Sunday, September 13, 2009

Homecoming Dinner
















We had a great time at our homecoming dinner. It was held at the Schloss Hotel restaurant. The meal was great and it was nice to spend some time together. Eric also had a great time. He spent the evening with the Keahl family. They went to the pool, had dinner and he got to play and spend time with a family he loves! He had a blast!

Eric and Elmer







Eric found all kinds of good stuff when Elmer started to unpack. He loves trying to walk around in Daddy's boots. He is still in his hat phase and had a great time trying on Daddy's various hats. It has been an adjustment for them both but it is so great to see them happy and reconnecting.

Welcome Home Daddy!
















On August 24th Elmer finally came home from Iraq! We somehow survived 12 months without him. It was crazy and so sad sometimes but we are so grateful that he is home safe. It is so good to be with him again!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Happy Anniversary! 6 Years and Counting...
















I can't believe it was 6 years ago that we were sealed for time and all eternity. It is so wonderful looking back at all of the good times and see how much we have grown. I am so grateful for my husband and all that he does for us. He is a great husband, friend, father and provider. I can't imagine life without him. I look forward to celebrating when he gets back. I love you Mer!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Update...

before
after

It is that time again when I update what is going on in our lives. We are counting down the days until Daddy comes home. We are both tired of living without him. It seems like the days are longer and the months too. Eric is growing so fast. He loves Thomas the Tank Engine, Elmo, Blues Clues and Bear in the Big Blue House. He also loves Diego. Seriously he doesn't get to watch a lot of tv. I promise! He loves to play pretend and go to the park. He constantly asks me if we can go to the slide. He also loves to chase butterflies. He says "Bye" to every gate gard and loves to stop and pet dogs. He is speaking very clearly now and has picked up on several funny sayings including "Oh man!" and "That's Cool". He has four stuffed animals in his bed, two penguins, one bear and Daddy. Every time he gets up in the morning or from nap he has to give each one a hug and he has to give them to me to hug also. He is a wiz at his shape sorter, he is learning his colors he knows red, blue, yellow and green and he can count to ten while going down the stairs. He knows the names of most of the foods he eats and can even spot an elephant in his books and clothes. He loves his Blue's Clues book and his ABC picture book. He asks me to read Mama llama books all the time. They are his favorite. For thos of you wondering they are Llama Llama Mad at Mama, Llama Llama Misses Mama and Llama Llama Red Pajama. I recently got him on tape reading Slowly Slowly Slowly Said the Sloth. He just says "Slowly Slowly Slowly' as he turns the pages. It is really cute. He loves to pray at meals and sometimes we end up praying four or five times. He is an amazing little man and we couldn't imagine life without him. The pictures above are the before and after of his hair cut. What a difference!!!!

The Fourth of July!







Not liking our stroll in the heat














This year fireworks were done on the base across from base housing, since Ramstein is under construction. They asked all of the housing residents to walk due to limited parking. They have a foot bridge that connects the two bridges. Since we live on housing I figured that it wouldn't be that bad to walk. I know that the bridge has steps instead of ramps (stupid!) but I figured that I would just wing it and take the big stroller. I didn't realize that there was a huge hill/mountain on the other side of that bridge that I would have to climb to get to the festivities. Let's just say that it is uphill both ways! I wore comfortable shoes but one broke when I was playing with Eric waiting for fireworks and so I now have a huge blister from my 30 min walk home. Thanks to all of the people who helped. Thanks to all of the guys who carried Eric across the bridge for me both times and my friend Connie for her help too. Thanks to the older gentleman in line with me waiting for food. Eric choked on an apple and ended up getting sick so I had to take care of that and he offered to get my food for me and was really helpful. Thanks! Thanks to the gentleman who helped me get my stroller up the curb when it got stuck and I had stuff in my hands. Also thanks to those who have served and are now serving our country. Thanks goes to Eric for always making my day better and for being my buddy in all of this. A special thanks goes out to my amazing husband. I can't thank you enough for serving and for the sacrifices you make. I am so grateful for you and I wish so much you could be here with us. I know it is soon but still I miss you! I hope everyone had a Happy Fourth and once Eric decided that the fireworks were not going to hurt him, he acutally enjoyed them.

Golf Cart


Eric did this all by himself. He got a mini golf course for his birthday and decided that in order to be a true golfer he needed a cart. So here is Eric's invention. What a smarty pants!

