Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone.

I got a little lazy this year....ok a lot lazy and didn't get cards made. So this post is my stand-in Christmas card. I could say I was super busy, but that isn't true. I just didn't make cards for this year.

We did have a busy year and very thankful for all that we have.

Rob finished up active duty in February and had a few months to spend with us before he started his civilian job. Rob came up to Ohio and found us a home then came back up to start work two and a half weeks before the girls and I moved up here.

I have stayed busy with the girls and our home. I stayed in South Carolina with the girls and with the help of my parents and one of my sisters, got us all packed up and moved up here. The girls and I have explored this area and also made a trip back to North Carolina this past summer. We made it to the family reunion (My Mom's side) and also a short trip to the beach.

Meghan turned 9 this year. She is in 3rd grade and started gymnastics this past summer. She loves a good book and has read a few of the Little House on the Prairie books. She just started the Creepover series and is growing up faster by the day.

Jenna turned 7 this year and she is in 2nd grade. She also started gymnastics this past summer and loves it. She wasn't into reading too much, but was good at it. She started reading to Rob in the evenings and has read lots of Junie B. Jones books to him and recently started the A to Z mystery books. She now loves to read, just like the rest of us.

Sarah....oh my sweet Sarah. She will turn 2 on the 23rd and has hit the "terrrible twos" already. She had a busy busy year. She started walking, talking better, potty training a little, and getting into everything. She loves to spend time with her big sisters and wants to be just like them. She goes to a child watch program and enjoys playing with the other toddlers and babies.

Sissy, the dog, turned 12 this year. I think she has lost some of her hearing but she is in good health overall.

She loves our new home, no steps and she has a dog door.

Our year started out not as we would have planned, but we have settled into our new life as civilians. The girls and I have found a wonderful church to attend. Rob has been able to ride his motorcycle a few times and even made it to a Moto GP race. We have reconnected with some great friends since moving up here to Ohio and look forward to many great memories for all of us.

We have also had my parents visit us a few times, since we are a days drive from their home.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'm excited to see what 2012 has in store for us.....and you.

Pig tails

Meghan fixed Sarah's hair yesterday morning and asked me to take a picture. I had to take it right after we dropped the big girls off because Sarah didn't want the hair clip left in.

I love this first picture....Sissy came over to say "hi".

Sweet girl was watching Mickey Mouse and wasn't impressed with me taking her picture.

My sweet wild child.

Big Girl Chair

My little climber tipped her chair over on her the other day. She was trying to climb into her booster seat for lunch and didn't make it in the seat.

I mildly freaked out because our chairs are very heavy.

I took the booster out of the chair and Sarah is sitting at the table like a big girl.

She has been climbing up onto the chairs for a while (and on the table when my back is turned), so she has it all figured out.....at least she thinks she does.

She has also been caught using Sissy's kennel to get on the kitchen counter......

I don't leave her alone in a room anymore, she is too curious and can get into things in seconds.

I can't believe she will be 2 in 17 days!

She is my wildest, most curious toddler and has no fear.

Almost done dining room

I have been working on painting baseboards around the house and finished up the halls and dining room this weekend.

We had wood "colored" in most rooms for the baseboards but some white ones too...so I wanted to make it all look the same. I used a high gloss white paint and really like how it freshens up the house.

I posted a few pictures of the dining room because I wasn't sure which one showed off my paint job the best.

I also decided to move a large area rug into the dining room and I think it "pulls it all together".

The only thing left to do in the dining room is paint the walls.

I will start painting walls when almost all the baseboards have been painted (almost all, because we will be replacing a few in my bedroom, so I don't need to paint them).

The current color is a light blue and I plan to paint it a sand color (or something like that).

early birds

Happy to say my "early birds" aren't as early as they use to be.

Jenna has to stay in bed until 7am on weekends and Sarah has been sleeping in a little too.

Last weekend Sarah slept in until after 8am and Jenna slept until 745am.

Today they were both up a little before 7am.

Jenna started coughing and Sarah was just ready to start her day.

***We had to tell Jenna to sleep in on the weekends because she was trying to get up around 5am and wanted everyone to get up with her. Then everyone had bad moods ALL day.....so sleeping in is making everyone nicer on the weekends.

First snow!

Not sure how much we are expected to get or if it is planning on hanging around (or "sticking around") but I wanted to get a picture of our first snowfall in Ohio.

little decorating going on

We pulled down the decorations and started getting the house decorated for Christmas.

The girls helped decorate the tree and Sarah was so excited to help unpack the decorations and hang them on the tree. So far she isn't touching too much and she hasn't tried to unwrap any gifts under the big tree either.

Jenna has touched and moved more ornaments than Sarah.....and had like 5 on one branch.

I asked her this morning to just look and not touch any more...but we will see how long that will last.

She will stand by the tree and look at all the ornaments over and over!!

We put our tall tree in our family room.

The first tree Rob and I ever purchased was a 4 foot tree....we bought it our first Christmas as a married couple.

We let the girls decorate that tree and it is in our front living room.

I always get excited about the Christmas season. Today at Church our pastor gave the kids a book for the season and I can't wait to read the stories with the girls!