Our Goddaughter Turns 2

Our Goddaughter (Alana) turned two years old on Friday, and it's hard to believe she's two already. We went to her birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese this afternoon. We haven't been to Chuck-E-Cheese's in years, and to be honest, it hasn't changed much. There's still the big rat (otherwise known as Chuck-E-Cheese), the mysterious moving creatures up on stage with those scary eyes that seem to follow you wherever you go, and the children running everywhere. The kids still compete to see who can turn the twenty dollars that their parents spent on tokens into the best five cent toy, and it's still pretty much a casino for children.

We really did have a blast playing with the kids though. The only exception was when a boy beat me at skeet ball, and I had to go back to the other kids crying. Aaron just laughed...1) because I had eaten way too much sugar and I was a little bit cranky and 2) because he was the boy that beat me at skeet ball.

Alana loves us both, but if you ask her who her favorite is out of the two of us, she'll always say Aaron. I thought it was so cute how she grabbed Aaron's chin as he went to lean in for a quick kiss.



And I promise I'll stop showing off other people's children after this...but look at those big brown eyes! She's such a cutie!

Riley Camille

Riley Camille arrived at 7:04pm on Sunday, September 12th. She's so cute, and look at that head of hair! :) The Whitfields are such a blessing to Aaron & I, and we're so excited for them. The Whitfields are our family here in Virginia Beach, and we love them so much! I just couldn't help, but show off this cute little one. Welcome Riley!



Look at Tra & Joanne glow...


And of course, I had to get one with her.

P.S. ......

Aaron started traveling this past week for his recruiting position at the Law School. He’ll be in Palm Beach, Miami, Fort Myers, Tampa, St.Augustine, and Tallahassee over the next 8 days for work. I was sad to see him go, but when I got home from work I found the sweetest love note on our desk. I was really feeling much better after reading the few sweet sentences he wrote me before he left, and then I got to the P.S. part where my wonderful husband wrote “P.S.-I saw and killed a giant bug this morning. Spray some Raid outside the doors.” At first I laughed, but then ran straight to the cabinet to grab the Raid. I SOAKED the patio in Raid. I had to shut the patio doors because the smell was so bad. (I probably should have thought about my neighbors before I did that…oops.) I felt much better after spraying the patio, but then did a “quick” search through the apartment for any more “giant bugs”. Needless to say…the reason I’m not sleeping at night is mostly because Aaron’s gone, but also because I’m sleeping with one eye open afraid that a “giant bug” will crawl on me while I sleep. I love my husband’s love notes…they make me laugh.

Andrea & Gena Came to Visit

My sister (Andrea) & her friend (Gena) came to visit this past week, and it was great to have them around. I don't get to see my sister very much, so it was great to have some quality time with her. They spent most days at the beach while Aaron & I were at work, and in the evenings we took them out for a seafood dinner on the dock, a ride on the ferry, to Skinny Dip, to a Matt Maher concert, etc. It was a lot of fun. Although, with 3 women and all that estrogen in our place for a whole week, I think Aaron is pretty scared of having an all girl family. I think all the singing, screaming, and talking about clothes may have scared him just a little, but I think what really scared him was how many times Andrea & Gena had to change clothes before each night out and how little time he had to use our bathroom. However, I think he'd say it was all worth it for how many times he scared my sister and Gena about Hurricane Earl, sharks, jelly fish, and rip currents in the ocean. Here are some of the quotes from the week: "if they ordered an evacuation, we would get you out of here...", "if you get caught in a the rip tide, swim sideways", "takin' on the jellies!". Andrea & Gena were good sports about it all. We're looking forward to when they can visit again.

Design on a Dime (Kaney Style)

We had to move out of our previous apartment into a short term lease because we are not sure where we'll be in 6 months. We moved from our fully furnished apartment into an unfurnished apartment, but all of our furniture is in storage in Illinois. So we set a $500 budget to furnish our new apartment until we know where we can finally settle down and move our furniture from Illinois to our new home (wherever that ends up being). It was so amazing how the Lord provided things for us. Generous friends gave us pieces of furniture they didn't need, and we found a couple extremely cheap buys on Craigslist. In the end we ended up even coming out under budget. God is good.

It's A Girl!

A baby girl is on her way into this world very soon, but sorry to break the news...it's not us that's pregnant. I know some of you were so excited there for a split second. Sorry to get your hopes up, but it's really my best friend in Virginia Beach (Joanne) that's expecting. Riley Camille will probably be making her grand appearance sometime in the next week or two, and we're so excited to meet this new member of the Whitfield family. This past weekend I helped throw a baby shower for Joanne. It was so great to pamper Joanne. She really deserves it. It was a lot of fun making her gift too. I made a diaper cake for the first time, and I must admit it turned out pretty good for a first attempt. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to make some more in the near future. It was so much fun.

"We're on an adventure..."

Aaron & I went camping with our friends Dave & Cheryl this past weekend in the Shenandoah Mountains. We hiked a trail called Old Rag in the Shenandoah Mountains, and it was a blast! We enjoyed camping, but our favorite part was the trail. It was so much fun to go through the "rock scramble" at the top of the mountain and literally climb the rocks. We can't wait to go back!