What a year.

2009 was an amazingly crazy year.

Last new years we were in our home in Germany, freezing as the kids lit their sparklers while freezing by the firepit in our yard. It was SO cold.

In February we went to Paris. It was so amazing and we had such a great time.

Early March we went to Austria with our church homegroup. Such a great time, and so many memories.

At the end of March the boys and I flew back to the States with Darryl's dad to move back and live with my parents a couple of months before Darryl. I missed (and still miss) my friends in Germany. They are like family to me and I'll never forget them.

March-June we had a great time catching up with our family and the boys got so spoiled by their grandparents. June 4th, Darryl flew home from Germany! We celebrated Caleb's 4th birthday on the 21st with family and friends.

There was supposed to be a 2 month time frame from when Darryl was getting out of the Army to him going to the FAA Academy for his air traffic control job in Baton Rouge, which was perfect for us because Darryl got paid until August with the Army. We kept waiting and waiting to find out the date for the Academy in preparation to his job in Baton Rouge, but nothing. So in July Darryl called and found out that if he still wanted the Baton Rouge position it would be January before he'd get there. Well, that was impossible for us since he was almost officially out of the Army, so he asked if there was anything else. Lo and behold, they had room at the airport in Jackson, MS and he'd leave 2 weeks later for the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. I cried because we had actually started a contract for building a house in Walker, near Baton Rouge, and because I had so been looking forward to living so close to family! But, at the same time, I knew this was God and it would all work out better than anything I could come up with myself. So, we went to the cities surrounding Jackson and went househunting. Found the house we wanted the 2nd day we were there and put an offer on it. The seller accepted and we were so excited.

In August, Darryl left for Oklahoma City and the boys and I stayed in Slidell with the family.

On September 5th Ayden turned 2, so the boys and I drove 12 hours to go visit Daddy that week so he could see his boys. It was a great time. September 15th I closed on the house here in Brandon, MS. On the 24th-25th, the movers came and brought all of our stuff. I couldn't have done it without my parents and Darryl's mom here helping me through everything since Darryl was gone. They were such an integral part of me not going insane through this whole process! LOL On the 26th Darryl flew in! He finally got to see the house again with our stuff in it and was amazed at how much was done. It was so nice to have him back.

October was spent getting things just the way we wanted everything, though it also included 2 or 3 trips to Slidell, and our friends coming here to visit!

November we had everyone here from both families for Thanksgiving and had a great time!

And now in December we've been keeping so busy, been to Slidell and able to celebrate Christmas with both families. We have had such a crazy, amazing blessed year, and I am so thankful for everything God's given us. Even when we don't know the outcome, He always does and always gives us more than we could ever ask or think.

I don't usually do many resolutions for the New Years thing, but I do have many goals for myself and my family that I hope we can achieve.

* to grow in our love for the Lord. Caleb is learning Bible verses and I hope by memorization he learns to love it and love God for everything He's done for us. Ay is still a little young, but he can memorize too!

* to be a patient teacher to my little students. my babies. I hadn't planned on homeschooling for Caleb's preschool, but I am really glad I am. I love being the one teaching him to read. It can be so frustrating, but ultimately it's so rewarding. Ayden loves learning too, and he listens to alot of what I'm teaching to Caleb. We still aren't sure as to wait we are doing for kindergarten, either private school or homeschooling.

*to play more, and clean less. A clean house is what I love, it's what really makes me happy, but I'll try to do it more when the boys are sleeping and just enjoy them. There always seems to be too many things to do and not enough time in the day.

*speaking of doing things, I hope to craft more this coming year. Craft with the kids, and just projects for the house and stuff like that. I love that kind of thing.

*to grow our own garden. I really would love to go pick cucumbers and bell peppers with the boys. I've always wanted my own vegetable garden.

* to grow in my photography. I hope to start a business this year, but most of all I hope to get as close to perfect as I can with the thing I love to do so much.

To be a better wife, mother, friend, daughter, all of the above! I can be so selfish sometimes, and could use a swift kick in the rear at those times. :) I'm just so thankful that God placed us where HE wants us to be used, and I hope we realize in this next year what He put us here for and that we do His will. Happy New Year Everyone!!

Thankfulness.

I'm thankful. I promise. But it's been SO very busy around here, I just haven't had time to blog about it!! And even though I really don't have time now because I have a huge pile of laundry to do, and floors to vacuum, and toilets to clean, I'm making time. Because if I don't, it'll be Christmas before I do, and I cannot let Christmas come without being able to share what I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for..

*the cross, and for Jesus who died on the cross to save me from Hell.

*the Bible. It's the only book I have time for these days, and really the only one that matters.

*an amazing husband who supports me and loves me without fail.

*the 2 most amazing, wonderful, handsome, curious, witty boys on the planet. I love my bubbies.

*an awesome Mom & Dad who have taught me so much and have become my very close friends, they are awesome Grandparents too.

*a hilarious brother. He is such a fun person to be around and I look forward to all the moments we get together. He always has a good attitude no matter what. I'm thankful for his wife and kids too. They are SO cute and I just love hanging out with Sarah.

*wonderful inlaws who are always there for us, they are amazing grandparents too.

*the ability to drive 2.5 hours to see those grandparents. That's such a blessing. Just a year ago we'd have to take a 12 hour flight plus layovers.

*for friendships. I've made so many amazing friends in Germany and here back home. I cherish every one of them, and miss my friends I left behind!

*for laughter. It's what makes me tick. I love to laugh, and I love to be with people who love to laugh. It's just who I am.

*tickle fights. They make the bubbies dimples show. And I love their dimples.

*Freedom fighters. All of the ones past and present fighting for our freedom. They are heroes. Darryl's brother just got back from Iraq in September, I'm so glad he made it home safely We're so grateful for his service.

