2010

I think that 2010 was the best year of my life.

First of all, I think that 2010 was the happiest of my married life. Not that other years weren't good ones, but it seems that John and I have truly found our stride. In February, we had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Not because of anything great, but the mood and the gifts were perfect. We sat on the couch after the kids were in bed and ate chocolates. We usually don't celebrate Valentine's Day so maybe that is why it was special. We also celebrated our 10th anniversary in October.

In April, we finally got the crazy, long ordeal with our Evansville house behind us. It felt like a ton of bricks had lifted off of us. And with closure on that, we were able to start renovating this house. We said from day one that we would fix this house up, and it gives me so much pleasure to finally make this house our home.

In May, my baby graduated preschool! Mary also learned to ski this year. We finally ended our long, long, long nursing relationship of 4 years, 3 months, and 30 days. I never thought we'd last that long. I truly feel like I did what was best for her in letting her nurse for so long. And then, after a great summer, Mary started school. She's grown up so much after only one semester. She can read and write. I am so proud of her, even if we do butt heads most of the time.

In August, I had probably the happiest birthday I've had in many, many years. I was able to see my entire family in one weekend. The girls and I stayed out at Grandma Mary's farm one night, and then spend Saturday night at my Mom's. I got to see my entire family that weekend - Grandma Mary, Dad, Mom, Papaw Clyde and my brother Matthew. Papaw Clyde had received that Hoosier Homestead award and hosted about 150 people at his farm. His/our family has owned the farm for 100 years. It was a busy weekend, tiring, hot, but wonderful. I had my family and my girls. I fell asleep that Saturday night thinking about how blessed I was to have so many people who love me.

This fall Ellie finally found her voice.....and hasn't stopped talking since. She lives up to her nickname of Firecracker day in and day out. She's trouble. She has a light in her eyes that I hope is always there. She now has her own room with her big girl bed. She isn't a baby anymore. She's two going on seven. She begs every day to go to school with Mary. She loves Mary, but tries to beat Mary up at least 319 times a day. She is absolutely exhausting, but she's such a joy.

This fall I was also able to heal some very old, very deep wounds in the relationship with my Dad. I am grateful for a second chance with him. The girls absolutely love him too. I am glad they will be able to have a good relationship with him in the years going forward.

This year has opened my eyes to how truly blessed I am. I'm able to stay home with my kids. I have a wonderful husband who loves me. I have a family and friends that support me. I have everything I need. A home in the country to raise our girls. Good health. Peace in my heart. Life is so very good.

And I truly believe the best is yet to come.

Three years ago today

Three years ago today, we signed the paperwork to buy this house. I showed John the above picture a minute ago, and he said it didn't even register in his mind at first that it was a picture of Mary.


About a week later, we were back to stay. Mary and I drove up by ourselves while John stayed behind to finish up with the movers.

And now Mary's done with preschool! She'll be starting pre-k in 2.5 months.


This picture was the last day of school. They were both looking at themselves in the window. Silly girls. I love this picture. They both look so pleased at what they see.

I cannot put into words the emotions of the last three years. I can't even wrap my mind around it. Tears come to my eyes. Moving, the house in Evansville still being for sale when we moved and the mess that ended up being, trying for months to get pregnant with Ellie, having a crappy pregnancy with so much back pain that I couldn't move most of the time, then having a newborn, good times and bad times in our marriage, crazy, crazy stuff. But now, the Evansville thing is behind us, Ellie's growing into a little kid who is so much fun, and Mary's matured so much recently that I hardly recognize her as my Mary. Being four is a very good age for her. The girls can play together sometimes, and John and I get to have actual conversations! We went on a trip over the weekend, and it couldn't have gone better. We actually like taking road trips with the kids. It seems like just yesterday that I was taking the five hour drive from Evansville to Richmond with just Mary. It was miserable. She hated the car. I'd never driven that far before with just her. We had to stop a million times I am sure. I don't even remember.

I am so happy right now. I am so super in love with John and the girls. I love living here on this beautiful piece of property. We are raising our kids in the exact environment we wanted for them. Mary's going to be attending a wonderful school in the fall. I know that things won't always be this perfect, but I am trying to enjoy every minute of it while it lasts.

