Car Show

Today, we're having a laid-back family day... We got up this morning and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast (mmm... yummy)!! Then, we went to the grocery store. Bryan needed some things for his big trip that's coming up. $200 later, we were headed home. (I guess we picked up a little more than toiletries... HaHaHa!!) Shortly after we got home and got everything put away, our friends Mike & Breezy called to ask if we were planning to go to the car show that's in town this weekend. We thought that sounded like fun... especially since Breezy's '56 Chevy is in the show. Here are some pictures of us all with the car:




There were LOTS of cars there, but I didn't take very many pictures (mostly because I have gotten spoiled with using our DSLR camera, so my point-and-shoot wasn't giving me the results I wanted, which frustrated me a little. LoL).

The only other "car" I took pictures of was the "Heroes" truck. I've seen this truck on TV, but never in person. It was pretty awesome!! This guy has painted this truck as a memorial for the 9-11 attacks. Awesome doesn't even begin to describe it. Breezy and I were literally brought to tears just looking at it. If you ever get a chance to check it out, I HIGHLY recommend it!! Here are some of the pictures I took:










I think the rest of our day will be more family time (which I am really in need of right now)... I think we'll hang out this afternoon, then go out to dinner tonight (Mike & Breezy are somewhat extended family of ours here, and they may join us). After dinner, we may head to downtown Abilene to take some night photos. Olivia and I worked with using exposure and shutter speed at my last photography lesson, and my homework is to take some night photos. Our neighborhood isn't exactly conducive to night photography (i.e. it's boring and the street lights are no fun), so we're going to try to go downtown tonight where things are a little more photogenic!! :) Here's hoping that Maddy is up for it... She's our wild card these days!! ;)

My friend Diana is expected to have her baby girl Lilly very soon and has ever-so-graciously volunteered to allow me to take some "belly shots" as she likes to call them (maternity portraits) of her. She came over earlier this week, and I transformed our living room into a "studio". We got some good shots, and I've been busy "photoshopping" the pictures to add and take away some color and do some other neat things to the pictures. We're going to take a few more with her son Charlie (you all remember Charlie... He's the one who tried to teach Maddy to jump on the video) and her tomorrow. I hope they turn out cute!!! I don't know that I'll post any of the pictures since I'm not sure that Diana would want her preggo belly posted all over the Internet, but I use this blog to let you know what we've been up to, and, quite frankly, that's what we've been up to!! :)

I guess that's about it for now. Maddy's napping, so I think I'll go rest on the couch with Bryan for a bit!! I hope you're all having a great weekend!

Love you guys!! :)

Photography Lessons

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I received some photography lessons as a Christmas gift from Bryan this year and last week was my first lesson. Olivia taught me last week about the Macro setting on my camera. This is a setting that is used to focus in on very small objects. I took quite a few pictures over the last week and compiled my "favorites" to show her at this week's lesson. I went to her house this afternoon for lesson #2 and showed her what I learned during lesson #1. As promised from my last post, here are my favorites (in no particular order):















If I had to choose, this one would be my all-time favorite:









Well, Maddy is beginning to cut her 2 year molars (yes, I'm aware that she's only 16 months old), and she's a little cranky today, so I better end this!! I hope you enjoy the pictures!!

Love you guys!! :)

Has It Been A Week Already?!?!

WOW... So, I'm definitely running out of title ideas for my blog. I thought I was being creative with tonight's title, and as soon as I typed in "Has" the title for tonight popped up (indicating that I've used it before). Oh well. Hopefully it was a while ago and no one would have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out... :)

So, what's been going on this week? About mid-way through the week, I developed a head cold. I haven't had a sore throat in I don't know how long. Thankfully, that's gone, but now I have the sneezing, runny nose thing going on. :( Also, thankfully, I seem to be the only one affected by this in my household. Here's hoping it stays that way, and I can get rid of this cold VERY soon!!

