Looking Back on 2011

Christmas has come and gone and now 2011 is about to go, too! We had a really good visit with some family members from out of state and our local family members as well.  And I spent all of this past week recovering from all the noise and whatnot that comes with large family gatherings. ; )

And now as I stay up late with my girls waiting for 2012 to arrive, I look back over 2011. We could so easily dwell on the rough patches and the setbacks but the truth is that we are blessed and we must not forget that! Thinking back through the year, several “highlights” come to mind:

• I finally learned how to be a morning person! –Yes, I’ve really struggled the past two months, but I have not completely relapsed. I’m not abandoning it though, I’ve been working on backing my schedule up and getting up earlier again. It’s harder in the winter! Who wants to get up when it’s dark and cold out?! = p
• My parents moved back and I am SO thankful!
• Princess got braces (I’m not sure SHE’D call that a highlight.) 😉 But her teeth were SO crooked (cross bite, overbite, deep bite) and in 8 months they’ve already corrected all 3 of those and now the rest of the work that needs to be done is turning, torquing and fine tuning her mouth shape and teeth alignment. I’m so impressed!
• We found a church that we all like as a family and it’s starting to feel like ‘home’ church.
• As I already mentioned, we got to see out of state family for Christmas (it’s been 2 years since we saw them last.)
• Princess made a new friend (and so did we, with the mom.)
• We got chickens! (And then the incredible 110 degree summer temps killed them. That, and the neighbors dogs. =\) Our last lonely chicken is going to winter at a neighbor friend’s house and in the spring I hope we can have a better coop set up and we can get more. = )
• Drama Queen had the privilege and fun of attending puppy training classes with my mom and her new dog (who they adopted a 8 months.) It was a great experience for her and she continues to prove to be a great and consistent dog trainer. It’s good for her, too, focusing and calming down while she’s working with the dogs. She works with them every time we go over to my mom’s — and now she’s teaching them NEW commands, AND she’s teaching the dog that’s afraid of the doggy door how to go through it! She’s so patient and consistent.
• Princess turned 11, Drama Queen turned 8 and Little Prince turned 6! (And I turned 30-something. I’ve seriously lost count. I’d have to do the math in my head…)
• We started painting! Not much, I’d like to paint more next year. But I let go of my mess-fear as much as I could and let the kids pull out the paint quite frequently and we started painting. (Yeah, we painted sometimes before that, but always water colors and not very often. But now we have a great big bucket full of paint bottles, brushes, palettes, watercolor paper and even a few canvas boards.)
• My mom and I really got into canning after she moved back. We’ve canned and canned and canned!
• I got a kindle for Mother’s Day. Should that go on a list of highlights? Yeah, sure, why not… = )
• I started and went to a first annual homeschooler blogger field trip to the Fort Worth Zoo. (Even though the only people who came were IRL friends.) ; )
• I was able to attend the Apologia Live Retreat in Austin, Texas with an IRL homeschool bloggy friend and we had such a good time!
• Little Prince learned how to ride a bike!
• My mother in law sadly moved away but then moved back — that’s a mixed blessing for them but it’s nice for our kids to have both grandmothers nearby. = )

Image Credit:  Some rights reserved by bayasaa