2008 A Year in Reveiw

January 2008-
This month was a slow one winding down the end of our second deployment. I was still pretty busy with Luke and Liem still a infant. I know we were ready for J to come home and start a life together. By the time January hit, the beginning of 2008, we were ready to be a family.





Febuary 2008-
At the end of this month J arrived home from Iraq and finally got to see Luke healthy and thriving as well as meeting a changed Liem. (Remember J flew home right after Liem's birth because Luke was in the NICU).
This homecoming was special although both were amazing. It was nice to know we were finally in this together.




March 2008-
I turned 24... Where does the time go. I remember being nervous about turning 25, I know big whoop, but it made me quiestion what I have accomplished to this point. I feel proud of not only where I am but where our family is. We also got acquainted to a family of four, enjoyed family time, celebrated Easter, and took a mini vacay to the Hale Koa.





April 2008-
We baptised Liem this month. J's mom and step dad, as well as his brother flew out for it. We had a lots of good friends here with us to help celebrate his entrance into the catholic church.


May 2008-
In May we enjoyed as much family time as possible since once again J was sent off to Thailand for 5 weeks. I remember thinking 5 weeks was a long time back then but compared to this it is nothing. And this little 3-4 month stint is nothing to the 7 months we are used to. It is amazing how much we are caplable of when we have to be.

June 2008- June was a slow month with nothing out of the ordinary. J returned home a week after Father's day and we celebrated late. In the three years since Luke has been born J has missed every single Father's day... And I can almost say with certainty that he will miss this one as well. Lucky for him when he is home everyday is Father's Day. :)



July 2008- We had a 4th of July BBQ and enjoyed time as a family. Liem offically started walking this month and J started the tideous journey of re-enlisting.




August 2008- Not to much happened in this month either. The boys kept us busy and with Liem on the move even more so.




Septemeber 2008- Birthday, Birthday, Anniversary... Ironically September seems to be our month. Liem turned 1 on the 1st of September which happened to fall on Labor day. Luke turned 3 on the tenth. The first few weeks of September flew by. Birthdays are always so emotional for me, to see how they have changed and grown. Makes me a tad sentimental. Not to mention these birthdays were the first J was here to experience. Finally a birthday and party with a hubby there. We had a big party here at our house with our clostest friends, who honestly we consisder family. The 21st we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary... Haha do the math, Luke is 3 and we have been married 3 years... It was nice and laid back. For the occasion J got me diamond earrings and I got him a big ole' tool box. J also signed for four more years. We debated getting out but knew four more years would set us up for a smooth transition.

>October 2008- Bye Bye Daddy... J left again this time to the Phillapines. This was a last minute deployment and totally interferred with the holidays as well as our plans to leave for California in the spring... When these last minute obstacles suddenly appear I try to stay as positive as possible... Just Gods plans and in the end it will all work out... As we finally near the end of this mini deployment I find that it worked out exactly the way it should have...
The boys also celebrated Halloween this month. Our Superheros Superman and Captain America.



November 2008- Winding down the year. Not much to do this month and I remember it dragging by. Thanksgiving was spent with friends and a mini orderal but nice.



December 2008- This was a fun month with Luke's excitement for Santa. It feels like December has flown by as well as the holidays. I always get a little sad after Christmas is over, not because of the presents but because I love the Christmas season and the hope it provides. Lucky for us we get another mini Christmas in a few weeks with J.

As another year winds down I am optimistic about what next year will bring. Everyone have a safe and happy New Year's.

Outside time

Luke loves the park and I try to get them there when I can to burn of some steam. Luke is so into playing with other kids or knowing exactly what is going on. Today some little girl punched a little boy in the stomach and when the boy went to tell the girls mother 10 other kids gathered around to tell on her as well. Luke did not pay any attention and all of a sudden said he needed to see what was going on over there. LOL. Kids. Luke apparently has to be in the no.

I have to share Luke's funny moment today. He has a thing for hats. Wanted to wear one out and I said ok. After I packed the bags I looked at him and said "Luke I like your hat" he looked at me and said "Ya isn't it cool". I had to laugh out loud.




Liem LOVES the slide. He amazed me today at going down the slide by himself either sitting or on his belly, and afterwards he got off and walked around to go the stairs and climber his way back to the slide. Luke would have climbed up the slide. I think Liem spend a good 25minutes on the slide.

Small Things

I would write about our night in the dark but I think no words are needed to discuss 12 hours without power. I will say thank you once again to Jammie and Amy who checked on me. It amazes me that my own neighbors did not take the time to make sure I was ok... It's alright I will just make sure my drill is broken next time they need it...

Today and yesterday both Luke and Liem surprised me with a new milestone, if you want to call it that.

Luke LOVES swinging but pushing ihm and chasing Liem gets old fast. He pumped his legs yesterday and kept himself going. This is not anything huge but seriously every single day he takes on step further away from being my lil guy and becoming a big boy!!! I can hardly carry him anymore! :( Where does the time go.

Lil Liem man has ALWAYS loves "The itsy bitsy spider" Always makes him laugh, dance, and clap. Today we were singing it in the car and I look back to Liem doing the motions I always do (they were not as good) but still shocked me that he can almost mimic the song.

Honestly time passes so fast. I am just glad I can finally put some of this down somewhere so that I can look back and remember.

