another new year!

a single photo from new year's eve:

11:44 pm

 

look who stayed awake and who did not.

yes, bo christian (the 2 year old!) was awake until midnight.

connor hasn't made it until midnight yet.

husband was asleep by 10:30.

we were nice to him since he had worked all day.

 

all the boys and i were in our beds by 12:11am as husband was walking out the door to go to a fire.

such is the life of a fireman and a non-partying family.

 

 

i usually do not make new year resolutions.

but, this year i am.

 

this year we are going to eat more paleo-ish.

i cook and buy the food, so i get to decide.

less sweets and more real food for us.

 

the husband and i are going to try to pray the liturgy of the hours.

i know we will not pray all of them, but we are going to try for some.

i want the liturgy of the hours app.

{insert drum roll}

which means this low-tech woman has finally requested an i-phone.

i am going to trade in my vintage flip phone.

(this might be the year i start texting too, but probably not.)

 

tomorrow we start schooling again.

it will be nice to get back in our groove and start these resolutions.

 

Happy Epiphany of the Lord!

2013 in 13 photos

i've regretted not doing this last year.

so here i am after not blogging for way too long.

 

this year has been good to us.

it started off nice and easy, then the changes came.

not bad changes, just changes that shook us up a bit...in a good way.

 

our 5th baby at the ripe old age of 14 months got stitches.

that was the first time any of my boys received stitches from the ER.

that was hard for me, but he didn't seem to care.

 

 

teaching a younger brother to play his trumpet.

moments like these melt my heart:

 

husband started making popcorn.

it is great for when i do not make enough dinner-

which happens more and more these days.

it has also become our standard sunday night dinner.

I wrote more about it here.

 

the big boys' lips.

 

us at Easter.

i'm still disgusted with myself for letting the boys wear jeans.

but, it is the best family picture of the whole year!

i should've used it for a Christmas card, however...

 

 

every mom thinks it, but my baby is just beautiful.

 

connor made his first communion in april.

it is still strange to think we have 4 boys old enough to receive the eucharist.

 

i gave up on making cakes this year.

and not just because of this mess!

bronson's birthday cake was awful this year.

i will stick with cookies and pies.

 

this bike ride was awesome.

 

i have countless pictures just like this one.

it has been neat to watch how the boys have grown up

sitting right here every single morning eating their breakfast.

obviously they are not awake yet:

 

this was a year that was full of duck tape.

a chariot that they made:

we started homeschooling again!

one of a few changes.

this has been much easier than i thought it would be.

and of course it is so rewarding.

each boy is happy too.

day 1:



i have to say something about my baby getting bigger.

i will probably always say it, but i wish i could have just one more baby.

 

there have been many times i have gotten us both dressed and realized that we were dressed similar.

guess i was subconsciously going for a 4th of july in january look here.

so dorky and funny!

 

i am linking up with dwija and all the other ladies.

 

 



his big boy bed

 

i'm not sure which bo chrisitan is happier about:

being able to climb out of his baby bed

or his big boy bed.

 

for the next few days, bedtime is going to be interesting.

well, hello.

 a friend stopped by a few weeks ago and here we all were.

well, except for bronson.  he felt bad and was inside.

 

we were all dreaming together.

a dream that may or may not happen.
 

as one of the big boys said-

"we sure do have some potential energy."

at camp

 

this is a picture bauer took on sunday-

before bronson and connor left for camp for the entire week.

i feel the way bauer looks.

 

even though i know they are having the best time,

i feel like my life has been on hold all week.

i'm waiting on the rest of "my people" to get home where they belong.

 

i can't wait to see their sweaty faces in the morning.
i will get hear about their new friends,
all the awesome things they got to do,
and they will sing new camp songs. 

when i take the selfish me out of the situation, 

i am glad they got to go.