Time is drawing near..........

Well, I still can't say when he's going to be home.  But I can tell you this... the time is drawing near!  And I am driving myself crazy trying to stay busy.  But then when I'm too busy I can't keep up with the house. So this viscous cycle starts 'cause when things get out of control in my home.. I go crazy!  SO.. my plan for the next several days is to stay close to home and get caught up.  I want to have the house in perfect order.. not because I need to impress my husband or anyone else.  BUT so that when Sean gets here... "I" can relax and spend quality time with Sean and not have anything to worry about. I know the kids will mess it up anyway.. but if the deep cleaning is done then the surface stuff wont take long to pick up. Sean keeps telling me "honey, I am not going to be looking at the house, I'm going to be looking at you".................ahhh he says the cutest things sometimes!  And it truly does help me to relax and remember what's important. Thank you Babe!

 So, I'm trying to decide if I should start freezing some meals and what foods is he going to want when he gets home!  His all time favorite is Mexican.. so I'm definitely stocking up those types of ingredients. Which is nice because they are EASY meals. Carley is excited to help me make the goodies and decorate!  Should be lots of fun and hopefully the time will go fast! I just can't wait to see the looks on the kids faces when they see their Dad for the first time in months!

 Church was amazing today. Several people accepted the Lord as their Savior! Last week I guess there were seven... not sure how many today!  But it's so exciting to see the Lord working!  There is nothing like seeing the hand of God move people! In Sunday School We celebrated our one year anniversary from when we started our class "The Overcomers"  I think every one of us teared up today.  W were talking about how the Lord has worked in all of our lives through the last year, with deployments, kids, marriage etc...  we were all able to see the big picture and how the Lord brought each one of us together in this group of supportive ladies. I could not have gotten through this deployment with out some of the amazing women. Recently one of our ladies had to PCS (permanent change of station) with her husband to Ft. Bliss.  We all missed her today dearly.  

After Sunday School and Church I went to pick up the kids from class.. to my wonderful surprise Stetson had a DRY PULL-UP.  Oh, the joys of parenting!  I see the light at the end of this tunnel and do I dare say I think he'll be trained by the time Daddy gets home?  oooh I hope sooo.....   He's so cute.. now when he has to go.. instead of saying potty or poo.. he actually says "Bathroom, Mommy"  but it sounds like Bah-froom! soo sooo cute! 

The Farm

During our six week visit to Minnesota we had so much fun. I wont be able to tell you ALL about it.. but I'll post some special pictures and hopefully tell a little bit about each one.

We got there in time to celebrate my brother Marshall's graduation :)
Mallori and I picked up this Bible for him.. along with the necklace she got him in Haiti
a Christian T-shirt and a Camo Bible case. I love that were able to get his name engraved on it...if you can't see it.. .we had Marshall J. Hewitt printed because they couldn't fit his full middle name.

 My sister Katrice always makes the cakes for all of our family celebrations. I so wish I had her talent! Her cakes are flawless!

 The food is always amazing with home made rolls and shredded pork roast.

 I can't believe my little brother is so grown up. I am the eldest daughter and he is the eldest boy born after 5 daughters. Needles to say my Dad was pretty excited the day his first son came into the world. I remember it like it was yesterday :)

My Beautiful sister Mallori... who used to be my little side-kick!

 

 fun at the party..................

 Baby Ryder (Uncle Tom and  Aunt Missy's fourth son)  He is so CUTE!

 Playing football................

 

Some of my many sisters...............

Katina, Lovely, Jenyka and my niece Hannah

 The ol' swing................it goes so high... and that's my favorite Cottonwood as you can see the kids have put steps and a fort in it recently.

The kids and I stayed at my sister Katrice's house which is only about a mile from our parents but on the same ranch.  So here are some pic from her house and swimming at the gravel pit.

 Oh, here Stetson was so tired he just fell asleep on the tile.....

 The gravel pit is our favorite summer spot to hang out.... it's become the community swimming hole as well.. several friends and neighbors come here to cool off. This is Will in the red shorts.. Katrice's 16 month old.

 Stetson and my brother Carson....

Me, Jessica, Jennyka and Katrice

 Hannah..... right before she learned how to swim!!!!

Katrice and I did lots of baking together... here we made hot dog buns.. I hadn't rolled them like that before but they were so yummy.

Me and the kids stayed in Hannah's new room.  Isn't her horse picture beautiful?  Katrice and Whitney painted it the week before I got there!  Hannah was very proud to show off her new pretty bed and decor. They also painted grass and flowers all the way around the bottom of the walls.

Stetson and Will had sooo much fun playing and getting in to trouble together.  Their favorite thing was the get into the cupboards!  But they also had lost of fun playing in the kiddie pool out back and trucking around the yard getting dirty!

My Niece and Nephew are getting so big... I can't believe I'll have another one in a few months!  YES, Katrice is due on Thanks Giving Day this year.

Here my two brothers Marcus and Marshall are holding the two youngest Nephews.. Stetson and Will.

Stetson and Will once again!  They are only 5 months apart. And my little guy is the older of the two.

