Happy Birthday Daddy

Mike turned 34 a few weeks ago.  We didn't have big plans or anything, it was a busy weekend with lots of homework for Mike and the kids first soccer game.  His only request was to go back to Chef and the Farmer in Kinston to eat dinner.  Mike was originally not supposed to be in town for his birthday, but his school got cancelled last minute.  As soon as I found out I called the restaurant to see if we could get a reservation.  Thankfully there was one left that weekend...at 8:45, which normally wouldn't be too late if you weren't preggo and starving my 6 most days and if the restaurant wasn't 2 hours away.  Still for Chef and the Farmer, the sacrifices were worth it!  

This time our friends Matt and Rachel came along too.  Food is so much more fun with friends, especially ones who love good food too! 

After eating there on my birthday, i had a plan for this visit.  Last time there was so much on the menu to try and not nearly enough room in the belly. So I thought i would skip the large entrees and just focus on the appetizers, small plates and desserts.   I'm not sure this is the best plan either, because this time around there were some fabulous things offered on the large plates menu and out of everything we tried, Matt's pork chop plate was by far the best thing on our table.

Here's some of the great things we ate that night! 

(if you could care less about the food, you can scroll down to see the family pics at the end!) 

Fried Okra with Ranch Ice Cream  

Yep, you read that right.  And it was really good!

Fried Collards

Oh Man, these were delish.  We all loved them.  Similar to the popular Kale Chips floating around all the food blogs, but much better in my opinion. 

Curried Peach Pork Belly Skewers with pickled jalapeño, cilantro 

We had the Pork Belly Skewers over my birthday too, they were just a different flavor.  These things are melt in your mouth amazing.  This time with the curry flavor...i couldn't pass them up.  Curry isn't a fave for my hubby.  But Matt and I definitely enjoyed them!

Salad: Mixed Lettuces, apple, celery, granola, pickled red onion, Maytag Blue 

This was so so good.  I may venture out to say it was the best salad i've ever had.  The pickled red onion really made this plate. 

Benne Fried Green Tomatoes, goat cheese coulis, blueberry chutney 

This was all for Mike...Tomatoes aren't really my thing, but surely a must-try for a tomato/blueberry lover.  He said they were great- i'll take his word for it!

Grits with Balsamic Braised Beef and Fried Onions

This was a last minute add on order by Matt that turned out to be seriously wonderful.  I should have ordered this as my meal and I don't even like grits!

 on to main courses: 

Matt and his Pork Chop

Mike with Shrimp Andouille Grits 

Rachel and Me with our wood fired pizza's...They were good, and we were thinking a good way to get a smaller portion cause it was on the appetizer menu because we were already so full...but they were huge!  Don't worry though, the hubby's helped us out!

A regret last time was not leaving enough room to try all the desserts.  You can order all 4 on the menu for a special price, but saving room for them is the hard part.  This time with 4 people, we had it under control! 

Hot, Salty & Sweet, peanuts, cinnamon/chipotle ice cream 

Tres Leches Cake with vanilla peaches, caramel, and pecan tuille

This was fabulous and the birthday boy's fave.  So he got the most of it.  

Mocha Éclair Parfait, Italian meringue, brûléed bananas

This was also amazing and Rachel and Matt's favorite dessert.  

we also got one more dessert, that i don't have a pic of.  it was a muscadine cobbler with sugar cookie crust.  we wanted to love it, but no one did.  Oh well...one flop in all of that food...i'd say we did great!

The next morning, was Mike's actual birthday.  We had a yummy pancake breakfast and he opened some cards and gifts before getting started on a long day of homework (and unforeseen 2yr old puking episodes later that night :/ )

The kiddos picked out Batman Movies for Daddy.  One for Daddy only and one that everyone could watch together (Lego Batman) 

I also opted to pick up our favorite red velvet/cream cheese icing cake from a local bakery around here instead of baking something.  Totally a good decision for this season of our life!

It was a really nice weekend celebrating the man who does so much for our family.  Can't imagine doing this life with anyone else.  We're so thankful for this man in our lives.  

Day.258

The day Daddy came home. 

Mike wasn't scheduled to come in until late Thursday night.  So that night, i got the kids to bed like normal.  They wore their special shirts we made for Daddy, we celebrated our last night doing bedtime without our Daddy, and i told them that we would go get Daddy in the morning when they woke up. 

