2016 in Review + Top 5 Posts

This year was crazy. I can't even believe I'm writing a Year in Review post. How fast did December fly by?! Or this year in general? I wanted to highlight my favorite happenings as featured on the blog, so here goes!

January

New year, new word of the year (because I stink at keeping resolutions. Anyone else?)

The Mommylogues Series was kicked off by my journey to motherhood.

Who doesn't like mom confessions?

February

Kinsey turned five! And to celebrate we had the best week ever {in three parts 1, 2, 3}

Pinterest is the best and I shared my favorite Pins to date.

I got to wax poet about the special men in my life.

March

Work it Mommy celebrated it's third Blog Birthday!

Brielana had her first ever haircut.

I have mad love for my hometown and share my favorite spots.

Easter Baskets are my favorite to put together.

April

We had a scary incident when Kinsey got a concussion.

Brian celebrated his birthday.

I tested out my green thumb and grew my first garden.

May

In honor of Mother's Day I shared Lessons from Motherhood. 

My favoriter color to wear {mustard} got it's time in the spotlight.

June

I joined hands with some lovely blogger friends for a Mom Empowerment blog hop.

My favorite healthy pantry swaps for nutritious cooking.

July

Brielana celebrated her second Brithday!

July was full of fun festivities.

We also visited the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum as a Family.

August

My favorite weeknight pasta dish. Try it, you'll love it.

Our last Summer hurrah was a Family trip to Great America!

And Kinsey stared Kindergarten and I returned to work.

September

I shared about my heart for teaching preschool.

And gave a Classroom Tour.

October

Brian and I celebrated E I G H T years married and took a trip to our favorite city.

I co-hosted and completed my first Photo Challenge with Jess, Stephanie and Amy.

This Halloween was my favorite!

November

I turned another year older! And treated myself with the gift of Stitch Fix.

Hosted the second annual Fall Scarf Exchange with Elizabeth and Courtney. Desiree was my partner and she did so good! 

My first time making Muddy Buddies was a success!

December

Our December started off rough as we lost a family member.

All the fun things we did this Christmas Season!

It always gives me a tickle finding out what the top posts are of any given year. Like, how does something become more enticing? Haha. It actually surprises me how many views the top post got and it is by far my most viewed post ever. Can you guess what it was about? Spoiler: even I was surprised what it was about!

#5 with 481 views:

Transitioning from Co Sleeping

#4 with 606 views:

Holiday Goodies with UncommonGoods

#3 with 1,144 views:

Birthday Stitch Fix #1

#2 with 1,624 views:

Freshly Picked Moccasins Review

#1 with 3,072 views:

How to Plant a Hummingbird Garden

Yup. A how- to about planting a garden. I'm shocked. But also thrilled! It was a very special project I got to do with Kinsey over the summer.

How was your 2016?

Linking up here.

   

   

Currently {Christmas edition} // December

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Announcing// What We're Reading Wednesday link up! The monthly link up spotlighting books; what you're reading, what your hubby is reading, or your kids! Digital, newsprint, magazines, novels- anything you're reading that month! I look forward to adding a bunch of new titles to my never-ending To Read List! So join Stephanie, Keri, Whitney, Justine, Crystal, Johannah, Heather and me the first Wednesday of every month! First link up is on January 4th. 

Watching// All the movies the girls got for Christmas- The Secret Life of Pets, The Good Dinosaur and Pete's Dragon

Reading// I just b-a-r-e-l-y started Room. Hoping the above announcement will keep me motivated!

Eating// Christmas cookies. So. Many. Cookies. But they are my favorite sugar cookie recipe and I only make them a few times a year.  

Planning// Kinsey's birthday party! She says she wants a Trolls party haha.

Pinning// To my Stitch Fix Inspiration board for my next Fix!

Praying// Always!

Texting// Uuuuh. I guess no one?

Missing// The Christmas spirit. So here's our Christmas photo dump! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas with loved ones!

Wearing// Buffalo Plaid as a Family! I waited all month for this matching moment, no joke.

my top // Brian's top (similar) // Kinsey's (not found) // Brielana

Decorating// Or maybe undecorating is more like it? I took everything down on Monday. The day after Christmas. I was actually wanting to keep it up til New Years this year but Brian asked, "So, your'e taking the tree down today? (since I had Monday off) and I took that as the sign. Looking for some cute New Years decorations, any great ideas? 

Linking up here.

   

   

Christmas Cheer check-in #1

So, here I am, three days before Christmas doing my first Christmas Cheer check in. Christmas season 129,563, Whitney 0. How's that for over-dramatic? And on that note I want to say thank you for everyone's support and kind words after Tuesday's post, it really means so much! We've been keeping busy and having fun along the way. Without further ado here is what we've done thus far:

Send cards

Done and done! I used Tiny Prints this year and just love how they turned out!

Book advent 

One of my all time favorite Christmas tradition is the book advent countdown. I got the idea from Courtney two years ago and never looked back (I even incorporated a smaller-scale version in my classroom this year.) 

Candy Cane Lane

This is a tradition both Brian and I did growing up so sharing it with Kinsey and Brielana is a no brainer. Candy Cane Lane is a neighborhood cul-de-sac that goes all out decorating for Christmas (there's actually a clause in the homeowners paperwork that it is mandatory to decorate!) Here are a few of my favorites:

You knew this was coming, right?

Decorate a Gingerbread house (not pictured)

We accomplished this on the same night as Candy Cane Lane. It was a full day of festive.

Pajama Party

This was such a fun link up! Here's this years pajamas and the past three years comp shot.

Elf on the Shelf

As this is Merry's inaugural year with us I had to make sure it was planned all out. I used Amy's printable calendar (here) and Jess was so kind as to send me her last two years worth of notes (thanks friends!) 

Christmas on the Wharf

This was our first year going (apparently its been a thing since 2013, I did not know) and despite it being freezing cold (maybe 50 degrees and that's cold for us!) it was so fun! My mom came with us and we had a girl date. There was complimentary hot beverages and iced oatmeal cookies (yummy!) and since we got there right at 5p, not many people. We had our first Santa meeting of the year (he was an awesome Santa) I'm bummed this picture is blurry, Brielana was just staring up at him in awe. We sipped clam chowder as we strolled the pier and got to see the ice rink. It was all magical.

Some other notables

• We had the pleasure of watching Kinsey's first elementary school singing concert. It was darling. I ask you- whats cuter than a group of 5 year olds singing Christmas carols? The answer is nothing.

• Christmas on the Farm was rained out. Boo. But after Kinsey's class trip and our Pumpkin Patching trip there she's kinda burned out on The Farm lol.

• Santa's Workshop didn't happen as we were with Family in mourning. 

• We went to Macy's and sent a Letter to Santa. Guess who still wants a carriage?

Linking up with Amy and Jessica.