Monday, August 22, 2011

guess who's home?!

{Small note...blogger is driving me CRAZY.  I lost the ENTIRE first post I wrote.  This does not make me want to update.  It makes me want to drink wine.}

Well, he has actually been home for almost a week!
You'll have to forgive me for my laziness...
our family is back together again!
We have been busy just spending time together & working on getting Brad's sleep back on track.

So, last Tuesday night, we headed to Baltimore-Washington International airport to pick up Daddy!
Finally!
The extra fun part was that we got to have company...
our friends, Anastassia, Athena & Elias went with us!
I didn't want Anasstasia to have to take the kiddos to the airport,
but she said she could go & take a video for us.
I've never had a video.  It sounded pretty wonderful!
{oh, and blogger won't load my video.  seriously?}
I'm not sure I've even had a picture to prove I go to pick him up!
Thankfully, they live 15 minutes from the airport, so I didn't feel quite as bad!

Here we are waiting.
There is a group who helps you at the airport, Operation Welcome Home Maryland.
To me, what they do is very special.
They thank every person coming off the plane & 
they have cowbells.
The cowbells kept Elias pretty entertained while he waited in his stroller!  :)
They told us where to wait & updated us to the best of their abilities.
When the military is involved, sometimes there is not definitive information involved.  I'm just sayin'.

Do you see the girl on the left side of the picture?
She is a young gal.  With a hubby on Brad's plane.
She texts & he texts=updated information on what is going on.
{Please don't text me.  I don't text!  We're so 2003.} 

And the gal in the white dress...on the right side of the photo.
She came from Little Rock to surprise her hubby.
That made me get teary.  Okay, what didn't?!
She & I also figured out we were both prior service, personnel officers, came off active duty in 2003 & knew some of the same people!
Crazy.  Well, okay.  It's not really that crazy in the Air Force.
Small world.

 More waiting...thank goodness someone was taking pictures!  :)  
My mind was on other things!

Abby said,
"It has been over 10 minutes.  I know it has been longer.  How long have we been waiting?  Why did that lady say 10 minutes?"
HAHAHA.
All things I thought myself...


More cuteness while waiting

Here is the special picture Abby made for Daddy  :)

As a mom & wife, I always worry about the reaction when Brad is gone & he comes home.
You want the girls to run to Daddy like he's been gone 7 months, but not freaked out because he has been gone for 7 months.  I don't know why I even gave it a second thought...it was perfect! 
They ran right to him & couldn't get enough!


LOVE this one!  

Now we have a cute little family picture...
thanks, Anastassia!  :)


Off to do all the fun things we have planned...
swimming, snuggling, road trip 2011, and all sorts of other adventures!




Sunday, August 7, 2011

little ballerinas...

Here are the long-awaited ballet pictures...
okay, only the grandparents & daddy were getting a little bitter!
{and maybe an aunt or 2!}

Ballerina #1...
Beks has been waiting for this day.
For 3 years.  :)
Here is some sort of dance move/pose...


The bun...
or as Abby has informed me, a twist!
{this is as good as it gets...can't see me googling how to do it correctly any time soon!}
So cute!

Not a bit nervous...
she ran into the class on the first day & said,
"See you in a little bit, Mommy."

Can you believe all the pink cuteness?!

And the MOST important part of dance...
the dance stamps you get at the end of class!

The big girls' dance class.
There is something I haven't told you yet...
can you see who Abby is holding hands with?
Look closely.
It's Ella!
The Davis family has moved to Virginia!
{more on that later!}

Ms. Linda was wonderful!

How we feel about waiting during Abby's dance class!


More cute posing for me...
enjoy it, because she is moving on to bigger & better things.
She has chosen ice skating for her activity this year...and swimming.


These two are so precious together...
what a relationship.
From Korea to the states--wouldn't know we missed a whole year in there!

That's a wrap on summer dance!
Beks originally wanted dance to be her activity for the year...
not any more!
She has chosen SOCCER ONLY!
Be still her daddy's heart.
{stay tuned for some exciting stories!}