We are so proud of you daddy!!!

First I must say sorry for the random order of the pictures...should have planned it out a little better, but hey I am posting FINALLY right?!?!

Well, as most of you know Dan has now left for his 12 - 15 month deployment. We are all doing good, but of course it is quite an adjustment! All your thoughts and prayers have been a tremendous help and comfort this far...keep them coming!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, the pictures are from events before Dan left and also of the people who lined the streets to say goodbye! The girls playing in the park was taken the day before Dan left. The pictures of the girls looking into the sky were taken the night of Dan's deployment ceremony. They had a fireworks display and the girls loved them!!!!!!

Obviously this was a very emotional and touching week. We are so proud of Dan though and grateful for all he is doing for us and this country! Please keep him in your prayers as he needs as much strength as possible! Dan, we love you...thank you for being the best husband, father, friend, uncle, son, brother EVER!!!!!!!!!!! Miss you baby!

I love my hair

So all of you know that Jackie is a hairstylist (my favorite at that). She has been doing my hair for atleast the last 5 years. She is the only person I have trusted since my TERRIBLE haircut at 10yrs old. I would post a pic of that but it would make me cry and all of you laugh so I am not going to do that to myself :) Anyway, my point...since Jackie moved a year ago I have been waiting few and far between to get my hair done because I was not ready to try someone new. Well, my good friend down the street convinced me to go see her friend and I am so glad that I did! Though I would have LOVED for Jackie to be the one chopping my hair off, I faced a HUGE fear and am so happy!!! You know how "before" pictures are always so ugly...people look dead without make-up and they are always frowning...I didn't want to do that but as you can see my hair looked awful because I had it in a pony tail for work that day. Nevertheless, I love my hair! It turned out great and I think I even cried a tear of relief. I miss you Jackie, but thank you Debbie for making me look hip. Like she said to me "you have two kids, we know you are a mom, but no one said you have to look like one." Alright, thanks for reading my way outdated blog :) I hope you are all enjoying this football season...HOW EXCITING!!!!!! Love you all!!!

Kaylee is 1!!!

Kaylee turned 1 yesterday (7/19/07) and I still cannot believe it! Time really does fly by! We had a pretty quiet (well as quiet as it could be with 4 little girls running around) party for her. We did a beach theme since it is hotter than heck out here right now :) Everyone seemed to have a good time. Kaylee LOVED her cake. When Brooklynn turned 1 she cried as we sang to her and barely touched her cake. Well, Kaylee was the exact opposite. She started tasting the frosting as we were singing and then when she got her own piece she was pretty excited! While the other girls just ate the frosting Kaylee ate it ALL!!!!

It was hard to not have daddy here for the party, but I guess this is just one of the many things he will be gone for...I know it is really hard on them that he is missing all of this, but he is doing REALLY well in his classes...we are so proud of him!

So this past week was a busy one for our family. With Dan being in Cali, I was left to take care of the children...so fun and yet SO tiring!!!! Anyway, my dad took us to his company picnic at Knight's Action Park in Springfield, IL. We had a really good time though it did start off a little rocky. Brooklynn has been having some separation issues so when my dad tried to take her into the water without me she freaked out and started crying/screaming. So we decided to eat lunch and then all head out to the water. Well, that went MUCH better! We went in the kiddie area and she went down the little slides and played under a little waterfall. She went in the wave pool with grandpa...when the horn signaling the start of the waves went off, grandpa covered her ears and she covered her eyes :) We even floated around the lazy river...I LOVE that thing! It turned out to be a great day and I am really glad we went. And now every night when we say our prayers Brooklynn says "Thank you for the waterfall that day." Here are some pics of me with the girls. Hope everything is good with you all!

Random

So there is really not much to blog about...Dan is gone in Cali for 2 and 1/2 more weeks then he is home for a night and off again! Brooklynn is still being a stinker with potty training and Kaylee is walking a lot more now. My life is crazy! Each day brings somethingnew to the table but I am trying to take everything with open arms. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the random pictures of our summer this far! Love you all!

More Zoo Pics

Fun day at the Zoo

We went to the Indianapolis Zoo on Saturday with the girls and my friend Lindsey. It started to sprinkle on us a couple of times but no down pours which is a very good thing! Kaylee enjoyed the day in the wagon. She didn't care much for the animals, but she LOVED the Teddy Grahams Linds got for them! Brooklynn had a fantastic time! She loved the dolphin show and all the animals!!! She got to ride on a carousel with Dan and when the ride was done she looked at Dan and said "thank you very much daddy!" It was precious!!! Dan didn't want to take her in to pet the goats so I did and thought you can't really tell for the pictures one of the goats started licking my shirt...ICKY!!!! You can see that by the end of the morning at the zoo everyone (including daddy) was very exhausted! It was wonderful to do something fun with Dan before he leaves. We did have a really nice time...I think we will try the St. Louis Zoo next :) Enjoy the pics and have a great day!!!