Thursday, December 31, 2015

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!

As always and like most people I know, I like to take a look back at the year coming to a close.  As I sat here drinking my hot apple cider I am reminded of some things that happened over this year. I just wanted to take a few moments to look back and then a few to look forward.

January:
This month we started off a whole new year, our oldest turned 15 and the knowledge that she would be taking drivers training sometime in 2015 became known. This was a sad month for me as the days passed that would have been the 3rd and 1st birthdays for our little Kate and Quinn, I guess January will always be hard.

February:
This month was  a very quiet month for us, not a lot was going on, but we were preparing for something big in March.

March:
We looked forward to March and spring break because we knew that we were headed for Disney!!! We took the entire month getting ready and getting packed.  It was a wonderful trip, but my mama didn't get to go as planned, she was sick. We missed her, but we tried to have so much fun that she could feel it back home. It was during our trip that we celebrated what would have been the 4th birthday of our little August, being at Disney made me miss him even more.

Me and my girl Tink

April:
This month brought some good, my hubby and I took a quick trip to Biltmore House in Asheville NC to celebrate our anniversary and to see the Downton Abbey exhibit they had on display. It also brought some bad news, my mother was diagnosed with cancer.It was a hard thing to hear, but one that had to be accepted and took care of.


May:
This month we actually celebrated our 10th anniversary and the 9th birthday of our youngest. We had a Disney themed birthday party and I dressed as my favorite character, Tink. 


June:
This month was hot and spent at home.  I always use the month of June to purge my house. I go through each room and cleaned it top to bottom all while clearing away a years worth of clutter. We also had an art day camp here at home. We picked one artist, this year was Jackson Pollack. We studied his art and technique and then made one of our own. 
Caroline's Desert 

Grace's Chrome 

July:
We celebrated our nations birthday and took a staycation to Tweetsie Railroad and Blowing Rock.  It was nice to get away for the day and I made a new friend, Mr. Llama. He was a sad llama because I didn't have any food for him. We also spent time at the creek playing, where we saw two mermaids in the water. Grace also started/completed Drivers Ed and got her learners permit, now if I could just get her to drive.



August:
We took a day trip to The American Girl store in Charlotte and stopped by the Cheesecake Factory. We bought lots of cheescake slices, put them in a cooler and made our way back home. Our oldest Grace, also attended a banquet for Hematology/Oncology patients, to which she wore the pearls giving to me by my good friend, Mr. Charles Pike. He was like a grandpa to me and always told stories of his time in WWII. After all this summer fun, school started back and we returned to our normal schedule and I started homeschooling for the very first time.


September:
We took a Sunday school class trip to Carowinds and rode Fury 325, it was awesome. We also saw Dr. Ben Carson in person, it was the first time I had ever seen a presidential candidate before.

 

   

October:
This month we attended our local agricultural fair, a tradition for our family. We found out that our youngest won second place for her age group in Art.  She was very proud of herself. I also entered an exhibit in the photography section, I didn't win, but it was still fun to see my work on display. I enjoyed my favorite fair food, a Krispy Kreme burger and finally got a ride selfie with my husband. We enjoyed a short beach vacation and had perfect weather. On a more somber note, we attended the annual Heartstrings Walk and took the steps our three babies never will.  It was also during this month that I crossed three things off my bucket list: I went to Medieval Times, attended my very first Renaissance Festival and stopped to pick cotton on the side of the road. October was a very busy month!

                                      


                              

                                     



November:
This month brought about such sadness for us as we said goodbye to my Aunt Shirley. She was a wonderful woman who loved her family and loved Jesus.  She fought a long hard 2 year battle with cancer and then the Lord called her home. I am sad that she is not with us, but thankful to know she has been made whole.  This was the month that we took our first homeschool field trip. We went to Reynolda House Museum of American Art. They had an Impressionism exhibit called "The Artist's Garden" and we were learning about impressionism.




December:
And now here we are at the end of the year. We have lived thorugh many family get togethers, lots of calories consumed and Christmas. We also enjoyed a marathon of Star Wars movies to prepare for Episode 7. I can hardly wait to see it.


                           

                                


This year was like all the others, a roller coaster of up and downs, good and bad, joy and sorrow.  As I think about it all years are like that.  I am looking forward to 2016, I have no idea what it will hold and to be honest, it kind of freaks me out not knowing what might be ahead. I just have to remind myself that even though I don't know what tomorrow holds, I know who holds tomorrow and I need to put it all into the Lords hands.



Happy New Year!!!



"That's my 'two-cents worth', what's yours?"






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