Thanksgiving

Three things that I am hugely thankful for this year are my boys! Lamar, Miles, and Nicholas make me so happy and I'm so grateful to have them! I look forward to next Thanksgiving, when all four of us will be in the picture. Lamar was happy because they had a Thanksgiving dinner that included "real turkey and real ham". I'm glad they got a little something special. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Some random pictures

I take Miles to a class at The Little Gym on Tuesday evenings. He has only been to a few classes (we started late in

 the semester, after we got home from California). He really likes it. Anything that involves running around and

being active is right up his alley!

A few more pictures

Here are a few more pictures that Katherine took. wallinphotography.blogspot.com I love them!

Family Pictures

Before Lamar left, we had the opportunity to get family pictures taken. The first time we went up the canyon and had pictures taken with some of Lamar's family. Photographer: Katie Dudley ( kdphotography.com )

A couple days later, my friend Katherine from Wallin Photography (wallinphotography.blogspot.com)
 was able to squeeze us in. I'm so happy with the pictures!! I especially love them now that Lamar is away.

Daddy's Goodnight Story

Lamar had the opportunity to read some children's books on video while he was en route to Afghanistan. He sent the video and the books to us, and I surprised Miles with them tonight. Miles was so excited to see his Daddy on the computer, he loved it. It was the sweetest thing in the world. After the story Miles went to bed hugging his Daddy Doll as usual. Talk about tugging at the ol' heart strings!!

Raking Leaves

We went up to my parent's house the other day to help rake leaves. It was so nice to be outside. Miles had a lot of fun jumping on the leaves in the garbage can to squish them down.

Nicholas Lamar

Dinner in Afghanistan

Lamar had dinner the other night with some Afghan locals. They are working on establishing good relationships with the people around them. Lamar said they had made some friends. Amazing pictures...

Lamar update

Lamar is at his base in Afghanistan and is settling in. He has been touring the area and is starting to meet with the tribal leaders to establish a connection with them. He is doing well, he gets two warm meals a day at breakfast and dinner, and he gets a MRE for lunch. It sounds like living conditions are rather rustic, but the Marines are tough and are making it work!

Thanks for all the love and support!

A fisherman and his fish...

Miles had a great time this Halloween. He loved trick-or-treating and had a lot of fun pretending to be a fisherman. The other day he told me he wanted whiskers again. He found my eyeliner, grabbed it, and drew on his face really quick. Funny kid. I thought little Nico was the cutest little fish!

Readjusting

We got back from our trip to California last weekend. We had such a great time! The following posts contain pictures of some of what we did while we were together.

We said goodbye to Lamar early Friday morning. It was difficult, of course, but we are doing okay. Each day is one day closer to being together again, and we are so proud of our husband/daddy.

Lamar is doing well. He is slowly making his way to his base in Afghanistan. So far the communication has been okay, so we are grateful for that. We are also grateful for all of the love and support that we have been shown by so many wonderful people. It's a great thing to see how much caring and generosity people have to give.

The boys are I are readjusting to our life with Lamar away. The time Lamar was away training in California sort of prepared us, so we are doing okay. The boys are doing great. Miles is happy to be back in school and Nico is as sweet and easy as ever!

Our family the morning Lamar left

San Diego Zoo