It's Christmas Time again!!

Yet another year has come and gone. We've enjoyed this year and have had lots of fun together. We've all gone through some changes, but are looking forward to what the future holds.

Brett: Is still working for Carolina Restoration Services and is one of the top Water Technicians at the company and he's hoping for a promotion within the next year. He has been working a lot of hours lately, but looks forward to the overtime pay and what we can use it for (dental work, Christmas gifts, other expenses).  He was able to spend quite a bit of time over the summer working on the yard and was able to get a fountain working and was able to finish the privacy fence.  He was recently called as the Young Men's Secretary in our ward and is looking forward to working with the youth.  He knows it will be challenging at times to balance work, church, and family but he knows the Lord will bless him with finding that balance.

Melinda:  Has been continuing to work on de-cluttering the house over the past few months and things are getting better and better. There is still work to be done, but overall we're about 50% there.  She has also been working with Natalie on continuing her progress with her speech and has been starting on some preschool work with her and hopes to get potty training going soon.

 

Morgan: Is loving 1st grade and is thriving in school.  She wasn't able to continue with dance this year, but she loves to dance around the house and try to teach her younger sisters what she learned in past years.  She has also been a big help to her mother with taking care of things around the house and her younger sisters.  She can be quite the little mother hen at times.

 

Natalie:  Is doing very well with her speech and is actually no longer in speech therapy as they felt she was making enough progress that she would be fine on her own now.  She is now talking as good as other children her age.  She also recently started showing interest in going potty, so we're hoping that she'll be potty trained within the not too distant future.

 


Lucy:  Is into everything.  She is climbing on everything and running all over the place.  She has a love of life and doesn't like to be slowed down by anything.  She even didn't let a concussion she endured slow her down for very long.  She is also starting to talk more and we are amazed at some of the things she is able to do at such a young age.  She is learning a lot from her 2 older sisters.

 


As a family this year:
We were able to go to our Nation's capital for Thanksgiving with Melinda's parents, grandmothers, sister and brother-in-law.  We had a wonderful time and learned a lot at the museums and Arlington National Cemetery.
We are looking forward to Christmas and getting to talk to Brett's brother Bradley who is still on his mission.  We are also looking forward to spending a lot of time as a family and with our families and friends.  Melinda and the girls wil1 be spending the week of New Years in Edisto, SC with some of her family.

Speech therapy, Mother's day and Dance recital

It's been a busy last few months. So here's a little update on everyone in our family.

Brett: He's been working really hard and was recently promoted and given a raise. He's continuing to work towards his Master in Water Restoration. He's also working to try and get a new managers position within the company. He's also looking to start back to school in the fall.

Melinda: She's been working hard trying to keep the house and kids going while Brett's been working some crazy hours. It was really difficult a month or so ago when allergies caused her to rupture an ear drum which caused balance and other problems for her. She's recovering really well and her hearing is improving every day. She was able to enjoy Mother's day and is still enjoying her new camera she got.

Morgan: She's been doing really great in Kindergarten and continuing to love school. She also enjoyed taking dance again this last year and just had her dance recital. She did really well and we all had a great time watching her perform.

                

Natalie: She was evaluated a few months ago because she wasn't really talking and it was determined that she needed speech therapy.  Therapy is going very well - she already (in just a little over a month) gone from a vocabulary of about 15 words to just over 100 words. Every day she seems to doing better and better with her speech - more words and it's becoming easier to understand her. 

Lucy: She is growing like crazy. She is crawling all over now and getting into everything. She even tried to take a step last night. She also recently started a few trial runs with table food and so far has enjoyed it. It's crazy to believe that shell be a year old in just a few months.

Life 1 year later

It's hard to believe that we've been in our house a year now. It seems like just yesterday we were moving in, but at the same time it feels like we've been here forever. It's also crazy that I haven't posted in almost a year. A lot has happened in the past year. So in the spirit of the new year I will do a month-by-month update of what happened (to the best of my memory).
January- In about mid January we found out that I was pregnant with our third child and due in mid September. We were very surprised by this as I was still on birth control, but we figured that Heavenly Father's plan for our family was different than ours and he always knows better than we do so we got on board with having another child join our family.
February - We got Morgan all registered for school and got everything filled out to hopefully get her in to the local year round school. We also told all of our family that we were going to be having another baby in mid September.
March - We found out that Morgan got in to the year round school and we were super excited about it. We also got more things unpacked and were just so thrilled about life in general.
April - We enjoyed Easter and had fun watching the girls look for eggs in our front yard. They had such a great time!

May - I think it was in May that we went up to Williamsburg and got to see my cousin and her husband and spend time with most of my siblings and their families for the weekend. It was a fun trip and great to be able to spend time with them. Morgan also had her very first dance recital and she did great. So proud of her.

June - In June we found out that Morgan was on track 4 at her new school and found out when her orientation and everything would be. We also found out that Brett's youngest brother would be serving a mission in St. Geaorge Utah for 2 years. We were so excited for him. We got to see Brett's grandparents when they came out for Bradley's endowments. It was great to see them and talk to them about our baby's blessing and things.

July - We got to meet Morgan's teacher and get her started in school which she is really enjoying. We also celebrated our 7th wedding Anniversary.

August - I went into early labor that they had to stop (at 34 weeks) and then continued in early latent labor for what seemed like an eternity. Morgan really enjoyed going to school and was doing very well in school. We also found out that we would be put into a new ward that was being created. We have really enjoyed our new ward too.

September - On September 6th at 4am Lucy Jean was born and that was a real adventure for me as my epidural never worked and had a very rough labor with her. So glad that she was here (although it was 9 days before her due date). 

October - Morgan enjoyed her first track out from school (although she cried her first day on track out because she wanted to go to school). We also got to enjoy our first Halloween in our new house and took the girls trick or treating around the neighborhood. It was lots of fun for all of us.

November - We got to celebrate Thanksgiving with Brett's family at a beach house in Topsail. We got to spend time with his grandparents who were visiting for the Holiday and for Lucy's baby blessing. It was lots of fun and very relaxing to wake up to a view of the ocean and the sound of waves.

December - We got to enjoy Morgan and Natalie's birthdays with lots of family. We also blessed Lucy and got to enjoy the time with family for that special occasion. We then spent time with family for Christmas parties and things. We also got to skype with Bradley on Christmas day which was awesome. The girls and I then got to spend time with my family in Edisto, SC for New Years. We had a great time walking on the beach, watching dolphins, playing games, and just having lots of fun.

Now this new year is going to be spent getting the house decluttered and organized and getting healthier so. We hope to really enjoy this year and I hope to be better about updating this monthly with everything going on in our family. Last year was pretty good to us and we hope that this year of 2014 will be even better than 2013. Happy New Year to everyone!!!!