I'm getting so much smarter with age...I'm remembering things that never happened!!!

Like 1 year of Willie's life...that never happened. For some reason I was thinking that he was 3.. Nope. He's only two. Either it's been a great two years and time has flown by - which is most likely the case - or I'm wishing his life away - which is sometimes the case. Sadly, I would have never figured it out if it weren't for my dear children.

My whole time-line in my life revolves around before and after Will's deployment. When did I get Willie...two months after Will deployed. When did we go to Disneyland...3 months after Will came home...you get the idea.

Usually our lives are gauged on when a child was born, you know like new parents know exactly how many months, weeks and days their baby is. I'm so way past that now. I forget sometimes how old I am. I have to do the...let's see, I was born in '71, sooooo...thing.

So other than telling time by Will's deployment...first deployment...we also have been telling time by how long we have lived in our wonderful house. THAT has been 3 years. For some reason I have remembered the date we moved in. January 17, 2007. I know that for sure because it was one year before Will left for Afghanistan - see...the whole deployment time-line thing again.

We have loved every day that we have been here in this special home. So in honor of the three years we've spent here, I thought I'd post a few pictures of some of the things I remember about the last three years. Now wait, has it really been three years? Yes, I'm sure it has only been three years. It really does just seem like yesterday!

This is the back of our house before the addition went on. My Grandma Jane had a covered porch that held birthday parties, bridal showers, baby showers, holiday celebrations, and it was even a place that I ran away from home to once. This picture is of course without the porch and the shrubbery that was surrounding it.

Oh, the mud and the mess. My house was always dirty at this stage in the process. I remember this as being a time of great frustration and wonder. I wondered if it would ever get completed - nothing against Will, I just couldn't imagine the project ever ending. And of course it snowed early that year.

progress.

more progress.

Then my grandma Jane died. She saw the addition to about the point of the picture above. She was such a good sport to watch my dad and Will and Steven and Ryan tear down her house. I wish she would have been able to enjoy the house all built back up again. There are many things I did in remembrance of my grandma. The big window in the back was especially to watch the birds in the backyard. Something she loved to sit at her kitchen table and do. We're blessed to feel of her love still. I know she approves. She whispered to me many times while Will was deployed when I didn't think I could handle anything more, "You'll be just fine, Julie." That was a blessing.

And the end. I know it looks like were in downtown Miami with the colors. If it weren't for the snow at the bottom of the screen then I know that's what you'd think. But I had to work with what was existing. It goes, I know it doesn't look like it, but it goes. That project was the most major before Will deployed. Will was working on things until the day before he left and he is still working on things today. I know it looks like I'm a pushy wife, but all the things he's been doing lately have been his idea. You'll see some of them soon.

The inside was changed a lot too. Mostly the kitchen which attaches to the addition.

Then our sweet Kansas died. She had Osteosarcoma - canine bone cancer. This picture makes me cry. Emma would pick up Kansas' head and lay it on her lap. This was at the end when Kansas didn't really move around very much. We loved her. Sometimes I hear a dog bark from around the corner and I think it's Kansas. I think she would be annoyed with Willie.

Then the deployment. Surely one of the biggest events in our lives since we've lived here...if not ever.

All the pictures with my red nose and puffy eyes from crying. I'm going to try to be more "media" ready for the next time. I can't believe how much the kids have grown in the past 3 years! They were babies!!

Then this privileged character - who parks himself on any ledge to see better - came into our lives. I remember my heart beating so fast from excitement when I saw four Westie puppies running around in a yard down the street. I knew then that one of them must be mine. He was way past due for a hair cut here.

Then, celebration, we're a family again. Disneyland - that's where families go to celebrate, right? Yes! Along with 3 million other families! We had a blast and we all lived.

Something that has remained unchanged - basically - since we've lived here is the Christmas lights around the outside of the house. My grandma always had them up and Will wanted to take them down but I wouldn't let him because there was no way that I was going to put them back up on the house while he was gone. This past Christmas, we changed them from being all inconspicuous and white to multi-colored and when they were white you didn't really notice them - even in July, but multi-colored...in July, that screams white-trash! So for the first time since we've lived here, Will took them down.

We're so blessed with what we have. I really can't believe it's been 3 years. Of course there have been so many other things that have happened, but I just tried to hit the big ones.

So here's to many, many, many more years in our special home. For being a 60+ year old house, it's in such good shape I think we'll get another 400 years out of it! By then, I'll be tired of vacuuming and I just won't care anymore.