aaron.anica.emily.isabel.claire

Updates to come . . . maybe in January I'll find time :). Anyway I'm attempting to send Christmas cards out. Leave me a message with your address if you'd like one. Also I'm sure Aaron would love to receive mail from any of you. His address is: Aaron J DeHart 971st Camp Marmal APO AE 09368 It goes through the Army postal system so don't write "Afghanistan" on it or he may never get it. I sent him a package and it took about a week to get there, so not too bad. He's doing well. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Happy Holidays!!

Other than missing Aaron everyday, things are well. We've got our routine and despite each day's challenges, I continue to feel quite blessed. I'm lucky to have such sweet little girls and feel it's a blessing that I get to focus entirely on them and their needs in a way that I otherwise wouldn't get to experience if I shared the parental responsibilities with Aaron for this year. Emily is an awesome big sister. I am amazed at the compassion that she has not only for her little sister, but for those around her. I couldn't do it without her. Sometimes the things she says are quick reminders of how much responsibility she has taken upon herself in caring for Isabel. And Isabel, well she's just full of it. She becomes more and more spunky each day, not to mention the temper she's developing. But man is she fun! I've been blessed to have such wonderful friends, family, and ward members check in on me which helps me not feel so alone at times. ...

Day 1 of the next 400 days. I have to say I've been feeling something I completely didn't expect to feel today and that is blessed. I woke up at 3 a.m. to take Aaron to meet up with his unit. Came home, couldn't sleep, and woke up again at 7:45 to my beautiful girls' faces. The shorter one of which happened to be covered from head to toe (literally) in poo, but her little smile shone beneath as we scrubbed her down in the bathtub and Emily attempted to go to the bathroom while holding her nose and dry-heaving. Got a phone call later in the day from Aaron to say he'd made it safely to Fort Lewis, WA where he'll be for the next 3 weeks or so before heading to Afghanistan. He also gave me his address to overnight the list of things he'd forgotten. :) I can't blame him, how would you even begin to pack for a trip like that? This evening I've been reflecting on how grateful I am for all the love and support of friends and family that I know I can dra...

Em started 1st grade this week and is now gone all day, so my day's are filled with this little angel . . . Lucky for me, her personality is just as fun as her hair! I'm happy to say that the first day of school went fairly well, other than: Emily yelling, "Why can't I just have my OWN fashion!!!" when I tried to help her pick out her first day outfit, Izzy crying and holding her arms out for Em as we walked away from Em's classroom (broke my heart), and Emily refusing to get on the bus to come home because she "didn't know where to get off." All in all, a pretty good day. It all could have gone much worse.

We made the decision at the end of last year for Aaron to join the Army Reserves so that he could get some assistance for school and get on a better career path to support our family. This decision was not made without a lot of thought and careful consideration. In doing this we knew that he would have to leave us for four months to complete his Basic Training and AIT. We're happy to say that he made it through, graduating at the top of his platoon. The girls and I were able to keep busy and stay positive so the time went by fast. Now we're onto the next step, which we knew was a possibility, but hoped it wouldn't happen this soon. Aaron will be leaving for Afghanistan for a year to fight for our country. I have to be honest, when I found this out I laid around and cried for several days before I realized it wasn't doing any good so I better get up and get to work. We're focused on the positive things that will come from it and hope that it will go by fast. W...

but it's still a pig!!! These are the words of Aaron when I attempted to get my family to eat brussell sprouts for dinner for the first time. I brought out some ranch dressing for them to dip them in or in Emily's case drench them in. My family would say that I'm pretty lucky to have never had the experience of eating brusell sprouts growing up. In fact, I tried them for the first time a few months ago at work , where they are cooked in bacon grease and I thought, what's not to like. We received some in our Bountiful Basket one week, so I thought we'd give them a try. My mistake was that I left out the bacon grease. They didn't go over so hot. In the words of Emily, "They smell like throw up and they taste like it too!"

Starting July 1st I will be going private so if you'd like to keep tabs on our blog, please leave your e-mail and I'll send you an invite.

It has been both interesting and entertaining to watch my children develop and interact with other people. Izzy loves people. She likes any attention she can get and loves to smile and wave at people as long as she's within an arms length of mom. I was quite surprised a couple of weeks ago at church when I turned around to see she had walked right up to this cute elderly man, reached up to him, and sat there on his lap content with her fingers in her mouth. I went to get her and she didn't give me a second glance. She liked her new friend. Last week we were at church again when this same man walked up to us and said, "I have to say hi to my little friend, she made my day last Sunday and I brought her something." He pulled a little wooden spoon out of his jacket pocket that he had carved and treated for her. I thought that was so sweet of him. Now for Emily. We were at the gym this past week and from where I was running on the treadmill I could see Emily on the ...

We celebrated Izzy's 1st birthday on April 18. My baby is one already! What a fun year it has been. Izzy is the happiest, mellow little girl. We just love having her in our home with her smiling face and her sweet, easygoing nature. As you can imagine, her hair tends to draw a lot of attention wherever we go and she's getting to the point where she recognizes when people are talking about her hair, so she'll put her hands back at the back of her neck to caress her hair as people admire it. Things I've come to love about Izzy: -I love how she has the hugest smile that lights up her whole face -I love how she has conversations with herself in her carseat - I love how she makes friends wherever she goes -I love how she claps for herself when she's proud of what she's done - I love how she calls her big sister "Muh" and even tries to mimic my scolding tone when Em's in trouble - I love how when she's really tired and doesn't have a blanket she...

Emily and I had our birthdays over the weekend. She had her 6th and I, my 29th . I'm sure this will be the first of many 29th's. :) I'm a little apprehensive about 30, which is weird because I always thought people were dumb for not wanting to get older, but it might just be the fact that my younger fabulous husband likes to rub in how old I am. When I look back over the last decade these are some of the major events and accomplishments I met in my 20's and I share them not to brag, but solely to have a more positive outlook and convince myself of the potential and goals I have for my 30's. I traveled to 4 countries and 15 states I attended 4 schools Lost 2 permanent teeth I graduated with my Associate's degree I graduated with my Bachelor's degree I obtained my Cosmetology license I married twice Divorced once Became the mother to 2 beautiful girls Had 2 dogs Lived in 6 different houses/apartments Lived in 2 states and 1 foreign country Boug...

I like to unwind by reading before bed at night. I recently had a fun, easy read I thought I'd share if you like fashion. It's "You Know You Want It," by Eric Daman who is the fashion designer for Gossip Girl. When I go to the library I often like to pick up books people have suggested on their blogs, but I'm out of suggestions so if you have a good book please leave me a comment so I can pick it up : ). Also I would like to turn my blog into a book for journal purposes. Does anyone know a good site you would suggest to do this?

This little angel is the greatest blessing we received in 2009 and what a blessing she is! Am I the only one who thinks she just keeps getting cuter and cuter? I'd be lying if I said that 2009 wasn't a difficult year for us because I sure feel like it was. As with every year we had our ups and downs, but for some reason we seemed to stay more on the down side trying to make our way up. When I get discouraged about life I try to think of the blessings I have rather than what I don't have. Sometimes it hard, but I am definitely grateful to be the mother that these two little girls call "mommy." Would I be considered a bad mother if some days I wonder if they were sent as a blessing or a trial :) ? I hope somebody else has had that same thought . . . We are hopeful for this upcoming year. We have some lofty goals and pray that we may find the right path to achieve them. Some of the greatest challenges of the goals we set seem to be the small steps we have to ...