Our camping trip to Bastrop

Desperate to have something to look forward to after Carlton's return, we started planning a camping trip earlier this fall. We'd never gone camping just the four of us but thought it sounded like the perfect way to spend a few December days and it couldn't have gone any better. Carlton's parents were generous enough to lend us their camper, which the girls love, and were already very familiar with since they've gone camping with their Grandma and Grandpa and cousins on several occassions.

We spent three nights at Bastrop State Park, home of the famous "Lost Pines." Temperatures were very mild the first couple of nights and then a strong cold front blew in and allowed us to bundle up and be very grateful for heat at the flip of a switch. (Those poor tent campers down the way from us!)

We kept commenting about how nice it was to be relaxed and enjoying family time the weekend before Christmas, a time that is typically busy and stressful. We know that Carlton's unusual schedule allowed us to do this and while we'll probably never get to go camping again right before Christmas, we'll certainly never forget the wonderful memories we made! Here are a few of the highlights:

- Sarah gaining confidence riding her bike
- staring up at the stars and tall pine trees
- smores, hot chocolate, hot dogs, breakfast tacos (everything tastes better when you're camping!)
- the centerpiece Sarah created for our picnic table
- playing indoor putt-putt golf ... Sarah loved it and after some bribery Julia came around to liking the black-light panther that originally scared her to death
- Julia securing food for the deer she just knew we were going to see on one of our hikes (a handful of leaves and a stick)
- Julia and Sarah reluctantly hanging out together while we packed up the camper, but ending up having the best laughing fit I've ever heard them have!

Christmas programs

Once again, I haven't posted anything in a while, but tis the season for doing a hundred things other than posting on my blog! Here are some pictures of the girls' Christmas programs. Sarah was in the program at our church and Julia participated in the program at her school. Julia's favorite song was Feliz Navidad ... what can we say, she's a true San Antonian!

Blast from the past

This video clip from Christmas 2005 is one of our family favorites! Santa and Rudolph will be well-fed come Christmas Eve, if Sarah has anything to do with it.

An orange dum-dum and chicken pot pie

I couldn't let this go without somehow documenting it and figured some of you would get a chuckle out of it. When we ask Julia what she wants for Christmas, her reply is "orange dum-dum, chicken pot-pie!" This is consistently her answer, so Santa gets off easy this year, aside from some cooking. :) She loves dum-dums, but I have no idea where the chicken pot-pie came from (other than people usually laugh when she says it so of course she loves saying it now!)

An especially thankful Thanksgiving

Since Carlton had just gotten home two days before Thanksgiving, we stayed at our house for the holiday and had the traditional turkey and dressing meal just the four of us. We missed being with extended family but got to see most everyone later that weekend. We enjoyed hanging out on the deck to watch the Macy's parade and later that night to roast marshmallows in the chiminea and watch the football game.

A happy homecoming

I'm back ... and so is he!

I can hardly believe it's been a month since I last posted, but then again life has been a little out-of-the-ordinary the past several weeks. Carlton arrived home on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so needless to say it was a truly thankful day for us! In the week leading up to his arrival, Julia got an ear infection, busted her lip and I got a really bad cold, but we were all well by the time he got home. His flight was scheduled to arrive at 1:30 p.m., so we took Julia to Little Gym that morning, had lunch and then headed to the airport. I actually felt butterflies in my stomach ... you know the kind you feel when you're just falling in love? It was fun to experience that again and Carlton and I later talked about how you can't recreate that feeling unless you're apart for an extended period of time. I think we're both okay with no butterflies in the stomach for a good while!

As we were getting out our homemade signs and I was telling the girls where to watch for Daddy, a man asked if I was waiting on someone in the military. In no time, a handful of volunteers were there with flags and a banner to add to our little welcome party. And a lady standing nearby offered to take a picture of me and the girls.

Sarah ran into Carlton's arms the minute she saw him and tears immediately came to my eyes, knowing that he was really home, for good, right there with us. It was finally real. Julia was all smiles and excited to see him but didn't want to get too close to him until we got back to our house.

The last week and a half have gone as smoothly as can be expected. We're all readjusting to our roles in the family, and I'm relishing in the fact that I have my partner back! I have a whole new appreciation for single parents.

I have lots of pictures to share so I'm going to break them up into a few different posts. Thanks for checking back ... I'll try to post again before the first of the year!