FFF

He's just so cute! This was his very first haircut!

Wedding

Well, I don't actually pics from the wedding McH was in this past weekend, but I do have pics of us! And McH was in his Class A's and looked super hot ... to me, at least! lol

This is what we did during the wedding!

Monkey checking out Daddy's medals after the wedding.

We found this caterpillar outside of the church. We couldn't believe how big it was!

A family picture

Day at the Park

We went out to Burnett, TX last Sunday for a day at the nature park. It's a place where you can see bald eagles, though, we didn't get to see any :( Maybe in a couple of years we'll take the cruise and see some. But, we had a great day hiking on the trails and found a few armadillos!

Enjoying his lemonade

Just chillin' while mommy and daddy tried to find the park.

Canyon of the Eagles park

Looking for what else? Bugs!

An armadillo. They obviously have terrible sight!
A family pic attempt ... as you can see it didn't work out so well!

Daddy taking a picture from WAY up on a rock! Monky found a feather that he kept trying to fly with!

Daddy teaching Monkey about tree bark and what we can and can't touch.

We took a ton of pictures. I've uploaded them onto shutterfly if anyone would like to see them! Here is the link for our new shutterfly site. http://grimsley1.shutterfly.com/

Two years ago ...

Two years ago the most handsome little man entered this world.

How does time move so quickly? I feel like it was just yesterday that I saw him for the first time. And then, at the same time it seems like he has always been a part of my life. Maybe in some way he has been.

Two years ago I didn't even know this sweet boy existed. Yet, he entered the world and that moment, despite not being aware of it, changed our lives.

It also makes me think of the person who may not be celebrating this day. I'm sure she thinks of him and wonders about him. Wonders if he's walking and talking. Probably wonders often if he's happy and loved. I can't imagine how she feels on this day. I can only hope that she feels peace and somehow knows just how much love has filled his life and how much love he brings to the people around him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BOY!!

Referral 12/1/06

Mommy's first visit 2/21/07

Canyon of the Eagles Lake Park 11/2/08

Monkeys first TOT and a birthday celebration

We had such a fun night! Actually a fun day all around! Monday is monkey's birthday, but we decided to celebrate his birthday out at lunch today. We have a new Cracker Barrell, so we had lunch before a wedding rehearsal.

We had a card from Nani that monkey just LOVED! Especially the lion on the card. He kept growling!

Here mommy is thinking ... please get your jelly hands out of my hair!!

Mommy and Daddy also got him a new coloring book and his first set of real crayons along with a little checkers set.

We had a great day and then trick or treating time came along. Monkey was ... a ... um, monkey. He looked adorable and I'll have to add in a picture later of him just standing in his costume. My camera has been acting up lately so we've been using Ben's and it doesn't always take the best pictures. Add that to the dark and we don't have the greatest pictures, but you can still see how much fun we had! I did have to carry Monkey to the first house and explain how TOT works, but after that wonderful man placed the little bag of M&M's in his bucket, he was sold on the idea! In fact, he kept looking at us like, "why haven't we tried this whole costume = candy thing before?!"

Daddy walking Monkey up to the first house where he had to actually knock on the door (most people were sitting outside)

Checking out his bag!

This guy was great! He had a scary mask on and a few kids right before us were trying to talk each other in to going up to him. Monkey just headed right for him, though the nice guy did lift his mask. I think at that point monkey would've done about anything for candy!

A pig?! An ANGEL pig?! Too funny! McH said, "look, I think that's a pig up there" and mommy said, "babe, don't say that loud, it's probably a dog with short hair or something, you'll offend someone!" Nope, it was a super cute piggy!

Man, that was a fun street. So much different from our street!

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and lots of fun Trick or Treating if you went. We had a blast!

Coloring pages!

We're always looking for activities and lately monkey is loving to color. Here are some free pages for coloring! If clicking the picture doesn't work, click here.

A time for Reflection

Tonight at midnight, in our religion Wicca, begins the end of the old year. Thus, it begins a time of great reflection for me. First, it is a time when I look back on the old year and thing about what's gone, what is coming. Of course, it's ingrained in me to do this on December 31 as well. Next comes the birth of my son. A miracle to me. Then comes the anniversary of my grandfather's passing, followed not long after by my own birthday. And then we have Thanksgiving.

November is a month that I believe will be far beyond emotional for me. We are celebrating the holidays with family and soon after we will begin our second deployment. There is a lot to go back and be thankful for. A lot of strength to draw from this past year.

Today we will celebrate Monkey's birthday a little early. We will take him out for trick or treating for the VERY first time! And, we will vote. There is a huge mixture of the past and future in today.

So, tonight at midnight we will put out our cakes and drink to offer those of our family that have passed. We will reflect on our year and far beyond that I'm sure.

What do I hope for the coming year? I hope for strength. Not to survive this next deployment and not even that it flys by. I know that it won't. My request for strength is that we can appreciate every day. We will be apart, but we will still love each other. We will still be parents to our son. Those are things that need to be appreciated.

I also hope that I can not only find strength, but that I can learn to live in the moment. I've always wished to be able to do this better and I'd like to really find that ability.

This month, I hope, will be filled with posts about the milestones we reach. There are so many. I've past up so many without blogging, mostly about Monkey. But, I think that I'm in such a different place than I was one year ago. I'm ready to truly relish every moment.