Cailey Lynn

I am a little late(7 weeks) on this post, but I wanted to make sure it was ok with her mommy and daddy(my brother and sister-in-law), but we have a new attention to our family! Cailey Lynn! My niece arrived a few weeks early(as did her older sister, Campbell) weighing in a healthy 7lbs. 2oz.; 19 1/2 inches long; April 21st! She is adorable and we can't wait to meet her and hold her and kiss her all over! (Mommy was healthy too!)

{Lawrence, Cailey, and Whitney after delivery}


{The girls, Campbell and Cailey}



{Cailey a few weeks old}


{Cailey and Campbell-more recent photo}

I love these two little girls so much and can't wait to see them! From what I understand Cailey is totally different then Campbell, so I am interested to see how different they really are! I like to call Campbell my crazy niece because she is seriously the funniest kid ever! She is a fast thinker and always has something witty or funny to say! She also has no fear and will jump, climb, try just about anything! I love that kid! She makes me smile every time I think of her!

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY CAILEY LYNN!

Catch-up(Christmas)

some of you may have known we were suppost to be heading home to Florida for Christmas, but the AF had different plans for us, so we ended up staying in MO for Christmas Eve and Day.
{we went to FL the day after Christmas}


Our Dear friends, The Allen's, had us over for Christmas Eve Dinner.

This is a picture of Lil B before we left for Christmas Eve Dinner.

{She's Dancing}

Family photo at The Allen's with ofcourse Avery too!

BFF's!

Blakely of course got to open one gift on Chrismas Eve and it was her Christmas PJ's...which she helped pick out(I can't say no!). And afterward they played with The Allen girls American doll girls....this is the one Blakely 'LOVED' and wouldn't put down.

We found it quite funny b/c the doll looked just like her! (she will be getting this one for her B-Day).

We came home after dinner and put out Sant's milk and cookies and ofcourse the reindeers carrots(she wouldn't let us forget to feed them! I think she must have read this in a book at school or something, because she just kept telling us they "needed food" too.

Daddy and Mommy stayed up last ofcourse putting things together and wrapping some last minute things....check out my cutie here!

ALL DONE! Santa came....and it was time for a night cap....

THE NEXT MORNING....she didn't know what to think. She just walked around, looking at everything and then finally screamed out! "Santa brought me a Doll House!"

Opening present....

She had to stop and play with everything and ofcourse try everything on!

At some point she got upset about something and was making this face:

Test driving her scooter with Daddy!

Atlast after all the excitement of opening gifts for 2 hours...she was worn out! She told us she was tired and wanted to just watch Max and Ruby....and so she did, with her trust-y sidekick, Maxx.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Baby!

Wishing you a...

merry christmas
from our family to yours.

Pancake Breakfast with Santa

The 509th Bomb Squadron every year holds a Pancake Breakfast with Santa. There are always pancakes(duh) with many toppings to choose from, crafts, games, and of course pictures with Santa.


Blakely and Daddy enjoying her Sprinkle Pancakes.


This is as close to Santa as we got. Blakely still isn't a fan of him and kept saying, "Santa is scary."



This is Blakely being afraid of Santa and having one of her melt downs. Look at those eyes!


Only Family Picture we got.

There was a cookie decorating table(her looking around for Santa, making sure he wasn't coming to get her.)

Avery and Blakely enjoying the cookies they decorated. Shortly after this is freaked out because she got icing on her hand. She highly dislikes getting dirty/messy.

So we got her a cookie without any icing on it.

Making Daddy hold her...

After she figured out Santa wasn't anywhere near the Christmas Musical Chairs, she joined in on the fun, winning 3 Ty Reindeer.

B2 Graduation

Here are some pictures from Ben's graduation night! It turned out to be such a success!
Ever graduating class puts together a ceremony, afterward heavy hors d'oeuvres are served, and a little socializing.

Ben got the Academic Award! I was so proud of him. He studied a ton, so he totally deserved it!
The guys also presented the wives with bouquets of flowers(Ben was put in charge of this assignment, so he got gerber daisy for all of us, because they are my favorite), and then the squadron commanders wife also presented us with a B2 pendant. Very sweet! We also found out the next squadron we will be going too....The 393rd TIGERS!!! Whoooo-Hooooo!

