Preschool Update!

Preschool is going very well. Noah adjusted so quickly! He has never cried when I would drop him off. It makes me a proud mama! He is a very hyperactive kid and Noah's teacher is very aware. She always tells me she has to be one step ahead of him. He just gets excited when he's around other kids which comes off aggressive. There's not much I can do but give him the "no pushing, no hitting, keep your hands to yourself" talk. His teacher understands Noah completely which is a relief. (She says her son was the same way). Participating in class seems to be going well. From what I have seen, he sits in circle time, listens, sings, counts...all for the most part, just like any other 2 or 3 year old. I love watching him in class and seeing him painting, coloring, playing with other kids. It's any parent's dream to see their child love school, participating, and listening!

What I love most about this school is that the parents are 100% involved. If you don't know what a Co-Op preschool is, it is administered and maintained by the parents, taught by trained teachers, and each class has 2 working parents working at a time.  Through the year we are required to participate in 3 fundraisers, the Spring Fair, serve as a working parent, and have a year long job. We have meetings we must attend every month to talk about fundraisers, the budget, how to improve the school, etc.  My year long job is to "push back" all the furniture, tables, chairs in the 3 year old classroom. The school is located at a Presbyterian Church so every Friday I have to move everything so they can come in on the weekend for meetings. There is one other person that does the same job so we recently decided to trade off every other month. I also love that Kamryn can come to school with me and I am able to put her into the nursery while I work in Noah's class. She has an awesome caretaker who happens to be the ombudsman for the Thetis (Greg's boat). An Ombudsman is basically our communicator for the boat. Ours personally sends out email updates of what is going on in the area and on base, plans gatherings for all the spouses to get together, and is an advocate for all family members. She's amazing and extremely helpful. Not to mention Kamryn and Noah love her! ;)

Anywho, I worked in Noah's classroom today. We brought cupcakes to school for Noah's birthday which was so fun! Although, the cupcakes were pretty melted, the kids loved them! Here's some photos from the day :)

Hand prints for their "Fall Mural"

 The new kitchen...the kids were definitely fighting for a spot :) I mean come on, the stove lights up! ;)

 Decorating their journals :)

 <3

 Snack time!

 Birthday Celebration!

And of course we did funfetti cupcakes ;)

Greg Update: He is doing great! He is learning a lot, which was overwhelming at first, but today he said things are getting better and he feels like he knows what he is doing :)

Noah's 3rd Birthday Party!

Holy smokes another year has gone by! Unfortunately, just like last year, Greg will be gone on Noah's actual Birthday so we threw Noah a party a little early :) Pretty sure all the kids had a blast. We got a bounce house with a water slide and put out all of Noah's backyard toys. He got some amazing gifts and pretty obsessed with all of them! Just wanted to share some pictures from the day. :) Can't believe he is turning 3!!!! Ah!!

 He had a lot of friends guiding him through opening presents :)

 Cute book called, "Goodnight Ocean" had a 270' Cutter just like Greg's boat!

We were reading the book tonight and Noah loved pointing out where Daddy waved goodbye to us.

 Greg Busick Everybody!!! Woo!! ;)

 And poor Kamryn...She didn't really like it..

 And the Birthday Boy...OBSESSED!!

And Greg is Off!!

Off to sea that is...

I can't believe it's been almost a year since Greg has gone underway. I feel like we just moved out of Cape May! I know we were just separated for 3 months, but it's a different feeling when you watch that boat push off that pier. Some people wonder why I watch the boat leave. For one, I have always enjoyed watching the boat leave. I love taking pictures and seeing the look on Noah's face. To him, boats are one of the coolest things ever, especially Daddy's! It also give me a sense of, for lack of a better word, "closure". Which is not necessarily a good thing, but it hits me that he is gone and it's going to be a while. Rip the band-aid off and get back to being mom and keeping our kids happy. Informing my kids (well, Noah) that Daddy is keeping us safe by doing what he is doing and that we will see him again when his boat is back on that pier.
Noah took everything very well which makes me think he still doesn't quite understand when I tell him that Greg is going to be gone for "this" long. I am guessing after a few days he will start asking questions. We will see!

We waited on the pier for an hour until the boat left. Talk about the longest hour ever! Especially because Greg's job requires him to be inside, whereas in Cape May he was a deckhand and was outside. Also we could stand right next to the boat, where in Cape May we had to stand pretty far back.  I was jealous of the wives who were able to talk to their husbands from the pier! ;)

 As the boat was backing out, Greg came out real quick to wave goodbye. 

The only moment I couldn't hold back the tears. 

Love you babe!

