Memories, Dreams and Reflections 2013

Here we go again! This is my third year participating in this photo series. I love doing this, love reminiscing on the past year. If you would like to visit my post from last year, click here. 

1. Me!

 

 This picture was taken while we were living in temp housing when we first came to Montreal. 

2. I Love You

  

It's these moments that I love. Eliana snuggling against my chest or snow ball fights with the kids. Long conversations with my oldest daughter or moments when we can't stop laughing at the oddest things. Pillow fights with Parker. Walks to the store with my hubby. Sometimes, it feels like time stops for a little while during these times. These wonderful moments, make all the rough ones manageable. Moments I wouldn't trade anything in the world for.

3. Still Laughing…

 

Another series of pictures taken in temp housing. I couldn't resist making Eliana into a meme. 

4. Winter Wonderland

 

It has taken a bit of getting used to dealing with cold weather and snow. This is a picture of Parker all bundled up and ready to play in the first snow of the season.

5. Birthday

Eliana's first year photo shoot. I wanted to take these photos at this park about a mile from our house. It has some gorgeous trees and so many beautiful backdrops for pictures. We haven't owned a vehicle since our move, so you could imagine how "fun" it was hauling all the stuff I used in this photo to this location.

6. Friends

This picture was taken at Parker and Evan's Willy Wonka themed party. Our move to Montreal brought us closer to families and friends that were also relocated from Arizona to Montreal. I also love that we were able to Skype with family and friends that couldn't be at the party in person. 

  
7. I Was Inspired… 

 

 I really wanted to do something cute for Father's Day this year so we made a cute little video for daddy.

8. Spring Fever

 

The minute the snow cleared, and the temperatures warmed up, everything that had grass was also filled with dandelions. Couldn't imagine having to deal with them if we had a yard, but Parker enjoyed playing in and with them.

9. Travel or Vacation

 

 When my parents and brother came into visit us in Montreal, we took a road trip to Toronto. We packed a lot of activities into a couple of days including taking Eliana and Parker to their first baseball game. 

10. Summer Days

 Unintentionally, when we chose our place, we moved into a neighborhood with a public pool and a big park only a block away. We didn't take advantage of the pool as much as we should have this past summer, but now that we have our free passes we will be going there a lot more this next summer.

 
11. A Day In My Life

With three kids, someone always needs something.  I know all three kiddos love each other so much, but there is always some sort of sibling drama going on. I wouldn't have it any other way....unless of course all three decided that sibling rivalry is overrated.

12. All Smiles

 

It's a rare moment to have all three kiddos smiling. Takes a lot of patience. I was going through all the pictures and found this picture. I didn't even remember I had this one of the kids.

13. Autumn Harvest

 

Eliana's birthday falls right into the most colorful time of the year. It was so much fun to take her to the nearby park for her birthday photos. You can see she had a lot of fun playing in the fall leaves.

14. Family or Home

  

15. Celebrate!

 

Happy New Year!

16. Let’s Do It Again…

 

 The kids and I will be doing the, Color Me Rad, this next year.  For the most part, we had a blast! I'm excited to participate in the race again.

17. I Miss You

 

  This is the first year we didn't celebrate birthdays and many holidays together. Missing my parents and brother since our move to Montreal.

18. Beautiful

 

I'm nearly certain I've posted a picture of Vanessa for this prompt the last couple of years. She is beautiful in so many ways.

19. Dress Up

 

We all dressed up in steam punk versions of Alice in Wonderland characters. I'm still hoping to take a better picture of us all in our costumes, but for now this one will have to do. 

20. Macro

 

 One of my biggest fears are spiders. We had some deadly spiders in Arizona, but you would never see them. Here...they are everywhere. Trying to have a nice picnic at the park? Nope, giant spiders live in the grass here. Anyhow, I saw this web and it was the perfect web!

 

 21. Holidays

Christmas morning!

 22. My Favorite – share your favorite picture or memory from 2012.

 

This was taken a couple days after Christmas. Eliana was being so silly.

 23. Don’t Ever Change

 

 I hope my kiddos will always be close, always love each other.

24. Just Because…So There!

 

And we can't forget Picasso! He's been through a lot. Just a week before our big move, he was mauled by two dogs. We nearly lost him.  Picasso is such an awesome cat. He's been a very important part of our crazy, wonderful story too. 

25. Hopes and Dreams

 

We sat down and made a few resolutions this year. My main resolution is to learn the French language to a point I can carry on a conversation with someone. Another resolution is that my hubby and I will be dedicating one afternoon/evening a month for a date night. We've discussed starting the process to becoming permanent residents and citizens of Canada and possibly buying a home here in Montreal after Vanessa graduates from school.

2013 was an amazing year and my goal is to make 2014 even better!