Dinner and a Movie...Bales/Tales version :)

Tangled, Papa John's pizza and Haagen-Dazs Vanilla. Perfect ending to a cold and rainy day! Bailey and Taylor had a blast and Daddy got to see Tangled for the first (although I AM SURE not the last) time :).

Big Girl BIKES!

We bought the girls bikes one night this week.  It was fun going to the store and picking them out….they were so excited to go home and start riding! 

Here is Bales learning out to ride from her Daddy.  She did really well, though she does have to learn how to keep the bike moving :).  I can’t believe she is old enough to ride a bike!

Here she is riding all by herself!

Tales and her new bike!  She too needs to work a little (and grow one more inch to reach the petals) more on keeping the bike moving.

The majority of the time, they end of riding Taylor’s bike…here is Bailey pushing Tales

AND Tales pushing Bales!  They play very well together most of the time :)

Eventually, Taylor wanted to ride Sissy’s bike.  Here she is having a blast (Mommy and Daddy got a workout in too :)).

Future Olympic Ski Jumper

 

I give her a perfect 10!  (She is jumping in high heels after all!)

Daddy Horsey

We’ve been having a lot of fun with Daddy the past 10 days.  One of Tales favorite things is horsey rides :)~!

Life

I just wanted to let everyone know that the Cellon family is alive and well!  We aren’t doing anything crazy special right now, but just enjoying LIFE together.  We had 4 days to ourselves before Blair went back to work Monday morning.  He only has half-days for a week so we are blessed to have him home in the early evenings!  We have done a lot of working out, eating, playing at parks, going to Jump In Jax, going out to eat at Pizza Hut and Red Robin and silly games of hide and seek.  We even went on a date on Sat. night to a new sushi place.  I totally thought I ordered some fish sushi, but what came out was a PLATE OF  RAW FISH.   I do mean a PLATE OF RAW  FISH.  Like, nothing else.  Just big hunks of meat.  I guess we both now know what shashimi means.  Thankfully, Blair ate my meal (I WAS NOT ABOUT TO EAT THAT!!) and I ate half of his (some of it was shellfish).  Funny story to tell in the future, but at the time I was wanting my $22 back!   This weekend I think we’ll stick to something I know what to order ;). 

Thank you for all your prayers and comments on facebook.  We are so excited to have Blair home.  The girls have adjusted remarkably well.  They both had a hard time yesterday morning when they woke up and Daddy was gone.  Thankfully, we were able to call Daddy and have Bailey talk to him.  It was so nice just to be able to pick up the phone and call him!  9 1/2 months of not having that luxury is a long time….

No pictures today…I need to be better at taking them, but have just so enjoyed doing regular stuff with my awesome family.  God is good!

Homecoming March 16, 2011

Daddy’s welcome home sign!  (Thanks Allison for letting us borrow your handmade sign…Blair was really impressed)

Anticipating Daddy’s van to pull up!  We arrived at the battalion around 8pm and he pulled in at 8:15pm!

Won’t Daddy love our signs?

I see his van!  The girls were going absolutely crazy at this point :)

There he is!

Capt. Cellon.  We are so proud of you!  (the girls were jumping up and down and recognized him right away!)

Daddy, Don’t you love my sign?  I love you so much!

Happy girls.  Happy Daddy.

Complete.  Finally.  PRAISE JESUS! 

It has been so nice to have Blair home.  We had homemade waffles with strawberries this morning and the girls have kept Daddy busy playing!  We are just enjoying these moments!

Like my “Bacets”?

 

Taylor says she loves her “bacets”…all 10 of them :)!

Hide and Seek

A favorite game around our house remains hide and seek.  We have all of 5 hiding spots in our downstairs :).  The girls discovered a new one a few days ago….

Where are Bailey and Taylor?

Here they are!

Remembering and Anticipating!

Blair and I have been through A LOT of separations/deployments. It probably all adds up to about half of our relationship we have spent apart. One thing that makes these separations bearable are homecomings! I have been remembering…

March 2008…Daddy left 36hrs after Bailey was born and came back 7 months later.

Daddy getting to know Bailey as a 7 mo old

March 2009…Daddy left in Aug. 2008 for another 7 mo. We found out we were pregnant 2 weeks after he left. We welcomed him home when I was 35 wks pregnant with Tales :)

Dec. 2010…We picked up Blair at the airport for 2 weeks of rest and relaxation after 6 of his 10 months of deployment.

We are down to the final days until we welcome Daddy home again…

MARCH 2011 HOMECOMING HERE WE COME!!!

(Isn’t it odd that he has arrived home in March for all his deployments?…he left in June, Aug, Sept.)

Hi Ya’ll! Good Sunday morning to you :)

The girls looked super cute wearing clothes they haven’t worn since last summer!  Today is a beautiful day…high in the 70’s with lots of sunshine.  It finally hit me on the way to church this morning that next time I go to church BLAIR WILL BE WITH US!!!!  Praise Jesus :)

Here is my sweet precious firstborn..

She is waving “HI” to Jace and Emma who she misses very much!  She also wanted to say hi to Daddy and Grammie/Papa/Grandma/Papa P. 

Here is Tales giving her shout out too.   (notice her accessories…she is so stylish :))

Dancing for Daddy!

 

We are now down to “days” instead of “weeks” until Daddy comes home!!  We are all starting to get EXTREMELY excited.  They both keep mentioning things they want to do when Daddy comes home.  So far here is some of that list":

Sea World, go see Barbie Grandma and Fishy Papa, see Rocky Grandma/Papa, see Rocky (Taylor especially :)), see cousin Alice, see all Uncles/Aunts, PLAY with Daddy (their most frequent request), eat cereal with Daddy, eat cake with Daddy, pick flowers for Daddy, ride in the car with Daddy (Bailey wants him to ride right in front of her…), watch Tangled with Daddy (Bailey), watch Mermaid with Daddy (Taylor). 

It is so nice that they really understand that Daddy is coming home soon.  They talk about him throughout the day and just makes his homecoming that much more exciting. 

We are just dancing for joy at the prospect of seeing Daddy in a few short DAYS!!! YAY for Daddy!  We love you :)

PS- do we not make the cutest girls EVER?!

Came across this today..

 

I used to always wonder what Bailey would look like once she wasn’t a “baby”.  I can’t believe she is 3 1/2!  She was only 10 months here.  (and YES, she has a very large head.  We basically wear the same hats :)).

Tales..

you never find her non-accessorized these days!

PS.  Don’t think anyone has informed her “less is more”.  LOL>

Chalk

The weather here has been wild.  One day warm and sunny, the next cold and windy.  We have been enjoying the days we can go outside and have some fun! 

Here is Bales playing with chalk after eating an orange italian ice (thanks Grammie-she LOVED them all :)).

Here is some of Bailey’s artwork (some I helped with)

Precious Tales!  She eats more chalk then she uses sometimes…..the girl seriously loves crayons, play-doh and chalk.  Yuck!   (On a side note: I bought this outfit Taylor is wearing for Bailey’s 2nd bday.  I CAN NOT believe my little Tales is going to turn 2 next month.  Crazy!!)

Bailey wrote her own name with chalk!  Great job!

Mornings…I love them, the girls not so much :)

Here is Bailey this morning wearing her new Tangled outfit and “Emma” hat :).  She sure does miss her Emma!  The only way I could take a pic of her this morning was to take one of her watching Mickey Mouse.  She is NOT a morning person these days…although the whole wheat strawberry banana bread I made for breakfast peaked her up a little!  This girl is in LOVE with strawberries.

Here is Tales looking like no-so-much-of-a-morning person either.  I thought she looked so super cute this morning in her pig tails and dress from cousin Alice.  She pulled out her hair bows within an hour of putting them in :(. 

We are counting down the days until Daddy gets home.  Bailey only goes to preschool 2-3 more times until he gets here!  We are so super excited.

