New year, new things....

As every year, I can't believe it is almost a new year!! It is always amazing to me how fast a year can go by, but some days seem like forever. We've had so many things happen this year and so many more things on the horizon for 2012 that I can barely wrap my mind around it. 2011 rang in with Nic being gone on his deployment and the kids and I looking forward to his arrival home in a couple of months. :) It was an exciting time. Once Nic came home we started settling into our 'normal' routine of him coming and going and the kids and I doing our activities and staying as grounded as possible. Lilly had a rough this year this year, but we have seen such great improvement with her that I can barely contain myself! I am so proud of the way she has come around. Nic and I had started to notice a change in demeanor in her and we were very concerned. She was starting to have a hard time with school and life in general. It was scary to watch and decided it was time to get some help because I felt as if we weren't getting through to her. She was diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorder which broke my heart. It hurts when your baby is hurting so badly and you can't do anything to help. The beginning of this new year is showing great promise!! She has changed so much with the help outside and inside of school we have been able to get her that my heart just wants to burst! It warms my heart to see her smile and play. We are still working on some other things with her, but the new year is looking extremely bright for Lil! Kassy is a machine!! (As Nic likes to say!) She never stops and is always a wonderful little light in our lives. Just looking at her little teeny face and her big eyes you can't help but smile. We have learned this year she is a phenomenal gymnist and she adores it! Now we understand her fondness of jumping, cartwheels and using the couch as her landing spot. :) She is also doing very well in school and we are working on her reading skills. They are coming along slowly but she is a hard worker and when she puts her mind to something, nothing will stop her. She is just like her Daddy and for that I am so grateful. She is a typical middle child and loves to poke and prode at her siblings on either side. I don't think this will ever change! Preston is a boy. LOL. It is very different to have a little guy in the house amidst the girls and I when Daddy is gone so much. He takes it all in stride but does like to think he is 'the man' of the house! Unfortunately mommy has to squash that a bit, but he understands that even mommy trumps his 'man of the house' role. LOL. Preston has decided this year he was going to be a ninja and LOVES it! Karate is something he loves and he tells us 'I will never give up and I want to do this forever'. He is a ninja blue belt now and wants to continue for as long as he can. It's fun to have him in the same dojo where I do Muay Thai. We love to 'pratice' at home and have lots of fun! Daddy tries to get involved too but Preston says that 'our ninja skills are better than his'! ROTFL Now, for the big news of 2012. We have our official orders to move to Pearl Harbor, HI. It is a mixed blessing for sure but the most important part is that we are all going to be together! Nic is going to be on shore duty out there and we are hoping to enjoy the island to the fullest. When Nic and I were out there back from 2000-2003 he didn't get to enjoy it much, being on the submarine and out all the time. So in a way it's a 'do over' for him. :) Plus we'll have our kids with us to have a new adventure. Even though we'll miss our family and friends immensely we know this is only for three years and not forever. Focusing on that has made a big difference, for me especially. Change does not come easily for me, as many of you know. I am definitely a creature of habit (by nature) but I know God has this happening for a reason. Focusing on Him and knowing that has given me much peace and the kids are as well. He is the only know who knows our future. That is our year in a very small nut shell. I will continue to update as more comes along and the move progresses. It looks as if we'll be leaving CT in April. Praying for you all during this new year!! <3

