Every year that I sit down to write this review, I am always amazed at how FULL our years are. The years seem to fly by, but I am thankful for the chance to pause and think back over all that has happened, specifically over all that the Lord has done. We have so much to be grateful for!
We kicked off January with a trip to the eye doctor for Aiden. He did great, but it started his eye patching journey, which has not been his favorite this year. Grandma and Papa came into town for a week, which was so fun and special! They came to help with unpacking and to help with the kids, because I had my wisdom teeth out {not fun}, and I was so grateful for the extra hands. The rest of the month was filled with neighborhood walks, dance parties, and trips to the air & space museum!
The remodel was officially finished in February! I was still recovering from my wisdom teeth removal, as I struggled through a dry socket, a tooth infection, and complications from the antibiotic. Since I wasn't feeling my best, our school start was pretty slow, but we did finally get our act together. Aiden started causing some mischief during rest time, making huge messes in his room and the bathroom, trying to flush things down the toilet, and testing this Mama's patience. We had a fun Valentine's Day breakfast and love-day themed school day, and Mrs. Siu brought over fun Valentine cookies to decorate!
In March, I got to go away for a weekend on the Rappahannock River. It was a peaceful and restful getaway, and I was so thankful for the quiet retreat. Even though it still felt like winter, our church hosted their Spring Festival, and our kids had a blast with bounce houses, a petting zoo, crafts, face painting, and food trucks. I got to help decorate the church for spring/Easter, and we wrapped up our Abide Bible study. I also had the fun opportunity to go see Jen Wilkin speak at the Museum of the Bible with a few ladies from our Bible study. The kids started playing soccer, and we hit our 100th day of school!
We celebrated Easter in April. The kids sang in church on Palm Sunday, we counted down with our countdown wreath, and celebrated with Easter baskets. By God's grace, I was able to see a neurologist several months early to start figuring out what to do with my migraines. We were starting to enjoy the warmer weather and spending more time outside; Mike was working hard on the landscaping. With some staffing changes at work, I was putting in some extra hours. Mike was able to surprise his mom and sneak in a weekend trip to Texas to surprise her for her 70th birthday!
In May, I was finally able to claim symptomatic remission from Crohn's! It had taken 3.5 years, but I had finally made it. Grandma and Papa came into town and it was a week full of parks, the zoo, strawberry picking, foot races, and birthday celebrations. We wrapped up our school year, with Eli and Maddie finishing Kindergarten, and Aiden finishing Pre-K. I got my MRI results back, and learned that there was no indication of a tumor. My prolactin numbers were up again, so I have to monitor that. We took several hikes, celebrated Mother's Day, and practiced riding bikes in the cul-de-sac.
We wrapped up our first soccer season in June. Mike finished up the landscaping at the house, and it looked amazing! We also started our battle with our mama deer, who kept helping herself to the new plants in the yard and making herself at home in our yard :) I got to spend an evening out in Old Town Alexandria with my friend Beatrice, which was fun to have a fun girls night out. We had a church work day and the kids were great helpers, working hard cleaning our church building. We made a trip to Gravelly Point Park with friends to watch the planes take off from Reagan National Airport, and the kids had a blast! We spent time at our neighborhood pool, celebrated Father's Day, and soaked up the non-scorching hot summer days!
In July, we hopped on the spaceship Galactic Praise for a week of VBS! I volunteered with the 2nd and 3rd graders, and the kids loved the time in their individual groups. Aiden had a small procedure to remove a mucocele from his mouth, and my sweet boy was so brave! Mike and I celebrated 12 years of marriage! The migraine medication that I had started was not showing much improvement, so I was still working through that. I made a trip out to the retreat site with the team for the women's retreat, and was thankful to be a part of our women's summer book club. We also introduced the kids to the game of Uno, and we played non-stop!
The end of July, and into August, we headed to Texas! The kids did great on the flights, and it was so great to be back in Texas to see family and friends. The time was jam-packed, and we didn't get to see everyone we would have liked to, but we are thankful for the time we had. We wrapped up our summer reading; I was so proud of how well the kids did! We had a fun water balloon fight with friends, spent a week at Goldfish Swim Camp, and enjoyed a few hikes. We celebrated Aiden's 5th birthday with a fun army man them, complete with camo and nerf guns. We also kicked off our 2nd year of homeschooling, with Eli and Maddie starting their 1st grade year, and Aiden starting Kindergarten.
September was filled with school, work, and church activities. We celebrated Labor Day at the pool with our Community Group and enjoyed some a fun foosball lunch with daddy while Mommy worked on women's retreat things. The kids got to enjoy a fun play date with friends while Mike and I attended a wedding. We joined a co-op, so the kids were learning how to sew. We kicked off our women's Bible study in the book of Acts, and Mike was installed as an elder. Our church's fall festival had some fun hands-on science and a chemistry show, and we got to visit the pandas at the National Zoo before they headed back to China.
In October, I was struggling with my second Crohn's flare, which was discouraging, since I was only 5 months into remission. I also switched to a new migraine medication in hopes that I would see more improvement on that front. Grandma and Papa were back in town for a week of fun, and we got to take them to the Cox Farms Fall Festival! My mom also got to come with me to the Women's Retreat, which was really special, since most of my month was filled with preparations for that. We also spent lots of time raking the leaves in our yard! We ended up with colds, so we didn't get to go trick or treating, but we still got to dress up and enjoy some fun Halloween festivities with Grandma and Papa here.
Eli and Maddie turned seven in November, and we celebrated with Pandas and Race Cars. We were still hard at work raking all the leaves in our yard, and it made for some fun family days. We gave Mike his birthday present early, and enjoyed several evenings by the fire pit, some of them roasting marshmallows. I made my first turkey for Thanksgiving this year, and we had a sweet lady from our church over to celebrate. We decorated for Christmas, which we were so excited to do, since we were moving last year, and we celebrated Mike's birthday with some yummy Uncle Julio's.
In December, we used our Advent Blocks and countdown wreath as we looked forward to Christmas. I blogged about how I was struggling in remission; definitely thankful for it, but struggling because I wasn't quite feeling as healthy and like myself as I did when I was in remission last time. Still praying and working through my health, hopeful for 2024. We were busy finishing up co-op and school things, but otherwise, the month was filled with all the Christmas things! We painted nutcrackers, made cotton ball snowmen, saw lots of Christmas lights in our neighborhood, went to the Ross King concert and our Community Group Christmas party, and made gingerbread houses. We had our first snow day, though it only lasted for one day. The kids sang Christmas songs in church, and we attended the Christmas Eve service. We enjoyed a quiet Christmas at home, and ended up celebrating Christmas dinner with friends. We did a zoom Christmas with Mike's side of the family on the 30th, otherwise, the last week of 2023 was spent playing and organizing and getting ready for the new year!
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Praise God for a wonderful year! We are settled in our house, and we are still just so thankful for how He has provided for us in this home. We are constantly reminded of the gift it is, and we don't ever want to take it for granted. We cannot believe how fast the kids are growing, and we are loving this stage of school and personalities and growth. We have a new year of ministry ahead, and will continue to figure out a good rhythm for our family and the best ways to serve our church family. I am praying through ways to better manage my health, hoping for fewer struggles in the coming year. But whatever comes in the new year, we know that the Lord is good, and we are thankful for His constant faithfulness to us. Here's to 2024!
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