Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of our dear friends and family. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives. We hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus!

Luke 2:9-12
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. (10) And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (12) And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”


We have been very busy spending time with friends and family and will continue to do so throughout today.  Much love to you all!

Zoolights at the Phoenix Zoo

What a fun evening! Tonight Madilyn and I went with Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Don, Aunt Melody, Megan and her boyfriend Matthew to go see the light display at the Phoenix Zoo. Madilyn had a wonderful time and filled the air with lots of squeals of delight. It was really great to see her having such a great time. I had to keep her out later than her bedtime, but I think it was well worth it. Hope it doesn't come back to bite me tonight, eek.

And just for fun, an interactive, talking giraffe:

Christmas at (Great) Grandma's!

Today we celebrated Christmas a little early! Each year everyone on Sandy's (Matt's Mom) side of the family gathers at her mother's home. We always have a wonderful time catching up with everyone and Grandma is so wonderful and hospitable!

Here is Grandpa Don talking to Madilyn about the cuckoo clocks and playing

Uncle Craig holding Madilyn and Grace (20 months and 13 months respectively)

Grandma Sandy having "tea" with Madilyn

Madilyn is getting her "tea" ready to share with Mommy.

A quick family photo before heading out. Matt, we're missing you and wish you could have been here too!!!!!

Meeting Santa

A few weeks back, Matt sent Madilyn the book "The Night Before Christmas". It's an audio book that he he was able to record himself reading the story out loud so Miss Madi could still have her Daddy read her a bedtime book. She has been loving this storybook and calls it "Daddy's book". I think this story is where she first learned about Santa!

After we'd been reading this book for a week or so each night we took a trip to the mall. Without any prompting, Madilyn took one glance at Santa and went crazy! She kept shouting "Santa!" over and over, so I promised her we would go sit on Santa's lap sometime.

Well, the time to meet good ol' Santa finally came and Madilyn was THRILLED! As we stood in line she kept pointing at all the signs about the North Pole, Santa's Elves, and Santa himself. However, the moment she sat on his lap was a completely different story! Her eyes welled up and she put her head into his beard and cried! So, like every mom does, I bought a picture of her crying with Santa anyway. Hopefully next year she'll be just as happy to see him as she thought she was going to be this year.

After the Santa trauma was over, Madilyn quickly recovered when she discovered the mall had a "choo choo!". Of course I couldn't say no to that darling little smile as she looked up to me and said "mama, choo choo pleeeease?". I think she had a great day!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Today was very busy day!

As we begin to prepare for Christmas next week, we are busy doing all kinds of activities. Today's big production was the Christmas Program put on at my little brother Cole's school. I've never missed seeing him. I was really excited for the program this year because I felt like Madilyn was at an age where she would really enjoy the show! So, even though it started at 7 and our little princess like to be in bed by 630, we kept her up for the show.

Here she is catching a nap with her Grammy so she'd have lots of energy to sing and dance along.

Here Madilyn is all dressed up and ready to go see her Uncle Cole singing :)

Here is Cole singing. He is the one in the green shirt.

Because of some complications with my mom not feeling well, I ended up taking her home and missed tonights show. Madilyn however enjoyed every minute of it! She stayed and watched with her Aunt Brianna and Grandpa and Great Grandma. They said she clapped and danced her way through the entire night. When I came back to get her around 9pm, she was tuckered out! I changed her into her jammies before leaving the school and she fell asleep on the way home. She even stayed asleep when I transferred her from her carseat into her crib and slept sound until almost 830 this morning. Woo hoo!!!!

Dinner with Friends

Tonight Madilyn and I had the opportunity to have dinner with some great friends!

We have known the Papadopoulos family for almost 6 years now. They are doing an excellent job with their triplets and it is always so much fun to see them! Madilyn took to Dean, Susie and Eleni right away. As you can see, the girls even had a "tea party" with Madilyn and she loved it! Eleni also showed Madilyn how to take care of here baby dolls. Madilyn was such a cute "little mama" has she rocked with the doll and gave it a pretend bottle. I'm loving this age more and more everyday!

Me, Madi, Susie, Dean, and Eleni

Tea party with the girls. Susie is helping Madi...Dean's engrossed in the football game!

Madilyn and Susie "cooking" together :)

A Short Little Video :)

Los Angeles Air Force Base

This past weekend, I took a trip to LA AFB. Matt and I have been talking about different places we may get stationed next, and Los Angeles seems to be a pretty good contender. Of course, we don't know anything for certain, but I thought I might as well check out the base and get a feel for the area just in case!

The base itself was small, but very clean and modern. The biggest downside was the housing. Rent in the area is astronomical, and base housing is 18 miles south of the actual base! 18 miles wouldn't even be so bad, but in LA, this could mean quite the commute. Overall, I was satisfied with our visit. I think the area has many neat thing to offer. It's also very culturally diverse, which is great. We would be close to family (and much less than 2 hours away from an airport) and many other attractions.

