Our Zoo

No, I am not referring to the zoo of a home I live in and partake in daily, but rather the little animal kingdom right on post. It's tiny, but the girls had fun looking at the animals. It is just a short walk from our house...anything to keep busy right? ;) They had a turkey, a wolf, foxes, a few bobcats, and all sorts of birds. After we traveled from cage to cage "ooooohhhhing and ahhhhhhing" and "gobbling" at the animals, we walked over to the water and watched the fish jumping around the lake. Poor Madeline fell on her way though and skinned her knee. I do believe she's a klutz like her mama.

Still a great day!

Keepin' Busy

We live in a town with not much to do so we try to keep busy in our own ways. I am, however, counting the days until we leave here. Well, right now we are counting the months. And we have 11 left.

I would love to know who really has these chairs in their home.

I took this sweet picture through the window so that's why it's blurry from the screen. I couldn't resist though. 

I promise this wasn't on her head very long, but this is the boredom we suffer from here.

We had a tea party to celebrate Uncle Bryan's birthday. We called him to let him know about it;) Some small child spilled sugar and then stepped in it. Who leaves evidence like that? And yes, Madeline wears a helmet around the house for safety reasons. She likes to jump from high places.


She came out of the bedroom dressed like this. Haha

We dress Daddy up in crazy hats.

Little/Big Projects

 We've been busy trying to get the little projects done around the house. We bought a beautiful unfinished dining table and chairs. I have always wanted a big table because I know eventually our family will be growing and I want to have room for it! It's a forever kind of table and I know I will love it forever:) (Because if I didn't Tom wouldn't even listen to the words "Can we buy...")

The antique spoon rack I painted to go in the dining room. (Tom can't believe I actually wanted to display my spoon collection) Now that it is up though I really love it and I love seeing all of the places we have been. Yes, we because Tom definitely contributed to my collection with a spoon from Israel. :)

Table in progress

And it's complete! It's SO beautiful and exactly what I wanted. I have THE best husband in the world for always supporting my crazy ideas and then helping to complete them:) 

Our "new" Home

We settled into our house on post the week after we left FL and we do love it. It's a very old house...over 100 years old and yes, the floors creak every step, but it's spacious and we are grateful to be a whole family again. It'll be fun to decorate as long as Tom allows the endless funds for it;) I know we are only supposed to be here for a year, but I'm not holding my breath to ever leave the black hole of Lawton. So I might as well get some pictures up on the walls:)

Our unit is the top one. Not ideal to be living "apartment" style with a young family...trying to keep them from running around hasn't been easy!

The view from our balcony. It's so serene. We live on a quiet street:) The little door leads to the balcony and we made that room into a guest room. My dream library will have to wait for my forever home!

Top Left is the living room. The view is looking from the guest room into the living room into the dining room. Bottom left is the dining room and then there's the gorgeous kitchen...blech. I hate every bit of it minus our gas stove. Missing being spoiled with the granite and beautiful tile of our old home here.

Top left is the hall in the kitchen that has the pantry on the right. Then there is the laundry room. Bottom left is what we made into the playroom. There are two huge walk-in closets for that room. It worked out perfectly for toy storage!

The long hallway that leads to the bedrooms and bathrooms. There's Madeline in her bathroom. I call it the claustrophobic bathroom. I can barely pee in there without feeling like the walls are caving in. Bottom left is the girls room. They are going to share a room. It's HUGE. Bigger than our master.  

Tom's walk-in closet is actually in the hallway. It works out for us. Strangely he has a larger closet than me, but that's probably because he has more shoes, belts and clothes than I own. (Frumpy mom!) Oh and that's our bedroom the girls are sitting in. And our more than beautiful bathroom;) I do like the light that the window brings in though. It just needs serious updating.

These stairs lead to the "Maid's Quarters". I wish I could say we used this air-conditioned room for something, but we only use it for storage so far. It's huge and unfortunately housing removed the bathrooms a long time ago or this area would be the most perfect guest suite.

And there you have it...our "new" home. I use the word "home" loosely as home is wherever my man's boots are...and right now of course they're in Lawton. 

August

August is HOT. Like burning layers of your skin off kind of hot. We spend a lot of days at the spray park and a little time at the pool, too. I definitely miss the convenience of having a pool in our backyard though to cool down.

Saying goodbye to FL

A few days after we celebrated Madeline's birthday with our amazing family, we had another get together. This time it was to say goodbye though. It was time for us to start our next adventure: a move back to Ft. Sill, OK. For as many goodbyes as I have had to say in my life, this one would round the top of the list. I dreaded it. Every bit of it. I'm 31 years old, and I didn't want to leave my parent's home. I didn't want to leave that beautiful sunshine state full of my best friends and family and that feeling of pure comfort. There aren't enough ways to thank my family and friends for taking such wonderful care of us during Tom's deployment. I'm sure the homesickness will kick in after a few weeks in Oklahoma and I know they'll all be there for me:)

The move was hectic... We packed up quickly and had the truck loaded and ready to be on the road at 5am on the 21st. 5am came (who really ever leaves on time anyway?!) and my dad brought us one last cup of DD coffee and I sat in my parents house listening to the quietness of the early morning. About five minutes before we decided "ok it's reallllly time to go" my mom asked one last time if we wanted her to go and this time Tom said yes. Thank god she's an easy packer and thank god we brought her along for the crazy ride. She was such a huge help with everything that comes with moving to a different state and living in a hotel and unpacking a house with two small children. I don't think she slept for the ten days we held her hostage, but I will never forget her generosity. The move would not have gone as smoothly as it did without her help.

