2011 review- 2012 resolutions

Let's see how I did on my New Year's resolutions for this year...

~ Take pictures of adults! (you'd think Rachel lives by herself!)

I think more pictures had adults in them, but there were still kids in them too

~ Become a couponing queen- any tips will be gladly accepted- anyone else care to take this on with me?

I tried to use coupons, but I spent so much time gathering them, and then searching around the store and comparing prices all to find that the store brand was cheaper anyway!

~ Keep up with birthday/holiday cards (oops, already late on one of those!)

Hmm, some I did great with, others- not so much. This is one resolution that I am going to try harder to keep for next year.

~ Spend more time with friends

I have gotten together with some girlfriends just to talk and catch up some, but it was a little difficult with all these babies around. We have made more friends through our small group and have been able to do more things as families, which I love!

~ Try different foods

I think I've done better, but I don't know if pregnancy helped or hurt this. Sometimes everything tasted good, while other times nothing did.

~ Have even more fun than last year with Dustin and Rachel!

We had some great times this year, traveling and spending time with family. I also loved seeing Wicked with Dustin!

With all of the changes happening next year, I've decided no big resolutions- just to hang on and love every minute minute of it! (Oh yeah, and keep up with cards:) )

House Changes- Inside

We've had some major changes take place inside the house recently. Our guest room is now the nursery for Gavin! At first, we left the study as it was, but that didn't work out so well for when company comes. So we cleaned out the study and made room for the guest bed in there. We just have a few boxes of yard sale stuff and camera/sewing equipment that needs a more permanent home now!

Mom and Dad N. came up after Christmas to bring Rachel's kitchen and to help move around the living room, too.

Now, if I can just keep the house somewhat in order, I'll be doing great!

House Changes- Outside

This year was a big year for our house. We knew when we bought the house, that we were going to need a new roof at some point. After some bad storms during the summer and losing some shingles, we decided to go ahead and replace the whole roof. We have a friend from church who is a contractor, so we hired him to do it for us. After all, he did such a great job on our deck!

We also knew that our gorgeous sweet gum tree that is perfect for climbing was going to one day attack our house. It hasn't done it, but we didn't want it too, so we decided to have it taken down. There was quite a bit of drama in getting it taken down... but it is finally down!

I knew the tree was big, but didn't realize that the stump was THAT big.

Christmas Portraits

We took a little bit of time and did Rachel's Christmas portraits while at my parents house. She was a complete ham! We only had to bribe her with gummy bears a few times.

North Carolina visit

We headed down to North Carolina for the day to visit some of Dustin's family. Even though it was a short visit, we had a great time and I know they all love to see Rachel!

Playing with the castle from Uncle Danny and Aunt Cheryl

She loved giving hugs to Nannie

After lunch with Nannie and Papa, we went to see Grandma Roberts.

They were talking about something!

Rachel enjoyed her ride back to the front door!

Nieter Christmas

We headed to Chesapeake for a few days around Christmas this year. It worked out that way so we could come back home at the end of the week and get Gavin's room organized some and also relax a little before going back to work.

We had a great time visiting with not just Mom and Dad N and Brent and Kim, Blake and Alli, but the Brown/Maggiore family on Christmas Eve, too! Thanks to Jen and Joe for hosting a great Christmas Eve dinner for everyone!

Warning- Picture overload ahead...

What a cutie!

Rachel and Alli at the Maggiore house. I love that they both took their shoes off!

Hugs!

Rachel and Megan opening gifts from the grandparents

These two are so cute together!

Rachel had such a good time with Papa Joe too!

Our (growing) family

Christmas Day was wild and crazy, and I loved it! We started out the morning just the three of us reading the Christmas story and opening stockings. The stockings took a while since Rachel wanted to open every little thing in hers, including nail polish, her chapstick, big girl underwear, hair clips... yes, she's a complete girl now!

Mimi loved every minute of watching all the kids/grandkids!

Blake loves garbage trucks and I was so excited to find him one. I'm pretty sure he likes it too, but I don't know about Brent and Kim... it makes noise!

Rachel had to help Aunt Kim out a little bit!

Precious little Alli, who loved getting into everything!

Rachel helped deliver gifts

Thanks Aunt Bonnie for Gavin's gift, too!

Poppy made a special gift for Rachel...

A kitchen! She loves it!

Blake and Alli do too. They all had such a good time!

We got a portable DVD player, too. That will come in handy on trips and in the hospital in a few months!

Rachel loves her red nail polish

I love this picture. Surprisingly, it didn't take too long to get it. Next year may be a different story though!

I think it was harder to get a picture of the dogs than it was the kids!

Thanks for letting us stay with you, Mimi and Poppy!

Last Christmas as three

We celebrated Christmas a few days early with just the three of us this year since we will be in Chesapeake on Christmas day. It was so much fun this year since Rachel actually understood what was going on somewhat. We loved watching her open presents and get so excited over everything!

Play-Doh and accessories!

"What is that!?"

She LOVES her new shopping cart. She especially loves putting her baby in the part by the handle, just like on a real one!

She likes her mini pillow pet, too!

She loves feeding her new baby... practicing for her new brother!

Dustin and I had a wonderful morning, too. I love my new tablet that he got me! I'm pretty sure he's enjoying his new camera equipment.

Big Girl Bed

While Dustin's parents were here, Dad M. helped move the crib and some other furniture out of Rachel's room and move in her big girl bed.

This was the next day after her nap. (She got a little hot wrapped up in her big blanket!) She did great! So far she has gone right down and hasn't gotten up until we go in to get her.

McCollum Christmas

This year Mom and Dad McCollum, and Benji and Katie came up to Roanoke for Christmas. It was fun to have everyone up here and I'm so glad they could all be here at the same time.

Lots of presents!

Aunt Katie was showing everyone a video... Rachel loved it!

"Kiss"

What a big present for Rachel!

"Thanks Aunt Katie and Uncle Benji for the bowling set!"

Uncle Benji put the doll house together from Grandma and Papa

She loved playing with the new doll House!

One day while everyone was here we went to Hotel Roanoke to see all the Christmas Trees

Papa liked the tree that was decorated with race car stuff.

Rachel has decided recently that she likes to put her hands in her pockets when she walks (especially if someone else is doing it!)

I had to take a minute to sit and rest my feet!

Love my little family!

Rachel was so tired after walking all around the hotel and downtown that she had Uncle Benji carry her all the way back to the car. She almost fell asleep!

We went to see Santa at Fantasy Land again this year!

We all had to wait while Santa got ready for us.

Rachel sat so nicely while he told stories and sang!

With Papa and Grandma waiting to get her picture taken

She liked Santa from a distance, but did NOT want to get too close!

This was as close as we got... She was close enough to get the candy cane from him, tell him "Thank you" "Merry Christmas" and blow him a kiss goodbye... don't know what got into her, she's usually so friendly!

We had a great time with the McCollum side of the family for Christmas! We are so happy that we could do so many fun things while they were here.