2013 at a glance, and Happy New Year!

The cliche goes something like this- with little ones, 'the days are long but the months/years go by quickly'. 

I went back to look at the pictures to put up on here from the last year and I was surprised to find things that occurred in January 2013 that seemed much farther away. 

For example, Wren started preschool in January of 2013 in a class for 3 year olds. (We started her half way through the year, realizing she was very ready). This event alone seems like a lifetime ago. 

In the beginning of 2013, Ellie was a mere 9 months old. And huge. And not moving a lot. That explains her sheer girth. 

When I think of 2013, nothing crazy stands out. It felt like a year of consistency and routine. Of growth. Of settling into life with two little girls. 

I was still enjoying the last few months of staying at home full time.  My work had called asking if I'd be interested in a part time position instead of going back full time. I jumped at it and felt at ease knowing we could manage life with the income cut and that I could stay at home most of the time. Our moms graciously offered to each watch the girls one afternoon a week to make this move possible for us. 

Ellie's little personality started to really shine. She learned many tricks and funny things such as "the hulk". 

Meanwhile Wren sort of reverted back to a baby-like state at times. We had just finished potty training her before starting school. As you probably remember, that was somewhat insane time of our lives as she gave us an immense amount of push back with that one. 

Spring came and so did Easter...

Ellie started to move more, showing an avid interest in standing and walking along the furniture. As she moved, she began to slim down ever so slightly, and looked less like Rob Ford. :)

Ellie turned 1 year old in April and I turned 27!

 It took us a long time to get Ellie interested in food, and by her first birthday she still didn't care much for solids. If you put a cake on a tray in front of her now, it would be in her hair and in her mouth. But this birthday was a little more anticlimatic as she didn't care about cake either at the time. 

Since she was small, Ellie was pretty much deemed her Uncle Kyle's twin. That's still fairly true!

We spent a lot of time at the downtown market from spring and all through the summer. Wren loved the face painting and balloons best. We visited the same fruit vendor many weeks that were nice enough to give us a discount every time on their B.C. fruit. In this dead cold of winter I could use some cherries and peaches right about now..

Wren grew closer to her neighbour friend, Alessandra, who had moved in when our old neighbours moved away. These two are buds, and we had gone to the Muttart the same day that stinky plant opened up and the news covered it. 

The year was full of ups and downs too. On a daily basis there were many tears and smiles...but wow, look at that face!

Wren got the hang of riding a two wheeler (with training wheels) and was pretty proud of herself...

The summer was spent outdoors much of the time, as often as we could. Even though Wren has red hair, her skin turned golden brown in the sun. Her eyebrows, however, disappeared completely. She even noticed in the mirror one day how white they went! We explained it by saying that people with red hair's eyebrows just do that when they've been in the sun a lot, like "uncle" Nathan's. Then it clicked ;) 

There were days I was bummed for an entire day, bored with being a mom or frustrated I couldn't just go do what I wanted when I wanted to- that someone always depended on me. I still have those days. But looking back on the year, I'd say those days occurred far less than the good ones and I couldn't have kissed both of the girls chubby little cheeks enough at times. 

Wren's fiery personality has been challenging for us, but we are also learning with her and trying to do our best with a child that is probably more similar to both of us than we'd like to admit!

Our yard got a huge overhaul. We graded and sodded the backyard. It gave us an insane amount of room for the girls to play back there and looked totally different. 

Once the grass was ready to be walked on, the girls were big fans!

Ellie not only became mobile, but turned into a crazy climber...shedding pounds. Literally. At a check up the nurse noted a drop in weight. She was like a different baby!

Nana and I took the girls to the zoo (for their first time, I believe). Please note Ellie's mullet blowing in the wind...

Kenton and I planted our garden. Because we didn't throw a ton of effort into getting good soil, we were really surprised that anything grew! The girls loved the peas and we'd go out there regularly for a snack.

Kenton was busy in the last year working on side projects such as Chelsie and Eric's audio visual cabinet and the Stenger dining room table with benches. Both of these projects challenged Kenton in his ability to design and craft custom large scale pieces for the first time. 

Both of these commissions have given him an opportunity to showcase his abilities and to push his limits. They have also provided work for him as we speak and he works on a commission for a new client. 

He was also able to network with fellow woodworkers (some who have been doing this exact occupation for more than 30 years!) and form some amazing and meaningful connections with those people in sharing ideas and providing support to one another. Learning from these guys that have been doing this for so long and are amazing at the trade has been invaluable to him, hands down.

In the fall, Wren was heading back to school to do three mornings a week at preschool in the 4 year old class. She was so excited and happy to be back!

We caught some last rays of summer as the girls really started to enjoy playing together. 

Close friends of ours, Bryan and Sarah, got married in Brooklyn! They came back home for a visit and we had a chance to catch up and visit. They always bring back cool presents and books for the girls, which we love to display on their bookshelves :)

There was some time spent at West Edmonton Mall's Galaxyland. I think this was Ellie's first time going and she loved it. Wren is a bit of a veteran and was pumped to be back.

There was a bit of a family reunion (okay it was Uncle Art's 80th birthday) in Airdrie. This is my dad's side of the family which we never get to see enough as everyone is quite spread out. It was SO fun to see all the relatives and see how grown up the kids are now...and us too..I guess we are the "kids" as well to our parents but you know what I mean. 

In the fall, Amanda did more family photos for us, but this time we got them done with Kenton's family too. They turned out so amazing and we're happy to have these to look back at. Especially because Ellie had a hilarious mullet at the time. Still.

We took the girls out to Prairie Gardens farm for the first time with my parents which was a total blast. Definitely go. It's worth getting out there and doing fun Halloween things!

As mentioned before, the Stenger table was quite an achievement for Kenton this year. Him and I got to deliver it to Kayley and Geoff in Calgary and have a fun visit with them too. 

Wren got a big concert in too- my mom took her to Dora at the Jubilee!

 This brings us to winter, and the snow. The girls loved it, and still sort of do, just not when it's -25. Of course. This year Ellie has loved sledding and getting out there instead of being a lump stuck in a snowbank like last winter. 

November, our crazy birthday month, meant that we celebrated altogether this year in one party. So smart of our family, I think! 

Andrea, Kyle, Jordan, Kenton and Wren. Phwef! They all got a princess cake :)

And of course, we had Wren's girlfriends over for par-tay as well. 

And then Christmas. (The girls each have Ariel/Little Mermaid dolls in their hands). 

 I'm sure about a thousand other things happened this year and I'm missing all of them in this post.
What I will say in a sort of conclusion, is that the year ahead means less major changes (that we can foresee) and more of working on what we are doing and doing it well. We don't plan on having more kids (in case you never got that memo:) and so we are excited to watch as many of our friends start welcoming their little ones into the world (instead of it being us!), especially right now.

We are finally able to catch our breath and we feel that we are on a bit of a different path as the girls get older, a little less dependant and grow quickly and become more and more fun. It seems to just get better.

But here is a quote (I totally read off another blog) that I really like and I'll leave for you for the New year-

Anything can happen, anything can be. - Shel Silverstein

Happy New Year!!