That's what sisters are for...

Alex loves his big sister. She's one person who can always make him laugh. Here are just a few random shots of Alex in the last few days.

Madison is making him laugh.

This is typically what she does.

Alex's favorite toy is this tiger striped kitty from my friend, Susan, in Florida. Alex loves to sleep, play, and drool on this cat.

Visitors from the East-Grandma and Grandpa

My parents flew out for a visit two weeks ago. They were here for a few days, and the kids already miss them a lot. While they were here, we mainly hung around the house, which allowed the kids some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandpa got good at reading princess stories.

Madison, who wanted to look like Grandpa, put on her sunglasses.

People always ask, so this is who both Alex and Luke look like-my dad!

"Hmm, you look like you're pretty nice."

Yeah, they're definitely related.

Alex's favorite time of the day-time to eat!

While here, we had a Thanksgiving meal with my parents. I made some Jello with marshmallows on top for the kids, and Luke was right there to snag a handful.

Apple pie for dessert

Ready to bake

And, what's an afternoon without chainsawing the fridge?

Luke looked at me and said, "All done, Mommy."

...and the craft is...

a "Freaky Fall Tree"

Yeah, I'm sure you all guessed that correctly! Seriously, all of the kids in the class were SO excited with this. Hey, whatever makes them happy :)

Guess this Craft

...and so it begins...Madison brought home this lovely craft she made at school. She was absolutely delighted with it and proclamied it MUST sit on the table for Thanksgiving. Oh, it's on our table alright, and Tiger is very excited with this feather creation.

So, what is this creation? Well, normally, I find this info out when I pick Madison up at preschool. However, on this particular day, Edward stopped in and got the kids. He didn't ask Ms. Carol, Madison's teacher, about the craft, so we were left wondering over the weekend.

Any ideas??

I did find out, but I'm interested to see if anyone has a great idea of their own :)

Afternoons with Madison

Madison loves the afternoons at our house. While her brothers are napping, the princess has the run of the palace. She keeps busy by helping me, playing with her dollhouse and dolls, working on letters/numbers/reading, and playing board games with me. Here she is in action:

Our neighbors directly across the street have a four-year-old too. They moved in a couple of months ago, and Madison is VERY glad to have a friend close by. Here they are in their dress-up for the day.

Snacks, sort of...Madison's healthy snack of a pear changes direction quickly when she asks to lick the cake beater :)

I can't blame her...it's the best part of baking!

Smile!

Seriously, how can you have a bad day after seeing this face?

"Go, Diego, Go!"

We recently acquired a new tricycle. Neighbors of ours who live around the corner are moving soon, and they had a Diego trike still in the box. Well, needless to say, we are the proud new owners of the trike, even though we have one trike already. Luke, our Diego obsessed boy, is in love with his new ride. I figure with two boys, a Diego trike is probably a good investment, and even Madison is begging for riding time. Anyways, Luke has been trying to ride his trike to school. He can pedal just fine, but it's six-tenths of a mile to preschool. Madison can ride her bike just fine, but that's still a lot of pedaling for Luke. So, I let him ride just around the corner, where we leave the bike, and then he has to ride in the stroller the rest of the way. On the way home, we stop, pick it up, and ride home. Good incentive all around...

Here's Luke riding home from school:

Pedaling hard

Very proud

Yes, the tricycle even has a "Rescue Pack"

Tired, but finally made it!

Oh, Go, Diego, Go

Mountain Time

That's right fellow readers, starting Nov. 1, we are back on Mountain Time due to Daylight Savings. That means we are now two hours behind most of you on EST. We've been three hours behind since March. Mom and Dad, I'm sure that excites you as you get ready to fly out here in a couple of weeks. I know how hard it is to get used to a three-hour time difference. And Jen, our daily, okay, sometimes multi-daily (if that's a word) calls can start earlier-yea!!

I hope all of the rest of you enjoy your extra hour of sleep. Here, we do nothing. No extra sleep, nothing. I guess the one good thing is we don't have to mess with our clocks at all!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Thank goodness it was cooler this year than last! While the high today was 90, it felt much better than last year's 100 degrees for trick-or-treat. We spent the afternoon carving our pumpkins and then went out collecting candy.

Luke enjoyed helping, but Madison refused to touch the pumpkin guts.

This is about as close as Madison would get to the pumpkin seeds.

The guys-still cleaning the pumpkins.

Madison in her Halloween shirt

I'm working on creating a Sleeping Beauty pumpkin. The kids' cousins, Mackenzie and Kaitlann, sent Madison this princess kit. I'm not sure how I felt about it after my 45 minute carving session :) Thanks guys-Madison LOVED her pumpkin!

Still working

Luke got bored of my detailed project, so he opted to climb in the deck box.

Round one done-I finished the stenciling part-now time to actually carve it out.

Close up of my stencil job

Our crew-the pirate, Young Frankenstein, and Ariel-You may notice a last minute costume change with Young Frankenstein. He was slated to go as a bear, but it was just too hot for the costume (not that this one was much better).

Madison's "scary" face

The finished Sleeping Beauty Pumpkin

Sleeping Beauty with the Happy Jack-O-Lantern Luke wanted

I'm sure by tomorrow afternoon the heat will have destroyed this one. I'm glad Madison enjoyed it.

We had fun trick-or-treating. The kids were only out for about 45 minutes. We didn't have very many kids come by this year. I'm not sure why. We live on base with a ton of kids, so that means we have a lot of leftover candy. Good thing I buy stuff I like :)

Happy Halloween!

Alex-5 Months Old!!!

Today is Alex's five-month birthday. He's a super baby with a great personality. He loves to smile and is generally very happy. He's a wonderful sleeper, sleeping 12-13 hours at night without getting up and a great napper too.

Alex is still taking Nestle Good Start formula, seven ounces at a time. He's started eating food. So far, he's had rice cereal, peas, and sweet potatoes, and squash. He's getting the hang of eating, but no favorites so far.

Alex entertains himself in the doorway jumper. He also loves his Exersaucer.

Sizewise, he doesn't have a checkup this month, but he's over 18 lbs. I just installed his bigger carseat yesterday, as his feet were hanging off the end of his infant one. He's wearing some 6-9 clothing, but also a lot of 12 month clothing. He has big feet, as now that it's cooling off to wear socks, he's wearing 12-24 month socks.

He doesn't have any teeth yet, but he's about to cut one. The tooth is really swollen in his mouth, and you can now feel it there. No telling on how long before it is actually through the gums, but it's definitely annoying him.

4 months old-last month

5 months old

Hmm, how can I move myself?

Trying to flip himself over

He's into eating EVERYTHING! Here, he's trying to eat his toy bin.

Playdate

The other night, we watched our friend's little girl, Gabby, and the kids had a blast playing with her. Gabby turned one last month, and she has two brothers, so she's used to a lot of chaos in the house :) Gabby is the flower from the Fall Festival posting a few days ago :) Madison thought it was so much fun having Gabby here for a few hours. She always likes playing with Gabby, wherever we go. Here's a glimpse of the evening:

I have a playmat setup in Alex's room, and Madison decided she and Gabby needed a girl playmat.

Luke had fun showing her the tool bench. I think Gabby is used to all of these boy toys from her house.

The girls

Gabby and Alex are the same size and just about to the ounce the same weight. It's amazing considering they are eight months apart!

No idea why Luke was crying

The crew

Multi-tasking at its best :)

Trying to be Crafty

I'm not crafty. I don't try to claim I am :) I try to do basics, and as you can see below, even that is a bit challenging for me! I made some sugar cookies in pumpkin cutouts and then decorated them for the kids. I even got a decorating kit thing at the store to do some basic designs. Here's the best I could do:

Besides making pumpkin faces, I did some with the kids initials.

I even made an "Ed" cookie, but as you can see, Edward swiped that one :)

This is just one of the many reasons I was a high school teacher and not an elementary teacher. I am not crafty!!! I have a lot of respect for those who are because it's not in my blood :)

Young Frankenstein

Alex participated in the preschool trick-or-treat around post this morning. Instead of his big bear costume, he wore this outfit. I NEVER would have thought he'd fit into this when he was first born! It's a 12 month outfit.

Preschool Trick-or-Treat Parade

This morning, the kids participated in their preschool trick-or-treat parade around the post. They do this every year, and it will be one thing I will always remember about this duty station. It's so cute watching the kids walk around to the different offices in their costumes. This year, it was much cooler, around 65!!!!! Madison didn't want to wear her costume because it was chilly out, and her princess dress is really lightweight, so she opted to dress like me :)

Alex and I are ready to roll.

