Christmas was great fun with the kiddos!  New Years Eve and Day were uneventful, but Mike and I managed to actually stay up till midnight, which is pretty amazing.  Sometimes we feel much older than we really are.  I guess that's what having kids does to a person.  We updated our desktop computer to an iMac, so that is pretty exciting!  I was always very much a Dell person, and I still had my 6 year old Dell desktop that I got in college.  It was my first computer and it served me very well.  6 years is a long time in the technology world, though, so it was time for an update and after much deliberation and research we decided to take the Mac plunge.  So far I am not disappointed.  My only complaint would be that there does not seem to be an acceptable alternative to Quicken for the Mac platform.  I use Quicken to track all of our finances and I would be very disappointed to have to learn a whole new software system.  Because of this, we are now considering running a program called Parallel on our Mac which allows you to install Windows and use Windows programs on your Mac.  I know, what was the point of getting a Mac,right?  Well, there are still many advantages to having one.  


We have gotten a lot of snow this winter.  It has not snowed for 2 weeks now, but before this dry spell, we were getting pounded.  Places like Valdez and Cordova were getting upwards of 20 ft of snow.  We didn't get that much, but we got somewhere between 2 and 3 ft.  Then after all of that snow was dumped on us, we had a week long wind storm that blew our snow piles across our driveway and packed them down like concrete.  That was a job to break up.  Everyone around us was paying top dollar to have their driveways plowed, and we almost did until our neighbor came over to help us with a snow blower.  So, we broke up the snow into chunks and the snow blower took care of the rest.  What a blessing!  That job could have taken a good part of the day, but only took us about an hour and a half instead!  We have some really great neighbors!  


Future things to look forward to include Mike's change of command coming up soon.  He will be taking command of 545 MP Co and preparing them for deployment over the next several months.  Between now and then he starts inventories, which should be tedious for him.  I can only imagine.  On the bright side he will probably have some free time during that time where he does not have much scheduled, so we may get to spend some time together as a family before he takes command.  After that, we will see how much of him we actually get to see.  I expect he will be very busy.  I am very proud of him, though.  He always seems to have a lot on his plate at work, but that happens when your superiors know they can trust you.  It's a curse but also a blessing, I guess.  He is a good officer and soldier, and above all a good husband and father.  What more could I ask for?  


Nathan is getting big!  He is already fitting into 4T shirts and he is not even 3 yet.  I think he will be very athletic if he applies himself.  Ayla is growing like a weed, too!  Only 6 months old and already trying to push up on her knees to crawl even before she can sit up by herself!  She's a determined little girl!  She always wants to play with her big brother.  I love it when we are driving somewhere in the car and I look back at Nathan and see him holding his little sister's hand.  Melts my heart!  What a good big brother he is.  But, of course he has a little devil of a temper, too.  "No" is his favorite word right now, and he says it constantly to me and Mike.  It can be very trying on one's patience.  I just don't want to end up like one of those parents with no control over their wild kids.  We discipline him and I feel like a broken record at times, but right now we do look like those parents who don't discipline their kids when we are out.  It's not true!  Oi!  How tough this job is!


Well, it's time to get lunch for Nathan.  Maybe I'll post some photos on here next time.