2013 Christmas Letter

2013 has been a big year for our little family! It started last year at Christmas, when we seriously started thinking about the possibility of leaving our home of 6 years in Cordova, TN, and finally moving home to Oklahoma! We always knew we would come home at some point, but it just seemed like the time had come. So, with months of planning and looking, and planning and looking some more, we found and bought a home in Bethany, OK! It was a home built in 1964 and we began making plans to remodel the home and make it our own.

This is the house before updates. We love our trees but the rocks are going!

All packed up and ready to hit the road!

Justin was still flying with Pinnacle Airlines because he could just commute to his base of Detroit. I began my targeted search of a teaching job in OK. I set my sights on just a few districts, with a main target of Bethany Schools. I had done my student teaching there when I was in college and I knew it was a great place for teachers as well as students. I began calling on all of my connections (I had spent 6 years without connections out in TN, so I used everything I had now!) After many phone calls, FaceTime meetings, and flying to OK for an interview, I got the job teaching 3rd grade at Bethany Elementary! I was so happy!

It was bittersweet leaving all of our friends, church, and Jason & Ashley (and kids) in Memphis. I spent many nap times, evenings, and weekends excitedly packing our house. It was hard for me to believe we were actually getting to move home! At the end of June, my family was able to come out to TN to help us drive the 2 moving trucks, a truck with a trailer, and my car to Oklahoma! We were home!! We were so grateful to Justin's parents for letting us move in with them while we remodeled our home. We did ALL of the work ourselves!! (with lots of help from family of course!) This involved tearing out and moving walls, tearing out and rebuilding all cabinets, adding an office, rearranging a bathroom, and more! It took about 15 weeks to get our home ready to move in. During that time, I got to move into my classroom and start the school year, as well as plan and have Madison's 1st Birthday party in September! (see earlier post) We finally moved into our home the first weekend in October!

The week before we moved in, Justin got a call from a friend in Memphis who had a connection to someone looking for a Pilot in OKC. Justin has always flown commercially for an airline, but this was a private Jet job. The more we learned about the job, we knew it would be amazing! He got the job flying the private jet for the CEO of American Fidelity Assurance. He is now based out of Wiley Post airport! No more commuting to Detroit!!

The poor guy had to go to Maui during our winter storm here at home. 

So now we are happily settled into our beautiful home in an amazing neighborhood in Bethany, OK. Our neighbors have been so welcoming with lots of good food! I am blessed with my job at Bethany with amazing students and parents. Justin has officially started his new job, and started off with a trip to Maui! We have also found a great Sunday School group at Bethany First Church. Madison is now walking and we are enjoying her first Christmas as a little one that can somewhat understand! We are so very blessed to be back around family and for Madison to grow up in such a great place! We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas this year!

 P.S. Bella has been the same sweet little floppy eared dog she has always been and has loved every bit of the change! We have a nice big backyard with tons of trees and squirrels to chase!

Madison's 1st Birthday!

OK. I will simply say that I am aware that I have severely neglected this poor blog for most of the summer. Here in a couple of weeks, I will catch you up on exactly why. But for now, you will just have to wait.

BUT, I did not want to wait any longer on these! Pictures from her first birthday party! We had her party at Justin's grandparents house, since we don't currently have one of our own to party in..... I had a lot of decorating to do, outfits to make, decorations to make, but in the end...... I am very happy with the way everything turned out and even more happy with the party! Meaning, we had a ton of amazing family and friends come to celebrate our sweet little girl! She is so loved and I'm pretty sure she knew it after this party!

The invitation I whipped up. My talents grow. haha.

Decorations

Some of the Action from the party!

"ooooooohhhhhh"

With such a squirmy worm little girl, this is the best family shot I got!

taking it all in.......

Birthday friends! Both of these girls had their 1st B-day parties on the same day!

Oh boy did she love drinking out of that straw!

Hanging out with Uncle Robbie and Aunt E

In this picture we have family from OKC, Memphis, and even Alaska!

Putting on a show for the crowd.

Checking out her new ride from Mommy and Daddy!

All in all, I would call it a success! She loved all the attention, of course, and did great throughout the whole evening!

We love this lady so stinking much! There are no words to describe how much she has made our lives better. I will spare you the mushy jabber to avoid crying all over my computer, but if you have a kid, you get it. If you don't, get one (or some) as soon as your life can handle it. It's the best thing in the world!

Photos by M Lynne Photography. ;)

Swim time!

As we have been getting ready for the big move to OKC, I have tried to make sure to still do fun summer stuff! The other night we went to a pool with Jacob and Ashley, since the Daddy's are away! Madison was in a bit of a mood, which she never is, but she was not quite feeling the inflatables! I got her in her floatie long enough to take some pics, but you can pretty much see how she felt about that.....

This was the closest thing to a smile I got!

Oh the many faces of madison.... Not one smile in the pool!

I actually got a small smirk once we got out!! Ha! I'm hoping it was just her mood and that she LOVES swimming the next time! We still had fun though!

Uncle Robbie: Graduation

Friday! It's Graduation day! We were all in town and able to be there! It was pretty cool! It was at the National Infantry Museum, which was also pretty cool! We all got dressed up and headed out into the hot, humid day. I don't really know why I even fixed my hair really. It started out cute, but by the time we walked outside, it was all over.

On the way in! We are happy happy happy!

Who has the keys to this thing??

Watching everything with Gramps!

This was a really cool demonstration of the different positions and the job and weapons that go with each!

Robbie is in Delta Company 2-54 1st platoon. I had him explain it to me, and I think I get it, but it is all still a little confusing!

397 graduates.

Top pic: Robbie is in the middle

Bottom left: He is the back left guy

Bottom right: He is the far right guy

We had to do the tourist thing and take pics of these guys. We went up to take a close up too!

 After taking pictures together, we went through the National Infantry Museum. It was really cool and Madison was glad to cool off, as we all were!

Snoozing with Uncle Robbie. So sweet!

After graduation, Robbie got to put on his "civilian clothes" for the first time since January! We went out to lunch and got him all packed up to send to Atlanta with my dad to catch his flight to OKC! I can't imagine what it's like to go be away from everyone you know and live in conditions like basic training. I am proud of his work and that he stuck with it! 

Now he is home for about a week before he heads to Fairbanks, Alaska where he is stationed!