Goodbye 2011!

You were a great year, and like it or not, it is time to move on to 2012.  It will be the year of a vacation away from my babies, a big girl bed and potty training, new big front teeth (hopefully!) and graduation from Kindergarten…

My 2010 recap was a ton of fun, so here I am doing it for 2011.

January 2011
A banner month for our family…

Mikayla introduced the family to pink eye.  She shared it with her sister which was really nice of her.


We took our first trip to Wisconsin Dells and though Mikayla battled a terrible ear infection, we managed to have fun and make it a tradition.


I  talked about how many mom badges I earned and realized that when times get tough on the road of motherhood, you never are alone when you reach out to others.  With the onset of a brutal double ear infection, we had no idea that the unwelcome fluid would hang along for too long…

February 2011 
Mallory went down a waterslide all by herself, thus conquering a big fear.  Her dad and I stood on the sidelines and realized that parental pride is something that soars inside of each and every parent. 

March 2011 
Molly and I saw the sparkle in these two girls explode when we took them to see Princess’ On Ice.


Nine months later, there are still moments where I still cannot tell their laughter apart.


April 2011
Mikayla’s love for coloring sprouted.  She still requests ducks and fish. 

Looking back at these pictures, I am in awe of her vibrant red hair.  These are the times when I ask myself, Will I look back in one, two, three years and wonder, where did all the red go? 

May 2011
Two loveys under arm, we took Mikayla to have her tubes put in.  The surgery was a piece of cake (such a relief) and with ears no longer plugged with fluid, she was able to hear us clearly for the first time in 4 months.   We listened and hoped for a language explosion.  We waited only a few months before we realized that we needed extra help in this area…


Mallory played T-Ball.  The games were both fun as we watched her play, and exhausting as we tried to keep Mikayla from joining her sister out on the field.


Mikayla took a big bug for a walk.  She loved on him and it started a real love for all things creepy and crawly.


June 2011
She graduated from preschool. From that point forward her eyes were set on Kindergarten in September.


We made a big decision to move back to Woodbury.  I never could have imagined how “right” the move would really feel…

She continued to love on all things creepy and crawly.  When she met a toad for the first time she acted exactly as I had imagined-loving every last hop the little green toad took.


July 2011
I thought I had a really great idea when we spontaneously decided to go the Air Expo.  Yikes.  Fail.

We moved.  I was exhausted and slightly overwhelmed with the never-ending to-do list that went along with it.  One of my slowest blog months yet…

August 2011
Mikayla turned two and we celebrated for weeks. 

We stumbled upon some snakes.  Enough said.


September 2011
Mallory climbed up on the big yellow bus on her way to her very first day of Kindergarten.  She has continued to love every single day.  That is the only highlight this month needs…
     

October 2011
We adjusted to the school routine with only a few bumps along the way.  Fridays continue to be hard days, but knowing what to expect makes it a little more bearable.

Not once, but twice.  Mallory lost both of her front teeth within days of each other.  Her toothless smile never gets old.


Mikayla thought a French fry belonged up her nose, instead of in her mouth.  It was a very long 24 hours and a very very expensive small order of French fries.

November 2011
It snowed just once.  We were lucky enough to see about 4 inches of the fluffy white stuff.  Mallory took full advantage of the winter fun and played until  her cheeks were raw with hives, thus showing us that her Cold Uticaria is still present.  This has been the only measurable snow fall to date…

Mikayla made leaps and bounds with her language.  She is now currently yelling for her sister in full “MAWaWEEE”  We love every new word that she works so hard to say.  She babbles enough for a classroom full of toddlers and we are starting to see sentences and questions (why?) fall into place. 

December 2011
The month of the holidays.  We packed as much fun as possible into the first 25 days of December.  There was cookie bakes, Santa visits, gingerbread building, shopping trips to pick out secret gifts, a Christmas Tree meant just for us, and so much more.  I really feel at peace with the traditions that we have started and continued as a family.  The blend of traditions that are decades old coupled with the ones that we started when our family started give us warm fuzzies that will carry us well into the new year. 

Here we stand on the doorstep of 2012.  What will it bring for all of us and what will the recap look like in 365 days?  I cannot wait to find out!