I know I've said it time and time again, but 2016 was a really hard year for our family. I've heard lots of people say the same thing, but as we close out on this year, I didn't want to find myself being thankful it was over. Despite all the sickness, ER scares, and major life changes that have rocked our world in 2016, the good definitely outweighs the bad. The birth of our sweet Abel trumps all of that, so he alone made this one of the best years of my life. These three boys of ours make every day special and amazing, so who am I to say that I've had a bad year? As we finish up 2016 today we're all happy, healthy, and together. We haven't lost any loved ones, haven't been diagnosed with any serious illnesses, and Andy and I both have great jobs that allow us to provide for our family. I've gone through and pulled a few highlights from each month of 2016. I could go through and do the same for the not so good things that have happened to us this year, but God really has blessed us this year. I'm thankful I can look back at all these sweet moments we've had together as a family.
January 2016
We took our last trip as a family of four to Pigeon Forge to ring in the New Year.
Abel and I had some great showers to prepare for his arrival.
February 2016
Our sweet Abel was born healthy and I made it through the high risk delivery in one piece - definitely the highlight of our year!
March 2016
We had a fun family night out at the Chattanooga Zoo. This was one of our first outings as a family of five.
Andy built steps off our back deck that we use almost daily now.
We had a great Easter!
April 2016
We hosted our first sleepover!
We were finally able to start enjoying some nice, spring weather.
Sweet Abel started smiling at everyone!
May 2016
I celebrated my first Mother's Day as a mom of three handsome boys.
Cooper got to visit his future elementary school on a pre-k field trip.
We had a fun night downtown.
Cooper was released from a 5 day stay at the hospital after being sick for a month!
Cooper had his first field day.
Cooper graduated from pre-k on Andy's 31st birthday!
The boys kicked off their summer by catching frogs!
June 2016
We joined a pool!
We had lots of fun summer adventures with our friends.
Abel started rolling over!
We took our family trip to Daytona!
July 2016
Clark got to help drive a John Deere tractor!
Clark turned 4!
August 2016
Cooper started kindergarten and I started teaching 5th grade (at the same school).
Abel turned 6 months old!
Clark bounced back from a seizure he had and didn't miss a beat! He hasn't had one since, so that's a big thing to celebrate!
Andy and I went to see NeedtoBreathe in Atlanta!
September 2016
We went to Mammoth Caves and Kentucky Down Under.
Andy threw me a little surprise party for my 30th birthday.
We celebrated Cooper's awesome behavior at school with a trip to Super Fly.
October 2016
I had a fun girls' night to celebrate a birthday.
We had lots of fall tradition fun and adventures as a family.
We had a great trip to Dollywood!
We had a fun Halloween!
November 2016
I saw NeedtoBreathe in Chattanooga.
Sweet Abel got tubes in his ears. They've been lifesavers!
Cooper turned 6!
We went to Rock City.
We hosted our first Friendsgiving.
We decorated for Christmas and met Santa!
Abel had his first Thanksgiving.
December 2016
Abel got his first haircut.
We celebrated Christmas at school.
Cooper started basketball.
Santa came to our house and we had an awesome Christmas!
The boys got their first basketball goal.
Happy New Year! I hope your year was as awesome as ours!
