The best kisses!

I could be at my wits end, ready to lock myself away and scream into a pillow I could be having the worst day in the history of bad days, but all she has to do is grab my face in her chubby little hands and press that slobbery little mouth to mine and my troubles vanish in a second. It's liquid joy I tell ya!

home'sick

adj. depressed by longing for home.

sleep babies...sleep!

Isabella and Payton catching some much needed Z's in the back of the Prelude while Andrea and I ran some errands in Honolulu today. With husbands deployed and no family around to help, she and I have come to rely on the car for any peace and quiet...sometimes we take drives just to get them to sleep and then we just sit in the car and talk! you would be surprised at the measures you take when you just need five minutes to think straight!

Oh Christmas Tree!

On a sailors Budget I had to re-buy all my Ornaments since mine are still on a ship somewhere in the Ocean.

I was actually quite pleased with my results. In fact, I have received many compliments on it, ranging from maintenance men to cable guys!

I've already hoarded a few goodies under its boughs, but I still have a little more Santa Clausing left to do.

I guess I better get my little red Honda sleigh in gear!

Having a ball

Not much to do in a house without any furniture...but Isabella manages to have a ball!

A Heavy Heart

Well, Tyler leaves for a little mini-deployment tomorrow, he'll be gone for about three and half weeks, I'm not allowed to know where he's going or when he'll get back all I know is that he WILL be home for Christmas. I'm going to miss him so much! It will certainly be lonely without him. I'm desperately trying to get myself in the Christmas mood these days, I'm constantly listening to Burl Ives and Frank Sinatra.

Thanksgiving was kind of a blur and kind of weird...It's so bright and sunny here that it doesn't feel like the Holidays but we had a good time with our friends The Morgans. We've managed to unintentionally move to all the same places, we started in Chicago after boot camp, then proceeded to Dahlgren for Sea School, and now here in Hawaii for the five year sea tour. We had Thanksgiving with them last year and little did we know that in the following year we would be giving thanks around a table in Hawaii!

The Morgans babysat for us on Saturday night so that Tyler and I could out on a date before he leaves. We went to Dave and Busters and had a great dinner, ( I had an AWESOME cocktail ) and then we played games...My favorite was the horse racing game I played something like 20 times and only won once...we were quite perplexed about this b/c I'm really good at it, and then we found out that the guys playing with us were cheating by hiding extra balls in their pockets! how mean! that's what you get for going to an adults arcade I guess.

Today Isabella discovered the euphoria of a frozen teething ring...she's been rather fussy the past few days so I popped a couple of her teething rings in the freezer to see if that would help, and no sooner had I given her one that she had stuffed it in her mouth and was gnawing on it so hard I could hear her gums squeaking on the plastic. Poor thing! just thinking about how that must feel makes me want to chew on one myself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've been married two years now and since our anniversary happened to be during the hectic move from Virginia to Hawaii, we really didn't get to celebrate much. I did however score a beautiful sapphire ring and a hot date! We were on leave in Tennessee visiting family for about three and a half weeks so during that time Lovie and Grandaddy watched the Bella for us and we got to go out on our first non-baby date! We decided that since we were about to move so far away that we should try to catch one last Tennessee game, and thanks to Tyler's sweet uncle Chad, we did just that! I'm not much for football myself, but I have to admit, I LOVE going to Tennessee games. And of course Tyler has a blast if it involves any type of club, bat or ball.

This game was a real nail biter, It was so exciting! we barely won by a few points at the very end. My favorite part though was half time when the marching band comes out and makes all these neat designs on the field, I tried to take a picture of them making a big UT but it's hard to see from the sidelines.

It was so much fun going out together. I think after you have a child, you really start to appreciate any time you get to spend alone together, even if it's just a few minutes. And while we had the time of our lives, the best part of the evening for both of us, by far, was coming back to mom and dad's and seeing Isabella kick her feet and grin her toothless grin in her delight to see us :)

Aloha!

This picture didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to, but at least you see the main attraction...Isabella's sunglasses! I got these at Gymboree for her to wear on the beach, they have little red anchors on the side so she can sport her Navy pride.

The Island is beautiful and so far he weather has been flawless...I have to say i'm getting used to wearing a sundress every day :)

We moved into our house and I really like it, of course the stark white walls are begging me to paint them, and paint them I shall! I'm using Martha Stewart colors from Lowes and so far I have decided on a cranberry red for the living room, contrasted with a light creamy yellow in the entryway/kitchen. Thats as far as I've gotten.

Tyler leaves after Thanksgiving and won't be back until right before Christmas...so maybe by the time he gets back from this deployment the house will look a little more like home.

Look at Hilary and Isabella in their matching leopard outfits! I stepped out to go to the post office, and when I got back Lovie and aunt B. had snapped these adorable pictures! I think I am going to frame one for my mantle :)

a moment to spare...

Phew! Have not had a chance to blog in a while. I have had ALL my in-laws, save one ailing great-grand daddy, in town for Tyler's graduation. It has been so much fun! and I can't wait to post a picture of four generations of family. I think this is so neat! How often do you get four generations of family together at once? I plan on sitting down and posting a nice, fat, juicy post with pictures here soon.

My little pumpkin

Here is a slightly blurred photograph of my little pride and joy concentrating very hard on her jack-O-lantern feet. I love these Halloween P-J's Lovie got her from Carters, they have a mummy bear on the front that says "I want my mummy!" and on the back is a spider on his web saying "boo!" there are even teeny-tiny pumpkins on the buttons!. Isabella loves the feet and will try to grab them so she can see the jack-O-lantern face.
Today was a very nice, uneventful day. Isabella, Tyler and I hung out at the house until he had to go to work, then I called up auntie Kelli and she, Isabella and I went to Wal-mart. We had ourselves a grand ol' time, I bought Isabella the cutest lavender sun hat to wear in Hawaii and basically we just dawdled around Wal-Mart like old times looking at whatever we chose. I love nights like that when you have no schedule and all you have to do is hang out with the family.
The night just got even better! Tyler is home early. I'm going to go now and give Isabella a bath, then after she goes to sleep it's home made butterscotch pudding! served nice and warm, just the way I like it :)

my artsy fartsy friend

I'm so sad that one of my dearest friends Kelsey has been stationed in Japan with her husband. She was the first friend I made here in Virginia and she's the cutest little brunette you ever saw. Like me, she enjoys painting, decorating and pretty much anything else that involves creativity. She and I used to scope out the town for junk stores and thrift shops together. Sometimes, when we were feeling particularly shameless, We would dumpster dive the night before trash pick-up day. When people move, they throw away furniture with GREAT potential! We would bring our loot home, sand it, paint it and make it look like new. (No one goes through Antique White paint like we do.) Oh, what fun we had! Before she left for Japan she gave me a completely original acrylic painting. It is the best birthday present ever! I have it hanging in my pink kitchen where it matches perfectly, I get comments on it all the time. I think she should sell them. The picture I have taken doesn't do it justice, but you can still see how talented she is. I love this painting so much, my favorite part about it is my cat Sonnie sitting on the window sill!

My shiny new blog!

Well, after numerous phone calls for help to my mom, I finally have a blog! I'm so excited to have my own little personal space and since I'm about to embark on an unanticipated 5 year Island adventure (thanks to the Navy) I figured this would be just the ticket to keep all my not-so-nearest but very dearest afloat of what's going on my life. Here's to my first post!
~MC~