12 Highlights From 2012

It's hard to believe 2012 is already coming to a close. It feels like just a short while ago Ellie and I were welcoming Brian home from his Navy deployment right before Christmas last year! As we look forward to the New Year, I can't help but reflect on all the fun we've had and the things I've loved about this past year:

1. We became a van family.

We got our Odyssey exactly one year ago today. It was a big change for Brian and I, mostly mentally. The idea of being van owners took some getting used to, but once we bit the bullet and made the decision, we never looked back and I must say we love it! With all the traveling we did this year and the adventures we know are ahead of us, I can't imagine life without our van. Plus, where else can you fit all of this?!?

2. Exploring Arizona.

Having a van to haul around all of our stuff made it easy to make this a year that we were lucky to do a ton of traveling. While we did some traveling during Ellie's first year of life, this year we really got brave and made a trip to the Grand Canyon with my parents and a family trip to Sedona.

3. Traveling outside of Arizona.

Feeling even more brave, we made trips to San Diego and Seattle this past summer. I also took Ellie back to Ohio in August. Brian's been saving up so much vacation time the last two years that we figured there was no better time to use it than 2012. Ellie's a trooper when it comes to driving or flying, although it was a tough year for her momma to log those frequent flyer miles on her own! For the foreseeable future, road trips are going to be our preferred mode of travel.

3. Ellie let go to start walking on her own.

We had been this anticipating for many months and when Ellie finally started walking on her own, it was one of my absolute favorite moments of the year.

 4. Enjoying a full calendar year with Brian home.

This was the first year in several that Brian was home for the whole year. There is a part of me that keeps thinking he was gone at some point during the year -- maybe that's just a testament to how quickly this year has gone by! Brian's presence at home was most definitely not taken for granted as we know so many friends to have been separated from their families during the course of the year. Brian being home all year also meant he got to experience his first full Tucson summer.

5. Ellie's first babysitter.

This might seem trivial, but having Ellie's babysitter Shannon in our lives has made such a huge difference in strengthening the relationship between Brian and I. In the three short months since Shannon has started watching Ellie for us, Brian and I have gone out on more than a handful of dates and the time alone as a couple has been refreshing and allowed us to recharge our batteries when it comes to parenting, although being out together after Ellie's bedtime took some getting used to at first. :)

6. We logged a lot of running miles.

Brian and I ran a lot this year! We ran a 10k together in May, then I ran one on my own in Ohio later in the  summer. We spent many a Saturday morning running Sabino Canyon with Ellie in the BOB and boy are we lucky that she enjoys riding while we run. To top it all off, I ran my first half marathon just three weeks ago. It felt great to set and accomplish such big personal goals. Between the two of us, I would guess we've run well over 250 miles this year. Might be time to get some new running shoes!

7. My trip to New York City.

I know this technically falls under the travel heading, but so much about this trip makes it stand out as its own highlight. This was the first trip I've taken on my own in years, let alone to a place I've never been before. It more importantly marked the the longest I've been away from Ellie since her NICU days. Ellie took it better than I did and had a blast on her own with Brian -- she's much more resilient and independent than I ever give her credit for. I had the best time catching up with a great friend from high school who showed me all the sights and who was content to play tourist with me for the weekend.

8. I met Dave Matthews (of The Dave Matthews Band fame) while in New York!

 9. Enjoying our last full year in Tucson.

Yes, the summers are brutal and last for what seem like half the year, but Tucson has grown on our family in the nearly three and a half years we've lived here. The mountains in every direction, the dry, crisp air, the friendly community and people we've met during our time in Tucson has made it a place that has become very dear to our hearts. It's going to be much more difficult to leave than I anticipated. We've crossed two big milestones here -- first deployment and our first child! We're soaking up every moment and trying to get in as many only-in-Tucson things that we can. I might shed just as many tears leaving Tucson as I did when I first found out it was our new assignment four years ago!

10. Family visits.

We were so blessed to have so many visits from family in 2012. Brian's sister visited us in October for a week. My parents came to see us not only once but twice this year! We took them to see the Grand Canyon in early spring and attended a wedding together this fall. With Ellie changing so much this year I was so glad they were able to experience some of the fun.

11. Seeing friends we haven't seen in a while.

This year brought visits with friends that we don't get to see often enough. We spent time with the Millers in March, spent a week in San Diego with the Hefrons, Russells and Dom and then saw the Hefrons (and Russells) again when we spent Labor Day weekend with them in Las Vegas. Seeing our two girls play together was such a treat. I so wish Lauranell and I lived closer to each other, but getting to see each other twice in a few months was more than I could ask for!

