9

It's no secret that I LOVE to take pictures. Silly pictures, serious pictures, self portraits with the girls or Eric, any pictures. Not really one for pictures of landscaping and such but I love pics with my family and friends. Over the years, I love to look back and remember just how tough it was to get my hubby to smile in pictures. I used to have to beg him. Well, after 13 years of knowing each other, I am proud to say that I no longer have to beg for that incredible smile. It's even to the point where he suggests the pictures sometimes. He's come a long way since July of 1998 with his boyish grin :) One day all of the pictures we've taken will be put into scrapbooks so we can sit and glance through (in a timely manner) the memories we've made as a couple and as a family. One day, just doesn't seem to be today. It's all these pictures that he takes and creates family videos from as well, so I love that he has learned to share my love of photographs.

10

Hello again Blogger World. Forget trying to catch up on all that's happened in the past 5-6 months. Instead I will post (moreso just so I have this somewhere else other than on Facebook) 10 things I am thankful for about my hubby in honor of our 10th wedding anniversary in 10 days. We won't be spending it together (surprise, surprise with this military life), but that doesn't mean I'm not grateful for what he means to me. So with that, here is #10 (all will be accompanied by a song b/c what can I say, I love music ;)). These will be in no particular order and will simply depend on my mood for the day. However, the single (double really) most blessing(s) in my life were given to me by the hubby. He is such a wonderful father with two little girls that never have to wonder just how much he loves them. The following video was the first one I saw of this song and it couldn't be more perfect for right now.

Christmas

We really started Christmas out with a bang. We started off one day by going over to the neighborhood center and letting the girls play basketball. Well Emily was passed a ball and it hit her pinky the wrong way. No big deal, I figured it was a good jam and we'd be good to go by the next day. She didn't really complain about it until she went to bed and was busy playing (when they were supposed to be sleeping) and hit it. So Christmas Eve morning, I headed over to work out after having sent Eric pictures of her finger. He quickly replied with "I've had broken fingers that look better than that, you need to take her to the ER". Mom's response was "She'll tough it out and be fine. I don't want to spend Christmas Eve in the ER for a jammed pinky". Needless to say, we went in for x-rays and after 3 1/2 hours at the ER, we came home with a splint on her left pinky. That was only the beginning of Christmas break!

Riding in the wheel chair to get her x-rays. Not sure why they need a wheelchair for a pinky.

Getting ready to head to Christmas Eve Mass

Daddy got to miss the one year where I think we only took 30 seconds to snap a picture or two. We had a gimp sheep and shepherd to get to church!

Moving on to Christmas Eve where we have everything ready for Santa and his reindeer.

Listening to Daddy read "The Night Before Christmas" before heading to bed.

We were tracking Santa and we saw that he had even stopped in Iraq to see Daddy!

Then came Christmas morning. About 430 Emily came in complaining about her stomach and life took another turn for the worst as we embarked on the stomach bug for Christmas Day! We spent the next few hours running back and forth between the bathroom, half the time me carrying her b/c she was too weak to get there herself. We finally got up around 930 or 10 and started opening presents. Thank the Lord for technology as we still got to be up and running on Skype with Daddy even though he couldn't be here with us. Needless to say, Christmas was low key for us.

A few days after Christmas, we got another opinion about Emily's pinky and ended up having a whole cast put on it. January 28th is when she gets it off! For now, it stinks, but she hasn't missed a beat.

Following Emily getting her cast on, we had plans to hang with friends for New Years Eve and ring in the new year. Someone had other plans for us, b/c Nichole caught Emily's stomach bug and we were all in bed before the ball dropped. We spent the next few days more low key, disinfecting the house and trying to get ready for school to start up again. It's amazing how different Mommy felt once Christmas break and all it's hoopla was over and school was back in session. We missed Daddy this year, he lucked out missing out on all the fun, but we will enjoy Christmas this coming year that much more!