Mini Vacation

We are home from our Chicago trip. It went so well. I wanted to write this long blog post about every little detail, but I'm just too worn out. Thursday we drove up there, Friday we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo and then a get together for out of town guests who would be attending John's brother's wedding. Saturday we got up, went to the playground for a couple hours, then out to lunch with a bunch of people. Saturday night was the wedding. We stayed until some crazy hour....10:30pm Central I think.....so 11:30pm Eastern....so 4 hours after bedtime. Mary wanted to stay and DANCE!!! so we let her of course. Sunday we drove home. Mary, Miss I DON'T NAP, took two naps in the car.

As crazy as it was, we had fun. It was a great family trip. It made me look forward to family trips yet to come. The girls did so well. They put up with the long hours, the long, boring meals where grown ups sat an visited, and the long, long car drive home. They were troopers. I am proud of them.

And now....pictures!

Lincoln Park Zoo. It was so beautiful. There were many, many mass plantings of tulips and daffodils. The trees were blooming. And in the background, we could see the city skyline.


The girls taking a break. We decided not to take the stroller to Chicago this year. It worked out fine. Ellie hates being confined anyway. They walked or we carried them. Other people at the zoo probably felt sorry for us. One lady actually saw us switch kids....I had to quit carrying Mary. She's just too big. The lady asked "When is someone going to carry you?"


My sweet princesses! That's right, I'm dressing them the same until they are too big to stop me. They even had matching shoes.


My hottie and me! John looked so handsome. It had been almost 6 years since John had worn a suit.


The girls and their cousin Sophia killing time before the reception.


I love this picture.


When in doubt, give the kids a glass of ice. Free entertainment!


Dance, Mary, Dance! She told me yesterday that she wanted to go back to the wedding and dance more. She also told me that at her wedding, it's going to be all dancing! No ceremony, no dinner. Just dancing! I can hardly wait.

What a great trip. What wonderful memories we made. I have a wonderful family. I am so very blessed.

Us.

Here we are on Easter. We'd been at church for a good hour and a half. The girls were hungry and tired. I still think the picture came out really well. (and could John be any better looking?) Hmm, I just realized that not only did I dress the girls in matching outfits, but John and I match too. That was not on purpose!

I'm making progress on my dresser. I got the final coat of paint on it tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to start glazing it Wednesday night. I am not sure how many coats of glaze it will take or how many evenings that will take. I'll be practicing on the three drawers that won't be going back in. After I'm done glazing, I'll have to wait a week to use some poly on it. That will take 2 or 3 coats, with 24 hours between coats. Of course we don't even have the new TV yet or a plan to get rid of the old one. But I'm still plugging away. Hoping to have some new pictures soon.

My big (little) girl!

I took Ellie to have her weighed on Monday. She's up to 10 pounds 7oz! So she's gained almost 2.5 pounds since she was born. She just started smiling over the weekend. She's such a little sweetie.

I need to craft! I feel strange when I don't craft. I need to make some time to work on a hat for Ellie and then I MUST, MUST get started on Christmas gifts. I already have a couple done, but I really need to get going on the rest of them. I made a cute hat for Mary last week. It was fun. Ellie is getting the same style. I started it, but haven't had time to really work on it. This week has been pretty busy with other things.

We took our first road trip with two kids! I thought it went really well. It was Mary's first long (well, over an hour) car trip in undies and she did fine. Ellie did pretty well in the car. We stopped once each way to feed her quickly. The trip was just a day trip to Indy to have lunch with my family. It was Mom's birthday and we met her at my Uncle's house. Mary had so much fun with the other kids there.

Alright, Ellie says this blog post is over!

Pictures!

Wednesday morning at the hospital. We had so many people in the room that morning. My Dad came by with my Grandma Mary, Mom was there, John and Mary of course, and John's Mom Beth with her husband Jim. John's Dad had already stopped by while making his morning rounds, and Cheri stopped by for a few minutes before lunch.

Wednesday night, John and Mary came back for some family time.
We've been super (overly) busy since we came home. We had to go back to the hospital Friday for blood work on Eleanor (since she got discharged from the hospital before she was 48 hours old). On Saturday Eleanor and I went to the local yarn shop for some hat yarn and then we went to the bank. Saturday afternoon John's sister Anna and family came over. Mary and her cousins wanted to go swimming, so Eleanor and I just chilled next to the pool and watched them swim.


Once we got there, Mary discovered that Cheri was putting water in the pool from the hose. Well, the water was FREEZING, but she played in it the entire time. She must have drank a gallon of it too. She did share a bit with Peyton the dog.


I'll be so glad when tomorrow comes, and John goes back to work (even though he's helped me so much the last 5 days), all the visiting is over, and I can get back into our routine.