October 2018 Part 2

One of the hard parts of being in the military we knew would be having to move often. We have gotten lucky and have been in San Antonio 4 years with another 2 more here. However, we didn't think about how often friends would move. Eden and Taylor have been friends since Kindergarten, and this was the year they had to move. :( With tears in our eyes those girls said goodbye. Kael's friend Jamie Garner just moved in November and it just doesn't get any easier.

We cherish the friendships we make and it's just like a song I learned as a little girl:

"Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the others gold."

It is so true. We love ALL our friends all over the world.

 We keep finding lots of worms from all the rain.

Friday nights have turned into pizza and sundae nights. Best way to cope with missing Dad.

 Lots of snuggles in bed with Mom. The first two weeks I always had a kid in bed with me.

And even now a month since Derek left they still find their way to my bed most nights. Not all, so there is progress.

The kids have started writing family members every Sunday to stay in touch. Elara wrote to our cousin Heidi and Heidi sent her this awesome drawing back. She hung it by her bed.

It took Derek a week to get to Bagram AFB, and he sent some pictures along his journey.

The kids decorated pirate Pete with spiders and some dress up clothes.

Connor being Connor. He has an apple in his hand I want to say at least 50% of the time he is awake. He loves apples.

Kael's soccer season is coming to a close and his team snapped some photos.

Top Left to Right: Coach Dominic, Anthony, Alona, Eric, Alina, Johan, Coach Sarah

Bottom Left to Right: Ryan, Daniel, Ariana, John, Serenity, Allen, Kael and Cory.

 I think the silly photo is more actual what happens with a bunch of 10 year olds.

Kael played defender on the side. He got to be really good and by the end of the year started getting it from the other team and passing to his team mates who sometimes scored!

 Derek jumped right in to work when he arrived at Bagram. No down time at all. So many surgeries needing to happen, and he has been busy non-stop since he got there.

On the 27th our ward had a trunk or treat and our neighbors the Linck's came with us. We had so much fun and got WAY too much candy.

This was the first year I actually decorated our trunk. Dollar store and our Pirate Pete to the rescue!

Super easy and cheap.

 Sarah and I. And no I had no costume. A dollar store hat and the little girls lip stick and I called it a win for the night.

We were finally able to face time Derek on October 30th. At least I was, I can't remember if the kids got in on this one or not. It was so nice to just talk to his face!

Kael got super sick when he came home from school on Monday the 29th. He had a high fever and was pretty miserable. It lasted an entire week! So he was home from school on the 30th when I decided to start carving pumpkins. He designed his really quick and then laid on the floor as I cleaned his and carved it for him. The poor kid was so miserable.

We finished Kael's and Connor's during school and when the girls got home from school we just got them done on Tuesday because I knew we wouldn't have time on Halloween.

Connor wanted a spiderman, so he got a spider and a web. Elara wanted Toothless. Eden tried a dog, but it turned into an awesome monkey! And Kael had a scary face.

Connor got a fever for a couple hours on Halloween during the day. So I had two very sick little boys in my bed that day. It made for a long Halloween.

With sick kids we had to cancel our fun friend Halloween plans. We still were able to have lots of fun though. We made mummy hot dogs for dinner. We watched Garfield's Halloween before attempting to trick or treat and getting once again completely soaked in the rain... Year 2 for Rain and zero points for team Bradley.

We made it to about 5 houses before their costumes were completely soaked and their clothes underneath and we called it quits. I took Kael, Elara and Connor. We came in and warmed up and watched a movie instead and handed out candy when the rain stopped.

 Eden with with the Linck's Alice and Sarah. She got plenty of candy for all of us.

So even though plans changed, kids got sick, we still know how to have a fun time at the Bradley's.

I'm just happy we all made it through October, and Derek getting off. As hard as it is having him gone, it's nice to have it started so we can look forward to him coming home!