Are you being nice?

Maddie Sue

Maddie Sue had her 18 month check-up today. She weighed 22 lbs (was in the 12th percentile) and was 29 1/2" tall (3rd percentile). What a shrimp!

She's uses a few new words now, climbs anything & everything she can prop your little body onto, and even slides the kitchen chairs to her desired destination to help her reach new heigths. She always keeping us hopping.

Our little Dare Devil

First taste of cotton candy...

National Guard Marathon

I was fortunate enough to have the National Guard fund a trip to the Lincoln Marathon earlier this month. The National Guard uses this marathon as a recruiting tool and teams from all 50 states took turns manning the recruiting booth at the marathon expo.

This was my second marathon and I was expecting to get around the same time since I did not train as much and missed a full week of training due to strep throat a few weeks before. However, I learned a lot from my previous marathon, which helped me tremendously. First, I ate a lot more for breakfast to provide me more energy. Second, I started nice and slow with my first four miles averaging 8 minutes a mile. My first marathon, I started out too fast and was constantly being passed on the last half of the marathon. This time I followed what my body was telling me and instead of being passed in the last half, I was doing the passing. My last 10K ended up being faster than my first 10K. I was surprised at how good I felt. I did not start hurting until the last couple of miles. I finished with a time of 3:18:21, which was 23 minutes faster than my first marathon. It was an average pace of 7:35 a mile.

Thank you Lona for the support and for being without her husband for the weekend. I know it wasn't easy.

Finishing at the 50 yard line of the Nebraska Cornhusker stadium was a real treat. They had our finish up on the jumbotron so you could watch yourself as you were finishing.

Last Day of Vacation

Today was the last day of my vacation at home with the kids before I go back to work tomorrow. We went to the commissary at New London Naval base and then to the Mystic Aquarium. The kids were great and we enjoyed seeing some new exhibits at the aquarium.

Fun Kids

I love my kids! We have been enjoying the time together and although there are challenges at times, it has been a great experience. They both have such unique and interesting personalities. Ammon is so smart and creative. Maddie is such a bubbly little girl with a love for life. It is going to be so fun watching them grow up and see what they do with their lives.

Maddie has been very intrigued by Ammon's underwear recently. When I put down the pile of laundry out of the dryer, she immediately grabs a pair of his underwear and attempts to put it on. I helped her out a little bit, but this was her idea.

Ammon has been a good helper, so today he was rewarded with a Bakugan toy that connects seven different Bakugans to form a giant dragon Bakugan. He loves it! When I went to take his picture, he smile and squinted his eyes. I told him not to squint his eyes, but he told me, "But it is cute when I scrunch my eyes." Touche, Ammon, touche.

What a cutie! Who could resist that smile!

Maddie has been dragging this backpack around the house. Not sure if she is wanting to go with Ammon to school or just likes the pink, but she definitely knows how to wear it.

Fun with Daddy

Lona had to take care of some business in AZ, so I am lucky enough to take a couple days off work to spend some "Daddy Time" with the kiddos. We miss mommy a lot, but we are making the most of our time together. We went to the zoo and the children's museum yesterday. Today we went to a national guard family day. They had a lot of great activities and Ammon loved. building and watching his rocket take off.

He got to launch his rocket twice with impressive results. It easily surpassed 100 ft both times.

He also tried to launch Mike from Monsters, Inc.

Maddie was in constant amazement at the zoo.

Chillin' on a wood frog at the zoo.

Ammon in front of the flamingos. He says that he really loves flamingos.

It's Melman!

This was a cute moment where Ammon actually agreed to hold his sister's hand. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Ammon is sporting the new pajamas he got from a Disney giveaway at our activity today.

A New England Easter

The weather was absolutely beautiful this weekend. I love sunshine!

There has been a lot rain and flooding in our area and many people had water in the basements and even on the main floor of their homes. The entire Warwick Mall was under water. All Nathan could see on his way home were the tops of the vehicles, the rest of it was completely covered by the flooding. There were several road delays too while Nathan travelled home due to roads being closed. We're grateful that we weren't personally effected by the floods and our thoughts and prayers go out to those that were.

Maddie Sue was not too fond of the Easter Bunny
Daddy & Miss Maddie Sue
Ammon & Ethan Adams after the egg hunt
Maddie Sue & Mommy

The kids helped me bake & decorate a "bunny" cake. They weren't too excited to eat the cake, but enjoyed the candy that we put on top of it.

Happy Easter from our homes to yours.