Happy 22 to us!

This is the first year of my life that I've had to stop and really think how old I am and how long we've been married.  We tried to gather pictures of us from every year we've been together and I found that some years we only had ONE picture...so thank you Alison for taking a picture of us that isn't a selfie.  And mostly, I'm just thankful that we can take a picture together this year.  I made a reservation at a restaurant we've been talking about for a long time, on the off chance that Ben actually made it home.  I'm so glad I did and it that it actually worked out for us to go!

We went to dinner at Campfire in Carlsbad.  They knew it was our anniversary and gave us a card and champagne from the restaurant.

 

Our school day

It's been too long since I've documented school.  But to my credit, my students don't want pictures taken, so that makes it kinda hard.

This year has looked slightly different.  Our daily routine has stayed pretty much the same, but Alison is no longer my student and the boys are pretty much independent in their work now.

Maya starts the day sunbathing in her dirt patch

and the boys start math.  Both are doing Denison Math, which is on the computer and only need me for test grading and the occasional question.  Colin works at the table and Eli at his desk.

They are both doing history and literature out of book curriculum that they do on their own.  They don't need me to do this, but some days I read to them their books for literature.  I choose to do this because it's a way we can still stay connected in these higher level grades.  It also helps me know what their book was about when it comes to writing their papers.

We don't always sit outside, but it's a nice perk to this California life.

They both do Journey science on the computer, but Fridays are lab days.  Colin is doing Physical science and Eli is doing Physics.

We finished this day at the pickleball courts.

 

A little throwback fun

We thought it would be fun to recreate this classic picture from Ben's last deployment.

Last time, we were giggling at Maya for plopping herself down in the picture and stealing the spotlight.  This time, we were giggling because she kept trying to lay down! and the back drop kept falling over because everyone is adult size.

I like this one, because it's a pretty classic Colin face.  

  

Also, for the record, I requested pants be changed, but some teen boys were convinced that wasn't necessary.  

I love that we took these because it makes me laugh every time I look at them!

I couldn't get a good picture of Colin because Maya wouldn't stop licking his face! 

I thought standing might go better...

I was wrong.  But I love this one the most

Always and forever thankful for my 3

Decorating for Christmas

Decorating looked different this year.  First of all, I broke all the rules and I don't have a single regret.  When Ben was supposed to be coming home and then China was stupid and he got stuck in the Philippines for indefinitely, I decided we needed a little Christmas, right this very moment and decorated the house in early November.  Scandalous, I know.  But it was also an amazing distraction and gave the house a cozy feel, which is just what we needed.  We watched Christmas movies while we waited for phone calls and found it fun to find Christmas treats out in the store, instead of being annoyed.  It probably helped that we traveled for Thanksgiving and you have to pretend that it feels like winter here anyway.  We bought matching Christmas jammies and Alison and I got Christmas bedding.  I even put a little, live tree in our room...this is what the deployment crazies will do to you.

It was a great project for us all to work on together.  On a trip to Hobby Lobby, we found these Nutcrackers you can paint yourselves and decided it would be fun to add that to our decorations. 

I didn't want to put up ornaments without Ben and lucky for me, he came home before Christmas!

Every year we say it will be the last year for this to happen...

 

He's HOME!

It's a miracle!  There's a million little details that went on behind the scenes and it was uncertain up until Ben got on the plane whether he would actually get back to the US.  Even though we were only apart for 9 weeks, the uncertainty for 5 of those weeks made it seem much longer.  Ben even had to get special authorization just to let me pick him up from the airport.  It was a unique homecoming with just the two of us, but it was also very nice to have time to catch up a little.  We sat at baggage claim so long that we almost missed his bags!

Unfortunately Alison had class and the boys weren't feeling well, so it was a little anti-climatic when we got home.  We thought for sure Maya would lose her mind, but she also was very chill.

(Eli's standing on the step)

That night, it was like Santa had come to town early.  Ben bought us so much stuff while in the Philippine's that he had to buy another suitcase to bring it all home.  We crashed Colin's basketball game watching to have present time.

I've never liked the song 'All I Want for Christmas is You' until this year.  I don't need a single thing, my Christmas wish came true!

Maya's 10th Birthday!

She's 10!