Christmas 2012

It has been quite a while since I have written new posts for this blog. I want to try to change this for 2013. I mean, come on! I've got two kids! There has to be interesting stories from them, right? And the whole reason I started this blog was so that I could keep our extended family informed about our little family of four. So that is what I plan to do. Once again! I want to inform our extended family about my family. If I happen to make a post touting my horn about my small business ( Doodle Bugs & Daisies) or sharing a new craft or recipe, so be it, but mostly, this is about family.

2012 was a fairly good year for our family. It had its ups and downs just like any other year, but it was mostly good!

January: 

Riley playing at the lake

We gained learning experience in buying a house! We did not get the house, and it was a blessing in disguise, but we learned A LOT with this. We went looking at a house after receiving an ad in the mail. We fell in love with the DEAL. Definitely not the HOUSE. After looking back, we can't believe we were trying to buy that house. It had NOTHING that was on our house "wish list."

February: 

Natalee NB photo

Natalee Ann Dye made her entrance into our little world on 02.22.12! George Washington's birthday. These ten months have been such fun having a second kiddo around :) This child is FEARLESS and she keeps me on my toes every day. Her big sister has grown to love her so much and I don't think Riley would know what to do without having a little sister around. I stopped subbing for my six week maternity break. Single income really kind of got to us, but we managed:)

March-June:

  

 

 Of course, Natalee kept me on my toes health-wise, too! At her two-month well-baby check up she was diagnosed "Failure to Thrive" because she had lost soooo much weight. March through June, I believe we were in the doctor's office with little miss Natalee every other week or so. What was supposed to be a six week maternity leave just kept on going... I was enjoying staying home with the girls:)

June: 

My dear husband celebrated his 28th birthday! I also began my new business venture, Doodle Bugs & Daisies. I have been crafting cute little dresses for little girls, making beautiful camera strap covers as well as other cuteness!

July: 

  

Matt and I celebrated two years of Marriage! No great vacation this year for us. We stayed home and celebrated small. I admit, marriage is no picnic in the park. It's been tough. But it's been pretty great, too!

August: 

 

I celebrated my big "Quarter-Century" birthday! Nothing special, but on my birthday, we got to watch some of our best friends get married and it was beautiful :) Matt decided to switch jobs! He had been working for one of the main gas companies for our area, but there were some downfalls to his job that were stressing him out. Such as: never knowing what area he would be working in, driving all day every day, office struggles within HR, having to go out of town for a week at a time every so often. That list probably has something forgotten, too. Now he works not ten minutes away from home, he has a set shift every day, and I know he will be home for dinner usually at the same time. It was a little bit of a pay cut, but we both considered it worth it!

September: 

   

Natalee's weight FINALLY got back onto some resemblance of a curve! We were |ThisClose| to needing to take her to Texas Children's Hospital for many tests for nutrition, allergies, diseases... Thank GOD she gain just as much weight as was needed for her to make her doctor not concerned anymore :) :) :)

October: 

    

Matt and I celebrated three years of parenthood! Our big girl turned three years old! This year was just a tame family-only celebration. Riley had a blast and enjoyed being the center of attention. Oh wait, she's  ALWAYS the center of attention! Ha ha ha...

November: 

Natalee's first Thanksgiving! Also our first Turkey Day with two children. For whatever reason, neither of them were really keen on sitting at the table for a NICE dinner. Screaming. Hollering. Food flying. Mess. Well, not really. But that sure is what it seemed like!

December:

  

  

 I had been taking Equine Nutrition at school this semester. I pulled off an 'A' in this class! I am so proud of that A. It has been a few semesters since I've had such a high grade, and it wasn't like a 90.0 - A. If the scale could have gone that high, I would've had a 126 - A!! I had the highest grade by ten points! I've never owned a horse, I just love them. And I loved the class, too! That always helps. December also brought on Christmas, of course. It was difficult, sort of. I still have not gone back to work. At this point, it's been hard for me to find anything that will pay for daycare, fuel AND have a profit left over to save or go to other bills. I can find everything in the world that will just pay for daycare and fuel, but then again, why work when I could just keep the girls at home with me? So with just Matt having the sole income source, it's been tight. We survive, and that's about it. So, with that, Christmas was tight, but we managed and it was a nice one :) Natalee had a great first Christmas and Riley enjoyed learning more about the true meaning of the season.

So that is our 2012 in a summary. I enjoyed my year, did you?

I hope you had a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


 I hope I will be more diligent in writing posts from now on.

Cheers!