Monday, December 31, 2018

A Glance Back…2018

Since it has been so long since I have consistently blogged, I thought I'd give you a glance back at our 2018. 

January:

January came and found us all busy, busy, busy. I began a new job in June 2017 and while it is only 3/4 time so I am able to get my boys from school each afternoon, I rush off in the mornings and have a busy morning each day. In January, James was a 2nd grader and Will was a kindergartener. Both had good years at school, but we had begun noticing some things about Will right before Christmas that were very concerning to us. Long story short (and to keep things semi-private on here), we got him to the right person and she helped us TREMENDOUSLY later in the year…but kindergarten was tough. James had an ok 2nd grade year, but it just wasn't the same as kindergarten and 1st. School was overwhelming for us in 2018!

We got a puppy for Christmas in 2017! His name is Hank and he is the loudest, chattiest beagle you've ever met. He is a VERY cute, sweet puppy...but he does have lots of puppy energy! (I think we have finally outgrown the chewing on the boys stage of life and they are thankful!)

We had a snow day in January...so WEIRD! We never have snow days here. We had very little actual snow, though!




For Martin Luther King weekend, we headed down to Disney World. In 2017 we purchased Annual Passes and we took several opportunities throughout the year to go. Our passes ended in February of this year so this was one of our last trips. It was also one of our VERY best!



February:

The boys cashed in one of their Christmas gifts from us and we went to see The Lion King off-broadway in Jacksonville. We loved it! The New York production is leaps and bounds more amazing, but this one is still one of my very favorite shows. The animals walking in get me every time! The costumes are incredible!





We headed back to Disney for ONE LAST TRIP for Will's birthday weekend February 9-11. This trip, we enjoyed the dinner show at Polynesian. It was great, but Hoop Dee Doo Revue remains our number 1! 



Will turned SIX on February 13th and celebrated with a few friends at Barberitos and the bowling alley. He had a Jurassic Park cake that was just beautiful! He asked for money to buy himself a geo dome (that he literally NEVER plays on) and we went with Papa and YaYa to the Air Force Museum in Warner Robins.



March:

Mom and I attended St. Simons Island's Tour of Homes on St. Patrick's Day this year and got to see the girl with the best imagination. Merritt is never just Merritt…she's also sometimes James or "William," a princess, Hermione Grainger…you never know. She spilled the beans to us on this trip about her baby brother's TOP SECRET name.

Eddie went for a walk mid-March with our puppy, Hank, and he came home with a KITTEN. This tiny, wet gray kitten followed him home late one night. We put her on our porch and posted on our neighborhood page that we'd found her in case someone was missing one…but no one ever claimed her. Almost a year later, Sassy is still residing on our back porch. (If only we'd known how easy kittens were, we probably wouldn't have HANK! Kidding…sort of.)

For Eddie's birthday, we bought him tickets to a UGA baseball game. The boys LOVED IT. We really, really enjoyed the college baseball game atmosphere and think we will try a Florida State game in the spring.

I had Lasik surgery done at the end of March and while I had some side effects that made me sort of cranky for a few weeks, it was a GREAT benefit and I've enjoyed having had it done!

On March 31st, we welcomed another nephew into our family, Merritt's brother, Shepherd! He is the SWEETEST little thing and we all love him so much!




April:

Both boys played spring baseball through the rec department. We LOVED playing with some of our favorite friends this year. Eddie coached with one of my co-workers and they had a great little team and a great time playing. (So much that they started a semi-travel ball team for the fall and loved playing that together as well!)








We drove to Perry one afternoon to see Perry High School's production of Junie B. Jones. As usual, it was a FUN production and the boys LOVED it.





May:

Both boys participated in our church's spring children's musical and had a great time!



I ended my first year as preschool director at our preschool and, because I'm apparently I'm a glutton for punishment, we headed out of town two days later.




We decided to take a little excursion this summer to go to Washington, D.C. It was an AMAZING trip. The highlights: National Archives, Pi Pizza, Ford's Theatre, Museum of Natural History, Air and Space Museum, Old Ebbitt Grill, Capitol tour, and Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The boys were CHAMPION walkers and never complained about all the walking we did…and we walked EVERYWHERE. The moments we had a hard time were when we had to stand in line for something. We aren't doing another city trip this year, but they've proven they can travel and we are so thrilled with that!



James played a TON of tennis in the spring and summer this year and Memorial Day week kicked off the summer sessions for him.







June:

On June 1st we headed to Atlanta to Suntrust Stadium for our second Braves game in the new park. This game started what became an OBSESSION over the summer with Braves baseball. We ate, drank, and slept Braves baseball (and just baseball in general). James was IN LOVE so the rest of us had to get on board, too. All four of us could pretty much tell you the entire Braves line-up (almost exactly) for each game. It was a fun obsession.









In June, the boys and I hit the road to "Cacky's Beach" and spent 14 days living it up as beach bums. It was touch-and-go sometimes, and 14 days was PLENTY with two active, rowdy boys, but we had a great time!




