2015
(quite possibly the world's longest blog post..>EVER)
January started out with Andrew building Lego's. He's really into them now and got several new sets for his birthday and Christmas, so he had lots of building to do!
Drew's parents came to town for Aubrey's birthday, so we took the opportunity to go away for the weekend, not far, just to Wilmington. I honestly think this is the first "getaway" we've had since having kids. Granted we've been on a couple business trips before, but never a trip "just for the fun of it."
This was the sitting area outside of our room, on the 3rd floor.
We spent the weekend strolling the streets of historic downtown and trying out fabulous restaurants.
I had to try the mexican hot chocolate donut!
Alas, all good things must come to an end. As you can see, we were very sad for our 2 short days to end. We've GOT to do that more often!
Also, baby girl turned 2 on January 15th. We celebrated by taking her to Yana's for breakfast pancakes. She had an Elsa birthday party, but all those pictures are on Drew's phone.
Good Morning Birthday Girl!
February got off to a rocky start. I got a call about my Granny Nita. She wasn't doing well and they thought this might be the end. I told her she was not allowed to die before I got there! The kids and I hopped on the first flight we could get, finally arriving around midnight. She was asleep when I got there, so I talked to her for a while, told her how much we loved her, begged her to wake up one last time. She never did, but I know that she knew that I was there. She kept her promise, though! She waited on me and for that I'm thankful. She went to be with the Lord peacefully in her sleep around 3 am. I'm glad I got to spend her last earthly moments with her. She died on her anniversary. What a glorious reunion she had with my Poppa!
Before the funeral we were all looking through some old pictures and I came across this one of my Great-Grandmother. I never got to know her. She died before I was born, but I'd like to think I have a lot of her in me. Just look at that mixer! ;)
We got back from AL a week later and it was back to work. Frosted got busy hosting cupcake decorating birthday parties for kids, sponsoring dessert at the Mayor's Ball of Swansboro, and pairing up with the local elementary school to offer "Frosted Night," where 10% of sales go back to the school.
Up to this point, Kim and I had still been baking from home and taking the cupcakes and cookies to the store. By now, we've saved up enough money to pay cash for our commercial kitchen!
One chilly day in February, we had "snow." I thought since we were moving to NORTH Carolina that snow would be a pretty regular winter occurrence. Um, no! Not on the coast.
February is also the cub scout Blue & Gold banquet. Here's Andrew with his BFF, Charlie.
Andrew wrote and illustrated his own Minecraft comic book (just for fun)
March kicks off with my birthday. We celebrated at McDonalds after church and then spent some time doing a little "front porch sittin'" as we do many Sunday afternoons.
Spring school pictures. He's getting SO big!
Aubrey in her Easter dress.
We went to Easter Brunch at Icehouse
Grammy, Granddad, and Alex came to visit and brought presents!
Went to the beach on a very chilly day to check out the campground.
Egg hunt cuteness
We're noticing that we're starting to develop a little "diva".
April brings springtime gardening.
Somehow we started raising butterflies after finding these guys in our garden. We hatched a total of maybe 25-30 all spring! The kids loved watching the caterpillars grow and turn into butterflies.
Butterfly release
May marked Andrew's First Holy Communion. Lots of the Ladners came to town for Andrew's special day. We celebrated afterward at Grammy and Granddad's camper on the beach with cake and BBQ! (Most of the pics are on the other camera)
The next weekend, Andrew was in a play! He and his friend, Charlie participated in a theater class. At the end, they did a performance. It was called Fairytale ( a mash up of all your favorite fairytale characters. Andrew was the scarecrow! He was GREAT! We were so proud!
May also meant a deployment. :( It was our first one in 4 years and Aubrey's first one ever. The kids were devastated. (so was Momma) He would be in Honduras for 6 months. That was a sad day!
Being so far away from family, this Momma needed help, so we hired a Nanny. Ms. Julie was a God-send! She is precious and we love her dearly! She took the kids to the park, the library, Chick-fil-a...wherever they wanted to go. She was their second Mom while I was at the bakery. I wouldn't have survived the deployment without her!
