The Carlile Clan

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

2010-02-10T09:21:00.003-05:00

This year Madeline moved up from the nursery at church into the Primary classes for the children. She was so excited. Weeks before the new year she would tell me she was done with nursery and wanted to be a Sunbeam (that's what the 3 year old class is called). There is a Primary song called Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam and it suddenly became her new favorite song. Finally the week arrived and she got to go to Primary! I was serving in the Primary at the time, so it was fun for me to be able to watch her with all of her friends trying to sit still and participate. The first week was a little rough for some of them, but I'm sure they have improved. That was the only week I served in there with Madeline, because I was called as the Relief Society President the next week. {For those not familiar with the LDS Church, the Relief Society is the women's organization.} Anyway, she loves being a Sunbeam! Her favorite part is singing time, which is no shock to me because she loves to sing and dance. She has, however, reverted back to her old favorite song, which is I am a Child of God.

New Years Eve

2010-02-10T09:20:00.002-05:00

We rang in the New Year with our good friends, the Cottrells. Our Bishop's family was also there, and we played games and ate lots of good food. Isn't that what celebrations are really about anyway? Madeline lasted until almost 2 am, and even Amelia was awake for the ball dropping.

Here are the guys being ridiculous. I was trying to take a picture and they would not pose, so all I have is this mid-laugh shot. That's what they get.
The Cottrells have two terrific young men who love to play with Madeline. They are always trying to get her to give them high-fives at church, and she plays the shy card. I love watching them play with her, though, they are so nice.

This is Melinda and me. Happy 2010!

Christmas Day has come and gone...

2010-02-10T09:19:00.003-05:00

...but I will still post some pictures.

In our family it is a tradition that the stockings are handmade by grandma. I think Amelia's turned out so cute!

Don't you love the glow of a Christmas tree? It brings such warmth and peace and happiness to me. It might be my favorite part of Christmas decorations.

As you can see, Amelia was stoked to have a stocking she could fit into full of goodies just for her.

Her main present was some stacking cups that you can also fit together to make balls. It's pretty fun, and so far Madeline has really enjoyed them. :) She also got a portable changing pad (that I am enjoying) and some equally practical things. Oh, and some clothes. What can I say? She is too young to care.

Madeline is super into arts and crafts. Her Christmas list was: nail polish, lipstick (chapstick), paint, tape, and glue. (She got it all. She must have been on the nice list.) About a week before Christmas she decided what she really wanted was "a big thing" or "a big board" also known as an easel. I love this one because it is height adjustable. Madeline is a tall girl, so I think that feature will come in handy. That roll of paper at the top? Gone. I have decided I am not buying more. I hate waste, and it just wasn't get used the way it should. Maybe I'll rethink that when she is older.

See the Santa hat Joe is wearing? It came with a Christmas dress sized 3-6 months! Seriously. I hate it when hats come with outfits, they never fit.

Most of Madeline's gifts were artsy things, but she also got some Mega Bloks and a couple of games - ABC Bingo and Memory.

Joe got a circular saw, some clothes, and Guitar Hero. I got a blender, some new cooling racks, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, new earrings, and a bunch of other things. I got spoiled. All in all, a successful Christmas!

Gingerbread House {aka Eating Candy}

2010-02-06T22:37:00.003-05:00

Since Joe is really a kid at heart, this year he got to help Madeline decorate her gingerbread house. Madeline was so excited to build her house, and she asked me just about every 5 minutes for 2 days until we finally did it.

The thing is, she really just wanted the candy. It's a good thing we just bought a kit from the store, and the house itself was even pre-assembled, so we didn't care. I know, that is a total cop-out, but I am not trying to enter any contests for the best gingerbread house or anything, I just want my kid to have a good time. And, in my defense, I didn't realize the house was pre-assembled when I bought it (Although I admit I was excited when I did realize it - have you ever tried to get those roof pieces to stay on? Annoying.).

So this first picture pretty much epitomizes what went on. Joe put frosting on the house, Madeline ate some candy, put a few pieces on the house, ate some more candy. Fun!

The finished product! I actually think it turned out really cute. For about a day. Then there were little spots where the candy was missing. Hmm... wonder where it went....

Ho! Ho! Ho!

2010-02-03T21:10:00.007-05:00

While we were in Washington, we had the pleasure of being visited by Santa and Mrs. Claus (aka Joe's uncle and aunt). They made a special early trip just for us! We love it when Santa comes to visit because he always brings a small gift for everyone and we get to take some fun pictures on his lap. They may not be the real Santa and Mrs. Claus, but they sure look great playing the part and he is so jolly and she is so sweet you'd think they were the real deal.

I think we need to work on the smiles a little bit....

Even Daddies and Mommies get presents!

Santa also came to our church Christmas party, and I got a little better shot of the two girls with him, but really, isn't the first Santa a little (okay, a lot) more convincing?

First Snow

2010-02-02T18:33:00.004-05:00

This winter in the North Country has been quite unusual. Last year we were Trick-or-Treating in snow, and this year we barely had any for Christmas. The past couple of days it has finally started dumping snow, but for some reason this year I don't mind it at all. In fact, I kind of love it. This year I am finding it more magical and beautiful, and I am reminding myself that being in the Army means I will probably not have a white Christmas every year.

Today is a good day for this post too, because my cousin's wife, Jana, just posted some incredible pictures of their snowflakes down in Tennessee. Have you ever really inspected snowflakes? I am completely enthralled by them. Lucky for me it was snowing here today, so after I read her post and was convinced that I had never really seen real snowflakes like that, I got to go outside and check. Sure enough, on my black coat I could make out all those perfect, magnificent snowflakes as they fell to the earth. I love it when God's creations leave me in such awe.

Anyway, the real reason for this post is to celebrate the first snow fall of the season! The very first snowfall didn't amount to much, so we just took a minute to throw a few snowballs while we were out.The next snowfall was a little more substantial - enough to put on the snow gear and go play. Madeline loves the snow, and she particularly loves to eat the snow. She also loves making snow angels, which I was surprised she remembered from last year. Last year we mostly did snowmen, but this year all she wanted was snow angels.

Thanksgiving

2010-02-01T19:54:00.004-05:00

The past 2 years one of my very good friends, Katrina, has come from Boston to spend Thanksgiving with us. We love having her come, and this year Madeline thought that she was her friend, not mine, so she tried to monopolize every moment with dress-up dolls and art galleries. Katrina was a good sport about that - I just hope she had as much fun being here as we had having her!

We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with a couple of other families, followed with perusing the Black Friday ads and a rousing game of Apples to Apples. It was a nice low-key Thanksgiving, and this year we were thankful that Joe was home with us for a second holiday season in a row! (And, lucky for us, he will be here next year too! I think we are getting spoiled.)

Apparently I need to get one of those fancy cameras and learn how to take great photos, because then maybe I would remember to "capture the memories" more. As it is, I usually forget and then snap a few right before it is time to go.

Such is the case here. Katrina and I got up at some insane hour (I don't remember - 4 am?) to go try to score a good deal at Best Buy on a laptop. Of course they were sold out and we came home feeling like we would have been better off under some warm covers. So here are the pictures of us after having rolled out of bed to scoot off into the very chilly morning, and the girls who were not in the mood for picture-taking. I love this first picture because Madeline's face is priceless, and Amelia thinks she is starving to death but Joe is behind the camera saying, "Just one more! Just one more!" repeatedly. We'll just say it's a good "lifestyle" shot.

Visit to Washington!

2010-01-10T16:43:00.004-05:00

Now that it has been, ahem..., almost 3 months since I have updated my blog, I figured I better get on that. Especially since I referenced it in my Christmas card and now all the people who visited my blog probably think I was lying and I don't really post on here. Sooo, I am jumping back on the wagon and vowing to post every day (or maybe every other day) until I get caught up. Starting with....

Our trip to Washington!

We went back to Washington in November to visit family, and it was especially fun for Joe because he had not been back for over 2 and a half years. Needless to say, we did a ton of running around as usual to fit in all kinds of family and friends.

The biggest reason we made the trip was because my grandma was going to the temple for the first time! She joined the church while I was staying with her when Joe was deployed, and I was honored to be her escort through the temple. It was fabulous, and she was lucky enough to even have a couple missionaries who had taught her attend the session as well. My grandma is so dear to me and I love being able to share this part of my life with her, as I know how my life has been blessed and the joy I have experienced since joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Thanks to Joe's mom for hanging out at the temple with Amelia so I could go in!

Joe's mom hosted a huge Thanksgiving dinner for all of Joe's extended family while we were there. I think about 75 people showed up, and it was terrific to be able to visit with so many people we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. We decided to do Amelia's baby blessing while we were there so that Joe's family could participate. Being able to have Amelia's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, as well as uncles and great-uncles share in giving that blessing made the experience that much more meaningful.

We decided we better get all kinds of pictures of the girls with their grandparents and great-grandparents since we aren't sure when we will get to see them again.

The girls with Joe's maternal grandparents.

The girls with Joe's mom.

Joe with his parents.

Joe with his grandparents.

Amelia with Joe's dad.

Amelia with grandma and cousin Aiden.

The girls with my parents.

Madeline had tons of fun with my brothers kids, Ethan and Gavin, and she even spent the night there, but we all forgot to take any pictures until right before we left. Of course the kids weren't feeling very cooperative, so this is the best I got.

We had such a great time, and were able to see so many people, it made me miss Washington. But we do love it out here in New York too, so I guess for now we will just settle for visiting whenever we can.

Family Pictures

2009-11-08T14:50:00.008-05:00

Our friend, Misti Hymas, took family pictures of us recently. We went up to a park near our home to get some outside pictures and capture some of the gorgeous fall colors. We had lots of fun, and she was very patient with Madeline, who thought the nearby playgroud looked like a lot more fun than posing for pictures. I think we got some great shots!

Unfortunately, Blogger is not letting me paste anything here, so if you want to see the slide show, click here!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T12:41:00.004-05:00

In addition to Madeline's painted pumpkin, we had one other pumpkin to carve. Good thing it was only one. Madeline picked the most detailed pattern of all the choices, and then was bored by the time the pumpkin guts were all scooped out.

Joe persevered and finished the haunted house, and I think it turned out great! I couldn't get a good picture with it lit, but it looks spooky.

The girls got to wear their costumes 3 times this year - once to a friend's birthday party, once to the church Halloween party, and once to trick-or-treat. I like that because it makes me feel a little better about the money spent on costumes (I am not crafty enough to come up with an idea and do a homemade costume).

Madeline was Little Bo Peep.

Amelia was her sheep.

Joe was a pirate. He scrounged up these accessories from friends at church so he could dress up for a battalion run they did at work. He also got a lot of wear out of his costume, because he dressed up for the party and trick-or-treating too.

Fall Fun

2009-10-25T22:14:00.007-04:00

Our library had a Fall Festival last weekend with all kinds of fun crafts, games, and treats. Madeline had a friend over so we decided to take all the girls down to enjoy the festivities.

They had paper apples that you could scratch and different colors would show up underneath to create a cool design.

Madeline drew a sun and a face on her apple.

Both the girls wanted to get their faces painted. Madeline chose an apple with a worm and Tessa got a pumpkin. She really liked the purple face paint so the lady drew a purple vine coming off it.

There were foam leaves with jewels and letter stickers for decorating.

The girls each got to choose a pumpkin and paint it. Of course this was their favorite because it was so messy - luckily it was washable paint!

They also had balloon animals, coloring pages, story time, and scarecrows to dress, along with apple cider and treats. I love the free activities the library does, and I especially love how much Madeline likes to go to the library thanks to all the fun things she can do there!

And what would Fall be without an enormous pile of leaves to romp around in? Good thing there is an endless supply around here.

Amelia - 1 Month

2009-10-25T17:38:00.007-04:00

Waiting at the doctor's office.

Amelia is already a month old! She is up to 10 pounds, 15 ounces and 21 3/4 inches. She is doing really well, and her sleeping habits are actually better than Madeline's were at this age. She will often give me a solid 5 hours of sleep at night, and a few times she has gone 6-7 hours. I am so glad for those nights, because she does have her days when she is fussy and just wants to be held all day, and the nights when I am super tired and she just won't go to sleep until some time after midnight.

We did discover that she broke her collarbone when she was born. It is healing fine and doesn't bother her much because she doesn't have to raise her arms above her head. Joe broke his collarbone when he was born too, and then he broke it again later, so I am just hoping this doesn't mean she has a greater chance of breaking it again later.

Although being a mother of 2 is easier than I imagined, I will say I find it exhausting to take 2 kids out to run errands. Even if Amelia is sleeping the whole time, just hauling her around and trying to keep track of Madeline while still keeping an eye on Amelia wears me out. I feel for you moms trying to take 3 and 4 kids out.

