Winning photoshop/lightroom

So we all know that Blake is going to be deploying soon, and I am going to have 4 long months on my hands taking care of the kids, but other than that, I would love to be able to do some things on my down time.
This is why I am entering this contest to win photo shop and lightroom2 from Adobe!
I have to enter at 2 different blogs. the links are below. If you want to win one, go and enter!!!

http://www.mycharmingkids.net
http://www.grammiemommy.blogspot.com

Another post of the kids coming soon!!!

Win a computer!!!

OK, so I am an avid follower of a blogger named Mckmama. She is a stay at home mom, like myself, but she has 4 children to my measley 2. HA!
Right now, she is having a contest to give away a HP Photosmart 600 computer. If I put a link up to her blog, mycharmingkids.net, I am able to get an extra entry. So here it is and keep your fingers crossed...

Say Thanks

This is an amazing thing. For the men and women serving overseas in Iraq, the holidays are a hard time. Xerox is having this promotion called Lets Say Thanks. If you go to this website, you can chose a card that a child has created, write a message, and it will be sent to a military member overseas!

DEAR SANTA....

Dear Santa......I have a few requests this year and so does the rest of my family. First we will start with Abigail....
She would like the following:

A Playtex bottle since this is the only thing she eats at this point, and man does she LOVE her food!

This is also her second favorite thing. A Soothie Pacifier. It is the only kind she will take, and she loves it almost as much as her bottle.
Last but not least, anything with lights, she will like it. For some reason, any type of light will facinate her.

On to Jackson. I know Santa, this little boy does ask for a lot, but what little boy in his right mind doesn't?
First on his list is this:

Above is a Nerf Blaster. I had no idea these things even existed before this Christmas wish list from my eldest came along, but he is adamant that he NEEDS one of these. By the way, my little man also believes he is a superhero, so he needs his gun...

This is Mr. Optimus Prime from transformers. Heaven forbid if Jackson does not get one of these as well. He loves those movies, so much in fact that he has ruined Transformers 1 movie from watching it so many times.

Last but not least, Jackson thinks he is a rockstar as well, and what is a rockstar without a guitar?

Next we will address Blake's wants....

Of course Blake has a coin holder that I have bought him before, but it has now gotten too small to put ALL of his coins in it. So now, he needs a larger one.

This lovely little doohickey is an Ipod shuffle. He would like to have some music when he is deployed, so I think he should really get one.
Last but not least:

This is a lovely little netbook, and it will make it a whole lot easier for us to talk to eachother when he is deployed, so of course he needs one of these as well.

On to me.......What I really want is for my hubby not to go to Afghanistan, but we ALL know he is going to go no matter what strings you pull Santa, but thanks for the effort.
So I will settle for this.

You see Santa, I am an avid reader. Ask my hubby or any one of my family members. I have always loved to read and this would be perfect for me...but wait, BLAKE ALREADY GOT ME ONE!!!! hahahaha!!!!
So you see Santa, I now do not want anything from you this Christmas, because my hubby became my own personal Santa Claus. No offense, but he is much better lookin'.

Well santa, thanks so much for listening. You will be getting a letter from Jackson and Abigail later on this month, so make sure to look out for them. Our cookies will be waiting for you on the 24th, and hopefully you will like them since they will be home made.

XOXO

The Sikes Family

Snug As A Bug In A Rug

I got a really cute pic of little bit that I thought I would share.

She looks sooooo much like her brother it is not even funny!!! I can't believe that neither of my children look a lot like me. That kinda makes me angry. I mean, I AM the one who carried them for 9 months, don't you think they should at least look a smidgen like me???

Here is a pic of little man all his glory.....

HAHAHA! This is him on Halloween, but he.is.obsessed.
He can not quit wearing his power rangers outfit and running around like a banshee with it on!! It keeps him entertained, so who am I to stop him?

The upcoming future

So I said in my previous post that I would talk more about my Hubby's deployment. I know a lot of people do not read my blog, so this is kind of like therapy for me. A lot of this stuff I do not like or do not want to talk about to many people, so here I go.
I know when my Blake and I got married 5 years ago (I am still very very proud of that one) this moment in our lives would be inevitable. There would come a time we would have to go through our first deployment. I can't tell you how greatful I am and how lucky we are that it has taken this long to come. A lot of other military wives have had to go through what we are going through a lot sooner in their marriages, and I am happy we were not doing that.

But I am not them.

I am me, and this is our situation. I don't want to have to do this alone, and I don't want him to go. I want him to be here to be with our kids, and watch Abigail grow up for the next 4 months. Again, we are lucky that he is not going to miss the really important stuff, like walking and talking and crawling. But in this case, I don't want to be lucky. I want him to be here.

