According to the Church Calendar, the new year both starts and ends with advent. We begin with waiting and we end with waiting – a reminder that we are living in this in-between season. We wait for the Messiah to come (he came – Christmas!), we wait for him to come to us now (the Holy Spirit is making all things new), and we wait for him to come again in Glory (he will judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end!) In church every Sunday we proclaim that “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!” as a reminder of God’s ongoing work. Past, present, and future.
The Church Calendar was set up to help us remember what Christ has done for us year round. The feasts, the fasts, and the celebrations all tells the story of what God has done, invites us into what he is doing, and helps us look forward to what he has planned. As a new year begins, I am always ready to look to the future – to start a new reading goal (one that I will reach this year), update our homeschool curriculum/ routines to better fit our needs, or master our grocery budget (why is this so hard?!). And while it is good to grow in Christ and set goals that help us achieve the things we value, we must not neglect the biblical mandate of remembering what the Lord has done. We must look back to look forward and both of those actions should shape how we live today.
“For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” – Luke 1:49
He who is mighty has done great things for Mary, and likewise for me. Vacations, holidays, birthdays, camps, and celebrations filled this year. But also so many ordinary moments that were made extraordinary by the one through whom all things were made and who is making all things new.
January
We spent a bunch of time outside. I love the photos from this day (there are so many more on my computer) but capturing sister pictures like this as they grow has been such a gift. Winter may be cold and brown, but it is worth bundling up for and getting outside. These mountain views on neighborhood walks are a daily reminder of the goodness of God.
My newest niece was born and she was the first one I was able to hold in the hospital! It is truly magical becoming a parent but your heart melts in another kind of way when your baby brother becomes a dad. I am so glad they were in Colorado for her birth and we were able to be the visiting family at the hospital! Blessing upon blessing.
My Millie girl turned 5! The day she woke up on her birthday she said “I am five now! Let’s start Kindergarten!” She brings so much joy to our lives. We threw her a fairy themed birthday party but this picture of her yelling in the forest felt more fitting for this act of remembrance. She is my snuggle bug, my lyrical colleague (we know all the songs!), and my queen of outfit changes!
February
Our friends talked us into a *last minute* Disneyland trip! With deals on Disney tickets and the absolute CHEAPEST direct flights, we jumped on the opportunity for a friendcation to the Happiest Place on earth! We have several Disney World trips under our belt (we took advantage of the years we had employees in the family!!), but none of the kids had been to the OG park and they absolutely freaked when we told them the news!
Hilde got a subscription to Clubhouse Jr Magazine for her birthday in August so every month when her mail came, she would steal away pouring through every single page! I couldn’t help but be filled with nostalgic joy seeing this little girl of mine do exactly what I did as a little girl and enjoying the very things I loved.
February brought a couple bugs into our home so we spent a lot of days together at-home as a family. As a homeschooling family, this can be pretty normal for us but I just love the relationships my kids have with each other. They are truly each other’s best friends. So here are two besties in jammies eating lunch (or breakfast?!) at their own tiny table!
March
Three kids on bikes. Isn’t it incredible how you can blink and your babies are all kids? There is no need for a stroller when each one of your kids can slap on a helmet and pedal themselves straight to the basketball court at the park! This photo, catching all three of them in motion, is one of my favorites marking this season of childhood!
Disneyland!! It was incredibly hard to pick just one photo for this blog post (which means I might need to get a blog post with all of them up one day!) This photo however wins for a plethora of reasons. 1. My son. 2. His joy. 3. Where else do you see Donald looking so regal?! I didn’t know how he would act towards the costume characters and the result was beaming. Every. Single. Time. While the big girls went with dad on tall rides, me and my sidekick got in line to hug characters!
Mother Millie. Are you even a homeschooler if you don’t dress up in your pioneer costume and go to historical landmarks in town?! Rock Ledge Ranch is one of our favorite places on earth (it is near and dear to our hearts for so many reasons) and the kids were thrilled to wear their outfits to the ranch. This photo I took feels like a bridge between the future and the past, childhood and motherhood. My middle child looking so motherly as my other two pose (or play) in the background. I entered this photo into a gallery and titled it “A Mother’s Gaze.”
April
Bruce built me a pergola for my hammock! I bought this pretty hammock from Target years ago thinking it could fit on my porch in a certain spot. After some time, I realized it wouldn’t work where I first envisioned but was way past the return window (emphasis on “some time”!!) So this beauty sat folded up in the garage collecting dust (literally wood dust from all Bruce’s woodworking projects), until that same man gave me an early birthday gift! We planted grape vines right afterwards and they grew like crazy over the summer!
An Easter Sunday group photo! I was on a mom/daughter date with Hilde and she saw these Bluey dresses at Target. She was instantly in love and I told her that the only way we could buy them was if they were going to be their Easter dresses for this year. With a whole lot of squeals and Bluey style flossing, I took it as a yes and even found a Bluey button-up for Thorin to wear! All that is completely unrelated to Easter which is turning into one of our favorite holidays now that we celebrate Lent and Holy Week too!
