Happy Birthdays

Because we stayed home for the holidays, Scot also got to spend his first birthday (Dec. 26th) at home (and not in Wausau) in many, many years. To celebrate this rare occasion, we invited several friends over...but alas, only our friends J-squared & Keira were able to make it. Oh well, we still had a fun time! I made a spaghetti dinner and we played the Wii. What more do you need?

The birthday boy with his two favorite ladies


Keira and Ava - polar opposites (can we have a calm one next time?)

The girls helping Scot blow out his candles

The next day (Dec 27th) was Grandma Di's birthday, so we took her to a fancy steakhouse called Murray's in downtown Minneapolis - we had a great time!

And sooner or later, we'll have another birthday in the mix. Two weeks and counting! Fortunately, I'm not experiencing the lovely symptoms mentioned in the ticker above...I'm just tired and ready to get on with things. I had my 38 week appointment today - I'm now dilated to 2-3 cm, but really don't have anything else to report. Other than Ava's question while I was being examined..."What's in Mommy's butt?"

Home for the Holidays

Well, it's the first time we've been home for Christmas in at least eight years. Usually we are on our way to Wausau fairly early on Christmas day...but with the baby cooking this year for just a few more weeks (if that), we elected to stay put. And it's pretty nice, especially now that Ava is older and sort of "gets" Santa. She enjoyed picking out cookies to put out for him last night and really enjoyed seeing that they were eaten this morning!

We've had a very relaxing Christmas day - opened and played with Santa presents, watched one of Ava's new movies - "Charlotte's Web", ate leftovers, napped (all 3 of us), went sledding, and now Scot and Ava are watching another one of Ava's new movies - "Horton Hears a Who".

So, despite not having to travel, we still have been very busy the last week. My parents came to visit last Friday - our Christmas gifts to them were tickets to the Minnesota Orchestra's holiday program, with Doc Severinson conducting. It was a really terrific show (how can you can go wrong with 2 hours of Christmas music?) and we had an amazing dinner in downtown Minneapolis beforehand at The Newsroom. A great perk was that we could see the Hollidazzle parade from our nice, warm, cozy seats instead of standing outside freezing with the masses.

The next day, my brother Mike drove over from Wausau to rescue us from a bathroom emergency. Shortly after we moved into our house 4 years ago, Scot and his dad redid our upstairs bath - new tile floor, shower, tub surround, recessed lighting, etc, etc. Well, unfortunately, we recently discovered that the tub surround was not doing its job and the wallboard underneath was growing mold and getting water damage. Scot called Mike on the off chance he could come over in the next few weeks and put up some tile, which he does for a living. He was free so he came over right away the next day. I'll spare you all of the agonizing details and delays that occurred over the weekend - let's just say it's done, it looks awesome, and we owe Mike big. Thanks bro! Here's some shots of the finished product and Mike's signature...hopefully the power of the snowman keeps our bathroom in good shape for many years to come!



So, we celebrated Christmas Eve last night with Scot's family and had a wonderful time, despite it being very bittersweet for all of us this year. The week prior, Scot's cousin Dan was home in between his Iraq deployment and his next Naval assignment - Hawaii (rough). Here we are all:

In baby-related news, I had my 37 week appointment on Monday. I'm dilated to 2 cm, but otherwise not much is going on. My doctor gave me strict orders not to have the baby this weekend since she'll be out of town. :-) I am happy to play by those rules for now, though I am getting increasingly anxious to get things rolling along. As easy as my pregnancy has been, I'm still eager for it to be over. Our good friend Lauren (and Jerry), who was due on January 5th - one week before me, just had her baby boy on December 23rd. We visited them in the hospital that night - the same hospital I'll be delivering at. So yeah, I'm getting ready for the end.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Heading South...

in April, that is. To Atlanta. For about 3 months. Yikes!

So, Scot has more military pilot training to complete - he will be upgrading from copilot to aircraft commander. We have known this would be coming for awhile, but just didn't know when. And now we know - we actually got his dates in early October but have just recently figured out the logistics of it all. Awhile ago I think we both assumed he would just go down there by himself and do it whenever it came up. Ha! My perspective quickly changed about, oh, 2 days into his most recent deployment to Afghanistan. It became clearer and clearer throughout his 8 week absence that I was in no condition to take on yet another absence with one more child.

