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!

Welcome to the Sunshine State!

After a rather dreary week in Montgomery, Daniel and I braved the 'blizzard' that descended upon Alabama to drive down to Pensacola for the long weekend and some time with friends from our pre-Air Force life. Though the roads were really just wet (It never got below freezing!) and visibility was about as clear as you can get, Alabama drivers were pretty distraught at the white stuff falling from the sky. On our drive down, we saw lots of tire tracks where people had pulled over because they were too scared to drive in snow. These tracks were often paired with snowmen since Alabamans don't get much snow and it might be their only chance at making one!

Once we arrived in Pensacola, we called up our Pittsburgh friends, Mike & Emily, who are based at the Pensacola Naval Air Station where Mike will train as a pilot. We grabbed a bite to eat at the Ruby Tuesday which was walking distance from our hotel and caught up with our fellow newlyweds. (See a couple of their wedding pictures in a December post.) It was so good to see them!

Mike and Em at the beach...

Saturday was a great day of yummy food and good friends. After breakfast and a swim at the hotel, Dan and I met Mike and Emily at Mellow Mushroom where we enjoyed delicious pizza before a little bit of window shopping at a nearby mall and a trip to the beach. Apparently the sand at Pensacola is special and finer than most other beaches. It was a bit chilly and very windy, but it was a great walk and a first for both Daniel and I- our first trip to the Gulf!

Daniel and the Gulf of Mexico

After some Catchphrase, yummy stirfry a la Emily and watching the Olympics back at the Rueda house, we called it a night and headed back to our extremely comfortable king sized bed- a definite upgrade from our full sized bed back at Maxwell!

My beautiful flowers from my Valentine

Sunday was our first Valentine's Day as a married couple and it was wonderful. We went to lunch at Olive Garden, which was the place to be and thus, very crowded. Our waitress was so sweet and kept apologizing for the long wait. Once our meals finally did come out, my grilled chicken put up a fight in coming off the skewer and the waitress ended up flinging a couple of the pieces onto the floor. After many more apologies, she sent it back to the kitchen because it was burnt and the manager came out to let us know that the meal was taken care of by the restaurant. After eating our fill, we headed back to the hotel for some Olympics and relaxation before evening mass with Em and Mike. We said our good-byes after church and went our separate ways to enjoy dinner as couples. Overall, it was a great day and a very memorable Valentine's Day.

We celebrated Presidents' Day with some friends from Notre Dame. Through the wonders of Facebook, I got in touch with Megan and Nathan who are based at Eglin AFB about an hour and a half from Pensacola. They happened to be in town meeting some family for dinner and we were able to get together for lunch. We had a lot to celebrate since Megan and Nathan recently found out that they are expecting a little one! Nathan says it's what all the cool Catholic married couples are doing. :-) It was a wonderful way to finish our weekend in Pensacola and having the chance to visit our friends all over the country is just one of the many reasons Air Force life is so special.