The Capalbos

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-15T12:43:00.013-05:00

We enjoyed the month of December and we sure stayed busy. Joe and I attended his squadron Christmas party w/ VFA 32 on Dec. 2nd and the next evening we took the children to see the Christmas parade at the oceanfront here in Va Beach. I went to a squadron wives Christmas party the following weekend and we also took the children to see the beautiful Christmas lights that were set up on the boardwalk and in the sand at the beach. We drove down the boardwalk in our car and the children loved it! The stomach bug hit our house the 2nd week in December and we all caught it. Hopefully that bug will stay away the rest of the winter. Yuck! The 3rd weekend in December I took my mom and Madelyn to see the Nutcracker performed by Madelyn's dance studio. It was beautiful and we enjoyed it! Joseph had his Christmas party at school the next week and he also had a Christmas program w/ all the children from the preschool. Joseph gets a little stage fright and usually just stands and/or sits very still and doesn't open his mouth to sing. I still love seeing him up on stage even if my little guy gets a little nervous. :) We enjoyed spending some time w/ my parents on Christmas Eve and we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. (I just noticed I've used the word CHRISTMAS a ton in his blog post. Your assignment is to count how many times I used that word and I will post the answer at the end). Santa came and look what he left under the tree......
Maddy found half of an m&m chocolate chip cookie that Santa must have left on the plate. She helped herself to it before opening any gifts. Smart girl! :)
Joseph had asked Santa for a jet w/ a banner flying behind it......so that Santa sure had to get creative! Joseph opened his banner and it had his name on it!

Then he opened his jet. Later that day he told us that jets don't have banners behind them...only airplanes do. Oh Joseph!

He also got a BIG firetruck!

And Maddy got a Cabbage Patch Kid doll!

And a baby doll stroller that she loves :)

Nan and Pop came over Christmas morning to see what santa brought!

Here is Joseph w/ all his goodies...

And Madelyn with all of hers...

Santa brought an Ernie duck pond game that both Joseph and Madelyn really like....

And Maddy got a dog that she can walk....

That money smells good....huh Maddy?!!! Thank you Gramma Sue and Grampa Joe for the $ and the special savings bonds for both kids!!!

Joseph was proud of his $ too!

Santa brought Joseph and Maddy matching fleece outfits and since it was pretty chilly Christmas day they got to wear them outside!

Joe and I got this new swing set for the kids. We found it on Craigslist for a great deal! It's a Rainbow Play set and was priced just right (and only a few years old). Joe spent an entire weekend re-staining it and assembling it. So far it's been a big hit!

Joseph also asked santa for a remote control truck and daddy made it chase Joseph in the yard and Joseph squealed w/ excitement.

Santa knew Maddy loves her brother's raincoat, rain boots, and umbrella.......so he brought her a set of her own!

One of Nan and Pop's camping club friends GAVE them a nice power wheels and tricycle that their grandson had outgrown. So Pop worked on the power wheels to get it running again (needed a new battery) and Joseph was soooooo happy! It even has a switch on it to dump things out of the back dump area!

Maddy having fun on her tricycle at Nan and Pop's house!

As soon as Joseph got off the power wheels, Maddy ran to jump on it. She is ALL about keeping up w/ her brother these days and whatever he does, she will certainly attempt. She put her foot on the pedal and off she went. It scared the mess out of me and Pop as we were standing right there and the two of us ran to get her foot off the pedal immediately. She's not quite big enough to be riding a power wheels, although she would surely disagree if you asked her. :)

Nan and Pop got her a pink car more appropriate for her age and she's happy in it!

We had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party and Joseph REALLY wanted to blow out the candle. In fact, he insists on blowing out EVERYONE'S candles when we celebrate birthdays. Notice the nice long line of drool/spit that is flying out of his mouth and all over the cupcakes. Oh yes...this is how our 3 year old blows out candles. Haha!

Joseph also got a scooter from Nan and Pop and it looks like everyone is having a blast on it.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas this year.

Christmas was used 12 times! :)

Fall and Thanksgiving

2011-12-19T14:08:00.016-05:00

November was a fun month for Joseph and Madelyn. We had a ton of leaves in the yard and they enjoyed playing with them and I enjoyed taking pictures of them....

Joseph had a Thanksgiving dinner and performance at his preschool and the food was delicious and the children singing were so precious. Here was the centerpiece on our table.....

Joseph spotted Mom, Dad, Madelyn, Nan and Pop......

Joseph also had a Thanksgiving party at school and I made these super cute little guys for his class.....

His teacher brought an air popcorn popper and the children had SO much fun watching the popcorn "jump out" everywhere!

Party time...

I made an oreo trifle on Thanksgiving morning and my favorite little guy was happy to lick the spatula!

We went to Nan and Pop's house to celebrate Thanksgiving and had a wonderful meal! Here is Joseph w/ his cute little turkey shirt....

And Maddy w/ her cute little turkey dress....

Joseph made this at school and it's laminated so we can use it year after year!

Hi Pop!

My sweet girl...

And handsome guy...

Almost time to eat! Nan did an amazing job cooking as always!

I couldn't resist this fun chocolate chip cookie at the store, so he came home with us! YUM!

Joseph saying the blessing before we eat our Thanksgiving meal...

Maddy is ready to eat and is HUNGRY!

So is Joseph....

Helping daddy with the dishes....

This picture makes me laugh! The cup looks like a beak on Maddy! Gobble gobble!

My precious babies (although Joseph tells me daily that he is NOT a baby and I remind him that he will ALWAYS be MY baby)...

Family pic...Take 1.....oh Joseph...what's that face???

Family pic....Take 2....a little better but......oh Joseph...... haha!

Joseph using the remote to make the aircraft carrier (that Grampa Joe and Gramma Sue gave him) go in the water....

Great job Joseph.....

Family pic.....Take 3.....I like this one :)

Everyone is looking and smiling!!!! NOT an easy task these days w/ 2 children that are 3 and 1!

Maddy has had enough Thanksgiving fun and is so sleepy and ready for a nap....

Happy Birthday to my Dad!!!

2011-11-29T14:09:00.007-05:00

My dad's birthday is the day after mine so we usually get to celebrate 2 days in a row! That sure makes a certain 3 year old and 1 year old very happy! :)

Happy Birthday Pop!!!

Snuggle time w/ daddy...

My mom made delicious cupcakes for Pop's birthday!

And look who got to blow out the candles again!!!

Maddy was making a mess on her hands so Joseph wanted to show me that his hands were clean :)

Oh yes! Maddy sure enjoyed her cupcake and she couldn't get to sleep that night until 9:30pm!!! That's 2 hours after her bedtime! YIKES! She also had a HUGE blowout black diaper the next morning. Haha!!!

Happy Birthday to me!

2011-11-29T13:14:00.008-05:00

My mom and dad are the best!!!! Even though I'm 34 years old (YIKES) with my own 2 children now, they still make my birthdays extra special! Thanks for making it a fun evening!

Joseph and Maddy helping me open my present!

Joseph and Daddy were being silly with the party hats...

Dad came up with this idea for Joseph :)

Then we made it for Maddy too....

She didn't like it as much as Joseph did :)

Kisses for the birthday momma!

My wonderful parents!!!!

Had to have help blowing out all those candles!

This little guy loves chocolate cake...

And she does too....

Pumpkins, Fall Festival, and Halloween

2011-11-03T14:12:00.018-04:00

The last week of October was busy for us. I carved 2 pumpkins and let the kids pick out and play w/ the seeds.

One cat pumpkin and one smiley face...

Joseph's preschool had a fall festival w/ games, prizes, and snacks. Joseph wasn't much into having his picture taken that morning, but Maddy liked the camera! Daddy also got to come home off the carrier 4 days early!!!! That was a nice surprise! He was able to go to Joseph's fall festival w/ us!

Daddy helping Joseph w/ ring toss...