Madison in her "Boo" shirt, walking with a friend from school.

Luke and Kate had a blast riding in our wagon.

First stop-medical clinic where the medics had some great candy.

Madison, standing next to her teacher, Ms. Carol.

The highligt of the walk-the GARBAGE TRUCK!!!!! The kids all love watching the truck.

Waiting in line for more candy

The fire dog

At another stop

Posing with my "twin"

Young Frankenstein sleeping

Luke, with Kate and Cassidy

The ultimate Young Frankenstein

Luke and Kate's class

Posing with my pirate

More Excitement from the Doorway Jumper

I have taken some videos of Alex in his doorway jumper. The first is from Oct. 11th, and you can see he doesn't do much. The second, taken on the 24th shows him really jumping a lot. I think it's neat to see his progress. Now, it's his favorite toy!

"I Like Eggs"-The Sequel

You may remember Luke's earlier posting on, "I Like Eggs." Well, tonight, I made some hard boiled and deviled eggs for him (we love them at our house). I was able to catch Luke talking about how much he "likes" eggs as he ate his hard boiled egg.

Yuma Proving Ground Fall Festival

We attended the Yuma Proving Ground Fall Festival on Friday night. We all had a great time, and the weather was really nice (not too hot!). Our festival is held just down at the end of our street on the parade ground. There, we have a huge field with a well-lit baseball field. It's really nice to just walk to the festival, and it's also nice we know everyone there. This year, the kids seemed to really enjoy showing off their costume picks.

Madison is going as her favorite princess, Ariel.

Luke, the pirate, is on the job to project Madison the mermaid.

We taught Luke to say, "Walk the plank," and "Arrrgh." He was really cute walking around telling people his pirate phrases.

Oh yes, even Hannah has a Halloween costume. However, you can bet Hannah will NOT be getting a new costume every year :)

...and, here he is...our first-timer!

For our first-timer, Alex dressed up as a bear.

Madison thought it was awesome Hannah and Alex were both dressed as bears (not planned).

It's really hard to find baby costumes that aren't too hot for our climate! I should have taken a picture of the tag on this costume. It's a Children's Place costume, size 12-18 months!!!!!! Alex won't be five months old until Friday. It fits him perfectly!

At the festival...

"Seriously, mom?"

This wasn't planned, but Luke had the same costume as his friend, Eli. I found out about this last week when I was talking to Eli's mom, my friend Sara, and we discovered this. The boys thought it was awesome, and it worked out really well. They enjoyed "dueling."

"Baby" Kate and Heather-Kate made a great Little Red Riding Hood

Sara (mom to the other pirate) and Gabriella-Now, Gabriella beat out Alex in the 1 and under Costume Contest. Alex was a little bummed (ha, ha), but Gabby is one of his closets Gal Pals. It's hard to be mad at such a cute flower :) What was neat about seeing this costume, is that Madison was the same flower on her first Halloween. The costume is the same design, but the colors back then were green, orange, and yellow. Personally, I think Gabby's colors are super cute!

Caiden the Monkey and his mom, Diana. He's a month older than Alex and a big boy himself!

You might wonder if any dads came to the festival-Most are still back at Ft. Bragg with the next class of Freefall students. Edward had to come back early because he's going to be in meetings with some colonels who are flying in this next week.

Waiting in line at the bounce house

The pirate is trying to wake the hibernating bear.

Sadly, this is the best picture I could get of my three kids. You can barely see any of them. Oh well.

These are Madison's friends, aka The Three Musketeers. All are in preschool together, and their teacher reports they do everything together.

A duel

Edward is dressed up as a tired dad.

No idea where he came up with this, but this is how Luke rode home. He got into the wagon, put his sword in his mouth, and just sat there. It was really funny.

Happy Fall to everyone. I'm hoping it's not 100 degrees on Halloween night for trick-or-treating like it was last year, but needless to say, it doesn't feel like Fall here.

Oh, and if you are waiting for Pumpkin Patch pictures-WE HAVE NO PUMPKIN PATCHES because it's too hot to grow pumpkins. If we're lucky, we might be able to get pumpkins at Wal-Mart, but I looked at them today when I was there, and they were all rotting because of the heat. Fun, fun.

Siblings

Some days are better than others...this is true with many things, including playing with your siblings. Every now and then, I can catch the kids playing nicely with each other.

