I am honestly not sure where 2024 went. It feels like every year goes faster than the one before it but this might have been the fastest year yet. It feels like I was only just sitting down to write up our year in review from 2023 and here I am doing it again already!
While the ending of this year was not what we would have liked, prior to that (and even after) 2024 was actually pretty good to us.
In looking back upon the year, it turns out that we achieved a lot of the goals we had set forth for ourselves. January was the month I have ever blogged the least (one time) but that post was the one where we shared our goals for the coming year.. Dave and the girls skiied several new mountains, we indeed witnessed a natural wonder (which is a moment the four of us will carry with us forever), Grace's room was completed, Emma earned her driver's liscence and we finished HP 6 (our family read aloud)!
We did not fix the raised garden beds (maybe this year), or get a cat or two (I keep hoping). My dissertation is done but not done done (or defended) but at least I completed writing and turned in chapter five to my chair this past Sunday (yay me!)! While I had hoped I would hve been fully done and defended by the end of 2024, one semester past that isn't a bad thing. This means that while Grace graduates high school this spring, I willl graduate for the final time ever this spring as well. Thirty years after my own high school graduation this school journey finally will come to an official end for me.
Both girls attended the prom. Grace in the most perfect for her dress at the Parker prom and Emma in a stunning two piece attended the prom in Maine with a friend from Pilgrim Lodge. We were thrilled that our homeschooled daughters got to experience this teenage rite of passage!
In early June, David and I enjoyed a weekend just us while the girls were at CIT training at Pilgrim Lodge. We explored the Dessert of Maine and stayed in our beloved Freeport. It had been awhile since we had had an overnight just us and it was delightful!
There were dance competitions, of course, and another recital weekend came and went. Grace attended a week long dance intensive, and right before the current school year began it was time for dance team auiditions again and with it began the series of "lasts" for Grace as that brought her into senior year. Emma decided to return to the world of competative dance by auditioning for the hip hop team. Grace was thrilled to learn that she was given a spot on the elite team! She has now competed on all five dance teams (mini, junior, senior, pro and now elite)! Emma was over to moon to find out that she secured a place on the large group hip hop team. Both will be competing and performing solos as well this coming spring. It's lovely to have both as competative dancers again, my only wish is that they would have returned as duo partners too.
In addition to camp and dance (so much dance!) and birthdays (sixteen and eighteen) and being in the path of totality for the eclipse, the other event that we will forever treasure was seeing Hadestown on Broadway! This has been something both girls, especially Grace, has wanted to do for awhile and being able to turn this dream into a reality under the guise of Grace's eighteenth birthday was just the best! Jordan Fisher and Maia Raficco were stellar as Orpheus and Eurydice and if we lived closer to NYC I have no doubt we would have retuned a few more times to see that amazing show again!
August was when Grace's senior picture session took place and Liz captured the most gorgeous pictures of her (which I still need to go through and choose what to order)! It's wild to think that it will be time to book Emma's senior session soon....where have these years gone?
Both girls experienced big milestones this year. Emma with the aforementioned driver's license in October and Grace voting for the first time in a presidential election this past November. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving gathering on Thanksgiving day and then the girls hosted their first ever Friendsgiving the next day (and Dave's parents, Dave and I went out to dinner just the four of us).
And this brings us to December. The Advent Spiral, Saint Nicholas Day, Christmas Pagaent Day, Solstice Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day. Enjoying sitting by the light of the tree. There is just something so magical and restorative about that and very, very needed after the outcome of the election and in the wake of what's to come.
And just like that 2024 comes to a close. We are grateful to have each other and this beautiful live we have made. We will enjoy Chinese food and share our hopes for the coming year (as is our tradition) and watch Wicked this evenin. It's ikely none of us will see the new year in but we will enjoy this time together and embrace the new year tomrorow! xo
While the ending of this year was not what we would have liked, prior to that (and even after) 2024 was actually pretty good to us.
In looking back upon the year, it turns out that we achieved a lot of the goals we had set forth for ourselves. January was the month I have ever blogged the least (one time) but that post was the one where we shared our goals for the coming year.. Dave and the girls skiied several new mountains, we indeed witnessed a natural wonder (which is a moment the four of us will carry with us forever), Grace's room was completed, Emma earned her driver's liscence and we finished HP 6 (our family read aloud)!
We did not fix the raised garden beds (maybe this year), or get a cat or two (I keep hoping). My dissertation is done but not done done (or defended) but at least I completed writing and turned in chapter five to my chair this past Sunday (yay me!)! While I had hoped I would hve been fully done and defended by the end of 2024, one semester past that isn't a bad thing. This means that while Grace graduates high school this spring, I willl graduate for the final time ever this spring as well. Thirty years after my own high school graduation this school journey finally will come to an official end for me.
Both girls attended the prom. Grace in the most perfect for her dress at the Parker prom and Emma in a stunning two piece attended the prom in Maine with a friend from Pilgrim Lodge. We were thrilled that our homeschooled daughters got to experience this teenage rite of passage!
In early June, David and I enjoyed a weekend just us while the girls were at CIT training at Pilgrim Lodge. We explored the Dessert of Maine and stayed in our beloved Freeport. It had been awhile since we had had an overnight just us and it was delightful!
There were dance competitions, of course, and another recital weekend came and went. Grace attended a week long dance intensive, and right before the current school year began it was time for dance team auiditions again and with it began the series of "lasts" for Grace as that brought her into senior year. Emma decided to return to the world of competative dance by auditioning for the hip hop team. Grace was thrilled to learn that she was given a spot on the elite team! She has now competed on all five dance teams (mini, junior, senior, pro and now elite)! Emma was over to moon to find out that she secured a place on the large group hip hop team. Both will be competing and performing solos as well this coming spring. It's lovely to have both as competative dancers again, my only wish is that they would have returned as duo partners too.
In addition to camp and dance (so much dance!) and birthdays (sixteen and eighteen) and being in the path of totality for the eclipse, the other event that we will forever treasure was seeing Hadestown on Broadway! This has been something both girls, especially Grace, has wanted to do for awhile and being able to turn this dream into a reality under the guise of Grace's eighteenth birthday was just the best! Jordan Fisher and Maia Raficco were stellar as Orpheus and Eurydice and if we lived closer to NYC I have no doubt we would have retuned a few more times to see that amazing show again!
August was when Grace's senior picture session took place and Liz captured the most gorgeous pictures of her (which I still need to go through and choose what to order)! It's wild to think that it will be time to book Emma's senior session soon....where have these years gone?
Both girls experienced big milestones this year. Emma with the aforementioned driver's license in October and Grace voting for the first time in a presidential election this past November. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving gathering on Thanksgiving day and then the girls hosted their first ever Friendsgiving the next day (and Dave's parents, Dave and I went out to dinner just the four of us).
And this brings us to December. The Advent Spiral, Saint Nicholas Day, Christmas Pagaent Day, Solstice Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day. Enjoying sitting by the light of the tree. There is just something so magical and restorative about that and very, very needed after the outcome of the election and in the wake of what's to come.
And just like that 2024 comes to a close. We are grateful to have each other and this beautiful live we have made. We will enjoy Chinese food and share our hopes for the coming year (as is our tradition) and watch Wicked this evenin. It's ikely none of us will see the new year in but we will enjoy this time together and embrace the new year tomrorow! xo
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