Please pardon the hiatus... I had a baby!

So after about 3 months, I finally have a minute to blog. Here's a quick update on our little family in pictures:

23 March: Daniel graduates from UCT as distinguished graduate and earns the Outstanding Contributor and Sadler awards. This "trifecta" of honors had never been achieved before and he did it!

25 March: Daniel Jr. joins our little family after 28.5 hours of labor and a successful VBAC! The doctor and nurses were wonderful at the hospital on base. It was such a different experience compared to the C-section I had with Anna. The recovery was so much quicker and I'm already back to my pre-pregnancy weight!

28 March: Mom and Dad come to visit! We had a great time showing them around and it was so nice having help with our 2 beautiful babies. Anna loved going to the park behind our house with her Pap Pap in her pajamas first thing in the morning! We took them to Tatonuts donut shop and introduced them to our friends.

8 April: Happy Easter! We celebrated Easter at our house with some of our Air Force family- the Powells and the Ten Hakens. It was so nice even though I was exhausted at the end of it... it may have been a little much to host something like that just 2 weeks after having a baby, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Daniel was a huge help in getting everything ready and we had some delicious food with some help from our friends! Thanks to Meghan & Jason we had enough chairs for everyone and Bri let us use their oven so everything would be ready at the same time!

Our colorful Easter eggs!

22 April: Anna's 2nd birthday party- it's Minnie's Bowtique! 

We had a great time celebrating with our friends and Anna loved her cupcakes (pictured below)

These cupcakes were delicious and pretty easy to make- I used a chocolate cake mix & canned frosting that I dyed with food coloring. I added white chocolate chips to make polka dots, mini fudge stripe cookies for the ears and a small amount of fondant to make the bows.

Digging in after she blew out the candle!

29 April: Welcome to the Catholic Church, Daniel! We had Daniel Jr. baptized at Our Lady of Fatima at the 8:30am Mass (which we normally attend). Godparents, Kelly Mackey and Chris Wrinn traveled great distances to bear witness and take on their responsibilities as godmother and godfather. Kelly flew in from Seattle, WA and Chris drove (with his wife and 2 little boys) from Ft Worth, TX! 

Nana flew in for the occasion, too! She got to meet Daniel and spend some time with us after not being together since Thanksgiving! It was so nice and Anna loved getting her own Nana time.

15 May: Two weeks into Daniel's TDY in Florida, I take a trip to Pittsburgh with the kids. It's Daniel Jr's first plane ride! I was called "brave" so many times, I lost count, but it actually wasn't that bad!

Anna loved having her own seat and was very well behaved on both flights to Pittsburgh (Gulfport to Houston, Houston to Pittsburgh). She loved looking out the window!

Aunt Gracie with Anna and Daniel. This is the first time my siblings got to see our newest family member!

19 May: Cousin Billy and his beautiful bride, Alex, tie the knot in Philadelphia! It was quite a road trip, but we managed it! It was a great celebration and so nice to see our family!

Daniel hanging out with Uncle Bobby.

23 May: Saying goodbye to Aunt Katie and heading home to Mississippi.

24-28 May: We took a mini-vacay to Florida to spend some time with Daniel. He had to work for the majority of our stay, but we spent every night together and got him all to ourselves Sunday and Monday. We went swimming in the Gulf and Anna loved it. Daniel Jr spent most of the time asleep in the carrier!

Me and my sweetie. We all missed him while we were in Pittsburgh!

11-15 June: Sharon visits! She is one of my best friends & Anna's godmother. We hadn't seen each other since we visited her in August 2010! We went to the Biloxi lighthouse (pictured here), Tatonuts, Lovelace Drugstore, the beach & Beauvoir. It was a great trip & she was a huge help since Daniel was still TDY.

My babies & I at the beach.

That brings us up to date! Daniel has training this week & next and then he's home for good! Once he gets home, we'll be packing up for our next move. Expect posts about potential houses soon!

Fourth of July Recap!

I hope all of you wonderful people reading this had a great Fourth of July! We certainly enjoyed ourselves on our four day weekend in Wichita Falls, TX! The military gives several 'family days' throughout the year where you get the day off but it doesn't count against your leave time and Friday was one of them. So Daniel requested a pass to visit his parents who live just 3 1/2 hours south of us in Texas. With his pass approved, we left 1323 Books St. and hit the road on Thursday evening. Our little girl did so well in the car and after we pulled over to feed her about halfway through the trip, she slept the rest of the way.

It was a very relaxing weekend. Dan's brother, Ben, is in China with the Baylor I5 program, so there was less 'gaming' than usual but Daniel introduced me to a game he has which I've now become rather addicted to- Spore. You create an alien life form from a single cell and 'evolve' it until you rule the galaxy... I'm only at the 'civilization' part which is the fourth level but Daniel's way ahead so he helps me along.

Anna's grandparents were thrilled to see her and rarely put her down- which she loved! She told Grandpa all kinds of stories (she's talking so much now!) and gave Grandma lots of smiles for some really cute pictures. With more than willing babysitters, Daniel and I were able to do a quick shopping run on Saturday and saw a matinee movie on Sunday. We saw Toy Story 3 and loved it! It was definitely made with the original viewers of the first two movies in mind, but I'm sure younger kids enjoy it too. ;-)

Fortunately for us, the Freedom Fest fireworks were on Saturday, the third, instead of the actual 4th of July since it rained for most of Sunday. Daniel and I drove to see the show while Anna stayed at home- we didn't want her little ears exposed to those louds BOOMS! It was a beautiful show and a great Fourth of July with my favorite serviceman.

Before we left on Monday, Pat and I went to Toys R Us and Storkland to get some things for Anna. We picked up a Bumbo seat (which gives Anna enough support that she can sit up by herself), new binkies, and a mirror for the car (which lets us see her face in her rear-facing carseat) at Toys R Us. And at Storkland we got a bunch of fun headbands as well as bows and flowers to go with them- they're so cute!!! Pat bought Anna a beautiful outfit that she wore today to Playgroup with one of her new headbands. I'll post pictures soon.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend and it's always great to see Daniel's parents. Now it's back to home (which needs cleaned... badly) and work (Daniel is still in academics and just had a test today- he got 100%!). Our little angel is fast asleep and I'm off to bed myself. Have a good night, all!

Anna Grace's Big Trip!

A little background: So I finally became Facebook friends with my brother, Bobby, and was looking through pictures of him this evening. There were plenty of pictures of him running, hanging out with friends and going to homecoming and prom... plus a ton of pictures with our amazing cousins. Many of them were from the past several beach vacations we took as a family to Sunset Beach.

Cousin pyramid 2009!

Bottom: Me, Daniel, Bobby, Zach Middle: Megan, Hannah, Katie Top: Patrick and Maura

We have gone to Sunset Beach, NC for about the last 14 years. It was originally just my immediate family but after a few years, my Uncle Terry and Aunt GiGi with their girls (Megan, Hannah and Maura) as well as my Aunt Annie and Uncle Tommy with their boys (Zach, Patrick and Ryan) joined us. Also within the last couple of years, our grandparents have also become a part of the "Beach Crew." Daniel was welcomed into the crew last year when we joined the family after our honeymoon.

Knowing that Daniel would be in pilot training this summer, I figured that last year would be my last time at the beach for awhile since I didn't want to go without Daniel but our little surprise of a beautiful baby girl changed that. Since Anna hasn't met most of the family, I've planned a 3 week trip to introduce her to the family and the first stop is Sunset Beach!

Anna and I will head out from Oklahoma City and make our way to the beach by way of Dallas on Sunday and spend our first week soaking up the sun, the ocean and the salty sea breezes. At the end of the week, we'll drive back to Pittsburgh with my family where we'll get to see the rest of my extended family and some family friends.

Pittsburgh at night

Following our Pittsburgh visit, we'll head to the windy city: Chicago! In Chicago, we'll be visiting a few of my college friends including my freshman year roomy, Emily who is expecting her baby in early August. We'll also be staying with Anna's godmother, Sharon, and her husband. Hopefully, we'll also get to see Annaliese and a few other friends that live in the city. After our visit there is finished, we'll "follow the star to where the world begins" and head home to Enid!

I'm really looking forward to all of our visiting especially with our family. Anna is the first baby born far away from Pittsburgh and I'm eager for her to meet all of her great-grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts. There's nothing quite like family.

Easter in Pittsburgh!

