He's HOME!!!

To see pictures of our reunion go to my facebook page and scroll down until you see Kacy Bowe's entry with all of the pictures! She did an amazing job!

Iraq NO MORE!!

Matt will be home from Iraq tomorrow at 9:15 am!!!!!

Pictures

It has been nearly a month and I haven't posted anything! So much has happened. Matt's parents came a few days after I had Ella and then a few days after Matt arrived home for R & R. We packed up and went to a fun little tourist town named Fredricksburg and stayed in a rustic bed and breakfast. We played horseshoes and dominoes and let Grace stay up WAY too late! It was a lot of fun..stray cats and donkeys were also guests at the inn. (No joke!) Matt blessed Ella on Fast Sunday and we took some new family pictures with Ella.

Matt and his dad did some projects to clean up the outdoors and organize the house and we celebrated Grace's birthday a bit early so Grams and Gramps could watch her open their presents. She was given a two week long birthday this year! Crazy, but she had a lot of fun. Matt took her on an official Daddy-Daughter date to lunch and WalMart to pick out some birthday presents. She came home loaded with sugar, chicken nuggets and toys! He bought her a cool swimming pool, nail polish, books and clothes.

We had a lot of great family time while Matt was home and Grace's imagination grew about a million times over. (Daddy is the imaginative/creative play parent!) She now enjoys being chased by the "Monster", putting on imaginary make-up (sound effects and all!) and she misses her daddy like crazy all over again. Can't say I blame her. They played in the sprinklers (see below) and built an art table together. Daddy is just so much more fun!

Matt left and my mom came again. We didn't do house projects this time...instead we made baby announcements and played with the kiddos. We watched movies and had a lot of great conversation. A great time for all. Grace misses Grandma now, too.

Lots of changes...now we're about to enter the last three months without Matty and I am trying my best not to countdown and make it seem longer. I will try to post more often, but I am not going to make promises...I don't need another item on my weekly "To Do" list right now! :)

Ella Sofia

Ella Sofia joined our family on Wednesday, July 22nd at 5:56 am. She weighed 7 Lb 5 oz and was 20 inches long. She was in a rush to get here...I was only at the hospital for just over 2 1/2 hours before she was born. What a wonder! I'm in love again!

This is short because I have found myself with much more to do these past few days...but I promise I will elaborate and share my "unfortunate" yet fortunate birthing story with all of you.

Visitors and New Pics

My mom just went back to Phoenix on Wednesday. She was here for 8 days and we kept busy the entire time! I can't post pictures of the projects we did, because they are a surprise for Matty when he gets home in a few weeks. But we did a LOT!



Grace started Kindermusik last week and it is so much fun to see her in class. She dances and loves to watch the older kids. I can't wait for Daddy to take her to the class. She loves the musical instruments!



I finally have a few pics of me with the "Ella Addition." I haven't had many opportunities to have my picture taken during this pregnancy...being alone in TX and all. But, my mom took a few, so I thought I'd share the pregnancy glory. Ha ha ha.



This is us getting ready for Jazzercise!

July 4th Pictures!

Out with the Old

It has been too long since my last post, but life has been CRAZY! My business, swim lessons, Jazzercise, Grace, Ella, house, planning for the inevitable! (The list could go on forever!!!)

Anyhow, a few fun things have been going on lately. Grace took two weeks of Mom and Tot swim lessons and finished them yesterday. She is pretty good about being in the pool for a bit, then she wants to get out and run around. Scares me to death. We spent a lot of time in the 1 ft pool. Of course, I had to be in the pool with her, so that meant an 8 month pregnant woman in a bathing suit...not one of my best looks :)I avoided the camera and took pictures with her swim instructor helping her instead.

I was able to dunk her under and she didn't cry...she will kick her legs ferociously and she loves to try and blow bubbles. We'll be working on that in the bathtub from now on until the skill is mastered. She loves to splash. Though, like every kid her age, she refused to put her head back in the water. She won't even do it in the tub, so I knew it was going to happen. But, overall she loves the water and she can't wait to show Daddy all her new big girl skills.

As for the title of the blog... My friends in Texas already know that we purchased all new appliances, but I thought I would post the pics! I was Lowe's on Memorial Day and saw the insane sale they were having on Energy Star rated appliances and then they were giving a MILITARY DISCOUNT on top of it! Talk about crazy good prices. We saved over $500 on our appliances and they installed them for free! (Even the dishwasher!) I used my dishwasher for the first time tonight and could not believe that it actually washed AND dried the entire load and it didn't sound like it was going to catch fire like the last one. The fridge has 2 cubic feet more space and an ice maker...going to do wonders for me this summer! The stove heats so fast and I can't wait to bake cookies and make yummy Sunday dinner casseroles when Matty comes home.

Old Fridge


New Fridge


Old Dishwasher


New Dishwasher


Old Stove


New Stove