She loved sticking her face thru the hole...

The preschoolers were able to go pick out a pumpkin in the mini pumpkin patch. This is the one Joseph picked...

They wouldn't look at the camera, but Joseph gave his little sis a hug...

Up went Maddy and Joseph gets a turn next!!!

My big boy Mater (from the Cars movie) and little fairy princess for Halloween...

We joined Joseph's best friend Logan in his neighborhood for trick or treating fun!

Maddy put her bucket IN the candy bowl and then grabbed handfuls of candy from Logan's daddy.

I got candy mommy!!!!

Maddy was afraid to go up to the doors at first, but once she realized she got candy, she was all about it! Silly girl takes after her momma and LOVES chocolate! She also was a little confused and started handing people candy at the door from her bucket. :)

Maddy rode in the wagon some of the time and brother wanted to pull it.

I got candy!!!!!

Joseph and Logan being brave big boys all by themselves at the scary house!

Maddy was eating a lollipop w/ the paper still on it (we didn't know it as she was riding along in the wagon and getting into her candy that was in her bucket). By the time we realized, she had just figured out how to pull the wrapper off and this is the face she was making. Haha!

Comparing lollipops :)

Checking out their candy after they got home...

Hunt Club Farm

2011-10-25T13:40:00.012-04:00

Early in Oct. we visited the farm by our house for our annual pumpkin pics!

This kids had a blast playing "drums" on the pumpkins!

Nana came with us!!!

Maddy found some pumpkins just her size....

Madelyn is 18 months old!

2011-10-22T20:32:00.012-04:00

Where, oh where has the last year and a half of our lives gone??? It's just so hard for me to believe that our baby girl is already 18 months old. Well, make that 19 months now, but at the time these pics were taken, she was 18 months! I decided to take her to Red Wing park in Va Beach to try to capture some pics of her at this age and I was quite pleased w/ the way several of them turned out.

Madelyn turned 18 months on Sept. 18, 2011. She's such a sweet and loving child who continues to melt hearts daily. I'm frequently stopped at stores by strangers who tell me they think she's beautiful and I couldn't agree with them more. :) She continues to be laid back, low maintenance, and easy to please. She's shy and it takes her a little while to warm up to strangers and new places. However, she's making progress in that area. It wasn't long ago that Miss Maddy would burst into tears if anyone got remotely close to her and looked at her and/or tried to talk to her. Lately instead of crying she's been smiling, waving hi and blowing kisses to strangers as they stop to look at her. She loves her big brother dearly and squeals with excitement when she sees him first thing in the morning. She insists on playing with all of brother's trains, matchbox cars, trucks, and pretty much all of his toys. Her vocabulary is expanding these days and as of now she can say: hi, bye bye, mama, dada, Nana, Joseph (sounds like Jaja), bubbles, balloon (baboon), book, light, baby, yes, uh oh, uh huh, cup, cookie (kuku), and thank you (tay tay). She knows lots of animal sounds and also responds to questions that we ask her by saying yes, or doing whatever we ask her to do. She can point to her hair, nose, eyes, ears, and mouth. She uses sign language for more, all done, please, and thank you. She goes to library class with mommy each week and with about 9 other one year olds. The teacher is WONDERFUL. During library class we sing lots of songs, enjoy finger plays w/ felt pieces that go along w/ stories, read books, shake the egg shakers to a song, and towards the end of the class the teacher blows gymboree bubbles for little ones to try to catch and chase. She also goes to dance class each week and loves that too (and I must add that she looks darling in her leotard, ballet shoes, and tutu each week). Mommy continues to dress Madelyn as girly as possible, but Miss Maddy is quite rough and tough these days. Her legs are covered with bruises from playing rough and girlfriend LOVES getting dirty and playing in the dirt. Madelyn certainly loves her daddy and when he comes home from work or from a long trip, she runs to him as fast as she can with her arms wide open and the biggest smile on her face.......and jumps into his arms.

Madelyn has brought so much joy to our lives this past year and a half. I feel so very blessed and lucky to be her mom and thankful each day for her health.

Our trip to PA and NY

2011-10-16T14:39:00.023-04:00

The week of Sept. 19th we headed north to visit Gramma Sue and Grampa Joe in Saranac Lake, NY! On the drive up, we stopped in Philadelphia, PA and visited the Please Touch Museum for children. Joseph and Madelyn had the best time at that museum and I highly recommend it to anyone who is ever near Philadelphia!

Joseph LOVED this machine and digging for balls....

Hold on tight Maddy, Joseph drives fast!

Super fun water table play area...

My little musician...

My big boy musician....

This house was the perfect size for Maddy :)

She will be the best mommy one day :)

Another one of Joseph's favorite is the "city bus" as he calls it! Time out so mommy can sneak in a few kisses.

We found an open field for Joseph to practice his soccer....

Next stop......NEW YORK!!!! We arrived in NY and were so excited to see our family!!! Here is Gramma Sue w/ her favorite grandson!

And her favorite granddaughter :)

Auntie Teresa was there too and lots of fun to play with!

The views on the lake are breathtaking!!!!

Out for a morning stroll....

Joseph wanted to ride too :)

Grampa Joe let Joseph drive the boat all by himself!

Maddy is eating sticks here. Yummy!

There were lots of cool machines for Joseph to check out around their house!

Grampa Joe gave Joseph and Daddy a ride on the tractor!

Playing in the rain....

Maddy enjoyed boat rides too...

Our sweet boy...

We had a fun week w/ Grampa Joe and Gramma Sue! On the way home we stopped in Langhorne, PA and visited Sesame Place! It was forecasted to rain that day, but somehow the rain held off all day and we had a lovely time.

Maddy and Joseph both really like carousel rides these days....

Flying Elmos!

Weeee!!!

Waiting for the big parade to begin!

Yay! The parade came right past us!

We had a nice trip visiting our family! I'm SLOWLY catching up on this blog. Stay tuned!!!

First Day of 3 year old Preschool

2011-10-03T20:24:00.008-04:00

I'm a month behind on blogging, but I promise I will catch up! Joseph had his 1st day of 3 year old preschool on Wed. September 7th. This year he goes to school on MWF mornings from 9am-12pm. He has transitioned nicely and is not crying when I drop him off!!! The 3 year old class is tons of fun and he is learning so many things already this school year! Here is our sweet boy on his 1st day of school...... Maddy wanted to get her picture taken too.....

Come on momma....let's go!

By the playground at school.....

Joseph had a wonderful 1st day and we love his teachers this year!
We can't leave out Miss Madelyn. She started her 1st dance class on the afternoon of Joseph's 1st day of school! Wednesdays are quite busy for me this fall! Maddy and I take Joseph to school at 9am, then we come home so she can catch an hour morning nap, then it's off to her library class while brother is at school, then we pick him up.....have lunch.....and both take a nap, then it's off to Maddy's dance class after nap time in the afternoon! Whew! Here is our prima ballerina in the waiting area before her 1st class started!

She met a friend in her class that is a little older than her named Ava. Maddy has lots of fun at her dance class and enjoys playing with the ribbon sticks, tambourines, fairy wings, crawling thru the tunnel, walking on the balance beam, and jumping on the mini trampoline! Mommy gets a workout too as I help her move across the floor! :)

Hurricane Irene

2011-09-08T12:44:00.012-04:00

I've been wanting to blog about our weekend when Hurricane Irene made her visit, so here it goes! Joe was supposed to leave for Fallon, NV on Saturday Aug. 27th (the day that the hurricane was coming through our area). The navy decided to send him a day earlier (on that Friday) so he booked 2 hotel rooms at Town Center in Virginia Beach for my parents, me, and the kids to stay during the storm. Our street tends to lose power during storms and we also have huge pine trees all around the house, so we felt it was safest to not stay in this house during the storm. (The picture above is of the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier located at the oceanfront. It was taken during the storm (not my be, but I found it online)!