12. Loving my job as a stay-at-home-mom.

Not every day is sunshine and rainbows around here but I fell like most days are more than pretty darn good. Parenting has become increasingly challenging now that Ellie has started to really test her -- and our -- limits, but Brian and I are on the same page where discipline is concerned which makes things so much easier. To make sure our outings aren't just errands, I take Ellie to story hour at the library on Tuesdays and next Friday she'll start her second round of Movers and Shakers which she loved the first time around this past month! I feel like I spent way too much time this year comparing Ellie to where I thought she should be (especially when she wasn't walking after a year) or when I saw other kids her age doing things she wasn't, so I'm learning to let go of my expectations and just let Ellie grow at her own pace. It's something I continue to work on, but I've become a much happier and content person. Seeing Ellie so independent, singing her ABCs, counting to 40 and becoming so expressive with her ever-expanding vocabulary, while at the same time so engaged in Brian and I, makes me feel like what we're doing is working. 

Looking forward to what 2013 has in store for us!

Christmas 2012 Wrap-Up

Despite Brian and I having nasty colds over the holiday, our family managed to have another wonderful Tucson Christmas this year. Somehow Ellie never got the cold but she did have a runny nose for a couple of weeks before we got sick... maybe she was patient zero! I digress. I've been meaning to post several Christmas-related pictures over the course of the month, but since our calendar was full of things fun things to do, I put it off until now (that and when we're sick, blogging tends to fall by the wayside). So I present to you the Christmas 2012 photo bomb. Enjoy. :)

A Visit from St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas visited Ellie on December 6th and brought her a much-desired Hello Kitty coloring book. As soon as she spotted this shiny new book atop her shoes, she forgot all about breakfast and immediately asked for her crayons.

Santa Visits Ellie's House!

One of the many perks of living on base are all the fun holiday events the housing office offers. One that we took advantage of was having Santa visit our house two weeks before Christmas! It was awesome -- no crowds or long lines. Santa arrived just as we were finishing dinner, so we went into the front room and showed Ellie fairies that he had in a jar and a few other tricks like how he gets Rudolph's nose to glow. Ellie's first instinct was to show Santa her books, very common when we have new people over to the house. After a short visit we asked Ellie to stand by Santa for a picture. This is when things started to unravel. Ellie wasn't too fond of the idea of getting close to this stranger in strange red clothes. The only picture of Ellie with Santa definitely qualifies as one of those classic "Kid freaking out with Santa picture." I didn't want to post it until after Christmas since we used it on the back of our Christmas cards this year and I didn't want to ruin the surprise. Santa's expression is pretty priceless, too.

Other Holiday Happenings

Brian and I attended two of his work holiday parties.

We spent an enjoyable, although very chilly, evening in Winterhaven for the festival of lights.

If it was even possible, Ellie's love of "Chup-pa Brown" grew over the month. Falling snow of any kind, whether on TV or outside (manufactured snow here in Tucson), is now associated with Charlie Brown. She has taken to saying "Chup-pa Brown!" just to elicit a laugh from us, following with "Needs sugar!" The final tally of how many times we watched Charlie Brown maxed out at six or seven. I would have thought it was more than that! We also introduced Ellie to another Christmas special: Prep & Landing, which has quickly earned a top spot in our list of must-watch specials.

After much anticipation, all of a sudden Christmas Eve was upon us! Since Brian had caught my cold just two days before, he opted to stay home and put dinner in the oven while Ellie and I went to church at the chapel on base.

Ellie seemed entertained at the beginning of mass, clapping when the music ended and saying "Amen!" very loudly after prayers we said. However, she got very wiggly and we spent the majority of the mass outside in the lobby area while Ellie walked around chatting loudly. We left early (but still 15 minutes after mass is normally over) since we were already past dinner time and quickly approaching bed time! A few snaps by the Christmas tree in her Christmas dress...

... and we dug into our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of lasagna. This year I made it a veggie version and I think the recipe is going to stick! Ellie kept asking for more "wa-sagna." After dinner a bath, Ellie left some milk and cookies out for Santa. It took her a while to fall asleep (Who can blame her? Christmas is so exciting!), but she finally settled down around 8:30. Still feeling worn out, Brian and I were in bed not too long afterward.

On Christmas morning, we came downstairs to see Santa had indeed visited in the night!

He really drank all the milk!

After walking around and examining the tree, Ellie immediately honed in on one of the two gifts Santa brought and left unwrapped by the tree.

All action stopped as she tried to climb over the presents blocking the stroller with her baby doll already sitting inside. Ellie decided her stocking and presents could wait and baby needed a walk RIGHT NOW, which conveniently gave me an opportunity to throw breakfast in the oven.

When her walk was done and while our breakfast bake cooked in the oven, we got down to business opening our stockings. It was awesome to see how much more involved and interested Ellie was in everything compared to last year.

Probably my favorite picture from Christmas morning (I think she had spotted the Super Grover book when it was taken).

The excitement was short lived. After getting extremely frustrated opening her first few presents (so her father's child!) we realized she was most likely cranky because she was hungry (so my child!). As if it were fate, breakfast was done and we took a short break to eat. Bellies full, unwrapping continued with renewed fervor.

Brian and I (as she's unwrapping her easel from Mimi and Papa): "Ellie, what is this?"

Ellie: "Baby!"

