Super Jump

One of the things I will miss most about Virginia are my roommates from college. We have been lucky enough to all be in driving distance from each other for the past four years and usually do biannual girls trip weekends each year. They live in Chesapeake, Richmond, and College Park Maryland. Since we found out we were moving in August we have tried to get together once a month for a girls night before I leave in December. I only lived with these girls two years in college and we were in our sorority together for three years but they truly are my sisters. This weekend we rendezvoused in Richmond for good old fashioned girls shopping and eating. Thanks to our husbands who held down the fort and were super daddies while we had our girls day out.

 Pearl's cupackes- mmm mmm mmm

 We have about 1,346 pictures of us all eating

 I have a new favorite store- Anthropologie. It is absolutely dangerous to go in there with a credit card. JaneBerry and Melissa are auditioning for the role of Peter Pan in these dresses. 

 Sunset at JaneBerry's house

At the end of the night, we looked through several boxes of old photos JaneBerry had from college and had a good laugh. Here is one of our favorites from when Jen (Yes Jen as in our Aunt Jen) won Homecoming queen at CNU in 2003. We look like babies!

 Keeping up with the theme that there is never a dull moment at the Valdez house Greg, here are action pictures of the game "Super Jump".  One of the many reasons we love our king size bed is because it is large enough to rough house on. In this game the girls take a running start from down the hall and Greg tosses them on the bed. Pen even enjoys the game. I am currently red shirted from the game on the account of Teeny Babe.

Ava gets some Air

 Min has got style points

 Daddy tries to out do us all

Squeals all the way around

Happy Fall Ya'll

I believe my 21 year old version of myself is gagging at what a lame old lady I have become. My favorite holiday is now Thanksgiving because it is low key, has great food, you see family, you only have to prep for it one day, and the best sales of the year follow it. I also love "Fall Back" daylight savings time. I'll gladly take that extra hour of sleep and I don't mind putting my Divas to bed at 7:00 PM since it is pitch black outside. I love the leaves, the adorable preschool projects, not stressing about costumes or Christmas presents, and giving up sunscreen. Last weekend we celebrated Veterans Day by going to a state park we hadn't visited and by having our family over. 

 Mini Indian wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. This is the adorable preschool projects that I am talking about!

Sadly, we had our Bail from VFA 32. We were so lucky to have the Gypsies as our first sea tour squadron. Much to Greg's chagrin, I have to brag about how well he has done on his first tour in this post. Greg became a FAC(A) (he is allowed to tell other aircraft where and when to drop bombs). He then was picked to by his peers to be the representative for all the junior officers (position known as JOPA). Most notably, he was awarded the Thomas Hudner Leadership award. The award is given to one junior officer every 15 months that best exhibits model leadership. Even though it was rough on our family not to have him around for most of 2009 and 2010 it has been worth it to us to see what a difference he has made. 

The Navy now has a policy that only black t-shirts are to be worn under flight suits. Greg continuing with his JO dress up legacy, ordered about 15 black tshirts with different inappropriate sayings for most of the JOs to wear under their flight suits. They were a hit but not PC enough to put on the blog :)

Thank you Gypsy Chicks for being such a great support network during our 3 years with you. You have set the bar high for spouse clubs!

Audrey (18 mo) came over this week to play. Ava taught her how to be a shoe diva. Audrey showed how she could hang with the craziness of the Valdez House

On Veteran's day we went to Back Bay State Park in Sandbridge, VA. Even though it was a bit nippy out we loved having the trails to ourselves. We are looking forward to exploring the state parks that California has to offer us!

12 weeks- 3 month Preggo picture. Excited to almost be in the blissful second trimester.

 Ellie decided that she was over pictures for this shot.

 The views on the hike were breathtaking

 My Hunk Hubby

The girls (and Greg) are similar to big dogs on a beach. You let them off the leash and they just start running and are overjoyed with the freedom.

Jousting 

 Mini REALLY didn't want to take pictures this weekend. She is pouting here

 On our way to church

 Aunt Jess sent them these fabulous fancy outfits for their birthdays. They had been BEGGING to wear them all week and I told them they had to wait for church on Sunday. They didn't realize part of the bargain was taking a picture to show Aunt Jess her stylistic talents.  Greg says this picture looks like an Angry Girl Band album cover.

 Finally I caught a cute candid of her.

 My current favorite picture of Ava. We played out in the leaves after church.

It looks like Ava threw her leaves on Mini but I swear she was having a good time.

