Goodbye, 2011

2011 ….
 is it already time to say goodbye you? It seems like it was just a few days back we were greeting the new year and getting ready to celebrate Ryder's 1st birthday.  Now here I am again - same place, same time and looking forward to greeting another new year.  2011… you have been good to us.

Ryder boy turns one on the 7th.

He's such a happy boy and his party is so much fun. 

 We lose our sweet little Maddie in a tragic accident in February.  

This is the last photo we have of her, snuggled up in her favorite spot above Cory.

We plant a tree in her memory and it's blooming so nicely in our backyard.

 

Cory celebrates his 37th birthday and 

 our good friends, Brian & Claire (and their kids) come into town to celebrate.

Scott Berchman takes some of my most favorite photos of Ryder for his 1 year milestone.

 The girls take dance class, gymnastics, karate, & cooking class (not all at once) and they love it all.

 We get all the McCulloughs together to take photos at Easter time while everyone is in town.  

Poor Scott had his work cut out for him!  

It's always such a great time when we're all together.

We have waaaaay too much fun with our cousins when they spend the night.  

AND we are really good at making some fun messes.

 We road trip it to San Diego in July and we're packed to the gills.

 4th of July is such a wonderful time with friends and family.

 We take pictures of Ryder at 18 mos. at the cheapy portrait studio and he is the biggest ham in most of the shots.  What a character.

 First day of PreK at the end of July.
The girls love their school and their teachers are so wonderful.

 Cory and I celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary.

 Girls spa trip to Sedona.

 Swim lessons with Ms. Mary for the third summer in a row.  

The girls are little fishies that love the water.

 

 Soccer starts and Daddy is the coach.  

We're busy every weekend during the fall with our fun new sport.

 I discover Pinterest in September and all of a sudden I'm totally inspired.  I become awesome crafty mom, a better cook, and my house is more organized than I ever thought possible (sorta).

 This takes the cake for extra activities.  Little DaVinci is such an amazing place.  The art classes the girls take are perfect for their creativity that's brewing.  They showed off their masterpieces in October.

The weather cools down and I'm out trolling for deals at garage sales when the girls have late soccer games.  I find some pretty awesome deals, including this school bus for $20 that sold last year at Costco for $130.

We go to Mexico in October for a long weekend.  The weather is gorgeous, the water is warm, and the best part is our cells phones don't work down there.  A great way to recharge your batteries.

We also get away to Pinetop to enjoy some cool weather in October.  

It's so nice getting away just the five of us.

 Halloween was a blast.  I love the kids costumes and how different the girls' choices are each year.  Ryder was the cutest Spiderman I've ever seen.

 Reese & Ryan turn five on the 15th of November.  

We celebrate at Airworx with a fun trampoline party.

 They also celebrate at school with ice cream sandwiches and homemade crowns.

 Thanksgiving fun.

 Mimi and Papa's Christmas card for this year.

 Ryder is such a funny little firecracker and we get to spend some nice alone time together while the girls are at school.  No wonder he is the world's biggest mama's boy.

 We start some new Christmas traditions in December...

 and continue some old ones.  Kati was adventurous this year.

 Everyone's got an obsession--the girls have JB

 and Ryder has the Ipad and his truck.

We count our blessings every day for all the wonderful people
in our lives that help us create such amazing memories.
Cheers to 2011 and here's to love, laughter, & happiness in 2012!