Happy Birthday Daddy-O!

Today is Don's birthday! I asked him to call home today so we could talk to him on his day. So, he called at lunchtime (here) and he sounded good.

He said it was announced at his morning meeting that it was his birthday. And the notes from the meeting were e-mailed out throughout other offices on base so he was receiving well wishes from comrades as well as many of our family and friends here.

They also had a pizza party for him, as well as a co-worker, at lunch. He said they gave him a gift which was a TIME Magazine cover with a picture of him in front of an armored vehicle on it.
I told Benjamin about Daddy-O having a pizza party at work and he said "I wanted him to have a Race Car party!"

Well, on Don's birthday and always I am so thankful to have him as my husband, as the father to our children, and as my best friend.

Looking forward to that Race Car Party upon his return!

Thank you to everyone who sent Don well wishes on his birthday.

What a time we had...

I just wanted to include some of my favorite photos from our trip to visit family and friends. As you can imagine, I took a ton of photos and have only shared a few up to this point.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Don's sister, our brother-in-law and two of their children drove up from central Illinois to spend a day with us while we were in Illinois too. I was so thankful they made the 3 hour trek. It was great visiting with them and the kids had a blast.

There are also some photos included of my dear friend, Michelle as well as a couple of her boys and a couple of photos of my other great friend, Jill's daughter, Julia too. We spent the morning of the 4th of July with them. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we got a group photo this time around.

We also had a nice cookout at my brother Tim's house on July 5th where I snapped a bunch of photos of everyone. And where our boys had smore's for the very first time. As you can imagine, they were a huge hit! Benjamin enjoyed roasting marshmallows as much as eating them and Samuel enjoyed sharing Grandma's smores!

Enjoy!

Fireworks

It's been awhile since I've really been blogging so let me go back to the Forth of July which we spent in Illinois with family and friends.

Benjamin had been excited about seeing fireworks all week. Everyday he would ask if it was time to see fireworks. Then, the morning of July 4, I excitedly asked him "Guess what's going to happen tonight?" He could tell it was something awesome. And he thought for a second and exclaimed "Daddy's coming home!"

"No, Honey, not yet. We're going to see fireworks tonight."

At least we know that Daddy's return ranks up on top where it should, as the most exciting thing that could possibly happen in his lil world.

We did have a great 4th of July. We spent the morning with two dear girlfriends of mine and their families swimming, eating and enjoying each others company.

After naps we were off for a cookout at my brother, Ron's house, and fireworks in my hometown. They did not disappoint. Benjamin was thrilled as the fireworks shot up into the air. He loved the blue ones, of course, but admired them all (except the really loud ones!). Samuel sat contently on his Aunt Nancy Duda's lap taking it all in. He was snuggled up and the only thing really moving on him was his eyes as they watched the fireworks show in the sky.

I was relieved that both kids did so well at the fireworks. It was a great night. They both lasted until 10 p.m. or so when the show was over and they were tuckered out after that.



Click on the small photos for a larger view.

Lions, Tigers, Bears.... Gorillas & Hipos... OH MY!

We had a great time at Brookfield Zoo on our trip. We had 15 people in all go including all the Duda cousins.

I was a bit surprised that we managed to get all 3 teenage Duda boys to go to the zoo but not too shocked since they all enjoy spending time with their little Chapman cousins so much! The big boys enjoyed acting like zoo animals (ha!) while the littler kids enjoyed watching the animals (the real animals... not the big cousins).

Benjamin has a fascination with hippopotamuses lately so that was our first stop! Luckily the big hippo made a couple of appearances before submerging himself back under water.

We had a double stroller and a wagon with us and I think every child 12 and under took a turn riding in each of those at some time or another. We had some worn out lil ones and two wonderful uncles who also took turns giving shoulder rides to our lil guys.

We managed to cover a lot of area at the zoo and enjoyed watching lots of different animals. I think the top favorites of our group were the energetic gorillas and the playful polar bears. Although, if you ask Benjamin he would insist that his favorite part was seeing the hippos!

We left the zoo around 3 p.m. and headed back to Ron and Nancy's pool to cool off and refresh. It was really an enjoyable day and one we will treasure for a long time.

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Our Trip to Illinois

We just returned from our trip to visit family and friends in Illinois! We had a great time and I will have a ton of photos to post.

The boys were excellent on the flight out there and pretty good on the way back despite a short flight delay. By the time our plane landed back in Virginia the boys were both sound asleep. Benjamin slept for about half the flight and Samuel finally caved in about 5 minutes before the plane landed. I don't know how they both slept through the landing and most of the people getting off the plane, but they did. Samuel actually continued to sleep in the stroller until I put him in his carseat. After a busy week in Illinois they are both pretty exhausted and totally off schedule.

We had a wonderful time which included lots of visiting, swimming, fireworks, and a trip to Brookfield Zoo. Every day Benjamin declared that he wanted to stay in Illinois and that he did not want to go back to Virginia. He was having a blast and soaking up all the attention that his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were giving him. Everyday was an adventure to him and he would wake up asking "Where are we going today, Mommy?" He was happy doing whatever came his way and fell into bed for naps and bedtime without a fight.

Samuel had a good time too. He was a bit more challenging at naptime and bedtime but fell asleep frequently when he was in the car. Everyone adored him and he lit up with big smiles and gave out lots of hugs. He took in the Fourth of July fireworks like a trooper considering it was past bedtime. He enjoyed climbing on his cousins play forts and exerting lots of energy.

I enjoyed visiting with everyone as well and really enjoyed letting everyone entertain my kids! Our kids are the youngest of the cousins so the older kids really dote on them, especially since they don't see them often.