Kassy

My sweet second child. She is such a little light in our lives and I love looking into her little face everyday. She just lost her two top teeth and looks so cute!! I love the way she thinks and processes her thoughts. Today while she was sitting on my lap (before school) and I was brushing her hair she asked 'mommy, why did daddy have to leave again?' I replyed with 'Kassy honey, why does daddy always leave?' and she let out a big sigh and said 'to save the world...' Sweet, sweet girl. I (of course trying to be somewhat straight faced) said 'yes baby, something like that' and she said 'ok, to save the planet'!! LOL. It definitely put some aspects of life into perspective for me and how much she adores her daddy and he is her hero. :) It makes me so proud to be her mommy! It also shows me just how much she thinks about things and how big her thoughts are. I love it! I'm also so proud of her because last week her gymnastics coach asked to talk to me. (Of course I teased her and said 'uh oh, what did you do?!' and she almost died, lol.) He talked to me about her ability in gymnastics and asked her if I would mind moving her up to the advanced class! I was shocked (but not super surprised, watching her ability at home) and so excited! After talking with him for a bit, he was suprised she has only been doing gymnastics since september, when I first enrolled her, and said she has a definite talent and he wants to see it go further! So excited!! (Many of you don't know, but when I was her age I also did gymnastics and was on a team, which I loved!) She will be by far the youngest in the class (she is 6 and there are 15 year olds in there!) but he believes she'll do great! She can't wait to start but will finish her class this coming week in her observation. :) Unfortunately Nic won't be here, but I'm hoping he'll be able to see her in another observation class. <3 Just had to share and gush about my baby girl!! :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Yay!! The holidays are upon us, I love this time of the year!! We get to spend it TOGETHER this year!! We get Thanksgiving AND Christmas this year, which we are so excited about!! The past two years we were apart from Daddy on Thanksgiving and last year Christmas as well. This year we are blessed to be together!! Also this year we are close to family and close friends, which may not happen again next year... Thanksgiving was great! We went to both of my grandparents houses in RI! We had thanksgiving 'lunch' at my nana and papas and thanksgiving 'dinner' with my grandma and grandpa. It was wonderful!! Lots of laughs and love. Our family tradition the day after thanksgiving is to decorate for Christmas and it's always fun! The kids look forward to it every year and so do we! This year we started a new tradition as well. We are using a silly thing called 'Elf on a shelf'. At first I was skeptical about it (plus, the elf kinda looks wierd) but Nic thought it would be fun for the kids. This is the first day our elf 'Jingle' came to our house. The kids were sooooooo excited!! They were 'talking' to it (especially Preston). It was a RIOT! I wish I had gotten Preston on camera. He told Jingle to please tell Santa he didn't want to be on the naughty list, hehe. I have many friends who do not do Santa in their households but we have a different way of viewing the Santa tradition. Since we emphasize Christmas being Jesus' birth, we use Santa as an example. He brings each of the kids 3 gifts just like the wise men brought to Jesus. It's a good way to incorporate Santa without making the holiday about him, but making it about our Lords birth!! Anyway, just a little update and wanted to share about our new Elf!! :D Here he is.... see if you can find him. :)

It never gets easier....

Most things get easier over time. But never saying goodbye or 'see you later' to your husband or Daddy. It gets harder and harder each and every time. Even if it's 'only' for a few weeks. The kids act out, mommy gets sad and everything gets off kilter for a few days until we get back into the groove again. But we definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year, such as daddy being home for BOTH holidays! We haven't had him home in two years for Thanksgiving and last year he was gone for Christmas, so we are very blessed this year. It will be an extra special year for us over here. :) This week will be a busy one for us. We have many appointments to go to and hopefully some answers will come with those appointments. We have started the process of getting Lilly some much needed help and I just need to stay on course. I definitely get overwhelmed easily and I need to continue to focus and do what is best for Lil. I found a very fitting quote tonight... Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn (Harriet Beecher Stowe). Kassy has been such a little ray of sunshine for me the past few days. Just looking at her little face makes me break out into a smile. She has just been so sweet and fun lately! We definitely go through stages with Kassy but when she is like this it makes it all worth it. She had a bad day this week (got an email from her teacher saying she was sad and weepy) and I asked her about it. She said no, I'm fine. I know Daddy leaving this week has affected her and she is trying to be so brave. I just love her to pieces. As long as Preston is active we are good. LOL. We did a lot of things this week, went on walks, played at the park, stay and play. School is a great place for him and we love it there! He enjoys his time there (as did Kassy). We just can't say enough about Tollgate. They are wonderful. The good thing is, if Preston is busy that means that I'm busy too, which makes the time go by faster. Funny.... there are times when you want time to slow down and other times when you want it to speed up....

One of our activities that keeps us busy!

Time sure does fly...

Wow, so much has happened since I have last written on my blog! I was so busy with school and family I didn't seem to have enough time to breath never mind keep the blog up. I hope to change that. I notice I need to update pictures and everything on here! Crazy! I will definitely get to that after I get this post done. :) I finally finished my bachelors degree!!! I now have a BS in Nutrition Science and am very proud of myself. Now I just need to figure out what to do next. There are a few paths I can take but much of that is going to depend on the orders we receive next.... Once we have our orders it will be much easier to figure out how (and what) to do. I'd really like to get my Masters and become a RD (registered dietician) but not sure how well that will work out, there is much to do in order to get it done online (like I did with my bachelors). There are other paths I could take, but I still need to research them. Lilly - she is in 3rd grade now!! She's almost 9 and is an amazing kid! :) Right now we could definitely use some prayers for her (and us) as we are starting a neuropsychological evaluation to determine if she has more than just a Sensory Processing Disorder. There are some concerns that she may have Aspergers Syndrome and we want to get her the help she needs so she can cope better in school. She continues to amaze us everyday and we are so thankful that God gave her to us. :) She continues to do ballet and being a super sweet girl. Kassy - a 6 year old with a wonderful outlook on life! She is now in 1st grade and is good at everything! She amazes us everyday with the things she can do... including doing a head stand and spinning on her head! LOL, she loves to make us laugh and is such a cuddly girl. She is so compassionate and helpful. She is now doing gymnastics (surprise, I know, lol!) and working hard on her reading skills. Preston - a very funny 4 year old. The things that come out of this boys mouth are too much! LOL, he loves to make people laugh. As my friend Julie says 'he's a little politician' because he goes around greeting everyone and mingling. He definitely didn't get that from me!! (I wish he did though...) He is in his second year of preschool, is left handed and loves to do any type of sports! Nic and I are continually adjusting to whatever life gives us. Nic is still on the submarine and working hard. We are awaiting orders to our next duty station, so stayed tuned for that. Right now I am out of commission of working out (which is driving me crazy) due to a surgery that I had at the beginning of the month. Thankfully I'll be back at it here in a few weeks. So that is the quick up date on the Fort family. :) I'll try to fill in the holes over the course of the next few posts.... Stay warm and enjoy the beautiful fall weather!! :)