When we arrived on Friday evening at the hotel, the kids had a blast running all around the room. Nan and Pop helped get the room all set up for Joseph and Maddy to be able to sleep. The hotel brought a crib in our room for Maddy and my mom brought her breathable bumper pad from her house to put on the hotel crib.

Maddy loves finding small places that she can fit in and she had the most fun running from the end of the bed to that wall......
Joseph helped Pop set up his guard rails so he wouldn't fall out of his bed...
Maddy had more fun in the bathroom playing with toilet paper.....
The children slept great after a late bedtime. Maddy was scared in her unfamiliar crib and cried when I tried to put her down for the night. The crib was away from the beds and over by the bathroom. After I tried several times to get her to sleep, she was just too scared so I moved her crib right between the two beds (I was sleeping in one bed and Joseph in the other). This made her feel better as she could see me in the bed while she laid down in her crib). She was asleep in no time!

The next morning, Maddy made sure we had enough water from our hurricane supplies! I took Joseph swimming in the indoor pool while Maddy took her morning nap. Joseph wanted to go in the elevator every chance he got and he was our number 1 button pusher for the elevator! :)
Maddy stacked the chair cushions and made herself a slide. She laughed and had a ball as she slid down the cushions. Joseph thought this was fun too. So glad I brought the portable dvd player with several videos. Joseph knows how to work it by himself and this kept him occupied for a while....
We had lots of time to play and be silly that day as we hung out at the hotel and waited for the hurricane to arrive.

After bath time, Joseph and Maddy watched a video before they went to bed.
Thankfully our neighborhood never lost power during the storm and no trees fell down. Our yard was a big mess when I got back home on Sunday morning. I took the kids outside in the front yard around 4:30pm to start raking piles of pine cones, limbs, and leaves. The kids were running all over the place and I just couldn't get the yard cleaned up while taking care of them too, so we all went back inside the house. My parents came over on Monday morning and they helped me finish cleaning up the yard. I looked at my neighbors yards and saw that many of them had about 3 or 4 bags on the curb as they had already cleaned up their yards. By the time I finished cleaning our yard, we had 23 bags on the curb. Yes, I counted them!!! :) 23 to be exact! LOL!
I'm glad we were all safe from the storm and hopefully the hurricanes will stay away from Va Beach this season!

The rest of July and August

2011-08-25T13:51:00.049-04:00

I can't believe that summer is almost over. It sure has gone by fast for us. Joe started workups and he's been in Key West, on a boat det., and now in Fallon, NV for several weeks. The kids and I are staying busy by swimming in the pool, visiting the bounce house, recreation center, parks, play dates, hanging out with friends and with my parents.

Before Joe left, we celebrated his 34th birthday! Joseph helped me bake his cake and also helped Daddy blow out the candles! His real birthday was July 28th and he was in Key West to celebrate!

Madelyn wanted to touch the cake!

Happy Birthday Joe!

We took a few trips to the beach while Joe has been home. It's tough for me to take the kids by myself, so we usually only go to the beach when all of us can go. The kids love the sand and water and have so much fun running around and playing in it!
Joe bought a body board for Joseph and helped him ride a few waves. They both had big smiles and a great time.
Maddy caught a few waves too! She didn't cry, but didn't have a big smile either. She just wasn't too sure about body boarding. :)

She prefers to stand on it. Maybe a future surfer like her daddy?!!

And then she took a little rest on it....

Joseph ran in circles around the board and made his own fun!

Look who got buried in the sand....

We've also been having some fun at home.....

When did our baby girl get so big??? She looks so much like a toddler to me in this pic.....

We've really enjoying swimming in my parents' pool this summer.......

Joseph likes to practice the skills he's been learning at swim lessons with Pop...

And he loves to go under the water with Mommy.....

Our sweet boy all dressed and ready for church.....

Maddy's ready for church too....

I love them.....

Although it looks like Joseph is doing the choke hold on Maddy, this is how he gives her a hug sometimes. :)

Fun indoor play area at the Sportsplex....

Joseph had a fudge popsicle and he shared some with his sister. Both of them LOVE chocolate. What can I say?! They certainly got their love for chocolate from their momma! :)

YUM!!!

Joseph is really into "monster trucks" these days. He has a video about monster trucks and wants to watch it constantly. He also has monster truck underwear that he is so proud of. :)
Joseph and Landon both loved the barbie power wheels at a friend's birthday party. I think they both rode it until the battery died.

Joseph's 1st time hitting a pinata.

Joseph and his best bud Logan at another birthday party.....

I found this cool dragonfly outside our house. It landed on the rope of the baby swing we have in the backyard and allowed me to get super close to capture this....
Madelyn loves to climb in and out of the pool on the stairs over and over again! Here she is hanging out with Nana and Nemo.Both Joseph and Maddy LOVE splashing. Lately when Joseph is doing something that makes him laugh, or he sees that it makes Maddy laugh, he runs around yelling "Having Fun, Having Fun". I think he was saying that in this picture.
And I was trying hard not to lose my contact lenses with all the splashing water....

Practicing his floating skills....

We ventured out a couple of weekends ago to go ride the new Tide Light Rail in Norfolk. Unfortunately when we got there, it wasn't running yet, and the grand opening of it was the following weekend. We decided to go to downtown Norfolk and ride the ferry boat across the water to Portsmouth. This made Joseph's day! We had a lot of fun. Here are the guys sitting outside of Joe's crab shack...

And here is the ferry....

All ready to get on board....

J and M are on the ferry and looking out....

Riding on the bench with a nice breeze blowing as the ferry headed towards Portsmouth...

I've had these Big Brother/Little Sister shirts since the spring and finally put them on the kids. It was near impossible to get them both to sit and smile, so these are the best I got.

My kids LOVE bubbles.....

Where is Madelyn?

Outside play time in our inflatable water park....

The base had a family festival with bounce houses, a hay ride, and lots of characters dressed up. It was really hot that afternoon, but the kids had a ton of fun.

Joseph and Jackson with the Admirals Hockey Mascot....

And the Geico Insurance guy....

Spider-Man or as Joseph calls him "Spider Guy".

High fives for Elmo!

Maddy saw Elmo too, although she didn't know! I think she would have screamed if she knew. :)

Sponge Bob was there too. Joseph doesn't know who Sponge Bob is and we hope to keep it that way for a long time.

They opened up the fire truck and let the kids climb inside....

They also got in the back of the fire truck.

Silly boy...

I think Maddy's incisors are trying to come in as she constantly has her hands in her mouth.

Another week of swim lesson......

Joseph had the front and back floating down. Looking forward to him learning the different strokes soon.

He loves when it's time to kick....

No running at the pool buddy...

Hot, hot, hot July!

2011-07-21T14:07:00.033-04:00

It's been HOT in Va Beach this month. The heat index today is 115! We've been playing in the water a lot and also staying inside in the afternoon when it gets too hot. Poor Joseph had a fever and croup cough right after the 4th of July. A couple days later, Madelyn had a high fever too, but thankfully she never developed the cough. J fell asleep in his chair while watching a video the first day he was so sick.Madelyn only gets her paci and lovie blanket in her crib during nap or bed time, but she felt so sick that those two things brought her so much comfort, so we let her have her paci and lovie during the day. She prefers paci to be upside down and puts it in that way each time. Silly girl!
Joseph had to have his lovie...bun bun......when he was sick and he thought it was fun that he and his little sis both had their lovies during the day. Don't get used to it buddy! Haha!

When everyone felt better, we were able to take a few trips to the beach. Cool dude at the beach eating fruit snacks...

Sand castle fun....

Dumping wet sand on Maddy....

Maddy found her own little pool at the beach.....

Watching daddy body surf and ride the waves in....

