Holiday Greetings from us in Washington, to those of you that are able to look up the blog and get the spelling in order to find us. As you can see, I rarely update this anymore since last Christmas was our last posts. 2014 flew by so fast I almost told you about the cruise we took 2 years ago. The year was filled with big decisions for our family and lots of little challenges. Here is a look at some of the more haphazard and now we can laugh moments! Sadly, we only have 1 of 3 photos of our family, all together looking relatively the same way. This one was taken at Christmas a year ago. We spent a wonderful Christmas in Northern California with Jared's family. Surrounded by lots kids and all the excitement was really fun! We stopped at Mnt. Bachelor for some of the iciest skiing but Maycen had fun at her first official ski lesson. At least you can see how much has changed in a year from this picture!
Jared and I did sneak away to the Virgin Islands this year! Amazingly all the pieces fell together and we had my Mom come and wrangle the kids. Our good friends in the islands were our personal tour guides! On the last day Jared almost missed our flight when he had to go fishing the morning our flight left and the small boat took on water, and died in the middle of the bay and his cell phone no longer worked! Yikes! |
Maycen began her first year in Ballet and we enjoyed the favorites from Dr. Seuss, "Oh The Places You Go" to the Nutcracker Favorites!
Oh look, in the process of doing this I found another! Kinda looking at the same time:)
We spent Easter in California as well, we were trying to make job decisions for Jared and what we wanted for our family. After a tough decision we decided to stay in Washington where we have a lot more resources for starting a new business without the financial burden of moving, me starting a new job and Jared switching to a new guard unit. 
Although the kids did love Papa and Grandma's house and all the open land! We lost Maycen after the Easter egg hunt, but it turned out she was eating candy in the car! Brody took a running start into the cool lake for Easter morning brunch at the club house and Mom had to follow in after to grab him in my Easter best!
Chopper has had a tough year, he had a cyst removed and has pretty much been in a cone off and on for one thing or another most of this year! He will go back in for two new spots this January, so hopefully they are nothing serious!
Maycen had a great Soccer season and for the first time we really saw her shine and get into the game scoring goals; which was so fun to see her involved and not playing in the dirt looking for rocks:) She learned how to ride her bike this year too, no training wheels!
Potty training is really taking over! We have been going at it for a while now! Hoping no one waters the tree this year with anything but water! Brody has had a better year with less ear infections after his ear tubes were placed but one fell out this month and it looks like he might be going back to the OR. We did get rid of his pacifier at the beginning of the last year and now we have a pretty feisty little guy with a lot to say or at least yell about. He grew about a foot and a half from last year, seriously look at that first Xmas picture! 
This is why we stay! 8 years later! We meant to move but forgot to;)
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Jared and I finally made our decision to make Washington our home at lease for the next five years! We opened a Franchise in the South Sound under the name Toppworks LLC called AdvantaClean of the South Sound (there is a very successful one in MN for all my MN friends). This was a big transition for Jared from flying fulltime guard. The end of an era came when the Army retired the Kiowa OH58D and Jared transitioned to Chinooks. He still continues to fly for the Guard, mostly just weekends.
How did we decide on this, well Washinton does have a lot of mold and water! With all our rental properties and homes we have had our fair share of water damage to help steer us down the path of how to help fellow homeowners in their time of need.
Help us out by liking our Facebook page and see what we do!
I am still working as a Pediatric Nurse on the inpatient peds unit. Yes 8 years later and now in my 13th year as an oncology and pediatric Nurse. I spiced it up a bit this year bringing in Tutu Tueday's on Maycen's Ballet school days, and Wig Wednesday for our cancer patients and Super Hero Sunday! I just can't seem to give up the crazy schedule but I am lucky to have lots of time with the kids on my off days. I am looking at a new beginning but very uncertain if it is the right move for me. I am still having issues with my arms, my Carpel Tunnel issues seem to be fine but I actually got Golfers Elbow from lifting Brody and patients so after a year of challenges with my arm I am back at square one with a steroid injection hoping it won't eat my tissue like the last one did:( But I couldn't imagine Holiday travel with a toddler without it honestly!
This year we will travel to MN to spend Christmas with family there. We are looking forward to hopefully some fun in the snow, an easy plane ride with no delays and some down time!
We wish you all the best in 2015 and may the challenges stay small and the joys fill your heart!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
The Toppenberg's
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