I always like to take today to pause and reflect back on the year. It's a good way to remember joy in the ordinary things we did.
January
It snowed so much. We spent a lot of time inside, playing with snow, baking, and watching movies. We visited the American Girl store with Mimi and Aunties and even drove to New Hampshire to see Elsa's Ice Castle.
February
Another cold month with more snow! But we spent time at the Cape Cod Children's Museum, spent my 31st birthday night down the Cape at a hotel and found the best donuts on Cape.
March
We celebrated Dr Suess Day at school, spent time volunteering at Gifts to Give, and David had surgery to correct his deviated septum. I spent the night with some favorites seeing Simple Plan!
April
And it started to get busy again! It was finally warm enough to be outside so we went to Buttonwood Park Zoo and the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum. Emma got bit by the comp bug after cheering on her friends. We went to P-Town for our annual trip and discovered the daffodil fields in Dartmouth.
We celebrated Easter and Dave and I even got a date night at Foxwoods, complete with a trip to the Sugar Factory!
May
May is always a busy month with 2 birthdays! Tyler turned 3 with a Chuck E Cheese birthday party and David turned 34! Emma discovered Sephora and we made our first macarons!
June
The busiest month of the year! We got to see my baby sister graduate from high school, Emmalee turned 6, and she was invited to join her competitive dance team! We spent a weekend in Newport and a month of playgrounds, ice cream, and beach trips was wonderful, but Emma's favorite trip was to Alice in the Village tea shop!
July
Another super busy month- we really love summer! We spent more time at the local zoo, plus we visited the Museum of Science and another zoo! We celebrated the 4th with fireworks, family, and sparklers. I attended Blogger Bash in NYC and found the ever elusive to me Strawberry Fields and Central Park Castle! I went to the top of the Empire State Building and found the super trendy cookie dough store!
August
Our last of summer consisted of the annual lobster boil, Emmalee getting pink hair, me starting my MONAT business, and a trip to Disney! Our trip was quick but so much fun! We hit all 4 parks in 2 days, complete with Early Morning Magic hours at Magic Kingdom and the Star Wars Dessert Party! We rode every ride we wanted to and still had time to sit and enjoy meals with characters! I found out that I had an underactive thyroid and was finally able to start medicating properly!
September
Emmalee started 1st grade and Tyler moved from daycare to preschool! We spent a weekend in New Hampshire with cousins and visited my favorite spots in Maine from when I was a kid. We were invited to HasCon to check out the cool toys for Christmas. Went apple picking and spent even more time with my siblings and mom. I even had a girls day at King Richard's Faire!
October
Emmalee attended her first dance convention and learned so much, while Tyler discovered video games and became obsessed with Disney Infinity. We made a big deal of the My Little Pony movie coming out and had a girlfriend day, complete with make up and manicures. Emmalee lost her first tooth and I fell in love with Rae Dunn. Of course, Halloween, but we were so busy the kids went trick or treating 5 times!
November
Another month that ended up being much busier than expected! We started the month celebrating my grandmother's 80th birthday with a surprise party! The we went NYC for PlayFair and Emma was in a Shopkins fashion show! We stayed local to meet Anna and Elsa at the mall and went to the wrong night of a fundraiser at Chuck E Cheese. We went to Heritage Gardens to see the lights and met Mrs. Claus. Emmalee and I went back to NYC to see the Rockettes and visited the American Girl Store, after our car blew a tire on the side of 195. We took family pictures and celebrated the engagement of my brother and future sister-in-law. The kids met Santa when they went out for a night out without me!
December
And just like that, the year is over! We had time to squeeze in another trip to P-Town and some gingerbread decorating. Emma danced at nursing homes with her dance team and we had an elf at our house for the first time! We spent Christmas Eve at my grandmother's and then relaxed all day in our pajamas at home on Christmas. For the first year (probably ever), we had no plans or tickets for vacation week and just enjoyed being home with each other!
I love looking at pictures of how much the kids have grown over the year, but it's a good reminder that I've grown so much too. So many people will complain about 2017 and the dumpster fire that it was, but I choose to find the joy in each month, in each moment.
Here's to new adventures and more joy in 2018!
xo, Heather
