Night At The Pool...

While I talked about this on the new blog, I figured I may as well share it here as well. I want to bring this space back to being all about the boys and just life. So here's a little documenting of something they love.

Being in Southern California, with this nearly year-round warm weather, we spend from around mid-March until late-October at our neighborhood pool. In fact, this month, we've been there almost every single day. The boys both love it! Caleb loves jumping in and being thrown up to do flips, etc. He's definitely still in the daredevil stage! Sam was once there, but he's much more cautious now. However, he's slowly getting back to that once-daredevil self and jumping in again. With that said, he's been wanting me to get videos of him jumping in. It's not often that I actually remember to bring the waterproof camera, but I happened to the other night and Sam decided he wanted to make a YouTube video about it. His goal right now is to be the next big YouTube kid, ha! I don't know that he'll quite hit that mark, but we'll sure try and start making videos more often!

Here are the boys at the pool. I love that I caught Caleb doing the Hulk Smash move in the pool, ha. He's always reenacting his favorite superheroes...

If you like it, make a comment. Sam is super excited about seeing what people think of his first video...

Homeschooling Adventures And The Letter R...

The past month has been a great one for the Moore house. Samuel has gotten involved with two separate homeschool groups, Caleb started his very own speech class, and we've been trucking along with pre-k at home. I can't believe Easter is just around the corner!!!

Sunset on the beach...

With our move date getting closer, we want to take any opportunity possible to soak up our favorite places as much as we can, so a day off meant we better hit the road. So after a late start to our day, we decided to head west. With clear blue skies, we knew it would be the perfect day to sit back and enjoy the sunset on the beach.

It turned out fairly well, aside from us not thinking about the fact that a Saturday night would mean lots of campers. The beach that we had planned on hanging out at has a great view from a cliff, but that cliff was jam-packed full of RVs, so after walking the beach for awhile, we headed a little further south to a more open beach -- no cliff, but way less crowded. Here are a few pics from our time on the beach (South Beach) -- notice the beach itself was nearly empty, so I guess everyone just wanted to stay in their tents/RVs...

Obadiah and James look like they just had a fight and refuse to look at each other...

Such a little old man...

A few guys fishing -- I never thought you'd be able to catch anything so close to the beach, but they kept bringing them in one after another!

I love the pebble beaches...

And all the driftwood...

So does Obadiah...

He kept wanting to eat it...

With all of the temptation, who can blame him?

It was soon after that last shot that we headed to the next beach to actually sit and watch the sunset. By the time we watched the sunset, the temperature had drastically changed from what it was earlier in the evening. The truck claimed that it was 52 outside, but with the wind, it felt much worse. Nevertheless, we had fun and came prepared with blankets -- which we stayed under while Oba sniffed the air. Here are some pictures from that beach (Pacific Beach)...

Trying to get some energy out, and possibly warm up a little...

While being watched by the birds...

Comfortable on the bed of the truck and ready to relax...

There it goes...

I love sitting on the beach when it's not crowded. It's so peaceful and relaxing. It was great just having the three of us together with no agenda or rush to get back. If Liv was here, it would've been absolutely perfect...

An eventful day...

Overall, today was a pretty good day. James got home at noon, then we headed off to buy tickets for Eclipse. Since I figured it would be sold out, we went first to buy tickets for a later showing with plans of grabbing lunch after we bought them. Well, much to my surprise, none of the showings were sold out! That threw me off, as I wasn't expecting that, so we just picked the next available showing. We had just enough time to grab James' Big Mac (he has been craving that since he got back!) and get back in time for the previews.

I was quite surprised at the audience demographics. I was expecting a room full of teeny boppers, but that wasn't exactly the case. Instead, it was a room full of middle-aged women and a few husbands here and there. Don't let that fool you though! They were head over heels for Edward and Jacob! I heard the deep sighs, the giggles (WAY too many of those), and every other sound you'd expect from a teeny bopper that's in love with, say, The Jonas Brothers -- not to mention the shout-outs to "Team Jacob" and "Team Edward." It was kind of comical to observe.

We thoroughly enjoyed the movie, minus the loud giggles coming from the girl next to us every few minutes. I would definitely say it was better than New Moon. James said he liked it, but he thought they should've stopped after Twilight (the original film), haha. He thought that was the best one so far, and said that sequels are rarely better than the original -- with the exception of Harry Potter (HP3 is our favorite).

