Our wonderful holiday

Happy New Year everyone! We had a wonderful holiday season. I'll do my best to fill you all in. It started with Anya's "Holiday Recital". Her class did wonderful. I was so afraid that she would be the child that was crying and didn't want to go up on stage or leave Mom. But of course she surprised me. She was so big!! And patient. They wanted the girls there 2 hours before the show started. It was ridiculous! To expect 3 year olds to quietly and patiently wait in their chairs in complete costume. But she was sooo big. And then when it was her class's turn she got in line and marched right up to the stage and did her dance with a big smile on her face. She's already asking when her next big show is going to be. I fear we may have created a monster. A very cute monster, but a monster none the less. Here's a picture of the monster just before the recital started.

I'm so glad we put here in dance class. It has really been a great experience for her. She's grown so much and gained a lot of self-confidence from it.

Then a couple days later we greeted Grandma and Grandpa Hill and Aunt Kiki to our house for a Christmas visit. It was wonderful to have them here. The girls have been looking forward to this visit for months and it was finally here. We had a great time with them doing lots of stuff. We spent plenty of time just being at home and playing with the girls. Anya loved jumping on Aunt Kiki.
Of course Aunt Kiki loved it too, no matter how much she might have complained at the time. Kyrie even welcomed them with open and loving arms. Here she is sharing with Grandma. She loves to share everything. She is very big on sharing. :) We were a bit worried before they arrived that she would not be as friendly as Grandma and Grandpa would like. She tends to be very cold to people she doesn't spend a lot of time with. So we were all very pleased and surprised when they walked through the door and she ran to Papa and gave him hugs and kisses. (The girls call my Dad "Papa".) Papa was Kyrie's favorite. Which he just loved to rub in Grandma's face. :) He loved the fact that he is at least one of his three granddaughter's favorite.



We had a wonderful Christmas with plenty of wonderful gifts from family near and far. The girls both loved their little kid's learning computers that they got from Grandpa Bromley. They both got dollies from Grandma Ledbetter. Grandma and Papa Hill got them an art easel, which is much used already! But of course the most fun they had that week was playing in the box that Grandpa Bromley's gifts came in.
Parents everywhere will agree that a large empty box is a wonderful toy. We gave them colored pencils and Anya and Ky drew pictures and told stories. It was adorable, and Anay told quite amazing stories I might add. Anya definitely has a creative imagination.

While the family was here we also took them to see the touristy stuff. David and I left the girls with friends one day and took Mom, Dad, and Kiki to D.C.. We went the the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. David has wanted to go since we got here and it was on Dad's list, so us girls tagged along. :) It was nice.
We also went to the National Botanical Garden. It was really pretty to see. It was just a quick visit but the trees and flowers are beautiful and I'm sure their outdoor gardens will be beautiful come spring. We also went to an outdoor Christmas Market. They had different vendors, live music, and food. It was fun. It reminded my parents of their time in Brussels. I even found a couple scarves like the ones I fell in love with in Brussels.

Then one night we decided to take a bus tour of the monuments at night. It was quite fun. The monuments are beautifully lit at night. And it's also nice to be able to enjoy them with minimal people around. During the day you're fighting with all the other tourist, so at night there very, very few. It was a very nice way to see them all. Here are a few pictures that I took. I didn't have a ton of pictures turn out. I'm still learning how to adjust my flash for night photography. :) I'm a slow learner.


We also took one day to take the family with the girls to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. The girls love going there. They can spend all day wandering around and looking. It constantly amazes me what Anya remembers from these visits. We'll go back and she'll spout off some obscure fact that David or I told her the last time we were there. It's amazing how fast they learn!