But no matter what I say, and how much I wallow in self pity, he will not be here.

My mom and I have this saying that we took from a movie. It is from A League Of Their Own. The awesome Tom Hanks looks at his players and says, "Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING!?! There's no crying in baseball!!!"


When we say that to each other, its kind of like,"Get your head in the game, keep the emotions out of it and just DO IT!" After I have my moments (which are quite often) that is how I have to look at this. I don't want to be one of THOSE wives who give their husband a hard time for doing their job. I do enough of that at home. I don't want him to be over there feeling guilty for doing what he is supposed to do, he has other things he needs to be thinking about. Going there, staying safe, and coming home.

I must admit, I have a great role model to look up to through all of this.....



See that woman all the way on the right? That's my mom. Isn't she a georgeous? She is beautiful inside and out. She has shown me what a true Air Force wife is. Yeah you have your moments of ups and downs, sometimes you want to just throw in the towel in defeat, other times you are lonely and you want your husband home RIGHT NOW. But, even after all of those feelings you go through, you pick yourself up, stand right behind your husband, and go on. You back him up through thick and thin, and SUPPORT him. You don't just say you support him, but you actually do it by putting your game face on and getting through it.

Thanks Mom for teaching me that, among a TON of other things!!

So, my dear husband.....( I just realized I have NO photos of just you alone that are good, which we will fix, to your delight, HA!)


I am putting my game face on. Don't get me wrong, I mean, it is ME we are talking about here. I am going to have my moments of self pity and sadness, but I am behind you 100%. I love you more than I can say, and I support everything you do in the Air Force because I know you do it for us and the kids. Get over there and get back, because we need you and sometimes (ha!) want you here. Kidding....Funny Ha Ha?!

OHH THE PLACES WE GO!

So I have not been on here in a looooonnnnnggggg time to post. What a suprise! I guess with having a baby, taking care of a 3 1/2 year old, and going on an extended trip to St. Louis was not enough activity to keep me away from my blog. I know that there are some of my family members out there dying to see some pics of my little girl, so here ya go....






So all of these pics are pretty self explainatory. I mean, it is my georgeous little girl, enough said!
I am in hog heaven staying at home with my two little ones and I love it! I find it very gratifying at the end of the day to be able to know what I did was take care of my children, home and husband. I will eventually go back to school and have my own career, but for now I am utterly content staying at home with my little ones.

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For those of you who do not know, Blake, my husband, will be deploying out to Afghanastan at the end of December. We are not looking forward to it, but it is part of his job. I will be going back to St. Louis and staying with my parents for an extended stay while he is away. I am looking forward to being with my family and friends, but I am not looking forward to being without my husband...I will write more on that later. I can't think about it to much or I get really emotional. I have to keep it together for him and the kids.

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Well, here is one of my favorite things to blog about, I have done it before. Its from a fellow blogger, albeit she is A LOT more popular in her "blogging career" than I am in mine, but please, join if you want in......

This is all of the things that I have NOT done this past week....
I did NOT get rid of my cat, because the little butt would not stop peeing all over the place, including my Abigail's clothes and punkin seat, no Not Me, as I have a TON of patience.
While driving my car, I did NOT lie to my mama, and tell her that I was not driving while talking, NO NEVER! I was NOT bored and wanted to talk to her right then, not later when I was safely parked at home.
I did NOT accidently tell my husband off in a insane moment at the house, when nothing was his fault, and I was just crabby from everything that had to be done.
I have Done every load of laundry since I have gotten back from St. Louis(ahem, which was on Tuesday) it is NOT piling up in my bedroom as we speak.

AHH....I feel so so so much better.

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OK, last but not least, I want to say something to a special someone in my life. My Daddy. He gave the Air Force a HUGE portion of his time, dedication and life, and this past week, it came to and end. After 33 years of service to the United States Air Force, my Daddy, Chief Master Sergent Dickens retired. That is why our family made that long drive to St. Louis, because I would not miss his retirement ceremony for the world. I have seen my Dad do some really tough things over the past 10 years, one of them being away from my Mom for 3 years and again and again and again for shorter time spands after that. I have seen him work until 10pm saying that he couldn't just leave, he had to much to do. I have seen him make sacrafice after sacrafice for the USAF, for my Daddy truely bleeds Blue. He loves the Air Force, and he always will. I have come to appreciate what he has done so much about 8 years ago. He is truely, as my brother Eugene said, a person that has been a perfect role model for Integrity, Strength, Dedication, and Honor. I love him so much and I am so proud of him. So Chief, I love you. You are still a Rock Star in our book. You always will be.