June brings the end of the school year and summer vacation! I volunteered at Andrew's field day!
Lots of snuggle time with these 2 since Daddy is gone!
Aubrey did a Frozen themed Summer Dance Camp for one week. She was a little hesitant at first and cried the first day, but after that she liked it. And she was ADORABLE doing their little dance!
The first week of JULY my family came and rented a beach condo in Atlantic Beach. I was busy working but managed to spend a little time with them while they were here. We also celebrated an early "30th" Birthday for Gracie!
It was so windy for pictures!
Also in July, we had a very special helper at the bakery. Our friend's daughter, Robin. She's a natural when it comes to baking and has a passion for it, so it was a joy to have her help at the bakery. She learned a lot in her time there and she worked HARD! Pretty sure I exhausted her every day. Thanks so much, Robin, for coming to help me out!
And since it's summertime, that means it's time for another visit from Kel! Also during her visit, I had a special visit from the Hollenweger family! Jon and I went to Auburn together freshman year; we lived in the same dorm. Even though he only went to Auburn that first year, he spent the next 4 Thanksgivings and a couple summer vacations with my family. He's the little brother I never had! We were in each other's weddings and we have kids the same age. So, I was SO happy to see them! It had been FIVE years! Poor Andrew missed out on the fun, though. He went home with Granna and Paw-Paw after their beach trip.
Excuse the bags under the eyes. At this point I had been up for over 30 hrs!
At the end of July, Aubrey and I drove to AL to 1)pick up Andrew 2)visit with my family and 3) MEET MY NEW NEPHEW! Adam and Kristen welcomed Stephen Joseph Ladner into the world just a few weeks prior, so I couldn't wait to see him! The kids were anxious to hold him as well and had to practice with Aubrey's "babies."
While in AL, we took a trip to Cathedral Caverns. It was a very neat experience and I can't believe I had never been there!
3 little cave explorers
The kids always love it at Granna and Paw-Paw's house! They love the farm life and all the playing they get to do
. 
Dad's family got together and rented a lake house for the weekend. My cousin Jason brought his boat. We had a great time together playing on the water, reminiscing, and drinking lots of coffee around the table. (cause that's what we "Barclifts" do) :)
Took the boat out to the "bat cave" so the kids could see all the bats come out at dark. You can see it in the background just to the right of my dad's head. We did this several times as kids and it was always one of my favorite things. Those bats are amazing creatures!
I wish I had the pictures of these 2 on the tube!
Moonrise on the water....ahh!
AUGUST -
After a great visit with family, we headed back to NC to get ready to start school. We made the decision to homeschool this year (Surprise) and I couldn't be more pleased with how it went. I LOVE IT! Andrew loved it! I don't know why we didn't do this sooner! Anyway...that's another topic for another day. Our office furniture came in just in time to get started with our school year. We adjusted my schedule at the bakery so that I could school in the mornings and then go to the bakery for the afternoon/closing shift.
"cave painting" while learning about early nomads
Aubrey likes to have "school" too.
My kids are such good helpers. Andrew loves to help me cook.....
...and well, Aubrey....
..helps me clean?... "Look Mommy, this is my hiding place."
SEPTEMBER
I had a very unique opportunity over Labor Day weekend. Drew and his guys were granted special liberty for the 96er to travel over to Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras. Drew called one night..."Hey honey. Do you mind if I spend some money and go over to Roatan to uh..."supervise" my guys on a vacation?" I kindly replied, "Of course not, honey, so long as you don't mind me spending some money for a plane ticket so I can join you!" And so I did! My mother-in-law was kind enough to come and stay with the kiddos while I flew down there.
It's times like these that I'm extremely grateful for my degree in Spanish! I don't get to use the language much these days, but I sure did on this trip. I flew down on frequent flyer miles and the only way to get to Roatan, was to spend the night in El Salvador. So, yes....I flew ALONE to Central America and spent the night ALONE in a foreign country. It was a little intimidating, especially since I didn't understand the tourism tax for staying overnight in El Salvador. I FINALLY got out of the airport and rode the shuttle to my hotel, which was only 5 minutes from the airport. I stayed at the Quality Inn, frequented by the military. In fact, when I arrived, there was a unit from Hawaii staying there as well. I felt pretty safe despite the tall fence and armed guards at the gate surrounding the hotel.