2010 already?! What?!

Well look at that! 2010... where did the time go?? Isn't the saying 'time flies when your having fun'? Well apparently I've been having WAY too much fun because I feel like the past ten years has just FLOWN by! Our ten year wedding anniversary is this year and I still can't believe it! We have a 7 year old, an almost 3 year old and an almost 5 year old!! We've moved 5 times, owned 8 cars (yikes!!!) and met many, many wonderful friends over the years (that we still stay in contact with, thank God for facebook, lol!). I feel so incredibly blessed it is overwhelming. Although Nic is now back on a boat I know that we will still continue to be blessed as a family as long as we keep Christ the center of our family. My (continued) goal for this year (and the many more years to come) is to keep teaching our kids about living the Christian life and making every minute count. We had a rough past year but we made it through and are better than ever!! Praise God for all that He has given us and continues to give us.

UPDATES ON THE HOOLIGANS:

Lilly - she is thriving in school!! We are so thrilled for her! She was recently recommended for the PALS program at her school. She loves it! It is a program specifically designed to help students with their self esteem and to be more comfortable with themselves as a person. It is a wonderful thing for her and I'm so glad they chose her to take part. (They only are able to choose a few students per year, 40 I believe, to take part, so it is truly a blessing!) She is still dancing with Miss Lana and LOVES it! She is also doing another SOFT photoshoot in February for their spring line and is beyond excited about it! She ADORES the clothing and we love that she can wear clothes that don't 'hurt' her! It isn't a chore to get dressed in the morning anymore!! :)

Kassy - She is almost 5!!! Where has the time gone? She is a 'big' girl now and my little helper! She is still attending preschool at Tollgate Christian Preschool and loves it! Since Nic has been back on a boat, we have been having some issues with her stress level, and trying to manage it has been difficult. I hate to see her hurting (and so does Nic, obviously!) and we are doing everything we can to help out our little peanut. She can be such a ray of sunshine and we want her to stay that way! Unfortunately we have been seeing many more clouds then sun rays lately, please pray for her. We love her so much and hate to see her suffering. On the upside she is also still dancing with Miss Lana and is requesting to do some swim lessons as well! She is such a little athlete!! LOVE IT!

Preston - Almost 3 now (will be on February 12th) he has quite the attitude to match! He is a total mamas boy and is quite mischevious lately! Fun times to be had during the next year I'm sure! He is still home with mama this year, and is signed up for preschool school next year two days a week. He is telling us he will NOT go in that room (Kassy's classroom) next year and will stay home with mama! Boy, he has another thing coming! :) We are praying he will come around and won't put too much stress on Alyssa while dropping him off for school.

Anyway, Happy New Year to all! God bless everyone this year. Praying for a safe and happy year for all my friends and family. xoxo

Almost Christmas!!!

Wow!! This year has gone by so quickly!! Christmas is my most favorite holiday of the year, the meaning behind it and all the 'magic' about the season. I love having a Christmas tree, spending time with my family and teaching my kids about the REAL meaning of Christmas, Jesus' birth. It is such an awesome time!! To make things even more special this year, Kassy and her preschool class put on a play about Jesus' birth. It was so cute and special. Kassy played Mary and just made me smile the whole time. :D I was very proud to say the least (but who wouldn't be!).

This year we have Nic home with us as well, which is very special to us. We won't have him home next year with us, so we are just enjoying this time together as a family.

Lilly turned 7 on December 15th!!! How time is flying with my babies. Kassy and P will have their birthdays in February and Nic and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary in April! I love my life and am amazed everyday how quickly the time is going by (even when I have a little guy in his 'terrible two/threes!).

Merry Christmas to everyone!!! :D