The Much Anticipated, Long Over-Do Blog Update!

I know it's been FOREVER, but it took 2 months for Best Buy to tell us they couldn't fix our computer and then another 2 weeks for EMachines to get their information straight, so by the time we finally got the computer up & running the thought of uploading all these pics was so daunting I kept putting it off. So I have finally uploaded them all, just in time for us to go on vacation & have another hundred pictures to upload when we get back :o) Hope you all enjoy!

Laura & Eagle's Wedding

My handsome boys

Trying to win him over with ice cream :o)

ALL the grandchildren - together at last :o)

Dancing the night away

Memorial Day Weekend at the Beach

Having fun fishing & crabbing with Mimi

Her first crab!!

Helping

TERRIFIED of the water...

Much safer here on the beach

Uncle Kris came to visit & helped Lily make a space ship!

Puppy Love

J LOVES his puppy dogs. He is constantly sitting with them and giving them love - especially Zoey

Jake's First Birthday!!!

The birthday boy waiting for his cake

Troublemaker

JT is constantly getting into everything, climbing on everything, eating everything he can get his hands on - and he thinks he's pretty funny too....

He is sitting IN the dogs water bowl...and throwing the food all over the kitchen...

Thinking about eating the marker he's holding...we have now had to put all the markers away, because putting them up high did not deter him. He would crawl up on anything he could just to get them!

He wants to play too!

Trying out the tractor PawPaw sent for his birthday

Visit with Paw Paw

Birthday Celebration with Grammy & Papa

Kite Day at Lily's school

Saying "Vroom Vroom Vroom"

Bluebonnets

Easter

Zoey relaxing on the couch...she has such a hard life...

Lily & Daddy built a garden together - they have tomatoes, okra and peppers

planting

J helping

Vader wants to help too...

watering

all done!

such a ham!

I think Lily was trying to pack him up & send him away - far away...

All ready for her tea party with the Girl Scouts!

Lily & I put up a bird feeder and this was our first customer! :o)

Horrible

So I know I have been horrible about updating this lately. So I just wanted to give everyone a little update about our goings-on.

First: Our computer has some sort of super-virus & has been at the "doctor" for the past two weeks. We were supposed to have it back last week and I am getting ready to go harass someone into fixing it quicker & giving it back to us. I'm pretty lost without it & that is also the reason there will be no pictures in this post. :o(

Second: I know this is long over-due, but for anyone who doesn't know...Brian's neck injury is mostly healed. He will not have to have surgery and he is back to full duty/PT schedule at work. He is no longer going to physical therapy and is almost pain-free. He still has some pain when he over does things, but is much, much better overall. Also, he will NOT be deploying at all during this rotation, so he will be staying safely here in the states until at least Feb of next year. (YAY!)

Lily has resumed her dance classes and I am amazed/appalled at how different this class is from the one in Virginia. Amazed because of how much better this class is, appalled at how little the other class actually taught her! She is loving every minute of her new dance lessons and has been practicing hard for her upcoming dance recital. (June 5th for anyone who is interested in attending).
Lily brought her report card home from school yesterday & both Brian & I were very pleased to see the improvement from last semester. (We were concerned when the last one came home because it stated that she didn't know a lot of things we KNOW she knows, but we think it was because she was enrolled for only 19 days of the semester and was still adjusting at that point.)

Jake has been doing great. He is such an amazingly happy baby. It's hard to believe he is already 11 months! We're starting to plan his birthday party (May 9th) but he is not slowing down for anything! He's into EVERYTHING and is constantly on the move. He LOVES to be outside and I think he is already close to walking. He's standing on his own for short periods of time and just this morning tried to take a step, but fell in the process. :o)
He's STILL not sleeping through the night... I thought I got lucky when he slept through the night 3 nights in row, but he's back to getting up twice a night now. I think we're going to have to break down & let him cry through - which is what the doctor advised months ago, but we didn't have the heart to do it. He's certainly getting enough to eat. He's eating almost everything we do now - anything he can get his hands on really. He's definitely a healthy boy with a very healthy appetite. :o)

We've started planning our summer "vacations" (mostly just spending time with family) and so far we know we (Lily, Jake & I) will be in MA from June 6th-21st. We can't wait to see everyone! And for a lot of you to meet Jake! Still unsure if Brian will be able to get away for a few days to join us though. He is not going to be able to take leave until August, so the rest of our traveling will have to wait until then.

We're still keeping Mimi in our thoughts & prayers...hoping she feels better very soon!

I think that's all our news for now. I'll post whatever pictures I have as soon as I get our computer back...hopefully soon!