Just one small detail - what was I going to do about my job? The timing seemed like it couldn't be any worse. If I have this baby sometime around my due date, I will be going back to work the first part of April. And now to ask my boss for another reprieve starting at the end of April? Ugh. Well, I got the courage to bring it up a few weeks ago and surprisingly she was very supportive. In the end, I think we have agreed that I will take a personal leave of absence between late April and the end of May and then I will work remotely part time for the rest of our stay there. And the timing actually worked out better than I initially thought, as we're already prepping another gal in my dept to take over some of my tasks while I'm on maternity leave - now we'll just add a few more months to that.

So, it is pretty exciting to think that after the first of the year I will barely be in the office until the end of July! The thought of moving the 4 of us down there is a little unnerving, but it should work out all right. We'll probably just take our 2 vehicles and then rent a furnished apartment while we're down there. I haven't really spent any time in Atlanta before, so I think it will be a lot of fun to explore. And my mouth is already watering for some sweet tea...yummy.

Counting down...

Yikes! Gosh, less than one month to go. It seems like forever and not enough time all at once. I do feel like I've been pregnant forever, considering we made the initial announcment to our families on Mother's Day. But in many ways, I'm not ready. I'm mostly scared about going from a family of 3 to a family of 4 and all of the unknowns it will bring. I know it will all work itself out in the end, though...we won't have any other choice, right?

So, I had my 36 week appointment a few days ago and now will start seeing my doctor every Monday. Things are moving along just fine - I was surprised to find out I'm already dilated to 1-2cm, though my doctor said that's fairly common after the first pregnancy. If I remember correctly, I was dilated for 2 or 3 weeks with Ava and she did not budge until 3 days after my due date. And for all those people who ask if I want a December baby for the tax deduction? I really don't care. I would just as soon make it through the holidays without a disruption like childbirth and let this little guy or girl cook a little longer. Besides, my insurance will actually be quite a bit better beginning in January so it all ends up being a wash. Otherwise, my iron is still low and I'm still tired most of the time. I don't expect that to change anytime soon!

We are definitely in less of planning frenzy with this baby. We have a boy name picked out, but still no girl name. We don't have a nursery for the baby - Ava is still using the only other bedroom that is upstairs by ours (our other two bedrooms are downstairs) so we aren't in a rush to move her. We figure the baby will sleep in our room for the first few months anyway - we'll get a room for him/her eventually. I just finally did my first load of "baby laundry" - got out all of Ava's things that can be reused and washed them up (OK, so that event tugged at the heartstrings a little...). I received a sample newborn diaper in the mail from Pampers last week and couldn't believe how tiny it was! We have a couple of boxes of diapers and wipes. And I have boobs, assuming nursing is a success again this time. Eh, so everything is pretty much checked off!

And because I don't feel like typing much more, here are some pictures from the last week...

Ava's idea of trimming the tree - the cluster technique:


Ava and Daddy all bundled up, ready to tackle snow shoveling:


Making spritz cookies, a Wilcox family tradition:

A few shout outs...

I follow quite a few blogs...I just thought I'd give a shout out to a few here. By the way, if you have a few blogs you follow, I highly suggest using Google Reader - you can enter the URLs all on one site and it will indicate which ones have new entries. Neat!

My sister has a blog! This is just short of amazing, considering just over a year ago she didn't know how to bookmark a website as a favorite (sorry Jo, Mom told me about that). She's big into the knitting scene and her family life in Wausau, WI.

I have a very talented friend in California, who I've actually never met, but we have gotten to know each other through a parenting website for our November 2005 babies. Her name is Rebecca and she is the proud mother of 4(!) - an 11 year old boy, 4 year old boy-girl twins, and a 3 year old boy. Her husband is in the Navy and was also deployed to Afghanistan this year, so we've been able to commiserate on a number of levels. She actually has several sites, a few which serve as business ventures. Her main blog is here - check out the links to her 2 Etsy stores (baby cocoons and hair accessories). Hmm...wouldn't one of those baby cocoons be perfect for a certain baby due in January? She also makes custom photo announcements - I would love to do this more as well, but I have come to accept that I just don't have the time. I still love to do it for friends and family and will probably dedicate a future post to some of my latest creations.

Another online friend is Shannon from Ontario, Canada. She is another very crafty girl, which is obvious by her blog. I have just re-discovered that she has an offshoot blog which focuses on menu planning and trying new recipes for her family of five - I am definitely going to start paying more attention to this one! We can definitely use help in this area.

