2014: A Year in Review

I've been saying this for several months now, but after the emotional roller coaster that was 2013, 2014 has proven to be one of the best (probably THE best) years of my life.

January brought the beginnings of our basement remodel. I CANNOT wait to show you the finished product! We just have a few more touch-ups to do here and there, and I haven't gotten around to taking photos due to sheer and utter laziness, but I promise to get them up in 2015!

A little reminder of the before:

I am IN LOVE with this basement and even more in love with Jon for making such a cozy and happy place for our family- and for alllll of the toys to be in one place, out of sight ;-)

In February, I did a little photo shoot with some of my girlfriends. What a blast! I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store for us, but I know there will be weddings, wine, and widdle babies to name a few.

March was spent avoiding time outside and seeing the movie 'Frozen' for the first of over 500 times this year. Okay, maybe not 500, but pretty damn close, especially if you count listening to the soundtrack in that total. The Polar Vortex of 2014 was fierce and had us seriously contemplating moving outside of Ohio, but thankfully the spring DID actually come, so we've decided to stay put for now. Ask me again in February when it's -11 though.

In April I got very deep and insightful with you all. See here and here.

And then came May. Oh May. May 2014 - you rocked my socks.

First we celebrated my 30th birthday with a Derby 30 birthday party. It was a total BLAST and I also learned that I tell people I love them alot when I drink wine.

I shared our proposal story (and shed quite a few tears writing it).

We celebrated Anna's 1st birthday with a sunshine-themed birthday party.

We also celebrated 5 wonderful years of marriage and Jon's MBA graduation with a trip to Northern California.

Let me tell you something right here and now. If you asked me today "If you could go anywhere on vacation every year for the rest of your life, where would you go?" I would say Napa Valley, without a doubt.

We had the most amazing time. Napa was everything that I love in this world (outside of my children of course). Amazing wine. Amazing food. Beautiful scenery. Clean, unspoiled air. Fantastic photograph potential. I felt like I was in Heaven that week, and I can't wait to go back!

See my recaps here 

Here

Here

Here

and here.

Ahhhhh, somebody PLEASE take me back. Please. Pretty please?

As if summer wasn't perfect enough already, I got to return to California in June to attend a conference, and three of my best girlfriends tagged along and the result was the most fun trip that has ever been! (without my husband and children). It could not have been more perfect, and I will forever cherish the memories made with these girls.

In July, I watched the fireworks for the first time since moving to Columbus (whhhattt?!) and enjoyed lots of family time out in the sun, including an awesome and stress-free trip to the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium.

It's cool Jon, don't look at the camera.

In August, I reflected on time spent with my children, and how time is a completely different concept to me now.

August also took us on an impromptu road trip to Disney World. Read here for my sage advice on not taking your toddlers to Disney World in August. We had a blast though and I can't wait to go back and spend more time there.

From Orlando, when then spent a week in South Carolina. As stated above, any time spent with my family is the best time ever, and this trip was no exception. 

At the end of August, we surprised my in-laws with a 40th Anniversary Party on Kelley's Island. We had such a good time! Just wait till you see what we have in store for their 50th ;-)

In September, I reflected on the one-year anniversary of Anna's scary ordeal. My God, this child is an absolute miracle, and even today I tear up when I look at her and see how far she's come. She is braver than I will ever be.

This girl is now walking everywhere, talking up a storm (she says SO many words!) and is defying every odd put in front of her. Just a reminder of the gift I was given by being her mother.

In October, we drove to Washington DC to do a little sightseeing and watch my incredible husband run the Marine Corps marathon. He. is. a. stud.

Did I mention that he trained for this marathon while going to school, working full-time, renovating our basement, AND being a loving, doting, and hands-on father? Yep. I know I'm the luckiest. That's a fact. 

We also got to celebrate our first coherent Halloween. Meaning, Emerson is old enough to really "get it" and Anna wasn't in the hospital like she was this time last year. 