Playing nicely before bedtime

Alex has become a HUGE thumb sucker (teething big time).

Dressed and ready for a birthday party

Madison thought we could take her play cake to the real birthday party :) She thought they could play "birthday" at the party.

Our New Cousin!

Our newest cousin, Weston Huffman, was born today, Oct. 19, at 7:29 PM. Weighing in at 7 lbs. 5 oz, 19.5 inches long, we hear he's a real cutie. Congrats Uncle Clay and Aunt Karen! We can't wait to meet our new cousin.

We're pretty jealous Daddy is in North Carolina right now, working at Ft. Bragg. He'll get to see our new cousin on Thursday before he flies home.

We love you Wes!

Love,

Madison, Luke, and Alex

Madison and her buddy

This is Madison, with her buddy, Caroline. These two love to play together. Caroline's family goes to church with us, and yesterday, I took the kids over to celebrate her brother's first birthday. I'm so glad Madison has a few really great friends. She always asks about going over to play with Caroline, and the two LOVE to wear dresses and dress-up as princesses together. You can't tell, but both are wearing dresses at the birthday party...did I mention they love dresses (and Gymboree dresses at that!)?

Food, Finally!

Our big boy, Alex, finally started cereal today. He seemed to enjoy it very much.

Waiting patiently

I think I might need a bib.

Hmmm, I'm not sure if I like it.

Yummy! That was good.

Jumping

Alex LOVES being in his doorway jumper.

Taco Ring

My friend, Sara, made this taco ring at MOPS awhile back. I really enjoyed it, and a couple of weeks ago, I took it to a baby shower at church. It takes a little bit of prep time, but it's well worth it. The recipe link is here:
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chicken-Taco-Ring

Preparing the ring with the mixture

All ready to bake

Our Gerber Baby

Alex started rice cereal today...so weird that all three kids are now eating food. He's getting so big, so fast. I think our 17 and a half pounder would have probably preferred a steak! He's pretty cute, in my opinion, and I think he looks like our own Gerber Baby :)

Deep Thoughts by Luke

They always say kids say the funniest things...and yes, I think it's true. Luke started out by constantly repeating, "I like eggs." With that, I thought it would be funny to record because he loves both deviled and hard-boiled eggs. Somehow, he decided he wanted to say that "Coyotes would eat him." Madison has this obsession, and she talks about it all the time, so that's where that conversation comes from. Then, he has to discuss getting out of the car because his latest thing is to try and run in a parking lot, so we've been having a lot of conversations about not running so a car doesn't hit you...ahh, kids :)

Enjoy. I did.

Video Clips from Pier 39

Madison reports on her San Francisco trip.

We had the scoop on the sea lions before Fox News showed up (yes, they were broadcasting about the invasion of the sea lions this week).

Monterey Video Clips

Yosemite

Toward the end of our vacation, we spent two days in Yosemite. It was absolutely beautiful. On a random coincidence, Edward's sister and her husband were driving back to their home in Death Valley, California from a summer in Alaska and happened to be driving through the same area at the same time. We met up with them for a day or so in Yosemite. It was great to see them, and they were able to meet Alex.

Huge trees everywhere!

Jennifer and Andrew with the kids

Luke was climbing EVERYTHING in sight and was absolutely filthy at the end of the day...typical boy.

He enjoyed hanging out with Andrew and specifically, wearing Andrew's hat.

Praying???

In front of the largest tree

We all thought this was cool.

They found a snake...notice, I'm not in this picture :)

Jennifer with Alex

Luke is obsessed with the movie he's watching. They could only take so much looking around at Yosemite.

Half Dome

Waterfall

Madison and her buddy

Edward and Jennifer

Look, we really do get a picture together once in awhile!

A grouse...this picture is totally Edward's doing. I wouldn't otherwise be interested in taking a picture of a grouse.

Now, this is interesting!!!!! We saw a black bear!!!!!! We had just left Jennifer and Andrew so they could continue their trip. We were heading back to our hotel for the evening, when this black bear ran in front of the car. We were able to stop and watch him for awhile. It was awesome.

Day Two...more sightseeing

Bridlebell Falls

"Danger"....climbing on the rocks..

Later on that day, we decided to let the kids walk around in a stream.

A stick

Leaving the park

Elk

A great trip...we had a good 10 days and loved seeing the beautiful sights of California.

