{My Instagram #bestnine2018}
Happy 2019! This is my favorite blogging tradition because it is just so fun to review the past year. So, before I start thinking too much about this New Year, let’s look at the highlights of 2018.
January. Aaron was still on paternity leave and I was starting week 4 (of 12) of BBG. We celebrated the New Year with the Andersons! We headed to Boise to see my family and to celebrate my cousin’s wedding. Aaron and I had our first date of the year: pedicures and sushi! We had a play date at the Zoo with friends and Eloise started ballet. I helped host (and surprise) a mama friend with a baby shower brunch. We all headed down to the Museum of Flight for a family date. We had dinner with old friends. And Aaron headed back to work with a new team, and we all re-adjusted to normal life. We had a play date and dinner with neighbors.
February. We had a double date-night with friends to kick off the month. Eloise had Spirit Week at school, meaning she got to dress-up in different ways (like jammies, stripes and polka dots, etc.). Eloise celebrated her half birthday at school! We had a PEPS play date, family dinner, and I went to a Galentine’s Day brunch with girlfriends. Aaron and I celebrated Valentine’s Day and my birthday one day early with dinner at Serafina, my fav. Eloise had a Valentine’s Day party at school, we celebrated a friend’s birthday, and I went birthday shopping! Daphne started walking. I had a group phone chat with my favorite old girlfriends and we celebrated the long holiday weekend (which lead into Eloise’s mid-winter break). We had the tiniest bit of snowfall and Daphne decided she did NOT like the snow. We had dinner with friends and I continued with my BBG workouts.
March. Daphne turned ONE! Grammie flew into town and we celebrated Daphne’s birthday with a party at the house. Daphne chose rice during her Dol which means she’ll have “an abundant life.” Eloise, Grammie, and I went to see Daniel Tiger Live and Eloise LOVED it! I attended the PEPS Luncheon and Daphne had her one year check-up. Daphne had her one year photoshoot which she wasn’t super thrilled about. I headed to a friend’s house for Bubbles & Brunch! We survived the time change. We had dinner with friends and also took dinner to our friends with a new baby. We had a play date and family dinner, and Eloise got a hair cut. We went down to the local community center for an Easter egg hunt. Aaron and I had our date night and we ended the month with family movie night.
April. We celebrated Easter with an egg hunt and pizza dinner. Daphne and I started a music class and she LOVED it! Aaron and I headed out for our monthly date night to an escape room with friends. So fun! Eloise had spring break and we spent the week playing with friends, at the Children’s Museum, the library, and ended the week with ice cream. We got our Keenz wagon and LOVE it! Grammie came into town, and we celebrated Aaron’s GRADUATION!
May. We brought in our house contractor to expand our back deck. The Zoo hosted a special evening to introduce the new rhinos, so we headed over to see them and have a picnic dinner. Daphne fell and split her eyebrow and we ended up at Urgent Care. Eloise turned three and three-quarters! We celebrated Mother’s Day all weekend, including brunch with friends. We celebrated Aaron’s birthday with a family dinner. (The deck project went slightly over budget and then Daphne wasn’t feeling well so my plans to take Aaron to Canlis for a surprise birthday dinner did not work out. #reallife Maybe next year!) We had our couch fixed (the springs were damaged) and the girls were fascinated by the entire thing. And we had a BBQ with friends. We celebrated Memorial Day and the beginning of summer.
June. Daphne and I flew out to Champaign, Illinois to celebrate a family friend’s wedding! We met up with Mimi and Paga, and we had such a fun time! Eloise and Aaron had a fun solo weekend and celebrated a friend’s birthday party. I painted our entryway bench and took the girls to music class. I flew (solo) to Huntington Beach for a long weekend to celebrate my sister’s graduation. And I got to shop at McGee & Co, and meet Shea! We celebrated Father’s Day with a hike down in Discovery Park. We hit up the splash pad and Eloise had her final day of preschool. We celebrated a friend’s birthday at the park and had dinner with neighbors. The girls went to the dentist for check-ups. Eloise started weekly swim lessons, we celebrated a friend’s birthday with tie-dying tee shirts, and we went to Tugboat Story time with friends.
July. I refinished our side table. We celebrated the Fourth of July with the neighborhood parade in the morning and a BBQ party for lunch. We packed up and hit the road for Boise. We had dinner with my brother and sister-in-law, and I headed up to the mountains for a short girls’ weekend with the CBC girls. We hung out by the pool and had lots of adventures with Mimi and Paga. I shopped the pre-sale for Nordy’s Anni Sale and we attended an end-of-the-year potluck for Eloise’s school (her teacher had a baby at the very end of the school year, so the party was a bit delayed). Aaron’s nephews Teddy and Gavin came into town, and all of the boys headed out for a camping trip. We met some friends at the Greenlake wading pool and I was sewing lots and lots of flags for a collaboration project for the Shop. We hit up the Lake City Farmer’s Market and saw the Bookmobile and had dinner. We had a few morning play dates with friends and then we packed up and headed on our family vacation to Bend, Oregon. We ate and shopped, did puzzles, and found some pretty cool playgrounds. We celebrated a friend’s birthday and picked up Sadie from the dog sitter.
