Dinner with Friends

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

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

Me, Madi, Susie, Dean, and Eleni

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

Madilyn and Susie "cooking" together :)

A Short Little Video :)

Los Angeles Air Force Base

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

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

Now we wait it all out.

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

Thanksgiving 2009

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

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

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

Marco Island, Florida

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

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

Here are some photos from our trip!

Flagstaff Bound

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

We're getting closer!

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

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

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

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

Breast Cancer Walk For Wendy

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

Happy Halloween 2009

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

Eighteen Months

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

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

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