I thought it would be fun to look back on 2013 and get a glimpse of what happened in the life of the Card family over the last 12 months. Here we go!
January
January started off with lots of work, late nights, inspections, packing and finally on January 25, we moved into our new house. We all underestimated how long and hard it would be to build our own house. But, man. That move in day made it all worth it.
February
A snowy, cold February left us plenty of time for getting our new house organized. Items we had put in storage over two years earlier came back out. The girls spread out into their big bedrooms, with Lael and Alyssa having their own rooms for the first time.
March
We celebrated our first big holiday in the new house. {Are you noticing a trend here? LOTS of 'firsts' in the new house in 2013!} Easter was quiet, with just us at home. But the girls enjoyed dying Easter eggs, opening baskets and dressing in some pretty spring outfits for church.
And we celebrated the 6th birthday of this little beauty!
April
April was just a regular, getting back on track kinda month. Lots of school. Lots of baking. Lots of time for me to relearn how to do more things from scratch. Our kitchen island often looked like this on school days.
May
The girls had their annual Academy Night, through our homeschool enrichment program.
We also jumped right into turning our land into a hobby farm. Our first venture? Chickens.
June
We finished up school and fully embraced summer in all it's lazy craziness. Lauren graduated from kindergarten and we watched another Card girl walk across the stage, accepting her certificate.
We also celebrated Lael's 12th birthday. Then we decided to lock her in a closet for the next 10 years. Just kidding. sort of.
July
We began our summer in earnest in July. Lots of travel and fun with family filled the next two months. The girls took part in our town's annual 4th of July parade. Our float theme was Dr. Seuss, so the girls dressed like Whos.
Right after the parade, we drove to my parents' house to celebrate my mother's retirement. It was great to see faraway family and to give the girls time to play with their cousins.
August
In August, we spent a long weekend at my parents' house again because my cousin was up visiting with her family. Our girls get along wonderfully and we were able to do a few special things with them. It's great to make memories and give our daughters time to develop their own relationship.
We also spent a day at our favorite museum in the Adirondacks.
September
It was finally September and time for routine again. We started school, but finished most days in time for the girls to go off riding their bikes with friends. Our fall was beautiful, with perfect temperatures and amazing foliage. We enjoyed every minute of it.
And we finally got grass in our yard!
October
Our Alyssa celebrated her 10th birthday in October! She is such a sweetie, we can't imagine life without her. For her party, she could pick whatever she wanted. Her choice? A camo spa. It was a great day. My friend Carol - of Fox & Paper - made awesome invites.
It was also this little cutie's 3rd birthday! She likes to wear these glasses and tell us all what to do. Kind of hard to resist, don't you think?
November
The month of thankfulness. I loved decorating the house for our first Thanksgiving here. My parents joined us for a few days and celebrated Thanksgiving day with us. It was wonderful. On Black Friday, I went shopping with Josh and my dad as well as my mom and the girls later in the day. It was a great kickoff to the holiday season!
December
Finally, it was here. We got our tree early. We decorated early. We enjoyed every moment of our December. We hosted a baby shower for a dear friend. Lael and I sang in the Christmas Eve choir. We spoiled each other silly on Christmas morning. I have no pictures of our celebrations, because I was too busy enjoying every second.
So here we come 2014.
We will become the parents of a teenager.
We will continue to build our little hobby farm.
We will strive to glorify Christ in all we do.
January
January started off with lots of work, late nights, inspections, packing and finally on January 25, we moved into our new house. We all underestimated how long and hard it would be to build our own house. But, man. That move in day made it all worth it.
February
A snowy, cold February left us plenty of time for getting our new house organized. Items we had put in storage over two years earlier came back out. The girls spread out into their big bedrooms, with Lael and Alyssa having their own rooms for the first time.
March
We celebrated our first big holiday in the new house. {Are you noticing a trend here? LOTS of 'firsts' in the new house in 2013!} Easter was quiet, with just us at home. But the girls enjoyed dying Easter eggs, opening baskets and dressing in some pretty spring outfits for church.
And we celebrated the 6th birthday of this little beauty!
April
April was just a regular, getting back on track kinda month. Lots of school. Lots of baking. Lots of time for me to relearn how to do more things from scratch. Our kitchen island often looked like this on school days.
May
The girls had their annual Academy Night, through our homeschool enrichment program.
We also jumped right into turning our land into a hobby farm. Our first venture? Chickens.
June
We finished up school and fully embraced summer in all it's lazy craziness. Lauren graduated from kindergarten and we watched another Card girl walk across the stage, accepting her certificate.
We also celebrated Lael's 12th birthday. Then we decided to lock her in a closet for the next 10 years. Just kidding. sort of.
July
We began our summer in earnest in July. Lots of travel and fun with family filled the next two months. The girls took part in our town's annual 4th of July parade. Our float theme was Dr. Seuss, so the girls dressed like Whos.
Right after the parade, we drove to my parents' house to celebrate my mother's retirement. It was great to see faraway family and to give the girls time to play with their cousins.
August
In August, we spent a long weekend at my parents' house again because my cousin was up visiting with her family. Our girls get along wonderfully and we were able to do a few special things with them. It's great to make memories and give our daughters time to develop their own relationship.
 |
| Lauren, Cassidy, Lael and Alyssa |
 |
| Two days at a local water park! |
We also spent a day at our favorite museum in the Adirondacks.
September
It was finally September and time for routine again. We started school, but finished most days in time for the girls to go off riding their bikes with friends. Our fall was beautiful, with perfect temperatures and amazing foliage. We enjoyed every minute of it.
And we finally got grass in our yard!
October
Our Alyssa celebrated her 10th birthday in October! She is such a sweetie, we can't imagine life without her. For her party, she could pick whatever she wanted. Her choice? A camo spa. It was a great day. My friend Carol - of Fox & Paper - made awesome invites.
It was also this little cutie's 3rd birthday! She likes to wear these glasses and tell us all what to do. Kind of hard to resist, don't you think?
November
The month of thankfulness. I loved decorating the house for our first Thanksgiving here. My parents joined us for a few days and celebrated Thanksgiving day with us. It was wonderful. On Black Friday, I went shopping with Josh and my dad as well as my mom and the girls later in the day. It was a great kickoff to the holiday season!
December
Finally, it was here. We got our tree early. We decorated early. We enjoyed every moment of our December. We hosted a baby shower for a dear friend. Lael and I sang in the Christmas Eve choir. We spoiled each other silly on Christmas morning. I have no pictures of our celebrations, because I was too busy enjoying every second.
So here we come 2014.
We will become the parents of a teenager.
We will continue to build our little hobby farm.
We will strive to glorify Christ in all we do.
So many good memories for 2013! Thanks for sharing the pictures, looking forward to the New Year!
ReplyDeleteOh, wait. Its already here....
And maybe some time in 2014, you can come visit me again?
Delete