Our Bloggy Christmas Card---2012 in Review

I'll admit it.  Sometimes I'm cheap.  I loooovve getting Christmas cards from family and friends.  Love it!  But I'm cheap.  I don't want to spend the equivalent of a nice gift for someone on stamps!  So I hope family and friends will forgive me when I do my card blog-style.  The upside is that I get to have this year-in-review preserved here on my online "journal"!  So, here we go!

JANUARY:  We rang in 2012 and I declared my word of the year to be "balance."  Have I achieved that?  Well, if you count being able to do a tree pose in yoga as balanced....

FEBRUARY:  I had the pleasure of chaperoning Kendra's fifth grade science camp with her.  We had a blast together!!

No that's not snow.  We live in Texas, people.  But it was chilly!

 Kendra surprised me by asking to be on our school's Battle of the Books team.  It involves reading.  She's not normally a fan of reading (which kills me).  Maybe the bestie being team captain had something to do with it.  They came in fourth place (not bad out of 23 schools).
                         

Kendra and bestie R, ready for competition

 MARCH:
We got sick.  A lot.  But we got better.  :-)
We lost our dog, Grady, to a tumor in his belly  :-(

We went on Craigslist and got a new dog, Eli.

Eli was a totally crazy dog who didn't do well in a one-dog, people-gone-all-day house---he didn't stay with us long, but he did end up with his own happily-ever-after.

APRIL:
Crazy weather, lots of storms, even a "take shelter" at school!

MAY:
I co-directed and Kendra played the lead in our school's first ever musical!

Kendra graduated from elementary school!

I earned my five year pin from my school district.  Five years already???


JUNE:
Kendra went to spend two weeks with her dad in Utah---first time she has ever been gone that long.  It was hard!

I had a birthday and turned....

Kendra's three closest friends moved!  One to Cali, one about 2 hours east of here, and one four hours south of here.  :-(  That was hard, too.

JULY:
Our annual pilgrimage to Michigan--for the first time without a dog. 
Kendra cut her hair!

We spent lots of time with cousins.

Kendra had her 11th birthday!

AUGUST:
We got a puppy!!!!

I started my sixth year of  teaching fourth grade, and Kendra started middle school!

SEPTEMBER:
Kendra adjusted to middle school well and made some good friends.
Kendra started having migraines and we started chiropractic care which worked!
I was crazy busy with the demands of my job at the beginning of a school year.  Sigh.
We took Lucy to puppy training at PetSmart.  She learned to sit, stay, come when called, and some other things.  We're trying hard to keep her trained!  :-)
Kendra discovered she loves volleyball.  Go figure---my non-sporty child found a sport.  She even bought her own volleyball.

OCTOBER:
I attended Kendra's first choir concert as a middle school student.  I was very impressed!
We did the usual Halloweenie things.  :-)

NOVEMBER:
Kendra auditioned for a part in a Christmas musical called A Snow White Christmas at a local community theater.  She got the part of Giggle Toes, one of the elves (dwarfs)!  November was packed with rehearsals 3 nights per week.

Kendra joined her school's Destination Imagination team.  They will compete sometime in the winter.  She's very excited about her team!

Lucy got her first big-girl-dog hair cut.

I was chosen as teacher of the month.

DECEMBER:
A Snow White Christmas is in full swing 

Giggle Toes :-)

We visited our favorite Nativity Display as is our family tradition.

Kendra's choir had a very busy performance schedule...first a concert, then two visits to nursing homes and a fun trip to the mall.  Kendra takes private voice at school and also had a recital the same week.  Have I mentioned I'm totally impressed with the music program at her school?

Singing at a Nursing Home

We are grateful for a break from school coming (even though we don't get two weeks like we usually do!).  We are planning to spend time with great friends and just relax!  We've also been blessed to be invited to spend several days with our dear friends who moved south---they are renting a cabin in Oklahoma and invited us to join!  Can't wait!!

We are a happy little family.  We feel blessed to have a sweet little home, a good, dependable car, food on our table, and money enough for fun extras from time to time.  We are ridiculously blessed with wonderful friends and family in our lives.  We are ever grateful for our faith and the knowledge of a God and Savior who love us.  We wish peace, love, and fun times to all!

Colleen & Kendra