2010 Year End Review

Wow. Its so hard to believe that 2010 is ending today! What a quick year it has been for our family. It has brought its ups and downs, but I always enjoy reflecting on what the past year has taught me, how it has impacted our family, and what will come in the new year.

So here is what our 2010 journey looked like this year!

January 2010 a certain little girl of mine turned 1!





In February, Tyler and I decided we would get busy and make some minor changes to our bedroom! We finally got around to hanging stuff on the walls and painting them! This is memorable for me, because Tyler and I did it ourselves. I never thought I would paint my own walls...only because I did not think I could do it without it becoming a disaster!




In March, Anslee started Wee Kids Mother's Day out program at our Church. She goes Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 am until noon. Mommy had a hard time letting her go then, but Anslee loves going and it has become such a wonderful part of our week!

In April, the Easter bunny made a visit!





May came around and I was so excited to share with Tyler the good news!



Tyler and I kept it quiet until almost July. If you know me, you know keeping in good and exciting news its like complete torture. We did though, and its hard to believe she is almost here now!


In June, we headed to New Mexico with Tyler's family for an extended weekend vacation to Red River. What a fun little place that is! The weather was perfect. Would you believe I have no pictures from this trip? Its true I don't.

The trip was cut a day short for us, unfortunately. My dear grandmother passed away on June 19th. She was a spiritual stronghold for our family, and continues to be to this day. We have missed her so much. Here is a sweet photo of her with Anslee. It was taken 3 days before she took her last breath.



July was pretty quiet. We celebrated the 4th. We put on a great Vacation Bible School at our church. We celebrated both Tyler and Mine birthdays.



In August I got this little guy. I like it, but it did not necessarily change my life.




September was an exciting month! We welcomed to the world our 2nd niece, Zoe Grace.



We also took the plunge and bought a Van. It may not be the coolest thing to have done, but I can't imagine life without it now. The automatic sliding doors, the massive amount of space, and the ease of parking are my top 3 reasons for loving this vehicle.



October was full of costumes, candy, and pumpkin patches. It was great. Sweet girl was a bumble bee. You should hear her say bumble bee. Her little voice is the sweetest!





We also got to head to Abilene for HSU homecoming. We never miss a year! We watched our social clubs (Sigma Alpha and Theta) combine their Sing Shows. I never thought I would see the day when the two clubs would cooperate with each other enough to put on a production together. Those Theta boys were always chasing after the Sigma Alpha girls back in my college days...




By November, Anslee had become comfortable enough to flirt with the boys in our college bible study group. Here is a picture of her in action. She certainly had their attention...



We also celebrated my Mom's 50th birthday. Its funny to me that the older she gets, the younger she looks and acts. I love it. This year, we got her a charm bracelet. We filled that pretty thing up with meaningful charms, and I am pretty sure that she loved it. Of course, I have no pictures of this either.

December has come and gone so fast for us! Its been hot and cold outside. Its the last full month before Kensington. Its the very last day now, and I can't believe it!

We celebrated 3 beautiful years of marriage :)



I know in my Christmas post I posted this photo of Anslee with Santa, but who does not love seeing a a cute girl with a jolly man (even if it is two posts in a row!)



That wraps up 2010 for the Moses' family. We are looking forward to 2011, and wishing everyone a very happy New Year!

Christmas

Remember this hysterical tragedy from Anslee's 1st Christmas (11 months old, 2009)



We worried that we would have a repeat of that in 2010. We were wrong! We did a little bit better. She started to scream at first, but we were able to distract her...but not enough to get one of her sweet smiles.



Anslee added these to our Christmas tree this year. We just can't believe we have had 2 blessed Christmas seasons with her now!

(front)



(back)



This one she made at school.



We are exhausted from the holidays, but clearly that's a sign that we had fun and made lots and lots of memories again during Christmas 2010.

This is how I found Anslee when we came home from our last Christmas celebration



I feel like that is a sure sign of a Christmas well done!


In all honesty, 2010 has been a hard year. Sure we have had our joys and blessings that are eternally grateful for, but our family is looking forward to a new start in
2011.

We celebrated the birth of our savior with a birthday cake, lots of gifts for one another, and of course quality time with our families.

Hope your holiday season was a blessed one! Here is to what is to come in 2011

Her Nursery!

At 35 weeks, my need to nest finally settled in. Or maybe it was just that I was thinking:

I have a birthday party to plan

I have 5 weeks...at the very most left before Kensington needs a functional room.

Holidays = some time where Tyler can help me!

