Christmas Eve.......

Daddy and the girls wrote Santa Clause a letter...............

It goes a little like this.....................

Opening a gift before bedtime! Neena got them "Mortimers Christmas" with the mice (Avery was a little conerned about Brynlee...........)
We did hear back from Santa.......hope you did too!

Reindeer Dust

Madelyn made some Reindeer Dust at school. We put it out on the lawn to lead the Reindeer to our house.............

Early Christmas

Grammy and GrandBob came to visit us for 5 days before Christmas. We had a great time with them. The girls got to have an early Christmas and open up many fun gifts.

Avery LOVED the wrapping paper most!!

We went to the River Walk to see all the lights and take the boat tour. It was really neat.
We made "Rudolph Pupcakes" and pretzel sticks.......Mmmmm!!

Little Miss Avery had MANY blowouts so she found herself here..........alot!!!
We also went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. The girls LOVED it! It's nice to have them stay in there seats watching out for the gorilla's!
Here is OUR little Rudolph!

Thanks again for coming to visit us grandma and grandpa!

Papa and Neena Suprise!

My parents came to visit us for a few days. I wanted to suprise the girls~they had no idea that Papa and Neena were coming until the door bell rang.....................

It was such a GREAT suprise!! It took Maddie a minute to realize who was at the door!

Little Miss Avery turned 4 months while they were here so Neena helped give her the first taste of cereal...............

We have lots of practice to do! It was yummy and messy!
One of the days we went to the Zoo. It was a beautiful day to go since there was a slight breeze and temps were around 70. Great day to hang outside!!

The "Ave Babe" hangin in the stroller...............


Maddie's face cracks me up.....lol!

Papa was such a trooper and packed Avery around all day. She had a good time drooling down his arm and baskin in the sun.
Thanks for coming out Papa and Neena! It was a blast!

Trick or Treat

TRICK OR TREAT..............

Anybody want some CANDY, we have lots at the Hipple house.................

"Jersey Girl" holding her little calf.......

They were also Princesses..............
It took until the day before Halloween, but we did carve pumpkins. Madelyn and Bynlee could not stand being so messy (I wonder who they learned that from)? But it was a masterpeice.

She didn't carve, she slept instead..............

Minnie Mouse 1 and 2............I think they are too cute!

It will be nice to not have to dress up for a while....................

Halloween Party's!!!

It seems we had 5 different Halloween parties to attend this year..........every weekend we have been busy with partying!! I am glad it's over now :)

We went to our neighbors across the street and played several games. The kids had so much fun!

So much yummy food, it amazes me how creative people get with food !

Bobbing for apples was a lot of fun. Dad dunked right in there, Madelyn got a little wet and Brynlee just took it out of my hand~she was a little timid.

Yes, I am QUEEN Bee............with a doctor.

Solo at Last!

You know I was talking to my Dad after having solo'd the Mighty Viper (F-16C) and he reminded me that it has been a long time coming. Some of you might know this story, but I felt like sharing it anyway. It started with a great friend of our family, Ralph Williams. Ralph had a Cessna 172 and he offered to take my Mom and I on a ride. Well, I was hooked! From then on I would dream about flying and getting my pilot's license. Fate, again stepped in while I was a Junior in High School. During one of our career days, an AF recruiter showed up, and so I thought I would see what the Air Force had to offer. It was pretty simple. The recruiter asked me a few questions? "Do you want to go to college?" and "Do you want to be a fighter pilot?" Uhhh.....yeah! So the adventure started.

I applied for and recieved and AF scholarhip, attended College and participated in AFROTC. There I competed against my peers for a pilot slot and was lucky enough to recieve one. After commissioning as a Second Lieutenant I attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin AFB, in Del Rio, TX. With the help of my wife, I completed Pilot Training and was selected to be a First Assignment Instructor Pilot (FAIP) in the T-6 Texan II. Although it wasn't my dream of being an F-16 fighter pilot, it was a welcomed experience and a rewarding one at that. Following my three year assignment as a FAIP, a deployment to Kyrgyzstan, and axiously stressing my assignment drop, it was all rewarded with the news that I would get my chance at becoming a USAF F-16 pilot and would be continuing my training at Kelly AFB, TX in San Antonio.

However, one more delay was in store for me. The first week of training for F-16's I experienced a crazy phenomenon where I would see double. Not very good for a pilot. And although the issue only lasted 8 days, it took 8 months of labs, MRIs, and many other specialist visits and recommendations to convince the Air Force that I was still able to continue as a pilot.

So now, after about 18 years from my first flight in that Cessna with Ralph, I am finally here, training to be an F-16 pilot, on my way to becoming a Fighter Pilot, and let me tell you, there is no other place I would rather be than in my single seat fighter jet, hair on fire, screamin for the stars!