2015 Year in Review

Wow! What a year full of love, laughter, surprises, tears, and big changes. We traveled, spent time with family, and bonded as a family of six. Here's a little look back at all the fun we had...

January

Hubby went away for two weeks (day one of eleven) and we survived just mama and the 4 girls...

February the twins turned one and half and were far from the babies we once knew 

And we had some family photos taken...

March was a lot of family time with my mom visiting, the Maroon 5 concert with my sister in-law, Kendal's Odyssey of the mind competition, and a day date with Madison.

April - we celebrated Madison's 9th Birthday

We had our first camping adventure 

I went to PA to visit my sister to help celebrate her new house, engagement, and pregnancy!

May started our potty training adventure at just 21 months we took the leap with the 3 day method.. we can't say we are 100% trained at this point but we are close...

June started summer break lots of fun with all the girls

A trip to urgent care for Charlotte's smashed toe

July I was able to capture the birth of my good friends first daughter 

We headed north for a two week vacation to PA, NY, and DC to spend some quality time with Family.

August is a big month for Birthday's in our Family - aside from Kendal and the Twins my niece also celebrates her birthday!

Kendal Turned 11!

And the Twins turned 2!

September was the month to announce baby five was on the way! 

I was able to write a guest blog post for Twin Talk Blog and shared it with you all... do you want more?

Then we announced and shared our Journey to baby five

We had to say good-bye to our first family dog Rocky

And I started my first bump date at 11 weeks! 

October we struggled with two Toddlers that didn't like to get ready to leave the house

We announced the gender of baby number 5

My sister welcomed her first baby, a girl and I became an aunt again!

November we celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends and we lost the pacifiers

December was all about the Holidays and family time...

Christmas and Disney World

The year flew by and looking back on all these memories I can't help but picture a new little sister in the mix. The last 2 years as a family of 6 have been wonderful with so many memories made I know the next years of our lives are only going to get better. But first up.. 2016 and we're ready for it!

2014 Year in Review

Transitions

You know those times in life when things really don't seem or even feel stable? Kind of like you don't really know the exact direction you will go or what the other side is going to look like. But you know you have to make choices and decisions based on what you "think" is the best for yourself and most importantly your family. Sometimes you make the decision you think is the right one and you then realize maybe it really wasn't the best or it doesn't work out the way you expect. When a choice is put in front of you, you weigh all the options good and bad and maybe even pray about it or ask others to pray for you. You put your heart on the line and it doesn't always go according to plan. These are the times of transition, the times you wish you knew how it would all end up. There is a bit of uncertainty in these times and this uncertainty can make you question things you would have never questioned before. Doubt creeps in and things begin to appear overwhelming and difficult.

I've debate writing about this topic for some time not sure how it would come across or be perceived. But the reality is my family and myself are in a time of transition. A time that has us relying on people we didn't think we would ever need to rely on. A time that has us relying on our faith more than ever before. We've been learning and growing as a family during this time; it's not been without bumps or stress or even a few (many) shed tears. I personally have questioned myself a lot over the past few weeks... and we know those types of "questions" often go unanswered.

Even though we are finding ourselves in this transition we know there is an end in sight. It may not be exactly what we think it should be or the timing may be off. We may have to change our plans or do things we think we cannot. But isn't that what trying times are really all about, learning who you really are? Learning that difficult times and times of transition are just that "times".. times that will pass and times that will surely be back again. We learn new things along the way... things about ourselves and those around us. Some of them are things we wish we didn't have to learn but we know they are part of the process. When we come out on the other side we know we are stronger for having made it through and when we look back we realize "that wasn't so bad". I know that time is coming for my family and I can't wait to share it with you when it happens.

~Kristy

New Years Eve

When you move away from "home" you often find yourself creating your own traditions, if you are lucky some of them stick. When we moved to Florida in 2011 we didn't have any family so we quickly made friends with some of my husbands co-workers. Our first New Years Eve here we went to one of those friends house for a small party and some fireworks. And that "tradition" continues to this day (yesterday). We've added my husbands family to the mix as well as some other friends, this tradition has been one of our most favorites for the year.  Fun for this kids, lots of food, and of course fireworks. But aside from all of the fun "things" we do and great food we eat one of the  most important things we celebrate aside from the New Year is the friendships we have created. The people you can be real with, the ones you know won't judge you for past mistakes, and the ones that you can count on to be there no matter what.

So here is to many more years of this tradition.... and to family we call friends and friends we call family.