Daddy's Videos and the like

Well, the internet in Afghanistan sucks! Ok so whineing aside, I should be thrilled (and I am) that he has internet connection at all! It does however make it hard for him to be able to see video's of the kids, heck we have a hard time talking on messenger and I haven't heard his voice in going on two weeks becuase SKYPE is a joke. It hasn't a chance or working the webcam AND the voice. So I am adding a few videos here of the little one so Daddy can keep up with all the new little bitty things he learns so he doesn't completly miss out on the "firsts". This way, when if he his the lottery of connectivity he may have the whole lot of them here in one place to view at his leisure.

1st if a video of Aidan playing cars. I happened to have the camera near by when he played with a toy truck for the 1st time, like it was a truck, not just a small object to be banged into another object to see what cool noise it can make. He even did the vrooommmmm sound. But the best part? His POPEYE FACE!!! Can you see the resemlence?

~SNORT~
Oh ya, we have a new nickname. Hey! Don't judge! It's better than "Booger" which is what the boys have taken to calling him. Ya thought so, you are really rethinking how cute Popeye is now huh!
s

In this video Aidan is on Wyatt's lap (a good friend of Matt and I) at the boy's soccer game (his son's team against ours. We won btw. Just had to slip that in there. GO EAGLES!) I love when Aidan plays with stuffed animals. He's just so cute about how he cuddles them. He was also saying Da Da Da over and over but I barely caught it at all. Boooo.


Here is one of Matty's 1st soccer game. He's quite the little soccer player! This is his 1st season playing and he has so far scored 4 of the 5 total goals between last week and this week for his team. Woot Woot! By the way..........it was COLD. YES COLD in Lousianna! Like 17 degrees that morning and here........that's ch ch ch ch-illy! I do NOT miss Idaho winters!


Last but not least....the doosey. This video will take forever and a day for it to load for him but I just had too! Two days ago when the magical connection allowed us to webcam he got to see Aidan try his 1st lollipop. Matt's face was beyond words. How silly is that? I nearly cried it was so cute seeing Daddy looking at his son just grinning from ear to ear watching him have a lollipop! It was just so sweet. So today I allowed him to have another. EWWWWWW. I flip flop in a manic fashion between a Mother's love (the AWWWWWWWW hehehehe isn't he too flipping cute emotion when looking at him ) and my OCD cringeing in almost pyhsical pain (I wanted to wipe him down every 5 seconds! It was literally killing me not too! OHHHHH the sugary drool!!! GAG ME!!!!). Either way it's a giant ball of cuteness!

Our Family Photo Shoot ~Seraphino's Photography~

Ok as we all know my FAVORITE photographer is Amy Smith from Seraphino's Photography. You can find her site here (http://www.wedj.com/dj-photo-video.nsf/gosite?open&U=45750BDEE4FD649B862575940021B53B) It's currently under construction but believe me it will be worth the wait!

Before Matt deployed our awesome photographer offered to squeeze us in whenever we had the time and boy did she squeeze. We got the shoot done less than a week before Matt left. These pictures have been a gift to us! After he left we had something to look forward too. She really amazes me. We ended up pulling up to random locations that to the naked eye, the average person might not see a great back drop for a photo shoot, and Amy does. We have these photos hanging all over our home in places of honor. We were even lucky enough have her use one of our photo's choosen to be the ad for Seraphino's Photography for the month of January in the "Homes Magazine" insert in Beaureguard Parish. It was so sweet! I mean so sweet! We were both little kids in a candy store waiting for that magazine to be printed! HE HE! SO COOL!

Now this is the original picture~ It melts my heart. It's hanging in our bedroom now. I definatly need get it printed on canvas much larger for us! (She does that too btw. so talented)

I had to add this one too..............this one kills me. I knew I wanted this shot taken and that it would break my heart but I am so very proud of my Husband. The man he is, the Father, best friend, lover, Soldier. He's my everything and sometimes watching him go is a part of all that. It's a beautiful shot and one of my all time favorites! Thanks Amy!

Now onto the fabulous family shots! ya....we look fancy, don't be jealous.....we are ever so put together and yes we always look so artsy...lol ok maybe not...but LOVE THEM ALL!