Kyrie was so cute while we were there. Her favorite show these days is Wonder Pets. I don't know if anyone if familar with it or not. Basically there are three classroom pets; a duck, a turtle, and a hamster, who go on rescue missions to save different animals after the school children have gone home. Well, Kyrie's favorite episode is about a baby panda bear. He gets stuck in a tree and they have to help him down. The baby panda bear makes a squeaky, "EEEE" sound to cry for help. (This sound has become her favorite way to say she needs help.) So anyway, in the Mammal hall they have stuffed displays of all the animals. They have a panda on a platform way up high on the wall. When Kyrie saw the the panda her eyes got really big and she started pointing and shouting, "EEE! EEE! EEE! Help Panda! Oh no it stuck! Help Panda! EEE! EEE!" You get the point. Of course we then tried to calm her down and explain that the panda was okay. He wasn't stuck and so on. It didn't work. We then tried to distract her with other animals. This did not work either. We would take her to a different animal and put her down and she would run straight back to the panda and yell "EEE EEE EEE!" It was both adorable and heartbreaking to see her so distraught about this panda. We finally took her to the gift shop and she found a little panda in a pink purse. I gave it to her and she grabbed in up in her little arms and patted it on the head and told it, "It okay. You safe now." And that was that. Panda has now been a constant attachment to my little girl. She may not have a purse dog, but she does have a purse panda. :)

It was then time for Grandma and Papa and Kiki to go home. I was worried about the girls but they handled it very well. They were sad but they said goodbye and that they loved them. It was very nice to have them here for the holiday. And I think they enjoyed seeing where we've landed and that our lives are very good and happy here.

That's pretty much the whole of our holiday. Just a couple "my kid's are so cute" moments. First, my girls have finally decide that they like each other and that it's fun to play "together". Yeah!!! Oh happy day! They like to play outside, or they go upstairs and pretend to be koala bears (my kids have an obsession with bears), or play tea party. Here they are being happy together!

Second, Kyrie has decided that she likes Mommy's shoes.

Now just envision that pink panda purse on her arm and you can see what kind of girl she's going to be. She walks all over the house in my heels. I put them away in the closet and the next thing I know I can hear the click, click, click of my heels. Amazingly enough, she walks pretty good in them. :)

Well, sorry for this monster of a post. I just really wanted to share my wonderful holiday with everyong. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season also. TTFN

Christmas Tag

I got this from Brandy so here goes!

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? For Christmas definitely wrapping paper. The paper the bows, the ribbon; it's what makes it festive.

2. Real tree or Artificial? I LOVE real trees. But we can't have a real tree in our house by regs for more than 10 days. So artificial it is.

3. When do you put up the tree? December 1st. My daddy's birthday. We always have.

4. When do you take the tree down? When I finally find the energy sometime after January 1st.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, with Sprite in it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My "day bed". It was what I really wanted.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Several. We're kind of additcted to them. We have several kid friendly ones like the "Little People Nativity" and a set of stuffed animals and dolls that the kids play with.

8. Hardest person to buy for? David. His toys are so expensive so it's hard to find the perfect thing.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Grandparents. Pictures always work.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail it is.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can't think of anything.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Charlie Brown Christmas and Miricle on 34th St.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? October usually.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Everything.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree ? Colored. It's just so fun.

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night and Winter Wonderland

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay at home. Christmas is about home and my immediate family.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star. I don't like angels with wings. It's bothered me since I was very young. And you can't find an angel without wings. Go figure!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One present (pajamas) on Christmas Eve and everything else on the morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People thinking it's about buying the perfect thing.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We each get a new ornament each year. It makes for an eclectic tree but one very full of memories.

24. Favorite food Christmas dinner? Everything together.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? My family together and happy.

26. Favorite Christmas tradition? Christmas eve reading the nativity story and singing songs.

27. Tag 5 people - Let's just say, if you have a blog and you are reading this - you have been tagged!

I'm Still Alive!!!

No need to send out search parties. I'm alive and here. I realize that I've fallen off the face of the blogging world. I didn't mean to, but life has really gotten away from me. I really don't know what happened but the holidays started and then it was December. Please forgive me and I'll try to get back with it and post more frequently.

But for now I will try to do a quick update and I'll even include pictures, cause we all know that's what we like most!

