Hello All

Hi Everyone!!! Me and the boys are back in Utah again. I know... I know... all this flip flopping. What can I say I am starting to get used to it. That might be good or bad. :) Tad left for Iraq on monday the 5th. He may get a small R&R halfway through the deployment other wise he will be gone for 15 months.... Right now it doesn't feel too bad, but I am used to him being gone a few weeks here and there. So ask me in a couple months how I feel about it. His job changed so he is no longer a tank platoon leader and he is stuck behind a desk:) I know that he hates it, but it makes me feel a whole lot better about him being over there. I know that no one is immune and anything can happen, but him having to stay on the base the whole time and not running missions helps. Right? I think so...
The boys are doing great. It helps having family around. I put Zach in preschool here so he gets some distraction from me and Kyler. He seems to enjoy it. He is already asking me about going today and he doesn't start until 12:30 and it is only 10. That is a good sign. If you would like to email Tad or write him a letter contact me through my email at melissacoleman2002@gmail.com and I will forward the information to you. I don't want to post his stuff just in case. They briefed us on not giving that stuff out, so now you know. I hope everyone is doing well and we would love to here from anyone....

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!
Love, Melissa and the boys

Check out my Slide Show!

Trick or Treat

Last night was Zachary's school Halloween Party. Zach as you can see wanted to be a Jedi.... He is big into Star Wars right now. He only gets to watch the 1st episode of the Prequels so he thinks it is pretty cool. Kyler is a pirate. AAArghhh.. Anyway it was a fun night and we guessed the right weight of the pumpkin giveaway and we won a free pumpkin. Not bad. They had a lot of fun activities for the kids, that didn't include getting them on a sugar high. It was great, we were in and out in less than an hour.. Can't beat that.

Circus

We took the kids to the Shriners Circus last weekend. The kids really enjoyed all the stuff they had to offer before the circus began. That is Zach on the slide, he had a ball going down that thing. Kyler wasn't all that interested in riding the animals, he preferred to watch this go around. All in all it wasn't that bad for a circus..

Zach's 1st Day of School

Can you believe it? My little boy is going to school.... He looks so grown up and so excited for what the day will bring. He didn't have any trouble going into the school and being herded around with all the other kids. He had a full day of coloring and stories, even a little nap, lunch and playground time. What it would be like to be in Pre-k again....? I think we forget about all the fun that one can have at school, the new friends and the new experiences. He came home talking about a friend that he played cars with. When I picked him up the minute he saw me he started crying. Apparently he fell off the slide and landed on his"bottom". It must have hurt pretty bad because he complained about it the rest of the night. Anyway, it didn't dissuade him from going again today, he was still excited to see what the second day would bring. I just hope that he continues having this enthusiasm about school. I have no idea why it put in the pictures twice but oh well. He still is cute. Kyler is handing the transition as well. He seems to enjoy having all the toys to himself for a little while, yet he is excited to go and pick Zach up from school. All in all everything going well for the both of them. I am adjusting to taking care of one during the day. It she is a lot less tense and a lot calmer. Although I know the boys love each other they are always at odds. I guess that is what having brothers is all about at this age.

Pictures of the kids

Here are the pictures of the kids taken on the same day as the family photo. I may be biased but they are soo cute....

Just thought that I would show off my beautiful family. We had this picture taken just before we left for Texas again. This is going to be the most current one for a couple years, anyway.

Back to Texas we go!!!!

I think that I am getting the hang of living in a constant state of limbo. It isn't all that difficult anymore. I think that as long as we are with family whether it be our husbands and kids or immediate family we are always home. At least I feel that way. It makes these things easier. Anyway we are here back in Texas. We are renting a townhome in Copperas Cove, which is about 10 miles west of where we used to live on the base. We like it but it is hard to get too attached when you know that you are only going to be here for a few months. Zachary is signed up for his first year of school, pre-k that is. I can't believe the things he needs and all. Well his pre-k is an all day class so he will be in school from 7 am to 2:45 pm. It will be a definite change for him and me. I don't know what Kyler is going to do with himself. I won't be able to entertain him the way Zach does, fighting and all.... I think that Zach is excited. He got a NEW spiderman backpack and we have been picking all his school supplies up. He starts on the 27th. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to this new change, me too for that matter. Once we get back to Utah his pre-k won't be so intense, but he will still get the school atmosphere. Poor mom and dad got stuck with our dog scamp. He has been a handful to say the least. They are great for taking care of him for us. He is a good do just isn't used to a leash all the time. Oh well, he'll adapt we all do.
Hope all is well....
Take care

I wish they would just tell us!!!!!!

DOD Announces Army Units Up for Next Iraq Troop Rotation

May 08, 2007
BY Donna Miles

Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division practice urban warfare tactics in Friedberg, Germany, April 4. Troops from the division's 2nd Brigade will be going to Iraq later this year. Photo by Martin Greeson

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May 8, 2007) - Defense Department officials today announced the next 10 Army brigade combat teams to deploy to Iraq to replace units currently operating there.

The announcement affects about 35,000 active-duty troops, who all will deploy between August and the year's end to serve as replacement forces for those returning home, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.

The units will deploy for up to 15 months.

Mr. Whitman emphasized that the announcement is unrelated to the troop surge under way to increase security in and around Baghdad.

"Let me be real clear about this," he said. "This deployment ... is not a decision with respect to the surge. It is simply identifying the next 10 units that will receive deployment orders and to provide the kind of predictability" they need to prepare.

Any decision regarding the surge will be based "entirely upon the conditions on the ground," Mr. Whitman said.

Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, is expected to assess those conditions later this year and make recommendations regarding the surge to the commander of U.S. Central Command, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defense secretary and president, Mr. Whitman said.

Major Army units receiving deployment orders include:

- 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas; (this is Tad's group)
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd Brigades, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.;
- 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, La.;
- 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood;
- 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.;
- 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii;
- 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Stryker), Vilseck, Germany; and
- 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

Back in Utah!!!

Hello All.... We are back here in Utah. We got here last week and are excited to be here, although I wish that Tad could be here as well. I miss him a lot. He is still back in Texas doing some field training for a month and then some training in California. We just got word that we should know sometime today when he will be deploying to Iraq. His commanders said for certain sometime this fall and then we'll get a date today. It makes me a little anxious and uncertain, but I'm glad that we will at least have a date that we can prepare for. All the changing and trying to plan our lives around an unknown has been difficult. The kids have enjoyed being back here with their cousins and grandparents, you can see how much they missed them, but now they miss Tad. I wish they could have both, but with being in the Army that is a wish that will never be fulfilled on long term. They will have some vacation time at the end of July when Tad will be coming here for a couple of weeks. That will be nice, he will be able to see everyone before he deploys. That is the latest in our lives, We hope that everyone is well. We hope to get around and see everyone soon..

yesterday then today????

As you can see it was nice on Friday. We went to this great park in Austin and they had this small train that the boys had fun on and then the next day... SNOW!!! It felt like a December snow storm in Utah. The kids had a ball playing in the snow and running around throwing snowballs. I couldn't believe it. I thought for once that we would have a warm Easter where we could hunt for easter eggs outside, but noooo!!! Although the boys had fun, it was really cold. By this morning there was 2 inches of the great white stuff, they even canceled the first ward at church today. Unfortunately our ward was not the first so we did go to church. I'm kidding, we like our ward and enjoy the friendships that we have made there.

We LOVE our baths......

Kyler loves his Spongebob towel that he got for his birthday and Zach loves his lightning mcqueen bath bubbles. They ask to get in and play every night. They have a lot of fun playing together and splashing around..

Thank You Mama and Papa!!!!

I could barely get a picture taken before Kyler started devouring the cookie.

Zachy and Kyler enjoyed doing the cookie decorating very much. Kyler kept picking the candies off the top.
Mama and Papa sent a package for Easter to the boys. They got so excited to see what was inside it, so I opened it and Zach's eyes lit up. So I put all the other stuff away but decided to let them decorate the cookies. They had a lot of fun getting sticky and messy, and eating them too.

Out on the train

We spent the day with the boys, doing what they love. TRAINS...... We took a 4 hr. train ride with them. Not as scenic as we had hoped but the boys had fun. We spent a couple hours in the little town of Burnet, TX and then got back on the train for the ride home. They loved riding on it and watching out the window of the car. They were all spiffed out in their Thomas the tank engine attire and they were set. It was a GOOD day..... They got balloon animals and drinks and snacks, they were happy.

This is as recent as I get. We are going to have to get a family picture done before Tad deploys.

Halloween 2006! Zach was a pirate and Kyler was a doggy. Kyler was not too happy about the whole dog on the head thing, but he got used to it as the night wore on. We went trick or treating around our housing area. Everyone comes trick or treating here because it is so safe. We had a great time and so did the boys.....