January: Moira sold Girl Scout cookies with her new troop; Kit took the older kids to watch the Harlem Globetrotters and Ben got to do the toss up!

February: Kit spent a week in Louisiana at Mardi Gras with Christopher, Moira and Ben while I stayed home with the younger three and visited with lots of friends (including Meg and her goats.) When they came home it snowed! The kids began swimming again at TWU, and Ben turned 10.

March: West Texas – we braved an ice storm and horrendous roads to head west: Midland, Monohan Sand Dunes, Carlsbad Caverns, scuba diving in a lake, McDonald observatory, Fort Davis. J started attending judo with Kit and Christopher, and some of the kids returned to Spirit Horse.

April: Doctor Who day on the Square where we got our comics was fun, and family pictures in the Tardis. Christopher earned his yellow belt in Judo.

May: We flew to England where we were met by Emily and Richy, to the kids’ surprise! (We also set the dangerous precedent that after surprising them with Emily and Richy in both Florida AND England the kids assume they will be joining us for all our vacations.) Mo turned 12.

June: We flew to Washington DC, which needs its own post because it was fantastic.

July: Mo and the Girl Scouts walked in the 4th of July parade. We flew to San Francisco to see the redwoods, Chinatown, the Bay Bridge, and a secret but awesome adventure.

August: J turned 7, E turned 9, Kit turned 41.

September: Mo and I had a sleepover at Sea World with the Girl Scouts and stopped at the Alamo on our way home. Emy joined Girl Scouts, and Mo bridged from Junior to Cadette. We helped harvest the honey from Jean’s beehives. J started a month long hockey workshop in Frisco.

October: We met friends at the Pumpkin Patch and later for a homeschoolers fall carnival, trick-or-treated around the square, and attended the ward trunk-or-treat. Livy turned five. Emy got chickens. I ran away to see Carrie in Canada for a few days and it was a much needed Mommy retreat.

November: C turned 14, and we saw the grandparents and Emily & Richy around Thanksgiving.

December: We toured the Japanese Gardens in Fort Worth to see the changing colors. C and Kit said it’s one of their most favorite places we’ve visited EVER. The weather was weird, from 70s and sunny to snowing and a tornado. I’m back at work, with three babies coming in 10 days just before Christmas.

It’s been another epic year! I’m writing this up to hopefully inspire me to write up some more detailed posts – my resolution for 2016, to get back into the happen of writing. Plus we’re anticipation some pretty wonderful things to come for next year. 🙂

So much has happened since we last posted – a wild and wonderful trip to Harry Potter world thanks to an anonymous benefactor, visits to the Perot science museum thanks to an incredibly generous donation, a surprise trip to the Apple store for a field trip and iPad for Ben, plus the Dallas Museum of Art, ice skating at Klyde Warren Park, and the Dallas zoo. Busy, and incredible. (Some pictures here.)

We learned Ben has become legally blind (we got the news the first week of November) and it’s been a lot to process – therapy, new services, cane training, eye specialists, and the emotional dealing with the news. It’s been hard on all the kids to work through this news.

I’ve taken a lighter schedule in 2014 from my work so we can focus on some of these changes and to allow us to make some more special trips from Ben’s wish list of things he wants to do and things he wants to see before he loses more eyesight.

But I’m also trying to make sure we fit in at least some basics, like math and writing and reading lessons. And to help make myself more accountable I plan to post more here. We’ll see how this goes…