2013 Review

January:

We started off the year excited about the newest member of our family--who we then thought would be a bouncing baby boy. We were also elated to find out that Chris had landed a job where he would be working from home.

February:

Britta girl celebrated her  second birthday with a Dumbo themed party. I had  mini breakdown realizing that my baby was truly no longer a baby.

March:

We spent the first ten days of March in glorious Hawaii. We basked in the sun, slept in, saw giant turtles, went to the zoo, and generally fell in love with the place.

April:

We found out that Baby Boy was really Baby Girl. We could not have been more excited.

May: 

At long last, Chris ended his career on the road and moved in to the sunroom off the kitchen as a makeshift office. The talk about buying a house began.

June:

We went to San Diego with my family and enjoyed the sun, beach, fair, Padres, and catching up with family.

July: 

Chris' brother and sister in law came to town to celebrate the 4th and we got ready for baby girl to come. I was seriously hoping she would come early.

August:

Elodie Mae was easily the star of the month. She did come five days early on the 21st, and has been an absolute joy in our lives since.

September:

I took both girls to visit my family in Utah to help them get ready for their move to Washington. When we got home, the home search began in earnest.

October:

We put an offer in on our first house. Chris turned 29 and we enjoyed a fun Halloween season alongside the stress of buying a home and potty training. My parents moved in with us while they waited for their house to be built in Southern Washington. We have loved having them here to help!

November:

Moving month. We closed on our house the week before Thanksgiving and moved in that night. I went back to work. *sigh*

December:

Christmas! I turned 27, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary and enjoyed having lots of family and friends visit.

2013 was a year full of blessings. We feel so grateful for our growing family, Chris' new job, and our new phase of life as homeowners Here's to a wonderful 2014 as well!

All things Christmas

This Christmas season was the most magical of my life because of the pure and simple joy it brought to Britta. She was old enough this year to appreciate the lights, the smells, and the sounds of Christmas and every experience was as exciting as the next. She experienced her first real snowfall, her first Christmas pageant where she was the sweetest angel in an over-sized sheet I have ever seen. Not that I'm biased or anything. She surprised us by memorizing multiple Christmas carols and singing them at the top of her lungs all.day.long. But really, it was adorable. She would come down every morning and turn the Christmas tree lights on before doing anything else. She embraced Rudolph, Frosty and the Grinch, but told me "I not like Santa...but I still want toys." On Christmas Eve as we got ready to leave cookies for Santa, she said "Mom, I don't want to sit on his lap" with tears in her eyes. We then had to reassure her that he was going to come while she was sleeping and there would not be any more lap-sitting required this year. (Are there any kids born with a natural love for Santa? ) I think she even understood by the end of the season, the reason we celebrate Christmas. I do think she got a little confused about the Nativity concept when Chris, Elodie and I posed as Joseph, Jesus, and Mary for our ward nativity. Later when we asked her what Jesus' mother's name was, she replied "Erika." We'll get it next year.

I may be even more of a Christmas fanatic than I have been ever before. I can't wait to see both of my girls enjoy the magic next year and in years to come.

27

Twenty-seven was a transition year for me. I can't point to any other specific birthdays in my life where I felt a definite change, but I woke up on my twenty-seventh birthday this year, had the thought "wow, I have two kids and a mortgage" and suddenly I felt old. It's pretty hard to stay down when you've got two beautiful girls and a father-in-law who will get you a Snuggie for your birthday though.