And what a year this last one has been.

The weird thing is, most of our years start out with a pretty good *bang*, loads of promise for a brighter year then the last, and overall I have to say that our years do get better and better, but for some strange reason that I’ll probably never figure out, they just don’t seem to end with that same gusto. BUT, our lives are partly what we make of them so I’m determined to look past the negative at this moment in time, on this New Years Eve, and look on towards the positive, that hopefully, 2011 promises to be!

I thought I’d take a photo trip down memory lane, and share some of the photos here with you as I go.

Jan. 11th brought Elsa’s 12th Birthday. I’d share a photo right here with you, but they seem to have become lost. I don’t even know how it happened. For her birthday we went bowling and she was so excited (even if it did take a solid 25 minutes to get her to bowl her first ball. She was SURE the entire bowling alley was watching her. That’s my aspie girl!) yet now I have NO pictures to show for it. I haven’t given up all hope that they are completely lost, as I still have an external hard drive to search!

End of January brought our three youngest girls very first EVER plane trip to Edmonton Alberta! We went on a ‘mini’ vacation to the West Edmonton Mall! They were SOOOOOOOOOO excited (heck, who am I kidding, so was I!!!)

We had a TON of fun. The girls were SO excited to stay in a hotel.

WE (dh and I) were so excited that we could find a room that would fit all five of us!

We did all we could possibly do at the West Edmonton Mall in five days!

Julia was even kissed by a seal!

Shortly after we arrived home, near the beginning of Feb, we added our first ducks to our ‘flock’ of hens.

Then we did our bathroom reno, which I shared on facebook along the way!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=196077&id=87164962268

In March we celebrated Lacey’s 2nd Birthday!

This March she’ll be old enough to be ridden!

April brought Easter and dinner at Oma and Opa’s house with cousins, aunts and uncles!

Too many for one table!

And egg decorating with their cousin the next day.

And with that, I’m going to need to cut the year short and carry on in another post!

We’re having a New Year’s Eve Party on the facebook page, so if you happen upon this post while it’s still New Year’s Eve, come join us for some games, contests and prizes!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homestead-Emporium/87164962268?v=wall