My van was pretty much packed on the way home from the swimming hole...

My beautiful Sister Katrice with baby William Gabriel Housker!  We call him Will for short.. if you didn't catch that.

I have NO idea what Carley was thinking here.... actually I never know what this girl is thinking... she's my mystery girl.. it's something new every day! :)

Check back.. cause I might add more pictures from the trip.

I headed back home after being gone for over  6 weeks. This was my first long trip with all three kids and no extra help.  Mallori flew into Dallas and was able to ride with me to Minnesota.  But Thank God everything went well back to TX and I didn't have any car trouble. I did get a hotel on the way home.. which was nice. I couldn't not have drove straight through byself.  But it still only took me two days.

Church and Salmon

Today was a great day at church.  We had good fellowship, encouragement, Bible reading, Prayer and yummy muffins made by Caitlin! We also finished our study of Jeremiah.

Our class is celebrating one year next week end. The new name of our group is now "The Overcomers"

From our Facebook page-

We call ourselves "The Overcomers," taken from 1 John 5:4-5. Because we are God's children, we can overcome the obstacles of daily living with God's grace and guidance while being separated from ones we love.

Description- Women of Deployed Soldiers Class at Skyline Baptist Church in Killeen, TX  I haven't been with them for quite a year but it's been an amazing journey. We've gotten to be close friends and sisters in Christ. Being able to share everything from our joys to our troubles. Most of all we've grown in the Lord.  I am thankful to my friend Kathryn Loudermilk for introducing me to this wonderful church.  Skyline has been a great place for me to be during my husbands deployment. I look forward to introducing Sean to my church as soon as he gets home :)  I hope and pray he loves it as much as I do!  Our Pastor, Kenny Rawls and a team from our church just got back from their mission trip to Brazil and we were able to hear several great stories and testimonies of their trip this morning!  It sounds like many people found Jesus and they were able to start their second church over there.  I hope some day I'll be able to have that same opportunity.  Kids all dressed up for church.....  Stetson has two cowlicks that just will not cooperate. They were actually combed down for church.. this was after playing at church for almost three hours!  But I love his new hair cut.. see how short it is in the back.  After church I decided I better hurry and grill up some salmon that I had thawed out yesterday. After the power outage we had from some local fires my refridgerator had been off for several hours. I had to then put the salmon back in the freezer so that it wouldn't get warm. Well, I found a recipe that I had to alter just a tad since I don't have any rum in the house.  But it turned out amazing!!! And if you want the recipe, let me know! This was my first time making salmon period and I would say on a scale from one to ten.. it was a nine... only because I MAY have over cooked it a tad.. but I'm not sure.  The thick spots were  just a  little dry. But that might be because I spilled a little of the sauce that I put on top.  I cut my own slab of cedar to give it a little smoked flavoring.   Even the kids liked it :)

Underwear!

Why are boys in their underwear so darn cute???????????    Maybe it's because we've seen their little tooshes covered with a big ol' diaper for so long,  then we finally get to see their REAL shape.. and maybe partly for me, it's cause he's still my baby!  My how hard it is to watch them grow up! I can't believe he'll be two in two and a half weeks! I wish I could stop time.

He'd been doing pretty good potty training with pull ups.. but I'm trying to save money.. and of course I saw these undies at Wal-mart and couldn't pass them up!  He's pretty much trained on the whole poo poo thing... but still has several wet accidents.  I am really hoping he's done before our trip to Cali in October... Better  yet... before Daddy gets home!

 I love his funny faces..............

Here the other two had to get in on the fun!

Another Milestone has come and gone!

My eldest son turned five today!  I can't believe how time sure flies. It seems like just yesterday I was holding and nursing him in my arms. I knew it would go fast... but I'm trying NOT to think about that...but enjoy every minute of every day.

Colton Travis King was born at 2:32 am on my parents ranch.  He was my first of three homebirth experiences. His was definitely my longest and hardest one!  But after 2 and a half hours of pushing, he finally arrived.  Though a little bruised, he was our beautiful, precious little boy!  I really do remember it as if it were yesterday.  Sean and I laid on the bed in awe that this little life and blessing from the Lord was finally here!  We prayed over him and thanked God over and over again...  

Here are some pictures on my old blog.     http://seansheila.mytinybaby.com/  Birth Story included!

And I found one picture from every August 12th.. or close to it! So you can see how's he's changed!

 One year old..............

 Two years old........

 Three years old....................

 Four years old...........

 Five years old..................



Week End Projects

Today I decided to make a few more cards!  Also I needed to make some curtains.. I had some left over fabric from a couch cover from another project I did for some friends (Susan, hope you don't mined I used the same stuff)

 I really wanted to cover this door before our trip since I'll be gone. (don't want people peeking in)

And here are the things I put together this morning :)  So much fun!  Now I just want to sew up a couple Purses before I leave.. but I need to make a run to Hobby Lobby first.  I can't find my seam ripper to rip up ACU jackets... ugh!  Can't wait to get "MY PROJECT ROOM" done and organized!

AND Yes, you probably guessed it.. I have NOT worked out yet today!