The End Is Near!

What does everyone look forward to during a deployment? Yep, the homecoming!! Our homecoming will be here in no time. I can't tell you how excited we are! We started counting down the months, the weeks and now we'll be able to start counting down the days. Our "Kisses from Daddy" jar is almost empty. It's a good thing because it means our soldier is almost home, but does that mean no more Hershey kisses? (I'm sure I can find a way to included kisses in our day to day routines.)



Things Are Different

There are so many things that are different this year. First, the deployment. That in itself is a HUGE change. Second, we sold our house and moved into an apartment. Third, this is such a strange winter. The temps. are up and the levels of snow are down. Wait...what snow? I'm not usually one for winter, but I really hope next winter acts like winter (especially since we'll be all together again).

I need to take a moment to thank our friends and family for all their support. They are all so great and definitely make life a little easier right now. I appreciate the fact that they don't treat us any differently. They help us continue our day-to-day life as if everything is normal. I guess things are normal, just a different normal.

The boys and I have been working on a list of things we want to do when daddy comes home. We have a good list going and I can't wait until we start crossing items off that list. Some of the things we have listed are going to the zoo, taking a train ride and fishing (for the boys at least). If anyone has other ideas we'd love to hear them! The longer the list the better!

We Love Our Flat Daddy!

I'm not exactly sure where my last few posts went, but let's try this again!

(this is the picture we used for our flat daddy)

Flat Daddy is such a wonderful concept and our boys are in LOVE with him. It has definitely made this deployment easier for them to handle. Here are a few pictures of our life with our "temporary daddy."

Flat Daddies and Flat Mommies are life-size photos of deployed service members. They are provided to help children better cope with the separation they experience when a parent is away from home for long periods of time.

I would 110% recommend a Flat Daddy for any family with a soldier preparing to deploy. Kids love seeing it everyday and knowing their soldier is still with them even though they aren't physically there. Our boys like it when we bring "dad" for a ride with us or bring him to a special event. Flat Daddy will also come in handy when dad is home for good because he is often training or "playing army" for a few days here and there.

(when we moved into our new apartment)

(Like father, like son)

(Halloween - daddy went as a mummy!)

(Our photo for our Christmas cards.

 Some people even thought he was home when they saw the picture.)

(Christmas)

(Celebrating my birthday with me)

Let me know if you have any questions because I'd be more than happy to tell you about the benefits of having Flat Daddy around.

And the Winner Is...

Emily Illies! I want to thank everyone who entered my first giveaway. A special "thank you" to Hero On My Arm for the cute keychain they gave me to give away!

My First Giveaway!!

One Army Wife and Mom reader will win

an "Army Wife" keychain made by Hero On My Arm.

Ends 11/15/11 at 9PM CST. Open to US Only.

- Mandatory Entry -
Visit Hero On My Arm and tell me one item you would like that they make.

- Bonus Entries -

+1  Follow Army Wife and Mom publicly on Google Friend Connect

- Rules -
To enter, comment below. Leave one comment for each entry you qualify for. Mandatory entry is required before any other entries will count. If I can't verify your entry, it will not count. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be picked.
By entering you agree to the rules of the contest.
Good luck!

Kisses From Daddy

One of the first ideas I came across while preparing for deployment was a deployment countdown jar. I started by filling a jar with Hershey kisses (hence the "kisses") - one kiss for each day your loved one is gone. We obviously don't have enough room to hold a piece of candy for each day (x2 because each of the boys get one) so I fill it up every couple days so they don't see the level going down. It'll be REALLY exciting once we're counting down our last few weeks because we'll actually see the candy level disappear!

Once we moved, unpacked and got situated I set up the jar. I explained the concept of the jar to our boys who nodded in excitement about the thought of getting a piece of candy every night. Considering they're only 4 and 2 years old I can't imagine they really comprehend the idea. The original plan was to get a "kiss" from daddy every night after dinner. I was surprised when we went to get their first piece of candy. I picked up our 2 yr. old so he could reach in and choose his kiss on his own. When I took the lid off, little man raised his hand to his mouth and blew a kiss into the jar before choosing his chocolaty treat. Our 4 yr. old then followed in his steps...

Hershey's was nice enough to give us milk chocolate and the NEW air delight kisses to help us get our Kisses From Daddy jar started. I've always been in love with the regular milk chocolate kisses, but was pleasantly surprised when I tried the air delights. It was like my favorite chocolate kiss, but lighter! My oldest son asked me where we got the "fun" Hershey's kisses from and all I could do was smile and laugh to myself. We all love the cute little kisses and the boys look forward to them every night after dinner (and I look forward to them when the boys are in bed).

So Much To Do - So Little Time

Every night I plan to grab the laptop and write about what's going on, what new links I've come across or ideas that we've implented while we're adjusting to a new temporary norm. As you can see, every night I've failed...until now.
As you may already know, we've recently moved so we've been busy unpacking and adjusting to our new life. I've also started a new job. I know, did I really need to throw that in the mix too? Why not, right? Things have actually started to settle down and we're getting comfortable in our somewhat new life.

I have several posts that I need to do in the next few days because they will talk about a few of the new things we've adopted in our daily routine.
1. Our Kisses From Daddy jar - What is it, you ask. Well, I'm hoping to talk about that and post some pictures in the next day or so.
2. Our Flat Daddy - Daddy can't be here, but a flat daddy can be! We love ours and will recommend it to anyone!
3. My first giveaway! I have an Army Wife keychain and will be more than happy to give it to some special. I'd really like to keep it, but that wouldn't be very nice.

I hope the week is flying by for eveyone!