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.

The Things We Say....

I was just reading another blog that listed some of the off the wall things that we say because of our children.....Here are some of mine:

Do NOT hit the dog with the blinds, it will hurt her.

NO Whiskey does not like to be carried like a baby.

How in the world did you get that bruise on your head?

I do not care if that is the way that you want it, Mommy does not want it that way. If I count to 3 you will have to get your TV taken away. No, you can not help me carry it out of your room, it is to heavy.....

No you can not eat cat poop for dinner. I know Daisy May does, but she is not supposed to. That is not right.

WHAT do you mean you just put a cracker in your ear?

NO mommy does not have a Peanut like you or Daddy. No I will never get one. Maggie does not have one either, she is a girl. All girls do not have a Peanut.

ohh the joys of a 3 year old.

Long overdue Update.

So, here is a very recent pic of Jackson. So everyone calm down, you saw little man, and read further for more great pics and stories!!!

The following is of his entire birthday. He had a GREAT time!!! I know it was, ahem, 3 months ago, but better late than never right?

This is my attempt to decorate on a windy April afternoon. It turned out pretty good! Of course the decorations were Mickey Mouse!

This was his big present from Mommy and Daddy, Mama and Papa, and Nanna. This is how we had to cover it. HA!

I love how you can see the expression on his face when he first got a peek at what was underneath!

And of course, he had to ride the thing for HIS ENTIRE PARTY!!! Needless to say, the party was a big hit!!!

I had to beg and beg and beg not to have little man's hair cut for his birthday. I mean, I wanted it to look like that for the party for some irrational reason. Well, the day after the party, literally, we took him to get a hair cut just like Daddy and Papa.

I cried after he got that hair cut. He looks so big now!!!! I still can not believe it.
He has been doing great though, and getting too smart for his own good the little stinker! He always has a comeback, and is much more quick on his feet with them than his mommy is. HAHA.
He is now in love with Daisy.....They play together for hours. That is actually what is going on right now as i type this. The only bad thing is, they play rough!!! I don't get it at all, but hey, i'm not or have I never been a little boy.

This is in the entrance of little man's bedroom. Sometimes we have to put a stop to the romping they do, because one of them, usually Jackson, gets hurt. I swear I tell him all of the time to stop, but he takes after his father and does not listen at all. HA! Let's blame it on Dad....
This is always what Daisy looks like after a day with playing with Jackson:


I had Jackson with me tonight to watch a little tv to try to settle down before dinner, (he never does), and he watched the new, to us, Transformers.....this is a great pic of how much he was sucked into that movie!!! The little guy would not even look at you when you asked him a question.


We have picked a name for our little girl coming in October, hopfully for my sake the end of September. lol
Her name will be Maggie. Just thought you all would like to know. Jackson loves loves loves that name. He really does. One of his favorite songs is Maggie May, which is one of my favorite as well, and my mom's....hmmmm I see a trend here. Anyways, He is very excited about his little sister...sometimes. ha! I am a little nervous about him feeling left out whenever the baby comes, but have been including him in everything that I can think of. He helped me pick out the bedding for her when we put up her crib...and here it is.

Lady Bugs with paisley. Of course if a little boy helps pick out a bedding set, it has to have BUGS on it...I just made sure they were cute. ha!

So i am going to toot Blake's horn right now.
He was named Service Member of the Quarter. TOOT
He was named Airman of the year for His operation. TOOT.
He has been nominated for one of the 12 Outstanding Airman of the Year for the Air Force. TOOT.
Because of all of the above, he was one of the few to have a luncheon with General Petreaus and Seargent Major Hill a few weeks ago. I was lucky enough to acompany him. (thanks daddy for stressing that one. It was one of the coolest things I have ever been to!!) I was so darn proud of him! I could not stop smiling. That man does an awesom job with his work, and deserves every minute he gets with the recognition. I don't know what I would do with a man that did not have half of the drive my hubby does.
Of course, Blake hates the attention!!! HA!!! Too bad on this one honey, cuz you are getting it.

So my dear husband, as I said before, I could not be more proud of you. You drive me crazy sometimes, that is for sure, but I would never change a minute of it. I alaways tell people I am proud to be an Air Force Wife, and we ALL know that is true, but I am more proud to be your wife than any of it. I love you.

Neglect......

