"Mommy, I'm a Pwinthith!"

You are, indeed, little one!
Abby Kate loves dress-up now. She's into fairy princesses and the like. She was having so much fun dancing around in this tutu I bought for her. And those necklaces - she wears them everywhere! I wish I still had some of my old dance recital costumes for her to wear. Mom, any chance you still have any of those?!

Beginnings of a curtsy, maybe?

For the record, this is AK's attempt at a pole climb, not a pole dance.

CJ, Amber and Luke Visit NC

Mike's brother, CJ, his wife, Amber, and their 18-month-old son, Luke, flew in for a few days this month. We had a wonderful time and the days flew by way too fast. We enjoyed touring downtown New Bern, Union Park, the aquarium, the beach, the base, Morehead City, Beaufort and Creekside Park. Mike and CJ got a couple of rounds of golf in as well. The weather was beautiful each day, so that was a huge plus. Abby Kate and Luke played well together and were giving each other hugs and smiles the whole time. (Except, of course, for the times they wanted the same toy!)

Thanks so much for coming to visit guys! We loved having you here and can't wait for you to come back.

Welcome to the World

I mentioned in a previous post that we have a new nephew, and I finally dug through Mike's e-mail and found a picture. Congrats to Matt (Mike's youngest brother) and our sister-in-law, Beth, on the birth of their first child - a beautiful baby boy! We are so, so excited to meet little Josh when we come to TX for Christmas. Congratulations, Matt and Beth!

Joshua Matthew Wallace was born Aug. 15, 2008 at 2:47 p.m.
He was 7 lbs, 10 oz and 21 and 3/4 inches long.

Random AK Quote

AK and I were being silly and dancing around today. She was repeating everything I did and said, so I started shaking up and down, singing "Dancin', dancin', dancin' machine!"

She immediately started shaking her hips and arms, singing, "Dancin', dancin', dancin' with sheep!"

:)

Mommy, What's a Shark Say?

Ummm... not really sure. Mike decided the shark says, "I'm gonna eat you!" with a growling sort of voice. And miss Abby Kate readily accepts that answer like she does every other piece of information right now. AK was infatuated with the sharks at the aquarium last weekend near Morehead City. They had an entire wall made of glass for excellent shark-viewing. Abby Kate was the loudest person in the place that day... every other sentence was, "Just like in Nemo, Mommy!" and "Look at all those fish! I like all those fish!" She absolutely loved every second that we were there and has been talking about sharks ever since, saying "Sharks! Eat you!"


We also invited our neighbors for a play date this week. Tameka's husband is also a Marine, and in fact we lived in VA at the same time and our husband's knew each other back then. Tameka and I finally met soon after we moved here. She brought her two adorable kids, Devon and Tayhlore over for some playtime. Thanks again for coming, guys, it was fun!


And of course the week wouldn't be complete without GYM-NAK-SICKS!!! AK is getting better and better at all the exercises each week. Daddy was able to come and watch for the first time and he was very impressed! He got a couple of pictures, too...

The balance beam.

Climbing the ladder.

Thirty-one

Happy birthday, honey! Hope you enjoyed your gifts, cake and ice cream. We are so thankful to have you, and we love you very much!

Alive and Well

Thanks to all of you who called/e-mailed to see how we weathered the storm last night. Hanna was sweet to us. No damage, no flooding - we didn't even lose electricity. We heard the 60 mph winds whipping around the corners of our house in the early morning hours, but rose to find nothing but small, stray branches here and there. The storm ended up going just West of us, moving somewhere between New Bern and Charlotte, NC.

Looks like Ike will most likely be headed into the gulf. While we may not have to worry about our safety in that storm, we will be praying it doesn't hit the house we own in the Pensacola area!

Labor Day Weekend

I was so excited for my parents to come and see this great, new place we live. We're so much happier here in this town and in this house and I couldn't wait to show them all of it. They arrived late Friday night, so they didn't get to see Abby Kate before she went to bed, but they peeked in to find her fast asleep wearing her beloved "gym-nak-sicks" shirt that she refused to take off.

The next morning, I awoke to hear AK sounds coming from our guest room. I found Abby Kate sitting in the middle of the bed, soaking up the hugs and kisses and laughs of Mimi and Pawpaw. They were amazed at how much she could say to them. We enjoyed a pancake breakfast and then took a tour of our surroundings. We went to the air station first to show Mom and Dad the Harriers parked in the hangars. They were quite impressive - it was my first time to see them up close as well. We toured the beautiful downtown New Bern area and had fun swinging at the waterfront park. We ate at Captain Ratty's and then followed it up with ice cream from the cafe next door.

Mike and Dad got 18 holes in on Sunday while Mom, AK and I did a bit of shopping. We drove down to Atlantic Beach on Labor Day and enjoyed the gorgeous weather, the sea breeze and the big waves. AK had no interest in the waves, but could've spent all day in the sand, searching for shells.

Mom and Dad watched AK for us a couple of times so we could do some furniture shopping. (We had forgotten how much easier it was back when we could just jump in and out of the car and jet around from place to place!) AK kept Mimi and Pawpaw entertained the entire weekend. She is so funny these days. And quite bossy! Especially to me. It's hard not to laugh, but I try my best. :)

Mom and Dad - thanks again for coming to see us. We had a WONDERFUL time and wish you could've stayed longer.

Oh, and we have a new, very comfortable queen-size bed for our guest room... so, you know, if anyone wants to come visit. Just sayin'. :)

Coastal Living Brings Visitors, Both Good and Bad

We have been enjoying the company of family and friends this past week. Mom and Dad came down for Labor Day weekend (post and pics to follow), and then some friends from MS have come to stay with us while they search for a house (they'll be moving here in the coming weeks).

Word is we'll be having yet another visitor - if not two - before the week is up, and we are not happy about it. Tropical storm Hanna and then possibly hurricane Ike will be unwelcome guests in this area. We're supposed to see the first signs of Hanna tonight, although it's already pouring here right now at 1:25 p.m. The worst part of the storm is expected to be in our area tomorrow (Sat.) afternoon.

We plan to stay right here with our flashlights, candles and water, but will definitely get out of town if necessary!

As AK would say, "Go away, rain, go away!"