Nothing like starting off a new year by looking back over the previous.  Unlike some of my organized blogging friends who had everything together and posted before the year was up, I say ‘to heck with it’ and find myself reviewing last year on the first day of the new year.  You can check out last year’s here, otherwise let’s take a look through my lens.  Be forewarned, there are a few months that got a little photo heavy.  Hey, what can I say!

JANUARY

the huzband and snow : two of my favorite things

an afternoon in my favorite city : NYC

There is no other way to start off a new year than with your loved ones and fresh snow!  There were many a warm fires lit in our fire place.  The huzband treated me to an afternoon in the city to an exhibit of street photographer Vivian Maier.  And we were all adjusting to life with our newest family member: Lola the boxer.

FEBRUARY

the WHOLE family at the park

February was a quite month, mainly focused on family time, pre-kindergarten, V’s speech twice a week and our new puppy.  We did celebrate one year in la Casa Nueva, still in awe & wonder that this was our home.

MARCH

V’s very first time as a flower girl for our dear friends

our Lola girl quickly growing

March had some beautiful weather so many a days were spent in our backyard soaking up the sun.  Plus with our growing puppy, playtime was needed after pre-kindergarten.  March also held two big events for the M family: the huzband’s Team World Vision 13.1 race and the StimVito wedding.  Ironically, they both fell on the same day!  So in the morning the huzband was in Flushing Meadow Park with around 1000 runners taking on 13.1 miles for children and families in need.   Together, they raised almost $300,000 that provided clean water to those without in Africa.

While he was busy running around there (literally), V and I were home preparing for our good friends wedding.  V was their flower girl and was oh so excited for this day!  She got her hair done all fancy, got to hang out with all the bridesmaids and did an exceptional job walking with her ring bearer down the aisle!

APRIL

V and the huzband 

and so begins 2012’s home projects : #1 the grass

So began our home projects of 2012, the first of them being our back yard.  We completely tore out our old ugly grass and seeded new grass.  It sounds so simple but oh lordy it was a lot of work.  I have two words for you: crab grass.  It is ugly and takes over everything so when you look at your back yard, you say to yourself “I sure am glad I grunted and sweated just to be overrun by crab grass.”  Well, it was more like “Honey, I’m sorry you did all that work for the stinky crab grass to take over.”

I joined a women’s small group at our church around this time and  got to know a pretty incredible group of young women who make me laugh and fill my heart with joy.  The huzband helped out at a friends church by playing drums at their Easter service.  This was a pretty big deal for him as the church rents out a local colleges performance center to bring together both its campuses for Easter.  He, and the whole band, did an outstanding job!!  Very proud of the huzband!

MAY

Aruuuuba!!

the huzband with our sponsored girl Delphine and her family

The huzband and I celebrated 7 years of marriage at the beginning of May.  We were once again blessed by dear friends to use their time share in Aruba.  The huzband’s younger sister met us in Aruba and spent the week with us.  It was a wonderful way to celebrate how our family has grown!  I loved getting to spend time with the huzband’s sister as well as just soak in sunny, warm Aruba.  I always think I will make a blog post of all my pics (but have you noticed I have yet to do so with any Aruba pictures.)  So while going through my Aruba pics for this post, I picked a few extra’s to share with you!  For a moment I could feel the sun shining on my face, the wind blowing in my hair and the smell of sandy waters around me as I clicked away in my freezing office in the attic….at the moment I can’t feel my fingertips, it’s that cold up here.  The huzband also went to Africa for the very first time; Rwanda to be specific.  It was an amazing trip but the part that gets me the most is that he met one of our sponsored girls and her family: Delphine!!

us girls ready for a night on the town

I signed the huzband & I up to run a 10k while in Aruba….obviously I didn’t make it to the start line.  =)

we four-wheeled over crazy intense terrain, hiked down to the beautiful water & swam in a natural pool

JUNE

little V and Gram

she is so very much like her father

someone is very excited about this bicycle in pieces

annual family camping trip : great way to kick off summer

June began with us girls welcoming home the huzband.  We dearly missed him and were so glad to have him back.  What followed was a month of busy little things.  V graduated pre-kindergarten, the huzband turned 35, we went on our annual family camping trip (we go in celebration of the huzband’s birthday/Father’s day), summer officially began, V attended vacation bible school, the huzband and I got to attend the Jesus Culture Conference (thanks to a good friend) and the huzband got his long awaited triathlon bicycle.  He has been patiently saving up for his tri bike for several years now and it was hard to believe the day had actually come!

to be continued….