Oh, what a year!

What a year 2011 has been. We left job lay offs, housing woes, etc etc in 2010 and enjoyed a much more joy filled 2011. Peaks and valleys still existed but the peaks were more prominent for sure. A trip down memory lane....

January

Declan, our reckless child, finally earns his first stitches.

February

Lots of snow, lots of bowling.

 March

Mark and I travel to Omaha to do classes for homestudy #2, Declan gives up paci (not by choice), house goes on the market.

 April

Celebrated Easter with both sides of our family. I got my nose pierced to commemorate 50 lbs of weight lost.

 May

Happily welcomed warmer temps, the start of many zoo trips and we celebrated our 8th Anniversary!

 June

Started going to the pool 3+ times a week, transitioned Declan to his big boy bed, took in local outdoor concerts, and went to several baseball games. We also had a fun family Adoption Day party! Lastly, our homestudy is finally approved and we become an active waiting family at our agency.

 July

VEGAS!!!! We really enjoyed time away in Vegas. This pic was right after we saw Garth Brooks live. It was definitely a top memory of 2011.

 August

 Declan turned 3 and we celebrated with a Mickey party. We also pulled our house off the market, rented it out and moved next door. Our new home has more space and a huge yard and we took full advantage by playing outside until sundown every chance we got.

 September

Such a busy month, hard to pick one picture! Declan started soccer, I turned 30, annual Mahoney trip, a new nephew born, loads of birthdays. Such fun!!

 October

I completed my first 5k...a huge accomplishment. We also enjoyed a trip to the pumpkin patch and taking our little fireman around trick or treating.

 November

We celebrated Mark's birthday and Thanksgiving with family.

 December

Celebrated Christmas through the eyes of an enthusiastic 3 year old. Enjoyed lots of extra family time. Spent lots of time outside because it was around 50 all month (a huge rarity in Nebraska).

 Here's to a fabulous year! We thank God for blessing our family and our prayer for 2012 is to become a family of FOUR. 

Happy New Year!!