Now we wait it all out.

A few pictures of the base and one of the view from base housing....

Thanksgiving 2009

I'm a bit late, so please forgive me!

I cannot believe how quickly Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We were blessed to be able to spend time with Matt's family as well as my own. It has been great the Madilyn has had the opportunity to spend more time with her extended family during Matt's absence.

Of course, I was so busy running around, I didn't get any pictures this year! Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday....Christmas will be here before we know it!

Marco Island, Florida

Madilyn and I started our adventure to Marco Island on Tuesday, November 17th. I woke her up at 515 am since we had to leave for the airport at 530. She was a bit disoriented (as expected) but quite cooperative. On our first flight she was able to sit in her carseat and did extremely well. She had breakfast on the plane and chatted with Grammy for most of the ride. Those of you on Facbook may have seen the video of her dancing (during the flight) to "if you're happy and you know it". After our first flight we had a layover in St Louis. This was a great thing because it allowed Madi to get down and run around. After getting the wiggles out we grabbed a quick bite to eat and set out on our next adventure. This time, there was no room for her carseat on board and so she had to sit on my lap. She hasn't done this since she was itty bitty (read- not mobile), so I was a bit nervous. But, our little trooper did great! She even took a nap on my lap. Once we landed, we picked up our rental car and started the hour drive to the Island. It really was an all day adventure!

Since then our days have been filled with playing on the beach, shopping, and lots of fun places to eat. We've had a great trip! I'm also happy to report (knock on wood) that Madilyn has slept through the night every night since we got here. This is HUGE news for our little girl!

Here are some photos from our trip!

Flagstaff Bound

Today I'm heading up to Flagstaff to pick up Brianna for the weekend. Megan will be joining us later when we return to Phoenix for a craft-a-thon weekend! I'm looking forward to having fun with the girls. I'm sure there will be pictures to follow after all the craziness!

We're getting closer!

With the Holidays now in sight, the end of this deployment is finally feeling like it is getting closer. Of course we've been counting down since day one, but the end seemed like an eternity back then.

We have enjoyed our time here and I'm sure there is plenty of fun to come, but we are also really looking forward to returning home and settling down again. It will be great to have Matt back again.

We have been incredibly fortunate to be able to chat via webcam with Matt in the last few weeks. Madi LOVES seeing him and comes running to him. She says "daddy!" and blows kisses to him. It's so adorable. He's also been able to see the little things like how well she runs now, watching her play in the backyard, or "eating breakfast" with her from across the table.

We have been keeping ourselves plenty busy passing the time. On Tuesday we are headed to Marco Island, FL for a 5 day R&R. The weather looks perfect, and the beach even more so. I think Madi is going to have a great time (as long as we make it though the flights!). We'll be back on the 22nd, and then Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Breast Cancer Walk For Wendy

Today I woke up to a text message from Sandy, asking Madilyn and I if we'd like to head down to Tempe Beach Park for the Annual Breast Cancer Walk. Madilyn's Great-Aunt Wendy (Sandy's sister) has breast cancer and is a true fighter! She is doing great and we wouldn't have missed the opportunity to support her in her fight. Here's a photo Wendy took of Madi dressed for the occasion.

Happy Halloween 2009

Well, it's that time of year again. Madilyn's second Halloween has already come and gone! After only a couple of houses, she was a pro at trick-or-treating! Enjoy a few pictures from her fun night :)

Eighteen Months

Madilyn and I just got back from her 18 month check up. How is she a year and a half old already?!?! Besides being busy playing, she's also been very busy growing! She is 23.4lbs and 33 inches tall. She's grown 3 inches since her 15 month check up (one month late, so 16 months) just two months ago!!!

The doctor was also very impressed by her vocabulary and cognitive reasoning.

Our little princess is right on track and we couldn't be happier!

Pictures!

After 3 short weeks, we're back from Colorado! As you can see by all the photos below, we had a wonderful and busy vacation. The cool weather (and snow) and time with close friends was just the breath of fresh air we needed to keep on trucking through this deployment. Speaking of which, we're halfway done!!!!! This itself should be cause for a celebration. As we like to say, it's all downhill from here...

Madilyn the day we arrived.

Duke

Madi playing outside with Jordan

A morning at the zoo with our friends Debra and Isla

Madilyn is watching the seal show at the zoo. She loved it!

Checking out the Gorillas

Taylor's soccer game

Playing at the pool in the rec center. Altus needs a rec center like this!

Hanging out in the lazy river with mama.

What A Week!

The week started out great. Madilyn was finally starting to settle in ans sleep a bit better. Wednesday we met up with our friends Debra and Isla and had a wonderful time.

