Time to summarize the past year in favorite photos! I always love doing this. Linking up with House Unseen this year :)
Here are my favorite 12 photos of the last 12 months. And maybe a few reflections sprinkled in. I hope you enjoy!
We found out we were pregnant with #4 back in November 2013, but we had our ultrasound to found out the gender in January. I was completely convinced it was a GIRL (hey, I had been right about my other three children) so was pretty shocked to find out BOY. We always name our babies as soon as we find out the gender, so on this day in early January, we announced Emmett Justin Corrigan would be joining us come May!
Ah, the Josie-pie. What a hoot and a holler she is. I was looking back at blog posts from the beginning of the year and guess what- this girl wasn't potty trained at this point! She turned THREE in December! She just took her sweet time. Finally, we accomplished that pesky little goal, before Emmett made his appearance. This strikes me as especially funny because guess what else? Little Michael, who turned TWO in August, is currently potty trained. (Well, 90% so) So...yeah...that thing they say about training boys being easier than girls? Totally true in this family! Ha!
Ah Josie, you are the cutest little bean. We love you so much. (P.S. This photo was taken at my grandma and grandpa's new house they built and completed at the end of 2013)
I remember the first few months of 2014 being pretty rough. I was sitting at my computer one evening, upset and stressed out and tired, and I told Mike I wanted to get away. Actually, I think it was more like me sobbing to him that I needed to get away. I was getting worried that the stress of a stay at home mama of many littles was too much to handle and that I wasn't going to last much longer.
So we looked at a few different options went ahead and planned a trip for February. Well, then when it was time to go on our baby-moon, the kids were all really sick with Hand Foot, and Mouth disease! It was awful because since it was a tiny bed and breakfast, they didn't appear to accept cancellations. By a small twist, they had a problem with the plumbing in our room so they called the day before asking if we'd be okay with changing rooms, and we went ahead and took the opportunity to tell them that if that was going to be the case that we'd actually just prefer to push the reservation out two weeks. So it was perfect! I remember feeling very blessed by that little incident. It wasn't a big thing, but I felt that God was telling me that He really loved me and wanted me to be healthy. We had a great time, and I did come back feeling refreshed and ready for the last stretch of pregnancy and beyond!
I always love Pascha. That's all there is to it! Dressing up, getting the baskets of treats assembled, singing Christ is Risen! over and over, little girls in hats, little boys in sweater vests, all of it. I love it and look forward to it every year. Easter 2014 was no exception.
This birth was by far...BY FAR the hardest thing I did all year. Whew. So hard. So amazing in the end.
I have a really sweet sister. She is the sweetest auntie to my kids, and they love her so very much. It was another great year having her in our lives. I'm so grateful for my little sister!
Our older son, Michael, turned two in August. I was outside snapping some photos of him the morning of his birthday and he was just being the sweetest little man. Oh my heart! I love him so much! Look how he is holding my face and planting a kiss on my cheek. gah!
Other fun things we did in August were seeing the Blue Angels fly at Seafair, and visiting the top of the Space Needle with my cousin who works summers at the restaurant up there.
Ah, September. The month of new school year beginnings. For our family this meant starting Kindergarten at home, since we decided we wanted to try out homeschooling. I always tell people that just because we are homeschooling now, doesn't necessarily mean we'll homeschool all our kids for all time. All it means is that this is something that we decided we wanted to do (based on many different reasons important to our family) and as long as it's working, we'll keep doing it. So far this year, it's working! Louisa has been having a good time learning, and I'm having a good time teaching her.
I'm just grateful for the opportunity we have to do this. The flexibility in our schedule, the closeness with my children, the ability to oversee the curriculum, plus many other added benefits.
Ah this years pumpkin patch visit! :) Such silliness, such ridiculousness. But you know I love those round orange punkins!
October was also the month of Mike's 5K run at the Salmon Days, Trick or treating with friends, and other such general fun things. October this year was also quite a mild and even warm month, weather-wise, which was really nice for us Seattle-ites!
I posted this picture from my Instagram to Facebook and ended up being surprised by how many likes it got. I don't think I looked at it very closely, but then I realized, hey! it's a pretty cute, albeit silly picture. Ah, these two sisters. This year we've switched their bedrooms around a bazillion times (tell me we're not the only parents who do this...?) but currently they are sharing a bedroom again. It's pretty sweet seeing them grow up together. 22 months apart - what what!
December - well ya know. This photo speaks for itself, yeah?? Crazy family, lots of kids, crazy life. So amazingly cool.
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Folks, it looks like I blogged the least I ever have in 2014. In May through November I averaged only about 6 posts a month! That was so much fun going through the year though. I'm still happy to have blogged in the year 2014, and look forward to blogging in 2015. So many ups and downs, struggles and joys, little things and big things to document and look over later on. It's just my thing. I'm grateful for this outlet.
And I'm also grateful for all the people in my life that make it so wonderful.
Happy New Year!