I won't be able to physically do much more from this point on. I am huge.



So here is the outcome of our labor of love for this little one!



We found this little treasure (the distressed frame), and thought we could add some twine, photographs (that are easily interchangeable), and some clothespins to make her room a little unique.



The jury is still out on the crosses that are hung on either side. I feel like I can find something I love more, but until the perfect item/items come along...they will have to do.

I found this idea off of this blog. We changed it a little though. The blog has you print out the paper and pick a font you like for the letters, but we ran into these already done letter frames at Hobby Lobby. It ended up costing almost the exact same (but clearly being a lot less work) to use the frames that were already made and simply adding our own scrapbook paper behind them.



They hang right over her sweet crib. Where she will lay her sweet head. (Hopefully a lot!)



Although Anslee's room is as different from this room as can be, this was her glider chair. It ended up working with what we chose for Kensington's room so we went with it. I am glad we did. This is where Kensington and I will spend many hours feeding. Just like I did with her big sister :)



Here is a close up of the changing table/dresser/hutch that is still missing the changing pad. I know. We are getting on that ASAP, as that is one item that will get more use than I even want to begin thinking about again.



I can't believe we will have a sweet girl to fill this room up in such a short amount of time. At least now we are step closer to being ready to welcome her into the family, and into her home!

When you have a toddler...

When you have a toddler:

Your refridgerator space is taken up by milk and apple juice

You really do starting spelling words to other adults instead of just saying them.

You go to bed at like 8 pm, and are so excited too!

Poop and boogers are among the hot conversation topics with other mommy friends.

Your camera needs to always be a hands reach away.

You learn a new language, most of which you must translate to those who live outside of your home.

You don't apologize for your house being a mess, its just understood by guests that it will be.

You clean up the same sticky messes, sometimes several times a day.

You know the words to all the theme songs on Nick Jr.

The only things in your house that have a "place" are sharp and unsafe items.

You celebrate the little things.

You fit in a shower when possible, and make-up only happens on an off day.

Family Traditions take on an entirely new meaning.

Shopping for Christmas is the most fun it has ever been.

Nap time still rules the day!

All of a sudden they have an opinion! And you know what it is!

Picking which restaurant to go is based not on what you want to eat, but the kids menu.

The potty is a scary and haunting thing to think about.

The pitter pat of little feet is sound you don't ever want to forget.



You are blessed every single day!

Table for 3 please!

Do you know this guy?



If you don't, you should!

He is a Trooper (in more ways than one!)



He is this little girl's first true love



He is such a family man



He leads these Crazy Kids in a Bible Study every Wednesday night



and he chose ME to be his bride just over 3 years ago. How lucky am I?

December 9, 2007 was the day we made a promise and became husband and wife. It was beyond perfect. Everything was straight out of my dreams. Including Tyler.

To celebrate 3 lovely years together we were going to go on a cruise. Then we realized we needed a minivan to accommodate our happily growing family, so thats where the cruise fund went instead.

Don't worry though! We had a great dinner for 3 on anniversary #3 and it was perfect. Here is who I dined with on December 9, 2010.



A cruise would have been nice, but celebrating this way was most certainly unforgettable and I could not have enjoyed the day any more than I did.

Happy Anniversary Tyler! You could not make this wife and mommy any happier! I love you.

Holiday Pictures!

I look forward to holiday pictures every single year. Tyler and I have done a Christmas card each year since we have been married, and have always had pictures made for the cards. Now that we have Anslee, holiday pictures have become just another way to watch her grow from year to year. What a special and simple tradition that I will always treasure!

Here are some of the holiday pictures that we are not using on the card, but that we took and love anyway. Tyler's cousin Courtney has a nice camera, so while our family got together over the Thanksgiving holidays, she let her brother Trevor use the camera (in her absence) to snap a few shots of us. I think both Trevor and Courtney ought to look into photography. They both take great pictures!







She was not cooperating at this point.









...and I will end this post with a picture of how our photo session started.



Thank you Watson Cousins for your taking the time to take our pictures and for letting us use your super cool camera. We could not love them more!

In Jon's Honor

September 26, 2008 is a day I will absolutely never forget. I do not think there was another day that year I waited for so anxiously.

Why? This was the day Tyler graduated from the Department of Public Safety Trooper Academy.

What a wonderful day it was. It was a day to celebrate and that paved the way for our growing (I was 20 weeks pregnant) family's future. We could not get down to Austin, Texas fast enough to watch Tyler and his entire recruit class receive their Commission from the State.

