about 40 seconds!" I can still smell it on him and figure out that it's on his shirt as well. I wash him and his clothes and am assured by nice people at Poison Control that he will be fine. Actually, I'm a little embarrassed that they suggest we keep him away from open flames since the lighter fluid could cause him to emit gas. I guess you have to suggest things like that to parents who let their kids get a hold of lighter fluid. They keep a record of calls and I have to admit it's not the first time I've called the center for Lincoln. He also chomped on a dishwasher tablet earlier this year. Needless to say, he's into EVERYTHING and ANYTHING that's not a toy. He's asking for chemicals, razor blades and tupperware for Christmas.

Me: I'm fast and furious too. Nah, not really, that's wishful thinking. I am continually running more than ever before. Sometimes a short fast 4 miles and at our longest, we've done about 7 miles. Jen Wert and I start about 5:45am every morning. It's early and most days when I wake, I dread it and try to think of a reason not to do it but when I don't come up with anything and I know Jen will be waiting, I drag myself out. We're training up for a 10 mile trail run and I have my sights set on doing the Nashville half marathon in April. It's pricey so part of it may be my Christmas present.
On another note, I've spent the last several days reviving what's left of my computer. I had to get a new hard drive and it requires basically starting over. It's not been fun but if you know me and how I feel about this computer, I've handled it pretty well. I've also been doing a little cooking (hence the need for more running) but I decided that's enough info for a whole blog entry.

CRASH

yep, that's right. I had a computer crash. It was a tragedy. The hard drive just stopped working. Now it's like working on a new computer and until everything is EXACTLY like it was, we may be on a temporary hiatus. I'm kind of OCD like that. Mostly when it comes to my computer. To me, this red hot laptop may be slightly more important than my car. Unless I didn't have my car, then I might feel differently. Photos may also be on hiatus until I recover my photoshop program. That is actually until my sweet mother decides to purchase it for us. THEN I'll have to learn how to use the new CS5 program. Ugh, I'm not much for change. I have spent an hour this morning just figuring out how to make the CLOCK bigger. We were not able to recover anything from the old hard drive. I had backed up everything through about December of 2009. That means most of 2010 was lost. I did have some on shutterfly that allows full resolution recovery for a small fee. Mom also seems to have some on her computer as I have backed up on hers as well. So now, since all my photos are on our little external drive, I should probably get to putting them on here so they will be "backed up" again. Hopefully you will here more of the deFoors when my computer is fully functioning and life is back to normal. If that's what you call military life with a 4 year old and 18 month old.