Oh! She's Getting So BIG!

Kensley changes all the time. In front of my face, behind my back, over time, and instantly. It is soooo wonderfully rewarding (and downright EXHAUSTING!) to be 'at home' with her.

Kensley blows kisses, smooooches and hugs us, plays with Libby, and works really hard on her words. You can see the little wheels just-a-spinning when she tries to repeat something or to sign it. She can sign and 'say' (very loosely) 'ALL DONE, THANK YOU, MORE, and MILK.' Kensley also nods her head appropriately in response to questions. She gives the impression that she really does get what is going on. (Wouldn't you, if the world revolved around you?) She is also quite the social butterfly.

As soon as Kensley started crawling, she was pulling up. She even attempted it a couple of times before crawling which made us suspect she would skip crawling...not so. EVERYONE has said that I would be sorry for wanting Kensley to be mobile. With as much respect as possible: that's just not true for me. I am so thankful for the milestones Kensley makes. Of course, I am much more tired at the end of the day, but at least we get this opportunity to see Kensley change so much in this special year! With all this said, here are some random pics that I have taken since we have been back. This mama-stuff is cool. She's EVERYWHERE!

Kensley plays up-down peek-a-boo on the barstools. And then zooms off from the barstools to play with the buffet only to return to the barstools!

Little Stinker likes to play around our table. She just cruises all around it with the chairs and the table, etc. That's all good and fine until she bonks her noggin. She IS learning to duck, and that is just funny. Here she is under the table peek-a-booing waaaaaay past bedtime, but she got to stay up to kiss Daddy goodnight after his class. They ended up wearing each other down.

BONK! I told you to duck! It hurts, but mostly makes her mad that she bonks her head. I totally feel her!

What's mine is yours. Share and share alike, Mama.Kensley likes to eat the grass...whatever.We LOOOOOOOOVE books! Pop-up and sing-alongs are the BEST!

Fun Times with the Fam - Part 2

For people who have never really lived all that far from their families, they just don't understand how it is completely impossible to see everyone that you want to see when you go 'home.' Those of you reading and experiencing this get it, right? Lucky for us, we have family members who are able to come up this-a-way in order to sightsee and spend some time with us. It is usually an open invite for folks to visit. With all this said, Aunt Unie (Aunt Linda), Uncle Grumps (Uncle Larry), Aunt Mammy (Aunt Marilyn), and Aunt JuJu (Aunt Judy) took a road trip north to see my cousins in DC and to spend a week with us up here. Aunt Marilyn and Aunt Judy try to make it annually - and have since we have been here. We had some of the best fun and Kensley assumed her role as entertainment while we weren't trekking all over the tri-state area.

On Monday, we went to the base and watched Andrew and one of the falcons work. The base uses falcons to naturally move unwanted birds away from the runway. Generally speaking, wildlife in an engine isn't such a good thing. Pictures are scarce after this because the battery died from the little camera and we can't find the charger since our trip to ATL. If you've seen a bluish Canon charger...it's ours.

Tuesday we went to Atlantic City, where Aunt Linda was able to win a whopping sum of Trump's cash to pass on to her grandchildren.

Wednesday, we went to Lancaster, PA. We ate at GoodNPlenty, which is a hotspot. It was good and definitely PLENTY!

Thursday we were supposed to visit Rob in NYC, but since NBC went to Beijing, we just hung out and waited for Rob to make a grand appearance at Casa de Marlatt. We went nearly two whole months not seeing Rob to seeing him TWICE in one week! We could get used to the latter.

It's a Small World!

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email saying Mike's squadron has a private webpage detailing what is going on and if I wanted to be part of it to notify the coordinators. Of course, I wanted to know what is going on, so I got access and noticed a post of a future spouse introducing herself. Not having much to do with the social events of the squadron, yet still wanting to be friendly, I shot the girl an email introducing our family (Libby included) and welcoming her into the military life. Not long after, I got an email from her saying she, too, had a Jack Russell and her Jack is Lizzie! How bad could she really be?!? Emails trailed along that day and one thing lead to another when Carrie said that she was from GA and her fiance from TX. Well, HALLELUJAH! Another GA girl in Jersey and our husbands work together. An added bonus: She is a DAWG fan, and spells it the right way, too - a true sign of her quality upbringing. I got so excited that I looked her up elsewhere and found that she knew THREE of MY friends from DACULA!!! Turns out, Carrie went to college with my long-time friends from Dacula...but the story gets even jucier... Carrie is from Pelham. Even better, she is related to one of my uncles! We have so much in common that it is really just scary at this point. We are both so excited to have each other here in the JerZ!

Vacation 2008

Note: We were on vacation for 12 days. Then came home, cleaned up, and had fun with some company who came into town for a week. Sorry for the month-long delay, but anything worth having is worth the wait, right? Mike was able to take leave in July, and although it alllllways seems so short, we were able to cram in tons of fun! BEACH TRIP! We started off our vacation meeting Pop and Nanna in Myrtle Beach, SC for Libby and Kensley's first beach trip. Both girls were huge fans of the beach (thank goodness) and enjoyed spending quality time with Nanna and Pop, of course.

Kensley loved how it felt when the waves came in and then returned to the ocean.

POP and NANNA

Kensley loves hanging outside at Nanna and Pop's house. Swinging is surely on the daily menu of activities.

Kensley loves to swing on the front porch! She and Pop are big buddies. When she sees the phone, she starts whispering, "Pop. Pop. Pop."

Nanna couldn't be more smitten with a baby. They just love on each other, and scrunch their noses at each other, and gigggggggle! Lots of giggling!

GRAMMY and POPPY

What would a trip south be without Grammy and Poppy??? Kensley perfected some of her climbing talents on Grammy and Poppy's stairs

Grammy worked really hard to teach Kensley how to blow kisses. Happy to report she is working on that diligently.

Poppy was more than happy to get in the floor and play with little miss. She wasn't so sure of that goatee, though. Does this mean she has a preference for a bare face already?!?

Just Peachy ...and you had to know that Kensley has her REAL Georgia Peaches for the first time. I would say she is a fan. Mr. JOE and Mrs. JUDY Kensley has quite the fan club (I am not saying that to brag), and Mr. Joe and Mrs. Judy definitely rank right up there. They dote on her while she is near and treat her like one of their own. What a blessed little girl to be surrounded with such LOVE!

MONKEY JOE'S

My girlfriend from college recently took her kids to Monkey Joe's in Warner Robins, so I checked to see if there was one close in NJ...there isn't. BUT there is a brand new one in DACULA! Yaaaay! It is basically an inflated playground where kids go to have fun and giggle the day away. It is very clean and safe, so long as children are closely monitored. The best part is that parents can play with their children! We really had a great time here!

Let the PAMPERING begin!

What's a true vacation without a little bit o' pampering? Kensley and Nanna dropped me off for a pedi while they shopped nearby. When they were finished with all of their errands, they came back to check my progress. Kensley was a HIT! They took her from Nanna and carried her all over the salon playing with her and allowing her to entertain them. Kensley even got to sit in the spa chairs and looked like the total pro. She didn't get the royal treatment with her toes, but she definitely did as far as attention. Can you tell one of the techs is taking her picture, too?