Belly Bumps

My sweet friend Sarah and I are not only pregnant together, but we have due dates that are only about a week apart. Sarah was a bridesmaid in my wedding and we've been friends for almost a decade. I am so thankful for her friendship and so blessed that God placed her in my life when He did! Now we are going through a pregnancy together...her third (a girl) and my second (a boy). When we did our family pictures with Sarah a few weeks ago, Alex snapped a quick one of the two of us and our baby bumps.

Sarah I am so thankful for you and for your friendship!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we went to my parents house! This is the first time in four years that we didn't have a house/backyard full of 20-50 people at our house for Thanksgiving. It felt kind of strange. While we lived in 29 Palms, we always hosted Thanksgiving and Easter at our house. We just felt it was something we wanted to do and we loved the idea of celebrating these holidays, not only with our biological families, but with our Marine Corps family as well. Many of our friends were far from their families and couldn't be with them during the holidays or their spouses were deployed.



Alex and I decided, long before Madison was born, that once we started having children, we'd spend all holidays at our house and that we'd have family and friends over to join us. We still firmly believe this because we want to keep our own traditions going within our home, but this time it just worked out better for us to go to Thousand Oaks and I'm so glad we had the chance to. But, from here on out you'll be seeing our holidays at our house once again! :)



Anyway, since we moved we haven't felt the need or the calling to do quite what we did in 29 Palms just yet, so we went to Thousand Oaks for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to be with my parents on Thanksgiving....due to my dad's volleyball schedule they were never able to come join us for any of our 29 Palms Thanksgivings. So, as well as it being the first time in 4 years that we didn't host a Thanksgiving it was the first time in 5 years that we'd spend Thanksgiving with my parents b/c we moved to Virginia just before Thanksgiving, and spend that one with our friends Matt and Jen. All that being said, it was wonderful to spend the time with my parents this year.



Alex's parents and brother drove down for the day and joined us for the day. We had a dinner filled with turkey, stuffing muffins, creamed corn casserole, pickles and olives, crescent rolls, homemade gravy, twice baked mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and sparkling cider. Then for dessert there was a selection of pumpkin cheesecake, cherry pie, and carrot cake. We had an wonderful spread of food. My mom made a wonderful hostess and it was such a joy getting to cook along side her in the kitchen all day!


We are looking forward to having everyone over for our Christmas celebration this year! This will be our last Christmas as a family of three! Craziness!

New Hair Cut and 25 weeks

Alright, so after a year an a half I was finally able to make time to have my sweet friend Brienna cut my hair this past Wednesday! Hallelujah!!! I was sooooo over due! Anyway, I finally remember to get the camera out when I was ready for the day instead of at the end of the day, so I had Alex snap a picture of me at 25 weeks (well just about) so you could see both the belly and the new hair!

Happy 235th Birthday Marine Corps

The Marine Corps' 235th Birthday is tomorrow and this is a 10 minute video showing the sacrifices made both in the past and present. Please take a moment and watch this video in honor of the Marine Corp's Birthday!

Halloween: Part 2: Hallopalooza

On Halloween, after Madison's nap we started getting ready for our church's Harvest Festival: Hallapalooza. Madison had so much fun getting ready. We did make-up this time instead of just a nose and eyelashes. Then once we were done we walked from our house to our church's parking lot where Hallopalooza was taking place. There were probably thousands of people there by the end of the night. They had everything from jump houses, to rocking climbing walls, to games, to pony rides. Madison had so much fun. We pretty much stuck to the games and finished the night up with a pony ride. On our way home Madison asked if she could do a little trick-or-treating, but a lot of the houses had already closed up for the night, so we just went to a few houses that still had people sitting out front. Madison had so much fun! She is already talking about next year's Halloween.

Halloween: Part 1

On Halloween, we got up and went to church, then rushed home to get ready for our first party of the day! Our friends Amy and Evan were throwing a little Halloween party for the kids in the early afternoon. Madison had so much fun! There was dancing, a jump house, a parade, a pinata, and an amazing spread of food and candy for the kids to enjoy. We were able to snap a lot of fun pictures, including some cute ones on the dance floor.





Madison was so bummed when we had to finally go, but we decided that it would be best to leave the party a little early so that she could get a good nap and be well rested for the evening festivities.

Our Little Froggy

So, for the last three weeks, we've been hearing this frog outside, but anytime we get close to the door it stops making noise. Well, This past weekend, Alex and Madison decided to go on a hunt for the frog. Alex had Madison look in our flowerbed while he planned on watering our potted plants for me (such a great help). To Alex's surprise, when he went to water the plant in our foyer, the frog was staring right at him. We were able to snap some pictures and we check on this little guy daily and, for now, he has chosen to stay. As a result, Madison has decided to name him. He has had quite a few names and his name seems to change daily, but the two that Alex and I found to be the most amusing were "Coffee" and "A." Most of the time she calls him "A Frog."