Our last Christmas in Hawaii.

We fly out at the end of January. Back to Texas.

I'm sad but also excited. Texas is home to us. And all our family is there. I am nervous about the move and how things will be at Adrian's new duty station.
I am nervous about getting housing and about getting all our stuff shipped. What our budget will be like. What Adrian's work will be like. I have a million questions that can't be answered until we get there.

I am supposed to be working on a garage sale for next weekend, but I haven't even started yet. Our move date is rapidly approached but it doesn't seem real yet and it's hard to prepare for it. We have been here so long. Close to 5 years.

It is so great to have Adrian home again. He's been gone about half the time we've lived here. Every time he goes away, no matter what our respective experiences are, when he comes back it's like he never left.

The Army offers lots of re-integration resources and counseling but for some reason that's never the hard part for us. It's only hard when he leaves.

We went Christmas shopping today. A short little excursion since he had an appointment with the transportation office at noon. The boys now at least have *something* under the tree. Tomorrow we'll hit up Toys R Us and maybe the mall. It seems like no matter how much our income increases, Christmas is always a tight squeeze. It doesn't help that the boys' tastes are getting more and more expensive each year. They are going to have to adjust to more quality and less quantity.
I am so disappointed that I won't be able to get Isabella what I had hoped to get her for Christmas. I had planned to get her the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Kitchen, but it was recalled. Some pieces can be broken off by tenacious toddlers and then become a choking hazard. Customers who bought the kitchen before the recall are receiving kits to make the kitchen safe, and new ones made after the recall are safe, but I haven't seen a single one since they were recalled. We saw one once, right after Adrian got back, at the PX and almost bought it, but we figured it was waaaay too early. We should have gone ahead and bought it.

Nothing too big this Christmas, though, since we'll be packing up soon.

Adrian and I are not exchanging gifts this year. The best gift is his being home anyways.
Our 10 year anniversary is Wednesday. We're celebrating by going to Cub Scouts. Ha. I really would love to do something special. We considered a mad dash family trip to Maui in leui of Christmas but in the end we decided to stick with a Christmas at home.
It seems like 10 years should be marked with something special, but since our anniversary is so close to Christmas it's really not feasible. Maybe next year. Or in 20 years. Haha.

The kids are growing so fast. Xavier gives us glimpses every day of what he will look like as a man. Isabella's still got her baby face, but it won't last for long. She is a busy toddler, working hard to disassemble everything in the house.

I think it's going to be a great Christmas, though. She is big enough to really get excited about all the details and the boys are ecstatic to have their daddy home to enjoy all the food and toys.

As always, a few pics of my little guys and girl:

All 3 of them making Christmas card pictures difficult:



My boys:



Orian and Isabella being silly:





All 3 of my monkeys again:





Orian & Izzy:



Orian at the school's Jingle Bell Fun Run:



Xavier and Adrian (yes, Xavier is wearing bells around his neck like a collar. He's just punk like that. Haha.)



Xavier and Adrian running the JBFR:



Isabella in her stroller at the JBFR:



My handsome husband:



And some shots of my little Texas girl: