Year in Review 2015

 Year in Reviews are some of my very favorite blog posts to write!  I love reflecting upon the previous year and all of its highlights as we prep ourselves to ring in the new one.  This year, I'm taking the same approach as last year.  I'm posting one photo to summarize each month of 2015.  Enjoy!


January
When we rang in 2015, we had no idea that our house would be on the market and we'd put an offer on a new one just a few short weeks later.  We literally went from casually looking to finding a new house to putting ours on the market to signing offers on both in under three weeks!  Although a new house was what I wanted, I cried and cried over leaving {the memories of} our old one.  I also turned 32...but that was nothing compared to the roller coaster that was buying and selling a house.  2015 definitely started off with a bang!


February
We spent basically every weekend in February packing our old house....that and visiting the new one!  Since we had the code to the key box, we made an appearance at least once per weekend!  Because of our busy month, I have basically no photos from February.  Just Holden's monthly photo and this Valentine's-themed photo of the boys.

 
March
Official closing date - March 2.  A Monday.  What on earth were we thinking closing on a Monday?!  There were a few stressful moments when the buyers of our old house, who were out of town for the weekend, got stuck on the east coast and weren't sure they'd make it back to close.  Luckily they made it--a few hours later than normal--but it all worked out.  We stuck around home for my Spring Break (in lieu of our previously planned vacay to Arizona) to unpack and try to make our house into a home!

April
We celebrated a special someone's first birthday in April - the first of many parties in our new house!


 May
Craig and I enjoyed a day date and segway tour in the Plaza/Westport area.  He enjoyed the KC history and I was just happy to stay on my segway!

 
June
The start of an amazing summer with my boys.  Here we are picking blueberries - one of many, many summer activities we partook in.
 

July
So hard to pick a photo to describe our July.  Brantley turned 3, Craig and I celebrated five years of marriage, and we made the annual trip to the Lake of the Ozarks.

 
August
We added a patio to our backyard and spent more time out there in a few weeks time than we had since moving in!
 

September 
This was a big month in our house as it included our very first "first day" of school!  Brantley started 3-year old preschool and has loved every day of it since!


October
 Every holiday is more fun than the last and Halloween this year with Olaf and a penguin did not disappoint!


November
Four words - Royals. World. Champion. Celebration.  800,000 Royal's fan in one place to celebrate a World Series win = a day I'll not soon forget!


December
 Christmas with these cuties!


And finally, the "letter" I included with our Christmas cards this year.

Happy New Years, friends, family, and blog followers!

Christmas in Kansas

Because I take far too many photos, I'm going to have to split the Christmas recap into multiple posts.  First up, our own little celebration at home!  

For the second year in a row, we have celebrated our "pseudo Christmas Day" on the 23rd.  I'm very adamant about Santa delivering gifts to our house (and not Grandma's) and I insist of having our own immediate celebration here.  Though I don't know this will always work (like when our kids are older and know very well Santa doesn't come on the 22nd), it's what works for now.


Santa delivered his goodies on the 22nd after the boys were in bed.  I'm pretty sure I was more excited than anyone!  I even strategically left my camera at the top of the stairs so I was more than ready the next morning.











Let's just say their reactions to the $300 gift were pretty dismal.  In typical threenager fashion, Brantley exclaimed, "Not fair!  I didn't get a dump truck puzzle!"  Even better--Craig got it on video!  If you can get past the sneezing kid and sideways orientation, it's pretty funny.


Next up, the stockings.  Brantley was pretty stoked about his barrel of monkeys.








And finally, the four gifts from Craig and I.






Brantley loved the electric Frozen toothbrush.  Perhaps we should have stuck a few Olaf decals on the truck?


And Holden's favorite was his bicycle helmet.  I suppose that's good because it may come in handy as a passenger in the new truck.


He proceeded to open the rest of his gifts with this on his head.  Gift opening can be dangerous, you know.


And last, but definitely not least.


What could it be, you ask?


The infamous dump truck puzzle!  All of $12 and he freakin' loved it.  He may have even muttered the words, "This makes me so happy!" #iwishiwaskidding



The boys finally got excited about the new truck once they gave it a test drive in the kitchen.


And because it was unseasonable warm for December 23rd, we took it outside to enjoy for 30 minutes.






Xix days later and the ground is covered in a layer of snow.  I can't wait for warmer days and trips around the neighborhood in this thing!  Word on the street is that three other neighbor families also received similar Powerwheels.  (And three already have them so a neighborhood parade seems to be in order!)

Of course, they couldn't pass up testing out the rest of their new outdoor toys, as well.

 

With a 1- and 3-year old, I'd say this was my favorite Christmas to date!  But it doesn't even scratch the surface.  Later that day, we took off for Iowa to celebrate three more times.  Stay tuned for those recaps!