4th in 4

It is Friday night,the eve of Halloween, and here I am sitting on my super comfy couch with a half-naked 2-year-old running around wanting to go out, but too lazy to get ready and think about something to do. Why bother anyway...this describes my day thus far. : ) But I didn't plan for it to go this way. I intended to get up bright and early (by my standards) to hit the gym. However, my cell phone died in the middle of the night so of course, the alarm didn't go off and by the time Rie woke me up, childcare on base was soon to be closed. Instead, we lounged around, I made necesary phone calls, went for a walk around the neighborhood to kinda make up for not going to the gym, ate some dinner, and here I lay. So I figure it's as good a time as ever to fill y'all in on the latest goings on as we have been extremely busy lately.

Come November 16, we will be moving for the 4th time in 4 years!! Our lease is expiring at the end of November and without a military clause and a raise in rent,I decided against renewing. Instead, I went through the process of applying and getting placed into military housing. Boy was this a process made harder by unnecessary problems. Unfortunately, without Jason home, I did not get his complete input on the decision nor will he be around for the move, but I did receive an email from him yesterday agreeing with the decision I had made. This is a relief for me, but deep down I knew that he would've been supportive of whatever I had decided for our family. We got each other's back like that. Haha. If you need our new address, let me know in an email to elkins0326@gmail.com and I will send it to you...otherwise you can wait for our Christmas letters. : )

Moving is oh-so-stressful and I am thankful that my parents will be flying out to help us. You would think we'd be used to it by now after having moved so many times, but sheesh...I wish we could just settle in a place of our own already and live a life at least resembling normal with Jason home with us all the time. Every time has been for a different reason - first the place was to small, then the company managing the place was half-a$$ed (for lack of better words) about upkeeping the place, and now this. I'm actually looking forward to this one, though, and I'm really excited!

Since I mentioned that I heard from J, I figure I could let you know what he's up to. Well, I can't tell you where he is, but I can tell you that he is quite miserable missing home and of course his 2 leading ladies (no offense Momma E.). He complained about a lot of his division not being much help in completing the tasks they need to in order to make life easier on themselves. He is just so ready to be home after almost 5 months of being out to sea. Poor guy. Hopefully he'll like the package we sent him with pictures of us and it will help to boost his morale. He and Rie are really missing each other. He has been missing the little things that he kinda took for granted like being able to take Rieley trick-o-treating. She in turn has also been asking for her daddy to come home nearly every day. It's so sad. I've caught her watching the pictures on my screensaver and getting excited of the ones with her and her daddy. Well, we have been trying to keep busy with homecoming projects and prepping for the boat's return. I can't tell you how antsy we have been. Time has been going by quickly except for the past week or so. It seems to have slowed down, but hopefully it will pick up once the 16th rolls around and we can move into the new house! We've begun packing, but there's only so much we can pack up that we won't need n the next 2 weeks. Rie is already wondering where a bunch of our stuff has gone...including half her collection of toys...haha. Little does she know its hiding in the stack of boxes in my bedroom. All of J's belongings are packed up so its kinda sad to see little remnants of him for the time being.

Anyway...I think that's about it for now. I don't know where I'm taking my lil pirate to get treats tomorrow night yet. Nonetheless I will post pics of her Halloween adventures later on. : ) Take care and pray everything goes well in the next month or so! Have a safe Halloween!

Xo,
Steph