Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A New Year





Sadly, being a mom keeps me so busy this if the first time I've had to update our blog. We are a very active group around here! I was thinking now would be a good time to blog about my year in review. 2010 was a great year and I'm sure 2011 will be even better.

2010 started with Craig and I traveling to Hawaii and having a wonderful, refreshing week just the 2 of us




while Jerry and Martia spent quality time with the kids.





Jerry got to experience a princess ball with Channing; as well as snow days, the Children's museum and Chuck E. Cheese with all the kids.

Sullivan ran track again in the spring and we all enjoyed going to the meets and cheering him on.
He appeared to enjoy himself and worked on running longer distances.

For Easter, we travelled to Bristol for the big helicopter egg drop put on by Virginia Highlands Fellowship.

I can't say it was a huge success with Sullivan not getting a single egg and Channing Gail getting lost among the thousands of kids. Pretty sure we can write that one off as an experience we won't repeat any time soon!

My little brother returned to the US after his 1 year tour of duty in Iraq.


So glad to have him back home where he belongs. We all made it to Bristol and arrived at the airport just as his plane landed. The kids hurried to make him welcome home signs. I was really impressed with Dalton's sign. His read, "Welcome Back from Iraq!" Catchy!

Before school let out last year, I was privy to participating in the school's lip sync contest to reward the school for meeting their fundraising goal.


As part of the PTA, I helped choreograph our lip sync skit to YMCA. I made a pretty good police man/woman if I say so myself!

Craig, Sullivan and Dalton enjoyed seeing the traveling tour of Star Wars.



Sullivan and Craig to New Orleans a few months earlier and saw the tour there. This time Dalton got to go. I think they're groupies now.

Sullivan celebrated his 8th birthday with our first slumber party. 4 extra boys in the house was quite a treat.

Getting them to sleep was the hardest part but Sullivan had a blast!

We travelled to Bristol over the summer and enjoyed the lake with the Petersons.


The kids loved tubing with grandma and grandpa. Later in the summer, we met up with Dalton's half brother Matthew at the lake and enjoyed spending the day with his family.

I attended my 10 year OT class reunion.

Sadly, I was the only one there no longer practicing. Times like that make me miss working but for the most part, I really enjoy staying at home and raising the kids.

My sweet Channing Gail turned 5 and celebrated with a Hannah Montana party.



She rocked the party that's for sure! She ended up singing the entire set with the guest singer and rocked the stage!

All the kids started school at AES.
My one and only year to have all 3 kids at the same school at the same time..a kindergardener, a 3rd grader and a 5th grader. It's been nice and I know they enjoy seeing each other throughout the day.

After a lot of thought and consideration, we decided to change gyms for Channing Gail and Sullivan.

We visited all the gyms in Memphis and surrounding area and decided on Memphis Storm. Channing put on a little exhibition with her "team" and did a great job. She enjoyed being in front of the crowd. Sullivan continues to perfect his round off back handspring and will decide later this year if he would like to go down a competitive track with gymnastics.

Channing tried soccer. She was actually pretty aggressive but struggled with the focus of actually trying to kick the ball in the goal.

She looked awfully cute out there though! I think she enjoyed the social part of the soccer matches over the actual game.

I was fortunate enough to go on our annual Girl's weekend with the sisters.


This year we went on a cruise to Mexico. This was my first trip to Mexico. Prior to the trip, my little brother and his wife announced they are expecting (we later found out they are expecting twins!!!)

Dalton turned 12 and we celebrated with his classmates coming over for a movie night in the backyard on the big screen.

I now have a preteen boy who already requires shaving for his mustache!

Sullivan started guitar at Faith Baptist. After begging and pleading for over a year, Craig and I finally gave in.



I could tell Sullivan wasn't going to go back to the violin so I guess guitar is the next best thing. Sullivan loves the guitar. He practices without me even asking and he's picking it up quickly. At Christmas time, Sullivan played several Christmas songs for the family, and took his guitar to class and played for his classmates. I'm so proud of him.

We added a new addition to the Peterson household, a new puppy named Zsa Zsi.

She's a precious little Yorkie Poo. She is a perfect fit to the family. She loves to let Channing and me dress her up in clothes (though she's not a fan of bows.) She lets Channing carry her around like a baby doll. If only we could get her potty trained! She's now going on 6 months and still loves pottying inside. We have to remedy that!

Dalton was selected to join the elementary school Beta Club.
He has worked so hard in elementary school and we are very proud of him for being selected for this honor.

Craig and I won dance lessons in the school's silent auction.

When Craig first saw the lessons, he was less than thrilled but after going to the classes, he looked to enjoy himself. These actually were great date nights for the 2 of us!

This Thanksgiving and Christmas, Grandpa taught Sullivan how to ride a bike without training wheels.

We aren't home a lot for Sullivan to practice and the weather has been cold but when he gets a chance, he perfects his bike riding skills.

We spent this Christmas in East Tennessee with the family. Uncle Ralph made the trip in from Portland' as well as, Todd and Marie from Guam. We had a wonderful Christmas spending time with the family and look forward to our next trip. This concludes our summary of 2010. It was wonderful but I'm sure 2011 will be just as great!