Happy belated birthday Arlie!

Ok so I know I am totally terrible at keeping up with this blog. But I still wanted to share with you all some pictures and highlights of Arlie's birthday. Since Arlie is only 2 we ended up just having a lot of friends over for a BBQ to celebrate. It was a wild and crazy party. I don't know what we were thinking having 30 people in our house. But it was still fun to have everyone there. After we ate we sang happy birthday and had some cake. Just as I was serving cake up for everyone and before Arlie had even tried her cake, she threw up all over the place. We had to put her straight in the bath tub. Right before the party I noticed she wasn't feeling well. She developed a cough and had a little fever. But I had already gotten everything ready for the party so I didn't want to cancel. So sorry to everyone that came. I hope you and your kids didn't get sick or anything. Then we tried to have her open her presents. A combination of not feeling well, being tired, and being 2 all made this very difficult. She opened her first present and she got coloring books and crayons. She wanted to go straight to coloring. She didn't even want to open another present. She refused. We finally got her to open a couple more but that was it. She got a bubble gun and would not let go of it. And it was all over after that. So we decided to save the rest of her presents for later. We ended the party with a pinata for the kids. Arlie was pretty fussy the majority of the time so that made it difficult. And I swear, as soon as she turned 2 I have been wondering what happened to my sweet little baby. The terrible twos have arrived and it is in full swing!
Thanks to everyone who came and endured such an event.
Here are some pictures from the party.
The cake!



Thinking about it.

It's coming up! Arlie about to hurl.

Opening presents. Thanks Jen for the Tea Set.



She won't let go of that bubble gun!

A Fun Day

Today has been one of those really fun days that don't come around too often. Josh had the day off today since he just got back this past weekend. We decided to take Arlie to the Baltimore Aquarium. We headed to Baltimore and ate lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. Love that place! And then we went to the Aquarium. It has been a few months since we last went so it was all like new again for Arlie. She loved it. Especially going up the escalators all by herself. She thought that was pretty cool. We came home and Arlie took a short nap. After that we decided to go to the pool to relax and enjoy the nice weather. It was so much fun. Arlie loves the pool and could stay all day if we let her. Then we came home, cleaned up and had a nice dinner of shrimp and baked potatos and corn. And then we spent the rest of the evening outside playing with the neighbors until 9:00 pm. What a day. I am pooped. Anyway here are some pictures of our day. Once again these were taken with my little camera so the quality is not that great. It is just so much easier to take that one places.
Oh and by the way, I am finding out on June 18th what I am having. I think it is going to be another girl. This pregnancy so far has been exactly the same as when I was pregnant with Arlie. And I think I am even carrying the same. I guess we will see. Who knows. I have had a few dreams that it is a boy and for some reason imagine painting the room blue but maybe that is all hopeful thinking. Either way I will be happy.

Trying to blow bubbles

Playing in the water

Hanging out with Aunt Alyssa


Sitting poolside by daddy

Taking a break and relaxing


A quick family pic in the rain forest area

Arlie and Me looking at the big turtle

Arlie and Daddy looking at fish

Having fun with family

Ok I know it has been forever since I posted last. I guess a lot has happened in the past month. I turned 26 on the 26th of April and was able to celebrate it with my parents. They came out for a few days to see me and the fam for my b-day. It was so nice to have them here. The trip went by so fast but we sure did a lot in that small amount of time. I forgot my camera the first day of touring around and the second day I just brought my point and shoot little one so the pics aren't anything great. The first day we went to the Museum of Art and saw famous paintings by people like Picasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Monet. I will have to say I like Rembrandt's work the best. It was neat to see. We also went to the Natural History Museum. This place was really cool. It had all sorts of dinosour bones and rare stones including the Hope diamond. We went to the Archives and saw the Declaration of Independance, Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. On the second day, we went and saw the Capitol Building, the White House, all the monuments, and Arlington Cemetary. Arlington cemetary was really neat. Anyway, that was pretty much all of our touring around. For my B-Day dinner we went to a resturant called the Melting Pot. It was a fondue resturant that was absolutely delicious. Anyway we had a really good time with my parents while they were here and can't wait to see them again this summer.
Other news, Josh's sister Alyssa moved out here with us for the summer. She has been here a little over a week now. It has been really nice to have her around plus she has been a really big help around the house. My house has not looked this clean since before I had kids. Arlie loves having her here too. She calls her Afeefa and they are good buddies. Josh is gone again. He left about a week ago. He will be back in a couple weeks. It definitely has not been as bad this time. For one, I have someone to hang out with all the time now that his sister is here. And two, all the morning sickness is gone!!! Yeah!!! I am so happy. We will be finding out what I am having here in a couple of weeks so stay tuned for that update.
Also today is my brother Scott's 22nd birthday! Happy Birthday Scott! I love you man. I can't believe how old he is. Time sure goes by.
Hope all is going well for everyone. We miss you all! See all you Idahoans here in about a month.