Bubble Boy







Eric loves to wash his hands because of the bubbles. I decided that it was time to introduce him to the bubble bath. I bought some of my old friend Mr. Bubbles and loaded up the tub. He just stared at me and then back at the tub for a while before he decided that it was safe to get in. He had a blast! I showed him how to put bubbles on his head and chin and he thought it was funny. Now every time he takes a bath there has to be bubbles in it. I don't mind since Mr. Bubbles is safe for sensitive skin. It is now hypo-allergenic. When I was a kid Mr. Bubbles could have contained high amounts of lead and asbestos and our parents wouldn't have cared and neither would we. I love how things change and how safe most of the stuf is now. Though I am sure that some where in the future they will come out with research that Mr. Bubbles causes you to grow a third eye or something crazy like that. For now we are just enjoying the simple things like bubble baths.

Dress up!











Eric got a firefighter book, hat and coat for Christmas last year. I keep forgetting we have it and since he loves fire trucks and hats I thought he might enjoy playing with it. He loved it! I was surprised he kept the whole outfit on since it is like 80 degrees outside with no AC! He looked so cute!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Happy Father's Day!


I meant to do this post on Sunday but ran out of time. We just want to say how grateful we are for Elmer. He is such a wonderful father. Eric loves him so much and it is so wonderful to watch them play together. This time apart has been hard for both of them because they usually have lots of Daddy - Baby time. I know that Elmer can't wait to come home and spend time just playing and chasing after Eric. I am so happy that we have such a wonderful man in our life.

Wy Chi Chi







For those of you who are wondering, that is Eric's word for strawberry. We went to pick some in the first part of June. He really got into it. I was surprised that he didn't try to eat any while he was out there. For some reason he has gone on a strawberry strike. We had a nice time there and I had a fun time trying to get the red stains out of our clothes.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Hats!







Eric hates having to wear a hat in the winter. I finally had to get him one of the goofy ones that clipped under his chin so that he would leave it on. He actually looked cute in it but since we were in Florida for the winter we had no use for it this year. He was trying to wear a bowl as a hat the other day and it just wasn't working out. He was getting frustrated so I went and got him a choice of hats that included this one and his Mickey ears. He decided that 75 degree weather was not going to stop him from being happy. Notice that the hat is backwards and that he is happily standing in front of the fan while wearing it. He is so independent!!! I hope he is this willing to wear a hat when winter comes but I am not getting my hopes up.

Ok...Daddy needs to come home soon




It was laundry day in the Arguelles household and Eric decided to help. After dumping all of the clean clothes out of the basket he found what he was in the mood to wear that day. It happened to be one of my shirts that looked like a dress on him. He looks good in pink! He refused to take if off and wore it for a few hours. He also made his way into our room to help put the clothes away and spotted yet another great find...my heels. I do have to say that they make his legs look shapely and fantastic! He loves to play with my jewelry, he loves helping me put on makeup, he knows what the blowdryer does and he is in love with the curling iron. The only thing that gives me hope is that he still does gross little boy stuff like eat dirt and pick his nose. I can't wait for Elmer to come back and show him how to do man stuff. Until then I will just have fun taking pictures that I can black mail him with later.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Bye Bye Daddy




Well we experienced our saddest day to date. We had to once again say goodbye to Elmer after only 2 weeks together. I think this time was harder than the first. It was so sad. After Elmer left we have had car trouble and just trouble adjusting to being alone again. It is hard being a single parent. I am in charge of everything and it is tough. Elmer made it safely back to his base and we are keeping in touch via the webcam but it isn't as good as having Daddy with us here so we can give him hugs and kisses. He left May 19th so this post is old news. I just want to thank all of you for your prayers and good thoughts. Soon we will all be back under one roof and this will be something we can look back on and laugh...one day.

Trier


Self portrait




Heaven!!!



Don't you wish your boyfriend was hot like me?

























While Elmer was here on R&R we went to Trier. We have been there before but it is just such a nice change of pace. Eric had fun! He got ice cream and Yi Yi's at McDonalds and he got out for a stroll and he got goodies. There are tons of ice cream stands around and he yelled Ice Cream! at all of them. When we went into Dom St. Peter they have candles you can light. You are supposed to be reverent since it is a church. Eric associates candles with birthdays so he began so sing Happy Day To Do at the top of his lungs :) Too funny! We finally found a little mall (WOW!!!) and he got some there. You have to understand that we have lived here for 4 + years and have yet to see an actual mall. It was a huge deal for us! We had so much fun just spending time with Daddy!