Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

Another year has come  . . .and gone . .. and now another year lies before us, untouched, new, just waiting to be explored. The adventure, the mundane, the good times, the bad times, lessons to learn and experience to teach . . . all not yet done. Ah, the freshness of the start of a new year; the newness, tabula rassa - now I just need some chalk for that slate. :)

2012 was a fairly good year. We had a very busy year with a lot travel . . . . we drove to Florida and back in May, and then to South Dakota and back via Wyoming in October. My brother Thomas got married to an amazing woman (Leigh-Ann). Butterfly turned 3, Little Man turned 2 and Flower turned 1. Mike went on a few short TDY's and we all survived unscathed. We had several wonderful visits with family - both Mike's parents and my Dad, at their homes and ours.

Butterfly started preschool and loves it. She has really become a little girl and is no longer a toddler. She has grown quite a bit in stature and has really lost that "toddler" look. She loves to dance to the classical music we often have playing in the home and has a new found love of animals. Little Man started talking up a storm and though shy around people he doesn't know, will talk your ear off once he's comfortable around you. He is our little Jumping Bean and loves to jump and jump and run and run. He still raises his eyebrows over everything and you can see his mind working things out. He has a new found love of cars, and of course he loves trains. Everything is trains, trains, trains.  Flower learned to scoot, and then learned to walk, and then learned to climb. She says "please" and "thank you" on a regular basis (she learned from her siblings, although she's much more polite than them - she's a fast learner!) She adores her older sister and brother and is often seen emulating them, both good and bad. It's so amazing how much they learn in the first few years of life! Now she's all over the place and loves to talk in her little toddler babble.

We still have our feline Galileo (that, in and of itself, is quite miraculous!) and we have a new addition to our family: Boots, or as the kids call him, Boots Kitty.

It was a very busy year - there were a lot (A LOT) of days where I felt like I just didn't stop moving all day, from the time I got up until I lay back down to sleep at night, which was usually pretty early. I did get a few projects completed: the garage got a good, thorough cleaning and organizing while Mike was TDY in August (and about a week after he returned, it was back to its' previous state . . .), I finished Butterfly and Little Man's Shutterfly First Year photo albums, finished "2010 Year in Review" and am almost finished with "2012 Year in Review". We also has a pretty good garden this summer, although we mostly got lots of beautiful flowers and not much produce. Hopefully 2013 will have a better crop.

I started going to Jazzercise several times a week, and I really love it! I've even lost a few pounds, although I am NOT /trying to lose weight at all. Mike really, really loves that I'm going to Jazzercise and enjoys watching me skip and dance around the house while I take care of things at home.

We left Desert Springs Church over the summer and started attending the chapel on base. I think that was the best decision we made this year. We don't have anything against DSC, but felt the Lord leading us to attend the base chapel. Going to the service at the chapel feels like coming home, for both Mike and I. Everyone welcomes us like family every week and there is so much love there. We have also been growing so much more that we were at DSC. We are actually back in a Navigator's Bible Study, just like we were in Oklahoma. I really love that! I have never been in another Bible Study that teaches you to get into God's Word like the Nav studies. Beth Moore comes pretty close though. We miss our friends at DSC, but we do keep up with them via FB and such, so it's not like we never see them.

This year was also a year for goodbyes and hellos. My dear friend Sierra PCS'd in May and that was a hard goodbye. Some new friends PCS'd in over the summer though and they have been wonderful ladies to get to know: Whitney and Liz. I look forward to getting to know them better and to good times in the coming year. I know there will be a lot of goodbyes this year as well: several friends are PCSing from KAFB . .. I wonder who the new year will bring to KAFB . . .

So with that, I'll wrap it up. I bid you a fond farewell 2012 . . . . and I look forward to what you have to bring, 2013.
~~ Tegan