Kick off of Water Festival 2009

We were fortunate enough this year to get out on the water for the annual Waterfest in Beaufort thanks to my friend Katy and her sweet family! Alison was in heaven on the boat. When they got hot, Daddy Mitchell made a pool in the live well for the kids to cool off. The adults played boat bingo and had a great time touring the lowcountry from the water. We all did not have any luck at bingo but did see lots of dolphins! It was great being with "locals" as we did not meet a stranger on the water!

Madeline was NOT a fan of the lifejacket as you will see in pictures to follow. She finally gave up the fight and went to sleep. The boat was the most comfortable boat ride I have ever experienced. We all took great naps following our wonderful morning! Moral of the story...We need a boat!! Life on the water is too much fun.

Faces of Madeline at 8 months

THE MANY FACES OF MADELINE :)

She will be crawling in no time....has it really been 8 months? (sniff sniff :( )

Ali's new do!

After 3 1/2 years of wanting to look just like Ariel, Ali finally decided she was due a haircut. It was beautiful long but getting very thin and broken so this was music to Momma's ears. I got on the phone after her first mention of a short do' and booked the first available time to discover Ali's new look. We all love her cute lil bob but it does have one downside for both Mommy and Daddy....ummm...her eyes look huge and she bats them at us when she wants something and it is nearly impossible to say NO!...she got us there! Here's to many more haircuts and heartbreaks!

Last few minutes of long hair before her last day of preschool this year!

Look at me Mom...I'm beautiful!
Too cute!

She couldn't wait to show Daddy.

Time is flyin' by....

I give up on trying to move this down where I am talking about it...so here it is in the wrong place!

Easter with our house in the background
Madeline enjoying her peas
Before I went down the Siberia Bowl and heard a pop!!
It has been a long time since my last post. Truth is, I sit down to upload pictures and something else gets in the way. Here goes the recap....Matt graduated from Top Gun in March and the family had a much needed vacation together in Squaw Valley, CA. On St. Patty's Day, I tore my ACL on the Siberia Bowl at 8200 ft without any influence of green beer. We headed home and had a nice couple weeks of family and rehab time. The Kave's came to visit and we had a great time with them...it was too short!

Matt headed to the USS Truman for 3 weeks and Mom drove down to take care of the kids while I underwent ACL reconstruction on April 29th and I am now recovering well from that. The girls had a great time with Mom. Grandma and Aunt Wanda came to visit me for my 30th birthday. It was great showing them around here and watching the girls interact with them. I hope they all return sometime soon. My 20 +10 Birthday
Crippled with my sweet lil girl

Matt's best friend came to visit us for the Beaufort Air Show. Ben is the #7 jet, flies around VIPs (unfortunately I did not meet the celebrity status) and is the narrator for the Blue Angels this year. He will be the #6 jet for the next 2 years. It was great catching up with him and watching the Blues fly over Beaufort. We are very proud of Benny!

Now we are looking forward to a long Memorial Day weekend together. It will be spent buying a mini-van. I do admit that I was not ready for that chapter in my life until I rode in one with my gimp leg and it was heavenly. The room in the minivan is what I have been dreaming about on the long trips home. I must say, I am ready minivan...bring it on!


Matt heads out in early June aboard the USS Truman again for a month. We hope to visit Natural Bridge and Lexington during his absence. That's my last several months in a nutshell...hope not to be gone for this long again! Don't hold your breath!

Nina and Pappy help us bid farewell to February

One weekend closer to having Daddy home again....Nina and Pappy came to visit us on the last weekend in February. Nina spoils Ali rotten with her undivided attention and Alison absolutely loves Pappy's guitar. She has learned to strum it while Pappy plays the chords and her rhythm admittedly is better than mine! She dances around the living room to all of her special songs so happy and carefree. Watching her love for music is great entertainment for all of us. I thought I had a video that captured this excitement but for some reason I cannot locate it....

One morning we played hookie from preschool and we all went on a carriage ride through downtown Beaufort. We bundled up and went on the downtown adventure. Ali loved the horses and Madeline slept the entire time not having a clue that she was unbelted on a carriage being pulled by a horse!

