WAR EAGLE

AUBURN TIGERS 2010 NATIONAL CHAMPS!!!!!!

What a great start to 2011! Mike and Billy and their college friends headed down to GLendale to cheer on our Auburn Tigers and I am pretty sure it was one of the most (if not the most) exciting nights of mike's life. I am so glad he got to be there and experience it. I am an Auburn fan but to my husband it is almost a religion. He has given up so much with missing games because he was deployed (ie he missed auburn's last undefeated season as he was deployed on the JFK in the middle of the persian gulf) and because we live further away from Auburn than we would like- plus we now often have to tape the games and watch them on delay because bath time, bedtime and playing with the kids takes precedence. Through all our life changes mike has been a trouper and it seems his football watching has taken a hit which is why I am so glad he got to experience this game the way it should be experienced. Who knows when AUburn will be back in a BCS title game so Mike had to cease the opportunity! War Eagle

Where Have we Been???

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Congrats to Auburn for Winning the National Championship- Phew it has been a crazy couple of weeks.

We started the holidays by heading to clearwater florida where we celebrated Tripp's baptism- all of mike and I's families (minus uncle jack, megs and ellen claire who were all greatly missed) were in attendance at the baptism and it meant so much to us that there were so many people who loved our little tripp there- there is just something about Otto III that is irresistable- ha ha. After the baptism mike's parents graciously hosted everyone (over 40 people) at their house for a little party and it was so wonderful to catch up with so many relatives that we had not seen in so long.

That monday we headed to Disney with the Szurgots (my sister's family) and my parents. I thought Ellie's head was going to explode- there really is no great experience than seeing disneyworld through the eyes of your toddler. She was not the biggest daredevil when it came to rides and hated the 3d at mickey's philhermagic- but overall it was a great (but exhausting) day. Grace, Connor and Claire were so sweet to ride all the little kid rides with Ellie and wait to do what she could not participate in until we were gone as they were staying for the whole week.

We spent the rest of hte week in Clearwater and flew home to Oklahoma on Christmas Day which was a very relaxing travel day as the airports were not very crowded at all. we had a wonderful christmas and were so happy to be able to see both of our families- it is definitely too long before we see them again.

For new years we had a great friends the allens' over- they have two little girls- amanda and bethany who are as cute and sweet as my little Ellie which is saying alot ( ha ha)- the girls are really starting to play together and it was so fun to see them interact. in the military you meet lots of people and develop many friendships but there are few that you know will be in your life forever no matter where you travel too- I can say without a doubt that the allens are those friends and we are just so happy that they are still in oklahoma and we get this time together.

Finally mike went to the national championship game in glendale to cheer our AUburn tigers on to victory- although i wish I could have gone I am so happy he got that experience with all of his college friends. I have decided that the top four moments of mike's life (in no particular order) were our wedding, the birth of our children and attending the national championship game- at least I made it to 3 of the 4!!!! War Eagle

Hope everyone is doing well- I returned to work on Jan 3 and am loving my new job. we are still in the process of finding a permanent nanny but I know god will bring us the right person. Here is a great 2011!

My Sweet Angel

I know I have not posted pictures in a long time and I have every intention of doing so but it has been a crazy couple weeks with the holidays and getting ready to go back to work. That's right- today after 6 months off of work with my sweet angel tripp I went back to work at a new job- it was a great day and I was surprised at how much I love my new office. We have a nanny staying with the kids and it is so far proven to be a great choice.

The reason for my post though is to share the sweetest story I have about my other angel- Ellie. Ellie is in the throws of the terrible twos and often can be very dramatic and headstrong. But at the same time I have no doubt that she is also the sweetest most loving two year old girl around- as an example, this morning I was getting ready for my first day of work in a long time and I was just trying to hold it together so that I did not tear up in front of the kids or the new nanny. As I am getting ready, tripp starts to get fussy. I ask ellie to talk to her brother while I finish getting dressed. My sweet caring little girl walks right over to tripp and puts her arm around him and says "Its ok buddy, mommy always come home, she goes to work but we get to play all day, don't be scared buddy, its ok"- Ellie speaks very well for her age and no lie she came up with this whole pep talk for Tripp completely unprompted- it was almost as if God was speaking thru my little angel to me telling me exactly what I needed to hear at that moment- that my babies would be ok, that we would all be together at the end of the day, and that it was ok because this is what I need to do and my kids would always understand that- I was so thankful for that moment and I did not even cry when I left- and luckily neither did my babies.

tomorrow is another day and I am optimistic it will be as good as today- god willing!.