KA bath time 4/23/10

Good Morning Kerriann!

I just wanted to brag to everyone and share what we wake up to every morning... :)

April 18th

We woke up early on the 18th (Kevin's actual birthday) and decided that we needed to do something fun with the day... with a broken tv our house was feeling pretty quiet and boring... so we decided to take a quick trip to the beach.  We started driving and ended up in Miramar Beach in the Destin, FL area.  It was a beautiful beach and the weather was perfect.  The only negative part of the day was our expensive camera breaking (yes... first the tv... now the camera!)... it is currently at the shop where they are trying to repair it.  Cross your fingers that it is easily (and cheaply) fixable.  So if you wonder why our picture quality is suddenly not so great... that's the explanation.  Luckily we aren't completely out of luck because we have my camera for back up.  Here are a few pictures we took before the camera died...

Look at that devious look on her face... this is right before she broke Kevin's phone... I forgot to mention that electronic breaking!  We've had bad luck lately...

I'm not ready mom!

The birthday boy

The only picture from the day where Kerriann looks remotely happy

Kevin's 25th Birthday Bash

On Saturday we celebrated Kevin's 25th birthday a day early by inviting all of our Ft. Rucker friends over for a cook out.  The local weathermen had me worried all week that we might get rained out, but for once we were very happy that they are usually wrong!  We had 15 adults and 6 children here for the party.  It was a beautiful day and some people even went swimming in the pool.  I made Orange Salsa Chicken for sandwiches in the crock pot and my friend Katie brought pulled pork.  We had many delicious sides including a strawberry salad, pasta salad and fresh fruit.  I also made Kevin a strawberry cheesecake from scratch for the second year in a row (complete with birthday candles!).  I think this is going to be a birthday tradition in our family.  Here are a few pictures from the party...

Surprise!!!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Fishing supplies from Josh and Katie

Kevin and the guys + their kids

Kevin and the ladies + their kids

Can I have a bite?

These pictures were too funny not to share... please don't be mad at me Kevin! ;)

Wordless Wednesday...

Yankees Baby!

Kerriann's Papa Herlihy is a HUGE Yankees baseball fan and has decided that until she turns 18 and has the right to decide for herself, she will be a Yankees fan as well.  I decided this was OK since my family decided that she will be a Steelers football fan (sorry Giants and Redskins fans... I might allow her to cheer for them as long as they're not playing the Steelers or effecting them negatively in any way... he he ;) ).  For Christmas Papa and Grandma Katie got her two onesies so she can show her team spirit.  Here are a few pictures of her modeling one of them.

Go Yankees!

Busted trying to climb onto the fireplace... this is one of her new favorite things...

Thanks Papa!

Video of KA crawling

Finally... a video of Kerriann crawling!  She was in the creeping/army crawling stage for about a month... and finally started full on crawling a couple of days after she turned 8 months old.  

Kerriann's first Easter

We celebrated Easter morning a day early this year so my Dad and Christiane could participate.  The Easter Bunny was nice enough to make a special exception to his rule of only delivering baskets on Easter... since it was Kerriann's first and all ;).  When we woke up Saturday morning all of the baskets were hidden and we had a lot of fun hunting for them.  Everyone loved their gifts which included lots of headbands, bows, puffs, shiny metallic eggs and a pilot in training bib for Kerriann... camo eggs (yes these exist... only at Ft. Rucker), chocolate, peanut butter cookies and a helicopter mousepad for Kevin... a picture frame, hot fries and candy for Christiane... and a Grandfather picture frame and chocolate chip cookies for my Dad.  After Easter Baskets, Kerriann napped while the adults cooked a delicious breakfast.  Once Kerriann was awake and breakfast was eaten we all took part in one of my favorite holiday traditions... coloring Easter eggs!  

We had so much to be thankful for this year on top of celebrating that Christ rose from the dead... our beautiful daughter, our wonderful new house, Kevin's promotion to 1st LT and his success in flight school so far, being with family members and of course our overall health.  It was a great Easter and I can't wait to spend many more with Kevin, Kerriann and the rest of our families.

Below are a lot of pictures from our Easter morning celebrations...

Pap pap helping Kerriann with her Easter basket (and me video taping)

Kerriann examining her loot... she couldn't get past the puffs

Until she found the chocolate bunny... mmm!

Kevin and his camo eggs

Kerriann helping Christiane open her basket

Adriane and Christiane coloring eggs

My dad, Kerriann and me

Happy Easter!

Pap pap & Aunt Christiane's visit

Last Thursday my Dad and my younger sister, Christiane, came to visit us!  My Dad was able to take a day off from work so that they could be here for a long weekend.  It just so happened that it was Easter weekend, which made it even more special.  It was great to be able to do some of the Easter traditions that we grew up doing with Kerriann for the first time.  The only thing missing was my mom and brother, Shannon.  It was weird not being with them over the holiday, but I was glad that we were able to have some family here with us.  The weekend flew by and before we knew it it was Saturday afternoon... I can't wait to see them again in May for Christiane's high school graduation.  Here are some pictures from their visit...

Kerriann's trick of the week was pulling up to her knees... she loved practicing with this box my mom sent

Since our tv went out on Monday, we passed the time in the evening playing Michigan Rummy

My Dad, Kerriann and I dressed up for dinner on Friday night

Kerriann and I with her Aunt Christiane

Flower bush outside of The Rawl's B&B

Dinner at The Rawl's B&B

One of very few pictures of just Kevin and me from the past 8 months

*More pictures from their visit will be added soon :)*

Changes

I've decided that from now on, I'm not going to worry about long, drawn out posts... instead I'm going to focus on the pictures and describing them through captions.  I'll try to add more videos as well.  That's all everyone cares about anyways ;).  With Kerriann becoming more and more mobile every day, I just don't have the time I used to to sit down and write out posts.  When I get the chance I'll write more elaborate updates and I'll always try to do one for each month that passes (which reminds me... I need to write an 8 month update!).   I love keeping this blog so I want to do everything I can to keep it up to date... even if that means leaving out a few details.  I hope you all continue to enjoy it.  Thanks so much for keeping up with us over the past year (yes that's right... we've officially been living in Alabama for a YEAR now)!  

As always... I leave you with a picture:

Kat's visit

This past week one of my best friends, sorority sisters and future bridesmaids was kind enough to make the looong trip to Alabama to visit Kevin, Kerriann and I.  We hadn't seen her since KA's baptism in December so we were long overdue for a get together.  I feel so lucky that she chose to spend her spring break visiting us, rather than letting off steam in Panama City... just 90 minutes from our house.  I honestly can't thank her enough for coming to see us! Kerriann instantly took to her and we had such a great time while she was in town.

Sunday we picked Kat up from the airport in Montgomery, and then attended an air show at Maxwell Air Force Base (pics coming soon!).  Monday we went wedding dress shopping (probably should write an update on that soon too!), and Tuesday we had lunch at our favorite sushi restaurant and spent the afternoon at a nearby park.  Of course I worried the whole time that Kat wasn't having fun, but I know deep down that she loved chatting with me and playing with baby KA :).  We were able to catch up on so many things that I have missed out on over the past few months.  As of now I think it's safe to say that she has the top spot as KA's favorite Chi O Auntie... she came with lots of silly faces, a cute owl stuffed animal and Easter bunny ears!  What more could KA ask for?

Below are pictures from Kat's visit...

Happy baby on the ride home from the airport

Playing with Kat (notice her neat new owl to her left!!!)

Henderson Park

Our attempt at an Easter photo shoot with the bunny ears

I love the ears Kat... thanks!!! :)