Football is back!

I blogged last fall about the fact that I miss football when David is away (which was code for I miss my football-loving husband!). Well, it is BACK! I am looking at him right now, decked out in his Gator jersey, watching the BCS championship. Bless his heart, he is serious about his Gators and serious about football. He planned the whole week around grilling ribs tonight in preparation for the game. As soon as he got home from work, he put on his jersey and his game face.

The best part is that the kids are all excited with him. He has wanted this for a long time. He has tried to get them to watch before, but they are not always interested. Yes, from the beginning of their lives he has tried to share his love of the Gators with his children. . .


When I was pregnant with Jessa and staying at mom's,

David had this outfit sent to me. She was not even BORN yet!

Isn't that the cutest?? Our second little gator. . .

My father had similar hopes for his children. I am sure it broke his heart when I sat in Sanford Stadium on more than one occasion with my back to the field while I cleaned out my purse or painted my fingernails. It is amazing how I could use the concrete seat as a work surface and just sit on the floor. (sorry, Daddy.) Luckily, at least with Lucas, it took.

Jacksonville bound GA fans: Daddy, Lucas, and Lucas's friend, Bama

Now, they are still not glued to the game. They are fired up, though, and Jess has not gotten out any nail polish. They also enjoyed our pre-game feast. And when Spencer heard the pre-game announcer say something about "Florida" he perked up and said, "Dad, he said Flar-dah!" And Jessa is drawing and coloring footballs, goal posts, and even a gator.

It says "I heart U" and that is a gator.

Spencer has burst out in spontaneous, "GO GATORS!" several times. Whenever they get excited, I see this sweet look of pride and love and bliss come across my David's face.

He has dreamed of this!

Jessa has her big gator out to cheer them on.

Spencer had no nap, so he conked out in my lap.

So no pics of him. But he is dreaming of football, I am sure.

Jessa made up the "sweet legs"dance early in the game. David credits her "sweet legs" with helping the Gators.

So even though I am not a huge fan of football in general, I am a fan of anything that brings such joy to David and brings the kids closer to their Daddy. And no matter who wins (please let it be the Gators), I will be happy that my favorite 3 people had a great time watching the game together. Welcome back football (and more importantly DAVID)!

I want S'More, please

OK. We live in SOUTH GEORGIA. And we are in the midst of record-breaking high temperatures. Yet, we have a fire place in our quarters here at Ft. Stewart. We have never had a wood burning fire place anywhere that we have ever lived. David finds this really cool. So cool that he was trying to plan a way to put the TV in the small den where the fireplace is located. We decided against that, but the fireplace has been calling to him.

My Daddy has always loved a fire. We have spent many Christmases sweating, in need of the A/C because Daddy wanted a fire, darn it. I guess it is true that you marry a man like your father. . .And of course, the kids are very supportive of his desire to experience the joy that is a fire burning in the fireplace.

We went to Lowe's today, and David bought firewood and a starter log.

The van said it was 82 degrees outside at the time.

We came home, and yes, he lit the fire.

Ahhh, a crackling fire on a warm Southern evening.

He did wait until it was getting dark and the temperature had dropped:

Outdoor temp is on the top and indoor is on the bottom.

Well, you would think that lighting a neat fire in our neat new fireplace would be enough. But what do you think a fire makes Jessa think of?? Yep, S'mores. And Spencer was immediately on board. BUT we do not have our pantry fully stocked yet, so we did not have the essential S'more ingredients. But Daddy, our hero, loaded the kiddos up and headed out to the store.

Three stores and close to an hour later, the foragers were back with the necessary supplies.

Roasting the Marshmallows with our S'more Chef

Jessa's "S'more Order" included graham crackers and marshmallows. She drew an "X" in the air with her finger to let us know that she did not want chocolate on hers.

Jessa was thrilled with her chocolate-less S'mores, just the way she ordered them.

Spencer's major concern was that it was too hot.

I assured him that it was NOT too hot, but he was skeptical and asked :

"ARE YOU SURE??" note the face - he is seriously worried

He finally believed me and enjoyed his S'more at the perfect temperature.