Napa Valley

Well, you'd think we'd have a ton of pictures from the Napa Valley, but we weren't there long. And, really, it's just vineyard after vineyeard. It is beautiful, but this is what it looks like everywhere. We did stop at a winery, which was fun.

Alex had a blast in the car with Edward. He needed a bottle, and then he was a very happy baby.

"Spring" Planting

Well, now that the 120 degree weather is over for the season, I can finally plant my flowers again. Season here in Yuma seem reversed. Everyone hibernates indoors in the summer because of the heat, comparable to winters everywhere else because of the cold. So, now that "Fall" is here, it's like springtime for us. "Cooler temps" mean we can put the flowers out, and they should last until the end of May. Oh, and by cooler, I mean only highs in the mid-90's :)

This week, the boys and I made a couple of trips to Home Depot and Target for our flowers. Madison was at preschool, and Luke would have normally been there too, but his broken foot has him homebound.

Flowers all planted and put out front

My Mexican pot

And, in the backyard, things are taking shape. I still have some flowers/plants I want to get, and both Home Depot and Target were out of a planter I wanted, but it's nice to finally be able to go outside and enjoy the weather!

So, what does well here? I planted petunias, snapdragons, and hibiscus mainly. I also have two small palm trees and two wandering jews. Last year, I tested the water a little, and these did the best here. Plus, I love both. Anything that says "full sun" doesn't really mean there here in Yuma. NOTHING in Yuma can take FULL sun, since it's sunny 350 days of the year. What I try to do is get only full sun flowers and put them in some shade. Anything that says "shade" on it fries out here in this climate.

Snow White Show Opener

If you are like me with a "princess" on your hands, you are probably well-aware that Snow White was released on Tuesday. My friend, Heather, and I were at Toys R Us Tuesday evening to get our copies...by the way, if you don't know, there's a$10 off coupon at www.snowwhiteoffer.com for the movie. Anyways, Madison was SLIGHTLY excited to watch Snow White. She'd never seen it. So, yesterday afternoon, after preschool, she got to watch it. Here she is, all ready:

All set...and believe me...I didn't prompt her to do any of this. This is what it's like whenever she watches a movie. She's ready in her Snow White dress that is too small (so I need to find her a new one so this can be given to Heather's daughter Kate). For those of you who remember, this is the same dress Madison refused to wear (and threw a major fit) when she was two for Halloween. Now, it's a favorite. Besides, dress she has matching shoes (thanks, Mer), and a mini Snow White figurine there.

Her comment after the movie, "It wasn't nice when Snow White was killed."

A Restless Sleep

I dont' know how the kids ever really "rest" when they are sleeping. Edward and I found this the other night when we were checking on the kids before bed:

Madison had hauled her two dolls AND their doll beds into her bed. She was sleeping in between them.

Luke was flipped with his feet on his pillow. Notice his broken foot too.

San Francisco-Day 2

We started our second day in San Francisco with a visit to the John Muir State Preserve/Park. It was a beautiful Redwood Park, and we all had a nice morning walking around. The kids were shocked at the size of the trees.

Deer right alongside the trail...he wasn't bothered by people.

The kids thought this was neat showing the size of the redwoods.

Showing the age of the tree

Walking...

...and tripping. Seriously, this kid broke his foot here at home??

This was their "house" where they were sleeping.

Then, we drove just down the road to the John Muir beach. It was beautiful, peaceful, and a nice, quiet beach.

We all dared to stick our feet in the water. It was cold like Maine.

Just a few seconds after this, Luke tripped, falling into the water. It's a good thing I carry extra clothing in the car. He was shocked at how cold he was from the water.

Then, we drove just a little further again to see if we could get better pictures of the "big bridge" as the kids called it.

Luke and Alex fell asleep on the short drive from the beach, so Madison and I took some pictures.

Water below

Love this one

No, Madison didn't take these, but some random lady did.

This one is cool too.

We moved locations to take a few more pictures.

Yea, the boys woke up!

Good day in San Fran. Off to Napa Valley and Yosemite next!

Visiting San Francisco-Part 1

After leaving Monterey, we continued our coastal drive to San Francisco. It's only a couple of hours north of Monterey, so we arrived before lunch. After parking the car for the day, we set out on foot. With such a huge city, we researched prior to going and decided to spend the day at Pier 39 and Ghiradelli Square...

