I won't be able to relive everything that has taken place, but I don't want to forget everything in
I will just have to break it down by month...and share just a
October
My absolute favorite month of the whole year! Fall, leaves, pumpkins, Halloween, and my birthday...of course!
We took a family trip {a first airplane ride with our new family of six!} to California over our fall break...Los Angeles, LEGOLAND, the San Diego Zoo and Sea World! It was fun, busy and beautiful! I had a really memorable birthday celebrating among the stars in Hollywood, and eating at the famous Pink's hot dog stand!
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| downtown LA |
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| catching up with Minnie & Mickey Mouse on the Hollywood Walk of Fame |
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we took a Hollywood tour of celebrity homes and Beverly Hills
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We had a really fun time at LEGOLAND and staying at the LEGOLAND hotel!
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| Beautiful sunrise from San Diego |
We enjoyed visiting the animals and touring the San Diego Zoo two times while we were here! We loved the Pandas the most!
We rented a surrey bike to ride around the resort where we stayed, enjoying the beach and pool and taking a day to relax!
Sea World was a lot of fun too, we saw Shamu and lots of other sea life and had a great time exploring!
San Diego and the beach were beautiful and we were lucky to have a photographer take a few family photos for us! The kids did so well and they turned out great!
Trick, or Treat! Elizabeth dressed as Minnie Mouse for her preschool Halloween party and enjoyed walking in the parade and getting lots of treats at school!
This year, Halloween was celebrated on November 1, because of a torrential downpour the night before! But we still loved getting dressed up and handing out candy...even though it wasn't really Halloween!
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| Hello Kitty princess |
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| Steve from Minecraft |
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| Spanish dancer |
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| Abby's first Halloween |
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| The Crew |
November
This year, we were excited to have Thanksgiving at our house for the first time ever with Grammy, Aunt Nicole, Hunter and Paige! It was so much fun to have them celebrate with us and stay overnight too, to continue the celebration for Elizabeth's 3rd birthday!
Emily also competed in the Indiana Figure Skating championships and came away with a fourth-place medal! We are so proud of her!
Emily was happy to help with the Thanksgiving preparations! She made the mashed potatoes and little feather place cards for the kids!
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| two little turkeys - Hunter & Elizabeth |
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| time to eat! |
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| So thankful! |
The day after Thanksgiving was Elizabeth's 3rd birthday! She was excited to wake up to her presents and decorations!
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| cannot believe she's three! |
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| cinnamon rolls for breakfast! |
Grandma and Grandpa came to celebrate too! She loved the baby doll crib from them and was looking forward to spending the afternoon at Chuck E Cheese with the family and a couple of Alex and Emily's friends too!
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| celebrating with the birthday girl at preschool |
We enjoyed lots of beautiful afternoons cheering on the IU football team too, before the weather became colder! We love our Hoosiers!
December
Time to get out the Christmas lights and winter gear! We love Christmas and the anticipation of Santa and heading to Colorado for skiing and winter fun!
This is the time of year to spend with friends and family too! I had so much fun meeting friends for lunch! Friends for a long time, and new friends!
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| Instagram lunch with friends |
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| Cozying up by the fire... |
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| Elizabeth singing Christmas songs with her MOPS friends |
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| playing in the snow! |
We enjoyed visiting Santa at the Indiana State Museum for the first time this year, riding on the train like Daddy did as a kid, and seeing all the pretty Christmas lights downtown after watching The Polar Express at the IMAX theater!
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| Emily's first 3D movie! |
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| "Hi Santa!" |
Elizabeth had fun ice skating for the first time at Emily's Skate Club Christmas party!
We love decorating cookies this time of year...but especially eating them!
We always look forward to Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa's house! You can feel the excitement build up all day, until it's time for bed!
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| Cousins! |
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| Great-grandma Martha, Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids |
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| Ready for Santa to come! |
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| He came! The kids loved getting new 'wheels' for Christmas! |
A few of their favorite things...
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| American Girl doll Molly |
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| a new ski helmet and camera |
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| My Little Pony |
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| Abby's first Christmas! She got lots of fun surprises! |
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| The present aftermath! |
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| a view of the slopes from the village |
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| stopping to warm up with some hot chocolate |
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| Ready to hit the slopes! |
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| enjoying the playground and beautiful lights in the village |
Skiing still makes me very nervous, and I would have been just fine if I had never made it out on the slopes; however, on my last day of skiing, I made it off of the practice hill, and skied my first run down to the next chair lift! And I had so much fun!
We love our holiday getaway, but it's always good to return home and take down the decorations and start a new year!
January
January is usually a non-eventful month trying to catch up from the holidays and de-clutter!
We had lots and LOTS of snow days this year which the kids loved...
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| making loom bracelets...the latest trend! |
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| catching some zzz's |
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| sister time! |
Emily loves ice-skating...and even with all the snow days, she didn't miss going to Skate Club!
...Alex finished up a great season of basketball!
Emily competed in the Columbus Invitational and earned two gold medals this time! Way to go Emily!
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| Snow day bowling |
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| lots of de-cluttering and organizing |
...and we bumped into IU basketball coach Tom Crean! The kids {and Dan} were super excited!
February
Getting closer to Spring...except there was still lots of snow in our forecast this month!
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| ...almost her first birthday...bittersweet! |
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| Celebrating Valentine's Day |
February is Great-Grandma's birthday month and we had a great time celebrating her 97th with family!
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| Julie and Elizabeth |
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| Abby and Shelbie |
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| Abby and Grandma |
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| being silly with the birthday 'girl'! We love her! |
We were excited to start our home remodel by leaving the date and our initials in the basement! Lots of changes about to happen... {to be continued...}
March
Emily turned the big 1-0 this year! It's hard to believe! We had planned to celebrate with family, but the weather had other plans for us again...more snow! But we still had a fun Harry Potter birthday party at home with her awesome sorting hat cake, made by a friend, and watching Harry Potter movies! She opened a few presents too!
The morning of her birthday, she woke up to her special decorations and her gifts! She had donuts for breakfast, and opened up one gift before school!
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| No peeking, Whiskers! |
Emily wanted to wear curlers to bed so she could wake up with curls on her birthday!
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| Pretty birthday girl ready for school! |
We had red velvet cupcakes for her treat and enjoyed frozen yogurt at our favorite sweet spot Yo Mama's!
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| Emily is an awesome sister! |
After the l o o o n g e s t winter ever, we could not wait to head to Phoenix, Arizona for Spring Break this year! Sunshine, warm weather, palm trees, swimming pool, cacti and mountains!
With a three-hour time difference, we were up very early in the morning ready for breakfast and warm weather! We were so happy to wear sandals and shorts!
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| ready for a day of fun in the sun! |
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| Mexican for dinner! |
We went for a hike on the desert trails to explore and see lots of neat cacti!
We loved the pool and water slides! It was nice to swim and relax and eat lunch poolside! Abby loved being in the water!
We enjoyed walking to breakfast each morning, and the flowers were so pretty to see all around the resort!
The sunsets were just as beautiful!
We headed to Sedona for an overnight stay to enjoy the beautiful red mountains and do a little shopping!
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| the view from our condo |
We had a really fun time in Phoenix and ended our stay enjoying one more day of swimming and soaking up the warm sun and eating at Rustler's Rooste! So much fun getting cotton candy and balloon animals for after-dinner treats!
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| good-bye Arizona! |
Emily brought home a little cactus to remind her of our fun trip!
We ended March with a gorgeous Saturday afternoon walking around the IU campus in Bloomington! It was fun to be back to the college days...even with our now family of six! We looked for the tree where Dan and I carved our initials in so many years ago {but couldn't find it}, had lunch, cookies from the sweet shop, and had fun bowling!
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| Elizabeth cheered everytime the pins fell over! |
Whew! We are now finally to April...
We are excited for actual Spring weather to arrive! Flowers and green grass are just around the corner...Easter, coloring eggs, and getting ready for Abby's first birthday!
Now that I'm caught up on life...I can already feel the moments slipping by as I type! If I could just find that stopwatch to stop time for just a bit...
But not for too long...because we are more than ready for this to be finished...
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| ...at least the snow is gone... |
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