Its been too long, I know!

We've been so busy that I've neglected an update for far too long!!! July was busy with a trip to our family's lakehouse for the the July 4th celebration. Matthew and I attended wedding and Madeleine got to stay with Nanny Chelsea the following weekend in Dallas. August has flown by with a trip home to Texas so Granny could hang with Madeleine while I jetsetted to San Francisco with Rita and Michelle for a girls weekend full of relaxing, shopping, Ghirardelli goodies and even a trip to In and Out Burger in a Mazarati. I then flew to New Orleans to meet my loving husband and siblings for a BIG O birthday on Bourbon Street. I've welcomed 30 now and I'm feeling great about it. After returning from New Orleans, Madeleine started preschool. We're into week 2 now and she's starting to adjust. This post is short, but enjoy the pics and I promise to be better with my updates.

July 4th weekend:


Our trip to the Braum's Farm that we took with some friends from Matthew's Squadron:


Grandma and Papa came into town with Aunt Mickey and we enjoyed a baseball game together:



My girl at play:


MMMMMM SNO-CONE!



Madeleine is smart- Popsicles make her hands cold, so she wears mittens!

Ice Cream Social Goodies at our house (notice Madeleine's excited face below the counter):


Not the first day, not even the first week of school, but I wanted to get one that actually showed her smiling- not crying hysterically.

June, already?!?!?!

Sorry about passing the whole month of May without a single update. We have settled in so nicely here that we are all just crazy busy. Madeleine and I attend the library functions a couple mornings each week and have also discovered the children's theater. We are also ZooFriends and visit the animals there often. We are having so much fun here. It seems like there is always some fun event or festival for us to attend.
Our favorite thing on a rainy day, MAKE CUPCAKES!

Matthew and I were blessed to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary earlier this month. Madeleine had her very first babysitter (besides the wonderful grandparents). Allie sat with Maddie while we went out to dinner. The two of them must have had a blast, because Madeleine didn't cry when we left, was asleep when we got home, and asked where her best friend Allie was when she woke up the next morning.

The house is finally feeling like home and we are slowly getting things the way we like. Madeleine, being so spoiled, got a new house herself from Granny. She was so excited that she played in it as Matthew was still putting it all together.

We have an amusement park here that we visited on the Military Monday. It was so much fun and Matthew was off early that day and was able to join us! I even rode the ferris wheel ( some of you know I am deathly afraid of a ferris wheel).

We went to the Cowboy Museum and Chuckwagon Festival. Madeleine rode her first horse and even sat on a longhorn. We tried our hardest to not saw those horns off (Gig 'Em Aggies). The festival was really close to historic Route 66. We took the five minute drive and enjoyed burgers and sodas at Pops. Pops is a restraunt and soda shop that offers about 500 different types of soda. Some soda bottles even line glass shelves on the walls.

Madeleine and I have joined a mom's group and enjoy playdates with new friends. With all the activities and new friends we have hardly any time left over to miss that beautiful beach in Pensacola.

The picture of Madeleine with bird seed has a story to go with it. Matthew and I park our cars in the garage every night. For a few days we were smelling something so terrible in the garage. The smell was just really, really awful. I started to notice I would not smell the odor when Matthew was at work. One evening I thought I should go near Matthew's car and see if the odor was strongest near his car. Sure enough, it was unbearable. I told Matthew that it really did smell as if something had died in his car. He then remembers there was a bird on the way home about a week earlier that he was sure didn't make it passed the car. By this time in the conversation, Madeleine had joined us in the driveway. Matthew looked into the front of the car and saw the bird, dead. He went inside, retrieved a bag, and removed the bird. Madeleine, watching the whole event, was so concerned for the bird. We had a lengthy explanation about birds and how this just happens at times. Since that day she has been obsessed with getting bird feed and putting up a bird house. I think its her way of trying to make it up to the birds after daddy took out one of their kind.

I have started a blog for my crafts and hope to be able to make a business on the side here with my goodies. You can check some of the projects out at : www.brandisbowtique.blogspot.com.

We finally have a storm shelter installed. It was tons of fun to watch all the equipment in our backyard. Maddie and I have a love/love relationship with heavy equipment. I am not sure why we haven't taken pics since its in now, but here is the dirt and large hole. We have yet to get into the shelter. When the tornado sirens sound, we usually open the door and just watch. The whole weather thing with tornadoes isn't nearly as scary now that we have a safe place to go should we need it.

I will end this post with a couple little pearls of Madeleine's wisdom:

Maddie is usually so cheerful when she wakes up and just really starts the day on a great note. She is sour only on the mornings when we have something planned early. I was trying to get her ready to go and see Alice in Wonderland and she was in my closet trying on clothes, making a disaster in the floor. I told her to immediately get out of there or we would be late for Alice in Wonderland. She turned very quickly and informed me, "this isn't no wonderland". Yes, I thought, you are absolutely correct!

Each night Matthew and I get into bed with Madeleine to say prayers after storytime. Madeleine was trying to put off the going to sleep and asked why we said prayers. We explained about God and Jesus and heaven. Matthew asked if she knew where heaven was and she quickly came back with "yes, in Florida". I thought, yes, again you are absolutely correct. She proceeded to tell us that heaven was in Florida and had a little sister named Leah. It was all clear then that she was referring to her good friend, Ava. We were on completely different page than she was. Its so cute the things she comes up with.

Hope everyone is having a great summer!
HUGS!

Getting Settled

Easter was our first weekend in our new house. We only had our new bedroom furniture we had purchased so the house looks pretty empty. Madeleine was so excited that the Easter Bunny was able to find our new house.


We've had so much fun moving in. It was great to be carried over the threshold after waiting 7 years.


We have discovered a wonderful place known as Braums. Their ice cream is great and we try to go once a week for a treat.


We found this enormous mailbox at Lowe's and thought it would be just the right size to mail Maddie to her grandparents when she starts one of her tantrums. She thought it was a great idea and climbed into the mailbox on the shelf at Lowe's. We noticed a couple behind us that nearly died of laughter watching us stuff our child into a mailbox and take pictures of the event.

We have also visited the zoo here in OKC and the gorillas seemed to enjoy Madeleine.

Chelsea and Stacy came for a visit the past weekend. It was a great time! We took them downtown to the Art Festival and Botanical Gardens. Then Matthew watched Madeleine while I went out with Stacy and Chelsea for a night on the town.

I promise to post some pics of the house in the next couple of weeks when we get all the finishing touches done.

HUGS!

March Madness of Our Own

March was such a busy month for us. We celebrated Madeleine's birthday and moved. During our last weeks in Fl, we commissioned a work of art for Madd's new room. Maddie and her best friends created a texture art with drywall mud that an artist went back over and painted and sealed in beautiful colors to match her new room. Its a really special piece of art for our new house. Its also a reminder of the great friends we made in Florida.

I tried to make each day without Matthew there and adventure so Madeleine wouldn't be too sad. One of our fave spots was the beach down from our house. It was still a little cool for bathing suits, but we enjoyed playing in the sand.


During the move, we decided to take some time and visit along the drive to Oklahoma. Our first stop was Nanny's in Louisiana. Maddie and her cousin Blake always have the best time together.


Our next stop was "Great Peggy and Popop" in Orange. We visited Shangri La with them and had a wonderful time. The gardens were breathtaking. Madeleine even decided to cooperate for a few nice photos.

We were then onto our last stop in Houston. We visited with Granny, Pop, Grandma Rita and Papa Ron. We also got to see Aunt Mickey (mickey mouse as Maddie calls her) and help Grandma make meatloaf for dinner. We did make time to meet at the zoo with my sorority sisters. I haven't seen these girls since my wedding nearly 7 years ago. It was so much fun to see them and meet their "little people".





It was a great month and we were happy to be on our way to OKLAHOMA already!

HUGS!

Madeleine's 3rd Birthday

I wanted the day to be really special since Matthew was away, so I decorated the living area and set out all her gifts while she slept. She was so excited about all the balloons.

Her fave gift by far is her new Bitty Baby. We celebrated Maddie's birthday with Cookie Monster cupcakes at the park with friends, followed by an evening out with special friends- The Robbins Family. Daddy was in Oklahoma already so we were very blessed to spend some time with great friends. We went out for dinner, a ferris wheel ride, and Build-a-Bear. Madeleine had a wonderful birthday thanks to some very special people in our lives.

Oklahoma,here we come!

I'm going to start the blog off with this and I don't ever need to hear anyone else sing it. If you should feel the strong desire, just come to this page sing the lyrics to yourself and go on about your day. I have heard nearly every person I know sing some part of this when they found out we were moving. So here it is: There's never been a better time to start in life- It ain't too early and it aint too late! Starting as a farmer with a brand new wife- Still be living in a brand-new state! Brand new state- gonna treat you great! Gonna buy you barley, carrots and pertaters, Pasture for the cattle, spinich and termaters, Flowers on the prarie where the June bugs zoom, Plen'y of air and plen'y of room, Plen'y of room to swing a rope! Plen'y of heart and plen'y of hope. OOOOk-lahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet, When the wind comes right behind the rainQ OOOOk-lahoma, Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I, Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk makin' lazy circles in the sky. We know we belong to the land (yo-ho) And the land we belong to is grand! And when we say Yeeow! Aye-yip-aye-yo-ee-ay! We're only sayin' You're doin' fine, Oklahoma! Oklahoma O.K.! Ooook-lahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet When the wind comes right behind the rain. Oklahoma, Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk Makin' lazy circles in the sky. We know we belong to the land And the land we belong to is grand! And when we say Yeeow! Ayipioeeay! We're only sayin' You're doin' fine, Oklahoma! Oklahoma O.K. Okla-okla-Okla-Okla-Okla-Okla Okla-okla-Okla-Okla-Okla-Okla... We know we belong to the land And the land we belong to is grand! And when we say Yeeow! Aye-yip-aye-yo-ee-ay! We're only sayin' You're doin' fine, Oklahoma! Oklahoma O.K. L - A - H - O - M - A OKLAHOMA! Yeeow!

I hope we can get past that now. We are extremely excited about our largest purchase this family has ever made. Our new home will be ready for move-in April 10th. We are so exstatic that we were able to choose all the design aspects of our house. Madeleine delights in telling people that her house is pink. Its not pink, but her room will be. We've been having fun visiting with friends and enjoying the beach. For some reason, the government thought that atleast some of the Navy should be stationed in a completely land-locked area. We are trying to soak up as much of the "world's most beautiful beaches" as we can before next month. Our builder said he would paint a mural on the fence of sand and waves to try to ease us into the middle of nowhere, USA. We will miss the beaches tons but are super glad to know we will get to see more of Matthew than if we were stationed on a beach someplace.


Madeleine is sassy as ever and delights in telling us "no", "calm down now, mommy", and "DO NOT put me in time out". She had a great time when the Grammy's were on tv. She saw the performers and ran to her playroom to grab her guitar. I looked over while making dinner and saw her playing and singing along. It was pretty darn cute. Madeleine really enjoys dressing up these days. Last week we were forced to allow her to wear the Snow White costume out to breakfast. She put on her sunglasses on the ride over to the restraunt. When we walked in a boy said, "Look, its a movie star"! I have caught her on countless occassions in her playroom dressed up, talking to herself in the mirror. She is really so fun at this age. We enjoy baking together and I'm teaching her all about flowers. I have a ton of things to do to prepare for the move and most of it will be done with Matthew being away. Madeleine and I will be busy little bees so I wanted to post the most recent pics for everyone. I will surely update once our house is complete. We love you all and hope you have a great month!



Hugs!

January Fun!

We've been having a great time this month. I thought I'd do another update so I don't forget to upload these. We went to a bull riding event at the Civic Center. It was so much fun and Madeleine had such a blast, we went two nights in a row. Madeleine was so happy and cheering for the cowboys. She was telling the bulls to be nice and get back in the kennel. It was really so cute. We had a couple of great family nights with cotton candy and all.



Madeleine has been telling me lately that she looks cute so hurry and come. These are the instances that I was beckoned in to take some pictures of her. I really love this sassy little thing. (And yes, she is too big for that school bus, but she still loves it so much!)


Lately she has been into wearing sunglasses....all the time. It was 9pm and we were on our way home, when Matthew sees this in rear view mirror. I couldn't help take a pic of her in the dark with her sunglasses on.



Last weekend we took Madeleine to the local zoo. Its no Houston Zoo thats for sure, but it was a great family outing. The two zoos that are near us are really small, but have all the major players; lions, tigers, and bears (oh my). The only thing that they are missing is that usually those types of ferocious beasts are behind a fence, a mote, and about 100 yards or more away. These local zoos, however, feel that some chain link and barbed wire fencing is sufficient. I was glad to see the ones capable of eating us whole were napping. There was also some cute bunnies that just hopped around in and out of cages for all the animals. The highlight of our outing was being able to feed some of the animals. I don't know who had more fun, Madeleine or me.

On Tuesday, with the rest of the world, we watched the inaguaration of President Obama. Madeleine was really into the whole ceremony. She was probably feeding off our anticipation of th day. I snapped this pic during the National Anthem. Madeleine was eating a muffin so its the wrong hand, but totally unprompted she stood, placed her hand over her heart and sang. The words weren't right, but it was beautiful. I'm sure it helps that her daddy is a sailor and we regularly attend events were the anthem is heard. God Bless America!


I got a new camera for Christmas! I love taking pics of Madeleine and I thought I'd share some of my favorites from our afternoon outside.

HUGS!

Blessed

The holidays are so magical in the eyes of a child. Madeleine was so precious the whole month of December. She couldn't wait to decorate the tree in her playroom. She elated in telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas (this was done at some distance, even though she insisted on stopping every place she saw him). We saw Santa the first week of December in an outdoor shopping center in Alabama. We met up with him as he was walking on the sidewalk. I think this was her first cognizant run-in with "the man". I was a little bit excited and went on and on about how great it was to see Santa out in town. I think this got her prepared for our future encounters. She would see him in the mall, at WalMart and most amazingly our driveway on a big red fire truck. Apparently the Escambia Fire Department does some PR work with Santa in tow. We were sitting down to lunch when I hear the alarms of a fire truck and police car screaming down our road. We live at the end of a street that has no outlet to the main road, so we rarely get traffic that isn't our direct neighbors. I immediately think that Joe and Bobby, our sweet elderly neighbors, are in distress. Matthew runs to the window and I ask if the neighbor's home is on fire. He was so funny and just said, "It's Santa"!! I swooped up Madeleine and ran outside. Sure enough, it was Santa, waving and throwing candy and stuffed dolls. The fire chief leading the brigade threw dog treats to our dog Jolie, who had by then joined us in the front yard. This was just wonderful, like something out of a great holiday movie. We were in the yard waving and talking with all the neighbors and children who had joined us to cheer Santa on.

My mom came and took Madeleine to her house in The Woodlands for a week. It was a very lonesome week during the day, but I was able to study for finals and have some date nights out with Matthew.



We joined Madeleine in Texas the weekend preceding Christmas for the "4 Christmas and 1 New Years shuffle". We spent time with my grandparents, my mom, Matthew's parents and my dad. It was a wonderful Christmas and we got more than we deserve, I'm sure. Madeleine and I both got the chance to make some cookies with our grandmothers. We had some great family days. We went ice skating for her first time and then we went out for dinner and ice cream!








We spent Christmas Eve with Matthew's parents. We went to mass together and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Grandma Rita and Papa Ron then helped Madeleine prepare cookies and milk for Santa. It was so cute to watch Madeleine tell Grandma what to write and how good she'd been all year.





