twenty ten is over.

2011 is about 3 hours from now. Right now, Cole is asleep upstairs and Chad is of course working the night shift…leaving me in perfect silence. Which is nice because I have nobody to please right now and I can sit and do whatever I want. My New Years Eve dinner of choice was cheese grits and a grilled cheese sandwich…festive, huh?

2010 was a crazy year for us. It will be one that we will always remember because so  GOOD much has happened. This past year was nothing but good to us. A few speed bumps here and there, but overall I am really proud of us as a family for what we accomplished this year.

In December of 2009 we packed up our life in California and moved to Myrtle Beach. Chad was officially out of the Marine Corps on January 9th of this year. Once we arrived here, neither one of us had a real job. We enjoyed several weeks of jobless life and made lots of memories. We can laugh about this now but Chad will be the first one to tell you that “unemployment” pretty much consisted of him laying around in his underwear from the time he woke up, until the time he went to bed. After working nonstop for the last few years, that poor man definitely deserved some time off! There was plenty of job searching/resume/interview preparation but for the most part the 3 of us were hiding out for the winter.  Since I was only waiting tables at the time, we were a little nervous about what we were going to do financially until we found “real jobs.” We actually were so afraid to spend money that the only place we ever went was the grocery store. One day he even said to me, “I don’t want to leave here… can we just walk around a few more times?” We still laugh about that to this day! Unemployment seemed like it lasted forever when in actuality it was only about a month… Then  things got exponentially better because

CHAD GOT A JOB! I was so proud of him! Out of about 30 or so candidates, Chad was one of 3 hired for a LEO position and he was slated to go to Police Academy in May.

Meanwhile, Cole was growing like a weed! He was just the cutest, sweetest little infant and I wished I could have frozen him there forever!

 

He really surprised us when he started walking 2 days past nine months and he has been hell on wheels ever since! Before we knew it, May had come and Chad left for a 9 week police academy. I landed a really great job in Marketing with Marriott and Cole started daycare. Things were going much better than we ever expected for a family fresh out of the military. We saved plenty of money from Chad’s two Iraq deployments and now that we were both working, we decided it was house hunting time!!

This house was up for foreclosure and we snagged it for a pretty good price (we think)! We closed on it on July 30th, just 2 weeks after Cole turned a year old! July 30th last year was the exact day that Chad met Cole for the first time. Crazy what can happen in just one year!!! 

Chad graduated from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy on July 9, 2010. He has been working as an officer since then and seems to really enjoy his job!

Let’s see…. October!!!!!

My GORGEOUS sister in-law married an awesome guy –Jared – in a perfect wedding back home in Atlanta! This was one of only 2 trips we made home this year and it was so much fun!

    

 Cole was Stewie from Family Guy for Halloween this year….. What a handsome young man!

This brings me to The holiday season… Thanksgiving was spent with my parents and then we went home a week later to be with Chad’s family for a week @ the beginning of December. We had a good visit but it went very fast! Before we knew it, it was our first Christmas in our new house!

 

Our traditional Christmas pajamas this year were the Authentic pjs from ‘The Christmas Story’ movie… You know, the Bunny pajamas from Aunt Clara. Chad and I wore them  (Chad is such a good sport for me!!!!) and poor little defenseless Cole, who had no say in the matter, was subject to much ridicule for most of the day. I hope he can forgive me someday for this:

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I know you probably want to see the evidence of the ex-marine in the bunny jams, but I have sworn on the lives of our parents, Cole, and future unborn children, that I will never disclose the evidence. Breach of this verbal (and written) contract will result in the immediate filing of divorce paperwork and my arrest of breach of Chad’s peace/trust.  And since, I don’t want to begin 2011 in a divorce, I will leave it at that!

2010 was a crazy, wonderful year for us and we are so blessed by everything that has happened to us.  I am extremely proud of Chad, especially for his continued sacrifices for our family. He has proven to be an amazing provider for our family out here in the civilian world and I am so grateful for his hard work! I love you!

I am thankful for my sweet Cole and all of the joy he has brought us this year. He is just the most amazing little boy and he is so dearly loved. I know 2011 will be full of fun and excitement as we enter into the ‘terrific twos!’

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)