2008 in Review

First off, I need to give credit where credit is due: I totally copied this post idea off of Becky. I loved hers so much that I just had to do one myself. 2008 was a great year for me and my whole family, and I'm a little sad to see it go...

January. I started off with a New Year's Resolution of working out three days a week with my newfound BFF, Becky. Yeah, I know, I have never kept one of these for more than a month (resolution, not a best friend, jeez). Here is how we started out, on one of these:
February: On a snowy day off of school, Isabel decides on the spur of the moment to get her ears pierced at the ripe old age of eight. What a fun day this was, for both of us!

After surviving months of heavy snow, Becky and I decided to do something a little crazy: get tattoos for her March birthday!

And if a tattoo wasn't enough, in April I decided to get a new hairdo:

And what's that I'm doing on my new laptop that Joe bought? Oh, yeah, my new love: blogging. Although I had been blogging since September of 2007, in a couple of short months, I would discover the world of SITS and make many new friends...

April also found Michelle and I on our annual scrapbooking trip to Indiana. Yep, an entire weekend spent scrappin', eating, and laughing with my big sis, all without husbands or children. Heavenly, I tell you! Oh, and did you notice the link on her name? That's 'cause I finally convinced her, with the help of Becky and Lula, that she should start a blog. And she did.

Another trip, this time with the in-laws to our favorite get-away, Gatlinburg, TN...

The end of the school came early this year, in May. We celebrated with cookouts with friends...

and lots of Little League baseball, played by Elijah and coached by Joe...

June: Homearama with Becky and Mike (I can't believe how much Muscle Max has helped us since these photos...)

and Elijah's 10th birthday at our local inflatable playground. How on earth can I be old enough to have a 10-year-old, that's what I wanna know?!

Summer '08 was absolutely awesome, complete with a family trip to Hocking Hills, OH...

meeting a blogger (Catherine) in real life, and becoming fast friends...

which in turn helped our girls to make new friends...

cookouts with Mike and Becky and company, in which Joe taught Summer new tricks...

swimming in Becky's mom's pool, and at our local YMCA, at least three times a week...

getting our family pictures done...

Before summer was over, Gabe turned four and Joe turned thirty-four.

Then it was my favorite time of the year...

Back to school! Elijah started fifth grade, Isabel started third grade...

we took a break to celebrate with an outing to Maggiano's with friends...

and then, glory be, Gabe started preschool! I now have three children all in school at the same time for at least some part of the day! Happy dance, after a few tears shed...

Living in Ohio enables us to experience every season, and this year was no exception. We started fall by getting a new addition named Autumn...

Then spent many hours soaking in the last of the sun's rays, at pumpkin patches and Thomas the Train rides and fall fests...

Then, before the end of October, I turned thirty-five! And in a true friend tradition, Becky and I celebrated by driving to Columbus for the day. Not another tattoo (although we teased Mike and Joe about our plans), but we had a great time. I am loving having such a wonderful friend!

November found Michelle and I taking the road trip to beat all road trips: we were going to Lulaville, to meet one of our favorite bloggers ever in real life. You know we had a great time; I'm sure you've already read all about it! Lula, I can't wait to do it again!

Another exciting November moment: the long-awaited, much-anticipated premiere of our favorite movie, Twilight! What a great night!

Thanksgiving found us celebrating with friends (sorry, Kipper, you know I couldn't let this one go...)

and being thankful for all of the many blessings this year has seen.

December: Isabel turned nine...

and Christmas came and went so fast that my head is still spinning...

So this year, as we watch the ball drop from the comfort of our living room, saying goodbye to 2008 and hello to 2009, it will be with the knowledge that we had one heck of a good year, full of friends, health, and more blessings that we can count.

I pray that 2009 will be even more full of great things, if only because it makes such a great blog post :)

Happy New Year, bloggy friends and family! You mean more to me than you will ever know. Seems trivial to be so thankful for a thing like Blogger, but seriously, this has been such a big part of my life this year. I'm so glad Becky and Michelle came along for the ride, and have enjoyed themselves so much on the way...