January:

We hosted a rather nice remembrance for Husband’s father.  Carter made the Swedish colored paper chain as an addition to the centerpiece.

Carter discovered the 80’s in the form of a headband.  He rocked the look for a couple weeks and then moved on.

February:

We do not fish, but rather than depriving the boys of the experience, we signed them up for a free program through the park system.  No fish were caught but the boys enjoyed themselves.

We visited the Desert Botanical Gardens, our wedding place, on our fourteenth wedding anniversary.  It was as beautiful as ever.

March:

This month consisted of lots of desert hikes.  We also acquired our family garden gnome.  His name is Whitfield Jerome *Shoes on the Wrong Feet, the Third.

*Replace “Shoes on the Wrong Feet” with our actual last name for complete and accurate name.   

April:

April showers brings May flowers… and in Arizona when we get caught in a shower, we utilize lawn chairs to make an impromptu fort.

Oh, and April is a big birthday month for us as 3/4 of our family was born in this month.  This is nice as I can decorate once and then leave it up for a month!

May:

The last month of the school year.  Carter got to bring his favorite stuffed animal, Hool the Owl to class.  So cute!

I accidently got a new job for the next school year – here is one of the posters I made for the first day of school of my first year.  It came with me to my new school, of course.

We also got a chance to get an up close look at the Solar Impulse during its brief stay in Arizona.

June:

Summer Vacation!  One of the places we went often was the Phoenix Zoo.  Here Carter mastered the Zen pose of the Pink Flamingo.

We hosted a delicious Summer Pie Day, another one of our made-up holidays.

Cody participated in a week long i Can Bike camp designed specifically for special needs kiddos.  It was a fabulous experience!

July:

We took our summer trip up to Washington.  We revisited our old house, hung out with friends, and spend time with my mom.

Cody and Carter got to spend an extra week in Washington with their Grandma, while Husband and I took a mini vacation back to Arizona. 

I also took the kid-free opportunity to organize my new classroom.

August:

August is back to school month – the cats were helpful in getting the school lunch bags out and ready.

September:

We took advantage of Labor Day’s three day weekend to road trip and spend time with family and friends.

Back at home, Chloe and Leia meet Woody the neighbor’s cat.  Leia was not impressed and told Woody as much.   

October:

This was one busy month!  My mom came down for our sixteenth annual Practice Thanksgiving.

We also spent our week long fall break in California.  It was amazing!

The boys had never seen sandy beaches before, being raised on the rocky shores of Washington.  We stayed in a tiny house walking distance from Ocean Beach. 

We did some touristy things such as visit Lego Land, but for the most part we lounged on the beach, visited farmer’s markets, and tried out several restaurants.

One night, we simply had ice cream for dinner!

Part of me wishes we were still there.

November:

We spent Thanksgiving down in Tucson with family.  I tried to catch some cute moments of the boys with their cousins.  I failed.  Instead I got a whole lot of this…

As a disclaimer regardless of how this looks, neither myself nor any of the children were inebriated.  Truly.  These are just really bad, yet funny pictures.

December:

We attended the Desert Botanical Garden’s yearly Luminaria event, a tradition from before we had children, when we lived in Arizona all those years ago.

We had a wonderful Christmas with good food and family.

And now we find ourselves here.  Some parts of the world have already crossed over into 2017 but not us.  We are still on the edge of the year.

We had breakfast out at our favorite restaurant this morning.  As we were finishing up, I asked the boys what they want of the coming year, of 2017.  After some thought, Carter replied that he would want more family time – more time with poppa.  Cody agreed, spending more time together. 

That sounds good to me.

And so I wish you a very Happy New Year.