My Year In Review

Wow, it has been a year since I started this blog and I know that I haven't been very good about keeping my blog updated this year.  I thought this might help review what my year has been like.  My goal in 2012 is to keep the blog updated at least on a monthly basis, hopefully more.


January - I decided that I wanted to work on getting out of my comfort zone. So I decided that I would start blogging.  For some people this might not be a challenge, but for me it was huge.  I don't like to show anyone what I have written down.  Coming up with a name for the bolg was the hardest part for me.  After several suggestions I finally settled on the title.  Why did I chose "Even The Dog Is A Boy",  I am married with 2 sons and our dog is also a boy.  When we got our dog alsmost 2 years ago I requested a girl dog, but we ended up adopting a boy instead.  Oh well, I guess I will continue to be the only girl in the house.


February - This was a busy months of firsts for me.  I started to blog, became a mom of a wrestler (I still can't believe it), touched a shark, and took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge for a mini vacation.  This was a great month to start new things.


March - I had to go back thru my calendar to see what we had done this month.  We did absolutetly NOTHING.  I am not sure how we managed to have an entire event free month.


April - Let the baseball season begin!  Both boys played baseball, they even played on the same nights.  This kept us busy running between games since they seemed to have games at the same time each night.  This month also brought with it Spring Break.  Spring break was a little different this year.  We all went different directions.  I went to Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia.  MJC went to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  My husband and ADC meet me in Virginia.


May - Mother's day was a great day.  We went for a hike and picnic lunch at one of the local state parks.  We even took the dog with us and had a wonderfully relaxing day.  ADC turned 7 and had a pirate party with his friends.  May was also the month that the preschool I teach at was told to vactate the church we were at.


June - We spent a lot of time out at Ceaser's Creek State Park, swimming in the lake.  The park has a public beach and the boys really enjoyed going there to build castles.  This month I spent a lot of time on the finishing touches for the Relay For Life of Oakwood.


July - Relay For Life of Oakwood was this month.  This was probably the hardest thing I have ever done, but it was so worth it.  I really enjoyed watching everyone making a difference and raising money for cancer research.  After Relay was over I took the rest of the month to just spend it with my children swimming at the pool and "Beach".


August - The beginning of a new preschool is upon us.  August brought with it a new location for the preschool I teach at.  There were so many things that needed to be done before the school could be opened.  Several of us along with parent volunteers spent long days at the location getting the rooms cleaned, painted and organized for the first day of school.  At the end of August my boys went back to school.  MJC started the fifth grade and ADC started the first grade. MJC also turned 11 and had a Percy Jackson themed party at a local park.  He and his friends had so much fun.  I can't believe how fast the boys are growing up.  


September - The new preschool opened with success.  I turned 40 and the world did not crash.  My husband and I found ourselves busy with all of the boys soccer and football games.  I know that there were times we weren't sure if we were coming or going.  


October - Halloween, is not  a favorite holiday of mine.  MJC and ADC both decided to be Smurfs this year.  Do you know how hard it is to find RED sweat pants for a child?  I searched every where for pants that would work for MJC to be Papa Smurf.  ADC decided to be baker smurf and that was much easier to pull together.  I know that a lot of people prefer to buy the costumes, but I like the idea of the boys using their imaginations to put together costumes from things they already have and/or to buy clothes that they can wear after Halloween.


November - Thanksgiving, is a favorite holiday of mine.  I love being with my family at this time.  Usually we go to my parents house in Virginia, however this year we all went to my brother's house in Tennessee.  It was wonderful to see the cousins playing together.  Many laughs were had by all, the highlight was watching the YouTube video's.  The best one had to be the "Honey Badger", my boys still say "this honey badger, he just don't care"  when ever something goes wrong.


December - Another year has come and gone!  That seemed like a fast year.  The boys had a two week break from school over the Christmas holiday and they were gone for half of that time.  On Christmas we opened gifts as a family and then went to an Aunt's house in Cincinnati to celebrate with more family.  The boys stayed there from Christmas until New Year's.  The house was very quiet with them gone.  I guess I got the one gift I have asked for for several years, peace and quiet.


There you have it, my 2011 year in review.   I hope you enjoyed it, now let's see if I can do a better job of keeping the blog updated in a timely fashion this year.

A Christmas Memory

This year while I was out doing some Christmas shopping I had a memory from Christmases past.  This is something that I hadn't thought about for a long time and it put a smile on my face to remember it, at the same time it made me sad.  I thought about my grandfather and all the times we spent listening to the Chipmunk Christmas Albums.  The only reason I can think that I had this memory is because my son MJ was going to be playing the part of Alvin in the holiday concert at his school.  


I remember being at my grandparents house and putting the record on the player (we didn't have CD's back then) and singing along with the Chipmunks.  As I am standing in the store remembering this happy time, I happen to turn around and there were both the Chipmunk Christmas Albums on CD.  I had to buy them right then and there.  I was so happy to have found them that I did a happy dance right there in the store.  Boy, did I get some strange looks.  I never dreamed that I could find something from my childhood that would make me so very happy.


A couple days later the Chipmunk Christmas special was on TV.   As I sat there watching the it my boys I began to cry because it reminded me of watching it with my grandfather when I was a little girl.  MJ asked me why I was crying so I told him about the music and watching the Chipmunks with my grandfather.  What made these memories so special to me is the fact that my grandfather passed away 14 hours after MJ was born 11 years ago.  Even though he is not here to share in these memories, I feel blessed that I have them and can share them with my children


It always surprises me when the memories of loved ones lost will come flooding back to me. It is the simplest of things that will trigger a memory no matter how big or small.  Did you have a holiday memory that came flooding back to you this holiday season?