It’s packing day! Squeal! Crossing our fingers that everything goes just as smoothly as the last two moves have gone.
While Jamie mans the packing process today, Hadley and I are be-bopping up to Tucson in a few hours to pick up my sister!
If you’ve talked to me at all in the last week you know how excited I am for her to get here so that we can embark on our big road trip. I also hear she’s coming armed with books and ideas to keep Hadley preoccupied during the 1,300 mile drive. Instead of dreading this trip, I am really looking forward to it!
Backtracking a bit, yesterday was Jamie’s Military Intelligence Captains Career Course graduation. His graduation wasn’t until 2 p.m., so once he finished with his Army 10-mile team practice yesterday morning, he was home for breakfast and to hang with us for a few hours.
While he watched Hadley, I took advantage of some quiet time and went on a four mile run.
Every ounce of me wanted to just veg on the couch, but I knew I’d feel so much more mentally equipped to tackle the day if I got in a workout. I put on my favorite worship music playlist and enjoyed some alone time. Nothing distracts me more from the discomfort of running than a great set of praise music. You should try it sometime.
Military Intelligence Captains Career Course Graduation
Once Hadley went down for her nap around 10 a.m., Jamie and I got to work knocking out things around the house. He left for the graduation line-up around 12:30 and we met him up there about an hour later. Thankfully the ceremony only lasted 30 minutes. It was funny to look around at all the moms to see their bags of “magic tricks” that they’d brought along to keep their kids occupied. I only had to leave with my little diva once (after she spotted my cell phone that I whipped out to take a picture of Jamie – mistake). Daddy’s graduation is not the time to talk to Siri, Hadley Lynn.
After taking some pictures, we headed home to relax for a couple hours before his squad’s farewell dinner at a Hibachi restaurant. Hadley missed her afternoon nap, so we knew the chances of her being a wild woman were high. We enjoyed a couple drinks, a yummy dinner, and a great time kicking back with friends. We were the first to leave because Little Miss was starting to lose her mind, so once again we made our rounds and said our goodbyes. Jamie made so many awesome friends throughout this course, so it was bittersweet to see him give big “man hug” after man hug to his great buddies. The toughest goodbye for me was with my sweetest friend Nicole and her daughter Jocelyn, but I’m confident that our paths will cross again.
My love/hate relationship with this Army lifestyle is pretty unpredictable, but tonight I definitely had an “I love this life” moment. I was sitting around a big table with 20 people who get me, who get this madness. They get the chaos of moving. They get the emotional “I’m so ready to leave, but I’m so not ready to leave” mentality. They’re away from their families and best friends like we are. None of us knew each other a few months ago, but it was so fun to sit around and reflect on our time here in Arizona before we all venture to our next posts around the world (literally – the couple to my left is heading to Germany and the guy to our right is heading to Korea). It was a really great night.
Well, I better get off this computer and get moving! There’s plenty to do around here before we jet tomorrow afternoon. Hope you have a good one!
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo