Tripp's 1st Birthday

Where did the year go???? I can not believe tripp is 1! time is flying by and I just want it to slow down. Tripp is the most lovable little boy but he is certainly a second child who tries to get away with as much as possible. He has the biggest smile and blue eyes and the most easygoing personality- he is constantly laughing, usually at his big sister and is full of smiles. We are so unbelievably blessed with the family that we have. Ellie has loved her brother from day one and eventhough he is into most of her stuff she still is very patient with him and dotes on him. Not to say we have not had numerous talks about sharing but that is typical with a 2 year old. Tripp is into everything- not walking yet but that does not slow him down. He moves from one activity to the next and tries to get any wires that are visible- child proofing has taken on a whole new level at the Piedmont household. But eventhough he keeps us on our toes and I am pretty sure there will be many a trip to the ER- he is the best little boy imaginable. We love him more than anything and are just so happy that a year ago God loved us enough to bless us with this little boy- he is sure to provide much entertainment and love! Happy Birthday Tripp

And so as not to leave out our other angel I included pics of our social butterfly Ellie entertaining all the guests at Tripps party!

Ellie's First Day of School

This summer Ellis is going to "school" one day a week at our church. so far she is loving it. The first day I was WAY more nervous than she was and she just ran away from me to play with friends- I am not sure where this child came from because she does not have a shy bone in her body- I hope that confidence stays forever. Every day she goes they give us a report card of sorts- each day it says ellie was chatty, happy, active- it makes me so proud! this fall she starts preschool and I am not sure where the time is going but I love to watch her have all these new wonderful experiences!


The pic below kind of sums up our life right now- ellie is sweet and reads books and tripp is WILD- we just try and keep up with him. never a dull moment

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

Vegas Baby!

For Easter my mom's entire family (7 brothers and sisters, kids, grandkids, etc) gathered in Las Vegas for the McLoughlin Family Reunion 2011- being the good catholics that we are there was no better place to celebrate Easter than sin city- I am sure Grandpa was quite pleased- ha ha. Ellie and Tripp had an amazing time will of their cousins and this trip once again reminded me (not that I really needed reminding) about what an incredible family the McLoughlin family is and I am so lucky to be a part of such an amazing group of people. My grandparents, Grandpa and Grandma, to me define what success is- they have a family that they created in which they instilled the importance of family and God that even after my grandpa is no longer with us we recognize how special our family is and how important it is for us to continue to gather together- and we did- all of us were present for a grandtotal of 50! It was a fabulous trip and I am so happy that my children have such wonderful examples to look up to! enjoy the pics.

I Am Blessed!

Lately I have been reminded (far to many times it seems) how precious life is and how blessed me and my small family really are. It seems I am constantly hearing stories of unexpected/tragic loss, sick babies (the worst) and just reminders that we can never take any day for granted. I look at my own life and am just overwhelmed with how happy we are and I just want to press the pause button so that this happiness never passes. Not to say we do not have our normal children "challenges" for instance Tripp has been teething nonstop for 2 weeks which means many a sleepless night for mommy but just the other night when I was feeding him at 1 am I was confronted with the "sad" fact that I will not always have to wake up with him in the middle of the night. Many of you wonder how can she be sad about this but I know in my heart that there will be a day I will get plenty of sleep and I will miss having my little boy curled up in my arms in the middle of the night with me being the only person in the world that can comfort him. Being a mommy is hard but it is by far the most rewarding job ever- even on the tough days. My children provide me joy at some point everyday and all I pray is that we stay healthy and safe together as a family- as all the rest is just details! I also pray that even in those trying moments I can take a deep breath and remember that such challenges are so miniscule in comparison to other's struggles and I am one lucky mommy.