Merry Christmas!
What a busy year this has been!
Steve has been busy at work. He is course directing a class and teaching another class in the Civil Engineering department at the AFA. It is busy but it is a job he loves and he does it really well! I wish he could teach forever!
Carey has been working for Pediatric Speech and Language Center as an administrative assistant scheduling and doing billing. It is a great job that she can do from home while being with the kids. She has joined a weekly Bible study and is enjoying the study of Daniel and Revelation.
Abby is a joy. Oh man, this girl makes us laugh and smile every single day. She has grown in so many ways this year: she is drawing like crazy, writing her letters, spelling her name, writing notes to friends, and loves to play school (future teacher in the making???). She goes to preschool one day a week and we absolutely love her teacher and the program. Her new found love is collecting "golden blooms" something she learned from the show Jake and the Neverland Pirates, it took us a while to figure out what a "golden bloom" is.
Lucy is learning more and more everyday. We are constantly hearing new words from her (today she said "Lucy" for the first time!) She is our early bird and we have to work with her to sleep a little later in the morning. She is passionate about being a "big girl" and loves to do every single thing her big sister does. She no longer sits in a booster on the table, prefers to brush her own teeth and hair, wants to write, and will chase Abby anywhere she goes.
Below is a summary of our year by month. I have put links in some of the months to other pages in our blog with pictures.
January: The highlight of January was being able to spend New Year's Eve with the Bolton family. We loved living with them while we were in transit last year and it was awesome to have a night with them eating fondue.
February:
Abby turned three! We had a fun birthday/Superbowl party with our small group.
March: Lucy turned one! That year went by so fast. We did a combined K group meeting (our small group)/Birthday party with a pinata. At the end of the month we headed to
Alabama for SOS training with Steve.
April: We spent this entire month in Alabama living in our two bedroom apartment and met some incredible families. We will treasure that time as a family. While in Alabama we went down to Florida to visit
Destin and
Watercolor beach.
May: We finished up SOS (it was 8 weeks) and headed down south to
Disney World! Midge and Paul joined us down there, it was the trip of a lifetime. We came back to Colorado and the next weekend spent time with our friends at the
sand dunes, we are so happy we got the chance to visit those while we are still living in Colorado.
June: June was a busy month with Steve working. He had a lot of camps and things going on the Academy. The highlight of this month was when Sarah and Amber came to visit. It is so fun sharing our life with family when they come out here to see us.
We drove to the top of Pikes Peak.
July: The highlight of this month was, hands down, the
cruise. Steve really pushed to make this happen and although I (Carey) was hesitant to leave the girls for so long, it was an amazing trip; it felt like a second honeymoon! We loved hanging with Andy and Brittany. We also got to go to Michigan for a week before the cruise and spend some time
up north with the cousins. Time like that always makes us miss living in Michigan.
August: This was the "back to real life month." Steve went back to work from our summer leave and Steve and I both turned a year older...Steve entered his 30's and I continued on in mine....At the end of the month we were able to go to the
Colorado Springs Balloon Launch for the last year they are doing it here. The girls loved eating donuts and watching the balloons.
September: Steve was pretty busy at work and that made for long days and lazy weekends. We enjoyed the "lazy weekends" part. The highlight of this month was the trip to
Vail. We love our small group and really enjoyed the time away together. It is amazing we can have so many families in one place and it all goes so smoothly.
October:
Halloween! Nana made each of the girls an Elsa dress! Oh, they were so sweet! We wore the dresses on and off all month and I prayed each time they wore them that they wouldn't rip (they didn't). Abby had so much fun on Halloween with Alice; again, we spent the night over at the Boltons and the parents hung out after the kids went to bed (we made it until 9:45, I know, we are wild).
November: Steve shot a pheasant! He went out with Danny from work and spent the weekend hunting; This may be his new hobby! The best part of this month was when the Klenke's came out. Andy, Brittany, Midge and Paul all came to Colorado and we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving together.
December: Well, it is December 6 and I am writing this letter...So, it's going well so far. Today is Nanee's (Carey's mom's) birthday. We are celebrating here in Colorado. We are anxious to see family in Michigan at the end of the month.
Thanks for reading all the way to the end and we pray for a blessed 2015 for your family!
