videos

Austin playing with the curtains

austin playing with his train

Randomness and updates!

The Morris household had been busy yet productive! Life is "back to normal" with Mike working long hours and the boys home with me. We started a new adventure and go to a free gym on base nearly 3-4 nights a week. The boys play right in front of us in a kiddie area while we run on the treadmills and lift weights!! Logan continues to do well with the potty training and spend all of today in real underwear..McQueen underwear!  He has really gotten into Super heros lately (the Incredibles movie and Spiderman). He called Austin -violet today and Mike -Dash (from the movie). So I decided to make up names for him for the family. Logan is Monster Truck Boy and Austin is Screamer Boy. Still haven't figured out Mike's and my name...any suggestions? The Lord has been pressing on my heart to teach Logan bible stories, lessons and short easy verses. I plan on getting a felt board and making characters to "put on a play" with Logan so he can learn all the adventures and stories in the Bible. It has also caused me to dig deeper into the Word to learn how to teach someone else the lessons that I have learned. Did that make sense? 

Running has been going great for me and I actually enjoy it more and more everyday. It is especially fun for me when I get to train with the other girls from my church because we discuss our walks with the Lord and what we have been going through. Definitely makes the runs go by faster! Mike and I plan on training for a half marathon this summer. It is actually the one he did when we first moved here. Now we both will have trained for it and hopefully won't be too bad! Anyways, here are some pictures of what has been happening around here!

Logan put Mike's hat on today...my men look so good in uniform!

Definitely a tough guy!

Austin found the curtains the other day and had a riot playing in them (video to come soon)

Peek a Boo!

Just sitting there waiting for us to find him. Notice the hand towels nearby? Yeah, he spilled the dogs water.

Austin LOVES books! He will be real quiet for a little while and I will go searching for him (because quiet is never good) and he will be sitting there "reading"!

Yes, Logan put the "basket" on Austin...

Made a fort for Logan...

"under there!" 

Austin was exhausted after a day of running errands...he stayed asleep on the couch

Not crying over spilled milk...because I was laughing at Otis!!

He was right underneath when Logan spilled his milk.

Chili Dog night

My 11 month old!!!

Can you believe it? Austin is now 11 months old! Just a year ago I was still working and wanting that baby to come out so bad! It is hard to believe that he will be one year old next month. I remember Logan being a year old and that be the beginning of a fun age (not that I don't LOVE and ADORE the baby age!) but there is just something fun about being 12 months and older. Some facts about Austin...he has 8 teeth (even though they aren't completely in they have broken through) he is crawling on knees and with his bear crawl. He cruises around the couches and around the room. He definitely is giving Logan little room to play with his own toys! We are starting to sign with him and he gets a kick out of the "all done" sign. We have had to start saying NO with him and he has obeyed very well! He no longer goes for the dog food, dishwasher, and other things that he doesn't need to. I have seen Logan and Austin start their boyish wrestling and somewhat fighting. Logan loves to through our couch pillows on Austin who just laughs, they have "batted" at each other with their hands and several times Logan has pushed him down secretively. They will be a riot once Austin gets of age to wrestle back! These pictures I shot of him at lunch one day. You can really see the teeth that are all the way in, the ones on the sides of the top and bottom ones are slowly coming in. The picture with his hands up is him playing "so big"...he gets a goofy look on his face and raises his hands! And the last one is what he does when he doesn't want anymore food. He pretends to be interested with the back of his high chair. HA! Love my little Austin-bo-baustin!

My recent thoughts...

I know that I am only 26 and that I haven't even come close to Mid-life, but in some ways I feel like I have hit that crisis. Or at least have some feelings like it. I think I am kinda in a rut and need an adventure or challenge. Yes, being a mom of 2 can be a challenge in itself, but it will take many years to reap those benefits. I have thought about going back to work, as being a Nurse is still a very real and alive passion of mine. I am scared when I think about it because much of the knowledge has escaped my brain after it being bombarded with motherhood. However, there are many resources out there to give a refresher. So when I think about working I get sad because then I would have to leave my two dear boys and not be there to raise them at such a crucial age. I know that my passion for nursing doesn't even come close to the passion I have about being a homemaker. So then I thought about going back to school. These days I can get my BSN or even Masters all online! I could stay home and get it done slowly. When looked into we realized we just can't afford it at this point in life, but is a definite possibility in the future.

I miss being involved in a church and serving others. It has been way too many years since I have known more than a handful of people at our church. Thankfully that is looking up as we have started attending a Friday night small group in our neighborhood. I have also volunteered to help run a Bible study out of our MOPS group. I am very much looking forward to that busyness.

So why this feeling then? My life isn't over, it isn't even half way over hopefully! I feel that these are mostly selfish feelings of inadequacy and needed outside reassurance. After putting on too much weight over the holidays (and working so hard before to loose it) and seeing another deployment in my future this year, my spirits are low. I need to remind myself that I am living for the Lord and that when I seek Him out, things will be accomplished...little or big all according to Him. My prayer these days is for Jesus to put on my heart where he wants to me be next no matter how comfortable I am doing it or not. Just stepping out there and going for it.