Sorry I have neglected my blog for a little while ( a month? wow....). Anyways, this past MONTH, haha, has been great.
Jackson had his birthday party, which was a hit! I will post some pics of it when I get home because I am at work. haha.
He only had a few friends there for a couple of hours, and let me tell you, do I have a newfound respect for those lovely ladies who watch my child during the day! Wow do they have some energy!!!! They also do not stop talking. At. All.
I find out what we are having in a week!!!! (on Wed.) I am very very excited and praying that the little one will cooperate and show us the goods......haha!
Next week is going to be very busy. Blake's birthday is on Tuesday, and his mom's is on Monday.Then on Wed, we have the ultrasound!!! That weekend is Mother's Day, and I, being the Mom who gets to decide everything we will do that weekend(oh yeah, I MILK IT!), will be heading to the beach....mmmm...I can see it now, and can not wait. I will take some pics when we are there, but who knows when they will get on here. haha!!!
Stay tuned for some good pics of hubby and Jackson, and a request has been put in for some photos of our little girl, Daisy May. she will make it on here also! Promise!

2009 Airfest

Yesterday, Blake Jackson and I went to the Airfest at Macdill Air Force Base and it was amazing. I have never seen Jackson's Face light up the way that it did. I am going to put all the photos on here. First is going to be of Blake and Jackson.(sorry there aren't any pics of me, but i'm not to fond of pics of myself in the first place right now. Second someone, ahem, me, had to do the picture taking!)
So this is a compolation of Jackson and Blake at the Air Show.

Jackson had so much fun! I know I have probably said that a few times, but wow, that little boy was over the moon with excitement.
He has a few favorite planes now. He likes the F15 Eagle, because it's an Eagle. haha.
He likes the A10 because of the "mouth" on the front of it. He was pretty amazed by that.
He also likes the B52 Bomber. As he says, " It's a BIG PLANE!!"
Here are a few of the planes that were there.

So Blake would probably kick my butt for some of the "not so technical" terms i used, but hey, I don't know that much about airplanes except the names of them, and what branch they belong to.
The Thunderbirds were amazing!!! If you ever have a chance to go to an air show with the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds, I suggest you go! They do some pretty amazing stuff.
We were at the Air Show for 6, yes six, hours yesterday. We are all pooped today! It was worth every minute though to see Jackson's face light up the way it did.

Looking back.....

Ok, so now that I am having another little one on the way, I am pulling out all of the old photos of little man. I can't get over how much of a cutie he was. I put a slide show together of pics i have handy right now( I'm at work, SHHHHH!!!) and I just love them to death. They are all of different stages of him. Its really fun to see how his looks change, and how big he is getting.

Monday......Big Huge Sigh...

So I don't normally do this, but I just feel like I have to with this one.

This is one of the few blogs that i really follow, almost stalk, every day! I love McMamma to death. She is a stay at home mother of 4, and a very accomplished photographer, and is just funny as heck.

Well, her youngest is only 4 months old. Stellan is his name. He had some troubles in the womb, and they told her that he was not going to make it. Well, he did, but now he is having some big issues and is really sick.

Please go to this blog if you are interested and just let her know that you are thinking of her and her family. I could not imagine being in her shoes.

Other than that, i know there are some of you out there chomping at the bit for new pictures of little man. I will get some on here tonight or tomorrow, i promise!!!

Under the Weather.

This past couple of weeks have been very very hard on all of us!!!! First, I got really sick last week, and had a horrible cold, well, what I think was a cold. I was miserable. Because of my current "condition", I can not take any type of over the counter cold medicine. Ugh, let me tell you how much i take that stuff for granted.
Well, then Jackson got the flu, which was no fun. We have the expierence of cleaning out my car with vomit. Ugh, another thing I dont want to do very often. Not so glamorous. lol.
But, let me tell you how much fun we did have at the Strawberry festival!!! It was a great time had by all!!!

Here is Jackson and Blake getting ready to watch pig races!!! it was a blast! Those little piggys can run!!!

This was the sign for the Travelin' Pig Races that we watched. Is that not a hoot? I mean, who would think that would be a livin for people? Oh, and do you know what those little guys chase after? Oreos!!!

Here is one of the cute little guys before we raced! isn't he adorable?

This is one of my favorite reasons for going to the strawberry festival. They have some of the CUTEST things to purchase! There is a little bit of something for everyone, Seriously! My husband has as much fun shopping and looking around as I do there. I got this bag there. I love love love it. It is supposed to be a baby bag, but I am already using it as a purse. HAHA.
last but not least, Jackson got so tuckered out at the festival, this is how he spent the last 1 hour of it.

