2013 Year in Review

January 2013

We brought Cooper into our family.

We explored our little island some more.

We took a trip to Germany where we managed to get ourselves locked inside this castle!

February 2013

Colin met the Transformers.

Our family was approved for Portuguese adoption and placed on the waiting list. 

Colin played basketball.

March 2013

Cooper got caught up in puppy mischief.

We enjoyed the warm island spring.

We celebrated Easter.

April 2013

Colin raced his car in the Awana Grand Prix

We played with friends.

May 2013

Colin played T Ball.

 We got a BIG surprise when we learned I was pregnant.

It was time to break out the giant slip n slide for Memorial Day.

June 2013

We went to bull fights.

I finished school (again) and completed my Masters.

It was finally beach weather!

July 2013

Grandma & Grandpa came to visit us on the island.

We went whale and dolphin watching.

After living here and asking for a year, Colin finally got to milk a cow!

August 2013

We cruised around the Eastern Mediterranean and visited Venice, Athens, Istanbul, Santorini and many other places. 

Colin turned five in Venice and chose to celebrate with a gondola ride.

He had a birthday party with friends when we returned and he got a big bike and a skateboard.

September 2013

Colin started Kindergarten!

We learned we will add another boy to our family.

We took Colin on his very first camping trip.

We visited Germany again.

October 2013

Colin played soccer.

My amazing friends threw me a baby shower.

We celebrated Halloween.

November 2013

Cooper turned one.

We said "see ya later" to the Callens Family.

We decorated for Christmas much earlier than usual so I could enjoy the decorations before heading to Germany.

Colin had his gymnastics recital.

December 2013

Colin earned a few Awana awards he was very proud of.

We finally got the baby's room ready and in order.

Squadron Christmas party at eight and a half months pregnant.

Colin visited Santa (Cooper too but he embarrassed himself!).

I flew to Germany (in the cockpit of an Airbus!!!) at 35.5 weeks pregnant to prepare for baby's arrival.

We celebrated our first Christmas apart since Colin was born and amazingly enough it was a deployment or Shelby's service that separated us. I was the first one of us to "miss" a Christmas due to stork nesting in Germany for the baby. 

Merry Christmas! Feliz Natal! Frohe Weinachten!

One family, three different countries this year! Shelby did a fantastic job of exciting Colin and making the magic of Christmas happen for him this year all while keeping me as involved as possibly I can be from almost 2,000 miles away. Of course the photo/video documenting helped me out and is nice for all our family back in the States too.

They started off yesterday morning baking cookies for Santa and the security guards in our neighborhood.

Then Shelby took Colin and a bunch of his friends to the bowling alley for lunch and to play a bit. 

Next they came home and made reindeer food, which they sprinkled in the grass along with some Grinch dust to keep the Grinch away. Colin was VERY concerned about the Grinch and where he was in relation to where Santa was. Last night Shelby and Colin tracked Santa around the world with the Norad Santa Tracker and Colin wanted to know where the Grinch was. I found this website and sent it to them. It tells all about the defenses used to keep Santa safe. Colin asked A LOT of questions about this and eventually he and Colin decided that Santa was kept safe by fighter jets around the world, heat seeking missles, lasers and even sharks with laser beams attached to their heads! LOL See Colin, Santa is 100% safe!

Sprinkling reindeer food (glitter and oatmeal) around the yard. 

He started counting out the food and making a number of piles and then insisted to know how many reindeer Santa has so that he could be sure to put enough piles of food out for all of them. So sweet! 

Later on after dinner Shel and Colin prepared the plate of goodies and hot cocoa for Santa.

And with his Christmas jammies on he had to check the cookies and cocoa once more to be sure it was set up right and then tell Daddy all about it. 

Finally, with Colin in bed, Santa was able to make his stop by our house.

The stockings all filled and and the gifts all ready! By this time I was exhausted because it was after 1 AM Germany time and I had very little sleep the night before. I skyped with Shelby while he made sure everything was just right and ready for Colin in the morning. 

My internet here in the hotel has been very spotty and goes in and out frequently and for hours at a time. It's very frustrating and I was worried it wasn't going to cooperate long enough for me to watch Colin open his gifts via Skype on Christmas morning. I guess Santa took care of me though and he must have fixed up the internet, because not only has it been cooperating all morning long, it's been much faster than usual too! I was able to Skype uninterrupted for about an hour this morning and then transfer and upload all the pictures of Christmas morning from Shelby's computer to mine and get them posted. Thanks Santa! Having the internet cooperate and being able to see and talk to Colin and Shelby totally made this day for me. 

Here are the rest of the pictures of Colin opening gifts on Christmas morning. Also a link to the video of him opening all his stuff as well. Merry Christmas everyone! 

Christmas 2013

First video of Colin coming down the stairs:

Video 2, the longer one of him opening:

The final video of Colin opening the remaining gifts: