January 2022

Welcome to a new year... and what a year it will be! This year has a been a little chaotic and I have been MORE than overwhelmed with life, so this year's 2022 Blog Book will be a little different. I will just be posting the big highlights from each month of this year...and I PROMISE I will do better for 2023! :) 

January 2022....

We continued our tradition of going to the Chinese Lantern Festival!!! They go bigger and better each year with the lights and we love it!

Our Kinsley girl turned 9 months old!!!! We were so excited that we didn’t have to get any shots at our well check! She is 17lb 2 oz and 29.25 inches- she is gonna be tall and skinny. Wonder where she gets that from?! This has been a big month for KK- she is talking up a storm and crawling everywhere! She is also eating like crazy- she is loving it all (except those peas). She is even snacking on puffs now! She continues to be the most chill baby we have ever seen.

We got some snow!!!! It fell quickly and it melted quickly, but we were able to play in it for a few hours! Blake loved having fun with his neighborhood friends and Kinsley was a little confused. I will take a snow day any day!!! 

Joyner got a boat.... yes, you read that correctly. Haha! 

And Blake celebrated his B-day with friends on the weekend that ended January and started February!! We took his friends to play bowling, eat pizza, play games, and enjoy some cake! They had a blast and our boy is in the BIG DOUBLE DIGITS!!!! WOW! According to him, he is a teenager now. Haha. I am so proud of the little man that Blake is becoming. He does great in school, he loves his family and friends, and he plays 3 different sports! I think football is now his favorite - he loves anything 49ers! 

2021 Recap

 Man... what a year it has been! There has been so much going on - ups, downs, and even moments when I felt sideways! Haha. We have still be living a life in the pandemic...recovery...we think. It has been unique for sure. Also, we welcomed Baby Kinsley to the family and that was a wonderful adjustment for all of us. We are getting the hang of it all and I would say we survived 2021 pretty well... we survived nonetheless. Haha. 

Earlier this year we set a few goals... let's see how we did!

• Welcome Kinsley to our family :) - Check! She is here and beautiful and amazing and we love her more and more each day! She has completed our little family! 
• Go to Great Wolf Lodge - Check! It got delayed a little, but we finally got to go in April!
• Blake enjoy basketball and baseball - Check! And add football to that list! 
• Beach trips - Kinda check! We got in one good trip but we didn't get to travel as much with Kinsley. We hope to change that for next year. 
• Explore Mountain to Sea Trail - Nope... epic failure. Haha.
• Successful family garden - maybe a greenhouse? - No greenhouse but we did a raised garden bed! We didn't get to spend as much time in the garden this year. But we tried a few new things!
• Celebrate 1 year of marriage! - Check! Marriage is hard work - but we are showing up and advancing! 
• Zoo Trip- Nope... We made it to the parking lot (funny story). Does that count!?
• Go Ape - Check! Blake and I did the Junior Course again this year. 
• New adventures as a family - Yes - so many! Fishing tournaments, walking goals, pool membership and more! 

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas from our little family!!

Santa was SO good to us this year!

We have loved celebrating and doing all of our traditions this month. Christmas truly brings a happiness and joy that brings so much love to our family! We are already counting down the days until next Christmas. 

Rudy and Elfsa

 The elves are back! Yes- I said ELVES. We now have two elves! Rudy brought a friend for Kinsley to have  - and her name is Elfsa! She and Rudy got into all kinds of trouble this year! They were hanging lights, playing pranks, bringing treats, and all kinds of fun! Our elves are the best! 

Angus Barn

 Joyner and I try to go to Angus Barn every year for our Christmas Date. It is something that we "treat" ourselves to... plus we just love seeing the gorgeous lights. And hello, the food is amazing! We even buy the cheese to take home and snack on for the holidays. 

This year we REALLY lucked out. We had originally planned just to go for appetizers, but we ended up being seated in the main dining area. That gave us the best excuse to go all out and eat a full dinner. We don't get date nights very often, so we really take advantage when we do! 

Tans Siberian Orchestra

 Blake is the most Christmas loving boy that I know and his FAVORITE song ever is Trans Siberian Orchestra's Carol of the Bells. He loves the electric guitar mixed with Christmas songs. This year we gave him a huge present and surprise... we took him to the TSO Concert! He was smitten and loved rocking out to his favorites! Joyner and I had just as much as Blake did! 

Grinch Night

 Last year we started the tradition of Grinch Night at our house. Blake gets to invite his best friends over to watch the Grinch and get all sugared up and play! These boys live for this night and they have so much fun. It is also customary for the Grinch (ahem Joyner) to jump out and scare the boys at some point during the night. We love hosting this night. We hope that we can continue it and do the same for Kinsley and her friends in the future as well!