I'll try to give credit in the next few months to some of the other great blogs I read regularly.

Photo preview

So, maybe Monday Part I (see last post) wasn't all bad...

Received a sampling of our photos and they can be viewed here.

Should get the rest in a few days - will share those too.

Week in Review

News clips from the week:

Friday: The Coldplay concert was AWESOME.

Monday - Part I: We had pictures scheduled for 10 am. But they weren't at 10 am. For the first time ever, we had a photographer come to our house and she thought we cancelled when we did not. Grrr...let's just say Ava is not at her best after 11 am. Still waiting on the shots - I will share when I get them. Hoping at least a few of the several hundred turned out...

Monday - Part II: Ava's 3 Year Appointment.
Height - 38 inches (71st percentile)
Weight - 32 lbs (63rd percentile)

Discovered she had her first ear infection. Explains the wailing and distress during Pictures (Part I). Wish I would have known this prior to 10 am so that I could have in fact cancelled. Got a prescription for amoxicillin, which she loves. Hasn't complained since.
Got a flu shot and didn't cry.

Monday - Part III: Heidi's 32 Week Appointment.
Height - 66 inches
Weight - Um, let's just say I gained 3 more pounds, bringing the grand total to 20.
Blood pressure - Normal
Iron - 9.2. UGH - this is DOWN from 3 weeks ago. But it explains why I feel like death most of the time...Got a different prescription, we'll see if it does anything.
Baby's head is down (yay) & heartbeat is in the 140s.
Received go-ahead to schedule ultrasound to check placenta and baby growth.
Got a flu shot and didn't cry.

Monday - Part IV: Big Sibling Class at Woodwinds Hospital. (Did I overschedule this day?)
Ava LOVED this class - she was definitely in her element. It was very well done - the teacher talked about babies, what we need to do with babies (1. Love them, 2. Help them, 3. Protect them). Each child had a baby doll to practice with - they learned how to put on its diaper and swaddle them and hold them. We also took a tour of the maternity ward and they showed the kids a newborn. Ava took it all very seriously and was definitely the best baby caregiver in the group!

Tuesday - Thursday: Scot and I both have bad colds. Found out on Wednesday that he has to fly Fri - Sun. Less than thrilled.

Thursday Afternoon: Ultrasound.
Placenta has moved to where it is supposed to be - YAY!
Baby looks good, weighs about 3lbs, 12 oz, has a little hair.
Resisted finding out the sex - the tech had us turn our heads when she examined the bottom half and told us afterwards that she couldn't tell anyway, baby was being discreet.
When we got to the hospital, Ava wanted to go to class again :-)

Busy weekend

I've been so tired this week...I'm still recovering from the weekend, I think. And there will be no rest for the weary, as we are going to see Coldplay tomorrow night - woo hoo!

One thing I learned on Sunday is that I should stop going to Packers games while I'm pregnant, as I'm now 0 for 3. We were surprised with free Packers-Vikings tickets late last week - there ARE a few perks of being a military family around Veteran's Day...we picked up the tickets when we got to the dome and learned we could sit on the field! While it was pretty exciting to be so close to the action, it was also really hard to see much of anything. So, at halftime, we found our other designated seats which were about 25 rows up in the end zone - pretty fantastic. Everything about the event was pretty fantastic...except for the outcome, of course. Sigh.

Our seats on the field:


The day before was Ava's birthday party. Here is the birthday invitation I made(thanks to big sis Jo for taking the pics the last time we were in Wausau):

We all had a great time - most of our family and friends were able to join us. Ava loved her Dora cake and her mountains of presents (of course). Thanks to all of you who made the trip and your generosity! Scot and I gave Ava her presents on her actual birthday, which were also a big hit. We got her some books, a 4-pack of princess shoes, and a little laptop so she can do her "putering". Her other favorite presents have been a Hungry Hippos game, a Count & Cook Game (an offshoot of Cranium), a Handy Manny toolkit, and a doctor's kit.

Here are a few pictures from the big day:
Blowing out THREE candles

Reading to Dora

Happy 3rd Birthday, Ava!

Well...the post is a few days late, but here it is...

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!