First Haircut

2009-10-25T17:32:00.002-04:00

I know, Madeline is over 3 years old. The thing is, it took her such a long time to really grow hair, and even now it is extremely fine hair so it still doesn't seem like she has much. But it was definitely out of hand, looking so scraggly, that she finally got her first hair cut. She was really excited to get it cut, and she was pretty good for the girl cutting it. We didn't get anything fancy, just straight across at her shoulders, but it looks a thousand time better, and she looks so much older to me now.

BEFORE:

See the excitement? She is loving this.

AFTER: I didn't get a shot from the back, where the change is most drastic, but it's cute and she likes it. Plus now I can actually let her leave her hair down sometimes without her looking so unkempt.

EFMB

2009-10-25T17:30:00.007-04:00

Joe was able to take 10 days off from work when Amelia was born, which was so nice because he was able to be off work the whole time my parents were in town, and for a few more days after they left. It was great to have him around to take care of Madeline while I was taking care of the baby.

The day he had to go back to work he started working towards getting his Expert Field Medical Badge. This is a very prestigious badge for soldiers in the medical community of the Army. Basically, it gives soldiers more credibility as a medical soldier because only a small percentage of medical soldiers have this badge. It required him to stay on post for the duration of the exams, which took 2 weeks. I think it was actually a good thing that he stayed out there because he was only getting a few hours of sleep a night anyway, and he was spending hours and hours a day studying. We probably would have just distracted him.

In order to qualify for the EFMB, he had to successfully complete the following:

Day land navigation
Night land navigation
Written Exam
3 Medical Lanes requiring him to demonstrate his abilities to treat patients in a combat zone
12 mile ruck march with roughly 50 pounds of gear in 3 hours or less

I knew the land navigation would be no problem for him because they practiced that a ton in college, and the ruck march would be hard but there was no doubt he could do it. The written exam and the lanes were extremely difficult though. One of the lanes had over 200 steps to memorize and perform in order. You get 2 chances for the written exam, but only one shot at everything else.

The pass rate for the EFMB is about 15%. Some people don't pass until they have gone through 5-7 attempts. Out of this group of 150+ soldiers, only 16 were awarded the EFMB, and Joe was one of them. At the award ceremony the Commanding General of Ft. Drum gave a speech in which he said he believes the EFMB is the most difficult of all the badges to earn in the Army. Needless to say, we are so proud of him for working so hard and passing on his first try. He is great at his job, and truly can do anything he sets his mind to.

Here are the group of soldiers who earned their EFMB. Soldiers are sent from posts all over the country to try to earn the badge, so some of these soldiers are not from Ft. Drum. Joe is the second one from left in the second row.

They came to the award ceremony directly after the ruck march, so Joe's face was all dirty. Madeline refused to give him a hug and kiss because she kept saying he needed a bath. She was excited to see him though. As they were standing on the stage and it was silent, she started waving to him. He smiled at her, but obviously couldn't wave back so she thought she would further try to get his attention by shouting out "Hi, Daddy!" Luckily she is still young enough that everyone thought it was cute and not annoying.

These are some of Joe's good friends from work. The guy on the far right was Joe's roommate during the course and they really worked together studying and encouraging each other - and they both passed! Congratulations to both of them.

Welcome Amelia

2009-10-25T17:04:00.006-04:00

I know some people love to hear delivery stories, so I am finally getting around to posting it here, a month after Amelia was born. If you aren't interested in the gory details, just go here for the basics.

Madeline was born one day early, so I expected this baby to be on time as well. In fact, I was really hoping for an 09/09/09 birthday. After all, I had been having tons of braxton hicks contractions and I was already dilated to 3-4 cm. I thought for sure she was coming on time. That was a mistake. After she wasn't born by the 13th, I reverted back to my original due date from before the doctor changed it, which was September 19th. That was a mistake too. This baby was determined to take her time getting here. I had an induction scheduled for the 24th, but I was praying that I wouldn't have to go through that, based on all the horror stories I have heard about pitocin.

Finally, around 1 am on the 22nd I woke up to contractions. They weren't horrible, but I wasn't going back to sleep so I just got up and walked around the house cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom to occupy my time. The contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart but I didn't want any medication and we literally live right across the street from the hospital, so I was planning to wait as long as possible to go. Joe took Madeline to a friend's house around 3:30 am. The problem was, the contractions weren't getting any closer.

Around 7 am I decided that we should go over because although they weren't getting closer, they were getting more intense. We walked over to the hospital, and when I got up to the counter they thought maybe I was there to be induced or something because I looked so calm. I had to convince them that I really was in labor and I knew what I was talking about (Well, you don't really look like you are in labor. Is this your first child? No. How long have you been having contractions? Since 1 am. How far along are you? 41 weeks. Etc.). They debated making me go to the clinic to get checked and then come back, but finally they determined that since I was 41 weeks I might as well stay.

They got me into a room, and after a bit the doctor came to check me. He said I was at a 5, and contractions were 3-5 minutes apart so it could take awhile still. He suggested either giving me pitocin to speed things up a bit, or breaking my water to see if that might help move things along. I was not interested in the pitocin idea, but I did want him to break my water because I remember things going quickly after that happened with Madeline. He broke my water around 9 am, and the contractions immediately became overwhelming. They were very intense, very painful, and very long. I got in the jacuzzi tub to try to relieve some pain, but I was only in there for about 5 minutes before the nurses realized I was ready to push. They got me back to the bed, discovered the baby was right there, and started yelling for the doctor to get in there NOW, and I better not push. The doctor came, I pushed for about 10 minutes (10 minutes of pure agony - I will never ever understand how women make it through hours and hours of that) and she was born at 10:32 am. A total of roughly an hour and a half after they broke my water. It was fast, and it was intense.

The first thing the doctor said when she was born was, "That's a big baby." I had a midwife guess she was a little over 7 pounds about a week before she came, and the doctor thought she was around 8 pounds when he had first checked me. Turns out, Amelia came in at a hefty 9 pounds, 2 ounces; 21 inches long. The problem was that with a baby that big coming that fast, her whole face was totally bruised and purplish/gray. It was actually kind of scary. It faded after a few hours and went away completely within a couple of days but even now looking back at those first pictures I sort of cringe. But she was healthy otherwise, and that's what really matters. Now she is pink and chubby and a little bundle of joy.

The proud papa in the delivery room.

Whew! Glad that's over.

Can you believe this is the best family picture we got in the hospital?

My parents flew in the same day she was born. When they scheduled the flight, they planned to get here a week or 2 after she was born so that we could have had some time as a family before being bombarded with guests. They got here just in time though, and I was actually happy with the way it worked out. My parents were so helpful, making meals and playing with Madeline tirelessly. I think it did a lot to combat any jealousy from Madeline. She has not shown one ounce of resentment towards Amelia, and is a fantastic big sister. She loves to help take care of her, and is right by her side whenever she starts to cry. Sometimes if she is crying she will say, "I think she needs her big sister." It is so cute. The only trouble we have had is a bit of an increased attitude and defiance from Madeline, but I don't know if that is just the stage she is in or if it is a ploy for more attention. Probably both.

I left the hospital the next morning, mostly because my parents were only here for a short time and I didn't want to spend half of it in the hospital. As you can see here, Madeline was looking forward to me coming home.

Big sister in action.

I love this picture of Joe and Amelia. He is such a wonderful father, and really loves his girls.

My dad holding Amelia. Madeline really misses having Grandma and Papa here. When I was looking at the pictures to post, every time this one came up she had to hug the computer and exclaim, "Papa!"

My mom holding Amelia. I think it is so precious when little babies are yawning.

We are so glad Amelia is finally here! I admit I was a little nervous about how things would change with another baby. I was really happy with things the way they were, and I foolishly wondered if having another baby would somehow take away some of the love I have for Madeline so I could give some to Amelia. I knew it was silly even as I was thinking it, but you really can't comprehend until you experience it. Good news - I still love Madeline just as much, and I discovered I have enough room to give Amelia unconditional love too! Actually, it has been easier than I expected to transition from 1 child to 2. I thought I was happy with my life before, so now I guess I am blissfully happy. God has definitely blessed me with an amazing husband and these two beautiful and sweet girls.

Baby Shower

2009-10-25T16:56:00.006-04:00

Two of my very good friends from church threw a baby shower for me on September 10th. The shower was a lot of fun. There was seriously a feast of delicious food (a pregnant woman's dream) and several people came to enjoy the festivities. I loved it because it was very relaxed and we mostly just ate and socialized. Thanks kym and Grace!

Me, Marla, Suz (who had her baby 5 days after I had mine), and Jesse

Amy, Miriam, Christine, and Colleen

Colleen, Misti, Apphia, and Christina
Everyone loves a good picture of them eating, right?

kym made this sweet cake. She even colored the cake itself lavendar to go with the theme!

The game consisted of everyone memorizing what was on this tray, and then guessing what was missing as one item was removed at a time. I thought it was pretty hard!

Even the kids got in on the action. They got to pick which item was removed next.

My friend Grace made these adorable wall hangers with both of the girls' names.

I got a lot of nice things, including some cute outfits...

...and what every mother needs, lots of diapers!

I am so grateful for my friends here. Thanks for helping me get ready for another baby girl!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-10-25T16:48:00.002-04:00

I turned the big 2-6 on September 3. I wanted it to be low-key, so we celebrated with some doughnuts and cupcakes at play group in the morning, and then an awesome friend volunteered to watch Madeline so Joe and I could have a nice dinner together. We figured we better not pass on that opportunity, knowing that we might not get another night alone for awhile after the baby was born. Joe took me to a nice little restaurant right on the water and it was great to be able to just have some adult conversation with him and spend quality time together before Amelia arrived.

The Fishing Expedition

2009-10-25T16:35:00.003-04:00

Joe and his pal Loren took their girls on a daddy-daughter fishing trip in late August. Loren has a boat so they took that out on the Black River and found a good spot where the fish were biting. It was catch and release, but they all caught something and had a great time. Madeline had a blast. She thought the worms were gross (in a good way, you know) and she was sooo excited about catching a fish. We had to borrow a Barbie fishing pole from a friend for the next time she went, and I think next year she may be requesting her own. I am not really into fishing myself, so I am more than happy to let daddy take her out for a fun day together!

Emma and Madeline on the boat.

Emma and her fish.

Lucy's catch.

Joe helping Madeline with her fish. Success!

The Cottage

2009-10-25T14:56:00.004-04:00

Time for some catch-up....

In mid-August we were invited to a friend's cottage on the lake for an afternoon of swimming and relaxing on the beach. We jumped at the opportunity, especially since it was about 90 degrees out that day.

The water was perfect because it stays shallow for a looooong time, so we could let the kids play to their hearts content without worrying about them getting in too deep. Plus, the shallow water meant that it was super warm. In this picture are Madeline's friends Addie and her brother Jacob, and Liam.
Noah, Liam's brother, wasn't too fond of being in the water or the sand, so he had fun kicking it in the little chair on the grass and gobbling up some snacks.

There were lots of little toys for the kids to play with, and Jacob did his own thing most of the time with whatever little toys he found.

This green elephant water spout was the most desirable toy of the day.

Liam and Madeline were having a nice rest in the water...

...until Addie came along and decided that they were her "garden."

There was also a slide for the kids to go down, but once Madeline got up there she decided she was terrified and really had to be coaxed down. Addie slid like a champ though!

We had a fantastic day. The scenery was beautiful, the weather and the water were perfect, and we couldn't have asked for better company!

She has arrived!

2009-09-24T15:43:00.004-04:00

She is finally here! There will be more to come, and some catch-up stuff from the past month, but I thought I would appease everyone with a couple of pictures in the meantime.

Amelia Shellay Carlile
September 22, 2009, 10:32 am
9 pounds 2 ounces, 21 inches

Craig Morgan & Billy Currington Concert

2009-08-16T21:22:00.008-04:00

Joe and I have been really diligent about trying to get completely out of debt (we have a huge amount of school loans) and have been basically foregoing a lot of luxuries in the past several months. We are making good progress, and I am excited about reaching our goals.

One thing that we have enjoyed in the past is attending concerts. We haven't been to one in forever, and since we live in a small area there aren't a lot of concerts around here. A local radio station has been advertising a concert for Craig Morgan and Billy Currington, and Joe had mentioned a few times that he thought it would be fun to go. Naturally, I shut him down, saying we couldn't afford the tickets, but the other day the radio station had some tickets that they were selling buy one, get one free. I was busy at a Primary Presidency meeting, but a good friend of ours went to the station and picked up some tickets for us so I could surprise Joe.

