Happy 2012

Another year has amazingly zipped right by us.... how did that happen? 2011 was a year of definite highs and lows for us, but I'm happy to announce there were more highs than lows.

The kids astounded us almost every day of 2011 with new things they learned and accomplished. Both kids' language skills went to new heights; Annika now shocks us by using more parts of speech correctly (the kid correctly uses adverbs... I'm one proud mama!) and Conor is now able to put together 5-6 word sentences that we can even understand! Over the year, the kids really developed into play buddies and enjoy spending time playing together. The only friction arises when Annika gets frustrated with Conor when he doesn't play what she instructs when they do imagination-based play. Some other highs include a couple of trips to visit my sister and her family in San Diego, Eric and me celebrating our 10th anniversary in November and celebrating a week later by going to Apple Cup with my siblings (Go Dawgs!), Annika thriving in her swim lessons and proving that she's part fish, and Conor turning one year old and showing his ability to eat us out of house and home (I shudder to think what his appetite will be like when he's a teen!).

Our year did have a couple of lows, unfortunately. Our sweet dog Riley died in March; it was really hard to lose him and our home definitely felt a bit emptier without him.  He was a part of our family for almost 11 years. We also lost my dad in December; we had a really nice send off for him and we know he would have loved so many people gathered in his honor. My sister's mother-in-law said something to my sister that I think was quite beautiful and touching; she said, "Now your dad is reunited with his memories."

We had a busy hectic chaotic holiday season in 2011, but feel so blessed to have spent the holidays with our extended family members and friends. We look forward to what 2012 has in store for us. So far, it is off to a great start!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!