This Amazing Life

Yesterday we held a special play date at our house. I've tried to hold play dates throughout the last few years we've been living in Italy. I have invited many and had few people attend. Usually one family shows up. This time I planned an Unbirthday party for my little boys who loooove to have parties.
An Alice in Wonderland themed Unbirthday party. The people who came: Indira Sumner with her daughter, Ashley Stewart with her daughter, Melanie Archuleta with her son and daughter, Nelli with her youngest Megan, Megan Sanders with her baby and boy, Missy Robinson with her youngest Henry and Darcy Ferguson with her two little ones!

It was held at 10:30am and Sterling works 2-10p. So he was home. I had made and decorated a Alice in Wonderland cake for the event. And I had cleaned the downstairs the night before.
The morning of the party Sterling helped out by taking the dog for a walk and loading the dishwasher. The kitchen had been all clean except for the dishes in the sink that we had put there that morning. I said I wasn't going to load the dishwasher ...so Sterling did it. I was surprised but...he is wonderful like that!

Ster played on the computer upstairs during the party. We pulled out the bouncy house after everyone ate cake. It was such a fun party. Ended at 12:30.

Lately I'm working on preparing the Blog book for 2012. Preparing it to be ordered. I had to read through the entries so of course I read about our anniversary in August. How I could not think of anything we need to work on in our marriage. I have not been able to think of anything since then! I could not think of anything Sterling needed to try better at.

He now tries to get me flowers once every month! How amazing is that?!  I did work on trying to get him to buy me flowers once in a while but I never expected he'd go as far as to make it a goal to do it every month. He is so sweet! It's one way he shows his appreciation for all I do at home and with the boys.

Sterling is not perfect but his flaws are few. He has become such a perfect husband for me since we got married just 5 1/2 years ago!

I do see my flaws a little easier than I see Sterling's. I could be selfless more often.
Sometimes I notice that Sterling is thinking of me and I am thinking of me when I should be thinking about Sterling.
I am with the boys all day and then with Sterling and the boys. I have a constant responsibility to be selfless. So throughout the day I will take time for Me. I will tell the boys to go play while I work out or watch a show or play on the computer (editing pictures or blogging).  Then when Sterling comes home I want to spend time with him and feel a responsibility to be selfless for him.

I guess, when I am with Sterling sometimes I just want to let him take care of me and think of me...because so much of my week I am alone with the boys and they are as needy as children are.

This month instead of getting me flowers he got a gift. He saw it online and wanted a reason to buy it for me. So he did ...in place of flowers. A cupcake tower. I have been wanting to get one lately! This means I need to start doing cupcakes more.  :)

Sterling and I have so much fun together. I mean, we do go on hikes and sometimes sight see. Being here in Italy with my husband and children is amazing! But Sterling and I have so much fun just being together at home. Sterling likes to be playful and I have learned to be more playful because of him.  He will pick me up and throw me over his shoulder...maybe spin too. He will attack me....but never tickle me. I won't allow him to tickle me. He knows he will be in trouble if he does it...so he doesn't.

We know how blessed we are to be so happy in marriage after 2 kids and 5 1/2 years. To have improved our marriage so much in five years! To not be sick of each other or falling out of love.

I can't help but have the thought sometimes...the fear that our life together might be cut short. If we are so perfectly happy and have made our marriage so wonderful so early in our life...
Doesn't it take a lifetime of marriage to perfect the relationship?  I am hoping that by putting this fear out there...it will turn out to never be true. But I will enjoy every day of my amazing life.

Finances

Last year we ate well! We ate a good meal together about every day. That gets expensive even though we eat at home (don't go to fast food or restaurants much).
So in December we decided to cut that in half. Every other day we eat a cheap meal like Mac and cheese, ramen, sandwhiches, etc. Not too many cheap options but oh well.
We have also made Friday our shopping day. We try to never go grocery shopping other than Friday so we'll spend less money. I think it's saving us money so far.

Mood

Two days ago Ster and I started talking about where the kids and I are going to live in the summer while he is training in Mississippi.

The plan for the year is : March Ster leaves for a TDY. May-ish Hannah comes to visit and travel. Hopefully in July we'll all go to America as a family (move away from Italy). Spend a month visiting our family together. Then Sterling will spend August 28-early December in training.

Recently Ster was told that even though we'll be given a new base assignment when we leave Italy it may not remain the base the Air Force wants us at when Ster finishes his training. So if I were to find a house in our next assignment and have our stuff there and set up house while Ster is in training...we might end up having to pack up and move again. Plus, I would probably want to visit family off and on during those three months.  

So two days ago we started talking about where the boys and I will stay while Ster is in training. Yesterday I called my mom and talked to her. It seems the best option is to live out of suitcases for four months, hopping from one relatives house to another. Mostly spending time at my parents house and Ster's parents house.

I think I won't enjoy living in their homes, especially that long. But what are my options?

And the boys miss their grandparents and will love getting to know their cousins etc. But I worry the kids will also start to lose their minds or have problems being homeless and bouncing around for four months! That's a long time!

Another issue...we have a dog! We'll be taking a dog around with us. And my parents don't have a fenced in yard.  

Anyway, thinking about wanting to visit my family now and spending too much time with them later kind of made me a little depressed. So yesterday I was blue and I have a cold.
Yesterday evening I started decorating a military cake and it really cheered me up! Last night my amazing husband came home from work (10:15p) and gave me a gift. He had helped translate for an American couple getting married and they insisted on giving him a $50 gift card to the BX. Ster thought about what he might want to buy then decided he'd rather give it to me. What a prince!

So this morning I left the kids with Sterling and went out for a girl clothing trip! Listening to my Wicked Soundtrack in the car and shopping for clothes alone was amazing! SO fun!  I shopped all clearance and was so happy to see the BX was selling tons of adorable dresses on clearance! I ended up getting three Sunday dresses, one fun party dress and a shirt all for $50! 

My Little Boys

Today the boys and I made a paper chain. One each link is written something fun to do together. i.e. build a big blanket tent in the living, have an outdoor picnic, learn a fun joke, search for a treasure using a treasure map. 16 chains of fun! Fun a day! Starting tomorrow.

Tiberias started potty training this week. He's 2 years and five months. Monday I tried a few hours of Ty in underwear. He has some accidents. I told him to go use the potty one time and he said "no" then pooped in his underwear.
Tuesday we tried no underwear/pants. He did awesome for a few hours and would go sit on the potty when he needed to pee. But as the evening went on I think he got sleepy and started peeing on the floor a lot more. Today we took a break from potty training.

Moving Cleaning

In December we cleaned up the attic. We plan to move in July and want to be organized and get rid of stuff. We are buying giant storage bins and filing them up as holidays pass. Almost all our Christmas stuff is packed up now. Today I went through all the baby clothes Ty has outgrown and decided which few to keep. I'm going to give 7 brown paper grocery bags of good baby clothes/shoes/jackets to the Italian woman who lives on the street over who collects for the poor. She drives on our street to see what the Americans are throwing out and we like to give her useful things.  I'm sure in June we'll have a bunch of more stuff to give her as we prepare to leave here.

My life is amazing. We are so happy!