The music was good at the concert, but it had the lowest energy of any concert that I have attended. The event staff was actually walking around making people sit down to watch. There was to be no standing, and certainly no dancing. It was really weird. Finally toward the end Billy Currington said he needed to have a crowd of people in front of him to sing "People are Crazy" and then everyone was standing because they couldn't control it anymore.

It was great to be able to have a fun date with Joe. Our awesome friends who watched Madeline even agreed to keep her overnight, so we didn't have to worry about rushing out afterward to go pick her up. We know it will be awhile before we get to do anything like that again, and we sure enjoyed it!

The Countdown Begins...

2009-08-16T20:58:00.007-04:00

35 weeks

It is official. There is less than a month until another precious girl be making her grand entrance into our family. Remember when I was saying that I was being all proactive and getting a lot done really early for the baby? Yeah, that sort of tapered off, and now I am in the usual semi-panic that comes with thinking about how much I have left to do, and how little time there is to do it!

We still haven't painted, and of course I feel like that has to be done before I can put everything else in place. Hopefully that will get done soon. Joe isn't working as long these days, but it just seems there is always something going on. One of these days....

Otherwise, things are going well. I am feeling pretty good, with just minor bouts of nausea. My hip has been way better this time around, which I attribute to not nearly as much walking as when I was pregnant with Madeline. With her I was still in college so I was walking across campus several times a day, and I think it really aggravated it. Now we still walk to the school playground or the library, but it doesn't compare. The biggest difference this time around is that I am having massive braxton hicks contractions, which can be pretty uncomfortable. Otherwise, I can't complain. Just the usual annoyance of getting so big it is hard to bend over or get up. I'm trying to enjoy my last days with only one child to care for, and lots of sleep. We are all getting excited for another sweet baby to hold, and looking forward to welcoming her into our family. Even Madeline is constantly telling people, "I'm going to be a big sister!"

Happy Birthday, Madeline!

2009-08-16T20:33:00.008-04:00

Madeline is a big 3-year-old now! Hard to believe, since when we moved out here she was only 5 months old. Her birthday was August 4, and since Joe is on Rear-D he was actually here to celebrate on her birthday. We didn't want to have a big party, but we did have several friends over to eat cake and ice cream that evening. Joe wanted to video when we did the singing, but I made him take pictures so I could post them. I really regretted that, because it was so cute. She sang along to herself, and then right after we were done one of her little friends got so excited he blew out the candles for her! She didn't even have a chance. So, we re-lit them and she got to blow them out herself.

She was very specific about the kind of cake she wanted. Strawberry cake with pink flowers. I have a few friends who are really into cake decorating and love all those cake shows they have on TV, but let me tell you, I am no Cake Boss. I don't know if it is because I never had elaborate cakes growing up or what (but I did have homemade cakes - thanks, mom!), but I really don't care that much. Anyway, I didn't want to let her down so I let her help me make the cakes (we made chocolate too, for those who didn't want strawberry) and then I spent the morning rolling out Starburst candies and cutting them into flower petals. They looked pretty cute, and they tasted good, but they were not so cooperative when I was trying to cut the cake.

Strawberry cake with pink flowers.

Chocolate cake with sunflowers.

3 Candles!

Madeline and some of her pals enjoying the cake and ice cream.

I think every toy we own was taken out during the course of the evening.

This is Madeline's friend Liam. Madeline and Liam only have eyes for each other. If you want to see a super cute post about these two, look at my friend Marla's blog.

The big present from us was a "big girl" bike with training wheels. She loves to ride it, and she is young enough to think that it is cool to wear a helmet. It is nice for me because we can play outside and I don't have to push her on the swing so much because she is splitting her time between the bike, her Little Tykes car, and the swing set.

She also got another Fancy Nancy book from my grandma. She loves Fancy Nancy so much, which does not surprise me since she is a fancy little girl herself. She jumped up and down and I think I almost have this new one memorized already.

Her favorite present might have come from my friend Dani, who sent her a Princess dress up box. Talk about a dream come true! The moment she opened it, she had to open it up and start trying things on. Every single day since then she has spent the majority of the day dressed like Cinderella or Ariel, and even I have been adorned with beautiful "gems" on my ears and fingers and wrists. It is very fun, but I haven't taken any pictures yet.

Happy Birthday, Madeline! We are so glad to have you in our family!

More Visitors!

2009-08-02T19:43:00.003-04:00

One of my best friends, Dani, had a vacation planned with her parents and siblings to D.C. at the beginning of July. Dani and I have been friends since Jr. High but we also went to college together and were roommates for awhile. During college I got to know her family really well, and they sort of adopted me into their fun family traditions including family vacations and get-togethers. I absolutely love all of them, and cannot get enough of the Drury fam.

They thought that as long as they were going to be on the east coast they would make the trip up to come see our place and have a short visit. It really made me feel special that they were willing to hop in the car and drive several hours out of their way just to see us, but we had a great time.

I forgot to take any pictures while they were here, but luckily Dani's dad loves to take pictures and he e-mailed some to me.

They were only here for one full day, so we decided to go up to the Thousand Islands region and take a boat tour through US and Canadian waters to see some awesome mansions and a castle. The weather turned out really nice, so it was the perfect activity for the day.

Later that night we barbequed some kabobs at our house and Madeline entertained us all with her trampoline and a dance performance. It was pretty hysterical.

We ended the evening with a trip out to one of the many ice cream stands in this area. I really think it is a unique feature of Northern New York - I have never seen so many ice cream stands in one place. They consist of just a small walk-up building with some picnic tables and a grassy area around it to eat your ice cream. I seriously think I could name at least 6 within 15-20 minutes of my house. It sort of makes me laugh, since they obviously have to close down for the majority of the year with the horrendous winters we have. But they are fun and it was a great treat.

We love having visitors, and are so glad the Drurys made the trip up!

4th of July at the White House

2009-07-19T21:34:00.014-04:00

The White House invited about 20 soldiers from Ft. Drum (and a bunch from other posts) down to celebrate the 4th in D.C. with dinner and fireworks on the White House lawn. Joe was chosen to go, and he got to bring his family along! We were super excited for a paid vacation in Washington D.C., a place we had not yet visited.

Friday we headed down really early to get the driving out of the way (it's about 8 hours) and still be able to do a bit of sightseeing. We checked in at the hotel around 3 pm and went straight for the metro to go downtown. First we went to the Smithsonian, which is enormous. We only saw a fraction of the exhibits, but it was quite impressive. Then we had some fine Mexican dining outdoors and had to go back to the hotel because the baby and I were not getting along well and I needed some rest.

Saturday we enjoyed the huge Independence Day Parade before getting ready for the evening at the White House.

When we arrived at the White House, it was a bit different than we had imagined based on what the Army had told us. We were gearing up for a semi-formal event (and praying Madeline would behave herself during dinner) with the First Family. Turns out, it was a pretty casual outdoor picnic that was super family-friendly, complete with games on the lawn, face painting, and balloon animals. When I say balloon animals, I don't mean your average dog or sword. They were making Uncle Sam hats with beards, and I even saw one lady with a horse that went around her waist to look like she was riding it. Pretty involved, but that meant that Madeline waited in line (behind seriously about 4 people) for over an hour to get the yellow doggy that she so desperately desired.

Interesting centerpieces, no?

I had to force Joe to take this picture, but I really enjoy it.

Madeline got a flag with sparkles on her cheek. When we got home she thought that had been so much fun she got one of her markers and drew a "flag" on her arm. Hmm...

See what I mean about the balloons?

So, the atmosphere was really fun, but the Obamas were apparently not interested in attending their own party. They came out on the balcony for President Obama to give his short speech, and that was that. I guess the President did come out at some point for about 10 minutes to shake hands for the cameras, but they didn't announce it or anything so we had no idea he even came out until it was over and someone was talking about it on the subway. Talk about major disappointment.

This was the closest we got to having our pictures with the President.

After dinner they had a stage set up for performances by Jimmy Fallon, Michelle Branch, and the Foo Fighters. Joe was standing right next to Jimmy Fallon during the president's speech, but we didn't get a picture with him because I was trying to be respectful of the Marine band that had just started playing a tribute. I did, however, get a picture with Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters. Dave (yes, we are on a first name basis) was totally nice and having real conversations with people rather than the obligatory fake smile for the picture. Well, until a huge mob came and then he sort of had to rush to get through everyone. But, nice guy.

The concert was fun, and Madeline had a blast dancing around with her dad, which was so cute. Then the fireworks came and went. I was surprised how short the show was. It was a good time overall, and it was an honor to be invited down there for something like that. Independence Day is easily one of my favorite holidays, so I was especially grateful to be able to celebrate it in such a significant place.

Sunday we decided to stay and do a little more sightseeing before driving home. We went to Arlington National Cemetery and spent several hours visiting the different sites there. We also learned that everything takes about 4 times longer when you have to go at a toddler pace... someday we will go there without kids so we can really see everything without all the distractions. Arlington was really cool. We watched the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which I think was Joe's favorite part of our whole trip. We also saw JFK's grave site, and General Lee's house.

The Kennedys

Changing of the Guard

After Arlington it was starting to get late, but we couldn't visit D.C. without visiting the Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. It is awe-inspiring to look at those documents, knowing all that has transpired since then and how lucky we are to live here in this free country.

Madeline adored these fountains in front of the Archives. I think this was the highlight of her trip.

We didn't get to see nearly all the sites, but we had a really nice family vacation, and it didn't hurt that we were getting paid to be there. I am truly grateful to be a citizen in this country, and we owe a great deal to those who are willing to sacrifice so much for our liberties. I am proud of my husband and his hard work and willingness to serve. I am grateful for the founders of this great country and those who have preserved the rich history in our nation's capital.

Madeline Takes the Plunge

2009-07-12T22:13:00.008-04:00

I have been thinking about putting Madeline in swimming lessons for some time, and this summer we finally got her signed up. We have some friends who are taking lessons for the first time this summer too, and they generously offered to let us carpool with them (since we only have 1 vehicle that Joe takes to work every day) so the girls could all swim together.

Madeline has been soooo excited to start swimming. After we signed her up she asked to go swimming every day for at least a week. The day she finally started, we had to sit outside and wait for our friends to come because she was too eager to hang out inside until they arrived.

I guess I sat outside while she twirled and danced.

Madeline, Emma, and Lucy

They were champions before they even got in the water!

I know this picture is awful but it was impossible to get a good picture in the pool. One day I'll have a fancy camera that could achieve that, but for now, not so much. Anyway, maybe if you click on it you can see the perma-grin that was on her face seriously the entire lesson. It was really cute. Also, I think it is really funny that when you are in swimming 1a, you wear a floating backback, and have a noodle, and a kickboard, and an instructor right on top of you. Safety first!

I'm not going to lie, she was not the star student that first day in class. She had tons of fun, but was not quite as interested in the whole "kick your legs" idea. She would rather just play in the water and let the instructor pull her around. I will say she has made some serious progress in the 2 weeks since then, and at her last lesson she was actually self-propelled. She likes the arms better than kicking, so when she is doing both, she can get going. Oh, and she loves to jump in the pool now too.

Now that she is a swimming pro, all water is appealing to her. Especially heavy rain and mud puddles. The other day she really wanted to go out in the rain, and I decided to just let her go and have some fun. Rather than rain boots, she chose fleece slippers to cover her feet. Nice. And the umbrella? Just a prop, not intended to keep the rain off in any manner.

Right here against the house is the ideal spot because the water runs off the house in a nearly constant stream, so it is the most efficient way to get drenched.

Captain Carlile

2009-07-12T21:29:00.004-04:00

I haven't posted much about Joe lately, but he has been super busy with work. The good news is, his hard work is being rewarded. As of June 1st, he was promoted from 1st Lieutenant to Captain in the Army. This is especially exciting because his promotion came in just under the 3 year mark, which is quite an accomplishment.

Joe had a few friends who were getting promoted in the same time frame, so they decided to go ahead and do one big ceremony for the 4 of them. Here are some pictures from his big day.

Taking the oath.

Giving his speech.

Congratulations!

CPT Couper, CPT Baldwin, Lieutenant Colonel Phillips (Battalion Commander), CPT Toyofuku, CPT Carlile!

Ah, the happy family.