Despite my swollen feet from travel, I had an amazing trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate Easter with my family. I got in on a Wednesday and spent the evening with my siblings and parents at home with a homemade apple pie to finish off the day. Thursday was a day spent with Gramma Irene (my dad's mom) who is on her way to recovery after having hip surgery a few months ago. She came to our house to make traditional Italian Easter bread- pasca. It was an incredible process to take part in and the little details were so important! The eggs had to be at room temperature, the milk had to be warm-but not too warm, and a small pinch of sugar had to be added to the yeast. The most amazing thing was how she mixed the ingredients- she did it right on the countertop with no bowl or mixer needed. Since the amount of ingredients (3 pounds of flour, a dozen eggs, etc) would overwhelm even the biggest bowl, Gramma formed the flour into a bowl shape and added the ingredients slowly while bringing in small amounts of the flour. After the mixing, we had to let it rise 3 times before braiding and baking it. I must say that it turned out very well and it was one of my favorite parts of our Easter brunch.

After taking Gramma home, we stopped by to meet the newest cousin on my mom's side of the family: Ryan Thomas. He is beautiful and such a sweet baby! It was great to meet him when he's still so tiny- only 6 days old! His big brother, Patrick, is precious to watch since he's only 2 and still a baby himself. My Aunt Annie is recovering well after her c-section and Uncle Tommy is doing a good job as husband and dad as well as host- he treated all of us to soft pretzels while we visited.

Friday was a pretty quiet day since it was Good Friday and the family doesn't do much between the hours of 12 and 3 in the afternoon. However, that evening after a dinner of Juliano's pizza (my absolute favorite!) we were joined by Aunt Annie, Uncle Tommy, Patrick and Ryan to dye Easter eggs. Gracie and Patrick had a lot of fun. Gracie enjoyed dying her eggs in multiple colors and to Patrick, every color was "Blue!"

Saturday was spent cleaning the house to get ready for hosting Easter brunch but I wasn't too much help since I was still sporting Fred Flintstone feet. After sweeping downstairs, I cleaned something else that didn't require being on my feet- the computer. I uninstalled lots of stuff that was unnecessary and slowing it down. Now it runs smoothly and without annoying programs that pop up whenever you log in. After a busy day, we all got dressed up and headed to the Easter vigil at my home parish, Holy Trinity. It was a beautiful service and I got to see some friends from home which was great.

Sunday was another gorgeous day- blue skies and plenty of sunshine! Looking for Easter baskets was fun though I had some trouble locating mine.... the bunny was tricky this year. Aunt Nancy came early to help with the cooking and by noon, the whole family had arrived and it was a great time to catch up with everyone. I finally got to meet little Penelope Ann (born 3/15/2010) and she is just precious! Her 3 year old big sister, Lilly, told me she helps mommy with the baby- even with diapers. Lilly and Grace enjoyed playing dress up and grocery store while Penny got passed around and Gramma gave orders in the kitchen. It was a delicious meal and a relaxing afternoon before we said good bye to dad's side of the family and headed over to Grandma and Pap's house to see mom's side of the family for dinner.

My cousin, Mary Kate, definitely had the best reaction to my surprise visit and it was so good to see her and the rest of the Kelly clan. The little kids enjoyed a wild egg hunt in the backyard and I enjoyed catching up with my aunts, uncles and cousins. I'm so glad I got to travel home for the week- it would have been hard to go for more than 6 months without seeing everyone. I am planning on bringing the baby to Pittsburgh this summer during Daniel's first couple of weeks of academics of UPT (undergraduate pilot training) since it's very rigorous and he could use the calm and quiet as he begins his pilot training..... and because I don't think I could go more than a few months without having Juliano's pizza!

1 here, 2 to go!

This morning at 1:45am, a little miracle arrived in Pittsburgh! My cousin, Maggie, gave birth to her daughter, Penelope Ann. Penny joins her big sister, Lilly who just turned 3 in February. Our prayers were certainly answered since Maggie had a very long labor with Lilly and ended up needing a c-section, but this time around everything went smoothly and she had a successful VBAC! I'm looking forward to meeting my new little cousin.

Next week, my Aunt Annie is scheduled for a c-section to deliver her little one. I'll be sure to post stats on both new babies once I get that information.  I love that all three of us have decided to be surprised about whether the baby is a boy or a girl. So far- Girls: 1 Boys: ?