as one ends.....one begins

I have been wanting to type this post for a while but always seem to talk myself out of it. I think for most reading my blog, this is going to come as a surprise....others, it is "old" news.

As the new year is fast approaching a big chapter in mine and Rob's life (and the girls) is coming to a close too. March 1 is Rob's last day in the Air Force. Not our choice, but the Air Force is downsizing and we were one of the unluckily families to receive some sad news one October afternoon. It is called a RIF....reduction in force. Rob has 12 years in and has an outstanding record....but almost half of his year group was cut.....

As we have been dealing with this news, we have also had to switch gears and start searching for jobs, a place we would like to live and plan a future......one that we thought was pretty much planned out for us.

We are not too happy to have to move the girls and up root them so soon after this move, but are thankful to have been this close to family for this short time.

We are not sure where we will be heading, but hopefully all will be figured out as the new year starts.

Alexander Graham Bell stated, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Just a few pictures of our Christmas in South Carolina!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday to my baby girl, Sarah!

This year seems to have flown by and you sure have been busy. You are growing and changing daily.

We all love to play with you and we stay pretty busy running after you. You are a fast little crawler and we have to stay on top of you....you like to get into things. You can climb the stairs too, not that we want you to.

You drink whole milk and still love to eat. You no longer use bottles, only sippy cups.

You are in size 3 diapers and 12-18 month clothing.

You can say lots of words, but you want to grunt most of the time. Just this past week you said eaa (eat), ease (please) and you will say words after watching us say them, but then won't repeat it for a while.

You sleep really well at night and have finally adjusted to the fall time change, and sleep in past 630am.

You go to bed around 730-8pm and most nights don't wake up.

You are not a fan of naps, but will give in when exhaustion hits you.

You finally have a tooth!!

You are not feeling well and seem to be bothered by your gums, so we think you are cutting a few more teeth too.

You are able to stand for a few seconds without support and we think you will be walking soon! We bought you a little stroller/walker and you have pushed it all over the house.

Your best buddy is Sissy the dog! She loves to hang out with you and try and steal snacks from you.

You love to give Sissy her dog bones.

Sweetest baby sister in the world!!!

We love our sweet Sarah.

Gingerbread houses

My sister gave me a good craft idea....and the cost for three houses was under $5. I saved the small kleenex boxes to use to hold up the graham crackers. I used our left over Halloween candy to decorate the houses. Any frosting will work, but we used white frosting and sprinkles too.

We all had fun and the houses are super cute.

Jenna's house has the suckers on it and I helped with her roof. Meghan went crazy with the candy and I bet if we had not used the kleenex box to hold up the crackers, her house roof would have fallen in:)

This is mine and Rob's house:) He did the crackers and I decorated it!