So, Halloween came and boy was it fun. David and I decided to take the girls into "Boo at the Zoo" at the National Zoo. It's a big event every year. They decorate the zoo and vendors set up stands for the kids to trick or treat at. They get to see the animals at night and get special treats. We decided that with how much our girls LOVE the zoo that it would be a great time. And it really was!

Anya was a butterfly this year. She picked it out. She liked it because the wings and antenna had hearts and bows on them.

And Kyrie was a duck. She loved it. She quaked for weeks at everyone. She learned to say "trick or treat" and it was a big hit!

The girls loved Boo at the Zoo. They shared a juice bar, got lots of candy, and saw a lot of their favorite animals.

They even had their first experience with cotton candy! They loved it of course and were sticky little girls the rest of the night.

Then on Halloween night we went around the neighborhood with friends.

So needless to say, our girls had a full and "sticky" Halloween. I really enjoyed myself this year too. I was so much fun to see the holiday thru the eyes of my children. The pure joy at dressing up and pretending to be something else. And then to get candy on top of that was just heaven to them.

For the next month we tried to enjoy the last days of warm weather. The girls jus love playing outside and I wanted to enjoy every day they could be outside. The girls also like to play dress up. They're fairy princesses! Daddy says so!

Aren't they pretty?

Then Thanksgiving arrived! We had diner with some of our friends from her. April Kerven and her two kids, Lyam and Kaitlyn, joined us. They just moved here recently also. So we split up the work and had Thanksgiving diner with each other. Anya helped make the pumpkin pies this year! She helped me roll out the crusts and mix the filling. Then she faithfully checked them every few minutes thru the oven window to make sure they were cooking. Here's her finished pies.

And they tasted even better than they looked!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for this year that we can't even begin to say how blessed be are. We thank the Lord everyday for His love and protection.

Then December 1st arrived. This is the day that we always decorate for Christmas. So like in years past, we put up our tree and our stocking. The girls picked out Dora the Explorer ornaments for this year. Dora rules our world right now. They're so cute. So here they are putting up their ornaments.

Now we're just enjoying the season. And of course counting down till Santa coming, and Grandma and Papa coming. Grandma and Papa will be here on the 19th. We're so excited to be spending Christmas with them. But we'll be busy till then of course.

This week is full of Anya's dance class. She has her first dance recital on Saturday. So we have lots of extra rehersals and stuff like that. Well I've got to run. I'll try to post pictures of Anya's dance recital this weekend. Here she is in her outfit. Lots of love. TTFN

Growing Up

So I realize it's been a while since I've posted anything. Life just seems to have run away from me. But I'll try to do better. We've really settled in here and are having a fabulous time. It seems so odd to us that our lives are pretty much drama-free. It's been so long since we've been peaceful about life. We've been working toward that end, and praying for it and searching for it but until now we've never really found it. I have to say it's pretty awesome. I know it can't last but we're enjoying every minute of our joy and peace while it's here.

Our biggest problem, if you can call it a problem, since we've arrived is trying to decide what to do with David's days off. There's so much to do in the area that I don't know if we'll ever run out of stuff to see and do. Luckily we should be here a while so we should have plenty of time to see everything we want to. Yeah!!! We did spend one weekend last month in D.C. doing the touristy stuff. We took the girls to the Natual History Museum and they loved it. We also stopped at a few of the monuments, but lets face it, they're not as interesting to 3 year olds as dinasour bones. :)

Of course our ever contant companion, Kitty, had to come see D.C., too. Anya and Kitty seem inseperable on most days. But that's normal, and pretty cute if I'm honest. She's growing up so fast that I just love the little things that tell me that she's still a little girl. She started dance class two weeks ago. She's loving it, and actually learning things. After class she comes home and shows Daddy everything she learned. She's so proud of herself. She looks so grown up with her hair pulled up and her dance clothes on. This week she was so excited about class that as soon as she saw her teacher she ran off and didn't even look back for so much as an "I love you" or "I'll see you later." And then when class was over she was so sad that she had to leave. :( It's going to be so much fun watching her learn more throught this class.

