2010 Retrospective

It seems we blinked and 2010 was gone. Charlie went from speaking a few words to complete sentences. We stayed close to home and ventured far, and enjoyed what all these experiences had to offer:

January: Did anything happen last January? It was cold. We watched the Vikings in the playoffs and had our hopes crushed in the NFC Championship game. We shopped for items for the bathroom remodel.
February: We finally bid goodbye to our nasty bathroom and remodeled it into a beautiful new space. I traveled to Austin, TX for an old friend's wedding. Nate began a journey of healing after some tumultuous years.
March: Ellis turned seven. We tried our hand at starting seeds for garden plants indoors for the first time (it worked!). We began the acquisition of various musical instruments to support Josh's music-making and integrate the family into it.
April: Alaska grandparents came to visit and grandpa helped us clear new garden beds and plant potatoes.
May: I dug up the grass on the boulevard and planted prairie plants, starting a season-long attempt to transform our front yard.
June: I got a promotion at work, which meant moving up to a four-day weekly schedule. Charlie turned two and then Nate turned sixteen a week later.
July: We travelled to Chicago to visit family and to Duluth for weekend trips. We fixed my old clarinet and Josh and I began adding a little music playing to our wine drinking evenings.
August: We spent two weeks in Alaska. It was Charlie's first time. I fell in love with being able to walk out the door right into nature.
September: I got sick on Labor Day weekend. Charlie, Nate, Ellis, and Josh followed close behind. We coughed the whole month. Alaska grandparents visited, but we hardly saw them because we were sick and grandma had eye surgery.
October: Everything glowed this month in orange and red and yellow. I tried to get outside as much as possible with the little boys. We travelled to Blue Mounds State Park for my thirty-seventh birthday.
November: Josh turned forty-five. We finally fixed the water-damaged ceiling and painted the little boys' room reclaiming yet another space in the house. Ellis started taking Aikido lessons and piano lessons. Josh took a second job.
December: It snowed. Then it snowed again. Then it snowed some more. Then it really snowed. Josh was buried under work and I was too until my holiday vacation time. We looked back on a year that was so full of activity and love and the pursuit of dreams.