Joseph loves his bike and he's super fast on it :)

Slip 'N Slide is lots of fun! Joseph got this slip 'n slide from a friend for his birthday. Although he hasn't quite grasped the concept of running and then sliding down it on his belly, he has invented his own fun with it!

Joseph and Maddy run up and down the "Slippy Slide" as Joseph calls it. Sometimes they actually slip and fall down, and the look on their face is priceless when their bottom his the ground.

Madelyn loves blowing bubbles in the water. She does this every night during bath time and every time she gets in a pool. She sticks her little face in the water and it's just so cute to watch.

Joe has been restoring and repainting cars lately as his hobby. Our garage has turned in to the workshop with a huge compressor that he hooks up his paint spray gun to. Recently he bought an old bike, sanded it down, bought new parts for it (like these huge handle bars) and repainted it. It turned out great and he made another one just like this for his "Key West" bike. He actually just left for Key West today for a few weeks and yes, his new bike went with him on the air lift! :)
We took the kids to play at the waterpark they have on the base here. Madelyn had a blast in the kiddie pool.

Sweet Joseph at the water park.

We took the kids to a new city park that has a spongy floor.

Joseph and his buddy Jackson having fun on the fire truck.

We walked down a paved trail behind the park and found this beautiful deck over looking the water.

Erik pushing Jacob and Maddy. My girl loves to swing.

I bought this "waterpark" at BJ's Wholesale and the children love it! Joseph quickly decided it was fun to stand on top of the slide and jump as high as he can in the air and land on his bottom to slide down it.

Joseph started swimming lessons this past week. Day 1 of swim lessons went great. He did everything they asked him to do (put his face in and head under the water and blow bubbles, and jump off the side of the pool). For some reason Day 2 and Day 3 of lessons he had tears and was hesitant to go under or even jump in the pool (which he's done for 2 years now). I think he is used to wearing his swim vest and feels confident in the water when wearing that and he doesn't get to wear it during swim lessons so he's afraid. Day 4 was better as he would go under again and jump off the wall. He has 2 more weeks of lessons in August, so hopefully he'll continue to make progress.
Here he is going under the water with his swim coach.......

Jump!

Another project completed...

2011-07-19T21:08:00.007-04:00

Art project

2011-07-14T14:40:00.007-04:00

This summer I've been taking 2 classes so that I can renew my Virginia teaching license for another 5 years. One of my recent assignments in one class was to create an art project and make a PowerPoint presentation of that project to present to my class. The 2 thoughts that crossed my mind when given this assignment was: 1) It's been a LONG time since I've created a project for students and 2) I can't remember the last time I made a slideshow presentation. Thankfully it all came back to me fairly quickly and I wanted to share my project with you! I had the perfect "student" to test it out!!! My next assignment is to create a music project and also make a slideshow for it. Stay tuned!

4th of July

2011-07-08T19:48:00.012-04:00

We had a fun 4th of July at my parents' house this year. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and swam in the pool! The weather was perfect almost all day until a thunderstorm came that evening. We enjoyed some fun in the sun and playing in the pool. We missed Joe as he was out on the carrier, but glad he came home just a few days later.

Although Joseph is 3 now, he still loves climbing up in "his" high chair at Nan and Pop's house. He's ready to eat!
Maddy is ready to eat too...
Never and easy task to get everyone to look at the camera. Haha....

Joseph shared the shiny stars with Maddy, but she didn't really like them.

Nana playing school with Maddy.
Ready for a swim..

Joseph loves jumping in the pool...

I love this pic of Joseph listening to Pop telling him to kick
Maddy had fun playing dress-up with all her red, white, and blue!

Joseph loves riding his tricycle at Nan and Pop's. He loves riding his big boy bike too!
Joe came off this big boat....USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 6th.
He's home! The last time I went to pick him up off that carrier was last July at the homecoming from the deployment he went on. I was certainly glad he only went out for less than 2 weeks this time! Happy July friends and family!

Joseph's favorite thing to do at the bounce house.....

2011-06-24T21:08:00.004-04:00

Joseph's 3rd birthday and Memorial Day weekend!

2011-06-22T13:46:00.019-04:00

I can hardly believe my once so tiny 4lb 10 oz baby is now 3 years old and such a big boy! I recently took him to his 3 year old well baby visit with his pediatrician and he weighed 32.4 lbs (58 percentile) and was 38.5 inches tall (68 percentile). The doctor said he was really healthy and growing great! Joseph had lots of fun celebrating his birthday this year. It fell on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and we celebrated for what seemed to be a week. Then did a mini celebration on Flag Day June 14th as that was the day we were able to bring J home from the hospital after he was born! Here he is the morning of his birthday....

His big gift.....a train table!!!

Mommy bought him several educational type toys since he loves puzzles and letters these days!

We went to my parents house on his birthday to celebrate with Nan and Pop. My mom made this cupcake cake for J!

Maddy was ready to celebrate in her party dress!

Trying to hold up 3 fingers to show that he is 3 years old.

Successful at blowing out his 3 candles!

First time on Pop's sea-doo.

Daddy was brave and let Joseph drive...

The rest of us rode on Pop's pontoon boat and had fun too!

Daddy can throw J REALLY high in the pool and he LOVES it!

Swimming to daddy....

The following week we had Joseph's birthday party with his friends. We decided to have it at My Gym so they kids could run all around and have a blast. The kids all had such a great time at the party.
They closed the gym just for Joseph's party and the workers really did a great job keeping the children entertained and running the party.

Madelyn had a fun time at Joseph's party too!

This s Brobee.....one of Joseph's favorite characters these days...

Sweet boy hiding in the balls, but mommy found him!

The birthday boy went for a fast wagon ride all around the gym during the middle of his party!

Time to eat!!!

Yummy cake!

My dad didn't want Maddy to miss out on cake, so she had a little taste also.

Waiting their turn for the zip line!

Go Joseph!!!

Joseph and Logan swimming in Nan and Pop's pool Memorial Day weekend.
Maddy played by the pool too! She's so busy these days that she gets in and out of the pool about 100 times before she's ready to go inside.

Ready for a boat ride on Pop's new boat....

Logan and Joseph wanted to drive....
We have season passes to Ocean Breeze water park in Va Beach and they opened Memorial Day weekend. Last year Joseph would barely ride the slides with Joe or myself riding with him. This year he wanted to ride them ALL BY HIMSELF! What a big boy!
Maddy only wanted to splash her feet in the shallow part of the kids area in the water park.
Cousin Jordan came to stay with Nan and Pop for a couple of weeks and Joseph was most excited to see him. Joseph loves hanging out with the big kids (he calls it) and followed Jordan everything. Thankfully Jordan really helps Joseph and enjoys helping Joseph learn.

Happy Memorial Day!

Joseph and Maddy had to sport their red, white, and blue swim suits!

Nana made chocolate covered strawberries and this little guy was in heaven!!!

Play time at the bay with cousin Jordan...

Jordan helped Joseph learn to make sand castles...

Pool time at our house...

Magnificent May

2011-05-25T09:16:00.029-04:00

The month of May has been lots of fun around our house! We've been on the go a TON and this month sure has gone fast for us. Joseph took swim lessons every Tues/Thurs evenings in May and he did so well!!! He jumps off the side on the pool, goes under the water, blows lots of bubbles with his mouth and nose in the water, floats on his tummy and back with his ears in the water, and is learning different strokes! We are so proud of him! He also finished his last day of preschool for this school year on Thursday morning. His teachers were very kind and loving to him this year and I'm thankful that we found such a great Christian preschool for him. Joseph turned 3 today and enjoyed every minute of his birthday! I hope to post birthday pics soon!

Madelyn has been such a busy little girl since she started walking and is into just about everything these days. She continues to be a sweetheart and is happy almost all the time. She loves playing with her big brother (and all his toys too....which big brother doesn't like at times) and he adores playing with her. She now says dada, mama, nana, uh oh, and bye bye.