In other news, Joe's unit is scheduled to deploy again this winter, right around Christmas. Fortunately (or not, depending who you ask), Joe has been chosen as the Rear Detachment Commander for his battalion during the deployment - meaning he is not getting deployed! He will stay back at Ft. Drum and be the commander for the soldiers who are unable to deploy for various reasons (getting out of the Army, hurt, etc.), as well as taking care of issues that arise, like new soldiers coming into the unit and getting them deployed. Another aspect of his job is to take care of the families of the deployed soldiers and address the challenges that may occur (of which there are many). The bad news about this job is that it can be very stressful, and the hours are insane. He likes to say he will be a professional babysitter. Of course I am thrilled that he will be here, knowing that he is safe, and especially knowing that he will be around to bond with our baby when she arrives. Joe keeps me sane, and I was struggling with the thought of him being deployed again, so I am happy that he will be here, even if I do barely see him. At least I will see him sometimes. From what I have heard, the soldiers on Rear-D generally wish they had been deployed rather than deal with the stuff here, but we are counting it a blessing that our family will get to be together and Joe gets to stay out of the war zone this time around.

Easter Pictures

2009-07-09T22:26:00.008-04:00

We got Joe's computer fixed, so I have my pictures back! Yay! Here are some very belated shots from Easter...

Easter morning.

A matching dress for her baby.Coloring eggs with Addie. Madeline finding eggs with Liam.

Yes, there was still snow on the ground for the egg hunt.

I dyed these really cool Easter eggs using silk ties. The idea came from Our Best Bites, a terrific food blog. Here are the ties I picked up at the local thrift store...

...then I wrapped the eggs up in the silk to make these little bundles...

...and ended up with these fancy dyed eggs! It was a fun project, and even Joe got into it.

Pregnancy Update

2009-06-16T16:28:00.006-04:00

27 weeks

I've had some people asking me for an update on the pregnancy, and how I am feeling, etc. Thanks for your concern, and I have good news! I started really feeling better just before Nathaniel got into town. I just kept praying that I could make it the whole time they were here without throwing up. I mean, we only have one bathroom and our place is small, so it would be no secret if I was in there getting sick all the time. No thanks. Well, the Lord heard my prayer, and I stopped the day they got here and haven't thrown up since! That's not to say I didn't have bouts of nausea, and I still do, but nothing compared to those first few horrendous months. Unfortunately, I have moved on from the sick phase and into the painful phase. I had to go to physical therapy twice a week when I was pregnant with Madeline because my hips cause me a lot of problems, and I just got a referral to head back to the physical therapist again. Oh well, I can handle pain way better than I can handle being sick.

I am a little over 27 weeks now, and things are progressing nicely. I had to get another ultrasound because they weren't able to get a good profile view of the baby's face in the first one, so that was kind of fun. Joe was in the field and had to miss it, but I got some pictures to share with him.

For some reason I am way more paranoid about getting everything we need really early with this baby than I was with Madeline. With Madeline it was a bit different because we had just graduated from college, and we knew we were going to be moving out here but Joe had about 6 months of training first, so I moved in with my brother's family about 2 weeks before she was born and stayed with them for those 6 months. It's not like we were in our own space and had a nursery to decorate or anything. Plus, they had a baby 7 months before Madeline, so I was able to use almost all their infant gear instead of buying it. She didn't even sleep in a crib; we had a little pack-n-play set up in the room we shared.

This time we don't really have a nursery, per se, since the baby will share with Madeline, but I am still able to plan out a new decor. I had given away the crib we had for Madeline, so we got a crib and have that set up. Originally I thought I would sew the bedding set, but I decided just to go online and buy it because it would be cheaper than making it, and it would be less stressful for me. So I got a set that I think is really cute, and we got a new carseat, and just a couple other small things we'll need.

The only thing left that I really want to buy is a sit n stand stroller, but I was talking to a friend today who might sell me hers, so hopefully I can check that off the list soon! I do still want to sew a few things though, like a blanket for Madeline to match the colors of the crib set, and some curtains. I purchased some blackout liners for the windows, which I have been talking about forever, so I am excited about that. And we need to paint the walls. And I have go to through all Madeline's old clothes to figure out what I want to keep and what will work with the weather here. Luckily, Madeline was born in August, so a lot of the clothes will work, but I think I'll need to get some warmer stuff in small sizes because it gets cold here much sooner than in Washington. Okay, so there is still tons of stuff to be done, now that I am writing it all out. BUT, I am moving in the right direction, and there is still time.

Crazy Madeline

2009-06-14T23:22:00.009-04:00

Madeline amazes me more and more each day with the things that she says and does. I seem to love each stage just a little more than the last. I love that she is old enough now to carry on conversations, and relate things she has done in the past to something she is doing now. The best thing about her is that she can make me laugh every single day. Here are a few recent incidents.

Hairbrush or toothbrush? You make the call. Really, when you first get up, who can tell anyway? Luckily, I was able to extract this without the use of scissors, or it might not have been as funny.

"Madeline, please put your panties on." "Okay."

Singing time. Madeline looooves to sing. She likes to make up songs with one word, like "The Strawberry Song" in which you sing the word "strawberry" over and over and over and.... Currently, her favorite song is "Follow the Prophet." Don't you love it when kids think they are singing loudly, but really they are just kind of yelling the words?

Sorry for the poor quality on this first video. It was taken on Joe's cell phone.

I just realized this is a great blackmail post for later in life.

Girl's Weekend

2009-06-14T23:07:00.004-04:00

My friend Holley flew up from Utah for a few days, and my generous husband agreed to keep Madeline for the weekend, and let us take the car to go visit our other good friend in Boston for the weekend. I think I had forgotten how nice it is to just spend time with the girls every now and then. Everything is different when you don't have to cater your activities to a 2-yr-old. We had such a great time laughing and eating and touring Boston.

We took a walking tour of the Freedom Trail, and the guides all dress up. They must have been roasting; it was hot that day!

We had lunch at a fabulous little cafe in the North End. I love places with great atmosphere, and this place definitely had it.

This is my "action shot." Apparently I am getting ready to jump to the river. Also a nice shot of the growing belly.

My two great friends, Holley and Katrina. So glad we got to spend the weekend together!

It's a GIRL!

2009-06-14T22:50:00.003-04:00

I had my ultrasound while Joe's brother was in town, and we were all excited to find out what we were having. Most people were pretty convinced it was a boy, given the statistics, but I still wasn't totally convinced. Turns out my original gut feeling was correct, and we are breaking the Carlile trend with another girl! We are so happy to be having another girl, and feel like this is the best thing for our family right now. Not only do we adore the girl we already have, it will make things easier since they have to share a room for now, and we already have tons of girly stuff from Madeline, so we won't have to spend much money to get prepared.

Now to just figure out a name.... It seems like we have a "name of the week" that we like, but we haven't found The One yet. We both loved Madeline, so we are kind of waiting for a name to come up that we like as much as we liked that one when we decided on it. At this rate, I'm not sure that is going to happen. Feel free to toss out any suggestions.

It's so funny that I used to think I wanted all boys and no girls, and now I wouldn't trade my girl for anything. Hooray for girls! We'll see if I am still saying that in about 10 years.

Family Visit

2009-06-04T18:13:00.005-04:00

Joe's brother came to visit at the end of April. He drove up here from Utah with his wife and their 4 kids, and stayed for about 2 weeks. We had a great time with them here, and did a ton of sight-seeing. We spent a day in Hershey, PA, and a day in Gettysburg, then drove back up and relaxed for a couple days before heading in the other direction to Niagara Falls and Palmyra. His brother is getting ready to deploy, so it was really nice to get to spend some time with all of them before he leaves.

The whole town of Hershey revolves around the chocolate factory, right down to the street lamps topped with Hershey's kisses.

The kids donned paper hats and got to package up some chocolate.

We took a trolley tour of Hershey, which was really fun and informative. Learning about Mr. Hershey's life and his far-reaching philanthropy made me want to never buy any candy besides Hershey's!

We went to the beach one day, just to go see Lake Ontario. Even though parts of the lake had just been frozen maybe 2 weeks prior, the kids had lots of fun splashing around in the water.

Little Erik didn't enjoy the water so much; he was content to hang out on the sand with his mom.

Joe and Nathaniel promptly forgot that they were grown men with families and spent the majority of the vacation horsing around and beating each other up like only brothers can do. It was fun to see them enjoying each other so much.

The kids stopped to check out the creek on the way into the Sacred Grove.

The whole crew inside the Joseph Smith cabin. Madeline, me, Mina, Joe, Nathaniel, Erik, Lilly, Rachael, and Cyrus. Thanks for coming to visit!

Easter

2009-06-04T18:06:00.002-04:00

Well, the last time I tried to post was just after Easter. I had chosen the pictures for the post, but then Joe's computer stopped working, and of course I just transferred the pictures to his computer and then deleted them off the camera so they are gone. At least for now. I think we just have to get a new charger for his laptop and it should work, but now the laptop is all the way in Utah because Joe sent it with his brother to try to get it fixed by a family member down there. I got kind of discouraged about that, so I haven't posted for awhile.

Anyway, Easter was very fun. Madeline got a pretty dress with a matching doll dress, which she thought was great. We had an egg hunt at our friend's house on Saturday, and got together with a bunch of friends for a big Easter dinner on Sunday. Madeline of course loved her basket, but it was funny because she kept thinking she had to say "Trick or treat!"

Call Me!

2009-04-13T17:14:00.003-04:00

Washing Machine + Cell Phone = BAD COMBINATION!

Maybe I was being punished for finally being productive. I was feeling good about myself, tackling the laundry, and getting things under control. The next thing I knew, my cell phone was dropped into the washing machine, and died forever.

Thankfully, I did have insurance, so it was just a matter of filing the claim and them sending me a new one. Unfortunately, I lost all the data that was on my phone.

So... if you want to talk to me, you have to call me! Or send me an e-mail or something so I can have your number again.

The Nausea is Subsiding

2009-03-05T17:23:00.004-05:00

Things are finally starting to look up over here in the Carlile household. After laying in bed at least 85% of the time for the past 8 weeks or so, I am finally starting to feel better. I am not feeling great, but anything is better than the misery I have been feeling. The last few days it has been more like 50% of the time that I've been laying around, which honestly feels fantastic! Plus, this is an unexpected surprise - I was sick for 5-6 months with Madeline, although at least with her I still maintained a somewhat normal existence with work and school.

The other surprise bonus is what a terrific mood Madeline has been in since I have been up and about more. We have really gotten into an awful habit of watching way too many movies, but I just wasn't up for playing and doing fun mommy things so it just kind of happened. I have felt incredibly guilty about the amount of time she has been spending in front of the tv, but I also wasn't up for making the committment to change it yet. Now that I am around the house, she is around the house more too, wanting to be by me and help me with the laundry or pretend she is driving me to church. It eases my mind a bit to know that she may not be quite as addicted as I was making her to be in my head. The best part is seeing her so happy.

I had my first official doctor's appointment the other day (although I had already gone in to be treated for my "morning" sickness, which was unsuccessful). The appointment went well, and everything is looking good so far. They performed an ultrasound, but our scanner is not working so I won't post any pictures. The baby is a bit big, so they moved up my due date from Sept. 19 to Sept. 13. I guess that makes me roughly 13 weeks along. I keep telling everyone I hope it comes early so it can be born on 09/09/09. I won't hold my breath on that though.

Now, as long as I continue to improve, I can start tackling the 18 loads of laundry and the sink full of dishes and the general disorder and messiness in my house. I can't wait to be able to see the floor again! For the record, Joe is still working long hours and comes home tired, so it's not that he isn't willing to help around here, he just has limits like the rest of us. But if it weren't for him we would have no groceries and we'd probably be eating what little we had out of our hands for lack of clean dishes.

As far as inclinations on boy/girl, I am on the fence. Before I got pregnant I always felt that we would have another girl, but Joe has 5 siblings and ALL 5 had one of each for their first 2 babies. Three had a girl first and a boy second, 2 had a boy first and a girl second. So if I go by genetics, it looks like we'll be having a boy. I'm not sure if I really have that in my head, or if it's because this pregnancy seems different than my last one, or what, but I have gradually backed away from the idea of having another girl and started trying to warm up to the idea of a boy. I really don't know. The ultrasound is scheduled for April 27, so hopefully we will know then. I'd love to hear your inclinations on this topic.

Also, thank you for pointing out that you were waiting to hear the announcement, since Joe recently returned from deployment. You know you are LDS and in an Army community when no less than 8 women in your small ward are pregnant at once. With us waiting a whole 2 months after he got home, we are behind the curve. I think I have the latest due date of all the ladies. I guess that makes for good playmates down the road!

If You've Been Wondering...

2009-01-29T11:53:00.003-05:00

why you haven't seen or heard from me in ages, the answer is I'm pregnant! Yay!

