Our 2012!

My end of the year post has become my favorite in my 5 years since I started this blog. This year my blogging decreased dramatically, so I'm especially excited about this post! The sidebar on my blog shows the number of posts I have written yearly. In 2007, I had 38 posts- just from when I started it in October to December! In 2008, 192; 2009, 150; 2010, 139; 2011, 139 (how crazy that I did the exact same for 2 years!?) And for 2012....just a mere 46!. That's quite a drop, I know! Also, most of my posts this year have been mostly just large amounts of photos with quick captions!

We are in a very busy and exhausting season of our life, and I have been trying to focus more on appreciating and enjoying the little things about having young children. It is very important to me that I don't take this precious (although very tiring!) time for granted, because they are growing up right before my very eyes! I love how their eyes light up when they see me, how they throw their arms around me and hug and kiss me multiple times a day. Everything is exciting, new, and magical. Everything is a learning experience. I know I will enjoy them just as much when they are older, but I will never get these baby and preschool years back, and I pray I am everything they need me to be at this time in their life. So even though I am not sitting down to blog nearly as often as I would like to, the moments and memories are still being made! I am going to do my best to compile the highlights of our year here.

January

We had a mild winter this past year, and were able to spend lots of time playing outside! (While our new sleds and snowboots stayed tucked away in the closet!) Ethan was finally walking all of the time, and the chaos kicked it up a notch around here! We also started regularly attending church this month for the first time in our married life!

 

February

The boys joined forces and started getting into shenanigans together! Ethan also started the "terrific" 2's early ;) We got our one and only snow of the season!

 

March

Our little athlete started Spring sports! He played his second season of soccer and started his first year of t-ball! We also bought a Suburban and I quit my job as an L&D nurse after 6.5 years to start work as an adolescent psych nurse.

 

April

We completed our first major home improvement project- a new front door! We attended church as a family on Easter morning, then had a little egg hunt in the front yard. Ayden was loving t-ball and we enjoyed watching all those adorable 4 year olds every Saturday! I also quit my new job after an awful 1.5 days and began a 6 week sabbatical from work, during which I came down with a bad case of pneumonia. Chris was promoted at work to Senior Manager of Financial planning for Sam's Club.

 

May

We had a beautiful spring and spent tons of time outside! I had an incredible Mother's Day and was blessed to spend it with my mom and both my grandmothers. I started my new job as a NICU nurse and Chris had gastric bypass surgery! The boys finished up their school year at the Mother's Day Out program in our church. This is where our year started getting very busy!

 

 

June

We adopted a new kitten, Max! He's an onery little thing, so he has fit in perfectly well here! We started taking family walks and bike rides several evenings a week when I wasn't working. The weight started falling off Chris! My best friend and her girls came for a visit from Houston!

 

July

Another busy month! My dad came to visit for his annual golfing vacation in NWA and we went to a Naturals Baseball game. We took a little family vacation to Branson, statyed at a water park resort, and visited Silver Dollar City (in the middle of a heat wave!). I was in full swing at my new job, working every Fri, Sat, and Sun night.

4th of July!

Taking Pappaw to the museum

Baseball game!

Meeting Scooby Doo at SDC!

 

 

 

 

August

This month our big boy turned 5! We had a super fun birthday party for him at Jump Zone. We spent a few days in Mena visiting family and friends and swimming in Memaw and Pappaw's pool.The boys started a new school year at MDO, attending 3 days a week.

gardening with Memaw!

chasing Sunni!

quality cousin time!

playing with Finleigh!

Meeting Fin's new baby sister, Briggs!



Happy Birthday Ayden!

First day of school pic! :)

A rare date night!

 September

Baby boy turned 2 and got a new big boy bedroom! We had a birthday party for him at Memaw and Pappaw's house. Ayden started fall soccer! We went shopping for new clothes for Chris when he hit the 75 pound mark!

 

October

October started with the promise of being my all time favorite month as always...my birthday, leaves changing and cooler weather, but just 6 days into the month we were devastated to lose my Grandma very unexpectedly during the night. Not a day has passed yet that I don't think of her and the immensley important role she played in my life. She adored me, and I adored her right back. I find peace in knowing how much her heart had longed to meet Jesus, and knowing she and Grandpa's souls were once again re-united, after their the tragic way they parted less than 2 years ago. With heavy hearts we carried on. Mom came to NWA for our 3rd annual craft fair weekend, which has become a treasured tradition for us. The boys dressed as a clown and a cowboy and we enjoyed a fun and memorable Halloween! Chris hit the 100 pound mark!

One of my favorite memories with grandma...late nights snuggled up in the guest bedroom, laughing, talking and working crossword puzzles.

Enjoying an early fall day :)

SO happy to see Memaw!

Halloween 2012!

Trick or treating at (skinny!) Daddy's work!
 

Our annual Fall Family Pic

ready for some trick or treating!

November

Northwest Arkansas had a another breathtaking autumn. We spent lots more time outdoors! Probably my favorite thing about our house and neighborhood is the trees in the fall! Of course, cleaning up the leaves is another story! Chris did the raking and blowing the first time around, but hired some help to do round 2 later in the month. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my brother and sister-in-law at their home in Fort Smith. We joined a Lifegroup at our church and meet every Thursday night with other families for potluck and bible study. After 4 years of living in NWA, and feeling a little "lost" socially (outside of work), this opportunity has turned out to be exactly what we were missing in our lives! We are looking forward to fun year ahead with these sweet families.

 

walking home from a playdate at the neighbors house

love this silly boy!!



on a family hike in Bella Vista

 

 

Leaf clean-up round one!

Thanksgiving 2012

My fave pic ever of me and my beautiful momma :)

Add caption

Uncle Nick and Aunt B adore their nephews!! Ethan does NOT adore posed pics :)

December

Our year ended with a busy and fun month of memory making! We visited The Christmas Train, looked at lights on the Fayetteville square, and watched more Christmas movies than I can count! Our Elf on the Shelf got into all kinds of shenanigans this year, and Chris and I both enjoyed our role in that. Chris hid him on the nights I worked, and he got really creative with it! We hosted Christmas in our home again, and made some precious memories. We didn't get a big Christmas snow like other parts of the state, but we got a few inches later in the week, which was enough to satisfy Ayden (for now anyway!).

My mom got me new tree decorations for my birthday...this is my favorite tree ever!

We had Rudolph pancakes to Welcome our Elf this year!

Our Elf reading the The Christmas Story to the stuffed animals :)

 Silly Elf!

 Is a caption really necessary?

 Family movie night :)

This little dude is gonna ROCK kindergarten next year!!

Feeding the neighbor's chickens when they leave town has become one of our favorite things to do!

Ayden got some snow!

Ethan was just getting over bronchitis and ear infections, so he enjoyed it from the inside :)

2012 was a another blessed year for us with joyous memories as a family, although deeply touched with the heartache of losing Grandma, it was filled with God's promise of his love for us. Our jobs were the busiest for us they have ever been, but that's just another reminder of how blessed we are to be able to provide for our family. I pray 2013 will be a year that we can continue to grow in our relationship with Christ, and realign our priorities, learn more about what it means to follow Him, and help lead others to Him, and show our boys what it means to be a Christian.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
WELCOME 2013!