Happy Turkey Day!

This year as we celebrate Thanksgiving there are SO many things that we are thankful for.

This is the first year that we are getting to spend Thanksgiving with Eden and she is definitely one of the many blessings that we are thankful for! She makes us smile every day.

Lane and I are able to spend this Thanksgiving with many family members that we don't get to spend much time with on a regular basis. My sister and her family are in Georgia to spend Thanksgiving with us and Lane's siblings are both here too with their families. We will also be able to see Tommie, the family friend of the Daigle family, who we usually only get to see once a year. My extended family will also be coming over for Thanksgiving lunch at my parents and Eden will have the chance to see all of her cousins and second cousins. This is great for her because she absolutely loves to be around other children! She laughs and giggles at them and she can't get enough of the bigger kids when they're around.

This year we also want to make sure to show our gratitude to those who are serving our country and aren't able to spend Thanksgiving with their families. Our friend, Edwina, in particular, because this is her second Thanksgiving in a row that she has made a huge sacrifice and been deployed and away from her family. We miss her very much and can't wait for the day that she's state-side and able to spend more time with family and friends again!

Most of all, we want to thank God for everything that he has blessed our lives with. I know that we have more blessings than we are aware of, and none of them would be possible without Him providing!

So, on this Thanksgiving morning, be sure to count your blessings - they are more than you'll ever know!

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!!!

VT-2 Taxi Day

Yesterday was Taxi Day at Lane's squadron. They let student spouses and instructor spouses come to "work." While we were "at work" we got to taxi one of the planes with an instructor pilot.

The day started out with a safety brief from the squadron's Commanding Officer, Commander McGuire. He introduced us to the idea of being in the training planes. He seemed to spare no detail, including the fact that the planes have been in circulation for a few years, or so, and many students have "lost their lunches" in them and they sweat in them every day. He definitely made it out to be worse than it actually was! After he was done briefing us, we were introduced to buttons, switches, knobs, and anything else that we should not touch while in the plane. Honestly, I had no desire to touch ANY buttons unless they said to because there were SO many that you had no idea what they might do when pushed, turned, clicked, or whatever else you could do to them!

After the brief, the spouses went over to the line shack - where we were to get into the planes - to wait our turns. The line shack is also used by students and instructors that morning, and every day, to go over briefs before flying their instructional flights. I would not have wanted to be in that room briefing an instructor with all of us chatty wives in there! I wouldn't have been able to concentrate.

When it was finally my turn to "take flight" I donned my helmet and gloves (I was already in my flight suit), and I jumped aboard the bird to get strapped in and hooked up to the radio.

 

As soon as my radio was hooked up my instructor said, "Hey, who do I have back there?" When I answered him he responded by saying "Hey, Brittany, my name is Matt, you ready to go?" As ready as I thought I was, I was nervous, and off we went!

As we taxied around, he had me turning right, turning left, following this yellow line and that one, and then he showed me how to park the plane. When you park a plane you don't park between the lines, you park over the line, which is kind of weird. Once we were parked he took the torque up to the power level that it needs to be at in order to take off. After he did that we taxied on back to where we started and my turn was over.
 

Once I had my feet back on solid ground we took Eden over to the static plane and let her play in the cockpit. The static plane is there so that the students can familiarize themselves with the cockpit and all the gadgets that are there to play with! Eden enjoyed it because we didn't try to stop her from touching anything - just eating things! Who knows where all those pilots have been!

Taxi Day was a great day for Eden and I to get a chance to see SOME of what Lane does while he's at work every day. It also gave Lane a chance to see what I do while I'm at work every day! It was a nice little mix-up and it was something different that we don't get to do every day. I'll remember how difficult I thought it was to simply taxi the plane tomorrow when Lane *hopefully* gets his solo flight completed! Keep your fingers crossed!!

Oops...