The girls went as Anna and Elsa, naturally, but swapped costumes because Emerson likes the Anna costume better and (our) Anna didn't really care. They had so much fun, and though I thought Halloween was overrated until now, I have to say that these holidays are WAY more fun as a mom! I love watching their unspoiled joy and excitement over the littlest things.

In November, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house, and though I love some good food and wine, I could not be more thankful for my family.They make every day better.

We also picked out our Christmas tree and decorated the house because, Christmas!




Lastly, December was chock full of fun! 

We went to the Snowflake Castle. SO MUCH FUN! The girls look indifferent, but I swear they loved it. They're a little skeptical of Santa though. Who wouldn't be? If you asked me to sit on a strange man's lap to get presents, I'd meet that request with an appropriate amount of apprehension and terror.

Then we had Emerson's 3rd birthday party, the Non-Pinterest-Worthy Tangled Party, and it was so special. I can't believe she's 3!

 The next day, I hosted our (5th?) annual Friendsgiving. See above. I love these girls like WHOA!

We spent Christmas day at my in-laws, and they spoiled us and the girls rotten.

If you learned nothing from this incredibly long blog post, you will have learned that as long as my family is involved, I am the happiest I could be.

My entire heart belongs to these people.

So there we have it. The best year of my life, in pictures and clipped sentences. I can't put into words how grateful and happy I am that we had a healthy, happy, exciting, adventurous, crazy and beautiful year.

2015, you have A LOT to live up to. Let's see what you've got! ;-)

Two Weekend Recaps in One!

Well, hi there. 

The past few weekends have been a little crazy, but lucky for you, I managed to take a few pictures so I can share a little bit of the fun (with the three of you who read this blog).

Last weekend we celebrated Emerson's 2nd birthday with an "Oh Two-dles" party. Toodles is a character on her favorite show, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (aka toddler crack). The party was very low-key, but when my kids are little, and really for just anything in life, I've just gotta have a theme. So that's what we came up with.

Then, we corresponded all of Emerson's favorite foods with characters from the show.

Goofy's Greens. Daisy's Dip.

Clarabelle's Cheese and Crackers

The pièce de résistance, Hot Diggity Dogs

  

Minnie's Bow-Tie Pasta. Pete's Pizza. Pluto's Puppy Chow.

Excessive amount of presents for a 2-year old and a Toodles cake.

Everybody laughing at something Emerson said.

So, do you remember last year when she hated her birthday cake?

 Well, this year, instead of crying, she just politely declined.

"No mommy, I no like that. That cake is yucky."

^^ What? Is this even my child?

Wearing her new birthday jammies after a long day of partying!

And switching gears, this past weekend, Jon and I took a whirlwind trip to Chicago to celebrate his birthday. My first overnight trip away from Anna and it was SO hard but truly had an amazing time.

Our hotel, Hotel Sofitel, was amazing. Probably one of the nicest hotels and best hotel experiences I've ever had.

The hotel, and the whole city for that matter, was decorated for Christmas, and it just added to the magic of the weekend.

It was also our first time going out for sushi together since 2010. We get take-out alot, but we haven't had a sit-down sushi dinner alone in 3 years. That is just unacceptable.

On Saturday, we started the day off right with brunch (who doesn't love brunch???) at the Sunnyside Up Cafe. As soon as I saw the word "Cronut" I knew it had to be mine. It was over so quickly I thought it might have been a dream, but this picture proves that culinary works of art really do exist. Just like Santa.

Anna's first time FaceTime-ing with mom and dad and she thought it was a hoot!

On Saturday night, Jon's friends scored us tickets to the Cavs/Bulls game. The seats were awesome. The Cavs performance? Not so much. Such is the life of a Cleveland sports fan.

Even though we spent less than 48 hours in Chicago, and it was definitely one of the best trips we've ever taken, we were so ready to get back to these two. I am honestly not sure how I'm going to survive a 6- day trip to California without them. Do they charge extra to bring toddlers as carry-on luggage?