Finger painting

Finger painting with an 14 month old and 18 month old.

What was I thinking???

Sickness

On Thursday Gunnar had pink eye, by Monday he had an ear infection, strep throat, tonsillitis, and croup. The poor feverish boy was not having a great time. He was such a sad kid, just sitting on the couch, crying, and wanting to be held. Not fun. Monday I took him to the doctor and they hooked him up with a penicillin shot. He is now back to about 90%. Pretty much he just has his horrible cough that hurts him and makes it hard to sleep.
While Gunnar was sick most of the time he looked like this...

 But we manged to not spend all of our time "belly-aching" (that is what Kyle calls it)..
Ryker got in some cuddle time with cousin Ezra.

 Gunnar had tea parties. Which we now have everyday...he loves tea parties.

 We played some ball.

 Ryker had to do a lot of swinging because Gunnar required a lot of attention.

 Gunnar did a lot of loving on Ryker. So far Ryker has escaped any sickness. I thank God for this, because it has been nearly impossible to keep Gunnar away from Ryker.

 Ryker did a lot of smiling. He giggles now too. It is to cute. I am trying to get a good giggle on video to share.

 Like I said they were hard to keep away from each other...

 My dad got pink eye from Gunnar which is a total bummer. But I am thankful that so far he is the only one who caught any of the sickness. There was been an abundance of hand sanitizer and hand washing going on at my parents house. Gunnar's pink eye finally looks like it is clearing up and the nasty gunk has stopped coming out, so I just finished cleaning all the toys. Hopefully everyone else stays healthy!

Playing Hard

We have been playing hard over here. Playing with family and with friends. We even had a  picnic in the park until we were practically frozen.

 When you play hard, you sleep hard too!

So did anyone notice anything a bit strange about Gunnar in some of these pictures?
If you said "why on earth does that child have a pacifier in your mouth" you are the winner!
Gunnar has not had a pacifier since he was 12 months old, 6 months ago. However, since the move I guess you could say he has regressed. It is hard to fight when Ryker has one and Gunnar just walks up and steals it from him. So, Kyle and I decided this is a battle we don't want to fight right now. We try to limit it to him using it only at night, but like I said, he steals it from his brother if he doesn't have one and Ryker does, so some days he ends up with it more. I don't like it, and it drives me crazy, but oh well. There are so many worse things in life (at least that is what I keep telling myself).
In other news, we are fighting the pink eye. Gunnar has it, and it isn't fun, but we are managing. I am just hoping no one else gets it, especially Ryker. Both boys also seem to have a cold, Gunnar was up a lot of the night coughing.
Kyle is up in Fort Lewis, the boys and I are still at my parents. We are hoping a house opens up for us next week. We hope to know more today (but I hope for this everyday).

Veterans Day

‎"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." -Jose Narosky

I am the wife of a soldier, a soldier who has been on four deployments.  He has spent 21 months in Iraq and 16 months in Afghanistan. He fights for our freedom. He doesn't enjoy his job, he does it because he believes it is his duty. Words cannot express how proud of him I am. He is my hero.  

Kyle is the most humble person I know when it comes to his service in the military. You can rarely get him to talk about it, and even when he does he won't say much. I am honored to call him my husband and I am honored to have two precious little boys with him. 

I praise God for keeping Kyle safe while he has served in the military. Kyle will carry the memory and some physical ailments around for the rest of his life from his military experience, but we have been blessed.

Say a prayer for all the former and current service men, women, and families today on Veterans day.  

Happy Veterans Day. We are so proud of you all!

The week in review

This week has been pretty laid back and nothing to eventful has happened.
My favorite part of the week had no pictures, but I went on a date with my hubby, no kids! That hasn't happened in almost 3 months. It was wonderful. We enjoyed eating a quiet dinner, then we went shopping.
Here are some pictures of the uneventful week...
Gunnar playing the piano. This was his first time and I was so impressed, he didn't do any pounding on the keys.

Kyle and I (mostly just me) took the seeds from 7 pumpkins and then baked them. They were pretty yummy.

On Friday I took Kyle to Ritzville to meet up with his dad who was taking him back to Fort Lewis. Kyle will be living in the barracks, and the boys and I with my parents until housing opens us.
Here is Gunnar helping Poppa cook dinner. He was so serious when he got the hat and apron.

Me and the two little chefs.

Gunnar loves his cousins. He was especailly fond of following Ezra (the older one) all around and copying him.

This looks like trouble. The FIVE cousins.

Gunnar and Ryker before church this morning. Ryker was actually cooperating much more than Gunnar and it isn't easy to get them both to smile at the same time...oh well, they are still to cute!

