Feeling exposed......

Since it has been about a week since I last posted, let me start with what is on my mind. I got a phone call from Ben this morning that started with...."don't get upset....." Never a good sign as usually Ben is about to drop something crazy that the military has sprung on him. Today it was that 2 out of 3 of our cars were broken into last night. It looks like the thief/thieves only got the radar detector. I am not sure why they didn't take the dvd player in the burb but I am extremely thankful with 2 long drives ahead of us in the next few weeks. Ben filed a police report with the cop that was out there this morning. By 0730, the cop said it looked like 2-3 people on our street & 4-5 people on other streets in our neighborhood had been hit. We are not holding out much hope to receive our stuff back but it could have been much worse as sometimes I leave my purse in the car when I am super tired so.....

On that happy note.....we had a very nice but short visit with Ben's dad. They got some things done around the house like putting crown molding up in the family room (Ben just has to caulk, fill, and paint it to finish it up) a new ceiling fan/light in the living room, and they also rented an aerator for the yard then spread fertilizer & winter seed. (Our yard will forever be a work in progress but is about 200% better than this time last year!)

Ben and Jim got to go on 2 runs and a few errands together. I was hoping to give them some alone time but Kendall was bound and determined to go along most times. Of course I am sure that Papa and Daddy were much more fun than old mom and Isaac. We also got to take Jim to Cherry Point so I hope that he enjoying that!

Unfortunately, we also had to take Kendall to the doctor while Jim was here. She has been running a fever, cough, cold, and junk. Kendall is much better but Ben has now picked up the bug. We missed church and sunday school yesterday because everyone needed the rest & we didn't want to spread any germs. I will post pictures from Jim's visit hopefully tomorrow.

We went to a get together of our Sunday school class on Friday night. I think starting in December we are all going to try to get together every Friday night for a small group. The weekend was pretty low key as Ben had to have class all day on Saturday for his EWS school. (I missed a girls night on Saturday night with Stef and Natalie.....bummed that I didn't get out to hang out girls!!)

There you have it.....now Christmas shopping, cards, and decorating are in full swing for me. I am determined to be done early this year so I am not a big stress ball!

celebrating some more birthdays!!!

Happy Birthday to Aunt Diane on the the 17th and to Aunt Anita on the 18th!

2008 Christmas Portraits

Happy Veteran's Day!

Birhday Wishes

Happy Birthday Becca! Hope that you are feeling well. We can't wait to see pictures of the newest member to your family!!

The week in review continued.....

2008 Marine Corp Ball Family Picture

"The Flame" in New Bern

Papa put to work within the first hour he was here

Farewell and Good Luck Juli!

Mom's morning out crew

Fun at the St. Anne's Fall Festival

2 months old: 15 pounds 4 ounces, 23 1/2 inches long

I love my daddy's cover!

Diaper cake for Beth.....lost my pictures of the ones for Ashley & Kimberly!???

The week in review.....

Even though the presidential race didn't go our way, Ben and I enjoyed voting together for the second election in a row. We had a great time as we were in and out in 5 minutes. I am so glad that we weren't waiting for hours like some people.

We had Ben's ball on Thursday night. I must say that the guest speaker was the best that I have heard ever! It was very entertaining. It's also kind of exciting to be apart of all of the "firsts" for the squadron. The ball was in New Bern which is about an hour from our house so I was nervous leaving the kiddos but it went very well & we are so grateful to have such great friends. Thanks Kelly and JT!

Friday night I went to another going away party for my friend, Juli. As much as it stinks, it just seems like that is what our life is going to be for the next decade or so......lots of hellos & goodbyes. It was nice to just be out and be me......not someones wife or mommy, etc. I guess that it was good in that aspect!

Saturday, we went to Kendall's fall festival at St. Anne's. (Her PMO school.) She had a blast as did we since we got to visit with friends that we hadn't seen in a long time. It was great until Kendall wouldn't get out of the bouncy house and dear sweet mom had to climb in to get her! We picked Papa (Ben's dad) up on Saturday night. Kendall was VERY excited!! She shouted, "Papa come down here!" when the plane flew over the airport. We relaxed and visited on Saturday night.

Sunday, I had my first nursery desk duty for the committee that I belong to at church. I was nervous as I still don't know where everything is in our church but it went well. I had a baby shower for our friend Beth on Sunday afternoon.

Currently, we are getting ready for our annual family Christmas picture. I will be glad when that is done so that I can work on Christmas cards :-)

I will soon post pictures from all the recent activities....just bear with me as it has been an insane week!

Happy Birthday Marines!

HAPPY 5th Birthday!!

To our sweet niece Naomi! We wish that we could be there honey :-) We love you tons!

My favorite Halloween pictures!

This and that...

