2009: A Year in Pictures

I can't believe it's already time for my 2009 Year in Review. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was doing my 2008 review! 2009 was a year in which we went through a lot of changes: a loss, a move, a new career, a baby... Here are the pictures that sum up my year:

January 2009

Surprise! I found out on January 5th that we were expecting a new addition to our family!

Our baby at 6 weeks

February 2009

February was a difficult month for my family. My grandfather passed away following complications from surgery. Aiden and I were both really close to him and it was a really hard time.

But I had to try to keep things normal for Aiden even when I was feeling sad. We did a lot of art that month!

March 2009

In March, I started getting really anxious to find out the gender of our baby. Since I wasn't yet 20 weeks, I tried every old wives tale and even bought an Intelligender test. (It was right!)

Aiden also had his first school performance. He was so shy and laid down on the stage for most of the program...

The kids in his class were presents.

April 2009

This picture sums up the month of April! We were busy busy and I was exhausted!

Aiden participated in his first real Easter egg hunt with his preschool class.

I spent a lot of time at home with Aiden for the first time and did lots of themed art projects.

We also went to a lot of local kid's festivals.

May 2009

Aiden graduated from preschool! Matt thought it was hilarious that they had a graduation ceremony for the 2 year old class.

Aiden celebrated his third birthday.

I finally had my 20 week ultrasound and found out for sure that we were having another boy!

June 2009

The beach is one of my favorite parts of summer! I wasn't sure how I would feel about it this year being so huge, but we had a great time, Aiden especially.

We also spent almost every other day at the park. Even though I was still in school at the time, I had a lot of free time and got to spend a good portion of every day playing with Aiden. So much fun!

July 2009

Good-bye long hair! I was so sad when we first got Aiden's hair cut. He looked like a completely different child and so much older! Matt left for officer school at the beginning of July and we thought that with him going back into the military, Aiden needed a hair cut...

With Matt gone, it was up to me to get everything ready for the movers. Talk about exhausting 7 months into my pregnancy!

August 2009

When I was 37 weeks pregnant, we made our move to DC. At least Matt had everything set up in our apartment when Aiden and I got there!

We love going down town!

And Aiden had a blast in our new pool! (I can't wait to be able to enjoy it more this coming summer!)
September 2009

Finally! Time for Holden. I was so nervous while getting ready for my c-section.

September 8th, we welcomed Holden into our family!

Aiden loved his little brother from the start!

October 2009

We were finally able to get out some and I had so much fun taking Aiden to fall festivals.

Halloween pictures:

November 2009

November was a crazy month! Holden was so needy. This is the way we spent every day. He was either in my wrap or in my arms. I was even having to sleep in the recliner and hold him at night. We did go to TN for Thanksgiving, but this month was a blur for me!

December 2009

December was a really fun month! Lots of snow..

Lots of baking

Lots of Christmas crafts

And a very merry Christmas with my two boys!

Snowed In? Make a snowman (or three)

When everyone was stocking up and acting all crazy on Friday about this snow storm, I thought they were nuts! But apparently, they were on to something. We got a ton of snow this weekend! And the entire place shut down. Forget ordering pizza! Even the grocery store was closed. This is the sixth biggest snow that Washington DC has ever had. And in our little DC suburb, we got almost two feet of snow! Aiden had a blast. It's quite unbelievable to think this was a normal day for me from November until March when we lived in Anchorage. That seems like such a long time ago!

This is right out in front of apartment

And this is the street

It seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was out and Aiden even made a new friend! There were children screaming and laughing. People helping each other dig their cars out of the snow. What a great winter day!

Matt built a snowman for Aiden, but since the snow didn't really want to pack, Aiden lost interest.

When Aiden finally got too tired and cold to continue playing in the snow, we came inside and "made a craft." I found this cute idea on Montessori Moments. (If you like doing projects with your children, you should definitely check this blog out!) We made playdough a while back but this recipe was slightly different from the one I used and I loved the idea of building a snowman with it!

Getting ready

A snowman in progress

Here's the one I made. Aiden couldn't stop laughing at it!

And here is one more snowman craft. We actually did this on Thursday and it's taken quite a whie to dry so I'm just going to tie into a big snowman theme for the weekend! This is such a cute little craft. I made these snowmen with my preschool class in Anchorage and I knew Aiden would love it since he's a big fan of pouring glue! (Montessori Moments has a similar glue craft.)

First I drew a snowman on waxed paper, cut out a hat and a nose, and picked out some sequins and glitter.

I traced the snowman shape so Aiden would be able to keep the glue within the boundaries.

Aiden added the glitter and made the face all by himself.

It took a couple of days to dry, but then it peeled right off the wax paper. I think it's so neat that you can make something just with glue!

I am going to put one of those hanging suction cups on it and hang it in the window. I think it would be really cute to make smaller ones and use them as ornaments as well.