Gunnar and Ryker sure have been enjoying all the love and attention. Today my mom, Ryker, and I went to the craft show. When Gunnar woke up from his nap while we were gone my dad went and got him and Gunnar feel back asleep on his lap (which is rare).  Gunnar and cousin Zane also enjoyed beating their Poppa up in a wrestling match tonight.

Ryker at bathtime tonight. Cousin Zane let Ryker borrow his baby bathtub.

We have arrived

Since my last blog, life has been CRAZY (and that may be putting it lightly). Our last week in Germany we were busy getting our household goods shipped, the car shipped, and preparing for our flight across the ocean. We are now in Washington State, homeless, living out of 5 suitcases.
We are so thankful for our friends, the Wilson's who made our last week so much more bearable. They let us borrow their car, some toys, a playpen and even had us over for dinner, they were a life saver.
We arrived in Fort Lewis on Sunday, October 25. We had a great flight. Both boys were so well behaved, the 10 hours passed by quickly, and it was a good experience. Once we landed craziness started up again. Kyle was taken by his unit to in-process and I was left with my mom, sister, and father-in-law to get  to Fort Lewis and reconnect with Kyle. I'm thankful we were greeted by familiar faces. Once we got back with Kyle we all went and enjoyed Red Robin, before my mom and sister headed back over the mountain home. They left us my parents car so we would not be totally stranded.
Our first week we ended up staying in what they called the "cabins." They were old, run down, and cold. Cold...maybe because they put the switch to the old furnace within reaching distance of a particular 18 month old who took it upon himself to turn it off. Kyle in-processed and the boys and I sat in the cabin. I was so used to having to drive Kyle around I didn't know what to do with myself, they drive him everywhere here. So strange.
Saturday Kyle took 7 days of leave to get the boys and I over to my parents, spending a $100 a night for a not so great 1950's cabin was not our idea of fun. We are on a waiting list for housing. For us, living on post is our best option. Kyle can't drive, and it will be much more convenient and probably safer for us to be on post. But that means we have to wait a bit. We are currently number 73 of 74 on a waiting list. Monday we should be moved to the top of the list, but it could still be a week or so until we get housing.  So Saturday we took off and went to Post Falls to send the weekend with Kyle's dad and family. Sunday, Kyle, his dad, and brothers went up to Priest Lake to do some hunting; it didn't go well, it was cold, wet, and raining. Laura and I hung out with the little boys at the house.
Monday we headed to my parents. We have pretty much just been chilling, being lazy, and enjoying some family time together before Kyle goes back to Fort Lewis on Friday. He didn't want to waste his leave on the weekend. His dad is going to take him back over Friday then they will come back this way Wednesday night or Thursday morning as Kyle has a four day weekend. Hopefully after that we have a house and all 4 of us can head back to Fort Lewis.
Here is a review of our happenings in pictures.
Getting in some last snuggles on the chair before it is packed up by the movers.

 Gunnar found his old costume and wanted to wear it around. Apparently frogs like chips.

 In an empty house the closet made a great toy.

 Lots of daddy wrestling time in a half empty house.

 Some of us worked harder than others.

 One of the two toys Gunnar had.

 The movers did leave a pretty entertaining piece of equipment. Shh...don't tell them.

 We also finger-painted on the movers boxes.

 Wore daddy's shoes around.

 And someone did a lot of chilling and smiling.

 He gave some cuddles too.

 The first night in Fort Lewis, Gunnar woke up at 2am and I couldn't get him back to sleep (jet-lag) so I threw him in bed with us. I got up at 4:30 to feed Ryker, then heard a big "thud." Gunnar rolled out of the bed and apparently landed on his forehead.

 But he seemed alright, his silly goofy self. Don't they look like trouble???

 The boys ready for Trunk or Treating. Gunnar in his $5 Old Navy Monkey Costume and Ryker in a hand me down that is still a bit large, a Reindeer outfit.

 Sweet Brothers.

 Trunk or Treating with the people at the Warrior Transition Battalion. Kyle has a great new place to be a part of.

 Hmmm...so this is our new duty station. Not to shabby, even if the monkey and reindeer don't look excited!!!

 Pumpkin carving with Kyle's brothers.

 More carving.

 My Halloween skeletons.

 Outside with Uncle Shawn.

 Lots of wrestling at the Pettit house.

 Our Wiener Dog pumpkin.

 Ryker and Grandpa Pettit

 Kyle beating up on Caleb.

 After trick-or-treating. We are all super tired.

 Dividing the loot.

 Our pumpkin lit up outside.

 Gunnar loved his candy bag...and the candy.

 My brother Paul, his baby Zane (who is one year) and Ryker.

 Hanging out at my parents.

 What Gunnar does while mom blogs...I don't think this swing is built for two! Ryker apparently thought it was fun and had a big smile on his face when I went to rescue him.

So...that is the recap on life. Hopefully I can do a better job of keeping up and not have to do so much at once.