The unfortunate reality of my pregnancies is that I become a miserable heap on my bed or couch with a bucket next to me at all times. I think I have gotten dressed once in the last 2 weeks (church was canceled last Sunday). So, it is not that I am avoiding you, I just don't feel like chatting much. I'd rather lay around in agony while Madeline watches innumerable movies and virtually destroys our home with little to no consequences because I just don't have the energy. Did I mention we are excited to add another little bundle of joy to our family? No, really, we are. But if I don't sound that excited when you talk to me, just remember that it is hard to sound excited when you're just doing your best to hold a normal conversation.

Oops! I forgot one...

2009-01-02T21:00:00.004-05:00

So this post really belongs in 2008, but the pictures were on Joe's camera so I forgot about them.

Madeline was really excited to make a real gingerbread house this year, and like most kids she had a ball decorating, but most importantly she got to eat TONS of candy!

First, we had to mix the icing...
This is her favorite place in the kitchen. Whenever I am doing anything in there, she has to drag a chair in and stand on it so that she can see. She loves to cook!

After the icing was ready we assembled the house, and then the real fun could begin.

Like I said, LOTS of candy was consumed by this little girl in the making of this gingerbread house.

See what I mean?

Ta da! What a cute gingerbread house.

There was another gingerbread house experience, at our friend's house for Family Home Evening. We used graham crackers for that one, and I would show it too you, but it got eaten before I could even take a picture. That chair sure comes in handy when you need to pull some graham crackers and candy off the counter!

2008 was Great!

2009-01-02T17:56:00.008-05:00

Well, maybe not great, since Joe was gone for 10 months of it, but he did come home safely so I'd say it was a success overall.

Our New Year's Eve celebration was tons of fun, even though we waited until the last minute to make plans. Luckily, so did everyone else! We ended up at the Petty's with the Crowther and Bush families. There was food, games, and good conversation. The house was full, with 13 kids and 8 adults (good thing they have a huge house), but the kids were very well-behaved so it was not overwhelming at all. The kids stayed in one room watching movies, and the adults were in the next room playing games.

When midnight was about to hit we turned on the TV to watch the ball drop. We all counted down and then the adults smooched while the kids blew on their party favors that Tamara had passed out. Madeline even made it all the way past midnight!

It was the perfect New Year's celebration. Fun and relaxing, with great friends and good cheer.

Mmm... brownies with ice cream and homemade hot fudge.

10-9-8-7....

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2009-01-02T16:49:00.005-05:00

While I am slightly ashamed about our blatant consumerism during this recession, I justify it by reminding myself that we did also give significant donations to various people in need and food shelters, so maybe we aren't totally evil? Anyway, we love giving gifts! So we had a great Christmas morning.

We don't have any type of mantle so my wonderful friends at Domestic Graffiti crafted this sign for me to hang our stockings. My grandma made my stocking when I was born, and Madeline's grandma made her stocking when she was born. I made Joe's so he could have a matching one with us.

This pretty much wraps up Madeline's favorite surprise from Santa.

When we convinced her to open more presents, she had fun discovering all the other goodies under the tree.

A bag full of princess stuff...

A new baby with 3 outfits (and a crib for her to sleep in)...A Fancy Nancy Dress-Up Game from Grandma...And a Princess Tent (or "house" as she calls it) for her room. This was another favorite.What's this present wrapped in a huge Santa bag?......Oh! It's actually a very compact (but very heavy) hand weight set that I didn't want him to guess. It worked!

Fortunately for me, I was wielding the camera all morning, so there are virtually no shots of me in my just-woke-up-haven't-brushed-my-hair-or-teeth look. Here I am "oooo-ing" over my belgian waffle maker from Joe.

Clearly after we got done opening presents, we had to have waffles for breakfast! They were super yummy (that's for you, Grace). Then we went to Christmas dinner over at the Crowther's, who live just a few blocks from us. Another family from our Christmas Eve dinner was there, and that meal was super yummy too. Thanks for having us over Grace, we had a great time!

Christmas Eve

2009-01-02T15:51:00.010-05:00

Christmas is a little different when you live 3,000 miles away from family. Since Joe and I are from the same city, and we both grew up there, we have a lot of family and good friends in one area. I am used to running around from place to place each holiday to see and celebrate with all of our loved ones. It is so fun to see everyone, but it can be exhausting too. I think last year Madeline and I hit 5 places on Christmas Day alone.

This year one thing I was looking forward to was being able to relax and have a slow-paced holiday. We had been invited to a friend's house for dinner on Christmas Day, and that was really all the planning we had done.

When Christmas Eve rolled around, the gifts were mostly wrapped and we were able to spend a fun day together doing whatever we wanted. In the past, my sister-in-law and I have gotten together in December to make elaborate Christmas cookie platters for our friends and family. We had so much fun doing this. We would spend weeks looking through magazines and cookbooks to find delicious recipes, until we settled on about 10-12 that we loved. It took a couple of days to bake double batches of each recipe, but it was a great time together and everyone really enjoyed the results! I missed that this year, and found I didn't have time to do a lot of baking, or my sister-in-law to keep me company, so it just slipped through the cracks.

Christmas Eve I decided to go ahead and make a few cookies just for my neighbors. Everyone loves Peanut Butter Blossoms, so I was going to make those, but then I saw the holiday Peppermint Kisses, so I made chocolate cookies and put those on top instead. They were delish!

Here is a recipe for Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies I found at allrecipes.com (one of my favorite sites)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

If you want to add the kisses, just put them on right after they come out of the oven, before transferring to the wire racks.

In the evening we headed over to the Bush's for dinner. There were quite a few people there, so it was great company and good food too. We forgot to take pictures until near the end, so I only got pictures of the Bush family and our friend Christine with her 2 boys, since everyone else had left. We planned to go caroling, but the weather was horrible - really rainy and windy, so we opted to drive around and look at Christmas lights. I noticed there are not nearly as many people here who put up Christmas lights as there are in Washington. I'm not sure if that has to do with all the snow and cold, or the fact that energy costs are about 4 times as high, but it was a little disappointing. Our neighbors have a great tree in their front yard that they put lights on, and it is so gorgeous with the lights and the snow. It is the quintessential outdoor Christmas tree. I love looking at it whenever we are coming and going.

I think Joe likes dogs and children more than adults sometimes. It's what makes him such a great dad.

Madeline really does like Chris a lot, even if this picture doesn't exactly capture that...

Ann read us all some nice Christmas stories.Here is what was left of the group by the time I pulled out my camera. Be sure to click on it to enlarge it, so you can see Emily's "funny face" that her mom encouraged her to make. She is the one sitting next to Madeline.

Ward Christmas Party

2009-01-01T23:18:00.003-05:00

I love the Christmas season. If there is one good thing about the cold, snowy winters in New York, it is having a wonderful white Christmas. I adore sitting in my living room, basking in the glow of the tree, listening to relaxing Christmas music. I take pleasure in hanging our handmade stockings, and I love the excitement of gift-giving and gift-receiving.

This year Christmas has been even more fun as Madeline has gotten older and is better able to comprehend what Christmas is all about. Even now, on the 1st, she will tell us that "Jesus is born." Now, before you get all "How sweet, they don't get caught up in the fake department-store-created consumeristic Christmas fiasco," realize that Madeline also LOVES Santa! In fact, she probably asks for him more than she tells us Jesus is born. I mean, Santa = presents! Who can blame her?

We had our ward Christmas party at church, complete with a visit from Santa. Madeline had already been eagerly pointing out all the Santas on display in the stores for weeks (like, since September, you know, when the “Holiday Season” begins at the stores). When Santa came waltzing down the chimney through the door she was so excited. We got in line, and she sat on his lap very quietly and not really smiling until she was handed a candy cane. Just like it was her cue, she got a huge smile on her face, and hopped down. It was so funny – like she pulled one over on Santa. Didn’t have to talk to him, but still got the candy. Being the candy fiend that she is, she ate her candy cane right away, and then begged to sit on his lap again. Well, why not, so we went over, and the exact same scenario repeated. Anything for that candy cane. For several days after this Madeline pleaded to "Go to church. See Santa!"

Oh yes, please notice her beautiful Christmas dress as well. Madeline and Joe picked this out together, and she could not love it any more. A sparkly, furry, gorgeous princess dress. I never took any full body pictures of her in this dress. Maybe I'll have to put it back on her just to get some.

Here we are with some friends waiting to be served by our waitstaff (aka the youth).

Most of the Santa pictures kind of turned out like this...

...but we did get one cute one!

Christmas Decorating

2009-01-01T23:06:00.006-05:00

We were a little late on the decorating this year, but it got done. It was one of those things that I kept putting off because I thought it was going to take forever and I "didn't have time." Once we actually did it, it didn't even take that long and I was annoyed that we waited.

We bought a fake Christmas tree (I know, I like the real ones too, but I can’t do everything) when we were in college, and this is the second time it has been used in 5 Christmases together. Can you tell we are in the Army? In fact, this is the first Christmas that we have been all together in our own home on Christmas. It was exciting to think that we could start our own traditions and have a lazy Christmas day if we wanted to.

Madeline loved decorating the tree. Joe and I had considered putting it up one night after she went to bed, thinking it would be easier, but I’m so glad we didn’t. There is nothing like the magic of Christmas in a child’s eyes. I have an ornament that I bought for Madeline’s first Christmas, and it plays “Silent Night” when you push the button. I hung this low, so that Madeline could have access to it. Not sure if that was a good idea. That thing was played nonstop for about 2 days. Then she decided to “redecorate” and it got placed even lower, but I think it was so low she forgot about it. Darn. Yes, our tree was a little more crowded around the bottom, because Madeline wanted to hang EVERY ornament. It was so much fun though.

One of Madeline's first Christmas ornaments (Yes, we have 4 of them - but don't judge, I only bought 1!)...

See how cooperative Joe was in posing for a picture? Notice how he doesn't actually have an ornament in his hand? I won't mention this is like the 3rd one I took.

We have some cute videos Joe took while we were decorating, but I won't post them because Beyonce is blaring in the background and it's a little embarrassing. What's that you say? Where is the Christmas music? Ask my husband. Anyway, I took this one at the end, and it's really the cutest anyway. Joe was in the other room trying to wrap some presents, and apparently he was lacking some tape.

More Visitors

2008-12-22T22:59:00.006-05:00

The week after Thanksgiving Joe's parents and grandma drove up from Virginia, where they were visiting Joe's sister and her family for Thanksgiving, to spend a few days with us. It was wonderful to have them here, and we crammed in as much activity in just a few short days as we possibly could.

They arrived late Sunday night, after Madeline was in bed, so we stayed up talking for a bit, but Joe had to work early Monday morning so we had to go to bed soon after they arrived.

On Monday Joe went to PT in the morning, then got permission to spend the rest of the day with the family, so he came home around 10 am or so. In the meantime, Joe's dad hooked up the Wii he brought, which proved to be a standout activity of the visit. Of course as soon as Joe got home, they had to play a few games before we could do anything else. Finally we got to explore Watertown a little, and that night we had a small Christmas celebration.

Tuesday we hopped in the car and made the 3+ hour drive to Niagara Falls. Joe's dad loves the Hard Rock Cafe, so we ate there for lunch before seeing the falls. After lunch we went to go check out the falls, but it was so cold and windy that I think we were on the observation deck for a total of about 10 minutes and that was that. Just long enough to take a few pictures and we were out of there!

We stayed at a hotel that night in lieu of driving the 3 hours home and then 2 hours the next day to go to Palmyra and view the Church History sites. Joe's dad hooked up the Wii in our hotel room and grandma and Madeline stayed in the other room to sleep while the 4 of us had some rousing competitions late into the night. This involved lots of standing on the bed to get the "right position," lots of laughing, and my personal favorite - Joe's dad standing right in front of his mom to play, and her aiming her foot right at his rear to give him a nice little shove and throw him off, and then he stepped forward just in the nick of time, but he hit the bed anyway and we all collapsed into laughter. I don't think I have ever seen Joe's mom laugh so hard in my life, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably had to be there.

Anyway, the next day we went to Palmyra and got to visit all the Church History sites: Joseph Smith's farm and the Sacred Grove, the Hill Cumorah, the Martin Harris farm, and the Book of Mormon publishing site. This was their first time visiting, so we took all the tours and spent the whole day learning about the beginnings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is hard to visit everything in 1 day, but we did the best we could and I think everyone was able to strengthen their testimonies that The Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

Check out this cool wheelchair they have to drive through the Sacred Grove...
Madeline enjoyed it too!

Thursday morning Joe had to go back to work, and the family headed back down to Virginia for a few more days before flying home to Washington. In all it was a marvelous visit, and we are especially grateful that Joe's grandma made it out here - it's not easy to travel across the country at 88! Thanks to you 3 for making the trek. We love you!

