But anyway, as the post title would infer, today was another big day for our family, deployment day.  This is Troy’s 7th? deployment, my 6th, Jalen’s 5th, Jordan’s 4rd. can you even imagine?

We dropped Troy off at the ship this morning, came back home for some breakfast and to settle some nerves and then we headed out to Hickam AFB (Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam) and waited out by the channel where the ship would come by. We brought a blanket, a snack, some bottles of water and umbrellas and waited.



I scoped out a good spot.

then right before the ship started to come along, these neighbors came and gathered right in the view of my wide angle lens (hello 10-22mm).

I snapped what I could while helping point out where Troy was on the ship and we waved.  I must say it went better than I thought it might. I’m glad the boys didn’t lose their minds.



We are looking ahead. thankful that he does not have to complete this whole deployment and will be home pretty soon to report to school and a new job. one with a desk. on shore.

We welcome prayers for comfort and peace and the safety of Troy and his shipmates. Thank you again for being the best ever.

Love Love and Blog you Later,

Joscie, rhymes with bossy. :)

and in other good news, I got an email from the lens repair company and they say my 50mm is repaired and on it’s way back to me, yay! I’ve missed you my sweet little lens!  I took all these shots with my 105mm macro, so I’m standing about 6 feet away from these projects to photograph! crazy, isn’t it!  and my other sweet new lens is on it’s way too, I can hardly wait!

The pen tablet class that I am taking over at JessicaSprague.com is in it’s final week.  I’m sad to see it coming to an end, especially since with all the sickness and busy-ness going on around here, I only finished the first week.  I am hoping to catch up on my lessons soon and hoping to figure out why my wacom intuos 3 does not play well with CS4 on my laptop.  works well with the desktop, but not the laptop. Anyway, Jessica is encouraging us to participate in the pentablet contest over at wacom, so I’m hoping to get in on that action.

Tuesday is new Digi Kit Release day over at Two Peas in a Bucket and there is a new designer named Vinnie Pearce and she’s brought a SLEW of new digi goodies to the store.  Can I just say, I seriously picked up a bunch of new kits today. Jen Martakis, Wilna Furstenburg, Tricia Chapman, Vinnie Pearce. now that it’s all downloaded, unzipped, backed up on all the drives and I’ve blogged these cards I can get my digiscrap on.

on a personal note, we got news last week that Troy’s deployment is being extended a month, boo!  The boys are crushed.  The good news, the ship was in port so we got a chance to skype with Troy.  It is such a blessing to see his handsome face and hear him laugh (and make him laugh).  We read books, we showed off new items/school work. so many kinds of awesome.  Troy’s birthday is coming up in a few days and I encouraged him to pick up a birthday present for himself at the exchange.  I had wanted to get him something good, but didn’t really want to trust it to the mail, no offense USPS, you know I love you- see the title of this post? anyway, he got an iTouch so he can now watch all the movies/listen to music/read books via Kindle app, so we’re stoked about that too.

I hope you’re having a blessed day, I know I am.

Love Love and blog you again soon,

Joscie, rhymes with bossy.

This picture was taken earlier this week. This bowl is from a sally foster fundraiser last year or the year before, place mat from target.   I was just struck with how well they went together.  Probably why I was so drawn to the place mats in the first place, and I’ve only realized this now.  Jordan enjoying one of his favorite treats of all time. Scooby Doo Macaroni and Cheese. in all it’s orangey goodness.

The days have been passing me by.  This past week, Jordan’s preschool was closed for fall break.  So I have had him home with me while Jalen has had to continue on to school every day.  We had grand plans to go to Bishop Museum, the beach, the water park, the pool… and on Wednesday Jordan relapsed into that blasted fever/cough/sneezing thing again. I really, really am truly sick of sickness.  I know there are kids out there who are sicker, so I am still thankful that it is only a cold or whatever. but still. I hate it for the little one.

In news of Troy’s deployment, there is about two weeks left.  They are doing an exercise and going to pull into port I think one more time briefly before heading home.  It’s almost real. woo hoo!  These past few months have gone by pretty well. no crying spells from the boys, but sad comments of I miss when dad was here. I wish dad was home. and those types of heart wrenching comments.  I am also not looking forward to saying goodbye again in January when he leaves for a 6 month deployment.  I just think it may be harder on the boys knowing what’s coming up in an even longer version. anyway, I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it.  Also, Troy got promoted on October 1st to CWO3.  The best part other than the raise? a new ID card. On the day I went for my current Military ID card photo, I got up and washed my then short hair and I think the power went out or something crazy like that because I did not have time to blow it dry. my hair looked crazy and the camera was mounted on the desk.  nothing like an under the chin black and white webcam looking picture to have to show to every one.  every time i go on the base, to check in at the doctors, pick up a prescription or go into a military store I have to whip out that little bit of ugliness everytime and I am excited to try my luck again for a better picture when Troy gets back. I’d show it to you, but thankfully there’s a law against copying it… and surely that applies to taking a picture or scanning it and showing it here, ha! I wonder if I can bring my own picture on a thumb drive? ha. as if.

Another lesson learned/taught this week.  I have come to accept that I have slight OCD tendencies and have passed these on to my precious boys. (haha) I am not a fan of messy food.  You know those pictures of babies with food all over their faces? I am completely grossed out and don’t think those are cute pictures.  When we eat, we all have napkins and wipe as necessary.  In fact, if my child does not have a napkin, he has been known to wipe said mess on shirt or shorts or whine, i need a naaakin!  One day this week, I made jordan a peanut butter and orange marmalade sandwich for lunch and set it on the table.  I called to him, your lunch is on the table.  I walked into my scraproom for something trivial and heard him in the bathroom and the water running. I thought to my self, self- good job, he is washing his hands without a reminder! yay! but then as I walk back into the kitchen, he says, “Mom, my camera had peanut butter on it” (because he brought his camera to the table, doesn’t everyone bring their camera to meals, ha) in his best problem solving voice, “but it’s okay, ’cause I washed it off”. What?!  Your little kid digital camera?! oh son. we don’t put our electronic toys in the water, but thank you for trying to clean it up right away.  Let me take a look.  so the LCD seemed to be out.  the camera still made the noises like it was still taking pictures, so i just set it aside to dry.  and Lo and Behold. 2 days later, it’s working again. yay for small miracles (see picture below). :)

Also this week. We were running into the Navy Commissary to pick up a few items and in the time it took us to get through there, it went from dark clouds to biblical downpour with no end in sight.  I waited a minute then decided we’d just have to make a run for it.  We were all very wet, especially me, since I had to stand outside the car and buckle Jordan into his car seat.  The boys absolutely loved it.  They have never played in the rain and so enjoyed it.  We dried off with the millions of napkins in the car and went straight home to hot showers and hot chocolate.

I was heading out yesterday to run to the bookstore to see if I could catch a glimpse of the November issue of Creating Keepsakes... and stopped at the mailbox on the way out to find it in my mailbox. You could knock me over with a feather- I have a whole page! check out page 85~ :)

Thanks to Keisha Campbell… I was checking her blog and saw the beautiful pages she created mixing and matching the letter stamps from studio calico and had to jump in. I was on the fence about the atc card stamp (soo awesome) and then had to jump in with the scripty stamps. so so cute. and while I was at it, i got the mini attacher. can I say, when they say mini, they really mean it?! it is so so cute. the staples are tiny. like duh, i know the name is mini, but really really. like half the size of regular staples. so cute.

So I hope to be on the blogging train much more regularly, really. I enjoy it and it is so cathartic, so thanks for stopping by!

Love Love and blog you later!

Joscie, rhymes with bossy