December 31st

The last day of the year! Last post of the year! We are enjoying the day as a family! We are all off, and still trying to clean up from Christmas.

Tonight we are going to a friends house, let Ava run wild with their daughter, hopefully wear herself out and then will be home before 9. Yes we are an old married couple with 2 small kids, midnight has not been seen in a few years in this household.

I wish for everyone to have a happy New Year. Cannot wait to see what 2012 has in store for us.

3 counties, 2 kids, and a partridge in a pear tree

So Christmas for the past few years has consisted of us in a car for a couple days. We begin our journey on Christmas Eve at my dads then head down to my Mamaws. We have gone down Mamaws on Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. Now I am doing this tradition with my girls. It is crowded, more than 25 of us jam packed in her house. Ava loves my dad so as soon as we mentioned we were leaving for 'grandpas' it was "I ready to Go" with those eyes looking up at me. She spent the evening running around, screaming, and belly laughing. There is nothing like seeing your kids happy and watching them play. I just sat back with Hailey, who spent most of the night with my dad, and watched everyone. At the end of the night, we packed them up, already in their pjs and headed home.

Christmas Eve may be easy for me for a few years, as long as they fall asleep in the car and stay asleep while we move them in the house. We easily got the presents from Santa ready and the stockings filled.

(Sleeping in the carseat...she did this a couple times over the few days of travel)

Ava and Emily opening gifts at Grandpas

Opening her gifts at Mamaws

Christmas Day, we woke up bright and early and opened all the presents.






By 8, I was trying to get everyone ready to go for the day, between the girls and packing the bag it takes a good 45 minutes to get it all ready. Ava always decides to run, giggle, and play while I am trying to get her clothes on, teeth brushed, and hair put up.

We made our way to Aunt Vicki's for breakfast, Kenny and his family have had this tradition for a long time and we continue to go. It is so good to not have to worry about breakfast and to get to sit with family. We always have a good time. Ava had a ball, she helped hand out gifts and played with Blake and Levi. This year was a busy year for this side of the family, we had 3 new babies join the family. Aunt Vicki's living room was FULL.

We have been coming back home after Aunt Vickies and relaxing for a while but this year Kenny wanted to stop at his grandparents. However they werent home. LOL. Sooooooo we went ahead to my moms a little early since we were already in the car. With our 2 its hard to be in and out all day as it is so we decided to give Ava and Hailey a break from their carseats.

At moms, Ava had a ball. She opened all her gifts and played with her doll babies. She played and played. Her Aunt Ash came up and she got to open more and then had Ashley play. Mom has been doing her dinner at 2 since her mom, (my nanny), couldnt anymore.









Once we spent a few hours there, and the girls were absolutely worn out, we decided a car ride would be good for them to nap. Hailey had been fussy most of the last hour. She would fall asleep then 10 minutes later be awake and crying. So in the car we went, headed to Berkeley Springs.

Our final stop and last county. We visited Kenny's dad and his step mother's side of the family. Ava and Hailey both slept through the visit. Ava woke up in time for presents and was not awake enough to enjoy herself. She didnt know where she was and there were a lot of people there she didnt know. So we headed over to his dad's house, and Ava was much more comfortable there and Hailey (after a 3 hour nap) woke up. So the girls got to spend some one on one time with their grandparents.

By 8 oclock we were home, Ava had a bath, Hailey ate yet again, and we were settled. I believe the girls had a wonderful day. Ava kept telling me she had fun. She loved being around all her favorite people. She kept wanting to visit the dogs again. (Nanny and Grandpa both have dogs and she is in love with them).

I will say as much fun as this all is and watching her open gifts and spend time with her grandparents is great, the travelling is quite exhausting and hard on them. Especially with Hailey this year, 2 months old and no real quiet time to nap and trying to have lots of people hold you and wanting to eat. But we survived, we have one more dinner today, and then we are done. Today though we will be in the valley all day, and dont have to leave until after lunch. A day at home playing with toys, cleaning up the mess, and trying to relax before returning to work.

And the Stockings were hung..

So Christmas Eve is here! It was a very busy day with my dad's side of the family. Ava couldnt have had a better time. We are now home, after being gone since about 10 am and both girls are in bed. I probably should be too. Hailey will be up soon for a bottle, but I am so excited for tomorrow morning. This will be Ava's 3rd Christmas but the 1st which is she understands what is going on, well KINDA.

So "A Christmas Story" is on the tv. Kenny and I are relaxing in the living room while each girl is in their own bed (for now anyways). The house is quiet. I am just waiting for tomorrow to see Ava's face.

Santa has been here.


This feeling is great.

A Special Thank You

The schedule of a firefighter is weird. All departments seem to do it differently. Kennys schedule is okay, he is home alot with the girls, but still gone for 24 hours at a time. Their schedule is known years in advance. Last year when we received the 2011 schedule and looked at all the important dates, Kenny was scheduled for EVERY single major holiday. I wasn't pregnant then and fully prepared to try to enjoy all the holidays and make them special for Ava.