This was also the day I had the privilege and honor of meeting Laura McDonald.

Laura looked like me (not physically)! She was a young wife of a Trooper-to-be. We both had the excitement in our eyes of getting our husbands back at the end of the day, after 6 long months of being separated from them by the Academy.

I took my seat next to her and immediately we struck up conversation about how excited we were that they day had finally come. See, she had been dealing with all the emotion of being away from her husband in the same way I had been, so even though we had just met, we had something special in common.

I felt like we became instant friends. Her and Jon were stationed in Post, Texas. They went to a station in an area in which they were familiar and were ready to start life as a Trooper and soon to be teacher!

Laura gave birth to sweet Kacyn Shae McDonald 6 months ago. A family of 3!

I kept up with Laura mostly through facebook. I always thought she was the proudest Trooper wife in all of Texas. Jon had a gem of a wife in her, you see, being a Trooper Wife is not an easy task!

This Monday night, at 10:30 pm Jon was tragically killed in a car accident. What was he doing? Serving. He was on duty on his way to a call to take care of wreck. (A situation that is all to routine for me) There is reason to believe that a tire on his car blew out causing him to loose control of his car and hit a covert on the highway sending his patrol car into flames.

Tyler and I could not believe the news when we heard. We immediately went into tears. Yes, we had heard of Troopers loosing their lives in the line of duty. None that Tyler bunked with in the Academy. None that I had meet the family. None that seemed to be just like us.

Tyler said Jon was a good recruit, and therefore made a good solid Troop. Tyler remembers exactly where Jon sat in their classroom during those dreadful 6 months. They did everything in alphabetical order, and McDonald is not too far from Moses.

To the McDonald Family:
We so appreciate the service of Trooper Jonathan McDonald. We know that he was not only a Trooper, but a loving husband and nurturing father to his baby girl. His life will always be remembered with much honor, and our hearts and prayers go out to you.

Being a Trooper family is risky, but I am so very proud to be apart of one. Thank you, Tyler, and Troopers like Jon who do what you do for the safety of the people of Texas.

Click here for the news story on this tragic event.

The Sisters!

People. No one was more shocked than I when I saw my sweet Kensington on the sonogram monitor and she looked like a mini unborn version of her big sister.

I assumed the two would share some similar features. I thought they would resemble each other enough that people would recognize them as siblings.

At this point, I know Kensington is growing bigger and faster than Anslee did. Her movements are stronger and I can feel her from one side of my belly to the other side at the same time. The obvious, of course, is that while my weight gain has been steady and the same as it was with Anslee up to this point, I am much bigger this go around.

So, while the pregnancies have been different, and in some ways the same, I did not expect them to LOOK this much alike.

Here is Anslee at 28 weeks gestation.



Here is Kensignton at 28 weeks gestation.




Sure, there is no way to really be able to compare the two until Kensington gets here, but this is what we have for now, and based off what I see, I think I am in luck for another cute little girl!

Here is a side by side pic. K on the left, A on the right.



What do you think? Do they look alike?!

Whats the Buzz all about?

Anslee of course! In her bumblebee costume for Halloween!

What fun we had dressing up this year! We had 3 opportunities to be a bumblebee this Halloween season.

She wore her costume to Wee Kids the Wednesday before Halloween, when they had their fall festival/carnival for all the little ones. She is so blessed to be able to be apart of such a wonderful Mothers Day Out program. She has grown leaps and bounds by being in the program. They have wonderful directors, teachers, helpers, and classmates! I feel like she is reaping so many benefits from going twice a week.

Here she is wondering why Mommy is hanging around at school.


On their way to the Carnival. They all hold on to the ring to stay in a line whenever they leave the classroom.



Look at what a fun carnival they put on for the kids!



Playing toddler Ski Ball with her buddy, Caleb, who was Santa Clause this year for Halloween!



Enjoying some of the treats they got from the carnival!



Our whole family was able to go the Church wide fall festival the day before Halloween as well. We were so excited that daddy got to join us this year, as last year he had patrol duty! We had a blast and there was a huge turn out this year!



Playing games with Daddy!



They even had a mini bounce house



The First Baptist Church in Coleman, where Tyler's parents attend, also had a Fall Festival that we went too. We had so much fun there too!



She won 1st place in the costume contest!




Next Halloween, I will have an almost 3 year old and an almost 1 year old. Whoa. We have a lot to look forward too in the next year!

Now, on to Thanksgiving where candy is not as big of a deal, but comfort food is!