Our Family's 2015
- We rang in 2015 at a family friendly NYE party at our good friends' home. Our kids loved all of the activities that the other mama planned.
- Hero and I celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary in London! We traveled on the underground, walked across Tower Bridge, explored the Tower of London, and ate at an Italian restaurant on the River Thames.
- I cut my long hair into a pixie cut to donate to Little Princess Trust.
- In February, Little Man and I built a snowman in our backyard by scraping every bit of snow we could to form the three parts...He was a bit grassy.
- I got my nostril & cartilage pierced for the 1st time in February. (Still have the cartilage one, but accidentally ripped the nostril one out...twice. Still haven't gone to get it re-pierced.)
- LM & I travelled to Cambridge to celebrate Ayyam-i-ha with the Baha'i community.
- LM & I, along with our friends, went to a farm for kids. LM even got to bottle feed a hungry calf!
- LM went bowling for the 1st time!
- March brought Easter parties with egg hunts, attendance at a local church's Easter Service, and lots of gardening.
- In April, our family went to Holi Festival that an Indian association put together to educate the community. We also bought our son a balance bike (an alternative to a tricycle).
- Hero and our family celebrated his 27th birthday!
- I declared myself a Baha'i in early May!
- Hosted an educational Cinco de Mayo kids' party.
- Bought our first family pet...Hamtaro the Syrian Hamster...Who has grown considerably bigger since we first bought him. He now has a better habitat made from an old aquarium with a large wheel, a sand bath, a rainbow bridge, food & water dishes, and a little house to hide in. Lately, he's been hiding in his little house and piled wood shavings around the front and likes to throw poop out...Real charmer isn't he?... We still can't hold him without being bitten because I think LM scares him too much, but he does like to be petted on the back and fed snacks from our hands. First photo of him:
- LM & I traveled to London and saw the Rosetta Stone in person in a museum! (As someone who has always been interested in linguistics, this was a truly amazing experience!)
- We also went to Madame Tausand's Wax Museum in London, and they had a special Star Wars exhibit. They even had a little amusement ride where the seat is a British taxi, and it teaches a little about British history in a fun way. We were with friends, and it seemed like Little Man's favorite London destination by far! (We skipped the scary section.)
- I sanded down and painted (by hand) my son's table and chairs and an end table for the living room.
- I completed a Color Run 5K w/ some of my friends. Highly recommend a color run if you want to do a 5K! Lots of fun!
- Little Man celebrated his 4th birthday with a dinosaur themed party at a big indoor playground. I made a paleontologist scene cut out as a photo prop and lots of dinosaur themed decorations and cupcakes. My friend made him a cute dinosaur cake, and I did face painting to turn the kids into dinosaurs.
- I started teaching Baha'i based virtues classes for children, and I'm hoping to continue them (but on a revised monthly instead of weekly schedule) in the new year.
- Our family attended many birthday parties over the Summer...For a good stretch, we had one every weekend!
- Little Man started full time British school in the Autumn! His grade is called "Reception" which is much like Kindergarten.
- Celebrated my 25th birthday! I really enjoyed the French restaurant I went to w/ Hero and LM. The building was beautiful.
- October was filled w/ activities. We did professional family photos, went to festivals, did lots of crafts and baking, and had fun trick-or-treating.
jewelry organizer
- Our family Halloween costume theme came from a show my husband and I love..."Grimm"...It's like the Grimm brothers' fairy tales mixed with a more realistic detective show...I was Rosalee the Fuchsbau (anthropomorphic fox). Hero was Monroe the blutbad (werewolf-like creature), and Little Man was Detective Nick Burkhart...The Grimm! I had a lot of fun w/ our costumes. I put forth plenty of effort into transforming my face and my husband's to look more like our characters and creating the pieces for our son's costume.
- My son and I traveled to another city for the Baha'i Twin Holidays to celebrate with the Baha'i community, and we also had our own celebration at home.
- I'm in the beginning stages of learning to crochet, and I actually have a pretty good sized piece made now that LM wants me to make into a blanket.
- We had to say "see you later" to Hero for what we thought would be a much longer time and missed having Thanksgiving together, but thankfully, he was returned to us earlier than expected just in time for Christmas!
- While he was gone in November, we had our own Thanksgiving celebration at home and at our friends' home and went to a Christmas festival. I also went on a "ladies night out" and saw "Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 2".
(Disclaimer: Above movie poster is NOT made by me nor do I own it nor do I know its creator.)
- And then "the curse" happened....A wind storm damaged things in our garden. My son was playing and landed on my foot just the wrong way, and it's still in an orthopedic boot awaiting an MRI. I found out I have more health problems and had (and will still have to) see various specialists. Our car suddenly started having so many electrical issues that it wouldn't have been worth it to repair it and got sold to a junkyard. Even the vacuum cleaner started acting up and spitting out everything all over my carpet...Let's just say that everything hit the fan at once...
- I managed to "put out all the fires" with the help of friends before my husband came back home. Wind damage was repaired. I've done all I can for my foot until I can get an MRI. Handling the other health issues. Bought a new-to-us car!! Took apart the vacuum and fixed it...
- Little Man sounded out words, and read a book for the 1st time!!!!...And it was on Skype to his daddy! This nerdy family is overjoyed about him reading!
- In December, I also had many things to keep me occupied. I did a lot of babysitting jobs for friends. Little Man was a shepherd in his school's Christmas play. I read the Texas Night Before Christmas book to both Reception classes at LM's school.
- Then...Hero came home early!
- I made my own brine and cooked a turkey for our family for the 1st time for Christmas dinner! (Usually, we were at family or friends' homes for holidays, and I would be focused on making sides. This time around, I made all of it for our family.)
- We had a great Christmas at home!
- With the help of his daddy, Little Man learned to ride a two wheeled pedal bike for the 1st time!
- Hero and I went on a date to see the newest Star Wars movie at the theater.
- We ended the year with a family night in...confetti poppers, a kiddie NYE show on Netflix, and then after putting LM in bed, Hero and I watched a show on Netflix and kissed a midnight!
- Little Man's New Year resolution: Ride my bike more! (I'll write a separate post on what me and my hubby will be working on.)
I believe we completed 2015 much closer and happier as family. We went on a lot of adventures, tried new things, and had many firsts and accomplishments. There were also a considerable amount of challenges, but we're still here! I logged a lot of volunteer hours, made many new friends, said goodbye to others, made progress on some of my chronic health problems and started working on newly diagnosed ones, traveled to lots of towns and big cities within England, became a part of many groups, and learned new skills. I look forward to learning to thrive through whatever 2016 has for us!
I hope your holidays were nice too, and...
Happy New Year everyone!
~LadyH
Reader Response
- What are some highlights from your 2015?
- What did you learn?
- How has your family changed or grown?
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