Halloween & Thanksgiving

2008-12-22T22:39:00.002-05:00

We had so much fun on Halloween and Thanksgiving that we completely forgot to take any pictures!

This was Joe's first Halloween with Madeline, and I think he had even more fun than she did. If you want to see her costume, the Paddy Cake Baker, you can check it out on this post. We just layered a bit more with a turtleneck and coat to go with the chilly temperatures outside. I thought we would have a nice leisurely stroll around the block, but Joe thought otherwise. He was determined to hit every house possible within a 6 block radius. Maybe that is exaggerating a little bit, but that's what it felt like. Every time I would say, "I think that's enough. Let's head home." I would hear, "Just one more street." By the end it was kind of a running joke. Madeline had so much fun. We taught her to say "Trick or treat" but she wouldn't really say it at the door. She would thank them and tell them goodbye, and then she would come running back to me on the sidewalk yelling, "Trick or treat!" and showing me her pillowcase (another idea of her dad's - give a 2-yr-old a pillowcase as big as her so she won't run out of room for candy). Near the end we stopped by our friend's house and warmed up a bit before heading home.

For Thanksgiving my friend Katrina came to visit from Boston. Though the snow from Halloween had long melted, of course it had to come rolling back in for the holiday weekend. It snowed the entire time she was here. On the way to the airport we drove 10 miles in an hour on the freeway because there were so many accidents.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with several families from church, and there was tons of food. The kids made little paper feather hats and the adults played games and chatted, and we all stuffed ourselves. Oh yeah, and we were all very thankful.

Katrina's trip was short and sweet but we had a great time and hope she comes back soon!

Falling Leaves, Falling Snow

2008-12-22T22:09:00.005-05:00

A couple days after Joe got home he went outside to rake all the leaves that had fallen in our yard. With Madeline's "help" they raked 18 of those big, black garbage bags full of leaves - and that was just our front yard and driveway! That day I talked to him about buying a snowblower from our friends, and we agreed to get it.

Sure enough, the very next day it started to snow. Considering it was still October, we didn't think it would amount to much. I must've forgotten we live in the North Country. We got a lot of snow, and it wasn't even Halloween yet! Thankfully we were prepared and had just purchased a snow suit for Madeline the previous weekend. We didn't have snow boots for her yet, so we just put on her rain boots and had a ball playing in the fresh snow.

Joe stayed out and built a baby snowman to go with the big one, but I was way too cold by that point so I went in, and I guess I didn't get a picture of the snow family.

I Have a Real Life Now

2008-11-17T23:28:00.003-05:00

Thank you to everyone who has inquired about my blog, and where the updated pictures are. The reality is, I HAVE A LIFE NOW! This is a fabulous change, and I was so busy relishing it that I just wasn't into getting online and writing about my life, when I was so busy living it! Now that Joe has been home for a few weeks things are starting to calm down a little. Well, I wouldn't say calm really, but at least I am making it a priority to get on here and share the wonderful happenings of my life with you. Enjoy the most recent posts about Jamin's party and Joe's homecoming, and I promise to continue posting more regularly to get caught up on the exciting adventures that make up our lives. Love you all!

The Moment We've All Been Waiting For

2008-11-17T22:49:00.009-05:00

October 24, 2008. The Big Day. Jocephus finally came home, for good, from Iraq! He flew in at about 8:15 am, but the Welcome Home Ceremony wasn't until 1:30 so we had to wait a grueling 5 hours to get to see him. Needless to say, it was all worth it. Another member of our ward came home that day too, so we sat with his wife at the ceremony, and some other sweet women from church came to support us and take pictures. Thank you!

The ceremony was short and sweet. It had to be - there were 600 soldiers that came home that day. Can you imagine trying to hold back 600 spouses from their soldiers who have been away for 15 months? Right.

I guess we made it on TV, on one of the news channels. We don't have TV so I didn't even hear about it until a couple of weeks later. But hey, we're famous! Autograph anyone?

Seriously, we are so grateful for his safe return, and we know the Lord was watching over our family during this deployment. It is true that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" but I am so glad he is home because I don't know how much fonder I could get of him!

I know, enough words. You only came for the pictures. Wait no more!

Joe is the last one in this picture. He was first in the second row. Gene Cottrell, who is in our ward, is right in front of him. Welcome Home, Gene!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jamin!

2008-11-17T22:04:00.006-05:00

Madeline's friend Jamin turned 2 in October, and he had a costume party to celebrate. Jamin is one of Madeline's best friends. In fact, she thinks he is her boyfriend. We have caught them kissing goodbye, and Madeline will even put her arm around him and tell him "I love you." Yeah. Watch out for those teenage years.

Jamin was a surfer for Halloween, so the party had a beach theme. All Madeline's friends were there. It was rad, dude.

Madeline was a Patty Cake Baker. It may be hard to see in the pictures, but I ordered her costume online and I swear the dress looks like it is made for a doll. It took some serious work to even get it on her body. The first 2 times I tried, I couldn't even get it on. I think I stretched it out while I was trying, because I finally squeezed her into it. Once it was on though, the hat said it all - Cutie Pie!
We even made it authentic with a little "flour" on the cheeks.

Jamin's little brother, Levi, was Squirt from Finding Nemo. Liam, the ninja, was hysterical with him. Levi is about 6 months old (right Christine?) and he was just chillin on the floor. Liam thought it looked like fun to go swim right along side him, so he repeatedly got on the floor and pretended to just swim through the ocean with Levi. So cute.

Another really cute thing about Liam and his ninja costume - his dad taught him what a ninja does, so if you go up to him and ask to see his ninja moves he crouches down and moves his hands through the air like a ninja while making little ninja sounds. He cracks me up.

Madeline spent half the time hoarding these huge balloons and running around the room with them on her arm.

Clearly I need more work on my cake decorating skills. I usually slap on some frosting and write "Happy Birthday" with gel icing.

These are Madeline's best friends: Addie, Haylee, and Jamin. Jamin is clearly a ladies man.
Classic 2-yr-old party. The kids all wanted to help him open his presents, and then play with the toys before he could even look at them.

Madeline and Haylee are superstars.

This is where she confesses her love for Jamin. Happy Birthday Jamin! I love you, too!

Boston!

2008-10-06T23:14:00.004-04:00

My friend Katrina moved to Boston about a month ago to attend Emerson College, and Madeline and I decided to take a mini-vacation to go visit her last week. We had a great time, although it started out rough (long periods of time looking for parking, a parking ticket, nail polish all over the apartment due to Madeline's "pretty nails", virtually no sleep the first night - thanks again to Madeline).

I am not generally a fan of big cities because I find them to be busy, loud, and most of all dirty. Boston may be fairly busy and loud, but it is certainly not dirty. That is easily the most gorgeous big city I have visited. The buildings are almost all brick, and they have very cool architecture. There are a lot of plants, trees, and parks, and everything is well-kept. You can tell there is a lot of money there.

Madeline and I got to experience our first subway ride, eat some famous cannolis, play in the Public Gardens, and do lots and lots of walking around. The biggest issues were the parking, and that there are stairs everywhere so it was pretty hard to get around with a stroller. Apparently no handicapped people live or visit there.

We tried some very yummy new meals (a Parisian sandwich, Frutta, and Formaggio), and really enjoyed the scenery. There is a park along the river called the "esplanade" that we walked along. Each afternoon there were probably a hundred boats out on the river, and the city skyline with the trees and glittering water was absolutely stunning.

If I had to live in a city, Boston would definitely be somewhere at the top of my list - as long as I was rich!

Thanks for the fantastic visit Katrina!

Seeking Self-Reliance

2008-09-24T20:57:00.003-04:00

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we are admonished to strive for self-reliance, which includes being prepared in the event of an emergency. The First Presidency says, "We encourage members world-wide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings." This is a fabulous concept; however, it is sometimes difficult to turn this idea into a reality. We all have our reasons - not enough money, not enough space, don't know where/how to begin... the list goes on.

I have been one of those people with great intentions of being prepared for emergencies. Until now. Now I actually am one of those people prepared for emergencies. Okay, maybe I'm not totally prepared, but I definitely have started taking steps in the right direction. I owe all my successes to the fabulous blog "Safely Gathered In", where Hannah and Abs have taken the time to help us poor, clueless folks take baby steps in becoming prepared.

What has seemed so overwhelming (for all of the reasons listed above) now seems totally do-able. They simply break down the various components, particularly related to food storage, and help readers to slowly but surely gather the needed items, and know what to do with them, should the need ever arise. They follow a weekly schedule with different types of posts:

Monday - inspirational thought to to motivate us to follow this important commandment
Tuesday - items to gather for the week; I love this day because it is so straight-forward. They already did emergency car kits piece by piece each week, and now they are working on 72-hour kits, as well as items for a 3-month storage each week, and longer term storage items each month
Wednesday -bonus postings; extra recipes, tutorials, guest postings, or whatever they feel like posting
Friday - Food Storage Friday! Each week they make a recipe using only food storage items (usually focusing on how to use the long-term storage item of the month), and they include detailed step-by-step pictures as well as the recipes. It always amazes me how appetizing these foods look; I am actually excited about trying pretty much every recipe!
Saturday - roundup, where they post links to other related articles, websites, or ideas they found during the week

If you can't tell, I am obsessed with this site. Why is it always easier to do things when someone tells you exactly what to do? I mean, I could easily take a list of items for a 72-hour kit and split it up into weeks, but for some reason it seems much simpler if someone else is telling me what to get. There are several more things that I love about this site, but I will stop gushing and if you are still interested you can check it out and see for yourself!

New and Improved

2008-09-10T21:05:00.006-04:00

I got my hair cut today! I have been thinking about it for some time, and I finally decided to take the plunge as a little birthday present to myself. After all was said and done, I cut 8-9 inches off. Wow. But I like it, and it is a good change. My hair had gotten really long, about half-way down my back, and now it is... well, take a look for yourself.

Nothing too crazy as far as the style goes, but pretty drastic length-wise. In fact, I had to have the stylist cut more off after she was done because she had left it longer than I asked, thinking I would freak out when I saw how much hair was gone.

The One and Only

2008-09-06T22:08:00.002-04:00

This is a pretty fun and interesting website that gives you facts about your name. How many of you are there? Leave a comment!

HowManyOfMe.com

There is
1
person with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

The Mischievous Life of a Two-Year-Old

2008-09-01T20:26:00.003-04:00

Today was a classic example of what some may refer to as the "terrible twos." We got up this morning, bright and early, as most 2-yr-olds do. We read, had breakfast, and then commenced to get ready for the Labor Day picnic with our church. Nothing too unusual.

After my morning shower, I am getting dressed when I hear a muffled "Mom. Mom!" coming from the other room. As I walk to the back of the house I see a little movement in the dryer door window. Yes, my daughter has crawled inside the dryer, and yes, she has managed to completely shut the door behind her. She is all about doors being shut these days. I somewhat panic at the thought of her being trapped in the dryer, make a mental note to never leave that open again, and help her out. Much to my glorious surprise, she left a little present in the dryer for me! That's right, in the 2 minutes she was in the dryer, she managed to poop! Not to be too graphic, but at least it wasn't very messy so it was easy to clean up. Of course Madeline thought this was a great game and immediately tried to crawl back in. I stopped her from doing that, and brought her back into the living room so I could continue getting ready.

A couple minutes later, I realized it was mighty quiet out in the living room. Naturally, I went to investigate. When I found her, she was standing on the toilet with my face wash and my makeup sponge, and had squeezed about half the tube of cleanser onto her body, and was enthusiastically rubbing it in with the sponge.

"Madeline!"
"Lotion!!"
"No, that's not lotion."
"Soap!!"
"Ahh!!" (Running bath water...)

After the bath, the first thing she did was run to the garbage can, pull out the sponge, and start beautifying herself again. Thankfully I was still right there, so I caught it before it got too far.

As soon as that is taken away, she spots the little container of m&ms I have in the bathroom for her potty reward, and she is begging for a treat. I tell her that she can only have a treat if she goes potty, and I ask if she has to go. Now, I have to say, she has been doing extremely well with the potty training, and I pretty much don't have to worry about her wetting her pants at home (pooping is another story...). So she said yes, she does have to go potty. Only, she is very excited about the prospect of getting a treat just for going potty, so she ends up peeing before she actually gets to the potty. Mind you, we were literally about 2 feet from the potty and she was already naked! The next thing I know, there is pee on the floor, on Madeline, on the potty seat, and a few drops in the potty.

All this, and it was not even 11 am yet.