So, tonight we had a first in our home...Eden took her first "real" spill. I brought home a toy that I got at a consignment sale tonight and put it on the floor for Eden to play with. It is a walking toy because she is so badly wanting to walk. Well, she doesn't have great balance yet, and therefore she started to topple backwards, but she thought she could hold on to the toy to keep from falling over - this works with MOST objects that she holds on to. Not this one! She toppled back and fell flat on her back bumping her head and bringing the toy with her and hit her mouth with it. For the first time in Eden's life, she had an accident that caused her to bleed.

I don't write about this because I'm worried about her or because I think there's something wrong with her. We gave her a cold teether for her mouth and then let her take her bath before going to bed. I simply wanted to note what her "first" fall was. We'll just have to work on that balance and get to walking sooner than later so we can avoid these falling episodes - maybe.

Goin' to the Chapel

This past weekend we, as a WHOLE family, had the chance to travel to North Carolina to go to a friend's wedding. Jeremy was a friend that we met when Lane was stationed at Quantico, VA for TBS. We had a few great friends when we lived up there and Jeremy was one of them. He did get lucky and he started TBS before Lane did and so he up and left us to move to North Carolina. We have been able to talk to him, but we haven't had the chance to see him until this past weekend when we were able to celebrate his marriage to a beautiful lady, Shannon. Jeremy asked Lane to be a part of his Sabre Arch at the end of the ceremony to help welcome Shannon to the Marine Corps.



Lane, General Amos (Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps then, and now Commandant of the Marine Corps), and Jeremy at the 233rd Birthday Ball in Richmond, VA in 2008

 

Jeremy with the Marines



The Marines during the ceremony

 On our way up to North Carolina we had to drive through Georgia, so we made a pit stop for a few days and we were able to see family. When we stopped in Georgia Eden was able to go to The Little Gym of Snellville and be a part of the Bugs class. She had a lot of fun and really enjoyed having time with other kids her age. It was cool for me to be there because I didn't realize how much I miss being at TLG as an instructor. I knew I missed all the families that I met, but I didn't know that I missed being in the gym and being so active and silly every day - and get paid to do it!

"Oh, everyone please shake your bells and sing along with me..."

Shoulder stretching with Daddy

Balance Beam with Mommy

Standing pretty (the little girl beside Eden was 10 months old)

She climbed once and from then on she's been a pro!

Hanging on the high bar

Forward Roll on the balance beam. She had NO fear!

Hula Hoop Walking - or eating - or both!

BALL TIME!

The wedding was absolutely spectacular. It was up in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina and all the leaves were changing colors and the views all around us, every where we went, were great. Can you tell we don't have any trees changing colors down here in Florida?! All we get are palms that stay green all the time!

  

We wish Jeremy and Shannon all the happiness in the world as they start this new chapter of their lives together.

Shannon entering the church with her Dad.

Shannon with the Marines.

Jeremy and Shannon dancing their first dance as husband and wife.

Shannon and her Dad - they danced to the same song my Dad and I danced to, "I loved her first," and he teared up and therefore I did too. I will always be a Daddy's Girl!

Jeremy and his Mom.

It was a blast to be able to travel and visit people and have Lane with us. Eden and I had a blast bringing him along and teaching him the ropes of traveling! Next up: Atlanta again for Thanksgiving (and Christmas too!) We will be celebrating Christmas with Lane's siblings and Tommie, as well as with my sister because they will all be in town for Thanksgiving, but not for Christmas. The good news about celebrating Christmas so early is that we already have Christmas shopping DONE - well, almost - and it isn't even Thanksgiving.

I can't wait to be home next week because we will be going to Callaway Gardens with Lane's family and we will be going to Medieval Times with my family. Eden is going to be worn out, but it will be worth it and we will have lots to be excited about!

