I miss you

My Riley Roo...

It's been two years since you passed from this great Earth and I STILL miss you. They say that with time grief gets easier. I finally believe that. Time doesn't fully heal the wounds, but two years ago you left a huge gaping hole in my heart. Now there isn't a huge gaping hole...it's more of a small gap;) Your picture still adorns our shelf in the living room. Ella still keeps your collar and leash on her stuffed doggie animal that resembles you. Your treats jar was unpacked after the move and put into our pantry. Empty of course, but unable to be given away to Goodwill.

I know I'm crazy. I know people will think "geez she was just a dog." But I'm selfish and I didn't get enough time with you so that's what makes this so much harder. Our neighbor told me that our old vet remembered you, our sweet Riley, and wanted to say hi to us. Clearly, she loved you as well:)

Even though 366 days have passed since my last blog post about this, and huge crocodile tears aren't falling, it doesn't mean I miss you any less. It just means I don't want to hear it from Tom that he can't believe I can still cry over you. ;) You know he's the guy that just can't cry.

You'll forever be my little buddy, and according to Ella "you are hopping from cloud to cloud in heaven" so I can imagine your heart is healed and you're living the good life. I have to always tell myself that when I think about you to keep that "small gap" from growing bigger.

Riley's first taste of snow! 

And she always hated it.

January Happenings

January seems to have flown by already because I can't believe it's halfway over! How does that happen? You'd think we would be bored out of our minds here in OK with the winter and all. But we really do keep very busy. Want to see? 

I am learning to french braid FINALLY! I figure with two girls, I will need to learn this task sooner or later.  My very first attempts at it ever...obviously I need more practice;)

Ella playing on her new scooter (she seriously flies on that thing!) and Madeline learning to ride her new wheels! Clearly, scootering around is tiring for poor Madeline.

Ella and her art. Santa brought her a book about drawing mermaids and fairies so the top picture is of her latest fairy. The hand family is her creation from watching a You Tube video based on a video about a hand family shown here. And this is Madeline trying to sing the song at about 6:30 one morning.

What? You don't allow your 2 yr old to eat ice cream from the carton...with the scooper?  Less dishes this way.

St. Barbara's Day Ball

As most of you know, Tom and I rarely get a night out alone. It's not because of lack of babysitters either. We have people who would watch our girls, but we really do enjoy each other's company and spending time together as a family. I guess that's what military life does to you though. We just never want to be apart. Call us crazy:) But every now and then, we do have a military event that we can't miss and we can't bring children along. I have to say getting all dressed up and putting on makeup and jewelry was worth it. Tom looked as handsome as ever and we had a great time with his friends and co-workers, enjoyed a yummy dinner and a tad bit of dancing. Most dancing was done by Tom alone and me watching his awesome moves that I just can't keep up with.

The Lanes

We took the girls bowling one afternoon. I'd love to say it was out of the goodness of my heart, but it was really for my selfish craving of cheese fries from the snack bar there. The girls have been asking to bowl for awhile now and with being stuck inside so much lately I thought why not combine my needs (wants) for greasy food with their needs (wants) for having fun. They bowled two games and had a blast. Ella has quite the competitive side and asked after every frame if she was still beating Madeline. We had to remind her that we were playing for fun and of course you're beating your two year old sister who luckily made it through the games without dropping the ball on her toes. ;)

A New Year!

Happy New Year to my wonderful family and friends and blogging buddies! I hope this year brings all of us much joy and love. My family is looking very forward to 2013 and all of our adventures it will include. I am not much of a New Years resolution person (Why set myself up for disappointment?) But I will say that I am going to try harder to be better with my blog. Who knew that finding time for myself and this hobby of mine would be so hard? ;)

Thank you all for keeping up with our little, but growing family over the past year! It means the world to us.

xoxoxo