HI!

Hi, hi, hi! We are still here! :)  Life got pretty crazy to say the least since the last time I posted a big update. I have found myself so many times thinking "I should really update the blog today, but there's just SO much I've missed at this point. How do I even catch up?" Then I just never do it at all, ha. Well it looks like I finally broke that streak tonight!
So, so, SO much has changed in our lives over the past 2 years! I desperately need to update all of our pictures on here but the layout of this site has changed so much that I literally just spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to delete one photo. No, just no. Maybe tomorrow. Probably not.
It looks like the last time I posted a decent update was in May of 2013. HAHA. Oops. Anyhow, let me go over some of our biggest changes.  In September of 2013, right around Avery's 3rd birthday actually, Matt went on terminal leave from the Marines. He officially hit his EAS on December 1st, 2013 and life has been crazy ever since! Matt briefly was involved in a diesel business down in Jacksonville, NC. He left there in the spring of 2014 and we stayed in Jacksonville for a while job hunting. That spring was also when I FINALLY finished up my Associate's Degree in Pre-Psychology (can I get a WOOP WOOP)! It was around July of 2014 that we sadly realized that Beulaville/Jacksonville just was not a home for us anymore. Most of our friends had moved away minus a few, Matt was having a hard time finding a stable job, and there really just wasn't a lot left for us there. So, in August of 2014, we made the move back home to Greensboro! It was a crazy hectic time, and honestly a little sad as Jacksonville will ALWAYS be our first home and where we brought our baby into the world. We put our house up for rent, moved in with my mom, and tried to get settled. By the grace of God, we got our house rented within 2 weeks in that horrible awful housing market down there. That was such a blessing! Matt started a brand new job the very day we moved up here. If that wasn't a sign that we were doing the right thing for our family I don't know what was. My mom was a blessing for us during this time. Opening her home to us made all the difference in moving here. We will be forever grateful. Since then, we've slowly been settling in here. Matt is still at his job and is doing great. He finished his Associate in Arts degree this past December.  I am so proud of him!! He is currently trying to find  a good time to go back to school for his Bachelor's. We're hoping for this fall, or possibly next spring (2016).

Avery started a wonderful preschool a few weeks after we moved here.  She loves it so much and has made many friends.  Her verbal skills and fine motor skills have progressed tremendously. She is not writing and drawing up a storm! You just never know what's going to come out of that kid's mouth. She is as spunky, independent, funny, and sweet as ever. She has been in gymnastics as well as dance and loves both. Speaking of dance, I have to share a story with you. A couple of weeks ago, Avery went to her dance class. She usually takes dance at her preschool, which is technically a "satellite school" of the big Greensboro Day School where the dance program is based out of. Unfortunately, this means that she doesn't get to know most of the dance kids.  Her rehearsal happened to be at the day school this day, so we made our way over, and she went into class totally fine. About halfway through, I noticed she was "off."  I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but something definitely wasn't right with her. Towards the end of class, the teacher invited all of the parents in to watch the kids dance for their big recital coming up tomorrow. They all got in a line, Avery on the end, and began the dance. Avery's back was to me so I couldn't really see her face, and about halfway through, I noticed she was completely FROZEN. I'm talking arms by her side, head down, no movement. My first reaction was WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER?? I immediately thought she didn't feel good or something and tried to get a better look at her face. I stood up, looked into the mirror that was in front of her, and saw her face. Tears. So many tears, just streaming down her face.  I've never felt my heart break into so many pieces at once. My sweet, spunky, outgoing girl forgot part of her dance and was embarrassed. I'm sure having the new dance students plus their parents in there made it 10 times worse. I wanted to run over and scoop her up right away, but in the back of my mind I knew that would only hurt things. Around this exact time, her teacher noticed what was going on, walked over to her, and simply asked "are you ok?" That was it. The floodgates opened, and she began sobbing. She couldn't control it and then I felt the tears coming to my eyes too. It happens to everyone at some point in their young life I guess. Stage fright, anxiety, embarrassment. It just hurt my heart so much to see my baby going through this. The teacher scooped her up and they finished their dance.  I walked over, took her from the teacher, and she clung to me like a monkey and just cried. It took me the better part of 20 minutes to calm her down. When she could finally speak, all she said was "mommy, I forgot my dance and got scared." I felt the lump in my throat come back and told myself I NEEDED to use this as a learning experience. The next week we talked about how sometimes you have to conquer your fears and just take a deep breath. We told her that it's ok to forget your dance, you just have to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and get back in it.
Fast forward to yesterday. It was her big dress rehearsal as her 2 recitals are coming up tomorrow and Saturday. It was the first time she'd been back to this school since everything happened and to say I was nervous is an understatement. She got there, put her dress on, and immediately a little girl in her class came up to her, put her arm around her shoulders, and loudly said, "guys, this is our friend Avery!"  The tears came again. What an amazing little girl to try and help Avery fit in like that. I had to leave her in the dressing room and go wait for the rehearsal to start. Fast forward an hour and 2 sweaty palms later, it was Avery's turn to go on stage. I was praying, so hard, that she could find the courage to do this. She got out there, the lights came on, and she began dancing. Knew every, single, step. At one point, I watched her closely, and I saw her two little eyelids close, she took a deep breath, and she danced harder than any little girl on that stage. Tears were streaming down my face, my throat was a big lump, and my heart felt like it could burst. There is just nothing like having your heart walk around outside of your body, but that's what kids do to you. I have never been so proud of our little girl in her entire 4.5 years of life. Her big recital is tomorrow night, followed by another one Saturday morning. Family is coming in from out of state to see this and she is so excited. I am no longer worried she won't enjoy herself and most importantly, she learned a huge life lesson. Just keep swimming!