Ava Marguerite
Born November 10, 2005 @ 4:05 pm
6 lbs, 7 oz; 19 inches


I can't believe you're already three...It seems so long ago and yet so recent that I held you in my arms for the first time. It hasn't been an easy ride - you came out stong-willed and feisty. And you still are. But as much as it can frustrate me, I do admire your independence and extroverted nature, neither of which I seem to posess myself. In the last year, you have changed so much. No longer a little toddler with just a handful of words, but a little girl who can't stop talking! You have had so many big firsts this year - you tackled a big girl bed and pottty training this summer without too many issues. And you're becoming a big sister in just a few months - you seem really excited about this most of the time, but time will tell...

I love the little person you are becoming. I love that you can do more and more things with us, like playing games and filling in the words to most of your books. You have friends who you love to play with and talk about. You insist on doing things yourself and you really thrive on being around people. You're a great little climber - you love to go to parks and playgrounds where you can scale the equipment, nothing scares you. But you're still definitely a little girl - you love your baby dolls, wearing dresses, reading about princesses and watching princess movies.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Ava.

Cast your vote...again.

For those who would like to play, I have set up a baby pool here.

Now we're just gearing up for Ava's birthday party on Saturday. I can't believe my little baby is turning 3...

Enough already

Ava and I were hanging out in the living room on Saturday, when she announced out of the blue, "I'm Vicki, and I approve this message."

Thank God it's election day today! I really hope it is decisive.

Lots of Updates

Doctor Appointment - 29 weeks
I went in on Monday for a checkup - much to my surpise, I had only gained 2 pounds since my last visit and am measuring a week behind (28 weeks). I feel a lot bigger than those stats would suggest, but I guess I'm on track. I passed my glucose tolerance test...but ended up leaving work early that day because I got really nauseous from the drink. I'm still anemic, so I'll continue to take iron twice a day. So, all in all, things are going pretty well. My next appointment is November 17th and then I'll start going every 2 weeks already - I can't believe it!

Cats
Just because they don't get much press...


Pumpkin carving
We carved pumpkins on Wednesday night and it was pretty much a success. Ava wasn't interested in carving and just wanted to draw on them, so I let her have at the backs of them with magic marker. We roasted the seeds for the first time and they turned out really good! And halfway through she felt the need to wear her bathing suit (naturally). The rest of the time you can see she is still wearing the same blue striped dress I've mentioned before - she usually races up the stairs to her bedroom after getting home from daycare to put this on. She sleeps in it too. It's truly amazing when we have any pictures of her not in this dress.



And they turned out pretty cool!

Halloween
A busy day! We started out the day with Julie's (Scot's sister) swearing in ceremony to the MN State Bar. She took the bar exam in July and just found out she passed a few weeks ago. Now she is officially an attorney! We are very proud of her.

Then, of course, trick or treating came later. Ava dressed up as a princess. Everything will Ava is princess these days and I've been told to expect that she'll be a princess for Halloween for the next couple of years.

She LOVED trick or treating this year. We probably went to about 20 houses in our neighborhood and she had a ball. She didn't quite master the timing of saying "Trick or Treat", but people still gave her candy anyway. Our favorite thing was that she would just sprint away from the house after getting the candy, completely and totally elated (and looking like a blur in most of these pictures). It was too cute. And she wants to go again tonight.

Escape to Stillwater

We had a fabulous day and overnight in Stillwater - it was the perfect way to spend some extra time together without the stress of our well-meaning, but very "spirited" Ava.

We dropped Ava off at Vicki's in the morning and headed out to do some shopping - we drove up 35E to North Branch, stopped at a little dive first for some greasy pizza and then headed over to the outlet mall. We found plenty of good deals and it was nice to shop at a relaxing pace.

Then we made our way back to Stillwater just in time to check in at the Rivertown Inn.

It was breathtaking - the perfect place to unwind. We settled into our room, took a few pictures...



...and then headed downstairs for wine and cheese. We chatted with a really nice couple who was about our age and then we headed on over to a place called Stone's for dinner. Had some great pasta dishes and a fantastic dessert (butter pecan ice cream covered in coconut and hot fudge). Thought briefly about staying out later to listen to some live music, but let's face it, we're old and tired and we didn't.

In the morning we had an amazing 4 course breakfast - it was to die for. Checked out of our room and then bummed around the downtown area and finished up in front of the fireplace at Starbucks where we each did some reading. It really couldn't have been better. Came home to a napping Ava, so we napped as well. Thanks again to Julie and Jess who babysat - it was wonderful!

