One Week Down!

We made it through the first week of this deployment. Yay! One week down, five to go. We talk to Bruce every day and the kids talk about him all the time. They miss him and so do I, but we're doing well and keeping things as normal as possible around here. This past week actually flew by. The kids and I were in Huntsville until Tuesday and we had a great visit with the fam. Owen, Kathryn, and Sullivan were worn out by the time we got in the car to come home Tuesday afternoon. They all fell asleep within minutes of getting on the interstate.

While we were there, I went to the commissary on the arsenal. I brought back about two weeks worth of dry goods. I still had to stop for milk, meat, cheese, and eggs when we got back, but even with that stop I still saved about $80 off our grocery bill. Next time, I'm taking a cooler and shopping for meat and dairy there, it would probably save me another $20. That would ultimately save us $200 a month. I guess that sounds about right. Our monthly grocery bill was about $200 less when we were shopping on base in Biloxi.

Yesterday we got back to business as usual. We went to the gym, the grocery store, and took Owen and Sullivan to get their hair cut. Owen got a short cut like Daddy's that should definitely help keep him cool for a few weeks and Sullivan just got a little trim. After Owen got his hair cut he told Kathryn to rub his head. He said "Feel it! It feels like a teddy bear!" That's exactly what Bruce said to Owen last week after he got his deployment hair cut. It was very sweet. Sullivan told me she wanted to grow her hair out last week. Now, I'm not sure how much stock I should put in that, (this is the same little girl who says "up" when she means "down" and says "it's too loud" when she wants you to turn the volume up) but I think her hair is thick enough now to grow it out a little.

I'll be honest, that short cut makes her look like a baby and I like that. ;) It also fits her personality - spunky and care-free. Recently though a few people have asked me why I keep one girl's hair short and one girl's hair long or they'll ask me if Sullivan is a "tomboy." I guess the big hair bows and dresses made them wonder. (Detect any sarcasm?) I mean, they're two different kids...they can't have two different hair cuts? Anyway, I don't want Sullivan to ever think she has to wear her hair short (or long for that matter) or that she's not as girly as Kathryn or that if she's not girly and not into the Rapunzel look that there's anything wrong with that. I want Sullivan to be herself and right now she says she wants it long like "Latryn's" so we're going to make it happen.

Today is our "celebration day." The kids earned enough stars this week on their chore/behavior chart to have an "ice cream party." Woohoo! Owen, Kathryn, and Sullivan are working so hard to be good and help out around here while Bruce is gone. I am so proud of them and their "team effort" attitude. I tell them all the time that when Daddy's gone it's important to work as a team and they seem to understand what that means now. Don't get me wrong, I'm still breaking up fights and reminding them constantly to not aggravate each other/push each other/steal each other's food, but in general it's easy to see they're growing up a little more every day and things are getting easier all the time. This really is a completely different ball game than last summer.

I know this was a very random, scatter-brained post, but it's really to keep Bruce posted more than anything else. Like I said in an earlier post, I don't want him to miss a thing and maybe this will help him feel a bit more connected while he's away. Bless you if you read the whole thing!

I'll try to get a picture up tonight to go with this post. I hope everyone out there is having a good day!