2013: A Year in Review!

Wow! What a year! I CANNOT believe that tomorrow is 2014. This year has flown by, especially these past few months. (I didn't even do a single blog for December!)  As usual, I like to recap all of our memories for the year. Enjoy!

 

January - We kicked off the month with an Elmo-themed 2nd birthday party for Chase. As usual, I went a bit overboard with my craftiness. What can I say, I love planning a good party! Other than the birthday celebration, I headed back to work after a nice long break, while enjoying plenty of playtime with the boys in my spare time.

 

 

February - I continued to work alot the month of February (as usual). We celebrated Valentine's Day with my little love monkeys and Jordan treated me to a delicious lunch down by my office. We also found out we would be having a new nephew at my sister's big gender reveal. Another boy for the family, yay!

 

 

 

March - Once again, I spent a big majority of the month working my butt off, but hey, the bills gotta get paid! Chase upgraded to a big boy bed, so we struggled a bit with the freedom of getting in/out of bed. We also enjoyed a quick family weekend getaway to our friends' family's lakehouse. The boys had a blast feeding the ducks and enjoying the outdoors.

 

 

April - Things finally settled down at work a bit, so we got some extra family time. The boys continued to be as rambunctious as ever! And Jordan and I managed to sneak away to the Rangers home-opener for some adult time. Then we gathered with both sides for the family for some Easter fun. Lots of food, coloring eggs, hunting eggs, and playtime!

 

 

May - Over the course of the month, I traveled to OKC, Kansas City, and Houston to help teach some workshops for work. Even though they were short trips, they were a bit exhausting.  Jordan and the boys showered me with lots of love and attention for Mother's Day, which was awesome. We also showered Katrina with many gifts in honor of my new nephew's impending arrival. In addition, Austin started playing in his second season for t-ball. The games were hot and chaotic, but he seemed to really have a good time (on most days!). I also finally talked to Jordan into getting me a new ride, and I've been happy ever since!

 

 

 

 

 

June - When the summer arrives, our lives get super hectic. We kicked off the month with a long much-needed vacation for just the two of us in celebration of our big anniversary. We relaxed in Miami for a few days, before hopping on a Caribbean cruise for another 5 days with another couple celebrating their anniversary. It was hard being away from the boys for that long (and seemed to take a village and lots of planning to manage them in our absence), but we felt we deserved it after 10 long years together!  After returning, we then celebrated Father's Day and my 31st birthday. And lots of fun in the sun/water with our boys!

 

 

July - Wow, so much in one month here. Jordan celebrated his 32nd birthday (I love that he's older than me!). And the time finally came for us to officially celebrate a decade of matrimony. Holy moly, we made it 10 years! Although we had already taken our big vacation the month before, we treated ourselves to a night away the day before our anniversary at the Gaylord (where we've celebrated the past few years). We had to share our big anniversary date, because my new nephew Connor decided to finally make his arrival the night of the 25th. He was perfect and cute as can be!

 

 

 

 

August - The chaos finally died down in August and we were able to relax more a bit. We continued to enjoy the pool with the boys just being silly. We also had a 'trial run' trip to San Antonio where we attempted to go to Sea World. That was a big failure, but we made the most of it and had a blast relaxing with our boys at the nice resort instead.

 

 

September - Well, looking back at my blogs, not much happened in the month of September as we waited for the heat to vanish in TX. Austin officially started pre-K and Chase moved up a class in his preschool. It's crazy to think that next year Austin will be starting Kindergarten!

 

 

 

 

October - We had some visits to a pumpkin patch, fall festivals, and trick-or-treating with Austin & Chase. Austin was a Ninja Turtle, while Chase went as Mike from Monsters, Inc.  We also did a re-do on our trip to San Antonio and actually made it into Sea World this time. We went with another family and we all had a blast and so many memorable moments. After returning from our mini-vacay, we then snuck in a trip to the TX State Fair, which is always a lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

November - Austin turned 5 mid-month and we celebrated with a superhero-themed party. I went all out with this one, with the kids making their own capes and even had a bounce house. How we have a FIVE year old, is crazy to me. It really seems like just yesterday he was born sometimes. For the rest of the month we stayed busy with our 30 Days of Giving project. Each day held a new task/activity and it really was so rewarding. We then wrapped up the month with Thanksgiving celebrations with each side of the family with way too much food.

 

 

 

December - Well since I didn't even do a single blog for December yet, I guess this isn't really a 'recap'! I kicked off the month with a short trip to L.A. for work, before rushing back home when the big ice storm hit, essentially trapping us at home for 4 days. Then it was a flurry of holiday activity: Elf on the Shelf madness, taking the kids to Prairie Lights, baking lots of cookies, Christmas shopping, visits to Santa, and Christmas celebrations with both sides of the family. The boys got spoiled again for Christmas, as usual, with lots of Ninja Turtle toys, Mickey Mouse toys, LeapReader/books, remote control cars, drum sets, etc. You name it, they probably got it. Jordan got me some diamond stud earrings to replace the ones I left in the hotel in San Antonio, while I surprised him with some new snazzy boots and tickets to George Strait's last concert in June. I'm winding down the end of my 2-week vacation from work and enjoying spending lots of relaxing time with the boys and Jordan.

 

 

Well, I think that about covers it. We're starting 2014 off with a Mickey-themed birthday celebration for Chase's 3rd birthday this weekend and I'm super-excited! Then it's headed back to reality (aka work) next week, where it's looking like the next 3 months with be quite busy. So you may not hear much on the Hougham Herald.

 

Happy New Year! Best wishes for everyone to have a great year and work toward all those pesky resolutions we've made!