Holy cow, how did it get to be December already?! And the 31st at that! I know everybody always says time goes so fast, but seriously this year was a mad dash from start to finish! I've seen so many people on social media saying FU to 2016. It was such a horrible year for so many people. And ALL, I mean ALL, the celebrity deaths this year were unbelievable, especially in the past week. However, 2014 is still at the top of the list as being the crappiest year for my family. (Right up there with 2008 when my husband was extremely sick and almost died, but that illness extended from 2008-2010. But my son Joshua was born in 2008, so that year wasn't all bad! Joshua is an amazing kid and I just love him so much, so 2014 is still worse than 2008 for me!) Don't get me wrong, we did have to deal with some bad crap in 2016 over here, but we had some good things happen to us, too.
January: My oldest son got into the high school he wanted to, it's a really great school that has a competitive application process and it has an amazing reputation as a college prep high school and helps kids get into good colleges. He took the entrance exam and rocked it. I mean rocked it! I was so proud of him! The school is in the city we used to live in before we moved up to Northern AZ 11 years ago. My youngest son turned 8. 8 is great! ;) And last but not least, my baby nephew was born! He is so darling! I'm finally an aunt, and I couldn't be happier!
February: Had a fun Valentine's Day weekend get away with the hubby. The kids had a snow day...in northern AZ! ;)
March: My middle son turned 11 !! Spring break trip to Phoenix/ Scottsdale. My boys had shadow/interview days at prospective new schools in our new town we were moving to (back to). They got into all the ones they liked ( and still to this day are on the waiting list for another school that Dave and I liked, but they were not crazy about! Lol it's a free charter school and admission is by lottery and so they have low turn-over because it's a good, free school that has a good reputation for getting the students into the highly sought-after private high schools in town.)
April: Met my new (and only!) nephew finally for the 1st time! We took a fun trip to San Diego to spend time with them and went to Disneyland and spent my friend Tracy's birthday with her! I went to my annual medical conference and got to see old classmates and colleagues.
May: End of the school year! Grades 9, 6 and 3 are over with for my sons! They all did amazing-- they had great academic years. Zack went on an end of the school year trip to Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm. We celebrated Dave's birthday. We also put in an offer on a house in the new city we were planning to move to (move back to!) and it was accepted of all days~ on Mother's Day.
June: My oldest son got invited to do this summer honors program at his new high school.....so he took Honor's Biology. He got an A. :) Holy cow it was hard! So challenging. But that's why we wanted him to go to this school. To get an amazing education and be challenged. (The school also has highly competitive sports programs and a strong religious backbone.) The trifecta/ Triple Crown of schools, if you ask me. He didn't know a single person on his 1st day and he met so many nice, really good kids. He also did the summer freshman baseball program. We moved to our new city and our new house this month.
July: Holy cow I think it was the hottest summer since I moved to AZ in 1986! However, the kids had fun swimming in our first ever pool!! It even has a diving board! We also took a trip to CA and enjoyed the cool air and beaches in Santa Barbara. We went to Magic Mountain and the temperature was only 104* !! Yikes! The kids didn't mind. The kids also did a baseball camp in our old city and one in our new city. It was a fun summer hanging out with friends.
August: A new school year began! Here's to 2016-2017! My kids started at their new schools and are doing well and made nice, new friends. The boys all made a travel baseball team too. We had a stay-cation at a local resort with some friends who were visiting. Z went to his 1st (and 2nd!) high school dance! I went out with a bunch of new mom friends and had fun. Celebrated my mom's birthday with her... lunch and massages! We sold our house!
September: My baby girl turned 4! She started swimming lessons and gymnastics. Dave got to go out of town on a golf trip with some friends. We went to the 1st high school football game with Z and some friends. We won! My mom and I took my daughter to the American Girl store and had lunch in the bistro with her for her birthday!
October: Cami had her 4th birthday party with her new friends from her new preschool at the train park. It was so fun! Also, D's brother came to the party! And Tracy and her family were in town and joined us too and we went to PF Chang's for dinner with them which was a really nice time. D and I celebrated our anniversary with a trip to Vegas to see Absin.the and Bl.ue Man Gr.oup. Fun weekend and the food was delicious and also made a trip to Canyon Ranch Spa!