August. The girls and I went blueberry picking with friends. Aaron and I celebrated our EIGHTH wedding anniversary and celebrated with a date night. I had a mama date night with a friend – a movie & drinks! I helped celebrate a friend’s new baby boy and Eloise started art camp at Roaring Mouse. Eloise turned FOUR and we spent the morning at the Zoo with friends and had a picnic dinner. I went to the June & January Sample Sale downtown with a friend and picked up some cute clothes for the girls. The Shop also got included in the J&J Swag Bags for this event which was pretty exciting. The summer birthday party extravaganza started and we celebrated LOTS of birthdays every weekend! We celebrated Eloise’s fourth birthday with a popsicle party. We headed to a park up north to see Caspar Babypants in concert and the girls loved it! Aaron flew East for a work trip to Taipei and Japan, and I got a “date night” to celebrate Amanda’s birthday with a delicious dinner! Grammie flew into town to help out and the smoke from the Vancouver fires meant we couldn’t be outside. So we went to the children’s museum in Bellevue, had movie night, and went to story time at the library. The girls and I attended Kidchella with a friend, got to see Caspar Babypants (again!), have special treats, and Eloise got her face painted. Daphne and I headed up to Flower World to get some plants for the yard, and Aaron FINALLY got home from his work trip! We had a lunch play date with friends and Eloise had a “jumpstart” day at Pre-K to meet her new teachers and see her new classroom and school (though she was disappointed there was no bouncy house at the school).
September. Aaron’s parents visited over the long holiday weekend and there were lots of adventures with Nana, Papaw, Uncle Ben, and Aunt Sarah. Eloise got a haircut. And then she had her first day of Pre-K at her new school and we said good-bye to summer. Daphne had her 18 month check-up. We attended the annual salmon bake at Laurelhurst Community Center with friends, and the girls loved the playground and live music. I got a blow-out and we had a date night, complete with costumes, for Ben & Sarah’s annual costume party. We hosted PEPS. And I did my body scan in anticipation of starting the fall Pure Barre Challenge. We spent an evening at the Zoo for Member Appreciation Night, had a picnic dinner, and ran into some friends! Daphne and I went to Top Pot for a doughnut date and then to library story time. Eloise and I went to celebrate a new school friend’s birthday party which included some arts & crafts and swimming. We had a play date with friends at the Museum of Flight. And shared a meal with friends who just had a new baby. We ventured up north to have brunch with the Andersons which was so fun to catch up and get the kids together. Then it was family movie night. We also brunched at Super Bueno with friends, back when there was still childcare in the play area so the adults could actually chat and eat! Sadie had her annual vet check-up and got a clean bill of health, and then we celebrated her FOURTEENTH birthday! The girls and I spent one sunny morning at Carkeek Park enjoying the sun, sand, and trains. Eloise and I had a late birthday celebration with her friend at Seattle Pops. We had dinner with our old friends Kurt and Dave. And I celebrated a new mama-to-be!
October. Daphne and I had a coffee date with the other Pre-K mamas at Eloise’s school. Eloise had her first (offical) school picture day. The girls and I got tickets to the Tiny Tots Symphony, and they LOVED it! We celebrated our friend Mae’s birthday party and the girls loved the bouncy house the best. Or maybe the donuts. Aaron went golfing and we had our annual family photoshoot at the UW Arboretum. I celebrated my blogging anniversary (seven years, I think?) which also coincides with my big brother’s birthday. Aaron and I had our monthly date night, and headed down to Ballard for dinner at La Carta de Oaxaca and (ice cream) dessert across the street at Salt & Straw. We had a play date with PEPS friends on a Friday morning (since no one has preschool). Eloise and I got our flu shots, and we waited forever. (Luckily we anticipated the very long wait and grabbed lunch before heading back to the clinic. And Aaron and Daphne got flu shots too!) We had family dinner. Grammie came into town for a visit. Eloise, Grammie, and I headed out to Remlinger Farms for a school field trip which was really fun. We had a play date with new friends and then I headed out for dinner and drinks with my PEPS mama friends. We hosted one of Aaron’s co-workers over for dinner and had a PEPS get-together. I had a video chat with the CBC girls (via Facebook Messenger, though now we could do it thru FaceTime) and it was AMAZING to see everyone and chat. We had a pumpkin carving party with our friends and managed to keep most of the five kids from touching the carving tools. I finished my 6 week Pure Barre Challenge (which was 4 barre classes and 2 cardio classes per week) and we celebrated Halloween at our friends’ annual costume party. Halloween Day was spent mostly in costume. We headed down to the parade route to meet friends and neighbors, and then the girls headed out for trick-or-treating. I decided not to hand out candy this year, but non-food treats instead (like plastic teeth, stickers, and tattoos) which were actually a hit with the kids and we ran out!