Kyrie is learning so much everyday. She still looks so small that I often forget how old she really is. So when she does or says things it sometimes takes me by surprise. She is currently very upset with the world because she isn't as big as her sister. She was so mad when Anya when to dance class and she couldn't go too. She seems to think that she should be able to do everything her sister does, and most of the time she does. As much as I don't like to think about it, she too is growing up so fast. My darling girl loves to play pretend already. Right now she likes to pretend to be different animals. One day she's a cow and moo's all day, and the next she might be an elephant or puppy. We never know what she might be. She's so cute making all the different animal sounds. But even though she's cute, she's still developed a few unfortunate habits. Her worst is her squealing. She thinks that it's a great way to communicate. If she's mad, or upset, or even just excited she loves to squeal as high and loud as she can. She thinks that she's queen of the world and we should all bow to her whims. She even has a crown. See!

They're just growing and learning so much and so quickly. It's hard for a Mommy to keep up, but I'm trying. And loving ever minute of it!!

Ft. Meade, Maryland

So we're here! We are offically stationed to Ft. Meade and will be here for at least the next 3 years. We arrived here on July 10 and David checked into his unit. They didn't have our townhouse ready yet so we stayed in an "extended stay" hotel. One of those hotels that have a little kitchen area so that I could cook a little and have a fridge. We stayed there for a week. Let me say it was a hard week on my girls. David needed the vehicle most days so it was just the girls and I stuck in a hotel room for 7 days. Yuck!! Not fun. But finally we got to move into our housing. The townhouse is on Ft. Meade. They have several different "neighborhoods" here. Ours is called Midway Commons. This is the enterance.

Our house is 3 bedrooms, on bathroom. We have a playground just a block away. Here's a picture of the townhouses in our neighborhood.

We also have access to several neighborhood centers that have fitness centers, a children's library, pools, party rooms, and laudry facilities. They're really nice and very convenient to get to right down the road. Anya and Kyrie love the children's library. They go in and never want to come out. :)

I've just finally unpacked my last box today so we are offically all moved in. It's really nice to be here and to know that we can get settled in and stay for a while. I've gotta run, but I'll post again soon.

Memories

Brandy has this on her blog and I thought it was a fun idea! So enjoy and I hope you copy it to yours so I can share my memories of you too.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Moving On

It is official! David has completed his course with Honors. The graduation ceremony will be held tomorrow morning and then we are officially done at Pensacola, FL. We will be moving next week to Ft. Meade, MD. The movers will come on Monday the 7th and Tuesday. Then Wednesday morning we'll be in the car and on our way. It feels a bit odd to be moving on, but at the same time we are sooo ready to be done with schooling. Time to start living the job and get really settled into the area.

But before we leave, we have been trying to enjoy a few of the local attractions that we haven't seen yet. We went to the National Naval Aviation Museum last Saturday. I totally forgot my camera and was very upset with myself. Oh well, I guess. I have been trying to get David to go to it with us since we got here. He just keeps saying, "I don't like that kind of stuff. Do we really have to?" That kind of stuff. Well I finally told him the girls and I were going and he could come or stay home by himself. So he came. After 15 minutes at the museum it was, "Wow this is really cool. Why didn't we come here more often?" So we had a really good time. Anya enjoyed seeing all of the airplanes. They had wonderful displays. All of their planes, helicopters, and jets are actual "decommissioned vehicles'. They have planes dating back to before WWI. Up to the F/A-18 Hornets that the Blue Angels fly. Then yesterday we went out to one of the 'Blue Angels' practice shows. It was fun to see them preforming their maneuvers. It amazing to think that in one of them, the four jets form the Diamond Formation, there is only 18 inches between the jets on any side while they're traveling at speeds between 400-700 mph. Talk about having no margin for error. :)

We've a blast here in Pensacola and have really enjoyed the experience. And now we continue onward.