Eddie's Youth Director began as our new church pastor in June and his daughter started working as our babysitter. We have LOVED having them in town with us. Eddie has enjoyed reconnecting with him and he has been a great boss at my job. We are so thrilled to have them here!

Eddie and I celebrated 10 years of marriage in July (what?!), so we took a little trip BY OURSELVES to Jamaica in June and had the. most. amazing. time. Wow. We didn't want to come home. Fly our kids down and we will stay forever! Our room was incredible. The food was incredible. The hospitality was unmatched. I will tell you all about Sandals Royal Caribbean sometime soon. Unmatched, friends. (If you need to celebrate sans kiddos, Sandals has been awesome for us twice now!)










July:

We went roller skating for the first time ever and the boys LOVED it! Will was a little nervous, but wound up being a great skater!




The boys headed back to Lake Oconee with Dad and Laura for a night without us. Will started that trip sick (because Dad and Laura are CURSED and our children ALWAYS get sick when they're supposed to go with them), but he rallied and they wound up having a fun time. Eddie and I joined them later and they showed off water skiing…which meant Eddie and I both had to show them that WE could water ski, too!




The boys started a "Boys Book Club" over the summer and we've met three times so far and each time has been so fun! Over the summer, we read The One and Only Ivan. (We loved it!)




Because our county has recently re-zoned their school system, we were having to move to a new elementary school this year. We spent one evening touring our new school and meeting our new principal. Although the year started our rocky, we have had NOTHING but the best experience so far. First and third grades have been AMAZING.


August:

Shepherd was baptized at his church in Saint Simons and we went over on Saturday night to enjoy some extra time there!





School started back for the boys on August 13th. James' teacher is a few years younger than me and she has been THE BEST. She makes school a lot of fun for his class, but also quickly knows how to rein them back in when they are getting out of hand. He has a crew with him that has been together for a WHILE (his friends pretty much all re-zoned with us) and so they have a tendency to be sort of rowdy. Will knew NOT ONE SOUL in his class, but his teacher has been teaching for 17 years and he needed someone who could help him this year. We wound up not being able to move him to be with his friends in a higher class and it has been the biggest surprise blessing for us. The kid is suddenly knocking school OUT OF THE PARK. We are so proud.



September:

We went to ANOTHER Braves game over Labor Day weekend and had such a fun time!






James and Eddie went to Saint Simons Island for KidzQuest - James' first church retreat. They had a fun weekend! Will and I stayed home and enjoyed a date night in Valdosta as well as decorating for Halloween - Will's favorite!

Baseball started back up for us. We were a Bad News Bears-ish team to begin with, but wound up winning tournaments TWICE. We were so proud of their hard work and determination!




(We showed up on our first game with no jerseys. They hadn't come in. Y'all. They all played in what they had and we looked like a MESS. LOL!)





October:

October was a BLUR for us. Usually, my favorite month of the year…this year it brought both a stomach virus and a hurricane in the same week! It put us way behind doing all of our fall/Halloween traditions.

James' birthday landed in the middle of Fall Break this year so we toyed with going out of town to celebrate. We wound up just staying put and heading to the Okefenokee Swamp one day with some friends and we are SO GLAD that we did! It was so much fun! We can't wait to go back!









We take Halloween VERY seriously around here. Last NOVEMBER, the boys decided they were going to be Doc and Marty McFly from Back to the Future for Halloween. I think they nailed it. It was so fun!








November:

November was mostly a blur, too. Between school and other obligations, it just flew by! Eddie and I went with some friends to Jacksonville for a weekend of seeing Ron White and Christmas shopping. We spent Thanksgiving at home this year and it was nice to be able to stay put. Other fun in November...James fell in the shower and broke one of his front teeth. That resulted in a trip to the dentist to have it repaired the week of Thanksgiving. We also spent an afternoon at the farm shooting. I surprised everyone with my Annie Oakley skills.







December:

This month came in FAST AND FURIOUS. Much like Halloween, I felt like we missed out on a lot of our Christmas traditions, which made me a little sad and cranky. The boys are growing up SO FAST and along with that we have lots of obligations that just take place over the fun that we are used to having. Will started basketball this month and has THOROUGHLY loved it. It's nice for him to be able to play instead of having to be a little brother spectator. I think he's enjoyed that. Eddie and I went to Chateau Elan for his office Christmas party and annual weekend to ourselves. We enjoyed that, even though it was COLD AND RAINY the whole time. We also headed to Atlanta to tour Suntrust Park with Dad and Laura. AND then we had Christmas and more Christmas. This has been my favorite Christmas to date. The boys got new bikes from Grandmama and Granddaddy and we have put miles up miles on those. The other hits have been new iPads and roller blades from Santa and a big box of baseball cards from us.



























2019 is bringing some FUN changes for us that I can't wait to share! I'm hoping for a healthy, fun year for all of us and for you as well!

Cheers to a new year!




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