November. We had pizza night with our friends and decided it was the BEST idea for taking dinner over to a family with a new baby – pizza delivery! Eloise had a special movie night at her school and watched The Incredibles in her jammies with her friends. We survived the Daylight Saving Time change and hosted Ben & Sarah for dinner. Aaron and I attended our first parent-teacher conference for Eloise and made the decision to send her to Kindergarten next school year (we were on the fence given her late summer birthday). And then Aaron came down with Hand Foot and Mouth, and we all quarantined ourselves for the remainder of the week. (And luckily no one else got it!) Once Aaron was back at work, we headed over one afternoon to join him for lunch. Aaron golfed with his brother and I kept up with my regular Sunday afternoon Pure Barre class (to get prepped for the upcoming holidays). We headed out to Pendleton the afternoon before Thanksgiving, picking up Aaron at work on the way out of town. We had dinner at Prodigal Son (a favorite) in Pendleton before heading down the street and checking into a motel for the night. Sharing one motel room with the girls was about as fun as it sounds, and we were freezing, so I layered the girls in as many clothes as they would let me and then we all headed to bed. We hit up the continental motel breakfast bar on our way out of town and made it to my parents’ house by the afternoon. Aaron and I got an unexpected date night, including a much-needed hair cut for yours truly and a progressive dinner (with two dinners and a dessert). We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and felt so grateful for all that we have this year. We watched the Huskies man-handle the Cougs in the Apple Cup (and torrential snow storm), and also got another date night at the Boise State football game with my parents. We got to see the CBC girls (and all the kids) for a morning play date and meet the newest member of the group – Baby Hattie – as well as have a pizza lunch with my brother, sister, and sister-in-law. We headed out of town bright & early to make it to Baker City, Oregon for breakfast, and got surprised by our Seattle friends who were also making the drive home from Boise! I ended up with a kid-free morning and headed over to meet the newest Sadlier. Eloise & I discovered General Porpoise donuts behind U Village and stopped in for a snack (and a box to-go)! And we ended the month with another pizza night to meet another friends’ baby! (Guys, there are SO many new babies.)
December. We got our Christmas tree (the biggest & best one we’ve ever had) and decked the halls. Eloise & I started a new tradition with friends to see The Nutcracker at the PNW Ballet, and she LOVED it! Eloise got her second crown. We had a play date with a new school friend. And I gracefully bowed out of A Pinterest Christmas this year. I had drinks with a mama friend, and we continued the tradition of seeing Santa downtown at Nordy’s. Eloise asked for a wreath for her bedroom door and a race car for Daphne, but neither of the girls was too happy to see Mr. Claus this year. I officially closed The Petite Flag Shop. Uncle David came into town for a visit. Aaron had his tonsils out – eek! – and then took 11 full days to be able to eat solid foods. Poor guy. Eloise and I went on a field trip with her school to the Seattle Children’s Theater to see The Velveteen Rabbit, and it was SO good! Then Daphne and I headed to IKEA, and also to a UW study to see how she interacted with an iPad. The girls made Christmas crafts at Roaring Mouse, a local art school, and we had our December family dinner with the entire Sadlier crew. We hosted the second annual Jingle & Mingle Hot Cocoa Party which was so fun (and SO many children)! Aaron and I got in our final date night of the year, and had an absolute blast seeing one of our favorite bands, The Senate, play downtown for their annual show. We hit up WildLights at Woodland Park Zoo which is one of my favorite traditions, as well as the Christmas Bite Party and (the worst) White Elephant Gift Exchange with old and dear friends. Eloise officially went on Winter Break and we celebrated Christmas Eve with the Sadliers (Feliz Navidad!) starting a new holiday tradition. Santa enjoyed our chocolate chip cookies and left presents which we opened on Christmas morning. After breakfast and devouring the rest of the gifts under our tree, we headed to Ben & Sarah’s for Christmas brunch, FaceTimed with family, and then home for Christmas dinner just the four of us. Eloise had “camp” at school for two days post-Christmas, and we took down all of the Christmas decor. And we celebrated New Year’s Eve with a final family dinner of 2018.
What. A. Year. Phew! Best year ever? Ha, I say that every year! It has been SO much fun with the girls this year & seeing their relationship. Sisters are the best!
Happy New Year’s friends!
M
And see our previous years’ highlights: 2017 // 2016 // 2015 // 2014 // 2013 // 2012 // 2011