2008 In Review

So we spent some time reflecting and remembering 2008. I thought it would be fun to share our highlights through both memories, events and pictures. Enjoy!

January

• Samuel is potty training
• Liam learns how to sit up
• It snows...a lot...in SeattleFebruary
  

• Whole household gets extremely sick
• Discovery of "Charlie bit my finger" on You Tube
• Katelynn comes home
• Ruby is born
• Everett is born
• We get out of Seattle for a few days to rest with our small groupMarch
  

• Samuel reads his first book independently
• Uncle Mike visits

April

• Mike turns the big 30
• Samuel discovers his shadow
• Liam stands independently
• Blog goes private
• Samuel learns there is a difference between grass and saladMay
  

• Liam gets teeth
• Tulip festival time
• MIKE GRADUATES
• The whole family visits
• Samuel has his first opinion about his hair

June

• We camp at Gold Basin
• Samuel conquers his first fear
• Many, many walks around Green Lake
• Boys eat their first corn dogs
• Mike gets his tattoo

July

• Samuel turns 3
• Liam turns 1
• We miss Hannah for 4 years
• We celebrate 7 years of marriage
  
• We play at Great Wolf Lodge
• We buy a house we have never seen
• We go on a final camping trip with Zera
• Jenn gets her nose piercedAugust
  

• We say goodbye to Seattle
• We travel over 3000 miles to Michigan
• We enjoy three weeks traveling the beautiful country
• We say goodbye to our beloved fish, Lance.
• We arrive in Michigan to see our new home and wonder what we have done

September

• Samuel starts his first day of preschool
• Jenn becomes a gym addict
• Liam walks full time
• Kasey is born
• Samuel dances in the rain in his underwear
• Samuel learns to ride a bike
• Liam drives his first car
• Jenn turns 30
  

October

• Mike gets his first colonoscopy
• Grandpa Steve turns 60
• We adopt three cats
• We participate the family traditonsNovember
  

• The season's first snow
• We move into our new house
• We travel to MN for Thanksgiving

December

• We buy a puppy
• We enjoy our first Christmas in our new house
• Both boys are terrified of Santa
• Samuel has his first Christmas program which he refuses to participate inIt was a good year but I will admit that I am really glad it is over. Hopefully our 2009 will go at a much slower pace and we will be able to spend a lot more time together.
  

I'm not tired...

Whenever there is a mention of sleeping or resting in our house Samuel's immediate response it "But I'm not tired." He could be yawning and nearly falling over because he is exhausted but he insists that he is not even remotely sleepy. Knowing he still needs a nap most days, I often spend well over an hour fighting with him before he finally falls alseep. This gets really old really fast. So about a week ago I said fine. He didn't have to sleep but he still needed to take a rest in his bed for an hour. He could sing, read books, tell stories, whatever he wanted as long as he was laying in bed. He agreed and we set him up with about five books. For the first 20 minutes or so I heard him going back and forth from this bed to his bookshelf. Then it was quite. Fully expecting him to be either in the bathroom or in the spare room messing arond I went up to investigate and this is what I found. So much for not being tired.I was estatic. No more fighting but still getting a nap! Yeah maybe we were on to something here. That lastest until bedtime when he realized what we were up to and refused to look at books in his bed or anywhere else for that matter! On to the next trick...if I could just figure that one out.

The Best Christmas Pagent Ever

Last week Mike and I had our first official school Christmas concert. Samuel's preschool class participated in the St. Paul School concert. He had been practicing his song for about a month and was so excited to shake the bells up on stage. The day of the concert Samuel kept telling me he didn't want to go, that the big kids sang too loud and he didn't want to sing. After negotiating with him for several long minutes it was time to head in. He walked up with his class but refused to go on stage, instead he sat on his teachers lap in the aisle. Stage fright? Sensative hearing? Who knows...either way we know we will have many many more years of Christmas concerts to attend!

6:30 am

Our house is usually up and moving bright and early. The other day I grabbed my camera and captured everyone about 6:30am. Here is what we are up to...

Mike getting ready for work...

Samuel "fixing" things...
more like getting into everything he is not suppose to be in...

Liam watching whatever was on Disney...

Wrigley taking her morning nap...

Bailey taking over our bed attempting to stay away from Wrigley

And I was taking pictures while attempting to finish a cup of much needed coffee.