Dear 2012,

You were a good year! 

Like a flash you were here and then you were gone. 

We had a lot of good times and celebrated a lot of new beginnings.  It was a hard year too.  Missing family is something my heart will never get use to but we are grateful for phone, text, Skype and Facebook to stay connected. 

We had stomach bugs and a lot of allergies to keep Kleenex in business but that didn't slow us down. 

We had new company cars then one car for a while but we didn't let that stop us from being on the go. 

We saw and fell in love with the most famous mouse in the entire world along with a couple dozen of his friends. 

We celebrated birthdays and lots of our little friends birthdays too. 

We got lots of new monster trucks, baby dolls and cute shoes.

We grew up a little more into new sizes and big brother got a lot of new school uniform khaki's.

We made lots of trips to the beach but discovered a walk with a red wagon with two toddlers in tow was just as fun on a Saturday to the pool.   

 

My top 10 favorites for the year 2012:

 

10.  Aaron's new job in February which gave us more "Daddy" time

 

9.  Discovering our neighborhood pool

 

8.  Annual Saturday trips to the beach

 

7.  No more pacifiers!

 

6.  Cannon's 3rd birthday

 

5.  Caroline's 2nd birthday

 

4.  First family trip to Disney World

 

3.  Two potty trained (except night-time) kids!

 

2.  Aaron's newest job after being laid off in October

 

1.  Two happy and 90% (we have allergies) healthy children!

At times it's hard to sit and be still because we are so busy.  I'm learning more and more that it's the smallest of things that bring the biggest blessings and the most joy to my heart.  I'm learning to take one day at a time because I don't ever want to look back and regret being too busy for a son that was born out of incredible odds and a baby sister born shortly after.  Their lives will go by so fast and I don't want to miss a second.  Thank you, Jesus for your incredible grace and mercy you give to all four of us on a daily basis.  That is one thing for sure I don't take for granted!







 

Christmas Season 2012

I could cry right now but I won't.  Christmas is over and I'm not happy!  Cannon and Caroline aren't too happy either.  They are at that age they are getting what Christmas is all about.  Christmas songs, Christmas lights, Christmas parties and of course....Christmas gifts.

We started out the season like we do every year with the annual Bluffton Christmas parade.  The weather was perfect and two little ones loved it.....as usual.  The highlight for me was not having to be concerned with Caroline running in front of the cars and floats as they passed.  She was kept behind the lines by her big brother this year and momma was happy for the free help!

As the month went on I found myself longing to start and/or carry on traditions.  One holiday tradition that I believe every family does is go look at Christmas lights.  We actually (on demand) go through the streets of all the neighborhoods around us almost every night on our way home from school.  There is one house on a particular street that has music with their lights and I'm instructed long before I even get to the street that I MUST turn and go see the flashing lights.  But I wanted more lights.  Bigger lights.  Traffic and lots of people.  So we packed up and went to Charleston to the Festival of Lights.  We sat in our car with two extremely patient toddlers for almost two hours before reaching the starting point and it was worth it!  The displays were big and bright and we had so much fun turning our heads to the left, then right, then left again.  Next year we will take a different route and get there in plenty time to go on the train ride.

Christmas time was also a fun time for the kids when they get home and see all the packages that have arrived from our family far away.  A lot of the boxes were delivered and hidden so "Santa" could bring them on Christmas Eve.  Some nights we would get home for the day and boxes would be half way up our door.  Thank Goodness for neighbors that keep watch over our house during the day!

There was a sad first about this Christmas and that was we didn't get to go see or have any family visit.  I'm a very sensitive person and I will admit that it was hard.  I grew up with many great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and Christmas was exhausting by the time the month was over.  Going to this house and that house, eating this meal and that meal.  It's what Christmas should be about.....family.  This year though, I learned that even if that family is made up of two people, four people or forty people, FAMILY is special and I am thankful!  My two children were old enough this year to know how Christmas worked and that was a happy first in lue of my sad first.

I'm looking forward to more family traditions being made at Christmas time.  Ones that will be passed down throughout our children's generations.  Ones that are Christ focused and full of fun gifts delivered from Santa!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Delivered Early

Christmas came a little early for Caroline.   

 

 

She got to have a big girl bed like her big brother.

 

Right now we have the kids sharing a bedroom until they get a little older (and we get a bigger house) so I wanted Cannon to ultimately have two twin beds.  Caroline's big girl bed will eventually be Cannon's second bed and she will then get another "bigger" bed when she moves into her own bedroom one day.

 

Our crazy monkeys didn't stop jumping on the bed when mommy asked and so glad one didn't fall off and bump their head.  I didn't have to call the doctor but I sent them both to time out instead!

 

 

Sayings of the Season

"Mommy, is it Christmas yet?"

                   ~Caroline, age 2½


"If you don't listen to me, I'm going to wrap you up like a present!"
                   ~Cannon, age 3½