Hello 2010!

In the big scheme of things, 2009 was a rather uneventful year for the Phillips family...our family has been go-Go-GO since...heck, since we got married, that it was nice to have a year where no one gave birth, no one was deployed, no one moved, and no one got pregnant. :) Here's a look back at some of the major events in our family since 2001:

2001

Babydaddy graduated from ODU

Babydaddy went to OCS & earned a commission to the US navy

2002

Babydaddy got stationed to his first command an an Ensign in Norfolk, VA

I graduated from ODU

We got engaged

I got my first teaching job

We got married Dec. 14, 2002

We moved in together

2003

Babydaddy deployed January - May

FIL deployed to Kuwait January - April

My parents & brother moved to Pasadena, CA

Visited my parents twice in CA: April & December

2004

Babydaddy got promoted to 0-2 (LTjg in the Navy)

I switched jobs; went from teaching 3rd grade to Director of Ed for Sylvan Learning Center

Had a miscarriage :(

Started grad school for my M.Ed

My dad moved back to VA to start a new job; Mom & Ron still in CA

Moved to a new apartment

2005

Got pregnant! (and this one stuck!)

Babydaddy gone 75% of this year...eventually deployed for 6 months Sept - March

Mom & Ron move back to VA

Quit my jobby job at Sylvan to focus on being a MOMMY

Had Noah in November! :)

2006

Babydaddy got promoted to 0-3 (LT in Navy)

Babydaddy came home from deployment in March & met 4 mo old Noah for the 1st time :)

Babydaddy got surgery for a torn peck and was med down for a month!

We bought our first house in June in Virginia Beach

Spent the summer remodeling & fixing up the house

Got the PERFECT part-time job teaching 3rd grade 2x a week for a private Christian school. (To date this has been my favorite job EVER.)

Had Noah's 1st birthday in our new house

Hosted Thanksgiving & Christmas in our first house

2007

Received news we were to be transferred 5 months earlier than expected!

Mad scramble to get the house on the market

Moved to FL March 23, 2007

Sold VA house May 1, 2007 (Praise God!)

Was extremely homesick :(

Got pregnant! :)

Bought our Chevy Tahoe (in prep for Baby #2's arrival)

Spent Christmas in VA

2008

I spent most of the first part of the yr in a pregnancy-induced haze

Had Caleb in May! :)

Noah started Mothers Day Out in July

Enrolled Noah in preschool in August

Spent Thanksgiving with the ILs here

Potty-trained Noah

Took the kids to Disney World for the first time :)

Finished requirements for my M. Ed :)

Celebrated Christmas quietly...just us :)

2009

Realized I wanted to live a life worth living...started running on my 31st birthday

Attended my first group fitness class (Box & Sweat, then Bodypump)

Ran 2 5ks

Received my M. Ed diploma

Babydaddy completed his MBA

Celebrated Caleb's 1st birthday

Became consistent with my workouts, going to the gym at least 3x a week for most of the year

Got my DSLR camera (yes this deserved recognition!)

Celebrated Christmas with the entire Phillips brood in our home.

And that sums up our life for the last decade! :) Like I said, this past year was rather uneventful, but welcomed at the same time. Its funny...just as we start to get comfortable with being here in FL, we need to start gearing up for a move again. Such is the life for a Navy family! Hope you all have a fantastic 2010! :)

Christmas 2009 Re-Cap

I finally have the time to sit and do a re-cap of Christmas for you all! I love days where there is nothing planned...right now the entire family is still in pajamas waiting for some homemade brownies to cool. Perfect opportunity to blog. :o)

This Christmas we were blessed to have the entire Phillips brood over at our place (with the exception of JMP who had to work...responsibilities!): The Phillips' from VA and The Phillips-Ray's from MS. It was a full house and lots of fun. :)

On Christmas Eve, Noah put out some cookies and chocolate milk for Santa...by the door because he was afraid Santa wouldn't be able to get in the house via the fireplace. The hearth is where we house all of the boys' toys and they're in baskets blocking the opening to the chimney. :p
These are the presents that Santa left by the door for the boys...

Here's Noah on Christmas morning looking for his name on the presents...
Noah opening up Santa's gifts first...
Now its Caleb's turn...

