Neal's Stand Tall in Georgia Guardsman

So I still haven't talked about Bryan's deployment. That's me, putting things off. However, here's a good reason to start. The Georgia Guardsman published a nice article about the 265th's deployment; this morning, one of Bryan's friends told me we graced the back cover. So as I sat at my desk eating my Frosted Mini Wheats, I looked at the back cover - wow. There were were. Then I flipped to the front and started scanning all the articles one by one, reading about the Georgia National Guard. Finally, I came across the story about ADTII - paired with it a huge picture of my family.

I lost it.

There we stood, staring at the bus Bryan was about to board and Jack clutching his flag that he held onto all day. Moments after this photograph was taken, we let go, I held Jack as he screamed for his daddy and Bryan boarded the bus.

Jack was too upset, so I got him out of there before the buses left. However, during my drive out of Metter, I watched in my rearview as my child cried and the buses followed me through town and onto the interstate. It's something I can't get out of my head.

Open publication - Free publishing - More air force

To start the day, we had lunch at the Metter Armory. It was nice, but it just prolonged the heartache. The food, decorations - everything was donated to the unit by the City of Metter or other establishments.

From there, our soldiers boarded their buses and we met back up with them at the Metter High School where they stood in formation during their departure ceremony. My mind was in other places, obviously, so I didn't catch a lot of what they said. Following the ceremony, they gave families about 30 minutes to say their goodbyes. It was a somber setting - very quiet. Again, just dragging out the inevitable.

Here are a couple of photos from the ceremony.

Metter Amory; Nick in the front, Skyping with his brother in Afghanistan.

Metter Armory

Jack & Daddy, Metter Armory

Jack & Daddy, Metter Armory

Family Photo; Metter Armory

Departure Ceremony; Bryan, back right

Jack & Mommy during the ceremony at Metter High School. (unposed) 

My emotionally exhausted baby.

Slept all day.

A Recap of 2011: My 3_ Birthday

I confess. My blogging attempts in 2011 were unsuccessful. However, I've been getting the good ol' laptop out recently and have been looking through old pictures. So...  decided it wouldn't hurt to share some memories with everyone!

Starting with my birthday - 

 

After a lovely afternoon with family at my Aunt Bev and Uncle Dale's house, we headed home to have a family dinner with Derich, Mom, Dad, Bryan and Jack. Mom baked her famous red cake and loaded it with 3_ candles. My little helper loved helping me blow them out. (Sidenote: he just saw this picture and said, "Whoa. That's A LOT of candles!" Thanks, son.)

After dinner, we headed to Uptown to Chino Latino with Courtney, Jason, Freddie, Melissa, Nia and Brandon. (Nia and Brandon not pictured - they had to head home to feed precious baby Tegan). Fun evening had by all! I love and miss my Minnesota friends and family dearly. (Thanks for celebrating with me!)

Happy Holidays!

Well Wishes Holiday

Create personalized holiday cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy Birthday to Dadddddddy!

Happy End of August! Where did the month go? We've been really busy on this end. Bryan has been working hard at Ft. Stewart and I have been dealing with the fall semester of school to start - as an employee and a student.

Of course, our biggest event in August was Bryan's birthday. Since he's been working this hot month of July, I'll thank all of you on his behalf. He was showered with cards, gifts and love - we appreciate it.

On Bryan's birthday, Jack and I decorated a overly chocolate cake and headed down to Fort Stewart to spend time with Bryan. Jack was a very good helper. He picked out the decorations, sprinkled on "blue rice", dinosaurs and white nonpareils onto his daddy's cake as I rotated it to get even coverage. Jack at one point dumped the full jar of nonpareils all over the counter. I made him freeze while we listened to the little candy balls bounce all over the house for at least 5 minutes. It's been over a week, I've vacuumed 5 times and I am still finding those little suckers.

The second Jack arrived to Bryan's Bachelor Pad, he wanted to 'see the goats & chickens at daddy's work ...' Poor Bryan - back to work after he'd been working alllll day. I noticed immediately that they only had one chicken when there used to be a handful. Bryan said they had a visitor from a fox ...

Jack loooooooves animals!

Following, we headed to a high class eating establishment in Hinesville called Applebees. It was an adventure. Jack was on his best dining behavior EVER - no sarcasm, seriously.

During our drink order, Bryan ordered a Blue Moon.
Jack immediately says, "I'd like a Blue Moon, too."
We all laugh ... "Silly Jack, you can't have a beer."
"NO," he corrected us, "I have a BOO BOO, too!" And he stands up while trying to pull his pants down to show everyone the welt on his hiney he gave himself previously that day. I thought the waitress was going to die laughing.

Following that, in a nutshell, Bryan came across a raw boneless chicken wing; a huge storm rolled through, cutting the power off inside the restaurant; the generators tried and tried to kick in, the fire alarms kept going off and Jack kept screaming, "We have to get out! We have to get out!" (Looks like someone was listening during his fire drills at school!) Our dinner was average (surprise!) and we headed "home" for some cake!

Helping daddy blow out candles

Jack helped put candles in the cake ...

Hanging out at Daddy's home away from home.

One Big Happy Family

And on either side are even more family members! It's been years since we all were lucky enough to ALL spend an entire weekend with each other! My cousin, Chauncy, married his sweetheart, Tracy, this past weekend in Missouri. My cousin, Martina, from Germany was even able to make the trip! We soaked in the county life and made awesome memories with family and new friends.