Let me read your mind dear family and friends...

... could it possibly be saying things like: 'You ARE alive!' ... 'Long time no see!' ... 'Boy those kids are BIG now!' ... 'Is that really the same Bryce and Caroline that are frozen in time in your header that you desperately need to update?' ...

Where do I even begin? How about I try to sum up the last oh, I dunno, 12 or so months of my bloggy hiatus? Grab a big cup of java, Pull up a chair, Pop your feet up, Stay awhile ...

Jason was deployed for six months in 2009. He made rank while he was deployed, which meant the Air Force needed to move us to another base. He got the orders for this move while deployed. I found a realtor to use and signed on the dotted line. He came home and we put the 'For Sale' sign in the yard within a week. The big shock came when the house sold in 2 weeks~ We were truly blessed in the current market. The buyers wanted to close earlier than we were pcs'ing so the movers came, packed our things to move to a storage location, and we moved into a temporary furnished rental house.

A few months later we 'paid it forward' and donated Jason's Volvo to the St Louis Salvation Army to help another family. Our great Midwest friends threw an awesome surprise going away party for us and then we packed the UHaul, whistled the Beverly Hillbilly's song and headed to our new assignment... Charleston, South Carolina! The state that is home to my Dad's alma mater~ the Gamecocks. Bryce is thrilled! And a mere 30 minutes from the beach? I am thrilled! This city is amazing and we can not wait to see all it has to offer us. The base sure is one ugly duckling of an AF base, but the kids and I don't hang out there so no big deal-i-o in the grand scheme.

We got the keys to our home, the moving company came the following day to deliver our things, we were left with enough boxes I think we could have made a ladder to the moon, Bryce started in at a new school 1/2 way through the year, Caroline got used to a big girl bed and 'helped' unpack, and Jason started his new job as a Flight Chief.

Then my world quite literally crashed around me.

Jason got terribly sick. Sick like I have never seen before. He was in the hospital in late December, released, then back in January where he pretty much spent the whole month. They gave him a 5% chance of living. 5%. That is still so hard to say or type. I have never been more scared. My world was rocked like never before and I hope never again. And in a new place where the kids and I did not know a soul. Not a single soul met yet. Doubly worse.

Then my world was lifted and I felt love in a sad time like I have never felt before.

Friends near and far rallied and prayed. I mean prayed hard. Jason was on prayer chains all around the world. Emails through his career field were making their way around the globe, eliciting more prayers for his healing. It was truly something amazing.

I cried a LOT behind closed doors. I was trying keep it all 'normal' for the kids. By day I was Supermom and by night when they were tucked up safe and sound and dreaming, I was a hot mess. We had just turned their world upside down with the deployment and sudden move and they knew something was really wrong with their Daddy because we were going to visit him daily in the hospital... but I could not let them know how really wrong it was with him.

Then we saw His power. He heard all of those prayers and answered them! Jas was released from the hospital at the end of January! In February, at a 2nd opinion appointment at MUSC, he was told he was 100% healthy and the doctors were amazed. Stunned. Speechless. Answerless. They do not know what made Jason's liver shut down, causing so many other problems to trickle. They said there is no way to ever know. It is insanely scary...the not knowing part, but we now know Jason has some special angels working for him! We keep the faith and move Onward and Upward.

So, after all of this crazy in our lives, we celebrated the good and healthy crazy we've got goin' on and went to Disney for a week at the end of May/early June. What better place to do a great big 'ole happy dance than at the happiest place on earth?!? We did and it felt so damn good!

I have TONS of pictures that have been uploaded in no particular folders over the past year, so I will try to make sense of it and get cracking!

I sure have missed you all! I have been peeking at blogs here and there but haven't been leaving many comments. Have you ever been so behind you are just literally overwhelmed? That is me right now. I am sitting with my blog list this week and will be making my rounds and I. Can't. Wait!

I'm excited to catch up blogland! xo

Racing in the StL!

The St Louis Race for the Cure will always be near and dear to me. Each year we walk, there are special memories of my Mom walking alongside us and the things we did. We started each year with a stop at Keiner Plaza where Bryce tossed his 'pink wish' coin into the fountain, the sea of pink shirts, the strong spirit of survivors you can always just feel as you look around... The whole experience is amazing to be a part of!

Jason is away on his six month stateside deployment through the end of the summer so I took the kids and we met family friends to walk with this year.



This is Therese.

We walked with her sweet family this year. She is a breast cancer survivor and I am so very proud of her! Bryce has been classmates with her son, Mathew, since kindergarten. We love you Therese and fam!



Bryce was walking holding Caroline's hand and this sweet lady walking by said she wanted to hold a princess' hand as well! So they all 3 walked hand in hand for quite awhile. I love how the Race brings so many people together! It is truly amazing and can't be explained unless you participate in one.



Coins in hand, now they're all set to make their pink wishes this year!



Apparently Bryce's coin must have more wish appeal that her own coin?!? Ah, siblings!



1, 2, 3... WISH!





The three of us took a moment of 'still' after the wish to just sit and enjoy the pink plaza.






On a side note, I haven't blogged in ages! I still had Easter pics on my camera up until a week ago if you can believe it! I thought it would be a piece of cake with Jason away because I am a pretty strong girl. He's been away since February and I still am not into a routine. HELP! So, I will be posting completely backwards coming up soon! Easter, Bryce's May birthday, Caroline's June birthday, our trip to Florida to visit Jason, soccer favors I made... see, I told ya, way behind! Love you guys! XO

Soccer, Soccer & More Soccer!