Daddy, get your Hugs and Kisses HERE!

 Dad = Hero

 Welcome Home Daddy. Your Princess missed you!

 ready for Daddy love and help reading our night night book!

 so excited!

His van pulled up at 1:15 am Friday morning.  I was there with a friend, ready to pick up our husbands and get the heck outta there.  As expected it was by far the least celebrated homecoming i'd ever been to, but it was so nice to see my husbands sweet face in person and get that first big hug after months of just looking at each over a computer.  

Finally Home

Friday morning and went and got the kids up and told them we had to hurry up and go get Daddy.  Mike had put his uniform on and went outside to surprise the kiddos.  It was a super sweet moment.  Nora was excited and clingy.  Holden was a hesitant and a little stunned.  Davis was a bit confused.  You could see him piecing it all together in his head...how the same daddy that was on his doll and on the computer was standing in front of him.  In true mom fashion, I may have cried a little ;)

oh how i love that smile

Seeing Daddy for the first time

Welcome Home Husband, Daddy and Our Hero

 and then of course we put him right to work making his famous pancakes!

 M&M pancakes.  How we celebrate around here!

 and then it was time to play! Holden went from being hesitant to not leaving Mike's side.  It was so sweet to hear all the sounds of fun, imaginative play coming from upstairs.  I may have cried a bit more downstairs while listening to them.  

 The weekend Daddy came home was also beautiful after a ton of rain we had been having so we were able to enjoy a lot of outdoor play as well.  Being on the trampoline with my whole family brought back memories of how we spent our last evening together before he left.  It was also a beautiful summer evening but i remember being so sad and hurt (PICS HERE).  On this day, so happy and peaceful, it felt we'd come full circle-- we made it through.

Month.Six

I took some time off this month as you can tell.  It's January.  It's cold (sometimes).  Mostly it's winter--literally, of course, but also in my heart (sorry Avett, stole you're line). It's time to hibernate...hunker down...WAIT.  Winter can be so sweet in the good times -- warm and cozy, an opportunity to just "be" with those we love the most.  It can also be lonely. And truth be told, that's where I am.

Weird weather and sickness have had us stuck a lot. We've yet to really get back in a routine since Christmas. I could use some routine, some predictability, and definitely something to do to pass the time.  I don't think i've ever been so thankful for all the toys we have in the house--especially all the new ones from birthdays and Christmas.  We've spent SO much time in the house this month--those toys have been worth every penny as a distraction to keep my kids happy and busy.

My devotional/study i have periodically referred to over this deployment labels this time "the desert of enough" and "a mountain for one".  I go back and forth from feeling discouraged and overwhelmed with all of the responsibility on my shoulders to pulling back and disconnecting from life--just waiting it out.  Neither of these are especially fun stages...but for sure, they are a part of the ride.

The kids are struggling more this month than they have been.  Nora especially.  She misses her Daddy.  Anything that is new, she'll immediately tell me 'we have to show Daddy'.  Anything she makes, she tells me 'Daddy will like that'.  Any good food i make, she tells me 'Daddy will want some'.  Any fun that is to be had, she tells me Daddy will want to do it too.  It seems he's in her thoughts all the time.

It snowed today. I wanted it to be a fun day for us.  The reality was something else.  Nora was in complete tears after about 45 minutes wanting her Daddy to come home.  It started all in her own head this morning when i went upstairs to get them, and Nora told me she wanted Daddy to come home so he could play in the snow with her.  All i could think was, how does she even know that's what Daddy's do? We've never played in the snow before. But she knows. Then our friends come over to sled with us and their Daddy did just get home.  I assume what was fun the first few minutes playing with Uncle Jake, really just turned out to be a huge kick of reality to Nora that her Daddy wasn't here to play with her.  She was sobbing by the time we came in.

We're not supposed to wish our days away.  But i'm not gonna lie--i'm over it.

On a good note. There's plans in the making for coming home.  Tentative flight dates, replacements will be there soon to be trained.  Mike and I are planning trips and projects.  We even bought some concert tickets this week.  It's coming.  I just gotta keep holding on in the mean time.

I have a few pics of Mike/Afghan...he doesn't take many really, just a few for the kids every now and then around stuff he thinks they'll like.  He sends us plane pictures a lot because he knows they like them.

working hard--doing i don't know what ;)

 i don't know what this is either...but the kids think it's cool :)

 planes, dust, etc