2012 In Pictures
2012 is over (and I’m a day or two late with this post)! I already posted about my most popular posts of 2012, but I also wanted to do a more complete wrap-up post of what was going on in our lives this year. So here goes.
January:
We celebrated Reagan’s 8th birthday. I finally got a new phone, replacing my sucky one. Just for the record, the new one pretty much sucks at this point too. And I wrote one of my favorite posts of the year – the soundtrack of my life. I got Brinky’s one year pictures taken a little late so I posted a retrospective of his monthly pictures.
The 8 year old
February:
February’s not a particularly exciting month in our lives, though we did celebrate my birthday. We also celebrated Valentine’s Day, which we never celebrate really, but I had fun looking back at old pictures of me and my husband. We had our first glimpse of what middle school would be like at the middle school open house. Brinky was cute. I cut Reagan’s hair, making it clear why I don’t normally do that. And my smart girls had awesome report cards and celebrated with Olive Garden for dinner.
Report card celebration!
March:
It looks like March was the month of Hunger Games in our household, and I had to (got to) take Jenny to the midnight premiere. We celebrated three years of sobriety for Lee. I took the girls and their friends to a school dance, and managed to get gasoline all over myself on the way. We had a fun day at the park, which is not something we do often. And, big news – poop face was captured on camera.
Poop face – caught.
April:
I tried a detox cleanse diet, and quit it. I wrote a fun post describing a school morning in our house. I freaked out a little because Jenny’s growing up and had her first “family life” class at school. I shared what is still one of our favorite recipes. The girls went to my parents’ house while Brinky enjoyed life as an only child and made this hilarious face.
How’s this face?
May:
May is the month of Mother’s Day – my girls made me some cool gifts and I took some pictures of the kids for my mom. Jenny got mad at me. And had what she called a crying day. But she wasn’t all grumpy, all the time – she also wrote some Hunger Games poetry. Brinky had a lot of fun torturing his dog. Reagan wrote about her scary nightmare. Both girls had one of their favorite school days of the year (Jenny’s last) – Field Day. And we had a great time at our first family wedding of the year!
With Uncle Justin at his wedding (blurry, but cute).
June:
Brinky turned 18 months old. The girls finished school and got their final awesome report cards of the year (and apparently I managed to not post about Jenny’s graduation). Reagan said she was sorry in the coolest way. We celebrated Father’s Day and Lee’s birthday, but I guess I didn’t write about them either. We went to another family wedding, and I flew there with Brinkley.
Walking down the aisle at Uncle Mario’s wedding (one of these kids isn’t mine).
July:
Brinky had his first sprinkler experience because it was so hot. Jenny made up a cool game. And I let her do some posts, including her own Magazine Day post, the week of her birthday. She also got her first cell phone, and we celebrated her birthday at a hotel in style. And I tried Couch to 5K for about a week – at least I had good music.
Hotel birthday party with friends.
August:
Oops – I missed our anniversary in July, but only by a day! I did some of my favorite posts – annual interviews with each of the kids (Jenny, Reagan, Brinkley). The girls went to one more family wedding, a trek we skipped due to the little one who doesn’t travel well, and had tons of fun. We survived middle school open house, but started to get a little nervous about it. Brinky stayed up too late, but he was so cute. We were focused on back to school – getting organized, the first day, and long talks.
First day of school – with a baby brother in the way – in the dark because middle school starts so early.
September:
I start to get really busy at work in September, so I didn’t post much. We focused on school and our new early morning routine. Reagan went to Dollywood and brought back an alien.
The alien in our house.
October:
You’d think I’d talk about Halloween in October, but I didn’t post any pictures until November. So…I did post about how gross Brinky was being. I caught Brinky looking just like Lee did around the same age. I felt cool when I guest posted on Kludgy Mom. I think I created the word tattle-texting from an experience with my girls. And Jenny consistently impressed me with her cellphone self-portrait skills.
Cellphone self-portrait.
November:
It was a milestone month for Brinkley – he officially quit his crib (by climbing out of it repeatedly) and he got his first haircut. I wrote a fun post describing my life in numbers. I finally had some vacation time after a couple long months of hard work and took pictures of the kids for Christmas cards (including the clearly perfect one below). And I went to the grocery store with Brinkley while I was on vacation (just like I do every week) and got lots of stuff to make for Thanksgiving and shared some of my Pinterest successes.
Yep, I put this picture on our Christmas cards!
December:
Lots of focus on Christmas in December, of course! Elf on the shelf fun. Our annual Christmas parade with a more grown up Jenny. A look at some of our Christmas ornaments. And in the middle of all that Brinky turned 2! And I got a new camera for Christmas that’s still making me so happy thanks to my mom and dad.
