2015 in 12 Pictures

These are my favourite blog posts of the year. They have been my main motivation to blog at all, and they are the most fun to look back on and see how many memories each year is full of and how quickly the ordinary hum drum becomes the beautiful past.

I have done these posts in 2013

The year we figured out parenting one little girl

And again in 2014 

the year we learned how to manage 2 kids

and now here is 2015, summarized with 12 photos

Looking back at this month, all I can think is ‘That can be a whole year ago!!!’ But it must have been, computers can’t lie. Also, ‘Hugh was so bald!’ was a common thought while looking at pictures that tell of trips to the Science Center, days at home with friends visiting, a bit of bundling up for the snow, shopping trips, and Hugh’s first birthday. But mostly we just were around home. Hopefully not going stir crazy.

The highlight of February was visiting California. My grandfather lives there and we were able to stay at his home, as well as visit Brian’s brother Matt and his wife Bridget who live in San Diego. To make it even better, Brian’s mom and dad and sister Kat were also able to meet us there for a few days so it was a wonderful family, sunshine and beaches filled trip that was a beautiful change from our normal. The kids loved being able to stop at playgrounds which they had severely missed in our snowcapped landscape at home.

March had some very snowy days, as well as some beautiful Chinooks (a local weather phenomenon) that warmed everything up and melted all the snow (don’t worry it all came back). We spent a lot of days at the library (pictured) because I was in the throws of morning sickness with our little #3 and that’s as exciting of an outing as I could manage. We told our family and had our first ultrasound.

In April we got a family pass to a local fun farm and I tried to take the kids as many times as I could (it’s across the city, so nearly an hour to get there sometimes) but it was the right sort of “attraction” for their age levels and they enjoyed getting friendly with cute animals. We had a great Easter, spent more time outside as I got some of my energy back and it warmed up. Hugh got really interested in books. Both of them were generally obsessed with baby swings at the park, I had some great times with friends who came to town or live in town and we just made lots of time to have play dates and spend time together. My bump was definitely growing, and I helped host a bridal shower for my sister Anne.

May showers bring…?? There were certainly some wet days this May. We went camping with good friends and almost froze to death because the heater in my parents trailer that we had borrowed stopped working. (Canada ya’ll, no joke). Clara and I got haircuts. My sister Anne married the love of her life Daniel and had a beautiful wedding, for which I sewed 10,000 circles. My twin cousin came to town with her kids and we all had a great time kid-gallivanting around the city. Brian and I did 33 Days to Morning Glory together, and consecrated ourselves to Jesus through Mary on the 31st. We also built a little prayer oratory in our living room. We had local elections that drastically changed our province (not for the better) and we are still getting used to the consequences.

June was beautiful. I tried to get us outside to parks or the lake or family activities around town as much as I could. Brian and I went on a wonderful anniversary date (pictured) as baby grew and grew. I went to a awesome TOB conference with Christopher West. We had some more wonderful camping with good friends in an incredible national park that I had never visited before (and we will be going back to, lots!) We started to get ready for baby and bought the narrow car seats so we could fit 3 across. We tried t to fit in lots of outings to places like Heritage Park, Spruce Meadows, farmers markets, and Bass Pro shop.

July started with the always a highlight Family Life Conference. We made it out to One Rock (Catholic music festival) for the first time (and were really impressed). We found out that another one of my sisters would be joining the “Mrs” crowd before the end of the month. Brian and I scored free tickets to a football game. Another camping trip with my family to a beautiful lake. Clara’s 3rd birthday and lots of birthdays of friends. I was visiting the chiropractor very regularly by this point because of terrible pregnancy related hip pain. We visited the play ground constantly (still in love with baby swings). I made all the centerpieces for my sister Rosie’s wedding, which was at the end of the month and was a beautiful whirlwind. I headed out with the kids to my good friends ranch afterward for a few days to recuperate.

We sure didn’t have room for many “nothing weekends” in August. The kids loved the animals and the friends and the everything at our friends ranch. It helps there was also a parade with abundant candy that weekend. We also spent a awesome weekend at my sister Emma and her husband’s house and played with their only (so far) cousin, and even went to an arcade (which was awesome). Many many playground trips (the big decision was would we go to “our park” – across the street, the “new park” around the corner, or the “new new park” on the other side of the school across the street). Our swing set in the back yard was also used in abundance. We drove out to Drumheller to see the world class Dinosaur museum and my twin cousin who was camping there with her family (always a highlight to get to see them!) We happened upon the most epic play date at the library. I decided to cut apart my wedding dress to make a baptismal gown. And we hit up an amazing Berry Farm one weekend and took the kids on two trains and two busses to WingFest another weekend.

It starts getting cool in September, but thankfully this year didn’t have any huge snowfalls, so we kept trying to be outside a lot. I reorganized our master bedroom and got everything, everything ready for baby to arrive. I spent a lot of nights sewing (or teaching myself how to sew off you tube). We went for walks and little hikes and painted our back yard fence. We went for mall walks when it was too chilly to walk outside and  forgot our stroller and had to rent one of their awesome firetruck ones. Hugh kissed my belly lots. We went to the park lots. I had the best dessert ever (something to do with cookie butter…) the baptism gown started to come together. I started to get really pregnant and really complainy. The kids drank a lot of green smoothies with me and I successfully made crepes. My due date came and went.

October came and Tessa was born on Brian’s 29th birthday! I had a great, not to fast not to slow birth and kept my promise to myself to spend a full week in bed. Brian did AWESOME with the two big kids and keeping life running smoothly. Brian’s parents came to visit and we had a great week with them and getting to know our new daughter. My mom and my sister had birthdays. We had (Canadian) Thanksgiving and my parents rented a hot tub for a month so we spent a lot of time in their back yard. I finished the Baptism gown and Tessa was baptized in it. We went to a Cat.Chat concert. I started a batch of saint peg dolls. We wore a lot of costumes and went trick or treating (success!) and to a restaurant (fail!) on Halloween.

In November the snow came back. We sorta got the hang of this three kids thing (hah). I finished my peg saint dolls and used Halloween candy to fill the advent calendar. My mom got a Zoo membership and took us to see the baby giraffe. Tessa outgrew 3mo sized clothing. I frequented Tumble time at the community center to let the big kids RUN in a confined gym. (We miss parks!) I cut everyones hair and boupght myself a postpartum wardrobe. I blogged every day for a whole week. Clara and I did a lot of crafts and art projects. I made friends on Periscope.

We stayed inside a lot in December. Except for when we didn’t, like going to the WinterFest in Banff, and to the new all “natural” playground in my parents community. We said good bye to good friends who are moving to Vancouver and promised to visit them next year. We drove around looking at Christmas lights a lot. And we went to Edmonton to visit my sisters who live there and walked down Candy Cane Lane. We Advent-ed and decorated for Christmas and got Tessa’s stocking in the mail. I took all three kids to Costco. And Tessa and I went away for the weekend leaving Brian and the kids at home. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and no one got sick til 2016. And I got my set of saint peg dolls and need to make more! #makersgonnamake

What a year.

And most of those hyperlinks are to my Instagram photos… Don’t really know why I did that but… There ya go! Can’t wait to see what 2016 is full of!