Home Sweet Home

Matt completely surprised me and came home!!! He showed up at our hotel in Jacksonville to walk the Breast Cancer Half Marathon with us. I was shocked that he was there. You won't believe what happened...I got a stomach virus and was throwing up all night long the first night he was home. Yep, that's right...I haven't been sick since he left in July and the night he comes home it hits me. (EVERYONE in our family got it within the 2 weeks he was home, except Carson and Pam.) But I was able to walk the marathon and we made the exact time that I wanted. 3 hours 15 minutes. I was so happy he was there with me. He pushed me to make my time goal and I did it!! (That's us in the blue Team Taylor shirts.)

After we got home, I got bronchitis and Carson got the flu. It wasn't what we had planned for Matt's time home at all but we all got to spend lots of time together at home, even if we were all sickly.

We did take Jenna to the Creative Discovery Museum one day. She loves that place!

And it snowed while he was home so Matt and Jenna played in the snow.

Matt also took me to get my first tattoo. It says Love in Arabic. :)

The night before he had to report in Atlanta to go back to Iraq, Matt and I went down to Atlanta to stay the night. We went to the Coke Museum and the GA Aquarium. (I forgot my camera!!!) I was so sad to see him go back but we are getting closer to this deployment being over and I can't wait!!!!

Our new chef!

My sister's boyfriend, Brett, came in town this weekend and cooked for us! We were all so excited all week long. He assured us it would be great. And it was!! He made a pork roast, potatoes, baked veggies, rolls, and peach cobbler. We told him he could come over whenever he wanted to cook for us. It was wonderful! And I think we will keep him around...for a while anyway! :)

Hair Shearing Ceremony

I don't think I have blogged about this yet but my mom found out the same day that Matt left Cleveland that she has breast cancer. She is going through chemo and will have radiation after that. She wanted to have a party when she decided it was time to shave her head. We had close family and her best friends, Mike and Denise over. Here she is with new hair!

This is her and Mike. He cut her hair for her.

And here she is with the hat she made!

And her with her new wig on.

New Jersey

We were able to go up to New Jersey last week to see Matt for the last time before his deployment. His parents, the kids and I drove up to Fort Dix to see him. We left late Sunday night and drove/rode all night long. We made it in just over 12 hours. The kids did GREAT! They slept most of the trip, which was a blessing. We got there, got settled and went to the base to get Matt a little earlier than expected. I was so happy to see him! It had only been a month but it felt like forever! We took it easy that night and the next day. We were able to go shopping a little to get a few last minute things Matt needed for his trip.

On Wednesday we drove to Philadelphia to see all the history sites. Matt loves that kind of stuff! We enjoyed it all so much. Carson did great and Jenna did ok too. She isn't a big fan of walking

around and looking at buildings or at a random bell. ha! But she made it and slept great that

night!

Here we are at the Liberty Bell.

Matt standing at the unmarked graves of soldiers from the Revolutionary War.

Matt and Carson sitting in the same pew that George Washington and John Adams sat in.

The next day, we decided on going back to Philadelphia to go to the zoo. As I've said before, Jenna is a big animal lover. She has only been to the Chattanooga Zoo so this was wonderful for her. She loved every minute of it.

That night Mike and Pam kept our kids and we went out for our last date for a year. We ate at Bahama Breeze, which was amazing and then walked around a mall and went to Target Greatland. (I couldn't resist!)

Matt eating Grilled Chicken Kabobs that were delicious!

On Friday, we just stayed around the hotel and spent time just as a family. We shopped a little at the Carter's outlet and Matt and I went to the hospital to see one of the soldiers and his wife.(She went into labor while we were up there. She had the baby the next morning in New Jersey. They were so happy that Daddy was there to see the new baby.) Since Matt missed Jenna's birthday party, we had a small one at our hotel. I was so happy we got to celebrate with him.

We had an early Saturday morning. They had a Celebration for the soldiers early that morning on post. This is the whole 252nd MP company! They are ready to deploy!

Then they told everyone that if you had a room on base the soldiers could stay one more night with you. I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to see him for a few more hours. So Matt called and got me and the kids a room and found us a ride back home the next day. I was so happy to spend some more time with him. We watched that Alabama game that night and that's about it. Jen likes it when AL football is on. She walks around with her hands in the air saying TOUCHDOWN! ROLL TIDE!

