Merry Christmas!

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

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


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

Zoolights at the Phoenix Zoo

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

And just for fun, an interactive, talking giraffe:

Christmas at (Great) Grandma's!

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

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

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

Grandma Sandy having "tea" with Madilyn

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

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

Meeting Santa

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

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

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

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

Getting Ready for Christmas

Today was very busy day!

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

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

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

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

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

Dinner with Friends

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

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

Me, Madi, Susie, Dean, and Eleni

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

Madilyn and Susie "cooking" together :)

A Short Little Video :)

Los Angeles Air Force Base

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

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

Now we wait it all out.

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