year in review.

at the beginning of 2009, i declared i would make 2009 the year of home. we moved back into our house in february and i wanted to make my home cozy and beautiful, i feel i've succeeded. my goals for 2010 include starting an etsy shop, carving out time for myself by spending time alone and with friends, i also want to cultivate friendships and become less reclusive and more adventurous. following is my year in review. i hope everyone has a beautiful new years, and that 2010 is full of love and adventure for all of us!

january

brady started working at the city january 2nd, and we were full of hope and anticipation. i don't have a picture from january, oddly enough. i remember making lists and preparing to move, and trying not hurt anyone's feelings by being too excited about moving home.

februarythe first nite back in our house was february 1st. we had sold most of our things in the garage sale we had before we moved, so we were nearly starting over. margot joined our family on february 7th, we saw her & i fell in love instantly. brady said no way, no day & i was pretty bummed. that is, until he "went shopping" & came home with my pretty kitty.

march

march was a fun time of waiting for the outside to warm up, taking walks, & becoming reacquainted with our home. there had been updates & little changes throughout, so i had fun making these discoveries. in march, brady got an email from a lawn company he'd sent a resume to several months prior, and they were wanting to schedule an interview. we spent the evening discussing this, and the very next day the city drastically reduced his working hours. he went to the interview and started working there several weeks later.


april

in april, brady's family came up for the weekend and redecorated the girls bedroom. it was fun and so kind of them to do. it turned out so darling and we still love it. the girls decided it would be a good idea to cut their hair, so i had to fix that just before easter. they had adorable little summer cuts, which they loved. emma turned 4, we had a little party. she was not a big fan of aging another year and we had a hard time for a few weeks after her birthday.

may
may. the longest month of this year, for me. all that matters is theodore is here, and he is perfect.

june
june was a time of acclimation and figuring out how on earth we were going to do this. brady turned 26 and i turned 23. we celebrated in the usual manner, with homemade pizza and funfetti cake... though i got reprimanded quite severely for kneading pizza dough 5 days postpartum! the picture i chose for june was our first walk as the completed crandall clan, the first of many escapades and days spent outside. we had lots of visitors and helpers during this time, which was nice. i started project 365 on my birthday, and that's still going strong!

july
july was a fairly quiet month, violette anne turned 3 and loved it. we had a dj lance rock cake and a fun party. we spent most of july outside, having picnics and taking pictures. i don't recall anything all too exciting in july, but i may have been preoccupied with my brand new baby!

august
august was a good time of finally feeling wholly settled from having the baby. we had lots of parties and fun events in august. this picture is from our niece's big birthday bash... brady's brother and his wife know how to throw a party! this was the third year brady's cousin has taken our family photo at this park, and i love having the tradition.

september
september was a long goodbye to summer, we transitioned to playing inside more and my crafting was highly active. we anticipated shorter and colder days ahead, and spent every chance outside and in the water that we could. i think september may have been the quietest month in 2009 for us.

octoberoctober! my favorite month of the year. we celebrated 7 years of lovies on 'tober 13th and the universe even recognized how vastly important it was that brady have the day off by sending rain so he wouldn't have to work. we had a wonderful halloween, with a bumblebee and butterfly and a baby bear.


november
november was a fun month of appreciating fall with baking and knitting and watching the leaves. we took a trip to amarillo and had a lovely early thanksgiving dinner with brady's family. our thanksgiving week was full of dinners with friends and family and quite nice.

decemberdecember has been a fun month of counting down the days til christmas with little activities each day. we had a party at our house with brady's family, which was definitely a highlight of our christmas season. i'm not sorry to see december go, since it brought this crazy blizzard and displaced our plans. in spite of it all, we had a beautiful christmas and the time spent together was lovely.