Does this count?

Every year.  Every single year.  We get oodles of the cutest Christmas cards in the mail from old and new friends.  I so appreciate seeing all these cards and all these families changing so much from how I remember them.  And every year I say "I will do a Christmas card next year"

And not one card has been done.  But all is not lost.  I have a blog!!  And that means.....Christmas card electronic style!!  Now Google did all the pictures for me from my uploads this past year in a little slide show....

Ta DA!!!  Click HERE for pictures  (Dad....that means click on the underlined or blue part!)

So I can just add words.  The close of 2014 marked two years living in our new town.  After two years of getting used to a lot of new things (the hardest being we live on a river with lots of ravines and hills and NO road running North/South or East/West....little different than our Iowa town that was on a grid).....we have just been talking about how much we really love it here.   We love the hills and trees, the closeness to trails and how it is small town but close to the city.  Yes, we have settled in and it feels like home.

The pictures show how many little trips we went on in 2014.   I went to Las Vegas with my dad to visit my brother and sister in law.  We took a 10 year anniversary camping trip with the kids to Duluth.  We visited my aunt and uncles cabin once again in Northern Wisconsin and spent the fourth of July at Craig's parents on the lake.  We also were able to spend a lot of time with my side of the family celebrating my older brothers wedding this past summer!!

We officially have more school aged kids than non-school aged kids this year.  Both kids are enjoying school and doing well.    Isaac has gone from sitting at the kitchen table, not wanting to read or write for me to bringing home things like this:

For real.  School has been really good for him.  He loves all the different things they do and make and learn and the kids he plays with.  Kindergarten definitely started out bumpy (we had about 2 weeks of not wanting to go) but has been good for all of us since.   However, we all are excited for this winter break and having a few days all together.   Andie has been taking piano again and loves to perform for anyone who wants to listen.  She also has been taking gymnastics but has also started to ask me when she can join the swim team.  I am excited for that but also know that it is a lot of work so we are waiting a bit still on that.  I have to look for my "Swim mom" bumper sticker for the back of our mini van and then we will be ready for her career as a swimmer I think.   Isaac enjoyed his soccer season again.  We all have ice skates this year so we are waiting for our rinks to freeze over to get out there and do some skating again.  Snow and cold came early but it is all gone now and no one is more sad about this than Isaac.  He can stay out in the snow and cold longer than any of us.

Caleb is Caleb.  I get asked a lot "what do you and Caleb do all day".  Good question.  We have a few things scheduled each week (bible study, playtime with a friend, grocery day) and then we play a lot of legos or trains

 and read a lot of "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction site".  He likes to "help" in the kitchen but really ends up looking like this most of the time:

He started out completely clothed in this pictures but slowly clothes did not make sense any more.  Then I scrapped cookie making with him altogether, filled the sink with bubbly water and tried to get some cookies finished while he played.   It is always an adventure with Caleb around......but I have so been enjoying my special one on one time with him.  I often have to tell myself...."we don't have to get stuff done to feel like we have done something".  On the day pictured above Caleb was content playing in the water and "bumping bellies" with me every now and then.  He basically wanted me to lift up my shirt and bump my bare belly to his.  This entertained him for about 10 minutes.

So that was a little summary of 2014 for us, and a Christmas card rolled into one!!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Keep sending me those cute Christmas cards and I may get on the ball one of these years and send one back!