So Long 2013

Happy New Years!!!  I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve.  We celebrated at home in our p.j.'s.  We ate yummy s'mores as we played board games while we waited for the big ball to drop. At midnight, we drank sparkling apple cider.  Everyone made it to midnight with the exception of Karsyn.  =)

 

This morning, we all sat down and wrote down our resolutions.  Jason wants to finish a lot of projects around the house.  Evan wants to work hard to become a faster runner.  Payton wants to keep her room clean every day.  Addi wants to keep doing great in speech.  We made Karsyn's resolution for her.  Our littlest lady is going to get potty trained this year.

 

My resolutions this year are as following.  I really want to grow in the Lord.  I am going to spend more time in the Word and get more involved in our new church.  I also am resolving to live a healthier life and lose some (or hopefully a lot) of weight.  Also, being inspired by a Facebook status of Lysa TerKeurst, I want to stop asking people if there is anything that I can do to help and just take action.(If you aren't following her on Facebook already, you should start today.  She's so inspiring!)  I have some good ideas where to start too.

 

As excited as I am for this New Year to start, I just want to pause for a moment and take a look back at 2013.  It was a very good year for our family!  We've had rough years before... like 2009!  The only good thing that came out of that year was adding our sweet Addi to our family.  The year 2010 wasn't much better.  Those years left us with a few battle scars.  Living through years like those gives me an even greater appreciation for a year like last.

 

Let's take a look back together.

 

January 2013

I didn't blog much in January.  I did do a recap of 2012.  You can click here to read it.  I think the most exciting thing that happened that month was that Jason was promoted at work. That was a great move for his career and a very big deal for our little family.

 

February 2013

What a busy and fun month!  My mom and I planned a surprise 30th birthday party for my sister Ashley.  She may have caught on, but she had no idea that her best friend from Virginia came all the way to see her.  You can read about her party here.  Another of my favorite posts from that month was when I linked up with Kelly's Korner to write about a day in my life. It was so much fun to write this.  Here are my favorite two pictures from that month.

Karsyn & Addi fell asleep holding hands.

Payton played basketball with her friend Jman.  They were too cute together!

March 2013

We did A LOT of really fun stuff in March 2013.  The very first Saturday in March, Evan and my nephew Stephen played in a basketball tournament in the morning.

Evan & Stephen

The boys played so hard both games and then ended their day by playing their first Spring soccer game of the season.  Payton went on her very first sleep solo sleep over in March.  She stayed the night with Jessi at Aunt Ashley's house. 

 

In March, we had so much fun going to zoo, that we went twice!  You can read about our trips here and here.

 

Payton and I also went on a very fun Mommy/Daughter date with Kim and Katelyn. 

 

April 2013

We spent most of our free time in April at the soccer fields. With 4 kiddos in our family playing, we were always there.

Payton, Emily, Stephen, & Evan

We celebrated Evan's 9th Birthday  with a big bowling party and I also did a post on his birth story.

We also celebrated Easter.

Easter Sunday 2013

May 2013
I think that December is the only month busier than May during the year.  There's just so much going on!  May 2013 Jason turned 35 and we also celebrated our 12th year of marriage.

Addi graduated from PK-3.

We celebrated a wonderful Mother's Day.

 

We took a really fun road trip with our family to the Kiddie Park.  I think this picture of Papa Gene and Addi is one of my most favorite from the year.  It just says so much about their relationship.

 

Payton had her first art show.

 

June 2013

 Our sweet Payton turned 8 in June.  A few days later, Addi turned 4. The girls had a joint birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  They had so much fun!

 

 Becky, Eugene, Kellie, Kyle, and Katelyn visited us from Texas.  We had so much fun with them!

 

We also played in the water every chance we got.

 

July 2013

Two very big things happened in July.  First, our Karsyn doll turned 2.  We had a monkey of a party for her at our local pool.

 

We also went on the most amazing vacation ever with our best friend family.  We spent one night in Louisiana and visited an alligator farm.  We spent the next week in Florida.  We had the best time ever!!!  If you want to read about our vacation, start here.

August 2013
We soaked up the last few days of summer before school started by enjoying time at the splash pad.

Then, school started.  Evan started the 5th grade a year early.  Payton started the 3rd grade.  Addi was a big preschooler.

 Addi started speech therapy in August.  As a baby, she had frequent ear infections, which led to hearing loss.  She's a little behind for her age in speech, but she is making great strides and will be where she needs to be soon.

September 2013
Over the summer, my sister Ashley and her family moved to Missouri.  In September, our family went for a visit.  While we were there, we visited the Precious Moments Chapel.

September was also a busy month for activities.  Evan played soccer.  Payton played basketball.  All 3 girls started taking classes at a local dance studio.

October 2013
When the kiddos were on Fall Break, we went to Branson, MO with Grandma, Papa Floyd, Brian, and Stephanie.  The kids loved going to Silver Dollar City.

 

We also had a ton of fun on Halloween.

November 2013
We celebrated Thanksgiving a few days early with my extended family.  We had super yummy food at an Amish restaurant.

We also learned how to celebrate a holiday with just our little family on Thanksgiving Day.

December 2013
We went on our first ever Christmas tree hunt.

It was a lot of fun, but we ended up using our artificial tree.  Our real tree fell down 9 times!  We had great fun playing in the snow this December.

We had a wonderful Christmas! 

 

After Christmas, my niece Jessi came for a visit.  We loved looking at Christmas lights!

and that is how we spent 2013!  Thank you for sharing the year with us!

I really look forward to see what 2014 has in store!