Speaking of Harry Potter, they aired a preview for the final movie coming out this fall. Guess I know what we'll be doing come November! Just like Twilight, we were late in getting involved in the series, but once we did, we were hooked! Well, I was hooked. It took some convincing to get James to watch Harry Potter initially -- I had to prove that one of his best friends enjoyed them and it was then that he finally gave them a shot. It was all downhill from there. In fact, before Liv died, one of James' requests for R&R was a relaxing day at home with a HP marathon. The newest one came out after he deployed, so he wanted to catch up on it and figured what better way to spend time as a family with our baby girl, than relaxing with some HP. Too bad we ended up watching them under sadder circumstances...

Well, that was quite the tangent. Anyways...After the movie, we headed out to pick up James' new wedding ring. He somehow lost his original ring during the deployment, so we ordered him a new Tungsten ring last week. It was of top priority, as James didn't like walking around without one on. He said it looked like he was having an affair with a married woman. Nerd. It's now the opposite since I sent mine in for them to do that rhodium plating thing (I guess that's what happens when you have white gold, which eventually turns yellow), and it's still not done. With his original wedding ring lasting nearly 8 years, here's hoping we don't have to buy another one for 8 more years!

To end the day, we took Obie on a 2 mile walk. That may have not been the smartest idea, since our basset is an old man now. He's not as energetic as he once was. He did well on the first mile, as he pranced along while we walked. However, by the second mile, he was done and ready to lay down. I guess there will not be any more long walks in Oba's future. Those short little legs just can't take it...

So close, but so far away...

Boy am I ready for this deployment to be OVER! Today marks 11 months since James deployed, which means we hopefully only have one month left. Now whether or not James gets home by that mark remains to be seen. Nevertheless, we'll just hope and pray that they get his butt home safe and sound within the next 31 days.

With that being said, the end is definitely in sight. Unfortunately, like with any deployment, that last month tends to drag on. Time always seems to go slower the closer you get to the end. We're so ready for it to be over that we almost focus too much on the countdown. Staying busy is key, but it's hard sometimes...especially right now. I lack the motivation to really get out and go/see/do. Really, I'd rather just be a hermit and hang out this last month.

Over the last few months, I was fortunate enough to have several visits with friends and family. Well, all of that has come to a close and for the rest of the deployment, I'll just have the crazy basset hound here to keep me company. It's almost kind of nice to finally have some time to decompress after all the visits and craziness that came with it. I know I've got plenty to put on my to-do list if I find the motivation to work on it. Between the upcoming move (if we ever get those official orders!) and vacation ahead, there's plenty to get done. That elliptical has collected way too much dust over the last month, and I suppose some spring cleaning is in order. Now lets just see if I make a dent in either of those endeavors.

I can say that neither of those tasks were accomplished today. Instead, I worked on my 10-year afghan. Back when we first lost Jake in 2003, my aunt mailed me 16 skeins of yarn with the instructions to teach myself how to crochet and make an afghan. At the time, James was off in the field for a month of training and she figured this would get my mind off of losing our son. Well...I'm still working on that afghan. I touch it for maybe a week a year. I know, pretty impressive! So far, in 2010, I've surpassed that week-a-year standard so maybe I'll beat my own goal and get it done before the 10 year mark.

Being that I was at least motivated enough to work on that afghan for a few hours, I had to find a way to keep Obadiah entertained. Without some kind of treat, he would sit and whine at me all afternoon, so I gave him one of his favorites...a Checkup (an edible treat that cleans his teeth). When I got it out from the treat cabinet, he got so excited that he ran straight to his bed. He hasn't had one of these delicious wonders since I was pregnant with Liv, so he went nuts. He kept trying to shake paws without me even bending down to receive the shake, so he was basically waving at me. It's cute to see him work so hard to prove that he deserves a reward, ha. Well, from this picture, you can tell he was basically in heaven...

Clearly, the worries of the world are tossed by the wayside when eating one of these. That is...until a camera is brought out and interrupts the event...

I'm just glad he does a good job of cleaning up after himself...

I have a feeling he'll be getting plenty of those Checkups during the next month while I try and find things to keep me busy...

Ups and Downs...

