Here we are, a month later..

• Oh hello again! Nice to be back! I took a little unplanned blogging break when Steve left for the field this past month. Apparently I don't have enough brain power to raise the kids and write complete sentences simultaneously. He got back very early Saturday morning (2am-ish) and is back at work at 9am again today (Sunday). Because what says "thank you for spending a month away from your family" quite like a six-day work week immediately following. Ah, the Army. I love to hate it.
• Speaking of the Army, you might have noticed that you got a special ooh-la-la invite to read this cobweb-covered blog! That is because of all of this batshit crazy ISIS stuff and also, because I've been thinking for a while about how my children might one day feel about their lives being "out there" on the internet. I like to know who is seeing pictures of them and hearing about their little moments. And making everything private seemed like the best way to give me peace of mind on all of those fronts. So here we are. Thanks for coming!
• I was trying to recap this past month by making photo collages from all the pictures I took. Then I realized I had way more than one picture per day and it just got a little overwhelming. And I think this past month is a great example of how well I deal with overwhelming situations. (*radio silence*) So to do a very general recap, I:
• had girls' nights with wine/popcorn/chocolate post-kid bedtime
• spent a lot of time on the playground with our neighbors
• went on a lot of walks
• cooked (and ate) an unholy amount of macaroni and cheese and called it a proper dinner
• bathed the kids semi-regularly
• texted Steve no fewer than eleventy billion times
• did a few photography sessions
• ordered two entire chicken nuggets at a McDonald's drive-thru (instead of two ORDERS)- ego immediately deflated. And had to really improvise because the kids were kind of excited to eat something besides macaroni for dinner.
• did a clothes swap with two great friends
• visited the mail room and had many an awkward conversation
• took the kids to preschool and relished the few hours of silence and productivity
• rearranged my room with Aggie (after maggots in the kitchen AND a colony of dust bunnies under my bed- she is still my friend. A VERY GOOD FRIEND.)
• ate the best chocolate cake I've ever had in my life
• fed some fish, played in the sand, watched my kids develop the Army Orphan Syndrome and call every man they saw "daddy"
• We did more, but Steve is gone again, so my brain is kinda mushy again. (Sad. I know.)
• Let me tell you about this guy in the mail room. Back story: Over here, we have to go to these little huts from the 50s to retrieve our mail. Each unit has their own little hut and soldiers pass out your mail and boxes. It's really disappointing to go all the way there and unload the kids outta the car only to find you have absolutely nothing to pick up. But on this particular day, I had a lot of mail. A new guy (super chummy) was working and did his best to make all sorts of small talk while I refereed my children and tried to pretend I was listening. Well then Sam ran smack into a door and was crying. I picked him up and tried to distract him.
• me: "Look, Sam! We have FOUR packages! Wowee!"
• Sam: "I don't want four packages!"
• me: "Well I sure do!"
• soldier: "I bet you do!" *wink*
• After hauling everyone/everything back to the car, I looked at what we'd gotten. I had ordered a Fitbit from Amazon and it arrived! Yay! But the customs form labeled it as "personal care appliance item." Oh. OH! THAT'S WHAT THAT WINK WAS ABOUT OMG OMG OMG.
• I was mortified. There is no going back now. Except I have to. Every week for the next year if I want my mail. Now every time I see him, my packages all suddenly seem to have perv-y customs form descriptions. "DVDs and personal care item" is actually some movies for Sam and a hairbrush for Molly, but oh well. At least my trips to that hut are never boring.
• Speaking of hairbrushes- my neighbor recommended this brush to me to use on Molly's hair. I literally broke a comb in her hair one night. She was always crying and screaming even though I was using detangler and trying to be as gentle as possible. It was easily the worst part of my day outside of having someone touch their toes with their rear in my face so that I could wipe away their residual fecal matter. Anyways, I used this brush the other night (without detangler spray) and closed my eyes as I put it in her hair. Then I pulled it down. I wondered if it was actually doing anything because there were no screams. Molly was chatting away as if nothing was happening. After a few more brushes, I wanted to hit my knees and cry out to the heavens! IT WORKS! IT WORKS! HALLELUJAH WE ARE SAVED!! So if you are dealing with some kinky hair and need a miracle? Please buy that brush. (*I wish someone was paying me to say all that, but in reality, no one will pay a private blogger to do anything, so that is just my own experience and I don't want anyone else to break a comb in their child's hair amen.*)
• I'm pretty certain that most of you lovely people follow me on instagram, but in case you missed the news, Steve finally got promoted!! Wahoo! He was so fortunate (SARCASM ALERT) to fall into the group that got extended as lieutenants for an extra year, so we are happy that it's finally arrived. He has only been doing captain's jobs from the get-go, so it is nice that he is actually getting paid for the work! That also makes my blog name not really work anymore, so who knows what will happen with that. I voted for a Captain D's Seafood theme, but eh. Needs a bit more thought, I guess.
• I am going to try to blog more frequently. Promise. It might not be anything earth-shattering, but I do love reading back over our days, so I'm going to make a better effort at putting something up here most days. In between re-learning how to cook something other than macaroni for dinner this week, getting ready for Sam's birthday party this weekend, continuing to ignore the laundry and head down to social hour at the playground after naps, I'd say I have my work cut out for me. Happy weekend and War Eagle!

((Here are two of the collages I made before I got overwhelmed and shut the computer and refused to make more.))