Joe was able to participate in a flyover for a Phillies baseball games this week. I saw a video on the flyover and I must say the timing was perfect and it looked great! :) He's been restoring and selling cars on the side lately and has become really good at it! He continues to fly each week and his cag staff job has been WONDERFUL.

I've recently gone back to school.....well kindof.....I'm taking 2 online college education classes this summer to keep my teaching license renewed. I thought these classes were going to be easy A's, but I quickly realized that taking care of a 1 year old and a 2 year old (well after today he's 3) and trying to study and complete assignments all at the same time is pretty tough. Thankfully my parents are helping out some with the children each week so I can get my reading and assignments/projects completed and turned in on time.

Here are LOTS of pics for you!

Maddy's 1st day at the beach this season.....

She loves shoes just like her mommy....
Our new deck on the back of the house is wonderful and the kids loves playing on it. It even has a gate we can close if we don't want them to go down the stairs.

Silly daddy....

Yikes....

My sweet boy....

Joe and I took Joseph to see BARNEY LIVE and he loved every minute of it. It was a JOSEPH only night (meaning Madelyn stayed home with my parents) and he loved all the undivided attention from Mommy and Daddy!

Playtime at the beach again....
Joseph and Logan...
Playdate at my house......the boys had a blast in the bounce house.....
Joseph and Logan again......
My dad put all the grandkids names on his shed in his backyard.....

The front of his shirt says "Take me somewhere FUN" and here is the back...

Another "Joseph only" night with mommy and daddy. We took him to see the monster trucks race on the beach!

Another playdate with friends....
Joseph LOVES pushing "Gee Gee" in the car and she loves it too....
Pop loves Joseph!
Maddy and Jacob on their way to pick strawberries...
Joseph found a strawberry....
Maddy ran up and down the rows on the farm...
She also enjoyed dumping out the basket of strawberries.....
I would say that blowing bubbles is Joseph's FAVORITE outside activity these days (except for swimming in Nan and Pop's pool). It wasn't long ago that this little guy held the bubble wand up to his nose and blew as hard as he could out of his nose to make the bubbles come off the wand. Glad he finally learned that we use our mouth to blow bubbles! haha!

Another car ride.....Weeeeee!
He also loves pushing his little sis in the swing. She laughs and has a big time too when he pushes her!
My dear friend and college roommate Jackie came down for a visit. We had a wonderful weekend together and my kids think she's the best! :)

Bottoms up! Trevor and Joseph enjoying their afternoon milk...
This is my friend Shannon and her sweet baby girl Sydney. Her hubby is currently deployed and she lives in Lemoore. She came to Va Beach to stay with her parents for a couple of weeks and we were able to catch up a few times. Shannon's older son Trevor is a few weeks older than Joseph and they played together as babies before they moved to Lemoore. Joseph had so much fun with his buddy Trevor and all the girls had a blast too!
Uh oh! Our girly girls are playing with dump trucks. Haha! I hate to admit this, but Miss Maddy has actually been acting rough and tough for a couple months now and losing some of her girly qualities. Our pink, satin, and bows might come to an end sooner than this mommy would like....
More bounce house fun...
She is "Tutu Cute" Love her...
Play Doh fun...
Here we go again...
Mommy, is this how I wear the glasses??? (He got 3D paper glasses with a set of bubbles from Jackie)
Oh wait, maybe like this????
Maddy's turn with the glasses. She decided to eat them.
And then made it terrible face when they didn't taste as good as she had hoped...
Oh boy!!! Joseph just wants to squeeze himself in the car so bad when Maddy is riding. After all it was his car first right???? I just have to laugh at this pic as she's pushing his bottom away.
Nothing like mowing the grass on the deck!

This is the "How Dare You" look....
Peek A Boo!
Maddy wants to ball and I can almost guarantee that Joseph was yelling NO Gee Gee in this pic.
We might be trading in tutu's and ballet shoes for sports uniforms...

J loves swinging on the "Big Kid" swings and he's learning to pump his legs to make himself go....
Love them :)

We took to the kids to the Chesapeake Jubilee and rode fun rides with our friends The Stinsons...

Joseph's first time on the swing ride....
Boys being boys and splashing water on the ride :)
Jump Joseph, Jump!
First day in the baby pool. We have a much bigger pool for them, but it takes FOREVER to fill up and they are just as content in this one!

Easter Bunny

2011-04-30T13:53:00.005-04:00

We had the awful tummy bug hit our house again right before Easter and it sure was NOT fun. Thankfully everyone is feeling better now and enjoying this beautiful spring weather.

I wasn't sure if we would be able to take the kids to see the bunny this year due to being sick, but we were able to make a quick trip on Easter weekend. Last year Joseph screamed when we plopped him down on the big bunny's knee, but when we moved him to the bench so he was able to sit "next" to the buddy, he did great! I didn't quite know what to expect from him this year with the big bunny! There was a pretty long line so he was able to see the other children get their pictures taken and he started getting excited for his turn. I asked him if he wanted to stand next to the bunny, sit next to him, or sit on his lap. He immediately said "Sit on his lap". I must admit, I was a bit shocked by his decision. Sure enough he ran right up to the bunny and jumped in his lap. Although it may look like J is trying to get away from the bunny in this pic (this is his shy look), he was really happy and kept looking up at him and smiling. Maddy on the other hand was terrified of that huge white bunny. She burst into tears. I was able to get her to stop crying (once she saw me standing in front of her) and this was the best pic we got.....

Joseph's "lovie" that he sleeps with each nap/night time is called "Bun Bun" and he's a satin and velour bunny with a cape on. Bunnies are Joseph's favorite animal due to Bun Bun! :) Bun bun is the name Joseph gave him and he's made by the company "Bunnies by the bay". We had to purchase 4 Bun Buns. We leave 1 at my parents house for when he is over there. We have 3 here at home. 2 of them are pretty worn out (we alternate these two daily and have to have a back up in case one gets thrown up on and has to jump in the washing machine). The newest one we call "Doctor Bunny" and he gets to go w/ J only when he goes to the Dr. and boy does J love that!!! Bun bun stays up high on Joseph's chest of drawers during the day and only comes down to be with Joseph during nap and bedtime. Bun bun sure means to world to him! Here is a pic of Bun Bun.....

Here are the past 3 years of bunny pictures....

2009 2010 2011

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

2011-04-15T19:09:00.018-04:00

The weather has been lovely the past few weeks! Perfect for some outside pics......and this momma has been taking a TON! My dear navy wife friend Kelley recently started her photography business: http://www.kelleystinsonphotography.com Madelyn and I met her at the beautiful Botanical Gardens in Norfolk one gorgeous morning and she snapped away and captured some amazing 1st year pics of Miss Maddy. Madelyn is certainly not shy of the camera and even gives us a little pose here and there. We walked around the gardens and found the perfect locations. The following 5 pics are some of the ones Kelley captured w/ her camera and they make my heart melt!

The photographer that took our homecoming pictures last summer (Rachel Sutherland) http://www.rsutherlandphotography.com was offering a live duckling session at the beginning of April and I simply couldn't resist! I showed Joseph many pictures of baby ducklings and talked all about it a week prior to our session. He was so excited and kept asking me daily if we could go play with the baby ducks. I was hoping that he would have a huge smile and hold the little ducklings tight, but with Joseph's personality....you just never know! When we first got to the park Joseph was intrigued by the little yellow creatures, but was a little uneasy when we asked him to touch them. Rachel worked her magic and tried her best to get him a laugh and smile, but he just wasn't having it. After he touched the ducklings for a few minutes he busted out crying and ran away from the little ducklings yelling "No like duckies mommy". Thankfully Rachel was able to capture some of him w/ them and then put them away and took some pics on a bridge there at the park with NO ducklings! The following 13 pics were my favorites from our session with Rachel.....

