Decade in review!

As the year comes to a close, and we all reflect on 2009, I also find myself reflecting on the past decade as it too comes to a close.  I cannot believe how much my life has changed over the past 10 years.. take a look!

2000 – Actually slept through the ball drop, I didn’t understand all the Y2K fear. Helped welcome my nephew Lucas into the world. Planned and successfully pulled off an awesome Junior/Senior prom, with the help of many other people. Started looking at and touring colleges. Began my senior year in high school. Lost a dear friend in a tragic car accident, our school was different after that. Decided to attend Methodist College – now Methodist University.

2001 – Don’t remember where I rang in the New Year. Marched with our high school marching band in a parade in Magic Kingdom, Disney World. Graduated high school. Had a super lame senior year (completely my fault.) Began my freshman year in college. Worked as a campus tour guide. Broke up with my boyfriend of 3+ years. September 11, 2001. Had a blast being out on my own. Began gaining the freshman 15.

2002 – Rang in the New Year with my friend Abby and some of her guy friends.  Met  boy, who would end up being my boyfriend for 3 years. Decided to transfer schools to be closer to family and boy. Applied to and got accepted at WVU. Left all my friends at Methodist College and headed to WVU. (still don’t know if this was the right decision or not..) Began working at the WalMart photo lab over the summer and during school breaks. Worked in the basement of a library at WVU. Changed my major from psychology to elementary education.

2003 – Rang in the New Year with boy and a bunch of his friends. Finished my sophomore year and began my junior year. Went back to Methodist College to help my best friend celebrate her 21^st birthday and to visit friends. Moved into my first apartment. Changed my major back to psychology. Began working at Sbarro.

2004 – Rang in the New Year with boy and a bunch of his friends, again. Completed my junior year and began my senior year. Decided that it was time to get serious about losing weight and getting into shape. Got a Mitsubishi Eclipse (I miss that car!) Turned 21! Traveled to Traverse City, Michigan with my Grammie, my Mom and my Aunt. Began looking into graduate schools. Watched the Red Sox win the World Series! Took the GRE’s in preparation for graduate school.

2005 – Rang in the New Year at WVU with friends. Broke things off with boy after 3+ years. Began my almost daily trips to the gym. Completed an internship as a “junior” guidance counselor at Cass Elementary School. Decided that I really was not ready for graduate school. Took part in my first Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk in honor of my Grammie. Learned a lot about myself in a few short months. Graduated college! A co-worker set me up on a blind date on June 11^th. Fell head over heals in love with Steven, very quickly! Began working at Devereux as a residential counselor (very very tough job!) Got engaged on July 31^st. Started reconnecting with old friends and planning my wedding. Bought a puppy I named Lucy.

2006 – Rang in the New Year with Steven (New Years Eve is also his birthday!) Got a surprise positive pregnancy test on January 27^th. Decided to cancel our “big” wedding and travel to Hawaii and get married there. Got married in Honolulu on March 28^th in the rain. Steven got a new job. Watched my tummy grow. Gave birth to Gavin Arthur on October 2^nd and my whole world changed! Became a full time stay-at-home mommy.

2007 – Rang in the New Year with my hubby and son. Began jogging to lose the baby weight. Started working full time as a pregnancy counselor with Bethany Christian Services. Took Gavin on his first beach vacation. Participated in my 2^nd Memory Walk in honor of my Grammie. Gavin turned 1 year old! Earned the Best Mother of the Year award when I let Gav burn his hand on his birthday cake candle.

2008 – Rang in the New Year with my hubby and my son. Continued my work as a pregnancy counselor. Participated in my 3^rd Memory Walk in honor of my Grammie. Got my first tattoo in honor of my Grammie. Started blogging. Ran my first 5K. Started trying for baby #2 in June. Celebrated Gavin’s 2^nd birthday! Watched my best friend get married!

2009 – Rang in the New Year with my hubby, my son, my brother-in-law and his girlfriend and my mother-in-law. Continued to be inspired by my clients. Steven and I enjoyed a special trip to Washington DC for our 3^rd wedding anniversary. Peed on a stick on April 6^th and saw 2 lines! Stopped jogging. Found out on August 11^th that we would be having a baby GIRL!  Watched my belly grow and grow and grow. Steven got moved to 3^rd shift. Went to Creation for the first time and slept in a tent for the first time. Participated in my 4^th Memory Walk in honor of my Grammie.  Helped raise almost $2,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association since 2007. Gavin turned 3 years old! Gave birth to Gabrielle Louise on December 5^th and fell madly in love instantly!