Here are a few pictures from the family weekend to include a fun chocolate pudding party we had with Ali's friends....to cute!

Growing like weeds..

Ali was having fun painting her toes with chocolate pudding!


Madeline is all smiles after bathtime!

It's hard to believe that Madeline was 5 months old on Feb 25th...where did the time go? Could she possibly be eating rice cereal all ready? She hit a lot of milestones during this month. She rolls over both ways, laughs, giggles, loves to be tickled, found her toes and eats them, grasps objects to include a cup, took a bottle for days then decided it wasn't for her anymore, and she smiles with her eyes and melts my heart over and over every hour of every day.

Alison is an amazing big sister. She loves to help in anyway that she can. She mimics anything that she sees me doing and sometimes it comes back to bite me!! :) Ali has learned to recite the pledge of allegiance, spell her name and write an A and an L, completely dress herself, button, zip, and is working on tying her shoe, and has memorized several bible verses and prayers. Whew...she keeps surprising me with the new things she has learned and loves telling me who teaches her! It makes me smile when she says, YOU MOMMY!! :)

We are heading to see Matt at Top Gun on Wednesday. We are praying for smooth flights and layovers without any delays. Looking forward to seeing Daddy and enjoying a family vacation at Tahoe. Will post pictures upon our return!

Madeline giggles her way to our heart

The lighting is not great but the sounds are priceless!

My love bugs

I am so happy to report that Matt is more than half way complete with Top Gun and that much closer to being back at home with his girls! Ali, Madeline and I have decided to brave the skies and go see Daddy for his graduation and have planned a little vacation at Lake Tahoe on the backend of the trip. I'm probably crazy doing this with the two kids but it is something that we do not want to miss! We get to watch Matt and the rest of the class fly their final mission "test" from the tower! Ali is so excited...especially about building snowmen, skiing, ice skating and cuddling with Daddy. I'm looking forward to some "me" time on the slopes at Squaw Village and some true relaxation with Matt. Any advice on traveling with a 3 year old and 6 month old via airplane will be more than appreciated!!

February is flying by and thankfully is a short month! We are excited about our visitors this month. Mimi and Peepaw came down for a short visit for Valentine's Day and Nina and Pappy will be on their way Saturday. Alison is in heaven with her grandparents and so am I. Thank goodness we live close enough to make a long weekend trip!

Alison has become a big girl overnight. She is very independent, strong willed, and super sweet. Recently, she became OCD about her room. Everything has its place and her bed must be perfect and free of wrinkles...not sure where she got this from? She is ALL princess. It is a huge struggle to get pants on this child and she is really into wearing pantyhose (tights) that are WAY TOO SMALL and hang down to her knees! I really did buy her ones that fit but she prefers the baby ones. She is most often seen wearing super frilly dresses, princess outfits, tiaras and ballet slippers! She loves being a big sister and has shown Madeline how to roll over, laugh and play with toys. It is so much fun watching the two of them interact.

I'm counting down the days to our trip and our family reunion.

Here is a slideshow from February. You can really see Madeline's personality coming out. Enjoy!

A lil of the white stuff in Beaufort

The quality is not great so it looks like rain...but oh well.....
It didn't last long so we threw on something warm really fast just to catch a glimpse of the snow/sleet falling here in Beaufort. Ali loved it but was in such a hurry I couldn't even get her jacket buttoned. It is really damp and cold so we are snuggling in the warm house today.

Is there a recipe to stop rapid growth of kids?

Alison making yummy chocolate white chocolate chip cookies...highly suggest recipe on back of morsels!

Did I really just turn 3 in October? I look too old in this outfit!

The smile that melts her Momma's heart!

Madeline is such a joy!

Madeline's milestones!

Madeline making noises after her bath!

Madeline is cracking me up with her new noises. She giggles at random and it is very hard to capture on camera. These are a few attempts but still nothing like the real thing when she gets going. She finds Alison extremely entertaining and Ali eats it up. She prefers her thumb still but recently I have caught her actually sucking her tongue..doc told me about this but I didn't believe him until now. Madeline is such a sweet and content baby. We are truly blessed.