The year in review

With the new year right around the corner, I'm doing something that I've done on my blog the last few years. I would love to have you join me!
Post the first sentence of your first blog post of every month, and then add your favorite picture from each month. It's fun to look back!

JANUARY
"We have a New Years Eve tradition"We received record amounts of snow here in January. Andy was in South Korea and got very little, but he sent us this picture to show that he was having fun in the snow too.
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FEBRUARY
"February is the month that we seem to hear a lot about love."
The trees always look beautiful with snow covering their branches.
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MARCH
"I have a count meter on this blog"Andy came home for a short visit after spending a year in South Korea. Here he is visiting a first grade class that had sent him cards while he was gone.
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APRIL
"The recipe I have for you today is..."
I was out for a walk in the evening and the setting sun made this old fence almost glow.
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MAY
"I was in our local sub shop"My sister Cheri and I went to Tulip Time in Holland Michigan and stopped to see this authentic, working Windmill.
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JUNE
"Thanks to everyone who entered my anniversary giveaway."In June we got a new kitten named Oliver. Isn't he cute?
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JULY
"Today is supposed to be Slow Cooking Thursday"

I spent the day with my sister, Terri, who was camping on Lake Michigan. What a beautiful spot!

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AUGUST
"You may remember that we got a kitten a few months ago"
This has to be my picture for August - Andy and Bob greeting each other in a parking lot in Colorado.
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SEPTEMBER "Saturday we had another great day." This was taken when we were in Colorado visiting Andy. What a wonderful trip!
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OCTOBER
"I recently saw this cute video"
This is a picture of our street, with the beautiful colors!
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NOVEMBER "We are pretty happy at our house"
Falling leaves was the story of November. These all fell in a 24 hour period!
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DECEMBER
"Every year my sisters-in-law have a wreath making party"

This picture was taken around the corner from my house, after our first big snowfall of the year.
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That's it for this year. It was fun looking back and I'll see you next year!

Works for me Wednesday

The tip I have for today is one that I have shared before, but since the new year is coming, I thought it was a good time to share again.
This time of year there are a lot of the small purse size monthly calenders available for free. For at least 10 years I've taken advantage of that, and I use them to write down my meal plans. I plan meals for 2 weeks at a time, and try to do my grocery shopping accordingly.
Having meals planned saves me a lot of trouble when I come home from work, because I don't have to think about what I can make with what we have in the house.
The calenders are so handy to look back at, both for ideas when my brain isn't coming up with something and to see what we may have been doing a few months or even a year ago, since I also write in it when we are going out or with friends... I keep a few years of these tucked away for reference.
For more tips, visit Kristen at We are THAT Family.

Hi!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted something. I thought I would share a few pictures of what we've been up to here.

Of course, we are really enjoying having Andy around. This picture gives an idea of his goofy side. I had bought these giant stockings at the dollar store and told the kids they needed to fill them for Bob and I. Andy found them, and filled them with himself!
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We spent an evening at Bob's sisters home. These little guys thought they wanted a bite of what we were having.
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While at their house, we tried out their Wii fit. We all laughed at and with each other as we played.
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Oliver got this cube for Christmas, and he's really enjoying it!
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On Christmas Day, we had my whole family over for the day.
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These two are my sister Terri and Cheri's daughters. They can't wait to open the presents!
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On Saturday, we had Bob's family party. It was a room full of people - 26 to be exact!
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This is the youngest of Bob's family, his nephews son. Isn't he a cutie?

I'll have a few more pictures to show you later, but thought this was enough for now!