2015: A Year in Review

2015 was our first year living in Seattle in which we didn't have an under-one-year-old for an entire year. We vowed to make the most of it and we certainly did. It was a very blessed and busy year! 

We did a lot of traveling. In March, Adam and I each got to take a kid-free trip. I road-tripped to Portland with my sister for a girls' weekend. Adam accompanied my brother on a scholarship interview to Pittsburgh and got to visit with all our dear friends there. 

In May, we took our first not-visiting-family vacation lasting more than two nights. We spent a week in San Francisco and had an absolutely fantastic time exploring the city.

In the summer months, we took several long weekend road trips around the Pacific Northwest - to a resort in the Cascades to celebrate my parents' 30th anniversary, to a beach town on the Olympic Peninsula with Adam's mom and sister, and to visit my aunt on Vancouver Island. 

 

In October, I took my first solo trip with the girls to visit some dear friends in Nashville. Two weeks later, we all flew out to the east coast again for a wedding in West Virginia with Adam's family.

We also visited my parents' new hometown in Eastern Washington twice, for July 4th and Thanksgiving. 

When we weren't traveling, we were hosting family and friends here in Seattle.

Adam's mom came twice, once with his dad in February and once with his sister in August.

His oldest brother, sister-in-law, and our three-year-old niece visited in May.

Our good friends from college visited in July with their two boys, who are the same ages as Claire and Maggie. 

Adam's third oldest brother, who's closest to him in age, visited with his wife in November.

My cousin, Jess, who's in grad school in Edmonton, also came twice, once in February and once in December. 

Last, but certainly not least, we got to see a lot of my family now that they're living close by. It was a big year for my side of the family. My parents wrapped up their three-year stint in Shanghai and my dad got transferred to a new project in Richland, Washington. Scott graduated from high school there and started college at the University of Pittsburgh. After two years of work as an oncology nurse in Houston, Allison left to become a missionary nurse at an orphanage in Honduras. We felt particularly blessed to spend lots of quality time with her this summer before she moved to Central America.



 



We all took family pictures while we were vacationing in the Cascades and received some very cherished images. 

We seized the opportunity for lots of date nights. We saw Cirque du Soleil, Jim Gaffigan, Chris Thile, and the Nutcracker. We rode the Great Wheel and went to a puzzle room. We actually went to the movies five times - The Imitation Game, The Women in Gold, Far From the Madding Crowd, Spy, and Star Wars. Most excitingly, we got to celebrate our fifth anniversary with a night away. We hiked Rattlesnake Ledge and stayed at the Salish Lodge.

We took several day trips around the Seattle area as a family. The tulip festival, Bainbridge Island, Whidbey Island, Alki Beach, and Mount Rainier.

We threw three liturgical year themed parties. One for Mardi Gras in February, a May Crowning play date, and one for Michaelmas in September.

Claire turned three in March, which we celebrated with a Frozen birthday party. She transitioned to a toddler bed and potty trained. She learned to draw people and can almost write her name - just working on the "r." We also started reading chapter books aloud together. We're five books into the "B is for Betsy" series by Carolyn Haywood.

Maggie turned two in October, which we celebrated with a Minnie Mouse birthday party. She learned to talk and how to climb even the highest slide at the playground. The girls play together really, really well now. We moved them into the same bedroom over the summer.

We found out we were expecting our third child on my golden birthday - 26 on May 26th. We announced her presence on our fifth anniversary on July 31st. In mid-September, we found out we were having another girl and named her Beatrice Jacqueline. We've nicknamed her Betsy and can't wait for her arrival in hopefully less than a month.

We bought a minivan early January and signed a two-year lease on our lovely rental home. House projects inside and out kept us busy. We planted flowers in all the empty beds in the front and back yards. We got an electric piano for Adam in the playroom, a sewing desk for me in the living room, and even built some toy cubbies. Of course, we also watched lots of television and Adam beat me in our annual reading challenge for the first time ever. Just by one book though! He also got promoted, received his first patent, and started riding his bike to work.

Just like always, we rejoiced at Easter and Christmas and celebrated Halloween with a themed family costume. It was a wonderful year and I'm excited to see what 2016 holds!