A Look Back at 2015

2015 was a really wonderful year for us. I haven't posted updates about our life this year on the blog nearly as much as I used to, mostly because I'm still figuring out exactly how I feel about putting a ton of photos and information about Connor's life on the internet. His life is so intertwined with mine right now that I can't really write about what's going on with me without writing about what's going on with him, so there's not a lot of blog updating going on.

But, I do want to post a sort of year-in-review update like I've done for past years. So here's a "big picture" view of what we've been up to since January 1, 2015! It's been a year full of lots of love and smiles and wonderful memories, and I'll always remember it as the first year we enjoyed as a family of three!

2015 marked 5 years of marriage, 12 years since Jeff and I first met, 26 years of Katie, 28 years of Jeff, and 1 year of Connor!

January

We rang in the new year and celebrated Connor's 2-week birthday at our house (and did not host our usual big New Year's Eve bash, haha!). 

Throughout January, we mostly just hung out at home and cuddled with newborn Connor. I think that's what you're supposed to do for the first couple weeks of a baby's life, but we were so busy with Christmas festivities and Jeff's brother's wedding right after his birth that we didn't get a chance to just be at home and enjoy life with a baby until it was already January!

February

February brought more newborn Connor cuddles and lots of visits from family. 

We celebrated Valentine's Day.

Jeff went on his first post-baby business trip. I survived! :)

Connor was baptized, and we had a party at our house to celebrate with our families.

March

We road-tripped to Dallas for my cousin's wedding.

We took bluebonnet photos.

April

We celebrated Easter at my parents' lake property. 

Jeff turned 28. We celebrated with a (just the two of us!) dinner out at Peli Peli.

We took a trip to South Carolina (Connor's first plane ride) to visit Jeff's parents and go to a friend's wedding.

May

We spent Mother's Day with both of our mothers and celebrated with brunch at Hungry's, a visit to Bayou Bend, and dinner at Chimichurri's.

I turned 26. Jeff planned a party at our house with our families, but we moved it to my parents' house at this last minute when our air conditioner broke. My favorite birthday gift? The warranty on our very expensive A/C unit that was just weeks away from expiring, but hadn't expired yet!

We spent Memorial Day hanging out by my parents' pool, where we learned that Connor does not like swimming. At all.

June

Our dear doctor friends Pilar & Shane came for a visit before moving to Illinois for residency.

We celebrated Father's Day with our dads (another dinner at Chimichurri's!).

We celebrated Jeff's dad's retirement at a fancy luncheon where Connor totally stole the spotlight. Jeff's parents officially moved away from Houston to their new lake house in South Carolina.

We took Connor to his first Houston Astros baseball game.

July

We travelled to South Padre Island with my family (the 16th annual trip we've made there!) and spent Connor's first July 4th at the beach.

We travelled to Lake Palestine for a weekend with my extended family on my dad's side.

I finally added the finishing touches to Connor's nursery.

We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary with a visit to the chapel where we got married, dinner at Tony's (thanks to a gift card from my law firm) and an overnight stay and brunch at Hotel Zaza. It was my first night away from Connor (who stayed with my parents and didn't miss me at all).

August

We visited our local fire station and delivered treats to the firemen.

We took Connor to the park for the first time.

Blue Bell Ice Cream returned, and Connor and I were among the first to get our hands on some!

September

We spent a weekend in College Station, introduced Connor to all things Aggieland, and proved to ourselves that we can still host a pretty fun tailgate, even with a baby in tow!

October

We took a trip to Brooklyn, NY to visit my sister.

We took Connor to the pumpkin patch.

We spent Halloween weekend in College Station with many of our family members for the A&M/South Carolina football game. Connor dressed up as a football for Halloween (and perfectly avoided having to choose sides for his parents' rivalry football match-up!). The Aggies won (again). :)

We sold our old Pathfinder and bought a new (to us) Pathfinder. Definitely a boring car purchase, but we're happy to have one with 110,000 fewer miles on it.

Connor took his first steps!

November

Connor and I took a trip to College Station just the two of us (while Jeff was on a business trip). I was super worried about making the trip alone with a baby, but it worked out so well and we were able to enjoy my sorority's alumni tailgate.

We spent a Saturday at Jeff's company's new office complex for their family open house.

We somehow managed to get both of our families to have Thanksgiving in Houston, and we were able to celebrate with all of our parents, all of our siblings, and all three living sets of grandparents! 

December

We weren't planning to take Connor to see Santa, but when a photographer friend from playgroup offered Santa photos as a fundraiser for another playgroup family with a sick child, we couldn't say no! Connor surprised me by smiling sweetly rather than crying instantly!