Ellie received some great gifts this year -- the aforementioned easel from Mimi and Papa, books and jammies from the Hefrons, Duplos and a play muffin set from Aunt Kate, Uncle Matt, Nic and SAM, a book from my aunt and uncle, play veggies, pig slippers, play-dough, more Duplos, markers and Finding Nemo from us and the baby stroller and a balance bike from Santa. She's pretty leery of the bike right now, but I think she'll come around before too long.

Brian got a pair of monogrammed cufflinks from both Ellie and I, a dark tequila and sample six-pack of winter beers, some cold-weather clothes and, what is probably his favorite gift, a set of Buckyballs to take to work. I've been getting my fill making fun shapes with them before they disappear to Brian's office and I never see them again. They're addicting! I was excited to get some kitchen tools I've been looking at and the most exciting... a Kindle Paperwhite! Even though I feel a little traitorous towards real books since opening the package, I've already loaded five books onto my Kindle and know that traveling will be much easier with fewer books in my carry-on!

We spent the majority of the day in our jammies, Skyping a few times with my family who was spending Christmas in Toledo with my sister and her family. While Ellie napped, Brian and I prepared ham, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, kale salad and green beans for dinner. During dinner Ellie kept saying, "Ham? Mmm, ham good!" It was a very memorable Christmas!

Hats off to anyone still with me after such a long post -- I would give you a Christmas cookie if I could! We hope all our family and friends (both near but mostly far) had as wonderful a Christmas as we did!

Gingerbread House Decorating is Serious Business

This little adventure began when Brian was at Costco getting new tires on the car back in October and found himself wandering the aisles with no wife and daughter to distract him. (No one can escape the allure of Costco!) Among the other "necessities" that came home with him was a gingerbread house decorating kit. After putting it off for a few weeks due to other Christmas events, we didn't want to wait any longer and pulled it out of the box five days before Christmas. I can definitely see a family gingerbread house decorating contest in our future.

I didn't expect Ellie to have such intense focus when we started decorating but watching her determined expressions was highly entertaining.

The final product -- I'll give most of the credit to Brian and Ellie. Decorating with the frosting was not as easy as the box made it out to be, but we think it looks great!

The Polar Express

After hearing about this fun opportunity last Christmas from some friends, Brian and I have since been planning our own trip to take Ellie on the Polar Express. It's operated out of the town of Williams by the Grand Canyon Railway, which as its name suggests takes passengers up to the Grand Canyon. The Polar Express has an option to buy just the train tickets or the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel offers package deals for a night's stay, meals and tickets for the train ride, which we opted for. Williams got DUMPED with snow the weekend before our trip (when we originally planned to go before it sold out) but it made for a beautiful snowy landscape while we were there without the hassle of driving in it! 

One of Ellie's birthday gifts from us was a copy of "The Polar Express" which we read multiple times in preparation for our special weekend. Ellie refers to the book as "spress." :) On an unfortunate side note, I ended up catching a lousy pre-Christmas cold a few days before we left that also Brian caught while in Williams which really diminished our enjoyment of the whole experience, but we rallied for Ellie's sake who I think had a lot of fun!

The parking and check-in process was a bit of a nightmare but once we got into our room, we quickly changed into our jammies and immediately headed over to the train station to catch the Polar Express! We didn't have any time to get a picture with Santa (which I thought was strange to see him before getting on the train, for anyone familiar with the book) but we did get a picture in front of the large display engine!

We stood by our train car for a few minutes before we were greeted by our "chefs" who invited us to board our car and find our seats.

We felt the train slowly move forward signaling that we were on our way. The sun was setting as we pulled out of the station and we got to see the Christmas lights in downtown Williams.

As we rolled away from Williams and into the woods, we saw a family of deer grazing outside of the train before it got too dark! Our chefs served us hot chocolate and cookies, all of which were quickly devoured.

After enjoying our cookies and hot chocolate and going through a "time warp tunnel" which allowed us to reach the "North Pole" in record time, we listened to a narration of the book while our chefs showed us the pictures. As the train slowed down, we could see lights in the distance from our side of the train. We pulled up to the North Pole and saw Santa standing on his sleigh waving to us! We pulled past the North Pole then backed up again to take another look, only to see that Santa was no longer on the sleigh -- he was in the train! While Santa made his way through the cars ahead of ours, we spent the time waiting by singing Christmas carols.

Then Santa showed up in our train car!

Santa handed out sleigh bells to each of the children as he walked through the car. When he got to our seats, he handed Ellie a bell and asked her to be good so he could visit on Christmas Eve.

I'm very amused that, before giving Ellie her bell, Santa handed one to me. I joked to Brian that it must have been Santa's acknowledgement (or confusion) of my exuberant and youthful attitude (ha!). I'm pretty sure it was confusion, especially considering I was the only adult in our car to get a bell. 

Anyhow, Ellie loved her sleigh bell and shook it for what seemed like the entire journey back to the station -- a truly magical evening!