I dread even starting this review of my year. January was such a difficult month for me and practically my entire family. So here we go!
January 2015:
Well let's just start with new not so good stuff.
My grandma died. January 18th. Even though our entire family knew this was a long time coming it was and still is painful for a lot of family. And that's about all I am going to talk about it because it still sucks.
Otherwise January was a pretty slow month for us.
Emma continued with her horse riding lessons. She is becoming very comfortable on them.
Chase was finishing up his first year of basketball.
And Landon was, well, being Landon!
Chase's Basketball Picture
And older picture but one my favorites. 4 generations
My grandma and grandpa
My little cousin Morgan, from Alabama. Emma had a blast hanging out with her!
Morgan enjoying her first taste of snow!!
Chase and Alex (from Alabama) building a snow man!
My little Chase on court!
My favorite picture of me and Grandma
Roller skating!!!
Selfie time!!! Roller skating!
February 2015
February was a pretty chill month. Not too much going on. Chase had basketball. We did some more roller skating!
Oh and we found out that my sister in law was having a little GIRL!!!!
We are so so so excited to meet her!!!
We also had some super bitter cold days. BRRRR. Like 20 below 0! On the coldest day our family decided it was a great idea to go get some ice cream!
Emma also went on her first "date"! We took her and her boyfriend out to dinner and a Target run.
Here is some roller skating fun!
March 2015
This month we suffered another heartbreak. Matt's grandma Dorothy passed away. We knew the time we had with her was growing shorter but it was still hard for us all. She was such a kind and generous woman. And I really wish I would of found her meatball recipe!
March was a super boring month. Same ole stuff, different day. We went to school, work, bible studies, etc. Most of the month we spent planning for Emma's big upcoming 13th birthday!
Super cute note from Chase - reads: cool women / mom
Can't forget about our weekly Target trips!
Another piece of furniture Matt made for me!
Only about half of the candy I purchased from Sweeties's candy for the kids Easter baskets - OOPS!
April 2015
EMMA"S A TEENAGER!!!!! THE BIG 1-3!
For this big day we rented out our local skating rink and invited anyone and everyone to come have some fun! I very much over estimated the amount of people and made 250 cupcakes!!!!
WAAAAYYYY too may cupcakes!
Here is a picture with just the kids! We had so many people there!
Easter was nice and special this year. We kept it lowkey. Visiting family, going to church and just spending time together!
We had a DATE NIGHT with Matt's brother, Josh and his wife, Samantha! It was such an awesome time!
We also decided to give the bathroom a small facelift. I was surprised how far new flooring and some paint could go.
Emma and her 7th grade class took a school trip to Chicago! Kids were gone 3 whole days and they had so much fun!
Here is just a couple random things I want to remember.
May 2015
May was quite exciting for all of us. It marks another year married, another school year ended and our awesome vacation! Oh and Mother's Day!
From Chase
From Emma
My beautiful friend Leslie got married and we were honored to spend the day with her!
Emma is continuing her horseback riding lessons! And she made the middle school cheer squad for 8th grade!
We began to serve as a family with the Jesus Said Ministries. They provide a hot meal and a bagged lunch to the needy and poor.
We went to a Dandelion Festival. It wasn't as much fun as we anticipated. Dandelion flavored food and drinks.
We ended the month with heading to Alabama (to visit my family) and then to the Gulf Shores (for some much need beach time), but not before celebrating with my sister in law at her baby shower!
Here are some pictures of our time in Alabama. It was so beautiful and of course we love spending time with family!
We took so many photos! Here are some of my favorite!
And last but never least - we celebrated our 10 year anniversary while at the beach! It was the best!
June 2015
June itself was a pretty smooth month.
This month we finally got to meet my niece Lorelai!! We are so excited to have such a sweet little girl in the family! She is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen!
Towards the middle of the month we had my grandma's memorial at the cemetery. We placed her urn inside with my grandpa. Afterwards we had a nice cook out with some of the family. It was very much needed.
Other than those 2 very big things we just chilled and had some fun this month!
Playing with our new selfie stick
Here is part of our "squad" as my daughter likes to call it.
I guess you could say these kids were bored!
During the make up session!
Chase trying to recreate the sign
Landon trying to recreate the sign
Emma showing us how to shoot a gun. She is such a goof.
July 2015
We started out this month heading to Maryland to spend the 4th of July with my cousins, Kim and Dave, and their boys. It was definitely a chill weekend and we all had a blast!
Our neighbors hosted an outdoor movie night for the neighborhood. We watched Big Hero 6 on the "big screen".
Landon won a contest at our local library. We participate in the reading program during the summer. The kids get tickets for completing things then they can hopefully win stuff. Landon won a HUGE basket of fun!
We ended our July with a summer birthday party for the boys. Their birthdays are in November and there is NEVER anything to do outside. We end up spending a fortune on their parties. This year we had a backyard water bash! I got some inspiration from the summer Olympics and we had all kinds of events! Instead of the boys receiving gifts, I asked everyone to bring some school supplies so we could make a donation to a school that needed it. We received so many donations!
As you can see it was a TON of kids!!
July ended with football and cheer starting back up! No more time for playing around!
August 2015
Woop! Woop! One Direction baby!!! Took Emma and her friend, Bella to the One Direction concert! It was an awesome awesome concert!!
We celebrated my birthday!
The big 35!
Back to School!
We fostered some adorable kittens. Someone at my work found them and they needed a home for a few days until we could find them forever homes. The kids, especially Landon, was so sad to see them go.
Football for my big football man!
We also spent a lot of August just goofing around!
September 2015
September was consumed with football and cheer and school. Not much time for anything else!
October 2015
Pretty busy month here! Weddings, football, cheer, pumpkins, family pictures! Typical October stuff!
One of my most favorite pictures ever!
The girls are dressed up for Terri's wedding!
Lots of football and cheer!
Pumpkin Patches and Halloween!
Family Pictures!
Some down time at the boys favorite places!! MCDonalds!
November 2015
Also known as BIRTHDAY MONTH!!
Sorry for all the picture overload!!
Chase's 7th Birthday! We celebrated at Five Guys! One of his favorite foods is cheeseburgers. The staff even sang Happy Birthday to him!
Landon turned 10 this year! We celebrated at Fazoli's! One of our favorite places to eat!
My brother and the kids came up from Florida for a quick visit. It was awesome for all the grandkids to get together and hang out. We took pictures of everyone for grandma for Christmas.
Look at the size difference between Emma and Melody! They are only 2 years apart!
Emma had the honor of participating in Junior Honors Choir. Only 5 kids from her school were picked! It was one of the most beautiful concerts I have ever been to. About 200 kids from lots of different schools all coming together and singing!
And who can forget THANKSGIVING!!!
With Emma's first Black Friday shopping trip!
And a WalMart trip!
December 2015
OK, so let's wrap up 2015!
The month started on a funny note. Chase somehow got all tangled up in the seatbelt in the 3rd row of the minivan. Emma and I tried for so long to get him out. Ended up calling the fire department. HA! They came out and got him all squared away and free!
We took the kids down to Lock 3 for some ice skating, the Rudolph Run, Mini golf. We picked a not so cold night and went. It was actually a ton of fun. Kids had so much fun ice skating!
Emma and I got to go see the Nutcrakcer at the Akron Civic Center with her grandma and other family members. It was the first ballet I can remember going to and I was blown away!
Other than that it was just normal Christmas stuff. Cookies, presents, wrapping, matching jackets, new hair products, light saber fights, etc.
We cannot wait to see what 2016 has in store for us!
