Year in Review

Well, 2014 has been an interesting year for our family with plenty of ups and downs.  Here is a recap of a few of the exciting times we had this year.

January

We had SNOW in Georgia.

We took the kids to the Children's Museum in Atlanta for their "do as a family" gift for Christmas followed by their first trip to the Varsity.

C has her first hair cut.

February

The Hubs and I enjoyed an early anniversary trip to Disney World!

C and B got to have date night with their respective parent.

 

We hosted a Valentine party for some of B and C's friends.

We watched the Winter Olympics.

We enjoyed a trip to the Flint Riverquarium.

March

We finally went to see Frozen.

Our whole family went down for the count with a stomach virus!

B started tee ball!

April

We pretty much just celebrated Easter, and B kept playing tee ball.

May

The kids and I took a trip to the Strawberry Patch with JuJu.

 

B finished up tee ball and Pre-K.  And apparently we did a poor job of celebrating the Hubs's birthday with no pics!

The Hubs and I took our youth group to camp for a week in Ocoee, TN.

June

C went to her first and last gymnastics class!  She was not a fan.

 We celebrated C's birthday with a Frozen party.

We participated in a VBS at a local church.

C started taking swimming lessons.

July

We took a family vacation to Palm Beach Shores.

August

B had his first ever dentist appointment...which led to several more dentist appointments to get some cavities filled.

And it was back to school time with B starting CC and both kids starting up a new homeschool year.

September

We celebrated my birthday with a trip to Mikata's and B's birthday with a splash party.

October

We enjoyed a field trip to the local pumpkin patch.

C got her new big girl bed that she refuses to sleep in.

Both kids battled viral conjunctivitis . . .

and Hand Foot and Mouth disease.

But we were able to end the month on a high note with these adorable fall festival costumes.

November

I did the worst job EVER of taking pictures in November, but we celebrated Thanksgiving with family.  And apparently had turkey cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

December

It was all things Christmas in December as we celebrated the birth of the Savior in traditional and not-so-traditional ways.

I am looking forward to all the fun and exciting things that 2015 has in store for us.  I don't know what 2015 will hold, but I am confident in the One who holds us in his hand.  Happy New Year to you all!

Our Christmas

We had a fun, low-key Christmas at home, and it was wonderful.  It started the night before with the us setting out their gifts as soon as they went to sleep.  Before you start feeling bad for my kids and their meager stashes, please refer to my Christmas Eve post and all the gifts they got from grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We follow pretty strict gift giving guidelines when it comes to our kiddos' Christmas gifts from us, and this year was no exception.

Once they woke up, we all piled in our bed.  The Hubs read Luke 2, and B hung the final ornament on our Jesse Tree.  Then it was time to check out what Santa had left.  Of course, the first thing B picked up and celebrated was the Angry Birds underwear!  I love this kid.

When we put the kids to bed the night before, we made sure to explain to them that we wanted them to come straight to our bedroom when they woke up in the morning and NOT to go into the living room until we went with them because we didn't want to miss seeing them get their gifts.  However, C came into our room straight from the living room excitedly telling us that Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus were in the stable.  She had completely ignored the gifts set out on the sofa to search for the Savior.  This will remain the highlight of my Christmas this year!  I managed to snap this picture of her gazing into the stable--one of the many times she visited it and "rocked" the Baby Jesus.  Precious!

Then it was time for the kids to open their gifts from each other, Aunt H, Grandma and Grandpa.

We spent the rest of the day in our pj's lunching on left overs, playing games, and relaxing.  The Hubs left late in the evening headed to Arkansas for a duck hunting trip with the friends, and the kids and I headed to Pop and JuJu's to spend the night.

Merry Christmas!