Madeleine was so much fun this year with her gifts. She understood about Santa and the gifts and Jesus' birthday. I'm glad we videotaped the Christmas morning, because some of her reactions were hysterical. Her favorite gift, the one she was most excited about, was "Dora panties!!!!!!!" in her stocking. After opening Santa gifts, we took Madeleine back to Grandma and Papa Ron's house to celebrate with them. Santa enjoyed the cookies and milk from Madeleine and even left her a note in return.





We spent the days surrounding New Year's at my sister's (who is my godmother) house in Lafayette. It was nice to laugh so hard and eat so well. Madeleine really loves her cousins, especially Blake. They have been best buds since birth and they are only 4 months apart in age. Nanny Trudi and Aunt Kim got new puppies for Christmas! They were so precious, but we were glad to leave them there.



When we returned home, Madeleine began having hives. We ended up at the ER one day with her and she thought it was the best time yet. She was so cute with the gloves and wanting to learn all about the machines in the room.



We are looking forward to Matthew's completion of Primary sometime this month. At the completion we will know what type of plane he will be on and where our next move will be.

This is sure to be an exciting year ahead and I promise to be good and update you all more regularly with our antics. We hope all of our loved ones have a truly blessed year.


HUGS!

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn."

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on
the feelings, as now in October."
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Our lives are so enriched as parents. There are days that go by so quickly I forget to sit down or eat lunch or swing outside. Its that last one that I usually miss the most. Madeleine LOVES being outside. Life is so busy sometimes with school and housework and Matthew's flight schedule that I forget how relaxing an hour outside pushing Madeleine on the swing can be. She is growing up so quickly and I hate to think I've missed a minute because the dishes just "had" to be done or laundry just "had" to be folded and put away. We took a ton of pictures this month to share with everyone. I love all of them, but its especially those we took outside where the sun hits her face just right and her eyes glitter atop those too cute dimples.





We celebrated Halloween at an assisted living facility in the morning with MOMS Club friend and trick or treating at Matthew's squadron (his work). Madeleine was delighted to see where Daddy works and the planes he flies. I liked touring the field too and seeing the Blue Angel planes up close and personal. Madeleine was a flower fairy and loved every minute in her costume. In fact, she asked if she could wear it to the grocery store today, but I assured her it was much too cold.






We were blessed with a visit from Matthew's parents after Halloween. Grandma Rita and Papa Ron stayed for the weekend and played with Madeleine to her hearts content. During their stay, we harvested the sweet potatoes we had been growing in our garden since we moved here. We had plenty of potatoes to make three pies and have a few left over for Thanksgiving! Matthew was certainly proud that he grew something we ate and I was proud it was actually edible.


Most of you know about my cupcake bakery dream. I'm regularly making cupcakes and trying new recipes out. I have a great assistant, Madeleine. I just had to include some pictures from our latest adventure with chocolate cupcakes and fudge icing. She usually has on clothes, but this was a special deal because chocolate isn't always so easy to remove.


We are finishing our Thanksgiving menu and welcoming friends and coworkers that will be here without family over the holiday. We love a big family Thanksgiving and since we won't be traveling home, we're doing the next best thing and having a big "not our family, but somebody's family" Thanksgiving.

Christmas is right around the corner and Madeleine is getting excited. Its great to see how each year she "gets it" a little more. Last weekend we were out having a family day at an outdoor shopping center and they were starting the season already with Santa. We ran into him walking down the sidewalk and Madeleine had her first Santa encounter. We've never been the parents to take our child screaming up to the big guy when she was a baby. We thought we should wait until she knew him and felt comfortable, because Madeleine doesn't trust just anyone. I think on Saturday she got a good feeling from him, because as we chatted with him on the sidewalk, he asked Maddie what she would like for Christmas and she began telling him all about it. Since then, she's told everyone about Santa Claus.

We hope everyone has a blessed and safe holiday season. We love all of you and we will be thinking of you as we are being thankful over our table in a couple of weeks.