I pulled this up tonight, mainly to reminisce, and realized it has been exactly a year since our last post. It is cliche, but it really is hard to believe the speed at which life accelerates sometimes. It doesn't seem like that long ago our biggest engagements were kids' birthday parties and the occasional sporting event, and now there are weeks when it feels out of our control.
In addition to our kids becoming more active and engaged in the world around them, we have been getting to know many of our fellow parents at St. E's, which means our social life has finally risen from the basement of the last few years as well. We've gotten to know many very good people in the last year and are better for it.
Trying to accurately think back to all we've done this year is impossible - the main reason we started this in the first place was to document the early years so our kids would have something to look back on, as it occurred. But we can at least recap a bit.
During the year, our kids learned to ski and camp in Colorado, play basketball, soccer, baseball and swim in Missouri. Noah learned to read like crazy, and Elliot finally learned how to ride his bike like the big boys. They both learned to pray, and Noah wore a tie for the first time in his life.
We joined Cub Scouts (technically Noah, but really our entire family) as well as a bowling league, and Mandy started classes to learn what being a Catholic was all about. We added a family member (Mo), rebuilt our backyard, survived survival school as well as a couple of car accidents. We got robbed, spent many days at the pool, along with many mornings making pancakes. We went to Houston for a second opinion, to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion and many places in between.
It has been a year, in many ways, just like those before it - a lot of unexpected events, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of work and a lot of reward. But above all, we are really grateful for the life we have, and the people we have in it.
