A Catch Up in Pictures

Time to recap...

If ever I had this blog printed for the kids I'd hate for there to be missing years in there where we didn't have memories.  So here's a quick catch up of 2010-2013 events - the main events...little moments will have to wait for another time

2010

While I caught Natalee's bday, Xavier's 6 month post, and the rest of the holidays, I somehow missed Halloween 2010.  Who knows?

Here they are...

 Curious George

and the Man in the Yellow Hat.

They were stinking adorable, if I do say so myself (and I do).

2011

I hit Easter and Xavier's first birthday.  I even caught Natalee's 3rd birthday.  But again, Halloween lost out, as did Christmas (oops!).

My nurse and my firefighter:

Christmas was good to us as always.  I could post tons of pics of all the places we get to celebrate, but to keep it brief:

Christmas card attempts and family mini-session:

A Sunday close to Christmas...I believe this was the day we celebrated Christmas with Dean & Lora Jean.

 The kids on Christmas morning...Santa brought a train table. (It's still a hit today!)

Our family on Christmas Sunday at Mom & Dad's.  Post church, I believe.

2012

2012 was where I really failed.  Maybe it was keeping up with a 3 year old and 1 1/2 year old?  I dunno.  Anyways...thanks to Facebook and super organized picture systems, here's the catch-you-up:

Easter was in April...apparently the weather was lovely, according to our sleevelessness!

something possessed my family to try to get organized enough to take a picture of us all...not too bad!

Egg hunt with the Beeler great-grands!

In February Natalee began school in my Early Childhood Special Education classroom.  She qualified in 4/5 eligible areas - the 5th one being mainly because I didn't want to test her in the area of cognition.  This was hard for mom.  Really hard.  It was an adjustment and we both did a lot of growing.  I'll never say it was a bad experience and we fell head over heels in love with our PT/OT/and Sp-Lang therapists, however, it was in these months (Feb-May) that God really called me home to be with our children.  It was here, in some of these darker, isolated feeling moments that I knew that she (and Xavier) needed all of me...

A couple pictures of her at school (Feb-May):

her 2012 yearbook photo

In June, Xavier turned TWO and Natalee was three and a half.  We took pictures with Mike's gpa's Model A Ford:

While I can't quite locate pictures of Xavier's birthday party, I do remember that we had it here at the house, it was sweltering hot, the kids played in the backyard, and we served snack foods, and ice cream shakes (his favorite!!).

Here he is the day of his birthday:

Halloween 2012 - a Princess and a Cowboy

Natalee turned four in December.  Her birthday party was themed around the alphabet!

And Christmas was a beautiful occasion as always...

We got a puppy (peek-a-poo) shortly before Christmas.  Her name is Belle and although she is an outside dog now she was inside for about a year.

 The kids got LeadPads for Christmas.

 After the JAM Christmas program.

 The first Joyful Jamboree daycare Christmas party!

And apparently we attempted a Beeler family pic at their Christmas...too bad Xavier is in an undershirt (sigh).

2013

March snow:

Early in 2013, Mike & I extended our hearts and home to a 3 year old little boy.  He was with us for a few months and we became his legal guardians for a short time.  This was a hard, hard walk for us.  To protect him and us, our Easter pictures for 2013 will remain private.

In Spring, Natalee signed up to play Little League baseball and daddy helped coach.  What a fun season!  By the end of the couple of months, she was hitting from the coach, instead of off the tee!  

Bonus picture of cutie, Belle!

 In May, we celebrated my sister, Lauren's, graduation from nursing school:

And, in June, Xavier turned THREE!

 He got a big boy bike for his birthday!  He's quite a pro on it and calls it his motorcycle!

 On his actual birthday, we had his friends over in the morning for some water fun and snacks/treats.

The he requested eggs & toast for his bday lunch.

 and we spoiled him with gifts and loves from family until bed.

Somewhere I have pics of his party.  It was motorcycle themed and he wanted all the men to ride their bikes, but sadly it rained.  We had a weenie roast and he was blessed with many gifts.  He loves the Melissa and Doug horse barn from grammy & papa and plays with it and his Lil Buster metal corrals a TON!

On July 9th, after Kea & Lauren's weddings were done and the need for updos was over, Natalee chopped off all of her hair, without fear, and donated to Children With Hair Loss.

So many more memories tucked in between these photos...family birthdays, my gma from North Dakota spending a month with us to prepare for Lauren's wedding...little moments that mean big things.  As it is, it's 11:20 and I'm one hour and 20 minutes overdue for bedtime!  This was a 2 hour post to organize.  And it's okay if you don't make it to the end...but if you do I salute you!  Remember, a blog is as much for my memories as your enjoyment.  Love to my {few} faithful followers!