Here it is 2009 and the Kellen family has been contemplating our New Year's resolutions (or we prefer to call them this year: New Year's "good intentions"). Before I go into those I thought that it would be kind of fun to review 2008 and officially close out last year.
Our 2008 started with our good friends Meeghan and Raymond coming to visit us for our first time back in Kansas. It is always fun to reconnect with good friends and their visit was no exception. Late nights with good friends, good drinks, card games, and a lot of laughs is always a good time spent and we look forward to our next visit in the coming months! Did I mention that I was a very pregnant Amber starting in 2008?! Yes I was 2 weeks away from giving birth to our second miracle, Isaac James, who would join us on January 14th 2008. Our next months would go very quickly with a newborn and an almost 2 year old.
We were also intently watching our Kansas Jayhawks push through game after game in basketball. Everyone was hoping that this would be the year....... it was! March 2008 the Jayhawks finally became National Champions again and it was a huge party in Lawrence. At 1:30 in the morning we headed down to Mass street to join in on the madness and to pick up our new National Championship t-shirts hot of the press (in every literal sense of the phrase).
April/May we were all eager for the summer heat to return so that summertime fun could begin, but before the heat came Sam's 2nd birthday. Could my baby really be 2!? Yes he could, and I can tell you with full confidence that he can probably hit and throw a baseball and football better than most 4 year olds. Sports and athleticism run through his blood and this was a birthday to build on that. He was equipped with a batting helmet, glove, ball, armband and a baseball tee that shoots the ball up in the air so that it can be clobbered as far as the batter can muster.
May also held High School graduation for my brother and sister-in-law. Celebrations and parties were full swing in May. This was also an exciting month because Joel and I finally decided that we were ready to find a house to nest in. House hunting was going full speed ahead! With a little luck we found 'our home' that we knew would be the perfect first house for our growing family. The house was built in 1951 and needed a little TLC, but we were ready for the challenge and ready to make it our own. The end of May we closed on our very first house.
June brought long nights and tight scheduling as we worked tirelessly on the house trying to get it up to our standards before we moved in. It was all in good spirits and good efforts by many of our family members helping us with little projects that had to be done before bigger ones could begin. I think that month was the most beer that we have ever bought through the entire year! LOL....it wouldn't have been as smooth if it wasn't for the help of all of our family! June also brought a wedding on the Kellen side; Jenny and Kyle were to wed and my Sam was the cutest king of the ring there ever was! He rode down the isle in a wagon without any disputes, but taking pictures happened without any cooperation at all!! Yes he was horrid. I take the blame for that, the day just started weird and because there was so much to do he went without a nap. That obviously is not a good formula for success on a wedding day. :0)
July was the first month that we were able to move into our house and start to nest in. You can imagine that made July fly on bye without much care to other details, however I do believe that this was the month that we took Sam to his first Royal's game (and by default it was also Isaac's first baseball game even though he obviously had no care for it at all) and in case you can't remember he was decked out in Royals gear. Yes, it was also the month of Isaac's first 4th of July celebration.
August brought Joel and I's 3rd wedding anniversary and another wedding on the Kellen side which had us making a mini road trip up to Columbus, Nebraska. Yes. I do believe that was the year of the weddings. :0) Good food and conversation are always apart of such functions.
October was Isaac's first Halloween, and Sam's first 'understanding' of Halloween. What characters! More fun moments engraved into my memory as a mother.
November came fast and Thanksgiving feasts were enjoyed and it was yet another 1st holiday for Isaac.
Before we knew it December was here and it was time for Santa to arrive, but before that Isaac learned how to walk in the month of December and Isaac also cut his first 2 teeth. One on top (front) and one on bottom (front). Whew! And as I'm sure you can see the pattern this was another holiday of Isaac's first Chrismas, Sam's first 'more understanding' of Christmas, and it was the first Christmas in our first home. This one will be remembered for quite some time. There is almost nothing better than a cozy feeling home at Christmas time, especially if it is your first one!
There were also two 50th anniversaries that happened in 2008, which were all celebrated with the entire family. I don't have a picture of both but I'll share a recent family picture.
I don't know what 2009 will hold for our family but I do know that lots of memories will be made along the way. There is more work to be done on our house inside and out; we have started a vegetable garden in our backyard and we will be adding lots of flowers in the front. I plan on continuing to visit our farmer's market on a weekly basis and try to play with my kids as much as possible. I want to have my husband and I's love deepen a little more every day, because we both feel that we are lucky to have each other. 2009 is about doing it better the second time around for me in all aspects of my life; sure I'll try to eat better or exercise more, but I think that it is more important to enjoy the good things that go together like cookies and milk, peanut butter and jelly, or beer and pizza! Life is too short to not enjoy the simple pleasures in life. If we all are going to die someday, I want to die enjoying the things I love! May 2009 bring all of you the little things in life that make you happy!
