January! We started 2011 off right with the New Year's wedding of some of our very favorite people. I got a new camera (that I LOVE by-the-by), and I told you about the whacky things hubby and I did to keep our long distance relationship fun. Stephen finally learned to walk, but still chose not to, and of COURSE we did our annual family photo.
When February rolled around, my kids were still wearing their Halloween costumes, and I went ahead and explained my general blogging philosophy (hint: rainbows and sunshine abound!). I gave myself an ulcer about whether to home school our oldest, and I took my boys out for a tasty Mexican Valentine's meal.
Then there was a brief departure from my blogging philosophy to talk about our fertility struggles and my need to feel in control. I started Clomid, hoped for the best, and took my kids to the park. Stephen got his first real taste of discipline, and we had an impromptu (and enlightening) picnic at the airport.
In March I showed you a whole mess of pictures from my childhood (yay for sisters!) and we made my dad babysit on his birthday. Stephen sat on a desk looking cute, and Jonathan got (another) black eye. The big boys got awesome haircuts and you folks helped me scrutinize about eightybajillion pee sticks.
The kids were introduced to the wonderfulness of county fairs, and my sweet little Jonathan turned three. We celebrated some more (because birthdays are special) and then finally gave up on winter and pulled out the slip n' slide.
At the end of the month I kicked Wesley out of the house, which may or may not have been related to him introducing our children to video games. And we ended the March on a down note, saying a sad goodbye to our beloved Grandma Bonnie.
April confirmed I was indeed carrying another bean, and that it was exactly what we needed for the family. My sister talked about Lupus and I showed you how ridiculously stylish Wesley and I were as children. Casey worked on his math skills and Stephen worked on his attitude. We celebrated Spring, planted a garden, sang without clothes, and then played some basketball.
May started off with hope and gardening, but took a sudden and terrible turn for the worst. Our anniversary was spent being quiet and thankful and we continued the thankful sentiment with a fun charity walk honoring my sister. Life got back toward normal and I revamped Wesley's office into a prison cell for Kelly. Then Jonathan potty trained and we all did some preparing for the apocalypse.
June brought full blown summer, which meant swim lessons and a visit from Kelly! We hit the beach for a spell and then spent Father's Day in Gainesville. More swimming and a little bit of torture at The History Center.
In July we had a grand celebration for Independence Day then took a jaunt over to Downtown Disney. I passed the pregnancy halfway point and admitted it had been a bit of a rough sail in the beginning. We visited Melbourne and south Florida and finally got a good peek of the new baby's face!
August came out of the gate at full speed with my birthday, Wesley's graduation, and Kelly's departure. We did our best to stay cool and gave The History Center a second try. I took another belly picture, showed you what a horrific dancer I am, and introduced my love of art to the boys.
In September we took an epic road trip. It started with mountains and caves in Kentucky, led to family in Indiana, then friends in Ohio and fish in Tennessee. We rounded things out with animals in South Carolina and landed safely in our beds a week later. I also gave you another peek at the inside of my growing belly, and just for good measure we visited Disney.
October was a race to do as much as humanly possible before the baby arrived. We had a birthday party for my grandfather then panicked about how little time was left. It rained for like eleventybillion hours straight, and I gushed about my husband. There was a whole mess of cooking and then some fun in the tub. More belly pictures and angsting about the impending arrival along with some popsicles to make it all better.
There was a meeting about the baby and my kids blew off steam by learning to bull ride. Stephen turned two (TWO!!!) and there was more talk about the baby. We went to the park, blah blah blah baby, then had one last hurrah at Disney. We ended the month with a spectacular super hero Halloween team.
The month we've all been waiting for, and finally a decision was made! November saw the arrival of OMIGAAAAAHHH!!! A GIRL!!!! Baby Josie, to be exact. Surely the prettiest baby ever, who made one heck of a crazy arrival.
We settled into our new normal and tried on some dinosaur hair to pass the time. Casey turned five (gah. my heart.) and went swinging from the trees to prove that he has indeed grown up SO much. We spent a leisurely Thanksgiving in Gainesville and then celebrated just a teensy bit more.
December proved that I am indeed a terrible mother, with my head all wrapped up in our holiday traditions. Josie slept. A lot. And I gave new moms a whole mess of unsolicited advice. We didn't send out our year-end cards, but we did go to the park again.
Christmas came and we played at the beach. We also took our annual pajama picture, went to a party, ate Christmas Eve dinner and opened some presents. Ate some more dinner, took another picture, and went to another party.
Thank you 2011, you were (mostly) good. Great, even.
But let's make 2012 even better!
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[Want to keep reminiscing? Check out the 2010 recap and the 2009 recap!]
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2 comments:
What a year! I'm calling it "the year of the girl" for you. ;)
Happy New Year April!! xo
You had quite an eventful year! I hope 2012 is even better!
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