(Another) Year in Review

How in the world is it the very last day of 2012 already?! This year has flown by particularly quickly, and I have found myself struggling to keep up more than once.  Keeping with tradition, I figured it was only appropriate to conduct a little review of my favorite posts of the last year. If you want to see what we were up to in 2010 & 2011, you can see them here and here respectively 😉

January:

We made our annual trip to Lexington, NC to celebrate the holidays with my husband’s grandmother. Jackson also got a chance to visit a place that his parents hold close to their hearts:

February:

Jackson found out just how special it is to have a furry friend living at his house, and he also spent more time outside of the womb than he did inside:

March:

Jackson grew out of his favorite chair & got a new haircut.  I talked about the responsibility & sheer joy of raising a man.

April:

Jackson continued to Crawlk & turn into Mowgli, but more importantly had his first birthday. I planned the party & made all decor myself!

  May:

I wished that I could bottle the innocence of my child, and Jackson had a tie dye date with his leading lady, Peyton!

June:

Having a toddler got considerably messier. We also spent time on our boat. Jackson looked hilarious in his life vest!

July:

We spent an entire week at the beach with my sister’s family & Zac’s parents! Jackson also reminded me once again to stay present.

August:

We went back to North Carolina for a family visit, Jackson began a torrid love affair with a lawn jockey, and his other love affair with Peyton was put on video 🙂

September:

Jackson & Daddy went back to our special place, tried to fill his daddy’s shoes, and I wrote about becoming a parent.

October:

Jackson found magic at DISNEY, we celebrated J’s half birthday, & went to a corn maze!

November:

I wrote about our halloween, and we had an amazing time at the Heritage Farm Museum with Becca & P!

December:

Santa, Festival of Lights, & Christmas Magic!

Looking back, this was a really great year – I almost don’t want it to end! Here’s to all that 2013 has to bring. I hope that each of you had a wonderful year and are looking forward to the next!

Day 30: Something that made you smile this year. This kid brings a giant cheesy grin to my face each and every day. I am the luckiest mama 😍 #photoaday #day30

Day 29: Hot. This wax warmer is my new fave air freshener. #photoaday #day29

Day 28: cold. Stopped in the frigid 30 degree weather to snap a photo of the Great American Restaurant named after my favorite guy ☺. #photoaday #day28 #jacksons

Magic.

You guys. Christmas. It’s magic. I haven’t been this excited about the holiday season since I was a child, and it may sound cliche, but having a child makes it eleventy million times more magical than it ever was. The best gift we Santa got for Jackson was probably his train table. I was so excited for him to go to bed on Christmas Eve so that we could set it up for him.  I knew he would react to it, but I could have never been prepared for the most adorable, sleepy-faced boy lighting up at the sight of it, and exclaiming “choo choos!!!” in his groggy morning voice.

All he wanted was to play with that train. FInally, he realized that there were toys underneath the wrapping paper, and gladly tore into them :).  He took his time with each new toy and kept demanding “ofen it!” over and over until we opened every single toy and allowed him some play time before moving onto the next gift.  He was over the moon. 

Later in the day we scooted over to Grandma & Grandpa’s for dinner.  Jackson was thoroughly spoiled there too 🙂

He also discovered the magic of a snow globe…and hershey kisses:

And, in the interest of not going to crazy photo-spam on you, I will leave you with this last, lovely compilation.  I don’t know if I have mentioned it here, but Jackson is OBSESSED with the Psy/MC Hammer – Gangnam Style/2 Legit performance from this year’s American Music Awards.  He demands it daily, and goes WILD dancing to it.  Lately, though, he has been paying close attention to the choreography and mimicking the movements.  Kid can gangnam style with the best of ‘em:

Day 27: how you relax. Is there any other way? In related news: these are the smallest jeans I have worn since before Jackson #winning #photoaday #day27 #janeausten #prideandprejudice #kindle

Day 26: Mess. I am sick again. I’m averaging one stomach bug every two weeks (awesome.) Jackson’s been doing a lot of self parenting today. #photoaday #day26

Day 25: lunchtime. Yeah I don’t eat lunch on Christmas, so here’s a photo of one of the THREE Stella & Dot gifts I received today, we can just say I opened it at lunchtime if it makes you feel better. 😍 #photoaday #day25

Santa came! I cannot WAIT for jack to wake up tomorrow! #nailedit

This year’s homemade coasters. Photos by @alicaudill – if you would like to make some you can find last year’s tutorial here: http://www.christylately.com/2011/12/diy-photo-coasters.html?m=1