2012 in Review

I've started numerous blog posts this past year, but somehow very few of them actually materialized into anything comprehensible.  So now, I sit down and resolve to capture our year in review (in between racing after Will to make sure he's not pulling glass jars out of the cupboard).

We began the year with a house under construction.  By March 16th, the noise and clammoring had stopped and we rejoiced at the birth of our little boy.  With mixed emotions, we said farewell to Mocha, our Beagle of eight years.  The rest of spring and summer were a bit of a blur as Ryan and I grappled with being outnumbered.  Sophia graduated from preschool and Claire began to learn what being both the little sister AND big sister was all about.  When it seemed we were just about ready to settle into a manageable routine, fall fell and with it, a whirlwind of transitions.

Sophia and I both went "back to school;" she started kindergarten at Sonnesyn Elementary and I started teaching again at Armstrong High School.  Will and Claire began spending a portion of each day with our wonderful nanny, Laura.  Ryan switched from working only once or twice a week from home to spending every day in the home office.

Change.  It is both wonderful and trying.  It involves letting go of what once was in order to open ourselves up to what may be.  Our family definitely went through a season of wavering between doubt and certainty. Have we made the best decisions for our family?  Can we continue to live a family-centered life AND use the professionally fulfilling gifts God has given us?  I am grateful to say, we've now landed on the shores of trust and thanksgiving.  We are staying warm this winter with 10,000 reasons to praise this landing place.

Ryan is back to a better home/ downtown office work balance and I am really enjoying my job. After nearly three years, we really feel "at home" in our New Hope house and community.

Sophia has matured by leaps and bounds.  I blame kindergarten and being a big sister twice.  She's still full of questions and know-it-all answers. She still tears the house apart by constructing fort after fort on every level of the house, but something is shifting; something in her is moving away from a princess-obsessed little girl who changes clothes five times a day toward a "grown up" girl who spends way too much time doing and redoing her hair in front of the mirror each day.

She continues to love friends, socializing, and quality family time.  We've started a new tradition in our house; Friday Night Family Game Night.  Sophia, our darling rule enforcer, makes sure we stick to it.  So if you're looking for us on a Friday night, you'll likely find us snuggled up to an intense game of Candy Land and overflowing bowls of popcorn.

One of our biggest delights with Sophia right now is watching her discover how to read.  She's really catching on and is doing a lot of inventive writing. Our ever thoughtful girl leaves us notes and drawings under our pillows.  She sings constantly, often making up songs about her beloved brother, "Bobo."  We still stand in awe of her artistic abilities and ambitions, along with her strength on the gymnastic mats.  She shows us something new each day and makes sure we don't miss a beat.

Claire too, has grown and changed immensely.  She's become our goofy, ornery, dimply little sweetheart.  She's clever and determined.  We joke that Claire is going to own her own shop of teeny- tiny trinkets one day and name it "Oh, Cute!" (said with the most adorable Minnesotan accent).  She adores playing with jewelry-making beads, itty bitty Polly Pocket pieces, and "baby Jesus people."  Besides carrying around bags and baskets of chokeables that we must diligently keep out of Will's reach, Claire delights in running circles around the house, dancing, and watching "Baby Tiger."  She continues to be our pickiest eater, but will never refuse string cheese, yogurt, or a sucker.

She strives to do everything Sophia does and say everything she says.  Just this weekend she mastered doing a sommersault!  Though she frustrated by not being able to go on the bus with Sophia, she has been enjoying her Music Together and ECFE classes.  Two is such a fun age, and we love the little girl our Claire is growing into.  

Will is on the cusp of shifting from a baby to toddler.  His world is full of balls, babbling, cars, and crawling, (usually with a ball or car in hand).  He's also into climbing, standing, and EVERYTHING within reach!  He delights in his sisters' crazy running and tackling fests.  He has started swimming lessons and LOVES splashing.  He impresses big sister Claire, a much more cautious swimmer, with his fearless underwater passes.  All of our children bring us immense happiness, but there is something in "Bobo's" smile that lightens all our hearts and eases our worries.  Often he's the only one who can pull Sophia our of a sour mood.  His laugh is completely contagious and the best medicine we've found.  He is joy packaged up in a 24 lb, laughing, crawling, drooling, full-head-of-man-hair baby boy.  We love watching his personality develop, but pray he doesn't grow up quite as fast as his sisters seem to be.

Ryan and I celebrated nine years of marriage earlier this month, and I can honestly say each year with him has been better than the last.  We know 2013 will bring a myriad of new changes.  William will become a  toddler, Claire will start preschool before this year's end, and Sophia will move up to the ranks of a first grader.  Much of what this year has in store for us is a mystery, and we are at peace with that.  We know God's grace is abundant.  We are grateful he's given us one another for the journey and we will pray laughter and smiles continue to outnumber our tears and booboo bunny emergencies.