I love that in the above shot we are all looking at mister Aidan.

EEKKKKK could his mowhawk be any cuter (or bigger for that matter??? SO gotta grow that bad boy back out, he looks so cute with longer hair)

And this one melts me....so cute.

Now for my big boy.....Michael was far too cool to smile in these shots...very model-esq yes? Don't tell him other wise...he's a proffesional..lol


My little green eyed boy!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE his face in this one.

The little one wasn't terribly smiley at this point in the day but still a doll baby!

But ever so full of smiles for his Daddy............this shot breaks my heart knowing it would be one of the last times for a while.

This is another of my person favorites. He reached over to brush a strand of hair from my face when I started crying. Yes, I cried. It was a very special moment.


HE-HE his smile here is just so cute. Being all embarassed that we were kissing for photo's and yet, he loved having them.



This is also one of our favorites. This and the next one. As for family group shots, LOVE these!!!!!!

Love my big boys in the forefront here!



Amy was also super sweet and took some pictures of the kids in thier halloween costumes for us. The wind picked up and at one point Aidan's Harry Potter cape was flapping in the wind it was so cute!






I know, I know. MASSIVE picture over load but I am trying to catch up and not let myself get so far behind again. That and I couldn't pick any to leave out!!! I love all of them and we look through them all the time.

What makes me happiest is seeing this picture of Matt's room. See, on the magnetic board to the right........that's right. All these pictures hanging in Afghanistan keeping my darling company! (if you are wondering what he's holding, it's the cake from his "cake in a jar" birthday cake we made him)

Natchitoches Yet Again

So catch update 2 is Natchitoches, as we all know I love, love, love this little gem of a town. It's super family friendly. When Amy and her boy's were here we headed up to Natchitoches and spent the day, once again we were unable to get done in one day all that we wanted to do but still had a blast! First thing we went to Fort Jean Baptiste, this is the 1st time my boys have gotten to go and they LOVED learning about the history of this replica, and I have to say that the guides there are just awesome. The tour guide did everything from fireing his weapon for the kids to showing them how they lit fires from peices of cloth, as you can see in one of the pictures he really had the kids enthralled.



Below is David playing around.



After the fort we headed out of town a little ways to the plantations. We unfortunatly were not there in time to catch the tail end of the last guided tour through the main house. BUMMER! We so need to go back, however Magnolia plantation has a guided cell phone tour outside as you walk along, you text in a number and tada it sends you the info about each stop along the tour. Rather helpfull~



Now we all know how much I love baby wearing! I love carrying my little boy around on me, keeps my hands free, it's a great leg work out, and I just love having him all snuggled up on me, esp when he falls asleep! It's heavenly. My spine however doesn't always agree with this after long periods of time and Bob was a total life saver! Both Bob and Mikey offered to help me out a time or two and we got some adorable shots......esp the one where Aidan found Bob's nipple..lol and just kept tweaking it...lol we all had a good chuckle at Aidan looking for dinner in there..lol ya, nope little buddy not gonna happen...he he.

and is this not the sweetest picture! Baby wearing Daddy in the making!


A little earlier in the day Amy got the kids authentic Lousianna cajun food, which some loved....and others.......not so much....poor Bob was not down with the food. David was rather adventerous. At one point he put his Ski-doo hat on Aidan, probaly the only snow machine hat in the whole state...lol

And then of course it was time for the Christmas stuff around town! I love Christmas lights. I could sit and look at them for hours. Which is one reason why my tree goes up so early and lingers until after the 1st......ok ok, fine more like the 15th. When I start leaving it up all year you have my permission to commit me! Matty was VERY excited to get to see Santa and the waiting was killing him. Since the Christmas magic has worn off of Michael and Cody (WAHHHHHHHHHH) they were harder to keep contained in the line, but only had to be reminded of how much that loved Santa and this being Aidan's 1st Christmas needed to be my helpers and make this magical for him, which would not happen if I had to put on my "in public" voice...ONE....MORE....TIME lol to keep them in line behaving at age 10 and 9. Ya!




Lastly..............we have installed a new form of communication in our house for talking to "Da Da" in Afghanistan...........yup......the foot phone. It's cheap however, smelly....be warned.