I can't believe it's been more than two years since my last blog post!  It's hard to believe how much has changed in those two years!  We moved cross country, Jason advanced to DC1, we got a dog, Jason and I now find ourselves in our 30's, Ivan will be 7 years old in less than a week and starting 1st grade in 2 days!  Where has the time gone!?!  I'm going to try and make a better effort to keep this blog updated not only for our family and friends that aren't on Facebook but to also to help capture the memories that seem to fade as the years pass. 

Here area a few new family photos

 

I thought it best to update you all on what we have been up to since my last post. I will start with Jason's sisters Christmas visit! As you can see Ivan was very excited...as were Jason and I to see Auntie Jen. We even made her a sign :)
Big hugs!!

We had some wonderful but cold weather so we took Jen to all the tourist places.
Ivan loves books and enjoyed his time with Auntie Jen!

Christmas Eve! Time to decorate cookies for Santa!

Ivan had so much fun and let me tell you...Santa was on a major sugar high after all the frosting and sprinkles Ivan put on all the cookies!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Ivan getting ready to dig in! Helping Auntie Jen open her gifts.

We had a big storm hit the day before Jen was supposed to fly out. It was touch and go for most of the day if Jen would be able to fly out on time.

JANUARY 2011!

We had another lovely...but cold day and Ivan and I decided to go for a drive and take some pictures. I'm really going to miss Maine!! I am by no means a photographer but I enjoy taking pictures :)Sea smoke, how cool is that!

FEBRUARY

Every year I always make a cake for Valentines Day. This year Ivan also got to make one :)

My cake Ivan's cake, he's becoming such a big boy!

Letters!! My big boy is learning his letters and doing such a good job!

I wrote the A on the left and Ivan's A is on the right.

Another snow storm! We had quite the snow drift growing at the back door!

Helping with the dishes.

Jason taking care of the driveway. You can't really tell in the pictures but the wind was blowing so hard! It was so cold and the snow was coming down so fast it really hurt when it hit you!

Yes, the snow drift is at the top of the slider!!

Jason digging us out!

After about 4 days of never ending snow Ivan and I were starting to go stir crazy! I had to get creative. So I made Ivan his own cape :) He loves it!

I love his face in this picture! He thought the cape was the coolest thing ever!

More snow and we can't use the back door AGAIN!

This picture really shows how hard it was coming down.

MARCH

Coast Guard Appreciation Dinner

Woohoo, Mommy and Daddy have an excuse to get dressed up and go to dinner :)
Jason received several awards! I was very proud!

You can click on the picture to see a larger view. This one was from the State of Maine.

From the city of Rockland

Now what looks wrong with this picture? Is there something in his jammies?

Why yes there is...........

a squirt gun :) He so cute I can barely stand it!

APRIL

Why paint on a piece of paper when you can paint yourself!?!

Then it was my turn. The best manicure I've ever had :)

As most know I'm really into genealogy. I've spent the last 3 years researching my family and the last year researching Jason's family tree. Through my research I descovered that Jason's direct line spent 100+ years in and around Boston, MA. Later this month we will be going to Boston for a few days to do research. Well I say we but it's really my thing but I'm excited to show Jason and Ivan what I've found.

When I started researching Jason's family all I had to start with was a list of name put together by Jason's great grandfather. I belong to ancestry.com and started my Billings' family tree shortly after. I can't wait to get back to the West coast and share all the information I've collected with Jason's family!

Now to explain these photo's. All the information I had on Jason's 4th great grandmother was her name. Through records I was able to find out that she was born in Mercer, Maine. Which is about 1 1/2 hours North East of where we live. While researching Mercer and city records I found a listing of the local cemetery. I was shocked and thrilled to find a Billings buried there! Come to find out that Jason's 3rd great grand aunt was buried in Mercer. I was also able to find records showing that Jason's 4th great grandparents were married in Mercer. I took Ivan on his first genealogy research trip and we headed up to Mercer. It's a very small town with not much there. The cemetery was huge but we were able to quickly find the grave.
I could go on all day about this stuff but the blog is already long enough :)
Ivan sitting next to the headstone of his 4th Great Grand Aunt

This could very well be the church that Jason's 4th Great grandparents were married...but I'm still doing research on that.

Now what do you do when you have a bunch of cars and you can't carry them all at once?

Stick them down your jammies...my kid is so awesome!

TA-DA! All the cars in one trip :)

Happy Easter! Auntie Jen sent an amazing Easter package to Ivan. It was stocked full of goodies!

Two of the most amazing men in my life! They are my whole world :)

Alright now we are all caught up! I promise to do better with my blogging!