We have a surprise!!!

Can you tell what it is??? This is it! Our little Jellybean as the kids have named it!
Crazy, huh? We know, but we are really excited!

Our newest family member will be making his/her debut mid April!

That means that I have just hit the 12 week mark and I am really feeling very good! I have had some rough days along the way, but generally speaking, it hasn't been too bad.

The kids are pretty excited, but I think Isabelle is, by far, the most excited of us all. She is thrilled that she is going to be a big sister! Actually, she thinks that she is pretty lucky that she gets to be a big sister AND a little sister!

I will do my best to keep you all posted on how things are going along the way! We are hoping to find out what we are having right around Thanksgiving...and maybe, just maybe we will share!

Fun with Nana

We took the opportunity to go downtown with Nana while she was visiting. The kids were very excited to find an open swing on the pier! And it wouldn't have been complete without a really goofy picture!
The kids made sure that she got to see the pineapple fountain. They were a little dissapointed that it was too cool out to splash in the water, but they still had a great time showing Nana the sights!

David's Promotion

On the 16th of September, David was officially promoted to Chief Petty Officer! He went through a 6 week induction period and at the end there was a ceremony in which he wore his new uniform for the first time and his anchors (the insignia of a chief) were pinned on his collar.

Here is a picture of David and Ian before the ceremony. David was kept awake the entire night before the pinning ceremony as part of the induction. You may notice that he doesn't have any insignia on his collar and he is also not wearing a cover (hat) on his head. That is part of the ceremony. All 31 of the selectees marched into the ceremony in formation, singing Anchor's Aweigh.

MCPON Herdt was the special speaker at the ceremony.

After the speaker was finished, the selectees were brought up on stage to be pinned and have their covers placed on them.
I got the privilege of pinning David. On the other side was Steve Jolly, a good friend of his from the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Then his sponsor, Jamie Ydrovo, placed his hat on his head.
After we were finished with our part, we sat back down and David got to walk through the side boys and be saluted. (This is not a normal occurrence for enlisted personnel, but is part of the transition and the ceremony in this case.)


Now, he was officially a Chief!
At the end of the ceremony all of the chief's at the command came through to congratulate each of the selectees.
Because David (and Steve) had been up all night, we were doing everything we could to keep him busy and keep him awake. We knew that as soon as we let him go to sleep, we wouldn't see him again. So, it was Steve's idea for David to do a fashion show. Here is his dress white uniform...pretty snazzy, huh?
We got an early dinner at Chili's that night to celebrate!
(This is Steve, David, and his brother, Dan who came in from Chicago for the ceremony!)
The whole crew (including my mom and sister, Jilienne)
It was a fun day for all of us! Thank you everyone for being here to share in this special experience with us!

Isabelle Turns Four

Isabelle turned four last month. It is hard to believe it was a month ago, but September managed to pass in the blink of an eye!

Isabelle had been planning for over a year to have a princess party this year...complete with a "castle cake." So, Aunt Bean and Mommy figured out the cake idea. I think it turned out pretty cute!
Aunt Bean got Isabelle a Cinderella dress. Cinderella is her favorite princess these days, so she was very excited!
She also got a tiara to match.

She was more than thrilled to put all on before she finished opening gifts!
Grandpa had gotten her a whole set of princess shoes, so now her outfit was complete!

The princess sharing her crown with Aunt Bean.
And with Nana.
She also received the book Pinkalicious from Mr Steve and Mrs Parys. It is a daily read in our household now.
Parys went a little crazy and made and entire bag of gifts with the pink theme...including this GIANT bag of pink candy (that she sorted from other colors herself!)
We all enjoyed the castle cake and Isabelle enjoyed her princess party. Thank you to everyone for making it a special day for our little princess!

Spirit Bugs

Isabelle has started taking cheerleading classes and she LOVES it! I have to say that she seems to be a natural! She only goes once a week, but she wants to be there every day! Here are some fun pictures of her at her last couple classes!

All is well

To be honest, that was a ridiculous build-up for a storm that turned out to be nothing more than rain. It started around 5pm and rained into the night, but the wind wasn't bad and there wasn't any damage done.

I think the most dangerous part of this whole storm was going out in public the last couple of days. People were starting to panic and they weren't exactly friendly. Somehow they lost all of their driving skills and any sort of courteousness.

So, we are safe, drying out and we are prepared in case any of these other storms decide to head our way!

Have a great weekend!

Prepared

I just wanted to let you all know that we are prepared as best as we can be for Hanna to approach the coast. It looks like we will not see the worst of the storm, but we have taken precautionary measures anyhow. We are stocked up on water and non-perishables and we even invested in a generator. I have to go out and pull everything in from the backyard in case the winds get too bad, but otherwise we are ready.

Ian still has school this morning. They have made it a half-day so that everyone can get home before the storm moves too close. We will keep you updated as time goes on and as we are able!