Rainy Monday here in Jacksonville for us so as I listen to Kendall screaming and giggling with joy while she is in the bathtub I thought that I would get ya'll up to speed :-)

We had a great visit with Lori & George last week. They finally made it to see Isaac before he was toddler size. Hee,hee. We have had a pretty fun weekend. Friday night we went to the neighborhood Halloween party. They had 2 moon bouncers, a slide bounce, the DARE police car, a fire truck, hay rides, a parade, and some other fun stuff. Kendall wasn't super cooperative for pictures but she did have a great time once we got there. We went and ate supper at JT & Kelly's afterwards then only hit 3 houses for trick or treating.
Saturday, we went to Lowe's and spent a large sum of money for some household projects to be completed when Ben's dad gets here next weekend. I will post about those as we go along! We also "winterized" the outside of the house. Dumping plants, fertilizing the grass, clean-up, etc.
Sunday, we did our normal church and Sunday school then watched Brodi and Colbi so our friends could go to a concert. I think that all 3 kiddos were tired after chasing each other and playing really hard. (Ben and I were pretty exhausted as well.)
Other than that, I have been a baking queen! I made muffins for our sunday school class, I just made brownies for Kendall's fall festival at school, and I made a chicken bruschetta to take to Ashley and Joel.
I am getting the axe on compter time since it is time to put Isaac in there! Stay tuned for more news and everyone get out there and VOTE tomorrow!!

CONGRATULATIONS Dan and Nikki!! Adam is beautiful.
CONGRATULATIONS Amanda and Andrew!! Quintyn is handsome.
CONGRATULATIONS Dana and JP!! Many blessings for the next 50 years or so :-)
CONGRATULATIONS Ashley and Joel!! Alex is precious.

Halloween 2008

This week in the Beach household

Sorry that I have been a blog slacker this week....Isaac has been a little under the weather and it seems like we have had appointments, activities, and other stuff every day this week!

I went to my 6 week postpartum appointment this week....even though Isaac is almost 8 weeks old.....ahhhhh naval medicine :-) I checked out ok. I have lost 31 of 45 pounds and seem to be doing alright.
Kendall and I baked some cookies for her PMO class in honor of halloween. I have also been busy making diaper cakes for quite a few friends that have had or are having babies soon.
Other than that....you know the routine weekly stuff!

Here's Kendall and Isaac waiting to get dressed up in their Halloween costumes

First Halloween
I LOVE pumpkins :-)

Isaac was sick this week so onward to the doctor we went with constipation (even though the pediatrician assured me that it was normal) and a cold (of which we are not doing anything but suctioning him.) He weighed in at 14 pounds and 6 ounces at 7 weeks & 2 days old!

Dadd giving Isaac his first bottle.....didn't go very well!!

Happy Halloween!

Have a safe and fun filled Halloween!

Friday Night's Daddy/daughter camping trip

WE ARE......

Thank goodness the guys pulled it out :-) So happy that I got to see bits and pieces of the game. JOE PA!!!

GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

since that is what we are watching now! It would be a smashing weekend to have more than one of our teams win at the same time :-)

Kendall 2 years 4 months & Isaac 6 weeks

All by myself.......

Don't wanna be all by myself.......

Anyway, Isaac and I are chilling in the house right now while Ben & Kendall are well on their way to the campground with our friends from Sunday School. I am hoping that they have a great time even though there is a chance of rain and coldness. I sent as many snacks as I could think of, juice, and lots of warm clothes for her to wear. (Yeah I worry about Ben too but he is a big boy and I hate thinking of my little baby out there in the cold!) Her two boyfriends, Brodi & Colbi, are going to be there & there are going to be marshmellows so I know that she will be in heaven but.......

Enough of my self-pity and rambling! The past few days have been insanely busy. I had a great time at the mom's morning out & HML/A 467 wives coffee on Wednesday. It was wonderful to see old friends and meet some new ones.

Kendall's pumpkin tatto from the Fall festival at church last weekend

Daddy and Bug working on their pumpkin at church

Benny with his 1st place medal from the Emerald Isle triathlon

Activation ceremony

Thursday marked the official activation of the new squadron that Ben belongs to. It was pretty awesome to see this ceremony (even though my attention wasn't completely focused on it with Kendall and Isaac at the helm) Forever Ben will be "plank owner" #142 in HML/A 467. (Basically a "founding father" is my best way to explain it....Ben will have to tell you the plank story.) Ben and one of our friends from HML/A 269 got to be the platoon commanders for the ceremony. I am attaching pictures on here of the ceremony....we were in the hangar so it is kind of hard to tell which one Ben is in the pictures. Thus, a new chapter in our military life has begun...please keep us, the new command, and all of our military in your prayers.

This is a video clip from the actual ceremony that was passed on to us.
http://www.wnct.com/nct/news/local/military/article/cherry_point_to_receive_newest_attack_helicopter/21895/
If you scroll down the blog page, in my favorite places to visit there is the site for 467 where you can see more on the new squadron.

Thanks for taking pictures for me Claire! I wouldn't have been able to do it without you!

Picture time with Mommy and Daddy

I just thought that you might like to see the pictures of the kids with us too :-) I hope to make the grandparents happy by seeing their kids too!!

Let's see.....Monday.....Ben had work and practice for the activation ceremony on Thursday, Kendall & I had lunch with Stef and Cameron. (Thanks again Stef! Kendall slept for 4 hours when we got home.) Today I had a large amount of dental work done while Kendall was at PMO. OUCH!!! I have to go back next week to finish up. I think after the first of the year we will be looking into my braces & how much that is going to cost. Tuesdays are Ben's long day as he has his men's prayer group at 5 a.m. then goes straight to work and from work to class! Stay tuned for more news from us. I will be going to my first wives coffee for Ben's new squadron tomorrow as well as a Mom's morning out. Thursday is the activation ceremony for the new squadron & Friday is Ben & Kendall's daddy/daughter date (they are going camping with our Sunday school class!)