Two weeks down!

As week #2 comes to a close it was a very busy and somewhat stressful week for the Miller ladies. We sent a package to Mississippi for Daddy this week... the last one we will send to that address. From now on all of our letters, crafts, pictures and packages will be sent to his Afghanistan address (which we already have... kinda finalizes everything again) We sent recordable storybooks for him to record and send back. I wanted to get these done when he was home but with the hectic schedule we had over the holidays I completely forgot.
(I apologize in advance for the poor picture quality...Hudson ate my camera (long story) and the new one is being shipped as we speak... bare with me lol)

 I think these will be a great tool to help Audrey cope if she can hear his voice at least daily. I think it will also help with bedtime as sometimes it can be a struggle with Audrey.

We also threw in this snowman Audrey made then packed it with candy! I think Daddy was happy :) Excited to get the books back so Chris can always read Audrey a bed time story.

Also this week I began a project of my own... well with Audrey's help of course. In April, I will be welcoming my first nephew, Carter Joseph. So I figured I would try out a little gift for him. Found this ugly wood thing at the Goodwill.

Added a coat of white paint...

Since the theme for the nursery is 101 Dalmatians as they have 3 big dogs I figured this would match! Colors are red, black and white. Not a huge fan of the letters but I am learning and it turned out okay for my first go at being "artistic/crafty".

Again, sorry for the quality of the picture I had to snap these all with my camera on my phone. The thing I am proud of is that this piece cost me $1.50. Yes, one dollar and 50 cents for the old decoration at Goodwill. I had the paint here and just used a piece of white tulle to hang it. Although I may go get some big red ribbon to replace that. My first go at this turned out okay :)

Audrey and I also put a little spin on the border of her chalkboard...

Note the little white footprint... After painting the boarder white I put it on the washer to dry overnight. Looks as if Oliver felt he needed to leave his mark. Lol

Audrey loves to get mail! I mean its all out screaming if when she gets home from school and has mail in the mailbox for her! After Donna got her a subscription to Highlights for her birthday she asks everyday when we stop at the mailbox if something is for her. So sometimes when I can I drop a note in there for her and Donna used to leave letters from the elves at Christmas time, Audrey just loved it!

So I found this little Valentines mailbox and let Audrey paint and decorate it. 

Then every morning (since I am normally up before her) I will leave some mail in there for her. Just a note, maybe a little present, something fun!

If anyone is interested in sending Audrey a letter via mail just message me and I will send you our address. She would be thrilled to receive mail from people other than her mom lol. I also plan to send Chris a package of supplies for sending letters. That way he can send her a letter whenever he has time. Sometimes there is nothing better than a handwritten letter from a loved one!

Also, for my out of state followers... we finally got some SNOW! Here it is the middle of January in Northwest Ohio and we are just receiving snow that has actually stayed on the ground. Although, I could have done without the snow (I am not fit to live somewhere cold) Audrey loved it!! We were finally able to get her sled out and Hudson pulled her all over the yard!

Although we did get a lot of fun stuff done this week we had a few long days in there... refer to a previous post on an awful day. Friday the 13th did not prove to go much smoother for us. And my sister Cassy who is almost 7 months pregnant was in the hospital with food poisoning. I know how miserable food poisoning can be I can't imagine going through it being pregnant! She is now on the upswing just resting and trying to get back to herself. But otherwise the weekend has been wonderful! The knee is feeling better and I was able to get a little run in this morning which is always refershing. It is so nice to be home with Audrey on the weekends :)

As for an update on Chris... Sounds like he is killing time by going to the gym... Alot. I remember when he came back from Iraq in '08 and he was huge. I guess that is what you do on your downtime and when you have access to a gym. I think it helps him relieve some stress and gives him something to do while he gets ready to leave Camp Shelby. He also had the opportunity to go to the World War 2 museum in New Orleans! They bussed the guys the 2 hour drive to New Orleans where they spent the day. After the museum they were able to walk around Bourbon street where some of the guys (not Chris) met Vince Vaughn! What a great change of scenery I am so glad they were able to go somewhere like that before their time in Afghanistan starts!

I stole this picture from Chris' facebook. What a nice experience for the guys!

As we begin week #3 I am excited to receive my new camera... my first DSLR! Classes start this week and I am excited to stay busy with that. These first 2 weeks are going by pretty smoothly a few bumps but who doesn't have those?! So many people have told me how is blog makes them cry but they enjoy reading it. I will admit while typing these posts I often cry myself. But that is what I wanted for this blog. A raw account of a family while their loved one is deployed. So todays post should not make anyone cry, not even me :) The first few weeks will be the hardest for us surely but as time goes on life will start to settle in and before we know it Chris will be his way home. Excited to take week #3 on!