Playing catch up...

Chloe finished up her soccer season this month.  We love how each season she's better than the one before and really takes what she learns and applies it to the game.  We're pretty sure if she continues to play, she will be a defender.  A defender is someone who stays back while the other players run after the ball.  The defender protects the goalie.  When Chloe sees the ball coming towards her, she is supposed to run up to it and kick it as hard as she can towards the goal we are supposed to score in.  It's a lot less movement for her, which of course she likes but we want her to be more active and run the field.  The coach does switch up the kids so they can play all the positions, but she's definitely more favorable to the defender position! :) 

November 13 was a very sad day for us!  That's the day we said our "See you laters" to Brandon.  One of the hardest parts of the day was having to watch Chloe hurt so much knowing that there was nothing I could do to help her.  Chloe and her dad really are best friends.  I don't think I know of a dad and daughter that are as close as Chloe and Brandon.  They are just the cutest when they are together!  The days leading up  to D-Day were spent with Brandon's mom and mamaw.  They flew in to LAX on Thursday, Nov. 11.  That was Veteran's Day so after we picked them up we headed to lunch at Chili's.  They were giving away free meals to active duty and retired military personnel.  It was a very late lunch so after we had lunch, we took them to our favorite place to dessert:  Ruby's Diner.  That was our dinner!  Then we came home and sat around and talked.  I absolutely adore his family and we were so excited that they were there to see him off.  They didn't get that chance when he left for Iraq back in '05 and also weren't able to make it for his homecoming from Iraq either.  The next day we took off to Knott's Berry Farm.  They were also having a Veteran's Day special and had already planned to go before we knew they were coming.  They didn't mind coming along.  Mamaw had been to KBF when she was 9 years old so it was pretty cool that she got to go again because she never would.  She didn't ride a single ride but had a great time!  She's so cute!  That night after Chloe went to bed, we finished up Brandon's packing and finalizing everything and then played cards.  I love Rummy and Brandon hardly plays with me so I was very excited.  Then we headed to bed.  It was a LONG night let me tell you!  But we made it through.  The next morning we had to load up all of Brandon's gear and Chloe had her last soccer game of the season.  We were excited because his mamaw had seen Chloe play in South Carolina but his mom hasn't been to a game so it was a special treat.  They got to watch her play and get her trophy!  It was a great morning.  Right after the game, we headed to where the guys have to meet and wait, and wait until the buses come to take them away.  Yes I meant to write wait twice.  We were there for hours!!  And most of the time Brandon was busy so we didn't get to spend all those hours with him.  It totally sucked but we understand they had a lot of things to take care of before they left.  We made sure to take lots of pictures to document the day! 



packing up his gear :(

waiting at the airport to pick up grandma and mamaw.

there they are!

Ruby's for dessert.

standing in line for a roller coaster.

the loves of my life! :)

we were next! :)

Chloe and her great grandma.

lunch at TGI Fridays in Knotts Berry Farm.

wieners!

headed home after a long but fun day!



The next day was the soccer game and the day we had to say our "See you laters!" :(  I already posted pics of the game, so here are pics from seeing Brandon off...

Yea that day pretty much sucked as much as a day can suck!  But I have tried my best to be strong for our daughter.  I never realized how much she feeds off our emotions until this day.  If I was sad, then she'd be sad and cry and that's the last thing I want.  I want her to know that it's ok to be sad, but don't be sad because someone else is.  If she's genuinely missing her daddy (which I know she does every day!) then it's ok to have a moment.  Cry it out and then go back to kicking this deployments butt!  ha ha!  Once he left, we started our countdown!  We made a chain link our of construction paper and every morning we would tear off a link for the previous day.  I also have a spreadsheet on Excel called a Donut of Misery.  You download it to your computer in an excel document and it calculates a percentage everyday.  You have your "completed" percentage and your "to go" percentage.  Like today, Jan. 24, my DOM says "40% completed" and ""60% to go!"  Which means we are almost to our halfway point!  That's been my main goal, to make it to halfway.  Once you get over that hump, you're on the downhill slope! :)  Luckily, (or not so luckily depending on how you look at it!) our halfway point is Valentine's day weekend (Sat. Feb 12 and Sun. Feb. 13).  I think I am totally blessed that since I can't have my honey home that I get an equally cool little girl to be my Valentine! :)  I have lots of surprises planned for her!  I'm so excited!  Once I have all the details ironed out, I will share my plans!  Anyway, this post has gone on long enough and I'm all over the map with my posting.  I will leave you with a picture or two from Thanksgiving.  Our first major holiday without Brandon.  I cooked as I normally would.  I wanted to keep everything as normal as possible.  Just because Brandon isn't here, doesn't mean we can't carry on with our lives.  I want to keep our routine as normal as possible!  I will post about December another day!