Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Ketchledge Family Year In Review

I always love the Christmas letters that come in the mail and tell us all about what has been going on with our friends and family all year. I will hopefully find time to do this one day, but for now I figure the blog is pretty much the same thing!

2008 has certainly been life changing. We knew our life had changed completely in 2007 when Izabel was born but we had no idea how wonderful it could be. We kicked off the New Year with a party over here and Izabel had a sleepover at Grandma's (an event we are repeating tonight!) I was back to work full time and working like crazy trying to get my students ready for State and National DECA Competition.


In February we celebrated Noah's 25th birthday with a trip to Atlantic City. Jackie, J.K., J.K.'s sister Sarah and Riley went with us. It was certainly an exciting trip and we all had a great time. Izabel also celebrated her first Valentine's Day!



In March I celebrated my 24th birthday by having a girl's night. Several of my girlfriends and me went out to P.F. Chang's for dinner and drinks and we had a great time. It was definitely the break I needed! I also took about a dozen students to State DECA Competition and had several students make it on stage and one first place winner! Izabel celebrated her 1st St. Patrick's day and started eating solid foods!



In April I took several students and two friends on a fashion trip to New York. It really ended up being more of a shopping trip because of the small size of our group and we had a great time. Also in April Noah and I headed to Atlanta, GA with four of my students for National DECA Competition. We went to Six Flags, the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca Cola and more and we all had fun. Izabel celebrated her 1st Easter and got lots of great surprises in her Easter basket!




In May we took Izabel for her first camping trip over Memorial Day weekend. This is something we do every year and always enjoy. Izabel enjoyed it too!


In June school was finally out and I was able to be home and spend lots of time with Izabel.


In July we took Izabel to Vermont to visit with Noah's family and celebrate Papa Bear's 50th Birthday. We arrived the day of his big party and we had a great time despite a few illnesses and falls! Izabel had a great time meeting and visiting with that side of the family and was able to meet pretty much everyone while we were there!
When we got home Izabel started walking!

In August I was back to work 4 days a week. Noah got some not so great news at work and things became a little difficult for him there. Needless to say he is still looking for a new job but in today's economy who knows what he'll be able to find. At least he still has a job! I had struggles at work as well. Because of budget cuts we weren't sure how much job security I had left. I managed to hold on to this year's position but next year is still up in the air! We did get some good news this month --- we found out I was pregnant with our 2nd child! This is something we planned and we were very excited that the timing worked out so perfectly. Noah and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary by heading to Atlantic City (where else would we go?) and it was great to get away just the two of us.


In September school started up again and I was back in the swing of things with lots of morning sickness and exhaustion. The "what was I thinking" line was in the back of my head all the time because this pregnancy was much harder than with Izabel. For starters, there is no coming home and taking a nap when you have a 1 year old!

In October we celebrated Izabel's 1st birthday with a big party! She finally got to have some cake and she loved it! Everyone had a great time and she got lots of great gifts. She is such a lucky girl to have so many people who love her so much! Noah's sister Theresa moved in with us in the middle of October. She needed somewhere to stay until she could get into the dorms at ODU and were happy to have her. Izabel loves following her around and watching her get ready. We celebrated Halloween at church and then we went Trick-or-Treating with our little Ladybug. She was so cute and really got into the candy thing. She loved when people put candy in her basket but not so much when one of us tried to take some out!



In November Mimi and Papa came to visit for Thanksgiving. This year Izabel actually got to eat with us and I think she likes turkey! Izabel got her first haircut and I also took a group of students to Nashville for a conference and had a very stressful time! Traveling with students while pregnant is probably not the best idea!



In December we found out that we were having a baby boy. His name is Tanner Wayne and he will be here towards the beginning of April. We celebrated Christmas with Izabel and I got two whole weeks at home with Izzy. We had a fantastic Christmas with lots of friends and family and even Mimi and Papa got to come back down for a visit.


Even with the ups and downs we are very blessed. We have more than we could ask for and we have a wonderful little girl who makes us smile and laugh and sometimes cry. It's the best thing in the world and thankful doesn't even begin to describe it! I hope everyone had a wonderful 2008 and we are looking forward to lots of new adventures and blessings in 2009!

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