1566 Days

2013 has been quite a year for our family!

We started off the year with snow in January!

We celebrated Arianna's 6th birthday in February

my 27th birthday in early April

My best birthday present was meeting this sweet little girl, my Goddaughter, Max!

 

and Jon's 26th birthday a bit early right before he left for Recruiter's School.

In May, we got our biggest news of the year when Jon was assigned to RS Phoenix and we found out that we would be moving home!

We celebrated two graduations in June- Jon from Recruiter's and Arianna from kindergarten. Arianna also danced in her last recital with Stafford Dance Center.

We kicked off July by celebrating our last 4th of July in DC and ended the month by bidding farewell to our home on MCB Quantico. The girls flew out with my mom (my first time being away from Lucy and the longest I've ever been away from Ari!) and Jon, Ruby, and I arrived five days later after a long cross country drive.

We immediately started house hunting. We found our very first home in August.

Jon and I celebrated four years of marriage in September with our traditional dinner at Ruth's Chris.

Jon has been incredibly busy with work and it's been quite an experience being away from the flight line. Truth be told, he can't wait to go back.

We moved into our new house in October and almost immediately, Ruby and I flew out to Maryland to visit my best friend Lisa and her family. While we were out there, we got to celebrate her daughter Emy's 4th birthday as well as her daughter (and my Goddaughter!) Maxine's baptism.

When we returned, Arianna started 1st grade at a school really close to the house. We spent the first months of the school year homeschooling before discovering that it's just not the right fit for Ari. She's been thriving in school and I'm glad that we found one that we all love.

November is a very special month for our family. The first week of November, we traveled down to Phoenix so that Jon and I could attend the Marine Corps 238th birthday ball as well as celebrate his brother's birthday.

Less than two weeks later, Ruby turned one

we had a joint birthday party for Lucy and Ruby in Phoenix

and 9 days after that, Lucy turned three!

At the end of the month, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Phoenix with Jon's side of the family.

I can't believe December and Christmas came as quickly as it did! Our first Christmas in our new home was so much fun and Ari deemed it her best Christmas ever.

I felt like 2013 was a really hard year for me (and in some ways, it was), but when I went back through our photos and wrote all of this up, I realized what a great year it was. It will be a hard one to top, but I have even higher hopes for 2014. I don't really do new years resolution, but I do have a few goals that I would like to accomplish that help me work toward the bigger goal of bringing more peace and contentment to my life. One goal is to use my camera and blog a lot more. Throughout the entire year, I only got 48 blog posts up and that disappoints me since this is the ongoing story of our lives. I want to make sure we have as many memories as possible. I also really want to find a way to start printing these photos an entries so that we have a hard copy as well. So here is to more blogging, more family time, lots of laughter, and many blessings!

Happy New Year, everybody!

1560 Days

The month of December went by so quickly! Here's what we've been up to…….

December 1st, our first decorations. The end pieces, reindeer, and sleigh were passed down from Grammy, Paw Paw, and Shelley. I love that we have representation of our extended family in the house.

Photo a Day, Day 1- red.

Some of my favorite ornaments from years past.

Photo a Day, Day 3- silver.

Photo a Day, Day 4- tiny.

Christmas shopping!

New ornaments! 2013 family ornament, new house ornament, and 2013 sister ornament.

Photo a Day, Day 10- R is for….reindeer! Passed down from Jon's grandparents.

Photo a Day, Day 17- tree. Our tree topper is a tree.

Matching shoes for matching dresses!

Ruby's first pair of shoes.

Family Night at Ari's school

Performing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."

Attempting a group Christmas photo before going to the mall to see Santa.

The individual photos didn't go much better. First up, Ruby Star! The baby with separation anxiety that causes her to cry when she's not in my arms or touching me in some way, shape, or form. She's also mobile so 90% of the photos I took of her came out blurry.

Next up, Lucy Scarlett! Just turned three years old and with her third birthday, came a desire to be as uncooperative as possible. You wouldn't know it from the photos, but Lucy pouted through most of her photos (see that last group photo). The smiles came after she was promised a lollipop. Nope, I'm not above bribery with this one.

Last, Arianna Solice! Finally, a cooperative child! Ari was all about posing and having her picture taken. She was definitely my favorite that day.

Photo a Day, Day 19- tis the season to….go see Santa!

Santa photos. Lucy was crying because she wanted to go ride the merry-go-round and Ruby was crying because Lucy was crying.

Ru's shoes fell off and she tried to go after them. Ari is laughing at her, Lucy is crying, and Santa is glaring at me as I snap photos. Merry Christmas!

Jon and I

Photo a Day, Day 22- sparkly.

Lucy gave me a gift and Ruby stole it.

All wrapped up!

Stockings stuffed and ready for the kids.

Presents and family!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

WE HOPE THAT YOUR DAY IS SPENT ENJOYING THE COMPANY OF FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES, LAUGHING, AND COUNTING YOUR BLESSINGS! 

LOVE,

THE BUSH FAM{ILY}