Reagan and Brinky enjoying his new laptop.
That’s our year in review, linking up with Robin at Farewell Stranger to say farewell to 2012 and hello to 2013!
My 10 Most Popular Posts of 2012
I love lists and stats, so I thought I’d share my popular posts (according to WordPress stats) just because I was having fun looking at them. So here they are:
1. Thanksgiving Pinterest Successes – This was a pretty recent post and one of my favorites because I love sharing food successes. When I am browsing Pinterest, I often wonder whether or not the recipes will turn out as good as they look, so it’s always nice to hear about someone’s successes. And the crockpot mashed potatoes picture has been re-pinned more than anything else I’ve ever pinned on Pinterest.
2. Then and Now: My Senior Year – I’m not sure why this post is popular. It was part of Belle Bean & Chicago Dog’s I Was a Senior Hottie linkup and tons of fun because I love looking back at old pictures. And thinking about how surprised some people I know now are that I was this cheerleader:
3. A Great Wolf Lodge Birthday – This post was actually from Jenny’s birthday last year and was one of my first ever posts on this blog. We went to Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday and I decided to share the experience here.
4. Tasty Tuesday: Quick & Easy Cinnamon Rolls – Sharing a fun & easy breakfast recipe that’s perfect for the morning after a sleepover when you want to try to be one of those good moms who makes breakfast, but don’t want to make much effort.
5. Sleepover Fun #iPPP – I love linking up with Greta and Julie for #iPPP every Wednesday. This was a silly post (from the pre-Greta and Julie) #iPPP days showing funny pictures of a sleepover Jenny had with her friends. And I have no idea why it’s popular.
6. Snip-Its: Fun Haircuts – This is another review type of post (not compensated – just sharing my opinion) about the first time we visited our local Snip-Its kids hair salon and my girls got feathers in their hair – actually in 2011.
7. First Day of School – I’m not sure why 2011′s first day of school post was so much more popular than this year’s. Were my girls cuter then?
8. Magazine Day: Featuring K-Fed – This is the only one of my Magazine Day posts to make the list. And since “kevin federline fat” is the most popular search term that leads people to my site, I can understand why. Except the fact that I can’t understand why so many people are searching for that. Though I guess I did blog about that time he was really fat in Us Weekly, so what can I say.
9. Tasty Tuesday: Spicy Creamy Sausage Pasta – Still one of our favorite Pinterest finds. You should try it.
10. Why You Shouldn’t Cut Your Daughter’s Hair – I made the mistake of cutting Reagan’s hair earlier this year. We both regretted it instantly. It looked pretty cute, but was a tad bit shorter than she wanted or I planned.
That was fun! I don’t think it gives a clear picture of what was happening in our lives this year, but I enjoyed it anyway.
2011 in Review: Part 4 – October, November, and December
The first day of the new year seems like a good day to write the final review post for last year, doesn’t it? If I’d done it before today, I wouldn’t be able to include our exciting New Year’s Eve story. Just kidding. There isn’t one.
October
October’s my busiest month at work, but I try not to complain about it too much (Lee may disagree). And we still managed to pack in a lot of fun.
Both girls were enjoying their new school year extracurricular activities. Or, at least, Reagan was. Jenny determined soccer wasn’t really for her, but she completed the season, and that’s what we told her she had to do.
We spent a Saturday at our local fair, just me and my girls. We love going to the fair every year!
We had some interesting dinner conversations.
And I went and spoke to second graders for Career Day. I wouldn’t say I’d want to do it again, but I loved the thank you notes I got!
Reagan may have recorded a video teaching the fine art of nose picking, probably intending that no one would ever see it. And I may have gone ahead and posted it. Don’t tell her.
We went to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live! I worked hard to win those tickets from a Twitter party, and it was definitely worth it. I’d go again any day. And I think the kids liked it, too.
Brinky turned 10 months old.
The girls decorated the house for Halloween. And then we had a surprise visit from some of the coolest aunts and uncles for an awesome Halloween weekend.
November
Both girls got their first report cards for the new school year – and did very well!
Kevin Federline got fat. I know that’s not part of my recap of what happened in my family, but it still cracks me up.
I had a lucky week and won a Kindle Fire and a Roku. (They’re both awesome, by the way.)
Brinky celebrated his 11 month birthday. And looked cute all naked taking a bath.
Jenny kept growing. I think she’s growing up a little too fast for me. Her hands are as big as mine already.
We had to replace our microwave when our old one broke – and we installed it ourselves! While our kids played in the box.
We had a wonderful, quiet Thanksgiving – just the five of us – with yummy food we all like. A perfect start to the holiday season.
