12 in 2016 (a photo year-in-review)

Taking a page from HouseUnseen (cause I saw hers first) and also Revolution of Love and recapping my year with a picture a month. I tend to think my days/weeks are pretty boring, and then I do something like this and find that, "Hey! I'm not that boring after all!" Or at least, not by my standards. (Which can be pretty low. Ha!)

The little dude turned 1! I could hardly believe a year could go so fast. (Now to prep myself for saying that all over again, when in a month, he turns 2).

Lent came early in 2016 - and turned out to be the blessing of the year. I hosted a small group of women at my house and we went through the Blessed Is She Lent devotional together - the friendships formed there have grown through this year and I'm so grateful.

Joyfully celebrated St Patrick's day (with bangers and mash... cuz that's Irish, right?), Easter, and also Grandad's arrival. Not pictured here: little dude's first bike ride with Mommy, and our multiple trips to the Children's Museum. (Multiple.)

Little dude was getting much better at walking, apparently - as I kept seeing more and more photos of him like this rather than on all fours or just plain seated. Other memories not posted: Waffledagen, St George's day, Divine Mercy Sunday

Held our first Blessed Brunch on the feast of the Visitation. It was a lovely morning brunch with quite a few more ladies than I expected!

Took the kids to their first fast food restaurant ever - Amy's Drive Thru - I got kinda excited. Also began Camp Catholic, which turned out to be a great experience!

It was now really getting warm here! We continued doing Camp Catholic stuff and also added the Read the World bookclub to our weekly activities.

More library trips, more trips to the park, more "field trips"... and then the wee girl went and started preschool (Wah! Yay!)

Warm weather lasts a looong time here in California, so there were more trips to the beach and hanging out with the neighbors. Our side yard was overrun with cherry tomatoes. No really. Overrun. And I went away for a weekend to the Setting the World On Fire conference down in Altadena. What else?... Oh yeah! And Amy's Drive Thru picked up my picture from up above and stuck it in their IG feed for a day. #15secondsoffame

October brought us a little rain and a visit from Grammy and Poppy! I attended a one-day retreat with the musician Sarah Hart. The kids played in puddles and piles of leaves. Halloween came and the wee girl finally understood the concept of dressing in costume... so she dressed in her Merida costume from the year before, the wee dude dressed up as the bottom half of BB-8 (because he doesn't get dressing up yet himself) and I wore cat ears. But most importantly we got candy.

For the 3rd year in a row, we went to the Aquarium for the wee girl's birthday. Holding to tradition, she looked, but refused to touch the sea stars. Grandad-dad returned for another visit (and also got a "dad" added to his name, courtesy of the little dude). Advent started...

...and ended! I know this picture is fuzzy and my hair's a mess but I just love it anyway. My little dude... our first real tree... the nearly 2 year old bicycle that the wee girl still won't ride (even with the snazzy new saddlebags on it). It's a beautiful mess. I hope for more of it in 2017.

Thank you for reading and blessings on your new year too!