Cami started at a new dance studio and loves it! WHEW! We both loved her dance studio and teacher in our old town, and miss it quite a bit. Thankfully this new studio is good and we love her new teacher. And this year Cami is learning tap....she is so cute in those tap shoes!
Halloween! How can we forget Halloween! All 4 kids got invited to parties/trick-or-treating with new friends they met this year at their new schools! And the weather was perfect for trick-or-treating! No jackets (or gloves or scarves, for that matter!) required this year! ;)
November: Had our 1st Thanksgiving in the new house. My parents and brother and his family came to dinner. We had a great day! Zack had a great fall freshman baseball season with the school team. He was also playing with his travel team. Busy, busy! The family did some volunteering/ Service hours over Thanksgiving break. Jacob started playing on his middle school basketball team. The weather finally cooled down and dropped below 100*! That is note-worthy! I've never been so happy to see my UGG boots! HA! I got to celebrate a dear friend J's birthday with her at a local resort. Lunch and the spa (see a theme here?!) ;) I got to meet an adoption friend and her family IRL finally after being FB friends for 6 years! We had such a fun day with them at the trampoline park and the kids got along so well....fast friends!
December: The 3 younger kids performed in their school Advent programs (It's a Catholic School) and did so well! So cute to watch! Zack made it through his first set of high school final exams. Wish him luck! Joshua is playing on a basketball team with the local YM.CA. We celebrated our first Christmas in our new house with my parents. Andddd.....I celebrated my 29th birthday (I've lost track of how many times I've celebrated my 29th birthday! HA!) and D and I had a weekend stay-cation at our favorite hotel and ate at our favorite restaurants and watched the Phx Su.ns beat the Tor.onto Rap.tors which was a Christ.mas miracle! Great game! And a birthday trip to the spa rounded out my birthday celebration.
So now it's the last day of 2016, Y'all! What a year it's been! And that was only the highlights! Some relationships were mended with family members. Eyes were opened to realize that some other relationships were not worth mending. We made new friends in our new town. I got to see old friends here. We all enjoyed good health. We counted our blessings. D got a wild hair and bought a mini van! ;) Yes he bought one! We bought one in 2005 and I traded it in a few years ago..... I thought we were past that phase! No soccer mom here at my house. My kids don't play soccer anymore. Lol! Just kidding- those mini vans are great. We are looking ahead to 2017 and making goals (serious goals). Hoping to make it back to Maui this summer. Realizing my 1st born will be out of high school in 3.5 years already. Need to pack in a lot of fun stuff and memories in the years to come. Cami is going to be blessed with another baby sister....in the next couple weeks! Yes her birth mom is pregnant again and is due with another baby girl in 2 weeks. She asked Cami and I to help pick out the middle name for the new baby. (Awe! So sweet!) So Cami and I came up with several names to choose from, and she picked one of them! Of course Cami put her own name on the list and the names of some of her preschool friends on the list! lol that girl!) ;)
I can't wait to see pictures of the new baby. I'm sure she will be beautiful...her birth mom only makes beautiful kids. For reals! Our open adoption with her birthmother is going well. I've become closer to her paternal birth-grandma too and the foster mom (kinship) of her oldest sister so the kids can stay in touch. It really is a work in progress....forever evolving, I'm sure. After watching my friend search for her birth family using an.cestry, I'm glad I stuck it out with the open adoption when things were rocky. This way we will always have an open path connecting my daughter to her birth family. It is natural to want to know where you came from and know your roots. I want my daughter to have easy access to her history. I also want her to know she is loved so, so much by her birth family.
To wrap up the resolutions for the new year..... there's always that resolution to get back to the darn gym. Hee hee! Since the clock is ticking and there are only about 8.5 hours in my time zone left before the clock strikes 12, the window of time for me to stuff my face with junk food is dwindling! I better go and enjoy the last day of guilt-free snacking.
Cheers to everyone and I hope 2017 is a magnificent year for everyone filled with an abundance of blessings.
I hope that 2017 is a good year for all of us!
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