HE'S HOME!!!

After a LONG 51 weeks, McH is HOME!!! Here are some pics, I'll post more about it later!

The sign on our garage.


"Sgt. Grimsley extra duty starts NOW" !!!




It was C O L D!!!



This is one of my friends ... we've pulled each other through the past few weeks. Her daughter was born the day they deployed!


Me and Monkey

Zoo day!

Fun day at the zoo! Forgive my camera. I am so bummed because it takes such crappy pictures and I've only had it a few months. I'm seriously considering going back to a camera with film.


Monkey playing with the kitty.


The great thing about this zoo is that throughout the entire thing there are different play areas for kids. This was a cool slide that went through the otter exhibit.



Another play area.



There is a new exhibit with a HUGE orangutan. It was really cool. Outside of that they had monkey ropes for the little "monkeys" to play on!


We got him to sit with the orangutan for about 2 seconds LOL

Happy Birthday to my beautiful boy!

This is late! Yikes! Wasn't feeling too well today, but we still had a nice time! I couldn't find my camera until now ... in the Halloween candy bowl ...

Anyway, more pictures in the next day or two of birthday presents, Halloween and the zoo. He got a big kitchen so he can cook when mama does :) He also got a music set with a drum, maracas, and a flute. And, mommy and daddy got him a new train set. Somehow he also swung a new Dora bedset!

So, here's my big boy through the past three years! He's amazing, beautiful and it still blows my mind that we are so fortunate to be his parents!!!

One of our referral pictures. 1Dec06



Canyon of the Eagles 2November08


Chillin' at home October 08 (I'll come back and update this with a better pic!)

Singin' in the Rain

I hate post titles.

Monkey and his little girlfriend aren't seeing much of each other lately. The end of the deployment is hard on me and her mom, so neither of us are doing much. But, we got them together last week ... excited much?!



Nana and Papa came to visit and we went out to our local Italian restaurant. Monkey decided to drink his soup!



Good?!







NOT YET!!! I'm not ready for this!




I thought maybe someone might like to see how McH communicates with us ... so, I took a pic yesterday.




I have such a funny kid! He loves to sing and dance ... and give him someone else's clothes and he is a very happy camper! ((Sorry it's sideways!))

I was on the phone with my mom and Monkey was pulling the blankets and pillows. I had NO idea what he was doing until all of a sudden he did ...







My tiny ... falling ... dancer.

Random

It's always random when I wait so long to update! Potty training is in full swing and he's doing fantastic! I still have to ask him, but he's pretty good at going on his own! So, diapers are gone except during nap and night time.

Monkey? Yes mama?



How do you like going on the big potty?


We had some very windy, rainy weather last week. Monkey had to hold on tight so he didn't blow away!





Today I really tackled cleaning, but was sidetracked into legos and blocks :)



I got a video on my phone while he was singing and dancing in the car. For some reason, it disappeared :( I tried with my camera and he'd dance, but no singing.

A couple of icks ... a pattern?!

Just a quick one tonight. Our fallen gazebo and mommy's night time boo-boo.

I'm not sure if I mentioned our gazebo, but it went up days before McH came home and crashed days after he left. It pretty much knocked me out, but ya know, life goes on! Here are some pictures of our sad backyard.

We had a pretty decent day today and then night fell ... ha ha. My IM was up on our desktop which I rarely use and I'd forgotten to change my message alerts. Usually it only alerts me if a message is sent, which at midnight is a sure bet it's my husband. Well, I was tangled in laptop cords and half asleep when the alert went off AND I heard my bug get out of bed. By the time I made it down the bed and realized that the alert just went off when a contact came online, I was already headed to my new adornments - a Go Go AND a Dora Bandaid. I got to show Monkey that the medicine really doesn't hurt, though. I know the picture just looks bad, I won't deny that, but above the bandaids that really is a huge lump. Ugh ... we're due for some good days that end with good evenings!!!

Yes, these make me cry too!

A few of the tear jerkers.

I believe Monkey was using his new line of, "good day, sir", replacing 'sir' with whoever's name. This one was "good day, daddy".


Getting ready for a big kiss.


And, there it is.

And, finishing up with a bunch of snuggles ...

And a nap. How do I love these boys.

((I am desperate to figure out how to make my signature match my blog ... ugh)

R&R #2

Papa, Nana and McH (holding Monkey). They were feeding fish, I believe.

Checking out something that was apparently pretty cool.

My boys.

My special picture ... I'm going to use this to remind my lovely husband just how difficult a 2 year old can be!!!

Trying to play with the otters ... see them in front of Monkey's right hand?

We spent a lot of time with McH's parents. Here is Monkey and one of his cousins "playing" cards!

Monkey learning how to efficiently eat oreos with milk!


McH and Papa being very cool.

Monkey trying out a Dora tube. He did fine as long as he could hold the string of my swimsuit. He's such a great little swimmer! Ignore the end of the second video where Monkey decided it was funny to smack mommy ... possibly because we were all laughing!

More to come later!!!