December
And finally, December. I didn’t blog as much in December, but hopefully I can remember what happened since it just ended.
I shared my Christmas wish list. And since I’m lucky and my mom and dad read my blog, we got the item at the top of the list for Christmas – a new mattress. And I got some awesome bath stuff, including Lush bath bombs, from some of my other cool relatives. And Amazon gift cards. So thanks everyone.
I really enjoyed the Memories Captured link up that let me capture my image of my kids at a particular time. I think I may do that again. (Those pictures are from my Christmas card photo shoot. For the Christmas cards that did not arrive on schedule. I’m still annoyed.)
We enjoyed a Friday night dance party.
We put up our two Christmas trees. On top of a table to keep the baby from getting them. And they fell down anyway.
Jenny’s school musical finally happened after months of rehearsals. And it was very cute. She did a great job. And I apparently didn’t blog about it at all. Same for Reagan’s first demo day for Level 2 gymnastics. Though she doesn’t believe she did a good job at all.
I tried to figure out what I needed to get done for the holidays. And guess what? I didn’t do it all, and that’s okay. I did most of them…
One I forgot? To take Brinky’s one year old birthday pictures. But he still looks about the same. So I swear I’ll do it soon. Now that I have monthly pictures with the sticker on the onesie for the first 11 months, I really feel like I should finish it up.
Brinkley started walking, and we celebrated Brinkley’s birthday. And I shared his birth story. I took the day off work and my parents came up to celebrate with us. Now Brinkley has toys – and he likes them!
I was a guest poster for the first time – appropriately for me it was a celebrity gossip post at Amanda’s blog. And it was fun!
We had an awesome Christmas with our family in town visiting. I thought we did the best job ever blending the various dietary needs in the house to make a meal that everyone could enjoy (thanks, Nicole!). The kids were all happy with their gifts and the fun times with extended family (and especially happy for their bonus day with Aunt Charlotte).
We had a low-key New Year’s Eve. My dad was in town for a brief visit. We rang in the new year playing what seemed like the longest game of Trivial Pursuit ever. So long that we kept forgetting whose turn it was and we were falling asleep at the end of it. I’m not even sure who won, but I’m pretty sure Jenny tweeted about it since she joined Twitter this weekend. But we were all awake (except Brinkley, of course) to see the ball drop and wish each other a happy new year.
I made it through this last review post a day after I started it, finally!
2011 in Review: Part 3 – July, August & September
Welcome back from the holidays to anyone else who, like me, has been forced to return to the real world after an all too brief break. I actually meant to post some time in last three days, at least a quick Merry Christmas post, but you know what? I didn’t. I was enjoying my family way too much. So I hope you all had a great time, too.
I am wishing I was one of those organized people who doesn’t procrastinate whenever possible because then I would have already written this post. But I’m not. So I’m running up on the linky deadline for finishing this week’s review post, but I don’t want to quit now that I made it through the first two parts. The good news is that I actually started this blog in July, so I have actual posts to refer back to instead of searching my facebook, twitter, flickr, and my husband’s blog to try to remember what happened.
July
I started this blog by telling the story of how Lee and I met and then just kept going from there. This was an interesting month to get started. Summer’s typically a little slower for us, but July included some fun events.
Jenny turned 10 (which is still hard for me to believe, by the way). We celebrated by taking her and Reagan and a couple friends on a Great Wolf Lodge birthday trip. They absolutely loved it, and they’re ready to go again any day now.
Jenny and I also enjoyed some mother daughter bonding time when we went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at the midnight premiere. I will admit I was a bit tired at work the next morning.
Reagan took a little time out of her busy summer schedule to write a post describing her sister. You can really feel the love she feels if you read it.
Both girls got cute new haircuts, including feathers, to get ready for back to school time.
Brinky continued to be a terrible sleeper, but he certainly looked cute, sitting up and playing and enjoying time with his dog. He turned 7 months old.
August
August started out pretty easy for us. The girls went for their annual trip to stay with their grandparents in Hilton Head for a week with their cousin, so we were a single child household for a week, and I must admit it was nice. But it’s also nice for the girls and Brinky when they’re here to play with him!
I discovered pinterest and became obsessed for a little while (it’s improved slightly now). So I forced each of my children to respond to interview questions for what I plan to be annual interview posts where I can see how their answers change over time – Jenny, Reagan, Brinky.
We started getting ready for back to school, which of course included a little back to school clothes and supply shopping with the girls.
Reagan came up with a plan to have a nice army when she’s a teenager. (This weekend she told us she will never be a teenager, but she will be an awesome-ager.)
Brinky continued his ways as a terrible sleeper, but he did sleep through the night once at least. And he turned 8 months old.
