3 year Blogiversary!

I was just standing at the counter washing dishes wondering what I should write about tonight and suddenly I realized that I must be pretty close to my second anniversary of the blog! I checked on it and low and behold it is actually my THIRD anniversary - and exactly to the day! The first thing this means is that I can't count - at all - and the second thing is - my oh MY how life has changed!! Here's a link to my very first post.

Wow - the kids are sooooo little!! Aidan was 2 1/2 and Emmy was only 4 months old. Now he's 5 1/2, Emmy is 3 1/2 and Aoife is 18 months! Also - I had no idea what blogging was nor did I realize what it was going to become for me. I started the blog because my grandparents were moving down to Florida for the winter and I wanted them to be able to see the kids whenever they wanted to - even though it was on the computer. At that point Brendan was stationed in Alexandria, VA . My grandparents live in Arlington which was only about 30 minutes from our house. I tried really hard to make it up to see them once a week - sometimes we didn't make it but most of the time we did. I knew they were going to miss seeing the kids and my cousin's wife had started a blog a year or so before this and I thought it would be a good way to keep in touch.

It turned out to be a GREAT way to keep in touch! As friends had babies, they started blogs and we could watch each other's kids grown up from the other side of the country - or world as it turned out for us! For me, the hardest part of being a military wife is leaving good friends in my wake as we live our gypsy lifestyle. It makes me feel so good to know that they are reading what I write and looking at the photos I put up.

The blog has also turned out to be a great forum for me to share my love of photography! Luckily I have 3 subjects - some willing, some not so willing. I try to bring my camera everywhere we go because - let's face it - life's not THAT exciting and without the pictures my blog probably wouldn't be quite as fun! I tried to start the recipe blog but as you've noticed I've failed miserably on that front. I'm not sure why I can't keep up with that one - it should be a no-brainer since I cook dinner every night but I can't do everything!! The cake blog is what exactly? Hmmm...well I guess I'd be lying if I said that I want to go back to work - because I DON'T but......it's always nice to be appreciated and told that you do something well. I'd love it if people paid me to make cakes. So the blog's out there but I'm not going to go at it whole hog. I've had so many people ask me why I don't work - as if staying home isn't work - HA! The answer is two fold. It's pretty much impossible for me to have a "real career". In the last 6 years we have lived in 6 different places. Trying to find a job and then start over each time? Thanks but no - we'll just drive old cars and live on post. Secondly - I really like being home with the kids - in general. I mean - we all have bad days (and worse days) but I feel like for me the good outweighs the bad by a lot and I wouldn't trade it - but that's just me.

So anyway - off my soapbox - back to how life has changed! If you've been with me the whole time this is probably boring so I'm sorry in advance! So the kids got bigger and Brendan got a new job. I got pregnant with Aoife and we were so happy it was another little girl! We found out we were going to move to England in July 2009 and I waffled back and forth between wanting to go and NOT wanting to go at all. Aoife was born and in a postpartum haze with Brendan in Asia and then Afghanistan I got the house ready to move across the Atlantic. We spent the BEST year of our lives in Watchfield, UK. We are so lucky that we were able to see beautiful sights, meet wonderful people and travel to exotic places. Most of the time the Army tries to screw you but I think it made up for everything last year. In July we left England for Fort Campbell, KY. I am so lucky to have friends already posted here from way back in 2005 when we were in Colorado. A benefit of being in aviation - it's a small community and the odds of running into a friend again is pretty high! Aidan started Kindergarten and Emmy started preschool. They are both doing great and enjoying making new friends. Our neighborhood has turned out to be very social and we have all bonded well already with most of the husbands gone.

I am a military wife - there's no escaping that reality. I'm so proud of our little family and what Brendan and I have accomplished together. Happy Blogiversary to all my faithful readers. Thanks for visiting and for coming back. Here's to many more years of fun to come!