Pier 39 is right downtown on the waterfront (duh, pier), and it's full of restaurants, shops, etc. We happened to park directly across the street, so that worked out well too.

Upon arriving at Pier 39, we saw this great produce market. The fruits were amazing and so fresh.

Fruit market on the pier

Second story of the pier-directly behind us is downtown San Fran

Edward, posing at the same location, just facing the other direction. You can see the harbor behind him.

More of the downtown

Of course, one of our first stops was the carousel.

Obviously, Luke loved it.

Madison did too.

From the pier, Alcatraz was directly in front of us. We would have enjoyed visiting it, but I'm sure the kids wouldn't have.

Also, at the pier, these sea lions were so interesting to watch. There is a big sign explaining the sea lions showed up here in 1997 after the earthquake and haven't left since. They bark all day, making it quite loud. It's funny to watch.

Seriously, I couldn't even get all the sea lions in the picture. I can't even guess how many there were.

Luke loves fire trucks, so he thought this fire boat was really cool.

We had to go in this store for Madison...Leftys...for left-handed people! I was able to find her some little kid scissors, which are really hard to find! We had one pair, but I got two more so she can leave some at school.

Madison was into posing on EVERYTHING!

We all liked the trolley cars.

After a short walk, in which both boys fell asleep, Madison and I enjoyed a cupcake at this cupcake store. The cupcakes were topped with Ghiradelli Chocolate, which was appropriate, as the shop sat in the same square as the chocolate factory.

The cupcake experience...

Yeah, he missed it.

Yea, the chocolate factory!

After all of that walking, shopping, and eating, we got back in the car to head to the hotel...of course, it was right at 5:00! Traffic wasn't too bad, though. This is a typical street in San Fran. The hills look great, but are tough if you are pushing two big boys in a double stroller!

Then, we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge...there it is, seriously.

The fog was unbelievable. One minute, it would be clear, and the next, this... We didn't have a very good view of the bridge. We didn't from Pier 39 either, as it looked like this all day.

See, I promise this is the Golden Gate Bridge!

Coming off of it, and you can see the fog is lifting.

And, as soon as we got off the bridge, it looked like this everywhere. This location was just a few minutes from our hotel, Embassy Suites.

More views of the area

And, as we pulled into the hotel, we found this...Madison had a great day, but it wore her out! We walked several miles during the day, and she was a trooper!

Broken

Not a good day here at our house...

Luke broke his right foot. It's really sad I've never broken anything, and here's my two-year-old with a broken foot.

Luke and Madison had just come home from preschool. Edward had picked them up on his way home for lunch. I was feeding Alex, and Edward stopped at the couch to say hi, as the kids ran past to get toys out of their room. Not even 30 seconds later, crying, which is a norm at our house, but this crying sounded differently. Madison and Luke were in Alex's bedroom, which they're not supposed to be playing in there, and the "gist" of what I got from Madison was that Luke jumped out of Alex's crib. That seemed to be pretty true because Alex's blanket/toys were thrown out of the crib. Madison was reluctant to give all details as to incriminate herself (did someone already teach her about her Constitutional Rights??). Edward took Luke over to the clinic, where the x-ray and a double-check consultation with a radiologist at Ft. Irwin (the closest Army hospital six hours away) confirmed he had broken a bone on the top of his foot.

Edward's friend, one of the orthopedic surgeons in town, said it should take four weeks to heal, but in the meantime, how do you explain to a two-year-old he needs to stay off his foot? Don't tell me he'll know because it will hurt. The kid has been trying to walk on it all day while almost crying in pain. Yeah, he's not getting it that if he doesn't walk, it doesn't hurt as much. It's going to be a long four weeks without preschool, running around, riding bikes, etc...all when the weather is FINALLY tolerable. I had planned to take the kids to the park this afternoon because our high was only around 95, but no park if you have a broken foot...uggh. And really, he's two years old-he doesn't understand!

No cast because of swelling, and the orthopedic said he wouldn't put it in boot, so Luke has a splint/wrap for four weeks...great, that won't be annoying or anything. He's already unwrapped it twice, even with bandage tape all over it.

The poor kid has been waking up constantly already. Edward's working in the ER tonight, so it could be a long night at our house. I think he's cried out six times already, and he's been asleep for about four hours. Pray Luke's foot heals quickly, and he can tolerate sitting when it's a word not in his vocabulary.

