Our Kilbride World

Friday, August 12, 2011

Making the Move

The day had come to pack up our stuff and make the move to Texas...except the day didn't go quite as planned..go figure!

We had planned on being a 2 day pack, Monday and Tuesday, the truck pick up would be on Wednesday, then that would gives us all day Thursday to make the drive to Texas, which was about 11 and a half hours of driving. When the packers showed up on Monday morning they greeted Bryan with, "Well, you are now a one day pack and the truck will be here tomorrow." OK, great, but that kind of messes things up for us since now there was a possibility that our stuff would get there before we did and in that case it would all have to go into storage, and that normally means that it would be a few weeks until we could get our stuff delivered to our house. See, God laughing at us again!

Luckily by mid day we go the word that the driver would still deliver our stuff to us on Friday just as we had originally planned, YEAH!! So with that slight heart attack avoided, the packing and moving went on!

Thursday morning the housing office came by and cleared us from the house and off we went!

The drive wasn't too bad, until we hit Fort Worth and there was traffic, and I couldn't believe how much further we still had to go!!!!! We were so lucky that we have such fabulous traveling kids! Well, I guess when you give one an iPod with far too many episodes of Bubbleguppies and the movie Tangled on it, and the other 2 DVD players with endless episodes of Little Einsteins and Thomas the Train, that's enough to keep them quiet! Turns out it was the adults who were wanting to whine and fuss!

Finally around 9pm we pulled into our own driveway and we were home!!!!! It took everyone a good hour to wind down, or should I say run through an empty house and see just how loud your echo can be! We all slept well and were ready for our stuff to be delivered and it was, right on time and in record time too! We were all loaded in, beds set up and made by 4pm, and it was over 100 degrees! We were finally home and it was time to get to the unpacking!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

The Reunion!

It was a day that we had all been waiting for, and then it just kind of snuck up on all of us! Bryan had to fly to Washington DC with his boss for some meetings during the last week of June. From there he was going to be able to come hoe to us on July 10 or 11 once the meetings were done and the rest of the group returned to Iraq. Well, in the Army world nothing is ever set in stone, I think it's just another way that God likes to get a god laugh at us making plans. The trip to DC was cut short and Bryan was able to come home to us much earlier...July 1!!

Luckily, Rory and I had made plans to do our outdoor decorating for the 4th of July and she had said that she wanted to put up the banner that we had made for Daddy. I had tried to talk her out of it by telling her that while Daddy would be home soon it was going to be a week AFTER the 4th of July, and did she really want it up that early. Well, if you know Rory she can rationalize anything, so she said "But the sign has red white and blue on it, so I think we should put it up anyway, Daddy will love it." So I put it up, not really happy about it, because I wasn't that excited about getting questions from the neighborhood about when he was coming home, but I would take those questions over having to live with a disappointed 6 year old who can be rather moody about things. So up it went, and it was that night that Bryan called with the news of his early arrival, I swear Rory has some weird fortune teller thing going on.

So these were our decorations:

I had made a last minute phone call to our babysitter Angela, to see if she would be able to come over and stay with the kids while I made an undercover get away to pick up Bryan from the airport. Now, I know you might be wondering why the heck wouldn't I just take the kids with me? Well, here it is. As wonderful as it is to see those reunions of soldiers and their families on the news (and in person) Bryan isn't much for it. The times that he has come home as part of the Welcome Home ceremonies, we have always been the first ones out of the gym and in the car on the way home. It's just a way of leaving all that stuff that you had been with for a year and getting home to ones that you have missed for a year, it's a way to claim things back.

Anyway, Angela was able to come over with the understanding that the kids, and by kids I mean Rory, knew that I was going to go and do some errands by myself because it would be faster, and because Mommy just needed some quiet time. Well, my cover was just about blown when I came out in a nice shirt, necklace, earrings, cute black peep toe shoes and a new little purse. Rory quickly remarked, "Mommy, that's a fancy necklace and purse for just doing errands." Nice...caught by a far too observant 6 year old, either that or I just look like a slob everyday! (For the record, I believe that she's just too observant.) I quickly made up a little white lie about maybe meeting a friend and going to dinner...God forgive me.

After I ran out of the house feeling a little bad that I had just lied, off I went to pick up Bryan. I don't know why, but I was super early, so I was pacing at the gate, waiting, waiting, and waiting, until the big board finally changed Bryan's flight status to "LANDED". It was at that exact moment that my heart started racing and the butterflies where doing laps in my stomach, I had a lump in my throat and I could feel the tears welling in my eyes. Blink them back, Blink them back, I said to myself, no need to make a scene before I even see him.

It was just a few short minutes later that I saw the one thing I had been waiting for for almost a year, that man to be home for good! We locked eyes and my tears released all the tears that I had been holding in for those 11 months. Well, not all of them, because if that was the case then I'm pretty sure we would still be there in that exact spot in the Kansas City Airport, akward! Anyway, it was all of my fears and stress letting go and it's amazing how one look and one hug from that person can push all of those feelings away.

