A Year In Review

Looking at my stats I noticed my number of posts has been cut in half two years in a row.  Pathetic according to my standards.  Since you all have missed out on so much of our lives in the last year, I thought I quickly catch you all up by doing our year in review!!! =)

2012: In Review...

January  

-In January we finally celebrated Cocoa Puff's first birthday with a huge zebra-themed birthday bash.  She looked darling as ever in her zebra and pink tutu!

-We were also blessed many snow days to keep us occupied.

February

-Taking advantage of all the holidays, we celebrated Valentine's Day to the max with a mommy date to Starbucks and incredible chocolate heart shaped desserts!  

-The kids finally got to enjoy the great outdoors without the need for a big winter coat.  

-Mom got experimental and we began another chapter in Cocoa Puff's hair journey with flat twists.  

-Daddy celebrated his big 29 with Mexican food and a rainbow cake (all Hollywood's idea)!

March

-We celebrated my 27th birthday, along with a surprise delivery of cupcakes sent from an amazing friend living all the way in California.

-We had even more snow...yes, in March!

-We Finally got all the cousins together again for a big birthday bash and spent the afternoon at a water park with all 8 of them!

April

-This month we celebrated Easter - including a huge feast and an egg hunt in our back yard with friends!

-It finally got warm enough for mama to start walking again, so we broke out the sweatshirts, sunglasses, and stroller for several strolls around the block.

-The sun shined warm enough to risk blinding the whole world with my vampire legs.

May

-In May, daddy finally agreed to let me renovate the living room with board and batten and a fresh color scheme!

-I celebrated my first Mother's Day with my husband HOME, which meant lots of him spoiling and me relaxing!

-We broke in our new ride with a road trip to California to visit the Bentley family and reunite our girls for the first time since Hannah's Hope!

-While in Cali we also drove down to Little Ethiopia to meet up with the Skidmore family so Cocoa could see another one of her Hannah's Hope buddies!

June

-We celebrated Cocoa Puff's first Gotcha Day (June 26th) with a photo shoot and some excellent Ethiopian food, (I can say that because I didn't make it this time =) and also debuted her Gotcha Video for the first time.

-It got warm enough outside for bathing suits, swimming pools, and water balloon fights with the neighbors!

-We spent a weekend with the extended family for a much needed updated family photo.  Cocoa Puff turned on the charm and Hollywood cried the whole time.

-We said goodbye to the Bentley's as they moved their family to Ethiopia to begin their ministry there.

July

-In July we celebrated Cocoa Puff being home for one year (July 2nd).

-We entered the 4th of July Kiddie Parade for the first time along with some of our dear friends, followed up by the BIG parade and our annual BBQ with daddy's work buddies!

-We finally planted our garden (we missed our one sunny opportunity because of our Cali trip) and watered daily, anxious for those seeds to sprout.

-We spent a weekend at Deception Pass with the extended family and soaked up the rays on the beach.

-We spent our annual "Church Camp" on the lake with friends and family.  It was Cocoa's first camping trip and Hollywood's first time catching a fish!  We spent 4 days, and next year hope to go for even longer.

-We celebrated great-grandma's last birthday with us over chocolate cake!

August

-Cocoa Puff got her first set of yarn extensions in only her favorite color!  Time consuming, but fabulously worth it.

-We spent the majority of the month sun-bathing and swimming in our backyard.

-Hollywood outgrew his bike and asked for a new one for his birthday.

-We spent a weekend helping grandpa and grandma while they were caring for great-grandma in her last weeks.  The kids helped pick some corn and feed the cows (with some help from grandpa) while mom and dad prepared dinner.

September

-We finally started collecting some produce from our garden - zuchinni, squash, carrots, and pumpkins!  The corn never made it past a couple inches tall (thanks to the racoons that help themselves).  The jalepenos and green onions just never got big enough due to being planted so late.  Oh well.

-Hollywood started preschool (at home).  

-We soaked up every last ray of sun before it disappeared for another year.

-Mama finally got a girl's day out - a relaxing and much needed break.

-Cocoa Puff started potty training herself...

-Hollywood celebrated his 4th BIRTHDAY in style with a construction theme he has been dreaming up for the last 9 months!!!

October

-October started off with an impromptu road trip to California for our Great-Grandma's funeral.  We celebrated her joy-filled life in style and gained some much needed family bonding time.

-We returned home to a 30 degree temperature drop and all got sick.

-We enjoyed a trip to the pumpkin patch with friends and lots of yummy snacks.

-Although we spent a lot of time raking leaves, I think we ended up only tackling about half of them since there is a slimy trail imbedded in our driveway.

-We spent Halloween at our church's annual "Trunk or Treat".  Mom and Dad dressed as bank robbers while Hollywood chose both his race car costume as well as Cocoa's butterfly costume.

November

-November we were proud to exercise our right to vote once again!

-Family pictures finally happened...and we could be more thrilled with the results!

-Cocoa Puff got her first haircut and hair straightening (don't worry, it was just the flat iron...nothing permanent)!

-We spent Thanksgiving with BOTH sides of the family and enjoyed tea parties, Grandpa snuggles, and helping our uncle and aunt pick out their Christmas tree!

December

-December was more hectic than ever!  Because of our jam-packed schedule we started Christmas shopping early, treating the kids to lunch as a reward for behaving so well.

-We spent the first weekend in December picking out our Christmas tree - woohoo it was a beauty!

-Cocoa had surgery mid-December.  Her tonsils were shaved and adenoids removed to treat sleep apnea and snoring issues.

-Cocoa Puff turned TWO!!!  But we had a low-key birthday due to it being one week post-op.

-We got to spend Christmas Eve at HOME for the second time EVER!!!  Mama was soooo happy =)

-Big Christmas celebrations with both sides of the family, but spread out, made for a fun and festive holiday!

-New Year's Eve was spent at my cousin's wedding and then home a little early with sick kids but an awesome New Year's kiss =)

Phew!  That was quite a year...wonder what's in store for 2013!!!

So what's next with This Domesticated Diva?  Instead of playing two years of catch up, I decided I would just start with the now, and if I have a week with nothing to blog about, I may do some flashback posts.  Sound good?  Hope so, cuz that's what's happening here!!! =)  Here goes 2013...