A Year in Reflection......

In 2013, we were able to create many memories that will last us a lifetime:

1. I celebrated my last year of being in the 20s, Blake made it extra special by creating a homemade ice cream cake. As you read below the it was a great year to end the decade. 

2. I started a new position at Madison Elementary and I now  work with a wide-range of grade-levels and dabble more in the area of ELL. This has been a professional goal for me for the past few years and I was very excited to try something new. It has been a great experience, but not being in charge of my own classroom is something that I have missed. Both sides of being an interventionist and a classroom teacher have brought great learning experiences. The students all around have been wonderful. 

3. In May, we found out we're expecting a baby! This was  probably the biggest and most exciting news of 2013 for us. We cannot wait to meet our new bundle of joy and enter into parenthood in February 2014. I'm sure many of our future memories of the new year will revolve around the new addition :)

4. We put our house on the market & sold our house.....in 2013 change was a big part of our lives. We had hoped to sell our house during the summer since I was off and it would be a more convenient time for us, but it life happens on its own timeline.  

5. We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary! We enjoyed a great dinner at Cafe di Scala and were able to have ISU bake us a cake for dessert. It was great to enjoy a taste of our wedding day.

6. We traveled to Seattle, OR  to visit friends and celebrate one of them getting married. It was a wonderful trip as we made it into our anniversary/babymoon. We visited walked the whole city and enjoyed many of the sites including: the space needle, rode on a ferry, were in awe of the Chihuly gardens (our favorite), took an underground tour, shopped at Pike's Place Fish Market, went to a Mariner's baseball game, and ate delicious food throughout our trip-mainly oysters for Blake

7.   A visit to Maryland made the top of our list to visit Blake's family. It is something that doesn't get done as often as we like, but we love to see them. We always welcome them to visit us here in Iowa-now we have more room (hint, hint). 

8. We also tailgated to support our Cyclones. This year we got season tickets and a parking pass with our friends, the Froese's. It was nice always knowing we had a place to park, especially with both of couples expecting their first baby. They welcomed Shay at the end of September..........I see many more tailgates with little ones running around together. 

9. Finally, we moved into our new house. We ended up moving during the Fall after Blake found us the house we wanted to make our home.We got to move into our home at the end of October, thankfully to some understanding family we were able to stay with them during our time of "homelessness". We got to stay with my sister's family for almost 2 weeks with our dogs. Their 3 kids were great with the dogs and really enjoyed dressing up Lucy. 

Lucy was very good with all the love she was given

10. Taking on new things is something that after all the changes, maybe you thought I wouldn't do, think again. I began learning to knit. I  always wanted to learn how to knit, sew, crochet.....a co-worker heard me talking and offered to give me lessons along with a few others. I didn't get very far, but it is a start!

11. Preparing our nursery for arrival of Baby Marlowe. Blake was busy painting, putting furniture together, and putting up trim as I washed and organized all of Baby M's goodies. It is a wonderful nursery and we are looking forward to bringing home our little one in a few short weeks. It doesn't have all the finished touches, but it is ready enough to bring home Baby M. 

 

 

12. Spending time with family during the holidays was something we were able to enjoy. With Blake's family being so far away we were lucky enough to have his dad visit over the Christmas holiday. We had 4 Christmases. We celebrated with my dad's side-always the first weekend of December, my mom's side on Christmas Eve, my immediate family Christmas afternoon, and one ourselves on Christmas morning. What a busy holiday season and wonderful time to being with family. 

13. Spent a relaxing New Year's together in our new home, Blake made a delicious dinner and we watched movies. Stay tuned as 2014 will bring many more memories!

My drinks of of the evening

Blake's drinks of the evening