What a cutie!!!! lol. He was great, and we had an awesome weekened.

The weekend is what I wait for all week...

So as you can all see, Monkey, Blake and I are going to the Strawberry Festival this weekend. Let me tell you, I can not wait!! This is one of the things that I wait all year for. It is so so so much fun!!! Of course, there are rides and great food, but that's not what I go for. No, I go for the crafts. There are quilts, candles, flower displays, jewelry, and just plain stuff to look at! IT IS GREAT! They have really fun stuff for babies too, so I will be keeping my eye out for a new diaper bag. Its going to be girly this time weather I have a boy or a girl, that's all I have to say. I want a girly bag, dang it. I am a girl, and I am the one who is carrying it. So there!
It will be a great time had by all. I think little man is old enough and tall enough now to ride some of the rides, which dear ole' daddy will have to go on with him! That should prove to be some GREAT pictures. On Saturday, when we get home, I will be sure to put some on here. I will also show you the treasures I found at that place.
Well, I hope everyone will have a great weekend like I know I will.
I did want to end with this.
My Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jerry are having a very special Saturday as well. It is their 40th wedding anniversary!!!!! I wish I could be there to celebrate it with them, but I will be thinking of them Saturday evening as I know they will be renewing their vows. I can't wait for the day that Blake and I are in the same spot as the two of you are. We love you!!!

All i can truely think is Wow.....

As I sit here, literally crying at my desk, I am in Awe. For those of you who don't know, I have a cousin who is going through a very tough time, and was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer 2 years ago, and that Woman is still fighting. I can't imagine what she is going through, and I would never want to be in her shoes. I can say that I have never seen someone with as much drive, love, and just plain being an amaing person through a tough situation. Here is a quote she gave to a local news paper that makes me just tingle (also makes me want to throw away every bad thing in my cabinets for me to eat!!!)....
"I hope that I can inspire people that aren't sick to take care of their bodies. You only get one body, and to take care of it as best you can. And I also hope that people can kind of learn just to enjoy the moment."

You see, even though what she is going through, and what she has to deal with, she is the coach of the No. 2 high school girl's basketball team In the state of Missouri. She is also a mother to 2 very small boys. She is also taking chemo, working,does not miss a game for her girls, or a moment for her boys. That in its self it amazing. I can barely do that without being sick! She also has one of the brightest outlooks that I have ever seen in a person going through so much. Just wanted to give her a little credit from me, in my little part of the world. I might not be a news paper article, or she may never read this, but that woman seriously deserves the best in life, and I hope she gets it. Love you Steph.

It's Friday, clap clap, It's Friday!!!!

YEEEAAAAHHHHHH!! It is the weekend! Can everyone feel it? Gosh, I know that I can. I feel it in my bones when it comes to the weekend. I get cranky at work ( and then feel guilty and sorry for my customers) and I am so ready to get out of this office. Today has been an espically long day. A very very very long day.
Mr. Handsome is at home, lucky guy. His weekends are from Wed to Sat. Which sucks since we only get one whole day together, but hey, that is what we do. God Bless the Air Force. I love being a part of it, I really really do, but man sometimes I miss my Hubby!! Plus, little man loves being around his daddy on his days off of "school" as he calls it.
I also miss being on the military base. living off base is not all cracked up as it is made to be. I miss being around other military wives, and having that built in support group. The next base we go to, I am going to see if we can get to move on base. I loved that in England.
What is everyone else doing on the weekend? I wish it was a little warmer, it has been kinda cool down here. Today the high was sixty, I know, I know, not nearly as cold as some of yall are dealing with, but for Florida, thats chilly!!!! I would have loved to go to the beach. Little monkey loooooovvvvveeeesss the beach. I mean he literally loves it. He has so much fun out there playing with the sand. Maybe we will go and see how much it would be to have a sand box for him at home. That way, he can play with it here....Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I promised little man that this weekend we could go outside and play with some bubbles. He has this toy that is in the shape of a lion, and you press this handle. well the mouth of the lion opens, and out comes bubbles. He loves the thing, and I have not had bubbles in forever. So this weekend is bubble weekend. Hopefully he will enjoy it as much as I know that Blake and I will. It will probably become a competition between all of us on who can make the biggest bubble. Anyone know how to do that?