My oh my how my life has changed over the past 10 years!!  I am so incredibly blessed to have all that I have and so very thankful.  I look forward to the next 10 years – continuing on this amazing journey of motherhood and growing with my family.  I do have tons of photos from the years where none are posted but don't have them on my computer.  Maybe I will load some eventually and update this post.. maybe! I, like many others, have resolutions and goals for 2010 - maybe I will post them tomorrow.  It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of 2009.. AND it's also my hubby's 32nd birthday =) Love you babe!

What a memorable Christmas!

I can't believe Christmas is already over.  Steven and I started our shopping on November 1st and I finished up most of it by Thanksgiving.. we never start our shopping unitl Black Friday but we knew this year we wouldn't be able to do any shopping with the baby coming so we got it done early.  It's so strange to think that we began preparing for Christmas day almost 2 months ago and it's over in a few short hours.

We had a wonderful Christmas!  We spent Christmas Eve at Aunt Patty's house and enjoyed time with great family  The kids did a gift exchage - Gabrielle got some adorable clothes, a fun rattle and a super cute Baby's 1st Christmas frame!  Gavin got a neat dinosaur/dragon book and an orange "puter" (computer) that he loves to play with!  All the adults did a gift exchange too, which was a lot of fun.  I haven't done one of those in a long time and it was fun to see who would steal gifts from people and what everyone ended up with.  Steven got some cool Eagles/Phillies stuff and I got some lottery tickets.. too bad I didn't win any $$.

After our Christmas Eve celebration we went home and let Gav open a gift.  Too bad for him it was only his Christmas pajamas, but he seemed excited.  He went to bed without a fight, thank goodness!!  Steven and I were up for about another hour or so getting everything situated for Christmas day then it was time for bed.  Gabrielle slept fairly well Christmas Eve night, she must have known Santa was watching =)  She woke up around 5 a.m. for a bottle and my hubby was jumping on the bed and super excited for Christmas.. I love his youthful spirit but I was not ready to start the day at 5 a.m.!!  Thankfully she went back to bed for a couple of hours and we started our Christmas day around 8 a.m. when Gav woke up.

Gav's face was just glowing when he came down the stairs and saw all the gifts under the tree.. there's nothing in the world that can compare to seeing a smile on your child's face =)  We opened some gifts and played for a while.  Gav got some great toys and Steven and I got some pretty awesome gifts too!  Steven gave me a new watch, a couple new CDs, a devotional book, a WVU blanket, a beautiful Willow Tree plaque and a snowman charm for my Pandora bracelet.  [He's a great hubby!]  I also got a Shirley Temple book and doll from my mother-in-law.. it's very special to both her and me =)

My brother-in-law Michael and his girlfriend Amanda came over for a little while to give Gav his Christmas gift.  He loves seeing his Uncle Mike and Aunt Manda!  I also love seeing them and love love seeing Steven spend time with his brother =)

Aunt Donna, Uncle Wayne, David and Christina came over to give the kids their gifts and to hang out!  Once again they all got the kids awesome gifts and everyone had fun playing with them =)  I also got to play with Aunt Donna's new camera.. very nice!!  Thankfully they stayed to enjoy dinner with us.  My family came over around 4 p.m. and we had dinner before opening more gifts.  I made an 11 pound ham this year and to everyone's surprise it was actually very good!!  We don't do a sit down dinner at Christmas, mainly because we don't have a big enough place to seat that many people all together so everyone was spread out in different rooms but it was still really good!  After dinner we opened gifts with my family and again we were all blessed with great things!  Gav got some great new toys.. which we don't have room for!.. and Gabby got some great stuff too.  I got a super nice sweater, special books for Gavin and Gabby, a couple gift cards and some other special gifts and my hubby got a CD, a movie and saddlebags for his motorcycle!!

As you can tell we had a very wonderful, memorable Christmas!  We really have an amazing family and are extremely lucky to have all that we have.  I'm so grateful for my husband - he was such a big help with Christmas.. all the cleaning and the preparing.. he's just awesome!!  And once again he made me cry this year with his card and his thoughtful gifts - I am one lucky lady =)

Today I took both kids to a little Christmas celebration at my aunt and uncle's house in Coatesville.  I was a little lot nervous about my first trip with both kids by myself but it was actually a very nice trip!  Gabrielle got to meet several family members for the first time, which is always very special.  Both kids got great gifts from Aunt Lou-Lou and Uncle John and it was nice to see some family we haven't seen in a while.

Gabrielle had a great first Christmas - she got to meet some of her family for the first time and she got some really special gifts.  Although she won't remember this Christmas there will be plenty of photos for her to look at one day =)  Here are some of my favorites from the Christmas holiday.  I hope everyone had a great holiday with their family/friends.

"Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so blessed.