The next day I made it to Drew. He was waiting on me at the airport when I arrived and we took a shuttle to our resort. It was gorgeous! And romantic! And I didn't want to leave!
We rented a car and drove the island. We went zip lining, took a canoe through the mangrove forest, and swam in the crystal clear waters jumping off the tree roots.
And just as quickly as I got there, I had to leave. It was an amazing QUICK trip, but totally worth it to be able to see him mid-deployment. I had been so stressed out, that I needed that! I just have to hang on a little longer....just over half way there!
As soon as I got home from Honduras, it was time for Aubrey to be in her very first pageant, the Miss Swansboro Scholarship Beauty pageant.
She won! Baby Miss Swansboro!
Her friend Cameron was there watching her sister dance!
tired little beauty queen!
Grammy and Andrew left straight from the pageant for Disney World. He went with them to stay in their camper at Ft. Wilderness. Aubrey and I drove down to get him the following week. There just so happened to be a "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" while we were there, so we had to go! It was a quick 1 day trip, but oh so fun!
Aubrey's first roller coaster...BEFORE
DURING....
And After...she wasn't so sure anymore!
Trick or treat time!
Her favorite ride? Ariel!
We were EXHAUSTED!
October brought us a kitten, well at least for 5 weeks until Daddy came home. He's allergic, so we just "fostered" this kitty. Our landlord found him in the parking lot at the bakery. He was pretty pitiful. Meet Mr. Grey! Isn't he the cutest!! He's a Hemmingway Minx....polydactyl and a bob tail!
He was a sweet kitten, a total snuggler! We found him a great home with our pest control guy of all people. So every time he comes to spray the house, he shows the kids photos and videos of Mr. Grey.
October is also Mullet Festival, a HUGE weekend for Frosted. We set up a booth and sell cupcakes all weekend. Aubrey was also in the parade, her first "public appearance" as Baby Miss Swansboro! It was a very rainy parade, so we had the top up. It was an interesting ride. Julie was nice enough to ride with us to help out with Aubrey. (She was gonna hold her so she didn't fall off the car, but it was raining so she rode in my lap! ) Julie was a huge help in that when Aubrey had to go potty half way through the parade, she ran her up to Taco Bell! We only held up the parade for a min. :)
Pumpkin patch and corn maze in Chocowinity, NC
This year for Halloween I had a kitty and an Enderman (from Minecraft) Andrew and I had fun making his costume.
Chiquita was a hot dog! (She HATES Halloween)
Neighborhood gang
In NOVEMBER, Aubrey rode in the Morehead City Veteran's Day Parade. She LOVED throwing candy and smiling and waving at everyone. She's a natural. lol
It was HOT waiting in the lineup!
Next up, an appearance at the tree lighting ceremony in downtown Swansboro...
And then FINALLY....it's TIME FOR DADDY TO COME HOME!!!!!!
We saw the helicopters flying in. We saw Daddy walking toward us. Baby girl didn't want to get wet.
Bubba and I didn't care! We RAN to meet him!
Got him!
Nothing beats homecoming day!
She didn't want to let her Daddy go!
Jacksonville Christmas Parade....Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree theme
We finished out November with a trip to MS to spend Thanksgiving with the Ladner family. Drew got to meet Stephen for the first time. Didn't get to hold him much...Aubrey is a baby hog!
On our way home we stopped at the Auburn exit to have a quick picnic on Samford lawn. It was Black Friday, the day before the Iron Bowl. The town was a buzz. Oh how I wish we could've stayed!
We got home just in time to celebrate Frosted's One Year Anniversary. But first we had the Morehead City's Christmas Parade to attend.
and...a toy drive to kick off DECEMBER.
December is full of anniversaries, birthdays, parties, and CHRISTMAS!
Children's choir performance at Church
And that's the majority of our 2015 folks. You made it! The remainder of December will be it's very own post, as we went to Legoland, Universal, and Disney...all with a large portion of the Barclift bunch!
