Below is a picture of what Kate did today, namely wearing her hair in pigtails (I'll give you three guesses how long that lasted) and stealing her daddy's fruit smoothie by just latching on to the straw and refusing to let go. That must have been quite a brain freeze.

What I did today was pack what has got to be thousands of mine and Kate's belongings into one serious mamma-jamma, very-likely-to-be-overweight suitcase so that we are ready to start our trip to Mississippi tomorrow morning. We'll be getting up at 4 a.m. to make our 7 a.m. flight time. Yes. That's right. I know. I should be going to bed now. I just wanted to check in here to ask for prayers for a smooth trip. The last time we flew? It did not go so well. And I'm on my own this time. So if you think about it, or happen to roll over and glance at the clock at some unholy hour tomorrow morning, say a prayer for us. We're thrilled to be headed home for Ryan's homecoming. I just hope the airline industry is thrilled to see us, too.

Facebook is the dangdest thing. Because I am friends on Facebook with the five or six people who read this blog, I now have instant accountability about my rate of blog posting. Here's an example. Today is Saturday. I actually arrived back home in New Mexico from my trip to Mississippi on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, my Facebook status said something to the effect of "Haley is so glad to be home!" Big mistake. Apparently my 4.5 blog readers saw that status and then set their timers to give me a two-day grace period to get my act together. Then at two days and 10 seconds, I started receiving messages like "Hey! When are you going to blog? I know you're home now! I need some pictures of Kate! Get on it! Chop chop, woman!" So here I am! Back from the abyss! Sorry to keep you waiting. Here are some photos to make it up to you.

Before Ryan came home, my sister Audrey and I spent a whole hour of our lives thinking of clever things to write on our welcome home signs for the airport. We're not really the kind of family that's going to make super-patriotic signs when we welcome you home from war. It's not that you aren't a hero. It's just that ninja is a much cooler word, and it's accurate too, since Ryan is a black belt instructor in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. So Kate's special baby-sized sign reflected that:

Other signs we made said "Byaaaaah!" which is a nod to our family's love of the Howard Dean scream (previously blogged about here) and "Have Mercy," the sign Audrey held in reference to an ongoing conversation she and Ryan have been having via Facebook during his deployment about how when he got home, he was going to beat her up. I am not sure why that's funny, but they've been at it for months. You can see these signs in the shot of the crowd that gathered to welcome Ryan home. (Hat tip to my Aunt Lisa for getting these photos. I was a little busy, since Kate kept trying to sneak off and take a joy ride on a nearby escalator.)

We waited for what seemed like a really long time for Ryan to come out of the gates. In fact, we saw all of these people who had been on his flight come out, and several of them told us that he was coming right behind them. I think he was putting it off to make a more dramatic entrance. And it worked, too, because we cheered and cheered when he finally did come out. Here he is with my sisters Hannah and Audrey.

Aaron and Kelly had arranged for us to all head over to the Crawdad Hole (Yes, that's the name of an actual dining establishment, and they make some great crawfish, too.) and hang out for a while, so we did. Ryan entertained everyone with stories.

Kate entertained herself by stealing my cousin Adrian's purse. Adrian was very sweet about it.

I have some more great photos from the weekend and I'll post those soon. But for now, I just want to thank everyone again for all their prayers for Ryan and our family during his deployment. We are so blessed to have him home safely.

Today is our sixth anniversary. We had a nice night out on Friday thanks to babysitting by the ever-amazing Overbeek family, but today, Dan had to leave on a week-long business trip. Kate and I took him to the airport first thing, before church. I knew he'd be sorry he missed this little moment, but I had the camera handy . This afternoon, Kate was playing with her toys and I was vacuuming the living room. I turned around for a minute, and when I looked back at Kate, she was sitting in her toybox like she had been there her whole life.

I still have no idea how she got there, but she sat in the box and played happily for a while.

She also apparently had no exit strategy. She tried to get out, but eventually I had to help her, whereupon she immediately turned around and starting fussing to get back in the toybox. I think this probably sums up what we'll be doing in the next few days.

So these photos are for Dan. I love you and I'm glad we've been married for six years. Kate loves you and hopes you bring her a cool toy from your business trip.

Here are a few more pictures from the trip Kate and I took to Mississippi to see Ryan when he got home. I think they pretty clearly demonstrate why this week has been what I would call Attention Detox for Kate. When she's in Mississippi (or Texas, the world headquarters of her other grandparents) there is not a minute of her life that isn't observed and commented on by numerous enthralled aunts and uncles and grandparents. She is a rock star. So when we get home, and I have to do things other than cater to her every whim, things like laundry and cooking dinner and not carrying her around like the Queen of Sheba, she is severely disillusioned about life.

When we returned from this trip, it was particularly painful for Kate to come to grips with the fact that we don't have 40 acres and a four-wheeler in Albuquerque, like Geez has in Oloh. He took her on four wheeler rides pretty much every evening we were home. She loved it. She'll probably be demanding to be taken hunting soon.

The entourage does have some useful purposes when Kate and I travel without Dan, since they take over his job of keeping an eye on Kate while I get a shower in the mornings. These pictures were passed on to me by my lovely and longsuffering sister-in-law Kelly and taken by Aaron during a morning jaunt around the yard. I'm told that Kate was basically wandering around aimlessly in her pajamas and Crocs and every one else was just following her around taking pictures. Can you say UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS? Here she is with Ryan:

With Ryan and Aaron, her Marine security detail:

Leading Ryan on a trek to nowhere:

Kate developed this fascination with picking little pieces of grass and throwing them in the lake. She was weirdly insistent on doing it, so pretty much every trip to the yard had to include a walk down to the lake to relocate some plant life. Here she is showing Ryan and Audrey just how to do it. You can imagine her disappointment upon being told that we also don't have lakes in Albuquerque.