I did it again!

I can't believe how little time I have for blogging! Here it is 11:15pm and I'm making myself stay up to do this. It is time to update. We have so much going on. We are in the middle of Mattie's transitioning from Early Intervention to the public school system. I'm really not looking forward to this next step. I love having Mattie with me at my school daycare. She will be 45 minutes from me and I'm really going to miss her! Of course, she technically hasn't qualified yet. She goes Thursday for her evaluation. We'll wait 2 weeks and then find out placement. I'm a little concerned about where she will end up. I would rather have her in a daycare type setting then in a different school setting. And to top it all off, our county has decided to place all the preschool children in the worst part of our town beginning in the fall. I am not happy about this at all and I've been told by others that my only choice is to go private. We'll have to see what happens. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep an open mind.

Closing Remarks

Well I didn't really get a chance to post some closing remarks for the year 2010. It was a pretty uneventful year with some ups and downs. The biggest downs for us this year were vehicle problems. My husband has been through 3 vehicles this year. His trusty old Chevrolet broke down on him. We had just payed off our cars and really wanted to keep it that way. So the hunt for another vehicle started. We found the perfect mode of transportation for our family and we bought it. Well, that lasted about 6 or 7 months and the transmission went out. We are still looking for another one to replace that but in the meantime, he needed something to get and back forth to work. So we have just gotten another vehicle. Here's hoping that this will last us a little longer. Now that the not so good stuff is out of the way, I can focus on the great things. I really feel that I have so much to be thankful for.

Our health. We have been blessed with a healthy year. No hospital visits or any other major health issues. Mattie does still have Kidney Reflux and yes it got a little worse but it is still in a very manageable. We will continue to give her a nightly dose of medicine and monitor it throughout the New Year.

Our Faith. How awesome that we have the freedom to worship our God! Other countries aren't that lucky. I am also so thankful for my church family. I was able to go to a Women's retreat to the beach, Girlfriend's Unlimited Nights, Bible Study, and Joyful stitchers. Joyful stitcher's worked on sewing pillowcases for our local children's hospital. We were able to hand deliver them just a couple of weeks ago. It was very touching. I even got to meet a little baby with Down syndrome. She was in PICU recovering from her heart surgery. Her foster mom was grinning from ear to ear and you could just see the love she had for this little blessing from God.

Our Family. Being able to just spend time together. We were very thankful for our summer vacation to the beach, visiting the NC Aquarium, going to the ball field to watch our girls play softball, the Buddy Walk, Trunk or treat, Tailgating and ECU football games.

Our Friends. I can't say enough about our friends. They are always there for us no matter what!

And finally but not least having a very white Christmas Break! It was beautiful!!

Looking forward to a great year in 2011!

More Snow pictures

The kids wanted to go out and play in the snow. Well, Mattie and Caroline. Abby would rather just stay in her room. She's in her own teenager world.

Mattie's first adventure yesterday resulted in standing in one place. 0nce she realized she could walk in the white stuff, she was all over the place. Mattie has gotten into this posing stage. I've got a friend who takes awesome pictures and I will occasionally take the girls and "try" to take "serious" pictures. Well, the best I can without having an slr camera. Mattie now knows that when it is time to take a picture, that she should go stand next to a tree or strike some pose. It's quite funny! Anyway, here are just a few pictures I took of Caroline and Mattie today.

We have snow!!

So we didn't get snow on Christmas Day but we did wake up to snow today! What a special treat to have no obligations and another relaxing day with the family. I must say I must be getting old since I really don't have any desire to go play in the snow. I just love looking at it. I think Abby would much rather stay inside too. Caroline went out with her friend to play for awhile and has already changed clothes several times. Mattie didn't like the snow last year. This time she actually picked it up and showed some interest in it. She still isn't too sure about walking in it. She just stood in one place picking up the snow and throwing it. Here are a few pictures from the morning.





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We're still here.....

Hope everyone is well and creating wonderful memories during this holiday season! I have been quite busy with Mattie keeping me on my toes. Even as I type this little bit, I have had to hop up twice to redirect our little busy body. As much as I find it very difficult to blog, I know that I need to start keeping up with our daily life again. As we find ourselves fast approaching Mattie's final months with the Birth - three Early Intervention program, our blog has come in handy when looking up information concerning milestones. I'm sure I could write a book about our new and upcoming journey into the world of special needs and public education. I will save that for another day. When I have a little more time, I will post an update of the girls too. Hopefully very soon! For now, I will leave you with another one of my favorite Youtube videos they shared at church. Have a very Merry Christmas!!

Just think about it......

We made it through October!

October was such a busy month with very little down time. We've been at the ball field several nights a week along with weekends. Matt had a men's retreat one weekend in Virginia, off to Raleigh for the Buddy Walk the next, then my women's retreat for me the next weekend, Fall Fest for church, and ended out the month with another busy weekend. I've enjoyed every minute of it, but looking for a little bit of down time in November. This past weekend, we went to a friend's house for a Halloween party. It was a great family fun event. Then Sunday, we took the girls to our trunk or treat at church. After leaving there, we went home and visited our regulars in the neighborhood. I think Mattie had more than her share of trick or treating fun. She dressed as a princess for her school on Wednesday. We dressed her to match her punk rock sisters on Saturday. We left out the pink hairspray and make-up. I was not going there with that. Then on Sunday, she was a puppy. I've posted a few pictures of the girls dressed up below.

This is Mattie's favorite dress up outfit at school so they let her wear it for trick or treating. They bring the little ones around each classroom to get treats from all the teachers and their students. Mattie was exhausted by the time she got to my room.

Mattie as a puppy dog. The hat did not stay on long.

Wearing her punk rock skirt to match her sisters.

Caroline and Abby as 80's punk rock girls.