We finally cut down the last of the fire hazard, sickly pine trees that were right up on our house. The first couple we were able to take down ourselves, but this one leaned into our neighbors yard and towered above the others, putting both of our houses at risk. We discovered King Tree Service when they were trimming our neighbors’ tree and were VERY impressed with them and their pricing! Just an unpaid shoutout for anyone in the Colorado Springs area!
May
We took a zoo trip with our cousins and they all piled onto the “do you weight as much as a primate?” scale that has been here since the 90’s. If I had already digitized my mom’s entire photo collection, I would be able to show you a picture of me and my siblings doing the exact same thing 30 years ago. I don’t have that, so you are just going to have to imagine it. It is really not that hard – just that picture but with 90’s style clothing.
My sister moved back to Colorado with her family (in 2024) and reminded me of my love for pavlova! So in honor of my 37th birthday, I made and ate pavlova all month long. Mother’s Day? Pavlova! Birthday? Pavlova! Birthday Celebration(s)? More Pavlova! Bring a dessert to share? You guessed it – PAVLOVA! Here is a personal Peach Pavlova recipe I shared on the blog years ago!
Watching my kids fall in love with Eagle Lake Camp. If you have been around here for some time, you know that camp is a huge part of my life and story – I mean, it is where I met my husband (back in 2005!) We still have friends who work at camp (they are the big wigs now), so we find ourselves hanging out with other kids during the pre-camp weeks of staff training and it is a gift to be able to give our kids memories of this special place before they are even old enough to attend! You better believe that the ones who are old enough are already signed up for Day Camp this summer!!
June
The first Saturday of June is always Life Network‘s annual Walk for Life. We have raised money and participated in this event for over a decade – it is a local ministry that is near and dear to our hearts! This year the girls wanted their own pages so that they both could raise enough money to earn a t-shirt. They met and surpassed that $150 goal, both of them raising $1095! I was so proud of them – even though the picture shown here is of me and my little man!!!
We went to the Father’s Day Vibes game (as we typically do) and enjoyed some local, affordable baseball! It was a good thing too because it turned out to be the last summer for the Rocky Mountain Vibes. After growing up with the Sky Sox (they arrived in 1988) and then transitioning to the Vibes in 2020, I’m heartbroken our city won’t have a baseball team anymore. I am grateful for all the games we were able to attend with our kids (all as the Vibes) and all the memories I have of the Sky Sox as a kid. Now we just have to save our money and drive up to Denver to see the Rockies!!
June is for after dinner hikes and photos with my favorite people! The grass was so green after a super wet Spring and the golden glow of the sun was just right. As I sit here in the middle of Winter, I am astonished at the apparent temperature at said time of day and the fact that the sun was still out – but isn’t that why we need to practice remembering?!? The human heart tends to forget even the things that were mere months ago!
July
I have tons of adorable photos of my tiny Red, White, and Blue Americans but here is a picture of me with my best friend! My camera is heavy but the girls are getting bigger and it is always fun to hand it over and see what happens! We celebrated the same way we do nearly every 4th of July by attending the Rock Ledge Ranch celebrations (as I mentioned above, it is a place that is near and dear to our hearts!)
A mean-ol-bear demolished, dismembered, and destroyed my bird feeder pole and the two bird feeders hanging on it while I watched through my window. Dusk was just at it’s beginning when I plopped myself on the couch after getting kids to bed and glanced outside to this. The bears can be active in our area (we do live near open space) but they often do so in the middle of the night (as we have seen in countless doorbell camera videos!) This one however was ballsy and brave and enjoyed his dinner in the light of the day. We did scare him away but not in time to save anything.
Thorin turned three! Any guesses what his birthday party theme was??! You guessed it! Toy Story – specifically Woody. He met him in Disneyland in March and quickly fell in love – Toy Story movies, Toy Story toys, Toy Story clothes, Toy Story birthday party – you get the picture. I always take a photo of the birthday kid in front of/on their birthday party table and this one of Thorin wildly throwing a Woody stuffy past the camera is pretty much the best representation him in this season!
August
The girls BOTH when to school in August! Millie is holding up a zero for her Kindergarten year and Hilde rocking the peace sign as she went into the second grade! We homeschool but our girls go to an outdoor enrichment program where they learn, grow, and explore while spending most of their time in the great outdoors! We have loved this program and are so thankful for the many opportunities out there for homeschoolers today! PS: In the state of Colorado each homeschool student can do on of these enrichment programs for free!
We went on a family camping trip to Victor & Cripple Creek. We spent our time hiking, playing at our campground, and learning about the history of the Colorado Gold rush at the free Cripple Creek Heritage Center. This tire is from one of the trucks that is currently part of the gold mining operations in the area and we discovered it on one of our hikes.
Hilde turned seven and we threw her a Princess Bride birthday party followed by a backyard showing of the movie on our new (old) college auditorium projector! While I had to share this beautiful photo of my Hilde girl absolutely glowing, I wish you could see the photo of the R.O.U.S piñata Bruce and the kids worked on for weeks before the party – there is nothing like it. Perhaps I should start blogging our birthday parties again because we just have too much fun with them 😉
September
This is our hiking crew! It is always fun to be friends with other homeschooling families because you can get together for hikes and adventures right in the middle of the school day! I love these five all lined up in a row – scheming and planning for all the fun we will have heading to a fort out in the woods!