Congrats IQT-09B! Amazing Job!

Gingerbread TRAIN!

I let Blakely pick out which gingerbread house she wanted to build for Christmas, and she choice the Gingerbread Train Kit! Not 100% sure hwy, because she is afraid of trains right now, but so be it....we created our Gingerbread Train!





She is such a big help! Putting one candy on and eating the next!

Please ignore the no make-up face, it's a Sunday thing...

Taaaadaaaaa! All done!

Haley

This is a sad story, so it you don't want to read sad, I suggest you stop reading now.

I can't really remember a time when we didn't have a family dog, but I really 'grew' up with two that I have the fondest memories with...Jessie and Haley.

I was around 12 when we got Jessie and then a year later, she gave birth to a liter of puppies, and I "rescued" Haley. Which just means I saved her from being sold! I just wanted to save ONE!

Jessie and Haley are my parents 'baby's' now that their children have grown and moved out of their home(we still need you guys though!).

In a tragic and sudden moment 4 weeks ago, Haley had a heart attack and passed away.

Enter present time, since Haley's death my parents{huge dog lovers}, adopted a new puppy who is 5 months old, Bella! I was looking at pictures of Bella that my mom had sent me, and Blakely happen to glance at them and said, "I see, momma."

So, I explain to her that Papa and Yaya got a new puppy and her name was Bella! (knowing that I didn't really know how to explain death to a 2 1/2 year old, I just never really said anything about Haley's passing)

Since the first pictures of Bella, Blakely has talked about Bella, and my mom has continued to send us pictures of her.

Yesterday we received a new set of pictures of Bella! As we were looking at them, we got to the last one and Jessie was in one of the pictures. Here's how the conversation went:

Lil B:
"That's Hay-a and Bella?"
Me:
"No baby, that's Jessie with Bella."
Lil B:
"Ooooo, Jessie, Hay-y, and Bella."
Me:
"No baby, Haley is no longer with us, she passed away."(o-m-g, how am i going to explain this?)
Lil B:
"Pass away?"
Me:
"Yes baby, she passed away, she went to Heaven. She's with God now."
Lil B:
"Oooo, she with Gawd. Hay-a pass away."
Me:
"Yes baby."

This back and forth conversation continued on with her looking me straight in my eyes, I could practical see her head turning, trying to comprehend what I was telling her.

I was getting teary eyed, watching my beautiful blue-eyed baby girl try and figure out why Haley was gone, as she repeated, "Hay-a pass away, she with Gawd".

Just then we heard the garage door open and she looks at me and says, "Daddy Home! I-I-I-I tell him bout' Hay-a".

She runs to the door and says in this happy exuberant voice, "Daddy! Hay-a pass away! Sh-sh-sh-she with Gawd!" Like it was the best news that she has heard today!

Yes baby girl, you are right, you should be happy...this was my moment when I realized that her sweet nature, sweet innocents, was absolutely RIGHT!






(Blakely with Haley May 2009)

impromptu trip

Over Labor Day weekend we decided to met my mom in Nashville, TN to take a little vacation last minute vacation!
Let me just say this is one of the most beautiful towns I have been too! So much history, so much to do, and so many things to visit!

We do so many things in a 3 day period; Aquarium Dining, Grand Ole' Opry,Nashville Zoo, Country Music Hall of Fame, Famous Jack's Bar-b-que, beautiful downtown Nashville, and we did manage to get a little shopping in at Opry Mills Mall!

The best part of the trip: getting to spend quality time with my mom(aka:Yaya). This was the first time my mom and Blakely got to spend one and one time together for a long period of time and she soaked it up(both of them did)!


Thanks Mom for everything! We had a blast! We love you!

Art Class!

Blakely is my little crafty girl! So, has soon as I heard a friend of mine from high school was doing art classes here in Florida, I signed Blakely up from a couple sessions. She did really well! The class was about making Circles and the letter 'C', has you can see from the pictures, Blakely liked to draw lines rather then the Circles she was suppose to be doing. She also made a boyfriend while we were there. . .she just kept staring at him. . .

Check out my friends website by clicking here!

She is a very talented artist and has some beautiful art work she sells!