S'MORE JOY!

And today's lesson learned:

When starting a fire, you need wood, a starter log, matches, marshmallows, Hershey's Bars and graham crackers.

THREE Years Ago Today. . .

. . . And more than THREE weeks earlier than planned, at 12:01 PM, a precious baby boy named Spencer Johnson Key came into our lives! Despite his being early, he still weighed 8 lbs and 9 oz, so as the one who delivered him, I am glad he was early. . . And when people said, "Oh, they must have miscalculated your due date." I smiled and replied that since I only saw David for 14 days out of the last calendar year, I am pretty sure the date was correct!" Yes, Spencer, our R&R baby was born shortly after Christmas after a slight scare. When I was diagnosed with preeclympsia and immediately admitted to the hospital, we abandoned hopes of David making it home for his birth. We were OK, though. As always, my wonderful family stepped up to the plate. Bay and my awesome cousin Nikki took excellent care of Jessa so that May could be with me. And through the miracles of modern technology, David was able to hear some of his first cries over a cell phone in Baghdad!

Spencer Johnson Key

Welcome to the World, Spencer! Meet your sister. . .

And 11 days later, Spencer got to meet his Daddy when he redeployed from Iraq last time.

Hi, Daddy! It's me, Spencer!

My Baby Boy is 1 year old!


Oh no, Spencer is 2!

I cannot believe that he is really "free" years old.

My sweet Spencer. My agreeable, content, so eager to please little man. He loves his sister more than anything in the world (even when she is not always so deserving of his devotion). He is so quiet about his accomplishments - the child potty trained himself without me even realizing it. Always content to be in the background and let Jessa shine. He runs his mouth constantly and is as snuggly and affectionate as they come. And since birth he has always been my good eater, leaving me one less thing to worry about.

He loves Thomas and any train he sees. He can turn a line of green beans into a train. He will be my last baby and he is growing up too fast for my taste. . .

Happy Birthday to my precious baby boy!

P.S. As I was on October 27, I tend to be overly emotional on their birthdays. Please forgive me and all my mommy pride today. . .

P.S.S. His big party will be later. We are still adjusting to the new house and having Daddy home. Bless his heart, he will always have to compete with Christmas and New Year's, and this year, we are extra busy. BUT we are all so relieved that David was actually here for one of their birthdays!!! We'll take what we can get!

Reunited!!

****Warning: PICTURE HEAVY POST - I was trying to "share the moment." Sorry!

. . .and it feels SO good!

On a cold day in January, New Year's Day to be exact, the Key Family was back together again. And we could not be more thrilled!



Mom, Dad, Jess, Spence, 4 dogs, a cat, and I all headed to Ft. Stewart on New Year's Eve. (I will admit to forgetting several times that it was even a holiday. When my cell phone rang at 12:02 and I heard David's sweet voice telling me "Happy New Year!" as he was sitting on a plane in Kuwait, I did not even know what time it was!)

We had to get prepared for a hero's welcome! Signs to hang, tables to set, snacks to make, beer to chill. . . Mimi and Poppy came down. David's dad, Harold and his wife Joyce came up. And some of our dearest friends, Roy and Peggy Webb came down. We spent all day getting ready for the big event. David was updating us via his cell phone throughout the day. And we tracked him on the Ft. Stewart Website. Also, we had the advantage of having Daddy getting updates from colleagues at USTRANSCOM.

Hanging a sign to greet him at the gate.

A sign at the house, too. . . It takes a village!

Mmmmmm . . . CAKE!

At 7 PM, we loaded up to head to my favorite field in the whole world, Cottrell Field, the location for homecomings at Ft. Stewart. This is one of my favorite parts of the 3d ID. Some units let families go to the air field, so you are reunited briefly only for them to leave again to turn in equipment, etc. Not here! The families are at Stewart when they fly into Hunter Army Air Field. They get everything squared away, and then they are bused to Ft. Stewart. So when they are released, it is for keeps.

