2012

On this fifth day of 2013, I'm thinking back on 2012. it was a big year for us, and we were all sick enough over the holidays that I didn't put enough energy into my yearly retrospection. Here are my "Big 12" for 2012.

1. Our second son was born the morning of February 3rd!!! He narrowly escaped sharing the birthday/holiday spotlight with his dad and Punxatawney Phil.

2. We became landlords. This was, and continues to be, one of my least favorite things ever in life.

3. Child #1 was finally successfully potty trained!!!  Potty training this particular child ranks just below "being a landlord" and just above "what I imagine a root canal would feel like" on my list of least favorite things.

4. We had an epic summer of family traveling (we love traveling!) This included:

• Four trips in an airplane with a three-year-old and an infant. These went remarkably well!
• A historical and seaside visit to Boston. May I recommend Nantasket Beach Resort to anyone staying in Massachusetts? Picture snuggling in front of a fireplace, watching the ocean roar just outside your balcony. Sigh...
• A big, long stay with six awesome Koehler cousins in Philadelphia.
• A daytrip to D.C. We saw some cool historical stuff, got two parking tickets, and spent half the day pushing the double stroller around the city looking for the place our rental car was towed. You can't win 'em all. Would you believe the day was still fun?
• A fun two-day trip to Springfield. I'm the proud momma of a now four-year-old who can tell you quite a bit about "Ingaham Blincoln".

5. This really falls into #4, but in August we all four had our first trip to Disney. We usually travel on the cheap, but we are now a little enamored with the whole magical, expensive, touristy Disney gimmick!

6. I started running again! I'm real wimpy and don't run in harsh winter conditions, when I'm pregnant, or when I have broken lower appendages, all of which happened in rapid succession in 2011- 2012.

7.  God did something unexpected and cool. He gave my husband a new job opportunity in his hometown with Community Christian Church. We had done some networking with this church the past couple of years and we were impressed! Aaron taking this job meant leaving our jobs, our home, and our church family. It was a big deal, but we are loving CCC Yorkville, and the people in it!

8. We put an offer on a house...and we didn't get it! We decided that was actually a good thing, just in time for curt and rude-ish realtor man to call back and ask us to make our offer again. Thanks, but no thanks, bro.

9. We ate only whole, real foods for the month of September. I look at food differently now. I cook differently. I shop differently. It was a great month for our family, and I recommend doing something like this, for about 36.5 different reasons. It won't even make you too weird! ;) I just ate a Twizzler, but with the awareness that it's probably one molecule away from being plastic, I stopped at one! 

10.  On a related note, I have developed a taste for food documentaries. No pun intended. This one, "Forks Over Knives", particularly captured my attention and challenged my thinking.

11. God also used this book to challenge my thinking even more. Just when I think I'm getting things figured out, He usually shows me I'm not even close. It's good - it keeps life exciting!  

12. We decided, for several different reasons, that we will homeschool, for at least the first few years of our kids' schooling. This decision has been so validated, especially the past month. 

It was a good year, and I'm looking forward to the adventures 2013 holds for us!