Yowza - here's a 29 week view of the ol' belly. I have a dr appt tomorrow - I would venture to say that I'm quite a bit larger this time around than I was with Ava.

Back to normal...

Scot made it home last Friday - Ava and I got to the Guard base just minutes before the plane flew overhead. I wish I could describe the excitement on Ava's face when she realized her daddy was finally coming home...I'd include a picture here if I had one. If only I had remembered to put the memory card back in the camera...oh well. My mind was obviously elsewhere. Anyway, it was a great moment. She waved her little flag with such gusto and couldn't stop smiling. Neither could I.

After a 20 minute trip over to Customs, their plane finally taxied over to us. Ava didn't shy away from Scot at all and gave him a huge hug.

While we were waiting, I overheard a conversation Ava was having with another little girl Sophia (whose daddy was the other pilot):
Ava: "My daddy is on the plane"
Sophia: "No, my daddy is on the plane"
Repeat.

I jumped in and assured Ava that both of their daddies were on the plane.

Anyway, it took about another hour for Scot to in-process and then we were finally on our way home. Together. I can't even describe what a relief it's been to have him home - I don't think I realized how tired I've really been. It is amazing to have help around the house and with Ava - I'm so thankful he's back!

Anyway, we've pretty much fallen back into our old routine. Scot has off for 2 weeks, which has been great. He has kept very busy crossing things off his honey-do list and catching up with family and friends.

I have Friday off and we're headed to the Rivertown Inn in Stillwater for the night. We're both looking forward to a relaxing day and evening out. Ava will stay home with Aunt Julie tomorrow night and then friends Jess & Keira on Saturday.

UGH

Well, I hope they saved a spot for me at the loony bin.

Scot is not going to be home today (I don't think). Their plane broke upon their arrival in Scotland and they've been struggling to get a working replacement part. I got an email from him early this morning saying that the plane IS fixed now and that they are leaving today. However, they are supposed to be stopping in Nova Scotia too before they come home. They only have one flight crew on the plane this time, so I'm guessing they can't stop, refuel, and be on their way again because they'd probably go over their maximum hours for the day. Suck.

Hopefully I'll hear from him later today and find out he'll be home tomorrow...

43 hours...but who's counting?

Almost there. Another day and I think I'd be in the loony bin.

Ava is having such a hard time - I really don't know how people do this for 12 or 18 months. It has really wreaked some havoc on our lives here, so much more than last time. Now Ava is old enough to know Daddy's gone and that she misses him, but is not old enough to understand why he's gone and for how long. Since the beginning of October, we started coloring each day on the calendar, but her interest in that didn't last very long. This morning I told her excitedly that we only had 2 days left and showed her 2 fingers. She started sobbing and said "No, it's five days!" Poor thing doesn't know that 2 is better than 5 in this case.

On a very happy note, Scot left Afghanistan yesterday and flew as far as Romania. They flew to Scotland today, will go to Nova Scotia tomorrow, and then be back home around 3 pm on Thursday. Thank goodness.

One more week!

Yes, one more week until Scot is back home! It can't come soon enough. Even better, he leaves Afghanistan on Monday, so he has only one more day of flying to go before he gets packed up. Yahoo!

We had a great time in Wausau...well, up until Tuesday night when Ava threw up on Grandma Ola. About a half hour earlier, Ava had gotten extra clingy with me and insisted on sitting on my lap while I ate supper. She wouldn't eat anything and was burning up. In the 10 mintues it took me to run over to the store and back to get some Motrin, she had puked on my mom. The rest of the evening, Ava repeated in a very serious tone, "When you feel bad, you puke. Yes."

The bad thing was I still had to go back to work on Wednesday. My plan was to drive back in the morning, drop Ava off at daycare and head into work for the afternoon. I needed to physically be in the office because I had to pack up my cube - we're moving to a different building and had to be out by Wednesday at 5 pm so the movers could take over. I would have done it earlier, but didn't get a chance with our impromptu trip out east. So...I couldn't drop Ava off at daycare with a fever, which meant I had to take her to work with me. She actually seemed a lot better during the drive so I didn't think it'd be too bad. But it wasn't great - once we got there, I put on a DVD and she layed on the floor of my cube while I packed everything up. Poor thing...I was done after about 90 minutes so we promptly went back home and got her into bed. We didn't do much the rest of the day besides lay around and watch TV. I have to admit it was kind of a nice break for me...and she snapped out of it today, so thankfully it was just a 24 hour thing.

