M&M Olympics

Here is Ellie at her first olympics. I say first because both my mom and I have a prediction. Although Ellie was due on August 21 and I was induced on August 6th she managed to hang on and not enter this world until August 8th- specifically 8.8.08 which as many of you remember was the first day of the summer olympics 2008- thus the only logical conclusion is someday ellie will be an olympic athlete- it is destiny! Not sure whether it will be gymnastics or swimming but with her build and her performance this year I am leaning towards gymnastics. there were tons of people there and ellie was chosen to hold the sign that said toddlers- as you can see from the pic she was concentrating so hard- she looked as though if she dropped the sign her life would be over. Some of the kids shied away with all the spectators but not my future superstar- she did more stunts and tried more tricks than ever before. And when it was time to get on the podium and accept her trophe was she intimidated by the audience- not my Ellie- she ran up and threw her hands in the air. My only regret was only having my camera and not my video camera because I am pretty sure one day when she is in the real olympics these videos will be played by NBC when doing her back story- ha ha- I don't care if this was only the local edmond gymnastics olympics- I was as proud as any mom!

rushed early- sorry- here is the rest of the post

So when I posted the pics this morning I barely had time to type anything before I had to rush off to work. Here is a better explanation of the happenings at the Piedmont household.

Mother's day was great- we just hung out as a family and mike let me take a nap- perfect day. Mike got me an ice cream maker from the kids since ice cream is a favorite thing in our household. The pics are of ellie and mike making ice cream and tripp enjoying the ice cream- notice the big smile and the chocolate on the side of his face.

as for mike's 40th it was a day of surprises. I coordianted with his boss and snuck into his office the day before his birthday to decorate his office (see pic). I had help from my best friend Kacee and her kids. We hung streamers, had an inflatable walker, hung signs with his pictures all of the squadron which said Lordy Lordy look whose 40- all in all it was a great surprise and although he acted embarassed I think he secretly like the attention- who doesn't like attention on their birthday??? He got a kindle from his family as a surprise and although I have now lost him to another piece of technology it was a great gift. Then saturday night I surprise him with all of our friends having dinner together at his favorie BBQ restaurant- it was a big day and was properly celebrated.

For my birthday it was more low key but was still perfect. I spend so much time away from my kids that I don't want to be away that on weekends I cherish our time as a family- and we had a wonderful weekend!

Ellie had her M&M Olympics and she was defintely the star (pics to come tonight I promise). We went to Chicago for memorial day because our neice megs graduated from high school- it was a short visit and a long drive but TOTALLY worth it to see mike's family. ALthough she chose the wrong college (florida state over auburn) we are so proud of her and happy for her college years to begin (hoepfully they will be less than mikes- ha ha- I can kid because I am so proud of him)

On that note we had another big annoucement last week- Otto/Mike was selected for department head- it has become very competitive and I am so proud of all his hard work- this means we will probably (as nothing is definite in the military) be in Oklahoma until 2015 and I never thought I would say this but I am thrilled to stay here. we have great friends and are even getting some nonmilitary friends which is nice, our jacksonville friends are moving within 45 minutes of us, I like my job (most days), I love our nanny, ellie is starting a great preschool in the fall and my best friend will be her teacher, we love our house and otto/mike likes his job too- we are so unbelieveably blessed and I am just so thankful each and everyday. Life is not perfect but I have no complaints!

more pics to come!

Catching Up

We have had alot going on- hence the lack of posts. Mother's day, Mike's 40th birthday (yes I said it 4-0!), my birthday, and much much more.

Summer has started out wonderfully with lots of trips to the pool and fun times with friends. We are getting ready for tripp's first birthday whcih makes me so sad as I can not believe he is already 1! time is going so fast and I am trying to soak up every minute. With summer in the military world it means lots of moves and unfortunately we are losing some of our best friends- the allens. below are pics of ellie and I at amanda's dance recital. It makes me so sad to think we will miss these moments but I am so happy for them as I know they are so excited about the move- and I also know that some day we will be together again. For instance, our best friends from Jacksonville, the Mondys who mike and I actually lived with for a couple of months before we moved to OKC are now moving to Oklahoma in July- so crazy! In the five years we have been apart between the two of us we have three more kids! it will be so fun to see out kids play together and be able to visit as if no time has passed. that is both the downfall and beauty of the military.

Ok, I have to get to work but I will post pics from Ellie's gymnastic olympics later- enjoy