We had a very good day today. As the boat pulled off the pier, Noah and I were standing at the edge and saw a dolphin. I've never been that close to a dolphin before! It was amazing! After that we drove home along the beach to see if we could see the boat from a distance and we did! It's always nice to see that one last look before it disappears into the horizon. We came home and played with Noah's new toys from his birthday party (new post coming soon, I hope!). We made a "Kisses From Daddy" jar today to countdown the days until he comes home using Hershey Kisses.  After that went to dinner with some friends. I am feeling pretty positive about this patrol. So I hope it sticks. I have experienced only a couple of super long patrols (to me) and to know that this one is not as bad as the others, makes me feel better. All in all, I am excited for Greg. He finally gets to do his job. He finally gets to do what he has been trained to do for the last 10 months! He finally gets to get qualified for being underway.  It's a good feeling knowing that your husband is good at his job, works hard, and is now able to show what he can do. I miss him already, and have already sent him an email and some pictures. I'm sure I will keep sending emails and, of course, let the constant "email checking" begin!

Last night with Daddy <3

First Day of Preschool!

Wow, can't believe my baby is at Preschool right at this moment! I am so proud of him! Getting ready this morning could not have gone more smoothly. We had breakfast together and then got dressed (easily! Which is hard to come by some days!) As I sit here wanting to throw out so many words at once, I take a breath and realize that this is a good thing for Noah AND for me. Not only am able to spend some quality time with Kamryn (which I am extremely excited for, what mom wouldn't be?!), I will be able to do some things for myself; like workout, morning dates with friends, get stuff done, or even blog...

I am so excited that Greg was able to come with us to drop Noah off at school. He has been on leave for 3 weeks and of course today was his first day back to work. He was able to go to work at 6:30 this morning, workout and come back home to drop Noah off, and then back to work! I think I would have been way more emotional if Greg wasn't there! Ha. 

  

Super excited! He was ready an hour early!

 Cubby!!

 When we got to school, Noah went right in and straight to the toys. He said hi to Miss. Theresa, he told me "aw I'm going to miss you. No hitting" haha. He gave us a kiss and I made sure to tell him we love him and that we were going to come back and pick him up. He was completely fine. As we walked out the door, Miss Theresa handed him a puzzle and he sat right down and played. My job was done and it was time for me to leave. Proud and emotional mama over here! We will see how his day went....until then! :)

We are Officially in Key West!

We're here and this place is BEAUTIFUL! I honestly feel like I am on vacation. We arrived in Key West on July 24th. It's been almost 2 weeks and we are slowly getting settled. Greg's Mom, Cathy flew with the kids and I which I will forever be grateful for! We were both very nervous to fly in the middle of the night. We assumed it could go either way; Noah overtired and a hot mess or a perfect angel ;). Well I must say the kids did AMAZING. They slept most of the way and there were no tantrums! Honestly, the flight went quick and is kind of a blur to me now. We had 3 stops and there was no layover; we got off one plane and on to the next. I feel lucky, the airline lost only 1 of our 7 pieces of luggage! haha. Unfortunately it was one suitcase with ALL the kids close. Luckily, they found it and it was delivered to us the next day.

Noah was very excited to see Daddy <3

While Cathy was here, we were able to unpack all the boxes and put everything where it needed to be. This house is a lot smaller than our house in Cape May so it was definitely a challenge to find a place for everything. I am starting to feel like we were very spoiled in Cape May. We had closets that were empty in that house! Now we are struggling to find a home for everything! As much as I would love to put photos of our house, it's just not ready for that. We are slowly putting things on the walls but there are things we want to do before showing it off ;) 

Don't worry, we didn't unpack the whole time Cathy was here! We went to a couple beaches, visited the boat, and enjoyed the community pool as well...

Of course when we first got here we had to check out the beach...This is Smathers Beach...

We also checked out the downtown area. Being down there REALLY made me feel like I was on vacation. There was live music, outside bars, pools, vendors, and lots of entertainment. 

Another evening, we decided to grab dinner and bring it out to the beach. We ate and went swimming! The water is SO warm!!

 Visiting the Boat!

 We also drove about 35 miles to a beach called Bahia Honda. It's gorgeous! It's a beach Greg heard about from a friend that has actual sand (not rocky.) We all enjoyed the day. A sprinkled a little at one point but with it being so hot and the water so warm, it didn't bother us!

Found a good spot to watch the sunset on base by our house right by the water..

The swimming pool was a big hit for Noah. He has gone from holding our hands and stepping in the water to full on running and jumping!

Greg and I were finally able to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary (thank you Cathy for watching the kids!). He surprised me with where we were going for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Latitudes. We took a water taxi to an island where the restaurant faces the Gulf of Mexico where you can watch the sunset.

First we walked around the downtown area and grabbed a drink before leaving. 

 Dinner at Latitudes..

Beautiful view from our table...

Amazing Food! 

Greg had the Yellowtail Snapper

 I had the Tenderloin, it was DELICIOUS!

Last night we enjoyed the sunset as a family! <3

We are settling in very nicely around here. We realized that our house is in an area with not many kids but just down the street and over the bridge, there are a bunch of kids and a big park. We have been hanging out over there most nights meeting new people. Everyone is very welcoming which is always comforting! 

Well that's all the time I really have on blogging...back to the kids! ;)