Happy Birthday Abby!

Well, today our little baby girl turned two years old. I still can't believe that two years have gone by since that wonderful day when we had her. She is now talking non stop and is doing really well at the potty training all of a sudden. It is like a light went off. She will randomally stop, take her diaper off (or pull up) and then say potty and take off. You have to keep a close eye on her to make sure she isn't taking her pants off in the middle of the living room because you could potentially end up with a puddle. We had a great evening. She had cake and we sang to her and she got lots of tinker bell gifts and some new books. She loves books! I am just amazed everyday by her intelligence and thank God everyday for the precious gift that he sent to us. Thank you for reading and enjoy the pictures of the beautiful little two year old that is now sleeping soundly in her bed. Canb you tell that she really loves her tinkerbell?

She was opeining her gift here.

Here is her new monkey book.

She got a new etch a sketch that has tinkerbell on the edges and a book to teach you how to draw

I can do it

Her Aunt Michelle got her a tinkerbell also!

Little fingers in the icing.....lol

Here we were getting ready to sing Happy Birthday to her and she can sing it as well but she always sings Happy Birthday to Daddy when she does it because Barry's birthday was last week so she heard us sing it that way and now that is how she thinks that it goes.

Our trip in a nutshell....

We had a great time at Aunt Vicki's and Uncle Buds house in Virginia. Abby and Tyson got to play the piano with Aunt Vicki and we had some wonderful food! Thank you guys for being such gracious hosts! We were tired by the time we got there because Abby was in our room sleeping with us the entire trip so we weren't getting much sleep as we could hear her every move and she could see us so every time she would wake up she ended up sleeping with us. She was not sleeping very well either. Last night we were home finally and she slept wonderfully in her own room again! That means that barry and I got some much needed rest as well. In DC we walked the mall and the weather was so wonderful. The sun was shining and it was around 65 degrees! Perfect. The cherry blossoms were out and we had a great time. I think that one of my favorit places was the FDR memorial (see pics below) and the worst was the WWI memorial. I am calling it the forgotten memorial. We have had some great times with family over the past week and I am glad to be back home and getting settled back into our routine. I think we made the right call to come home on Saturday and not Sunday as we had all day today to just relax (and do load after load of laundry). Tyson had his first baseball game of the season today in a pre season tournament and they won 19-2. He also got conned by Abby to help her paint her toenails. Hope you all had a fun week like we did but is back to daily life for us and I can't wait to get back to work tomorrow! Have a good week everyone and pray for me because Abby turns 2 tomorrow! Where does the time go?

WWI

See the WWI Memorial, this is off the path and completely forgotten! I couldn't believe that after seeing all of the other sites that this one was allowed to get this way! I am thinking about sending these pictures to my elected Senators from Arkansas and trying to get something started. I am not sure if this is the one that Tom Hanks is working to get redone as well or not but something needs to be done. This was a historic war for America and I can not believe that this is what the memorial has been reduced to. You can see where mildew is on the marble because they have not cleaned it. There are not any stone paths to the memorial, they are dirt tracks and the surroundings are completely overgrown. I was not amused by this one at all. I was not moved, I was saddened and not in the way that you should be saddened but saddened in a peeved way at the condition of this memorial.

Franklin Roosevelt's Memorial

Arlington

The soldiers are still standing at attention ready for service. If you notice if you ever have the honor of going to Arlingtion National Cemetary the rows of soldiers are line in perfect rows from any direction that you look at them because they are made to look as if they are always to be ready for service. There were several times walking around the cemetary that I was near tears if I was not crying at the moment because it is just so powerful to look at the sheer scope of the lives of those who have died so that we may be free. Let us always remeber the importance of our men and women in uniform and honor them and thank them. The ampitheatre attached to the tomb of the unknown soldier.

We were lucky enough to bear witness to the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. That was a moving ceremony to watch.

Robert Kennedy's grave just below that of his brother, President John F. Kennedy

The wall surrounding JFK's grave

Kennedy actually picked out this spot in a way when he went to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier and as he was walking around the cemetary he came upon this location and upon standing there turned and noticed you could see the Washington Monument and all of DC and it was peaceful and quiet and beautiful. He sated that he could spend eternity in that one spot so when he was laid to rest that is just what his wife did, she laid him where he could always watch out over the city that he so dearly loved.

Trolly Tour

Union Station Capitol

Grammy (Barry's mom) and Abby with Grammy's sunglasses on

White House

The Original Smithsonian

The trolly tour took us all around. We walked the mall but took it to go to Arlington and the White House. We had so much fun. You could not have asked for a better day.

Washington Monument

World War II Memorial