Another New Year: 2013

Christmas Eve, after candlelight church

We are now well into 2013, and I am still in denial that it is here.  It seems like just yesterday we became pregnant with our little girl, but that was over a whole year ago now.  We now have the chubbiest little girl I have ever seen.  How can we be so fortunate to have three healthy, developing children?  It still amazes me, when I look at the family that we have created.

Christmas Morning, after Santa had arrived

I often feel like we are not getting much accomplished (besides cook healthy meal, clean, reheat healthy meal, clean, etc), but then I look back through the photo books we have created and I see a lot.  This past year, I played in a band, learned how to use a scroll saw, and baked a carrot cake from scratch.  I sewed a piece of clothing and learned how to cut squares for a quilt.  Our older son learned how to ski and ice skate, overcame his fear of heights at the playground, sounded out words, and played a song on his violin.  Our younger son learned his colors, to write his first letters, to chew gum, and he was potty trained.  The boys built a tree house with their grandfather and spent over two months with their MN grandparents, who we are so blessed to have a large part of our lives.  We dug our first snow tunnels with the kids, went on boat rides, expanded our gardens, and made sauerkraut.  My husband moved 15 cord of wood to the woodshed, learned how to saw logs, mounted antlers, took on new roles at work, and made some gorgeous cutting boards.

I took the Christmas Tree decorations down just now and found myself reflecting on my childhood and the  few years of our own parenthood.  It goes by too quickly.  As we try to hold onto time, all the kids want to do is grow up so they can do the things that we can do!  Here's to another year of health and learning.