 Trees in our front yard

 Celebrating 3 of our favorite Veterans!

 For the cake candles we said the pledge of allegiance since Ava knows it so well. Nanny improvised with the flag plate. We had a great time visiting with them all!

Cute outfits Aunt Jen sent the girls for their birthdays

Introducing Teeny Babe

             Yes, it is true- We are the soon to be mommy and daddy of three! We were blessed with this news in September while Greg was at Tailhook with the squadron.  We were video chatting with him and Ava held up the pregnancy test and said, "Daddy what's this? We have so many of these in the bathroom!" He said, "Wait WHAT is that?!" and then celebrated by showing it to all his fellow drinking buddies. I am one of those women who just know immediately when I am pregnant. Well pregnancy tests just don't know as early as I do. I took one pregnancy test and got a very faint second line. I took SIX more negative pregnancy tests after that one. I had just about given up when finally my eighth test was positive again. Neurotic behavior? You bet. I was relieved when we had our first ultrasound and found out that the baby was very healthy, right size, great heart beat, etc. The funny thing about the ultrasound was that the baby was dancing. He or she would not sit still for ANY pic. We had wiggly arms, legs, and a bobbing head. A future America's Best Dance Crew member? 

This is the baby caught in mid-summersault. We have nicknamed this baby "Teeny Babe". Ava's nickname is Babe and Ellie's nickname is Mini Babe. We are due May 26, 2012. With my past pregnancy history I am predicting a birthdate of June 1st. 

Do you know how fabulous it is to be pregnant during Halloween?! I have been pretty ill during the first trimester and have had a lot of food aversions plus morning sickness. That has not stopped the cravings though! My first was Ben and Jerrys. My second was Tropical Smoothie. (Do NOT judge in this picture below. I am not drinking two smoothies, one is for Greg). Lately I am on a Sprite and Twizzler kick. Luckily, I am still able to get my daily walk in so my cravings have not started to physically show yet. 

Greg has gone above and beyond with our pregnancy. He is cooking for the family most nights, putting the girls to bed when he is home, and partaking in my cravings. We call the baby sometimes "Teeny Grump" because he or she wrecks me physically every night after 6:30 PM. 

I have decided to do monthly belly bump pics. Here I am at 8 weeks visiting the Browns in California. We felt a little bit like DirtBags taking the expectant mothers parking spot with me only being in the first trimester. We justified it by having a newborn and toddler in tow with us. Let's be honest, those boots are NOT made for walking either :)

We have two VERY excited expectant big sisters. If you have a 3 minute conversation with either of them they will notify you that a baby is on the way in the Valdez house. We learned the hard way with them that there are NO secrets with toddlers and preschoolers.

Miss Ava is already a master at being a big sister. It is just so sweet how patient she is with babies. She is our mother hen of the house so I know this baby will be spoiled rotten by her. She is rooting for a baby boy. She claims that it is not fair for Daddy to be the only boy, so if this turns out to be a girl she wants us to have another baby for Daddy. I informed her that after this baby I am RETIRED from the baby making business and our family is complete.

Miss Ellie is rooting for a baby girl. Her favorite thing to do right now is to play hairdresser with my hair, Daddy's hair, Pop Pop's hair, etc. She thinks a baby girl will be her own little baby doll to dress up. What shocks me is how sweet and gentle she is with babies. She talks in a soft voice to them, gets stressed out when they cry and wants to make them happy, and loves to hold them. I know she is going to be such a great big sister. We are all assuming this baby no matter the gender will be another red head. We will be SHOCKED if that is not the case.

 We found out yesterday that we will be moving to Lemoore, California at the end of December rather than in March. The news comes with mixed emotions. I am THRILLED that I will not be driving in my third trimester and we will be settled in when the baby arrives. I am also relieved that Greg will not have to drive cross country twice (once by himself). Also, I am hoping it will be easier to get Ava into a new school in January rather than March. We found out that we are second in line on the base housing list so hopefully we won't be living in a random month to month property too long. However, I am so sad to say goodbye early to our beloved family and friends in Virginia. We are upgrading our credit card rewards to frequent flyer miles so that visits will not be too far apart. We are happy also that we at least get to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family in Northern Virginia. I am nervous traveling in the winter but I know it will be nothing short of an adventure. Our house in Virginia Beach is another complicated situation but we are going to tackle that with our realtor this weekend. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers for our family. We are truly blessed with an amazing support system.