Orlando!

We are loving Matt's new job. One thing we don't love so much about it though is his training schedule. For the first six months he is gone two weeks out of every month for training. Usually the training is in Milwaukee, but in September it was in Orlando. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to go when we found reasonable prices for airline tickets and tickets to Disneyworld! We had such a great time. We stayed the first week in a Residence Inn Hotel. I'm hooked. I loved that hotel. I think it has now made me a hotel snob. We then stayed at a Doubletree resort for the last week. We got to meet Matt's cohort of trainees and they were all so nice. The girls even came over to do Chelsea's hair and makeup when we went to Disneyworld to see the princesses! The girls and I relaxed and went swimming while Daddy was at work then we would hang out together at night and on the weekends go see Disney. We had such a great time.

Lucy was NOT a fan of meeting the princesses. She was a little shy. But she loved the carousel!

Chelsea with Matt's coworkers who helped her look like a beautiful Belle

Lucy Turns One!

I can't believe it's been one year.

To celebrate our little lady's first birthday we had a small birthday party with our family and our friends Tammy and Hugh. It was a great way to celebrate such a special person.

One year ago this precious little girl came into our home. We were smack dab in the middle of dealing with a job loss and a move. It was one of the most trying times of our lives and little Lucy came to fill our home and our lives with joy and a good healthy dose of perspective. From the moment I met her I knew she was special. I knew she had a gift for loving people and helping them to feel all the happiness this life can bring. As she has grown I have seen that in action. She is quiet and observant, sweet and kind, and I feel so blessed that she calls me mom.

Happy birthday Miss Lucy.

Big sister loves helping Lucy open her presents

Lucy loved her giant cupcake. Well, I guess I should say she loved the icing. She wasn't so sure about it at first but once she got her first taste of icing she was all over it. She ate quite a bit of icing, then decided she was done. No cake for her, thanks.

And then...

We moved in April to our new place. In June we had A LOT of company. Needless to say we had been quite busy. May came around and we were just settling into a routine when I found out I was (very surprisingly) pregnant. We were quite surprised and, honestly, quite overwhelmed at first. Fortunately this pregnancy has been extremely low key compared to the girls. I have felt very good for the most part. No nausea or sickness really. I've felt really tired, but I think with two little ones to run after I would have felt that way anyway. We went in for our Ultrasound expecting to hear that we were having another girl (probably more than anything because we didn't know any different than having girls!) but were surprised to hear that we are expecting a little boy! He is due around Valentine's day and we are so excited. The girls are especially excited. Chelsea's ready to be a big helper and Lucy loves to rub my growing belly. So far we are calling him baby potato chip. We have a short list of names but I don't know if we will know for sure what his name is until he comes.

Everyone is here!

It all started when my brother Allen called to tell me that he would be in New York for a weekend. That weekend just so happened to be Chelsea's birthday (yes, in June, over half a year ago). My dad just so happened to be coming to DC that weekend for business. My mom decided to tag along with him, Allen came down from NY, my brother Michael and his wife Dani and two darling girls Lily and Cali came down from Boston, Allen's wife Candace was able to fly in from Utah, my sister Devee came from Utah, my brother Aaron, his wife Yuka, and their little girl Sukai came from South Carolina, and my Uncle Ron, Aunt Effa, and cousins came from Connecticut. Needless to say we had QUITE the party. We saw some sites and celebrated my little girl's three year old birthday. I can't believe she's already three years old! She is so smart and witty and is also so caring. I learn so much from her and I'm so grateful she is mine to raise and to love.

The picture above is my fav from the trip. Lily and Chelsea holding hands and walking up to the capitol building. I love it!

And this is my birthday girl. The cake is thanks to my very talented sister in law Dani who helped me learn how to make marshmallow fondant. It turned out so cute! The theme of Chelsea's party was Olivia the pig from the books. She loves Olivia right now.

Happy birthday to my girl!

Yes, I Do Blog

Surprising isn't it? It's been quite a while since I posted. I chalk it up to being very busy, feeling very uncreative, and facebook. It seems so much easier to post a status update there than to post a blog post here. In addition our computer and our external hard drive crashed, of course at just about the same time, and I am still in the process of transferring all of our pictures over to our new computer. Luckily we were able to save a lot of my pics since those two places were the last places they were.

We have also found a new blogging medium to use. I've been pretty frustrated with blogger, especially with uploading pictures. I've heard windows live writer is great, but since we are a mac family it's not so easy to set up on a mac. We've found wordpress and are pretty excited to start our new blog over there. Before we start blogging there we want to finish up to October on this blog (just for record keeping purposes). October is when Matt and I celebrated our five year anniversary and thought since I started blogging not long after we got married it would be great to switch over after five years.

So that's that. I'm hoping to finish up these catch up blogs quick. If anyone still reads this, please enjoy. :)

Summer!

One of the benefits of our new condo is the community swimming pool. It's awesome. There's a big pool with a diving board and a "shore" - a sloping entry into the pool for the little kiddos. Then there's also a lap pool and a kiddie wading pool. We went to get new swimsuits for the girls. The princess suit was not my favorite but Chelsea was in love from the moment she spotted it. We took it home and she wore it for three days straight, even though the pool wasn't even open yet. She always begged to wear it if we were in the house. She was so excited for the pool. It opened Memorial Day weekend and we were one of the first in line. Even though it is a community pool it is never very busy which is so nice. We went quite often this summer. We loved it! Especially on the really warm heat advisory days in DC. I have never lived in a place where they recommended not going outside because it was too hot. That was an adjustment for me. I'm used to living in Seattle where if the sun is out you better go outside because you don't know if you will see it again. All in all it has been a great summer and we've enjoyed getting to know Washington DC and Virginia where we live.

Happy Easter!

Lucy's first Easter and our first Easter in Virginia. Aren't my girls darling? Easter is such a time of hope. Celebrating the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ right as the season changes from cold to warm helps us remember there is always light, always hope, no matter what comes our way. I have such an appreciation for that concept this year. Darling ruffly new dresses just adds to it. Happy (way belated) Easter everyone!