Another year come and gone. I can't believe that the photo above was taken almost exactly a year ago... They both seem to have doubled in size! Birdie now talks non-stop and has a shockingly huge vocabulary. Teddy is running around the house causing trouble all day long and I'm still barely able to keep up with all of their needs and energy. 

Last year I remarked that I longed for a year of peace and quiet. Interestingly enough I mostly got my wish. This was the nesting year, the taking things easy year and the year of letting the dust bunnies grow and things fall through the cracks as we adjusted to life as a family of four. The spring was mostly uneventful - lots of snow days, lots of park dates to relieve the inevitable cabin fever and towards the end a trip back home to DC to see our family and enjoy a real quality snowfall. Birdie even got to make a real, life-size snowman with my dad! 

Summer came and so did record breaking temperatures. I remember sweating through all my clothes one sunday in May as the temperature neared 90 degrees! The kids of course couldn't get enough! We bought a kiddie pool for the back yard and proceeded to eat as many meals as we could on the patio. The end of May ushered in the start of summer vacation for papa and we were all thrilled to have him back home with us!

June and July were a blur of pools, sand, sunscreen and enough frozen drinks to give all of us a brain freeze. In between all that we had an unfortunate visit to the ER with Teddy that gave me at least ten new gray hairs but all's well that ends well and we are forever grateful to the team at the hospital that took care of our boy. I also celebrated turning 29 at the beach with my people and it felt just right. By the end of July we had returned home and spent a good week sweeping away sand that seemed to sneak its way into every suitcase and bag.

In August we headed to DC again for more playdates with grandparents that included a visit to the DC zoo, a favorite of ours! Back in Atlanta we squeezed in as many park and lunch dates as we could before Kevin started school again. And then we waved goodbye one morning and tried to have a good attitude about settling back into our routine as the three musketeers. 

But before we could get too comfortable September came and with it a trip to Nashville that was by far one of the best trips we've ever had with the kids and a quick weekend trip to DC again! October arrived and with it the most glorious fall weather - plenty of moody rainy days, stunning foliage and crisp mornings with gray skies. On one of these rainy days we celebrated our sweet boy turning one with a picnic under the trees as it drizzled around us - it was perfect! It also turned out to be ideal camping weather too! The kids had more fun on Halloween than I could have ever imagined and I'm also positive we can never again top their costumes - they were a riot!!

November and December brought us so much coziness and a few extra pounds. Between the most delicious thanksgiving dinner and all those cookies I'm not sure I'm fitting into anything with a zipper for quite some time! We're back home after a jaunt to Savannah and Florida and all the unpacking and washing inspired us to just go ahead and do a spring cleaning of sorts in preparation for the new year. We got rid of so much and delivered a trunk full of things to Goodwill. We instantly felt fifty pounds lighter and resolved, once again, to never buy anything!

I desperately tried to cut down the photos for this post but there were just so many I loved I decided to just go for it! Hope you enjoy!!

JANUARY

slowly easing our way into the new year

FEBRUARY

it was a cold, cold month but we still managed to get out quite a bit

MARCH

took a trip back home to DC and then NYC too!

APRIL

the happiest easter with our baby bunny

this girl couldn't get enough of the warm weather

MAY

papa bear finished the school year and summer officially began!

JUNE

hello sunshine!

off to florida we went!

teddy had a horrible trip to the ER but thank goodness he was ok!

and jumped right back into enjoying the sun and water

JULY

celebrated turning 29 with my favorite people!

AUGUST

back to DC to spend time with the grandparents

squeezing the last few drops out of the summer before school starts

SEPTEMBER

these kiddos took papa's first day back at work hard

weekend getaway to one of our favorite cities - nashville!

quick jaunt to DC at the end of the month for a gala for my daddy

OCTOBER

teddy boy turned one!

best camping trip ever!!

ms. sherlock and our teddy bear

NOVEMBER

enjoying the perfect fall weather in atlanta

a memorable, laid back and (most importantly) delicious thanksgiving

DECEMBER

birdie turned three! cue the tears

helping us pick out the perfect tree

this was the year birdie fell in love with ice skating, we even got her her own skates

can you believe that this is them just a year later??

And there it is! A year's worth of memories - trips, good times, bad times, hard times, wonderful times and everything in between. I don't know that we can hope for another year of calm but whatever 2016 brings with it I feel ready. I've always said my parents raised me a gypsy and so I'm ready for life to shake things up again! Here's to new experiences, new memories, new adventures, new lessons and new mistakes. Live and learn. Live and learn. I don't know about you but I'm excited!!

Thank you to all of you for following along with us. For your kind words and your support! Wishing you and yours a wonderful new year's eve and an amazing new year!!

Love and light!!

xx