11/13/2011
This morning we went to church as a family for the last time until Ian comes home for good. It was a little sad, but again, I tried not to dwell on it. After church, we took the kids roller skating at the skate rink. I couldn't hack it in their skates because they hurt my feet, so after about 30 min I tapped out and just watched. Ian and the girls seemed to have a blast and skated almost the whole time they were there. Daniel wasn't as interested after the first 20 minutes, but would go out and skate in spurts. About halfway through, Daniel decided he did not want to skate anymore and tried to turn in his skates. I tried to get him to go back out with Ian and skate, and he told me that he will next time we come. I then reminded him that daddy is leaving this week, so this is the last day we have to skate with him. Daniel then told me that he knew that, but that daddy would just go to work and come back at night, like normal. That was hard for me because that is when I realized that he did not understand that Ian was heading back for Afghanistan. So, I sat down with him and explained it again. He cried a little, but mostly got a pouty face and then decided to go skate with daddy some more.
Skating was the kids "birthday" celebration with Ian. On our way home, we went to the commissary and got stuff to make dinner, and also let the kids pick out their own individual cakes for their birthday celebration. So, we came home and made dinner. After dinner, the kids each got their cakes out and we put a candle on them and we all sang "Happy Birthday" one by one. After they were all done, each kid got to take a huge bite out of their cakes and got to eat half of it. The idea is that since Ian will be (or has in Emily's case) missing the kids' birthdays, we would celebrate a little with Ian home. We were hoping to do one a day and spread them out over the 2 weeks, but time just slipped away from us. The kids didn't mind, and I think it actually turned out to be more fun this way because they each got their own individual cake to dig into.
On this kids' actual birthdays, Ian will still call like he did with Emily's (if he is available) and will still send them a little gift from just him. We just wanted a way for the kids to enjoy it with him physically here, and they did.
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