We celebrated St. Nicholas Day with chocolate coins and new Christmas ornaments.

I officially parted ways with my law firm, cleaned out my office, and said goodbye to being employed as a lawyer (for now). It still feels a bit odd to say that out loud (especially after all of the time and effort that I've put into my career so far), but it was a decision Jeff and I made after lots of prayer and discernment, and it feels right in my heart to be prioritizing my time with our little boy over everything else.

Our sweet friends Amy & Ben came for a weekend visit.

Connor turned one, and we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party at our house to celebrate.

We went to see the new Magical Winter Lights exhibit at Sam Houston Race Park for my mom's birthday.

We celebrated Christmas with our families.

We spent New Year's Eve with extended family in the Dallas area.

Throughout the year, we enjoyed attending various birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, and gender reveal parties for our friends and family. We went to band performances and awards ceremonies for my littlest sister, Karoline, and I loved doing her hair and makeup for a few school dances! We were thrilled to have my other sister, Kristen, visit often from New York, and we've enjoyed hosting Jeff's parents, who come visit often from their new home in South Carolina.

Connor and I joined a local playgroup for babies born in 2014, and we've been attending lots of playgroup events as well as baby storytime at our library. Jeff has continued his schedule of traveling for work about 25% of the time, and this year he's taken multiple trips to a few countries in Africa, as well as a recruiting trip to South Carolina.

We're so excited for 2016! Life with Connor has been so, so fun so far, and we're really excited to keep experiencing the world with him. We have some great trips planned this year, and who knows what else 2016 will bring! We're loving our life so much right now that we can't wait to spend another year just doing life together.

Here's a look back at my previous year-in-review posts:

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Easter 2015

Happy Easter Monday! I hope you're all still feeling the joy of the risen Lord! I celebrated today with a trip down the Easter candy clearance aisle at Target. Between the Cadbury eggs in my belly and the feeling of amazement at a God who loves us so much that he would send his son to die for us, I've been feeling pretty joyful today. :) Seriously though, what a beautiful holiday Easter is, what an undeserving people we are, and what a huge love God has for us!

We spent Easter weekend at my parents' lake property with my parents, my sister, and my grandparents. We spent Saturday hanging out by the water, fishing, kayaking, and riding on the boat.

Lake baby! This adjustable sun hat is awesome, by the way!

My mom and grandma on the kayak!

My dad with his fishing bait. :)

My boys.

We spent the night getting up with Connor once an hour (the poor baby doesn't like the pack-and-play anymore, apparently) and feeling bad for waking up everyone in the one-room house repeatedly. But joy comes in the morning, and we had a wonderful time going to Mass on Sunday morning, letting Connor experience his first Easter basket (so. so. cute!), and having a big Easter lunch with my family before heading back home. 

And they say it's only fun to dress baby girls. ;)

The Easter Bunny brought Connor some books, new pajamas, and empty plastic Easter eggs (which ended up being a huge hit!).

Hahaha, those eggs are so funny! :)

Holidays are such fun with a baby around. It's funny for me to think about last Easter... I remember my dad made cosmo martinis and I drank one unhappily because I wanted to be pregnant (and thus unable to drink it) so badly. We had been waiting and waiting and praying to no avail, and I was so frustrated, but I had no idea at the time that I was actually already just barely pregnant and a week away from the positive pregnancy test that would eventually bring us our sweet little Connor. What a difference a year makes!

Valentine's Day 2015

We're not big extravagant Valentine's Day celebraters, but we do alway exchange cards and usually some sort of little gift. It's also my dad's birthday, so we usually celebrate with him too. This year was a little more fun than normal because we have Connor! When I was growing up, my parents always surprised my sisters and me with little gifts on Valentine's Day morning, so I wanted to do the same for him.

His first Valentine's Day gift was this cute little book:

I wanted a book about St. Valentine, but I couldn't seem to find a good one... any recommendations? Connor obviously didn't particularly care about his book, but he did look super cute in his "My First Valentine's Day" outfit!

Jeff took Connor for a couple hours in the morning so I could sleep in (best. gift. ever.), and they secretly went to the store while I was asleep! When I woke up, there were two vases of flowers and two cards in the kitchen (one from each of them), along with an assortment of British candy and tea that Jeff picked up earlier in the week at one of our favorite little shops in Houston.

I got Jeff the latest Disney classics Blu-Ray release (101 Dalmatians). He's been collecting the Disney classics as they're released from the Disney "vault" so that we'll have a complete collection for our kids. This was the first one he's received since Connor was born, so it was kind of special. :)

We drove to my parents' lakehouse in the afternoon and met my parents and sister for a fondue dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday. So fun! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!