Well Kenny ended up asking a co-worker (thats actually a cousin too), that is unmarried and has no children to trade a day with him. Wouldn't it be great to be decide that you wanted a day off and instead of taking the vacation time or sick time to actually be able to trade a day with someone. My job certainly doesnt work this way.

His cousin will never know how special this is for us. This will be Ava's first really exciting, kinda understanding Christmas, and its Hailey's first Christmas with us. This Christmas we will all wake up together, open presents today, and begin the travelling together. I cannot wait. I think Ava is going to have a blast.

I think it is amazing how selfless someone can be to ensure the happiness of others. He may not see it, he may not even get it, but I will always remember this. My husband will be here for his daughters and able to enjoy Ava's excitement of Santa visiting.

I will never be able to repay this person back or even express how much it means to us. Its just what they do and they dont see it as a big deal. Many other firefighters have done this many years and until this year we got lucky, Kenny hadnt worked. To be able to be off and with your family for the holidays is a special time and the kids may not remember but I will. One day I can tell them that the reason their daddy is in the pictures is because someone else gave up his time on Christmas for us.

Thank you!!

O' Christmas Tree

Ever decorate a tree with a 2 year old and a newborn? FUN isn't it?!?!

I have spent 2 weeks decorating my tree. Not all in part to my kids but kinda. First I ordered new ornaments from Kohls and they had to ship to me. So Ava and I began decorating the tree with the ornaments we had. That took 2 nights because we would begin, then dinner had to be made and Hailey would need attention and feeding and a little mommy time too.

So then my ornaments from Kohls came in and they needed hooks to be put on them, while Ava is yelling she wants to help. So I let Ava help, and instead of decorating the tree, she begins playing a game of bowling with the ornaments. Glitter EVERYWHERE!!!

So oh well, this year took 3 times as long for us to get the tree decorated. But it looks great and Ava helped. I hope she keeps helping and enjoys decorating the tree with me. She loved looking at all the ornaments and taking them off then putting them on.

Merry Flipping Christmas

As usual I have been in the Christmas spirit since the beginning of December, and this year Ava is 2 years old, a great age for this wonderful holiday. Hailey is 2 months old, trying to hold her head up, and more aware of the world around her, who couldn't be happy.

Well, the holiday spirit left me for about 2 days this past weekend, when our sitter dropped a bombshell. She was giving notice. After 2 years of watching my precious little girl, she has decided to do something different. Hailey has just become part of the group.Ava has been with the same 2 little kids her tiny little existence on this planet. She has come to love them very much and is really comfortable with them. In a 2 year olds world, there are a few things that matter and I think consistency is one of them. We do the same routine just about every day of the week; we wake up about the same time, do the same things, and then leave at the same time. Ava knows she only gets to watch so much of her cartoons, although some mornings she is a little hard headed about leaving on time.

So Friday, I drop of the girls, business as usual, and she hits me with 'An offer she couldn't refuse'. So our world is rocked, we weren't prepared for this at all. Do you know how freaking hard it is to find private care at a reasonable rate with people you trust?? There is no option for me to stay at home, so I need to have someone that I can trust with my kids for 9 hours a day.So while part of me is saying 'Yay for her, the opportunity must have been great one and I really want her to succeed', the other part is aching for my 2 year old who loves going to daycare and loves the people she is around all day. How do you explain to a child, you won't be going there anymore?? How to make her understand that this is no longer a place that will be steady in your life? 'You don't', is what my husband texted me back when I asked him these questions as I balled my eyes out at work.

As shocking as this change is, I do have to say I was suspicious. Why do you ask? Because months ago, she had to make arrangements for Ava to be picked up early because an appointment suddenly came up. I have been in the working field for over 10 years and am working at my 8th job. I have used the 'an appointment came up' several times to interview somewhere else. It's like the number one excuse to use to get out of work and try to do something else. We have all used it at one time or another. But I haven't heard that excuse for months now so I thought it was all behind us. WRONG!!!

So now my husband and I are working with our family and the other kid's parents to find a great private sitter, and trying to keep the kids together. I don't know if it's going to work or not. So a week before Christmas I am trying to take care of something bigger than the holiday and just really not in the mood for it all. I want my kids to have a second home with someone they love to spend time with. Ava will probably be fine, Hailey of course has no clue right now. I am hoping to find somewhere with kids around her age, especially if the kids she is with now must go to other places and they cannot stick together. I am told this will be harder all around on me than it will be on her. I pray everyone is right about this and Ava just rolls with the change and thrives with it.

Clearbrook Park

A park near us decorated with thousands of lights, and made a little Winter Wonderland for people to walk through. It was beautiful and I really enjoyed it. We dropped Hailey off at my moms, I wasnt even trying to have her out in the cold, and then made our way to the park. Ava had a lot of run on the interstate yelling "Big Truck" everytime we passed a tractor trailer. We got there a little before they opened and waited.


They had a walking path to follow and along the way they had little decorations, music, and Santa.

Running through the park

All Smiles!!!

All Bundled up