Reunited and it feels soo good!

I am happy to report that Ricardo made it home safe and sound.... Finally!
He had several delays in his trip and didnt arrive until 2am.. about 12hours behind schedule. I guess that's not too bad. After arriving home around 3am we had a late snack from Taco Cabana then Dad/Ricardo showed us some of his cool souvenirs he brought home and just enjoyed being back home.. I'll post more when I get the chance. Take care!




Taken at 2am.. that should explain the faces my kids had. They had fallen asleep waiting to hear word that his plane was actually coming in after many delays.. They were excited once they saw dad!

5 more hours!

Time is moving very slowly it seems.. Ricardo left a message at 2am that he had to spend the night in Manas and was hoping to leave there shortly. I finally spoke with him this afternoon as he landed at BWI..(Baltimore) So happy he's back in the U.S.A! Now we are playing the waiting game here.
Marc and Justin are off to the high school football game this evening. It's a very big game for Steele. I think our high school is the up and coming team in our area. No kidding! Lots of good writeups on our school and the sports programs in it's three years of being open. Anyways we are playing a school from Austin who won state last year so it will be a tough game till the end I think.. Ricky is getting ready to watch his WWE.. He is very big into wrestling!

Well thanks everyone who kept our family in your thoughts and prayers.. We are a very blessed family! I'll post again next week with family pics..

2 MORE DAYS!

We are soo excited that we will be together again. Some days it just felt that the end was soo far away. Now that we are reaching the end of the deployment I can say we made it through and would be able to handle this again should that happen. Crossing my fingers that we can hide from having to deploy again anytime soon, if at all! I am glad that I blogged this whole experience. I don't know how some spouses handle frequent deployments, but it's part of the job and we all have to be prepared for it somehow.
Probably the most challenging thing was driving the kids everywhere they needed to be. Having three boys who had something going on all the time and only one driver caused for some crazy times. I had to make friends really quick when sports started up in August. Ricky is looking forward to taking a bike ride with his dad. Justin is wanting Ricardo to take him golfing, which I am sure all the boys would like to do. I am looking forward to them clinging to dad for a bit and catching a break.. 24 days until we set sail. woo-hoo!!
So here's to anxiously waiting for Friday afternoon to come!
Take care everyone!

16 more days!

I guess it's time for an update. We have had a calendar full of activities since my last posting. From birthday parties, chauferring the kids to and from practices, games, Marc's work, visitors for my birthday, school, breaking up daily arguments, Halloween, to prepping for Ricardo to FINALLY come home have kept us going non-stop.. I am sure to have forgotten something on that list!
Now for the election. This is something that has glued me to the news and becoming more aware of the position that each candidate took on the important issues. I was torn on who to vote for as I agreed with about 50% of McCain's views and 50% of Obamas views. In the end my vote went to McCain, even though I knew it would be a long shot if he would actually win. Given Barak's position on the war, I just couldn't give him my vote. He does, however, have some very good ideas when it comes to trying to fix the economy, education reform, and some very other important issues. Not to mention, he is one heck of a speaker! We should all be blessed to live in America where we have a voice and are able to exercise our rights in the way we did yesterday- whether it was the outcome you wanted or not..
16more days until Ricardo comes home! It has been the long six months. I will be crying tears of happiness come that day.. We already have that day planned out. Ricardo has requested some Dos Equis with Lime- chilled for him, and a nice family dinner at Texas Roadhouse! No problems honoring that request!
Take care everyone.. GOD BLESS THE USA!


pumpkin carving


pumpkin carving


pumpkin carving


drinking "wedding cake" with my mom and aunt.


birthday lunch