Today we celebrate...

Isabella's TWENTY FIRST month birthday.  holy cow...she's almost TWO!

Mom and Marlowe's FOURTEENTH wedding anniversary.  Woohoo!  Poor Marlowe...I'll bet he never dreamed that when he met and married MaryAnne his days might be spent wearing garlands of fruitloops. 

and...last but not least...today is my mother's 36th birthday...or so she claims (but methinks her dyslexic)....of course that would make her the same age as me....actually, 10 days from now I would be a year OLDER than she is. 

Sometimes ya just gotta toot your own horn.

I had a chance to spend some one-on-one time with mom before the rest of the family showed up for our big reunion...it was really nice to sit on that porch swing in the morning and chitchat about nothing...or just watch the sunrise.

She even tried to fly with the tent as a parachute.  (Its really no wonder I've turned out how I've turned out.)

Happy birthday Ma.  Love you.

And in your honor here is the series of shots from the family reunion waterslide.  They just get better every year you venture down that slide.  I love your sense of adventure!

Here she goes!

And just in case you can't really see the expression I had to blow it up...

And she hits the pool of water at the bottom...

And then her stinker of a son starts to soak her with the hoses...  See mom...I do love you best.  :D

And she survived....with all the MA charm that we know and love.

Ooops, I did it again...

For those of you not in the "pop" world...that would be Brittney Spears, "Oops,  I did it again...."  Which continues on with, "I played with your heart....blah blah blah blah blah..."
But for my purposes its merely to reflect the fact that once again I went vacationing for a month...actually longer - 5 whole weeks and didn't get a darn bit of blogging done in the meantime.

So, I'm not playing catch up just yet...but I probably will squeeze a few tidbits in over the next couple of weeks...in particular this photo shoot of my sisters and mother with their cleavage...ha ha ha. 

I threatened them with public blog posting, but as I've already done it on facebook I think I can probably just leave it at that.

So, we're back in Germany.  We being Isabella, Madeline and myself.  Its been a rough couple of jet lag days.  Maddie's been sicky McGee all day today - barfarama and can't even keep broth down.  *sigh*  Please please please don't anyone else in this house catch that.

Plus yesterday Bella fell off my bed and hit her eye on the corner of my nightstand.  Poor little thing had blood running down her face and wouldn't let me touch it...we nearly ended up in the emergency room, but she finally let me clean it up a little and I realized that it was right above her eyeball...and it didn't swell up the eye at all...plus she could see fine...

Maddie gained 13 pounds while we were in Oregon.  I think it will probably be a combination of a growth spurt and just eating a LOT.  She says she had a great time in Oregon...Every time I talked to her she was off on some new great adventure...  But, she also said a month was a reallly long time.  I agree...it was a long time to live out of suitcases and not have your own "stuff" and space.  She's still as pretty as can be...

So, thats us tonight in a nutshell.  I miss my husband.  I suppose that goes without saying, though.

Until tomorrow...

Thoughts from Afghanistan...

I love that the cleaning crew finishes cleaning the bathrooms right about the time I wake up. I love the promise that the sent of pine gives when I first walk in. I hate the fact that sometime in the ten minutes from when the cleaning crew reopens the bathrooms and I roll out of bed to use the bathroom, that there are two toilets already clogged, two more without toilet paper and another two stalls with broken doors or broken seats leaving only one operational toilet (which someone is using). How does this happen..?


I hate ramp ceremonies. Watching heroes being horizontally loaded into a helicopter in the middle of the night is emotionally draining. The flags covering their lifeless bodies are buffeted by the wash of rotors while we, the living, stand silently - saluting. There is one good thing about seeing the dead fly into the darkness. It is the second helicopter filled with Spec Ops guys heading out right behind them to even the score.

I love getting Sunset magazine from my Mom. I hate that I am so far from home.

I hate helping sort mail for several hours a day for several days in a row and not finding anything for myself. I love finding mail for the soldiers who are getting their first package.

I love that there are 24 hours in the day. I hate that I have to work for 16 of them. I love that I have lost 14 pounds since I have been in Afghanistan. I hate that it is because I forget to eat. I love bananas. I hate that the dining facility never has any. I also love ice cream. I hate that the dining facility ALWAYS has some.

I love Family Guy. I hate that I love Family Guy.

I hate being surprised by outgoing 120MM mortar fire. I love that it is outgoing mortar fire.

I hate pretending to be friends with people I know belong to the Taliban. I love that they don't know I am pretending. I love that they will eventually be in jail and that I can reveal the true nature of our relationship. I hate waiting.

I love that everyone knows who I am (in uniform and out, day or night). I hate that I don't know everyone who knows me. I love that I have the rest of the year to figure it out.

The the park and back...

Portland in July!

Once again I'm tardy in starting my posts for our vacation...but I'm resolved to catch up.  The first week and 1/2 of our trip back to Portland was so much fun!  We packed it all in...this post will take you as far as the 4th of July.  Aiya...I'm already almost 20 days behind.  :)


Waiting for our flight from Nuremburg to Amsterdam

When I saw Eric I asked him to give me his coolest pose so I could send the photo to his dad...here's what I got. 

Is it just me or does this scream redneck to you?

Bop and Bella went for walks with Chloe in the mornings...

The J's love their little cousin, Bella.  PB&J always calls for a photo.  :)

Uncle Mike is the coolest uncle in the world for playing light sabers with Bella.

Uncle Mike and Jake...thats a daddy that loves his boy.

Mmm.....cherries. 

Yay!  Auntie Sarah came over to play for a little bit.

