Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Life is constantly changing, for everyone I know, but it seems that things change in hyper-speed in our house. I don't want, or even need, to talk about everything going on, but I need to be sure to remember to be thankful for everything. The holiday season is a great reminder to every one of us to be thankful for all that we have, but we need to remember to do this year round. That can be hard to do because life's stresses get in the way, but I need to make it a goal of mine to remember daily what I am thankful for.

At this moment, on this day, I am thankful for:
1. A loving husband, who I adore.
2. A sweet, excitable, fun loving daughter.
3. A healthy pregnancy with baby boy arriving in February.
4. My health (a big one this year after being diagnosed with stage 1A melanoma).
5. We are employed.
6. A beautiful home to share with my family.
7. Supportive & loving parents.
8. Awesome friends who I can call on at a moments notice.
9. Food on our table and clothes in our closets.

On a lighter note - I have been in deep thought about this blog for a while. In fact, I have had a draft sitting here for a month that I keep changing as I go through this process. What do I want it to be? Does it have to really be anything at all? There are so many wonderful bloggers out there who have become 'experts' in different arenas and I don't think that is me (at least not yet). I don't even know what I want to blog about, be it my family, our home, general life, etc. It might be a little Seinfeld, but this is a blog about nothing, yet it is about everything. Does that make sense???? Bear with me as I work toward finding who I am through my keyboard!

My sweet girl and me

Love my family

She's a ham!

Talk About a Hiatus

Apparently the blog took a back seat to life. Let's be honest, a lot of things took a back seat to life in recent months. It is time to get back on the horse and try to make something of this, even if it is just for me. Life shouldn't be an excuse. Let me briefly fill you in on where we are.

Gabby turned 2 in October. How this happened, I have no idea, but apparently part of having a baby is watching them grow. I can honestly say she is 2 going on 20 and as my brother put it, "she will be a great CEO one day." Agreed. A few one-liners:

• "No sir!"
• "Mommy no talk to Gabby like that"
• "Drive fast, insert driver here"
• "No Sam, I said no!"

You get the picture. She is quite bossy and definitely repeats everything we say. Some days I am so flabbergasted when she says something to me that I say to her and then I have no idea how to respond. Enter speechless mommy. I guess it is all part of the learning curve.

Gabby adores school. It is such a blessing and she is thriving. She talks about her friends all the time. I am so thankful that she is able to go and enjoy herself.

The big thing for 2012 is that she is going to have to start going to daycare. My parents have moved to PA, leaving us with big changes. I haven't found the perfect one yet, but am hoping that something/someone great pops up soon. We could use a bit of good these days! 

2011 brought the sale of our first home together. We are beyond thankful that our home sold. Over the summer we lived with my parents while we built our new home. In September we moved into the new house and LOVE it! We are in a great neighborhood out in the county and have a 1 acre lot, so lots of space to play. There are a lot of little ones in our section, with the oldest being 3.5 yrs old and we have already begun having playdates with the neighbors.

I think that covers the major events for the past year and quite honestly it was one of the fastest years I can remember. I look forward to 2012 and all that it will bring! Now on to work on one of the goals of 2012...revamping and keeping up with this blog!

School

Today Gabby and I went to register her for Mother's Day Out for the fall. While speaking with the director she asked if we would be interested in sending her for the rest of this year as the 1 year old classroom had 2 open spaces. As we are discussing this, Brian calls. He was getting ready to get on a plane, but he called. I took it as the first sign that this might be the right thing. Brian and I talked it through and Gabby will start school Monday. As in 5 days from now Monday. ACK!!!! I don't know if I am ready for this, but I am pretty darn sure she is. We visited the classroom this morning and she went right to the teacher and played for a few minutes. Pretty sure I'm going to drop her off on Monday and she won't notice the fact that I left. Makes a momma sad!

Please say a quick prayer for us and the poor teacher who will spend 10 hours a week with my super-active, won't sit still, and sometimes is a bully, sweet girl. She will need all the prayers she can get! Oh, and while you are at it maybe you could also say a quick one for her momma who is sad that her baby is old enough to go to MDO!

Playtime

Gabby has been fortunate to have had a lot of playtime lately with her friend Hudson. They are 3 months apart, but still have a lot of fun together! They are even getting good at sharing with one another!

Sledding!!!

Gabby wasn't so sure about sledding down a hill, but she sure did enjoy sledding around the yard!

Christmas & Chicago

We had a white Christmas! And what a wonderful Christmas it was! Santa was so good to Gabby and she is one very lucky girl. We woke up and had Christmas at our house, got ready and went over to my parents for Christmas, round 2!