On a MUCH HAPPIER note, this past week I went to my first photography lesson!!! Olivia is the girl that took our maternity portraits, and as a Christmas gift, Bryan talked with her and set up some lessons for me. We have a fabulous DSLR camera that Jay and Jenny gave us as a wedding gift. Bryan has a great eye for photography, so he's used the camera quite a bit. I'd like to gain the skills to really know how to use the camera, too. I must say that after just one lesson, my confidence has grown quite a bit!! It's amazing how much I learned in just one hour with Olivia!! We have several more lessons planned, and I'm REALLY looking forward to them!!

As part of the lessons, Olivia is assigning some "homework" for me. Let's face it, though, when you're taking lessons for something that you enjoy, it's not really homeWORK... I've had so much fun!! I don't ever remember having fun with homework before!! The homework is to practice taking pictures using whatever settings, etc. we talked about at the previous lesson and a little reading to give me some knowledge of what we'll be talking about at the next lesson. Originally, she asked me to print my 5 favorite pictures that I took during the week, but I e-mailed her and told her that I've taken so many pictures I can't choose just 5. I considered posting the pictures on here and having everyone vote, but then I decided against that because Olivia reads my blog (Hi Olivia!), and I want my pictures to be a surprise for her at the lesson, so I've decided that after she and I have talked about the pictures, I'll post them on here. She also suggested that I bring all my favorites with me as to not make me stress over just choosing 5!! ;) In the meantime, I've changed my Facebook profile picture to my all-time favorite I've taken so far (well, I think it's my all-time favorite), so if you just can't wait, you can check that ONE out for now!! :)

In other news, two of our friends went with the squadron this past week to help with the missions to Haiti. We hung out with them this afternoon and had dinner with them. Poor Breezy has been on the night shift (12 hour shifts) for the last week, so she worked overnight last night, then boarded a C-130 to come home this morning, and when we left their house a couple of hours ago, she was still "awake". I'd be surprised if she was still awake right now. Poor girl is WORN OUT! Thankfully, they both made it there and back safely! Some of our troops are still there. We're not sure when they'll be home, hopefully soon, though!

I guess that's about it for now. I think I'm going to try to get to bed early tonight. Maddy's not been sleeping well this week. I think her 2 year molars are on the way... Go figure! She's not even 16 months old yet, and her 2 year molars are trying to break through! Crazy kid!!

Talk to everyone soon! Glad to hear that the eye surgeries went well Grandmom & Grandpop!! Love you guys!!

P.S. No pictures tonight, but I'm pretty sure I explained why... Just hang in there!! :)

Gymnastics!!

Maddy and I went to a birthday party for one of her friends at the Gymnastics Sports Center tonight, and we had a BLAST!!!

When we first got there, Maddy was pretty timid. She just wasn't sure about everything that was going on. As the night progressed though, she started having a BLAST!! This is a video of Maddy once she figured out what the trampoline was supposed to do.




So what if she does things a little unconventionally?? She made that trampoline bounce!!


Maddy's first time on a trampoline was a little nervous for her, but she warmed up to the idea eventually!!


We got in the foam pit together. She wasn't completely sold, but, like everything else, began warming up to the idea later in the evening! :)


Climbing up a foam pad...


BACK in the foam pit and enjoying it a little more this time!! :)



Hey LOOK!! It's me!! :)


The last thing we did at the party (before the pizza, cake and presents, of course) was everyone who wanted to got a turn being harnessed up to do flips and tricks on the trampolines. Maddy and I were just watching everyone else take their turns (I assumed Maddy was too young to try this activity), but the lady working there asked if Maddy wanted a turn, and told me that they start kids as young as 12 months old. So, here she is!!


Getting all harnessed up (check out the MAJOR look of concern)!!


It's almost time to go!


SWINGING!!! (Please note the continued look of concern... LoL)

Overall, we had a GREAT time at the party tonight!! Who knows? Maybe we'll have a future gymnast on our hands!!

Love you guys!! :)

Crazy Kiddo

Soooo... THIS little girl...



Yes, our little ham of a daughter has kept us laughing as of lately. Here are just a couple of videos of Maddy... well... Being Maddy!!

ENJOY!!









Hope you enjoyed those! Bryan's parents are coming for a visit this weekend. They'll be here tomorrow... Better go do a little cleaning!