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas... I am exhausted after Luke's 4:48am wake up call but I want to make sure I write about our day while it is still clear in my mind. First and foremost I am so glad they are SO close in age. Amy said it best when she said they can share all the toys, and they truly do. It is like double Christmas for both of them and I love that.


Our tree before the boys tore into the presents. We had a ton more under there but I had to hide some for when J gets home and we can do a miniature Christmas with him. Only a few more weeks, although days like these make it feel so much longer. J did call at 6am and was on the phone for much of the chaos.


The present of the Day. Luke has been ASKING for this for a few months and we wanted to wait until we moved to California before making another large purchase. In the end I am a sucker and it was bought... I got a good deal though!!! Not to mention when Luke was walking down the stairs and spotted it he shouted "My jeep car, I GOT IT!" and threw his blankie to the side... His smile in this picture says it all!!


Anyone remember Luke's Christmas at this age? He carried a waffle around the entire time. I had to laugh when Liem spotted the waffles and carried them around for the duration of presents.


This car is the neatest thing ever, especially for in the house. It is soft and when it hits a wall it bounces back. This is courtesy of Nana Rita and Luke loves it, although he LOVED everything he and Liem got.


Liem was not into opening the presents but into playing with whatever toy Luke had just stopped looking at. I swear Luke would open a present and play with it for a little bit before moving onto the next one but as SOON as he set it down Liem was playing with it. Although the few toys Liem did open Luke would take as soon as he unwrapped them.


Luke and his leapster. Luke loved everything but he made a VERY big spectacle about this toy as well. He said "Mommy please can I open this? I used my manners, I be a good boy, Pretty please." I let him open it and I think the leapster is going to be awesome once he figures it all out.


I love this picture of them! I realize that we may not always be able to give them everything they want or need, but all that matters is we gave them one another.

Overall we had a great Christmas. Presents and playing and dinner with good friends who were kind enough to take us in! Thanks again! ;) Now I am going to relax and call it a night.
Merry Christmas to everyone!!! Looking forward to the New Year!

Christmas Eve

We had a busy day!
Today consisted of the beach, baths, baking cookies, pinky's for dinner, decorating cookies, opening Christmas jammies, reading Twas the Night before, and BEDTIME. Luke is over the moon about Santa coming and was exhausted for bedtime. I do not see how parents cannot cherish these moments. I am going to take a moment to reflect on our day...


Liem was nervous about the sand at first. Sorta good for me as he did not stray off until the very end. I have beach photos below but wanted to post a snapshot of just him and his usual smile! He melts my heart!!


Here is Luke right before bedtime and a meltdown. These are the moments I cherish. To often I have to discipline and teach him and in this instance it is fun to just watch him being silly, and laugh right along with him... I swear when they laugh this hard at something, you cannot help but laugh with them...


My kids are SO fortunate, they have been surrounded by the pacific their entire lives, with the exception of Luke's first 3months. They both love the water. Luke is close to swimming and tests his boundaries. Today at the beach I found myself thinking "Luke is the perfect age for the beach", he loved every second and listened to every word. Minus the end, when he was showering off and ran across the wet surface and fell to the ground on his booty, as he calls it, which lead to a massive strawberry. LOL.


Liem kept poaching the water slowly by himself. When I had him he was practicing his swimming skills. (He thinks he is the next Michael Phelps). I love this picture although it truly makes me sad to leave Hawaii. Look at the background, and where else can you go in the dead of winter for amazing beach time... I think I have taken a lot for granted.

i asked someone... lol. To take our picture. Love Luke in this one, well I love Liem in this one as well. Thanks boys for cooperating so Mommy could have some sort of documentation!!! lol...

Here we are at Pinkys. I saw we because Luke was the photographer. I do not think I had the nerve nor the emotions left to ask someone there to snap a shot of the three of us... I contemplated making dinner here, but Luke and Liem eat nothing I would want for Christmas Eve, I also wanted to make this day special for them. What I did not anticipate was walking into a restaurant with 15 I am so sorry smiles. Maybe I am overreacting but I swear everyone that looked at me made me feel like crying.

I am happy to have the boys, and I am happy to have a special Christmas with just us. They do not know the difference, but being without J again KILLS me. It would not matter if I had 100 people, or 10 people around me, if none of them were J I would still be sad, I hate to say it but it is almost better that it is just us because this way I am not jealous that everyone else is together and we are missing J (sad but honest). I love the MC and the lifestyle it provides, but honestly I want to STOP experiencing everything halfway... I know a lot of people out there have it worse than me, but many have it a ton better and make it look worse than I do. I am just asking (as a Christmas wish so to say) that my hubby is here next Christmas, and at our next child's birth (as we are 0 for 2). Let's move on to a lighter note... LOL

The boys in there Christmas Jammies that Nana Rita sent them. Luke did not care what was under the paper, he just wanted to open one.

VERY lastly, I know I have RAMBLED on and ON, remember though I do not have much adult interaction. This is a Christmas tradition. Since Luke's FIRST Christmas we have taken a picture of him and now them sleeping with 'Twas the Night before Christmas on their chests. I was nervous about Liem's since he is our superstar sleeper, but he slept RIGHT through the flash. I do have to say I cannot see all that much resemblance when they are awake, but when they sleep I see it!

Merry Christmas to everyone, and I truly hope this next year brings nothing but happiness for you ALL!!!