I turned 24 today! Today was like most days, I hung out with the kids and did some work. The kids were very nice to me and were peaceful and quiet all afternoon.

Logan was a bit iffy so he napped the afternoon away. While Claire decided to forgo her late nap (she took a morning nap instead), she did sit and quietly draw and play for nearly two hours. Behind her on her bed you might be able to see that she did tuck Teddy and Violet into bed, and every time I came to check on her she shushed me and told me to be “quiet for the baby”. Crap that kid is growing up too fast.

When Andrew got home from work he ran some errands for me that I didn’t feel like doing, then we all went to the best Chinese buffet by our house, King Buffet. I love Chinese buffets, they’re definitely my guilty pleasure. I usually don’t get to go to them unless my older sister is around, we’re buffet buddies, but Andrew was super nice on account of my birthday and all and let me drag him out. Logan munched on cantaloupe and a ridiculous amount of lo mein noodles, and Claire enjoyed spring rolls and sweet and sour soup. Chinese buffets are one of the few restaurants we can take the kids to and actually sit and enjoy our food. Usually we’re asking for boxes as soon as the entrees arrive and then rushing out the door after leaving a 50% tip as condolences to the wait staff for the horrible mess the hellions left for them. Just goes to show Chinese buffets are magical, wonderful places I should be allowed to visit every day.

I didn’t get a cake, and that’s because I completely forgot about a cake until Dez mentioned it on Facebook. My bad. I did eat an insane amount of those little donuts at the buffet, and that’s all I really need.

Life

Woo, I totally suck at NaBloPoMo. Oh well, maybe next year? Yeah, probably not. So anyways, after my last blog post my sisters and I stayed in northern Virginia with our families through Thanksgiving, then the weekend after came down to southwest Virginia where I live to hang in my area. The next week we went up to West Virginia and northern Virginia again to visit friends we haven’t seen in awhile and then Lauren, Dylan and Kaison flew out on Thursday the 1st to spend the weekend in Vail with Dylan’s family.

That weekend I got some weird stomach thing (from Typhoid Claire of course) and stayed a few days longer than I intended. I came home Sunday evening and straight into finals week. Things have been a little hectic since then, but after the 12th I’ll be done with this semester and so ready for a month long break!

When I came home from northern Virginia I was pleasantly surprised to find Andrew had gotten the Christmas tree out and put it up. I wasn’t pleased to find that the top two sections of lights don’t work this year. What happens to Christmas lights in storage? Depression? They were working when we packed them away last year. I picked up an extra string of lights while getting dinner Sunday night and we were all set to get festive after dinner and decorate the tree and make some ornaments and cookies with the kids. That didn’t happen. I fell asleep on the couch about five seconds after Andrew cleared the dishes.

Tonight though we are going to decorate the bare tree that’s been in our living room for three days! We’re also going to make some candy cane bark and some cookies and maybe some ornaments. Seriously, it’s less than three weeks until Christmas, we need to get into the holiday mood!

Life

My twin sister Lauren and her daughter Kaison flew in last night around 5pm. I met her husband Dylan at international arrivals to wait for them to come out of customs. He had flown in with their dogs Sunday night and crashed at his hotel until Monday afternoon when he put them on another flight to our mom in California. The dogs are going to chill there until Lauren and everyone flies out to Washington state to take up her new station.

I was working at the office (where I have not been since August, craziness) up until about 4:30, when I rushed out, picked up and Andrew and the kids, then rushed back to the airport. In the rain. During rush hour. I didn’t get there until about twenty minutes after their plane landed, but they spent an hour in customs so whatevs. (more…)

Life

Lauren was hoping to catch a military flight Friday or Saturday, unfortunately Friday her paperwork wasn’t ready yet and Saturday most of the flights were cancelled or passengers were bumped for cargo. So instead she and Kaison are flying in on a commercial flight today. She should be landing in about two hours. I’m at the office getting some work done, I haven’t been here in months!

I suck at NaBloPoMo. I missed another few days this weekend. In my defense, I was kicking some dragon ass.

Not this dragon ass. This is the dragon from the very beginning of the game when I’m a puny level 1 and died from jumping off a pile of rocks. So yeah, I’ve been playing Skyrim this weekend instead of blogging. I should take some more screen shots that aren’t from the first five minutes… but I’m pretty sure I mentioned the dragon ass that needs kicking.

Life

Today Andrew and I are on our way to my aunt’s house in northern Virginia. My twin sister and her husband and daughter will be flying in on Friday or Saturday.

Lauren enlisted in the Army right after high school.

Lauren at her basic graduation in 2006, we were 18.

Lauren met her husband, Dylan, while they were both training as medics in San Antonio. They were married in February of 2007. In April, barely two months later, Dylan was deployed to Iraq. A few months after that Lauren was deployed as well. Andrew and I dropped her off at the bus she had to catch to Wright Army Air Field, the day after our 20^th birthday.

Dylan and Lauren came home April 2008. Dylan flew in the day before and was there for Lauren’s welcome home ceremony.

A few months after coming home Lauren found out she was pregnant and it was time for Dylan to re-up. The only station that would allow Lauren and Dylan to stay together was in Germany, so in November 2008 they were deployed again.

For three years they’ve been in Germany. My niece was born in March of 2009, and a month later Andrew and I found out we were pregnant with Claire. Lauren was able to visit for my baby shower in November 2009. She came to visit again in January 2010 when Claire was born. After that I didn’t see her again until February of 2011 when Logan was hospitalized just after his birth with RSV.

In the last three years my twin sister and I have Skyped and called and Facebooked as often as possible. I’ve seen my niece grow up in pictures and videos on Facebook, I’ve only met her in person twice. I never realized how much I missed my twin until now, as the time for her to come home grows closer.

We’ll be spending the week of Thanksgiving in northern Virginia with Lauren and our family.

Life