2013 ~ Year In Review

January

2013 Started for us with a 3 year old and an 18 month old!  Maisy got to experience her first snow ever!  Ryder was already a pro at making snow angels, he had a few years under his belt.  Maisy got rid of her Paci this month and got her very first pedicure with Mommy!  Ryder got the Principal’s Award for January and got to have a special breakfast with the Principal.

February

Ryder got his first ever report card and realized that good report cards mean rewards!  He also got approved for Occupational Therapy through the school system this month and started seeing his OT once a week at school aside from his private therapy.  He got to celebrate Valentine’s Day with friends at Church & at School.  Maisy discovered a new favorite pastime, getting on her brothers nerves!

March

March is always a busy, fun month for us!  We started the month by going to the Monster Truck Show.  Alan & I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with a trip to Williamsburg.  Ryder celebrated his 4th Birthday party with a Fireman theme!  His party was at a firehouse with all his family & friends!

April

This month we celebrate two of our best friends, CJ & Nicki’s 30th Birthdays!  We went to an Easter Egg Hunt at Church and also the beautiful sunrise service on Easter morning.  Ryder got his cast on for his 3rd round of Constraint Therapy to help Lefty get stronger.  He named this one “Batman Saves the City”.

May

Ryder spent most of the month with his arm in a cast and then was SO excited when it was time for Dr. Daddy to cut it off!  Maisy started peeing on the potty and got to move out of the nursery into the big kids class at Church!  The weather was nice so we spent lots of time at the playground.  Ryder had his first dentist appointment and had no cavities.  We also went to my family reunion!

June

Summer officially started which meant summer break for Ryder.  As a family we loved spending our weekends at a local beach by our house!  We went to a huge parade and festival that our town has with some friends that came to visit.  And our little baby girl turned TWO YEARS OLD!

July

 

We went on our annual camping trip and once again a huge storm came through!  We did get to stay and camp this year but we didn’t get to do our float trip down the river.  Maisy & Ryder had their 2 & 4 Year old check-ups at the Doctor.  And Maisy said bye-bye to her crib and moved into her very own big girl bed!

August

Mommy spent every Friday of the month Furloughed, which sounded horrible but ended up being a really nice break!  We took the kids to see the Jake & Sophia Disney Jr. Live show, so fun!  Ryder participated in a Soccer camp at a Church.  The kids did a play called Arkeology and dressed up like a Lion and a Mouse from Noah’s ark.  Mommy snuck away to the Women of Faith Conference with some of her faves and got to meet Angie Smith, a huge inspiration! We also found a turtle that we decided to keep as a temporary pet, the kids named him Spike!

September

Back to school!  And this time it was to the regular Pre-K class!  Maisy was sad that her brother would be leaving her during the day, but Ryder was super excited to get back to school.    One thing we weren’t looking forward to were the germs he would bring home!  Both kids got sick this month.  Awana also started this month and they let Maisy join his class so they are both Cubbies!

October

We made our annual trip to the State Fair, which we love so much!  The kids wore their jammies to literacy night at Ryder’s school and actually got their picture in the newspaper.  We did all the fun Halloween stuff that October brings, like visiting the Pumpkin Patch, going to the Harvest Festival at Church, and of course, trick or treating!!

November

In November we went back to our Honeymoon spot for a week long trip to Key West, FL!  The kids were well taken care of by my Mom & Sister-In-Law, so we went and had a great time.  We got to attend my Dads wedding while we were there!  It was such an amazing trip, we are already trying to figure out how and when we can go back.  The rest of the month was spent celebrating Thanksgiving and with lots of Christmas prep!

December

I love the month of December.  The Christmas season brings so much joy to my heart and to our entire family.  The whole month we spent participating in various Christmas related activities.  Our elf Doodle came back to visit us each night and the kids performed in a Christmas Cantata.  Christmas morning was magical, it’s one of those moments I could stay in forever. 

And now we’re onto a new year.  There’s no doubt that we are living busy lives and time is flying by, but we’re creating so many wonderful memories.  God has truly blessed us and I am forever thankful to Him.  Here’s to another year filled with lots of fun and a little bit of madness!

