Meeting Santa

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

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

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

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

Getting Ready for Christmas

Today was very busy day!

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

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

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

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

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

Dinner with Friends

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

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

Me, Madi, Susie, Dean, and Eleni

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

Madilyn and Susie "cooking" together :)

A Short Little Video :)

Los Angeles Air Force Base

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

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

Now we wait it all out.

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

Thanksgiving 2009

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

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

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

Marco Island, Florida

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

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

Here are some photos from our trip!

Flagstaff Bound

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

We're getting closer!

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

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

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

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

Breast Cancer Walk For Wendy

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