happily ever after

Well I suck at this whole blogging thing................... I can't believe its been almost two months! Well we've been crazy busy like everyone else. My father in law said it best when he said the day's seem long, but the years fly by. I am stunned to realize that Chlo is halfway through kindergarten. Next year she will be  gone the whole day. How sad for us. How exciting for her though. She is loving kindergarten. Let me be more specific. She is in love with a certain five year old boy and that is her reason for going to school everyday. haha. She continues to be more like me every day. I was boy crazy. I mean boy crazy. I think that I honestly always had a boy friend, or a boy I liked every day of my whole life. I can name almost all of them too, then I met B as a sophmore in high school and the rest is history. I am going to need to set some ground rules here quickly :) NO dating till she's 17. Too harsh??  I just want my girls to focus on school, friends, and whatever hobby they decide to love. boys can wait. I don't regret my choices, but I do wish that I could have some of those years, tears, and memories back. That's all.  Anyways, back to now, Chloe is reading!! Wow, wasn't sure if we were going to get there. She just never seemed interested in learning how. But so far she has read me two full books and the look of pride is just heart warming. What a big kid.

Her picture of their wedding day. How sweet.

Lily is my sweet little babe. She just started Little Gym, and she is a natural. I think the gymnast in her has been awoken. She is so fun to watch, she is so kind to the other kids, and even when they run smack into her, she smiles and gets right up. Love that lover in her. She is talking up a storm lately and really showing us her personality. She has a big one.

My B is just continuing to be amazing. He provides, supports, and loves us. I am so happy that I married him. We went to a marriage conference a few weeks ago and what a world of difference. It is such a simple concept, pretty common sense. Yet so easy to forget and so easy to rebel against. We learned what it means to be a wife/husband as the Lord has commanded us. I was awe struck to realize that I took a vow almost 8 years ago and am just now understanding what that meant. I was always against certain words, and when they were explained to me, a light bulb went off and it was like. Of course. I know now that I am capable of giving B what he needs, and vice versa. The Lord made it pretty clear and pretty simple. Spelled it right out, and it's up to us to obey. If your interested check out http://www.loveandrespect.com/. It seriously was life changing.

Ya, we had a beer after the conference. Never said we were perfect :)

We celebrated Christmas and had a delightful holiday. The girls were over the top spoiled rotten and so were we. It was a nice morning at home, cuddled up while the girls played. We split the holiday between the families so we were able to actually enjoy it. I think the kids liked it better too. Not being rushed around and not being pushed to hurry to open gifts. Our elf headed back to the North Pole and I so wish he was still here to use as a parenting tool :) Although he didn't seem to always work :)

2012 started with us paying for a babysitter for the first time!!! omg. five and a half years and we have never paid anyone. How blessed are we. We went to dinner with our amazing friends, and then spent the rest of the evening playing shuffle board and poker games. Although we had to be home at 12:30 to relieve our babysitter. The girls did great and went right to bed for her, we kept texting her and finally she was like" they are fine, enjoy your night" haha. Love that 17 year old.

We look forward to so many things this year. Great friends, great families, and watching these two girls keep growing. They are the joys in our lives and keep us walking on the path that we know we are meant to take. Thankful every day that we are given a life that we know the Lord designed just for us. xoxo