Happy 3 1/2 Birthday BAILEY!

Bailey turns  3 1/2 today!  While we have never celebrated “1/2” birthdays before, I just couldn’t resist.  She is ALL about birthdays, cupcakes, parties, and presents these days….   I bought a small sprinkle cake and tried to write “Bales and Tales” on it.  Yea, did not turn out so well.  Oh well…tasted good :).  Taylor turned 22 mo this week so we celebrated that too!  Taylor and I bought Bailey this CUTE Tangled outfit from Target yesterday and we were so excited to give it to her!  She is wearing it today and looks great in it :). 

Bailey, at 3 1/2 you:

-weigh around 38 pounds and wear 4T, 4 and some 5 clothes!  I think you are maybe 41 inches tall?  You are the biggest girl in your class!  You sleep from 7:30-around 7.  No naps for you anymore, but you are doing well for about 1 hr upstairs with “rest time”.

-love all fruit, Mac n cheese, ice cream (italian ice), cookies, blueberry pancakes with strawberry syrup, OJ, cheese, raisans and ham.  We are working on vegetables and meat…

-Know all your letters/numbers/colors  and can write most letters now.  You love to write your own name (but get confused and write it backwards sometimes :)).   I think you may be ready to start pre-reading….you do very well visually learning!

- you LOVE preschool with Ms. Davis and Ms. Unsworth.  Jace is in your class and you two seem to have a blast with your other friends.  You love to stay for “lunch bunch” on Thursdays with the big kids.

-you love Tangled and Mickey Mouse right now.  Every prayer you thank God for Repunzel and Tangled :).  You have started praying for Sea World as well…we are hoping to go there once Daddy gets home!

-you miss your daddy lots.  You talk about him daily and can’t wait for him to come home and “play”.  We saved 1/2 of your cake so you can celebrate your bday with Daddy too!  That made you so happy. 

-Defiance, discipline and determination.  You sweet Bailey are strong-willed.  I have felt like we have been at war the past few months against that will.  Steadily and patiently we are trying to work on molding you into a self-controlled, gentle little girl without squelching your bouncy spirit.  I see improvements every week and am so thankful God is working in us to accomplish these changes! 

-You love Jesus.  You know around 10 bible verses and actually use them to “state your case”.  Mommy, Jesus said to be KIND. I want that cookie please.  Lol.

-You are a joy.  You literally shake and bounce up and down when you are happy.  Everything is full of energy and excitement!!

Here is your new outfit!

I was addicted....

to diet coke for many, many, many years.

I would confidently say that I have had a diet coke most days of my life for the past 15 years. Even in Indonesia and Haiti I found some! The past few months have been very challenging physically. I have started running half-marathons, had a severe kidney stone (my third major one in 3 years) and dealt with dehydration on a daily basis due to the running. I knew that diet coke was not HEALTHY for me, but I was in denial that it was actually harmful. After some research (and just general common sense) I finally accepted the fact that drinking it as much as I was (daily) was harming my health. It has now been about a month since I stopped drinking it. I have not had one since that day (I knew it was an all or nothing thing for me as many addictions are). It has been difficult. Every time I pass Sonic I want to stop. When I go out to eat, I really want a soda. I have had a couple "regular" cokes, but I am much more likely to just get a small one as I know how many calories are in it :). I drink coffee in the morning, water and herbal tea throughout the day now. I am so thankful the Lord convicted me of this addiction. He says that NOTHING is to be more important then him. As crazy as it sounds, diet coke controlled my life in some ways. Financially (I have been able to save money since quiting!), Physically (constantly dehydrated), Emotionally (felt like I "HAD" to get my fix for the day). I just read an article that articulates better almost exactly what I have gone through the past month or so.

HERE is the article.

Please know that I am not judging anyone else who chooses to drink diet soda. This was a very personal decision that God had been convicting me on and I finally obeyed him. It has just been recently that I actually admitted that I was addicted.....a very humbling experience.