I like the movie Cars, but after four weeks of it running constantly, I might be ready to burn it.

California Vacation-Monterey

We spent a day and a half in Monterey on our vacation. The objective for this part of the trip was to go to the Monterey Aquarium. We found out we could get discounted tickets at the Presidio, which is the military base in Monterey (as if we'd be so lucky to be stationed there!). So, our first stop was the Presidio...I'm told the views of the bay from the base are beautiful, but we wouldn't know because the bay was FOGGED IN!

As soon as we got on base, we saw these deer just standing in a playground.

Yup, just in the grass...those are houses right there. That was pretty cool.

Off to the aquarium

Luke loves sharks, and he really enjoyed seeing them in up close.

This cascading waterfall on a timer scared Luke the first few times...

...then, he thought it was funny.

They had a Great White in a HUGE three-story tank.

Madison pretended to be a shark.

They had a lot of fun.

Hands-on time

Alex enjoyed himself too.

The kids' playroom

"Riding" a fish

The aquarium is right here at Cannery Row, which is from John Steinbeck's novels.

After the aquarium, we decided to do the "17-mile drive" around the Monterey Peninsula. The drive circles the coast of Pebble Beach, yes, THE Pebble Beach if you're into golf.

Views of Pebble Beach Golf Courses

The lone tree out here on the rocks...this was a popular stop on the drive. A lot of tourists wanted to take pictures of this tree.

The boys were napping, so Madison enjoyed getting out of the car at some of the stops on the drive.

We had a nice time in Monterey. The fog was remarkable, in that, you just couldn't see a whole lot. We got a break in the fog on the Pebble Beach drive, as it went south from Monterey to Carmel, but as you got closer to Monterey, the fog returned.

Alexander-Four Months Old!!!

Alex had his four-month well baby checkup this morning. Current stats:

Weight-17 lbs. 4 oz. (90th percentile)

Height-25 inches (75th percentile)

Head-Didn't get numbers, but 95th percentile

Alex continues to be a great baby. He's a little fussy right now since he had to get shots today.

He's rolling over from tummy to back. He's almost rolling over from back to tummy, but not quite yet.

He continues to take six ounces of formula every three hours, and soon, we'll start him on rice cereal.

His favorite toys right now are the Exersaucer and his gym.

Alex is still sleeping 12 hours plus at night, and he's taking three naps a day.

Just today, I moved around his clothing. He's grown out of his 3-6 month stuff, so he's now in 6-9 month clothing.

Alex continues to be a really happy baby, and he loves to smile. He's the most content baby of our three, and he loves looking around while Madison and Luke play with him. He's such a blessing.

CA Vacation-Day 2, Santa Barbara and the Coast

Day 2 of our trip started with a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped in Santa Barbara at the mission. Established in 1786, this beautiful building has been restored really well. We all enjoyed touring it.

The Santa Barbara Mission was the 10th of 21 missions established in California.

One thing we loved were all of the beautiful gardens.

A happy crew

Very cool tree

The church's interior

After touring the mission, we drove down to the harbor for lunch. This was probably our favorite meal on our trip. The pier was really nice, and it reminded me of growing up with our summers in Maine at Perkins Cove. You could drive out onto the pier and park. There were restaurants and shops on the pier too, and we all enjoyed it.

View of Santa Barbara Beach from the pier

At the restaurant, we all had seafood, something we don't get much of in Yuma. Madison and Hannah modeled their matching outfits from American Girl.

We were very careful with our crew on the pier...notice, there aren't any rails to keep the kids from falling in.

After lunch, we continued our coastal drive. We drove from Santa Barbara up to Monterey.

Hearst Castle

Yes, we meant for this picture to look like this...fog plagued us, and this was the view of the beach.

It was very interesting...one stretch of road, you'd have fog everywhere, and around the next corner, it would be clear.

We found some deer right at the road.

There's a waterfall in the distance.

Waterfall

Madison stayed awake for the drive, so she enjoyed getting out and seeing the landscape.

Luke woke up eventually.

Getting close to sunset...and to Monterey

Finally at the hotel....Alex was a tired baby after a "hard" day of riding in his carseat.

Too tired to play on his playmat

California Vacation-Day 1, Hollywood and the start of our Coastal Drive

We left Yuma on Monday, Sept. 21 on our driving vacation of Northern California. Our first stop was in Hollywood, which is about four and a half hours from Yuma. We had a very specific stop...

