Easter 2015

This year we are keeping Holidays low key. We were very thankful to be able to celebrate Easter as a family and enjoy an egg hunt with some friends. The weather was gorgeous and we spent most of the day outside! The night before Easter we dyed some eggs with the kids and talked about the Easter story. We attended the early service at church which was a fun adventure and then we were able to relax for the rest of the day.

 These four seem awful grown :) They all really enjoyed the egg hunt.

 So thankful for good friends! One group invited us in for Easter lunch and another group had us over for pizza and an egg hunt. We had four worn out kids by the end of the day :)

10...yes really!

 In March our sweet Maddie girl turned 10! We were excited that daddy got to be here the week before her birthday and was able to take her to see the Moscow ballet perform "Cinderella". She loved it and it just helped to solidify in her mind her dream of being a professional dancer. She is working hard at her dance classes this year and can't wait until she is 12 so she can start pointe.

 On her actual birthday The kids and I went to see the movie "Cinderella" in the theater and most of us enjoyed it....poor Sam! I was proud of him for going with us...he said it was because it was Maddie's birthday and he had no other choice. He really does love his sisters!

 Then on Saturday we had a "Skype" party with daddy and he got to watch her blow out her candles. She decorated her own cake this year with birds and butterflies...just like on Cinderella.

She got some fun Cinderella Legos from Mimi and Papa to complete her Cinderella birthday! We are very thankful for this girl. She is a huge helper with the little girls and does a lot of the house work without complaint. She is doing well in school this year and has developed a love of reading. She is really loving her guitar lessons too. We can't believe she is already 10, but are excited to watch her grow into the girl God wants her to be!



Saying Goodbye

Over the past 8 months Troy and I and the kids have said goodbye to 3 of our closest friends here in Florida. I guess being in a military town this is to be expected, but it is definitely getting harder as the kids get older :( The kids are used to saying goodbye to grandparents and cousins, but always with the understanding that we will see them again soon. But that isn't the case with friends, sometimes it is goodbye forever. This past week as I was putting Megan to bed she told me "My heart hurts momma...because I miss Elijah and Madison." All I could do was tell her mine does too. We are thankful for the good opportunities that took them away from us and for all the memories we made!

Time with Family

Since Daddy had been traveling a lot lately, we got to spend almost 4 weeks up in Indiana with family :) It was a lot of chaos, a lot of family, and a lot of fun! We spent the first week celebrating Christmas with our family. As always, I didn't do well at taking pictures while we were there, but I was able to capture a few things....

 

We got some fun gifts!

 After the first week of family fun, we settled into a routine with Mimi and Papaw and were able to keep up with our school. It was great to have some help with school from Mimi and Papaw too! We also got to enjoy a lot of fun things that we don't see in Florida- like snow!

 The kids enjoyed sledding and just being out in the cold :) 

 We also enjoyed warming up by the fire.

 We got to celebrate Papaw's birthday as well on the last weekend we were there. It was a lot of fun spending time with family and just having time to really get to visit with everyone! Even though it has been rough to be without Daddy for so long, we are glad we got to spend at least part of the time surrounded by family.

TWO!

 

This sweet little Tinker Bell has a secret.....

in January she turned 2! We got to celebrate with lots of cousins up in Indiana. Mimi made her a cute Tinker Bell cake and she blew out both candles. Even though she is the most discontent of all of our babies and still doesn't always sleep through the night, we are blessed with her beyond measure. She has a spunky attitude and some of her favorite words are "My do it!" She parrots anything the older kids say and never lets her size stop her from doing what she wants to do. (she carries around a step stool to help her reach!) She is a girly girl to the core and wears a dress almost every day. She can walk in heels and loves to accessorize! You won't see her without her white blankie and she always says her bedtime prayers first. We all love her hugs and each of us love this sweet girl to pieces!! Happy Birthday Marla Grace.

Miracle Strip

 The weekend before Daddy left to go to San Diego we got to enjoy some family time at Miracle Strip. The kids absolutely loved it! It's a small amusement park right by the big mall on the beach. I'm really excited that we have season passes this year because now when we go to the mall instead of saying "no" when the kids want to ride a few rides, we can actually say "yes"! It is also big enough that we can spend a whole day there if we want to and when they "re-open" in the spring they will have a brand new splash pad area which is great for Florida summers! But since it was a cool night we enjoyed the rides this time!

 The carousel is always a big hit.

 Megan and Daddy on the Ferris Wheel! Troy, Maddie and Sam rode everything including "The bullet" which spins you up-side down! In the main part of the park Marla and Megan were too small to ride most things, but in the preschool section they were good to go!

 Marla marched right up to the rides and climbed in like she had done it her whole life! Maddie was too big for some of these rides, but she could ride a few.

The kids are excited for them to re-open in the spring so we can try the zip-lines and climbing walls and also see some of the shows that will be there this summer!

Christmas 2014

 2014 ended a little bit different than we are used to. Daddy had to spend the month of December away on business. We tried to keep things as normal as possible with the kids, but we have never had to do all of our Christmas traditions without Daddy so things were just different! Thankfully, he flew home the week of Christmas so we did get to spend the actual Holiday with him :) The excitement of Christmas and Daddy being home was lots of fun!

On Christmas Eve we went to the Christmas Eve service at church and then had a yummy ham dinner before we read the Christmas store and headed to bed. On Christmas morning these two were up super early...sorting through presents and opening up everything way before the little girls got up.

 The kids were all smiles as the opened up gifts and played with them. Megan got some American Girl clothes and a horse for her Bitty Baby. This girl loves animals right now!

 Sam got a basketball goal. He is signed up to play his first season in a few months and he has been practicing a lot.

 Marla Grace got a ride on toy, but preferred to play with some stocking stuffers.

And this grown up girl got an MP3 player so she can listen to her music while she practices her dancing.

In 2015 we are focusing on not getting the kids gifts for special occasions, but on taking them to do fun family activities instead. So their big gift for Christmas was season passes to Miracle Strip Amusement park out on the beach. We already got to use them once and they had a blast! On Christmas afternoon we ate dinner with our good friends The Powells. We had a birthday cake for Jesus and the kids had lots of fun playing outside with their friend. Then we rushed home and took down the Christmas tree and packed for an extended stay in Indiana with family while Daddy prepared to be away for a few more months in San Diego. Whew! It was a busy Christmas, but a blessed one as we were all together to celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Angels on Alert

 At the beginning of December the kids participated in our church's Christmas program. Maddie and Sam both had speaking parts in the Musical "Angels on Alert" and Megan sang with the preschool choir. They all did a great job.

 Their program was on a weekend that Daddy had to be gone on business, but thanks to modern technology He was able to watch from San Diego and Mimi and Papa were able to watch in Indiana.

We are so thankful for our church and how they come along side us to help the kids celebrate the birth of Christ.