UPDATES which include yet ANOTHER move...

I have become so horrible at updating my blog, but here is our most recent updates...a lot going on, so hang on!!!

First up..CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!
So as this was our first Christmas with Soleil, we wanted her to be in our Christmas card. As most of you know, this is the photo we chose:

However, I wanted to share a few of the other photos that didn't make it. It was a difficult decision, but we were quite pleased with the one we chose! You be the judge:




Next up we have our Christmas that we had with Soleil. We weren't able to see her ON Christmas, so we celebratd with her the week before. She was so much fun to watch open the presents!! Here are just a few photos from that day:














Since then life has gotten CRAZY!!! Winston got a call from a friend of his who was contacted by a recruiter in Maryland. Winston talked more to his friend and asked if they had any addional openings. His friend had the recruiter call Winston the week before Christmas. After many long discussions we decided that this would be an amazing opportunity for us. So he sent in his application. On Christmas Eve Winston got the call that he had been chosen for this position. In his email was an offer letter. What a wonderful Christmas present it was! The next step was for him to enter into a background check/security clearance. We then had to wait two weeks to get the 100% -"YOU'RE IN!" But once that came through, we were thrilled! The hard part was that Winston had two additional recruiters contact him before we got the
clearance back...one was for a QA position in Corpus Christi and the other was for a QA supervisor in Afghanistan! Needless to say, we made the decision to take the job in hand and make the move to Lexington Park, Maryland! Winston will begin working on February 1st and will be doing a job similar to what he did in the NAVY. He will be a helicopter mechanic. Winston's friend, Dave, also got the job and will be moving two weeks after us. Since then, I have given my job a three week notice and my last day at Office Depot will be this Friday, the 22nd. However, I have now had three interviews with Verizon Wireless and if all goes well, I will begin working with them on the 1st as well!

So, lots going on!!!!!

Dave and Busters ROCKS!!!

So earlier this week, I had a few work functions. One of which was a happy hour at Dave and Busters. I had never been there and had a blast. I didn't get to do as much as I wanted as I was still on crutches and had my cast on. However, we were given some cards to play the games with and a few of my co-workers gave me their cards as well so Winston could play a few with me as well. While we were there we decided to save the cards we had been given and use them with Soleil this weekend. So that is what we did. She had so much fun and we did as well.

Between the three of us we won over 2500 tickets which allowed her to get a number of prizes including a rather large stuffed animal! In addition to that, Winston and I were on a roll playing the "claw" games! Overall we won her 5 stuffed animals from the "claw" game!!! Nobody ever wins at those things!!! We were so shocked and Soleil couldn't stop squealing!!!

This is a photo of her with all of her winnings! The item on her head is a MP3 Pillow we won as well!!!!

It is HOT in Dallas!!!!

This weekeedn we had another fun filled weekend with Soleil...in the HOT, HUMID HEAT of North Dallas! The day started a little later than normal, so we started off with lunch at Chili's. Soleil surprised me adn ordered some ribs. Now, I have LOVED ribs since I was around her age and my mom has a photos of me eating ribs with BBQ sauce all over my face...we took a very similar photo of Soleil...


After lunch, Soleil and I needed to freshen up our lipstick...



Then we were off the the Heard Museum...This is where the day got hot. 90% of this museum is outdoors!!! It is an outdoor preserve that shows 3 different ecosystems that you can walk through: wetlands, prairie, and woodlands. You can see how they had a wooded trail for everybody to walk on...



They also had a butterfly exhibit outside that we walked through that was FULL of butterflies!!! Here is a photo I took of Soleil watching one of them on a flower...


After doing a fair amount of walking, we were all sweating profusely and were quite tired. We decided it was time for a little break...



After a short break, we began to walk again, when Soleil started to complain of blisters. We checked out her feet and sure enough, she had two large blisters on each of her feet. So we had her take her shoes off and Winston gave her a piggy back the rest of the way back. Which was about a 1/2 mile!!!

