2011 : In Review

This past year has been full of up's and down's.......but we'll just focus on the up's!

JANUARY:

• Grayson decided to make his appearance ON his due date.....that also happened to be the hubby's birthday! Such a great day!

We had a MASSIVE snow storm. And that's crazy for the south!!

FEBRUARY:

• February was fairly uneventful.....other than MORE snow & my 28th birthday.

MARCH:

• The family ventured up to Nashville to say good-bye to "Uncle Tom" (aka...my younger brother Colin). He was leaving out of Nashville to head to Parris Island, SC for Marine Corps Boot Camp. It was SO hard for me to say good-bye to him....but I knew it was the best decision he has ever made! I have never been more proud of him.

APRIL:

• Ava had her first experience with playing soccer. Even though she only played about 3 or 4 games, she seemed to really enjoy it!! Hopefully she'll want to play again this spring!!

• Northern Alabama was hit by massive tornado's. Our area was out of power for days. It was completely devastating. By far, it was the scariest thing I have ever been through.

• Because of said tornado's and not having any power......the hubby decided that we would leave town and head south! We ventured down to Destin, Florida with our awesome neighbors & spent about 4 days at the beach. It was so nice & relaxing!

• We offically started our count down to Tom graduating Boot Camp at the end of the month! Ava was BEYOND excited!!!!

• Ava also started swim lessons at the local YMCA. They were GREAT!!! She had NO fear when it came time to go swimming!!! We may even look into doing them again this year!

MAY:

• Celebrated Mother's Day with my awesome family! Other than that, it was a quiet month!

• Ava performed in her first ever dance recital! I am so proud of my tiny dancer!

JUNE:

• Summer has finally arrived!! And it was a HOT one!!! We spent a LOT of time in my mom (aka Chick) and dad's (aka Dude) pool.

• It was FINALLY time to go see Tom! The past three months seemed to go so slowly! We were all very excited to get to Parris Island.....but I am pretty sure that Ava won the award for "Most Excited"!!!

JULY:

• Grayson was Baptized. He slept through the ENTIRE ceremony. I was pretty impressed!! My very best friend from college made a trip down from North Carolina to join us! It was great!!

• The hubby & I celebrated our 3yr wedding anniversary. He seriously is the love of my life! There's nobody else I could imagine spending the rest of my life with!

• The kids & I ventured down to Pensacola, Florida with Molly (Colin's now wife) to spend the weekend with Uncle Tom.

• We took a trip to the Nashville Aquarium one day with Chick. We all had a really good day!!

• And of course, there was a lot of time spent relaxing in Chick & Dude's pool!

August:

• We had our great, big, Griswold Family beach vacation on Hilton Head Island. It was GREAT! (Minus the few arguments!) My mom & dad had won a week stay at a house at a silent auction the previous year. So, they were nice enough to let us come stay with them for the week......along with my mom's two older sister & their families from Pennsylvania. In total, there were 20 *yes TWENTY* of us at the house! Definitely a vacation none of us will ever forget!

• After all of the Pennsylvania family left, we decided to take a trip to Charleston, SC before heading home. We spent some time with the hubby's grandparents, then spent the night with my cousin & her family.

September:

• Colin made a surprise visit home from Florida! He was able to sneak away for the weekend before he had to leave for more school in California.

• The mom & I found a great new outlet mall about an hour away from us! We decided to check it out once the cooler weather started to sneak in!! Even though it didn't last too long!!

OCTOBER:

• The hubby & I were invited to attend a tailgate at Auburn University. We had a blast. AND!! We were even lucky enough to score tickets to the game! I am not a football fan by any means.....but I had one of the best times!! It truly is something I'm glad I was able to do!! Hopefully, we'll be lucky enough to go again next year!!

• We had a long weekend as a family of three.....Ava got to go to Florida to visit with my Grandmother with Chick & Dude. And did she get the biggest surprise ever......a trip to Disney! Despite the rain, she had a blast!

• Of course we had to take a trip out to the local pumpkin patch with the kids! And carve our pumpkins!!!!

• And there was Halloween!!! Which is also Dude's birthday!! We had a blast taking our little witch & garden gnome trick-or-treating!!

• Grayson started WALKING!!!!

NOVEMBER:

• November was the start of the craziness!!!!!!

• We celebrated Thanksgiving.

• Ava turned FIVE!!!!

• Christmas shopping began!

DECEMBER:

• Colin FINALLY finished all of his post-boot camp schooling......at least for now!! And was able to come home for a couple of days. It was so nice to have him home!

• Colin & Molly tied the knot!!! It was a quick wedding.....but I am so happy that she is now officially a part of our crazy family!!!

• We celebrated Christmas early with Colin & Molly. Ava thought it was a blast because she got to open so many presents!!! And Grayson......he was happy with all of the ripped up paper and ribbons!!!

• Our Christmas tree didn't go up until the middle of December.....mostly because Grayson is a monster and has to get in to EVERYTHING!!! But, he did better with it then I imagined!!!

• Christmas was busy, stressful, fun, and exciting! Ava got pretty much everything she asked Santa for. Grayson, again, was just happy with the paper!! And the hubby surprised me with a new iPhone! He even got what he asked for from Santa.....an Amazon Kindle!

• Christmas Day, Grayson took a good fall while we were at my mother in laws. We had to make a pit stop to see our wonderful pediatrician at home to have him glued back together! I see many, many more injuries in our future with this child!!!

• New Years Eve we had plans to drop the kids off with a family friend & have a "hubby & wife" date night. Didn't happen. So, we ended up having dinner with our neighbors & their 2 girls at Mellow Mushroom (yum!)! It was nice because we all get along so well!! After dinner, we all went home, put the kids to bed, and then had a game night with the adults! Who knew that having only 2 couples play Cranium would be so much fun?? This was the 2nd NYE that we spent with the neighbors......I think it's the start of a good tradition!

Well. That was pretty much our past year in a nut shell....kind of!! Hopefully this year is just as wonderful as the last!