Best Time Of The Year

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! We sure did! It was so wonderful just being home and having Alex and the kids off from school. A few days after they all went on break, my parents flew in to spend the holiday with us! It was so wonderful having them here after not seeing them for a little over six months (the longest I've ever gone without seeing my parents).

There was plenty of baking, home cooked meals, country ham for breakfast (a family tradition...we order it and have it shipped in), game playing, movie watching, and just being together as a family. We also were able to FaceTime with my in-laws, Aunt Kathy, and Mamaw on Christmas Day which was a treat in and of itself. So thankful for this technology!!!

We also were blessed with the privilege, on the day after Christmas, to drive to North Carolina to go visit my Great Aunt and Great Uncle (I hadn't seen them since I was 10 b/c they stopped traveling shortly after that). We all loaded in the car and made the drive to Belmont to visit with them. My Aunt is simply amazing! She didn't look a day older from the last time I had seen her 23 years ago. She had made us homemade banana pudding, mini pecan pies, egg washed oven roasted pecans, Christmas cookie bars and pound cake. We had a wonderful visit with them. Aunt Peggy gifted me several of her amazing cookbooks from years past, one of them has about 15-20 of my Great Great Aunt Connie's recipes in it. I can't wait to try them. She also gifted me a beautiful hand made ceramic tree that lights up. I would post a picture, except I forgot to take one before she put it in the box and she wrapped it so nicely that I hate to undo it and chance it not being put away properly until next year. So, here is a picture of what it resembles.

My Aunt also gave Madison two of the beautiful porcelain dolls (in the picture above that Alex so wonderfully captured) that my Great Great Aunt Connie had made by hand....they were both very very crafty. Maybe somewhere deep down I have a crafty bone in my body, but I haven't discovered it yet. 

My parents left yesterday to return back to California, so now we are sadly cleaning up our Christmas things, but recalling all of the fond memories made this year that will forever put a smile in our heart.

We are looking forward to the fun 2015 will bring and eagerly awaiting the news of where we will be stationed for the next three years. 

I'm back!!!

Well, a lot has changed since I last posted....sorry! My plan had always been to get back to my blog once things settled back down and well, when you have a 3 and 7 year old, things just never seem to slow down.

Thank you to all of you who have continued to write me messages and send sweet notes encouraging me to start my blog back up again. My goal is to try to post something new at least once a week in 2015, especially because we no longer live near family and it would be a nice way to keep pictures and videos easily accessible to all of those we love and that love us.

That being said, let me try to catch you up in a nutshell.

This past July we drove cross country with our kids, our cat and our cars (Alex and I each drove the whole way) to move to Charlottesville, VA. We moved out here for Alex to attend the The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS) to receive his LLM in Criminal Law. The school is only 10 months long, so we will be moving again this summer, but we still don't know where to. We should know sometime in the new year, but I've heard that we could hear as early as February and as late as May, so right now it's just a waiting game. Alex will graduate Memorial Day weekend.

Madison is loving her new school and teacher. She still often talks about how much she misses San Diego and all of her friends and family, but her new gym and new school have made being out here a lot of fun and takes her mind off of where it appears her heart still is.

Hudson is in preschool two days a week this year and is thriving. He just loves school and his social personality has helped him to adapt quite nicely out here. He has friends pretty much everywhere we go because he just has the ability to strike up conversations with anyone, anytime. He still loves our trips to Trader Joe's. :) This Fall he started soccer and wasn't sure about it at first, but then grew to love it. He is looking forward to being on the same team in the spring. At the end of November, Hudson started gymnastics. He loves it and it's been really good for him, as it is often too cold to take him to the park out here during this time of year, so having a place to expend some of his energy has really come in handy. :)

I have been loving being in a women's bible study out here on Tuesdays while Hudson is in school and then on Thursday (again while he's in school) I volunteer at Madison's school and I just love it. It's great to be back in the classroom whether it's working with groups of kids, planning the next class party, or helping behind the scenes with some of the prep work.

Right now, we are all counting down until my parents get here to help us celebrate Christmas.

Well, I have to run...time to get the kids up for school. I'll write more later! Hope you're all doing well and enjoying this Christmas season!