Boy was it cold, or so everyone kept saying. I was so excited that I did not notice. When we were walking from the parking lot, I kept getting ahead of everyone. I was not trying to be rude! I just couldn't wait to get there. David kept calling me to tell me where they were. Since he was a part of the trail party, there were only about 70 people coming home with him.

David's fan club

Waiting IMpatiently. . . (note the beer balloon!)

David's Dad and his wife

The Queen, who did not move unless someone moved her. This is where she sat - David came to her!

The whole thing went down something like this:

The buses pull onto post.

Watching for the buses - David let us know they were passing through the gate.

The MPs are escorting them with sirens and lights on. The bus drivers honk the horns. The crowd screams! I cannot ever accurately describe how awesome these moments are. Tears stream down my face, and I cannot believe that the time has finally arrived. The buses make a loop and pull up on the opposite side of the field for the soldiers to unload and form up to march across the field toward where we were standing. What a sight! Mom and I realized it is hard to scream and cheer when you are bawling. . .


I must say that last night the commander of the formation did a particularly good job. And he was by far the most handsome. (Can you guess who it was??)

Our soldier!! Our Hero!!

The idea of a "ceremony" used to make me mad. I thought, how rude to make us wait even one second longer than we have to in order to see our loved ones. BUT this being my third ceremony, I can tell you that it is very short and so special and so worth it. They play the National Anthem. Someone talks about what phenomenal soldiers we have (how true!). Then we sing the 3d ID song, "The Dog Face Soldier Song" and the Army Song. And then the formation is released!

Doesn't he look good???

David and I have a prearranged meeting place because it is sometimes dark and always crowded. I also bring a balloon to identify us. Last night it was a big, frothy BEER! So in order to avoid missing each other in the confusion, I stay put. Since he was at the front last night, it was not hard at all to find each other. I am pretty sure I knocked a few people out of the way (sorry!) when I ran toward him!

Look at those happy faces! I couldn't let him get too far away!

Spencer was in my arms, with tears steaming down his face, too. We all hugged. Everyone else rushed up to hug our sweet soldier. The only person who did not move was the queen, Jessa Lynn. She stayed in her seat, all covered up in May's jacket. David made his way to her and she was most excited!

Jessa, the Queen when David got to her. Jessa sitting on his leg - the thing she said she missed most was riding on his leg when he got home from work everyday. Her plan for months has been( 1.) Hug and kiss him (2.) sit on his foot and hold on his leg. Mission Accomplished.

HAPPINESS. . .

The Crazy Keys!
David, Jess, Spence, and I came back to the house first. After all, he has never seen this house or his new dog, so I wanted him to have a minute before the crowd came. The kids were overjoyed! You never know with little guys how they are going to act. Sometimes they can be standoffish or shy or confused. But Jessa and Spencer were nothing short of elated.

Daddy HUGS!

They wanted to tell him everything, show him everything, make up for every minute he was away. It was almost as if they were afraid he would leave again, so they had to make every second count. Bless David's heart, he could not even talk to anyone else! No one minded because watching the babies in love with their Daddy was so precious.

Jessa kissed him every time she had to get up. Spencer said, Dad, Dad, Dad, about a million times! They argued over who would sit next to him. No one can hook their car seats but him. No one can fix them anything but him. Not only am I grateful for the break, but I am so tickled that they are picking up right where they left off.

The kids were not the only "children" who missed their Daddy. . . The furry babies were glad to welcome him home, too!!

Dunken and Stewart LOVE

Max meets his father for the first time

I can never express the sense of joy and relief that I feel every time David is home again, safe and sound. There are not words to say the way my heart leaps to see Jessa and Spencer in his arms. I appreciate all the many people who have supported us and prayed for us and loved us through this deployment. (Special thanks to my awesome family who allowed me to run their lives and invade their homes for months. I could not have done it without you.)

Right now, my D is sitting at the kids table, watching football, and having a tea party with Jess and Spence. ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD!

David and the kiddos spent all day getting reacquainted.

Bless his heart, he has not had a moment of silence.

But I think he kinda likes it. . .