Esther and Kiara's first meeting...

Um... Mommy, what is this thing making such funny noises?

Kiara just was enamored by the light.

I don't know... she was grabbing the toy I guess.

Samson really likes Esther, so much so that he even combed her hair for her with his tongue.

Casey likes Esther too, and didn't mind holding her at all, she actually liked it I think.

Deer in the headlights

Oooo, a blanket

Stop taking pictures of me

Barbara Jones likes Esther, and Esther really liked Barbara Jones and wouldn't stop talking to her

And she smiled a lot too.

Zach, your little girl loves you and misses you a lot.  She can't wait to talk to you again not to mention see you when you get home!

Hey Daddy!

Pbbbbbbbtttttthhhhhh!

Looky me!  I'm holding my bottle (kinda)!

Bunny towel...

Bunny towel pirate...

Bunny towel ppbbbbbtttthhhh!

Giraffe toes

She does, she loves her daddy, and misses him too!

More pics for Daddy

Hi Daddy!

Look, I've got the keys and I'm all ready to get into your Camaro and have a joy of a ride!
But first, I'm going to gum the keys for awhile.
Esther was waking up from a nap and I went to check on her, and her little feet kept appearing and then disappearing.
And then there's the I'm-smiling-because-I-just-had-an-amazing-popcorn-fart!

I took some video, but it won't upload... I'll keep trying though.

We love you!

A picture speaks 1,000 words (especially when there's writing in it).

Hey Zach, somebody wanted to say hi...

It was really cute, she was enthralled with the paper.  I held it out in front of her and she actually put her hand out right next to it and started opening and closing her fingers.  She's a bright little bugger.  At one point, she had it right across her face, I tried to get the shot, but she was moving too much, oh well.  These worked out just fine, I think.

We love you!

Hey love,

Here's the pictures so you can keep up on our little girl.

This one I took today, actually, all of the ones of her in this outfit, I took today.  She kept sticking her legs up in the air so I waited to get a picture of it, pretty cute eh?
Here's one of her with a classic smile :)
I had her laying on her mat with a burp rag protecting the mat in case she spat up, you know, and she grabbed the mat and had it covering her face, as you see here.  The thing that made it really funny is that she looked super sleepy and it was like she was trying to cover her face from the light.
Here's one of her peeking around the rag. 
Then she grabbed the plug out of her mouth and was seriously holding onto it for about 3 or 4 min, just waving it around in the air.
While she was waving it around, she kept looking at it as if to say, "Hey, I know what you are and I know where you're supposed to go, I just don't know how to get you there."  She's amazing, isn't she?
Here she is, all dressed up to go play cards last night.  That outfit is super-duper precious on her.
This was Friday I think.  She fell asleep in her car seat with her hand holding the ring on the ducky.  I couldn't help but get a picture of it.  Today, after church she had ahold of the lion's tail and was just yanking away.

Anyway, I will keep taking pictures and putting them up here frequently and if you want any special ones, just let me know.  I love you and Esther sends her love too!

A New Home, NTC, and a little laugh

We moved!  A week ago we moved on-post into a two bedroom townhouse thing.  There's 4 townhouses connected together but we're on the end so that's a big plus.  The whole house has wood floors expect for brand-new carpet in the living room.  Both Zach and I have said that we feel more at home here already than we have any where else so far.  God was so good to give us this place, I am so thankful.  He has brought us so far and continues to provide for us even when we're not sure where the money to pay the bills is going to come from... He has never failed us.  Like the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.  We were given a bookcase!  So now we have a place to put books and games.  There's still a ton of moving-in to do, hopefully I'll have this place put together by the time Zach gets back from California.

Zach's leaving for NTC (training in California) on Friday.  Obviously not something to 100% look forward to other than it being over and him coming home.  The real bummer is that Zach's not feeling too great, so he doesn't feel like taking walks or playing games or really spending quality time with us because he's just too tired.  I'd really like to spend some time with him but he really needs his rest, sounds like he's not going to get a whole lot in Cali.

There's gonna be at least two weeks where I won't hear from him at all, that'll be hard too. Especially because when he gets back, I'll want to know everything he did down to the details and I'll get the typical man-overview of what happened. ;)  This time it'll be even worse than basic because when he was in basic he wrote faithfully every night and most of it was about what he was involved in there.  I'm hoping it'll be a good "practice" for deployment, getting to see what being apart for an extended period of time is going to be like.  Especially with Esther here.

On a happier note, Esther full-out laughed today!  It wasn't a huge one, or extended, but it was the first laugh where I wasn't sitting there wondering if it was a laugh.  She's grabbing and pulling toys and just stares at everyone.  At PWOC this morning, a woman with an eight-month-old was sitting in the pew right in front of us and this little girl likes to be active and extremely vocal, she's adorable.  Anyway, Meghyn was raising her usual ruckus and Esther was just sitting there with this look on her face like "What in the heck are you yelling about?"  It was priceless.  And every time there's clapping, Esther's eyes get really big and she goes from staring at one thing to whipping her head left and right, like she's looking around to see where the noise is coming from, it's so adorable.  We got some great mom's day pics of her, but I can't find my camera cord in all the moving messies but hopefully soon, i'll get to put them up.  Until then!

Army again

So today, Zach's battalion had a change of command ceremony.  In other words, his unit got a new Lieutenant Colonel for a commander.  The ceremony was complete with a band, flags, M-4s, cavalry horses and a canon pulled by mules.  I didn't get to see the whole thing, it was extremely windy and a little colder than I thought and Esther was not happy so we went inside the Custer house and I got her fed and happy.

The beginning was pretty cool, seeing all of the soldiers standing in formation and hearing the band.  The band actually marched and did some pretty low-key formations and stuff, it made me think of Matt Higgins, only in Army Camo instead of a band uniform, hehe.  During the National Anthem, all of the soldiers of course saluted.  For some reason, Zach wasn't in formation (I guess there were some problems yesterday or some kind of Army something... when I asked, I got the whole "don't ask" look).  So he was standing next to me, saluting at the flag, and I looked over and was really amazed at my reaction.  I mean, I've always been proud of Zach for serving in the military and I've seen him at a few different functions, but I'm not sure I've ever seen him saluting up close and for some reason, the pride hit me a lot differently then it ever has before.  I wanted to climb up on top of the bleachers on the parade field and yell to everyone, "My husband is a soldier and I am proud of him!".  (Which is ironic because everyone there was either a soldier or family of a soldier).  I just couldn't take my eyes off him... but because I felt funny starting at my husband when everyone else was staring at the flag so I had to just glance over a few times.

After the ceremony, all of the officers came into the Custer house (where I was with Esther) for refreshments.  Zach came in to get me and seriously looked like he couldn't even breathe in there.  The reason wasn't his asthma, it was all the brass in the house.  Zach said he felt like walking around with his hand covering his rank patch and the other hand covering his face.  I realized how bad it was when I saw a star on a rank patch.  A one-star general, a brigadier general... wow.  It's funny, the army seriously reminds me of like, the Middle Ages with the hierarchy of society.  Even I felt really awkward when all the brass started walking in.  Even though not many people would do it, I kinda felt like someone was going to tap me on the shoulder and say "hi, and what rank is your husband?  Oh, I'm sorry, you have to leave now."  It's a really funny life, the Army life.  At times, really normal, and other times, it's like a completely different country.

Mom and Dad Vernon are coming in tonight to help us pack for our move on-post.  We're really excited.  Not only will we be saving a TON of money but it'll mean less drive time for Zach and he'll be able to come home for lunch more often and spend more time at home during lunches. Here's looking forward to a CRAZY week!