Mike suggested as a way to fulfill my need for accomplishing something is to run a marathon. Yeah right...me run 26 miles? HA! If I run 3 miles I feel like a marathon runner. Well, our church is doing an 8K run at a local Event in Va Beach in March. So I am signing up for that for many reasons...to do something that I need to count on God for, to meet others at the church, and to loose weight (HA!). I know 8K is only like 5 miles or maybe not even, but it is a start to something that I can finish. Hopefully these feelings will disappear soon and I will be optimistic about our future.

I don't want to imply in any way that I am tired of being a mom, because that is truly opposite! Motherhood right now is amazing as the boys get older. Austin will be one in little over a month and I will have two toddlers. It is amazing how much goes into raising boys to be Godly men. It starts at this age and never stops it feels like. Even though my house is filled with dinosaurs, cars, dump trucks, snakes, tractors and books about all those things, their love is sweeter than ever. Logan still cuddles and says I love you so much on his own. He even is nice to his brother (sometimes). Austin is unfortunately a momma's boy and prefers me only when he is really tired. Otherwise he is more easy going than Logan was. I love seeing how Austin adores Logan and knowing that I need to raise Logan in such a way to be an example to Austin. I pray that the Lord will use these boys someday to further His Kingdom and to witness to the world. Now I just need to be the person I want them to be! Being a mom of these incredible boys makes my day go by too fast and those moments of love wash away all feelings of sadness. So yeah...those are my recent thoughts!

I will keep you all updated on my status of the run! Yeah!

Movie Night

Mike came home from work the other day and decided to have a movie night with Logan. They set up their blankets and pillows, popped the popcorn (mixed with marshmallows and carmel morsels) and started watching Spiderman. Austin was around for the beginning part of the movie and had fun going around and bugging the two of them. Logan enjoyed the time and really got into the movie. Afterwards he said "He saved her, he saved mommy!"

Antigua Day 6 and home!

Well, this is the last day. We decided to a Creole Cruise during our visit and this was the only day available. On Trip Advisor it was rated #1 out of 75!! This would be an all day cruise around half of the island with snorkeling, sight seeing and a lobster lunch! They picked us up at the resort from our beach...walked into the water to get on the boat....here are the pics!

Checking out all the shells while waiting for the cruise...it is a small ship and there was 11 people all together!

All ready to go!!

An old sugar mill we saw!

The Yacht we want to get...see the helo pad and the patio underneath?

Sandals resort...where we did NOT stay!

This was an island off of Antigua and this resort just opened up again after renovations. Incredibly beautiful...the rooms or houses go for about 3000 a night! Yikes!!

More beautiful houses

Where we docked...

There were hundreds of these little fishies, thank goodness they were more afraid of me than I was of them!

Some of the views and pictures we saw while snorkeling

A parrot fish

A jellyfish...can you believe it? I was freaked out because we could barely see it and it was so close to the top of the water...coulda swam right into it!

Yup...he touched it...said it felt like hardened jelly...go figure!

Another fish

on the boat and so much sun!

Mario who cooked or BBQ'd our lobster

in front of the boat...the big one behind it was another tourist boat that invaded our space!

yup...that is what my lunch looked like and I was still able to eat it and enjoy it!!! It was AMAZING!

sitting on the beach

We went on a hike on the little island we were on and this was one of the views, the large land in the way back is Antigua

A blow hole

Diving in!!

We went to a starfish wading pool...it was incredible! So many and huge starfish!

Mike holding one...

Yup...I am holding one too!!!

Snorkeling fishes!

the 1000's of little feet!

We decided to get off in St. John's because we needed a bit more cash. We got Australian ice cream with a warm freshly made waffle cone and saw a lot of drunk cruise people. Made it back to the resort to eat at a nearby restaurant...I had a chicken and shrimp medley with caribbean sauce...it was a black sauce...and there were other strange things in it that i didn't' know what it was, but it was delicious as usual! Went back to the resort, danced a little and went to bed. We had to get up at 4:30 to get to our flight. That was interesting. There was only 2 people working the counter and they got there late to check us in. Serious island time! We made it though. Our flights went real smooth all the way home. Had about a hour delay from chicago to MN but so grateful that our flight didn't get cancelled like SO many others! There were 78 people on standby for our full flight! If I wasn't going home to some incredible boys and wonderful family then I would so let others go instead of us!

We really enjoyed this vacation and can't believe that we were able to and blessed enough to go on it. Everything worked out so wonderfully and we will remember these 6 nights forever. Being able to take care of our marriage and our love is priceless! Thank you for letting me blog about it all and post the pictures. It has been fun remembering! Now whenever Mike is gone on deployment, or we are having a tough kid night, I can go to my "happy place" and think about this time we were able to have. God is good!