After we spent Christmas day at home, we loaded the car and headed to Chicago. We left Christmas night and drove to Indy, spent the night, and made it the rest of the way the following day. It snowed from home to half

way through KY. Not fun. But we made it and we probably owe Elmo and Mickey a big thank you for entertaining Gabby!

We enjoyed spending a week in Chicago having Christmas round 3. We took Gabby sledding for the first time and Brian and I went to WI to try our hand at snowboarding. Brian is an avid skier. Me, not so much, so snowboarding wasn't a big change for me. We had a great time and were VERY sore the next day!

Like all trips, it was great to be there, but also wonderful to come home!! Happy New Year everyone!

Santa is my Friend?

Santa was visiting Chick-fil-a for breakfast last weekend, so our playgroup met there. This was Gabby's second time to be near Santa and neither time was very successful. Santa was wonderful; he said hello when we arrived, tried to play peek-a-boo with Gabby and then left her alone when she wasn't showing signs of interest (in reality she was choking Mommy with her death grip). Every once in a while, Santa would walk by and say hello to the kids. She would pout and fuss. Eventually I had to have her sit in his lap so I could get a picture. It is about as pitiful as they get, and Santa felt really guilty! Hopefully next year, we will have more luck!

Busy Day

Today was a busy day! Gabby had playgroup in the morning. We went to see Santa (that didn't go well AT ALL) and then the girls came over to play. We also did a quick craft; handprint ornaments. They are adorable!

After a short nap, Gabby's friend Anna came over to play for a little while. They had a great time playing in the ball pit and making a mess of all the toys! It was a full day of fun and Gabby crashed tonight!

Christmas Outakes

 We decorate the Christmas tree and like usual, Gabby was in the thick of things! She was a HUGE help putting the ornaments on the tree. Unfortunately, we had to start the ornaments about 3 feet off the ground so she wouldn't be able to reach!

A few nights later we tried to take a picture for our Christmas card. What a nightmare that was. Trying to get a 14 mo. old to sit still and look at the camera at the same time is like asking for the Pope to visit our home! Here are a few of our many outtakes! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house because (1) I had never used my china. And (2) we have never had a meal in our dining room, so I figured it was time to finally do both of those things! Thankfully our Thanksgivings are small affairs, with my parents, brother, Brian, Gabby and me. It was my second time to prepare a turkey, and really, I have found that as long as you are watching the clock, the turkey is the easy part. It is much more difficult to work on having the sides ready at a time close to the turkey.

I think my favorite part of Thanksgiving are the traditions. Ours aren't anything fancy, but my brother and I always watch the parade and football (of course!) and we eat from breakfast through the turkey dinner. And honestly, we could probably do without the turkey dinner because breakfast and snacks are plenty!

This year, just like every year, we have a lot to be thankful for.
1. Everyone is healthy and happy.

2. Gabby is thriving and becoming more crazy than ever!

3. Brian is a loving husband and father.

4. We have very supportive families.

5. Our warm home.

6. We are employed.

7. Wonderful friends.

8. Even though he hasn't been as included as he used to be, Sam is the most loyal friend a family could ask for.

9. Our freedom and safety.

10. The day after Thanksgiving bargains that you can get just as easily at 10:00am as you can at 4:00am.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

1st Birthday Party

What a day it was! Gabby's birthday turned into a weekend long celebration! She is one very loved little girl by friends and family. We were fortunate to have Uncle Steve, Aunt Tracy, Grandma Mary, my Aunt Carol, and my Grandma Charlotte fly in for the party. The party was a lot of planning and a huge success with lots of friends to help celebrate.

The best part of the day was the cake. Oh boy did Gabby love it! Some little ones gracefully eat the cake; not Gabby. She dug her hands in and shoved it in her mouth! She was quite drunk off of sugar when she was finished!

We had a house full of people and we set up cornhole and other games outside to play. The weather couldn't have been better! Also, Brian's newest project, the kegerator, was up and running in time. Needless to say, that is where we found all the dads hanging out!!! Thanks to everyone who came and helped make it a very special day!

1 year pics

Here are a few of Gabby's one year pictures. She was a little under the weather and uncooperative, but you would never know it from the pictures! They were taken by the lovely and talented Sara Rose of Sara Rose Photography!

Fall!

 Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch with our friends Jimmy, Erin and their son Hudson. We had a blast! There were farm animals that you could pet and feed, swings, slides and other activities, and of course pumpkins galore!

She almost squeezed the baby chick to death...ooops!

And this is how our day ended!!!