UGH...I'm 30...UGH!!!!

I can't believe that my 20's are finally behind me! In fact, I can't believe that I am a stay at home mother to two young children and I live in Alabama! If I had heard this about someone in my younger years I would have pitied them!!!!! HA! I would have even felt sorry for them! HOWEVER...it states nothing of the reality. The reality is that my husband proudly serves his country and is gone A LOT! This means that someone needs to be home consistently for our two beautiful blessings. This leaves me.I couldn't be any more content with my life. In fact, I LOVE my life. I have a wonderful husband (most of the time), two amazing kids (all of the time), and great friends and family to support me along the way! I occasionally have my "woe is me" moments but there is always someone to remind me. I got a little "reminer" from my sweet friend Jodi this weekend "April, you are OLD...you will never wear junior size jeans again because you have had TWO babies and it shouldn't matter." HA, HA, HA...if only my hips would be like they were when I was 20!!!!!

Pete was gone for my birthday...I know...surprise, surprise...so I spent the day with my amazing friends here in lower Alabama! Amy, Jodi, and I met at Mickey D's for a lunch with all of the kiddos. Between the three of us we had 8 kids! It was a wonderful time and a nice distraction for the afternoon! In the evening, Jodi, made me a home made Thai dinner complete with a wonderful dessert and candles! It was so surprising and sweet! I hardly missed Pete at all (well...I missed him a little bit!).

Once Pete returned home, the girls and I made plans to have a "girls night out"! We went into the big city Dothan(ha, ha, ha...I just said "big city" about Dothan). We had pedicures, a great Thai dinner (can you tell I like Thai food?!), and ended the night at the book store. To my GREAT delight they are all book nerds like myself!!!!!!!

In all, I met my 30th year in a great way. Thank you to everyone for making it such a wonderful celebration!


For those of you wondering what Pete did for me for my birthday...here ya go...

not his best...

sigh...

yep...that's an index card...

three days late...

but I did get wonderful flowers for V-day!



See the little arrow after the message?! There was more on the back, but it only went downhill from there! At least there's only room for improvement for next year!!!!


P.S. Here's what 30 looks like!

The catch up Part 1:Pres' b-day party

We've been super busy here and I have lots to catch up on! I'll start with the pictures from Pres' second birthday party that took place on July 11th (I am REALLY behind!) and work my way up! Ashlyn is two months old now! She is really starting to become fun, but we'll get to that later. For now, here are the pictures from Pres' b-day!

Pete made the Thomas cake from scratch! He did the face with fondant! It was really amazing and I can't wait to see what he does next year.

There were a lot of kids, friends, food, and tons of fun. Preston has so many great little friends here and we had a great time playing with everyone. Preston received so many wonderful gifts! I have two people to say a big "thank you" to! First to the Davis clan that showed up early to help! I completely underestimated the time it took to get things done with a toddler and a newborn. If they hadn't shown up when they did, then nothing would have been ready! Thank you Jeanne Anne for keeping Ashlyn happy while I ran around cleaning and decorating and also thank you to Mark for finding that Thomas balloon!!!!! A second special thanks to Melissa for once again finding her way around my kitchen! Not only did she get the food ready for the kiddos, but she did dishes. I have wonderful friends!!!!!

Happy Second Birthday Baby Boy!

On June 21st, Pres turned two years old! I can hardly believe it! I'm a little late in posting but it has been a crazy two weeks adjusting to having two little ones in the house! We will be celebrating his birthday with a party on July 11th.

Pres is such a big boy in some ways that when I look at him, it makes me a little sad. I am slowly losing my baby boy in a lot of ways, but luckily he still likes to snuggle with his mommy! He's so independent and wants to do EVERYTHING on his own! He is talking in full sentences and knows all of his colors, numbers 1-15, and the alphabet (although he is awful stingy in saying that one!) He is also picking up Spanish very quickly and it never fails to make me laugh as he will grab Pete's hand and go "vamanos daddy, vamanos" (let's go daddy, let's go) when he wants Pete to take him outside. He has learned to put on and take off his Crocs or "crockies" as he calls them (thanks Dad, he learned that from you!) and will always proudly announce when he has done either one.

Pres and Pete are such good buddies now. They play and laugh and have a great time together. I'm not sure all they do outside, but they both come back in dirty, sweaty, and smelly from their fun.

He is being such a good big brother that Pete and I are amazed. We knew he was a secret softy underneath all of that boyness, but it took Ashlyn to bring it out. He will come up to her and give her head a gentle kiss all throughout the day. He also gets upset with me when I give her a bath because he thinks that she is hurt because she screams so loud. The whole time I am bathing her, Pres is tugging on my shirt telling me "NO MOMMY".

There is so much more, but those are the highlights of the things I do not want to forget. I'll end this with a little personal note to my big boy.

