Year in Review | 2016

Linking up with Andrea, Narci & Erika for my final Friday Favorites of the Year!

Local peeps, make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom for a giveaway!

2016 was quite a year of ups and downs for our little family.
While at most times it felt like our business consumed us, from the photos below it does look like we managed to mix a little bit of fun in there too :)

January

We celebrated the beginning of a new year with some of our best friends :)
No party is complete without a dance party ;)

X started off the year as the Star Student of his class :)

We celebrated our main guy turning 38,

And I enjoyed a Paint & Pour evening with these lovely ladies!

February

We surprised X and took him to Disney On Ice!

We cheered on Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl with some yummy cupcakes and he won!

Mic and I took my dad and step mom to see Richard Marx at our local theater and had amazing seats!

X I made some super fun Valentine treats for the kiddos in X's class for their Valentine's celebration :)

And we took our first trip to the North Market in Columbus and fell in love with it!

March

Mic and I spent a couple days at the beautiful resort Nemacolin for work training.

And we celebrated Easter!

We weren't able to make it north for our annual Easter basket picture at the park, so we fudged it a bit ;)

April

X and I went to Mommy & Me night at his school and I was able to meet some of his favorite playmates :)

Despite not being a "girls" girl, I enjoyed a day with good friends at the Advocare Ladies Alive event in Columbus,

and came home with a pretty nice swag bag :)

I also joined X on his school field trip to Gorman Nature Center.

And at the end of the month I helped my mom host my SIL's baby shower.

May

We headed to Cincinnati for Mother's Day weekend and filled up on lots of our favorite things!

We checked out the Cincinnati Zoo while we were there an saw this guy not long before he had to be put down :(

And our last stop of the trip was to Xavier University!

X started another year of T-ball in May as well - this time with mommy as one of his coaches!

We enjoyed X and his friends in their end of the year program,

and then high tailed it to Grand Haven, Michigan for the Kite Festival with my dad and step mom :)

May ended with this guy completing his first year of preschool!

June

We started off June with an adult evening downtown for some live music and yummy food!

I saw one of my all-time favorite country groups - Dixie Chicks with one my favorite ladies :)

The Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA championship!!!!
I headed downtown Cleveland with my dad and brother to celebrate and watch the parade :)

We had a team pizza party to celebrate the end of the T-ball season for these cuties,

and then my brother and SIL welcomed this cutie on June 29th!

This was also the month that a snake made its way into our house :(

July

We started off the month of July at a 4th of July cookout!
Hanging out with one of my oldest and dearest friends :)

We also attended Mic's 20th high school reunion!

X and I atried out Snapchat and couldn't get enough of it!

 

August

We discovered these AMAZING blueberry donuts and quickly became hooked!

I had a girl's night out and saw Bad Moms with some wonderful friends :)

We also said goodbye to our wonderful summer babysitter as she got ready to head back to college,

and we headed south to Destin, Florida (part 1 and 2)!

X and I visited the Blueberry Festival.
He rode Olaf,

while I had my favorite fair food :)

X was super excited to start his second year of preschool (to be honest, so was I ;) )

I ended the month of August at our annual Fantasy Football draft - minus Mic :(
I was too busy with work to concentrate and ended up in last place :(
#theresalwaysnextyear #atleastigetthefirstpickofthedraft

September

September came and that meant Soccer season!

X loved it!
And we are looking forward to the Spring season with these fun guys!

October

Another year, another fun trip to Minster, Ohio for Oktoberfest with good friends!

X's Fall field trip to Wayne's Country Market was lots of fun too!

This kid grew up overnight in his school pictures!

I feel like I blinked and Mic and I celebrated 10 years of marriage this year!

And I finally got a new cell phone after suffering for almost 5 years with my iPhone 5.

Yes, I just documented that as monumental in my year! lol!
It really was!

October meant playoff baseball in our house too!
We cheered and cheered for the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, but they unfortunately lost in game 7 :(

We had fun with our framily once again as the kiddos trick-or-treated.

All my pictures were blurry due to the fact they couldn't stop running from house to house! lol!

I hosted my annual scarf exchange and had a wonderful night with some great friends :)

And Mic and I ended the month attending my very first college football game! 

November

We surprised X with tickets to Lego Kids Fest in Cleveland!

Later on in the month we unfortunately had to say goodbye to someone who has been a part of our family for 13 years :(
We miss you every day Diamond!

After Thanksgiving, we headed to Amish country and were able to snag a visit with the big guy :)

December

December was jam packed like the last few...
X turned 5 years old and had his first friend party!

We (of course) attended both Christmas programs this guy had, and loved every minute of them!

Then it was time to celebrate my 38th birthday!
We headed to Columbus for the day for some yummy food and shopping!

And we made it through our version of Four Christmases!

What a year!
Praying for another great year of good health, good times with family & friends, good fortune, and more!

You can experience opera on the big screen by entering to win NABUCCO tickets from The Met 2016-2017 series. 

For the chance to attend Regal Montrose Theatre on 1/7 or 1/11, enter here – http://tinyurl.com/h26o8qk

Met Music Director James Levine conducts Verdi’s early drama of Ancient Babylon, Nabucco, with Plácido Domingo adding a new role to his Met repertory as the title character. Liudmyla Monastyrska sings the tour-de-force role of Abigaille, Nabucco’s willful daughter, with Jamie Barton as Fenena, Russell Thomas as Ismaele and Dmitri Belosselskiy as the prophet Zaccaria, the role of his 2011 Met debut.

Additional tickets can be purchased at http://www.fathomevents.com/event/nabucco-live.