Love you guys!! :)

Jumpin' Fools

Maddy's friend Charlie's family is in the process of having their bathroom remodeled, so he and his mom came over to steal a quick shower and bath. While Diana was showering, Maddy and Charlie played... Check them out!!




Diana is due to have Charlie's baby sister Lilly very soon. I think he's going to be a GREAT big brother!!

Talk to you soon!

Love you guys!!

She's Perfect!

Maddy had her 15 month check up today. I know, can you believe it?? She's 15 months old already!!! The doctor was very impressed with her. When he came into the exam room, Maddy was running from the wall to the door and back giggling the whole time. We just let her run around while he asked me some questions (How's she sleeping? How's she eating? Talking much?)... All the same questions that he usually asks. Once we were finished with the interrogation (just kidding), he listened to her breathe, checked her eyes and ears, and he was on his way.

Once he left, the nurse came in to give her 2 shots and stick her finger to test her iron levels. The iron test came back great. She was pretty ticked with the 2 shots, but after a little Mommy love, she was A-OK again.

She weighed in at 21.5 pounds and is 30.75 inches tall. We've already moved her to her toddler car seat, but if she was still in the infant seat, she'd officially be too tall now. Her seat is rated to 30 pounds and 30 inches. She was in the 25th percentile for the circumference of her head and her weight, and in the 50th percentile for her height. Basically this means that she isn't an average bobble-head toddler (woo hoo) and she's average height, but a little below average weight. Please do not read that as UNDERweight... She is just a little below average. Think of it as tall and thin! ;) Overall, the visit was a success! Maddy was very well behaved and is very healthy!!

I also asked while I was there about her napping habits (or lack there-of), and the doctor told me that if she just wants to have some quiet time in her room playing, that's perfectly fine at her age. Some kids her age (according to the doctor) are still taking two, two hour naps everyday while others are not napping at all. Maddy has never been a good napper, but her latest "trend" is to play in her crib (I can hear her over the baby monitor and it's really stinkin' cute) for quite a while instead of napping. Today, however, she played in her crib for about 20 minutes then slept for almost an hour and a half, so I had almost 2 hours all to myself!!! I can totally handle this new napping thing we're starting!! Here's hoping it continues!! :)

I guess that's about it for now. Bryan's parents will be visiting this weekend, so I better get to gettin' on at least picking up the house... I'll probably hold off on cleaning until it's a little closer to their arrival. I'm sure I'd have to re-do all the cleaning if I did it now. LoL. I LOVE having a toddler!! :)

Talk to everyone later!

Love you guys!! :)

Fun With Crayons

Today, Maddy and I were on the verge of losing it because this has been a VERY. LONG. WEEK. I realize that it's only Wednesday, but Bryan has been going into work at 7 AM, and on Monday, he didn't get home until 7:30 PM and yesterday he was at work until 10:30 PM. Like I said... LONG. WEEK!! Thankfully, today, he was home just before 6 PM. That was a HUGE treat!! Maddy really missed her daddy (and, let's face it, I'm pretty sure she was a little bored with me). This afternoon, as I already said, we were really starting to go a little crazy, so I decided I'd introduce Maddy to crayons. I have her first piece of artwork on the fridge now, too!! :) Here's a short video of her coloring... LoL...





Then, tonight, while Bryan was giving Maddy her bath, they played with the bathtub crayons. This is what is SUPPOSED to be done with the crayons in the tub:


When I walked in the bathroom to see how things were going, THIS is what I found:


I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm pretty sure that's not their intended use... The good news? It washed off very easily. And, yes, this is good news for Bryan mostly. LoL...

Long story short... We've VERY happy that our daddy came home at a more reasonable hour tonight... Here's hoping that the trend continues for the rest of the week!! :)

Love you guys!! Hope your week is going well! Chris and April, have a GREAT time at Mom & Dad's house! I can't wait to hear how your visit goes! :)

Videos Galore!!

We had a little fun with videos tonight!! Check out some of Maddy's new "tricks":





Cheeseball...




Take 1...




Take 2...




Take 3...




FINALLY!!! :)



I hope you enjoyed these little tidbits...

Love you guys!! :)