So the day started out fairly well. Oba didn't interrupt my sleep all that much so I actually woke up refreshed. As I got going, I felt somewhat encouraged with the day ahead. In fact, so much so that I figured I'd be up for going to our church service tonight. I got together a list of errands I thought I'd run ahead of time and then head to church afterwards. Well, the errands got shot, because I got distracted with getting on the elliptical (I guess that's not such a bad thing!) and getting some things together for a care package to James. By the time I finally got ready to leave and get Oba in his crate, the church service had already started. I wasn't too bummed about that though, since that meant I could sneak in and avoid talking to anyone. So I finally got there and the room was dark, as they were playing some video about the Islam faith overseas. I snuck in and sat down where there was an area that didn't seem to be around any parents of babies. Unfortunately, that lasted about 3 minutes. Not long after I sat down, someone came in and sat behind me with their infant daughter. Lovely. I couldn't help but focus more on every noise coming from the infant rather than the video and later the words spoken by our pastor. So when I had the chance, I got up and moved elsewhere. However, it didn't help. By that point, I was done. All I could think about was Liv and my day went straight down hill. As much as I fought to try and focus and put that in the back of my head, there was no use. So I got up and just left.

Every time I think I'm ready for this crap, I get proven wrong. I wish James was home. I wish I didn't have to deal with this alone right now. As I was walking out of the church, a friend saw me in the foyer and yelled my name in excitement, but all I could do was smile, wave, and keep walking. I couldn't help but just break down once I got to the car. This freaking sucks. I hate that we have to go through this again. I can't help but look at those with their healthy little infants, without a care in the world, without much frustration. I want that to be us, but it never will be. Even if God does bless us with a healthy child, we'll still struggle with all of this. We'll never forget the hurt we've gone through with our first three kids. Man...is it June yet? I think tonight's experience just reiterated the fact that I'm going to have to keep my distance from our church for a little while. Apparently I'm not strong enough to deal with that yet.

So after that joyous experience, I scratched the errands that I had figured I could do after church, and just went home. Oba, of course, ran straight to the closet. So there we sat...I in Liv's room thinking about her, and Oba in the closet. Such fun. I gave up for the night, and decided I'd go to bed early. Being that it was only 7:30pm, I was kind of pushing it since I usually stay up until 2-3am. However, I figured I may as well look forward to a better day tomorrow. Luckily, something unexpected happened. My phone started blinking while I was sitting on the glider, signaling that I had an email. It was from none other than the hubby. Nice surprise. Just when I needed it, there it was. I went to the laptop hoping that meant he would soon get on instant message, which sure enough was the case. He apparently had quite the crappy day himself, but at least we could vent to each other. I may not be able to fathom what he's going through - you know, all the crap that you deal with when you're at war - but I can at least be there to listen and support him in it. It was a true blessing that he was able to stay online for over an hour. By the end of our conversation, I was in much better spirits. Amazing what a little conversation with your best friend can do to help calm the situation. We were both able to go away in a better mood.

Being the night owl that I am, I didn't bother with calling it a night after my conversation with Jamie. I decided I may as well make dinner, rather than skip it like originally planned when I had first gotten home. I never have much of an appetite when James is gone, but even more so lately. While pregnant, I had to force myself to eat so that Liv wouldn't be starved to death, but with it just being me now, I really don't care if I skip a meal. I'll eat when I'm hungry. Anyways, so I ate and ended up hanging out with Oba for a bit. After my lovely evening, I figured it called for a bit longer on the elliptical. Oba followed me to the office and sat there staring at me while I did that. It's almost nice that he can't handle being alone at times. He is always there to keep you company...even when that evil elliptical machine gets in the way.

Now here I sit at almost 1am, and not even remotely tired. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Depression subsided so now I'm not ready to go sleep the sorrows away. Instead, I guess I'll see if this Netflix rental is any good. Here's to another crazy day of ups and downs. I'd love it if one day soon it was just full of the ups part and none of the downs. Hum...maybe in a few more months...

The attempt has been made...

So after laying low for the last 9 months, I finally blew the dust off of our elliptical and tested it out. It's been forever since I've used that thing, but figured it's about time. Not only do I need to get back in shape, but "they" claim exercise helps combat depression -- so what better time than now? With that being said, I sure didn't last as long as I anticipated. Baby steps, I suppose. In time, I'm sure I'll be able to get back to using it for an hour a day. Until then, 5-10 minutes at a time will just have to do.

To go along with exercise, after watching Food Inc. tonight, I'm a bit more motivated to buy organic foods. I've never been one to fall for the organic label. I'm too cheap to spend that much on food. I usually go with whatever's on sale each week. Even then, it has to be a really good deal with coupons for me to get it. James mocked me (all in fun, of course!) when I got excited over saving 80% on our grocery bill through coupons during my last trip to the Albertsons. I definitely couldn't do that shopping at places like Trader Joe's and those like it. Shopping for the more natural options just seem to cost more. However, that movie really shows the ugly side to the manufactured foods that we all eat - not to mention the life of those poor animals. It's just about enough to make you sick...