*Darryl's sister Julie. She's my sis, and I love her. She's grown so much in the time since I've known her, and I'm so glad to be able to call her a close friend.

* an awesome church family in Slidell who treats us as if we were never gone every time we go back.

*my bestie, Lisa. She moved to Cali this year but I got 2 months with her before she left and got to meet her baby girl, Aubrey. She's sooo cute. Lisa's been my best friend since best friends mattered. I miss and love my Wheeza!

*Our beautiful home! We were so blessed to be able to have bought our first home this year. We love it so much and so do the boys.

*webcams. They make smiles, and googly eyes, and all that snazzy stuff happen. When we were in Germany it's the only real way the boys knew their grandparents. And now I get to see Aubrey in them too! :) Score.

*Urgent care. Because even if they can't live up to their name, they still get the job done and make my bubbies better.

*Amoxicillan. It makes the double ear infections go away.

*My camera. Because I'd die if I couldn't capture these memories in still form. I want to remember how little the bubbies were, and how funny Ayden looked when he spilled the rice krispies all over the floor. Or remembering the look of amazement on Cbear's face when he was picking up acorns off of the ground. Those are things we could easily forget, but I won't, and I'm so glad I won't.

*A constant mess to clean. Because it means my boys can run around an be boys. There isn't an illness taking over their bodies, they are just healthy little, rambunctious boys who love to get into things. And I can handle that. :)

*Traveling. The chance to be able to travel Europe was amazing and I wouldn't change the 4 years we lived there for anything. I loved seeing the Eiffel Tower, Coliseum, and Berlin Wall. There were soooo many things we got to see and I hope to see more some day.

*Computers and Internet. I just don't even know how I'd live without it. It makes so much possible!

*STORES! Clothing, grocery, craft, you name it! After 4 years of not getting to shop much in Germany, I am surrounded by awesome stores 5 minutes from my house!! Good for me! Not so good for Darryl. ;)

*The moon. I love looking at the moon, and so does my Ayden. Sometimes when I'm driving at night and there's a beautiful moon I won't go home right away, but I'll take the long route and just stare at the moon. It's an amazing thing.

*books. The boys love em', and I do too. I just wonder when I'll get the chance to read one without pictures again.. haha.

*the ability to have Thanksgiving at our new home with my parents, my brother and Sarah and 3 kids, Darryl's parents and sister, his brother and wife and 2 kids, and us and our 2 kids! It was crazy but SO fun. Michael introduced us to a new game and I love it. I think Darryl and I are officially addicted to it. The grandparents had a blast making memories too. It was a great time.

*Christmas music. We LOVE Christmas music. It makes me all warm inside, and I can't stop playing it right now!

*Hot cuckoo coffee (hot chocolate) Because my boys love it, and so do I. I despise coffee, but I can down some hot cuckoo coffee!

There's so much more, but I'm out of time. You see, I'm behind on uploading pictures, doing laundry, cleaning floors, and vacuuming. I also have to start school back up with Caleb tomorrow, and I need to hop on the treadmill and run 2 miles. I have lunges and squats to do, and also have a 2 year old with a double ear infection to put down for a nap. My ears, head, and throat are also killing me, but who has time for that, you know? And I'm thankful for ALL of it. So, if you don't get by now why I haven't updated, you probably never will. But I will try to do it more, k?

I'm so very blessed and thankful for it.

~Erin

We have a house!!

Ok, so it's not ours yet officially, but still..very close! Everyone probably knows now that we WERE moving to the Baton Rouge area for Darryl's air traffic control job, and that it got changed to Jackson, MS a couple of weeks ago. (Long story short, he had the job there but wasn't going to be able to start working there until January or later because they overhired. Darryl asked if there was anything else available soon and lo & behold Jackson was, so we took it.) So anyway, we started frantically looking for houses online and narrowing them down. We found a great realtor in Jackson who has been such an amazing help. Anyway, Friday morning we headed over to Jackson which is about a 2.5 hour drive from here and looked at all the surrounding areas. We had never been there so all of the little cities around it were new to us. Anyway we looked for hours that day and couldn't find anything in our price range that we loved. Most of the time the issue we were having was that we just couldn't find a big enough living area or backyard. We were searching for 4 bedroom homes and just coming up short. So that night we decided to look at 3 bedrooms and found a few, wrote them down, hoping to find something in the morning. We stayed with an AWESOME friend of mine, Melinda and her family, and had a great time. (Even though my monsters spilled popcorn everywhere! LOL) So the next morning we head out and end up looking at 3 houses. The first one was just too tiny, so we go on to the 2nd one. On the outside it just looked like an ordinary home, but when we walked in we fell in love. Especially when we saw the backyard! It's nice and big for the boys to run around in and comes with a shed AND a wooden swingset!! Score! It's amazing and we loved the couple that lives there. They were so nice to us and the boys. We went to another house, but just had to go back to the 2nd because we wanted to take pictures, which in turn is a whole other story because my camera battery died the night before so we had to get a crappy disposable one and then the flash wasn't working. It was a total mess!! But nonetheless, we decided we loved it, went to the real estate agent's office and started working on our offer! It was so exciting, and the boys did so well sitting there for hours looking at all those houses and while we were working on all tha paperwork. Of course McDonalds and a portable DVD player helped with that. ;) Anyway, we didn't hear anything until almost 24 hours later, but we got the house! There was a counter offer involved, but it hardly changed anything and we are just so excited. We are actually living in the city of Brandon, MS, SO close to tons of shopping and I just love it! We close on my dad's birthday, August 31, and it will be an amazing feeling to purchase our first home! God is good to work all of these details out and we are so stoked!