I did this last year and it was good, concise way for me to review the year. If you don’t have the presence of mind to read this, I don’t blame you – it’s mostly for my own memory. If you do feel like reading about our family and you don’t have to use toothpicks to hold up your eyelids by the end, I commend you. ;)
Here’s this year’s installment:
January: Hosted a bunch of college friends at our house for a New Year’s reunion. So nice to see them all again!
February: Traveled to Providence to see my cousin get married. Luke’s first Valentine’s Day and first hotel stay happened in the same weekend!
March: Started Somersizing; lost 10 pounds total. I’m not currently on that diet, but having to banish all processed foods led me to the clean foods lifestyle that I try to follow now.
April: Said goodbye to my brother as he left for Iraq (again). Hosted my family for the weekend. Luke’s first Easter celebration! Lindsay and I sell at the flea market and have a great time.
May: Realized we were going to need a “Plan B” as far as Chris’s job went. Found out the next day from my dad that there was an opening at his company in CT that didn’t need prior experience. Scheduled an interview for June.
Lindsay, her DH and I travel to NYC the day after Mother’s Day to go to the Today show! It was on both of our “bucket lists.” Got our pictures with Al, Natalie, and Ann, and got on tv. Ridiculously fun. :)
June: Traveled to CT; Chris applied for the job; found out a week later that he had been given the position and needed to start in August. Began the bittersweet process of telling friends and family we’d be moving soon.
July: Celebrated our little guy turning ONE! We had a party with about 30 people at our house. Luke contracted a weird eye infection on his birthday and we ended up at the doctor. Thankfully she correctly diagnosed the weird infection (periorbital cellulitis, anyone?), and quickly put him on strong antibiotics. Basically he kinda looked like he’d been punched in the eye for a lot of his b-day pics. Told Luke he’s not allowed to be near any doctors, nurses, or hospitals next July 8th. :) Luke’s monkey “smash cake” was the first real decorated cake I’d ever made!
Chris works very little, and eventually has to quit his job this month, so that he (and I) can get our house ready to put on the market. This process involves tons of things – the biggest being painting the entire outside of our two-story house and garage. Ugh. Not some of my fondest memories! Thankful that we have money in savings to live off of during these 4-5 weeks without work. Given $100 anonymously at church in my diaper bag, which was such a huge blessing.
We had planned an overnight trip to Ocean City, NJ, with our two very good college friends months before we knew we were moving. We decided that a night away from the stress of the house was good for us – and it was. Sand and relaxation were wonderful. I cried to leave Luke alone for the first time, but all in all it was good for us to get away. It was so much fun….I dearly love all three people in the picture below!
August: Our 4-year anniversary came on August 5th but we’re too busy packing up to celebrate it! House goes on the market on August 12th. Locked our doors and moved to CT on August 15th, exactly 2 years to the day that we closed on our house. Chris begins working and I begin the task of being a stay-at-home mom at my parents’ house. My brother returns home from Iraq early and we all move back in the same weekend! haha!
We begin searching for our new church home.
September: My little sister got engaged and will be getting married next September! Wedding planning fun begins. Find a church that we really like but keeping searching, just to be sure.
Find out we have an offer on our house, only to have it fall through after negotiations. Depressed but staying hopeful.
Celebrate Chris’s birthday and also go to the Big E in Massachusetts, one of my favorite events of the season.
October: Visit from my BFF and her little boy. Spent the weekend showing her the local sights. So, so, so wonderful to have here her. Decide to keep going to our church because we’ve totally fallen in love with it!
Get word that we have a new offer on the house and the buyer wants to close by December 1st, which we negotiate to November 29th (the Monday after Thanksgiving). It’s lower than we wanted but we accept it as a gift from God in this economy.
My sister comes home for Fall Break and I finally get to see her ring in person! We start bridesmaid dress shopping.
Also start going to a MOMS group at my old church, which is a big encouragement and something I wasn’t able to find anywhere near me in PA.
November: Start going to a young couple’s Bible Study through our church; so happy to be meeting other people our age. Very thankful for the wonderful couples in our group.
Put in an offer on a house in CT we really hoped to get; didn’t work out for us. Have to keep looking for homes. Celebrated Thanksgiving here in CT and then traveled to PA to celebrate with Chris’s family from Friday night to Sunday.
Miracle of miracles, even with some setbacks, we sell our house on November 29th in this terrible economy. That was a very good day. :)
December: Celebrated our anniversary and my birthday with a night away in Providence. Ate at the Cheesecake Factory, went to the Providence Place mall, and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express.
Put in an offer on a short sale that we LOVE; offer was accepted by the buyers and now we are just waiting on the bank! We pray every day that God will give us this house; it will be a great house for us and our (hopefully soon) growing family.
Go to the company work party; Chris wins a $50 Wal-Mart card through a raffle and I win a $50 Stop & Shop card through a silly scavenger hunt that I WON! I was in it to win it, baby. ;)
Celebrated Christmas here in CT with my family; traveling on the 30th to PA to celebrate Christmas there. We will be seeing a close college friend on Friday, then spending New year’s Eve with two our of our dearest friends by going out to eat. New Year’s Day we will be doing Christmas brunch with Chris’s family, and then we’ll be traveling home on the 2nd.
It’s been quite the unexpected year, and 2011 will bring lots more adventures to our life! We’re looking forward to getting a new house, celebrating our 5-year anniversary with a weekend trip away (most likely to Boston), planning my sister’s shower and going to her wedding, celebrating the birth of a new niece on Chris’s side and my BFF’s new baby, and traveling to Ohio for our 5-year college reunion. Bring on 2011! :)
Thank you so much for reading This Blessed Life in 2010!
Happy New Year!!!
What a year of changes you had! Your little guy is adorable. Have a good time in PA this weekend, i wish we could have made a trip there during the holidays but just didn't have the time (aka vacation days). Were in NEPA did you used to live?
ReplyDelete