Tom called that pina colada in a bag "like drinking a cloud"...moving is stressful and leads hubbies to drink everything in the house! One last goodbye with my baby girl Lily Claire. I miss her a ridiculous amount. And so do the girls.

Too many boxes.

Unpacking boxes was simply exhausting for this child. She fell asleep wherever she possibly could...including the coffee table, floor and our bed with a pop tart in hand. (Don't judge me all you judging mothers for giving my kid a pop-tart either.)

Top left is what our master bedroom looked like. O.M.G. I do not know how we ever organized that room. Bottom left is what the playroom started out like. Another YIKES.  And then there's the picture of my babies falling asleep on me. 

Happy birthday, Madeline!

I say this with every age, but I really can't believe she's two. I think any parent will agree that time flies by once you have children and even more so once you keep adding on to the brood. There is a part of me who feels as if I just left the hospital with Madeline as a tiny newborn, and then there is part of me who feels as old as dirt and yes, of course two years have gone by because I can see the wrinkles and gray hair coming in.

From the second Madeline made her appearance in this world of ours I knew she wasn't going to be like our Ella. I had a keen sense of exactly how her personality was going to be and I have been spot on ever since. She came out screaming her head off (ella was surprisingly calm) and her skin was crazy red and blotchy (not the peaches and cream like Ella). She seemed to hate every bit of being outside of me. But I was attached from the second I laid eyes on her. She has a love of life and everything and everyone around her. She's sweet to strangers and has a giggle that could make a Queen's Guard crack a smile over. There isn't a day she doesn't keep me on my toes! I could listen to her tell me stories all day because each one is full of vibrancy and enthusiasm. I may not understand every word, but you can't help but listen to her. She's not the least bit shy like her sister is and enjoys being the center of attention!

I want to capture this age of two in every way possible.  Madeline might drive me batty with jumping off couches and coloring wherever she pleases, but with every age and stage, it will pass and I wish I could take more time to bite my tongue and "enjoy" watching her learn and grow. More than anything I hope she knows how much her daddy and I love her...no matter how many walls we've had to Magic Erase;)

You're a beautiful blessing to us, Madeline Irene. Happy 2nd birthday! May this next year be filled with fun, happiness and zero tantrums. We love, love, love you endlessly.

We spent the morning of her birthday at Gator Fred's. It was pouring rain and I am so happy a bunch of her friends decided to hang out with us!

We had some family over that evening to celebrate with pizza and cake and ice cream. I feel zero guilt for having her party straight from the aisles of Wal-Mart with the Minnie Mouse theme and plastic decor. Between Tom coming home, the move and having a ton of goodbyes, this mama wasn't planning a party. And guess what? Madeline LOVED it. 

Shoes were a very popular gift this year! Very grateful for that!

Giving uncle Bud a hug for his awesome present. 

Her new bike from Mommy and Daddy

Birthday princess!

Just to have her daddy there while she blew out the candles this year meant the world to me...and her:) 

Sharing stories with Uncle Bryan!

Homecoming Party!

Let me preface this by saying, the only reason I am posting about this is because one day I want my children to look back and know their parents had fun and we aren't complete dorks like they will think we are when they are teens. (Even though I am a total nerd, but that's beside the point). I want them to see we surrounded ourselves with friends and family and yes, sometimes a lot of booze that happens to come in the form of a tequila gun. All for good reason to celebrate Tom being home with us. A huge thank you to everyone who came out that night! And an even bigger thank you to all the grandparents who helped watch the girls for us so we could enjoy a weekend to ourselves! We went out Friday night in Ybor for a crazy pub crawl and then spent Saturday just the two of us laying out by the hotel pool, walking around Channelside and a delicious dinner at the Columbia Restaurant. I couldn't leave FL without drinking their white sangria! :)

Our group! 

Das Boot and Das Gun...and Das cute Koch couple MJ and Robert:)

Happy 4th of July!

**I realized I forgot to post this when I was deleting photos from my phone!**

Happy 4th of July! I knew I wanted to do something fun with the girls just the three of us. Every year it seems I am without Tom on the 4th. Ella is 4 and Tom has missed three July 4th's with us. This year I took the girls to the beach super early in the morning before the crowds were there to enjoy the warm, but not blistering sun and the cool, refreshing water. We packed a picnic of red, white and blue fruit skewers (the girls loved making these!) and yogurts and other early morning foods. I couldn't have asked for a better day or better way to spend time with my girlies. We swam, chased seagulls, built sand castles, and made sand angels. It was one of those days that you look back at and smile big.

Ella's "sand angel"

My little firecrackers