2018 in Review

I think this is going to be my thing until I get back into blogging regularly. I have lots of pictures to share and no time to share them, but the kids are playing peacefully upstairs, so I am going to cram an entire year of posts into one.

In my last year in review, I ended with our trip to Pennsylvania, so that is also how our 2018 started. Have you ever heard the saying that what you do on New Year's Day is what you will do with the rest of your year? Well, because of that silly saying, I was determined to make it something exciting, and I think spending the day at the Smithsonian was a perfect way to spend the holiday. We hope to make it back to D.C. in the spring and see more of the Smithsonian museums.

I have no pics from January. When we got back home from our trip, we hit the ground running because we had closed on our house while we were away and had to start packing up and moving our things. We spent the next couple of months getting settled into our new place and our new, longer commute to work/school.

Since March was Womyn's Herstory month ;) I got really into taking pictures of Paloma dressed as awesome women like Frida Kahlo and Audrey Hepburn. Maybe I will do that again this year. At the end of the month we stopped at UW to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom. Maybe this year we will go back with a charged camera battery. So many maybes...

In April, we celebrated Easter at home with friends. We also made a little weekend trip up to Skagit Valley for the Tulip Festival. The weather was awful, but the flowers were lovely with lots of cute little places to shop and eat in the surrounding towns, too. We stayed in a cabin at Deception Pass, and then went for a lovely walk the next day. We need to do more of that in 2019!!

In May, we did some more exploring in Seattle and visited Greenlake and the surrounding areas. It was around this time that I started considering a change -- I was a little over a year into my job teaching Montessori at the primary level. I was giving so much of myself to other people's preschoolers during the day that I had hardly anything left to give to my own preschoolers once we got home. Something had to give.

At the end of June and into July, my sister and mom came out with my nephews, and their visit was the highlight of our entire summer. I just love and miss them so much. We did lots of exploring all over Seattle and then celebrated the 4th of July at our neighbor's parents' home.

I have nothing to report from August because August was not much fun for us as a family. I made a big change and took a new job teaching Upper Elementary at a Montessori school. I wrapped up my old job at the end of July and spent all of August training for my new job and prepping for the new school year. Despite the excitement of a new job, the changes were really stressful for our whole family and the only silver lining was that my mom came out to take care of the kids (and me) during prep week. We get so spoiled when she's here.

In September, we did our best to do fun, family activities on the weekends, so we went to the Evergreen State Fair, and I can't wait to go back again this year. The kids loved seeing all the animals, and I loved the International Lumberjack Show!!

We celebrated Paloma's 3rd birthday in October with a big party at our house. It was our first party in our new home, and it was great. The weather was perfect, and everyone enjoyed running around our big back yard. We also went to a fun pumpkin patch and took the kids trick-or-treating for the first time ever. Other than picking up a baby bearded dragon for Hunter's early birthday present, November was pretty quiet. We did, however, enjoy a lovely Thanksgiving at our friends' home in Seattle.

In December, we tried to continue as many of our holiday traditions as possible. In previous years, we've done a LEGO and Playmobil Advent calendar and another time we wrapped up 25 Christmas books from the library. This year, I bought a lovely reusable calendar that we can fill with small treats. This year we filled the pockets with stickers. I love all the possibilities (tattoos, tiny ornaments, crafting supplies, riddles and jokes, etc.). The kids also built a gingerbread house, decorated the tree, created scenes with their old LEGO and Playmobil calendars, and each picked out a new ornament at the store. We also strung lights on the house and went to see a light show at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. Finally, we went to Montana for the weekend to celebrate winter solstice with our friends there and visit with Isaiah's dad. (I will do a separate post on that visit someday soon. Maybe.) We came back to a quiet Christmas at home and Christmas lunch at our friends' home in Woodinville.

The year was full of difficult change but also new experiences and lots and lots of hope. Here's to a beautiful 2019 filled with family, friends, lots of outside time, and more new experiences!