After the duckling session I promised Joseph that I would take him to the playground at the park and let him play. He had the best time running around and playing. Both Joseph and Maddy love to swing.
Miss Rachel even gave Joseph a prize after the session (egg chalk) which he had fun playing with....

Sweet Madelyn with her sippy cup, snack trap, and cheerios watching Elmo!

I filled up the sand and water table and it was so fun to watch both Joseph and Maddy play at the table together. My babies are growing up so fast!

I took this pic of Maddy by the tree in our front yard. I love it!!!

Maddy was playing in big brother's hair and he thought it was hysterical. Too cute!

Daddy brought them back shirts from Tailhook last year and they are big enough to wear them now!
Joseph had an Easter celebration at preschool and we were invited to the party. They went to chapel and then had a egg hunt outside in the grass. After the egg hunt they went inside to have their party! His class has a total of 7 children and they all looked so grown up sitting at the table and waiting for their food compared to the beginning of the year.

Party time!!!

Ms. Brenda (the teacher) does this fun song "Wheels on the Bus" and the kids get to line up their chairs to sing the song. They LOVE it!
I took Joseph to a playdate on Friday w/ his playgroup. How sweet is the picture below?!!!!
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the spring. We are having the best time playing outside and can hardly wait for summer!

Grampa Joe and Gramma Sue's visit!

2011-04-02T17:26:00.005-04:00

Grampa Joe and Gramma Sue came to visit us back in March! Joe's Aunt Roberta and Uncle Bob came too! It was a great visit and we enjoyed spending time with them. Here is Grampa and Gramma with "Gee Gee".
Unfortunately it rained the first day they got here, but when it stopped, Joseph was super excited to go play in the puddles.
He was even more excited that Gramma had her rain boots on and went in the puddles too! :)

Joseph enjoys playing with Aunt Roberta too!

We went down to Sandbridge beach to let Joseph play at the park and so that Grampa and Gramma's dogs could run around. Joseph LOVES climbing the rock wall at this park and can get all the way to the top by himself! What a big boy!

He made it!

Tally, Mocha, and Jett had a blast running in the water and boy was it cold! Brrrr!

Here is Grampa Joe with his dogs....

Aunt Roberta and Uncle Bob with Maddy....

Grampa and Maddy...

Gramma and Maddy......

So glad they could make it down for a visit!

Birthday celebrations

2011-03-27T18:11:00.001-04:00

We've had so much fun celebrating Miss Maddy turning 1. I still can't believe she's already 1 year old. She was all smiles when she woke up the morning of her birthday!

All dressed for her photo shoot!!!

She loves her new chair! Now she doesn't have to climb in brother's chair all the time and upset him!

We had a family birthday party for her on her birthday. She seemed to enjoy the icing on the cake, but she didn't really figure out that she could eat the cake part also.

Joseph sure enjoyed his piece of cake and kept asking for it all morning!

Joseph enjoyed the icing too! :)

Nan and Pop came to celebrate on M's special day!

Returning home from the photo shoot. She was ready to open her presents!

A week later (Sat. the 26th) we had a friends birthday party for her. Joseph was so cute watching the slideshow we had playing on the tv.

Party favors for the girls....

Princess crown cookies....

And favors for the boys....

A special thanks to my mom for all her hard work helping me decorate....

And another piece of cake on her party day. This made me nervous.....no bib and no tray/table. YIKES! He managed to stay clean somehow! :)

Opening her gifts from friends...

Some of Maddy's friends....

We love our sweet girl!

And our sweet boy!

She loved playing in the box....

Here are just a few pics from the photo shoot that I mentioned she went to on the morning of her birthday. Miss Madelyn got so many compliments for being such a good model an being so happy and sweet. The photographer kept saying "She's doing great and she's gorgeous....one of the best babies we've photographed". Of course I agreed! :) I ordered several of these pictures and will certainly treasure them forever! We look forward to watching both Madelyn and Joseph grow another year and celebrating many more birthdays.

Oh yeah, one more little fact about our sweet little girl. She took her first couple of steps just 2 days after her birthday! Now, a week later, she's walking all around and across all the rooms in our house!

And She's Off!!!!!

2011-03-20T20:25:00.002-04:00

Maddy took her first steps on March 20, 2011 just 2 days after her 1st birthday!!!

Happy 1st Birthday to our beautiful princess!

2011-03-18T14:53:00.002-04:00

I can't believe our baby girl is 1 year old today! Wow, time sure does fly! We are so very thankful that she is a healthy little girl and look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with her. She started her birthday off today at a photo shoot (where she did great and got some amazing pictures), followed by a family birthday party and now she's taking a nice, long nap. The weather is perfect here today! Happy 1st Birthday sweet Madelyn! We love you so much! (If you got this post by email, you will need to go to my actual blog site to view this 1st year slideshow we put together). Here is the link....... http://www.thecapalbos.blogspot.com

Photography Workshop

2011-03-03T13:38:00.005-05:00

I recently had the opportunity to take a photography workshop from the very talented Rachel Sutherland with RSutherland Photography. http://www.rsutherlandphotography.com. Highly recommended to any of you that live in the Hampton Roads who are looking to learn more about taking better pictures with your slr camera. We started the workshop by learning for a couple of hours about camera settings. Then we ventured out to shoot with Rachel's help. She had a few models come to meet us and it was great being able to apply what we had learned.

Here is the scenery of the area we went to do our practice shoot!

And here is one beautiful little girl that came with her very pregnant mom to get some pics!
Mom and daughter were so photogenic that it made me want to just click away and take as many pics of them as possible!
Daughter had a little personality too and I loved it!
Such a sweet and beautiful little girl who knew exactly how to pose for the camera!!!

I LOVED learning how freeze action shots....

JUMP!

From behind (love her hair flying all around)

So cool to freeze the fountain water with my camera settings...

My little valentines..

2011-02-22T14:54:00.009-05:00

Valentine's Day was so much fun this year! The weather here in Va Beach was perfect that day so we took the little ones to the park. We all had a great time.

Grampa Joe and Gramma Sue sent Joseph and Madelyn a nice surprise! They received a bunch of balloons (Joseph's favorite) and a bag full of yummy treats! Joseph had so much fun pulling everything out of the bag and Maddy loved the puffs and baby treats that were in the bag for her too!
My littlest valentine waiting for her breakfast....
Present time....

Cards from Nan and Pop! Joseph got $ in his card to spend riding the school bus at the bounce house (his FAVORITE ride) and Maddy got $ in her card for a new hair bow! :)
Isn't he so sweet?!!!!
Fun at at the park...
Playing with his best buddy Logan! Silly boys!
Maddy found herself in the mirror at the park...

Snack time....

Playing with mommy's phone...
I LOVE him!!!!
Daddy thought it was fun to put them in the trunk of the car. Joseph is yelling "No Gee Gee" which he says VERY frequently these days. Poor Maddy hears that all day from him (usually when she grabs his toys).
Multitasking....eating ritz crackers and riding his tricycle...

My big valentine and my little valentine..

Kisses for little sister...
Weeeeeee!!!!
Joseph's valentine's from school...
Another super fun V-Day surprise from Great Grampa Joe and Maureen....

Photo Album Update

2011-02-15T10:11:00.002-05:00

I forgot to mention in my last post that I uploaded our vacation pictures under the "Caribbean Vacation February 2011" album on the left side of my blog page. If you want to view all the pics (I took a TON), just click on the link and then watch the slideshow!

Our Caribbean vacation

2011-02-13T13:30:00.006-05:00

We escaped the cold weather in Va Beach and headed down south for a wonderful trip! The 4 of us flew to Orlando where my parents were staying in their motorhome. Joseph and Maddy did great on the plane and both took naps! This was Madelyn's 1st time flying and also our 1st time flying as a family of 4. Joseph was VERY excited about going "up, up, up" in the airplane! We arrived to warm, beautiful weather in Orlando and even went swimming in the rv park outdoor pool the afternoon that we arrived! We stayed a night with Nan and Pop in their motorhome.