Bryce has been playing since last fall on the most fun, awesome, energetic soccer team with our local soccer club~ Kixx Soccer.
I had a few pics on the camera from some recent games to share...





He got the chance to play goalie, which he told me he LOVED doing.

Of course, Caroline is his 'biggest~littlest' cheerleader and I'm not kidding you when I tell you she yells 'GOOOOOO' at her big brother on the field!

Caroline loves hanging out with the soccer siblings at games!

But the most fun part of soccer games for Caroline I think?

Pickin' dandelions of course!

* Bear with me gals. I'm going to slowly make my rounds as the week progresses. We had a busy weekend and I'm feeling like I wish I was an octopus or that I could clone myself. Ever have one of those weeks or months rather than just one of those days?!? ;)

Swing batter batter... SWING!

Bryce has been keeping me on my toes with his spring sports schedule!
Baseball started and he is loving it!

And he was... SAFE! Way to hustle B-ster!

Now that was a CLOSE call. I think their first baseman was twice my guys size!

His favorite position has been catcher.

Coach told me tonight he gets to pitch on Saturday. I'll be sure to take my camera so Jason can 'see' him in action as well.

It's been a month since I've blogged. Whoa! I can't believe I let so many photos and stories accumulate. But, with Jason away, the days seem to have a tendency to run together while balancing Caroline, Bryce and my needs. We did sneak down to see Jason on his stateside deployment which was an awesome little break! I'll blog about that soon. Right now both of the kids are zzz'ing and it's time for me to do some laundry and pick up from the tornado that seems to have passed through our playroom today ;) Wishing you a great night and a terrific TGIF day tomorrow! xo

Where's Waldo Been You Ask?!?

I'm here, I'm here... just earning 'bloglands' title of "Biggest SLACKER EVER" maybe?!?

If there were fines for not blogging like libraries, I'd owe a bundle at this point I do believe! Life has been just a teeny tiny bit hectic with Jason away for the past 2 months. But, only 4 more months to go for this 'geographically single' Mommy!

Let me try to pick up close to where I left off~ St Pat's Day.



As fast as Caroline now is when we're outside, this is truly the ONLY photo I have from that day of both kiddos where you can see her face looking and she isn't blocking Bryce!

St Pat's day is also my 1/2 birthday (yes, go ahead and make fun of me, but cake twice a year for a bday is AWESOME!) Jason surprised me with my fav color roses from my fav local florist. Bonus points for him! They were on the front porch that afternoon when Caroline discovered them and had a little sniff!

My little man has hit the 'Mooooom, do you have to take my picture?' phase of boyhood. Can't you tell from his expression how thrilled with me he is? Lisa~ I know Nick is in this phase, too. If you find any good tricks to bribe him, pass them on to me hun! ;)



Hope you all had a Happy St Pat's day, now that I'm a month late in wishing you one! I am going to make my way around the blogs this evening. I've missed you guys and all your craftiness, kids, pets, lives... Thanks for the notes checking in with me, too. You girls lifted my spirits on many an occasion after looonnnggg days! xo

A very FUN time indeed!

A few nights before Jason left on his six month 'stateside deployment' we took Bryce to someplace that always puts a big ole' smile on his cute face! Dave & Busters! [Some of you guys have asked me in emails just what this stateside deployment Jas is on is exactly ...it means he is working at a different AF base and is there on orders that state he is deployed, doing things that work with things downrange. Some folks asked if he could come home on weekends. Not looking good for the home team on this one! He's working 6 days a week 12 hour days~ but my goodness am I EVER SO THANKFUL he's safe in this location and I don't have to worry about anything other than a sunburn!]

Somebody (and I won't name names because I'm sure you can guess who the culprit is) refused to eat her grilled cheese kids meal and instead opted for a fine dining experience. Yes, she sucked ketchup off of fries as her meal choice. Lord help me!

Finger lickin' good!

The snowmobiles are always Jason and Bryce's first stop. This was Caroline's first time getting in on the action. She was cool with it for about 60 seconds and then wanted D-O-W-N!

1 hour car ride over to the far side of St Louis and 1 hour car ride home

+

Some serious B.A.N.K. spent on food and games!

=

A very fun afternoon and evening for our family!

The proof is in the car ride home photo of my two stinker pots...

P.S. Yes, Brycester was wearing his seat belt! We don't even pull out of the garage until everyone has clicked! He just had it loose on the top part to lie down and watch a flick with his sis!

WOWZERS!

Oh my gosh! See this man right here? I am SO INCREDIBLY PROUD of him!



The list is out as of 8am, US Central time, Thursday March 5th ... Jason made SENIOR MASTER SERGEANT his first time testing for it! Way to go baby!

As regulated by Congress, only 2% of the entire Air Force at any given time are SMSgts, and only 1% are Chiefs (the next rank after SMSgt and highest Enlisted rank attainable). So, at any given time, only 3% of the ENTIRE Air Force are one of these ranks. I am so proud of my man! You should have seen Bryce's face when I told him the news. His eyes were HUMONGO and his mouth literally DROPPED open! If you know Bryce, you know it's very hard to leave him speechless (his teachers will attest to this fact!) which is what the news resulted in! ;)



* And, how odd is this? Jason was deployed to Qatar in 2006 he found out that he made Master Sergeant and this time he's on a six month 'stateside deployment' to Tampa (fondly referred to as 'Tampastan' by those in his career field!) so we still can't celebrate with him in person. Darn that luck!