DC Touring

Nice Weather

We have been having such nice weather here lately. I am so excited for spring. So we have been spending a lot of time outside lately. My next door neighbors have a bouncy castle so we set it up the other day and let the kids play. They had a blast. Arlie is especially loving the nice weather. If she could she would stay outside all day. Here are some pics of Arlie playing in the bouncy castle. Her face looks a little rough because I put sunscreen on her and she rubbed her eyes and got it in her eyes. She does this every time I put sunscreen on her. Am I doing something wrong?

Cherry Blossoms

Ok so here are the pictures from the Cherry Blossom Festival. We had such a good time seeing the sights and enjoying the nice weather and the beautiful Cherry Blossoms. It was so fun to get out with friends too. I wouldn't have done it by myself that is for sure and Josh is not much of a fan of the big city life with crowds of people. So if it weren't for them I probably wouldn't have gotten to go. So thank you.

Our friends we went with:






The DC Metro- Arlie thought it was so much fun riding the train. She loved looking outside and seeing the world go by.


The Jefferson Memorial

The Washington Monument

Easter

This was the only picture I got of Arlie on Easter. Can you believe it? And we even went to a couple of Easter egg hunts and I forgot my camera. I am going to have to take some more pictures of her in her Easter dress though because she just looked so cute in it. So hopefully there will be more to come if I get around to it. Josh is finally home!!!! Yeah!!! Ok so he has been home now for a couple of weeks and I have just been preoccupied with other things including him to take the time to blog. It is so nice to have him back. It makes me see how much I really do love him and love having him around. More pictures to come. We went to the Cherry Blossom Festival down in DC yesterday and had a picnic. It was so much fun. I took tons of pictures.

More Pictures

So I was taking pictures for a friend the other day and while I was getting everything set up, Arlie saw me in the garage and wanted me to take her picture. So this was very spontanious. I was mostly using her to see if my lighting looked good but I thought this picture was so cute of her even though her hair looks like crap. I wasn't really planning on taking her picture so I didn't get her all ready or anything. In fact she was still in her pjs when I first started. So this was a very spontanious photo shoot. Just thought I would share.


Here is the one of Arlie in her pjs when we first started.

There are no Accidents

Yeah!! I am so excited! I have been working on potty training Arlie for the past two weeks now and for the first time yesterday Arlie had no accidents and she even pooped twice and every time she had to go potty she told me. I am so proud of her. Maybe we will have this potty training thing down sooner than I thought. I will hope. Josh will come home and be totally surprised. How lucky is he that he got to get out of this one. We are surviving without him but I miss him so much. I don't know if it is because I am sick and also that I can't talk to him but it has been harder than I thought it would be. I have honestly never missed him this much before. I know all you people whose husbands are gone all the time probably think I am a total woose but I am starting to wonder if I can handle being a military wife. We have been really lucky so far with his career in that this is actually the first time he has deployed in his 9 years of service and it is only for a few weeks. We will see. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't feel sick and he is not around to complain my sickness to. Anyway, I can't wait till he comes home. Soon I hope.

Potty Training

Yeah!!!! Arlie went pee pee in the potty twice yesterday! I didn't even have to ask her if she needed to go. She told me she needed to go. I am so excited. She has been showing interest for a couple months now and she likes to go sit on it and push but this is the first time she has actually fully gone on it. She has a couple other times peed or pooped out a few drops. But I wasn't really counting that. I haven't been too serious about potty training her yet. Just encouraging it and once in a while asking her if she needs to go potty. But I guess it is time for me to get more serious. I don't really know what to do since I have never done this before. My mom has given me some advice but I need all the help I can get so if anyone has any good ideas that worked for them, I would love to hear it. I really have no idea what I am doing.
Josh is gone right now and won't be back for a few weeks. I already miss him like crazy. In my normal day to day life it normally seems to fly by but the past few days seem so long and boring. I miss having him around. He is such a huge help. With him gone I see how much he really does for me and Arlie. Also it doesn't help that Arlie is sick right now. She has a really nasty cold. She has not been sleeping well at night and she has been throwing up from coughing last night and the night before and the night before. Plus she pooped in the bathtub yesterday. So she has been a lot more work for me than usual. Yesterday was the first day of my morning sickness. So far it is not too bad. I just feel a little nauseous. Hopefully that is as bad as it gets. I will keep my fingers crossed. Thanks to everyone that commented on my pregnancy. It's nice to know you all care so much. Anyway more to come later.
Have a great day!