A Year in Review

January was an exciting month. We got ready for our little baby to arrive. Charlotte started dance class,  Chris finished making our headboard and we enjoyed our last few weeks with just the three of us. 

February was a waiting game. Charlotte had her first febrile seizure the beginning of the month, which was a scare for all of us. She also learned how to ride a tricycle. We waited and waited and finally at the end of the month we met Caroline. 

In March Charlotte turned three and we adjusted to being a family of four. It took me a few weeks to recover from my surgery and complications, and in that time Chris was able to be home to help. It was nice having everyone home to help. Charlotte gave up her binkies, which was traumatic for us all! Chris went to Charlotte's school for community helper month and Charlotte loved it. Charlotte continued to love her baby sister and Caroline was nice and calm.

April was more of the same. We got ready to move, started looking for, and found a house in Vermont to move into. Chris went back east to run in the Boston Marathon and I had my first weekend alone with the girls! We enjoyed our last couple months in San Diego. We went strawberry picking, went to the beach and soaked in our time with our friends.

 Chris was gone most of May. Charlotte had her school concert which she pouted through. Charlotte continued to be a big help with her baby sister, most of the time. We went to a Memorial Day parade with our friends and were excited when Daddy came back from his trip!

 June was a busy month. We spent most of the beginning of the month saying goodbye to our friends before we moved. We had birthday parties, goodbye parties and even a trip to the fair! In the middle of the month the girls and I said goodbye and flew back east. We spent the rest of the month visiting until Chris sent off our belongings and came to join us.

In July we moved into our house in Vermont. Chris was home for the beginning, and then end. Charlotte had another seizure and we did some tests to rule out anything besides just it corresponding with the fever. We enjoyed the hot summer... ok not really, but we suffered through the hot summer with no air conditioning. Charlotte started swimming lessons and pouted through most of it! We had visitors and slowly got unpacked!

The girls and I were on our own for most of August. We made a trip over to Grammy and Papa's to check out their new lake house. Charlotte loved Kayaking! Caroline decided that she was going to crawl at the ripe old age of 5 1/2 months... throwing me for a loop. I totally wasn't prepared for that! Chris got out of the Navy at the end of the month and we started a new chapter of our lives, post-Navy!

Since Chris was on terminal leave, with nothing scheduled until the beginning of October, we enjoyed September hanging out and exploring Vermont. We went apple picking, back to the lake house, and Charlotte started Pre-School. At the end of the month we headed over to NH again for our favorite fair and enjoyed rides and goodies. Charlotte was so kind and shared her Cotton Candy with Caroline!

 October was filled with Halloween and Fall activities. We took a trip to the apple orchard with Charlotte's school, attended Halloween parades and raked leaves! Chris was gone for 6 weeks, (into November) but was able to come home for a weekend when we carved pumpkins! Charlotte loved trick or treating and was the cutest little spider!

 Chris returned home in November and we were happy to see him. We spent some time with friends and family and had a lovely Thanksgiving with both families together! I talked Chris into cutting down our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and we enjoyed being around to do that. The girls continued to grow and change, Caroline wild as ever. It was a busy month as we got ready for Christmas!

 December was a fast but fun month. We saw Santa Clause, a few times, however Charlotte didn't want to tell him what she wanted after  she "already told him" the first time that she wanted Legos. We got our first snow of the season, followed by a snowstorm after Christmas, and more after that! Caroline wasn't afraid of the snow, although she finds it hard to get around. Santa came and was wonderful to the girls this year. Charlotte really enjoyed herself, Caroline wasn't interested. We again enjoyed having all our family around and were thankful that we didn't have to fly with Caroline!

 We had a great 2012 and although we miss our friends in San Diego we are adjusting nicely to life in Vermont and life out of the military! We can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for our family!

More snow!

While we were visiting Grammy and Papa we got another 5 inches of snow! Grammy and Papa have a great driveway for sledding, so we bundled up and headed out. Baylie was loving the snow, even if she was a little cold!

 Charlotte started out grumpy, wound up happy, then was back to grumpy again. She loves her new hat from Aunt Pam and Uncle Rick!

 Charlotte had a fun sled down the big hill with Daddy!

 Then he pulled her back up.

 Chris and Papa decided they were going to have a race to the bottom.

 Charlotte had to pee so I didn't see the winner!

 Grammy and Papa's house looks so pretty covered in snow!

 We took a picture of the four of us in the same spot that we took one exactly 3 years ago. Here is 2012:
 Here is 2009: (I think that was the last time we had snow at Christmas time!)

Caroline got all bundled to go outside too, but she isn't a fan of her snow attire. We have yet to find something that works well. I think the whole crawling in the snow thing just isn't going to end well anyway... She was happier being held.

 She enjoyed sitting on the porch watching too.

 Then she tried to escape...

 Chris took her sledding before Grammy brought her inside.

 Then we headed off to the big hill.

 And then it was time to go inside...

Snowstorm!

Thursday we got our first big snowstorm, over a foot of snow! It was still snowing on Thursday when we got up, and coming down hard, but we ventured out to play. My mom found a ton of my old baby clothes the other day, including a Corduroy snowsuit. We put it on Caroline but she couldn't move, so we took it off, but it sure was cute! Charlotte got to try out her new snowshoes from Babo Skip which she loved, and we went to our neighbors to go sledding! It is so nice to have snow!

Christmas Card Photos!

Here are some of our pictures I took at our Christmas card photo shoot back in November. It was a little chilly but the kids rallied and we were able to at least get some smiling ones!

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We tried to keep it simpler, but Charlotte totally got it and was ripping into packages left and right! Christmas morning we were all up before Charlotte. We were waiting for her to get up and she finally came out of her room around 8. I wish she would sleep that late on normal days! Grandma and Grandpa had just arrived and were right in time to see the kids start opening packages! Chris got some much needed traveling gear (suitcases) and I got a necklace I have wanted for a long time! Charlotte got her Lego Duplos among other great stuff. Caroline didn't care at all. We had a nice relaxing day and finished off with a wonderful dinner! It was so nice having both our families together!