January: Our big guy turned 4. He is a kind-hearted boy who has such a simple, yet deep faith. He is funny, smart and thoughtful. He can play with his farm equipment all day, but also loves to play games and create things with Legos, sand and random things from around the house. He loves his sister who, for the most part, is his best friend.
February: Trip to Arizona. We actually left in January, but came back in February. Brandon's parents have a place down there, so we all flew down to enjoy the sunshine and escape winter for a bit. We went to the Phoenix Zoo, spent time at the pool and visited playgrounds. It was a great trip! I'm so fortunate to have such wonderful in-laws!
March: My sister got married and Madelyn turned two. My sister married her Prince Charming and I had the privilege of standing by her side. Our kids were the ring bearer and flower girl and Brandon was an usher. It was a beautiful day and I got a pretty awesome brother out of the deal!
Madelyn turned two the next week. She is such a sweet little girl who always makes us smile. She loves with all her heart - her brother, mom & dad, animals and her "babies". She will be the most wonderful big sister some day. She loves to dress up, play with her babies and sing in her microphone.
May: I turned the big 3-0! Whenever I'd refer to someone who was a little older than me, I'd say, "they're at least 30." Well, here I am. Brandon was in the field, so there was no party or big event, but it was a great day.
I also got to walk through graduation at VCSU in May. I still had my big action research project and defense to do, but since they do not have a summer ceremony, summer graduates were allowed to walk through the spring ceremony. I took every class online, so it was fun to meet classmates in person that I had worked with in several courses. A big month, that's for sure!
June: Grandma T celebrated her 100th birthday! My grandma is amazing. She doesn't look a day over 80 and tries to walk 2 miles each day. She has macular degeneration, but takes no medication and does not use a walker. She is incredible! It was fun to see all of my cousins and aunts & uncles at the party. We are blessed with a wonderful family. That same day, Brandon and I also shared the news with our parents and siblings that we were expecting our third child in February! We were elated to add to our family!
Also in June, Jackson and I took a trip to Aberdeen, SD and met Brandon's cousin, who is also a good friend of mine, and her daughter for the weekend. We stayed at a hotel and spent two days in Storybook Land. It was so fun to have one-on-one time with Jackson! Madelyn got to spend time with my parents' at the lake since Brandon was in the field. She had a great time with grandma and grandpa, too!
Summer: Time at the lake and in front of the computer. My parents have a lake place that we visited frequently this summer. Although, it wasn't the warmest summer, we enjoyed our time there. I spent the whole summer writing my action research project. It ended up being close to 90 pages long! Who knew I could do that?! My research was on assessing performance in the music classroom. It was a little difficult since I was not teaching at the time, but I had two fantastic coworkers from West Fargo that helped immensely.
August: Defense and first day of preschool. In August, I finished my research and presented my defense to the dean, my adviser and one of my favorite professors. I was extremely nervous, but it went very well and was not as scary as I had imagined! The all shook my hand when I finished and congratulated me on earning my Master of Education in Teaching and Technology. Whoohoo!
The next week, Jackson started preschool. How did this happen? When did he get so big? He was pretty excited for school, but was the most excited to ride the bus home after school. However, his bus driver forgot he was riding and instead of being the first person off, he rode the whole route and was the last... I was freaking out, but he was as happy as a clam when he was finally dropped off two hours later :)
September: Our loss. I went in for a routine check up at 17 weeks, but found out that we had lost our baby. I had a D & E almost a week later and found out our baby was a girl. We named her Kailyn Corine. She is our special angel. Although it was a horrible time of grief, confusion and sadness, I am glad we had her. She brought Brandon and I even closer and deepened our faith. She showed us how fragile life is and to enjoy each day with each other. She was a precious gift that we didn't have much time with, but will be on our hearts forever.
Brandon also turned 30 this month, but it was during the time between finding out we lost her and my D & E. We celebrated as best we could, but it was not at all how he imagined his big day would be.
November: Brandon's cousin got married. Jackson was the ring bearer and did such a good job! We had fun celebrating with family and the kids had a blast dancing. The loss of Kailyn was still pretty raw, but having the support of both of our families got us through. We had fun swimming at the hotel in the morning with Brandon's cousins' kids before we all headed home.
December: Christmas!! My absolute favorite time of the year is Christmas. I love decorating for Christmas, shopping for gifts and celebrating with our families. I got all the decorating and most of the shopping done on November, so I was able to enjoy the advent season with my kids. I tried to think of fun, but also meaningful activities for us to do while we await Christmas Day. It was so much fun listening to them talk about Jesus, sing Christmas songs and celebrating with both of our families. The excitement in their faces for each of their presents was unmeasurable. So, so fun!!
Brandon and I just celebrated our 7th anniversary on the 29th. We went out last night to celebrate and talked about how much has changed in the last 7 years. It was so fun to think back to our days without children, but in no way do I want to go back! I am so content with our lives right now. I feel blessed to be able to stay home and raise our kids. Brandon is an amazing husband and father. He works hard and enjoys what he does. Life is good.
Happy new year everyone! I hope 2015 is filled with new memories and experiences.
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