The next morning started around 5:00am. We got up, got packed and said our goodbyes. There were lots of tears but we will make it through this next year. It'll be hard but I know we are strong enough. We left Fort Dix at 7:45am and got back home at 8:45 that night. It was the longest ride of my life. Jenna did ok. And Carson slept most of the time. I am so thankful to be home.

I can't wait to see Matt again. I miss him already. Please keep him and our family in your prayers throughout the next year.

Anderson Kids and Edgeworth Kids

I love it when we get our kids together. Brant is 7 months older than Jenna and Carson is 9 days older than Ben.

First of all, Jenna LOVES babies. She is a little mommy. She loves to hold Baby Ben every time

we see him. He's not used to it because Brant is not as interested in him but he is such a great sport at it. She kisses him over and over!

Brant and Jenna play together...a little. They are at the age where they play with the same toys in the same room but not so much with each other. At Grandmother's this week they saw a cat outside in the yard and shared a chair to look at it. This is such a funny picture because this is how they are a lot. Jenna wants to hug Brant and Brant lets her but pulls away just enough to not have to touch her very much.

And then of course we love to measure Carson and Ben. Carson is HUGE! We hadn't compared them in a while but I knew Carson had gained so much weight in the last few weeks! (I can't wait for Matt to see him next week!) So here they are! (Carson is in the Orange and Ben is in the stripes) Almost 4 months old! :)

Family Pics

A friend of ours took some family pictures for us at Coolidge Park. I really wanted them done before Matt leaves. And of course we'll get some done again when he gets back home. Carson was supposed to have shots that morning but I asked the nurse if I could come back the next morning to have them done so he wouldn't be fussy for the pictures. But what I didn't know is that Jenna was going to be VERY uncooperative! She didn't want her pictures made and she wanted to run around and play in the park and in the "splash water." We got maybe 2 good pictures of her smiling. Anyways, here are a couple of my favorites!

Grandmother's House

My Grandmother had our family and Anna's family over for lunch on Saturday because her sister, Kathy, was in town with 2 of her granddaughters and her husband. My Grandmother fixed an AMAZING meal! Two of my favorite things she makes are squash and onions and pasta salad and she had both that day!!!

We love taking pictures of baby Ben and Carson everytime we get together so here they are this time!

And here is a cute picture of Grandmother telling Jenna a story about a trip she took. Jenna was very interested. She kept saying uh huh everytime Grandmother would pause. So cute! Thanks Grandmother for inviting us over!!

Relaxing babies

Here are Baby Ben and Carson relaxing at Grandmother's house on a Sunday afternoon!

Playing at Josh & Sheri's

Matt's brother, Josh, bought Jenna a little pool to play in at their house. She could hardly wait to get there yesterday. She had so much fun splashing and playing with bath toys in her new pool.

Another thing she loves at their house is playing with bouncy balls. They have a huge vase full and she dumps them out and it keeps her entertained for hours. This time she decided it would be fun to put them down her PJs...with a little help from daddy of course!

And here's my little man relaxing.

Mimi

Mimi loves her babies!

Carson and Ben

Anna(my aunt) had her new little boy, Benjamin Scott, 9 days after Carson was born. It will be so fun seeing them grow up together and watch how they change together. We went to visit them on Mother's Day and took pictures of the new babies together. Ben was 7 lbs 12 oz and Carson was 8 lbs 10 oz. Ben is the one in dinosaurs and Carson is the one in trucks.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny came to see us. Jenna got a Dora basket and lots of fun treats. My parents came to see us that morning before church. We went to church with Matt's parents and then to eat at their house. Jenna hunted eggs and also rode the horses(which is her favorite thing in the world to do!!). After that we went to my parents house for pizza.

We had such a great, busy day!

Baby Shower

My mom had a baby shower for us today! The theme was cowboy and it was absolutely great. I hate Matt missed it but we had so much fun and got lots of BOY stuff for little Carson. There was a total of 8 kids there...4 Campbell boys, Jenna, Shelby(cousin), and Makayla and Kendall(They are an army family too). We missed Brant and Jeremiah! We had a blast! Here are the pics...thanks to Denise.