1. January:

I love this photo. It’s one of the first ones I took of both of my kids where they were both smiling at the camera. There’s something so playful and fun about it, and I just feel so blessed to have these little ones in my life.

2. February:

Okay, not surprisingly, another shot of my two kids. This is one of the first ones I took with my new camera, when I was still figuring out settings and such.

3. March:

Need I say anything? The sheer cuteness is reason enough to love this snapshot.

4. April:

This is Kyrie sitting on the grass as we watched a water-skiing performance at ULM. It was a warm and beautiful day.

5. May:

Yep, this is the first one that isn’t one of my children. We took a day trip to Seattle in May so that I could meet two of my online friends. We went to the Aquarium earlier in the day.

6. June:

Kyrie swinging at Auntie Bekah’s house. Yes, in her underwear.

7. July:

Antonio spent much of the summer in nothing but a diaper.

8. August:

We ate lots of delicious fresh vegetables and fruits from my mom’s garden. Kyrie is enjoying a freshly picked carrot.

9. September:

She’s such a darling.

10. October:

We went to the Arboretum and had tons of fun in a huge pile of leaves.

11. November:

This is Antonio watching the first snow of the season, on Thanksgiving Day.

12. December:

I only have two photos from December uploaded onto the computer. This is the best of those two. I need to upload more. But I still like this one.

There are a lot of things I will miss about Monroe, which may come as a surprise to some, but there were certainly attachments formed during our first four years of marriage living in Louisiana. I remember Isaiah and I driving the rental truck down, pulling into the driveway of the first house that Rick and I would live in, enjoying temperatures in the 70’s on New Year’s Day, having fun with friends, sighing contentedly at the deep blue sky streaked with pink clouds after a thunderstorm, and admiring the sunset over the peaceful bayou. I remember seeing the positive line on a pregnancy test with Kyrie, and again with Antonio, in the little bathroom of our house. I remember painting our dining room red because I need to live with color. I remember painting walls, sewing curtains, and hanging pictures to make our house a home. I gave birth to both of our babies in Louisiana. Antonio was born right in his sister’s room. There are so many special memories that we’ll carry with us. And I know I’ll never forget the challenges we faced as a new couple, and then a new family, living across the country from my family. It was good for me, and I’m thankful for the experience. I wouldn’t change it if I could.

Now that we are back in Spokane, I feel like everything is right. I feel joy when I just look into the starry night sky or smell the fresh, beautiful Northwest air. Every blade of grass that I see blowing in the wind seems familiar to me. I hear voices all around me in the buzzing of bees, songs of birds, and even the distant sounds of machinery or cars whizzing by that seem to be welcoming me home. It fills me with a joy and a feeling of belonging that I can’t fully describe.

Here’s Antonio sleeping in a rather cute position.

And here he is, simply looking cute in the Moby.

Here’s Kyrie walking through the woods in north Idaho.

She looks cute and small standing on a big stump.

After the hike, we went to the lake where the kids had a great time wading and/or swimming.

Kyrie and David tried to keep their clothes dry as they walked into the water.

Eventually I remembered that I had packed a swimsuit for Kyrie.

Antonio and Grandpa hung out together for a while.

She’s been teething lately, so it’s been a crazy couple of days. I’m so glad that she’s resting now.

Oh, she also slept until 6:30 this morning in her own crib. New record!

Rick’s cell phone screen also died recently. He found out his phone was under warranty and called to get a replacement. It came much quicker than we had expected, and now he’s got a new, working phone.

Our Time Warner cable wasn’t working because of some Norton firewall spyware on our computer. Rick was able to figure out how to delete it and now I’m surfing the net!

Oh yeah. Our digital camera also broke, but thankfully since Rick works in electronics at Sears, he was able to get an amazing deal on a slightly better camera, so the pictures don’t have to stop!

All is right with the world. This might possibly mean that I’ll be blogging more, especially pictures.

Also, Kyrie got her presents from Grandma Lisa. She loves them all! I’ll update with pictures soon.

Then we headed back home for cake & ice cream:

And then we opened presents:

I am also happy to announce that our AC hasn’t kicked on once in nearly two days. I do have the thermostat set a bit high (77), but the fact that it hasn’t gone above that is worthy of much thankfulness and joy.

Kyrie says “sss” for snake, “moo” for cow, “Ah! Ah! Ah!” for monkey, she makes a panting sound for puppy, and am I forgetting any, Rick? (He taught most of the animal noises to her.)

Hollie & I went shopping together the other day. It was fun to get out & visit and shopping is always fun. I got some things for Kyrie at The Children’s Place, and now I cannot wait for her birthday!

I just looked out the window and it’s definitely more than drizzling. Rain makes me feel happy.