However, come Wednesday afternoon, Madilyn woke up with a fever after her nap. Considering one of Shelley's girls (Taylor) was just on the tail end of the swine flu, I was pretty sure we had it coming. I tried hard to wash wash wash.....but it still got her. By Thursday morning her temp had spiked way up and she was miserable. Since we're out of town, I had to take her to the urgent care center down the street. The doc said he was pretty certain it was H1N1. He told us he could run the test but that is has a 40% false negative rate and wouldn't change the course of treatment, so we declined. It was a good thing we went in through, because she had and ear infection in the left ear and was wheezing. Her O2 sats were hanging out around 90%. So, they sent us home with some antibiotics and a nebulizer. Here's a picture of our poor little baby. What a trooper.

Race for the Cure

Today we left early in the morning to head to downtown Denver for the annual Race for the Cure! We did the family walk, which is a mild version of the actual run. It is much easier with the stroller ;) A friend of ours, Shelley, lost her mom to breast cancer a few years back. Since meeting Shelley, we have tried to go with her family to the race each year. It is a very emotional time for all of them. This year, we had an extra reason to run. Matt's Aunt Wendy was also diagnosed with breast cancer.

I think it is awesome that every year so many people gather together for this great cause.

We had a great time meeting lots or fellow supporters and many survivors as well. At the end of the race there are several booths set up where they hand out food and other goodies to the participants. Madi sure loved all the new snacks.

Here are a couple of photos from the day. The first is the group we were walking with. The second is a photo of Madilyn and me. Be sure to see the pants I made her... she's quite the supporter too!!

Just a short update ...

Wow! Has it already been a week since my last post? Where have my days gone?

It seems like we have been very busy this last week, which is a good thing. Keeping busy helps shift our attention from missing Matt and passing the time!

Madilyn has become VERY chatty in the last week. She roams the house constantly babbling away. At this point, we don't really understand her sentences, but I'm sure we will soon! She will look you straight in the face and says "ajglkjgd akhlkj hehendj sdknksd" or something similar with much conviction. When we tell her we don't understand, she rolls her eyes or laughs at us and runs off. But don't worry, she'll be back in 5 minutes to see if you get it the second time!

Madilyn is now 17 months (as of the 19th). By my rough calculations she is just over 23lbs and has grown over 2 inches in the last month. It's like she woke up one moring and all of her pants were too short! She says many, many, words now including:
~please, thank you, more, all done, NO!, get down, sit down, swing, walk, go bye bye, night (night night, at bedtime), Elmo! (Aunt Bri's dog is named Elmo), Mickey, and wheeeeee!
~ She can also made the animal sounds for a cow, horse, dog, frog, sheep, and tiger.

We are heading to Colorado on Wednesday and we will be there though the 21st of October. We are looking forward to cooler weather and lots of fun with old friends. I will try to take plenty of pictures while we are away!

Just because....

....I love this picture :)

La Jolla

This weekend Megan and I took an impromptu trip to La Jolla! We left on Saturday morning and returned on Sunday evening. We had a great time!

After checking in to our hotel, we decided to head out for a walk and catch lunch at Islands. Boy, I have missed this place! They have the best burgers!!! After lunch, we had our nails done. I sure love a good pedicure!

By the time we were done getting pampered, we thought we would head to downtown La Jolla and wander around the shops. What a cute area. It was lots of fun browsing through the little stores and people watching. As dinner time appraoched, we decided on a fun Mexican bar. We sat outside, enjoyed great food, and watched the people go by and the waves crashing. Finally, it was time for desert! Melody had mentioned we should try Apple Green for some frozen yogurt. We took her up on her suggestion, and we are SO glad we did! If you are ever in La Jolla, you've got to try it too!

Sunday morning we ventured out to the La Jolla farmers market. I'm always a sucker for a good farmers market. We had some tasty crepes for breakfast and picked up some wonderful fresh produce. Nothing quite like local produce. This place is also a must if you are in the area on a Sunday morning.

Before heading home we went to the beach for a bit and just enjoyed the water. La Jolla is a great little town. I'm sure we'll be back!

My parents were happy to report the Madilyn was a perfect angel while we were away on out 36 hour mini vacation :)

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Yesterday while out to dinner with our friend Heather, Madilyn was getting a bit impatient. To try and distract her for a bit until the check came, I started singing the isty bitsy spider. Now, I've been singing this to her for a while, and she usually just stares me down. Yesterday she actually tried to sing along AND do the hand motions! When the song was over she kept on clapping and telling herself, "good girl"! Then she'll say, "again, again"! I swear she's more and more fun every day :)

Labor Day Weekend

What a great weekend! Saturday it cooled down to an unheard of low 80's here in Phoenix! We packed up are stuff and took off for the park. We couldn't help but enjoy the awesome weather!!!!






Today, after a nice BBQ, I pulled out Madi's sprinkler for the first time. Too fun! She was a little apprehensive at first, but ended up having a great time.

After sprinklers, it was time to jump in the water! Madilyn loves to be tossed up in the water! She's becoming quite the little fish :)