Christmas Time

I love the magic of Christmas time.  I just love this whole time of year and normally have my decorations up by Thanksgiving, blame my Grandpa for this one he's worse than I am with Christmas, but because we knew Jay would be coming home just prior to Christmas we decided to wait for him to come home before decorating.  That finally happened this last weekend.

 95% of the ornaments on our tree came from wedding decorations from our wedding almost 7 years ago.

 Even Miya got decorated with a jingle bell collar

 This last weekend we had our Ward Christmas party and the kids had so much fun.

 They even got to meet Santa!

My parents package arrived today and in it were more ornaments for our tree.  We put up about 1/2 of them and they look great!

Photos from Frocking Ceremony

Jay just completely suprised me by making sure I got photos of his ceremony this morning.  So here are some photos from the ceremony:

 Those who are in the tan tops, black pants (called peanut butters) are getting Frocked.

 This is Calsetta, he and Jay both served on the Nimitz (same division, were port buddies) and will also serve together on the IKE.

 Jay getting pinned.

 It's official now, he's a 2nd class!

A close up of the 4 who got Frocked today.  Big Congrats to all of them.

Congrats to Jay

For the last two months Jay's been away at a C school in Fl.  This time has seriously flown by.  We've had some ups and downs, but he's finally coming home.  The whole reason for doing this school was for what has just happened in the last hour.  Jay's rate is not one that is easy to advance in, he's taken the test (for those who don't know he has to take, pass and make a certian % to go up in rank) at least 6 times and missed the % mark by single digits every time.  So when he re-enlisted he signed up for something called the Star Program, basically goes to a C school (there are two choices) and then at the end of the school he goes up in rank.  Well he got accepted into the Star Program and as a result moved us here to Norfolk (where he'll be working in a few weeks) and then left for FL for the school portion. 

This morning he was frocked, meaning he went up in rank, and is now officially a 2nd Class Petty Officer (E5).  This is a huge blessing since the advancement rate dropped from 20% down to about 2% of those who took the test and passed made rank, and this is in the entire navy.  So now after 4 years he's made 2nd class and it has been nothing but tremendous blessings in our lives.  Congrats Jay, we are so proud of you and look forward to you coming home (tonight).

Thanksgiving

This is another year where Jay is unable to be with us for Thanksgiving due to being off at school.  We have been fortunate enough that my mom came out to visit us for this holiday and that has been a hidden blessing.  There is so much to be thankful for this year for us.  So many truly wonderful blessings have come in our lives of late.  This year I'm thankful for:

1. Jay having a stable job during these economic times.
2. The kids, they keep me on my toes and bring so much happiness to me
3. The dog, she may drive me up the wall most days right now but she helps put me at ease and feel safe at night after the kids are in bed.
4. This amazing country we live in.  We have so many freedoms in this nation that many countries do not offer.  I truly love being an American.
5. My faith.  It is my rock and truly helps keep me sane during the hard times.  I wouldn't be who I am without my faith.
6. My friends.  I don't have a lot of close friends, but the ones I do have I cherrish a great deal.
7. The extended family.
8. The financial freedom we are finally in.  No more burden of being in debt.
9. To have the home we live in and know that we're okay.
10. Most important of all, Jay.  He loves me so unconditionally and is so supportive of all that I do.  He has been there for me, even when he isn't physically here with us he is still supportive.

Truly there is much to be greatful for this year.  So much more than I can say on here, that is for sure.  Remember, Thanksgiving means to Give Thanks. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tribute to the Troops

My father in law sent this video to Jay over Veteran's Day as a way to say thank you.  It is one amazing video that made me cry, not that it's hard to do that anyway.  A clear reminder of why our men and women in uniform do what they do.  Military Tribute

Happy Veteran's Day

I just want to take a moment and say Thank you to all those who have served or are currently serving this great country in the Military.  Thank you for your sacrifice and all that you do to keep all of us free.  And a special thanks to the families who support them no matter what.

I am truly greatful for Jay's service to this country and couldn't be more proud of him and all that he does. 

Fun times

We've actually seen quite a bit of rain since moving here.  A lot more than we've seen in a long time actually.  The other day Annabelle just had to go out into it and play, of course Miya refused to go out and apparently doesn't like getting wet. 

Annabelle's birthday was this last week.  A few weeks back we did a small party for her right before Jay headed off to school.  She has been having non stop fun with her new toys since then.  She's even sharing with Kaden without being asked.