Bryan collected all of the bags from the baggage carousel and off we went to start to journey home to our three favorite people!

I pulled the car in the garage, left Bryan there so I could send Angela on her way and then give the kids the surprise they had no idea that was coming!

If this isn't pure joy, then I don't know what is!


Our first post-deployment family picture!

It was time to start pure family time, before we had to pack up and move in 3 weeks! Ah, the life of an Army family!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

I am tired

We are now in the final countdown of deployment #4 coming to an end, and I am tired. I am physically and emotionally spent. I'm trying to get into the full on unbridled excitement of Bryan finally coming home, but I'm not quite there. Could it be because as soon as he gets home it's time to box everything up and move? Perhaps. Could it be because I am so overdone with the unnecessary senseless and stupid drama that has to be brought into my life. Yes. Could it be because I have hit my limit of self centered selfish people who have no concept of the people who are outside their door, and who need a freakin' parade to be celebrated for the fact that they did something nice...you bet! It could also be that I just need my best friend back, I need him here to hold my hand, to look in each others eyes, to whisper the "I love you" in my ear and not over skype. I need to see kids back in their dads arms, and then I think my heart will exploded with the love, joy and excitement that the end of this deployment deserves.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Jackpot!

Since we have a move coming up soon, I decided that this was the move that I was going to attack the office and all of the paperwork that has been sorted and stored in there for years. (By sorted and stored I mean shoved and crumpled into any space that can be found in any drawer.)

My reward for the task? Finding 2 unused Barnes & Noble gift cards, 2 winning lottery tickets (just $3, but hey winning is winning!) and a Spa gift just begging to be used!! So score a big one for me!!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Wild Wild Midwest

This year the weather in Kansas has been off the charts! Blizzards, ridiculously cold below 0 temperatures and wind chills, and lately tornadoes! We have lived in tornado alley before when we were stationed at Fort Sill, OK, and yes you expect tornadoes and stormy spring weather in Kansas, but this is just insane, especially when you are alone with 3 kids!

We had one very bad scare here when we were under a tornado warning, and not 3 minutes after the warning posted our tornado sirens went off. The sirens don't go off when there is just a warning, they only go off if a funnel cloud is in the area.

We don't have a basement in our house, so our "safe spot" is in the bathroom. Right before the warning posted Rory and I gathered all of our supplies and put them in bathtub, these included shoes for everyone (since the kids were already in their pajamas), snacks, water and a first aid kit. We also got the cat carrier out so we could take Chloe in with us. I gave a call over to our neighbors to make sure they knew about the weather warnings, as her husband was out of town for the night. Now, Rory knows that the neighbors have a basement, and as soon as Rory figured out who I was talking to, she screamed "I'm going to our neighbors basement". Molly (our neighbor) had asked if we had wanted to come over, but I at first, didn't want to risk it, Rory however as soon as she heard the invite opened the front door and as soon as she pushed the screen door open the tornado sirens went off. Her feet I swear never touched the ground as she high tailed it to their front door. I, of course, was struggling with Brendan and the bag of supplies on one harm, and Jack holding onto the other hand. I didn't even have time to shut the door as I knew I didn't have any keys with me! We rushed into the neighbors and hurried into the basement. Poor Rory had no color in her face and was shaking like a leaf! We, the adults, tried to stay as calm as possible, if it was even possible. About an hour later we had the all clear and we headed home back to our own home. Needless to say I had a full bed of 3 kids and a cat that night!

Since then we have been super-ultra prepared for the tumultuous week of weather that was to come.

Our supplies...

My weather watchers...

Fortunately, we never had a touchdown in our immediate area, however all around us there were communities that were devastated by tornadoes. Those areas included Reading, KS (2 hours to our southwest, this was also the same storm that came over us and triggered the tornado sirens), Joplin, MO (3 hours to our south) and Sedalia, MO (2 hours to our southeast). I had a list of items that these areas were in need of so I got my coupons out and made a list of things to buy. Rory saw what I was doing and she came up with an idea. She knew that in her purse she had some gift cards that she had received for her birthday and for Easter (as did the boys) and she suggested that we use the gift cards too because "If we had a tornado I would want other people to help give us stuff that we needed." Made me a very proud mama.

Our loot to donate!

Now, in the true Kilbride spirit as well as the saying "No good deed goes unpunished", as soon as we had loaded all of this stuff into the car, and I was loading the kids in still basking in the glow of what wonderful caring kids I have, Rory stats using her markers to decorate the wall of the backseat and Jack makes his attempt to bolt into the middle of the parking lot. Oh well, such is life, and in the end it was a very good day, and I'm glad my kids were quick to remind me that while they are great kids, they aren't perfect, just like their mom!

Here's to a quiet summer, weather wise!