Missing Daddy

2008-09-01T19:48:00.005-04:00

When we came back to New York after Madeline's birthday, I was shocked at how much trouble she had understanding why Daddy wasn't home. She was fine when we were visiting in Washington, but I think she thought when we got back here he would be waiting for us.

The first couple of weeks were really sad, watching her try to find him. She would hold anything up and say, "Daddy's?" Even one time when I was getting ready to put her down for a nap she ran into the living room. I said, "Oh, you know what is coming." She turned around so excited and said, "Daddy? Daddy coming?!" It totally broke my heart. She would grab my phone and want to call Daddy, but not understand that he is in Iraq and we can't call him, we have to wait for him to call us. Every single time she picked up a pencil she drew Daddy, or wanted me to draw Daddy. It was so hard to try to explain why he isn't here anymore, because she just doesn't understand yet.

I was talking to a friend about this at church a couple of weeks ago, because I knew her daughter (3 years old) had a horrible time when her dad first deployed. We have a senior couple serving a mission here, and they are specifically military support missionaries. I guess they gave this little girl a book called Over There. I think the Army puts it out, and they have one for deployed Moms and one for deployed Dads. Anyway, my friend had the book with her, and she very generously loaned it to us. It is a board book, and it is super simple, because it is for kids ages 0-3. Basically it talks about how Daddy does the same things over there that I do here (brush teeth, read books, go to bed, etc.), and that he loves me no matter where he is. In the back is a spot to put a picture of your soldier. It is a great book, and Madeline loves it! Literally, she has to sleep with it. She crawls in bed for nap or bedtime, and the first thing she wants is "Daddy." It has really helped her to feel better about Joe not being here. She still talks about him all the time, but in a less anxious manner, and I am sure it will continue to get better as time passes. I am just so grateful that we have an awesome support group here, so I don't have to feel like I am totally alone in this.

And, the good news is, Joe should be home by the end of October!! I know, I am not going to get my hopes up too much, and I want to still anticipate him being here by mid-November, but from what I understand everything is set, they are just waiting for the flight plans. Oh, what a relief it will be when he comes home...

Happy 2nd Birthday Madeline!

2008-08-29T22:52:00.004-04:00

We stayed in Washington long enough to be able to celebrate Madeline's 2nd birthday with our friends and family, which was great since we missed out on that last year for her first birthday. It is wonderful to have family and friends who are so willing and ready to help, and they were able to get Decoursey Park in Puyallup reserved for the evening of the 4th (which was her actual birthday - I know I am like a month behind). We had a bbq, a yummy Costco cake, and lots of fun letting the kids play and the adults socialize. Madeline loved her presents, but she wasn't all that into opening them. She was pretty much content with just the first couple she opened, but then of course every new present after that she loved just as much. I think her favorites were the blue sparkle sandals, the book Fancy Nancy, and the Disney Princess stuff. She used to be really into Dora (not that she has ever even seen the show, but how can you miss the obscene amounts of Dora paraphernalia everywhere) but now she has completely forgotten about Dora and is strictly focused on princesses. It is pretty cute though; last Sunday we put on her church dress and she immediately pointed to herself and said, "Princess!" Did I mention she is ALL girl? Thanks to everyone for coming and celebrating with us! And a special shout out to Poppa Falcon for providing the pics:

Cousins Natalie and Walter with Madeline

This girl has lung power!

Still excited about opening the gifts...

Thanks Nana!

Cousin Ethan sitting by Madeline.

Bye Bye Daddy, Hello Washington

2008-08-11T23:31:00.004-04:00

After what seemed like only a couple days (although it was actually about 2 weeks) it was time to say goodbye to Joe. I had a business conference scheduled in Portland, that I had already paid for months in advance, thinking Joe would be home in August as originally planned (have I mentioned you can't count on the Army timeline?). I really needed to go to this conference, so Madeline and I actually left a couple of days before Joe did. It was really sad for us, and it gave Joe a taste of what we go through every time we drop him off. I think the hardest part was that Madeline did not understand why he wasn't going through security with us at the airport. She just kept looking at him and gesturing with her hand, saying, "C'mere."

Madeline stayed with my parents while I went to the conference, which was exceptional. I am so glad I went. We are working at building our online business to a level that will support us as a family so Joe can get out of the Army. We figured it was worth it to give up 2 days now for full time later. I know this is a shameless plug, but if you haven't seen our website, please check it out! www.myproducts.mychoices.biz

After the conference, we stayed for about another week to spend some time with friends and family, and celebrate Madeline's real birthday!

Pageant

2008-08-11T20:51:00.005-04:00

We are lucky enough to live just 2 hours away from Palmyra, where Joseph Smith was raised and received the Book of Mormon. Each year there is a huge pageant called the Hill Cumorah Pageant, and hundreds of members from our church come from all across the country to perform in this outdoor play about the Book of Mormon. Last year we were out of town so we missed out, but this year Joe was home during the Pageant so we went to see it. We had a great time. People come from all over to see it, so it was fun talking with the people sitting around us before it started. Also, there was a family from our ward who was cast in the pageant, so that made it much more exciting to know some people up there. I was really impressed with the whole production. The set and the special effects were amazing. The cast arrives about a week before the pageant starts (it runs for about a week and a half), and they don't even find out their parts until they get there, so the Lord truly helps them get everything together in time for opening night. If anyone has the opportunity to attend, it is definitely worth seeing.

This is the husband from our ward, who played Lehi. They did an awesome job on the costumes; we never would have recognized him! This guy is a captain in the Army, so he is clean shaven and has short dark hair.

Here is his wife and their new baby. They were part of a crowd scene and went to Jesus when he was ministering to the children.

Abinadi being burned at the stake.

Christ descending... it was so realistic and awe-inspiring.

Early Birthday

2008-08-11T00:05:00.005-04:00

We took advantage of the last few days together by celebrating Madeline's 2nd birthday a bit prematurely. Joe and I set up a swingset in the back yard, and Joe also put together a tricycle during her nap. Her favorite pastime is pretty much anything outside, but swinging probably tops the list. She was so excited when she woke up that she insisted on playing on the slide while Joe was finishing tightening all the screws, and then went right to the swings. She was so cute on the slide. She would climb up there, sit at the top, and then before she could slide down she would have to say, "One, Two, Threeee!" and then slide down. The swing set was a big hit for sure.The trike was also a winner. We got one that is three stages and you can have a handle attached to the back so the parent can push while the toddler is learning to pedal. Good thing Joe was here. He seemed to have as much endless enthusiasm for pushing her around as she had for being pushed around. She was just squealing and giggling the whole time. The only problem was she was in control of the steering, so they went in circles or into the bushes a lot.

Keeping the Romance Alive

2008-08-10T22:32:00.008-04:00

When we got back from camping we were able to relax for a few days, go to church together, and just hang out around our house and in Watertown. It was very enjoyable, but the best part of Joe's whole visit was our romantic excursion that I had successfully planned AND been able to keep a surprise for Joe. This is a feat, because although I am typically good at keeping secrets, Joe just doesn't count. Especially when I am excited about something, I have the worst time keeping my mouth shut because I am so used to sharing everything with him. But the joy of our trip far outweighed the pain of keeping it a surprise.

We left Madeline with a friend from church and headed off to Saratoga Springs, NY. Saratoga is just south of the Adirondack state park, and it is about 3 1/2 hours from Watertown. Neither of us had been there before, and I basically chose it because it was close to the big surprise I had planned and there was a Marriott there so we could get a good deal on a room (thanks Patrik). Turns out, Saratoga is really famous for horse races, and it is a pretty upscale little city. It was absolutely commonplace to see luxury cars of all types (Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, even a Viper) just parked on the side of the road. We totally fell in love with it there. The main strip was lined with all kinds of little local shops and fabulous restaurants. When we go somewhere new, we really try to experience the local stuff, rather than big chains, so it was ideal. We saw very few chain restaurants at all (one Wendy's, a Coldstone, and a Ben & Jerrys), and there were a few big department type stores but that was it. It was such a great place to walk around. It was about as city as I get. There was great nightlife, with people walking on the streets and music and a fun atmosphere, but not everyone was drunk and there weren't really any scary people to avoid or people begging for money. We ate at several different restaurants, and they were all delicious. Our favorite was Eugenio's Cafe Gelato, which I discovered online with rave reviews. It is a little cafe that serves authentic Italian gelato (which is the Italian form of ice cream but better) made fresh, and all kinds of fresh homemade Italian desserts. The owner is from Italy and uses family recipes for many of the desserts. It was soooo good! We had to go there both nights for dessert. Our hotel room was really nice, with a kitchen and sitting area as well as the bed and bath, and the service was outstanding.

Our second day there we had to get up really early for the big surprise. Joe was totally confused because we literally got up at about 4:00 am, so he figured we were driving really far to get to the place. As we were walking out the door I finally caved and told him that we were going for a hot air balloon ride! It was a sunrise balloon ride, which is why we had to get up so early. Joe is not the type of guy who gets very outwardly excited about things. Even if he is happy and excited, sometimes it is hard to tell. Over the years I have developed the ability to discern between his slight changes in facial expressions and tone of voice, but anyone would have been able to tell how excited he was about the trip. It was so rewarding for me to see that look on his face when he realized I wasn't kidding. The whole experience was a blast, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

We met the balloon pilot and crew and went to a small park where we were going to be taking off. It was fun to see how the whole process is performed, and it made me realize I am happy to just pay someone to do all the hard work so I can just enjoy the ride. We watched them set up, and blow up the balloon, and then add the heat so that the balloon would rise off the ground. Then we got in, and away we went. Maybe the first minute or so was a little scary, since I am a bit afraid of heights, but it wasn't too bad and it quickly passed. After that, it was almost surreal. We went as high as 4000+ ft above the ground, and it was so fascinating to look around and see the view, which is not really unlike a view from and airplane after you take off, but to realize that we are just out in the open air floating around. The view was spectacular from all the different heights. When we were so far up the cars looked like they were little hot wheels or something, but the interesting thing was how much we could still hear. Even from up so high we could hear dogs barking or motorcycles on the road. I guess because we were traveling with the wind and it was so calm that the sound just traveled well.

The first bit was over more city, but we were looking out at mountain ranges and rivers, so it was beautiful, and then we traveled into the country over farmlands and open spaces. It was so absolutely peaceful, I really didn't want it to end. It wasn't windy at all, because we were traveling with the wind, and over the farmlands it was very quiet. We saw several deer, and the pilot took us just to the height of the treetops, where we were able to reach over and pluck some leaves. The whole trip was so serene. After about 90 minutes we landed in a field and Joe and I got to snack on fruit, doughnuts, and sparkling grape juice while they packed up the balloon. It was so much fun, we would love to do it again.

The last day we just explored Saratoga a little more. They have a bunch of horse statues, all decorated, similar to the cows in Portland and the pigs in Washington. We got a map of all the horses and were being very touristy, going around taking pictures with all of them. It was kind of like a scavenger hunt, so we got pretty into finding them all. In the end, we decided it was too much and didn't end up getting all of them. But we get some good ones.

Overall, our time together literally could not have been more perfect. I am still amazed that our relationship only grows stronger as time passes. I am so blessed to be married to Jocephus, he is my perfect companion, and it thrills me to know that we will be together for eternity.

So Happy Together...

2008-08-10T22:00:00.003-04:00

Joe finally got to come home to visit from Iraq! After almost a year, we were dying to be together again. As standard for the Army, Joe did not arrive as planned on the 4th or 5th. I was really hoping he would get here in time to catch some fireworks, but no, he didn't get in until about 11:30 pm on the 7th. I guess I can't really blame the Army, since it was sandstorms that prevented them from flying out, but it is just classic to have our plans changed at the last minute. The important thing is that he DID arrive, and we had a wonderful time.

Madeline took to him right away, which was great for everyone involved. She went right to him at the airport, and by the next morning he wasn't allowed to leave the room without her following behind calling his name. Joe is such a great dad, and I always knew he would be because he loves kids so much. It really warmed my heart watching them play together.

I had planned for us to go camping at Old Forge and visit Water Safari, the largest water park in New York, which is about an hour and a half from us. Before you say it, I know Joe has been in the dirt for the past year already, but he wanted to go! With his delay, the trip was scheduled just a day after he got home. It was a little short for us since we had planned to be able to spend some time relaxing before doing much of anything, but I had already paid for it all so off we went. The camping trip was fun, but the weather was not cooperative. It was pretty cold, and the first morning I had to drive into town to buy us some hot chocolate to warm us up! Needless to say, the water park was not ideal considering the chilly temperatures. I didn't even venture in the water, but Joe and Madeline dove right in until her lips were blue and we decided to call it good. She did get to go down a little water slide a couple of times (until a bigger girl didn't wait for her to move at the bottom and crashed right into her - she was done after that) and they had some swings in the water that she played on. This place reminds me a lot of Wild Waves for those of you in WA who have been there. They not only have a water park, but they also have lots of rides for kids and a whole bunch of little exhibits from fairy tales that we wandered around and looked at. Oh yeah, and a petting zoo. Joe and Madeline went on the helicopters and I took her on the little cars even though I could barely jam my knees into the thing. But she had fun and that is what counts.

