2009 in review

January—Raley came down with strep throat right before we headed down to Houston to see Rex and Erika for the first time in 5 years. We took him to the doctor and pumped him full of antibiotics, then told him not to hug or kiss anyone (not a problem for him since he doesn’t like to hug or kiss anyone anyway). We had the best time getting re-acquainted and I could not be happier to count Erika among my very best friends.
February—President’s Day camping trip with Grannie and Pop…always a good time.
March—Spring Break trip to Arkansas cut a day short by a trip to the local ER
April—Easter was very nice, even though Jayme had to work that day. Because of him having to work, we didn’t hunt our eggs until Thursday when Raley got home from school. We got some funny looks but we were having such a great time, it didn’t bother us at all.
May—Raley turned 9!! Who allowed that to happen?? I mean, honestly, why do they have to grow up so fast? Also a trip (just me and the kids) to Crosby for my cousin’s wedding where I got to catch up with high school friends (and quasi-relatives) Ryan and Jana.
June—Family vacation to Austin/San Antonio. We went to the capitol, watched the bats come out from under the Congress Street bridge, swam and jumped off the “cliffs” at McKinney Falls State Park. We also made it over to San Antonio for a day and toured the Alamo and went to the zoo.
July—We spent a couple days with the Raley (Jayme’s mom and step-dad) side of the family around the 4th. At the end of the month Jayme and I dropped the kids off with my folks and went on a short honeymoon (12 years later). He took me to the Shiner brewery and we stayed in a nice bed and breakfast. I missed my clones too much though and we cut it short, only staying one night. On our way back to Houston we did some shopping and went to the movies to see “Transformers 2”.
August—We went on a round robin trip to visit family. We started off in Houston with Rex and Erika in their new house. Erika loaned me her copies of the “Twilight Saga” books and I became a Twilight Mom. After that side of town we continued on to Crosby and were surprised and happy when the rest of the Sims clan arrived as well. It had been a long time since we were all together. While we were travelling I managed to let the laptop fall out of the Suburban and break the screen so we got a new one (I swear I DID NOT do it on purpose!). Clay started Kindergarten and Raley started 4th grade. Jayme and I celebrated our 12th anniversary to close out the month.
September—Oh, the many joys of September!! Right off the bat, Pattie turned 2…what more can I say? This is so unfair! On the one hand I love to watch my kids grow and learn but every day they get more grown up and that much closer to not needing me anymore. Clay also had his 6th birthday and I celebrated the 4th anniversary of my 29th birthday. This was also the month I started blogging more often.
October—My adorable parents both celebrate their birthdays in October as well as my darling husband. This year, October was a little bittersweet for me though. It brought about a major change to our family schedule which made it impossible for me to continue substitute teaching at Clay’s or Raley’s school. On the flip side, we now have weekends as a family which has enabled us to have so much fun camping and going places this Fall.
November—My first try at NaBloPoMo, and I actually did it!! I had to pre-write and delay post a couple but I managed to write a post for each day. My husband came through on his promise to take me to see “New Moon” proving once and for all that he is the best husband in the world. Thanksgiving this year was very special. My brother and his family came in from Maryland and we were all together for the first time since before most of the kids were born.
December—We battled sickness and made a trip to the land. We baked cookies and watched movies. Pattie’s new favorite was “The Nightmare Before Christmas” which she calls “Haweeeeen!” We had a quiet Christmas with just the 5 of us and we must have all been very good because Santa left us some great presents. Unfortunately, the sickness continued although we tried to not let it get us down.
As I look ahead to 2010 I am excited and anxious and hopeful. May all of you have a wonderful 2010!!