Update-a-roo

These Hibbard women have been keeping me busy!  I have to say, as stressed as I've been with Ryan being gone, they've done a wonderful job of keeping me occupied and not allowing myself to have a pity party.  Thank you Kim & Alysa!

On Thursday, we went to the church that Isabella and Charlotte go to for a bit on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It was soooo cute watching the little 4 year olds and 3 year olds sing on stage.  Some of the girls were moving and grooving and some of the guys didn't move an inch or open their mouth the entire time.   Here's a quick pic I snapped of Charlotte and Isabella after the show:

That day, I came home to nice a little surprise from Ryan's work.  I thought it was such a thoughtful gift:

The card says on the front "Your thoughtfulness means the world to us" and the inside says "We believe the holidays are a time for families to be together.  As a token of our appreciation for sharing your loved one this holiday season, please accept this small gift."  How nice is that?

Last night we had a bit of a girls night with Kim, Alysa, and Kim's friend, Betty.  We went to a nice dinner in downtown Nashville and then went to see Handel's Messiah at the symphony hall.  It was a beautiful area and pretty cool to see.  I'd never been to a symphony before so now I can say I've been!  My favorite was when the choir and symphony sang/played Hallelujah...it was very powerful and gave me chills.  Here's a pic of us girls after dinner and before the show:

Do you like the spot we chose?  That conductor is doing some serious work in that picture.

Thankfully, I've been able to talk to Ryan everyday.  He's doing fine and keeping busy.   While talking to him today, I think he sensed I'm getting quite frustrated with carrying the entire phone conversation, so today he made more of an effort to talk and says something besides "not a whole lot to tell you here". Maybe by the time our 4 months is up, he'll know how to carry a conversation over the phone!  I can only hope ;)

Jimmy Kimmel

Do ya'll remember the video I posted back around the Halloween time frame about Jimmy Kimmel asking parents to tell their kids they ate all of their candy?  It's back!  This time, he asked parents to give kids a terrible gift to see their reactions.  I feel bad for the kids, but I can't help but laugh at what they say about their gifts!! Enjoy! 

Quick Update

A few things:

-Ryan made it safely and is now at the site he'll be at for the next 4 months.  He sounds really good, has adjusted to the time difference, is enjoying the work he's doing, and I don't think he misses me at all yet ;)
-I'm pretty sure I've worried myself sick.  I'm not handling Ryan being gone nearly as well as I thought I would/could.  It's been a little over a week and I feel like it's been months.  I can't sleep and when I'm up, I'm thinking about him constantly.  I'm not as concerned about his safety as much as it's just been such a huge change for my life.  I went from living with him, sleeping with him every night, and working 50+ hours a week to no work and no Ryan.  I've kept busy thanks to Alysa, Kim & Ron including me in everything and I'm thankful for that.  I just hope I become better at adjusting Ryan not being here, or I find a way to deal with this stress!  I don't know if I'm coming with something, but all I know right now is that I have no energy, my throat is on fire and my head feels like it weighs 20 lbs more than it should.  WAH! I never, ever get sick.
-Roadrunner needs to hurry up and send me my running stuff so I can start running outside.  I may or may not of accidently entered the shipping address to go to St. Petersburg, FL (oops), but I want my stuff, damnit!
-Kim is a really, really good cook.
-Isabella and Charlotte are such sweet little girls.  I'm so glad I've been able to play with them some and convince them that they really do have an Uncle Ryan and Aunt Ainsilie!
-Ellen is the funniest show ever.  You can't watch her show and not be in a good mood!!
-I'm almost with my holiday shopping.  There's 12 days left before Christmas!  I need to not work more often!

:)

We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!

The dust has settled a little bit, so I have more time now to write and catch everyone up to speed.

The movers came on Sunday and helped get out all of our heavy stuff and into the storage place across the street.  We, thankfully, do not have any horror stories of the movers this time.  It was a much easier "move", but the company we chose were professional and charged us what was quoted.  Amen.

We had to stay in a hotel room Sunday night since we didn't have a bed to sleep on.  Poor Zoe had to stay in the kennel because the hotel was going to charge us $75 to let her stay in the room.  Zoe was soooo stressed out from the move and I'm thinking now that it's over, we probably should of given her some Benadryl or something to help with her anxiety.  Oops.

"Mama, please don't make me take this 9 hour drive. Where did my papa go?"

Ryan and I said our goodbye's Monday.   I'm not going to see him now until April and this makes me very sad.  It's going to be an "easier" deployment for us than some other couples that are in the military, working the front line, and not being able to talk everyday.  For us, he'll be gone 4 months and we'll be able to Skype everyday once he gets there. I think it's going to be hardest over the holidays without him.  I'm going to miss the little things like being able to kiss goodnight, hold hands, and just not being together a lot.  We've always been a pretty independent couple, but spending this long apart isn't ideal. :)

I'm settled now at Ron & Kim's (mother and father in law) and they've graciously let Zoe and I shack up through the end of Christmas.  I had pretty much my whole life packed up in suitcases, and I've yet to unpack or get any kind of organization in my life.  See for yourself:

For those of you wondering, I've been able to hear from Ryan twice since he started his journey.  He's tired, safe, and almost to his destination.  Please continue to pray he makes it safely and stays safe!!