Saturday, December 29, 2012

One year blog anniversary

Wow! It's hard to believe a year ago I was at home with a 2 1/2 year old and a brand new baby, M was on the other side of the world in the sand box and it was Christmas time. I was lonely and feeling like many didn't understand what it felt like being alone on a huge holiday and having your husband fighting a war. I started looking online and came across quite a few blogs of other military wives. Some whose husbands were currently deployed, some who would be deploying soon and others whose husbands had been deployed but were currently home. I started reading them in my spare time. Finally I decided I should start my own blog. I used to love writing in a journal as a kid and I felt there weren't that many blogs from the perspective of the Reserve Army wife. I thought I would try and contribute and hopefully help someone else in my shoes. I also thought it would be a great way to keep M updated on what was going on at home. What I didn't realize is all of the amazing people I would "meet" on this journey. These people became a part of my support system. I only hope I can help them as they have helped me.
I have never claimed to be a good writer, but I know it has helped for me to have a place to get my thoughts and feelings out. I love this little blog world and hopefully I will be posting more frequently in the future. :)
Thank you to all of my readers and to those that have offered their support over the last year. Your friendships mean the world to me.

In honor of my one year blog anniversary I thought I would recap my top ten most visited blog posts. :) I hope you all enjoy!!!!

#1 Annoying Facebook Posts
#2 Fantasy Fest
#3 First Ever Guest Post
#4 Anniversary Care Package
#5 Welcome Home Sign Ideas
#6 Hurry up....waiting on you
#7 Military Spouse Appreciation Day
#8 Girls Night Out
#9 Guest Post
#10 My Very First Libester Award

I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy going down memory lane. :) I know I love to look back at certain posts and smile. :)

Remember you can follow me on Instagram (kathrynelizabeth8) and on Facebook

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Our Holiday Card...a little late

I wanted to post our holiday card on Christmas eve, but with my computer being covered in coke by my lovely daughter, my husband unable to get it fixed....I had to remake the card and figure out again how to save it to his computer. :) So here it is!

We had a great Christmas, we were finally all together as a family. I will hopefully get our pictures edited and then I can do our recap soon. :)

I hope you all had a great Christmas!!!!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas eve! I know not all of you are able to be with your loved ones on this Christmas, but know you are in my thoughts and you will be reunited again soon.

This time last year, I had a 2 year old and a new born at home. M was in the sandbox and I am so thankful that we are able to spend this holiday together this year!

I had a picture to put in this post today, but my lovely daughter dropped a coke on my laptop last night and now I'm waiting for my husband to be nice enough to fix it and hopefully I haven't lost all of my pictures.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and enjoy the traditions of season!!!!


Merry Christmas to everyone, those that have their families and those that are missing a loved one
From the My Life as a Reserve Army Wife family!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

God's Plan? Sure wish he would tell me....

I would love to know what God's plan is for me and our family. I know I have posted some negative things lately and for that I apologize. Things aren't going the way I want. Things aren't horrible, most times they are good if not great, but I wish I knew how to steer things back the way I would like them to go.
We had a sad day the other day, I miscarried our baby, and while I was conflicted on the pregnancy it still is a sad thing.
We did not invite M's parents to Baby E's birthday party and I think it was better for everyone involved.
So, while I don't know what to expect from day to day, which makes me quite anxious, things aren't horrible but I feel like they should be maybe in a different place. I'm confused and anxious.
I LOVE Christmas! I can't wait for Christmas morning with our two kids. This is my favorite holiday season. I love all of the tradition that goes along with it. I am going to focus on that and the happiness I can find in each day.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Happy 1st Birthday Lizzie!

Today is our pretty girl's first birthday! It's hard to believe that she is one already! You can read about her birth story here. I am so thankful that I was able to have M on Skype with me that day, it was amazing being able to hear him encourage me throughout my labor. Knowing he was there with me was what kept me going. I am also so thankful for having my mom there with me. She was such a HUGE help to me.
We will be having a party for her tomorrow. We have invited our friends and family (except for M's parents, we still aren't talking to them). I will have a recap of the party hopefully shortly after. I can't wait to celebrate our baby girl's birthday!



Happy Birthday Pretty Girl!!!!

Friday, December 14, 2012

A year ago today

It's hard to believe that a year ago today I was sitting at dinner with my best army wife friend having an amazing dinner at Olive Garden. She was kind enough to take me to dinner on the night before I was to be induced to have our second baby. I was a nervous wreck, I had never been induced before. Little L's birth came as a shock to us, seeing as he was born a month early. Anyways. While at dinner I started to get really uncomfortable. I thought it was just because I had been sitting awhile. Now looking back on what happened later that night, I am convinced that my labor started that night at dinner.
So, tomorrow we will celebrate our little miracle. Our little bundle of joy. We are so lucky to have her in our lives. Happy early birthday to our beautiful girl Baby E!

P.S. As I write this and am so excited for our baby girl, my heart breaks for all of the families who lost a loved one today. It was a senseless act and so sad. My thoughts and prayers are with those families tonight. I cannot imagine.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Forgotten pics of Thanksgiving trip

I forgot some pretty cute pics of the kids in my first post about our Thanksgiving trip. So never fear.....here they are! :)

At breakfast, after sleeping the night away in the car

Baby E getting a chance to play with her new fluffy jacket

The truck gets her every time :)

Hi daddy! At Jimmy Johns playing

"I'm cute and I know it!" Cheese face

Only daddy can get a smile like this out of her

Playing in the doggie bed

Little L had to join in the fun

My favorite cousin, holding baby E and yelling at his dog

Look I have chocolate all over my face! Thanks daddy!

Hi mommy!

Oh oh oh!

Finally a nice pic of Little L :) He's so handsome!
There you have it. I think our kids are pretty darn cute and special. I love them with all of my heart and I'm so glad they were able to visit my side of the family up north. I can't wait until we can go back again. :)

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Somewhat wordless Wendesday

Thank you to those that responded about the Strong Bonds retreats. If anyone else has any thoughts or opinions on it, please feel free to share. :) k thanks!

On Sunday Baby E was sick. Like coughing so hard she threw up a few times, sick. Now let me tell you about our daughter. She doesn't act sick. She can be throwing up one minute, then the next she's off playing and screaming and tormenting her brother. But when she doesn't feel good, all she wants is mommy. Little L always wanted daddy when he was sick, which made it difficult when M was deployed. But anyways. I had noticed some pink in her left eye and became concerned that it might be pink eye. So, we decided I would stay home with her on Monday and take her to the doc.
I was able to sleep in a little (yea for me!!!!) then took Little L to preschool. Finally it was time for the doc appointment. While waiting, Baby E played happily and crawled around. You honestly cannot tell she is sick. Can you?

She is such a ham

Playing so good while waiting for the doctor


We found out that the pink in her eye was from a popped blood vessel, she did it while coughing the day before. Also she has an ear infection. The doctor was quite surprised that we didn't bring her in sooner for her ear, but unfortunately our kids do not show the normal symptoms of ear infections.


And here are some other recent pics of Baby E. I wish I had more of Little L, but he isn't interested in the camera and tends to make silly faces lately. :( If you follow me on Instagram you have seen these already, but they are too cute to not share again.
Future U of M cheerleader

Future Model here




Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Thoughts on Strong Bonds Retreats (building stronger marriages)

My husband got an invitation to a Strong Bonds (I think that's the name of it) retreat that will be here in our area soon. I was wondering if any of you have gone to one and what you thought.
I am happy with my marriage and think it's going good (most days) granted we have our ups and downs, but who doesn't. I would just like some feedback, even if it's second hand, to help us make a decision on if we want to go or not.

Thanks in advance!!!! :)

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Holiday/1st Year Pics

My mom wanted to get pictures done with the kids for her holiday cards this year. We also decided to also get Baby E's first year pictures done. The kids did great! I was sooo happy with how they turned out. Without further ado :)









I love getting the kids pictures done at Sears. They do such a great job! I'm super happy with how the pictures turned out!


P.S. M cut and styled both of the kids hair this day. I think he did a pretty great job!!!!





Friday, December 7, 2012

Milspouse First Friday Fill-In


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I am linking up today with Wife of a Sailor for the Milspouse First Friday Fill-In! You should go and link up too! :)

1. What is one thing in the past month you would have changed?
Not telling my husband what is on my mind all of the time. I need to do a better job of that and stop being scared to make him mad.
Also my eating habits. They have gotten horrible lately and it’s starting to show.
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2. What was your favorite thing that happened in November?
Getting to go up to Michigan and see my dad and other family members. It has been too LONG since I’ve been home to visit and it felt great (despite the cold)

3.  What is your favorite holiday memory?
That would have to be our Christmas tradition growing up. every Christmas eve we would go to one person’s house (it rotated  every year) we would eat a bunch of yummy food and cookies. I would play with my cousin and sometimes go to church with my mom, grandma and aunts. Then my Aunt Patti and Grandma would spend the night at my house (which is awesome seeing as I am an only child) and would be there to open presents the next morning. I loved that tradition and miss it to this day.

