12.31.11 Reflections on 2011

Clearly I have been a complete blog failure this past year.  I really had the best of intentions, but I haven't made it a priority like I did the year I posted every day.  I am sad that I don't have all of the little details posted on here.  It is so much fun to look back on them.  Like tonight for instance...we were talking about going and having another Kinect bowling challenge and Jaci blurted out, "You don't want to come and take a piece of this!"  I do love all of their cute little sayings.  I am going to attempt to do the 365 Photo challenge again in 2012.  Maybe it will just be an every other year thing.  :)

Looking back on our year I am just a little sad to see it coming to a close.  This has been a pretty amazing year and as I sit here tonight I can't help but feel so blessed at how far we have come in a year.  Last year I was just grasping for anything to get me through and this year has been less about survival and more about making a life here.

(Last day at the little house!)

I feel so blessed that we have a home here.  OUR home.  A place where we are making memories and working to make it the place we have dreamed of.

(Baking Christmas Cookies!)

(Our Christmas Tree 2011)

I feel so blessed  that this year my children are thriving here.  The love where we are at.  They love their school.  They love the friendships they are developing.  They love having their own rooms.  :)

(The boys at the Aggie game Sept. 2011)

(Kindergarten Scarecrows 2011)

I feel so blessed that Jacob and I have been able to relax and enjoy each other a little more this year.  The stresses of the previous year took a toll on us, but this year we found happiness just sitting on our front porch in a rocking chair talking to eachother.  (Usually while waiting to move the water on the grass.)  It is exactly how I had invisioned us spending our time here.

I feel so blessed that our families are all doing well this year and that we have been able to spend time with them.  We have loved having family and friends come and stay with us this year.  I missed that last year.  We simply didn't have room for anyone in the little house, but here we have plenty of room for everyone.  It is wonderful.  We also welcomed my sweet nephew to the family this year.  It is so nice to have a baby around to snuggle again.

(My grandparents visiting from Nebraska.)

(Sweet baby Reed!)
I feel so blessed that my friends and I have managed to maintain our friendships dispite the distance between us.  True friends are rare and I know how lucky I am to have the people I have in my life.  I also feel so blessed to be creating new friendships here.  It is so nice to feel like I am finally making some wonderful connections with wonderful people.

In 2011 I have been blessed beyond belief!

I look forward to seeing (and hopefully documenting) what 2012 has in store for us!

It's been awhile...

Yes...I realize it has been quite awhile since my last blog post.  I have had several people mention that they miss the updates so I figured I better catch everyone up.

I left off with Tyler being sick.  Then I got really sick with double pneumonia which I just haven't been able to shake.  My energy level is so low that by the time I get the kids to bed and pick up I am not thinking about blogging.  I also started working 2 days a week and then the kids have SO MANY activities that we are just wiped out.  I miss blogging.  I am sad that I haven't been able to keep up the way I wanted to.  I am really going to try to at least do a weekly recap because I love having it all down on here.  And now for the mother of all blog posts. (And WAY more pictures...or me taking...than you probably care to see!)

We celebrated Jaci's 5th birthday by doing absolutely nothing.  I feel so bad because I was planning on having her and Tyler a party together, but I was sick and just couldn't get it together. 

I did make a very sad attempt at throwing her a cake together.  (I am NOT a cake decorator!)  I was just going off of stuff I had in my cabinet so it wasn't too fancy at all.  You know what?...She LOVED it!  It was pink with a cat on it and you can't go wrong with that combination of things with Jaci.

After Jaci's birthday we headed South to Lockhart.  Jaci had an appointment with her urologist in Austin and I had won some tickets to Schlitterbahn, so we decided to make the most of her appointment and cram a lot of activities into 3 days.  I also decided it would be the perfect time to go school clothes shopping at the outlet malls in San Marcos.  Sadly the men in my life got sidetracked at Cabelas and my time at the outlet malls was limited to about an hour.  We stayed with my dear friend Gale in their new guest cabin.  It was perfect for us. The next day we headed out to Schlitterbahn.  Gale and her daughter Alex came along to help us out which was a good thing because I was running a fever of 104 and thought I was going to die.  They did the rides with Jacob and the kids while I stayed in the lazy river and tried to survive the day.  By the way...Have I mentioned that I have the best friends in the world?  We finished off the night cooking out with Jake and Bonnie and more swimming at Gale's house.  I stayed put on the couch and while everyone around me enjoyed visiting.  Jacob hadn't seen Bonnie's husband Jake since we moved so they had a great time together.      The next day Jaci had her appointment in Austin.  We were hoping that this would be Jaci's last appointment since she has been doing so well since her surgery, but her ultrasound showed that her one kidney that has always been smaller didn't grow at the same rate as the other.  It has always been smaller, but has always grown at the same rate as the other and this time it didn't.  As a result of that we are going to have to continue monitoring it.

After her appointment we took the kids to the Texas State History museum to see Tornado Alley at the Imax theater.  When we left there we decided to take the kids to see the Capital.  Jackson had always wanted to go and see it, but we never made it there while we lived in Lockhart.

They enjoyed it for about the first 5 minutes and then they were ready to go.

Shortly after returning home all 3 of my kids started school.   :(

Jackson started the 3rd Grade.

Tyler started Kindergarten.

Jaci started Kindergarten.

We have enjoyed Friday night football games cheering on the Albany Lions.

Mid September we headed to College Station to meet up with Bonnie and Jake and take the kids to their very first Aggie football game!

We decided to get the full experience and take the kids to midnight yell as well.  They didn't quite know what to think.

The next day we all loaded up and headed to the game.

(They weren't excited at all!)

We experienced the kids yell practice.

Met Dave the head yell leader.

High fived the Aggie football players as the came into Kyle Field.

(Jackson was on cloud 9!)

Sharing the experience with the kids was priceless.  They truly didn't know what to think of it all.  There is no place like Aggieland on a game day!

The kids waved their 12th man towels and were so into the game!

The loves of my life...

After the game and an Aggie win we headed down to the field to celebrate.

They thought it was so cool to be able to go onto the field.

Our group of future Aggies.

Skylar, Jaci, Tyler and Jackson

We took in the Homecoming parade in downtown Albany.

The boys participated in Punt Pass and Kick.

Tyler and Jaci took their first big field trip to the Abilene Zoo.

We just started Soccer.  Tyler and Jaci are on the same team.

Tyler scored a goal in his first game!

I don't have any pictures from Jackson's first game.  It was at the same time as Jaci and Tyler's game.

He did a great job though.

We survived our first major Kindergarten project which was to make scarecrows and dress like scarecrows. It was a little intimidating at first but they turned out so cute!

You can tell the boys are really working hard.

(And no...I didn't pose them like this.  I walked out the front door to find them like this and had to run and get my camera.)

Oh...and during this time Jaci also got her ears pierced!  She is growing up so fast.

Don't you just love her beautiful strawberry blond hair and freckles?  She fixed her hair herself in these pictures.

And that catches you up with what's been going on!

I am happy to say we have survived one of the hottest Summers on record and I am now sitting here with my windows open and a wonderful Fall breeze blowing through our house.  It is Heavenly!

Hope you all are doing well and having a wonderful Fall!