So, we made it out of the Heard museum and decided it was time to go swimming. While Winston and Soleil went swimming, I ran to Office Depot and got Soleil all of her school supplies. Included in that was a Jonas Brothers backpack. We were the hero for finding it, as she told us that her and her Nana had looked for a Jonas backpack all year last year!!! After I picked up all of the supplies, I met up with them at the pool. In this photo below, Soleil is wearing the swimming "gear" we got her. This "gear" consisted of flippers, goggles and a snorkel! What fun!

We had a lot of fun with her as usual! However, the time just goes by too fast. Even Soleil said that she wishes she could spend more time with us, which is wonderful to hear. She is a joy to be around!

After dropping Soleil off, Winston and I stopped for a cold beer and some dinner. It had been a LONG day!!!

The Fourth of July!!

This was our first holiday and "alone" visit with little miss Soleil! WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!! We started the day off early-leaving the house at 5:30am so we could get up there early. It was difficult for Winston since he had to work Friday night and didn't get home until close to 1am! So, by the time he actually fell asleep and then got up, he was running on about 2.5 hours of sleep! Luckily he was able to sleep in the car for about an hour, but the excitement was overpowering the exhaustion! We picked up Soleil and took her to the Dallas Aquarium. If you live anywhere near this aquarium, or are ever have time and are in Dallas--go to this aquarium. It was spectacular! We were expecting to spend most of the day there and were looking forward to being indoors with some AC. (We have been having record heat lately--17+ days of 100+ degree weather!) We were wrong...the aquarium is made to feel and look like a Rain Forest-which includes the humidity and the heat. Needless to say, we were HOT and sweaty!! We followed Soleil as she ran through all the exhibits! We stopped at the crocodile exhibit and got to see them get fed!! It was incredible! Overall, after seeing everything-some things twice-it was time to go, and we had only been there for three hours! Ha ha! After that, we went and had some pizza, and then decided to go cool off at a movie. So we went and saw Ice Age 3 in 3D! It was very cool! Lastly, we rounded out the day at a park and just played around for a bit on the play structure. We ended up taking Soleil back to her grandparents house around 6pm and we were exhausted! However, we still had a long drive ahead of us! Overall, it was a wonderful Fourth of July and we were so happy to spend it with our daughter! She was very vocal in telling us how much she liked it when we come up, let us know that she wished we could stay longer and even mentioned wanting to come to Austin!

The WHOLE Family!!!

Well, we were finally able to bring the dogs with us this weekend to meet Soleil! It was so much fun!! However, it was also one of the hottest and most humid days we have had here in Texas all year. Needless to say, we were not able to throw the ball around as much as we had wanted. Instead, we all took turns spraying the dogs with water to keep them cool. Even though it was 100+ degrees in Honey Grove, we still spent some time catching frogs as that is Soleil's favorite thing to do. We were able to pull her away from frog catching to paint Winston's fingernails...PINK!!! After we painted his nails, we had ourselves a little tea-party! It was great!

The afternoon went on and we decided it was a hot enough day that we needed to take Soleil to go get some ice-cream...That was the best part of the day. We were able to leave her grandparents house and have some uninterrupted time with just us. This was the first time we have taken her anywhere. She wanted to sit in the back with the dogs and they loved it as much as she did. This little trip to get ice-cream, really made is feel like a family.

Soleil!!!

As you may know, Winston and I have been working towards having his eight year old daughter in our life, and this weekend was out first visit with her. It was such a great day!!
The visit went VERY well! She was a bit shy at first, but that was to be expected! After the initial shyness wore off, we saw a wonderful girl with a delightful personality! We colored, played UNO and, as she is a child who LOVES to be outside, she took Winston outside (in the rain and mud) and showed him where she found tadpoles and frogs!!!
Winston was wearing BRAND NEW WHITE shoes, but he didn’t care! He was out there enjoying every minute of it!!

You be the judge...doesn't she look JUST like her daddy?!