And the 4th of July festivities begin.  Sandi and I looking ravishing in our 3D glasses.

And who can refuse a man who proudly wears them?

And, of course I needed to pose for a picture as well.

Then start the fireworks!

We set off smoke bombs, spinners and poppers first...

Bobbi watching the fun...

And then come the sparklers!

Woah!  This thing is on FIRE!!!

Ok...somebody take this from me please....I've had enough sparkling...

The kids watched some of the bigger fireworks from the back of Uncle Mike's truck.

Until about 10pm...when baby girl had enough and fell asleep on my shoulders.  Happy 4th of July!

Loves and hates...an update from my soldier...

John' been sending me emails that include tidbits of what he loves and hates about being in Afghanistan...  so, on this independence day...the 4th of July I thought I'd let my soldier have an opportunity for  free speech...

 

I love the fact that I am on a post where lights are prohibited.  We are supposed to limit the use of flashlights, drive with our lights off, and there are no white lights on the buildings (just some with red lights).  As a result, the stars really shine and it is like looking at the sky when you are in the country with no city lights around for miles.  I have been enjoying walks at night, using the light of the moon as my flash light and just wandering among the stars.

 

I hate the fact that the local nationals get to use the same toilets that I do.  You have some experience with the way some other cultures use the toilets (Italians - Swiss, etc.) but the Afghanis are the worst.  First, they stand on the toilet seat, do their thing, then use a bottle of water, they spray their bum off and rub it "clean" with their hand.  They splash their poop water all over the seat and floor.  Then they walk out, wash their hands and leave..  No cleaning the seat, no flushing, nothing..  It is DISGUSTING.  I would rather use the porta-potties (which are also gross, but only in the ordinary way that porta-potties are usually gross).

 

I love the fact that it is so informal here.  Captains and Lieutenants are calling me by my first name and I am able to call them by theirs.  I have pretty good, meaningful conversations with Chief K and Captain S  about personal things.  I think that my experience here will allow me to develop some lasting relationships with people that will hold some special place in my makeup.  I hope that I can make a friend or two as well.

 

I hate the drama.  Oh my gosh..  There have been several investigations already.  Is this Sergeant First Class sleeping with this LT..?  Is this Captain trying to kill this other Captain..?  Is this person being discriminated against because of her ethnicity..?  Is this person criminally liable because he unscrewed the locked hasp of another person's room in order to get to the thermostat controls..?  Not only that, but we have the drama just assorted with the people we meet with on a regular basis.  SHEESH..!

 

I love the fact that I have air conditioning, hot showers, flushing toilets (see above for the one caveat), hot meals, internet, and no attacks on this FOB in the last 8 months or so.  I love the fact that I can get from one side of the FOB to the other in 6 minutes.

 

I hate the fact that I can't just go to the bazaar and mingle with the local population.  I hate that it isn't safe to be an American in Qalat.  I hate that we have to put on our suits of armor in order to go across the street.

 

I love that the Canadians play roller hockey every evening and that the line to Horton's coffee wraps around the boardwalk.  I love that A-10 aircraft, and other assorted fast movers and rotary aircraft zoom around the air space here.

 

I hate the extra 10 degrees that sits on my back like a winter cloak.  I hate the heavy, unyielding smell of excrement.  I hate the dust that is everywhere - on my clothes, in my bedding, in my nose and throat.

I love you...

Happy 4th of July! 

 

 

 

 

Uhmm....is this more of that talented stuff?

One Month Down!

We hit our one month mark of John's deployment...only 11 to go!  Wooohooooo!

Maddie made 12 cute hearts for each month John is gone...we put the first one up yesterday in their playroom...

One month down was on July 1st!

The girls were excited that we had a big "Daddy's one month" party. 

Remind me again...only 11 more to go...right? 

Booooooowwwwwwwwwlllllllll!

We bowled the other day.  It was when our friends from Switzerland were here...we had so much fun.  I'm going to get the hard part over with to start...that would be our scores...

Now, in my defense...my bowling score was really Bella's bowling score...however, for Ilaria...well, she has no excuse for her 75...  Before we ever started she told us all how she took bowling as a PE credit in college.  I'm pretty sure she failed that class.  ha ha ha.

This totally reminds me of the story about the guy in college who asked me on a date and took me bowling.  He killed me.  I had a score probably not too dissimilar to this one...He scored a 290+ or something like that...it was insane...and when its all over and done with he informs me he's on the University bowling league. 

Who does that?  He knew he was going to kill my score...maybe he was trying to show off?  Either way...that was the one and only time we went out...not because of the bowling issue, but because the next item on our "date" was for him to take me to the deep dark caverns of the music hall on campus where he proceeded to sing and play on the piano the love song he'd written for me.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek.  I was so not into that. 

Ok...back to our scores...

Bella was the little queen of the bowling alley.  She watched us all do our thing and then came up with her very own bowling stance that she would do before rolling the ball down the alley...  I usually gave it a push to help it get to the bottom...the one two times I didn't we had to walk the gutter to roll it in...so in all reality...my score is missing a whole frame of scores because the machine reset when our ball didn't make it all the way down...

And then is Madmad whose FIRST ball was a STRIKE!  I was very impressed...she didn't even bounce it off the gutter rails!  She's doing a little dance in that second one... Cute girl.

Apparently the knee up/toe on the floor is the socially acceptable way to pose with a bowling ball.  I love this shot of Maddie and Aurora.  So cute...

And since I'm sure you don't really want to see our pitiful scores again...I bid you a guten nacht...