The next morning we headed to the Orlando airport and Joe and I flew out to San Juan, Puerto Rico where we got on the Carnival cruise ship for our week long cruise to some amazing islands! This was a "I finished nursing Madelyn" trip! I had hoped to nurse her until she was a year old, but she had other plans. She decided the wean herself around 9 months when she started crawling and becoming a very busy little girl. She no longer had patience to sit still long enough to nurse and she insisted on the bottle with the fast flow nipple. Silly girl! I told Joe that I wanted to take a vacation somewhere warm when Maddy stopped nursing, so we picked this cruise and really enjoyed ourselves. Joseph and Madelyn had a fun time staying with Nan and Pop all week in their motorhome. Joseph thinks the motorhome is the coolest thing ever so he gets really excited when he has the opportunity to go stay in it! Joe and I had a fabulous time on our cruise!

Here are Joseph and Maddy eating lunch in the airport before we boarded the plane to Orlando...
Magen's Bay in St. Thomas. This beach is voted one of the top 10 beaches in the world by National Geographic Magazine! It was truly breathtaking and certainly the most beautiful beach I've ever been to........until we went to the Barbados beach several days later! We soaked up the warm sun and swam all afternoon! We enjoyed lunch while we were at this beach and then headed back to do some shopping in the downtown area of St. Thomas were I got some great deals on several sterling silver charms, necklaces, and bracelets! We also rode a skyride here in St. Thomas to what they call Paradise Point which is the highest point on the island that overlooks the beaches. Here is another picture of the beautiful beach in St. Thomas....

A view of St. Thomas on our cab ride back to the cruise ship.

The next day our cruise ship docked in Barbados. One of my good friends took the same cruise we were one 2 years ago and she shared with me the different beaches and excursions that she enjoyed at the various islands. She suggested that we go to "The Boatyard" in Barbados. After seeing her pictures from her trip, I knew I wanted to go to this place! It looked like so much fun and the beach couldn't have been any more perfect! http://www.theboatyard.com The water was crystal clear and the sand was the softest sand I've ever felt and it was also bright white. We enjoyed having lunch in our beach chairs and playing in the water all day. Joe also convinced the guy that was renting the catamarans that he knew how to sail them and wanted to take one out (just the 2 of us). Usually the guy that is rent them sails the boat and you pay him to go for a ride. The guy was a little nervous about allowing Joe to take his boat out, but he said ok and before I knew it Joe and I were sailing all around the Barbados island by ourselves. It was amazing!!! Barbados were my most favorite island that we visited on this trip and St. Thomas came in a close second!

Our next stop.....St. Lucia!

We went zip lining thru the rainforest in St. Lucia and it was such a thrill! It was warm and humid in the rainforest, but that helped make our zip lining experience that much more exciting! There were 12 lines/platforms total and the last one was the longest! It was so much fun to fly thru the air.

The next day we were in St. Martin. We visited Orient Bay which is on the French side of the island. We went to eat lunch at a French cafe and also shopped at the market they have on Saturdays.

Here we are on the ship before we headed to dinner...
St. Kitts was the 5th island we visited. We went to the Marriott resort here and swam in the pool. We then headed to the beach where I got a massage right from my beach chair. It was so relaxing! There were monkeys all around this island and we got to hold some baby monkeys that were wearing diapers. They were super cute, but they stood on top of our heads and that made me a little nervous!

When our cruise was over we got off the ship in San Juan. We stayed an extra night in Puerto Rico before heading back to Orlando. We stayed at a beautiful resort in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico called Gran Melia Golf Resort. This resort had it all!!!! What a fun time!
We missed our babies a ton while we were gone but we got to skype from Joe's phone and receive updates/pictures so that helped! A big thank you to Nan and Pop for taking such great care of our precious little ones while we were away.
On the flight home....
Both kids sleeping again!!! Woohoo!!!
Almost home...

Happy New Year!

2011-01-19T14:11:00.022-05:00

We are having a wonderful 2011 so far! Thankfully we have all been well and healthy so far this year and hope it continues! I took some fun pictures of Madelyn and Joseph playing with the New Year party favors! We didn't have a party and I must admit I was in bed by 9pm that night, but we had fun playing with the favors!

Joseph had DAY 1 of potty training on December 31st! Here he is on day 1 loading up on the drinks. :) We are so very proud of how well he's done with potty training! I had expected the worst and to my surprise he caught on super quick and has been doing GREAT!!!

Maddy is trying to show you her 2 bottom teeth!!!! She looks so cute with her 2 teeth and she's been busy chewing away on everything she can get her sweet hands on.

My loves. I love them so much!

Look mom......one hand!!!!

Joseph showing Maddy how to play with her exersaucer...

Maddy turned 10 months yesterday! I can HARDLY believe it! She has grown so fast and her 1st birthday is right around the corner.

We took Joseph and Madelyn to the Bounce House and Maddy crawled thru the tunnel...

Joseph LOVES the slides and jumping...

And his favorite thing at the Bounce House is riding the school bus! He has learned to ask mommy for quarters to make the school bus "go". Oh boy! I think I'm in trouble b/c now when he sees rides at the mall or anywhere he insists on riding them. :)

There's my big boy in training....

Hey Maddy...check out what's on tv over there....

I love that he's holding her hand....

Cheese.....

Look mom....one hand AGAIN......

It's 54 degrees outside here today so Joseph had a BLAST playing in the backyard...

He had to put the gas cap on his lawn mower...

And off he goes....

A very Merry Christmas!

2010-12-29T11:16:00.016-05:00

We enjoyed a lovely Christmas weekend! We headed to my parents house on Christmas Eve to eat some great food and spend time with my family. Poor Joseph and Madelyn were very sick and I was wiping both noses ALL weekend. Joseph went for a 2 and 1/2 year well baby appt. (to follow up on his speech) on Wed. before Christmas and he had just started coughing and sneezing that day. The doctor looked in his ears and she noticed that one of tubes had already fallen out (tubes were placed in both ears back in February) and that ear was infected. :( The other ear still had the tube in it and it was fine. He was put on amoxicillin that day and I begged for a stronger medication, but she said we had to start with amoxicillin. I was already prepared to have to take him back a few days later for a stronger medication since that one never worked for him last winter when he had multiple ear infections. Thankfully he seems to have responded well to the medicine and is feeling MUCH better. If he continues to have ear infections the dr said he will have to get the tube put back in. I'm praying that he will NOT have to have the surgery again. His speech has EXPLODED the past few months and he's now talking in sentences most of the day. I've been so worried about all the delays that he's had since he was a preemie and born 2 months early. I am very thankful that he has almost caught up on everything now!

Madelyn was feeling terrible so I took her to the Patient First office to have her checked out around 3pm on Christmas Eve (our pediatrician's office was closed). I was afraid that she had an ear infection b/c she had so much drainage and congestion that her nose kept pouring and she could only breathe out of her mouth with TONS of coughing, sneezing, and congestion. The dr checked her ears and they were both fine, but after listening to her breathe, the dr said she had an upper respiratory infection and she was prescribed amoxicillin too. She is now breathing thru her nose again and is feeling much better too!

We had planned to all go to the Christmas Eve service at our church, but both kids were feeling so miserable that we just didn't make it. We brought the kids home around 6:30pm from my parents house and gave them baths and medicine and put them in their beds.

Joseph was up bright and earlier than usual on Christmas morning (5:45am)! YIKES!!! I guess Santa doesn't get to sleep in on Christmas! Haha!!!! He was very excited to find the plate of cookies that Santa ate (Santa left a few bites on the plate and Joseph said he needed to eat them right away). :)

We videoed him when he walked into the playroom where our tree is located and he saw all the presents and had a BIG smile on his face! I asked him "Oh Joseph....Did Santa come bring you all these presents"?!!!! He looked all around and then said "NO" loudly and Joe and I laughed so hard! Hahaha! I think he was expecting to actually see Santa in his big red suit and he didn't ever see him in our house therefore Santa didn't come!

