: word of the year :: 2012 :

flour·ish (flûrsh, flr-)

v. flour·ished, flour·ish·ing, flour·ish·es

1. To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive

2. To do or fare well; prosper

3. To be in a period of highest productivity, excellence, or influence

I don't know about you but you and your word for the year, but when God laid it on my heart that mine would be "Flourish" it was pretty exciting. I do want to flourish, I want my life to be in constant place of "high productivity, excellence & influence" ~ What an exciting feeling!

When I think about my past "word of the year"2011 -- I know that it was building up to this one and that feels really good too!

Last year's word was "Change" and change I {we} did - it was painful, long and very little of it was enjoyable; the change I mean...the year was enjoyable but you do the best with what you have and we continued to trust that God's best was in store for us through it all...and we are always shown that His best does reign in our lives.

Anyway, so there you have it...if you care to share your "word of the year" leave a comment with a link to your blog; I'd love to hear about it!

May God give you a word to hold on to in the craziness of this life and in the stillness of the moments we have with Him.

Happy Weekend Y'all - I'm off to a "Girls Night Out" tonight and a full weekend ahead!
{XoXo}

: Christmas 2011 Recap :

Before I start in on my resolutions for 2012 or my word of the year...I better post about our Christmas.

We had a great Christmas, a homey Christmas, a Christmas busy enough to make us feel involved in celebrations but close enough to home to be relaxing and warm.

We kicked off the season the boys and I by making our sugar cookies - this is the first year they really got into the decorating {and got sugar beads everywhere} - but it was OH so fun!

As a family we completed our gingerbread house & train

Then we celebrated Christmas with the our whole family {including our Island portion} by going on the Bear Creek Farm Train and meeting for dinner later that same day

Love this shot of the kids, my SIL has a cuter shot, but I couldn't resist posting this one with my little guy yelling at us to "hurry up"!

...might be built for little people Mr. L ;)

Later that night we tried to get a shot of the kids in their matching pj's - what a riot...three photographers, not enough light, no flashes and moving babies - HA!

We enjoyed Christmas Eve at our church then on to dinner {drive through McD's is what the boys wanted - HA!} drove by some beautiful lights and then on to home to go through our traditional events. Reading the night before Christmas, opening one gift that Santa left while we were at church ;) and tucking the boys in so we could enjoy some movie watching, wrapping gifts and enjoying some snacks...all in all a perfectly {late} night :)

JJ brought home reindeer food from school {oats&glitter} to through out in the front yard, super cute idea and they loved the hype around it!

Tree all dressed with presents and love..

Christmas morning we got up to Santa's footprints left in our family room, some lovely gifts under the tree and in our stockings. We enjoyed a quick little breakfast of our traditional panettone, yogurt & fruit...then quickly got ready to head out for the rest of the day by 10 am.

Sang an important happy birthday song to baby Jesus and laid him in the manger

Tree all unwrapped and some of the boys new toys {train set for JJ & pirate ship for Coley}

First stop was my parents for brunch..my Marm makes a mean brunch and they are always so great at personalizing each of our gifts & gift baskets {aka: family stocking} -- we also got a chance to be with my Grandma Rosie and have a short visit with my Aunt Shirley & Uncle Ron -- which hasn't happened in many many years. That was definitely a pleasant surprise!

Around 3.30 pm we headed out to Paul's families place across the bridge...there we enjoyed great appies and time with the cousins. When the house is filled with 4 kids under 5 it makes the volume go up intensely; so it was a beautiful thing when our kids finally retired to Nana & Papa's bed at 9 pm.

We got home from the In-Laws well into Boxing Day so to say the least, Boxing Day was a low-key day letting the boys enjoy the toys they just opened and spending the majority of the day with Christmas video's playing and trying to put together said toys - OY VEY!

There we go, now onto resolutions and the word of the year..it's

a good one and I've had it for a couple days now so I can't wait to share!

{XoXo}

: 2011 Year in Review :

January
|Couple time in Arizona|

February
|New Kitchen Blind|

March
|A Day With Sister|

April
|Field trip :: Fire Station|

May
|Mother's Day|

June
|Jacob's 5 & Graduates Preschool|

July
|I was derailed|

August
|Trip to Lynden|
|Bought the house|

September
|9 Year Anniversary & Jacob\Cole's first days of school|

October
|Thankful|

November
|Cole's 4|

December
|Christmas in our home|

Hope you enjoyed a tour through our life in 2011 --- I know I sure enjoyed going back through 2011 to write this! If you have a blog, I would highly recommend doing this for yourself!
{XoXo}