Graduation Day

Today I will watch my youngest sister, Susan, graduate from High School.

This is her two weeks ago at her senior prom...

I first met Susan when she was 5 years old and she has been my baby ever since. We don't talk much anymore because I am often many miles away. She is an amazing aunt to my girls and they love her sooo much!

Susan clearly is not my biological sister, but God had other plans and gracefully placed her in my life. I thank him everyday for that!!

Congratulations, Susan!!

I am so proud of you! xoxo

Easter 2011

The girls and I had a fabulous Easter this year.

This is what they woke up to that morning.

And this is what quickly happened!!

They were very excited...especially this little lady!

Church was amazing and the message really hit home. It was all about doubt and they even brought out the 'C' word...cancer. It was emotional and much needed.

I hid a few eggs in my back yard and let the girls go crazy.

We had our fair share of meltdowns. You know, the usual 'You stole my candy'...'No, it's my candy'.

I did manage to capture this great shot of my mom and Alyssa.

xoxo

Illinois Bound

Yes, you read that correctly!

In a matter of 5 weeks I will be packing up our 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, full of junk house and placing everything we own in storage. Then I will be flying over 2000 miles alone with 3 little girls. It's sure to be a busy few weeks and to be honest, I'm a little anxious about it.

Why are making this giant leap of faith??

2011 is a big year for both of our families...

My sister-in-law is getting married and lucky for me, I am a big part of getting everything together. I have parties to plan, dresses to try on and favors to make.

My mother-in-law was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. After what we thought was a successful surgery, we recently found out that she will need to go back in for another followed by a few weeks of radiation. Thanks to everyone for their kind emails and comments. We appreciate the prayers.

My brother is going through a lot with his wife right now. They are separated at the moment and their three beautiful kids are stuck in the middle of it all.

My little sister, by a whole 7 months, is also getting married in the next year and again I will be planning parties, trying on dresses and making favors!

My baby sister is turning 18 and graduating from high school. {sigh}

My parents will be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary...what an accomplishment!

On top of all of that, Johnathon will be going out to sea lot with work-ups and preparing for his upcoming deployment. He will have yet another advancement test and will be working harder than ever. We've discussed our options, thought about all of our possibilities and we understand what we are sacrificing.

It's going to be a long and hard year for us, but we genuinely feel like we are making the right choice for our family.

Johnathon will come and visit a few times throughout the year and we will keep in touch through care packages, cards and Skype. With any luck, he should be able to attend ALL birthday parties and be with us during our special moments.

Zzzzz...have I bored you enough yet?

I'll be nice and leave you with a picture of my big girls. They are growing up so fast.

Allison & Alyssa

FYI: I have very few pictures lately because my daughters enjoy running around naked. What is a mother to do? :)

Resolutions??

It's that time again.

Time to set ourselves up for failure and make outrageous goals for ourselves that will never be accomplished.

Even so, I'm doing the unthinkable and going ahead with a few resolutions of my own!!

• Get Organized

With so much going on this year, it's important that I get organized. I bought a new file folder and began getting new, fresh, updated records. I will have every important piece of paper at my finger tips while Johnathon is away on deployment. I also started go room to room in my house and began to rid us of our clutter. Old toys, small clothes, junk...GONE! It's still a work in progress, but this resolution is almost complete!!

• Pictures

Here I am taking pictures for everyone else, but am so lazy when it comes to getting pictures of my own kids out to family members. There are grandparents & aunts/uncles who receive one picture a year of the girls. Now that just won't do! How are they supposed to brag with one lousy picture? My goal is to send home more pictures and to also get serious about filling up some photo albums. I have yet to start on this resolution, but it's not something you can do over night.

• Health

I went to the doctor two weeks ago and got a lot tested (one thing being my kidney function which turned out to be normal and great!!). They took blood, gave prescriptions, wrote referrals...I feel great! I feel on top of my health and I plan to keep it that way. I'd also like to see us go on more walks as a family and get out of the house more. I've scheduled the twins' first dentist appointment and have started the ball rolling to get all four of my wisdom teeth pulled.

• Project 365

I will be posting one picture a day for every day of 2011. It's a HUGE challenge, but I'm up for it. Just click on the tab under my header for a link to Project 365!!

This should be interesting!! :)