The girls started their school year – 5th grade (last year of elementary school!) for Jenny and 2nd grade for Reagan.
I read the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy to Lee. I’d already read them myself and felt like they needed to be shared with him. We’re still working on book 2 now.
September
September really was a quieter month for us. We all started getting into the regular school routine. Lee and Brinky returned to their daytime routine without sisters around to disrupt things. And I started getting really busy at work heading into year-end.
The girls started up their fall extracurricular activities: Level 2 gymnastics for Reagan and soccer for Jenny.
I kept talking about sleep, and how much I was not getting. I bet I was really whiny and annoying.
I started telling my opinions about celebrities in US Weekly for anyone who cared (or didn’t).
Brinky started crawling! And he turned 9 months old.
And unimportant, but cute, the kids tried out our glasses.
Only one quarter to go! Go ahead and link up to review your year, too.
2011 in Review: Part 2 – April, May and June
Continuing the review of the year from last week, I’m moving onto April, May and June. These months were still before I started this new blog, so I’ll share lots of pictures!
April
Brinky and Lee developed a pretty good routine at home. Though Lee was still not excited about poopy diapers (because who would be?), especially when his nose plug was missing.
We celebrated Brinky’s 4 month birthday. He was looking, and feeling, a lot chunkier then. But I love chunky babies, so I’m okay with that. He discovered his hands and the fun of putting them in his mouth. And he started eating solids and loved them. He was still sleeping in our room, but on a mattress beside ours (with his cats), instead of right with us.
Jenny wrote a poem about Brinky called Drool Monster, and let him drool on it. And she taught him how to play on the computer.
Both girls went for a spring break visit to my parents’ house in Hilton Head. They always enjoy that (again, who wouldn’t?).
Lee and I got excited about things like playing catch with the pacifier on a Saturday night and the fact that April is the month the city comes to our neighborhood for bulk pickup, and we manage to have almost a whole room’s worth of broken stuff to get rid of every year.
And we all got excited that my little brother got engaged. Especially because I’d been struggling with keeping the secret that he was planning to get engaged for a couple months.
May
Brinky celebrated his 5 month birthday, still enjoying food and hanging out with his sisters. He also wrote some poetry. And worked on developing his abs. He was starting to get too big to nap on the couch, but we knew we could still go a little longer.
The girls were in the home stretch as far as school was concerned. Jenny had her last gymnastics meet, and made the decision that she wanted to quit gymnastics to move onto a different sport.
We all made our annual trip to our local comic book store for Free Comic Book Day. The girls, Brinky and I walked in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. As slowly as possible. Jenny did cartwheels and ran ahead for most of it. Reagan stuck with me. And Brinky was carried along in my trusty Ergo. All 20 pounds of him. The race and Free Comic Book Day took place Mother’s Day weekend. We finished up all those events with a meal at Genghis Grill, since that was my request.
Lee and I also managed to uninstall our old disposal and install a new one. This was a major accomplishment for us, and we were so (freakishly) excited, I think, about getting it done.
June
June was a fun and busy month for us. We started off the month with Field Day at school for the girls, and went straight from there to the Heroes Con comic book convention in Charlotte. We were very happy to have Lee’s brother, Marcus, and his now-fiancee Jodi-Ann, join us for the trip.
Jenny was chosen to be one of the marshals at the 5th grade graduation, which is quite an honor. Jenny also did so well on her end of grade tests that the school recommended she be tested for the academically gifted program. So she had to go to testing for two days the week after school ended. Just so you’re not held in suspense as long as we were, she passed and made it into the AG program.
A couple weeks later the girls finished school for the year and joined me and Brinky, along with their aunt Charlotte, in Hilton Head for a few days. I went for a work conference, and took Brinky because I wasn’t ready to be away from him overnight. The girls and Charlotte joined me part of the way through the week once school finished. My parents had fun (I think) with all of us hanging out for a few days and playing with Brinky during the day. Lee had his brother Justin visiting back here at home for some fun bonding and work on restoring our pond to its former beauty.
We returned from our trip in time to celebrate Father’s Day and Lee’s birthday (on the same day this year) with him. We gave him the best possible gift, of course, by returning home to him to celebrate.
Brinky turned 6 months old, and we celebrated by moving him to his crib to sleep at night. Sort of. We moved him there, and he started sleeping there for some of each night before I either brought him back to our bed or moved to the couch with him.
June was by far the most eventful month of the year for us, I think. Hopefully it will take me less time than the two days I’ve been working on this post to write the next quarter’s review since it covers the lazier months of summer.
Now that I’ve made it through two weeks of the Review Extravaganza, I can make it through two more, right?
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