Happy New Year 2012 and Good Bye 2011

It seems like 2011 is a year most people are happy to see it end, but for my family it was a good year. Nothing extremely terrible happened and we had some good moments.

Our year in review, with the good and bad.

In February, we took a family vacation to Disney World. It was a wonderful week of no crowds and little stress. Taking a vacation anytime during the year is one advantage to homeschooling. Jeff is not happy in his job and received a better job offer.

In March, my husband left a stressful job that required an extreme amount of travel, for a job with less stress, less travel, more pay and more benefits. He is happier and that makes his wife and kids happier. Emelie started Gymnastics lessons.

In May, my niece Lindsay graduated from high school and received an Army ROTC scholarship to Bowling Green State University.

In June, our homeschool year come to an end and I turned 40 years old. I celebrated my birthday with my best friend of 25 years Tina and her son Mikie with a trip to Virginia Beach and hiking in the Shenandoah National Park. I also hurt my Achilles tendon, which I'm still nursing and has limited my running.

In July, Jeff and I celebrated 16 years of marriage and to celebrate we bought a two year barrel owner membership to our favorite winery Barrel Oak Winery in Delaplane, Virginia.

In August, the girls and I spent quality time together and prepared them for private school. Susie started Irish dance lessons through a competitive school.

In September, Emelie turned 11 years old and declared herself a preteen. We celebrated at the American Girl Bistro. The girls started school at a nice christian school. It was very stressful for me to send them to school and not have the control of their education. I'm still currently worried about their education, because at times I feel that I provided a better curriculum through homeschooling.

In October, Susie turns 9 years old and we celebrated her birthday at the American Girl Bistro. Both girls ran in a school fundraiser Race for Education and out ran the kids in their grade levels. Emelie ran 5 1/2 miles and Susie ran 4 1/2 miles.

In December, Jeff received very positive feed back on his job performance.

What are our plans for 2012? I plan to get back to trail running. Hopefully start a career of my own. Jeff will receive his undergraduate degree. Susie will compete in her first Irish Feis. Emelie will join either the volleyball or cross-country team at school. We don't have any big plans for 2012, we mainly just live life. Hopefully 2012 is a good year like 2011.

Visit to North Carolina.

The girls and I went to North Carolina to see my husband this past weekend. The girls loved going on a trip to visit daddy and we all needed to get away from Virginia for the weekend. It was nice just hanging out with Jeff and relaxing a little. We showed the girls around Fayetteville and took them to the 82nd Airborne Museum. They seemed really interested in the Airplanes and they both learned a little more about Mom and Dad and how we met over the weekend. They swam with daddy and Emelie is getting really good at treading water. I just work on my tan, I'm not a big water person.

Going to Fayetteville made me appreciate all I have here in Virginia. It was very loud and crowded in Fayetteville and on the military post. It was nice to see Jeff and get away, but it was also nice coming back to our peaceful home. Molly was glad to see us too. This was the first time she was kenneled and she didn't do well. She ate very little, and refused to leave her kennel. She also growled and snapped at the staff, so she gave everyone a tough time. She has spent a good part of the day sleeping so she may of been to upset to sleep. I feel like a bad dog mom. Hopefully we'll visit Jeff on more trips in the future. We all had a really nice time and we are lucky to have such a good man in our lives. Jeff is an awesome husband and dad.




Jeff and I with a C130, We met when I was at Airborne School in Georgia.