Holidayzzzz

Okay a quick run through of our entire Holiday season! 

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my Mom’s house, then at Grandma’s.  We had to take our family pic in pieces on this day because the kids were all.over.the.place – and never in the same place!

Ryder had a Thanksgiving feast at school so I got to go have lunch with him & Ruger!

He brought home this picture of what he’s thankful for, the BFPE hat melted me! 

On Black Friday we went furniture shopping and got a GREAT deal on a living room set.  I love doing any kind of shopping with this guy, he always makes it fun.

The furniture ended up coming in on Christmas Eve so it was the perfect Christmas present for me!  I love my new living room!

The whole month of December was filled with Christmas preparations and festivities. 

Doodle came back from the North Pole to visit with us!

Our Christmas tree farm that we normally go cut our tree down at didn’t open this year, so my husband insisted we ride around the neighborhood and find one to cut down.  Yeah, I ended up getting our tree from Food Lion. 

But either way, we got a tree!  And had fun decorating it!

 

 

I couldn’t bring myself to move the cluster of ornaments all along the bottom branch!  They’ll only be little for a few years!

 

The little town that we live in does a lot of really cute things for the kids, one weekend before Christmas they had a parade with Santa in it and then him & Mrs. Claus set up for all the kids to come by for a visit!

 

 

 

Maisy was more excited to see this girl than she was anything else.  She said it was a REAL princess!!

Their visit with Santa was so cute.  Ryder asked for a McDonalds cash register and Maisy said she wanted a baby doll.

At Ryder’s school they did a Santa’s Giftshop where the kids could bring money and shop for the people in their family.  Ryder got me this beautiful handmade scarf and suggested that I wear it every day until Christmas!

Okay so maybe it wasn’t the cutest accessory I own, but to know that he picked it out and was SO excited to give it to me makes me want to cherish it forever!

Mommy & Daddy don’t get a whole lot of alone time, so when our work Christmas parties roll around we are sure to get babysitters for those nights!  This year his fell on a Friday night and mine was the very next day so it turned into a Mommy/Daddy weekend!!  Clearly we had fun! :)

One day when Doodle came back he had a brilliant idea for the kids to fill up bags of toys to give to kids who weren’t getting any for Christmas.  And that they did, I’ve never seen them move so fast once they found out the note came from Santa!

The kids practiced really hard for their Christmas Cantata at Church, I love listening to them sing, especially when it’s about Jesus!  And boy do they look cute when they dress up!

The kids got their first Christmas presents from Nana & Pap, they were super excited to finally get to open something!

And thennnn it was Christmas Eve!  Our Church does the most beautiful candle light service, and this year was really special because they asked our family to light the Advent candle that represents Christ that evening.  I had prepared some verses to read but I was SO nervous to do the speaking part, so I asked Ryder if he would want to talk about Jesus to the Church.  Without hesitation he said YES!  For weeks before the service I kept asking him what he was planning to say but he would not practice.  I know that he has lots to say about Jesus and His love for us so I stepped in faith and trusted that God had a message to deliver through him. And he delivered!  Ryder talked to the congregation about asking Jesus into your heart, it was really sweet and really special.  I wish I had asked someone to record it!

After Church we had Poppy & Uncle G over for dinner and presents. 

 

 

When they left Ryder go the plate & milk ready for Santa, along with a box for Doodle to go home in (with holes poked so he could breathe) and a letter he asked me to write to Santa:

A radio that turns into a jetpack???  I’m in trouble!  I had a hard enough time finding the McDonalds cash register he wanted this year!!

Some time that night, Santa showed up (3am to be exact!)  The kids were up by 7 ready for action!

These two have become so thankful for each other, I love that they get to experience their childhood together!

  

We travel a lot during the holiday’s because we’ve been blessed with so much family that we like to get a chance to visit with everyone.  We went to Yaya’s house for breakfast, Grandma’s house for lunch/dinner, then the next morning Nana brought breakfast over to us!  Spoiled…with love (and food)!

 

So those were our Holidays!  Are you in a daze yet??  We definitely stay busy around here, but we have lots of fun!