Sepmer Fi

Saturday night Lane and I were able to celebrate the United States Marine Corps 235th birthday - November 10 - by attending the Birthday Ball down at the Naval Aviation Museum on base in Pensacola. Lanes parents came in town late Friday night/early Saturday morning to be here for the weekend and to take care of Eden while we were out for the night. When they were here we were able to do a few fun things - IHOP for breakfast and the mall yesterday - to make their trip worth while. They hadn't seen Eden since the wedding in Iowa and Eden wasn't feeling well at that time, so she was a totally different baby. Since then she talks much more, in her own language of course, and she moves around a lot more. Crawling and standing seems to be all she does. She doesn't like to be in one spot for too long!

Lane and I got all fancied up on Saturday night - him in his Dress Whites, and me in a formal dress - and we went to dinner with some friends and then went to the Ball. Dinner was good, and Lane was happy to get there as the LSU game ended and he was able to watch it in the bar. This did leave me for a few moments as a single lady at the table as people were arriving, but what are you going to do? I've learned that I can't come between him and his football games and I don't really try anymore! While at the Ball we were able to see people that we hadn't seen in quite some time.

After the Ball we took full advantage of having trustworthy babysitters (and who were going to spend the night!) and went over to a friends house to play RockBand on their Wii. It was fun, but still, 2 days later I'm still feeling it!

Yesterday the 5 of us went to the mall to walk around. We didn't have real intentions of shopping, we just wanted to do something that was inside because it's getting cold down here. When we were there I realized that though Christmas is in another month and a half, really, for us it's actually in just a few weeks. We decided to do Christmas with Karen and her family and with the Daigle family at Thanksgiving because all of the long-distance family will be there. Needless to say, our trip to the mall turned into a little bit of a Christmas shopping trip.

We also ate lunch while we were at the mall and I had a big eye opener about how quickly Eden is growing up. Eden eats a serving of a fruit or a veggie for lunch and she also eats some "puffs," which are a snack that basically dissolve in her mouth so they're very age appropriate and they're supposed to help teach her how to eat solid food. Well, we conveniently forgot the puffs and only took her food. The way this child puts food away, I knew it wasn't going to be enough for her so I actually had to order food for her from one of the food court restaurants. Luckily, Lane and I got gyros from a Greek place and they had side orders of pita bread so we didn't have to worry too bad about making sure not to get her something fried. It was the first time we had ever had to order something specifically for her, so it made me feel like she's growing up - which she is because I just scheduled her 9 month well baby for next month.

You Scared Me!

Mommy as Flo from Progressive, Eden as a Duck, and Daddy as a Redneck/Hunter/Milton-ite (use your imagination!)

This Halloween has come and gone! It was a lot of fun, and actually twice the fun because it fell on a Sunday this year. People inside the city limits of Milton did their trick-or-treating on Saturday and everywhere else in the county did trick-or-treating on Sunday. Lucky for us, we have friends in Milton, and we live outside the city limits, so we got to hand out candy both nights!

On Saturday night we went over to a friends house to help with candy. This was the only house we went trick-or-treating at because there was no need for Eden to get any candy, and let's face it, she didn't really know what was going on! She did like to sit and watch the people coming up to the house for candy though.

Last night people came to our house to help with handing out candy and we had lots of trick-or-treaters. We ended up having to turn the lights out before they were done. We were able to give candy to most of the kids, but there were the select few who were probably bummed to see the lights go out. One kid who came to the door last night rang the doorbell over and over and over again until we opened the door for him. When we got to the door and opened it, he responded with "Oh my goodness, you scared me!" and Kyle, our friend who greeted him (without a scary costume, just his regular clothes) said to him "you had to know someone was coming!" Inside the house, we all started lauging because Kyle was so serious with his response.

At each of the parties we had delicious food. Allie made lasagna with her grandmother's spaghetti sause and it was delicious. The desserts were awesome and very "Halloween-y." We had Oreo "eye" Balls, Spider cupcakes, a pumpkin roll, and pumpkin spice pudding. The treats for us were very tasty!