"Pres- Mommy and Daddy love you so much. You have come into our world and made it so much better. Life is more colorful and interesting being able to see it through your big blue eyes. I hope you always are as willful and strong as you are now. You, my bubba, will change the world!"

Pete's 32nd B-Day!

We had a fun-filled weekend for Pete's birthday. Pete was able to take the motorcycle safety course on post and had a good time with a lot of his WOC class buddies hanging out and riding motorcycles!

Here at home, we had cupcakes to decorate and as requested homemade chicken wings plus beer for a snack! Here are some pics.

Decorating the cupcakes:








The finished product of lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting...YUM!




On his actual birthday Pres and I blew up balloons for him to come home to! We hung some at the mailbox and the rest were waiting inside. These were such a big hit-not only with Pete but with Pres as well. He had a blast playing in them!







My chicken wings turned out great and I found a new sauce to make that Pete loved. Here they are along with the funniest shot of Pete eating them! I'll call this eating shot a little birthday hazing (sorry babe...I couldn't resist!).




Ashlyn and I were there-I promise! I was in charge of the pictures and the food so not much time to pose in front of the camera. Here's a somewhat fuzzy bathroom pic of the growing belly taken on Pete's birthday.

My birthday gift!

For the past three years any holiday I have been begging Pete for one particular gift. A new ring. I loved my poor soldier boy and would have married him if he had given me a string to tie around my finger!!! For our second anniversary, he added a band to my claddagh ring that had two diamonds to signify our two years of marriage. The idea was to add one for each additional year we were married which is very romantic and sweet; unfortunately romantic isn't always practical and I didn't want an off center set of diamonds so we decided to wait until it was even. The next even year, we decided to go big on our anniversary with a shark dive and nice hotel and we both completely forgot about it. Then came Preston and our next anniversary after that, all we could manage with a two week old was dinner out. Needless to say, this wonderful idea on Pete's part, didn't pan out as he would have hoped. I certainly don't help matters as I have not one romantic bone in my whole body! I share this with you for two reasons:

1. so Pete gets credit for his original idea
2. so Pete gets credit for his even better follow up!

Year after year, holidays come and no ring. I even had picked the one out I wanted and it managed somehow (no idea!) to always be in our favorites on our computer! Pete said that he didn't want me to just pick it out and then get it. "There's no romance or surprise in that" he kept telling me. "I don't need the surprise or romance" was always my response to him (told ya not even a smidge or romance in me). Lo and behold this year he took me shopping for my birthday. I assumed that my gift would be some new clothes and lunch out (which is actually my idea of a a fun day). That night we had my parents over for dinner and gifts with them (awesome gifts from the rents BTW)and I realized Pete hadn't given me a card yet at this point. Since he always does, I asked for it. I was told I had to wait until it was just he and I. O-KAY...at this juncture in the evening, something smelled fishy! I then remembered that a few weeks back he had asked my ring size. I couldn't wait for dinner to be over and to get my card. We wrapped up dinner with my parents and then I did a jig until he finally gave it to me. Inside was a really funny card and print outs of different variations of the ring I wanted. He told me to pick one and that was my gift!!!!!!! Whoo-hoo! This is was I picked...



For those of you who know me, diamonds are just not my thing. I love gemstones. This was the perfect gift! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOO much my wonderful hubby for always keeping me on my toes and being my romatic man!!!! Now that I have offically probably overshared and embarrassed Pete, I will end this post!

Bronchitis and a birthday...

So...I am finally feeling better and have fully recovered. Last week I came down with a nasty case of bronchitis. I seem to get it once a year. This year, I recognized the signs early and went as soon as I could to get some antibiotics. As seems to be my luck, me getting sick came at the exact same time Pete would be gone. My poor hubby had to leave with me bending over the toilet having a violent reaction to my super strong antibiotics! That's a good-bye he certainly won't forget for a while!!!! Luckily for me, Pres seemed quite content hanging out on the bathroom floor. We spent almost all of last Saturday there.

Motherhood continues to bring me some of the most ridiculous moments. Never in a million years would vomiting be a funny situation for me, but add in a seven month old who is sucking on a hair brush and trying to stand up on the toilet I am bending over, and you definitely move in to the ridiculous category!!!!!

Below is a pic of me on Monday morning after Pete had come home. It was a ROUGH weekend, and I think my pale face (and Pete's old boxers) explains it more than I ever could!!!!



This weekend has gone much more smoothly! I am fully recovered (a couple of pounds lighter) and we had a great time hanging out at the mall shopping for my birthday! Pres is FINALLY over his hatred of the car, so these excursions are tons of fun. Pete had a blast while Pres flirted his way with every young sales associate as I was trying on clothes. I think I was cramping their style just a little bit! It's much easier to get your flirt on without your wife and mom there!!!!! Here's a shout out to the lonely men out there...get a baby with big blue eyes, and the women come by the dozens!!!! I had a great birthday so thank you my wonderful family!