Better late than never! The Kissels are officially out of quarantine and ready for a restart of 2022!
But first . . . let’s recap 2021! It was another busy and exciting year that, unfortunately, went off the rails for me a bit starting in September. Overall, though, we can mark 2021 as another successful year with a lot of health and blessings and a little bit of heartache.
JANUARY
As I looked back through my pictures, January was a pretty low key month. Here’s a picture of me on January 1, 2021 . . . this seems like a wonderful way to start a new year!
We got a super pretty snowfall . . .
. . . and I got a new mama-mobile!
FEBRUARY
We kicked off the month with my birthday and Lucy’s 100th day of school.
Matty made me a delicious carrot cake!
We went snow tubing with the Olsons, which is a favorite for sure!
Both girls bravely got their ears pierced . . . but only one still has them. Emmy lost her mind when it was time to change her earrings after six weeks.
And our annual winter rendezvous at the cottage with the Brennans took a nose dive when we arrived to a 40 degree cottage and frozen pipes and toilets . . .
. . . so the whole gang came to our house and we had a great weekend hanging out and sledding!
MARCH
I got to be a mystery reader in Lucy’s Kindergarten class . . .
. . . and Matty joined the girls in a neighborhood skate.
Penelope Pudding took the greatest picture ever!
Matty made a trip to Dom’s Donuts . . . and our whole neighborhood rejoiced!
And most importantly . . . sweet Emmy Roses turned FOUR! We celebrated with a family party the weekend before, and on her actual birthday we grabbed Lucy early from school and celebrated with pottery and allll the Mexican food.
APRIL
We participated in an Easter egg hunt around town set up by Lucy’s school . . .
. . . and then dyed our own eggs at home.
We had a quiet Easter Sunday at home . . .
. . . and a playdate with our besties over spring break!
Lucy lost her first tooth!!!
We attended our very first fairy festival . . .
. . . and Matty picked up our new toy for the cottage. Our first boat lasted almost 20 years . . . here’s hoping this one does too!
MAY
May was a very busy month for us! We enjoyed some delightful weather the first weekend in May when we put the new boat in . . .
. . . and Lucy and I enjoyed an outdoor Mother’s Day Tea at her school.
We accidentally let Penelope go too long in between haircuts! Ha!
I bought (and loaded ALL BY MYSELF) so much mulch for a backyard project that I had to call a neighbor and have her pick up Lucy from school because there was no room for her in my car!
Lucy turned SIX!!! We celebrated with a gymnastics party with a few friends . . .
. . . and a fun family party.
Matty and I went to the store without masks for the first time in over a year!
Penelope Pudding turned ONE . . . and celebrated with this bone that upset her tummy. Oops!
We went to a living dinosaur event at Canterbury Village with neighbors . . .
. . . and then the girls rocked their very first dance recital!
Emmy Roses finished up her first year of preschool . . .
. . . and then we headed to the cottage for Memorial Day!
JUNE
We had three big celebrations in June . . .
First, Lucy graduated from Kindergarten!
Then we celebrated Father’s Day . . .
And finally, Matty and I celebrated FIFTEEN years of marriage!
Other than those celebrations, we spent the month seeking water wherever we could find it!
JULY
We spent 4th of July at the cottage with one set of cousins . . .
. . . and then enjoyed art fair season with another set!
We snuck away for a couples trip to the cottage, which was amazing!
We had a beach playdate with friends . . .
. . .and then Matty basically had to run our lives for five days when a sinus infection took me down hard.
We ended the month celebrating Papa’s birthday . . .
. . . and enjoying pony rides at Grandpa Gary’s house!
AUGUST
The girls did a Moana dance camp and had a blast!
Marie and I took advantage of a super hot day to try a new splash pad . . . which ended up being closed. So instead we took a super hot nature walk!
Proof of mamas!
We went on our annual trip to Cedar Point, which was definitely the hottest one we’ve had!
I had a girls night . . .
. . . and Matty went on his annual guys golf trip.
At the end of the golf trip, Marie and I loaded up the girlies to go spend a few days at the lake with their daddies.
SEPTEMBER
One last cottage weekend over Labor Day . . .
. . . before Lucy started 1st grade and Emmy started Preschool 4!
A special visit with Oma and Pop!
And we enjoyed the Plymouth Fall Festival with the Olsons . . .
. . . and Pumpkinfest in our town!
I’m going to be very honest . . . by the end of September we’d already known I was pregnant for over a month, and we had some not very promising doctors visits, so all these pictures you see of me “having fun” are really just a sad mama working hard to fake it til her girls go to bed. I feel like that was basically me from September through December, which made for a very very tough end of the year for me.
OCTOBER
We celebrated Sadie’s 12th birthday . . .
. . . had our final visit to the farm for the season . . .
. . . and Lucy started riding the bus to and from school!
The girls spent a long weekend at my mom and dad’s having fun with their cousins . . .
. . . not knowing that mama and daddy were at home dealing with a miscarriage. Matty was most certainly my rock throughout everything, but Penelope was a close second . . . she never left my side!
We squeezed in a trip to the pumpkin patch just before Halloween . . .
. . . and I carved Lucy an amazing Nemo pumpkin!
We ended the month with a super cute Bingo and Bluey, who were very excited for Halloween!
NOVEMBER
Lucy lost her first front tooth . . .
. . . and then the next day we celebrated Grandma Rita’s birthday . . .
. . . and then the next day Lucy lost her second front tooth!!
We had a pre-Thanksgiving visit with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Karen (yes, we decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving!).
And we hosted our very first Thanksgiving!
Our elf, Raspberry, came back with a bang!
And we celebrated Matt’s 20 year high school reunion . . .
. . . for which I made 150 cookies!
DECEMBER
December was chock full of Christmas magic, so I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves!
Phew! I did it! It’s always so fun for me to do these posts because the highlights of our year always make me feel so grateful for my family and friends.
So far, 2022 has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start for us (#covid), but I think things are starting to look up. Here’s to another great year of memories!
XOXO
Leave a Reply