Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! 

Welcome 2015!!!

Isaac (4yrs 10m), Penny(11m), and Rose (3yrs)

Highlights of 2014:
-Baby #3 was born at the end of January - Penelope Joanne Black, born 3 weeks early, weighed 5lbs, 3.8oz, and 18.5in tall. Such a little peanut!
-Isaac turned 4 in February!
-Grandma Deb, Grandma Lucy, and Grandma Teresa all got to come and visit us in Hawaii!!
-Matt and I went to Maui (with Penny in tow since she was only a few weeks old at the time) to see a good friend get married in March, and I also got to meet up with some family friends that I haven't seen since I was 13 (Hello Kittners!)!!
-End of September/beginning of October we took our three kids on a huge trip; we went to California for a week and half, which we visited family, friends, and went to Disneyland, then went to Pennsylvania for another week and a half to visit even more friends and family. It was long and tiring at times, but so worth it!
-Had our first child admitted overnight to a hospital -- Rose, while at Disneyland, got herself severely dehydrated.
-Rose turned 3 in December!

It's crazy looking back at pictures from throughout the year and seeing how much each child has changed. It doesn't seem like it most of the time, because we are with them all day, every day, but there is definitely growing happening!

This upcoming year should be pretty relaxed, but one new thing will be happening: Isaac will be starting Kindergarten in the fall! I hope he loves it, and I hope he does well.

Around the Oct/Nov timeframe (which is still a LONG ways away) we should be finding out where we are going next after this Hawaii tour is over. I'm excited to see if we're going someplace new or going back to where we've already been. One thing's for certain, we should be back on the mainland which means we'll be closer to family again!

It also looks like some good friends of ours might be PCSing back to Hawaii in the middle of this year, so that will be awesome to be able to see them more often again, but then we'll be leaving less then a year later. Hopefully our paths will cross again and again though :)

That's all for now!

New Year!

So it's been two weeks since the New Year and I'm finally getting around to writing a blog entry. The reason I haven't updated is simple...not much is happening. The kids have spent lots of time playing with their new toys from Christmas. Matt and I spent the first part of the new year relaxing while Matt was home, catching up on a TV series called Doctor Who, which we are really enjoying.

Rose still isn't walking yet, but it's not because she CAN'T, it's because she prefers to crawl because it's faster. She will cruise the couches really fast and when not paying attention, she will walk a few steps on her own. But she's stubborn and whenever I set her down and try to get her stand, she will bend her knees so that her feet wont even touch the ground. Her pediatrician said that he isn't worried though and she'll walk when she's ready. When she went in for her check up right after her birthday she was 21lbs 9.8oz and 30inches tall. She's teething again now, getting a ton of teeth at once. Her top two molars are both halfway through, her bottom left molar is just starting to poke through and her right bottom molar is about to pop through. She still only has two bottom front teeth, but I think one or two might be emerging as well next to those ones. What's crazy is that even though she is teething, she still pretty happy and not drooly whatsoever. She is waking at night though, usually 2-3x. Hoping these teeth come fast so we can get some sleep again!

Isaac is exiting his terrible 2's and heading straight into horrific 3's. His newest thing is not wanting to eat what or when we eat. We're not giving in though. Some nights he wont eat and he's allowed to leave the table after we are done eating but he isn't allowed any snacks unless he eats his dinner. Usually within a half hour he's eating finally. And there is no way we make his own dinner different from our own. He's also fighting going to bed at night or waking at night from either night terrors or just because he woke up and having a hard time going back to sleep. He has also stopped napping. We still put him down for a nap but he doesn't sleep at all during it. Now we're calling it quiet time and he can read on his bed as long as he's quiet so he doesn't wake up Rose. It's not all bad though. His vocabulary seems to grow every day, he loves playing with his sister (though he still needs to work on his sharing). He's staring to pick back up on potty training on his own and once we get to Hawaii where it's warmer and he can run around naked again like the first time we tried it and hopefully he will be 100% after we get there. I still can't believe he will be 3 soon!

New Years Eve we spent at home and then that night we went to the Ling's house to have dinner and then watch fireworks from a car garage roof-top.

Matt painting Rose's toes

 New Years Eve dinner at the Lings 

 Rose and Liam playing with the magnets

Isaac and I watching fireworks on top of the car garage

Isaac and Noah watching Clarence set off some fireworks

You can just see the excitement on their faces :)

Rose was making some funny faces one morning

Coolest baby in town!