The famous sign...

We took Madison to the American Girl store. Madison has a Bitty Baby, which is from American Girl. Madison's doll, Hannah, is like a member of the family.

Anyone who has seen Hannah lately, knows she's been looking pretty rough. For $5, Hannah got to go to the salon at the store for a touch up. It was definitely worth the $5. Thankfully, the doll is looking much better after her touchup...if only it was that easy for the rest of us!

While Hannah was getting cleaned up, we let Madison pick out a new outfit for Hannah. She chose a pink shirt, with which she bought a matching one for herself.

Across the street, we saw CBS, home to my favorite soap opera :) A few years ago, Carin and I tried to get on the Price is Right here at the studio. We waited in line for nine hours or so to only be the first in line AFTER the show's max number. We were ticked we couldn't get on the show, so it was funny to be back in the same place.

Yeah, we didn't shop here...not my kind of sales :)

After leaving Hollywood, we ventured north along the coast to our hotel. We ate at a very low-key restaurant for dinner on the beach. It was a nice, relaxing evening and CHILLY! We all enjoyed the cooler weather.

Pretty Pacific sunset

Yes, this crew kept us busy the whole trip :)

We're Back

After a 10-day driving vacation of Northern California that included 2028 miles, we are home. We had a great time with TONS of pictures to follow...

More attempts to capture rolling

He didn't roll over in this, but...

So, he didn't roll over in this video as we were trying to capture, but the video is really funny...

2009 Free Fall Ball

Saturday evening, we attended our Company Ball: Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne), Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona....otherwise know as the Free Fall Ball.

We sat right by the cakes at one of the head tables...yes, very tempting. The cake was delicious, and I think I might have to try this bakery sometime.

Edward, part of Headquarters, had some involvement in the evening. He had to give the blessing and also determine if the Grog was "medically safe to drink."

Edward called up his buddy, Al, to taste the Grog. Al is a newly retired Master Sgt, who ran the Basic Course here, and happened to be a medic, the head medic. He's always been and still is a great help to Edward.

Mixing up the Grog...it's usually pretty nasty, as it's filled with a variety of liquors.

After dinner, we got together with our friends for some pictures. These are the ladies I spend most of my time with here.

Notice, we have an extra in our pictures...look behind the palm tree.

Now, we're all laughing about Nikki's husband, Colin, who was hiding in our background.

YPG Ladies-Amy, me, Heather, Elizabeth, Nikki, Diana, and Sara-We have 15 kids between all of us ranging in age from 12 days old to seven. Four of us had babies within the last year. Yes, Elizabeth had Stephen 12 days ago and still made it to both ball setup and the ball.

My friend, Heather...we run MOPS together and spend a lot of time with each other.

The husbands

You see, our group isn't exclusively Army...Kurt, our solo Air Force guy :)

Mimicing the crazy poses our photographer wanted people to try.

Another ball-we have been going to these since we were 20 and at Clemson.

Edward was glad that this year, he was able to add his HALO wings to his dress uniform.

Next, we have to purchase the Mess Dress coat (short coat with the cumberbund), which is really $$. I guess Edward will check into that when he goes back to Bragg in October, as we don't have a Clothing and Sales store for six hours in any direction here.

Sara and Jason...Jason heads up our Bible Study on post.

Sara was nine months pregnant last year at the ball and had Gabriella a couple days after it. I know this year the ball was much more enjoyable for her!

Colin and Nikki

Kurt and Heather

Yes, they are the silly ones in our group :) They are also "Baby" Kate's parents, as she's a frequent friend on the blog.

Reed and Elizabeth

Posing with Heather and Sara...we took a picture last year, so it's now a tradition.

Last year's pose

You might wonder where the kids were?? The Child Development Center (CDC) on post always opens up the evening of the ball. It's where our kids go to preschool, so it's already a familiar place for them. They have a fun evening, as we send dinner with them, and they get to play with their friends. The classes are divided by age, and they told us Alex seemed to enjoy himself. I was told he didn't cry once, which I believe. He's a great baby. They said he spent most of the evening smiling at them. Madison and Luke ate their dinners, and then I was told Madison went to sleep very well. Ironically, all of the two-year-olds were still up at 11:30 and walking around with the staff as they worked (it was pretty funny). As soon as we got Luke home, he passed out...a good night for all.

The Kids