Otherwise, it was pretty relaxing to be back home. It was nice to have some extra hands. Going to work Mon and Tues involved rolling out of bed and walking 2 steps to the computer, while Ava happily played with Grandma and Grandpa. My cousins Lynn and Mark were visiting from Arizona, so it was great to spend time with them too. It all made the time go by faster, which is really the only thing I need right now.

Mommy's Girl


Having fun with cousin Gus


The whole fam (including stuffed Scot)


Goofy girl


26 weeks

26 weeks

Crap, that means there's only 14 weeks to go?! Eek. In many ways it seems like I've been pregnant forever...but of course, it also seems it's been flying by at warp speed. It doesn't help that I've been wishing the last 6 weeks would magically disappear and that we all (Scot, Ava, etc) could resume life on October 16th like that time never happened. Ah well...

And for those of you who pay attention to the times of my posts, you may be wondering what the hell I'm doing up at 4am? I'm wondering the same thing, actually...no, actually, there isn't a whole lot of mystery. My dear OCD cat Rocky spent about 20 minutes cleaning up his latest deposit in the litter box at 3am. Scratch, scratch, scratch. Dig, dig, dig. Cover, cover, cover. On and on. UGH.

Anyway, I had a doctor appointment on Thursday. Baby's heartbeat is still around 150. I've gained 15 pounds so far - not a bad place to be. Means I can gain a pound a week from here on out and still stay within 30 pounds. I will have another ultrasound next month to check my placenta - hopefully everything is OK with that. I also got out of a blood poke for hemoglobin again. My doctor said we could wait until next time, since I'll have to get tested for gestational diabetes then anyway. So, my next appointment will be Oct 27th.

Not much else to report...we're going to head to Wausau again tomorrow (no, I guess today) after music class. We'll stay until Wednesday, so that will be nice! Which means when we get back, we'll only have one week left until Scot gets home. Around the house, poor Ava will periodically slump her shoulders and announce "I'm sad." When I ask her about it, she'll say "I miss Daddy." The whole thing just really sucks.

Allrighty, off to see if I can catch a few more zzzzzs...

Life in the sandbox

Sandbox, as in Afghanistan. So not my cute little girl playing in the backyard...

After much hounding from me, Scot finally sent over some pictures, so here is a look at how he has been living for the past 5 weeks.

Base housing


Their makeshift common area. Last year, they had an indoor common room, but they haven't had one this time so they created this space outdoors.


Scot's room. I gave him shit because the first pictures he sent didn't have any obvious signs of family pictures being displayed. So, he sent this picture to shut me up.




Hard at work...


His crew


And a shoutout to Daddy from Ava (albeit not a very focused conversation). And yes, she's wearing her ball gown again.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Oh, and thanks to friends Jess and Kelly who went out to dinner with me for my birthday. Bigger thanks to sister in law Julie who gave me the time off. :-)

Oh well...

they lost.

But it was still a ton of fun - it was really only the 4th quarter that was miserable. The Cowboys really let us have so many opportunities too, but we just couldn't put together anything on offense. Blah.

Thanks again to my mom, who watched our almost 2 and 3 year old girlies! Jess and I had such a great time being just Packers fans for about 9 hours...Here are the munchkins doing some watercolor as we were leaving:


Here we are before we left. And this also serves as a 24 week belly shot, I guess ;-)


I decided to play the military card with my signage. What ended up being really cool is that a ton of people around us rallied around my sign (well, heck they wanted to be on TV too). But everytime the cameras were on, a bunch of people (Dallas fans too) shouted "Hold up your sign!" That was really nice! But we never did make it on TV...but I also found out that Scot wasn't able to watch it anyway because he was flying. Oh well...


Jess had a good idea for a sign too: "My husband is in Afghanistan because he's a Vikings fan", but I decided to play nice...

Some more pics:
A cool sign in the stadium (too bad it didn't work better for us this game)


Before the game when we were really happy


Ahh...Lambeau...


It was a great weekend. And we're over halfway done with this stupid deployment, so I'm getting a little less crabby. Scot sent some pictures yesterday - I'll have to check with him to see if they're OK to post here.