Happy V-Day

I know that Valentines day has come and gone, and truthfully Andy and I have never really been big Valentines day people, so this year was no exception. However there is one Valentines day tradition that we will always celebrate, and that is Grandma Oakey's sugar cookies. Each year my Grandma makes sugar cookies for all the grand kids and their children...this year she sent one for each of us: Andy, Noah and I. Of course we devoured them and say THANKS to Grandma for sending them to us! They were delish. Here is a little photo of Noah with his special cookie...unfortunately he isn't old enough to eat his yet, so dad and I will have to take care of that part for him (shucks!).

We also had a Valentines day visitor at our house. Our good friend Bob, who is currently stationed in Korea, came out to visit us for a couple of days. So in honor of his visit, and just because it was V-day...we made a big breakfast with all the fixins....French toast, turkey bacon, eggs, OJ, and even a little strawberries and cream. We had such a fun time and Noah loved meeting his Uncle Bobbo.

Aside from all that fun, things around here have been pretty uneventful. Andy went back to work yesterday after having a week and a half off. It was so great having him home and yesterday I was a little over emotional about him going back. For those of you who aren't aware...Andy is going to be deploying to Afghanistan either late March or early April. I am pretty sure I have mentioned the deployment before, but I can't believe how quickly time is going. This is one time in my life I wish it would stand still. I guess there is really no 'good' time for a deployment, but under the circumstances we are very grateful that Andy has the opportunity to deploy with the US Corps of Engineers as a project manager. Little Noah and I will be moving back to Idaho to spend the year with family. I will definitely need the distractions and the help. I have to remind myself that people in the military have to deal with deployments all the time...and that gives me a little hope for myself that I can get through the next year

So this week starts a slew of family visits...killing two birds with one stone as I say. With Noah's arrival, and Andy leaving...we are grateful that so many of our family are coming to spend some time with us, and I know it will make a big difference to Andy. We will keep everyone posted on details, and all the family fun we have coming over the next few weeks, there are sure to be some good times.