WELCOME HOME DADDY & MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had an AWESOME Christmas this year! We were waiting anxiously for Carson to come home for his 2 week R&R and after 10 days of traveling from Iraq he finally made it late on the 25th. But we had already discussed that "our Christmas" would be on the 26th. It'll make for a nice story to tell the kids when they are older.

So we laid out the stockings, scattered the reindeer food in the lawn, and the kids put on their PJ's to go and pick up Daddy. The fell asleep 15 minutes into the ride to the airport. So I was able to welcome Carson home in quiet. We got home, put the kids to bed, and proceeded to help Santa bring out all the presents.

We slept lightly knowing that the kids would be coming into our bedroom. They were all groggy and when they walkedin and then they froze. They stared at daddy and they looked back and forth between me and him a few times and then timidly said, "daddy?" He smiled and said, "hey guys!" That's all they needed. They were on him from then on out. "Uppie daddy, play with me daddy, read me a story daddy, i'm hungry daddy, freeze daddy! etc . . . "

It was a wonderful holiday! It was great to have Carson home for Christmas. The kids got spoiled by their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and of course Santa. The toys overflowed and the wrapping paper covered the floors. Just like it should be. And we had a great Christmas dinner with our family and friends. And we were able to ring the New Year in together as a family with a couple of families who are such great friends of ours out here in Lawton. Even the kids stayed up to ring in the New Year, however they were a bit grumpy. So the next day some of us took naps.

While Carson was home we were able to do a lot of fun familiy activities. We went to the Wichita Wildlife Refuge to spot the wild animals and visit the museum. We also went to Chuck E Cheese to go and have some family fun. I'm pretty sure that Carson had more fun than the kids did since the games were one toke each. He's a big kid at heart. And went to the movies to see Alvin and the Chipmunks and Enchanted (both are awesome and we're going to buy them!). And then day before Carson left, we went bowling on post. Caryn beat me by 8 points! Granted she had guiderails on her lane and I didn't, but that either tells you how good she is or how bad I am. I'd rather believe that she's that good! :-) And the rest of the time we hung out and enjoyed being together as a family.

And Carson and I were also able to go out to dinner to a great japanese hibachi grill and enjoy movie and get some alone time.

We both agreed that time seemed to slow since he was home and that it felt like he had been home for a month instead of 2 weeks. He definitely deserved a vacation.

I couldn't resist posting these pictures. Caryn put her Sleeping Beauty crown on Carson. And of course I ran to get my cell phone to take a picture. The second one is a picture of him trying to look more manly. I don't think it worked though, he still looks so pretty! LOL

He is now back in Iraq to complete his tour. He'll be home toward the end of this summer though and we can't wait since we already miss him. But he's our hero and we love him very much!