We are spending the night in — the whole family has a cold so we are taking it easy! And believe me, I plan on being in bed well before midnight. (Besides, it’s already been 2018 in France for hours so we’re all good!)

In the meantime, we’ve been looking back on a year that has generally been pretty good to our family ♥️

In January, Jonas finished casting and went into BNB — he now has beautifully corrected feet! He wears his brace at night and never seems to mind, so it feels like we’re out of the deep end of the clubfoot pool. (Read more about our clubfoot journey here)

We survived the long, cold winter.

Adelina went from an adorable toddler to a real little girl, and it’s incredible. I love that we can have actual conversations, how she remembers every little detail and brings things up weeks or months later. I love to see those little wheels turning, and I love her sweet spontaneous hugs after we’ve driven each other crazy ❤

Andrew survived his first year in a very stressful new job.

In February, I joined a nonprofit organization as translation coordinator and traveled for a group presentation in the spring. To be honest, I’ve talked about it very little “publicly” because it was a lot of work and I worried about announcing things and then burning out. And I was right about that feeling: I ended up handing off my responsibilities and taking a major backseat this last month (I’m staying on in a consulting role) because it was too much stress and responsibility with two small kids at home. This balancing act is tricky, and it got to a point where I would resent my children for making demands on my time. It’s not where I wanted to be, so I thankfully I managed to listen to the quiet but insistent promptings to step back. I am however grateful for the opportunity to have played a small role in setting up procedures and getting the ball rolling. I know I was able to give some good time and talent to the project and to a cause that’s very dear to my heart, and I know it’s in good hands now as well.

Adelina and I did plenty of cooking together — she’s my favorite little sous-chef! And I love how she loves it, she’ll frequently ask to “faire la cuisine” with me ❤

My little sister got married! It was so fun being a part of it all — I actually got to do their engagement photos for them too, and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. It doesn’t hurt that my sister is basically a model 😉

It was just a lovely event overall. Always a wild time when we have the four sisters together!

(Sarah Tagg Photography is the lady behind the lens at the wedding!)

We traveled to France and Switzerland this summer — a whole month for the kids and I, soaking up family and friends and sunshine and incredible food and sights. (And yes, I still haven’t blogged any of it… need to get on that ASAP!) We also got to attend a dear friend’s wedding while there — total serendipity that we were going to be at the right place, at the right time!

And Andrew repainted the living room in secret before joining us, because… we bought our house! (Isn’t he amazing? I walked into the living room and it took me a few seconds to realize what had changed. It looks so much better!)

Andrew completed coast guard recruiter training in September, and we survived without him for three weeks — longest we’ve ever been apart! In the meantime I renovated half the house, ha.

Adelina started dance class in the fall and LOVES it. It was so much fun watching her at her first recital ever ♥️

And no, she’s still not potty trained… We were off to such a great start, but got completely stuck on number 2. Blah. That one is definitely on my list for 2018…

We almost finished repainting the house, and we celebrated eight years of marriage. Crazy how time flies!

Andrew and I traveled to San Antonio for a work conference in October and took Jonas along, while Adelina spent time with her grandparents. It is such a cool town!

I started a daily photography project at the beginning of the year and learned and practiced so much. I kind of fizzled out with the daily part of it after France though… but rallied to end the year strong enough! I’m definitely not doing daily photos next year — that was intense! — but Andrew got me a membership to a photography group (Clickin Moms) for Christmas and I look forward to taking my skills to the next level and improving more this year. My goal is to get the camera out once a week in 2018. I’m so grateful to have so many beautiful photos of my family thanks to this project!

We hosted Thanksgiving (OK it was only two people, my sister and her husband, but it was still fun!)

Andrew and I both got a little better at trying to achieve our fitness goals. He’s been losing some serious weight — I’m so impressed and proud of him for getting up early in the freezing cold and moving every morning! — and I am finally getting myself to the gym regularly (I also started an adult ballet class, which feels so amazing). Still a good ways to go (especially because I smashed my knee into our garage floor while tripping over something last week… ouch!) but it feels good to have started a bit of a rhythm.

And, we had a beautiful, wonderful Christmas ❤

Here’s to a new year, full of lofty goals (hooo boy. I want to at least try) and good times with this beautiful family of ours!

(Video made with an app called 1SecondEveryday — not a free app but it’s worth it!)