4th Of July

2008-08-10T21:31:00.005-04:00

In New York it is illegal to purchase fireworks for personal use, unlike in Washington where you see fireworks stands on every corner. To most people I know, not being able to light your own fireworks is practically a sin, but I have never really been into that so it doesn't matter to me at all. Don't get me wrong though, Independence Day is probably my favorite holiday all year. I love watching the big fireworks shows and being filled with pride for my country. I love the summer festivities and the fresh fruit and all the flags and red, white, and blue everywhere. I love it all. Fortunately, I live in a military community, so although we can't light our own, there is no shortage of fireworks to be seen. I think there were big fireworks shows every night the whole week of the 4th. We went to 2 shows and had a lot of fun.

The first show was at a park near our house on the 2nd. This was definitely one of the best 4th of July events I have attended. This park is a really nice park and it is set high up on a hill, so you can overlook the city from the field, past the treeline. The Syracuse Symphony came and did an outdoor concert of patriotic songs in the evening, and there were soldiers from Ft. Drum there with 5 real cannons, which actually accompanied the symphony during one of the songs which was awesome. Apparently there are cannons actually written into the song, so it was neat that they could do that. Anyway, it was exactly how a 4th of July show should go. The symphony is playing as it is starting to get dark, the cannons go off, and then the fireworks start. So you are looking out over the city, listening to a patriotic song, seeing the fireworks explode in the air, and scanning down to see the soldiers all standing next to the cannons saluting. It was amazing, but you probably had to be there to get the real effect. Here is a little video and some pictures to help you appreciate it:

Madeline had a better time watching the crowd than the fireworks (during which she promptly fell asleep).

Just a sampling of the skyline...

The second show we went to was at the house of someone in our church ward. They live up in the Thousand Islands Region, which is about 45 minutes from our place (yes, our ward boundaries are that big... thankfully, we only live about 3 minutes from the church building). The Thousand Islands area is basically filled with multi-million dollar homes owned by really rich or famous people (like the founder of Columbia sportswear), and some of them are only occupied for about 2 weeks out of the year. There is a castle out there, called Boldt Castle, that is a big tourist destination. Long story short, this guy was building this castle for the love of his life ad then she died before it was finished so it never got finished but the landscaping and the part that is done is gorgeous. So anyway, these people in our ward have a perfect view of Boldt Castle from their property, and every year they do a big fireworks show over the castle. It also happened to be the birthday of the woman who lives there, so the whole ward was invited over and we had a big birthday party and stayed to watch the fireworks, which were really cool. Madeline stayed awake for them this time, and after each round she would clap and say, "Yay! More?" Unfortunately, my battery started dying shortly after arrival, so I didn't get many pictures. Here are a couple for your enjoyment:

Small Wonders

2008-07-01T20:54:00.004-04:00

I guess it is pretty much thunder storm season around here. The weather the past couple of weeks has been a bit less than ideal. The temperature has been in the upper 70s mostly, which isn't bad until you take into account the severe humidity that accompanies it. I don't love humidity, but I do love the sun so I am willing to make some sacrifices (including dealing with humidity) as long as the sun is shining. The problem is, it has been overcast and stormy and humid, although it does sometimes clear up nicely in the afternoon.

Anyway, the other day I was blessed with a reminder of the lovely innocence of children and the joy of raising them. Don't you love how small children are fascinated with things that we completely take for granted?

We stayed home from church on Sunday and spent the day just hanging out in the house trying to help Madeline feel better (which she is now, mostly). A storm had been brewing all day and it finally materialized in the evening, a bit before Madeline's bedtime. She has never been one to be afraid of loud noises, and we have had several thunderstorms here, but for some reason this thunder kind of scared her. She came to me a bit fearful and crying, so I just showed her that thunderstorms can be awesome, and when you are inside there is nothing to worry about. The rain was absolutely pouring down; this was one of those storms that really was fun to watch. We went into my bedroom where I have tall windows facing out to the street. I pulled up the blinds so she could see all the rain coming down. She loved it! We must have sat on my bed for 20 minutes or more, which in toddler time is about an hour, just watching the rain come down and splash all over the streets and sidewalks. Occasionally a car would drive by with the wipers going full speed and Madeline would gleefully announce its presence. The thunder was in full force, and each time it rang out Madeline would turn to me with wide twinkling eyes and her mouth open in amazement. She continued to marvel at the amount of water collecting on the street. At one point she even put her arm around me like I so often do to her when we sit next to each other. Her little arm didn't make it all the way across my back, but it was the most precious gesture. This was one of those times I just want to capture forever in my memory. I thank God for blessing me with such a choice daughter to raise, and pray that we can continue to learn from each other and share all the small wonders of this world.

There's Bad News, and There's Good News...

2008-06-29T12:56:00.005-04:00

The BAD news is that Madeline has been sick for the last couple of days. Normally she is so active I can hardly keep up with her, but yesterday she literally laid in bed from 10:30 am until 6 pm when I finally made her get up to try to eat some dinner. No luck. She would not even take one bite. Her temperature was up to 102.5 at one point, and I felt so bad for her. After she wouldn't eat dinner I decided to give up and let her go back to bed for the night. We just read some stories on the couch, and then I managed to get her to eat a few bites before she went to sleep early.

This morning she seemed to be doing better; the fever was virtually gone and she was eager to eat breakfast. I considered going to church, even though I had already arranged for a substitute to teach singing, but thought better of it. I was having flashbacks of the last time I took Madeline to church when she had been sick... The minute I sat down in the pew, she threw up everywhere - all over me, herself, the pew, the carpet. And we were visiting family in Utah so I walked through half the church building before I could find the bathroom to clean us up. Well, it is a good thing I opted out of church today. By 11:00 am her fever was back up to 102 and all she wanted was to lay on the couch and read books and then fall asleep. Poor girl. I hope she gets feeling better soon. Good thing I have lots of sugar-free drinks and fruit popsicles on hand.

However, the GOOD news is that it is "officially" less than a week until Joe is here! "Officially" has to be in quotes, because with the Army, nothing is ever official. But I am sooo excited to see him, and spend time with him, and watch him and Madeline playing together. We are into our 11th month since he left, and this break is long overdue. He will be here for 18 days, and I have several fun and exciting things lined up for us to do (though not too many, because I know all he really wants to do is relax with his family). I think I am most looking forward to our romantic getaway that I have planned for us. We are leaving Madeline with someone from church for a couple days and taking off. I can't disclose any details yet, because it is a surprise, but I am STOKED for what I have planned. So, if you don't hear from me for awhile, just know that I am having a fabulous time with my husband, off the grid.

Oh, and don't bother calling me from July 5 until July 24. I'm unavailable. :)

Be a Part of the Solution

2008-06-27T20:28:00.001-04:00

Just call me Mary Poppins

2008-06-22T21:10:00.004-04:00

At church I have officially been called to the job of my worst nightmare. Primary Chorister. This means that each and every week I get to spend a total of about an hour and 15 minutes teaching the children in our church how to sing songs from our Children's Songbook. Now, for a lot of you, this may not seem like a big deal. Obviously you haven't heard me sing or tried to watch me learn anything having to do with music. The Lord has blessed me with many talents, but music is not on the list.

They asked me if I would take this calling last week, and since then I have been a nervous wreck. I literally could not read music to save my life. Music terms? Forget it. I have no idea how to conduct (for the longest time I didn't even know that was an official procedure - I thought you just waved your arm around during the song and then when it was over you stopped). Being a convert to the church, I know a total of about 2 Primary songs. Admittedly, I am not the worst singer in the world, but don't ask me to sing a solo. All this boils down to me having no idea what I am doing as I stand up there trying to mold and develop these children and help them gain an appreciation for these gospel songs.

Thank God for the internet and the fabulous organization of our church. Turns out there is a whole church website devoted to music. You can download any song from our Hymnbook or the Children's Songbook, and you can either listen to just the music, or the music and the words, and it has the sheet music there so if you are learning to play the song on piano or organ it can help with that too. I guess I can be thankful they didn't call me to play the piano, because that would be a total disaster waiting to happen. Anyway, they also have other resources on this site, including instruction on conducting, with videos and everything.

I also found several other websites that people have put together with ideas for games to play and creative ways to teach the songs and help the children memorize the words. This was such a relief to me. Needless to say, I have spent hours online this past week searching for ideas and playing songs over and over trying to learn them.

The Primary Presidency has been of great assistance too, and they gave me 2 CDs with the songs for this year's program on them - 1 for home, 1 for the car. This CD has practically been playing non-stop, especially in the car.

The good news is, today was my first attempt at it, and I think it went fairly well. I even got a few compliments (although everyone knew I was going crazy so maybe they were pity compliments, but I prefer to think they were sincere).

The way I look at it, I do enjoy a good challenge. And they are only kids; I know they don't care if I screw up conducting or if my voice is not the best. The best part is that I will learn all these children's songs so I can sing them with my kids at home. I always want to sing the Primary songs with Madeline, and she loves singing, so we literally sing the same 2 songs, every single day.

All in all, now that I have one round under my belt, I guess it's not so bad. I'll be Julie Andrews in no time.

Run for Hope... Save Darfur

2008-06-22T20:46:00.010-04:00

This past Saturday Madeline and I participated in a run/walk put on at a local school to benefit the victims in Darfur. We opted to run the 1 mile race, and actually ended up coming in first for females 15-25. Madeline also came in first for participants under 2 - in fact, she beat me! The weather was nice and we had a good time, even coming away with a valuable participants ribbon and a t-shirt.

Here's the proof:

In case you are unfamiliar with the situation in Darfur, I have included some excerpts from the pamphlet the students put out:

After the Holocaust, the nations of the world agreed that “never again” would a genocide occur, that being the most terrible of all crimes. However, it has occurred.. “again and again.” Darfur, a region in the Western Sudan of Africa, has been labeled the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell concluded in 2003 that genocide has been committed in Darfur.

Here are some startling statistics:

o Since February of 2003, over 500,000 people have been killed and 2 million have been forced from their homes.

o There are only 12 refugee camps to shelter near 230,000 refugees.

o Only 40% of the people living in Darfurhave adequate sanitation.

For more information visit http://www.savedarfur.org/ or http://www.millionvoicesfordarfur.org/

Big Girl Bed

2008-06-07T20:35:00.006-04:00

Since I had no idea how to set up Madeline's crib when we returned home, I made the executive decision to move her up to a toddler bed. This is yet another step that has forced me to come to terms with the fact that my precious baby is now a full-blown toddler (although still precious if you ask me). She was so excited when we went to pick it up, and all the way home I heard "Bed! Bed!" floating up from the back seat. She helped me push it into place in her room, all the while giggling and bursting with excitement. I think it was the right decision; she has done so well sleeping in it. She loves feeling like a big girl, and when she is not sleeping in it, inevitably one of her babies is tired so she has to tuck it in with a "Night night" and a kiss... then I usually get to kiss the baby too before we can move on.

Home Sweet Home

2008-06-07T19:46:00.003-04:00

We made it back to New York safely, and I have to say I am so glad to be back. I had really mixed feelings about returning to New York because I had a wonderful time in Washington with all of our family and friends, but it sure is nice to be home. I had forgotten how much I really love northern New York. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to miss the 10 feet of snow and -20 degree weather, but I can't say a whole lot for the congestion of western Washington either. It is great to be back out in the country with all the beautiful scenery and the fresh air. It is amazing how different the "feel" is out here. Of course, being in the boonies has a different feel all to itself, but there is something to be said about neighborhoods where no 2 houses look the same and everything is so established with tremendous amounts of history.

New Beginnings

2008-05-29T21:24:00.004-04:00

So I am finally jumping on board with the whole blogging phenomena. I know I am a bit behind, but as I like to say, better late than never! Actually, I have to give the credit to my good friend Charise for talking me into it. She can be very persuasive...

Plus I think this will be a great way for my husband to be updated about what is happening on the homefront while he is serving in Iraq, not to mention the fact that we live about 2823 miles from our nearest and dearest back in Washington. So here's to my valiant attempt at being connected!