4.  What are your plans for New Year’s Eve?
Nothing yet. I doubt we will do anything special. Having two kids makes it a little more difficult. I would like to have some friends over that also have kids and have a nice quiet evening. Guess I should talk to my hubby about it. 

5. What are you looking forward to in December?
Christmas! It is my favorite holiday. I love all of the lights and traditions around the holiday. One year my husband will share in my joy (we just have to get his bad memories out of his head first)

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

We are officially on Facebook!



I have given in again. I have created a Facebook page for this here blog. I will be putting a button on the blog soon. I thought it might be nice to be able to update people without having to write an entire post. Please be so kind as to like my page. Thank you very much!!!!!

So, you can find me on Instagram (kathrynelizabeth8) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MyLifeAsAReserveArmyWife)

Please stop by and say hello!!!! :)

Thank you!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Thanksgiving recap with Pictures

Ok so I know I told you all we decided to drive to Michigan to see family for Thanksgiving and then my husband was going to go hunting with my dad. Well here is the rest of the story. :)
So as you know we drove 2200 miles up there. The kids did amazingly well. Thank goodness for night driving and portable DVD players. As you know we stopped at my Aunt's in GA. Little L loves spending time with her and the feeling is mutual. They went and fed the cows together, road on the 4-wheeler and played outside. He was in heaven.

Lucas trying to get the cows to come over

They finally realized he had BREAD!

                                                                            Cutie

                                                 Baby E riding on my grandpa's tractor
                                            Little L riding on my grandpa's tractor



After my husband got some sleep and some man time in with my uncle, we headed off again. This time we stopped in Williamsburg KY. M showed me where he went to college and where he lived. I thought it was great finally getting to see it and putting a place with all of the stories I have heard.

Next we stopped in Lexington for the night at a yucky hotel. I'm not a huge fan of cheap hotels and this one was cheap and it was yucky. There was hardly any hot water for a shower and the pressure just sucked. I was very disappointed. Anywho. We woke up and drove a little farther to meet up with a SGT friend of his from college to have breakfast. The guys enjoyed catching up on each others lives and I dealt with the kids.

Finally we were back in the car and heading to Cabela's. We only have Bass Pro around us and since my dad introduced M to Cabela's we HAVE to stop every time we are near. Which I don't mind because it is a really neat store. Plus my amazing husband bought me this:
This is my brand new Benelli M2 20 gage shot gun. I was able to try it out once we were at the deer camp and am pretty pleased with it. It has very little kick and is very light. I can't wait to try it out without wearing a big heavy coat and gloves. :) I of course had to get a pink real tree case for my gun.

I feel pretty spoiled. But then I remember the main reason M bought this for me was so that I would go out to the gun range with him more. Hummmm.....interesting huh? Ulterior motive?:)

We were able to meet up with my cousin and see his new house and meet his new girlfriend. I really like her. She is the most normal, level headed one yet. I think they are pretty perfect for each other. I was glad I finally got to meet her. My cousin and I grew up as close as brother and sister without living together. It was the best of both worlds. In high school I was always the last one to meet the girlfriends. I knew he was serious about someone if I met them. So, I am happy that I got to meet her and that I like her.

Wednesday night my grandparents and aunt arrived at my dad's house. My grandma and grandpa were finally able to meet Baby E. I think the kids wore them out. But it was still nice that they were finally able to spend some time with both of our kids.

Thursday M spent most of the day installing heated seats in my dad's truck. I was inside with the kids. We had a great dinner and I ended up taking a nap before we headed out. We left that night for the deer camp for my dad and M to go hunting.

I went to bed early that night because I wasn't feeling good. It was amazing getting some extra sleep. M and my dad got up early the next morning to go out. They spent most of the day out in the blind trying to get a deer. They were not successful. :( I was stuck in a little cabin with both kids. Thankfully the Ranch we were on breeds deer and had one that was super friendly. M finally got his deer the next morning. He got a huge 10 point. I am very proud of him!!!!! We are going to get it mounted. Where it will be hung is beyond me.

                                                          Inside of the deep camp
                                                                       Our cute kids
                                              They even look cute in cold weather gear
                                          The Deer. Top left is the buck M got. The rest are of
                                          the kids calling the deer over and then getting licked
                                          by said deer. Baby E thought it was the greatest thing EVER!


Saturday night we drove back to my dad's then headed back to Florida on Sunday. Both kids did amazing in the car and the trip was a nice one. I am glad we were able to go up there and see my family. It was a nice time away, but it also felt great to be home again.