Here's What's New...

Here are just a few pictures to share with everyone so you know what's new with us...

First, Maddy's first birthday marks A LOT of changes. There are lots of new foods which can be introduced at this age... This is also the first acceptable age that we can turn Maddy around for car rides. She has been in her rear-facing seat since birth. I do not know that we will turn her around when she turns 1 (she's still really not that big), but while we were at Target today, we put her in one of the display models... And here she is!! Doesn't that thing just swallow her WHOLE?!?!


We also just bought this little booster seat for Maddy. We bought it for several reasons. One of those being that we sometimes go to friends houses for dinner, and we have no where for Maddy to sit. The other being that we're going on a road trip in about a month to visit folks all over the southeast. We have plans to stop in Nashville, South Carolina and Atlanta!! I hope we get to see all of you while we're traveling. Check Maddy out in her new booster seat. I think she likes it!! :)


Finally, Bryan gave Maddy a bubble bath tonight, and her new game is to put her face in the water. When she did this tonight, she came up with a goatee. It's hard to see in the pictures, but if you look closely, it's there!! (Also, my apologies for the sideways picture. Every time I uploaded it, it was sideways - even though it is the right way on my computer - so, we'll just have to deal.) Here she is:



We hope that everyone has a MARVELOUS 4th of July!! We plan to!! Love you guys... And we'll see you VERY soon!!

More Summer Fun!!

We're still hanging in there this summer... Here is a short video of Maddy helping me make dinner last night. Actually, I decided that we'd had enough Lean Cuisines and Lil Entrees that we needed something "homecooked" last night. I made steamed carrots (which Maddy didn't really seem to like), Macaroni and Cheese (I think she liked that) and Maddy had some meat sticks (sort of like vienna sausages), which is an old standby in our house, so I knew she'd like those. While I was cooking, Maddy was sitting on the floor playing with her cooking supplies!!





This morning, we went to the mall playground again. After the kids played, we took them to ride on the little mechanical things. Maddy even took a spin on the trolley with the boys:




The boys rode on the firetruck, too. There were only 2 seats, so Maddy let the boys have their fun...


We hope you guys are having a great day!! Talk to you later!! :)

Play time!!

I took Maddy to the mall today to meet some friends to play with. Here's Maddy "playing". The little boy is our friend Kelby. His mom is a friend of mine and his dad is in Bryan's squadron. Enjoy!!

Oh yeah, and the playground has a "health" theme, so that's a giant toothbrush and a giant stethoscope she's playing on...

Maddy and her Daddy

Here's a quick picture of Maddy talking to her daddy on the webcam. Isn't that fun?!?! Love you guys!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

As promised, here is a little look into what Maddy and I got for Bryan today!! I have been taking portraits of Maddy this week and editing them for him. I ordered my 4 favorites from Wal*Mart's one hour photo. I ordered them from the Wal*Mart in Little Rock so he could go pick them up on his own. Here are some of the pictures I took of Miss Maddy...

By the way, we had a BLAST!! :)















I hope you enjoyed these as much as Maddy and I enjoyed taking them!! Love you guys!!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads!!

What do you want?

This has become a BIG question in our house as Maddy is mastering a little more of the sign language. Our latest sign is "more". Maddy is to use this sign whenever she wants more of something, obviously, but we usually use it during mealtime. While I may still have to guess what it is that she wants more of, at least I know that the grunting means that she wants more of something! LoL. So, now she knows how to tell me when she's "all done" eating, when she wants milk and when she wants more to eat. I tell you what... This whole baby sign language thing is GREAT!!! Check out this short video of Maddy telling me that she wants more at lunch today:






Now, another short video to show you how grown up Maddy is becoming. She can drink out of her sippy cup all by herself now!! Sometimes she really wants help (not sure where she gets her laziness from... hahaha). Sometimes I'll help her (especially if she seems really tired or something), but most of the time she drinks all by herself!! Can you believe it?!?! Here's the video:







Maddy's friend Sophi... We all remember Sophi, right? She's 3 weeks older than Maddy... Started crawling last night. Unfortunately, her mom and dad are both deployed right now, so while they missed the monumental moment, her aunt (who is taking care of her) was kind enough to video tape the moment and send her to her mom and dad for her. The race is on now... Maddy has 3 weeks. HaHaHa. Just kidding. Maddy gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. Occasionally, she'll take a tiny little "step". Life as we know it is about to COMPLETELY change!!!

I have a surprise up my sleeve for Bryan for Father's Day since he couldn't be home with us this year, so check out my blog on Sunday (or Monday if it's too crazy on Sunday -- for me or you) and see what I've cooked up for his first Father's Day... :)

Have a great weekend everyone!! TGIF!! Love you guys!! :)

Home Improvements

Good afternoon all! As promised, here is a blog about our little home improvement projects we've been working on. (Chris and April, we're still waiting for pictures of your kitchen renovation!!)

First, I have been wanting to replace our fence gate for quite some time now. It was sagging and rotting and just, plain falling apart. It took an act of Congress to get it to latch... Not to mention that the previous owners had attached a piece of chain with a padlock to the latch to keep the gate closed (and failed to leave the key with us). A few weeks ago, Bryan removed the old gate, which now looks like this:



Keep in mind, we had to remove a couple of the boards for something else, so it was a full gate while it was still hanging.

Now, the gate looks like this:



And look... NO MORE CHAIN!!! :) Bryan removed the padlock with a grinding tool that he put on his saw that my parents gave him for his birthday this past year. (He said thanks, guys!!)


I've also planted a tomato plant. Here is a picture of it... I'd like to point out that I've had it for several weeks now, and it's still alive!!



Here is an upclose shot of a yellow flower on the tomato plant, which I've been told is where a tomato will begin growing soon!! I sure hope you're right, Mom!! :)


Finally, we babyproofed the house this past weekend. Our biggest challenge was our entertainment center. It is completely open on the bottom where all the "stuff" is... DVD player, etc. We came up with this idea:



It's a sheet of plexiglass that Bryan cut in half and put a hinge in the middle. Then, on each end, we drilled a hole and put a cabinet lock around the post of the entertainment center. I think it turned out pretty good if I say so myself. We also put the cabinet and drawer locks in the kitchen and our bathroom. We've started referring to Maddy as Evil Kineval... She's become quite the daredevil... Let's hope that we always keep a close enough eye on her!! :)



So, that's what we've been up to. Bryan left for his 6 week training in Little Rock today. I think it'll go by pretty quickly. He's already planned a trip home for the 4th of July, and Maddy and I are considering going to visit for a week-ish while he's out there. After he is finished with his training, we're planning a 2 week road trip... Maybe we'll even come to a city near you!! As it gets closer, I'll be sure to give some more definite information. Grandpop, Maddy loved the aquarium in Corpus Christi, TX so much that we're hoping to make a stop in Atlanta where our favorite aquarium tour guide lives... I hope you aren't already booked!! Love ya!

Love you guys!! Hope you are having a good start to your week! :)