Spring is a coming!

So, its February...which means it is about that time to get the girls spring and summer wardrobe together. I always do it way in advance, because otherwise you cannot find anything. Emily will hopefully fit into a good chunk of Allie's old clothes, and I slowly started shopping for Allie. My mother in law went out and got the girls a few things the other day, and always gets them plenty for their birthdays, which is perfect because Em gets summer clothes and Allie gets fall clothes. Tomorrow I plan on digging out the giant bin of Allie's summer clothes from last year to see what still fits. Some of her things SHOULD still fit, and I hope they do so she won't need to much more.

With spring coming, this also makes me want to make a few recipes that I won't make in the summer. I found an easy recipe for chili that the girls would probably love, its called kid chili...so hopefully they enjoy it. I also found some soups for Adam and definitely want to make chicken noodle soup as well. It is funny how certain recipes are related to the spring or winter. Once it gets warm out, we grill quite often. So, I need to make a solid list for the grocery store tomorrow with all of the things I need to make the recipes I want to make.

Spring also means a visit to NJ! I cannot wait to take the girls back for Easter. I am excited for us all to go to church as a family and celebrate Easter with everyone. We have a lot planned for our week in NJ, but I am beyond excited about it. We are going to look at houses, hopefully go to the zoo, go to the shore, go to the Franklin Institute and so many other things. I have to remind myself, that next summer we will have access to all of those things!

Spring also means Emmy's birthday at the end of it. I cannot believe my baby girl will be TWO. Everyday I almost cry at something new she says or does. She is so smart, its ridiculous and talking so much, I cannot even keep up. She is talking in a lot of sentences and can go thru one of her little baby books with 100 pictures and name at least half of them. She knows a lot of her body parts and can even sing twinkle, twinkle (well, to the best of her ability). When did all of this happen? I wish that I did not essentially wish away a year of my kids life while Adam was gone...even though I enjoyed and embraced those days, I feel like that went even faster with him gone. So for now, I hold on extra tight to them!

We're going to be civilians!

It is such a crazy and scary thought. For the past almost 7 years of our life, it has been committed to the US Army. Every decision, every thought, every movement has been centered around the Army. We knew his ETS date (the date his contract with the Army is up) was coming up this year, and we had talked about getting out, but the other day the Army said we had to re enlist that day or not at all. We chose not at all because he would of been sent to Korea, which meant ANOTHER year apart. Now he is hearing he can still re enlist in the fall again, but we are very much focused on getting out. We already told our families, we told his parents we will be moving in with them in October and we have already started talking about job opportunites. He should have almost 60 days of terminal leave, probably more like 50, so we will be living in NJ before Halloween. This is ALL so crazy to me. It is everything I (and we) have talked about for a long time, but it is SO scary to think about. We have been essentially taken care of by what the Army provides, financial stability, health insurance and housing. By December, poof, it will all be gone. I KNOW we can make it, I have faith in us. The problem is making sure Adam keeps the faith in us too, because so many people tell him horror stories of the outside world, that he thinks we will never survive without the Army...and I feel as though, we can't survive much longer in the Army (deployment wise). So here goes nothing. We have stopped hanging pictures and decorating the house, and started making plans for how things will need to be packed already. We head home for Easter, and thats our last visit before we MOVE home. Wow. So crazy to think about!