My niece had her SENIOR volleyball celebration night and we simply had to attend and cheer her on. I have known her since she was a young toddler and was blessed to step into the role of auntie when I married Bruce! Seeing these kiddos (her and her siblings) I know and love enter into a new season of life brings me so much joy. This one being extra emotional and powerful seeing how the Lord has restored her back to health after a long battle with Cancer.
We took our crew to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on a mid week field trip – got to love the flexibility homeschooling provides in avoiding crowds! Hilde loved the gems, Millie loved the animals, and Thorin loved the dinosaurs. They all loved the gift shop but they were not allow to linger there long 😉 This photo is the view at the top floor balcony. On a clear day you can see nearly the entire front range with the skyline of Denver taking stage. We all were shocked to learn we could see our mountain (Pikes Peak) all the way up here!
October
Here is a picture from the Harvest Festival! You’ll never guess where it is… Rock Ledge Ranch! We have found they are one of our favorite places to celebrate the seasons as they make history come alive and there is always something new to learn and discover. We pick out our pumpkins from the patch each year and of course have to go on the hay ride because is it even fall if you don’t sit on hay?!
Pikes Peak or Bust! Our local library offers free passes for several museums and attractions in town – one of those being tickets to drive up Pikes Peak during the off season! I signed up for a date and we marked our calendar for a field trip to 14,115 feet! It has been years since I went to the top – Bruce and I rode the Cog in 2015 and hiked it (long story and even longer hike) in 2006 with a friend on Labor Day – so it was really fun to experience it and see the NEW building they built at the very top! If you are ever visiting Colorado Springs, this is something worth doing – just make sure you are okay with the elevation gain! Also, quick reminder that libraries do a lot these days – they often have games, toys, kits, audio books, and activities all able to be checked out/ enjoyed! Get a free library card for your library district!
Halloween! We always do a family costume for Halloween and we will continue to do so until our kids tell us it isn’t cool anymore. Thankfully we are raising homeschool kids and they are super into the idea of a family costume and plan for it all year long. This year we went as Mario Party – Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toadette, and Rosalina! Are they excited about the new Mario movie coming out?!? You betcha!!
November
Mom & son hike in the woods. We dropped off the girls at school and just the two of us went on a hike to explore. I got roped into taking photos of a wedding (it ended up being so beautiful!!) but I had to scout out some photo locations before the morning of the wedding! Thorin was my model as we walked around to find good photo spots for that specific time of day!
We hosted Thanksgiving and Hilde helped me put together a Gratitude Tree where everyone could write one or many things they were thankful for and clip it to the branches. Hilde wrote the first several and it warmed my heart seeing her thank the Lord for his goodness. We also packed everyone in – spanning three tables, baking two Turkeys, and enjoying the fellowship of family and friends!
Even though we pushed hard into celebrating Advent this year, we still continued with our family tradition of getting our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving! We went to Heidrich’s Tree Nursery which is where we have been going the last several years! It is always a good time and we always get a Natural White Pine – highly recommend!
December
First snow of the year (I know!! DECEMBER!) and Millie just had to run out and try to build a snowman. Clearly the snow wasn’t meant for such a feat, but she did her best and we all loved that flat little snow lady! It was one of those things I needed to remember forever so I took a bunch of photos and they make me laugh every time I see them!
We tried out adding some new traditions into our Advent celebrations like St. Lucy’s and St. Nick’s! The kids left out their snow boots by the front door before bed and on the day of St. Nicholas (December 6th) they found Candy Canes representing his staff, Gold Coins representing his generosity, and Oranges representing the bags of gold he threw in the home of the poor man on behalf of his three daughters. You don’t need to go big, to elicit squeals of joy from your kids when celebrating any kind of holiday!
Our church does a “No Tears Nativity” every Christmas Eve where every kid gets to participate and every kid gets to be whomever or whatever they want! This year we had two angels and a donkey! The church provides costumes but my kids love to rummage through our own dress up to be even more prepared. This service is chaotic and at the same time deeply moving. I cry every year. There is something about the joy and participation of the children, the celebration of Christ’s birth, and watching shepherds in front of me partake in the sacrament of communion. It is a Christmas season must for our family.
There you have it January – December, a year in review. It was HARD to pick only three photos and three things to mark each season. I didn’t even mention all the Summer camps and extracurricular things the kids were able to participate in throughout 2025. Or include all the family gatherings and meals shared with friends. I was able to include the bear that broke my bird feeder, but I couldn’t fit in the hail storm we got caught in at the zoo (the videos I took are keepsakes!!) I had to skip beautiful photos of hikes, bike rides, and daily shenanigans – opting to not necessary pick the top three photos, but three that could most best represent our year as a family.
It is in reflecting that we see so many beautiful moments and too many good things that we cannot even recount them all.
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” – Matthew 7:11
As we close out this year and walk into a year of ending each journal entry with a two-six, may we see God’s goodness, beauty, and Truth all around us. Happy New Year!