Noah was quite excited by all the presents... :)
Happy with his new Cars set...
Caleb loved opening up presents...he didn't really care what was under all the wrapping. :)
After literally HOURS of opening up presents...here's a picture of the aftermath. :p I had a mini-anxiety attack looking at my living room. :p

My favorite gifts of the season were from my in-laws...FIL got us an HD media player. Once you download movies to your external hard drive, you can connect it to the media player and have all your movies at your fingertips. No more dealing with DVDs! The best part of the gift was that FIL had downloaded 200+ movies to our external hard drive so all we had to do is hook it up. Its awesome. :) We've already watched several movies using it.
My MIL has been listening to me for some time now saying how I needed a new coffeemaker. My current one is a Hamilton Beach Brew Station, which I love, but I've had it for almost 3 years and wanted one with a separate carafe. MIL got me a Hamilton Beach percolator. I love it because it brews quickly, stays hot until you unplug it (my other one automatically shut-off after 2 hrs) and is space-saving. :) I swear my coffee is more flavor-full too.
Christmas was magical for the boys and just so much fun as they get older. I love, love, LOVE the Christmas season! As much as I love it, though, I was happy to pack up all the decor and prep the house for a major purge fest...more on the purge fest to come. :)

Merry Christmas!

From our family to your's...we hope you all have had a fantastic Christmas! I hope to get back on the blogging bandwagon soon...but for now, how are you all enjoying the changes on the bloggy?? :)

Busy Busy Busy & Impromtu Pizza.

Hey bloggy peeps. :) Sorry its been awhile since I last touched the blog, but like I said previously, motivation is definitely lacking this time of the year. If it doesn't have anything to do with turkey or Christmas trees, I have major ADD. The kids and LIFE have been keeping me busy too.

After Noah's birthday last Thursday, Babydaddy came home on Friday, and we did some cleaning and grocery shopping and catching up on the weekend. Come Sunday, we find out that a hurricane is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and its headed straight for Pensacola! WTH?! Its November, for sobbing out loud! Anyway, Monday comes around and Escambia County is hoping for the best and preparing for the worst; schools are closed Monday and Tuesday, people are clearing the shelves at the grocery stores and filling up their gas tanks. Monday is also the day I decide to take Caleb to the doc's because he's been extremely fussy and pointing at his right ear for the past several days. I call Whiting Field and of course there aren't any spots, especially since they were closing early that day. Thankfully they give me a consult to go out in town and we all take Caleb to the Urgent Care in Pace...in the rain and hurricane traffic. Well, turns out it was a good thing we took him because he did indeed have an ear infection. His second one in a month, opposite ear. Sigh. Noah's had 1 ear infection in his whole 4 years and Caleb gets 2 in a month. :o/ Anyway, we get the antibiotics and we are prepared for the storm to come...

...the storm came and went with much hoopla and little follow through. :p We've had worst thunderstorms! We are thankful that Hurricane Ida ended up being a dud though. :) Thanks to Hurricane Ida, Noah was off from school and Babydaddy was off from work...we got bored quickly so we headed out for a drive. :)

We decided to try a pizza place we've driven by many, many times: Santino's Pizza & Grinders. We'd heard good things about the place and Babydaddy & I were hungry...we were pleasantly surprised! Santino's is attached to a gas station, which is why we had never gone in...how good could pizza from a gas station be?

Well, turns out pizza from a gas station can be AWESOME!!! :) I'm not typically a pizza person, but this pizza was the bomb diggy. Loved loved loved it. I had 2 slices. :p
We will definitely be heading back to Santino's! ;)

Well, today is Veteran's Day so Noah is home from school again...3rd day in a row! Babydaddy's command decided to come into work today and possibly get a 3-day weekend instead. Hopefully they still get one, even with their 1.5 "free days" they got this week. Anyway, I foresee today being a lazy day...its gray outside and there's nothing on my task list that needs to get done today, so today will definitely be a curl up with The Vampire Diaries kinda day. ;) Have fun, ya'll!

Happy Halloween!

The boys had a ton of fun trick-or-treating last night! :) This was the first year we actually took Noah because he had either been too young, and last year he was dead set against it (he went through a phase where he didn't want to try ANYTHING new) so last night was new for all of us. :)

We dressed the boys up as Disney's Cars drivers and we spiffied up Noah's costume a little more with a wig and moustache. He was a hit! He had the neighbors taking pictures of him...lol. You know these peeps love them some NASCAR. lol.

Here's a pic of the little man... We loaded them up in the wagon and they were ready to go...of course we had to pack the trusty sippy cups. Can't risk the kids getting thirsty on the trip. :)

I think this was one of the first houses we hit...no one answered. Party poopers! :p
LOL...a lot of people thought he was Mario from the Super Mario Brothers...Last picture of the night...there came a point where Caleb was sick of getting in and out of the wagon, and when that time came, we knew it was time to head home. The boys had a great time though...can't wait for next year! :)