We had a fun morning letting the children play with their new toys as I continued to wipe noses. Joseph was exhausted after playing so hard and getting up so early that he had to take a nap at 10am and didn't wake until noon. We headed over to my parents house that afternoon to enjoy a Christmas meal with them. We also invited our dear friends Erik and Kelley and their 2 boys (around the same age as Joseph and Maddy) to join us for dinner. Erik was Joe's roommate all thru flight school and Kelley has been a wonderful friend of mine. Erik had just returned home from a 7 month deployment on Dec. 20th on the USS Truman and they weren't going to visit their family in GA until after the holidays. We had the best evening eating a wonderful meal that my mom prepared and spending time with my family and our friends. The children played so nicely together and Joseph LOVES their 3 year old son Jackson. They ran all around playing and had so much fun. I am glad they were able to join us that evening.

The snow began to fall on Christmas night and it snowed the ENTIRE day on the 26th. We got over a foot of snow and it was a beautiful winter wonderland outside! Joseph still prefers the warm weather, pool, and beach over the snow, so he didn't last long playing outside. We still have a ton of snow on the ground today, but the roads are finally clearing up.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

This is the 2nd year in a row that we gated the Christmas Tree! Joseph loves turning on and off the lights (which we let him do b/c it's just a button that you push) and also grabbing any and all ornaments off the tree (which he is NOT allowed to do!!!). Maddy is also busy crawling all around and she likes to pull on the tree also so we decided it was best to gate it off so we wouldn't have to worry about the tree falling over on one of them.

Our precious sick little girl...
Christmas Eve with my sis-n-law and nephew at my parent's house...
Pop got a new flashlight!
Nana taking care of sick Maddy...
Present time for Joseph and Jordan was playing Wii Golf!

My aunt made the most adorable Christmas tree bow for Miss Madelyn. It looked so very precious in her hair and she actually had long enough hair for it to stay in!!!!! :)

Christmas Morning....
Potty Training Elmo!!!! Operation potty training for Joseph starts THIS FRIDAY....DECEMBER 31st!!!!!! Please pray for us as I'm sure we will need it!!! We are following a strict 3 day training program and are hoping for success!

Joseph and Maddy got a joint gift....this fun play kitchen!!

My precious baby girl being a little mommy!
Standing up! She's going to be walking VERY soon. She pulls up on everything and then stands there and lets go often. It kindof makes me feel sad to see her meet these milestones as I just want her to be a baby for a little while longer.
Maddy tackled her brother! The first of many times I'm sure! :)

Loves her new baby Cabbage Patch doll! They doll has bright blue eyes just like Maddy!
She also LOVES checking herself out in the mirror. She stares at herself for the longest time and smiles so big. It's so cute to watch!
Christmas night at my parents house...

Sweet Jacob and Madelyn. Jacob was born about 3 weeks earlier than M.
Silly boys...
Sledding with daddy...
Beautiful snow...
Snowballs...
Tree in our front yard...

The most wonderful time of the year

2010-12-19T20:44:00.005-05:00

The photographer that captured our homecoming pictures back at the end of July was running a holiday special for pictures with Santa. She had this scene all set up and I thought the pics turned out pretty good! Here was the scenario.....I handed Maddy to Santa and then reached for Joseph and plopped him down on the big guys lap.....as if I thought it would be that simple! Haha! BIG MISTAKE! Poor little Joseph was terrified and yes...he was that screaming, kicking child that you see each year with Santa. He wanted to get down immediately so I helped him down. The photographer quickly asked him if he could help her decorate the tree and she gave him an ornament. She was thinking fast and it was a GREAT distraction! He was distracted enough to get the following pics!

We're enjoying this holiday season with fun activities and family. I will try to post more pictures of what we've been doing soon! Joseph's preschool is putting on a Christmas performance this Tuesday and even Daddy gets to take off work and come see it!

May you all enjoy this wonderful month of December and remember....Jesus is the reason for the season!

On the go!!!

2010-12-15T13:21:00.002-05:00

Maddy first started moving her arms to crawl on Nov. 27th. She's been working hard on her new skill and here she is 2 weeks later crawling from room to room in our house! She's so sweet and it's such a joy to watch her master new skills!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-08T15:30:00.005-05:00

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Joseph had a program/feast at school he was so cute. We went to eat Thanksgiving lunch at my parents house and my mom made a delicious meal! Joseph and Maddy took a good nap at their house that afternoon and we relaxed some while they were sleeping. I was thankful this Thanksgiving to be living here in Virginia Beach and to be able to spend time with both our families during the month of November!

Joseph painted at school. The color of the month of November was brown and the shape of the month was square.......so those are brown squares (made with square sponges and paint) on the paper below (in case you were wondering) and also painted leaves! :)
Joseph found Mommy right away and was pointing. I thought he would take off running towards me, but he stood up there the entire time and was looking all around and observing everyone in the audience.
Everyone brought food for the feast and Joseph was grabbing ham rolls off the table (and then tried to put it back after he touched it.......luckily I caught him as he was about to do that and he put it on my plate instead. Oh boy!!!
Our table decorations were so cute! All the kids handprints from the 2 year old class where on our table (with their names under their hands)!

Here was Joseph and Maddy on Thanksgiving morning when they woke up!

Maddy loves watching Joseph.

We went over to my parents house for Thanksgiving lunch. Here is Maddy and her Daddy!

Nana and Joseph

Family picture

Nan and Pop

Joseph and Daddy feeding the seagulls bread for their Thanksgiving meal!

Gramma Sue, Grampa Joe, and Aunt Roberta's visit

2010-12-05T13:47:00.011-05:00

Gramma Sue, Grampa Joe, and Aunt Bert came to visit us the weekend before Thanksgiving! The weather was beautiful and we sure enjoyed spending time with the family. Joseph had fun playing in the driveway with his outside toys. Maddy enjoyed sticking to her napping schedule and was a happy girl. I forgot to mention that Tally, Mocha, and Jett came to visit too! They are Gramma and Grampa's 3 labs (black, brown, and yellow) and are all so beautiful. Joseph wasn't sure what to think of the dogs as he tends to be a little afraid of their size and how fast they move....but when they left he was telling me all about the 3 dogs and their colors. :) We all went down to Sandbridge one morning to let the dogs run on the beach and let Joseph play on the playground. Maddy hung out with mommy in the stroller. We enjoyed their visit and here are some pics from that weekend!

Joseph pedaling his tricycle....

Aunt Bert playing with Joseph...

Gramma Sue helping Joseph go on his tricycle...

Gramma Sue with sweet Maddy...

Grampa and Gramma with their two grandbabies...

Joseph LOVES when daddy throws him up, up, up!!!

Silly boys....

Grampa and Maddy...

Maddy riding in her BIG GIRL car seat for the first time!!!

Aunt Bert, Jett, Gramma Sue, Joseph, Daddy, Grampa Joe, Mocha, and Tally at the beach.

8 months old

2010-12-01T17:02:00.003-05:00

Little Miss Madelyn turned 8 months on November 18. I can hardly believe that her 1st birthday is right around the corner. She enjoys putting EVERYTHING in her mouth these days and we are still waiting for her first tooth to appear! She started moving her arms now as she "crawls" but it's not a "crawl all the way across the room" crawl yet. I'm sure she will master that in a few weeks. She is such a sweet baby girl and she adores her big brother and he adores her too! Joseph is so very gentle with "Gee Gee" (as he calls her) and he has never tried to hurt her or play rough with her. He's such a wonderful big brother! Here are some pics of Maddy's satin collection!