Here we go! First post!

So wow here we are! As I said above I am attempting this in order to try and 'save' some of the memories of the girls. I have never blogged before, but I do love to talk about my family...pretty much nonstop, so hopefully I can keep up with this.
So I guess I should start from the beginning. I can get pretty lengthy in my stories so to keep away from that I will do it in list form. Important dates in our lives...How we got where we are....

Dec 30, 2001 Our first date
Jan 6, 2002 We began dating
Feb 24, 2002 Chris was sent to Japan for 17 months
Jul 23, 2004 We got married
Feb 1, 2005 Chris got deployed to Iraq
Mar 10, 2005 Annabelle Marie is born. 8 lbs 12 oz. and PERFECT
Mar 23, 2005 Chris got to meet Annabelle
May 30, 2005 Family was reunited for good! :) Chris was back in OH
Dec 25, 2005 We took possession of our first home
Mar ? 2006 We moved into our home after months of renovation
several more years of fun and laughter from Annabelle
Apr 1, 2009 Elsie Mae was born. 9 lbs 3 oz and PERFECT as well!

It's funny how short a list can be of major life events. The time span of 8+ years and only 11 things listed. But it's not to forget all the heart ache of long distance dating, deployment to Iraq, job searching, house hunting, months and months of trying for a second child and every other little horrible moment shared. However those moments pale in comparison to the birth of children and watching them learn and grow and turn into people. Every holiday and birthday is magic in our household. Wishes can come true. The joy I get from being their mom is insane. It's more than anyone can put into words.

So that about brings us to here...Annabelle will soon be 5 and Elsie will follow just after turning 1. We're planning a combined party for the end of March. The theme will be Under the Sea.
Annabelle is in preschool and has tested above average for the classroom on state testing they had to do. She is learning to read and spell. She is constantly writing things or asking how to spell things. She also loves to cut. We have scraps of paper all over this house. She is taking ballet and will have a big recital in April. She loves to have stories read to her, play games, and ride her coaster car. She is a huge help with her sister and worries about her half the day. Often times she screams for us to "get her!!!!" as if it's life or death, when in fact Elsie is only standing on the bottom step. She is very opinionated and has her own ideas of how and when things should be done. She loves to make people laugh and sometimes tries entirely too hard to do so. Yet her trying so hard is also funny.
Elsie is of course sitting and crawling and talking. She has 6 teeth (2 of which we thought she might lose when she knocked them loose several weeks ago!) She loves to take baths, play in the fridge, follow and mimic her sister, tear stuff out of my purse, try to get to the toilet, and to race to the stairs. She can climb them completely alone with us following her. She sings "la la la" anytime there is music on. There are so many words she has said, but never uses them all at the same time. She is still nursing but is totally off baby food. She will only eat 'real' food now. She had her first egg today. Apparently it was delicious. She figures things out very quickly. We catch her trying to put straws into drinks, trying to run my debit card through the machine at the store, trying to color, dusting, and holding the camera up to her face to take a picture. She has a "cheese" face for the camera that is to die for!! She can stack blocks, find her nose, eyes, and mouth, and stand alone for up to 30 seconds. Today she has started walking behind a push along toy with no problems. Had we showed her how to do it, she probably could have done it a week or 2 ago.
Both girls are happy and so funny.

Things to expect in this blog are day to day things we've done, their latest accomplishments, funny stories, and pictures here and there. I hope that writing this can keep family up to date on them, as well as allow me to look back once in a while and see how far we've come. I am very excited to start this. I often forget which stories I've told to which family member. And so now, if you don't know it's your own fault.
As I type this Annabelle is singing "All You Need is Love" to Elsie. How fitting for our life :)