Instagram gave me a collage of my best nine pictures of the year. I thought that was a good way to say farewell to the year while looking back on all the fun we had.

January – We had just returned from a Washington Christmas and spent the month getting used to all the changes our then 6 month old was giving us. We saw a little horror on the trolley when a woman was stabbed in our car, that is still fresh in all of our minds when we get on the trolley.

February- I turned another year older, sigh… we spent a weekend as tourists in our own city. We ate (the best) tacos at Puesto, drank amazing wine in Little Italy, gorged on cheese from the Cheese shop and spent the evenings in the hot tub.

March- Averi graduated to sitting up on her own and I did a lot of cooking, trying out new recipes from Chicken pot pie to Sriracha chicken wings.

April- Miss Kaili turned 4 years old. We had a Frozen party with a bounce house and she is still talking about it.

May- We spent Memorial day in Lake Arrowhead staying in a condo we rented through VRBO. We fell in love with the place and were already planning our next trip for the summer.

June- Kaili moved from the 3 year old class to the 4’s, she handled the transition with ease, as always. That was the first time I really saw how amazing it was going to be to have two little girls, sisters.

July- We went back to Lake Arrowhead with the grandparents. We did all the fun things that we couldn’t do when the weather was colder. After our getaway we celebrated the Avester turning one!

August- Averi started walking at 13 months. I found out about the Vegetti and started spiralizing zucchini for all the dishes.

September- This is when Kaili started really challenging us with her behavior. I tried behavior charts, which were mildly successful. Averi started to have some sleep changes and was waking up before the sun. Shane and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary with a super fun night out on the town.

October- Seems like just yesterday. We took the girls to Oma’s pumpkin patch and Bates nut farm. This was the first time Halloween was really exciting for Kaili, we still have candy leftover.

November- Our first Friendsgiving along with my herniated disc.  Really good times and some very painful ones sum up that month.

December- This has been a good month. Too much food, but a lot of good cooking. Great times with friends and family and it’s been amazing to watch the girls together. We just moved Averi into her sisters room, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Happy New Year!