Isaac and Noah, best buddies!

Trying out spoons and forks

Awesome carts at the Food Lion! They both get their own 

steering wheel there is still lots of room in the cart for 

lots of groceries :)

This past weekend we finally started going through stuff in preparation for our move to Hawaii. I was in charge of going through the kids clothes and in the end, we have about 14 boxes of stuff (separated by gender and size and even season for some of Isaac's older stuff). We are still unsure if we are done having kids so we're hanging on to them until we decide for sure. Matt worked on his office and we also went through some stuff in the basement as well. We still have a lot more to go so hopefully we have some more productive weekends coming up. 

Goodbye 2011...Hello 2012!

Happy New Year everyone!

The year of 2011 has certainly been very busy for this Black Family... let's recap!

    •    Moved from Hawaii to Maryland
    •    Visited family in California while in rout to our move to the East Coast
    •    Stayed in Pennsylvania for 6 weeks while house-hunting
    •    Celebrated Isaac's first birthday
    •    Bought a house in Maryland
    •    Made new friends
    •    Got pregnant with our second child
    •    Celebrated the marriage of one of my best friends
    •    Survived a hurricane watch
    •    Celebrated the birth of one our good friends second child
    •    Visited museums, aquariums, and zoo's
    •    Welcomed our daughter to the world

I wonder what 2012 has in store for us.... Can't wait to find out!

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Below are pictures from the last few days. 

 Just being cute

Drinking water from my water jug

 Isaac and Rose

In a cute strawberry sleeper

 Precious

 Daddy with his two kids

 He got out of bed one night and passed out on the floor.
He cant get back onto his bed by himself yet and we
didn't realize he was out of bed until we checked up on him.

 Making her poop face

 All better

 Trying on daddy's shoes

 Trying to walk in daddy's shoes

Silly boy

That's all the picture from 2011! Expect more in 2012 :)

Happy New Year! 2011 Here we come!

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Welcome 2011!!!

2010 - A Year in Pictures

As 2010 comes winding down, I thought it would be a neat idea to a picture post of all the things that happened.

~~~~~January~~~~~ 

Eagerly awaiting the arrival of our son.



~~~~~February~~~~~ 

We welcome Isaac Thomas Black into the world

~~~~~March~~~~~

 

 - Grandma Lucy comes to visit!

One month old

~~~~~April~~~~~

 - Grandma "T" and Papa Mikee come to visit!
(actually, they came in late March, but were still here in April too lol)

 First Easter

First time at the sandbar



~~~~~May~~~~~

 Grandma Deb comes to visit!

 First Mothers Day

First day of daycare

~~~~~June~~~~~

 

 Enjoying some pool time

The day Daddy dressed him funny

Nakkie baby picture



~~~~~July~~~~~

 First 4th of July

Aunt Bethie comes to visit!

First airplane trip! (20 minute flight to the Big Island)

With Grandma Deb at the Big Island

First time sitting up



~~~~~August~~~~~

 First luau

Grandpa Ed, Grandma Lucy, and Uncle Joey came to visit!

First time with solids (bananas!)

Sitting up


~~~~~September~~~~~

 Visited by Grandma Teresa

Going to the beach

Two teeth!



~~~~~October~~~~~

 2nd luau

Playing in the ocean for the first time and loving it

Mr. and Mrs. B come to visit!

 First Halloween!

~~~~~November~~~~~

 Crawling (has been doing this for a month now, but first picture)

 Standing with toys

 First Zoo trip!

First Thanksgiving!

~~~~~December~~~~~

Christmas pictures at the beach

First Christmas Eve

First Christmas!

First New Year!!!

Ok, so I -was- going to post only one picture per month. But there was many thing that happened that it wouldn't be fair if some months two or three and some had just one... so I posted more then one per month :) 

2010 has been awesome year, to say the least. We got to welcome our son, Isaac, into the world in late February and it's been a roller-coaster ride since! We've had sleepless nights, sicknesses, milestones, loving moments, and cherished memories. I've tried my best to post pictures along the way and I am quite proud that I have updated this blog weekly (I think only once or twice I skipped a week, which isn's bad!).

2011 will be quite an adventure as well! We'll be leaving Hawaii mid-January, visiting family in California, and staying in Pennsylvania while we look for a house to live in in Maryland!

I can honestly say I am looking forward to what 2011 may bring us!